Part 4

To return to the morning work, breakfast having been served, the bed-rooms must now be attended to; the first thing is to open the window in each room, and to strip the bed, which is done by placing two chairs at the foot, hanging the bed-clothes over them, and raising up the mattress (which is generally on the top of the feather-bed) in an arch, so that the air can pass through between; having done this in each room in succession, proceed to empty the slops in each, rinsing out the basins, bottles, and ewers, with plenty of cold water, that fresh water may be put into the bottles and ewers each day, and carefully wipe the soap-box, tooth-brush-tray, &c.; the pail should never be left a moment in the room after this is done, but carried down into the court to be instantly emptied, well rinsed out with water and left in the air; two pitchers of water should next be carried up, the one with soft water for the ewers, and the other with spring-water for the bottles; but if it is sweeping-day when the room is to be completely done out, a wooden pail should be brought up with warm water, and all the chamber utensils carefully washed with soap and a sponge before the ewers are filled with fresh water, the bed in each room should next be made up, and a fellow-servant is required to assist in this. Few things are more unpleasant than an ill-made bed; it is generally the first thing which strikes guests on being shown their bed-rooms; if the bed looks as if it had been well shaken up, perfectly smooth, and the counterpane nicely put on, folding neatly over at the corners, pleasant anticipations of the night present themselves, and a good opinion of the housemaid is immediately formed; a well-made bed gives promise that other things will also be well attended to; it is, in fact, one of the tests of a well-trained housemaid. In making up the bed, the mattresses should be turned every day, and if there is a feather-bed, it should be turned, shaken up, and beaten, that the feathers may not get into lumps, then smoothed and made perfectly flat, the feathers being spread equally over the whole surface, before the mattress is laid on the top. Some housemaids have a way of shaking the feathers into the middle of the bed, leaving the sides in such a sloping condition, that there is some chance of passing part of the night on the floor, others of shaking the feathers to the top of the bed, forming an inclined plane, so that the constant feeling of sliding down lower and lower leaves people very uncertain as to where they are to find themselves at last. It is impossible to make a bed too flat or smooth, the bolster and pillows being well shaken up also; the binding blanket should next be spread, and tucked in, and in putting on the under sheet, care must be taken to put it on as tightly as possible, so that not a crease should be seen, and the sheet should be tucked under the lowest mattress, so as to cover the whole bedding; it is very untidy to see the sheet tucked in under the upper mattress and feather-bed, as is frequently the case, leaving the rest of the bedding uncovered, besides exposing it to dust and smoke (the counterpane not being sufficient protection); the blankets being spread, should be tucked in during the day, but at night, if broad enough, should be allowed to fall over at each side, and only tucked in at the foot of the bed. The top sheet is next to be put on, and lastly the counterpane, which last in the evening should be taken off, and folded up, leaving the top sheet only during the night, the curtains, being put neatly into folds, should be turned in on the counterpane at each side of the top and foot of the bed, and if it is the day for the room being thoroughly cleaned, the valences should be turned up all round, and the whole covered up with a large dusting sheet: the washhand-stand should also be covered, the grate having been cleared out, rubbed up, and the fire laid as already directed. If there is room on the landing-place, the chairs should be rubbed up and removed before the sweeping begins; if there is not, let them be collected in the middle of the room, moved up when the top of the room is swept, and rubbed up and dusted afterwards. The carpet being all strewed over with tea-leaves and brushed—a sweeping-broom, with a wet cloth wrapped round it, should be put in under the bed, and gently moved about, so as to collect the dust which gathers there, without raising it so as to settle in the bed, and the same should be done under the chest of drawers, or any other piece of furniture too heavy to be moved. The sweeping being over, and the dust-pan, with the dust and tea-leaves, carried away, that the draught when the windows are opened may not blow the dust about again, the wardrobe, chest of drawers, looking-glass, &c., &c., should then be rubbed up, the window-frames, the chimney-piece, the pannels of the door, and everything in the room carefully dusted, and the chairs brought back to their proper places; the housemaid goes to another room to commence the same work there, leaving the bed and washhand-stand covered for a little while, till the dust which is flying in the air will have settled. As soon as this is the case, she has only to remove the covering sheets, to fill the bottles and ewers with fresh water, to place the looking-glass in a safe situation, that it may not be blown over by the window being open, and carefully to shut the door, that no dust may fly in from the other rooms; if it is summer and the blinds are let down to keep the room cool, care must be taken not to leave the blind loose, so as to blow about at the risk of breaking the window or looking-glass; the blinds should be only half drawn down, or if more is necessary, the window may be left only a little open.

The brushing the carpet, and removing and rubbing the furniture, are not in general required to be done more than once a week; but as every day cleaning the grate, making the bed, wiping everything on the washhand-stand, and dusting everything in the room, are necessary, most of this work will have to be done in the early part of the forenoon, for probably before one chamber even is finished, the housemaid will be rung for to take away the breakfast-things. The urn is the first thing to be removed, then the plates, put one above another, the cups and saucers, knives, forks, and every other article collected together with the least possible noise, should be carried away on a large tray, taking care not to put more on at one time than it can safely hold, for it is painful to see the way in which some servants load the breakfast-tray so as to clear the table of everything at once, decidedly indicating that they would rather risk the whole being broken, than have the trouble of returning to the room a second time. On removing the cloth, any crumbs which may have fallen on the carpet, should be swept into the dust-pan with a small brush, kept in a corner of the room for that purpose; the carpet should never on any account be touched with the hearth-brush; a most slovenly practice, and all from a miserable saving of trouble, for if no second brush be kept in the room for this purpose, the time which it will take the housemaid to fetch her own carpet-brush, will be short compared to that which she must bestow on brushing the carpet again and again with tea-leaves, to get rid of the dust and soil which it has contracted during a week of improper management. It is not cleaning a room once a week, and giving to it little time and trouble, that will give it a clean, fresh appearance; it is attention in doing a little daily, and in doing that little in a proper manner. A carpet had better not be brushed at all, than touched with a dirty brush, and the chintz covers are less injured even by the dust lying upon them, than by having it rubbed off with a soiled duster, which may have been used the moment before in rubbing the furniture, or in wiping the fire-irons. The crumbs having been swept away, fresh coal should be put on the fire, and the hearth-brush used in sweeping in the hearth before the maid leaves the room.

Having shaken the breakfast cloth, folded it in exactly the same folds as it had at first, and put it into the napkin press, she will next proceed to have her own breakfast, and that being finished, she will put away the tea-leaves into a jar kept for that purpose, and having put aside the bread, butter, milk, &c., which may remain, into their proper places, she will carefully wash the plates, cups, saucers, &c., &c., in a large wooden bowl, and with warm water—the vessel for washing either china or crystal should always be of wood, as it is much less liable to chip the articles, and the water used should be warm, but by no means at boiling heat, or accidents are sure to happen, particularly in winter, when there is frost in the air, as glass or china are then more easily cracked: many a beautiful crystal butter-dish has been cracked by being hastily plunged into hot water, and even a far less degree of heat will crack either crystal or china, if warm water is poured upon it, while standing on any cold surface. The warm water is required for the butter-dish; crystal in general should always be washed in cold water, as glass is made to look much clearer by being washed in cold water. So if any glasses have been used the night before, let them now be washed in cold water, and well rubbed up with a glass cloth, till they look quite clear. The tea-spoons, cups, saucers, and milk-jug, come next to be washed in warm water, and lastly, the silver forks, plates, and butter-dish; by this arrangement the articles not greasy will not be dimmed by those that are; the knives should be put aside in a knife-box, to be taken away by the person who is to clean them, and the tray, after being washed over, and well rubbed up, should be placed in the butler’s pantry, with its face to the wall, and each tea-cup hung up on a nail, with the saucers ranged below on shelves for the purpose; every article should be put in its place, that all may be out of the way of breakage, and ready when again wanted; it is scarcely necessary to add that the linen cloths, used for drying the cups, glasses, &c., should be perfectly clean.

The work still to be done above stairs should next be attended to and completed, and the chamber candlesticks brought down to be cleaned, and the lamps for the sitting rooms to be trimmed and filled with fresh oil: this should be done in a tidy manner, the drawer for the ends of candles should be lined with coarse brown paper, which will require to be frequently changed, and a large sheet of brown paper spread on a small table for the lamps and candlesticks to stand upon. It is a dirty practice to clean the candlesticks on the kitchen dresser (as is sometimes done), for even if the paper be spread beneath them, particles of tallow may be left on the dresser, which are not perceived, and may be mixed with the food preparing for dinner; it is also an exceedingly bad practice to place the candlesticks on the upper bar of the kitchen-grate to melt the tallow; a most disagreeable smell is raised in the house by the tallow dropping into the fire, and the japan of the candlestick is often injured by the heat. The knife kept for scraping the candles should be wiped with a bit of paper each time it is used, and put back instantly into the candle-drawer, and the oil-can also wiped. Great care should be taken in cleaning the lamp: if all the passages are not quite clear, so that the air can pass through, it cannot burn well. There is now a small instrument sold with the lamps which is of great assistance in freeing them from the coagulated oil and dust, and renders the necessity of washing them less frequent; when they do require to be washed, it must be done with boiling water and soda mixed in it, then all the parts rinsed quite clean in a second water, also very hot, and the lamp put down before the fire for some hours before it is filled with oil, so that all the parts inside may be perfectly dry; if there is the least remains of the soda or of water in the lamp, it will burn dim. Attention also is required in filling it quite full; a lamp often, after some hours, begins to burn quite dim for want of sufficient oil, yet the servant declares it cannot be for this reason, as she filled it completely. An air-bubble often rises in pouring in the oil, which gives the appearance of its being full, and deceives them—they must wait for a moment till this subsides, and then continue gently to pour in the oil till it is quite full. It is not necessary to pour out any oil which may remain from the night before; it is only required to fill it up; and if in winter, the lamp should be put down near a fire for some time before it is brought into the room, as the oil congeals in cold weather, which also prevents its burning bright. Pay particular attention in cutting the wick quite smooth all round with a pair of lamp-scissors: if it is ragged or cut uneven, the light is flickering and uncertain—the wick should be very little raised when the lamp is first lighted, and turned higher up a few minutes after, and by slow degrees; if it is raised high at first, besides the risk of cracking not only the chimney of the lamp, but the shade itself by a sudden flame; it never burns so bright again when turned down, as when slowly raised to the proper height. The chimney should each day be cleaned and made bright as a mirror—if smoked or dirty, the light can never be clear; the shade should be washed once a week with soap and water, and during the day it is well to have the lamp covered over with a paper cap, or a towel put over it, as the dust flying into the works makes it difficult to clean. It is not easy to convince servants that attending to those little things which they may think trifles, saves a great deal of time in the end. If much dust is allowed to fly in from day to day, washing with soda and boiling water will not be sufficient, the works of the lamp will require to be boiled before it can be made perfectly clean.

When candles are required in the sitting-rooms, in addition to the lamp, let the candlesticks be properly cleaned, and fresh candles set in them, and the shorter pieces made use of for the bed-rooms; where wax-candles are not used, see that the snuffers for the different candlesticks are completely emptied and carefully wiped, and that there is a pair of snuffers for each bed-room candlestick, as well as for each sitting-room. The lights being thus prepared for night, and the work in the different rooms finished, if it is not sweeping-day, the housemaid will still have some time for needlework before laying the cloth for dinner. Before sitting down to work, she will of course wash her face and hands, change her working-dress for a gown with long sleeves, a white apron instead of a coloured one, and a tidy modest-looking bobbin-net cap, coming close to the face, and tied with a ribbon of some quiet colour; nothing is more unbecoming in her station, than a flying out cap hanging on the back of the head, with gaudy soiled ribbons streaming down in all directions. The style of dress adopted by servants of late years is much to be regretted; it is a loss of their money, of their time, and above all, of their respectability; a maid-servant can never be too scrupulously clean and quiet in her dress.

A few more observations on this subject may be added in another place. In sitting down to work, she will take care to be within hearing of the drawing-room bell, and the knocker of the street door. By proper regulation there will always be some part of each day for needlework, and in the country, where less sweeping and dusting is required, a great deal may be done in this way. It is a pleasant sight to see a young girl neatly and quietly dressed, busily plying her needle, her tidy work-basket beside her well stocked with cotton-reels, rolls of worsted, tapes, needles, pins, scissors, and thimble. It will probably be her business to mend the bed and table-linen, to watch over the state of the carpets, table-covers, &c., and repair them when necessary; a slit or tear in the carpet, even of an attic, is sure to give a bad impression of the housemaid. The bed-linen should be carefully looked over each time before going to the wash, and the slightest fracture or slit repaired; and instead of allowing the middle of the sheet to wear into holes, while the sides are quite good, as soon as the sheet begins to wear, the breadths should be unripped, and the sides turned into the middle and joined again. Care should also be taken that the buttons or strings for each pillow-slip are complete; it is most desirable that the housemaid should be a good darner of table-cloths, and also of stockings, for where there is no ladies’-maid the darning of the ladies’ stockings will be part of her work; and even where there is, the charge of the gentleman’s stockings generally falls to her care; but anxiety to get on with her work must not lead her to forget when the time for laying the cloth for dinner shall have arrived. Having previously rung a bell precisely half-an-hour before dinner, as a signal for the family to dress, which bell should be punctual as the clock itself, and having at the same time added fresh coal to the fire, swept the hearth, and placed the plate-warmer before the fire, she should enter the dining-room to lay the cloth a quarter of an hour before the dinner-hour strikes. To enable her to be ready in this time, however, all must have been prepared before sitting down to work; the clean knives and forks put into the tray, the mustard and vinegar replenished, the tops of the cruets carefully wiped, and the salt-cellars filled. To avoid as much as possible having to open and shut the door often when laying the cloth, collect as many of the articles necessary as you can bring in at one time in a large tray, glasses, tumblers, spoons, knife-tray, bread-basket, and beer and water jugs. All being prepared, see that the stand for placing your tray in while you bring in the glasses, &c., is placed in a convenient corner of the room, and that the basket for carrying the plates and the trays for the knives and forks which have been used, are placed near the sideboard, but not in the way to prevent passing easily. Having brought everything into the room which is necessary, shut the door, and having laid the cloth perfectly straight on the table, place a plate for each person, with a napkin neatly folded upon it, and on the right side of the plate, place a knife and spoon, and on the left a silver fork. The soup-plates should be placed before the person who is to help the soup, and a carving-knife and fork, and a gravy-spoon, put at the top and bottom of the table. Place a salt-cellar at each corner of the table, lay a couple of spoons on each side of it, and a crystal caraffe filled with clear spring-water; see that those caraffes, and the tumblers and glasses (which should be placed all round the table for each person) are perfectly clear and bright: a clean glass-cloth should be brought into the room to wipe off any dimness which a finger may have caused. When the different articles on the table are perfectly bright-looking, and the dishes neatly sent up, the plainest dinner has a look of comfort, and even elegance about it. A knife, fork, or spoon, which has not been properly cleaned, cannot be taken into the hand without being discovered, and leaving a disagreeable impression; a visitor may not have the courage to send it away, but the comfort of his dinner is destroyed. Having cut some slices of bread rather thick, cut each slice into four, and with a fork, put a piece all round for each person, leaving the loaf in the room in case more may be required; when more is called for, hand some additional pieces in the bread-basket. Place a chair for each person.

The sideboard should next be laid out with a supply of knives, silver forks, spoons, tumblers, glasses, and silver-waiters. As considerable taste may be shown in the arrangement of those articles, it may be well to take a lesson of laying out a sideboard from the first butler, or experienced man-servant, who may chance to be in waiting on any of the dinner-guests at your master’s table. All should be done without noise or bustle, and with a quick hand and light foot; jingling the glasses, making a clashing noise in lifting the knives, knocking the chairs against the legs of the table, and moving about with a heavy foot, (and often with the addition of creaking shoes,) are extremely disagreeable to whoever may be in the room at the moment, and even should no one be present, the servant should accustom herself to do all these with the least possible noise, that the habit of doing things quietly may be acquired; activity is a first-rate quality in a waiter at table, but then it must be quiet activity.