Common Sense for Housemaids

by Ann Fraser Tytler

There are very few chimneys that will not vent well if care is taken to make a proper draught, and not to choke the fire up with too much coal; very little should be put on at first, and more added as the fire burns up. The general practice of putting the cinders next the wood, is not favourable to lighting the fire quickly, or, with little wood; a few cinders may be thrown at the back of the fire, and the rest had better be carried down into the kitchen to be burned there, as small sharp-pointed pieces of fresh coal kindle much more easily than cinders. It is astonishing what a difference there will be, even in a very short time, in the appearance of a room where there is carelessness in lighting the fire; the curtains, the books, everything in the room, gets a soiled appearance, and is unpleasant to the touch. Can there be anything more disagreeable than to find one’s bed-room, at night, cold as a cellar, from the necessity of keeping the window open to the last minute to dispel the smoke which inattention at first has produced, and the smell of which still adheres to every article, instead of finding a warm room, a comfortable arm-chair turned towards a bright fire, a shining kettle singing a quiet tune, and a clean-swept hearth? Some housemaids have a habit of constantly turning the arm-chair away from the fire, and placing it against the wall, and though, morning after morning, they find it has been turned towards the fire, yet they never take the hint, unless an express order is given; and even then, such is the force of careless habits, that it is often not attended to, and they continue so long steadily turning the chair from the fire, that it appears as if they had made a secret vow against both warmth and comfort: an attentive servant, on the contrary, will make use of her own common sense, and will not always wait to be told. If the chair has been turned from the wall to the fire, she will continue to place it there; if more than once she finds the bed-quilt taken off and thrown aside, she will understand that it is found too heavy to be an agreeable covering, and will in future fold it off and leave only the light covering sheet on the bed; if a blanket is pushed down, then let her not carry it away altogether, as there may come a sudden change to cold, and much discomfort may be experienced, but let her leave it tucked in at the bottom of the bed, with the rest of the bed-clothes, and folded down in folds, leaving the end uppermost, so that in a moment the blanket can be drawn up again over the bed: it is vexatious when feeling chilly and half asleep, to find that the end of the blanket has been carefully folded in, and that one must be colder still, and broad awake, before there is a chance of finding it. Such observations may be thought trifling and too minute, but the neglect of many such trifles occasions much discomfort, particularly to those who may be only occasional guests in a family; they may be days in the house without seeing the housemaid to explain their wishes, and even if they have the opportunity, they feel a delicacy in giving orders as to how their fire should be lighted, or their bed-room comfortably arranged, yet much silent annoyance, particularly to the invalid, has been occasioned by a careless housemaid.

A few words may be added here as to carrying fire from room to room in an open pan, and also on leaving the poker in the fire with a view to make it burn up more quickly; both practices are attended with danger; sparks may be blown about by the current of air through which the bearer passes in carrying fire from room to room, and houses have been burned down, and lives lost, by this practice. Leaving the poker in the fire is also attended with much danger, for as the coals which kept it firm at first, burn away, the poker gets loose and falls out, burning the rug through to the floor, and, if not discovered in time, setting fire to the floor itself.

To return, however, to the drawing-room again, after this somewhat long digression. The grate having been cleaned, and the fire lighted, the carpet should now be swept; this does not require to be done every day, except round the table where the family may have been working, and at the door, or in any other corners of the room most in use; and this may be done with a soft hand-brush, making use of the dust-pan to carry away the dust, or any shreds of paper, as you sweep. Using a carpet-brush every day wears the carpet. Every article in the room should now be dusted, the ledges round the walls, the window-frames, the mantelpiece, the backs of the sofas and chairs, shaking the dust, from time to time, over the window while doing it; also the writing-desks, work-boxes, and books, on the different tables, should each be taken up and dusted separately; a duster is preferable to a dusting-brush for all this, as it removes the dust from the article entirely, instead of only scattering it to alight somewhere else; but for the gilt frames of mirrors or pictures, a soft feather-brush should be used. The covers of the sofas and chairs should next be stretched free from creases, and wiped with a perfectly clean duster, not that which has been in use for dusting the furniture. A little management is required in this, as in all other well-regulated arrangements: the duster used for wiping the chair-covers the one day should be laid aside, and kept for dusting the furniture on the next, so that each day a clean duster is made use of for the cushions of the chairs and sofas; from this not being attended to, they are often more dirtied in being cleaned than if they had been left with the dust upon them; with careful management the drawing-room chintz will look long well, even in London. The chair-covers should be stretched very tight over the cushions; if put on loosely they will get into creases, and look soiled in half the time; the cushions on the sofas should also be well shaken up. Care also should be taken in arranging neatly the articles on the different tables; if books are left scattered about, arrange them on the table, putting two or three together, above each other, but do not put a large book above a smaller one; arrange them according to sizes, the largest first. A small basket should be kept on one of the tables, into which should be put any small articles found lying about, such as scissors, thimbles, odd gloves, &c., &c.; and before leaving the room give a glance round to see that everything is in perfect order, and draw down the blinds, and shut the door; but in summer leave a little bit of the window open, to keep the room well aired, or if there is wind and dust flying about, keep the window shut and air the room by leaving the door open. If there are cut flowers in the room change the water in which they are frequently, and pick out any withered ones: withered flowers, which have remained long in the same water, not only give a very untidy look to the room, but also produce a very disagreeable air. Too great attention cannot be given to keep the whole house well aired, by frequently opening the windows, both in the rooms and staircase. Some housemaids have a horror of opening the windows, for fear of admitting the dust, but the dust is not always flying about. Opportunities can be seized, for instance, in a quiet summer evening, when the family are walking out; all the windows and doors of the different rooms should be thrown open for some time, and the house receive a thorough airing; and besides this, each room should be aired at some part of each day by leaving the window open.

The daily routine of the drawing-room work has thus been mentioned, but once a-week more will be required, as the carpet, once a-week, should be thoroughly swept with tea-leaves, and the hearth-rug carried down to the court and well beaten. As soon as the rug has been removed, the grate cleaned and rubbed up, the mantelpiece washed with a sponge and soap and water, and the fire laid, shake the window-curtains, roll them up to the top, and pin them, throw covering-sheets over the sofas and chiffonnieres, remove the chairs to the next room or landing-place, and having sprinkled the carpet over with damp tea-leaves, brush every corner carefully, shifting the sofas and tables, so as to get at every particle of dust that may have gathered under them, and leaving no remote corner untouched in the hope that the eye of the mistress may not penetrate so far. The carpet being swept, carry away the tea-leaves in the dust-pan, either to be thrown out, or, if there is a scarcity, to be put through water, and used a second time in sweeping the floors. The mirrors and picture-frames should be lightly dusted with the feather brush, the mirrors wiped, the furniture, before being carried back to the room, should be dusted and rubbed up in the manner already mentioned, the articles on the different tables dusted and arranged, the inside of the windows wiped, and the china ornaments carefully dusted.[4] All this will require so much time that, even with early rising, it may be necessary to leave some part of the dusting-work to be done after breakfast, as the hour for putting the heater for the tea-urn into the hottest part of the kitchen fire, and taking the breakfast-cloth from the napkin-press will have arrived, and preparations must immediately be made for breakfast.

Before laying the cloth let the housemaid wash her hands, and put on a clean white apron, then, having dusted the table and spread the table-cloth quite smooth upon it, taking care that the fold which marks the middle of the table-cloth should be exactly in the centre of the table, let her bring, on a large tray, the things necessary for breakfast,—the teapot, slop-basin, cups and saucers, plates, knives, silver forks, and tea-spoons, and having arranged them on the table, let the tray be taken down stairs again for the cream, butter, eggs, rolls, and bread; let the butter-dish be filled with the freshest spring-water in summer, the colder the better, and in winter a few drops of warm water should be added, not much, or it will oil the butter, but enough to give the water summer warmth. In arranging all this on the table, attention should be given that all that is necessary has been brought into the room; that each person has, besides his cup and saucer, a plate, knife, and fork; that there is a large knife for cutting bread, a butter-knife, and a spoon for each egg-cup, the salt-cellars filled with salt, and a couple of small breakfast-knives and of tea-spoons laid upon the table, which last articles may at first appear to be the property of no one, but which are generally of essential service, in making it unnecessary for the servant to be rung for during breakfast; it is a rare thing when more knives and spoons are not called for before breakfast is over, and yet the difficulty of getting a servant to attend to this simple order is very great; and if it should chance that on any one morning the spoons or knives have not been made use of, they are sure to be omitted the next. It is the same, often, with regard to the toast at breakfast or tea; if all is not consumed on any one particular day there is less sent up on the next, and often a gradual diminution takes place daily, till the toast-rack presents itself with one solitary piece, which no one has courage to touch. These are the tricks of lazy servants, who, to save a few moments of trouble, bring much discredit upon themselves.

If a friend steps in at breakfast or tea, the maid, after having announced him, should not leave the room till she has put a seat for the guest, and should immediately return with a cup and saucer, plate, and small knife, and not wait till the mistress of the family has had to desire the bell to be rung to order these things. Should it be while dinner is going on that a guest is announced, then the soup, meat and vegetables should quickly be brought back if still warm, if not, immediately warmed up, and replaced on the table. The maid-servant should exercise her own judgment in all this, and not wait for orders, which may make the visitor feel that he is giving trouble; common sense should tell her that, if a guest comes at that hour he expects to dine, and that a warm dinner is better than a cold one.

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

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

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

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