you think necessary and then let her apply her judgment and previous experience to carrying them out.  If you find that she has neither, don’t be discouraged, for you may be entertaining an angel unawares, but adopt the line upon line, precept upon precept plan, and the situation will slowly but surely brighten.  If she is overstupid in one direction, she may be bright enough in some other to establish a balance.  Luncheon and its dishes disposed of, arrange with her about dinner, and after its completion speak about her hour of rising, the preparation of breakfast, etc.  And the morning and the evening were the first day!

THE DAILY ROUTINE

The day’s routine of work varies in different households and makes it impossible for one to offer an infallible system.  The keeping of but one servant does not admit of an elaborate mode of living, and on the days on which the heaviest work—­washing and ironing—­falls, madam would do well to assume considerable of the regular work herself, the care of bedrooms, dusting and putting to rights of living and dining rooms, preparation of lunch, and whatever else seems best.  All of the hardest work should be done in the morning, before the first freshness of maid and day is worn away.  After you have established a satisfactory schedule abide by it and oblige your maid to do the same.  It soon becomes automatic and is, therefore, accomplished with less exhaustion of mind and body.  The regular day’s work is about as follows:  The maid rises an hour or an hour and a half before the breakfast hour, throws open her bed and window, and goes to the kitchen, where she starts the fire (if a coal range is used), fills and puts on the teakettle, and puts the cereal on to cook.  Then she airs out dining and living rooms and hall, brushes up any litter, wipes off bare floors, dusts, closes windows, opens furnace drafts or looks after stoves, and, leaving tidiness in her wake, sets the table and completes the preparations for breakfast.  The amount of work she can accomplish before it is served depends upon herself and upon how elaborate the meal may be.  After the main part of the breakfast has been served she may be excused from the dining room, and takes this time to open bedroom windows and empty slops, after which she has her own breakfast.  When the breakfast table has been cleared, the dining room set to rights, food taken care of, and utensils put to soak, the mistress inspects pantry and refrigerator, offers suggestions for the disposal of left-overs, arranges with the maid for the day’s meals, and makes out the list for grocer and butcher, adding whatever she thinks best to the list of needed staples already prepared by the maid—­tea, sugar, soap, etc.  Never leave the entire ordering of supplies to the maid, her part being simply to jot down on a pad hung in the kitchen for that purpose a memorandum of such things as need replenishing.  When the conference