which those are liable to commit who are unaccustomed to household labor. Provide a variety of food; a frugal table, with frequent change, is much more agreeable and healthy than a more expensive one, where nearly the same things are served up every day.

If you are subject to uninvited company, and your means do not allow you to set before your guests as good a table as they keep at home, do not distress yourself or them with apologies. If they are real friends, they will cheerfully sit down with you to such a table as is appropriate to your circumstances, and would be made uncomfortable by an effort on your part to provide a better one than you can afford. If your resources are ample, live in such a way that an unexpected visitor shall occasion no difference. The less alteration made in family arrangements on account of visitors, the happier for them as well as for you.

Never treat the subject of having company as if it were a great affair. Your doing this will excite your domestics, and lead them to imagine the addition to their usual work much greater than it is; your own cares, too, will be greatly magnified. A calm and quiet way of meeting all sorts of domestic vicissitudes, and of doing the work of each day, be it more or less, equalizes the pressure of care, and prevents its becoming oppressive.

Be composed when accidents happen to your furniture. The most careful hand is sometimes unsteady. Angry words will not mend broken glass or china, but they will teach your domestics to conceal such occurrences from you, and the only explanation ever given you will be, that they came apart. Encourage every one whom you employ to come immediately and tell you, when they have been so unfortunate as to break or injure any thing belonging to you. The cases are very rare, in which it is best to deduct the value from their wages.

In the best regulated families there will be some laborious, perplexing days. Adverse and inconvenient circumstances will cluster together. At those times, guard against two things,—discouragement and irritability. If others look on the dark side, find something cheering to say; if they fret, sympathize in their share of the trial, while you set them the example of bearing your part in it well.

Miss Hamilton's three maxims, so often quoted, are worthy of an indelible inscription in every house:—

"Do every thing in its proper time.

"Keep every thing to its proper use.

"Put every thing in its proper place."

She should have added, Do every thing in the best manner; for the habit of aiming at a perfect standard, is not only of the highest importance in our moral interests, but also proportionately so in reference to the common affairs of life.

Accustom yourself, each evening, to arrange in your own mind the meals for the next day, and also the extra work to be done by others, and what you will do yourself. This habit promotes order and system, and gives quietness and ease to the movement of the whole family machinery. When you see defects, such as irregularity, confusion, waste, or want of cleanliness in any part of your household concerns, consider what is the best remedy, and be willing to attend to the subject till the evil is cured.

Visit all the rooms and closets that are in constant use, every day. You will thus acquire that habit of attention to minutiæ, upon which neatness and order so much depend, and it will cost a less expenditure of time and effort to secure these ends, than if a great many little things requiring attention are suffered to accumulate. This habit will also have the best effect upon those who serve you. They will not be tempted to negligence or waste, by the idea that you will never discover it. They will anticipate your daily inspection, and soon find themselves so much benefited by your habits of system and order, that their own convenience will dictate obedience to your directions and suggestions. Endeavor so to perfect your plan, that when you have given the necessary time, be it longer or shorter, to domestic concerns each morning, you can dismiss them from your mind and attend to other things, giving to those no further thought, except that which results from a habit of observing whatever passes in the family.

When a new domestic enters your service, observe whether she seems to understand her business; if not, teach her your methods. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect a stranger to remember, and at once practise, a series of directions given all at once, and perhaps in a hurried manner. And yet, this is an injustice of which many a girl has to complain. What wonder if mutual dissatisfaction and a speedy separation is the result?[2] She is in a new situation, unacquainted with the various parts of your house, and the arrangements of your family. Therefore, duty and self-interest dictate, that you cheerfully instruct her, so far as is necessary; and a few days' attention to her manner of doing her work, will probably be rewarded by a much more skilful and willing service, than if no such care were bestowed. She will discover that you are kindly disposed, ready to appreciate her efforts, and capable of judging when her work is well done. Confidence is thus inspired, and she will be far more likely to become a faithful and permanent member of your household, than if left in the beginning to pursue her own course, and to be frowned upon if she does not happen to please.

Refrain from severity and too much frequency in finding fault, and be careful not to speak to domestics of their errors at a time when they are perplexed or very busy. To choose a good time, is as necessary to success as to avoid needless severity. If the dinner is not properly done, it is usually best to say nothing at the time; your cook will doubtless be conscious of her failure, and your silence will have a much better effect upon her than any thing you can then say; but the next time the same articles are to be cooked, remind her of the previous failure, point out the defect, and give her minute instructions how to avoid its repetition.

Good temper, decision, and reasonable requisitions will secure the confidence and respect of your domestics; while fretfulness, lack of good judgment, and unreasonable demands will alienate them from you, and involve you in endless perplexities. Nothing gives the mistress of a family such power as blended decision and gentleness; they are truly irresistible. You need not, you must not, if you regard the best welfare of your household, utter one impatient word from the beginning to the end of the year.

Study the dispositions of those whom you employ. If you keep several domestics, arrange their work so that there shall be as little collision with one another, as possible. Be as considerate of their comfort, as you could reasonably wish others to be of yours in like circumstances. An universal obedience to the Golden Rule would make this world a paradise, and perhaps it is more liable to be forgotten in this relation than in most others. The best management on your part, cannot always save those who serve you from weariness and vexation; but a well-timed word of kindness and sympathy does good like a medicine.

Learn so to systematize your concerns, that each day of the week shall have its appropriate work, and every domestic know, without being prompted, what she is to do on that day. Observe whether all do their appropriate work; but do not prompt them, unless you see that they are likely to forget. They should learn to feel the responsibility to be on their own memory—not yours.

In the morning, soon after