III
"My labour-saving ideas were put to the test, for the gardener was called up, and the cook was ill, and I could not get anyone else for nearly a fortnight. My husband fed the furnace night and morning, and he and I gardened (he was in London five days a week from nine till seven). The house-parlourmaid (a capital girl), and myself, cleaned and cooked, and by careful planning we kept the house nice, and fed well—that is, as well as one does feed nowadays. I was able to go on with my war work, and my maid went out often, as I do not approve of shutting up young girls for days together. We covered up the drawing-room and the unused bedrooms and bathroom. When you have no coals to bother with, housework becomes a very different matter. I put your idea of cooking mornings into practice, and found that if I cooked three mornings a week I need do very little on the intermediate days. Then cooking by electricity is so easy. There is no stooping to lift things out of ovens, and the cooker can be put where you want it as regards the light, and the pots and pans don't get dirty outside. I used earthenware, and cooked and served in one pot, and so saved washing up. Alice, the maid, and I quite enjoyed ourselves, and we made no trouble of stoking the furnace at midday.
"One thing struck me: how tiresome to servants it must be when they see people using just as many knives and spoons and forks and plates as they can—for I must own I began to feel rather mean about the washing up. I think meals had become too long, and the service far too elaborate, and the result not worth all the time and trouble it entailed. It makes me sad to think of all the girls and women there are who are tired to death doing work which they could be saved. I often think of the working-class women toiling along, and having to bear and rear babies all the time!"
PLATE XXVII
MAKING GOOD USE OF THE OVEN ON BAKING DAYS
Note the two pies one behind the other, not side by side.
A Labour-Saving House in a Provincial Town.
"My experiences may interest you. The family consists of myself, husband, a girl of six, and a boy of three. I kept a nurse, cook, house-parlourmaid, and a 'tweeny.' The wage bill was high, the housekeeping bills, including replacements, coal and light, food and cleaning materials, excessive, and we found it hard to get even a fairly good cook.
"Suddenly I decided to try the following plan. The house was modern and rather well planned. Dining and drawing-room, small square hall, kitchen and pantry on ground floor, a little garden back and front, and a mosaic doorstep, only one step. First floor, four bedrooms and a bathroom and dressing-room. Above, two rooms and box-room. Gas is dear here, and electric current moderate in price, so I had electric fires and cooker put in. There already was hot water on ground floor. I managed to plan a service lift from outside the kitchen to first floor.
"I then looked over my possessions, and put away unnecessary things and simplified the style of living somewhat. Then I engaged a trained lady nurse, capable of teaching the children for a year or two. The nurse agreed to dust her nurseries, and I gave up to her a nursery, night nursery, and the dressing-room opening into the night nursery. The floors of all bedrooms, bathrooms, landing, top stairs, kitchen and offices were all covered with linoleum. The nurse agreed to dust and tidy the nurseries and take the dishes, etc., out of the lift, and to replace them. I arranged a pantry cupboard for her and she had electric fires and heater for food, irons, etc. The bathroom with hot and cold water was next door. My husband and I had the other two rooms, and he had a bath and hand-basin fitted in the one he used for his dressing-room. We thought it cheaper to have a gas circulator rather than an electrical heater for the hot water, and we had a radiator fitted in the hall and on the first landing. These keep the house so warm that we need wonderfully little in the way of extra firing. Nurse has everything she needs to hand, and says she prefers it to having to ask the maids to fetch and carry for her. She has friends near, and we can often let her go out when the babes are put to bed, as I can sit in the drawing-room and hear at once if they call.
"I then dismissed my cook and 'tweeny,' as I did not like them very much, and asked the house-parlourmaid if she would like to stay at an increased wage if I undertook the greater part of the cooking and had a charwoman two days a week. Our hall floor is mosaic, and there is a little shed for the perambulator, so it does not come into the house. We are all called by alarum clocks, and we make our early tea on the electric heater in our room, so that the maid has no hot water or tea to bring or calling to do. When dressed, she goes straight downstairs and lights the gas to heat the water, does hall, dining-room and smoking-room.
Many people live in a continual state of worry because they feel obliged to have a little more of everything than they can afford: not because they want it, but because other people think they ought to want it.
PLATE XXVIII
LARGE JOINT SUSPENDED, AS IN ROASTING BEFORE AN OPEN FIRE, WITH PIE ON TOP SHELF