be <riven, and in the hot weather, cotton liveries of dark blue,
which can be washed regularly every week. Any little extra
expense is better than having a servant behind your clnaii
who reeks of dirt and smoke ; or, what is worse, a whited
sepulchre, whose outside snowiness conceals warm clothes
which have been slept in for months. , , , r
Finally, when all is said and done, the whole duty ot an
Indian mistress towards her servants is neither more or less
than it is in England. Here, as there, a little reasonable
human sympathy is the best oil for the household machine.
Here, as there, the end and object is not merely personal
comfort, but the formation of a home — that unit of civilisation
where father and children, master and servant, employer and
employed, can learn their several duties. When all is said
and done also, herein lies the natural outlet for most of the
talent peculiar to women. It is the fashion nowadays to
undervalue the art of making a home ; to deem it simplicity
and easiness itself. But this is a mistake, foi the piopei
administration of even a small household needs both brain
and heart. A really clever woman always sees this, and, like
George Eliot, the greatest of modern women, prides herself
on being an excellent housekeeper. It was written of ^ her
that “ nulhiiig offends her more than the idea that her exceptional
intellectual powers should be held to absolve her from ordinary
household duties.” In regard to expenditure, the mistress of
a house has it in her power to make debts, as to prevent
them, for she, and she only, has the power of preventing
that extravagance in small things, which is but the prelude
to a like recklessness in greater matters.
It is astonishing how few women know how to keep
accounts ; yet this is the first step towards economy, and a
little method and care in this point saves infinite friction.
One special fault which the authors believe besets most
women is the habit of not showing all transactions on paper.
For instance, in paying a minor bill, some annas or pice are
allowed to remain as an advance to be deducted from the
next payment, which must then either be written down less
than it is, or paid less than it is written down. This is
absolutely a false system, and is the cause of more dispute
and hopeless addings up of balances than a novice can well
imagine. So if you have two or more funds you nominally
8
The Complete Indian
wish to keep separate, do not borrow from one and pay back
to the other without showing the transaction ; above all, do
not receive small items of money and keep them off the
paper altogether by saying, ^'Ah, I paid that to So-and-so,
therefore it is all square.” Aecounts, in fact, do not come
under the head of Cookery.
Page 7
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
be <riven, and in the hot weather, cotton liveries of dark blue, which can be washed regularly every week. Any little extra expense is better than having a servant behind your chair who reeks of dirt and smoke ; or, what is worse, a whited sepulchre, whose outside snowiness conceals warm clothes
which have been slept in for months. , , , r
Finally, when all is said and done, the whole duty ot an Indian mistress towards her servants is neither more or less than it is in England. Here, as there, a little reasonable human sympathy is the best oil for the household machine. Here, as there, the end and object is not merely personal comfort, but the formation of a home — that unit of civilisation where father and children, master and servant, employer and employed, can learn their several duties. When all is said and done also, herein lies the natural outlet for most of the talent peculiar to women. It is the fashion nowadays to undervalue the art of making a home ; to deem it simplicity and easiness itself. But this is a mistake, foi the proper administration of even a small household needs both brain and heart. A really clever woman always sees this, and, like George Eliot, the greatest of modern women, prides herself on being an excellent housekeeper. It was written of ^ her that “ nothing offends her more than the idea that her exceptional intellectual powers should be held to absolve her from ordinary household duties.” In regard to expenditure, the mistress of a house has it in her power to make debts, as to prevent them, for she, and she only, has the power of preventing that extravagance in small things, which is but the prelude to a like recklessness in greater matters.
It is astonishing how few women know how to keep accounts ; yet this is the first step towards economy, and a little method and care in this point saves infinite friction. One special fault which the authors believe besets most women is the habit of not showing all transactions on paper. For instance, in paying a minor bill, some annas or pice are allowed to remain as an advance to be deducted from the next payment, which must then either be written down less than it is, or paid less than it is written down. This is absolutely a false system, and is the cause of more dispute and hopeless addings up of balances than a novice can well imagine. So if you have two or more funds you nominally
The Complete Indian
wish to keep separate, do not borrow from one and pay back to the other without showing the transaction ; above all, do not receive small items of money and keep them off the paper altogether by saying, ^'Ah, I paid that to So-and-so, therefore it is all square.” Aecounts, in fact, do not come under the head of Cookery.