The apprentice may stumble on the road to success and may even fall by the wayside. In order to succeed, she must give her time wholly to her occupation. She must be thankful for the successes that come to her and not fret over the failures, remembering that hotel housekeeping, like all other occupations, demands experience, patience, and perseverance, as well as skill, in its followers. The profession is overcrowded with novices to-day; they are the ones that have demoralized the profession--if the word, profession, may be applied to hotel housekeeping. The failure of many housekeepers is due to the lack of proper training; it is only the skilled housekeeper that wins lasting approval. A trained nurse must remain in a training school at least three years, possibly four, before she is given a certificate to care for the sick. The chef of the hotel kitchen, in all probability began his career as a scullion, serving at least ten years' apprenticeship in minor situations in the kitchen. The housekeeper must not be above gaining knowledge in the laundry and the linen-room. A woman that is ambitious to become a good housekeeper should first serve as a chambermaid. If she is wise, she will secure the good graces of the linen-woman by offering to help her mend the 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._