The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3, September 1864 | Page 9

Although the plan of keeping a book of family accounts only belongs
incidentally to the main subject under discussion, it is so important that
I cannot refrain from a more special mention of it than is given above.
It is the simplest thing in the world, not taking more than ten minutes
on an average every day. For reference, in case of a disputed bill, it is
invaluable, while its influence in keeping down expenses is
wonderfully wholesome.
If the affairs of a family are to be conducted on business principles, the
family account book cannot be neglected. It would be just as safe and
sensible for the merchant to neglect his cash book, as for his domestic
partner, who undertakes to do her business properly, to fail to keep her
cash book.
One of the regulations which is proposed posed above as part of the

system of family management is, in my judgment, as important in its
bearing upon the honesty of the servant as it is upon the question of
economy. I refer to the keeping the family stores under the immediate
care of the housekeeper. It is nothing to the discredit of servants that
this is said. More people are honest through circumstances than is
generally supposed. Many a servant is tempted into habits of pilfering
by the free and unquestioned access she has to the family stores. I have
before used the case of a man carrying on a business and having
employés under him, to illustrate my subject. Suppose a merchant or a
bank should allow all their clerks free access to the safe or till, they
knowing no cash account was kept. If some of these boys or young men
were tempted to steal, would not the blame lie chiefly at the door of
those who, having it in their power, yet did not remove the temptation?
Having now given a few rules for the improvement of servants, which
are easily tried, and which I know from observation of their practical
working are worth a trial by every housekeeper, I wish to add a few
words concerning the material of which, our present supply of servants
consists, and to offer some observations upon the question of a
prospective supply of possibly a better material.
It is probably no exaggeration to say that four fifths of our female
servants are Irish. I have already given several reasons why this class
are more intractable and difficult to manage than any other. To apply
the rules I have given to this class will be more difficult than to the
domestics of any other nation. But, as I have said, I have seen them
enforced with success even in cases where an Irish domestic was the
subject. And here let me repeat that almost everything depends upon
the starting right. No Irish girl ever yet went to a new place perfectly
sure of her ground, although they generally can measure the quality of
their mistress during the negotiations which precede the engagement. In
starting with a new servant, it is emphatically the first encounter that
must decide who is to be the ruler. Dignity, coolness, and decision,
upon the first attempt to 'put on airs,' will generally bring you off
permanent conqueror.
By some housekeepers German domestics are preferred. They are

naturally less impulsive and more amenable to control than the Irish.
Their class prejudices are not so violent; there is less unity of purpose
among them, and they are, in consequence, more favorable subjects for
the application of the rules given than are generally the Irish. It is,
however, difficult to assimilate the German girls to American customs.
They are not apt to learn, and great patience is required in teaching
them. The virtues of order and cleanliness seem to be not only rare in
them, but exceedingly difficult to graft upon them. Their cooking,
especially, is generally execrable. But once properly trained, they make
the best of servants. They are generally contented, almost always
cheerful and good tempered, and have little of that irritating pertness
and 'independence' so characteristic of the Irish domestic.
That branch of the present subject which relates to the going out to
service of American women has been publicly discussed somewhat
more extensively than any of the others, particularly of late, it having
entered largely into the question of woman's labor, which has been
attracting considerable attention. It is truly a deplorable thing that
household service is so generally regarded as a menial employment, not
fit for an American woman to engage in. Our countrywomen will do
almost anything rather than go out to service. They will work ten or
twelve hours a day in close, unwholesome shops, surrounded by all the
unsexing and contaminating influences attending the customary free
and easy commingling of