Common Sense for Housemaids

by Ann Fraser Tytler

In getting up fine things well much also depends on the ironing. The ironing-blanket should be thick, so that the work on the collars, &c., &c., should have a raised look after being ironed; where the blanket is thin the hard surface of the table flattens the work, and injures the appearance. The ironing-blanket should be covered with a piece of thin, smooth, long-cloth, kept for the purpose, and washed each time it is used. In spreading out the collar, or whatever you are about to iron, see that it lies perfectly even, and that each thread is straight up and down; also that the iron has been carefully cleaned, first rubbed on a piece of old carpet, and then wiped with a cloth; and also that it is not too hot. Singing is a common fault with the inexperienced, and it is a very bad one; for, even when it is not to such a degree as to burn, which may easily happen with a very thin muslin, still it leaves a yellow shade, which not only destroys the appearance at the time, but is very difficult to get rid of. A little practice in handling the irons will soon accustom one to the degree of heat necessary, and till that is the case, an old pocket-handkerchief, or some such thing, should be at hand to try each iron upon before you venture to iron anything of consequence. Do not pass your iron frequently over the same place if you wish the muslin to retain the stiffness, and also you should hang the article on a screen before the fire the moment it is ironed; it becomes soft if folded up with the slightest dampness upon it. Lace which, to look well, should not be stiff, is improved and cleared by being put through cold water as soon as it has been starched; it should then be squeezed out held by each hand, very slightly beaten between the palms of the hands, and gently drawn out; in drawing out the edge the nails must never touch it; it should all be done by the ball of the thumb and forefinger, and ironed once or twice over to take out the stiffening. When lace is sewed to a muslin collar, and washed with it, as the collar requires to be stiffer than the lace, it will be necessary, after putting it through the starch, and clearing it by beating and drawing it, to gather the lace together in the hand, and dip it into cold water, so as to take out a good deal of the starch (taking care not to wet the collar); but this is only necessary where the lace is put on with very little fulness, or quite plain; where it is put on full enough to be set up in small pipes with the French irons, or rather, curling tongs (as they may be called), it is not necessary to extract any portion of the starch; the lace is the better for being stiff, and, if rather damp when set up in these small pipes, they will retain a regular and tidy appearance as long as the collar can be worn.

These small French irons are to be got of different sizes, and answer remarkably well for nightcap-borders, or frills of any kind. When making use of them you should be near a stove or fire, where they can be frequently heated, for, as they cannot be used when very hot, for fear of singing the lace, they require to be constantly heated, and must be wiped with a cloth each time before being used.

The care of the silver plate will also be part of the housemaid’s occupation in a family where no footman is kept. Every day, what is in daily use will require to be washed perfectly free from grease, in boiling water, then rinsed through cold water, wiped with a clean linen cloth, and rubbed up with soft chamois leather; very little daily rubbing will be required if, once every week, the different articles are washed with a sponge in pretty strong soap lye, well rinsed in warm water, and rubbed up with the chamois leather; it is the rubbing well that gives polish and brightness, and where plate is cleaned regularly once a week with soap, it has a beautiful pale bright silvery look, very different from that dark lustre which plate, cleaned with rouge, presents. Quicksilver is generally mixed with those plate-powders sold in the shops, and the high lustre which it gives at first is soon effaced, and gives place to a dark, tarnished appearance; besides, if plate-powder of this nature is frequently used, the article becomes so brittle that a silver spoon or fork may be broken by a fall on a stone floor. Once in the three months it may be well to clean all the plate thoroughly by washing it first with soap-lye and hot water, and then rubbing it, either with the finest sifted whiting and spirits of wine, or strong spirits, or with prepared hartshorn and spirits of wine, and, when quite dry, polishing briskly with the soft chamois leather, and also with the palm of the hand—the longer plate is rubbed the brighter it will look. The rouge sold by silversmiths is generally composed of prepared hartshorn mixed with quicksilver, and coloured with a little rose-pink, and an extravagant price is demanded for it: but in many houses, where the plate has been remarked for having a particularly beautiful appearance, it has been ascertained, that washing with soap lye, and polishing with chamois leather and the palm of the hand, had done all, and that only twice during the year had the plate been cleaned with plate-powder; prepared hartshorn, with only so much rouge as to give it a pale pinkish appearance, were then used.

It is painful to see the way in which, sometimes, the silver spoons, forks, &c., are scratched by coarse dry whiting being used. Where the finest whiting and spirits of wine cannot conveniently be made use of, it is well, at the time of the general cleaning of plate, after the soap has been used, to boil whiting in water, then dip the different articles into this mixture, and, when the whiting has dried upon them, polish them with the chamois leather. A soft brush will also be required in cleaning plate, to brush the whiting well out of the carved places.

Plated articles should be cleaned in the same way, and rouge had better be avoided altogether in cleaning them. Nothing stronger than spirits of wine and whiting should be used, and that as seldom as possible; and they should not be rubbed more than can be avoided to clean them. When not in use they should be kept in flannel, or green baize, or buried in well-dried bran, so as to be kept quite free from damp, and from the air. It has been found from experience, that plated articles, once cleaned with plate powder in which there was some injurious mixture, have never recovered it; they look bright for a short time after being cleaned, but each time they are put aside for a little they become so completely discoloured, and it requires such hard rubbing to clean them, that the silver plating must be very soon entirely effaced. When candlesticks are spotted with wax or tallow, do not scrape them, but pour boiling water upon the spots before cleaning them.

Whether in town or country, it is necessary to fix particular days for such operations as are not of daily occurrence; such as cleaning plate, washing brushes, arranging the butler’s pantry, comparing lists, &c., &c. As the linen is generally given out in the beginning of the week, and two days of each week will be required to clean the rooms thoroughly, Friday might be fixed for washing brushes, cleaning plate, and dusting the butler’s pantry; and Saturday and Monday for mending the linen, previous to its being given to be washed. In the bustle of a town life particularly, the plate will get tarnished, the pantry dusty, and all will get into confusion in a housemaid’s work, unless certain days are appointed, and regularity in observing them enforced; even in the country, without regularity in cleaning, all will soon assume a slovenly appearance; and if a mistress has not given written instructions for the arrangement of the work, it would be well that the housemaid wrote them down for herself, and strictly adhered to them.

In cleaning her pantry her labour will be greatly diminished by attention in placing the trays always with their faces to the wall, turning the wine-glasses, tumblers, &c., up-side-down on the shelves, placing paper covers on the lamps, and keeping the drawers carefully shut; dust will still penetrate, however, in some degree, and make it necessary, from time to time, to wash the pantry itself, and all it contains; but where the things in daily use are put by perfectly clean, and wiped dry, so that the dust does not adhere to them, a little weekly attention in dusting will keep all as it should be for a considerable time.

The plate, when rubbed up weekly, should be compared with the written list, so that any missing article may be instantly looked for. And the china, glass, &c., should be counted over the same way when the pantry is thoroughly cleaned, and the mistress informed of any breakage or want which may be discovered. In some houses it is a rule that a servant is forgiven if she instantly gives information of having broken any article. With a truly careful, conscientious servant this may answer very well, but it has been found to render others only more careless, as they get over the shame and distress of such confessions, and it may be well that they should be made aware, that in proportion as those accidents (as they are always called) happen, a part of the price of each article will be required.

It is quite wonderful the difference in expense which a careful or a careless servant will make in a family. Some servants will go on for months without cracking or chipping a single article, either of glass or china, while others, both from mismanagement and carelessness, are meeting with a misfortune (as they generally call it) every week. It is careless management when a servant seizes upon a vessel of earthenware to wash the china or glass, instead of the wooden bowl which her mistress has appointed for that purpose; the slightest touch against the hard surface of the earthenware may be the means of cracking or chipping a valuable cup or glass; and, even with the wooden bowl, care and management are required. If the cups and saucers are all put into the bowl at once, they may be knocked against each other, and injured in the same way; whereas, if the warm water (not too warm) is poured into the wooden bowl, and only one article dipped in at a time, it is almost impossible that either cup or glass, however fragile, can be injured.

It is also careless management when a servant attempts to cut bread from a loaf lying across a plate much too small for it; in this case the loaf only rests on the edges of the plate, without touching the middle, and the additional pressure, in attempting to cut it, may split the plate in two. The same is likely to happen where large plates are heaped upon the top of small ones; and, in cleaning lamps, the shade (which is a very expensive article) is frequently broken by being laid on its side, and rolling off the table; it may often be the oily appearance of the rim, and the fear of soiling the table, which leads to this, but a moment’s reflection will show, that both a safe and a clean mode of disposing of it would be by turning the shade up, and placing it on its upper rim on the table. Many lamp-shades are also cracked by the lamp, after it has been cleaned, being pushed hastily against the wall when placing it on the shelf in the butler’s pantry; it is right and orderly to place it on the shelf, to be out of the way of accidents, but it is wrong to do it in so careless a manner as to produce the very accident it was meant to avoid. The shades are often cracked, also, by the lamp being turned up too hastily when first lighted; the sudden strong flame cracks the glass immediately. And tumblers and wine-glasses are generally cracked by hot water being poured hastily into them.