If we save the money we now spend upon keeping servants to do our work for us, we shall have more to spend on our holidays, and so shall feel all the more refreshed by our respite from work.

Much is said in this book about superfluities, but although some passages may seem to give colour to such an idea, it is by no means wished to convey the recommendation that our homes and lives are to be bare of beauty. On the contrary, I hanker after profusion and love plenty, but wish them to be placed where they will not give more labour than pleasure, where they will not hamper our every movement at every moment, making us ever wear a sort of moral tight kid-gloves, be the weather hot or cold.

The rock which theories split upon is that they generally presuppose that we can make our lives, and are in independent position and good circumstances, whereas this is seldom the case. The majority of us are neither in good circumstances nor independent: often we have had no control over the purchase of our very furniture; so we must make the best of what we have, only, when we have the opportunity of making a change, let it be a reform as well as a change. My main object in writing this essay has been to show how frequently, and in how short a time, the saving effected by a reform covers the cost of carrying it out.

In the case of young couples about to marry, and beginning to plan their lives, any work will be good which aids them to lay down their plans according to rules of economy and common sense.

January, 1877.

CONTENTS

PAGE
THE DIFFICULTY.
Impossibility of getting good servants — Over-civilization — Labour has been made hideous — Sleeping partnership — Wealth exempt from this difficulty — Refinement of the professional class — Credit — Phase of insecurity and scarcity — Sweet are the uses of adversity — English people do not fear work — Servants too readily changed — Wilfulness of servants — Upper servants are easily obtained — Servants feel the pressure of the times — Ornamental servants costly luxuries — Two questions — Work must be efficiently done — Woman's work — Misuse of time — We keep servants to wait upon each other — Idleness — Pleasure made a toil[1]
THE REMEDY.
Bad habits to be reformed — Late hours — Value of the long winter evenings — Simplicity of manners — Over-carefulness — Instruction to be gained from foreign nations — Our manners should be natural — Impedimentain our households — Comparison of former times with our own — Children trained to habits of consideration — Young men and boys over-indulged —  Reduction of establishments — Lady-helps — What is menial work? — Picturesque occupation — What is lady-like — Amateur millinery — Two subjects for an artist — Taste — Plan of the book — Eugénie de Guérin[20]
THE ENTRANCE-HALL.
The evil of side doors — Difficulties with cooks — Who is to answer the door? — Four classes of applicants — Arrangements for tradespeople —  Visitors — Furniture of the hall — Warming the passages — Dirt and door-mats  — The door-step — Charwomen[40]
BREAKFAST.
Lighting gas-fire — Difficulty of rousing servants — Family breakfast —  Cooking omelet — Hours of work and enjoyment — Duties of mothers and householders — What is included in six hours' daily work — Clearing away the breakfast — Bowl for washing thevaisselle — Ornamented tea-cloths — Muslin cap worn while dusting — Use of feather-brush —  Cleaning windows — Advantages of gas-fire[54]
THE KITCHEN.
Parisian markets — No refuse food brought into a house — Catering in London — Cooking-stoves — Pretty kitchen — Underground kitchens objectionable — Kitchen level with the street door — Larder and store-room — The dresser — Kitchen in the Swiss style — Herbs in the window — Hygienic value of aromatic plants — Polished sink — Earthenware scrap-dish — Nothing but ashes in dust-bin — Soap-dish — Plate-rack —  Kitchen cloths — Few cleaning materials necessary — Hand work better than machine work — Washing at home — Knife-cleaning — Fuel-box — No work in the kitchen unfit for a lady to do[68]
THE LADY-HELP.
True position of a lady-help — Division of work in a family — The mother the best teacher — Marketing — Young lady-helps — Luncheon — Early dinners for children — Recreation — Preparing the late dinner — Evening tea — The lady-help a gentlewoman — Her assistance at breakfast — Her spare time —  Tact[88]
THE DINING-ROOM.
Carpets and curtains — Picture hanging and frames — Distemper colouring for cornices — Oval dining-table — Sideboard for breakfast service —  Beauty of English porcelain — A London dining-room — Giulio Romano's banquet — Growing plants — The large sideboard — Dinner-service — Styles of dinner — Food in due season — Gracefulness of flowers and fruits —  Fresh fruit better than preserves — Communication between kitchen and dining-room — Remarks on plate — Table decorations[103]
THE DRAWING-ROOM.
Social pressure — Agreeable evening parties — Troubles of party-giving —  Musical parties — Flowers on a balcony — Window-gardening — Crowded drawing-rooms — The library or study — Gas, candles, and candlesticks —  Original outlay on furniture — Different styles of furniture — Raffaelesque decorations — Carpets, curtains, and chair coverings — Portières — Window blinds — Rugs — Care required in buying furniture — Ornaments — Dusting —  Chiffoniers useless — Portfolio stand — Mirrors[127]
BED AND DRESSING ROOMS.
Ventilation — Window curtains and blinds — Bedsteads — Spring mattresses  — Towels — Danger of fire at the toilet — Mantelpiece — Pictures and frames — Superfluous necessaries — Taine's criticisms — Aids to reading in bed — Service of the bath — Improvements in washstands — Arranging the rooms — Attics made beautiful — Sick-rooms — Neatness — Disinfectants —  Chlorine gas — Condy's solution — Filters — Invalid chairs — Generous efforts of the medical profession to improve the national health[155]
THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS.
To what age should boys' and girls' education be alike? — Accomplishments fruitlessly taught — Nursery and school-room government — Helplessness  — Introduction to society — The convent system — Unhappy results —  Scientific education — Geometrical illustration — Religion — Professional life for women — Home training — Varied knowledge — Companionship of a mother — Experience — Kindness — Truth[182]
SUNDAY.
Children's Sundays made wearisome — Sunday precious to workers — Moral workers — Moral vices — Our gifts — Misuse of them — Necessary work on Sunday — Diminished by management — Sunday prevents us living too fast — The rest must be earned — Sunday repairs the human machine[202]

HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZATION.