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 — Impedimenta in 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 the vaisselle — 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 public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@34097@[email protected]#sunday"