ON HABITS AND MANNERS. 143
go back to the beginning, to take up once more our text,
your precept and your practice must be one and the same.
The Christian grace which you strive to nurture in the hearts
of your children, you must first firmly plant in your own
hearts, looking then in humble faith toward the Supreme
Source of all fruition, for "Paul planteth, Apollos watereth,
but God giveth the increase."
CHAPTER XX.
HOUSEWORK.
Next in importance to the direct care of the children,
comes, for a woman who is at the head of a household, that
general personal supervision and labor which, when intel-
ligently done, result in cleanliness, order and comfort for
the whole family. Of course, it is much easier to write and
talk about this kind of work than it is to do it ; but, never-
theless, it is a constant surprise to me to find how much can
be accomplished through determination and system, by
women who have much to do, and little to do with. These
two things, determination and system, which lie at the
foundation of all good housekeeping, mean simply that you
must always do your work at stated times and in certain
places. To take, for example, a very simple but constantly
recurring duty, i, e., dish washing; are there not two wide-
144 ON HABITS AND MANNERS.
] y different ways of doing it ? One woman will leave her
table standing for two or three hours, and then, throwing
her dishes all together, and unscraped, into a dirty pan,
will go for hot water, which, as she has forgotten to fill the
pot, is not to be had, and at the same time will find that
there is no soap in the house, that her dish-cloth is lost and
her towel wet. Another woman will clear her table as soon
as the meal is over, will put her dishes, carefully scraped
from all grease, broken bits, etc., into a pan, which is used
for nothing else, will wash first her silver and glass, then
her china, and last of all her cooking utensils, will have
plenty of boiling water and soap, a clean dishcloth and a
dry towel. And of these two women you may be sure that
the first will be always in confusion and disorder, while the
second, you may be equally sure, is the mistress of a neat
and well-ordered household.
This comparison may be carried through the whole
field of household work, and the advantage will always be
found on the side of the woman who systematizes her work
who does it, that is, in a regular and orderly way, who has
a time and a place for everything. The details of the life of
an ordinary housekeeper, who does most of her work herself,
are far too numerous and varied to be set down upon paper ;
but the most important of them are usually much the same
from day to day and in all families, and I think that
ON HABITS AND MANNERS. 1 45
perhaps our best way to get a clear idea of what system and
industry can accomplish will be to follow, in imagination, a
goo I housekeeper through the work of one day, from the
rising to the setting of the sun. We will give her a house
of her own, with kitchen, eating-room and sitting-room
downstairs, and three bedrooms upstairs, her family shall
consist of a husband, who is a day laborer, and three
children, two of whom are old enough to go to school.
Page 65
Presented as published in 1888. 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
go back to the beginning, to take up once more our text, your precept and your practice must be one and the same. The Christian grace which you strive to nurture in the hearts of your children, you must first firmly plant in your own hearts, looking then in humble faith toward the Supreme Source of all fruition, for "Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase."
CHAPTER XX.
HOUSEWORK.
Next in importance to the direct care of the children, comes, for a woman who is at the head of a household, that general personal supervision and labor which, when intelligently done, result in cleanliness, order and comfort for the whole family. Of course, it is much easier to write and talk about this kind of work than it is to do it ; but, nevertheless, it is a constant surprise to me to find how much can be accomplished through determination and system, by women who have much to do, and little to do with. These two things, determination and system, which lie at the foundation of all good housekeeping, mean simply that you must always do your work at stated times and in certain places. To take, for example, a very simple but constantly recurring duty, i, e., dish washing; are there not two wide-
] y different ways of doing it ? One woman will leave her table standing for two or three hours, and then, throwing her dishes all together, and unscraped, into a dirty pan, will go for hot water, which, as she has forgotten to fill the pot, is not to be had, and at the same time will find that there is no soap in the house, that her dish-cloth is lost and her towel wet. Another woman will clear her table as soon as the meal is over, will put her dishes, carefully scraped from all grease, broken bits, etc., into a pan, which is used for nothing else, will wash first her silver and glass, then her china, and last of all her cooking utensils, will have plenty of boiling water and soap, a clean dishcloth and a dry towel. And of these two women you may be sure that the first will be always in confusion and disorder, while the second, you may be equally sure, is the mistress of a neat and well-ordered household.
This comparison may be carried through the whole field of household work, and the advantage will always be found on the side of the woman who systematizes her work who does it, that is, in a regular and orderly way, who has a time and a place for everything. The details of the life of an ordinary housekeeper, who does most of her work herself, are far too numerous and varied to be set down upon paper ; but the most important of them are usually much the same from day to day and in all families, and I think that
perhaps our best way to get a clear idea of what system and industry can accomplish will be to follow, in imagination, a goo I housekeeper through the work of one day, from the rising to the setting of the sun. We will give her a house of her own, with kitchen, eating-room and sitting-room downstairs, and three bedrooms upstairs, her family shall consist of a husband, who is a day laborer, and three children, two of whom are old enough to go to school.