linen, hem the napkins, sort the linen, and mend the curtains.

In this way, a clever chambermaid may learn many useful things that will help her to a better position. From the linen-room, it is only a step to the position of a housekeeper. When a housekeeper leaves on her vacation, or is called away to fill another place, or drops out on account of illness, the linen-woman may seize the opportunity of showing her executive ability. After she has worked faithfully in the linen-room for three years, there is not much danger that a linen-woman of ability will fail to find employment as a housekeeper. If she should have any trouble getting a situation, one way out of the difficulty is to offer her services one month on probation to a hotel man in need of a housekeeper; and, if she is granted a trial and mixes brains with her enthusiasm, she will receive a housekeeper's salary at the end of the month.

Just what a housekeeper's work should be is a vital question. We hear of housekeepers meddling in the steward's department and with the affairs of the office. This is, at least, no less wrong than the idea that the housekeeper owes servile obedience to all other heads of departments.

The essential requirements of a housekeeper are the same, whether she is in a hotel with the capacity of a thousand guests or in a hotel of two hundred rooms. The young housekeeper, looking for a position in a first-class hotel, should read the following requirements, which were submitted to the writer by the manager of a first-class Western hotel a few years ago:

A Housekeeper's Requirements.

Must be morally correct.
Must have a dignified and respectable appearance.
Must have executive ability.
Must have a good disposition and try to get along with the help.
Must be a good listener and not a talker.
Must be quiet, giving orders in a firm but low tone.
Must be loyal to the management.
Must be courteous to guests.
Must not worry the management with small matters.
Must refrain from gossiping.

Neatness in dress is essential to the success of a hotel housekeeper. She should take great pains to be always well groomed, and neat in her attire. If she finds herself growing coarse or commonplace-looking, her fingernails in mourning, and her hair unacquainted with soap and water, she should at once set about to remedy the defects. It is her duty, as well as her privilege, to dress as well as she can, not by donning all the colors of the rainbow or by useless extravagance, but by modest and harmonizing shades and by appropriate apparel. It behooves the woman to make herself as good-looking as possible, for good looks pay. Obliging manners are also a stock in trade. Grit, grace, and good looks can accomplish wonders, especially the good looks.

Ignorance and ambition make an unprofitable combination. There are housekeepers filling positions to-day that have never been taught to do a single useful thing correctly; they can not darn the linens, they can not sew, they can not upholster a chair, they can not wait on the sick, nor can they settle the slightest dispute without sending for the manager. The housekeeper should know how these things are done, in order to impart her knowledge to others; for any housekeeper that has any respect for her calling considers herself an instructor.

There is no special hour set for the housekeeper's appearance in the morning. It is safe to say that she will make a greater "impression" and last longer by rising at 6 o'clock. Late rising is one of the rocks on which many a housekeeper has been wrecked.

Cheerfulness and Good Manners.

Every housekeeper should make the "good morning" her bright keynote for the day. She should not say, "Hello, Mollie," to a girl named Mary. Though the girl may be only a scrub-girl, she knows a breach of etiquette; and a girl that bears the beautiful name of Mary does not want it changed to "Mollie."

A cheerful "good morning" should be the beginning of each day, by the housekeeper. It makes everybody feel pleasant, and the maids can work faster and easier when their hearts are full of pleasantness.

The successful housekeeper does not win her laurels by merely perfecting herself in her work, but also by careful study of the lives of others in her charge, and how to promote their happiness.

Getting along with help requires tact, poise, and balance. The housekeeper should bestow praise where it is due. She may give a gentle pat on the back to some faithful employe, and yet keep her dignity. A hard task may be made lighter by it, and monotonous labor robbed of its weariness. The old and persistent notion that housekeepers are an irascible tribe—if it was ever true—is not true now.

The question here arises—What qualities of mind and heart should a housekeeper possess to be successful?

Nobody has discovered a rule—to say nothing of a principle—whereby a housekeeper's success may be determined. It is reasonable to claim that the permanent success of any housekeeper lies in her skill and in the confidence and esteem of her employer. She has learned that skill is acquired by serving an apprenticeship, and that esteem and confidence are won by character. Everybody who touches a sterling character comes at last to feel it, and the true hotel man has come to know that the housekeeper of skill and character is his friend. After the relation of friendship has been established between the manager and the housekeeper, a "go-between" has no place; to speak plainly, there is no legitimate function for a tattler.

The young housekeeper should not become discouraged, excited, or worried, but learn to "manage." She should sit down quietly and think it over. She should have a system about her most ordinary duties, and never put off till to-morrow what may be done to-day. Tomorrow may never come, and, if it does come, it will bring other duties equally as important. Every field of labor has its drawbacks. The greater the work, the greater the hindrances and the obstacles seem to be.

The Housekeeper and the "Help."

It is a truism that there should be no hostilities between the heads of the different departments of a hotel. Everything works more smoothly and satisfactorily when pleasant relationships exist between the different departments of any business.

A housekeeper feels stronger if she thinks that she is of sufficient importance to her employer to have her views receive some consideration. She takes up her daily tasks with an added sense of responsibility, and with a desire to do still better work.

No housekeeper is perfect. It cannot be wisely assumed that any housekeeper will possess all the requisite qualifications for successful housekeeping, nor can she develop them all, no matter how ambitious, industrious, and naturally fitted for the work she may be. But "Knowledge is power," and she that has the most of it, coupled with the greatest ability to utilize it, enjoys advantages that will contribute largely to her success.

Keeping a Position.

A housekeeper studies not only to secure a good situation, but also to avoid losing it. "Good enough" is not her motto; "the very best" are her constant watchwords. Some one has said: