called a home, gradually sinks into a den of filth and misery. This is a poor preparation for girls who become wives and mothers. Butterflies before marriage and grubs after. But domestic service was once the highest ambition of girls, and would be again if mistresses would only act kindly towards servants, and do a little to make them happy and hopeful. Among the earliest things I can remember, were two clean, healthy looking young women, with strong boots and straw bonnets of their own plait, calling one evening to thank my grandmother for some kindness before they left home for service. They were the daughters of a small farmer. They each had a piece of cake and a mug of mead. I recollect the waggon waiting at the end of the village, and most of the neighbours had turned out to wish them good luck and good bye. They sat behind on their little wooden boxes (made by the village wheelwright), which they opened to show my grandmother : on the top of each box was a bunch of lavender. The waggon, with six horses, laden with butter and pork and eggs, started on its journey, and my grandmother and I walked across the fields to meeting. I was a little boy without a mother. It was a lovely evening : the sun went down in a sea of gold and seemed to rise again. At meeting there were only about five or six persons. We sat quietly for some time, as was the custom, and often separated without a word ; but this evening my grandmother, who was not a minister, prayed fervently that God would be a perpetual shield and protection to these two girls, who were not of her way of thinking on religious matters. Compare this with two sisters Mistresses and Servants, 45 leaving Whitechapel or Lambeth or an orphan asylum as general servant in London. Domestic servants were once taken from a very different class of society. Farmers and small trades- people used to train their daughters with a view to service, but servants were then treated more as equals and as part of the family, often taking their meals at the same table. Now they are frequently taken from the least educated class of society, and there are some who think the remedy is to be found in no education. It is in these times something for a poor girl to have a cheerful fire, a comfortable bed, a clean hearth-stone, plenty of food and decent clothing ; and these, I should hope, are secured to domestic servants in most houses. In return for these, the mistress has a right to faithful service, obedience, carefulness, cleanliness, order, and a kindly interest in the welfare and happi- ness of the family ; although a servant, there is nothing to prevent her feeling that she is one of the family. It was this feeling which kept girls in their first situa- tions till they either married, or died old servants in the service which they entered as young women. It is sometimes said, that this cannot be done in small houses where only one or two servants are kept ; but I know from experience that it is just as easy to keep servants for years in small houses as in large. I have been married thirty-three years, and I have never kept but one servant, and have never had but five and three of them left to be married, and I believe the offer of double the wages would never have induced one of them worth keeping to leave. The great secret is to treat servants kindly, to take an interest in them, and in 46 Bucknicister s Cookery.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

called a home, gradually sinks into a den of filth and misery. This is a poor preparation for girls who become wives and mothers. Butterflies before marriage and grubs after. But domestic service was once the highest ambition of girls, and would be again if mistresses would only act kindly towards servants, and do a little to make them happy and hopeful. Among the earliest things I can remember, were two clean, healthy looking young women, with strong boots and straw bonnets of their own plait, calling one evening to thank my grandmother for some kindness before they left home for service. They were the daughters of a small farmer. They each had a piece of cake and a mug of mead. I recollect the waggon waiting at the end of the village, and most of the neighbours had turned out to wish them good luck and good bye. They sat behind on their little wooden boxes (made by the village wheelwright), which they opened to show my grandmother : on the top of each box was a bunch of lavender. The waggon, with six horses, laden with butter and pork and eggs, started on its journey, and my grandmother and I walked across the fields to meeting. I was a little boy without a mother. It was a lovely evening : the sun went down in a sea of gold and seemed to rise again. At meeting there were only about five or six persons. We sat quietly for some time, as was the custom, and often separated without a word ; but this evening my grandmother, who was not a minister, prayed fervently that God would be a perpetual shield and protection to these two girls, who were not of her way of thinking on religious matters. Compare this with two sisters Mistresses and Servants, 45 leaving Whitechapel or Lambeth or an orphan asylum as general servant in London. Domestic servants were once taken from a very different class of society. Farmers and small tradespeople used to train their daughters with a view to service, but servants were then treated more as equals and as part of the family, often taking their meals at the same table. Now they are frequently taken from the least educated class of society, and there are some who think the remedy is to be found in no education. It is in these times something for a poor girl to have a cheerful fire, a comfortable bed, a clean hearth-stone, plenty of food and decent clothing ; and these, I should hope, are secured to domestic servants in most houses. In return for these, the mistress has a right to faithful service, obedience, carefulness, cleanliness, order, and a kindly interest in the welfare and happiness of the family ; although a servant, there is nothing to prevent her feeling that she is one of the family. It was this feeling which kept girls in their first situations till they either married, or died old servants in the service which they entered as young women. It is sometimes said, that this cannot be done in small houses where only one or two servants are kept ; but I know from experience that it is just as easy to keep servants for years in small houses as in large. I have been married thirty-three years, and I have never kept but one servant, and have never had but five and three of them left to be married, and I believe the offer of double the wages would never have induced one of them worth keeping to leave. The great secret is to treat servants kindly, to take an interest in them, and in Buckmaster's Cookery.

Buckmaster's cookery