972. _Making Beds, &c._--When you have taken orders about dinner, you should go up into the bed-rooms, to assist the house-maid in making the beds--having already washed your hands, and put on your clean bed-apron. It is very proper to keep a bed-apron entirely for this purpose, one that will wrap quite round you, and tie together behind; and to take it off, and fold it up, as soon as the beds are made. It will serve for a week, with care; therefore, if you make a rule to put on a clean one every Monday morning, the bed-clothes and furniture will never get soiled by rubbing against your gown or clothes. Attention to such little niceties as these is so easy, that it is surprising any one should neglect them, particularly as they make all the difference between a good servant and a bad one. 973. _Arrangement of the Dinner-Table._--Always have the salt-cellars filled with fine clean salt, and the cruets and cruet-stand dusted; and that each of the cruets are about half-full of vinegar, oil, pepper, sugar, &c., such as they are intended to hold; and although this is the housemaid's duty, it is only kind in the cookmaid to give the housemaid all the information she may require or ask for; a good dinner will look very unhandsome, unless the housemaid takes care that the salts and cruets are clean, and sufficiently filled to accompany it to table. The housemaid should also see that the mustard-cruet is quite clean, before it is put on the table; for if the mustard is dried on the edges, or on the spoon, it has a very disagreeable appearance, and betokens an untidy servant. 974. _The Dinner-Hour, and its Duties._--In order more surely to be correct to the dinner-hour, allow yourself from fifteen to twenty minutes for taking up the dinner, and for any hindrances that may occur; and take care to have the fire made up in proper time for cooking--regulating the size of it according to what you have to cook. It should be stirred as little as possible while you are cooking; indeed, a good cookmaid stirs her fire only once during her roasting, and that is when she turns the meat, or alters the hanging of it, at which times she takes the meat and dripping-pan away from the fire, as stirring creates both dust and smoke; but as dust or coal may, by accident, fall into the dripping-pan, keep ready a dish-cloth, to wipe it out directly. Be mindful, also, to keep in the house a stock of the things that are commonly wanted, such as flour, salt, pepper, spices, &c.; but always make a point of using up what you had, before you begin upon the fresh supply; and be sure to put them away into their proper places, as you receive them--as mustard, pepper, spices, tea, coffee, &c., will spoil, if kept in the papers they are sent home in.