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
For the finger-plates, and other brass ornaments about the room, you
must have pieces of pasteboard, with holes cut in them of the size of
the respective articles, to prevent soiling or rubbing the door or
furniture to which they are fixed.
The carpet next requires attention; this must generally be swept with
the carpet-mop, to clean off the lint and dust, but, occasionally with
the carpet-broom, or long hair-broom, first strewing it over with a
few damp tea-leaves, (which should always be saved for the purpose,
when the tea-things are washed up.) Then remove the chairs, and other
furniture, to the middle of the room, turn up the sides of the carpet,
and sweep up all the dust and flue round the sides of the room before
replacing the carpet.
Always rub and dust the chairs, tables, and other mahogany furniture,
in the middle of the room, and return them to their places, one by one,
as you finish them; this will prevent your scratching or soiling the
walls or wainscot. The window-curtains and hangings may not require
to be shaken and brushed every day, but the windows should be brushed
with the long hair-broom, and cobwebs and other filth, on the ceiling,
and upper corners of the room, should be occasionally sought for,
and removed. When she has swept the room, and rubbed and dusted the
furniture, she must dust the window-frames, ledges of the wainscot, and
doors, chimney-pieces, glass, china, and other ornaments, and having
seen that every article is in its proper place, stir the fire, and
taking all her brushes, &c. leave the room perfectly clean, and fit for
the reception of the family at breakfast. She next proceeds (if the
parlour be up stairs) to sweep and dust the stairs, which she does one
by one, sweeping the dust from each into the dust-pan, and afterwards
dusting the windows and balustrade as carefully as she had done the
room.
She should also sweep the passage in the same way. The floor-cloth in
the passage, for the daily cleaning, need only to be swept and rubbed
with a damp flannel first, and afterwards with a dry one. The steps, at
the front door, should be cleaned every morning, after the passage is
swept out, and the street-door and the knocker, &c. must be cleaned or
polished. The kitchen stairs also, and the steps at the back-door, if
any, are to be cleaned. Above all, the kitchen must now be put in order.
She then washes her hands and face, and puts on a clean apron, &c.
so as to be cleanly before the parlour bell rings for breakfast.
Directions for setting out the breakfast table will be found in the
Instructions to the Footman, as well as for dinner, lunch, tea, &c.
As soon as the family is seated at breakfast, she throws open the
bed-room doors and windows, and uncovers the beds to be aired, and
placing the bed-clothes across a chair at the foot of the bed, leaves
them in that state till breakfast is finished, when she proceeds to
make the bed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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