أنت هنا
قراءة كتاب The Labour-saving House
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
In almost every English house at least a third of each day is wasted in doing work which in no way adds to the comfort of its inmates.
THE LABOUR-SAVING HOUSE
CHAPTER I
Why Labour-Saving Houses are Needed
Why do we need Labour-Saving Houses?
Because:
1.—Life is too short and time too valuable to waste in doing work which is unnecessary and which adds little or nothing to our comfort.
2.—There is a scarcity of labour. Girls of the class from which domestic servants were drawn formerly now dislike service. The would-be employer finds it difficult to obtain servants and to keep them when obtained.
3.—Unless great changes are made in our houses and households it will become even more difficult to obtain servants, because so many professions are now open to young women that they are in a position to choose how they will earn a living.
4.—When servants are not obtainable, the mistress is driven to turn to and do the work of her own house. That is why a demand for labour-saving mechanism is making itself felt.
5.—Owing to modern inventions, it is now possible to achieve a house in which a family may be housed and fed in comfort at half the cost of labour which is absorbed in the labour-making house.
6.—It is pleasanter to spend money on the things one likes than to squander it on unnecessary coals and kitchenmaids.
House-keeping. Home-making.
What do these words mean?
They mean so much that is vital to the individual and to the nation that one could weep for the stupidity which permits any untrained and ill-educated girl to become a nurse, a cook, a housemaid, a mother, and the mistress of a home!
CHAPTER II
What this Chapter is About
The Ignorant Employer—The Incompetent Servant—Wanted! a New Race of Mistresses—Domestic Training for all Girls—Its Value to the Nation—"Menial" Work—The Surplus of Governesses, Secretaries, and Companions, and the Scarcity of Servants—Genteel Professions—What the Servant Dislikes—How to Popularise Domestic Service.
CHAPTER II
The Servant Problem and some Solutions of it
I
"Servants? We haven't a single-handed cook or a house-parlourmaid on our books, madam."
This, in many cases, is the reply of the registry office to-day, and as time goes on the shortage of domestic workers will become more and more acute. Of highly-paid upper servants, with under-servants to wait upon them, there is no lack, for the supply of persons wishing to fill the few "plum" posts in any profession is always adequate; but as there is a lack of under-servants, even the very rich find it difficult to secure a satisfactory household; while the mistress who needs a house-parlourmaid, a single-handed cook, a "general," or even a single-handed house- or parlourmaid finds it almost impossible to induce a suitable girl to accept her situation.
Why should this be?
"The war," says every one. "All the young women are busy conducting tramcars, selling bacon, and punching railway tickets."
But why are all