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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14117-0.txt b/14117-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbed250 --- /dev/null +++ b/14117-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1721 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14117 *** + +WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +Business Principles Applied to Housework + +by + +C. HÉLÈNE BARKER + +Author of _Automobile French_ + +New York +Moffat, Yard & Company + +1915 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book is not a treatise on Domestic Science. The vacuum +cleaner and the fireless cooker are not even mentioned. The efficient +kitchen devised in such an interesting and clever way has no place in +it. Its exclusive object is to suggest a satisfactory and workable +solution along modern lines of how to get one's housework efficiently +performed without doing it one's self. + +If the propositions that she advances seem at first startling, the +writer begs only for a patient hearing, for she is convinced by strong +reasons and abundant experience, that liberty in the household, like +social and political liberty, can never come except from obedience to +just law. + +C.H.B. + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and Inefficiency in the Home 1 + Difficulty of Obtaining Women to Do Housework 11 + The Disadvantages of Housework Compared with Work + in Factories, Stores, and Offices 19 + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living Outside Place of Employment 31 + Housework Limited to 8 Hours a Day 47 + Housework Limited to 6 Days a Week 61 + The Observance of Legal Holidays 75 + Extra Pay for Overtime 81 + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight Hour Schedules for One Employee 93 + Eight Hour Schedules for Two Employees 109 + Eight Hour Schedules for Three Employees 121 + + + + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and inefficiency in the home. + Difficulty of obtaining women to do housework. + The disadvantages connected with housework compared + with work in factories, stores, and offices. + + +IGNORANCE AND INEFFICIENCY IN THE HOME + + +The twentieth-century woman, in spite of her progressive and ambitious +theories about woman's sphere of activity, has allowed her housekeeping +methods to remain almost stationary, while other professions and +industries have moved forward with gigantic strides. + +She does not hesitate to blazon abroad with banners and pennants her +desire to share with man the responsibility for the administration of +the State, but she overlooks the disquieting fact that in the management +of her own household, where her authority is absolute, she has failed +to convince the world of her power to govern. When confronted with this +accusation, she asserts that the maintenance of a home is neither a +business nor a profession, and that in consequence it ought not to be +compared with them nor be judged by the same standards. + +Is it not due perhaps to this erroneous idea that housekeeping is a +failure to-day? For the fact that it is a failure cannot be hidden, +and that it has been a failure for many years past is equally true. +Recent inventions, and labor saving utensils, have greatly facilitated +housework, yet housekeeping is still accompanied with much +dissatisfaction on the part of the employer and the employee. + +There are only a few women to-day who regard domestic science in the +light of a profession, or a business, although in reality it is both. +For what is a profession if it be not the application of science to +life? And does not work which one follows regularly constitute a +business? + +Many women, however, do not regard housekeeping even as a serious +occupation, and few have devoted as much time, thought, and energy to +mastering the principles of domestic economy as of late years women of +all classes of society have willingly given to the study of the rules +and ever changing intricacies of auction bridge. Some consider their +time too valuable to devote to domestic and culinary matters, and openly +boast of their ignorance. Outside engagements, pleasures, philanthropic +schemes, or work, monopolize their days, and the conduct of the house +devolves upon their employees. The result is rarely satisfactory. It is +essential that the woman who is at the head of any concern, be it a +business, a profession, or a home, should not only thoroughly understand +its every detail, but in order to make it a success she must give it her +personal attention each day for at least a portion of her time. + +It is a popular impression that the knowledge of good housekeeping, +and of the proper care of children, comes naturally to a woman, who, +though she had no previous training or preparation for these duties, +suddenly finds them thrust upon her. But how many women can really look +back with joy to the first years of their housekeeping? Do they not +remember them more with a feeling of dismay than pleasure? How many +foolish mistakes occurred entailing repentance and discomfort! And how +many heart-burnings were caused, and even tears shed, because in spite +of the best intentions, everything seemed to go wrong? And why? Simply +because of ignorance and inefficiency in the home, not only of the +employee, but of the employer also. + +That an employee is ignorant and unskilled in her work is often +excusable, but there is absolutely no excuse for a woman who has time +and money at her command, to be ignorant of domestic science, when of +her own free will she undertakes the responsibilities of housekeeping. + +Nearly all women take interest in the furnishing of their homes, and +give their personal attention to it with the result that as a rule they +excel in household decoration, and often produce marvels of beauty and +taste with the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money. + +Marketing is also very generally attended to in person by the housewife, +but she is using the telephone more and more frequently as a substitute +for a personal visit to butcher and grocer, and this is greatly to her +disadvantage. The telephone is a very convenient instrument, especially +in emergency, or for ordering things that do not vary in price. But when +prices depend upon the fluctuations of the market, or when the articles +to be purchased are of a perishable nature, it must be remembered that +the telephone is also a very convenient instrument for the merchant who +is anxious to get rid of his bad stock. + +The remaining branches of housekeeping apparently do not interest +the modern housewife. She entrusts them very generally to her employees, +upon whose skill and knowledge she blindly relies. Unfortunately skill +and knowledge are very rare qualities, and if the housewife herself be +ignorant of the proper way of doing the work in her own home, how can +she be fitted to direct those she places in charge of it, or to make a +wise choice when she has to select a new employee? Too often she engages +women and young girls without investigating their references of +character or capability, and when time proves what an imprudent +proceeding she has been party to, she simply attributes the consequent +troubles to causes beyond her control. If the housewife were really +worthy of her name she would be able not only to pick out better +employees, but to insist upon their work being properly done. To-day +she is almost afraid to ask her cook to prepare all the dishes for the +family meals, nor does she always find some one willing to do the family +washing. She is obliged to buy food already cooked from the caterer or +baker, because her so-called "cook" was not accustomed to bake bread and +rolls, or to make pies and cakes, or ice cream, for previous employers, +from whom nevertheless she received an excellent reference as cook. Of +course in cities it is easy to buy food already cooked or canned and to +send all the washing to the laundry, but it helps to raise the "high +cost of living" to alarming proportions, and it also encourages +ignorance in the most important branches of domestic economy. + +In spite of the "rush of modern life," a woman who has a home ought to +be willing to give some part of her time to its daily supervision. +Eternal vigilance is the price of everything worth having. If she gave +this she would not have so many tales of woe to relate about the +laziness, neglectfulness, and stupidity of her cook and housemaids. +There is not a single housewife to-day who has not had many bitter +experiences. One who desires information upon this subject has only to +call on the nearest friend. + +To the uninterested person, to the onlooker, the helplessness of the +woman who is at the head of the home, her inability to cope with her +domestic difficulties, is often comic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes +almost tragic. The publications of the day have caricatured the +situation until it has become an outworn jest. The present system of +housekeeping can no longer stand. One of two things must occur. Either +the housewife must adopt business principles in ruling her household, +or she will find before many more years elapse there will be no longer +any woman willing to place her neck under the domestic yoke. + +If the principles set forth in the following pages can be popularized in +a comprehensive plan of which all the parts can be thoroughly understood +both by the housewife and her employee, ignorance and inefficiency in +the home will be presently abolished. + + +DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WOMEN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +The present unsatisfactory condition of domestic labor in private houses +is not confined to any special city or country; it is universal. Each +year the difficulty of obtaining women to do housework seems to increase +and the demand is so much greater than the supply, that ignorant and +inefficient employees are retained simply because it is impossible to +find others more competent to replace them. + +There is hardly a home to-day where, at one time or another, the +housewife has not gone through the unenviable experience of being +financially able and perfectly willing to pay for the services of some +one to help her in her housekeeping duties, and yet found it almost +impossible to get a really competent and intelligent employee. As a +rule, those who apply for positions in housework are grossly ignorant of +the duties they profess to perform, and the well trained, clever, and +experienced workers are sadly in the minority. + +Women and young girls who face the necessity of self support, or who +wish to lead a life of independence, no longer choose housework as a +means of earning a livelihood. It is evident that there is a reason, +and a very potent one, that decides them to accept any kind of +employment in preference to the work offered them in a private home. +Wages, apparently, have little to do with their decision, nor other +considerations which must add very much to their material welfare, +such as good food in abundance, and clean, well ventilated sleeping +accommodations, for these two important items are generally included +at present in the salaries of household employees. Concessions, too, +are frequently made, and favors bestowed upon them by many of their +employers, yet few young girls, and still fewer women are content to +work in private families. + +It is a deplorable state of affairs, and women seem to be gradually +losing their courage to battle with this increasingly difficult +question: How to obtain and retain one's domestic employees? + +The peace of the family and the joy and comfort of one's home should be +a great enough incentive to awaken the housewife to the realization that +something must be wrong in her present methods. It is in vain that she +complains bitterly, on all occasions, of the scarcity of good servants, +asserting that it is beyond her comprehension why work in factories, +stores, and offices, should be preferred to the work she offers. + +Is it beyond her comprehension? Or has she never considered in what way +the work she offers differs from the work so eagerly accepted? Does she +not realize that the present laws of labor adopted in business are very +different from those she still enforces in her own home? Why does she +not compare housework with all other work in which women are employed, +and find out why housework is disdained by nearly all self supporting +women? + +Instead of doing this, she sometimes avoids the trouble of trying +to keep house with incompetent employees by living in hotels, or +non-housekeeping apartments; but for the housewife who does not possess +the financial means to indulge herself thus, or who still prefers home +life with all its trials to hotel life, the only alternative is to +submit to pay high wages for very poor work or to do a great part of the +housework herself. In both cases the result is bad, for in neither does +the family enjoy the full benefit of home, nor is the vexatious problem, +so often designated as the "servant question," brought any nearer to a +solution. + +The careful study of any form of labor invariably reveals some need of +amelioration, but in none is there a more urgent need of reform than in +domestic labor in private homes. + +It is more for the sake of the housewife than for her employee that a +reform is to be desired. The latter is solving her problem by finding +work outside the home, while the former is still unduly harassed by +household troubles. With a few notable exceptions, only those who are +unqualified to compete with the business woman are left to help the +householder, and the problem confronting her to-day is not so much how +to change inefficient to efficient help, but how to obtain any help at +all. + +The spirit of independence has so deeply entered into the lives of +women of all classes, that until housework be regulated in such a way +as to give to those engaged in it the same rights and privileges as are +granted to them in other forms of labor, the best workers will naturally +seek employment elsewhere. + + +THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOUSEWORK COMPARED WITH WORK IN FACTORIES, STORES, +AND OFFICES + +Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in +factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many +old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern +housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of +our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which +women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important +positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the +coöperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of +work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it +was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible, +if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption. + +Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate +to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in +stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their +families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay +small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding +increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are +limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the +twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still +enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own +social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest, +and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain. + +With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position +of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind +to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take +up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about +once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her +escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a +beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego +this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know +that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the +result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from +early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with +the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere +drudgery. + +As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Considering +the many responsible positions waiting to be filled in private families, +nothing could be more desirable than to instil into one's employees the +ambition to rise. An employee who has passed through all the different +branches of domestic science, from the lowest to the highest in one +family, must be far better fitted to occupy the highest position in +that family than one who applies for the position with the training and +experience gained only in other families where the mode of living may be +very different. Since there is no chance of promotion and in consequence +of receiving better pay, the domestic employee is often tempted to seek +higher wages elsewhere, and thus the desire "to make a change," so +disastrous to the peace of mind of the housewife, is engendered in her +employees. + +In domestic labor the hours of work are longer than in any other form of +employment, for they are unlimited. Moreover, instead of having one day +out of seven as a day of rest, only half a day is granted beginning +usually about three o'clock in the afternoon, or even later. And legal +holidays bring no relief, for they are practically unknown to the +household employee. The only way women engaged in housework in private +families can obtain a real holiday is by being suddenly called away +"to take care of a sick aunt." There is an old saying containing certain +words of wisdom about "all work and no play" that perhaps explains the +dullness so often met with in domestic help. + +The hardest thing to submit to, however, from the point of view of the +woman employed in housework, is the lack of freedom outside of working +hours. This prevents her from taking part in her former social life. +She is not allowed to go out even for an hour or two every day to see +her relatives and friends. To ask them to visit her in her employer's +kitchen is not a very agreeable alternative either to herself or her +employer, and even then she is obliged to be on duty, for she must still +wear her uniform and hold herself in readiness to answer the bell until +the family for whom she works retires for the night. + +With such restrictions it is not surprising that the majority of +women feel that they are losing "caste" if they accept positions in +private families. There are two more causes to which this feeling of the +loss of caste may be attributed. One is the habit of calling household +employees by their first name or by their surname without the prefix of +"Miss"; the other is the custom of making them eat in their employer's +kitchen. These are minor details, perhaps, but nevertheless they count +for much in the lives of women who earn their own living, and anything, +however small, that tends to raise one's self respect, is worthy of +consideration. Perhaps, too, while the word "servant" (a noble word +enough in its history and its moral connotation) carries with it a +stigma, a sense of degradation, among the working women, it should +be avoided. + +Briefly summed up, then, the present disadvantages of housework compared +with work in factories, stores, and offices, are as follows: + + Enforced separation from one's family. + Loss of personal freedom. + Lack of promotion. + Unlimited hours of work. + No day of rest each week. + Non-observance of legal holidays. + Loss of caste. + +In the present comparison of housework with work in factories, stores, +and offices, a recital of the advantages of domestic service, even under +the present method of housekeeping, must not be omitted, for such +advantages are important, although unfortunately they do not outweigh +the present disadvantages. + +To the woman whose home ties have been disrupted by death or discord, +and to the newly arrived immigrant especially, housework is a great +boon, inasmuch as besides good wages, all meals and a room to sleep +in are given her. Moreover housework is the only form of labor where +unskilled work can command high wages. This, however, is much more +fortunate for the employee than for her employer. + +Housework in itself is certainly _not worse_ than any other kind of +manual work in which women are engaged; it is often more interesting and +less fatiguing. It also helps a woman more than any other occupation to +prepare herself for her natural sphere of life:--that of the home maker. +A girl who has spent several years in a well ordered family helping to +do the housework, is far better fitted to run her own home intelligently +and on economic lines than a girl who has spent the same number of years +behind a counter, or working in a factory or an office. + +Again, work in a private house is infinitely more desirable, from the +point of view of the influence of one's surroundings, than daily labor +in a factory or store. The variety of domestic duties, the freedom of +moving about from one room to another, of sitting or standing to do +one's work, are much to be preferred to the work that compels the worker +to stand or sit in one place all day long. + +If it be admitted, then, that housework is in itself a desirable and +suitable occupation for women who must earn their living by manual +labor, it can not be the work itself, but the conditions surrounding it +that make it so distasteful to the modern working woman. + + + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living outside place of employment. + Housework limited to eight hours a day. + Housework limited to six days a week. + The observance of legal holidays. + Extra pay for overtime. + + +LIVING OUTSIDE PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT + +There are many housewives who are very much opposed to the adoption +of a plan enabling household employees to live outside their place of +employment. They claim that it is wiser to keep them under constant +supervision day and night in order to prevent the introduction of +disease or the acquisition of bad habits. + +There is more risk of disease being introduced into the home, and of bad +habits being contracted by allowing one's children to associate with +other children in schools, public or private, and by letting them play +in the streets and public parks, where they mingle with more or less +undesirable companions, than by having the housework performed by +employees who come each day to their work and return to their homes +at night when their duties are over. Nevertheless no sensible parents +would keep their children shut up in the house, only allowing them to +go out of doors for a few hours once a week, for fear of contagion or +contamination, and yet this is just what the housewife has been doing +for years with her household employees under the firm impression that +she was protecting them as well as herself. + +Present statistics, however, upon the morality and immorality of women +who belong to what is at present termed the "servant class," prove only +too clearly that the "protection" provided by the employer's home does +not protect. The shelter thus given serves too often to encourage a life +of deception, especially as in reality the housewife knows but little of +what takes place "below stairs." + +The "servants' quarters" are, as a rule, far enough away from the other +rooms of the house for much to transpire there without the knowledge of +the "mistress of the house," but who has not heard her complain of the +misconduct of her employees? Startling discoveries have been made at the +most unexpected times and from the most unexpected quarters. One lady +found her maid was in the habit of going out at night after the family +had retired, and leaving the front door unlocked in order to regain +admittance in the early morning without arousing the family. Another +housewife discovered one day that her cook's husband, whose existence +until then was unknown, had been coming for several months to her house +for his dinner. Every householder finds that in the late evening her +"servants" entertain their numerous "cousins" and friends at her +expense. Moreover, they do not hesitate to use the best china, glass, +and silver for special parties and draw upon the household supplies for +the choicest meats and wines. And because they cannot go out in the day +time, it is not unusual to find some friend or relative comes to spend +the entire day with them, and in consequence the housewife not only +feeds her "help" but a string of hangers-on as well. Why should she be +surprised that she does not get an adequate return for the amount of +money she spends? And these things take place, not only during the +temporary absence of the employer, but even while she is sitting +peacefully in the library and listening to a parlor lecture on the +relations of capital and labor. + +Women say tearfully or bravely on such occasions: "What can be done +to make servants better? They are getting worse every day." And the +housewife (one might almost call her by Samuel Pepys's pleasing phrase, +"the poor wretch") then pours out to any sympathetic ear endless +recitals of aggravating, worrying, nerve-racking experiences. Instead of +putting an end to such a regrettable state of affairs that would never +be tolerated by any business employer, she seems content to bewail her +fate and clings still more steadfastly to obsolete methods. + +Why does she not adopt the methods of the business man in dealing with +his employees? The advisability of having household employees live +outside their place of employment is so apparent that it ought to appeal +to every one. There would be no longer the necessity of putting aside +and of furnishing certain rooms of the house for their accommodation: +a practice which in the majority of families is quite a serious +inconvenience and always an expense. In small homes where only one maid +is kept, it may not make much difference to give up one room to her, but +where several employees are needed, it means very often that many rooms +must be used as sleeping apartments for them, frequently too a sitting +room or a special dining room is given them. This is not all, for the +rooms must be furnished and kept clean and warm, and supplied with an +unlimited amount of gas and electricity. In many families the boarding +and lodging of household employees cause as much anxiety and expense to +the housewife as to provide for her own family. + +And why does she do it? Why does she consent to take upon herself so +much extra trouble for nothing? For, although she offers good food and +a bed besides excellent wages to all who work for her, she is the most +poorly served of all employers to-day. + +In the great feudal castles of the Middle Ages it was not deemed +safe for women to venture forth alone, even in the daytime, and so +those engaged in housework were naturally compelled to live under their +Master's roof, eating at his table and sitting "below the salt." But +the Master and the Serf of feudal times disappeared long ago, only the +Mistress and her "servants" remain. + +To-day, however, "servants" no longer sit at their employer's table; +they remain in the kitchen, where as a rule they are given to eat what +is left from the family meals. Some housewives, from motives of kindness +and consideration for the welfare of those in their employ, have special +meals prepared for them and served in a dining-room of their own at +hours which do not conflict with the meals of the family. But this does +not always meet with gratitude or even due appreciation; the disdainful +way in which Bridget often complains of the food too generously provided +for her is well known. + +A chambermaid came one day to her employer and said she did not wish to +complain but thought it better to say frankly that she was not satisfied +with what she was getting to eat in her house: she wanted to have roast +beef for dinner more often, at least three or four times a week, for she +did not care to eat mutton, nor steak, and never ate pork, nor could +she, to quote her own words "fill up on bread and vegetables as the +other girls did in the kitchen." + +Then, and only then, did her employer wake up with a start to the +realization of the true position every housewife occupies in the eyes +of her household employees. They evidently regard her in the light of +a caterer; she does the marketing not only for her family but for them +too. She pays a cook high wages, not only to cook meals for herself and +family, but for her employees also. + +For the first time in her life, this housewife asked herself the +following questions: Why should she allow her household employees to +live in her house? Why should she consent to board them at her expense? +Why should she continue to place at their disposal a bedroom each, a +private bathroom, a sitting room or a dining room? Why should she allow +them to make use of her kitchen and laundry to do their own personal +washing, even providing them with soap and starch, irons and an ironing +board, fuel and gas? Why should she do all this for them when no +business employer, man or woman, ever does it? Was it simply because her +mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother had been in the habit of +doing it? + +This awakening was the beginning of the end of all the trouble and +expense which she had endured for so many years in connection with the +boarding and lodging of her "servants." To-day she has no "servants"; +she has household employees who come to her house each day, just as +other employees go each day to their place of employment. They take no +meals in her house, and her housekeeping expenses have diminished as +much as her own comfort has increased. Her employees are better and more +efficient than any she ever had under the old régime, and nothing could +persuade her to return to her former methods of housekeeping. + +The cost of providing meals for domestic employees varies according to +the mode of living of each individual family, and of late it has been +the subject of much discussion. Some important details, however, seem +to be generally overlooked, for the cost of the food is the only thing +usually considered by the average housewife. To this first expense must +be added the cost of pots and pans for cooking purposes; even under +careful management, kitchen utensils are bound to wear out and must be +replaced. Then there is the cost of the extra fuel or gas or electricity +required to cook the food, nor must one forget to count the extra work +of the cook to prepare the meals, and of the kitchen maid or of some +other maid to wash up the dishes after each meal served to employees. +There is also the expense of buying kitchen plates and dishes, glasses, +cups and saucers, knives and forks, etc. Every housewife is in the habit +of providing kitchenware for the use of her employees. + +The total sum of all these items would astonish those who think that +the actual expense of giving meals to household employees is not a very +great one and is limited to the cost of the food they eat; even this +last expense is considerably augmented by the careless and wasteful way +in which provisions are generally handled by those who do not have to +pay for them. When ways and means are discussed among housewives to +reduce the present "high cost of living," it would be well to advise all +women to try the experiment of having their household employees live +outside their place of employment. The result from an economic point +of view alone is amazing, and the relief it brings the housewife who +is no longer obliged to provide food and sleeping accommodations for +her employees is so great that one wonders why she has been willing to +burden herself with these responsibilities for so many years. + +There was once a time when women did not go out alone to eat in a +restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating their +midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business prove +themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason why +household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop girls and +stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would enjoy their +meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their employer's house +is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of surroundings and the +opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their work behind them, would +compensate them. In any event, it is clearly proved by the scarcity of +women applying for positions in private houses that these two advantages +only to be obtained in domestic labor--board and lodging--do not attract +the working woman of the present day. + +The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted +feeling. There is an ancient fable of Æsop about the Dog and the Wolf +which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner. +(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.) + + THE DOG AND THE WOLF + + There was a Hagged Carrion of a _Wolf_, and a Jolly Sort of a + Gentile _Dog_, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company + together upon the King's High-Way. The _Wolf_ was wonderfully + pleas'd with his Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be + brought himself to That Blessed State of Body. Why, says the _Dog_, + I keep my Master's House from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, + Drink, and Lodging for my pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, + and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The _Wolf_ Struck up the + Bargain, and so away they Trotted together: But as they were + Jogging on, the _Wolf_ spy'd a Bare Place about the _Dog's_ Neck + where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he) how comes this I + prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the _Dog_, but the Fretting of my + _Collar_ a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a _Collar_ in the + Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust. + + THE MORAL + + ...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm + Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his + Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it. + + +In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an +employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider +for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place +of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for +them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of +benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for work +early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an arrangement. +When he needs some one to watch over his interests in the night time, +he engages a night watchman, a very much more economical plan than to +provide lodging for all his employees. + +Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden of +a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the country, +where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home, such +a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is +absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat, +and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly +a custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the +observance." + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY + +In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it +is the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions +of life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned. + +It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor +of women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private +houses. + +It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or +fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a +household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to wane at +the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to the same +work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The truth of +the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long acknowledged and +nowadays requires no argument. + +When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how +many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill a +domestic position in a family, the number of hours she is expected to +give her employer is never specified. She is simply told that she must +be on duty early in the morning before the family arises, and that she +may consider herself off duty as soon as the family for whom she is +working has withdrawn for the night. Is it surprising that under such +conditions working women are not very enthusiastic over the domestic +proposition to-day? + +A household employee ought to have her hours of work as clearly defined +as if she were a business employee, and there is no reason why the +eight-hour labor law could not be applied as successfully to housework +as to any other enterprise. + +Work in business is generally divided into two periods. Yet this +division can not always be effected, and in railroad and steamship +positions, in post offices, upon trolley lines, in hotels, in hospitals, +and in other cases too numerous to mention, where work must follow a +continuous round, the working hours are divided into more than two +periods, according to the nature of the work and the interests of the +employer, not however exceeding a fixed number of hours per day or per +week. + +It would be far better for the housewife as well as for her employees, +if the housework were limited in a similar way. But with the +introduction of the eight-hour law in the home, certain new conditions +would have to be rigidly enforced in order to ensure success. + +Firstly, the employee should be made to understand that during the eight +hours of work agreed upon, she must be engaged in actual work for her +employer. + +Secondly, when an employee is off duty, she should not be allowed to +remain with or to talk to the other employee or employees who are still +on duty. When her work is finished, she ought to leave her employer's +house. The non-observance of either of these two points produces a +demoralizing effect. + +Thirdly, a general knowledge of cooking, and serving meals, of cleaning +and taking proper care of the rooms of a house, of attending correctly +to the telephone and the door bell, of sewing, of washing and ironing, +and of taking care of children, should be insisted upon from all +household employees. + +There are many housewives who will state that this last condition is +impossible, that it is asking too much from one employee; and since it +is hard to-day to find a good cook, it will be still harder to find one +who understands other household work as well. But those who jump to +these conclusions have never tried the experiment. It is not only +possible but practicable. + +Judging from the ordinary intelligence displayed by the average cook and +housemaid in the majority of private homes to-day, it ought not to seem +incredible that the duties of both could be easily mastered by young +women of ordinary ability. A woman who knows how to prepare and cook a +meal, may easily learn the correct way of serving it, and the possession +of this knowledge ought not to prevent her from being capable of +sweeping a room, or making a bed, or taking care of children. + +It is above all in families where only a few employees are kept, that +the housewife will quickly realize how much it is to her immediate +advantage to employ women who know how to do all kinds of housework, +instead of having those who make a specialty of one particular branch. + +The specialization of work in private houses has been carried to +such an extreme that it has become one of the greatest drawbacks +to successful housekeeping in small families. Under this system of +specialization, a household employee is not capable in emergency of +taking up satisfactorily the work of another. Even if she be able to do +it, she often professes ignorance for fear it may prolong her own hours +of labor, or because, as she sometimes frankly admits, she does not +consider it "her place." The chambermaid does not know how to cook, the +cook does not know how to do the chamberwork, the waitress, in her turn, +can do neither cooking nor chamberwork, and the annoyance to the whole +family caused by the temporary absence of one of its regular employees +is enough to spoil for the time being all the traditional comforts of +home. + +In hotels and public institutions, and in large private establishments, +where the work demands a numerous staff of employees, the specialization +of the work is the only means for its successful accomplishment, but in +the average home requiring from one to four or five employees no system +could be worse from an economic point of view, nor less conducive to the +comfort of the family. + +Specialization produces another bad effect, for it prevents the +existence of the feeling of equality among employees in the same house. +Each "specialist" speaks rather disparagingly of the other's work, +regardless of the relative position her own special "art" may occupy to +the unprejudiced mind. + +An amusing instance of this was recently shown at a country place near +New York, when "the lady of the manor" asked a friend to send some one +down from the city to help with the housework during the temporary +absence of her maid. The friend could not find any one at the domestic +employment agencies willing to go, but at last through the Charity +Organization Society, she heard of a woman temporarily out of +employment, who had been frequently employed as scrubwoman on the +vacation piers. When the work was offered her, she accepted it +immediately. Arriving at her new employer's house, she began at once to +scrub the floors, and when the work was completed, she sat on a chair +and took no further notice of anything. The next day, having no more +floors to scrub, the same general lack of interest was manifested. She +was asked to wash the dishes after dinner. She replied that she was not +used to "dishwashing," and did not know how to do it. She was persuaded, +however, to make the attempt, but performed her new task very +reluctantly. The following morning she said she felt "lonely" and +would return at once to the city. As the train came in sight to bear +her back to her accustomed surroundings, she gave a snort of relief, +and exclaimed: "I'm a scrubwoman, I am. I ain't going to do no fancy +dishwashing, no, not for no one; I'm a scrubwoman." And she clambered up +into the train with the alacrity of a woman whose dignity had received a +hard blow. + +The above illustration is typical of the spirit subjected to the system +of specialization, and shows how unwise it is to encourage it in the +home where all branches of housework could be easily made +interchangeable. + +Under the new system of limiting housework to eight hours a day, the +housewife must insist that all applicants be willing and able to perform +any part of the housework she may assign, and their duties ought not +to be specified otherwise than by the term HOUSEWORK. The employee who +refuses to wait on the table during the absence of the waitress, or to +cook, or to do the laundry work, or to answer the telephone, or to carry +packages from her employer's automobile to the library, because she does +not consider it "her place to do these things," should be instantly +discharged. + +These very important conditions being understood and conceded, the +choice and arrangement of the eight hours' work must necessarily lie +with each individual housewife. Each family is different and has +different claims upon its time. The "rush hours" of social life are +sometimes in the evening, and sometimes in the afternoon, and again in +some families, especially where there are small children, the breakfast +hour seems the most complicated of the day. All these details have to be +carefully thought of when making an eight hour schedule. At the end of +this book a set of schedules is placed. Any intelligent housewife can +understand them, imitate them, and in many instances improve them. They +are merely given as elementary examples. + +According to the number of employees she engages, the housewife will +have eight, sixteen, or twenty-four hours of work to distribute among +them, and to meet her peculiar needs she will find it necessary at the +outset to devote some hours to a satisfactory scheme. After testing +several, she will probably have to begin all over again before she +finally succeeds in evolving one that is available. But the problem is +interesting in itself, and always admits of a solution. + +It may not be amiss to make this final suggestion for the woman who is +willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example +of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise +for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications +be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the +majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate +hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a +dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through +advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible +to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the +employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with +the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to +offer gratuitous service. + +The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle +theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it +is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who +would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in +the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids +would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the +domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in +the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other +way. + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK + +Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of +the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right +to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday. + +It is remarkable that this fact, showing so forcibly one of the +greatest disadvantages connected with housework, should attract so +little attention. No one seems to care about the fate of the "servant +girl," as she is so often disdainfully called. During six days of the +week she works on the average fourteen hours a day, but no one stops +to notice that she is tired. On the seventh day, instead of resting as +every other employee has the right to do, her work is merely reduced to +nine, eight, or perhaps seven hours; and yet she needs a day of rest +as much as every other woman who earns her bread. The rights of the +domestic employee are ignored on all sides apparently. In public +demonstrations of dissatisfaction between employers and employees the +most oppressed class of the working people--the women who do +housework--has never yet been represented. + +This is probably due to two causes: the first is because women +dissatisfied with housework are rapidly finding positions in business +where they enjoy rights and privileges denied them in domestic labor; +and the second is because the great majority of women engaged in +housework are foreign-born. These women learn quickly to understand and +speak English, but they do not often read and write it, and as they are +kept in close confinement in their employer's house, they have rarely +the opportunity of hearing about the emancipation of the modern working +woman. Most of them are of a very humble origin, and being debarred from +business positions on account of their ignorance and inexperience, they +are thankful to earn money in any kind of employment regardless of the +length of working hours. + +Their children, however, who are American born and enjoy better +educational advantages, do not follow in their footsteps when the +time comes for them to earn their living. They become stenographers, +typewriters, dressmakers, milliners, shirt waist makers, cash-girls, +saleswomen, etc.; in fact any occupation where work is limited to a +fixed number of hours a day and confined to six days a week, is +considered more desirable than housework. The result is that the +housewife is compelled to take for her employees only those who are +rejected by every other employer; the capable, independent, intelligent +American woman is hardly ever seen in domestic service. + +In Washington, D.C., a law (the La Follette Eight Hour Law for Women in +the District of Columbia) was recently passed limiting to eight hours +a day and six days a week practically all work in which women are +industrially employed; "hotel servants" are included under the +provisions of this law, but "domestic servants in private homes" are +expressly excluded. + +If this new law be considered a just and humane measure for women who +are business employees, and if business houses be compelled to observe +it, one naturally wonders why it should not prove to be an equally +just and humane law for women who work in private families, and why +should not the home be compelled to observe it too? Instead of being a +barrier to progress, the home ought to coöperate with the state in the +enforcement of laws for the amelioration of the condition of working +women. The home, being presided over by a woman, presumably of some +education and intelligence, should be a most fitting place in which to +apply a law designed to protect women against excessive hours of labor. + +Why should housework in private homes be an exception to all other work? +Is it because some housewives say, in self justification and frequently +without an accurate knowledge of what it is to do housework week after +week without one day's release, that housework is easier than other +work? Is it easier? Is it not sometimes harder? However, it is not a +question of housework being harder or easier than other work, but of the +desirability of having it limited to eight hours a day and six days a +week. Why should the housewife be allowed to remain in such a state of +apathy in regard to the physical welfare of her household employees? + +"Six days shalt thou labor" has all the sanction of scripture, of +morals, and of common experience. It is only fair that women who work in +private families should have one day out of seven as a day of rest, even +as their more fortunate sisters in the business world. If by adopting +such a law in the home the housewife found that her work was performed +far more efficiently and willingly than at present, would it not be as +much to her advantage as to the advantage of those she employs to limit +the hours of household labor to six days a week? Many housewives may +object to this proposition inasmuch as the work in a home can not be +suspended even for a day. But when two or more employees work in a +private home, it is very easy to plan the housework so that each +employee may have a different day of the week as a "day of rest," +without the comfort of the family being disturbed by the temporary +absence of one of the employees. It is only in families where one +employee is kept that it may make a very serious difference to the +housewife when her "maid-of-all-work" is away for one entire day each +week. Nevertheless the comfort of an employer ought not to outweigh +justice to an employee. + +There are many ways of regulating the housework, as will be seen in the +schedules at the end of this book, in order to give one day of freedom +each week to household employees without causing much inconvenience to +the housewife. By continuing to refuse this privilege to women employed +in domestic labor, housekeeping is becoming more and more complicated. +Already it is such a common occurrence in some cities and in many parts +of the country, not to find any woman willing to do housework, that +many housewives are beginning to think that their future comfort in all +household matters will depend entirely upon new labor saving devices and +upon the help of the community rather than upon the increased knowledge +and skill of domestic employees. + +There exists a prevailing impression, too, that housework has lost its +dignity, and that at this period of the world's social history, it is +impossible to restore it for women have stepped above it. But this is +not true. The fact is that housework has remained stationary while other +work has gained in freedom and dignity. Without noisy protestations, or +indignant speeches delivered in public, women have slowly and silently, +one by one, deserted housework as a career on account of the narrowing, +servile, and unjust conditions inseparable from it at the present day. +Let these conditions be removed and new regulations based upon modern +business principles take their place, and then it will be seen that +housework has never lost its dignity, and the very women who abandoned +it will be the first to choose it again as a means of earning their +livelihood. + +As a proof of this, the following experience may be cited of a New Work +woman who wished to obtain a domestic employee for general housework. +She went to several employment agencies and at the end of a week she +had seen four applicants; three were foreigners and spoke English so +brokenly that they could never have been left in charge of a telephone. +Not one of the four was worth considering after investigating their +references, and these were the only women she could find willing to do +general housework. Upon the advice of a friend, the perplexed housewife +advertised in one of the daily newspapers, but only a few women applied +for the position and these were far from being satisfactory. She then +inserted another advertisement expressed in the following words: +"Wanted: a young woman to help with housework, eight hours a day, six +days a week, sleep home. Apply by letter only." + +This last clause was added to prevent any one from applying for the +position who could not write English, as it was absolutely necessary +that the person engaged to do the housework should be capable of +attending correctly to the telephone. On the same day the advertisement +appeared, eighty-five applications by letter were received, and twenty +more came the following day. All who wrote expressed their willingness +to fill the position of a domestic employee and to do anything in +the way of housework under the new conditions specified in the +advertisement. Only one stated she would do no washing. Many who replied +to this advertisement had occupied positions, which according to the +present standard, were far superior to housework; many, too, were +married women, experienced in all household work, and most anxious to +accept a position in a private family, a position that did not break up +their own home life. + +The housewife was bewildered by the unexpected result of her +advertisement: the tables were turned at last. Instead of being one of +many looking in vain for a good domestic employee, she found that she +had now the advantage of being able to choose from more than a hundred +applicants one who would best suit her own peculiar needs. + +The same advertisement has been inserted at different times and has +always brought the same remarkable result: from one hundred to one +hundred and sixty answers each time. It is true that all who present +themselves may not be efficient, but efficiency speedily comes to the +front when upon it alone depends a desirable position. + +Two very important facts came to light through the help of this +advertisement; one was to find so many women eager to do housework when +it was limited to eight hours a day and six days a week, and the other +was to hear that they were willing to board and lodge themselves, as +well as work, for the same wages that "servants" are accustomed to +receive, although to the latter the housewife invariably gives gratis +all food and sleeping accommodations. These two facts alone prove beyond +a doubt that by applying business principles to housework all objections +to it as a means of earning a livelihood are removed. + +It is quite likely that for a time the old fashioned "mistress," and the +old fashioned "servant" will continue to cling to past customs; but once +it is proved that domestic labor limited to eight hours a day and six +days a week, brings a better, more intelligent, more efficient class of +employees to the home, the most obdurate employer will change her mind. + +No legislation is needed. If all who are trying to solve the "servant +question" will begin to practice the new plan in their own homes, the +future will take care of itself and the old ways will die a natural +death. + + +THE OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS IN THE HOME + +The pleasure brought by the advent of a holiday into the lives of +the working people can hardly be overestimated, and it is doubtful +if holidays would ever have become legalized had they not proved of +distinct value to the masses. To have one day each week free from the +steady grind of one's dally work is a great relief, but to have a +holiday is something still better, for it usually means a day set apart +for general rejoicing. + +Why do all housewives persistently disregard the right of the household +employee to have legal holidays? The reason generally brought forward +is that many families need their employees more on a holiday than on +any other day. In many cases this is quite true on account of family +reunions or the entertaining of friends, but very often the housewife +could easily dispense with the services of her employees on a holiday. +She does not do it, however, or only occasionally, because it is not the +custom to grant holidays to women who work in private homes. + +If it be impossible, on account of the exigencies of home life, to grant +all legal holidays to household employees, there are many different ways +of planning the housework so that other days may be given instead. +Sometimes the day before or the day after a holiday will give as much +pleasure as the day itself. A woman who is at the head of a home has +many opportunities of coming into close contact with her employees; she +can easily ascertain their wishes in this respect and act accordingly. +It is more the fact of being entitled to a holiday than to have it on +a certain day that ought to be emphasized. + +Domestic employees would be benefited by having these extra days of +liberty, just as much as all other employees. A trial is all that is +necessary to show how much better a household employee will work after +having a holiday. She returns to her duties with renewed strength +and the knowledge that she is no longer forced to play the rôle of +Cinderella gives her a fresh interest in life. Unfortunately the +housewife has been accustomed for so many years to have her "servants" +work for her all day long on every day of the week, with only a few +hours off duty "on every other Sunday and on every other Thursday," that +she is rather inclined to resent such an innovation as the observance +of legal holidays in domestic labor. She fails to perceive that by her +present attitude she shows herself in a very unfavorable light as an +employer, for the lack of holidays is decidedly one of the reasons for +which housework is shunned to-day. + +Business men have evolved a satisfactory and workable plan by which +their employees are neither overworked nor deprived of all legal +holidays, although frequently the work they are engaged in can not be +suspended day or night even for an hour. + +It remains for women of the leisure class, and to this class belong all +those who can afford to pay to have their housework done for them, to +adopt a similar plan in their homes. + + +EXTRA PAY FOR OVERTIME + +When the plan for limiting housework to eight hours a day is discussed +for the first time, the following question invariably arises: What is +to be done when anything unusual happens to break the routine of the +regular work, as for instance, when sickness occurs, when friends arrive +unexpectedly, when a dinner party is given? + +Sickness, of course, is unavoidable, but as a rule a trained nurse or +an extra household assistant is called in to help. Many times, however, +this is not absolutely necessary, or perhaps the family can not afford +to have outside help, and the extra work caused by sickness usually +falls upon the domestic employee whose hours of labor are more or less +prolonged in consequence. What ought to be done in such an event? + +There is but one answer: Work that can not be accomplished within the +regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as +"overtime." + +When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a +day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not +to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She +alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a +schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or +dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon +between herself and her employees. + +When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or +a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule +may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement +has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some +compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours +of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers, +and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them. + +In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes +it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket, +not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving +"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the +light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to +remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why +should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help +her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense +entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in +taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she +object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon +whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends? + +There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never +recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded +from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in +exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay, +especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some +days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their +employees have no cause for complaint. + +It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged +to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really +compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give +on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only +a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and +it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded +to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively +engaged in work. + +But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they +ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it +is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of +rewarding them have been tried with more or less success. + +One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents +to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited +to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent +pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money. + +Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to +the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner +party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another +plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or +ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of +satisfactory work to her employer. + +All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show +that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is +due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently +unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack +stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness +of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established +business principle. + +And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will +produce a permanently satisfactory result? + +The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay +each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as +for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just +proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a +household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say +$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days +a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for +her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for extra +work, she ought to receive 15, 22-1/2, or 30 cents per hour for every +hour she works for her employer after the completion of her regular +eight hours' work. + +This plan has never failed to bring satisfaction, and it has the +advantage of placing the employer and the employee on an equally +delightful footing of independence. The performance of extra work is no +longer regarded as a matter of obligation on one side, and of concession +on the other, but as a purely business transaction. + +Some housewives fear that the regular work would be intentionally +prolonged beyond all measure if it became an established rule to pay +extra for work performed overtime. This could be easily checked, +however, by paying extra only for work that was necessitated by unusual +events in the family life. + +In families where only one employee is kept, naturally the occasions for +asking her to work overtime arise more frequently than in families where +there are two or more employees, especially if there be small children +in the family. Yet these occasions need not come very often, if the +housewife bears in mind that even with only one employee, she has eight +hours every day at her own disposal; she ought to plan her outside +engagements accordingly. Her liberty from household cares during +these eight hours can only be gained though by having efficient and +trustworthy assistants in her home, and she can never obtain these +unless she abandons her old fashioned methods of housekeeping. She must +grant to household employees the same rights and privileges given to +business employees; she must apply business principles to housework. +A great power lies in the hands of the modern housewife, a power as yet +only suspected by a few, which, if properly wielded, can raise housework +from its present undignified position to the place it ought to occupy, +and that is in the foremost rank of manual labor for women. + + + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight hour schedules for one employee. + Eight hour schedules for two employees. + Eight hour schedules for three employees. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR ONE EMPLOYEE + +The schedules given in the following pages have been in actual practice +for a sufficient length of time to prove that they can be relied on to +produce satisfactory results, although no doubt many housewives will +find that some of them must be modified to meet special requirements in +their homes. + +Two very important points must always be borne in mind in order to +obtain the greatest advantage from an eight hour schedule, especially in +families where only one employee is engaged to do the housework. + +The first point is this: the housewife ought only to make her working +schedule _after_ she has carefully studied her own comfort and +convenience in regard to the hours she considers the most important of +the day for her to have help in her housework. + +The second point is for the housewife to reserve for herself the entire +freedom of the eight hours during which her employee is on duty, for +then she can place, or she ought to be able to, the full responsibility +of the housekeeping upon her employee. + +By adhering strictly to these two points, the housewife will soon +perceive that she can dispense with the services of her employee for the +remaining hours of the day without much inconvenience to herself or her +family. She may even find it more pleasant than otherwise to be relieved +from the sight and sound of household work, for at least a few hours a +day, when she is in her own home. + +Possibly the housewife who has but one employee will not accept with +alacrity the proposition of allowing her to be off duty for an entire +day once a week, for unless she be willing to do the necessary work +herself on that day, she must engage a special person to take the place +of her regular employee. But many families engage a woman to come once a +week to help with the washing and house-cleaning, especially when they +have only one household employee. If this woman came on the day the +regular employee was away, she could relieve the housewife of all the +housework that could not be postponed until the next day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. I + +When only one employee is engaged in a private home, her services are +needed more at meal time than at any other time of the day, especially +if small children are in the family. As the hours for the three +principal meals are about the same everywhere, the following schedule is +a very useful one. + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. 2 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +In the morning from seven to ten o'clock, the employee had ample time +to prepare and serve breakfast and wash up the dishes afterwards, and +do the chamberwork. The three hours from noon until three o'clock were +filled with duties that varied considerably each day. Luncheon was +served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to +serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted +to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or +preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening +or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and +serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a +week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and +assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the +rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee. + +This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but +several times, and not with the same employee, but with different +employees, and it has always been most satisfactory. + +It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on +schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the +greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well, +is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere, +and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases +with the remainder of her time. + + +SCHEDULE NO. II + +The following schedule is very different from the preceding one, +inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her +employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children +in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very +frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was +the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her +employee, whose working hours were arranged thus: + + From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was +finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in +the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a +week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On +these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she +did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not +difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The +family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually went +out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays. + + +SCHEDULE NO. III + +In this schedule, the employee's work is divided into two periods, with +one hour for rest between. The family consisted of a man and his wife, +who lived in an apartment. The hours of work were as follows: + + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee +who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress. In consequence she +was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on +her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was +done. As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife +was obliged to get breakfast herself. However this was a very simple +matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night +before. The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the +aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, +boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, +or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes. + +The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and +although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much +work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. IV + +Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally +chosen for a family of six: mother, father, four small children. The +eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household +employee to help with the work. They lived in the country, and breakfast +had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early +morning train to town. + +Naturally, with only one employee, the housewife was compelled to do +some of the housework herself, and until the following schedule was +adopted, she had been in the habit of rising early, dressing the +children, and getting breakfast ready herself. Her employee arrived +later in the day and remained until after dinner at night. The comfort +and general welfare of the mother were increased to such a remarkable +degree by the new schedule, however, that it is well worth special +attention. + +The hours were as follows: + + From 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 11:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the +children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed +themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing +them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day +before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not +hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the +employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked +steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother +felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the +other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her +employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for +lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go +for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's +house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some +household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put +them to bed for their morning nap. + +At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the +house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over +and she went home. + +This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three, +but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee. +To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was +much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the +morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not +much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and +herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was +no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a +dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment +in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra +hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a +"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her +place. + +This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely +free from the children and household cares. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES + +It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than +for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which +the sixteen hours of work may be divided, subdivided, and arranged to +please the individual housewife. With two employees, it is no longer +necessary for the housewife to remain at home while one is off duty, +even for an hour, for one relieves the other without any cessation of +work. Even on the seventh day, "the day of rest," the housewife can +always arrange to have her work done without doing it herself, in spite +of the absence of one of her employees. + +When a schedule is finally agreed upon, however, it must be rigidly +enforced, for it is more important to keep to the hours specified when +there are two employees than when there is only one. Although the +housewife may be tempted to claim the privilege of changing her hours +very often to please herself, since she is the employer, if she value +her peace of mind, she will refrain from doing it. Only when the +inevitable, the unforeseen, occurs should she make a change in her +regular schedule. When one employee is off duty all day, the other +employee can remain on duty the entire day; naturally this plan +necessitates more than eight hours of work on that day, probably two +or three more hours, but if on the day after or the day before, the +employee be allowed to work two or three hours less than eight hours, +the average of eight hours a day and six days a week is maintained. + +Another example of what the housewife can do when one of her employees +is off duty the entire day, is to make her other employee follow +schedule No. 1. This enables her to keep to eight hours a day and at the +same time the housewife does none of the housework herself. + + +SCHEDULE NO. V + +With two employees it is a wise plan to arrange a schedule that makes +the work of one employee commence the moment the work of the other +ceases. This tends to promote punctuality without requiring special +supervision on the part of the housewife. + +The following schedule is admirably adapted to the every day life of the +average family with two employees: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +All the washing, ironing, and mending of the family were done by the +two employees, and they also took care of the children when necessary. +Besides being good cooks, they were both excellent waitresses; in +consequence it made no difference which one was on duty at meal time. + +One employee only was in charge of breakfast; she came at seven o'clock +in the morning, and worked steadily until eleven o'clock, when the +second employee arrived. She then went out for her lunch, returning at +twelve, and remaining on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon. She +was then free for the remainder of the day. + +The second employee, as soon as she arrived at 11 A.M., went through +the house and finished any work that was not completed by the first +employee. She worked without stopping until 3 P.M., then went away for +her lunch; she returned at 4 P.M. to relieve the first employee whose +work was over at four o'clock. The second employee remained on duty +until 8 P.M.; she cooked and served dinner so quickly and efficiently +that the housewife who had always been accustomed to have two employees, +a "cook" and a "waitress," on duty for dinner every night, found to +her great surprise that one efficient household employee, working on +schedule time, accomplished in the same time the work of two of her +former "servants." + + +SCHEDULE NO. VI + +In this schedule the housewife wanted both her employees to help her +with her two children. With this end in view, she made all the work of +the house interchange with the care of the children; in consequence when +one employee was off duty, the other could always be relied on to help +with the children. This proved to be a very successful schedule, for it +relieved the mother from being obliged to sit in the nursery as she was +compelled to do every time her former "nurse" went downstairs to her +meals, or had her "afternoon off." But when the mother wished to be with +her children, and that was very often, the employee who was in the +nursery at the time, left the room immediately to attend to other +household duties. + +Both employees were on duty at 7 A.M., a most necessary arrangement +where there are small children in a family. The first employee prepared +and served breakfast for the family, while the other employee took full +charge of the children, giving them their breakfast in the nursery, and +taking them out afterwards for a walk. At 10 A.M., she returned with the +children, and she was then off duty for two hours. The mother generally +chose this time to be with her children; if however, she had any other +engagement, the first employee was on duty until noon and could be +called upon to look after them. + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + +SCHEDULE NO. VII + +There are many families who may object to all the preceding schedules +on account of the early hour in the evening for household employees +to be off duty. When the housewife has never had her housework done on +schedule time by an efficient employee, she may well think it impossible +to have the dinner dishes washed up and everything put away in order by +8 P.M. However some families do not begin dinner before half past seven, +or eight o'clock, or even later, but in these families, it is not +unusual for the breakfast hour to be very late also. In consequence +nothing is easier than to make a schedule for the day's work begin late +and end late, without making any other alteration in it. + +The following schedule, however, combines an early breakfast and a late +dinner, in a family where only two employees were kept: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. 3 hours + (or from 8 to 11 P.M.) + ------- + 8 hours + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR THREE EMPLOYEES + +The greater the number of household employees, the easier it is to make +a satisfactory working schedule. But the temptation to specialize the +work is greater, and should be carefully guarded against. It is just as +necessary with three employees as with one for the housewife to insist +that each one be capable and willing to do all kinds of work in the +home, including sewing and taking care of children. + +With three employees, the housewife ought to make them take turns in +cooking and serving one of the three meals each day. This enables them +to become familiar with the dining room and with the different dishes +for each course; it also removes any feeling of embarrassment which +naturally might be felt by an employee who is rarely called upon to cook +or serve a meal. + +To have an expert needlewoman in the house is a great boon to the +housewife, and when she has three employees who can sew in her home, she +ought to insist upon a great deal of sewing and mending being done by +each one of them. + +It is rare that the "servant" of to-day is a good sewer; in fact the +housewife would hesitate to ask her to do even the ordinary mending, but +when one engages household employees on an eight hour schedule, and when +there are a hundred women to choose from, it is not hard to find several +who sew well. + + +SCHEDULE NO. VIII + +It is so easy to plan the housework for three employees that one +schedule as an example seems quite sufficient, and the only thing that +the housewife must remember is to make all the work interchangeable. + + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Third Employee_ + + From 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +In conclusion it seems that a few words are necessary about families who +need the services of an employee at night as well as in the day time. +There are many mothers who do not wish or who are not able to take +care of their children at night, and in consequence it is absolutely +necessary to have an attendant. The present custom is to have the nurse +or maid sleep in the same room as the baby, or in a room adjoining the +children's bedroom, so as to be within call. But a woman who has worked +all day, or even eight hours a day, should not have her sleep disturbed +at night by taking care of children. No woman can be fit for her work +the next day if she has not been able to secure the average amount of +sleep necessary to health. + +In many cases it has been proved that when a child does not sleep +well at night, the nurse has taken upon herself the responsibility of +giving it "soothing syrup" so as to keep it quiet. This is hardly to be +wondered at when one considers the strain under which the nurse is kept +day and night by taking care of a small child; besides the average nurse +is generally ignorant of the harm caused by so-called "soothing syrups." + +If a child be sick, the mother should call in a trained nurse, that +is if she can afford it, and when she has several employees, she can +usually afford this extra expense. If the child or children be well, +and the mother desires some one to attend to them at night, she should +engage a woman who has no occupation during the day and who is willing +to work at night. She should make a point of choosing one who sews well, +so that the services of a seamstress might be combined with the duties +of a night nurse. There is always some mending to do in all families and +a woman who is clever with her needle might make herself very useful to +her employer. Thousands of women sew by artificial light in dressmaking +establishments and factories; in all probability just as many women +could be found to sew by artificial light in private homes. Perhaps at +first the novelty of working at night might deter women from taking a +position similar to the one suggested above, but a woman who was really +in need of work would not let the unusual hours prevent her from +accepting it, + +Many men work at night and it is not unlikely that many women would be +willing to do it too. Women are not as timid as they were reputed to +be in former years; they would neither scream nor faint nowadays at +the sight of a little mouse scampering across the floor. Indeed quite +recently the newspapers reported that a woman whose husband had just +died had accepted the position of a night watchman, and she filled her +new rôle so successfully that on one occasion she managed to seize a +burglar and handed him over to a policeman. + +This proposition of engaging a woman to work at night is only a +suggestion, however, offered to those who find it absolutely necessary +to have a domestic employee in their house at night. It remains to be +proved if it could be carried out successfully. + +But the great changes in housekeeping described in the preceding +chapters are not mere suggestions nor theories of what might be done: +each reform has already been put into actual practice. The result has +been so extraordinary that one is impelled to believe that the only way +to solve the Servant Problem is to apply business principles to +housework in private homes. + +Naturally such a revolution from methods now in vogue can not be wrought +in a day, and the transitional period may be one of some difficulty and +confusion for employer and employee alike who have spent a large portion +of their lives under the old régime. But the revolution is imperative, +and the ultimate benefit beyond calculation. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14117 *** diff --git a/14117-h/14117-h.htm b/14117-h/14117-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..041d563 --- /dev/null +++ b/14117-h/14117-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1976 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework, by C. Helene Barker</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; } + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + ul { list-style: none; } + .quote { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 8%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; } + center { padding: 0.8em;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} +/*]]>*/ + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14117 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework, by C. +Helene Barker</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + WANTED +</h1> +<h2> +A Young Woman to Do +<br /> +HOUSEWORK +</h2> +<h3> +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</h3> + +<center> +<i>By</i> +<br /> +<b>C. HÉLÈNE BARKER</b> +</center> + +<center> +Author of <i>Automobile French</i> +</center> + +<h6> +New York<br /> +Moffat, Yard & Company +</h6> + +<h4>1915</h4> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PREFACE +</h2> +<p> +This little book is not a treatise on Domestic Science. The vacuum +cleaner and the fireless cooker are not even mentioned. The efficient +kitchen devised in such an interesting and clever way has no place in +it. Its exclusive object is to suggest a satisfactory and workable +solution along modern lines of how to get one's housework efficiently +performed without doing it one's self. +</p> +<p> +If the propositions that she advances seem at first startling, the +writer begs only for a patient hearing, for she is convinced by strong +reasons and abundant experience, that liberty in the household, like +social and political liberty, can never come except from obedience to +just law. +</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"> +C.H.B. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<p><a href="#PART1">PART I</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR +</p> +<ul> +<li> Ignorance and Inefficiency in the Home</li> +<li> Difficulty of Obtaining Women to Do Housework</li> +<li> The Disadvantages of Housework Compared with Work + in Factories, Stores, and Offices</li> +</ul> + +<p><a href="#PART2">PART II</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</p> +<ul> +<li> Living Outside Place of Employment</li> +<li> Housework Limited to 8 Hours a Day</li> +<li> Housework Limited to 6 Days a Week</li> +<li> The Observance of Legal Holidays</li> +<li> Extra Pay for Overtime</li> +</ul> + +<p><a href="#PART3">PART III</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME +</p> +<ul> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for One Employee</li> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for Two Employees</li> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for Three Employees</li> +</ul> + + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<a name="PART1" id="PART1"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART I +</h2> +<h3> + CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Ignorance and inefficiency in the home.</li> +<li> Difficulty of obtaining women to do housework.</li> +<li> The disadvantages connected with housework compared with work in factories, stores, and offices.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +IGNORANCE AND INEFFICIENCY IN THE HOME +</h4> +<p> +The twentieth-century woman, in spite of her progressive and ambitious +theories about woman's sphere of activity, has allowed her housekeeping +methods to remain almost stationary, while other professions and +industries have moved forward with gigantic strides. +</p> +<p> +She does not hesitate to blazon abroad with banners and pennants her +desire to share with man the responsibility for the administration of +the State, but she overlooks the disquieting fact that in the management +of her own household, where her authority is absolute, she has failed +to convince the world of her power to govern. When confronted with this +accusation, she asserts that the maintenance of a home is neither a +business nor a profession, and that in consequence it ought not to be +compared with them nor be judged by the same standards. +</p> +<p> +Is it not due perhaps to this erroneous idea that housekeeping is a +failure to-day? For the fact that it is a failure cannot be hidden, +and that it has been a failure for many years past is equally true. +Recent inventions, and labor saving utensils, have greatly facilitated +housework, yet housekeeping is still accompanied with much +dissatisfaction on the part of the employer and the employee. +</p> +<p> +There are only a few women to-day who regard domestic science in the +light of a profession, or a business, although in reality it is both. +For what is a profession if it be not the application of science to +life? And does not work which one follows regularly constitute a +business? +</p> +<p> +Many women, however, do not regard housekeeping even as a serious +occupation, and few have devoted as much time, thought, and energy to +mastering the principles of domestic economy as of late years women of +all classes of society have willingly given to the study of the rules +and ever changing intricacies of auction bridge. Some consider their +time too valuable to devote to domestic and culinary matters, and openly +boast of their ignorance. Outside engagements, pleasures, philanthropic +schemes, or work, monopolize their days, and the conduct of the house +devolves upon their employees. The result is rarely satisfactory. It is +essential that the woman who is at the head of any concern, be it a +business, a profession, or a home, should not only thoroughly understand +its every detail, but in order to make it a success she must give it her +personal attention each day for at least a portion of her time. +</p> +<p> +It is a popular impression that the knowledge of good housekeeping, +and of the proper care of children, comes naturally to a woman, who, +though she had no previous training or preparation for these duties, +suddenly finds them thrust upon her. But how many women can really look +back with joy to the first years of their housekeeping? Do they not +remember them more with a feeling of dismay than pleasure? How many +foolish mistakes occurred entailing repentance and discomfort! And how +many heart-burnings were caused, and even tears shed, because in spite +of the best intentions, everything seemed to go wrong? And why? Simply +because of ignorance and inefficiency in the home, not only of the +employee, but of the employer also. +</p> +<p> +That an employee is ignorant and unskilled in her work is often +excusable, but there is absolutely no excuse for a woman who has time +and money at her command, to be ignorant of domestic science, when of +her own free will she undertakes the responsibilities of housekeeping. +</p> +<p> +Nearly all women take interest in the furnishing of their homes, and +give their personal attention to it with the result that as a rule they +excel in household decoration, and often produce marvels of beauty and +taste with the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money. +</p> +<p> +Marketing is also very generally attended to in person by the housewife, +but she is using the telephone more and more frequently as a substitute +for a personal visit to butcher and grocer, and this is greatly to her +disadvantage. The telephone is a very convenient instrument, especially +in emergency, or for ordering things that do not vary in price. But when +prices depend upon the fluctuations of the market, or when the articles +to be purchased are of a perishable nature, it must be remembered that +the telephone is also a very convenient instrument for the merchant who +is anxious to get rid of his bad stock. +</p> +<p> +The remaining branches of housekeeping apparently do not interest +the modern housewife. She entrusts them very generally to her employees, +upon whose skill and knowledge she blindly relies. Unfortunately skill +and knowledge are very rare qualities, and if the housewife herself be +ignorant of the proper way of doing the work in her own home, how can +she be fitted to direct those she places in charge of it, or to make a +wise choice when she has to select a new employee? Too often she engages +women and young girls without investigating their references of +character or capability, and when time proves what an imprudent +proceeding she has been party to, she simply attributes the consequent +troubles to causes beyond her control. If the housewife were really +worthy of her name she would be able not only to pick out better +employees, but to insist upon their work being properly done. To-day +she is almost afraid to ask her cook to prepare all the dishes for the +family meals, nor does she always find some one willing to do the family +washing. She is obliged to buy food already cooked from the caterer or +baker, because her so-called "cook" was not accustomed to bake bread and +rolls, or to make pies and cakes, or ice cream, for previous employers, +from whom nevertheless she received an excellent reference as cook. Of +course in cities it is easy to buy food already cooked or canned and to +send all the washing to the laundry, but it helps to raise the "high +cost of living" to alarming proportions, and it also encourages +ignorance in the most important branches of domestic economy. +</p> +<p> +In spite of the "rush of modern life," a woman who has a home ought to +be willing to give some part of her time to its daily supervision. +Eternal vigilance is the price of everything worth having. If she gave +this she would not have so many tales of woe to relate about the +laziness, neglectfulness, and stupidity of her cook and housemaids. +There is not a single housewife to-day who has not had many bitter +experiences. One who desires information upon this subject has only to +call on the nearest friend. +</p> +<p> +To the uninterested person, to the onlooker, the helplessness of the +woman who is at the head of the home, her inability to cope with her +domestic difficulties, is often comic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes +almost tragic. The publications of the day have caricatured the +situation until it has become an outworn jest. The present system of +housekeeping can no longer stand. One of two things must occur. Either +the housewife must adopt business principles in ruling her household, +or she will find before many more years elapse there will be no longer +any woman willing to place her neck under the domestic yoke. +</p> +<p> +If the principles set forth in the following pages can be popularized in +a comprehensive plan of which all the parts can be thoroughly understood +both by the housewife and her employee, ignorance and inefficiency in +the home will be presently abolished. +</p> +<h4> +DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WOMEN TO DO HOUSEWORK +</h4> +<p> +The present unsatisfactory condition of domestic labor in private houses +is not confined to any special city or country; it is universal. Each +year the difficulty of obtaining women to do housework seems to increase +and the demand is so much greater than the supply, that ignorant and +inefficient employees are retained simply because it is impossible to +find others more competent to replace them. +</p> +<p> +There is hardly a home to-day where, at one time or another, the +housewife has not gone through the unenviable experience of being +financially able and perfectly willing to pay for the services of some +one to help her in her housekeeping duties, and yet found it almost +impossible to get a really competent and intelligent employee. As a +rule, those who apply for positions in housework are grossly ignorant of +the duties they profess to perform, and the well trained, clever, and +experienced workers are sadly in the minority. +</p> +<p> +Women and young girls who face the necessity of self support, or who +wish to lead a life of independence, no longer choose housework as a +means of earning a livelihood. It is evident that there is a reason, +and a very potent one, that decides them to accept any kind of +employment in preference to the work offered them in a private home. +Wages, apparently, have little to do with their decision, nor other +considerations which must add very much to their material welfare, +such as good food in abundance, and clean, well ventilated sleeping +accommodations, for these two important items are generally included +at present in the salaries of household employees. Concessions, too, +are frequently made, and favors bestowed upon them by many of their +employers, yet few young girls, and still fewer women are content to +work in private families. +</p> +<p> +It is a deplorable state of affairs, and women seem to be gradually +losing their courage to battle with this increasingly difficult +question: How to obtain and retain one's domestic employees? +</p> +<p> +The peace of the family and the joy and comfort of one's home should be +a great enough incentive to awaken the housewife to the realization that +something must be wrong in her present methods. It is in vain that she +complains bitterly, on all occasions, of the scarcity of good servants, +asserting that it is beyond her comprehension why work in factories, +stores, and offices, should be preferred to the work she offers. +</p> +<p> +Is it beyond her comprehension? Or has she never considered in what way +the work she offers differs from the work so eagerly accepted? Does she +not realize that the present laws of labor adopted in business are very +different from those she still enforces in her own home? Why does she +not compare housework with all other work in which women are employed, +and find out why housework is disdained by nearly all self supporting +women? +</p> +<p> +Instead of doing this, she sometimes avoids the trouble of trying +to keep house with incompetent employees by living in hotels, or +non-housekeeping apartments; but for the housewife who does not possess +the financial means to indulge herself thus, or who still prefers home +life with all its trials to hotel life, the only alternative is to +submit to pay high wages for very poor work or to do a great part of the +housework herself. In both cases the result is bad, for in neither does +the family enjoy the full benefit of home, nor is the vexatious problem, +so often designated as the "servant question," brought any nearer to a +solution. +</p> +<p> +The careful study of any form of labor invariably reveals some need of +amelioration, but in none is there a more urgent need of reform than in +domestic labor in private homes. +</p> +<p> +It is more for the sake of the housewife than for her employee that a +reform is to be desired. The latter is solving her problem by finding +work outside the home, while the former is still unduly harassed by +household troubles. With a few notable exceptions, only those who are +unqualified to compete with the business woman are left to help the +householder, and the problem confronting her to-day is not so much how +to change inefficient to efficient help, but how to obtain any help at +all. +</p> +<p> +The spirit of independence has so deeply entered into the lives of +women of all classes, that until housework be regulated in such a way +as to give to those engaged in it the same rights and privileges as are +granted to them in other forms of labor, the best workers will naturally +seek employment elsewhere. +</p> +<h4> +THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOUSEWORK COMPARED WITH WORK IN FACTORIES, STORES, +AND OFFICES +</h4> +<p> +Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in +factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many +old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern +housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of +our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which +women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important +positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the +coöperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of +work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it +was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible, +if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption. +</p> +<p> +Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate +to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in +stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their +families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay +small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding +increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are +limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the +twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still +enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own +social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest, +and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain. +</p> +<p> +With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position +of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind +to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take +up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about +once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her +escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a +beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego +this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know +that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the +result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from +early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with +the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere +drudgery. +</p> +<p> +As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Considering +the many responsible positions waiting to be filled in private families, +nothing could be more desirable than to instil into one's employees the +ambition to rise. An employee who has passed through all the different +branches of domestic science, from the lowest to the highest in one +family, must be far better fitted to occupy the highest position in +that family than one who applies for the position with the training and +experience gained only in other families where the mode of living may be +very different. Since there is no chance of promotion and in consequence +of receiving better pay, the domestic employee is often tempted to seek +higher wages elsewhere, and thus the desire "to make a change," so +disastrous to the peace of mind of the housewife, is engendered in her +employees. +</p> +<p> +In domestic labor the hours of work are longer than in any other form of +employment, for they are unlimited. Moreover, instead of having one day +out of seven as a day of rest, only half a day is granted beginning +usually about three o'clock in the afternoon, or even later. And legal +holidays bring no relief, for they are practically unknown to the +household employee. The only way women engaged in housework in private +families can obtain a real holiday is by being suddenly called away +"to take care of a sick aunt." There is an old saying containing certain +words of wisdom about "all work and no play" that perhaps explains the +dullness so often met with in domestic help. +</p> +<p> +The hardest thing to submit to, however, from the point of view of the +woman employed in housework, is the lack of freedom outside of working +hours. This prevents her from taking part in her former social life. +She is not allowed to go out even for an hour or two every day to see +her relatives and friends. To ask them to visit her in her employer's +kitchen is not a very agreeable alternative either to herself or her +employer, and even then she is obliged to be on duty, for she must still +wear her uniform and hold herself in readiness to answer the bell until +the family for whom she works retires for the night. +</p> +<p> +With such restrictions it is not surprising that the majority of +women feel that they are losing "caste" if they accept positions in +private families. There are two more causes to which this feeling of the +loss of caste may be attributed. One is the habit of calling household +employees by their first name or by their surname without the prefix of +"Miss"; the other is the custom of making them eat in their employer's +kitchen. These are minor details, perhaps, but nevertheless they count +for much in the lives of women who earn their own living, and anything, +however small, that tends to raise one's self respect, is worthy of +consideration. Perhaps, too, while the word "servant" (a noble word +enough in its history and its moral connotation) carries with it a +stigma, a sense of degradation, among the working women, it should +be avoided. +</p> +<p> +Briefly summed up, then, the present disadvantages of housework compared +with work in factories, stores, and offices, are as follows: +</p> + +<ul> +<li> Enforced separation from one's family.</li> +<li> Loss of personal freedom.</li> +<li> Lack of promotion.</li> +<li> Unlimited hours of work.</li> +<li> No day of rest each week.</li> +<li> Non-observance of legal holidays.</li> +<li> Loss of caste.</li> +</ul> + +<p> +In the present comparison of housework with work in factories, stores, +and offices, a recital of the advantages of domestic service, even under +the present method of housekeeping, must not be omitted, for such +advantages are important, although unfortunately they do not outweigh +the present disadvantages. +</p> +<p> +To the woman whose home ties have been disrupted by death or discord, +and to the newly arrived immigrant especially, housework is a great +boon, inasmuch as besides good wages, all meals and a room to sleep +in are given her. Moreover housework is the only form of labor where +unskilled work can command high wages. This, however, is much more +fortunate for the employee than for her employer. +</p> +<p> +Housework in itself is certainly <i>not worse</i> than any other kind of +manual work in which women are engaged; it is often more interesting and +less fatiguing. It also helps a woman more than any other occupation to +prepare herself for her natural sphere of life:—that of the home maker. +A girl who has spent several years in a well ordered family helping to +do the housework, is far better fitted to run her own home intelligently +and on economic lines than a girl who has spent the same number of years +behind a counter, or working in a factory or an office. +</p> +<p> +Again, work in a private house is infinitely more desirable, from the +point of view of the influence of one's surroundings, than daily labor +in a factory or store. The variety of domestic duties, the freedom of +moving about from one room to another, of sitting or standing to do +one's work, are much to be preferred to the work that compels the worker +to stand or sit in one place all day long. +</p> +<p> +If it be admitted, then, that housework is in itself a desirable and +suitable occupation for women who must earn their living by manual +labor, it can not be the work itself, but the conditions surrounding it +that make it so distasteful to the modern working woman. +</p> +<a name="PART2" id="PART2"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART II +</h2> +<h3> + BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Living outside place of employment.</li> +<li> Housework limited to eight hours a day.</li> +<li> Housework limited to six days a week.</li> +<li> The observance of legal holidays.</li> +<li> Extra pay for overtime.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +LIVING OUTSIDE PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT +</h4> +<p> +There are many housewives who are very much opposed to the adoption +of a plan enabling household employees to live outside their place of +employment. They claim that it is wiser to keep them under constant +supervision day and night in order to prevent the introduction of +disease or the acquisition of bad habits. +</p> +<p> +There is more risk of disease being introduced into the home, and of bad +habits being contracted by allowing one's children to associate with +other children in schools, public or private, and by letting them play +in the streets and public parks, where they mingle with more or less +undesirable companions, than by having the housework performed by +employees who come each day to their work and return to their homes +at night when their duties are over. Nevertheless no sensible parents +would keep their children shut up in the house, only allowing them to +go out of doors for a few hours once a week, for fear of contagion or +contamination, and yet this is just what the housewife has been doing +for years with her household employees under the firm impression that +she was protecting them as well as herself. +</p> +<p> +Present statistics, however, upon the morality and immorality of women +who belong to what is at present termed the "servant class," prove only +too clearly that the "protection" provided by the employer's home does +not protect. The shelter thus given serves too often to encourage a life +of deception, especially as in reality the housewife knows but little of +what takes place "below stairs." +</p> +<p> +The "servants' quarters" are, as a rule, far enough away from the other +rooms of the house for much to transpire there without the knowledge of +the "mistress of the house," but who has not heard her complain of the +misconduct of her employees? Startling discoveries have been made at the +most unexpected times and from the most unexpected quarters. One lady +found her maid was in the habit of going out at night after the family +had retired, and leaving the front door unlocked in order to regain +admittance in the early morning without arousing the family. Another +housewife discovered one day that her cook's husband, whose existence +until then was unknown, had been coming for several months to her house +for his dinner. Every householder finds that in the late evening her +"servants" entertain their numerous "cousins" and friends at her +expense. Moreover, they do not hesitate to use the best china, glass, +and silver for special parties and draw upon the household supplies for +the choicest meats and wines. And because they cannot go out in the day +time, it is not unusual to find some friend or relative comes to spend +the entire day with them, and in consequence the housewife not only +feeds her "help" but a string of hangers-on as well. Why should she be +surprised that she does not get an adequate return for the amount of +money she spends? And these things take place, not only during the +temporary absence of the employer, but even while she is sitting +peacefully in the library and listening to a parlor lecture on the +relations of capital and labor. +</p> +<p> +Women say tearfully or bravely on such occasions: "What can be done +to make servants better? They are getting worse every day." And the +housewife (one might almost call her by Samuel Pepys's pleasing phrase, +"the poor wretch") then pours out to any sympathetic ear endless +recitals of aggravating, worrying, nerve-racking experiences. Instead of +putting an end to such a regrettable state of affairs that would never +be tolerated by any business employer, she seems content to bewail her +fate and clings still more steadfastly to obsolete methods. +</p> +<p> +Why does she not adopt the methods of the business man in dealing with +his employees? The advisability of having household employees live +outside their place of employment is so apparent that it ought to appeal +to every one. There would be no longer the necessity of putting aside +and of furnishing certain rooms of the house for their accommodation: +a practice which in the majority of families is quite a serious +inconvenience and always an expense. In small homes where only one maid +is kept, it may not make much difference to give up one room to her, but +where several employees are needed, it means very often that many rooms +must be used as sleeping apartments for them, frequently too a sitting +room or a special dining room is given them. This is not all, for the +rooms must be furnished and kept clean and warm, and supplied with an +unlimited amount of gas and electricity. In many families the boarding +and lodging of household employees cause as much anxiety and expense to +the housewife as to provide for her own family. +</p> +<p> +And why does she do it? Why does she consent to take upon herself so +much extra trouble for nothing? For, although she offers good food and +a bed besides excellent wages to all who work for her, she is the most +poorly served of all employers to-day. +</p> +<p> +In the great feudal castles of the Middle Ages it was not deemed +safe for women to venture forth alone, even in the daytime, and so +those engaged in housework were naturally compelled to live under their +Master's roof, eating at his table and sitting "below the salt." But +the Master and the Serf of feudal times disappeared long ago, only the +Mistress and her "servants" remain. +</p> +<p> +To-day, however, "servants" no longer sit at their employer's table; +they remain in the kitchen, where as a rule they are given to eat what +is left from the family meals. Some housewives, from motives of kindness +and consideration for the welfare of those in their employ, have special +meals prepared for them and served in a dining-room of their own at +hours which do not conflict with the meals of the family. But this does +not always meet with gratitude or even due appreciation; the disdainful +way in which Bridget often complains of the food too generously provided +for her is well known. +</p> +<p> +A chambermaid came one day to her employer and said she did not wish to +complain but thought it better to say frankly that she was not satisfied +with what she was getting to eat in her house: she wanted to have roast +beef for dinner more often, at least three or four times a week, for she +did not care to eat mutton, nor steak, and never ate pork, nor could +she, to quote her own words "fill up on bread and vegetables as the +other girls did in the kitchen." +</p> +<p> +Then, and only then, did her employer wake up with a start to the +realization of the true position every housewife occupies in the eyes +of her household employees. They evidently regard her in the light of +a caterer; she does the marketing not only for her family but for them +too. She pays a cook high wages, not only to cook meals for herself and +family, but for her employees also. +</p> +<p> +For the first time in her life, this housewife asked herself the +following questions: Why should she allow her household employees to +live in her house? Why should she consent to board them at her expense? +Why should she continue to place at their disposal a bedroom each, a +private bathroom, a sitting room or a dining room? Why should she allow +them to make use of her kitchen and laundry to do their own personal +washing, even providing them with soap and starch, irons and an ironing +board, fuel and gas? Why should she do all this for them when no +business employer, man or woman, ever does it? Was it simply because her +mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother had been in the habit of +doing it? +</p> +<p> +This awakening was the beginning of the end of all the trouble and +expense which she had endured for so many years in connection with the +boarding and lodging of her "servants." To-day she has no "servants"; +she has household employees who come to her house each day, just as +other employees go each day to their place of employment. They take no +meals in her house, and her housekeeping expenses have diminished as +much as her own comfort has increased. Her employees are better and more +efficient than any she ever had under the old régime, and nothing could +persuade her to return to her former methods of housekeeping. +</p> +<p> +The cost of providing meals for domestic employees varies according to +the mode of living of each individual family, and of late it has been +the subject of much discussion. Some important details, however, seem +to be generally overlooked, for the cost of the food is the only thing +usually considered by the average housewife. To this first expense must +be added the cost of pots and pans for cooking purposes; even under +careful management, kitchen utensils are bound to wear out and must be +replaced. Then there is the cost of the extra fuel or gas or electricity +required to cook the food, nor must one forget to count the extra work +of the cook to prepare the meals, and of the kitchen maid or of some +other maid to wash up the dishes after each meal served to employees. +There is also the expense of buying kitchen plates and dishes, glasses, +cups and saucers, knives and forks, etc. Every housewife is in the habit +of providing kitchenware for the use of her employees. +</p> +<p> +The total sum of all these items would astonish those who think that +the actual expense of giving meals to household employees is not a very +great one and is limited to the cost of the food they eat; even this +last expense is considerably augmented by the careless and wasteful way +in which provisions are generally handled by those who do not have to +pay for them. When ways and means are discussed among housewives to +reduce the present "high cost of living," it would be well to advise all +women to try the experiment of having their household employees live +outside their place of employment. The result from an economic point +of view alone is amazing, and the relief it brings the housewife who +is no longer obliged to provide food and sleeping accommodations for +her employees is so great that one wonders why she has been willing to +burden herself with these responsibilities for so many years. +</p> +<p> +There was once a time when women did not go out alone to eat in a +restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating their +midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business prove +themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason why +household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop girls and +stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would enjoy their +meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their employer's house +is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of surroundings and the +opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their work behind them, would +compensate them. In any event, it is clearly proved by the scarcity of +women applying for positions in private houses that these two advantages +only to be obtained in domestic labor—board and lodging—do not attract +the working woman of the present day. +</p> +<p> +The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted +feeling. There is an ancient fable of Æsop about the Dog and the Wolf +which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner. +(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.) +</p> + +<p class="quote" style="text-align: center;"> + THE DOG AND THE WOLF +</p> +<p class="quote"> + There was a Hagged Carrion of a <i>Wolf</i>, and a Jolly Sort of a + Gentile <i>Dog</i>, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company + together upon the King's High-Way. The <i>Wolf</i> was wonderfully + pleas'd with his Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be + brought himself to That Blessed State of Body. Why, says the <i>Dog</i>, + I keep my Master's House from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, + Drink, and Lodging for my pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, + and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The <i>Wolf</i> Struck up the + Bargain, and so away they Trotted together: But as they were + Jogging on, the <i>Wolf</i> spy'd a Bare Place about the <i>Dog's</i> Neck + where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he) how comes this I + prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the <i>Dog</i>, but the Fretting of my + <i>Collar</i> a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a <i>Collar</i> in the + Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust. +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align: center;"> + THE MORAL +</p> +<p class="quote"> + ...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm + Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his + Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it. +</p> +<p> +In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an +employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider +for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place +of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for +them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of +benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for work +early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an arrangement. +When he needs some one to watch over his interests in the night time, +he engages a night watchman, a very much more economical plan than to +provide lodging for all his employees. +</p> +<p> +Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden of +a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the country, +where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home, such +a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is +absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat, +and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly +a custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the +observance." +</p> +<h4> +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY +</h4> +<p> +In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it +is the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions +of life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned. +</p> +<p> +It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor +of women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private +houses. +</p> +<p> +It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or +fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a +household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to wane at +the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to the same +work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The truth of +the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long acknowledged and +nowadays requires no argument. +</p> +<p> +When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how +many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill a +domestic position in a family, the number of hours she is expected to +give her employer is never specified. She is simply told that she must +be on duty early in the morning before the family arises, and that she +may consider herself off duty as soon as the family for whom she is +working has withdrawn for the night. Is it surprising that under such +conditions working women are not very enthusiastic over the domestic +proposition to-day? +</p> +<p> +A household employee ought to have her hours of work as clearly defined +as if she were a business employee, and there is no reason why the +eight-hour labor law could not be applied as successfully to housework +as to any other enterprise. +</p> +<p> +Work in business is generally divided into two periods. Yet this +division can not always be effected, and in railroad and steamship +positions, in post offices, upon trolley lines, in hotels, in hospitals, +and in other cases too numerous to mention, where work must follow a +continuous round, the working hours are divided into more than two +periods, according to the nature of the work and the interests of the +employer, not however exceeding a fixed number of hours per day or per +week. +</p> +<p> +It would be far better for the housewife as well as for her employees, +if the housework were limited in a similar way. But with the +introduction of the eight-hour law in the home, certain new conditions +would have to be rigidly enforced in order to ensure success. +</p> +<p> +Firstly, the employee should be made to understand that during the eight +hours of work agreed upon, she must be engaged in actual work for her +employer. +</p> +<p> +Secondly, when an employee is off duty, she should not be allowed to +remain with or to talk to the other employee or employees who are still +on duty. When her work is finished, she ought to leave her employer's +house. The non-observance of either of these two points produces a +demoralizing effect. +</p> +<p> +Thirdly, a general knowledge of cooking, and serving meals, of cleaning +and taking proper care of the rooms of a house, of attending correctly +to the telephone and the door bell, of sewing, of washing and ironing, +and of taking care of children, should be insisted upon from all +household employees. +</p> +<p> +There are many housewives who will state that this last condition is +impossible, that it is asking too much from one employee; and since it +is hard to-day to find a good cook, it will be still harder to find one +who understands other household work as well. But those who jump to +these conclusions have never tried the experiment. It is not only +possible but practicable. +</p> +<p> +Judging from the ordinary intelligence displayed by the average cook and +housemaid in the majority of private homes to-day, it ought not to seem +incredible that the duties of both could be easily mastered by young +women of ordinary ability. A woman who knows how to prepare and cook a +meal, may easily learn the correct way of serving it, and the possession +of this knowledge ought not to prevent her from being capable of +sweeping a room, or making a bed, or taking care of children. +</p> +<p> +It is above all in families where only a few employees are kept, that +the housewife will quickly realize how much it is to her immediate +advantage to employ women who know how to do all kinds of housework, +instead of having those who make a specialty of one particular branch. +</p> +<p> +The specialization of work in private houses has been carried to +such an extreme that it has become one of the greatest drawbacks +to successful housekeeping in small families. Under this system of +specialization, a household employee is not capable in emergency of +taking up satisfactorily the work of another. Even if she be able to do +it, she often professes ignorance for fear it may prolong her own hours +of labor, or because, as she sometimes frankly admits, she does not +consider it "her place." The chambermaid does not know how to cook, the +cook does not know how to do the chamberwork, the waitress, in her turn, +can do neither cooking nor chamberwork, and the annoyance to the whole +family caused by the temporary absence of one of its regular employees +is enough to spoil for the time being all the traditional comforts of +home. +</p> +<p> +In hotels and public institutions, and in large private establishments, +where the work demands a numerous staff of employees, the specialization +of the work is the only means for its successful accomplishment, but in +the average home requiring from one to four or five employees no system +could be worse from an economic point of view, nor less conducive to the +comfort of the family. +</p> +<p> +Specialization produces another bad effect, for it prevents the +existence of the feeling of equality among employees in the same house. +Each "specialist" speaks rather disparagingly of the other's work, +regardless of the relative position her own special "art" may occupy to +the unprejudiced mind. +</p> +<p> +An amusing instance of this was recently shown at a country place near +New York, when "the lady of the manor" asked a friend to send some one +down from the city to help with the housework during the temporary +absence of her maid. The friend could not find any one at the domestic +employment agencies willing to go, but at last through the Charity +Organization Society, she heard of a woman temporarily out of +employment, who had been frequently employed as scrubwoman on the +vacation piers. When the work was offered her, she accepted it +immediately. Arriving at her new employer's house, she began at once to +scrub the floors, and when the work was completed, she sat on a chair +and took no further notice of anything. The next day, having no more +floors to scrub, the same general lack of interest was manifested. She +was asked to wash the dishes after dinner. She replied that she was not +used to "dishwashing," and did not know how to do it. She was persuaded, +however, to make the attempt, but performed her new task very +reluctantly. The following morning she said she felt "lonely" and +would return at once to the city. As the train came in sight to bear +her back to her accustomed surroundings, she gave a snort of relief, +and exclaimed: "I'm a scrubwoman, I am. I ain't going to do no fancy +dishwashing, no, not for no one; I'm a scrubwoman." And she clambered up +into the train with the alacrity of a woman whose dignity had received a +hard blow. +</p> +<p> +The above illustration is typical of the spirit subjected to the system +of specialization, and shows how unwise it is to encourage it in the +home where all branches of housework could be easily made +interchangeable. +</p> +<p> +Under the new system of limiting housework to eight hours a day, the +housewife must insist that all applicants be willing and able to perform +any part of the housework she may assign, and their duties ought not +to be specified otherwise than by the term HOUSEWORK. The employee who +refuses to wait on the table during the absence of the waitress, or to +cook, or to do the laundry work, or to answer the telephone, or to carry +packages from her employer's automobile to the library, because she does +not consider it "her place to do these things," should be instantly +discharged. +</p> +<p> +These very important conditions being understood and conceded, the +choice and arrangement of the eight hours' work must necessarily lie +with each individual housewife. Each family is different and has +different claims upon its time. The "rush hours" of social life are +sometimes in the evening, and sometimes in the afternoon, and again in +some families, especially where there are small children, the breakfast +hour seems the most complicated of the day. All these details have to be +carefully thought of when making an eight hour schedule. At the end of +this book a set of schedules is placed. Any intelligent housewife can +understand them, imitate them, and in many instances improve them. They +are merely given as elementary examples. +</p> +<p> +According to the number of employees she engages, the housewife will +have eight, sixteen, or twenty-four hours of work to distribute among +them, and to meet her peculiar needs she will find it necessary at the +outset to devote some hours to a satisfactory scheme. After testing +several, she will probably have to begin all over again before she +finally succeeds in evolving one that is available. But the problem is +interesting in itself, and always admits of a solution. +</p> +<p> +It may not be amiss to make this final suggestion for the woman who is +willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example +of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise +for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications +be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the +majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate +hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a +dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through +advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible +to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the +employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with +the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to +offer gratuitous service. +</p> +<p> +The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle +theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it +is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who +would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in +the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids +would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the +domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in +the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other +way. +</p> +<h4> +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK +</h4> +<p> +Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of +the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right +to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday. +</p> +<p> +It is remarkable that this fact, showing so forcibly one of the +greatest disadvantages connected with housework, should attract so +little attention. No one seems to care about the fate of the "servant +girl," as she is so often disdainfully called. During six days of the +week she works on the average fourteen hours a day, but no one stops +to notice that she is tired. On the seventh day, instead of resting as +every other employee has the right to do, her work is merely reduced to +nine, eight, or perhaps seven hours; and yet she needs a day of rest +as much as every other woman who earns her bread. The rights of the +domestic employee are ignored on all sides apparently. In public +demonstrations of dissatisfaction between employers and employees the +most oppressed class of the working people—the women who do +housework—has never yet been represented. +</p> +<p> +This is probably due to two causes: the first is because women +dissatisfied with housework are rapidly finding positions in business +where they enjoy rights and privileges denied them in domestic labor; +and the second is because the great majority of women engaged in +housework are foreign-born. These women learn quickly to understand and +speak English, but they do not often read and write it, and as they are +kept in close confinement in their employer's house, they have rarely +the opportunity of hearing about the emancipation of the modern working +woman. Most of them are of a very humble origin, and being debarred from +business positions on account of their ignorance and inexperience, they +are thankful to earn money in any kind of employment regardless of the +length of working hours. +</p> +<p> +Their children, however, who are American born and enjoy better +educational advantages, do not follow in their footsteps when the +time comes for them to earn their living. They become stenographers, +typewriters, dressmakers, milliners, shirt waist makers, cash-girls, +saleswomen, etc.; in fact any occupation where work is limited to a +fixed number of hours a day and confined to six days a week, is +considered more desirable than housework. The result is that the +housewife is compelled to take for her employees only those who are +rejected by every other employer; the capable, independent, intelligent +American woman is hardly ever seen in domestic service. +</p> +<p> +In Washington, D.C., a law (the La Follette Eight Hour Law for Women in +the District of Columbia) was recently passed limiting to eight hours +a day and six days a week practically all work in which women are +industrially employed; "hotel servants" are included under the +provisions of this law, but "domestic servants in private homes" are +expressly excluded. +</p> +<p> +If this new law be considered a just and humane measure for women who +are business employees, and if business houses be compelled to observe +it, one naturally wonders why it should not prove to be an equally +just and humane law for women who work in private families, and why +should not the home be compelled to observe it too? Instead of being a +barrier to progress, the home ought to coöperate with the state in the +enforcement of laws for the amelioration of the condition of working +women. The home, being presided over by a woman, presumably of some +education and intelligence, should be a most fitting place in which to +apply a law designed to protect women against excessive hours of labor. +</p> +<p> +Why should housework in private homes be an exception to all other work? +Is it because some housewives say, in self justification and frequently +without an accurate knowledge of what it is to do housework week after +week without one day's release, that housework is easier than other +work? Is it easier? Is it not sometimes harder? However, it is not a +question of housework being harder or easier than other work, but of the +desirability of having it limited to eight hours a day and six days a +week. Why should the housewife be allowed to remain in such a state of +apathy in regard to the physical welfare of her household employees? +</p> +<p> +"Six days shalt thou labor" has all the sanction of scripture, of +morals, and of common experience. It is only fair that women who work in +private families should have one day out of seven as a day of rest, even +as their more fortunate sisters in the business world. If by adopting +such a law in the home the housewife found that her work was performed +far more efficiently and willingly than at present, would it not be as +much to her advantage as to the advantage of those she employs to limit +the hours of household labor to six days a week? Many housewives may +object to this proposition inasmuch as the work in a home can not be +suspended even for a day. But when two or more employees work in a +private home, it is very easy to plan the housework so that each +employee may have a different day of the week as a "day of rest," +without the comfort of the family being disturbed by the temporary +absence of one of the employees. It is only in families where one +employee is kept that it may make a very serious difference to the +housewife when her "maid-of-all-work" is away for one entire day each +week. Nevertheless the comfort of an employer ought not to outweigh +justice to an employee. +</p> +<p> +There are many ways of regulating the housework, as will be seen in the +schedules at the end of this book, in order to give one day of freedom +each week to household employees without causing much inconvenience to +the housewife. By continuing to refuse this privilege to women employed +in domestic labor, housekeeping is becoming more and more complicated. +Already it is such a common occurrence in some cities and in many parts +of the country, not to find any woman willing to do housework, that +many housewives are beginning to think that their future comfort in all +household matters will depend entirely upon new labor saving devices and +upon the help of the community rather than upon the increased knowledge +and skill of domestic employees. +</p> +<p> +There exists a prevailing impression, too, that housework has lost its +dignity, and that at this period of the world's social history, it is +impossible to restore it for women have stepped above it. But this is +not true. The fact is that housework has remained stationary while other +work has gained in freedom and dignity. Without noisy protestations, or +indignant speeches delivered in public, women have slowly and silently, +one by one, deserted housework as a career on account of the narrowing, +servile, and unjust conditions inseparable from it at the present day. +Let these conditions be removed and new regulations based upon modern +business principles take their place, and then it will be seen that +housework has never lost its dignity, and the very women who abandoned +it will be the first to choose it again as a means of earning their +livelihood. +</p> +<p> +As a proof of this, the following experience may be cited of a New Work +woman who wished to obtain a domestic employee for general housework. +She went to several employment agencies and at the end of a week she +had seen four applicants; three were foreigners and spoke English so +brokenly that they could never have been left in charge of a telephone. +Not one of the four was worth considering after investigating their +references, and these were the only women she could find willing to do +general housework. Upon the advice of a friend, the perplexed housewife +advertised in one of the daily newspapers, but only a few women applied +for the position and these were far from being satisfactory. She then +inserted another advertisement expressed in the following words: +"Wanted: a young woman to help with housework, eight hours a day, six +days a week, sleep home. Apply by letter only." +</p> +<p> +This last clause was added to prevent any one from applying for the +position who could not write English, as it was absolutely necessary +that the person engaged to do the housework should be capable of +attending correctly to the telephone. On the same day the advertisement +appeared, eighty-five applications by letter were received, and twenty +more came the following day. All who wrote expressed their willingness +to fill the position of a domestic employee and to do anything in +the way of housework under the new conditions specified in the +advertisement. Only one stated she would do no washing. Many who replied +to this advertisement had occupied positions, which according to the +present standard, were far superior to housework; many, too, were +married women, experienced in all household work, and most anxious to +accept a position in a private family, a position that did not break up +their own home life. +</p> +<p> +The housewife was bewildered by the unexpected result of her +advertisement: the tables were turned at last. Instead of being one of +many looking in vain for a good domestic employee, she found that she +had now the advantage of being able to choose from more than a hundred +applicants one who would best suit her own peculiar needs. +</p> +<p> +The same advertisement has been inserted at different times and has +always brought the same remarkable result: from one hundred to one +hundred and sixty answers each time. It is true that all who present +themselves may not be efficient, but efficiency speedily comes to the +front when upon it alone depends a desirable position. +</p> +<p> +Two very important facts came to light through the help of this +advertisement; one was to find so many women eager to do housework when +it was limited to eight hours a day and six days a week, and the other +was to hear that they were willing to board and lodge themselves, as +well as work, for the same wages that "servants" are accustomed to +receive, although to the latter the housewife invariably gives gratis +all food and sleeping accommodations. These two facts alone prove beyond +a doubt that by applying business principles to housework all objections +to it as a means of earning a livelihood are removed. +</p> +<p> +It is quite likely that for a time the old fashioned "mistress," and the +old fashioned "servant" will continue to cling to past customs; but once +it is proved that domestic labor limited to eight hours a day and six +days a week, brings a better, more intelligent, more efficient class of +employees to the home, the most obdurate employer will change her mind. +</p> +<p> +No legislation is needed. If all who are trying to solve the "servant +question" will begin to practice the new plan in their own homes, the +future will take care of itself and the old ways will die a natural +death. +</p> +<h4> +THE OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS IN THE HOME +</h4> +<p> +The pleasure brought by the advent of a holiday into the lives of +the working people can hardly be overestimated, and it is doubtful +if holidays would ever have become legalized had they not proved of +distinct value to the masses. To have one day each week free from the +steady grind of one's dally work is a great relief, but to have a +holiday is something still better, for it usually means a day set apart +for general rejoicing. +</p> +<p> +Why do all housewives persistently disregard the right of the household +employee to have legal holidays? The reason generally brought forward +is that many families need their employees more on a holiday than on +any other day. In many cases this is quite true on account of family +reunions or the entertaining of friends, but very often the housewife +could easily dispense with the services of her employees on a holiday. +She does not do it, however, or only occasionally, because it is not the +custom to grant holidays to women who work in private homes. +</p> +<p> +If it be impossible, on account of the exigencies of home life, to grant +all legal holidays to household employees, there are many different ways +of planning the housework so that other days may be given instead. +Sometimes the day before or the day after a holiday will give as much +pleasure as the day itself. A woman who is at the head of a home has +many opportunities of coming into close contact with her employees; she +can easily ascertain their wishes in this respect and act accordingly. +It is more the fact of being entitled to a holiday than to have it on +a certain day that ought to be emphasized. +</p> +<p> +Domestic employees would be benefited by having these extra days of +liberty, just as much as all other employees. A trial is all that is +necessary to show how much better a household employee will work after +having a holiday. She returns to her duties with renewed strength +and the knowledge that she is no longer forced to play the rôle of +Cinderella gives her a fresh interest in life. Unfortunately the +housewife has been accustomed for so many years to have her "servants" +work for her all day long on every day of the week, with only a few +hours off duty "on every other Sunday and on every other Thursday," that +she is rather inclined to resent such an innovation as the observance +of legal holidays in domestic labor. She fails to perceive that by her +present attitude she shows herself in a very unfavorable light as an +employer, for the lack of holidays is decidedly one of the reasons for +which housework is shunned to-day. +</p> +<p> +Business men have evolved a satisfactory and workable plan by which +their employees are neither overworked nor deprived of all legal +holidays, although frequently the work they are engaged in can not be +suspended day or night even for an hour. +</p> +<p> +It remains for women of the leisure class, and to this class belong all +those who can afford to pay to have their housework done for them, to +adopt a similar plan in their homes. +</p> +<h4> +EXTRA PAY FOR OVERTIME +</h4> +<p> +When the plan for limiting housework to eight hours a day is discussed +for the first time, the following question invariably arises: What is +to be done when anything unusual happens to break the routine of the +regular work, as for instance, when sickness occurs, when friends arrive +unexpectedly, when a dinner party is given? +</p> +<p> +Sickness, of course, is unavoidable, but as a rule a trained nurse or +an extra household assistant is called in to help. Many times, however, +this is not absolutely necessary, or perhaps the family can not afford +to have outside help, and the extra work caused by sickness usually +falls upon the domestic employee whose hours of labor are more or less +prolonged in consequence. What ought to be done in such an event? +</p> +<p> +There is but one answer: Work that can not be accomplished within the +regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as +"overtime." +</p> +<p> +When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a +day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not +to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She +alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a +schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or +dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon +between herself and her employees. +</p> +<p> +When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or +a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule +may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement +has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some +compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours +of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers, +and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them. +</p> +<p> +In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes +it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket, +not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving +"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the +light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to +remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why +should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help +her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense +entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in +taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she +object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon +whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends? +</p> +<p> +There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never +recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded +from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in +exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay, +especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some +days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their +employees have no cause for complaint. +</p> +<p> +It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged +to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really +compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give +on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only +a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and +it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded +to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively +engaged in work. +</p> +<p> +But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they +ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it +is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of +rewarding them have been tried with more or less success. +</p> +<p> +One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents +to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited +to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent +pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money. +</p> +<p> +Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to +the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner +party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another +plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or +ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of +satisfactory work to her employer. +</p> +<p> +All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show +that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is +due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently +unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack +stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness +of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established +business principle. +</p> +<p> +And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will +produce a permanently satisfactory result? +</p> +<p> +The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay +each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as +for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just +proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a +household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say +$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days +a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for +her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for extra +work, she ought to receive 15, 22-1/2, or 30 cents per hour for every +hour she works for her employer after the completion of her regular +eight hours' work. +</p> +<p> +This plan has never failed to bring satisfaction, and it has the +advantage of placing the employer and the employee on an equally +delightful footing of independence. The performance of extra work is no +longer regarded as a matter of obligation on one side, and of concession +on the other, but as a purely business transaction. +</p> +<p> +Some housewives fear that the regular work would be intentionally +prolonged beyond all measure if it became an established rule to pay +extra for work performed overtime. This could be easily checked, +however, by paying extra only for work that was necessitated by unusual +events in the family life. +</p> +<p> +In families where only one employee is kept, naturally the occasions for +asking her to work overtime arise more frequently than in families where +there are two or more employees, especially if there be small children +in the family. Yet these occasions need not come very often, if the +housewife bears in mind that even with only one employee, she has eight +hours every day at her own disposal; she ought to plan her outside +engagements accordingly. Her liberty from household cares during +these eight hours can only be gained though by having efficient and +trustworthy assistants in her home, and she can never obtain these +unless she abandons her old fashioned methods of housekeeping. She must +grant to household employees the same rights and privileges given to +business employees; she must apply business principles to housework. +A great power lies in the hands of the modern housewife, a power as yet +only suspected by a few, which, if properly wielded, can raise housework +from its present undignified position to the place it ought to occupy, +and that is in the foremost rank of manual labor for women. +</p> +<a name="PART3" id="PART3"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART III +</h2> +<h3> + EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Eight hour schedules for one employee.</li> +<li> Eight hour schedules for two employees.</li> +<li> Eight hour schedules for three employees.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR ONE EMPLOYEE +</h4> +<p> +The schedules given in the following pages have been in actual practice +for a sufficient length of time to prove that they can be relied on to +produce satisfactory results, although no doubt many housewives will +find that some of them must be modified to meet special requirements in +their homes. +</p> +<p> +Two very important points must always be borne in mind in order to +obtain the greatest advantage from an eight hour schedule, especially in +families where only one employee is engaged to do the housework. +</p> +<p> +The first point is this: the housewife ought only to make her working +schedule <i>after</i> she has carefully studied her own comfort and +convenience in regard to the hours she considers the most important of +the day for her to have help in her housework. +</p> +<p> +The second point is for the housewife to reserve for herself the entire +freedom of the eight hours during which her employee is on duty, for +then she can place, or she ought to be able to, the full responsibility +of the housekeeping upon her employee. +</p> +<p> +By adhering strictly to these two points, the housewife will soon +perceive that she can dispense with the services of her employee for the +remaining hours of the day without much inconvenience to herself or her +family. She may even find it more pleasant than otherwise to be relieved +from the sight and sound of household work, for at least a few hours a +day, when she is in her own home. +</p> +<p> +Possibly the housewife who has but one employee will not accept with +alacrity the proposition of allowing her to be off duty for an entire +day once a week, for unless she be willing to do the necessary work +herself on that day, she must engage a special person to take the place +of her regular employee. But many families engage a woman to come once a +week to help with the washing and house-cleaning, especially when they +have only one household employee. If this woman came on the day the +regular employee was away, she could relieve the housewife of all the +housework that could not be postponed until the next day. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. I +</h4> +<p> +When only one employee is engaged in a private home, her services are +needed more at meal time than at any other time of the day, especially +if small children are in the family. As the hours for the three +principal meals are about the same everywhere, the following schedule is +a very useful one. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>2 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +In the morning from seven to ten o'clock, the employee had ample time +to prepare and serve breakfast and wash up the dishes afterwards, and +do the chamberwork. The three hours from noon until three o'clock were +filled with duties that varied considerably each day. Luncheon was +served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to +serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted +to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or +preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening +or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and +serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a +week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and +assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the +rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee. +</p> +<p> +This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but +several times, and not with the same employee, but with different +employees, and it has always been most satisfactory. +</p> +<p> +It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on +schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the +greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well, +is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere, +and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases +with the remainder of her time. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. II +</h4> +<p> +The following schedule is very different from the preceding one, +inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her +employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children +in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very +frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was +the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her +employee, whose working hours were arranged thus: +</p> + +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was +finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in +the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a +week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On +these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she +did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not +difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The +family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually went +out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. III +</h4> +<p> +In this schedule, the employee's work is divided into two periods, with +one hour for rest between. The family consisted of a man and his wife, +who lived in an apartment. The hours of work were as follows: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee +who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress. In consequence she +was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on +her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was +done. As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife +was obliged to get breakfast herself. However this was a very simple +matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night +before. The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the +aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, +boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, +or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes. +</p> +<p> +The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and +although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much +work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. IV +</h4> +<p> +Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally +chosen for a family of six: mother, father, four small children. The +eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household +employee to help with the work. They lived in the country, and breakfast +had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early +morning train to town. +</p> +<p> +Naturally, with only one employee, the housewife was compelled to do +some of the housework herself, and until the following schedule was +adopted, she had been in the habit of rising early, dressing the +children, and getting breakfast ready herself. Her employee arrived +later in the day and remained until after dinner at night. The comfort +and general welfare of the mother were increased to such a remarkable +degree by the new schedule, however, that it is well worth special +attention. +</p> +<p> +The hours were as follows: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the +children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed +themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing +them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day +before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not +hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the +employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked +steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother +felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the +other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her +employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for +lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go +for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's +house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some +household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put +them to bed for their morning nap. +</p> +<p> +At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the +house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over +and she went home. +</p> +<p> +This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three, +but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee. +To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was +much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the +morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not +much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and +herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was +no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a +dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment +in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra +hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a +"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her +place. +</p> +<p> +This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely +free from the children and household cares. +</p> +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES +</h4> +<p> +It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than +for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which +the sixteen hours of work may be divided, subdivided, and arranged to +please the individual housewife. With two employees, it is no longer +necessary for the housewife to remain at home while one is off duty, +even for an hour, for one relieves the other without any cessation of +work. Even on the seventh day, "the day of rest," the housewife can +always arrange to have her work done without doing it herself, in spite +of the absence of one of her employees. +</p> +<p> +When a schedule is finally agreed upon, however, it must be rigidly +enforced, for it is more important to keep to the hours specified when +there are two employees than when there is only one. Although the +housewife may be tempted to claim the privilege of changing her hours +very often to please herself, since she is the employer, if she value +her peace of mind, she will refrain from doing it. Only when the +inevitable, the unforeseen, occurs should she make a change in her +regular schedule. When one employee is off duty all day, the other +employee can remain on duty the entire day; naturally this plan +necessitates more than eight hours of work on that day, probably two +or three more hours, but if on the day after or the day before, the +employee be allowed to work two or three hours less than eight hours, +the average of eight hours a day and six days a week is maintained. +</p> +<p> +Another example of what the housewife can do when one of her employees +is off duty the entire day, is to make her other employee follow +schedule No. 1. This enables her to keep to eight hours a day and at the +same time the housewife does none of the housework herself. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. V +</h4> +<p> +With two employees it is a wise plan to arrange a schedule that makes +the work of one employee commence the moment the work of the other +ceases. This tends to promote punctuality without requiring special +supervision on the part of the housewife. +</p> +<p> +The following schedule is admirably adapted to the every day life of the +average family with two employees: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 4 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +All the washing, ironing, and mending of the family were done by the +two employees, and they also took care of the children when necessary. +Besides being good cooks, they were both excellent waitresses; in +consequence it made no difference which one was on duty at meal time. +</p> +<p> +One employee only was in charge of breakfast; she came at seven o'clock +in the morning, and worked steadily until eleven o'clock, when the +second employee arrived. She then went out for her lunch, returning at +twelve, and remaining on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon. She +was then free for the remainder of the day. +</p> +<p> +The second employee, as soon as she arrived at 11 A.M., went through +the house and finished any work that was not completed by the first +employee. She worked without stopping until 3 P.M., then went away for +her lunch; she returned at 4 P.M. to relieve the first employee whose +work was over at four o'clock. The second employee remained on duty +until 8 P.M.; she cooked and served dinner so quickly and efficiently +that the housewife who had always been accustomed to have two employees, +a "cook" and a "waitress," on duty for dinner every night, found to +her great surprise that one efficient household employee, working on +schedule time, accomplished in the same time the work of two of her +former "servants." +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VI +</h4> +<p> +In this schedule the housewife wanted both her employees to help her +with her two children. With this end in view, she made all the work of +the house interchange with the care of the children; in consequence when +one employee was off duty, the other could always be relied on to help +with the children. This proved to be a very successful schedule, for it +relieved the mother from being obliged to sit in the nursery as she was +compelled to do every time her former "nurse" went downstairs to her +meals, or had her "afternoon off." But when the mother wished to be with +her children, and that was very often, the employee who was in the +nursery at the time, left the room immediately to attend to other +household duties. +</p> +<p> +Both employees were on duty at 7 A.M., a most necessary arrangement +where there are small children in a family. The first employee prepared +and served breakfast for the family, while the other employee took full +charge of the children, giving them their breakfast in the nursery, and +taking them out afterwards for a walk. At 10 A.M., she returned with the +children, and she was then off duty for two hours. The mother generally +chose this time to be with her children; if however, she had any other +engagement, the first employee was on duty until noon and could be +called upon to look after them. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 12 M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VII +</h4> +<p> +There are many families who may object to all the preceding schedules +on account of the early hour in the evening for household employees +to be off duty. When the housewife has never had her housework done on +schedule time by an efficient employee, she may well think it impossible +to have the dinner dishes washed up and everything put away in order by +8 P.M. However some families do not begin dinner before half past seven, +or eight o'clock, or even later, but in these families, it is not +unusual for the breakfast hour to be very late also. In consequence +nothing is easier than to make a schedule for the day's work begin late +and end late, without making any other alteration in it. +</p> +<p> +The following schedule, however, combines an early breakfast and a late +dinner, in a family where only two employees were kept: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 12 M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M.<br />(or from 8 to 11 P.M.) </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR THREE EMPLOYEES +</h4> +<p> +The greater the number of household employees, the easier it is to make +a satisfactory working schedule. But the temptation to specialize the +work is greater, and should be carefully guarded against. It is just as +necessary with three employees as with one for the housewife to insist +that each one be capable and willing to do all kinds of work in the +home, including sewing and taking care of children. +</p> +<p> +With three employees, the housewife ought to make them take turns in +cooking and serving one of the three meals each day. This enables them +to become familiar with the dining room and with the different dishes +for each course; it also removes any feeling of embarrassment which +naturally might be felt by an employee who is rarely called upon to cook +or serve a meal. +</p> +<p> +To have an expert needlewoman in the house is a great boon to the +housewife, and when she has three employees who can sew in her home, she +ought to insist upon a great deal of sewing and mending being done by +each one of them. +</p> +<p> +It is rare that the "servant" of to-day is a good sewer; in fact the +housewife would hesitate to ask her to do even the ordinary mending, but +when one engages household employees on an eight hour schedule, and when +there are a hundred women to choose from, it is not hard to find several +who sew well. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VIII +</h4> +<p> +It is so easy to plan the housework for three employees that one +schedule as an example seems quite sufficient, and the only thing that +the housewife must remember is to make all the work interchangeable. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 4 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Third Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONCLUSION +</h2> +<p> +In conclusion it seems that a few words are necessary about families who +need the services of an employee at night as well as in the day time. +There are many mothers who do not wish or who are not able to take +care of their children at night, and in consequence it is absolutely +necessary to have an attendant. The present custom is to have the nurse +or maid sleep in the same room as the baby, or in a room adjoining the +children's bedroom, so as to be within call. But a woman who has worked +all day, or even eight hours a day, should not have her sleep disturbed +at night by taking care of children. No woman can be fit for her work +the next day if she has not been able to secure the average amount of +sleep necessary to health. +</p> +<p> +In many cases it has been proved that when a child does not sleep +well at night, the nurse has taken upon herself the responsibility of +giving it "soothing syrup" so as to keep it quiet. This is hardly to be +wondered at when one considers the strain under which the nurse is kept +day and night by taking care of a small child; besides the average nurse +is generally ignorant of the harm caused by so-called "soothing syrups." +</p> +<p> +If a child be sick, the mother should call in a trained nurse, that +is if she can afford it, and when she has several employees, she can +usually afford this extra expense. If the child or children be well, +and the mother desires some one to attend to them at night, she should +engage a woman who has no occupation during the day and who is willing +to work at night. She should make a point of choosing one who sews well, +so that the services of a seamstress might be combined with the duties +of a night nurse. There is always some mending to do in all families and +a woman who is clever with her needle might make herself very useful to +her employer. Thousands of women sew by artificial light in dressmaking +establishments and factories; in all probability just as many women +could be found to sew by artificial light in private homes. Perhaps at +first the novelty of working at night might deter women from taking a +position similar to the one suggested above, but a woman who was really +in need of work would not let the unusual hours prevent her from +accepting it, +</p> +<p> +Many men work at night and it is not unlikely that many women would be +willing to do it too. Women are not as timid as they were reputed to +be in former years; they would neither scream nor faint nowadays at +the sight of a little mouse scampering across the floor. Indeed quite +recently the newspapers reported that a woman whose husband had just +died had accepted the position of a night watchman, and she filled her +new rôle so successfully that on one occasion she managed to seize a +burglar and handed him over to a policeman. +</p> +<p> +This proposition of engaging a woman to work at night is only a +suggestion, however, offered to those who find it absolutely necessary +to have a domestic employee in their house at night. It remains to be +proved if it could be carried out successfully. +</p> +<p> +But the great changes in housekeeping described in the preceding +chapters are not mere suggestions nor theories of what might be done: +each reform has already been put into actual practice. The result has +been so extraordinary that one is impelled to believe that the only way +to solve the Servant Problem is to apply business principles to +housework in private homes. +</p> +<p> +Naturally such a revolution from methods now in vogue can not be wrought +in a day, and the transitional period may be one of some difficulty and +confusion for employer and employee alike who have spent a large portion +of their lives under the old régime. But the revolution is imperative, +and the ultimate benefit beyond calculation. +</p> + +<br /><br /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14117 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8815d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14117 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14117) diff --git a/old/14117-8.txt b/old/14117-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1b9fe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14117-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2114 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework, by C. +Helene Barker + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework + +Author: C. Helene Barker + +Release Date: November 22, 2004 [eBook #14117] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO +HOUSEWORK*** + + +E-text prepared by Stan Goodman, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +Business Principles Applied to Housework + +by + +C. HÉLÈNE BARKER + +Author of _Automobile French_ + +New York +Moffat, Yard & Company + +1915 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book is not a treatise on Domestic Science. The vacuum +cleaner and the fireless cooker are not even mentioned. The efficient +kitchen devised in such an interesting and clever way has no place in +it. Its exclusive object is to suggest a satisfactory and workable +solution along modern lines of how to get one's housework efficiently +performed without doing it one's self. + +If the propositions that she advances seem at first startling, the +writer begs only for a patient hearing, for she is convinced by strong +reasons and abundant experience, that liberty in the household, like +social and political liberty, can never come except from obedience to +just law. + +C.H.B. + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and Inefficiency in the Home 1 + Difficulty of Obtaining Women to Do Housework 11 + The Disadvantages of Housework Compared with Work + in Factories, Stores, and Offices 19 + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living Outside Place of Employment 31 + Housework Limited to 8 Hours a Day 47 + Housework Limited to 6 Days a Week 61 + The Observance of Legal Holidays 75 + Extra Pay for Overtime 81 + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight Hour Schedules for One Employee 93 + Eight Hour Schedules for Two Employees 109 + Eight Hour Schedules for Three Employees 121 + + + + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and inefficiency in the home. + Difficulty of obtaining women to do housework. + The disadvantages connected with housework compared + with work in factories, stores, and offices. + + +IGNORANCE AND INEFFICIENCY IN THE HOME + + +The twentieth-century woman, in spite of her progressive and ambitious +theories about woman's sphere of activity, has allowed her housekeeping +methods to remain almost stationary, while other professions and +industries have moved forward with gigantic strides. + +She does not hesitate to blazon abroad with banners and pennants her +desire to share with man the responsibility for the administration of +the State, but she overlooks the disquieting fact that in the management +of her own household, where her authority is absolute, she has failed +to convince the world of her power to govern. When confronted with this +accusation, she asserts that the maintenance of a home is neither a +business nor a profession, and that in consequence it ought not to be +compared with them nor be judged by the same standards. + +Is it not due perhaps to this erroneous idea that housekeeping is a +failure to-day? For the fact that it is a failure cannot be hidden, +and that it has been a failure for many years past is equally true. +Recent inventions, and labor saving utensils, have greatly facilitated +housework, yet housekeeping is still accompanied with much +dissatisfaction on the part of the employer and the employee. + +There are only a few women to-day who regard domestic science in the +light of a profession, or a business, although in reality it is both. +For what is a profession if it be not the application of science to +life? And does not work which one follows regularly constitute a +business? + +Many women, however, do not regard housekeeping even as a serious +occupation, and few have devoted as much time, thought, and energy to +mastering the principles of domestic economy as of late years women of +all classes of society have willingly given to the study of the rules +and ever changing intricacies of auction bridge. Some consider their +time too valuable to devote to domestic and culinary matters, and openly +boast of their ignorance. Outside engagements, pleasures, philanthropic +schemes, or work, monopolize their days, and the conduct of the house +devolves upon their employees. The result is rarely satisfactory. It is +essential that the woman who is at the head of any concern, be it a +business, a profession, or a home, should not only thoroughly understand +its every detail, but in order to make it a success she must give it her +personal attention each day for at least a portion of her time. + +It is a popular impression that the knowledge of good housekeeping, +and of the proper care of children, comes naturally to a woman, who, +though she had no previous training or preparation for these duties, +suddenly finds them thrust upon her. But how many women can really look +back with joy to the first years of their housekeeping? Do they not +remember them more with a feeling of dismay than pleasure? How many +foolish mistakes occurred entailing repentance and discomfort! And how +many heart-burnings were caused, and even tears shed, because in spite +of the best intentions, everything seemed to go wrong? And why? Simply +because of ignorance and inefficiency in the home, not only of the +employee, but of the employer also. + +That an employee is ignorant and unskilled in her work is often +excusable, but there is absolutely no excuse for a woman who has time +and money at her command, to be ignorant of domestic science, when of +her own free will she undertakes the responsibilities of housekeeping. + +Nearly all women take interest in the furnishing of their homes, and +give their personal attention to it with the result that as a rule they +excel in household decoration, and often produce marvels of beauty and +taste with the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money. + +Marketing is also very generally attended to in person by the housewife, +but she is using the telephone more and more frequently as a substitute +for a personal visit to butcher and grocer, and this is greatly to her +disadvantage. The telephone is a very convenient instrument, especially +in emergency, or for ordering things that do not vary in price. But when +prices depend upon the fluctuations of the market, or when the articles +to be purchased are of a perishable nature, it must be remembered that +the telephone is also a very convenient instrument for the merchant who +is anxious to get rid of his bad stock. + +The remaining branches of housekeeping apparently do not interest +the modern housewife. She entrusts them very generally to her employees, +upon whose skill and knowledge she blindly relies. Unfortunately skill +and knowledge are very rare qualities, and if the housewife herself be +ignorant of the proper way of doing the work in her own home, how can +she be fitted to direct those she places in charge of it, or to make a +wise choice when she has to select a new employee? Too often she engages +women and young girls without investigating their references of +character or capability, and when time proves what an imprudent +proceeding she has been party to, she simply attributes the consequent +troubles to causes beyond her control. If the housewife were really +worthy of her name she would be able not only to pick out better +employees, but to insist upon their work being properly done. To-day +she is almost afraid to ask her cook to prepare all the dishes for the +family meals, nor does she always find some one willing to do the family +washing. She is obliged to buy food already cooked from the caterer or +baker, because her so-called "cook" was not accustomed to bake bread and +rolls, or to make pies and cakes, or ice cream, for previous employers, +from whom nevertheless she received an excellent reference as cook. Of +course in cities it is easy to buy food already cooked or canned and to +send all the washing to the laundry, but it helps to raise the "high +cost of living" to alarming proportions, and it also encourages +ignorance in the most important branches of domestic economy. + +In spite of the "rush of modern life," a woman who has a home ought to +be willing to give some part of her time to its daily supervision. +Eternal vigilance is the price of everything worth having. If she gave +this she would not have so many tales of woe to relate about the +laziness, neglectfulness, and stupidity of her cook and housemaids. +There is not a single housewife to-day who has not had many bitter +experiences. One who desires information upon this subject has only to +call on the nearest friend. + +To the uninterested person, to the onlooker, the helplessness of the +woman who is at the head of the home, her inability to cope with her +domestic difficulties, is often comic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes +almost tragic. The publications of the day have caricatured the +situation until it has become an outworn jest. The present system of +housekeeping can no longer stand. One of two things must occur. Either +the housewife must adopt business principles in ruling her household, +or she will find before many more years elapse there will be no longer +any woman willing to place her neck under the domestic yoke. + +If the principles set forth in the following pages can be popularized in +a comprehensive plan of which all the parts can be thoroughly understood +both by the housewife and her employee, ignorance and inefficiency in +the home will be presently abolished. + + +DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WOMEN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +The present unsatisfactory condition of domestic labor in private houses +is not confined to any special city or country; it is universal. Each +year the difficulty of obtaining women to do housework seems to increase +and the demand is so much greater than the supply, that ignorant and +inefficient employees are retained simply because it is impossible to +find others more competent to replace them. + +There is hardly a home to-day where, at one time or another, the +housewife has not gone through the unenviable experience of being +financially able and perfectly willing to pay for the services of some +one to help her in her housekeeping duties, and yet found it almost +impossible to get a really competent and intelligent employee. As a +rule, those who apply for positions in housework are grossly ignorant of +the duties they profess to perform, and the well trained, clever, and +experienced workers are sadly in the minority. + +Women and young girls who face the necessity of self support, or who +wish to lead a life of independence, no longer choose housework as a +means of earning a livelihood. It is evident that there is a reason, +and a very potent one, that decides them to accept any kind of +employment in preference to the work offered them in a private home. +Wages, apparently, have little to do with their decision, nor other +considerations which must add very much to their material welfare, +such as good food in abundance, and clean, well ventilated sleeping +accommodations, for these two important items are generally included +at present in the salaries of household employees. Concessions, too, +are frequently made, and favors bestowed upon them by many of their +employers, yet few young girls, and still fewer women are content to +work in private families. + +It is a deplorable state of affairs, and women seem to be gradually +losing their courage to battle with this increasingly difficult +question: How to obtain and retain one's domestic employees? + +The peace of the family and the joy and comfort of one's home should be +a great enough incentive to awaken the housewife to the realization that +something must be wrong in her present methods. It is in vain that she +complains bitterly, on all occasions, of the scarcity of good servants, +asserting that it is beyond her comprehension why work in factories, +stores, and offices, should be preferred to the work she offers. + +Is it beyond her comprehension? Or has she never considered in what way +the work she offers differs from the work so eagerly accepted? Does she +not realize that the present laws of labor adopted in business are very +different from those she still enforces in her own home? Why does she +not compare housework with all other work in which women are employed, +and find out why housework is disdained by nearly all self supporting +women? + +Instead of doing this, she sometimes avoids the trouble of trying +to keep house with incompetent employees by living in hotels, or +non-housekeeping apartments; but for the housewife who does not possess +the financial means to indulge herself thus, or who still prefers home +life with all its trials to hotel life, the only alternative is to +submit to pay high wages for very poor work or to do a great part of the +housework herself. In both cases the result is bad, for in neither does +the family enjoy the full benefit of home, nor is the vexatious problem, +so often designated as the "servant question," brought any nearer to a +solution. + +The careful study of any form of labor invariably reveals some need of +amelioration, but in none is there a more urgent need of reform than in +domestic labor in private homes. + +It is more for the sake of the housewife than for her employee that a +reform is to be desired. The latter is solving her problem by finding +work outside the home, while the former is still unduly harassed by +household troubles. With a few notable exceptions, only those who are +unqualified to compete with the business woman are left to help the +householder, and the problem confronting her to-day is not so much how +to change inefficient to efficient help, but how to obtain any help at +all. + +The spirit of independence has so deeply entered into the lives of +women of all classes, that until housework be regulated in such a way +as to give to those engaged in it the same rights and privileges as are +granted to them in other forms of labor, the best workers will naturally +seek employment elsewhere. + + +THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOUSEWORK COMPARED WITH WORK IN FACTORIES, STORES, +AND OFFICES + +Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in +factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many +old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern +housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of +our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which +women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important +positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the +coöperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of +work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it +was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible, +if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption. + +Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate +to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in +stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their +families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay +small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding +increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are +limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the +twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still +enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own +social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest, +and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain. + +With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position +of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind +to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take +up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about +once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her +escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a +beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego +this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know +that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the +result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from +early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with +the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere +drudgery. + +As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Considering +the many responsible positions waiting to be filled in private families, +nothing could be more desirable than to instil into one's employees the +ambition to rise. An employee who has passed through all the different +branches of domestic science, from the lowest to the highest in one +family, must be far better fitted to occupy the highest position in +that family than one who applies for the position with the training and +experience gained only in other families where the mode of living may be +very different. Since there is no chance of promotion and in consequence +of receiving better pay, the domestic employee is often tempted to seek +higher wages elsewhere, and thus the desire "to make a change," so +disastrous to the peace of mind of the housewife, is engendered in her +employees. + +In domestic labor the hours of work are longer than in any other form of +employment, for they are unlimited. Moreover, instead of having one day +out of seven as a day of rest, only half a day is granted beginning +usually about three o'clock in the afternoon, or even later. And legal +holidays bring no relief, for they are practically unknown to the +household employee. The only way women engaged in housework in private +families can obtain a real holiday is by being suddenly called away +"to take care of a sick aunt." There is an old saying containing certain +words of wisdom about "all work and no play" that perhaps explains the +dullness so often met with in domestic help. + +The hardest thing to submit to, however, from the point of view of the +woman employed in housework, is the lack of freedom outside of working +hours. This prevents her from taking part in her former social life. +She is not allowed to go out even for an hour or two every day to see +her relatives and friends. To ask them to visit her in her employer's +kitchen is not a very agreeable alternative either to herself or her +employer, and even then she is obliged to be on duty, for she must still +wear her uniform and hold herself in readiness to answer the bell until +the family for whom she works retires for the night. + +With such restrictions it is not surprising that the majority of +women feel that they are losing "caste" if they accept positions in +private families. There are two more causes to which this feeling of the +loss of caste may be attributed. One is the habit of calling household +employees by their first name or by their surname without the prefix of +"Miss"; the other is the custom of making them eat in their employer's +kitchen. These are minor details, perhaps, but nevertheless they count +for much in the lives of women who earn their own living, and anything, +however small, that tends to raise one's self respect, is worthy of +consideration. Perhaps, too, while the word "servant" (a noble word +enough in its history and its moral connotation) carries with it a +stigma, a sense of degradation, among the working women, it should +be avoided. + +Briefly summed up, then, the present disadvantages of housework compared +with work in factories, stores, and offices, are as follows: + + Enforced separation from one's family. + Loss of personal freedom. + Lack of promotion. + Unlimited hours of work. + No day of rest each week. + Non-observance of legal holidays. + Loss of caste. + +In the present comparison of housework with work in factories, stores, +and offices, a recital of the advantages of domestic service, even under +the present method of housekeeping, must not be omitted, for such +advantages are important, although unfortunately they do not outweigh +the present disadvantages. + +To the woman whose home ties have been disrupted by death or discord, +and to the newly arrived immigrant especially, housework is a great +boon, inasmuch as besides good wages, all meals and a room to sleep +in are given her. Moreover housework is the only form of labor where +unskilled work can command high wages. This, however, is much more +fortunate for the employee than for her employer. + +Housework in itself is certainly _not worse_ than any other kind of +manual work in which women are engaged; it is often more interesting and +less fatiguing. It also helps a woman more than any other occupation to +prepare herself for her natural sphere of life:--that of the home maker. +A girl who has spent several years in a well ordered family helping to +do the housework, is far better fitted to run her own home intelligently +and on economic lines than a girl who has spent the same number of years +behind a counter, or working in a factory or an office. + +Again, work in a private house is infinitely more desirable, from the +point of view of the influence of one's surroundings, than daily labor +in a factory or store. The variety of domestic duties, the freedom of +moving about from one room to another, of sitting or standing to do +one's work, are much to be preferred to the work that compels the worker +to stand or sit in one place all day long. + +If it be admitted, then, that housework is in itself a desirable and +suitable occupation for women who must earn their living by manual +labor, it can not be the work itself, but the conditions surrounding it +that make it so distasteful to the modern working woman. + + + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living outside place of employment. + Housework limited to eight hours a day. + Housework limited to six days a week. + The observance of legal holidays. + Extra pay for overtime. + + +LIVING OUTSIDE PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT + +There are many housewives who are very much opposed to the adoption +of a plan enabling household employees to live outside their place of +employment. They claim that it is wiser to keep them under constant +supervision day and night in order to prevent the introduction of +disease or the acquisition of bad habits. + +There is more risk of disease being introduced into the home, and of bad +habits being contracted by allowing one's children to associate with +other children in schools, public or private, and by letting them play +in the streets and public parks, where they mingle with more or less +undesirable companions, than by having the housework performed by +employees who come each day to their work and return to their homes +at night when their duties are over. Nevertheless no sensible parents +would keep their children shut up in the house, only allowing them to +go out of doors for a few hours once a week, for fear of contagion or +contamination, and yet this is just what the housewife has been doing +for years with her household employees under the firm impression that +she was protecting them as well as herself. + +Present statistics, however, upon the morality and immorality of women +who belong to what is at present termed the "servant class," prove only +too clearly that the "protection" provided by the employer's home does +not protect. The shelter thus given serves too often to encourage a life +of deception, especially as in reality the housewife knows but little of +what takes place "below stairs." + +The "servants' quarters" are, as a rule, far enough away from the other +rooms of the house for much to transpire there without the knowledge of +the "mistress of the house," but who has not heard her complain of the +misconduct of her employees? Startling discoveries have been made at the +most unexpected times and from the most unexpected quarters. One lady +found her maid was in the habit of going out at night after the family +had retired, and leaving the front door unlocked in order to regain +admittance in the early morning without arousing the family. Another +housewife discovered one day that her cook's husband, whose existence +until then was unknown, had been coming for several months to her house +for his dinner. Every householder finds that in the late evening her +"servants" entertain their numerous "cousins" and friends at her +expense. Moreover, they do not hesitate to use the best china, glass, +and silver for special parties and draw upon the household supplies for +the choicest meats and wines. And because they cannot go out in the day +time, it is not unusual to find some friend or relative comes to spend +the entire day with them, and in consequence the housewife not only +feeds her "help" but a string of hangers-on as well. Why should she be +surprised that she does not get an adequate return for the amount of +money she spends? And these things take place, not only during the +temporary absence of the employer, but even while she is sitting +peacefully in the library and listening to a parlor lecture on the +relations of capital and labor. + +Women say tearfully or bravely on such occasions: "What can be done +to make servants better? They are getting worse every day." And the +housewife (one might almost call her by Samuel Pepys's pleasing phrase, +"the poor wretch") then pours out to any sympathetic ear endless +recitals of aggravating, worrying, nerve-racking experiences. Instead of +putting an end to such a regrettable state of affairs that would never +be tolerated by any business employer, she seems content to bewail her +fate and clings still more steadfastly to obsolete methods. + +Why does she not adopt the methods of the business man in dealing with +his employees? The advisability of having household employees live +outside their place of employment is so apparent that it ought to appeal +to every one. There would be no longer the necessity of putting aside +and of furnishing certain rooms of the house for their accommodation: +a practice which in the majority of families is quite a serious +inconvenience and always an expense. In small homes where only one maid +is kept, it may not make much difference to give up one room to her, but +where several employees are needed, it means very often that many rooms +must be used as sleeping apartments for them, frequently too a sitting +room or a special dining room is given them. This is not all, for the +rooms must be furnished and kept clean and warm, and supplied with an +unlimited amount of gas and electricity. In many families the boarding +and lodging of household employees cause as much anxiety and expense to +the housewife as to provide for her own family. + +And why does she do it? Why does she consent to take upon herself so +much extra trouble for nothing? For, although she offers good food and +a bed besides excellent wages to all who work for her, she is the most +poorly served of all employers to-day. + +In the great feudal castles of the Middle Ages it was not deemed +safe for women to venture forth alone, even in the daytime, and so +those engaged in housework were naturally compelled to live under their +Master's roof, eating at his table and sitting "below the salt." But +the Master and the Serf of feudal times disappeared long ago, only the +Mistress and her "servants" remain. + +To-day, however, "servants" no longer sit at their employer's table; +they remain in the kitchen, where as a rule they are given to eat what +is left from the family meals. Some housewives, from motives of kindness +and consideration for the welfare of those in their employ, have special +meals prepared for them and served in a dining-room of their own at +hours which do not conflict with the meals of the family. But this does +not always meet with gratitude or even due appreciation; the disdainful +way in which Bridget often complains of the food too generously provided +for her is well known. + +A chambermaid came one day to her employer and said she did not wish to +complain but thought it better to say frankly that she was not satisfied +with what she was getting to eat in her house: she wanted to have roast +beef for dinner more often, at least three or four times a week, for she +did not care to eat mutton, nor steak, and never ate pork, nor could +she, to quote her own words "fill up on bread and vegetables as the +other girls did in the kitchen." + +Then, and only then, did her employer wake up with a start to the +realization of the true position every housewife occupies in the eyes +of her household employees. They evidently regard her in the light of +a caterer; she does the marketing not only for her family but for them +too. She pays a cook high wages, not only to cook meals for herself and +family, but for her employees also. + +For the first time in her life, this housewife asked herself the +following questions: Why should she allow her household employees to +live in her house? Why should she consent to board them at her expense? +Why should she continue to place at their disposal a bedroom each, a +private bathroom, a sitting room or a dining room? Why should she allow +them to make use of her kitchen and laundry to do their own personal +washing, even providing them with soap and starch, irons and an ironing +board, fuel and gas? Why should she do all this for them when no +business employer, man or woman, ever does it? Was it simply because her +mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother had been in the habit of +doing it? + +This awakening was the beginning of the end of all the trouble and +expense which she had endured for so many years in connection with the +boarding and lodging of her "servants." To-day she has no "servants"; +she has household employees who come to her house each day, just as +other employees go each day to their place of employment. They take no +meals in her house, and her housekeeping expenses have diminished as +much as her own comfort has increased. Her employees are better and more +efficient than any she ever had under the old régime, and nothing could +persuade her to return to her former methods of housekeeping. + +The cost of providing meals for domestic employees varies according to +the mode of living of each individual family, and of late it has been +the subject of much discussion. Some important details, however, seem +to be generally overlooked, for the cost of the food is the only thing +usually considered by the average housewife. To this first expense must +be added the cost of pots and pans for cooking purposes; even under +careful management, kitchen utensils are bound to wear out and must be +replaced. Then there is the cost of the extra fuel or gas or electricity +required to cook the food, nor must one forget to count the extra work +of the cook to prepare the meals, and of the kitchen maid or of some +other maid to wash up the dishes after each meal served to employees. +There is also the expense of buying kitchen plates and dishes, glasses, +cups and saucers, knives and forks, etc. Every housewife is in the habit +of providing kitchenware for the use of her employees. + +The total sum of all these items would astonish those who think that +the actual expense of giving meals to household employees is not a very +great one and is limited to the cost of the food they eat; even this +last expense is considerably augmented by the careless and wasteful way +in which provisions are generally handled by those who do not have to +pay for them. When ways and means are discussed among housewives to +reduce the present "high cost of living," it would be well to advise all +women to try the experiment of having their household employees live +outside their place of employment. The result from an economic point +of view alone is amazing, and the relief it brings the housewife who +is no longer obliged to provide food and sleeping accommodations for +her employees is so great that one wonders why she has been willing to +burden herself with these responsibilities for so many years. + +There was once a time when women did not go out alone to eat in a +restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating their +midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business prove +themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason why +household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop girls and +stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would enjoy their +meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their employer's house +is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of surroundings and the +opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their work behind them, would +compensate them. In any event, it is clearly proved by the scarcity of +women applying for positions in private houses that these two advantages +only to be obtained in domestic labor--board and lodging--do not attract +the working woman of the present day. + +The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted +feeling. There is an ancient fable of Æsop about the Dog and the Wolf +which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner. +(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.) + + THE DOG AND THE WOLF + + There was a Hagged Carrion of a _Wolf_, and a Jolly Sort of a + Gentile _Dog_, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company + together upon the King's High-Way. The _Wolf_ was wonderfully + pleas'd with his Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be + brought himself to That Blessed State of Body. Why, says the _Dog_, + I keep my Master's House from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, + Drink, and Lodging for my pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, + and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The _Wolf_ Struck up the + Bargain, and so away they Trotted together: But as they were + Jogging on, the _Wolf_ spy'd a Bare Place about the _Dog's_ Neck + where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he) how comes this I + prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the _Dog_, but the Fretting of my + _Collar_ a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a _Collar_ in the + Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust. + + THE MORAL + + ...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm + Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his + Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it. + + +In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an +employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider +for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place +of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for +them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of +benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for work +early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an arrangement. +When he needs some one to watch over his interests in the night time, +he engages a night watchman, a very much more economical plan than to +provide lodging for all his employees. + +Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden of +a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the country, +where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home, such +a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is +absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat, +and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly +a custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the +observance." + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY + +In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it +is the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions +of life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned. + +It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor +of women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private +houses. + +It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or +fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a +household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to wane at +the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to the same +work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The truth of +the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long acknowledged and +nowadays requires no argument. + +When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how +many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill a +domestic position in a family, the number of hours she is expected to +give her employer is never specified. She is simply told that she must +be on duty early in the morning before the family arises, and that she +may consider herself off duty as soon as the family for whom she is +working has withdrawn for the night. Is it surprising that under such +conditions working women are not very enthusiastic over the domestic +proposition to-day? + +A household employee ought to have her hours of work as clearly defined +as if she were a business employee, and there is no reason why the +eight-hour labor law could not be applied as successfully to housework +as to any other enterprise. + +Work in business is generally divided into two periods. Yet this +division can not always be effected, and in railroad and steamship +positions, in post offices, upon trolley lines, in hotels, in hospitals, +and in other cases too numerous to mention, where work must follow a +continuous round, the working hours are divided into more than two +periods, according to the nature of the work and the interests of the +employer, not however exceeding a fixed number of hours per day or per +week. + +It would be far better for the housewife as well as for her employees, +if the housework were limited in a similar way. But with the +introduction of the eight-hour law in the home, certain new conditions +would have to be rigidly enforced in order to ensure success. + +Firstly, the employee should be made to understand that during the eight +hours of work agreed upon, she must be engaged in actual work for her +employer. + +Secondly, when an employee is off duty, she should not be allowed to +remain with or to talk to the other employee or employees who are still +on duty. When her work is finished, she ought to leave her employer's +house. The non-observance of either of these two points produces a +demoralizing effect. + +Thirdly, a general knowledge of cooking, and serving meals, of cleaning +and taking proper care of the rooms of a house, of attending correctly +to the telephone and the door bell, of sewing, of washing and ironing, +and of taking care of children, should be insisted upon from all +household employees. + +There are many housewives who will state that this last condition is +impossible, that it is asking too much from one employee; and since it +is hard to-day to find a good cook, it will be still harder to find one +who understands other household work as well. But those who jump to +these conclusions have never tried the experiment. It is not only +possible but practicable. + +Judging from the ordinary intelligence displayed by the average cook and +housemaid in the majority of private homes to-day, it ought not to seem +incredible that the duties of both could be easily mastered by young +women of ordinary ability. A woman who knows how to prepare and cook a +meal, may easily learn the correct way of serving it, and the possession +of this knowledge ought not to prevent her from being capable of +sweeping a room, or making a bed, or taking care of children. + +It is above all in families where only a few employees are kept, that +the housewife will quickly realize how much it is to her immediate +advantage to employ women who know how to do all kinds of housework, +instead of having those who make a specialty of one particular branch. + +The specialization of work in private houses has been carried to +such an extreme that it has become one of the greatest drawbacks +to successful housekeeping in small families. Under this system of +specialization, a household employee is not capable in emergency of +taking up satisfactorily the work of another. Even if she be able to do +it, she often professes ignorance for fear it may prolong her own hours +of labor, or because, as she sometimes frankly admits, she does not +consider it "her place." The chambermaid does not know how to cook, the +cook does not know how to do the chamberwork, the waitress, in her turn, +can do neither cooking nor chamberwork, and the annoyance to the whole +family caused by the temporary absence of one of its regular employees +is enough to spoil for the time being all the traditional comforts of +home. + +In hotels and public institutions, and in large private establishments, +where the work demands a numerous staff of employees, the specialization +of the work is the only means for its successful accomplishment, but in +the average home requiring from one to four or five employees no system +could be worse from an economic point of view, nor less conducive to the +comfort of the family. + +Specialization produces another bad effect, for it prevents the +existence of the feeling of equality among employees in the same house. +Each "specialist" speaks rather disparagingly of the other's work, +regardless of the relative position her own special "art" may occupy to +the unprejudiced mind. + +An amusing instance of this was recently shown at a country place near +New York, when "the lady of the manor" asked a friend to send some one +down from the city to help with the housework during the temporary +absence of her maid. The friend could not find any one at the domestic +employment agencies willing to go, but at last through the Charity +Organization Society, she heard of a woman temporarily out of +employment, who had been frequently employed as scrubwoman on the +vacation piers. When the work was offered her, she accepted it +immediately. Arriving at her new employer's house, she began at once to +scrub the floors, and when the work was completed, she sat on a chair +and took no further notice of anything. The next day, having no more +floors to scrub, the same general lack of interest was manifested. She +was asked to wash the dishes after dinner. She replied that she was not +used to "dishwashing," and did not know how to do it. She was persuaded, +however, to make the attempt, but performed her new task very +reluctantly. The following morning she said she felt "lonely" and +would return at once to the city. As the train came in sight to bear +her back to her accustomed surroundings, she gave a snort of relief, +and exclaimed: "I'm a scrubwoman, I am. I ain't going to do no fancy +dishwashing, no, not for no one; I'm a scrubwoman." And she clambered up +into the train with the alacrity of a woman whose dignity had received a +hard blow. + +The above illustration is typical of the spirit subjected to the system +of specialization, and shows how unwise it is to encourage it in the +home where all branches of housework could be easily made +interchangeable. + +Under the new system of limiting housework to eight hours a day, the +housewife must insist that all applicants be willing and able to perform +any part of the housework she may assign, and their duties ought not +to be specified otherwise than by the term HOUSEWORK. The employee who +refuses to wait on the table during the absence of the waitress, or to +cook, or to do the laundry work, or to answer the telephone, or to carry +packages from her employer's automobile to the library, because she does +not consider it "her place to do these things," should be instantly +discharged. + +These very important conditions being understood and conceded, the +choice and arrangement of the eight hours' work must necessarily lie +with each individual housewife. Each family is different and has +different claims upon its time. The "rush hours" of social life are +sometimes in the evening, and sometimes in the afternoon, and again in +some families, especially where there are small children, the breakfast +hour seems the most complicated of the day. All these details have to be +carefully thought of when making an eight hour schedule. At the end of +this book a set of schedules is placed. Any intelligent housewife can +understand them, imitate them, and in many instances improve them. They +are merely given as elementary examples. + +According to the number of employees she engages, the housewife will +have eight, sixteen, or twenty-four hours of work to distribute among +them, and to meet her peculiar needs she will find it necessary at the +outset to devote some hours to a satisfactory scheme. After testing +several, she will probably have to begin all over again before she +finally succeeds in evolving one that is available. But the problem is +interesting in itself, and always admits of a solution. + +It may not be amiss to make this final suggestion for the woman who is +willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example +of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise +for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications +be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the +majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate +hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a +dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through +advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible +to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the +employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with +the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to +offer gratuitous service. + +The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle +theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it +is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who +would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in +the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids +would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the +domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in +the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other +way. + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK + +Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of +the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right +to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday. + +It is remarkable that this fact, showing so forcibly one of the +greatest disadvantages connected with housework, should attract so +little attention. No one seems to care about the fate of the "servant +girl," as she is so often disdainfully called. During six days of the +week she works on the average fourteen hours a day, but no one stops +to notice that she is tired. On the seventh day, instead of resting as +every other employee has the right to do, her work is merely reduced to +nine, eight, or perhaps seven hours; and yet she needs a day of rest +as much as every other woman who earns her bread. The rights of the +domestic employee are ignored on all sides apparently. In public +demonstrations of dissatisfaction between employers and employees the +most oppressed class of the working people--the women who do +housework--has never yet been represented. + +This is probably due to two causes: the first is because women +dissatisfied with housework are rapidly finding positions in business +where they enjoy rights and privileges denied them in domestic labor; +and the second is because the great majority of women engaged in +housework are foreign-born. These women learn quickly to understand and +speak English, but they do not often read and write it, and as they are +kept in close confinement in their employer's house, they have rarely +the opportunity of hearing about the emancipation of the modern working +woman. Most of them are of a very humble origin, and being debarred from +business positions on account of their ignorance and inexperience, they +are thankful to earn money in any kind of employment regardless of the +length of working hours. + +Their children, however, who are American born and enjoy better +educational advantages, do not follow in their footsteps when the +time comes for them to earn their living. They become stenographers, +typewriters, dressmakers, milliners, shirt waist makers, cash-girls, +saleswomen, etc.; in fact any occupation where work is limited to a +fixed number of hours a day and confined to six days a week, is +considered more desirable than housework. The result is that the +housewife is compelled to take for her employees only those who are +rejected by every other employer; the capable, independent, intelligent +American woman is hardly ever seen in domestic service. + +In Washington, D.C., a law (the La Follette Eight Hour Law for Women in +the District of Columbia) was recently passed limiting to eight hours +a day and six days a week practically all work in which women are +industrially employed; "hotel servants" are included under the +provisions of this law, but "domestic servants in private homes" are +expressly excluded. + +If this new law be considered a just and humane measure for women who +are business employees, and if business houses be compelled to observe +it, one naturally wonders why it should not prove to be an equally +just and humane law for women who work in private families, and why +should not the home be compelled to observe it too? Instead of being a +barrier to progress, the home ought to coöperate with the state in the +enforcement of laws for the amelioration of the condition of working +women. The home, being presided over by a woman, presumably of some +education and intelligence, should be a most fitting place in which to +apply a law designed to protect women against excessive hours of labor. + +Why should housework in private homes be an exception to all other work? +Is it because some housewives say, in self justification and frequently +without an accurate knowledge of what it is to do housework week after +week without one day's release, that housework is easier than other +work? Is it easier? Is it not sometimes harder? However, it is not a +question of housework being harder or easier than other work, but of the +desirability of having it limited to eight hours a day and six days a +week. Why should the housewife be allowed to remain in such a state of +apathy in regard to the physical welfare of her household employees? + +"Six days shalt thou labor" has all the sanction of scripture, of +morals, and of common experience. It is only fair that women who work in +private families should have one day out of seven as a day of rest, even +as their more fortunate sisters in the business world. If by adopting +such a law in the home the housewife found that her work was performed +far more efficiently and willingly than at present, would it not be as +much to her advantage as to the advantage of those she employs to limit +the hours of household labor to six days a week? Many housewives may +object to this proposition inasmuch as the work in a home can not be +suspended even for a day. But when two or more employees work in a +private home, it is very easy to plan the housework so that each +employee may have a different day of the week as a "day of rest," +without the comfort of the family being disturbed by the temporary +absence of one of the employees. It is only in families where one +employee is kept that it may make a very serious difference to the +housewife when her "maid-of-all-work" is away for one entire day each +week. Nevertheless the comfort of an employer ought not to outweigh +justice to an employee. + +There are many ways of regulating the housework, as will be seen in the +schedules at the end of this book, in order to give one day of freedom +each week to household employees without causing much inconvenience to +the housewife. By continuing to refuse this privilege to women employed +in domestic labor, housekeeping is becoming more and more complicated. +Already it is such a common occurrence in some cities and in many parts +of the country, not to find any woman willing to do housework, that +many housewives are beginning to think that their future comfort in all +household matters will depend entirely upon new labor saving devices and +upon the help of the community rather than upon the increased knowledge +and skill of domestic employees. + +There exists a prevailing impression, too, that housework has lost its +dignity, and that at this period of the world's social history, it is +impossible to restore it for women have stepped above it. But this is +not true. The fact is that housework has remained stationary while other +work has gained in freedom and dignity. Without noisy protestations, or +indignant speeches delivered in public, women have slowly and silently, +one by one, deserted housework as a career on account of the narrowing, +servile, and unjust conditions inseparable from it at the present day. +Let these conditions be removed and new regulations based upon modern +business principles take their place, and then it will be seen that +housework has never lost its dignity, and the very women who abandoned +it will be the first to choose it again as a means of earning their +livelihood. + +As a proof of this, the following experience may be cited of a New Work +woman who wished to obtain a domestic employee for general housework. +She went to several employment agencies and at the end of a week she +had seen four applicants; three were foreigners and spoke English so +brokenly that they could never have been left in charge of a telephone. +Not one of the four was worth considering after investigating their +references, and these were the only women she could find willing to do +general housework. Upon the advice of a friend, the perplexed housewife +advertised in one of the daily newspapers, but only a few women applied +for the position and these were far from being satisfactory. She then +inserted another advertisement expressed in the following words: +"Wanted: a young woman to help with housework, eight hours a day, six +days a week, sleep home. Apply by letter only." + +This last clause was added to prevent any one from applying for the +position who could not write English, as it was absolutely necessary +that the person engaged to do the housework should be capable of +attending correctly to the telephone. On the same day the advertisement +appeared, eighty-five applications by letter were received, and twenty +more came the following day. All who wrote expressed their willingness +to fill the position of a domestic employee and to do anything in +the way of housework under the new conditions specified in the +advertisement. Only one stated she would do no washing. Many who replied +to this advertisement had occupied positions, which according to the +present standard, were far superior to housework; many, too, were +married women, experienced in all household work, and most anxious to +accept a position in a private family, a position that did not break up +their own home life. + +The housewife was bewildered by the unexpected result of her +advertisement: the tables were turned at last. Instead of being one of +many looking in vain for a good domestic employee, she found that she +had now the advantage of being able to choose from more than a hundred +applicants one who would best suit her own peculiar needs. + +The same advertisement has been inserted at different times and has +always brought the same remarkable result: from one hundred to one +hundred and sixty answers each time. It is true that all who present +themselves may not be efficient, but efficiency speedily comes to the +front when upon it alone depends a desirable position. + +Two very important facts came to light through the help of this +advertisement; one was to find so many women eager to do housework when +it was limited to eight hours a day and six days a week, and the other +was to hear that they were willing to board and lodge themselves, as +well as work, for the same wages that "servants" are accustomed to +receive, although to the latter the housewife invariably gives gratis +all food and sleeping accommodations. These two facts alone prove beyond +a doubt that by applying business principles to housework all objections +to it as a means of earning a livelihood are removed. + +It is quite likely that for a time the old fashioned "mistress," and the +old fashioned "servant" will continue to cling to past customs; but once +it is proved that domestic labor limited to eight hours a day and six +days a week, brings a better, more intelligent, more efficient class of +employees to the home, the most obdurate employer will change her mind. + +No legislation is needed. If all who are trying to solve the "servant +question" will begin to practice the new plan in their own homes, the +future will take care of itself and the old ways will die a natural +death. + + +THE OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS IN THE HOME + +The pleasure brought by the advent of a holiday into the lives of +the working people can hardly be overestimated, and it is doubtful +if holidays would ever have become legalized had they not proved of +distinct value to the masses. To have one day each week free from the +steady grind of one's dally work is a great relief, but to have a +holiday is something still better, for it usually means a day set apart +for general rejoicing. + +Why do all housewives persistently disregard the right of the household +employee to have legal holidays? The reason generally brought forward +is that many families need their employees more on a holiday than on +any other day. In many cases this is quite true on account of family +reunions or the entertaining of friends, but very often the housewife +could easily dispense with the services of her employees on a holiday. +She does not do it, however, or only occasionally, because it is not the +custom to grant holidays to women who work in private homes. + +If it be impossible, on account of the exigencies of home life, to grant +all legal holidays to household employees, there are many different ways +of planning the housework so that other days may be given instead. +Sometimes the day before or the day after a holiday will give as much +pleasure as the day itself. A woman who is at the head of a home has +many opportunities of coming into close contact with her employees; she +can easily ascertain their wishes in this respect and act accordingly. +It is more the fact of being entitled to a holiday than to have it on +a certain day that ought to be emphasized. + +Domestic employees would be benefited by having these extra days of +liberty, just as much as all other employees. A trial is all that is +necessary to show how much better a household employee will work after +having a holiday. She returns to her duties with renewed strength +and the knowledge that she is no longer forced to play the rôle of +Cinderella gives her a fresh interest in life. Unfortunately the +housewife has been accustomed for so many years to have her "servants" +work for her all day long on every day of the week, with only a few +hours off duty "on every other Sunday and on every other Thursday," that +she is rather inclined to resent such an innovation as the observance +of legal holidays in domestic labor. She fails to perceive that by her +present attitude she shows herself in a very unfavorable light as an +employer, for the lack of holidays is decidedly one of the reasons for +which housework is shunned to-day. + +Business men have evolved a satisfactory and workable plan by which +their employees are neither overworked nor deprived of all legal +holidays, although frequently the work they are engaged in can not be +suspended day or night even for an hour. + +It remains for women of the leisure class, and to this class belong all +those who can afford to pay to have their housework done for them, to +adopt a similar plan in their homes. + + +EXTRA PAY FOR OVERTIME + +When the plan for limiting housework to eight hours a day is discussed +for the first time, the following question invariably arises: What is +to be done when anything unusual happens to break the routine of the +regular work, as for instance, when sickness occurs, when friends arrive +unexpectedly, when a dinner party is given? + +Sickness, of course, is unavoidable, but as a rule a trained nurse or +an extra household assistant is called in to help. Many times, however, +this is not absolutely necessary, or perhaps the family can not afford +to have outside help, and the extra work caused by sickness usually +falls upon the domestic employee whose hours of labor are more or less +prolonged in consequence. What ought to be done in such an event? + +There is but one answer: Work that can not be accomplished within the +regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as +"overtime." + +When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a +day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not +to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She +alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a +schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or +dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon +between herself and her employees. + +When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or +a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule +may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement +has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some +compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours +of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers, +and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them. + +In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes +it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket, +not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving +"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the +light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to +remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why +should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help +her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense +entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in +taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she +object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon +whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends? + +There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never +recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded +from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in +exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay, +especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some +days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their +employees have no cause for complaint. + +It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged +to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really +compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give +on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only +a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and +it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded +to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively +engaged in work. + +But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they +ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it +is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of +rewarding them have been tried with more or less success. + +One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents +to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited +to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent +pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money. + +Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to +the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner +party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another +plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or +ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of +satisfactory work to her employer. + +All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show +that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is +due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently +unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack +stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness +of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established +business principle. + +And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will +produce a permanently satisfactory result? + +The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay +each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as +for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just +proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a +household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say +$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days +a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for +her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for extra +work, she ought to receive 15, 22-1/2, or 30 cents per hour for every +hour she works for her employer after the completion of her regular +eight hours' work. + +This plan has never failed to bring satisfaction, and it has the +advantage of placing the employer and the employee on an equally +delightful footing of independence. The performance of extra work is no +longer regarded as a matter of obligation on one side, and of concession +on the other, but as a purely business transaction. + +Some housewives fear that the regular work would be intentionally +prolonged beyond all measure if it became an established rule to pay +extra for work performed overtime. This could be easily checked, +however, by paying extra only for work that was necessitated by unusual +events in the family life. + +In families where only one employee is kept, naturally the occasions for +asking her to work overtime arise more frequently than in families where +there are two or more employees, especially if there be small children +in the family. Yet these occasions need not come very often, if the +housewife bears in mind that even with only one employee, she has eight +hours every day at her own disposal; she ought to plan her outside +engagements accordingly. Her liberty from household cares during +these eight hours can only be gained though by having efficient and +trustworthy assistants in her home, and she can never obtain these +unless she abandons her old fashioned methods of housekeeping. She must +grant to household employees the same rights and privileges given to +business employees; she must apply business principles to housework. +A great power lies in the hands of the modern housewife, a power as yet +only suspected by a few, which, if properly wielded, can raise housework +from its present undignified position to the place it ought to occupy, +and that is in the foremost rank of manual labor for women. + + + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight hour schedules for one employee. + Eight hour schedules for two employees. + Eight hour schedules for three employees. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR ONE EMPLOYEE + +The schedules given in the following pages have been in actual practice +for a sufficient length of time to prove that they can be relied on to +produce satisfactory results, although no doubt many housewives will +find that some of them must be modified to meet special requirements in +their homes. + +Two very important points must always be borne in mind in order to +obtain the greatest advantage from an eight hour schedule, especially in +families where only one employee is engaged to do the housework. + +The first point is this: the housewife ought only to make her working +schedule _after_ she has carefully studied her own comfort and +convenience in regard to the hours she considers the most important of +the day for her to have help in her housework. + +The second point is for the housewife to reserve for herself the entire +freedom of the eight hours during which her employee is on duty, for +then she can place, or she ought to be able to, the full responsibility +of the housekeeping upon her employee. + +By adhering strictly to these two points, the housewife will soon +perceive that she can dispense with the services of her employee for the +remaining hours of the day without much inconvenience to herself or her +family. She may even find it more pleasant than otherwise to be relieved +from the sight and sound of household work, for at least a few hours a +day, when she is in her own home. + +Possibly the housewife who has but one employee will not accept with +alacrity the proposition of allowing her to be off duty for an entire +day once a week, for unless she be willing to do the necessary work +herself on that day, she must engage a special person to take the place +of her regular employee. But many families engage a woman to come once a +week to help with the washing and house-cleaning, especially when they +have only one household employee. If this woman came on the day the +regular employee was away, she could relieve the housewife of all the +housework that could not be postponed until the next day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. I + +When only one employee is engaged in a private home, her services are +needed more at meal time than at any other time of the day, especially +if small children are in the family. As the hours for the three +principal meals are about the same everywhere, the following schedule is +a very useful one. + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. 2 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +In the morning from seven to ten o'clock, the employee had ample time +to prepare and serve breakfast and wash up the dishes afterwards, and +do the chamberwork. The three hours from noon until three o'clock were +filled with duties that varied considerably each day. Luncheon was +served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to +serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted +to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or +preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening +or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and +serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a +week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and +assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the +rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee. + +This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but +several times, and not with the same employee, but with different +employees, and it has always been most satisfactory. + +It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on +schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the +greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well, +is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere, +and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases +with the remainder of her time. + + +SCHEDULE NO. II + +The following schedule is very different from the preceding one, +inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her +employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children +in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very +frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was +the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her +employee, whose working hours were arranged thus: + + From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was +finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in +the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a +week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On +these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she +did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not +difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The +family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually went +out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays. + + +SCHEDULE NO. III + +In this schedule, the employee's work is divided into two periods, with +one hour for rest between. The family consisted of a man and his wife, +who lived in an apartment. The hours of work were as follows: + + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee +who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress. In consequence she +was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on +her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was +done. As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife +was obliged to get breakfast herself. However this was a very simple +matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night +before. The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the +aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, +boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, +or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes. + +The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and +although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much +work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. IV + +Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally +chosen for a family of six: mother, father, four small children. The +eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household +employee to help with the work. They lived in the country, and breakfast +had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early +morning train to town. + +Naturally, with only one employee, the housewife was compelled to do +some of the housework herself, and until the following schedule was +adopted, she had been in the habit of rising early, dressing the +children, and getting breakfast ready herself. Her employee arrived +later in the day and remained until after dinner at night. The comfort +and general welfare of the mother were increased to such a remarkable +degree by the new schedule, however, that it is well worth special +attention. + +The hours were as follows: + + From 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 11:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the +children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed +themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing +them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day +before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not +hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the +employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked +steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother +felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the +other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her +employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for +lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go +for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's +house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some +household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put +them to bed for their morning nap. + +At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the +house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over +and she went home. + +This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three, +but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee. +To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was +much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the +morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not +much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and +herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was +no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a +dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment +in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra +hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a +"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her +place. + +This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely +free from the children and household cares. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES + +It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than +for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which +the sixteen hours of work may be divided, subdivided, and arranged to +please the individual housewife. With two employees, it is no longer +necessary for the housewife to remain at home while one is off duty, +even for an hour, for one relieves the other without any cessation of +work. Even on the seventh day, "the day of rest," the housewife can +always arrange to have her work done without doing it herself, in spite +of the absence of one of her employees. + +When a schedule is finally agreed upon, however, it must be rigidly +enforced, for it is more important to keep to the hours specified when +there are two employees than when there is only one. Although the +housewife may be tempted to claim the privilege of changing her hours +very often to please herself, since she is the employer, if she value +her peace of mind, she will refrain from doing it. Only when the +inevitable, the unforeseen, occurs should she make a change in her +regular schedule. When one employee is off duty all day, the other +employee can remain on duty the entire day; naturally this plan +necessitates more than eight hours of work on that day, probably two +or three more hours, but if on the day after or the day before, the +employee be allowed to work two or three hours less than eight hours, +the average of eight hours a day and six days a week is maintained. + +Another example of what the housewife can do when one of her employees +is off duty the entire day, is to make her other employee follow +schedule No. 1. This enables her to keep to eight hours a day and at the +same time the housewife does none of the housework herself. + + +SCHEDULE NO. V + +With two employees it is a wise plan to arrange a schedule that makes +the work of one employee commence the moment the work of the other +ceases. This tends to promote punctuality without requiring special +supervision on the part of the housewife. + +The following schedule is admirably adapted to the every day life of the +average family with two employees: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +All the washing, ironing, and mending of the family were done by the +two employees, and they also took care of the children when necessary. +Besides being good cooks, they were both excellent waitresses; in +consequence it made no difference which one was on duty at meal time. + +One employee only was in charge of breakfast; she came at seven o'clock +in the morning, and worked steadily until eleven o'clock, when the +second employee arrived. She then went out for her lunch, returning at +twelve, and remaining on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon. She +was then free for the remainder of the day. + +The second employee, as soon as she arrived at 11 A.M., went through +the house and finished any work that was not completed by the first +employee. She worked without stopping until 3 P.M., then went away for +her lunch; she returned at 4 P.M. to relieve the first employee whose +work was over at four o'clock. The second employee remained on duty +until 8 P.M.; she cooked and served dinner so quickly and efficiently +that the housewife who had always been accustomed to have two employees, +a "cook" and a "waitress," on duty for dinner every night, found to +her great surprise that one efficient household employee, working on +schedule time, accomplished in the same time the work of two of her +former "servants." + + +SCHEDULE NO. VI + +In this schedule the housewife wanted both her employees to help her +with her two children. With this end in view, she made all the work of +the house interchange with the care of the children; in consequence when +one employee was off duty, the other could always be relied on to help +with the children. This proved to be a very successful schedule, for it +relieved the mother from being obliged to sit in the nursery as she was +compelled to do every time her former "nurse" went downstairs to her +meals, or had her "afternoon off." But when the mother wished to be with +her children, and that was very often, the employee who was in the +nursery at the time, left the room immediately to attend to other +household duties. + +Both employees were on duty at 7 A.M., a most necessary arrangement +where there are small children in a family. The first employee prepared +and served breakfast for the family, while the other employee took full +charge of the children, giving them their breakfast in the nursery, and +taking them out afterwards for a walk. At 10 A.M., she returned with the +children, and she was then off duty for two hours. The mother generally +chose this time to be with her children; if however, she had any other +engagement, the first employee was on duty until noon and could be +called upon to look after them. + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + +SCHEDULE NO. VII + +There are many families who may object to all the preceding schedules +on account of the early hour in the evening for household employees +to be off duty. When the housewife has never had her housework done on +schedule time by an efficient employee, she may well think it impossible +to have the dinner dishes washed up and everything put away in order by +8 P.M. However some families do not begin dinner before half past seven, +or eight o'clock, or even later, but in these families, it is not +unusual for the breakfast hour to be very late also. In consequence +nothing is easier than to make a schedule for the day's work begin late +and end late, without making any other alteration in it. + +The following schedule, however, combines an early breakfast and a late +dinner, in a family where only two employees were kept: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. 3 hours + (or from 8 to 11 P.M.) + ------- + 8 hours + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR THREE EMPLOYEES + +The greater the number of household employees, the easier it is to make +a satisfactory working schedule. But the temptation to specialize the +work is greater, and should be carefully guarded against. It is just as +necessary with three employees as with one for the housewife to insist +that each one be capable and willing to do all kinds of work in the +home, including sewing and taking care of children. + +With three employees, the housewife ought to make them take turns in +cooking and serving one of the three meals each day. This enables them +to become familiar with the dining room and with the different dishes +for each course; it also removes any feeling of embarrassment which +naturally might be felt by an employee who is rarely called upon to cook +or serve a meal. + +To have an expert needlewoman in the house is a great boon to the +housewife, and when she has three employees who can sew in her home, she +ought to insist upon a great deal of sewing and mending being done by +each one of them. + +It is rare that the "servant" of to-day is a good sewer; in fact the +housewife would hesitate to ask her to do even the ordinary mending, but +when one engages household employees on an eight hour schedule, and when +there are a hundred women to choose from, it is not hard to find several +who sew well. + + +SCHEDULE NO. VIII + +It is so easy to plan the housework for three employees that one +schedule as an example seems quite sufficient, and the only thing that +the housewife must remember is to make all the work interchangeable. + + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Third Employee_ + + From 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +In conclusion it seems that a few words are necessary about families who +need the services of an employee at night as well as in the day time. +There are many mothers who do not wish or who are not able to take +care of their children at night, and in consequence it is absolutely +necessary to have an attendant. The present custom is to have the nurse +or maid sleep in the same room as the baby, or in a room adjoining the +children's bedroom, so as to be within call. But a woman who has worked +all day, or even eight hours a day, should not have her sleep disturbed +at night by taking care of children. No woman can be fit for her work +the next day if she has not been able to secure the average amount of +sleep necessary to health. + +In many cases it has been proved that when a child does not sleep +well at night, the nurse has taken upon herself the responsibility of +giving it "soothing syrup" so as to keep it quiet. This is hardly to be +wondered at when one considers the strain under which the nurse is kept +day and night by taking care of a small child; besides the average nurse +is generally ignorant of the harm caused by so-called "soothing syrups." + +If a child be sick, the mother should call in a trained nurse, that +is if she can afford it, and when she has several employees, she can +usually afford this extra expense. If the child or children be well, +and the mother desires some one to attend to them at night, she should +engage a woman who has no occupation during the day and who is willing +to work at night. She should make a point of choosing one who sews well, +so that the services of a seamstress might be combined with the duties +of a night nurse. There is always some mending to do in all families and +a woman who is clever with her needle might make herself very useful to +her employer. Thousands of women sew by artificial light in dressmaking +establishments and factories; in all probability just as many women +could be found to sew by artificial light in private homes. Perhaps at +first the novelty of working at night might deter women from taking a +position similar to the one suggested above, but a woman who was really +in need of work would not let the unusual hours prevent her from +accepting it, + +Many men work at night and it is not unlikely that many women would be +willing to do it too. Women are not as timid as they were reputed to +be in former years; they would neither scream nor faint nowadays at +the sight of a little mouse scampering across the floor. Indeed quite +recently the newspapers reported that a woman whose husband had just +died had accepted the position of a night watchman, and she filled her +new rôle so successfully that on one occasion she managed to seize a +burglar and handed him over to a policeman. + +This proposition of engaging a woman to work at night is only a +suggestion, however, offered to those who find it absolutely necessary +to have a domestic employee in their house at night. It remains to be +proved if it could be carried out successfully. + +But the great changes in housekeeping described in the preceding +chapters are not mere suggestions nor theories of what might be done: +each reform has already been put into actual practice. The result has +been so extraordinary that one is impelled to believe that the only way +to solve the Servant Problem is to apply business principles to +housework in private homes. + +Naturally such a revolution from methods now in vogue can not be wrought +in a day, and the transitional period may be one of some difficulty and +confusion for employer and employee alike who have spent a large portion +of their lives under the old régime. But the revolution is imperative, +and the ultimate benefit beyond calculation. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO +HOUSEWORK*** + + +******* This file should be named 14117-8.txt or 14117-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/1/14117 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Helene Barker</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; } + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + ul { list-style: none; } + .quote { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 8%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; } + center { padding: 0.8em;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} +/*]]>*/ + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework, by C. +Helene Barker</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework</p> +<p>Author: C. Helene Barker</p> +<p>Release Date: November 22, 2004 [eBook #14117]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO HOUSEWORK***</p> +<br /><br /><h3>E-text prepared by Stan Goodman, Melissa Er-Raqabi,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3><br /><br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + WANTED +</h1> +<h2> +A Young Woman to Do +<br /> +HOUSEWORK +</h2> +<h3> +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</h3> + +<center> +<i>By</i> +<br /> +<b>C. HÉLÈNE BARKER</b> +</center> + +<center> +Author of <i>Automobile French</i> +</center> + +<h6> +New York<br /> +Moffat, Yard & Company +</h6> + +<h4>1915</h4> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PREFACE +</h2> +<p> +This little book is not a treatise on Domestic Science. The vacuum +cleaner and the fireless cooker are not even mentioned. The efficient +kitchen devised in such an interesting and clever way has no place in +it. Its exclusive object is to suggest a satisfactory and workable +solution along modern lines of how to get one's housework efficiently +performed without doing it one's self. +</p> +<p> +If the propositions that she advances seem at first startling, the +writer begs only for a patient hearing, for she is convinced by strong +reasons and abundant experience, that liberty in the household, like +social and political liberty, can never come except from obedience to +just law. +</p> +<p style="text-align: right;"> +C.H.B. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<p><a href="#PART1">PART I</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR +</p> +<ul> +<li> Ignorance and Inefficiency in the Home</li> +<li> Difficulty of Obtaining Women to Do Housework</li> +<li> The Disadvantages of Housework Compared with Work + in Factories, Stores, and Offices</li> +</ul> + +<p><a href="#PART2">PART II</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</p> +<ul> +<li> Living Outside Place of Employment</li> +<li> Housework Limited to 8 Hours a Day</li> +<li> Housework Limited to 6 Days a Week</li> +<li> The Observance of Legal Holidays</li> +<li> Extra Pay for Overtime</li> +</ul> + +<p><a href="#PART3">PART III</a></p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;"> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME +</p> +<ul> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for One Employee</li> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for Two Employees</li> +<li> Eight Hour Schedules for Three Employees</li> +</ul> + + +<hr class="full" /> + + +<a name="PART1" id="PART1"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART I +</h2> +<h3> + CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Ignorance and inefficiency in the home.</li> +<li> Difficulty of obtaining women to do housework.</li> +<li> The disadvantages connected with housework compared with work in factories, stores, and offices.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +IGNORANCE AND INEFFICIENCY IN THE HOME +</h4> +<p> +The twentieth-century woman, in spite of her progressive and ambitious +theories about woman's sphere of activity, has allowed her housekeeping +methods to remain almost stationary, while other professions and +industries have moved forward with gigantic strides. +</p> +<p> +She does not hesitate to blazon abroad with banners and pennants her +desire to share with man the responsibility for the administration of +the State, but she overlooks the disquieting fact that in the management +of her own household, where her authority is absolute, she has failed +to convince the world of her power to govern. When confronted with this +accusation, she asserts that the maintenance of a home is neither a +business nor a profession, and that in consequence it ought not to be +compared with them nor be judged by the same standards. +</p> +<p> +Is it not due perhaps to this erroneous idea that housekeeping is a +failure to-day? For the fact that it is a failure cannot be hidden, +and that it has been a failure for many years past is equally true. +Recent inventions, and labor saving utensils, have greatly facilitated +housework, yet housekeeping is still accompanied with much +dissatisfaction on the part of the employer and the employee. +</p> +<p> +There are only a few women to-day who regard domestic science in the +light of a profession, or a business, although in reality it is both. +For what is a profession if it be not the application of science to +life? And does not work which one follows regularly constitute a +business? +</p> +<p> +Many women, however, do not regard housekeeping even as a serious +occupation, and few have devoted as much time, thought, and energy to +mastering the principles of domestic economy as of late years women of +all classes of society have willingly given to the study of the rules +and ever changing intricacies of auction bridge. Some consider their +time too valuable to devote to domestic and culinary matters, and openly +boast of their ignorance. Outside engagements, pleasures, philanthropic +schemes, or work, monopolize their days, and the conduct of the house +devolves upon their employees. The result is rarely satisfactory. It is +essential that the woman who is at the head of any concern, be it a +business, a profession, or a home, should not only thoroughly understand +its every detail, but in order to make it a success she must give it her +personal attention each day for at least a portion of her time. +</p> +<p> +It is a popular impression that the knowledge of good housekeeping, +and of the proper care of children, comes naturally to a woman, who, +though she had no previous training or preparation for these duties, +suddenly finds them thrust upon her. But how many women can really look +back with joy to the first years of their housekeeping? Do they not +remember them more with a feeling of dismay than pleasure? How many +foolish mistakes occurred entailing repentance and discomfort! And how +many heart-burnings were caused, and even tears shed, because in spite +of the best intentions, everything seemed to go wrong? And why? Simply +because of ignorance and inefficiency in the home, not only of the +employee, but of the employer also. +</p> +<p> +That an employee is ignorant and unskilled in her work is often +excusable, but there is absolutely no excuse for a woman who has time +and money at her command, to be ignorant of domestic science, when of +her own free will she undertakes the responsibilities of housekeeping. +</p> +<p> +Nearly all women take interest in the furnishing of their homes, and +give their personal attention to it with the result that as a rule they +excel in household decoration, and often produce marvels of beauty and +taste with the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money. +</p> +<p> +Marketing is also very generally attended to in person by the housewife, +but she is using the telephone more and more frequently as a substitute +for a personal visit to butcher and grocer, and this is greatly to her +disadvantage. The telephone is a very convenient instrument, especially +in emergency, or for ordering things that do not vary in price. But when +prices depend upon the fluctuations of the market, or when the articles +to be purchased are of a perishable nature, it must be remembered that +the telephone is also a very convenient instrument for the merchant who +is anxious to get rid of his bad stock. +</p> +<p> +The remaining branches of housekeeping apparently do not interest +the modern housewife. She entrusts them very generally to her employees, +upon whose skill and knowledge she blindly relies. Unfortunately skill +and knowledge are very rare qualities, and if the housewife herself be +ignorant of the proper way of doing the work in her own home, how can +she be fitted to direct those she places in charge of it, or to make a +wise choice when she has to select a new employee? Too often she engages +women and young girls without investigating their references of +character or capability, and when time proves what an imprudent +proceeding she has been party to, she simply attributes the consequent +troubles to causes beyond her control. If the housewife were really +worthy of her name she would be able not only to pick out better +employees, but to insist upon their work being properly done. To-day +she is almost afraid to ask her cook to prepare all the dishes for the +family meals, nor does she always find some one willing to do the family +washing. She is obliged to buy food already cooked from the caterer or +baker, because her so-called "cook" was not accustomed to bake bread and +rolls, or to make pies and cakes, or ice cream, for previous employers, +from whom nevertheless she received an excellent reference as cook. Of +course in cities it is easy to buy food already cooked or canned and to +send all the washing to the laundry, but it helps to raise the "high +cost of living" to alarming proportions, and it also encourages +ignorance in the most important branches of domestic economy. +</p> +<p> +In spite of the "rush of modern life," a woman who has a home ought to +be willing to give some part of her time to its daily supervision. +Eternal vigilance is the price of everything worth having. If she gave +this she would not have so many tales of woe to relate about the +laziness, neglectfulness, and stupidity of her cook and housemaids. +There is not a single housewife to-day who has not had many bitter +experiences. One who desires information upon this subject has only to +call on the nearest friend. +</p> +<p> +To the uninterested person, to the onlooker, the helplessness of the +woman who is at the head of the home, her inability to cope with her +domestic difficulties, is often comic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes +almost tragic. The publications of the day have caricatured the +situation until it has become an outworn jest. The present system of +housekeeping can no longer stand. One of two things must occur. Either +the housewife must adopt business principles in ruling her household, +or she will find before many more years elapse there will be no longer +any woman willing to place her neck under the domestic yoke. +</p> +<p> +If the principles set forth in the following pages can be popularized in +a comprehensive plan of which all the parts can be thoroughly understood +both by the housewife and her employee, ignorance and inefficiency in +the home will be presently abolished. +</p> +<h4> +DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WOMEN TO DO HOUSEWORK +</h4> +<p> +The present unsatisfactory condition of domestic labor in private houses +is not confined to any special city or country; it is universal. Each +year the difficulty of obtaining women to do housework seems to increase +and the demand is so much greater than the supply, that ignorant and +inefficient employees are retained simply because it is impossible to +find others more competent to replace them. +</p> +<p> +There is hardly a home to-day where, at one time or another, the +housewife has not gone through the unenviable experience of being +financially able and perfectly willing to pay for the services of some +one to help her in her housekeeping duties, and yet found it almost +impossible to get a really competent and intelligent employee. As a +rule, those who apply for positions in housework are grossly ignorant of +the duties they profess to perform, and the well trained, clever, and +experienced workers are sadly in the minority. +</p> +<p> +Women and young girls who face the necessity of self support, or who +wish to lead a life of independence, no longer choose housework as a +means of earning a livelihood. It is evident that there is a reason, +and a very potent one, that decides them to accept any kind of +employment in preference to the work offered them in a private home. +Wages, apparently, have little to do with their decision, nor other +considerations which must add very much to their material welfare, +such as good food in abundance, and clean, well ventilated sleeping +accommodations, for these two important items are generally included +at present in the salaries of household employees. Concessions, too, +are frequently made, and favors bestowed upon them by many of their +employers, yet few young girls, and still fewer women are content to +work in private families. +</p> +<p> +It is a deplorable state of affairs, and women seem to be gradually +losing their courage to battle with this increasingly difficult +question: How to obtain and retain one's domestic employees? +</p> +<p> +The peace of the family and the joy and comfort of one's home should be +a great enough incentive to awaken the housewife to the realization that +something must be wrong in her present methods. It is in vain that she +complains bitterly, on all occasions, of the scarcity of good servants, +asserting that it is beyond her comprehension why work in factories, +stores, and offices, should be preferred to the work she offers. +</p> +<p> +Is it beyond her comprehension? Or has she never considered in what way +the work she offers differs from the work so eagerly accepted? Does she +not realize that the present laws of labor adopted in business are very +different from those she still enforces in her own home? Why does she +not compare housework with all other work in which women are employed, +and find out why housework is disdained by nearly all self supporting +women? +</p> +<p> +Instead of doing this, she sometimes avoids the trouble of trying +to keep house with incompetent employees by living in hotels, or +non-housekeeping apartments; but for the housewife who does not possess +the financial means to indulge herself thus, or who still prefers home +life with all its trials to hotel life, the only alternative is to +submit to pay high wages for very poor work or to do a great part of the +housework herself. In both cases the result is bad, for in neither does +the family enjoy the full benefit of home, nor is the vexatious problem, +so often designated as the "servant question," brought any nearer to a +solution. +</p> +<p> +The careful study of any form of labor invariably reveals some need of +amelioration, but in none is there a more urgent need of reform than in +domestic labor in private homes. +</p> +<p> +It is more for the sake of the housewife than for her employee that a +reform is to be desired. The latter is solving her problem by finding +work outside the home, while the former is still unduly harassed by +household troubles. With a few notable exceptions, only those who are +unqualified to compete with the business woman are left to help the +householder, and the problem confronting her to-day is not so much how +to change inefficient to efficient help, but how to obtain any help at +all. +</p> +<p> +The spirit of independence has so deeply entered into the lives of +women of all classes, that until housework be regulated in such a way +as to give to those engaged in it the same rights and privileges as are +granted to them in other forms of labor, the best workers will naturally +seek employment elsewhere. +</p> +<h4> +THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOUSEWORK COMPARED WITH WORK IN FACTORIES, STORES, +AND OFFICES +</h4> +<p> +Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in +factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many +old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern +housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of +our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which +women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important +positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the +coöperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of +work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it +was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible, +if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption. +</p> +<p> +Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate +to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in +stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their +families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay +small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding +increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are +limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the +twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still +enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own +social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest, +and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain. +</p> +<p> +With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position +of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind +to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take +up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about +once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her +escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a +beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego +this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know +that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the +result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from +early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with +the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere +drudgery. +</p> +<p> +As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Considering +the many responsible positions waiting to be filled in private families, +nothing could be more desirable than to instil into one's employees the +ambition to rise. An employee who has passed through all the different +branches of domestic science, from the lowest to the highest in one +family, must be far better fitted to occupy the highest position in +that family than one who applies for the position with the training and +experience gained only in other families where the mode of living may be +very different. Since there is no chance of promotion and in consequence +of receiving better pay, the domestic employee is often tempted to seek +higher wages elsewhere, and thus the desire "to make a change," so +disastrous to the peace of mind of the housewife, is engendered in her +employees. +</p> +<p> +In domestic labor the hours of work are longer than in any other form of +employment, for they are unlimited. Moreover, instead of having one day +out of seven as a day of rest, only half a day is granted beginning +usually about three o'clock in the afternoon, or even later. And legal +holidays bring no relief, for they are practically unknown to the +household employee. The only way women engaged in housework in private +families can obtain a real holiday is by being suddenly called away +"to take care of a sick aunt." There is an old saying containing certain +words of wisdom about "all work and no play" that perhaps explains the +dullness so often met with in domestic help. +</p> +<p> +The hardest thing to submit to, however, from the point of view of the +woman employed in housework, is the lack of freedom outside of working +hours. This prevents her from taking part in her former social life. +She is not allowed to go out even for an hour or two every day to see +her relatives and friends. To ask them to visit her in her employer's +kitchen is not a very agreeable alternative either to herself or her +employer, and even then she is obliged to be on duty, for she must still +wear her uniform and hold herself in readiness to answer the bell until +the family for whom she works retires for the night. +</p> +<p> +With such restrictions it is not surprising that the majority of +women feel that they are losing "caste" if they accept positions in +private families. There are two more causes to which this feeling of the +loss of caste may be attributed. One is the habit of calling household +employees by their first name or by their surname without the prefix of +"Miss"; the other is the custom of making them eat in their employer's +kitchen. These are minor details, perhaps, but nevertheless they count +for much in the lives of women who earn their own living, and anything, +however small, that tends to raise one's self respect, is worthy of +consideration. Perhaps, too, while the word "servant" (a noble word +enough in its history and its moral connotation) carries with it a +stigma, a sense of degradation, among the working women, it should +be avoided. +</p> +<p> +Briefly summed up, then, the present disadvantages of housework compared +with work in factories, stores, and offices, are as follows: +</p> + +<ul> +<li> Enforced separation from one's family.</li> +<li> Loss of personal freedom.</li> +<li> Lack of promotion.</li> +<li> Unlimited hours of work.</li> +<li> No day of rest each week.</li> +<li> Non-observance of legal holidays.</li> +<li> Loss of caste.</li> +</ul> + +<p> +In the present comparison of housework with work in factories, stores, +and offices, a recital of the advantages of domestic service, even under +the present method of housekeeping, must not be omitted, for such +advantages are important, although unfortunately they do not outweigh +the present disadvantages. +</p> +<p> +To the woman whose home ties have been disrupted by death or discord, +and to the newly arrived immigrant especially, housework is a great +boon, inasmuch as besides good wages, all meals and a room to sleep +in are given her. Moreover housework is the only form of labor where +unskilled work can command high wages. This, however, is much more +fortunate for the employee than for her employer. +</p> +<p> +Housework in itself is certainly <i>not worse</i> than any other kind of +manual work in which women are engaged; it is often more interesting and +less fatiguing. It also helps a woman more than any other occupation to +prepare herself for her natural sphere of life:—that of the home maker. +A girl who has spent several years in a well ordered family helping to +do the housework, is far better fitted to run her own home intelligently +and on economic lines than a girl who has spent the same number of years +behind a counter, or working in a factory or an office. +</p> +<p> +Again, work in a private house is infinitely more desirable, from the +point of view of the influence of one's surroundings, than daily labor +in a factory or store. The variety of domestic duties, the freedom of +moving about from one room to another, of sitting or standing to do +one's work, are much to be preferred to the work that compels the worker +to stand or sit in one place all day long. +</p> +<p> +If it be admitted, then, that housework is in itself a desirable and +suitable occupation for women who must earn their living by manual +labor, it can not be the work itself, but the conditions surrounding it +that make it so distasteful to the modern working woman. +</p> +<a name="PART2" id="PART2"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART II +</h2> +<h3> + BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Living outside place of employment.</li> +<li> Housework limited to eight hours a day.</li> +<li> Housework limited to six days a week.</li> +<li> The observance of legal holidays.</li> +<li> Extra pay for overtime.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +LIVING OUTSIDE PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT +</h4> +<p> +There are many housewives who are very much opposed to the adoption +of a plan enabling household employees to live outside their place of +employment. They claim that it is wiser to keep them under constant +supervision day and night in order to prevent the introduction of +disease or the acquisition of bad habits. +</p> +<p> +There is more risk of disease being introduced into the home, and of bad +habits being contracted by allowing one's children to associate with +other children in schools, public or private, and by letting them play +in the streets and public parks, where they mingle with more or less +undesirable companions, than by having the housework performed by +employees who come each day to their work and return to their homes +at night when their duties are over. Nevertheless no sensible parents +would keep their children shut up in the house, only allowing them to +go out of doors for a few hours once a week, for fear of contagion or +contamination, and yet this is just what the housewife has been doing +for years with her household employees under the firm impression that +she was protecting them as well as herself. +</p> +<p> +Present statistics, however, upon the morality and immorality of women +who belong to what is at present termed the "servant class," prove only +too clearly that the "protection" provided by the employer's home does +not protect. The shelter thus given serves too often to encourage a life +of deception, especially as in reality the housewife knows but little of +what takes place "below stairs." +</p> +<p> +The "servants' quarters" are, as a rule, far enough away from the other +rooms of the house for much to transpire there without the knowledge of +the "mistress of the house," but who has not heard her complain of the +misconduct of her employees? Startling discoveries have been made at the +most unexpected times and from the most unexpected quarters. One lady +found her maid was in the habit of going out at night after the family +had retired, and leaving the front door unlocked in order to regain +admittance in the early morning without arousing the family. Another +housewife discovered one day that her cook's husband, whose existence +until then was unknown, had been coming for several months to her house +for his dinner. Every householder finds that in the late evening her +"servants" entertain their numerous "cousins" and friends at her +expense. Moreover, they do not hesitate to use the best china, glass, +and silver for special parties and draw upon the household supplies for +the choicest meats and wines. And because they cannot go out in the day +time, it is not unusual to find some friend or relative comes to spend +the entire day with them, and in consequence the housewife not only +feeds her "help" but a string of hangers-on as well. Why should she be +surprised that she does not get an adequate return for the amount of +money she spends? And these things take place, not only during the +temporary absence of the employer, but even while she is sitting +peacefully in the library and listening to a parlor lecture on the +relations of capital and labor. +</p> +<p> +Women say tearfully or bravely on such occasions: "What can be done +to make servants better? They are getting worse every day." And the +housewife (one might almost call her by Samuel Pepys's pleasing phrase, +"the poor wretch") then pours out to any sympathetic ear endless +recitals of aggravating, worrying, nerve-racking experiences. Instead of +putting an end to such a regrettable state of affairs that would never +be tolerated by any business employer, she seems content to bewail her +fate and clings still more steadfastly to obsolete methods. +</p> +<p> +Why does she not adopt the methods of the business man in dealing with +his employees? The advisability of having household employees live +outside their place of employment is so apparent that it ought to appeal +to every one. There would be no longer the necessity of putting aside +and of furnishing certain rooms of the house for their accommodation: +a practice which in the majority of families is quite a serious +inconvenience and always an expense. In small homes where only one maid +is kept, it may not make much difference to give up one room to her, but +where several employees are needed, it means very often that many rooms +must be used as sleeping apartments for them, frequently too a sitting +room or a special dining room is given them. This is not all, for the +rooms must be furnished and kept clean and warm, and supplied with an +unlimited amount of gas and electricity. In many families the boarding +and lodging of household employees cause as much anxiety and expense to +the housewife as to provide for her own family. +</p> +<p> +And why does she do it? Why does she consent to take upon herself so +much extra trouble for nothing? For, although she offers good food and +a bed besides excellent wages to all who work for her, she is the most +poorly served of all employers to-day. +</p> +<p> +In the great feudal castles of the Middle Ages it was not deemed +safe for women to venture forth alone, even in the daytime, and so +those engaged in housework were naturally compelled to live under their +Master's roof, eating at his table and sitting "below the salt." But +the Master and the Serf of feudal times disappeared long ago, only the +Mistress and her "servants" remain. +</p> +<p> +To-day, however, "servants" no longer sit at their employer's table; +they remain in the kitchen, where as a rule they are given to eat what +is left from the family meals. Some housewives, from motives of kindness +and consideration for the welfare of those in their employ, have special +meals prepared for them and served in a dining-room of their own at +hours which do not conflict with the meals of the family. But this does +not always meet with gratitude or even due appreciation; the disdainful +way in which Bridget often complains of the food too generously provided +for her is well known. +</p> +<p> +A chambermaid came one day to her employer and said she did not wish to +complain but thought it better to say frankly that she was not satisfied +with what she was getting to eat in her house: she wanted to have roast +beef for dinner more often, at least three or four times a week, for she +did not care to eat mutton, nor steak, and never ate pork, nor could +she, to quote her own words "fill up on bread and vegetables as the +other girls did in the kitchen." +</p> +<p> +Then, and only then, did her employer wake up with a start to the +realization of the true position every housewife occupies in the eyes +of her household employees. They evidently regard her in the light of +a caterer; she does the marketing not only for her family but for them +too. She pays a cook high wages, not only to cook meals for herself and +family, but for her employees also. +</p> +<p> +For the first time in her life, this housewife asked herself the +following questions: Why should she allow her household employees to +live in her house? Why should she consent to board them at her expense? +Why should she continue to place at their disposal a bedroom each, a +private bathroom, a sitting room or a dining room? Why should she allow +them to make use of her kitchen and laundry to do their own personal +washing, even providing them with soap and starch, irons and an ironing +board, fuel and gas? Why should she do all this for them when no +business employer, man or woman, ever does it? Was it simply because her +mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother had been in the habit of +doing it? +</p> +<p> +This awakening was the beginning of the end of all the trouble and +expense which she had endured for so many years in connection with the +boarding and lodging of her "servants." To-day she has no "servants"; +she has household employees who come to her house each day, just as +other employees go each day to their place of employment. They take no +meals in her house, and her housekeeping expenses have diminished as +much as her own comfort has increased. Her employees are better and more +efficient than any she ever had under the old régime, and nothing could +persuade her to return to her former methods of housekeeping. +</p> +<p> +The cost of providing meals for domestic employees varies according to +the mode of living of each individual family, and of late it has been +the subject of much discussion. Some important details, however, seem +to be generally overlooked, for the cost of the food is the only thing +usually considered by the average housewife. To this first expense must +be added the cost of pots and pans for cooking purposes; even under +careful management, kitchen utensils are bound to wear out and must be +replaced. Then there is the cost of the extra fuel or gas or electricity +required to cook the food, nor must one forget to count the extra work +of the cook to prepare the meals, and of the kitchen maid or of some +other maid to wash up the dishes after each meal served to employees. +There is also the expense of buying kitchen plates and dishes, glasses, +cups and saucers, knives and forks, etc. Every housewife is in the habit +of providing kitchenware for the use of her employees. +</p> +<p> +The total sum of all these items would astonish those who think that +the actual expense of giving meals to household employees is not a very +great one and is limited to the cost of the food they eat; even this +last expense is considerably augmented by the careless and wasteful way +in which provisions are generally handled by those who do not have to +pay for them. When ways and means are discussed among housewives to +reduce the present "high cost of living," it would be well to advise all +women to try the experiment of having their household employees live +outside their place of employment. The result from an economic point +of view alone is amazing, and the relief it brings the housewife who +is no longer obliged to provide food and sleeping accommodations for +her employees is so great that one wonders why she has been willing to +burden herself with these responsibilities for so many years. +</p> +<p> +There was once a time when women did not go out alone to eat in a +restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating their +midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business prove +themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason why +household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop girls and +stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would enjoy their +meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their employer's house +is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of surroundings and the +opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their work behind them, would +compensate them. In any event, it is clearly proved by the scarcity of +women applying for positions in private houses that these two advantages +only to be obtained in domestic labor—board and lodging—do not attract +the working woman of the present day. +</p> +<p> +The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted +feeling. There is an ancient fable of Æsop about the Dog and the Wolf +which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner. +(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.) +</p> + +<p class="quote" style="text-align: center;"> + THE DOG AND THE WOLF +</p> +<p class="quote"> + There was a Hagged Carrion of a <i>Wolf</i>, and a Jolly Sort of a + Gentile <i>Dog</i>, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company + together upon the King's High-Way. The <i>Wolf</i> was wonderfully + pleas'd with his Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be + brought himself to That Blessed State of Body. Why, says the <i>Dog</i>, + I keep my Master's House from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, + Drink, and Lodging for my pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, + and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The <i>Wolf</i> Struck up the + Bargain, and so away they Trotted together: But as they were + Jogging on, the <i>Wolf</i> spy'd a Bare Place about the <i>Dog's</i> Neck + where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he) how comes this I + prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the <i>Dog</i>, but the Fretting of my + <i>Collar</i> a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a <i>Collar</i> in the + Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust. +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align: center;"> + THE MORAL +</p> +<p class="quote"> + ...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm + Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his + Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it. +</p> +<p> +In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an +employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider +for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place +of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for +them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of +benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for work +early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an arrangement. +When he needs some one to watch over his interests in the night time, +he engages a night watchman, a very much more economical plan than to +provide lodging for all his employees. +</p> +<p> +Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden of +a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the country, +where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home, such +a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is +absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat, +and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly +a custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the +observance." +</p> +<h4> +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY +</h4> +<p> +In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it +is the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions +of life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned. +</p> +<p> +It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor +of women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private +houses. +</p> +<p> +It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or +fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a +household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to wane at +the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to the same +work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The truth of +the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long acknowledged and +nowadays requires no argument. +</p> +<p> +When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how +many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill a +domestic position in a family, the number of hours she is expected to +give her employer is never specified. She is simply told that she must +be on duty early in the morning before the family arises, and that she +may consider herself off duty as soon as the family for whom she is +working has withdrawn for the night. Is it surprising that under such +conditions working women are not very enthusiastic over the domestic +proposition to-day? +</p> +<p> +A household employee ought to have her hours of work as clearly defined +as if she were a business employee, and there is no reason why the +eight-hour labor law could not be applied as successfully to housework +as to any other enterprise. +</p> +<p> +Work in business is generally divided into two periods. Yet this +division can not always be effected, and in railroad and steamship +positions, in post offices, upon trolley lines, in hotels, in hospitals, +and in other cases too numerous to mention, where work must follow a +continuous round, the working hours are divided into more than two +periods, according to the nature of the work and the interests of the +employer, not however exceeding a fixed number of hours per day or per +week. +</p> +<p> +It would be far better for the housewife as well as for her employees, +if the housework were limited in a similar way. But with the +introduction of the eight-hour law in the home, certain new conditions +would have to be rigidly enforced in order to ensure success. +</p> +<p> +Firstly, the employee should be made to understand that during the eight +hours of work agreed upon, she must be engaged in actual work for her +employer. +</p> +<p> +Secondly, when an employee is off duty, she should not be allowed to +remain with or to talk to the other employee or employees who are still +on duty. When her work is finished, she ought to leave her employer's +house. The non-observance of either of these two points produces a +demoralizing effect. +</p> +<p> +Thirdly, a general knowledge of cooking, and serving meals, of cleaning +and taking proper care of the rooms of a house, of attending correctly +to the telephone and the door bell, of sewing, of washing and ironing, +and of taking care of children, should be insisted upon from all +household employees. +</p> +<p> +There are many housewives who will state that this last condition is +impossible, that it is asking too much from one employee; and since it +is hard to-day to find a good cook, it will be still harder to find one +who understands other household work as well. But those who jump to +these conclusions have never tried the experiment. It is not only +possible but practicable. +</p> +<p> +Judging from the ordinary intelligence displayed by the average cook and +housemaid in the majority of private homes to-day, it ought not to seem +incredible that the duties of both could be easily mastered by young +women of ordinary ability. A woman who knows how to prepare and cook a +meal, may easily learn the correct way of serving it, and the possession +of this knowledge ought not to prevent her from being capable of +sweeping a room, or making a bed, or taking care of children. +</p> +<p> +It is above all in families where only a few employees are kept, that +the housewife will quickly realize how much it is to her immediate +advantage to employ women who know how to do all kinds of housework, +instead of having those who make a specialty of one particular branch. +</p> +<p> +The specialization of work in private houses has been carried to +such an extreme that it has become one of the greatest drawbacks +to successful housekeeping in small families. Under this system of +specialization, a household employee is not capable in emergency of +taking up satisfactorily the work of another. Even if she be able to do +it, she often professes ignorance for fear it may prolong her own hours +of labor, or because, as she sometimes frankly admits, she does not +consider it "her place." The chambermaid does not know how to cook, the +cook does not know how to do the chamberwork, the waitress, in her turn, +can do neither cooking nor chamberwork, and the annoyance to the whole +family caused by the temporary absence of one of its regular employees +is enough to spoil for the time being all the traditional comforts of +home. +</p> +<p> +In hotels and public institutions, and in large private establishments, +where the work demands a numerous staff of employees, the specialization +of the work is the only means for its successful accomplishment, but in +the average home requiring from one to four or five employees no system +could be worse from an economic point of view, nor less conducive to the +comfort of the family. +</p> +<p> +Specialization produces another bad effect, for it prevents the +existence of the feeling of equality among employees in the same house. +Each "specialist" speaks rather disparagingly of the other's work, +regardless of the relative position her own special "art" may occupy to +the unprejudiced mind. +</p> +<p> +An amusing instance of this was recently shown at a country place near +New York, when "the lady of the manor" asked a friend to send some one +down from the city to help with the housework during the temporary +absence of her maid. The friend could not find any one at the domestic +employment agencies willing to go, but at last through the Charity +Organization Society, she heard of a woman temporarily out of +employment, who had been frequently employed as scrubwoman on the +vacation piers. When the work was offered her, she accepted it +immediately. Arriving at her new employer's house, she began at once to +scrub the floors, and when the work was completed, she sat on a chair +and took no further notice of anything. The next day, having no more +floors to scrub, the same general lack of interest was manifested. She +was asked to wash the dishes after dinner. She replied that she was not +used to "dishwashing," and did not know how to do it. She was persuaded, +however, to make the attempt, but performed her new task very +reluctantly. The following morning she said she felt "lonely" and +would return at once to the city. As the train came in sight to bear +her back to her accustomed surroundings, she gave a snort of relief, +and exclaimed: "I'm a scrubwoman, I am. I ain't going to do no fancy +dishwashing, no, not for no one; I'm a scrubwoman." And she clambered up +into the train with the alacrity of a woman whose dignity had received a +hard blow. +</p> +<p> +The above illustration is typical of the spirit subjected to the system +of specialization, and shows how unwise it is to encourage it in the +home where all branches of housework could be easily made +interchangeable. +</p> +<p> +Under the new system of limiting housework to eight hours a day, the +housewife must insist that all applicants be willing and able to perform +any part of the housework she may assign, and their duties ought not +to be specified otherwise than by the term HOUSEWORK. The employee who +refuses to wait on the table during the absence of the waitress, or to +cook, or to do the laundry work, or to answer the telephone, or to carry +packages from her employer's automobile to the library, because she does +not consider it "her place to do these things," should be instantly +discharged. +</p> +<p> +These very important conditions being understood and conceded, the +choice and arrangement of the eight hours' work must necessarily lie +with each individual housewife. Each family is different and has +different claims upon its time. The "rush hours" of social life are +sometimes in the evening, and sometimes in the afternoon, and again in +some families, especially where there are small children, the breakfast +hour seems the most complicated of the day. All these details have to be +carefully thought of when making an eight hour schedule. At the end of +this book a set of schedules is placed. Any intelligent housewife can +understand them, imitate them, and in many instances improve them. They +are merely given as elementary examples. +</p> +<p> +According to the number of employees she engages, the housewife will +have eight, sixteen, or twenty-four hours of work to distribute among +them, and to meet her peculiar needs she will find it necessary at the +outset to devote some hours to a satisfactory scheme. After testing +several, she will probably have to begin all over again before she +finally succeeds in evolving one that is available. But the problem is +interesting in itself, and always admits of a solution. +</p> +<p> +It may not be amiss to make this final suggestion for the woman who is +willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example +of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise +for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications +be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the +majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate +hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a +dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through +advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible +to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the +employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with +the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to +offer gratuitous service. +</p> +<p> +The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle +theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it +is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who +would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in +the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids +would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the +domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in +the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other +way. +</p> +<h4> +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK +</h4> +<p> +Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of +the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right +to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday. +</p> +<p> +It is remarkable that this fact, showing so forcibly one of the +greatest disadvantages connected with housework, should attract so +little attention. No one seems to care about the fate of the "servant +girl," as she is so often disdainfully called. During six days of the +week she works on the average fourteen hours a day, but no one stops +to notice that she is tired. On the seventh day, instead of resting as +every other employee has the right to do, her work is merely reduced to +nine, eight, or perhaps seven hours; and yet she needs a day of rest +as much as every other woman who earns her bread. The rights of the +domestic employee are ignored on all sides apparently. In public +demonstrations of dissatisfaction between employers and employees the +most oppressed class of the working people—the women who do +housework—has never yet been represented. +</p> +<p> +This is probably due to two causes: the first is because women +dissatisfied with housework are rapidly finding positions in business +where they enjoy rights and privileges denied them in domestic labor; +and the second is because the great majority of women engaged in +housework are foreign-born. These women learn quickly to understand and +speak English, but they do not often read and write it, and as they are +kept in close confinement in their employer's house, they have rarely +the opportunity of hearing about the emancipation of the modern working +woman. Most of them are of a very humble origin, and being debarred from +business positions on account of their ignorance and inexperience, they +are thankful to earn money in any kind of employment regardless of the +length of working hours. +</p> +<p> +Their children, however, who are American born and enjoy better +educational advantages, do not follow in their footsteps when the +time comes for them to earn their living. They become stenographers, +typewriters, dressmakers, milliners, shirt waist makers, cash-girls, +saleswomen, etc.; in fact any occupation where work is limited to a +fixed number of hours a day and confined to six days a week, is +considered more desirable than housework. The result is that the +housewife is compelled to take for her employees only those who are +rejected by every other employer; the capable, independent, intelligent +American woman is hardly ever seen in domestic service. +</p> +<p> +In Washington, D.C., a law (the La Follette Eight Hour Law for Women in +the District of Columbia) was recently passed limiting to eight hours +a day and six days a week practically all work in which women are +industrially employed; "hotel servants" are included under the +provisions of this law, but "domestic servants in private homes" are +expressly excluded. +</p> +<p> +If this new law be considered a just and humane measure for women who +are business employees, and if business houses be compelled to observe +it, one naturally wonders why it should not prove to be an equally +just and humane law for women who work in private families, and why +should not the home be compelled to observe it too? Instead of being a +barrier to progress, the home ought to coöperate with the state in the +enforcement of laws for the amelioration of the condition of working +women. The home, being presided over by a woman, presumably of some +education and intelligence, should be a most fitting place in which to +apply a law designed to protect women against excessive hours of labor. +</p> +<p> +Why should housework in private homes be an exception to all other work? +Is it because some housewives say, in self justification and frequently +without an accurate knowledge of what it is to do housework week after +week without one day's release, that housework is easier than other +work? Is it easier? Is it not sometimes harder? However, it is not a +question of housework being harder or easier than other work, but of the +desirability of having it limited to eight hours a day and six days a +week. Why should the housewife be allowed to remain in such a state of +apathy in regard to the physical welfare of her household employees? +</p> +<p> +"Six days shalt thou labor" has all the sanction of scripture, of +morals, and of common experience. It is only fair that women who work in +private families should have one day out of seven as a day of rest, even +as their more fortunate sisters in the business world. If by adopting +such a law in the home the housewife found that her work was performed +far more efficiently and willingly than at present, would it not be as +much to her advantage as to the advantage of those she employs to limit +the hours of household labor to six days a week? Many housewives may +object to this proposition inasmuch as the work in a home can not be +suspended even for a day. But when two or more employees work in a +private home, it is very easy to plan the housework so that each +employee may have a different day of the week as a "day of rest," +without the comfort of the family being disturbed by the temporary +absence of one of the employees. It is only in families where one +employee is kept that it may make a very serious difference to the +housewife when her "maid-of-all-work" is away for one entire day each +week. Nevertheless the comfort of an employer ought not to outweigh +justice to an employee. +</p> +<p> +There are many ways of regulating the housework, as will be seen in the +schedules at the end of this book, in order to give one day of freedom +each week to household employees without causing much inconvenience to +the housewife. By continuing to refuse this privilege to women employed +in domestic labor, housekeeping is becoming more and more complicated. +Already it is such a common occurrence in some cities and in many parts +of the country, not to find any woman willing to do housework, that +many housewives are beginning to think that their future comfort in all +household matters will depend entirely upon new labor saving devices and +upon the help of the community rather than upon the increased knowledge +and skill of domestic employees. +</p> +<p> +There exists a prevailing impression, too, that housework has lost its +dignity, and that at this period of the world's social history, it is +impossible to restore it for women have stepped above it. But this is +not true. The fact is that housework has remained stationary while other +work has gained in freedom and dignity. Without noisy protestations, or +indignant speeches delivered in public, women have slowly and silently, +one by one, deserted housework as a career on account of the narrowing, +servile, and unjust conditions inseparable from it at the present day. +Let these conditions be removed and new regulations based upon modern +business principles take their place, and then it will be seen that +housework has never lost its dignity, and the very women who abandoned +it will be the first to choose it again as a means of earning their +livelihood. +</p> +<p> +As a proof of this, the following experience may be cited of a New Work +woman who wished to obtain a domestic employee for general housework. +She went to several employment agencies and at the end of a week she +had seen four applicants; three were foreigners and spoke English so +brokenly that they could never have been left in charge of a telephone. +Not one of the four was worth considering after investigating their +references, and these were the only women she could find willing to do +general housework. Upon the advice of a friend, the perplexed housewife +advertised in one of the daily newspapers, but only a few women applied +for the position and these were far from being satisfactory. She then +inserted another advertisement expressed in the following words: +"Wanted: a young woman to help with housework, eight hours a day, six +days a week, sleep home. Apply by letter only." +</p> +<p> +This last clause was added to prevent any one from applying for the +position who could not write English, as it was absolutely necessary +that the person engaged to do the housework should be capable of +attending correctly to the telephone. On the same day the advertisement +appeared, eighty-five applications by letter were received, and twenty +more came the following day. All who wrote expressed their willingness +to fill the position of a domestic employee and to do anything in +the way of housework under the new conditions specified in the +advertisement. Only one stated she would do no washing. Many who replied +to this advertisement had occupied positions, which according to the +present standard, were far superior to housework; many, too, were +married women, experienced in all household work, and most anxious to +accept a position in a private family, a position that did not break up +their own home life. +</p> +<p> +The housewife was bewildered by the unexpected result of her +advertisement: the tables were turned at last. Instead of being one of +many looking in vain for a good domestic employee, she found that she +had now the advantage of being able to choose from more than a hundred +applicants one who would best suit her own peculiar needs. +</p> +<p> +The same advertisement has been inserted at different times and has +always brought the same remarkable result: from one hundred to one +hundred and sixty answers each time. It is true that all who present +themselves may not be efficient, but efficiency speedily comes to the +front when upon it alone depends a desirable position. +</p> +<p> +Two very important facts came to light through the help of this +advertisement; one was to find so many women eager to do housework when +it was limited to eight hours a day and six days a week, and the other +was to hear that they were willing to board and lodge themselves, as +well as work, for the same wages that "servants" are accustomed to +receive, although to the latter the housewife invariably gives gratis +all food and sleeping accommodations. These two facts alone prove beyond +a doubt that by applying business principles to housework all objections +to it as a means of earning a livelihood are removed. +</p> +<p> +It is quite likely that for a time the old fashioned "mistress," and the +old fashioned "servant" will continue to cling to past customs; but once +it is proved that domestic labor limited to eight hours a day and six +days a week, brings a better, more intelligent, more efficient class of +employees to the home, the most obdurate employer will change her mind. +</p> +<p> +No legislation is needed. If all who are trying to solve the "servant +question" will begin to practice the new plan in their own homes, the +future will take care of itself and the old ways will die a natural +death. +</p> +<h4> +THE OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS IN THE HOME +</h4> +<p> +The pleasure brought by the advent of a holiday into the lives of +the working people can hardly be overestimated, and it is doubtful +if holidays would ever have become legalized had they not proved of +distinct value to the masses. To have one day each week free from the +steady grind of one's dally work is a great relief, but to have a +holiday is something still better, for it usually means a day set apart +for general rejoicing. +</p> +<p> +Why do all housewives persistently disregard the right of the household +employee to have legal holidays? The reason generally brought forward +is that many families need their employees more on a holiday than on +any other day. In many cases this is quite true on account of family +reunions or the entertaining of friends, but very often the housewife +could easily dispense with the services of her employees on a holiday. +She does not do it, however, or only occasionally, because it is not the +custom to grant holidays to women who work in private homes. +</p> +<p> +If it be impossible, on account of the exigencies of home life, to grant +all legal holidays to household employees, there are many different ways +of planning the housework so that other days may be given instead. +Sometimes the day before or the day after a holiday will give as much +pleasure as the day itself. A woman who is at the head of a home has +many opportunities of coming into close contact with her employees; she +can easily ascertain their wishes in this respect and act accordingly. +It is more the fact of being entitled to a holiday than to have it on +a certain day that ought to be emphasized. +</p> +<p> +Domestic employees would be benefited by having these extra days of +liberty, just as much as all other employees. A trial is all that is +necessary to show how much better a household employee will work after +having a holiday. She returns to her duties with renewed strength +and the knowledge that she is no longer forced to play the rôle of +Cinderella gives her a fresh interest in life. Unfortunately the +housewife has been accustomed for so many years to have her "servants" +work for her all day long on every day of the week, with only a few +hours off duty "on every other Sunday and on every other Thursday," that +she is rather inclined to resent such an innovation as the observance +of legal holidays in domestic labor. She fails to perceive that by her +present attitude she shows herself in a very unfavorable light as an +employer, for the lack of holidays is decidedly one of the reasons for +which housework is shunned to-day. +</p> +<p> +Business men have evolved a satisfactory and workable plan by which +their employees are neither overworked nor deprived of all legal +holidays, although frequently the work they are engaged in can not be +suspended day or night even for an hour. +</p> +<p> +It remains for women of the leisure class, and to this class belong all +those who can afford to pay to have their housework done for them, to +adopt a similar plan in their homes. +</p> +<h4> +EXTRA PAY FOR OVERTIME +</h4> +<p> +When the plan for limiting housework to eight hours a day is discussed +for the first time, the following question invariably arises: What is +to be done when anything unusual happens to break the routine of the +regular work, as for instance, when sickness occurs, when friends arrive +unexpectedly, when a dinner party is given? +</p> +<p> +Sickness, of course, is unavoidable, but as a rule a trained nurse or +an extra household assistant is called in to help. Many times, however, +this is not absolutely necessary, or perhaps the family can not afford +to have outside help, and the extra work caused by sickness usually +falls upon the domestic employee whose hours of labor are more or less +prolonged in consequence. What ought to be done in such an event? +</p> +<p> +There is but one answer: Work that can not be accomplished within the +regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as +"overtime." +</p> +<p> +When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a +day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not +to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She +alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a +schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or +dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon +between herself and her employees. +</p> +<p> +When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or +a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule +may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement +has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some +compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours +of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers, +and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them. +</p> +<p> +In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes +it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket, +not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving +"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the +light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to +remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why +should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help +her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense +entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in +taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she +object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon +whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends? +</p> +<p> +There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never +recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded +from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in +exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay, +especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some +days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their +employees have no cause for complaint. +</p> +<p> +It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged +to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really +compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give +on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only +a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and +it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded +to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively +engaged in work. +</p> +<p> +But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they +ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it +is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of +rewarding them have been tried with more or less success. +</p> +<p> +One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents +to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited +to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent +pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money. +</p> +<p> +Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to +the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner +party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another +plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or +ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of +satisfactory work to her employer. +</p> +<p> +All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show +that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is +due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently +unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack +stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness +of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established +business principle. +</p> +<p> +And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will +produce a permanently satisfactory result? +</p> +<p> +The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay +each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as +for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just +proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a +household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say +$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days +a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for +her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for extra +work, she ought to receive 15, 22-1/2, or 30 cents per hour for every +hour she works for her employer after the completion of her regular +eight hours' work. +</p> +<p> +This plan has never failed to bring satisfaction, and it has the +advantage of placing the employer and the employee on an equally +delightful footing of independence. The performance of extra work is no +longer regarded as a matter of obligation on one side, and of concession +on the other, but as a purely business transaction. +</p> +<p> +Some housewives fear that the regular work would be intentionally +prolonged beyond all measure if it became an established rule to pay +extra for work performed overtime. This could be easily checked, +however, by paying extra only for work that was necessitated by unusual +events in the family life. +</p> +<p> +In families where only one employee is kept, naturally the occasions for +asking her to work overtime arise more frequently than in families where +there are two or more employees, especially if there be small children +in the family. Yet these occasions need not come very often, if the +housewife bears in mind that even with only one employee, she has eight +hours every day at her own disposal; she ought to plan her outside +engagements accordingly. Her liberty from household cares during +these eight hours can only be gained though by having efficient and +trustworthy assistants in her home, and she can never obtain these +unless she abandons her old fashioned methods of housekeeping. She must +grant to household employees the same rights and privileges given to +business employees; she must apply business principles to housework. +A great power lies in the hands of the modern housewife, a power as yet +only suspected by a few, which, if properly wielded, can raise housework +from its present undignified position to the place it ought to occupy, +and that is in the foremost rank of manual labor for women. +</p> +<a name="PART3" id="PART3"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + PART III +</h2> +<h3> + EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME +</h3> + +<ul> +<li> Eight hour schedules for one employee.</li> +<li> Eight hour schedules for two employees.</li> +<li> Eight hour schedules for three employees.</li> +</ul> + +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR ONE EMPLOYEE +</h4> +<p> +The schedules given in the following pages have been in actual practice +for a sufficient length of time to prove that they can be relied on to +produce satisfactory results, although no doubt many housewives will +find that some of them must be modified to meet special requirements in +their homes. +</p> +<p> +Two very important points must always be borne in mind in order to +obtain the greatest advantage from an eight hour schedule, especially in +families where only one employee is engaged to do the housework. +</p> +<p> +The first point is this: the housewife ought only to make her working +schedule <i>after</i> she has carefully studied her own comfort and +convenience in regard to the hours she considers the most important of +the day for her to have help in her housework. +</p> +<p> +The second point is for the housewife to reserve for herself the entire +freedom of the eight hours during which her employee is on duty, for +then she can place, or she ought to be able to, the full responsibility +of the housekeeping upon her employee. +</p> +<p> +By adhering strictly to these two points, the housewife will soon +perceive that she can dispense with the services of her employee for the +remaining hours of the day without much inconvenience to herself or her +family. She may even find it more pleasant than otherwise to be relieved +from the sight and sound of household work, for at least a few hours a +day, when she is in her own home. +</p> +<p> +Possibly the housewife who has but one employee will not accept with +alacrity the proposition of allowing her to be off duty for an entire +day once a week, for unless she be willing to do the necessary work +herself on that day, she must engage a special person to take the place +of her regular employee. But many families engage a woman to come once a +week to help with the washing and house-cleaning, especially when they +have only one household employee. If this woman came on the day the +regular employee was away, she could relieve the housewife of all the +housework that could not be postponed until the next day. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. I +</h4> +<p> +When only one employee is engaged in a private home, her services are +needed more at meal time than at any other time of the day, especially +if small children are in the family. As the hours for the three +principal meals are about the same everywhere, the following schedule is +a very useful one. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>2 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +In the morning from seven to ten o'clock, the employee had ample time +to prepare and serve breakfast and wash up the dishes afterwards, and +do the chamberwork. The three hours from noon until three o'clock were +filled with duties that varied considerably each day. Luncheon was +served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to +serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted +to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or +preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening +or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and +serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a +week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and +assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the +rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee. +</p> +<p> +This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but +several times, and not with the same employee, but with different +employees, and it has always been most satisfactory. +</p> +<p> +It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on +schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the +greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well, +is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere, +and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases +with the remainder of her time. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. II +</h4> +<p> +The following schedule is very different from the preceding one, +inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her +employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children +in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very +frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was +the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her +employee, whose working hours were arranged thus: +</p> + +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was +finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in +the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a +week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On +these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she +did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not +difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The +family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually went +out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. III +</h4> +<p> +In this schedule, the employee's work is divided into two periods, with +one hour for rest between. The family consisted of a man and his wife, +who lived in an apartment. The hours of work were as follows: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee +who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress. In consequence she +was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on +her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was +done. As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife +was obliged to get breakfast herself. However this was a very simple +matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night +before. The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the +aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, +boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, +or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes. +</p> +<p> +The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and +although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much +work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. IV +</h4> +<p> +Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally +chosen for a family of six: mother, father, four small children. The +eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household +employee to help with the work. They lived in the country, and breakfast +had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early +morning train to town. +</p> +<p> +Naturally, with only one employee, the housewife was compelled to do +some of the housework herself, and until the following schedule was +adopted, she had been in the habit of rising early, dressing the +children, and getting breakfast ready herself. Her employee arrived +later in the day and remained until after dinner at night. The comfort +and general welfare of the mother were increased to such a remarkable +degree by the new schedule, however, that it is well worth special +attention. +</p> +<p> +The hours were as follows: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td> From 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the +children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed +themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing +them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day +before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not +hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the +employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked +steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother +felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the +other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her +employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for +lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go +for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's +house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some +household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put +them to bed for their morning nap. +</p> +<p> +At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the +house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over +and she went home. +</p> +<p> +This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three, +but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee. +To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was +much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the +morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not +much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and +herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was +no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a +dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment +in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra +hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a +"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her +place. +</p> +<p> +This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely +free from the children and household cares. +</p> +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES +</h4> +<p> +It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than +for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which +the sixteen hours of work may be divided, subdivided, and arranged to +please the individual housewife. With two employees, it is no longer +necessary for the housewife to remain at home while one is off duty, +even for an hour, for one relieves the other without any cessation of +work. Even on the seventh day, "the day of rest," the housewife can +always arrange to have her work done without doing it herself, in spite +of the absence of one of her employees. +</p> +<p> +When a schedule is finally agreed upon, however, it must be rigidly +enforced, for it is more important to keep to the hours specified when +there are two employees than when there is only one. Although the +housewife may be tempted to claim the privilege of changing her hours +very often to please herself, since she is the employer, if she value +her peace of mind, she will refrain from doing it. Only when the +inevitable, the unforeseen, occurs should she make a change in her +regular schedule. When one employee is off duty all day, the other +employee can remain on duty the entire day; naturally this plan +necessitates more than eight hours of work on that day, probably two +or three more hours, but if on the day after or the day before, the +employee be allowed to work two or three hours less than eight hours, +the average of eight hours a day and six days a week is maintained. +</p> +<p> +Another example of what the housewife can do when one of her employees +is off duty the entire day, is to make her other employee follow +schedule No. 1. This enables her to keep to eight hours a day and at the +same time the housewife does none of the housework herself. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. V +</h4> +<p> +With two employees it is a wise plan to arrange a schedule that makes +the work of one employee commence the moment the work of the other +ceases. This tends to promote punctuality without requiring special +supervision on the part of the housewife. +</p> +<p> +The following schedule is admirably adapted to the every day life of the +average family with two employees: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 4 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +All the washing, ironing, and mending of the family were done by the +two employees, and they also took care of the children when necessary. +Besides being good cooks, they were both excellent waitresses; in +consequence it made no difference which one was on duty at meal time. +</p> +<p> +One employee only was in charge of breakfast; she came at seven o'clock +in the morning, and worked steadily until eleven o'clock, when the +second employee arrived. She then went out for her lunch, returning at +twelve, and remaining on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon. She +was then free for the remainder of the day. +</p> +<p> +The second employee, as soon as she arrived at 11 A.M., went through +the house and finished any work that was not completed by the first +employee. She worked without stopping until 3 P.M., then went away for +her lunch; she returned at 4 P.M. to relieve the first employee whose +work was over at four o'clock. The second employee remained on duty +until 8 P.M.; she cooked and served dinner so quickly and efficiently +that the housewife who had always been accustomed to have two employees, +a "cook" and a "waitress," on duty for dinner every night, found to +her great surprise that one efficient household employee, working on +schedule time, accomplished in the same time the work of two of her +former "servants." +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VI +</h4> +<p> +In this schedule the housewife wanted both her employees to help her +with her two children. With this end in view, she made all the work of +the house interchange with the care of the children; in consequence when +one employee was off duty, the other could always be relied on to help +with the children. This proved to be a very successful schedule, for it +relieved the mother from being obliged to sit in the nursery as she was +compelled to do every time her former "nurse" went downstairs to her +meals, or had her "afternoon off." But when the mother wished to be with +her children, and that was very often, the employee who was in the +nursery at the time, left the room immediately to attend to other +household duties. +</p> +<p> +Both employees were on duty at 7 A.M., a most necessary arrangement +where there are small children in a family. The first employee prepared +and served breakfast for the family, while the other employee took full +charge of the children, giving them their breakfast in the nursery, and +taking them out afterwards for a walk. At 10 A.M., she returned with the +children, and she was then off duty for two hours. The mother generally +chose this time to be with her children; if however, she had any other +engagement, the first employee was on duty until noon and could be +called upon to look after them. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 12 M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VII +</h4> +<p> +There are many families who may object to all the preceding schedules +on account of the early hour in the evening for household employees +to be off duty. When the housewife has never had her housework done on +schedule time by an efficient employee, she may well think it impossible +to have the dinner dishes washed up and everything put away in order by +8 P.M. However some families do not begin dinner before half past seven, +or eight o'clock, or even later, but in these families, it is not +unusual for the breakfast hour to be very late also. In consequence +nothing is easier than to make a schedule for the day's work begin late +and end late, without making any other alteration in it. +</p> +<p> +The following schedule, however, combines an early breakfast and a late +dinner, in a family where only two employees were kept: +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 12 M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M.<br />(or from 8 to 11 P.M.) </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<h4> +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR THREE EMPLOYEES +</h4> +<p> +The greater the number of household employees, the easier it is to make +a satisfactory working schedule. But the temptation to specialize the +work is greater, and should be carefully guarded against. It is just as +necessary with three employees as with one for the housewife to insist +that each one be capable and willing to do all kinds of work in the +home, including sewing and taking care of children. +</p> +<p> +With three employees, the housewife ought to make them take turns in +cooking and serving one of the three meals each day. This enables them +to become familiar with the dining room and with the different dishes +for each course; it also removes any feeling of embarrassment which +naturally might be felt by an employee who is rarely called upon to cook +or serve a meal. +</p> +<p> +To have an expert needlewoman in the house is a great boon to the +housewife, and when she has three employees who can sew in her home, she +ought to insist upon a great deal of sewing and mending being done by +each one of them. +</p> +<p> +It is rare that the "servant" of to-day is a good sewer; in fact the +housewife would hesitate to ask her to do even the ordinary mending, but +when one engages household employees on an eight hour schedule, and when +there are a hundred women to choose from, it is not hard to find several +who sew well. +</p> +<h4> +SCHEDULE NO. VIII +</h4> +<p> +It is so easy to plan the housework for three employees that one +schedule as an example seems quite sufficient, and the only thing that +the housewife must remember is to make all the work interchangeable. +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="100%" summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>First Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 12 M. to 4 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Second Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. </td><td>4 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> <i>Third Employee</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> From 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. </td><td>3 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td> From 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. </td><td>5 hours</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td>———</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> 8 hours</td></tr> +</table> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONCLUSION +</h2> +<p> +In conclusion it seems that a few words are necessary about families who +need the services of an employee at night as well as in the day time. +There are many mothers who do not wish or who are not able to take +care of their children at night, and in consequence it is absolutely +necessary to have an attendant. The present custom is to have the nurse +or maid sleep in the same room as the baby, or in a room adjoining the +children's bedroom, so as to be within call. But a woman who has worked +all day, or even eight hours a day, should not have her sleep disturbed +at night by taking care of children. No woman can be fit for her work +the next day if she has not been able to secure the average amount of +sleep necessary to health. +</p> +<p> +In many cases it has been proved that when a child does not sleep +well at night, the nurse has taken upon herself the responsibility of +giving it "soothing syrup" so as to keep it quiet. This is hardly to be +wondered at when one considers the strain under which the nurse is kept +day and night by taking care of a small child; besides the average nurse +is generally ignorant of the harm caused by so-called "soothing syrups." +</p> +<p> +If a child be sick, the mother should call in a trained nurse, that +is if she can afford it, and when she has several employees, she can +usually afford this extra expense. If the child or children be well, +and the mother desires some one to attend to them at night, she should +engage a woman who has no occupation during the day and who is willing +to work at night. She should make a point of choosing one who sews well, +so that the services of a seamstress might be combined with the duties +of a night nurse. There is always some mending to do in all families and +a woman who is clever with her needle might make herself very useful to +her employer. Thousands of women sew by artificial light in dressmaking +establishments and factories; in all probability just as many women +could be found to sew by artificial light in private homes. Perhaps at +first the novelty of working at night might deter women from taking a +position similar to the one suggested above, but a woman who was really +in need of work would not let the unusual hours prevent her from +accepting it, +</p> +<p> +Many men work at night and it is not unlikely that many women would be +willing to do it too. Women are not as timid as they were reputed to +be in former years; they would neither scream nor faint nowadays at +the sight of a little mouse scampering across the floor. Indeed quite +recently the newspapers reported that a woman whose husband had just +died had accepted the position of a night watchman, and she filled her +new rôle so successfully that on one occasion she managed to seize a +burglar and handed him over to a policeman. +</p> +<p> +This proposition of engaging a woman to work at night is only a +suggestion, however, offered to those who find it absolutely necessary +to have a domestic employee in their house at night. It remains to be +proved if it could be carried out successfully. +</p> +<p> +But the great changes in housekeeping described in the preceding +chapters are not mere suggestions nor theories of what might be done: +each reform has already been put into actual practice. The result has +been so extraordinary that one is impelled to believe that the only way +to solve the Servant Problem is to apply business principles to +housework in private homes. +</p> +<p> +Naturally such a revolution from methods now in vogue can not be wrought +in a day, and the transitional period may be one of some difficulty and +confusion for employer and employee alike who have spent a large portion +of their lives under the old régime. But the revolution is imperative, +and the ultimate benefit beyond calculation. +</p> + +<br /><br /> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO HOUSEWORK***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14117-h.txt or 14117-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/1/14117">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1/14117</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/14117.txt b/old/14117.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfc26d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14117.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2115 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework, by C. +Helene Barker + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Wanted, a Young Woman to Do Housework + +Author: C. Helene Barker + +Release Date: November 22, 2004 [eBook #14117] +Most recently updated: January 4, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO +HOUSEWORK*** + + +E-text prepared by Stan Goodman, Melissa Er-Raqabi, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +Business Principles Applied to Housework + +by + +C. HELENE BARKER + +Author of _Automobile French_ + +New York +Moffat, Yard & Company + +1915 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book is not a treatise on Domestic Science. The vacuum +cleaner and the fireless cooker are not even mentioned. The efficient +kitchen devised in such an interesting and clever way has no place in +it. Its exclusive object is to suggest a satisfactory and workable +solution along modern lines of how to get one's housework efficiently +performed without doing it one's self. + +If the propositions that she advances seem at first startling, the +writer begs only for a patient hearing, for she is convinced by strong +reasons and abundant experience, that liberty in the household, like +social and political liberty, can never come except from obedience to +just law. + +C.H.B. + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and Inefficiency in the Home 1 + Difficulty of Obtaining Women to Do Housework 11 + The Disadvantages of Housework Compared with Work + in Factories, Stores, and Offices 19 + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living Outside Place of Employment 31 + Housework Limited to 8 Hours a Day 47 + Housework Limited to 6 Days a Week 61 + The Observance of Legal Holidays 75 + Extra Pay for Overtime 81 + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight Hour Schedules for One Employee 93 + Eight Hour Schedules for Two Employees 109 + Eight Hour Schedules for Three Employees 121 + + + + +PART I + +CAUSES OF THE PRESENT UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF DOMESTIC LABOR + + Ignorance and inefficiency in the home. + Difficulty of obtaining women to do housework. + The disadvantages connected with housework compared + with work in factories, stores, and offices. + + +IGNORANCE AND INEFFICIENCY IN THE HOME + + +The twentieth-century woman, in spite of her progressive and ambitious +theories about woman's sphere of activity, has allowed her housekeeping +methods to remain almost stationary, while other professions and +industries have moved forward with gigantic strides. + +She does not hesitate to blazon abroad with banners and pennants her +desire to share with man the responsibility for the administration of +the State, but she overlooks the disquieting fact that in the management +of her own household, where her authority is absolute, she has failed +to convince the world of her power to govern. When confronted with this +accusation, she asserts that the maintenance of a home is neither a +business nor a profession, and that in consequence it ought not to be +compared with them nor be judged by the same standards. + +Is it not due perhaps to this erroneous idea that housekeeping is a +failure to-day? For the fact that it is a failure cannot be hidden, +and that it has been a failure for many years past is equally true. +Recent inventions, and labor saving utensils, have greatly facilitated +housework, yet housekeeping is still accompanied with much +dissatisfaction on the part of the employer and the employee. + +There are only a few women to-day who regard domestic science in the +light of a profession, or a business, although in reality it is both. +For what is a profession if it be not the application of science to +life? And does not work which one follows regularly constitute a +business? + +Many women, however, do not regard housekeeping even as a serious +occupation, and few have devoted as much time, thought, and energy to +mastering the principles of domestic economy as of late years women of +all classes of society have willingly given to the study of the rules +and ever changing intricacies of auction bridge. Some consider their +time too valuable to devote to domestic and culinary matters, and openly +boast of their ignorance. Outside engagements, pleasures, philanthropic +schemes, or work, monopolize their days, and the conduct of the house +devolves upon their employees. The result is rarely satisfactory. It is +essential that the woman who is at the head of any concern, be it a +business, a profession, or a home, should not only thoroughly understand +its every detail, but in order to make it a success she must give it her +personal attention each day for at least a portion of her time. + +It is a popular impression that the knowledge of good housekeeping, +and of the proper care of children, comes naturally to a woman, who, +though she had no previous training or preparation for these duties, +suddenly finds them thrust upon her. But how many women can really look +back with joy to the first years of their housekeeping? Do they not +remember them more with a feeling of dismay than pleasure? How many +foolish mistakes occurred entailing repentance and discomfort! And how +many heart-burnings were caused, and even tears shed, because in spite +of the best intentions, everything seemed to go wrong? And why? Simply +because of ignorance and inefficiency in the home, not only of the +employee, but of the employer also. + +That an employee is ignorant and unskilled in her work is often +excusable, but there is absolutely no excuse for a woman who has time +and money at her command, to be ignorant of domestic science, when of +her own free will she undertakes the responsibilities of housekeeping. + +Nearly all women take interest in the furnishing of their homes, and +give their personal attention to it with the result that as a rule they +excel in household decoration, and often produce marvels of beauty and +taste with the expenditure of relatively small amounts of money. + +Marketing is also very generally attended to in person by the housewife, +but she is using the telephone more and more frequently as a substitute +for a personal visit to butcher and grocer, and this is greatly to her +disadvantage. The telephone is a very convenient instrument, especially +in emergency, or for ordering things that do not vary in price. But when +prices depend upon the fluctuations of the market, or when the articles +to be purchased are of a perishable nature, it must be remembered that +the telephone is also a very convenient instrument for the merchant who +is anxious to get rid of his bad stock. + +The remaining branches of housekeeping apparently do not interest +the modern housewife. She entrusts them very generally to her employees, +upon whose skill and knowledge she blindly relies. Unfortunately skill +and knowledge are very rare qualities, and if the housewife herself be +ignorant of the proper way of doing the work in her own home, how can +she be fitted to direct those she places in charge of it, or to make a +wise choice when she has to select a new employee? Too often she engages +women and young girls without investigating their references of +character or capability, and when time proves what an imprudent +proceeding she has been party to, she simply attributes the consequent +troubles to causes beyond her control. If the housewife were really +worthy of her name she would be able not only to pick out better +employees, but to insist upon their work being properly done. To-day +she is almost afraid to ask her cook to prepare all the dishes for the +family meals, nor does she always find some one willing to do the family +washing. She is obliged to buy food already cooked from the caterer or +baker, because her so-called "cook" was not accustomed to bake bread and +rolls, or to make pies and cakes, or ice cream, for previous employers, +from whom nevertheless she received an excellent reference as cook. Of +course in cities it is easy to buy food already cooked or canned and to +send all the washing to the laundry, but it helps to raise the "high +cost of living" to alarming proportions, and it also encourages +ignorance in the most important branches of domestic economy. + +In spite of the "rush of modern life," a woman who has a home ought to +be willing to give some part of her time to its daily supervision. +Eternal vigilance is the price of everything worth having. If she gave +this she would not have so many tales of woe to relate about the +laziness, neglectfulness, and stupidity of her cook and housemaids. +There is not a single housewife to-day who has not had many bitter +experiences. One who desires information upon this subject has only to +call on the nearest friend. + +To the uninterested person, to the onlooker, the helplessness of the +woman who is at the head of the home, her inability to cope with her +domestic difficulties, is often comic, sometimes pathetic, sometimes +almost tragic. The publications of the day have caricatured the +situation until it has become an outworn jest. The present system of +housekeeping can no longer stand. One of two things must occur. Either +the housewife must adopt business principles in ruling her household, +or she will find before many more years elapse there will be no longer +any woman willing to place her neck under the domestic yoke. + +If the principles set forth in the following pages can be popularized in +a comprehensive plan of which all the parts can be thoroughly understood +both by the housewife and her employee, ignorance and inefficiency in +the home will be presently abolished. + + +DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WOMEN TO DO HOUSEWORK + +The present unsatisfactory condition of domestic labor in private houses +is not confined to any special city or country; it is universal. Each +year the difficulty of obtaining women to do housework seems to increase +and the demand is so much greater than the supply, that ignorant and +inefficient employees are retained simply because it is impossible to +find others more competent to replace them. + +There is hardly a home to-day where, at one time or another, the +housewife has not gone through the unenviable experience of being +financially able and perfectly willing to pay for the services of some +one to help her in her housekeeping duties, and yet found it almost +impossible to get a really competent and intelligent employee. As a +rule, those who apply for positions in housework are grossly ignorant of +the duties they profess to perform, and the well trained, clever, and +experienced workers are sadly in the minority. + +Women and young girls who face the necessity of self support, or who +wish to lead a life of independence, no longer choose housework as a +means of earning a livelihood. It is evident that there is a reason, +and a very potent one, that decides them to accept any kind of +employment in preference to the work offered them in a private home. +Wages, apparently, have little to do with their decision, nor other +considerations which must add very much to their material welfare, +such as good food in abundance, and clean, well ventilated sleeping +accommodations, for these two important items are generally included +at present in the salaries of household employees. Concessions, too, +are frequently made, and favors bestowed upon them by many of their +employers, yet few young girls, and still fewer women are content to +work in private families. + +It is a deplorable state of affairs, and women seem to be gradually +losing their courage to battle with this increasingly difficult +question: How to obtain and retain one's domestic employees? + +The peace of the family and the joy and comfort of one's home should be +a great enough incentive to awaken the housewife to the realization that +something must be wrong in her present methods. It is in vain that she +complains bitterly, on all occasions, of the scarcity of good servants, +asserting that it is beyond her comprehension why work in factories, +stores, and offices, should be preferred to the work she offers. + +Is it beyond her comprehension? Or has she never considered in what way +the work she offers differs from the work so eagerly accepted? Does she +not realize that the present laws of labor adopted in business are very +different from those she still enforces in her own home? Why does she +not compare housework with all other work in which women are employed, +and find out why housework is disdained by nearly all self supporting +women? + +Instead of doing this, she sometimes avoids the trouble of trying +to keep house with incompetent employees by living in hotels, or +non-housekeeping apartments; but for the housewife who does not possess +the financial means to indulge herself thus, or who still prefers home +life with all its trials to hotel life, the only alternative is to +submit to pay high wages for very poor work or to do a great part of the +housework herself. In both cases the result is bad, for in neither does +the family enjoy the full benefit of home, nor is the vexatious problem, +so often designated as the "servant question," brought any nearer to a +solution. + +The careful study of any form of labor invariably reveals some need of +amelioration, but in none is there a more urgent need of reform than in +domestic labor in private homes. + +It is more for the sake of the housewife than for her employee that a +reform is to be desired. The latter is solving her problem by finding +work outside the home, while the former is still unduly harassed by +household troubles. With a few notable exceptions, only those who are +unqualified to compete with the business woman are left to help the +householder, and the problem confronting her to-day is not so much how +to change inefficient to efficient help, but how to obtain any help at +all. + +The spirit of independence has so deeply entered into the lives of +women of all classes, that until housework be regulated in such a way +as to give to those engaged in it the same rights and privileges as are +granted to them in other forms of labor, the best workers will naturally +seek employment elsewhere. + + +THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOUSEWORK COMPARED WITH WORK IN FACTORIES, STORES, +AND OFFICES + +Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in +factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many +old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern +housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of +our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which +women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important +positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the +cooperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of +work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it +was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible, +if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption. + +Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate +to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in +stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their +families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay +small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding +increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are +limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the +twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still +enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own +social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest, +and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain. + +With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position +of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind +to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take +up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about +once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her +escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a +beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego +this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know +that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the +result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from +early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with +the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere +drudgery. + +As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Considering +the many responsible positions waiting to be filled in private families, +nothing could be more desirable than to instil into one's employees the +ambition to rise. An employee who has passed through all the different +branches of domestic science, from the lowest to the highest in one +family, must be far better fitted to occupy the highest position in +that family than one who applies for the position with the training and +experience gained only in other families where the mode of living may be +very different. Since there is no chance of promotion and in consequence +of receiving better pay, the domestic employee is often tempted to seek +higher wages elsewhere, and thus the desire "to make a change," so +disastrous to the peace of mind of the housewife, is engendered in her +employees. + +In domestic labor the hours of work are longer than in any other form of +employment, for they are unlimited. Moreover, instead of having one day +out of seven as a day of rest, only half a day is granted beginning +usually about three o'clock in the afternoon, or even later. And legal +holidays bring no relief, for they are practically unknown to the +household employee. The only way women engaged in housework in private +families can obtain a real holiday is by being suddenly called away +"to take care of a sick aunt." There is an old saying containing certain +words of wisdom about "all work and no play" that perhaps explains the +dullness so often met with in domestic help. + +The hardest thing to submit to, however, from the point of view of the +woman employed in housework, is the lack of freedom outside of working +hours. This prevents her from taking part in her former social life. +She is not allowed to go out even for an hour or two every day to see +her relatives and friends. To ask them to visit her in her employer's +kitchen is not a very agreeable alternative either to herself or her +employer, and even then she is obliged to be on duty, for she must still +wear her uniform and hold herself in readiness to answer the bell until +the family for whom she works retires for the night. + +With such restrictions it is not surprising that the majority of +women feel that they are losing "caste" if they accept positions in +private families. There are two more causes to which this feeling of the +loss of caste may be attributed. One is the habit of calling household +employees by their first name or by their surname without the prefix of +"Miss"; the other is the custom of making them eat in their employer's +kitchen. These are minor details, perhaps, but nevertheless they count +for much in the lives of women who earn their own living, and anything, +however small, that tends to raise one's self respect, is worthy of +consideration. Perhaps, too, while the word "servant" (a noble word +enough in its history and its moral connotation) carries with it a +stigma, a sense of degradation, among the working women, it should +be avoided. + +Briefly summed up, then, the present disadvantages of housework compared +with work in factories, stores, and offices, are as follows: + + Enforced separation from one's family. + Loss of personal freedom. + Lack of promotion. + Unlimited hours of work. + No day of rest each week. + Non-observance of legal holidays. + Loss of caste. + +In the present comparison of housework with work in factories, stores, +and offices, a recital of the advantages of domestic service, even under +the present method of housekeeping, must not be omitted, for such +advantages are important, although unfortunately they do not outweigh +the present disadvantages. + +To the woman whose home ties have been disrupted by death or discord, +and to the newly arrived immigrant especially, housework is a great +boon, inasmuch as besides good wages, all meals and a room to sleep +in are given her. Moreover housework is the only form of labor where +unskilled work can command high wages. This, however, is much more +fortunate for the employee than for her employer. + +Housework in itself is certainly _not worse_ than any other kind of +manual work in which women are engaged; it is often more interesting and +less fatiguing. It also helps a woman more than any other occupation to +prepare herself for her natural sphere of life:--that of the home maker. +A girl who has spent several years in a well ordered family helping to +do the housework, is far better fitted to run her own home intelligently +and on economic lines than a girl who has spent the same number of years +behind a counter, or working in a factory or an office. + +Again, work in a private house is infinitely more desirable, from the +point of view of the influence of one's surroundings, than daily labor +in a factory or store. The variety of domestic duties, the freedom of +moving about from one room to another, of sitting or standing to do +one's work, are much to be preferred to the work that compels the worker +to stand or sit in one place all day long. + +If it be admitted, then, that housework is in itself a desirable and +suitable occupation for women who must earn their living by manual +labor, it can not be the work itself, but the conditions surrounding it +that make it so distasteful to the modern working woman. + + + + +PART II + +BUSINESS PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO HOUSEWORK + + Living outside place of employment. + Housework limited to eight hours a day. + Housework limited to six days a week. + The observance of legal holidays. + Extra pay for overtime. + + +LIVING OUTSIDE PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT + +There are many housewives who are very much opposed to the adoption +of a plan enabling household employees to live outside their place of +employment. They claim that it is wiser to keep them under constant +supervision day and night in order to prevent the introduction of +disease or the acquisition of bad habits. + +There is more risk of disease being introduced into the home, and of bad +habits being contracted by allowing one's children to associate with +other children in schools, public or private, and by letting them play +in the streets and public parks, where they mingle with more or less +undesirable companions, than by having the housework performed by +employees who come each day to their work and return to their homes +at night when their duties are over. Nevertheless no sensible parents +would keep their children shut up in the house, only allowing them to +go out of doors for a few hours once a week, for fear of contagion or +contamination, and yet this is just what the housewife has been doing +for years with her household employees under the firm impression that +she was protecting them as well as herself. + +Present statistics, however, upon the morality and immorality of women +who belong to what is at present termed the "servant class," prove only +too clearly that the "protection" provided by the employer's home does +not protect. The shelter thus given serves too often to encourage a life +of deception, especially as in reality the housewife knows but little of +what takes place "below stairs." + +The "servants' quarters" are, as a rule, far enough away from the other +rooms of the house for much to transpire there without the knowledge of +the "mistress of the house," but who has not heard her complain of the +misconduct of her employees? Startling discoveries have been made at the +most unexpected times and from the most unexpected quarters. One lady +found her maid was in the habit of going out at night after the family +had retired, and leaving the front door unlocked in order to regain +admittance in the early morning without arousing the family. Another +housewife discovered one day that her cook's husband, whose existence +until then was unknown, had been coming for several months to her house +for his dinner. Every householder finds that in the late evening her +"servants" entertain their numerous "cousins" and friends at her +expense. Moreover, they do not hesitate to use the best china, glass, +and silver for special parties and draw upon the household supplies for +the choicest meats and wines. And because they cannot go out in the day +time, it is not unusual to find some friend or relative comes to spend +the entire day with them, and in consequence the housewife not only +feeds her "help" but a string of hangers-on as well. Why should she be +surprised that she does not get an adequate return for the amount of +money she spends? And these things take place, not only during the +temporary absence of the employer, but even while she is sitting +peacefully in the library and listening to a parlor lecture on the +relations of capital and labor. + +Women say tearfully or bravely on such occasions: "What can be done +to make servants better? They are getting worse every day." And the +housewife (one might almost call her by Samuel Pepys's pleasing phrase, +"the poor wretch") then pours out to any sympathetic ear endless +recitals of aggravating, worrying, nerve-racking experiences. Instead of +putting an end to such a regrettable state of affairs that would never +be tolerated by any business employer, she seems content to bewail her +fate and clings still more steadfastly to obsolete methods. + +Why does she not adopt the methods of the business man in dealing with +his employees? The advisability of having household employees live +outside their place of employment is so apparent that it ought to appeal +to every one. There would be no longer the necessity of putting aside +and of furnishing certain rooms of the house for their accommodation: +a practice which in the majority of families is quite a serious +inconvenience and always an expense. In small homes where only one maid +is kept, it may not make much difference to give up one room to her, but +where several employees are needed, it means very often that many rooms +must be used as sleeping apartments for them, frequently too a sitting +room or a special dining room is given them. This is not all, for the +rooms must be furnished and kept clean and warm, and supplied with an +unlimited amount of gas and electricity. In many families the boarding +and lodging of household employees cause as much anxiety and expense to +the housewife as to provide for her own family. + +And why does she do it? Why does she consent to take upon herself so +much extra trouble for nothing? For, although she offers good food and +a bed besides excellent wages to all who work for her, she is the most +poorly served of all employers to-day. + +In the great feudal castles of the Middle Ages it was not deemed +safe for women to venture forth alone, even in the daytime, and so +those engaged in housework were naturally compelled to live under their +Master's roof, eating at his table and sitting "below the salt." But +the Master and the Serf of feudal times disappeared long ago, only the +Mistress and her "servants" remain. + +To-day, however, "servants" no longer sit at their employer's table; +they remain in the kitchen, where as a rule they are given to eat what +is left from the family meals. Some housewives, from motives of kindness +and consideration for the welfare of those in their employ, have special +meals prepared for them and served in a dining-room of their own at +hours which do not conflict with the meals of the family. But this does +not always meet with gratitude or even due appreciation; the disdainful +way in which Bridget often complains of the food too generously provided +for her is well known. + +A chambermaid came one day to her employer and said she did not wish to +complain but thought it better to say frankly that she was not satisfied +with what she was getting to eat in her house: she wanted to have roast +beef for dinner more often, at least three or four times a week, for she +did not care to eat mutton, nor steak, and never ate pork, nor could +she, to quote her own words "fill up on bread and vegetables as the +other girls did in the kitchen." + +Then, and only then, did her employer wake up with a start to the +realization of the true position every housewife occupies in the eyes +of her household employees. They evidently regard her in the light of +a caterer; she does the marketing not only for her family but for them +too. She pays a cook high wages, not only to cook meals for herself and +family, but for her employees also. + +For the first time in her life, this housewife asked herself the +following questions: Why should she allow her household employees to +live in her house? Why should she consent to board them at her expense? +Why should she continue to place at their disposal a bedroom each, a +private bathroom, a sitting room or a dining room? Why should she allow +them to make use of her kitchen and laundry to do their own personal +washing, even providing them with soap and starch, irons and an ironing +board, fuel and gas? Why should she do all this for them when no +business employer, man or woman, ever does it? Was it simply because her +mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother had been in the habit of +doing it? + +This awakening was the beginning of the end of all the trouble and +expense which she had endured for so many years in connection with the +boarding and lodging of her "servants." To-day she has no "servants"; +she has household employees who come to her house each day, just as +other employees go each day to their place of employment. They take no +meals in her house, and her housekeeping expenses have diminished as +much as her own comfort has increased. Her employees are better and more +efficient than any she ever had under the old regime, and nothing could +persuade her to return to her former methods of housekeeping. + +The cost of providing meals for domestic employees varies according to +the mode of living of each individual family, and of late it has been +the subject of much discussion. Some important details, however, seem +to be generally overlooked, for the cost of the food is the only thing +usually considered by the average housewife. To this first expense must +be added the cost of pots and pans for cooking purposes; even under +careful management, kitchen utensils are bound to wear out and must be +replaced. Then there is the cost of the extra fuel or gas or electricity +required to cook the food, nor must one forget to count the extra work +of the cook to prepare the meals, and of the kitchen maid or of some +other maid to wash up the dishes after each meal served to employees. +There is also the expense of buying kitchen plates and dishes, glasses, +cups and saucers, knives and forks, etc. Every housewife is in the habit +of providing kitchenware for the use of her employees. + +The total sum of all these items would astonish those who think that +the actual expense of giving meals to household employees is not a very +great one and is limited to the cost of the food they eat; even this +last expense is considerably augmented by the careless and wasteful way +in which provisions are generally handled by those who do not have to +pay for them. When ways and means are discussed among housewives to +reduce the present "high cost of living," it would be well to advise all +women to try the experiment of having their household employees live +outside their place of employment. The result from an economic point +of view alone is amazing, and the relief it brings the housewife who +is no longer obliged to provide food and sleeping accommodations for +her employees is so great that one wonders why she has been willing to +burden herself with these responsibilities for so many years. + +There was once a time when women did not go out alone to eat in a +restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating their +midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business prove +themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason why +household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop girls and +stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would enjoy their +meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their employer's house +is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of surroundings and the +opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their work behind them, would +compensate them. In any event, it is clearly proved by the scarcity of +women applying for positions in private houses that these two advantages +only to be obtained in domestic labor--board and lodging--do not attract +the working woman of the present day. + +The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted +feeling. There is an ancient fable of AEsop about the Dog and the Wolf +which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner. +(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.) + + THE DOG AND THE WOLF + + There was a Hagged Carrion of a _Wolf_, and a Jolly Sort of a + Gentile _Dog_, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company + together upon the King's High-Way. The _Wolf_ was wonderfully + pleas'd with his Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be + brought himself to That Blessed State of Body. Why, says the _Dog_, + I keep my Master's House from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, + Drink, and Lodging for my pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, + and do as I do, you may fare as I fare. The _Wolf_ Struck up the + Bargain, and so away they Trotted together: But as they were + Jogging on, the _Wolf_ spy'd a Bare Place about the _Dog's_ Neck + where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he) how comes this I + prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the _Dog_, but the Fretting of my + _Collar_ a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a _Collar_ in the + Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust. + + THE MORAL + + ...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and Warm + Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his + Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it. + + +In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an +employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider +for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place +of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for +them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of +benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for work +early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an arrangement. +When he needs some one to watch over his interests in the night time, +he engages a night watchman, a very much more economical plan than to +provide lodging for all his employees. + +Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden of +a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the country, +where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home, such +a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is +absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat, +and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly +a custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the +observance." + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY + +In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it +is the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions +of life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned. + +It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor +of women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private +houses. + +It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or +fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a +household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to wane at +the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to the same +work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The truth of +the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long acknowledged and +nowadays requires no argument. + +When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how +many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill a +domestic position in a family, the number of hours she is expected to +give her employer is never specified. She is simply told that she must +be on duty early in the morning before the family arises, and that she +may consider herself off duty as soon as the family for whom she is +working has withdrawn for the night. Is it surprising that under such +conditions working women are not very enthusiastic over the domestic +proposition to-day? + +A household employee ought to have her hours of work as clearly defined +as if she were a business employee, and there is no reason why the +eight-hour labor law could not be applied as successfully to housework +as to any other enterprise. + +Work in business is generally divided into two periods. Yet this +division can not always be effected, and in railroad and steamship +positions, in post offices, upon trolley lines, in hotels, in hospitals, +and in other cases too numerous to mention, where work must follow a +continuous round, the working hours are divided into more than two +periods, according to the nature of the work and the interests of the +employer, not however exceeding a fixed number of hours per day or per +week. + +It would be far better for the housewife as well as for her employees, +if the housework were limited in a similar way. But with the +introduction of the eight-hour law in the home, certain new conditions +would have to be rigidly enforced in order to ensure success. + +Firstly, the employee should be made to understand that during the eight +hours of work agreed upon, she must be engaged in actual work for her +employer. + +Secondly, when an employee is off duty, she should not be allowed to +remain with or to talk to the other employee or employees who are still +on duty. When her work is finished, she ought to leave her employer's +house. The non-observance of either of these two points produces a +demoralizing effect. + +Thirdly, a general knowledge of cooking, and serving meals, of cleaning +and taking proper care of the rooms of a house, of attending correctly +to the telephone and the door bell, of sewing, of washing and ironing, +and of taking care of children, should be insisted upon from all +household employees. + +There are many housewives who will state that this last condition is +impossible, that it is asking too much from one employee; and since it +is hard to-day to find a good cook, it will be still harder to find one +who understands other household work as well. But those who jump to +these conclusions have never tried the experiment. It is not only +possible but practicable. + +Judging from the ordinary intelligence displayed by the average cook and +housemaid in the majority of private homes to-day, it ought not to seem +incredible that the duties of both could be easily mastered by young +women of ordinary ability. A woman who knows how to prepare and cook a +meal, may easily learn the correct way of serving it, and the possession +of this knowledge ought not to prevent her from being capable of +sweeping a room, or making a bed, or taking care of children. + +It is above all in families where only a few employees are kept, that +the housewife will quickly realize how much it is to her immediate +advantage to employ women who know how to do all kinds of housework, +instead of having those who make a specialty of one particular branch. + +The specialization of work in private houses has been carried to +such an extreme that it has become one of the greatest drawbacks +to successful housekeeping in small families. Under this system of +specialization, a household employee is not capable in emergency of +taking up satisfactorily the work of another. Even if she be able to do +it, she often professes ignorance for fear it may prolong her own hours +of labor, or because, as she sometimes frankly admits, she does not +consider it "her place." The chambermaid does not know how to cook, the +cook does not know how to do the chamberwork, the waitress, in her turn, +can do neither cooking nor chamberwork, and the annoyance to the whole +family caused by the temporary absence of one of its regular employees +is enough to spoil for the time being all the traditional comforts of +home. + +In hotels and public institutions, and in large private establishments, +where the work demands a numerous staff of employees, the specialization +of the work is the only means for its successful accomplishment, but in +the average home requiring from one to four or five employees no system +could be worse from an economic point of view, nor less conducive to the +comfort of the family. + +Specialization produces another bad effect, for it prevents the +existence of the feeling of equality among employees in the same house. +Each "specialist" speaks rather disparagingly of the other's work, +regardless of the relative position her own special "art" may occupy to +the unprejudiced mind. + +An amusing instance of this was recently shown at a country place near +New York, when "the lady of the manor" asked a friend to send some one +down from the city to help with the housework during the temporary +absence of her maid. The friend could not find any one at the domestic +employment agencies willing to go, but at last through the Charity +Organization Society, she heard of a woman temporarily out of +employment, who had been frequently employed as scrubwoman on the +vacation piers. When the work was offered her, she accepted it +immediately. Arriving at her new employer's house, she began at once to +scrub the floors, and when the work was completed, she sat on a chair +and took no further notice of anything. The next day, having no more +floors to scrub, the same general lack of interest was manifested. She +was asked to wash the dishes after dinner. She replied that she was not +used to "dishwashing," and did not know how to do it. She was persuaded, +however, to make the attempt, but performed her new task very +reluctantly. The following morning she said she felt "lonely" and +would return at once to the city. As the train came in sight to bear +her back to her accustomed surroundings, she gave a snort of relief, +and exclaimed: "I'm a scrubwoman, I am. I ain't going to do no fancy +dishwashing, no, not for no one; I'm a scrubwoman." And she clambered up +into the train with the alacrity of a woman whose dignity had received a +hard blow. + +The above illustration is typical of the spirit subjected to the system +of specialization, and shows how unwise it is to encourage it in the +home where all branches of housework could be easily made +interchangeable. + +Under the new system of limiting housework to eight hours a day, the +housewife must insist that all applicants be willing and able to perform +any part of the housework she may assign, and their duties ought not +to be specified otherwise than by the term HOUSEWORK. The employee who +refuses to wait on the table during the absence of the waitress, or to +cook, or to do the laundry work, or to answer the telephone, or to carry +packages from her employer's automobile to the library, because she does +not consider it "her place to do these things," should be instantly +discharged. + +These very important conditions being understood and conceded, the +choice and arrangement of the eight hours' work must necessarily lie +with each individual housewife. Each family is different and has +different claims upon its time. The "rush hours" of social life are +sometimes in the evening, and sometimes in the afternoon, and again in +some families, especially where there are small children, the breakfast +hour seems the most complicated of the day. All these details have to be +carefully thought of when making an eight hour schedule. At the end of +this book a set of schedules is placed. Any intelligent housewife can +understand them, imitate them, and in many instances improve them. They +are merely given as elementary examples. + +According to the number of employees she engages, the housewife will +have eight, sixteen, or twenty-four hours of work to distribute among +them, and to meet her peculiar needs she will find it necessary at the +outset to devote some hours to a satisfactory scheme. After testing +several, she will probably have to begin all over again before she +finally succeeds in evolving one that is available. But the problem is +interesting in itself, and always admits of a solution. + +It may not be amiss to make this final suggestion for the woman who is +willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example +of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise +for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications +be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the +majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate +hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a +dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through +advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible +to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the +employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with +the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to +offer gratuitous service. + +The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle +theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it +is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who +would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in +the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids +would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the +domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in +the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other +way. + + +HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK + +Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of +the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right +to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday. + +It is remarkable that this fact, showing so forcibly one of the +greatest disadvantages connected with housework, should attract so +little attention. No one seems to care about the fate of the "servant +girl," as she is so often disdainfully called. During six days of the +week she works on the average fourteen hours a day, but no one stops +to notice that she is tired. On the seventh day, instead of resting as +every other employee has the right to do, her work is merely reduced to +nine, eight, or perhaps seven hours; and yet she needs a day of rest +as much as every other woman who earns her bread. The rights of the +domestic employee are ignored on all sides apparently. In public +demonstrations of dissatisfaction between employers and employees the +most oppressed class of the working people--the women who do +housework--has never yet been represented. + +This is probably due to two causes: the first is because women +dissatisfied with housework are rapidly finding positions in business +where they enjoy rights and privileges denied them in domestic labor; +and the second is because the great majority of women engaged in +housework are foreign-born. These women learn quickly to understand and +speak English, but they do not often read and write it, and as they are +kept in close confinement in their employer's house, they have rarely +the opportunity of hearing about the emancipation of the modern working +woman. Most of them are of a very humble origin, and being debarred from +business positions on account of their ignorance and inexperience, they +are thankful to earn money in any kind of employment regardless of the +length of working hours. + +Their children, however, who are American born and enjoy better +educational advantages, do not follow in their footsteps when the +time comes for them to earn their living. They become stenographers, +typewriters, dressmakers, milliners, shirt waist makers, cash-girls, +saleswomen, etc.; in fact any occupation where work is limited to a +fixed number of hours a day and confined to six days a week, is +considered more desirable than housework. The result is that the +housewife is compelled to take for her employees only those who are +rejected by every other employer; the capable, independent, intelligent +American woman is hardly ever seen in domestic service. + +In Washington, D.C., a law (the La Follette Eight Hour Law for Women in +the District of Columbia) was recently passed limiting to eight hours +a day and six days a week practically all work in which women are +industrially employed; "hotel servants" are included under the +provisions of this law, but "domestic servants in private homes" are +expressly excluded. + +If this new law be considered a just and humane measure for women who +are business employees, and if business houses be compelled to observe +it, one naturally wonders why it should not prove to be an equally +just and humane law for women who work in private families, and why +should not the home be compelled to observe it too? Instead of being a +barrier to progress, the home ought to cooperate with the state in the +enforcement of laws for the amelioration of the condition of working +women. The home, being presided over by a woman, presumably of some +education and intelligence, should be a most fitting place in which to +apply a law designed to protect women against excessive hours of labor. + +Why should housework in private homes be an exception to all other work? +Is it because some housewives say, in self justification and frequently +without an accurate knowledge of what it is to do housework week after +week without one day's release, that housework is easier than other +work? Is it easier? Is it not sometimes harder? However, it is not a +question of housework being harder or easier than other work, but of the +desirability of having it limited to eight hours a day and six days a +week. Why should the housewife be allowed to remain in such a state of +apathy in regard to the physical welfare of her household employees? + +"Six days shalt thou labor" has all the sanction of scripture, of +morals, and of common experience. It is only fair that women who work in +private families should have one day out of seven as a day of rest, even +as their more fortunate sisters in the business world. If by adopting +such a law in the home the housewife found that her work was performed +far more efficiently and willingly than at present, would it not be as +much to her advantage as to the advantage of those she employs to limit +the hours of household labor to six days a week? Many housewives may +object to this proposition inasmuch as the work in a home can not be +suspended even for a day. But when two or more employees work in a +private home, it is very easy to plan the housework so that each +employee may have a different day of the week as a "day of rest," +without the comfort of the family being disturbed by the temporary +absence of one of the employees. It is only in families where one +employee is kept that it may make a very serious difference to the +housewife when her "maid-of-all-work" is away for one entire day each +week. Nevertheless the comfort of an employer ought not to outweigh +justice to an employee. + +There are many ways of regulating the housework, as will be seen in the +schedules at the end of this book, in order to give one day of freedom +each week to household employees without causing much inconvenience to +the housewife. By continuing to refuse this privilege to women employed +in domestic labor, housekeeping is becoming more and more complicated. +Already it is such a common occurrence in some cities and in many parts +of the country, not to find any woman willing to do housework, that +many housewives are beginning to think that their future comfort in all +household matters will depend entirely upon new labor saving devices and +upon the help of the community rather than upon the increased knowledge +and skill of domestic employees. + +There exists a prevailing impression, too, that housework has lost its +dignity, and that at this period of the world's social history, it is +impossible to restore it for women have stepped above it. But this is +not true. The fact is that housework has remained stationary while other +work has gained in freedom and dignity. Without noisy protestations, or +indignant speeches delivered in public, women have slowly and silently, +one by one, deserted housework as a career on account of the narrowing, +servile, and unjust conditions inseparable from it at the present day. +Let these conditions be removed and new regulations based upon modern +business principles take their place, and then it will be seen that +housework has never lost its dignity, and the very women who abandoned +it will be the first to choose it again as a means of earning their +livelihood. + +As a proof of this, the following experience may be cited of a New Work +woman who wished to obtain a domestic employee for general housework. +She went to several employment agencies and at the end of a week she +had seen four applicants; three were foreigners and spoke English so +brokenly that they could never have been left in charge of a telephone. +Not one of the four was worth considering after investigating their +references, and these were the only women she could find willing to do +general housework. Upon the advice of a friend, the perplexed housewife +advertised in one of the daily newspapers, but only a few women applied +for the position and these were far from being satisfactory. She then +inserted another advertisement expressed in the following words: +"Wanted: a young woman to help with housework, eight hours a day, six +days a week, sleep home. Apply by letter only." + +This last clause was added to prevent any one from applying for the +position who could not write English, as it was absolutely necessary +that the person engaged to do the housework should be capable of +attending correctly to the telephone. On the same day the advertisement +appeared, eighty-five applications by letter were received, and twenty +more came the following day. All who wrote expressed their willingness +to fill the position of a domestic employee and to do anything in +the way of housework under the new conditions specified in the +advertisement. Only one stated she would do no washing. Many who replied +to this advertisement had occupied positions, which according to the +present standard, were far superior to housework; many, too, were +married women, experienced in all household work, and most anxious to +accept a position in a private family, a position that did not break up +their own home life. + +The housewife was bewildered by the unexpected result of her +advertisement: the tables were turned at last. Instead of being one of +many looking in vain for a good domestic employee, she found that she +had now the advantage of being able to choose from more than a hundred +applicants one who would best suit her own peculiar needs. + +The same advertisement has been inserted at different times and has +always brought the same remarkable result: from one hundred to one +hundred and sixty answers each time. It is true that all who present +themselves may not be efficient, but efficiency speedily comes to the +front when upon it alone depends a desirable position. + +Two very important facts came to light through the help of this +advertisement; one was to find so many women eager to do housework when +it was limited to eight hours a day and six days a week, and the other +was to hear that they were willing to board and lodge themselves, as +well as work, for the same wages that "servants" are accustomed to +receive, although to the latter the housewife invariably gives gratis +all food and sleeping accommodations. These two facts alone prove beyond +a doubt that by applying business principles to housework all objections +to it as a means of earning a livelihood are removed. + +It is quite likely that for a time the old fashioned "mistress," and the +old fashioned "servant" will continue to cling to past customs; but once +it is proved that domestic labor limited to eight hours a day and six +days a week, brings a better, more intelligent, more efficient class of +employees to the home, the most obdurate employer will change her mind. + +No legislation is needed. If all who are trying to solve the "servant +question" will begin to practice the new plan in their own homes, the +future will take care of itself and the old ways will die a natural +death. + + +THE OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS IN THE HOME + +The pleasure brought by the advent of a holiday into the lives of +the working people can hardly be overestimated, and it is doubtful +if holidays would ever have become legalized had they not proved of +distinct value to the masses. To have one day each week free from the +steady grind of one's dally work is a great relief, but to have a +holiday is something still better, for it usually means a day set apart +for general rejoicing. + +Why do all housewives persistently disregard the right of the household +employee to have legal holidays? The reason generally brought forward +is that many families need their employees more on a holiday than on +any other day. In many cases this is quite true on account of family +reunions or the entertaining of friends, but very often the housewife +could easily dispense with the services of her employees on a holiday. +She does not do it, however, or only occasionally, because it is not the +custom to grant holidays to women who work in private homes. + +If it be impossible, on account of the exigencies of home life, to grant +all legal holidays to household employees, there are many different ways +of planning the housework so that other days may be given instead. +Sometimes the day before or the day after a holiday will give as much +pleasure as the day itself. A woman who is at the head of a home has +many opportunities of coming into close contact with her employees; she +can easily ascertain their wishes in this respect and act accordingly. +It is more the fact of being entitled to a holiday than to have it on +a certain day that ought to be emphasized. + +Domestic employees would be benefited by having these extra days of +liberty, just as much as all other employees. A trial is all that is +necessary to show how much better a household employee will work after +having a holiday. She returns to her duties with renewed strength +and the knowledge that she is no longer forced to play the role of +Cinderella gives her a fresh interest in life. Unfortunately the +housewife has been accustomed for so many years to have her "servants" +work for her all day long on every day of the week, with only a few +hours off duty "on every other Sunday and on every other Thursday," that +she is rather inclined to resent such an innovation as the observance +of legal holidays in domestic labor. She fails to perceive that by her +present attitude she shows herself in a very unfavorable light as an +employer, for the lack of holidays is decidedly one of the reasons for +which housework is shunned to-day. + +Business men have evolved a satisfactory and workable plan by which +their employees are neither overworked nor deprived of all legal +holidays, although frequently the work they are engaged in can not be +suspended day or night even for an hour. + +It remains for women of the leisure class, and to this class belong all +those who can afford to pay to have their housework done for them, to +adopt a similar plan in their homes. + + +EXTRA PAY FOR OVERTIME + +When the plan for limiting housework to eight hours a day is discussed +for the first time, the following question invariably arises: What is +to be done when anything unusual happens to break the routine of the +regular work, as for instance, when sickness occurs, when friends arrive +unexpectedly, when a dinner party is given? + +Sickness, of course, is unavoidable, but as a rule a trained nurse or +an extra household assistant is called in to help. Many times, however, +this is not absolutely necessary, or perhaps the family can not afford +to have outside help, and the extra work caused by sickness usually +falls upon the domestic employee whose hours of labor are more or less +prolonged in consequence. What ought to be done in such an event? + +There is but one answer: Work that can not be accomplished within the +regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as +"overtime." + +When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a +day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not +to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She +alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a +schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or +dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon +between herself and her employees. + +When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or +a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule +may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement +has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some +compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours +of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers, +and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them. + +In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes +it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket, +not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving +"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the +light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to +remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why +should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help +her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense +entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in +taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she +object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon +whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends? + +There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never +recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded +from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in +exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay, +especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some +days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their +employees have no cause for complaint. + +It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged +to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really +compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give +on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only +a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and +it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded +to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively +engaged in work. + +But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they +ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it +is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of +rewarding them have been tried with more or less success. + +One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents +to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited +to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent +pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money. + +Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to +the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner +party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another +plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or +ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of +satisfactory work to her employer. + +All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show +that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is +due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently +unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack +stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness +of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established +business principle. + +And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will +produce a permanently satisfactory result? + +The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay +each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as +for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just +proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a +household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say +$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days +a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for +her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for extra +work, she ought to receive 15, 22-1/2, or 30 cents per hour for every +hour she works for her employer after the completion of her regular +eight hours' work. + +This plan has never failed to bring satisfaction, and it has the +advantage of placing the employer and the employee on an equally +delightful footing of independence. The performance of extra work is no +longer regarded as a matter of obligation on one side, and of concession +on the other, but as a purely business transaction. + +Some housewives fear that the regular work would be intentionally +prolonged beyond all measure if it became an established rule to pay +extra for work performed overtime. This could be easily checked, +however, by paying extra only for work that was necessitated by unusual +events in the family life. + +In families where only one employee is kept, naturally the occasions for +asking her to work overtime arise more frequently than in families where +there are two or more employees, especially if there be small children +in the family. Yet these occasions need not come very often, if the +housewife bears in mind that even with only one employee, she has eight +hours every day at her own disposal; she ought to plan her outside +engagements accordingly. Her liberty from household cares during +these eight hours can only be gained though by having efficient and +trustworthy assistants in her home, and she can never obtain these +unless she abandons her old fashioned methods of housekeeping. She must +grant to household employees the same rights and privileges given to +business employees; she must apply business principles to housework. +A great power lies in the hands of the modern housewife, a power as yet +only suspected by a few, which, if properly wielded, can raise housework +from its present undignified position to the place it ought to occupy, +and that is in the foremost rank of manual labor for women. + + + + +PART III + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES IN THE HOME + + Eight hour schedules for one employee. + Eight hour schedules for two employees. + Eight hour schedules for three employees. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR ONE EMPLOYEE + +The schedules given in the following pages have been in actual practice +for a sufficient length of time to prove that they can be relied on to +produce satisfactory results, although no doubt many housewives will +find that some of them must be modified to meet special requirements in +their homes. + +Two very important points must always be borne in mind in order to +obtain the greatest advantage from an eight hour schedule, especially in +families where only one employee is engaged to do the housework. + +The first point is this: the housewife ought only to make her working +schedule _after_ she has carefully studied her own comfort and +convenience in regard to the hours she considers the most important of +the day for her to have help in her housework. + +The second point is for the housewife to reserve for herself the entire +freedom of the eight hours during which her employee is on duty, for +then she can place, or she ought to be able to, the full responsibility +of the housekeeping upon her employee. + +By adhering strictly to these two points, the housewife will soon +perceive that she can dispense with the services of her employee for the +remaining hours of the day without much inconvenience to herself or her +family. She may even find it more pleasant than otherwise to be relieved +from the sight and sound of household work, for at least a few hours a +day, when she is in her own home. + +Possibly the housewife who has but one employee will not accept with +alacrity the proposition of allowing her to be off duty for an entire +day once a week, for unless she be willing to do the necessary work +herself on that day, she must engage a special person to take the place +of her regular employee. But many families engage a woman to come once a +week to help with the washing and house-cleaning, especially when they +have only one household employee. If this woman came on the day the +regular employee was away, she could relieve the housewife of all the +housework that could not be postponed until the next day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. I + +When only one employee is engaged in a private home, her services are +needed more at meal time than at any other time of the day, especially +if small children are in the family. As the hours for the three +principal meals are about the same everywhere, the following schedule is +a very useful one. + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. 2 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +In the morning from seven to ten o'clock, the employee had ample time +to prepare and serve breakfast and wash up the dishes afterwards, and +do the chamberwork. The three hours from noon until three o'clock were +filled with duties that varied considerably each day. Luncheon was +served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to +serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted +to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or +preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening +or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and +serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a +week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and +assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the +rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee. + +This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but +several times, and not with the same employee, but with different +employees, and it has always been most satisfactory. + +It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on +schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the +greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well, +is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere, +and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases +with the remainder of her time. + + +SCHEDULE NO. II + +The following schedule is very different from the preceding one, +inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her +employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children +in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very +frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was +the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her +employee, whose working hours were arranged thus: + + From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was +finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in +the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a +week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On +these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she +did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not +difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The +family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually went +out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays. + + +SCHEDULE NO. III + +In this schedule, the employee's work is divided into two periods, with +one hour for rest between. The family consisted of a man and his wife, +who lived in an apartment. The hours of work were as follows: + + From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours + From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee +who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress. In consequence she +was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on +her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was +done. As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife +was obliged to get breakfast herself. However this was a very simple +matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night +before. The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the +aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, +boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, +or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes. + +The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and +although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much +work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day. + + +SCHEDULE NO. IV + +Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally +chosen for a family of six: mother, father, four small children. The +eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household +employee to help with the work. They lived in the country, and breakfast +had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early +morning train to town. + +Naturally, with only one employee, the housewife was compelled to do +some of the housework herself, and until the following schedule was +adopted, she had been in the habit of rising early, dressing the +children, and getting breakfast ready herself. Her employee arrived +later in the day and remained until after dinner at night. The comfort +and general welfare of the mother were increased to such a remarkable +degree by the new schedule, however, that it is well worth special +attention. + +The hours were as follows: + + From 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. 4 hours + From 11:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the +children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed +themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing +them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day +before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not +hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the +employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked +steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother +felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the +other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her +employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for +lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go +for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's +house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some +household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put +them to bed for their morning nap. + +At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the +house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over +and she went home. + +This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three, +but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee. +To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was +much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the +morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not +much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and +herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was +no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a +dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment +in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra +hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a +"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her +place. + +This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely +free from the children and household cares. + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES + +It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than +for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which +the sixteen hours of work may be divided, subdivided, and arranged to +please the individual housewife. With two employees, it is no longer +necessary for the housewife to remain at home while one is off duty, +even for an hour, for one relieves the other without any cessation of +work. Even on the seventh day, "the day of rest," the housewife can +always arrange to have her work done without doing it herself, in spite +of the absence of one of her employees. + +When a schedule is finally agreed upon, however, it must be rigidly +enforced, for it is more important to keep to the hours specified when +there are two employees than when there is only one. Although the +housewife may be tempted to claim the privilege of changing her hours +very often to please herself, since she is the employer, if she value +her peace of mind, she will refrain from doing it. Only when the +inevitable, the unforeseen, occurs should she make a change in her +regular schedule. When one employee is off duty all day, the other +employee can remain on duty the entire day; naturally this plan +necessitates more than eight hours of work on that day, probably two +or three more hours, but if on the day after or the day before, the +employee be allowed to work two or three hours less than eight hours, +the average of eight hours a day and six days a week is maintained. + +Another example of what the housewife can do when one of her employees +is off duty the entire day, is to make her other employee follow +schedule No. 1. This enables her to keep to eight hours a day and at the +same time the housewife does none of the housework herself. + + +SCHEDULE NO. V + +With two employees it is a wise plan to arrange a schedule that makes +the work of one employee commence the moment the work of the other +ceases. This tends to promote punctuality without requiring special +supervision on the part of the housewife. + +The following schedule is admirably adapted to the every day life of the +average family with two employees: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + +All the washing, ironing, and mending of the family were done by the +two employees, and they also took care of the children when necessary. +Besides being good cooks, they were both excellent waitresses; in +consequence it made no difference which one was on duty at meal time. + +One employee only was in charge of breakfast; she came at seven o'clock +in the morning, and worked steadily until eleven o'clock, when the +second employee arrived. She then went out for her lunch, returning at +twelve, and remaining on duty until four o'clock in the afternoon. She +was then free for the remainder of the day. + +The second employee, as soon as she arrived at 11 A.M., went through +the house and finished any work that was not completed by the first +employee. She worked without stopping until 3 P.M., then went away for +her lunch; she returned at 4 P.M. to relieve the first employee whose +work was over at four o'clock. The second employee remained on duty +until 8 P.M.; she cooked and served dinner so quickly and efficiently +that the housewife who had always been accustomed to have two employees, +a "cook" and a "waitress," on duty for dinner every night, found to +her great surprise that one efficient household employee, working on +schedule time, accomplished in the same time the work of two of her +former "servants." + + +SCHEDULE NO. VI + +In this schedule the housewife wanted both her employees to help her +with her two children. With this end in view, she made all the work of +the house interchange with the care of the children; in consequence when +one employee was off duty, the other could always be relied on to help +with the children. This proved to be a very successful schedule, for it +relieved the mother from being obliged to sit in the nursery as she was +compelled to do every time her former "nurse" went downstairs to her +meals, or had her "afternoon off." But when the mother wished to be with +her children, and that was very often, the employee who was in the +nursery at the time, left the room immediately to attend to other +household duties. + +Both employees were on duty at 7 A.M., a most necessary arrangement +where there are small children in a family. The first employee prepared +and served breakfast for the family, while the other employee took full +charge of the children, giving them their breakfast in the nursery, and +taking them out afterwards for a walk. At 10 A.M., she returned with the +children, and she was then off duty for two hours. The mother generally +chose this time to be with her children; if however, she had any other +engagement, the first employee was on duty until noon and could be +called upon to look after them. + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 10 A.M. 3 hours + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + +SCHEDULE NO. VII + +There are many families who may object to all the preceding schedules +on account of the early hour in the evening for household employees +to be off duty. When the housewife has never had her housework done on +schedule time by an efficient employee, she may well think it impossible +to have the dinner dishes washed up and everything put away in order by +8 P.M. However some families do not begin dinner before half past seven, +or eight o'clock, or even later, but in these families, it is not +unusual for the breakfast hour to be very late also. In consequence +nothing is easier than to make a schedule for the day's work begin late +and end late, without making any other alteration in it. + +The following schedule, however, combines an early breakfast and a late +dinner, in a family where only two employees were kept: + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 12 M. 5 hours + From 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. 3 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 12 M. to 5 P.M. 5 hours + From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. 3 hours + (or from 8 to 11 P.M.) + ------- + 8 hours + + +EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR THREE EMPLOYEES + +The greater the number of household employees, the easier it is to make +a satisfactory working schedule. But the temptation to specialize the +work is greater, and should be carefully guarded against. It is just as +necessary with three employees as with one for the housewife to insist +that each one be capable and willing to do all kinds of work in the +home, including sewing and taking care of children. + +With three employees, the housewife ought to make them take turns in +cooking and serving one of the three meals each day. This enables them +to become familiar with the dining room and with the different dishes +for each course; it also removes any feeling of embarrassment which +naturally might be felt by an employee who is rarely called upon to cook +or serve a meal. + +To have an expert needlewoman in the house is a great boon to the +housewife, and when she has three employees who can sew in her home, she +ought to insist upon a great deal of sewing and mending being done by +each one of them. + +It is rare that the "servant" of to-day is a good sewer; in fact the +housewife would hesitate to ask her to do even the ordinary mending, but +when one engages household employees on an eight hour schedule, and when +there are a hundred women to choose from, it is not hard to find several +who sew well. + + +SCHEDULE NO. VIII + +It is so easy to plan the housework for three employees that one +schedule as an example seems quite sufficient, and the only thing that +the housewife must remember is to make all the work interchangeable. + + + _First Employee_ + + From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. 4 hours + From 12 M. to 4 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Second Employee_ + + From 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 4 hours + From 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. 4 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + _Third Employee_ + + From 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. 3 hours + From 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. 5 hours + ------- + 8 hours + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +In conclusion it seems that a few words are necessary about families who +need the services of an employee at night as well as in the day time. +There are many mothers who do not wish or who are not able to take +care of their children at night, and in consequence it is absolutely +necessary to have an attendant. The present custom is to have the nurse +or maid sleep in the same room as the baby, or in a room adjoining the +children's bedroom, so as to be within call. But a woman who has worked +all day, or even eight hours a day, should not have her sleep disturbed +at night by taking care of children. No woman can be fit for her work +the next day if she has not been able to secure the average amount of +sleep necessary to health. + +In many cases it has been proved that when a child does not sleep +well at night, the nurse has taken upon herself the responsibility of +giving it "soothing syrup" so as to keep it quiet. This is hardly to be +wondered at when one considers the strain under which the nurse is kept +day and night by taking care of a small child; besides the average nurse +is generally ignorant of the harm caused by so-called "soothing syrups." + +If a child be sick, the mother should call in a trained nurse, that +is if she can afford it, and when she has several employees, she can +usually afford this extra expense. If the child or children be well, +and the mother desires some one to attend to them at night, she should +engage a woman who has no occupation during the day and who is willing +to work at night. She should make a point of choosing one who sews well, +so that the services of a seamstress might be combined with the duties +of a night nurse. There is always some mending to do in all families and +a woman who is clever with her needle might make herself very useful to +her employer. Thousands of women sew by artificial light in dressmaking +establishments and factories; in all probability just as many women +could be found to sew by artificial light in private homes. Perhaps at +first the novelty of working at night might deter women from taking a +position similar to the one suggested above, but a woman who was really +in need of work would not let the unusual hours prevent her from +accepting it, + +Many men work at night and it is not unlikely that many women would be +willing to do it too. Women are not as timid as they were reputed to +be in former years; they would neither scream nor faint nowadays at +the sight of a little mouse scampering across the floor. Indeed quite +recently the newspapers reported that a woman whose husband had just +died had accepted the position of a night watchman, and she filled her +new role so successfully that on one occasion she managed to seize a +burglar and handed him over to a policeman. + +This proposition of engaging a woman to work at night is only a +suggestion, however, offered to those who find it absolutely necessary +to have a domestic employee in their house at night. It remains to be +proved if it could be carried out successfully. + +But the great changes in housekeeping described in the preceding +chapters are not mere suggestions nor theories of what might be done: +each reform has already been put into actual practice. The result has +been so extraordinary that one is impelled to believe that the only way +to solve the Servant Problem is to apply business principles to +housework in private homes. + +Naturally such a revolution from methods now in vogue can not be wrought +in a day, and the transitional period may be one of some difficulty and +confusion for employer and employee alike who have spent a large portion +of their lives under the old regime. But the revolution is imperative, +and the ultimate benefit beyond calculation. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANTED, A YOUNG WOMAN TO DO +HOUSEWORK*** + + +******* This file should be named 14117.txt or 14117.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/1/14117 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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