The complete servant: Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tablesAdams, Samuel, servant
History
The complete servant: Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables
Adams, Samuel, servant
Home economics; Household employees
Every thing being adjusted in the rooms for the reception of the
family, the house-maid next opens the shutters of the dining-room, and
drawing-room, where she and the footman regularly proceed with their
respective business in the manner above mentioned. The house-maid with
the fires and fire-place, floors, carpets, &c. scouring, washing,
brushing, and dusting them; and the footman, rubbing and cleaning
the mahogany furniture, looking-glasses, and other articles in his
department, till all is made quite clean, and the rooms are fit for the
reception of the family.
At an appointed time she repairs to the dressing-rooms of the master
and mistress, and others in use, empties the slops, replenishes the
ewers and water-carofts with fresh spring and soft water, and fills
the kettles for warm water—cleans up the fire-places, lights the
fires, brushes the carpets, sweeps the rooms, dusts the furniture, and
puts the rooms in order before the lady’s-maid and valet come to make
their arrangements previous to the rising of their superiors.—Having
done these, she sweeps down the principal stair-case and goes to her
breakfast.
As soon as the best bed-rooms and dressing-rooms are at liberty, she
repairs thither, puts out the fires, or not, according as the weather
is,—throws open the windows, (or the doors only, in unfavourable
weather) to air the rooms, and the beds; opens all the beds, throws
the bed-clothes off, on the backs of chairs, placed at the foot of the
bed, shakes up each bed, and then proceeds to her other business in
the rooms, in order to give as much time as can be spared for airing
the beds. Meanwhile, she cleans up the fire-places, again, lays the
fires to be ready when wanted, and having washed her hands and put on
a clean apron, she makes the beds. (In this business she is usually
assisted by the under house-maid, as it requires two persons to make
a bed well.) This done, she mops or brushes the carpets, to clean off
the flue or feathers and dust,—sweeps out the rooms, rubs and dusts the
furniture, supplies the ewers and carofts with clean water, and then
retires; leaving the rooms properly arranged against the coming of the
lady’s-maid and valet to prepare for their master’s and mistress’s
dressing, previous to their going out.
She next proceeds to the other bed-rooms—opens the windows and makes
the beds—empties the slops—cleans out the rooms, rubs and dusts the
furniture, and puts them in proper order.
Having finished all the bed-rooms, the stair-cases, landings, and
passages, will next claim her attention, which are also to be swept,
the carpets brushed or swept, and the floor-cloths rubbed over with
a clean wet flannel, and wiped dry with a clean house-cloth. On the
appointed general cleaning days, the floor-cloths must be scoured with
warm soap suds, and afterwards wiped dry, with a clean linen cloth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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