The person in charge of the linen room will be expected to keep the linen in repair and to account for every piece that passes through her hands. It is very important to have a systematic method of accounting for linen that will enable the housekeeper to know the amount on hand, and to discover if linen is lost. It matters not whether the washing is done on the hospital premises or sent to a commercial laundry, some system of accounting is necessary unless the housekeeper is willing for a constant depletion of blankets, sheets, towels, etc., to go on without her knowledge. Where a public laundry is patronized the importance of this matter is evident. When hundreds of towels and sheets are sent in at once, it is not unusual for linen to be taken from the large quantity to supply missing articles in the list of other customers who had sent smaller amounts, from which, if articles were missing, it would be quickly discovered. The housekeeper of a certain institution relates the following incident bearing on this point: The linen of the institution was sent to a public laundry, and for some time she had been missing towels, though the laundry always claimed to return the proper number. Finally the manager of the institution happened into a barber shop and accidentally discovered there a pile of the institution towels. Inquiry revealed the fact that the barber kept strict account of his towels and the laundry had to return the number sent or pay for them. The barber cared nothing whose mark was on the towels if he got as many as he sent. A laundry employee had been in the habit of substituting linen from large institutions to make up the required number from smaller lots, and thus the problem of the missing linen for that institution was solved. The inexperienced housekeeper may perhaps settle down into the belief that of course the linen sent to the hospital laundry is safe since it does not leave the premises. If all servants and everybody about the establishment were tried and true and trustworthy, through and through, it might be safe, but in these days of possible degeneracy and certain uncertainty in the servant class, it is wise to trust implicitly but few, and to keep an eye on those. [Sidenote: Discarded Linen]