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The Management Of Help (Can do is to remedy its evils)

can do is to remedy its evils so far as is possible in her own family. In employing a new domestic, there should be the utmost frankness. She ought to be fully informed as to what she is expected to do, what her wages will be, and how paid, and what privileges will be granted. If she is not pleased, let her depart without regret. If you engage her, let her understand first and always that you are mistress, and claim the right to have the work done in your way, which, if you are as skillful a housewife as you ought to be, you will be able to show her is the best way. The mistress ought always to be able to do every thing better and quicker than any domestic ever dared think of doing it. If she gives orders which betray her ignorance, she may as well resign her scepter at once in shame and humiliation. No mistress who does not know how to do work herself can ever be just to her help; and even when she is a thorough housekeeper, a turn in the kitchen for a day or two will often be like a new revelation to her.

Above all, the utmost kindness should be shown, and the mistress of the house should always be mistress of her temper. She should put herself in the "girl's" place, and apply the golden rule in all dealings with her. Give unqualified praise when deserved, but never scold. If any thing is done improperly, take some proper time and have it done correctly, again and again if necessary. Give domestics all the privileges possible, and when obliged to deprive them of any customary indulgence, make it up soon in some other way.. Never to find fault at the time an error is committed, if in the least irritated or annoyed, is an invaluable rule in the management of domestics or children, and indeed in all the relations of life. A quiet talk after all feeling has subsided, will do wonders toward reform, while a sharp and bitter rebuke would only provoke to further disobedience. It is especially important and right to respect religious and conscientious scruples, no matter how light and misguided they may seem. To cherish what beliefs she pleases is an inalienable right. The care for the comfort and attractiveness of the domestic's room is also a duty which every generous mistress will cheerfully look after. The servant who is tucked away in a gloomy attic, unfinished, uncarpeted, and uncurtained except by cobwebs, with the hardest bed and the meanest bed-clothing in the house, can hardly be expected to be neat and tidy in her personal habits. But, after all, it will be impossible to secure and keep really good "girls" unless they can be won into sympathy and attachment to the family, so that they will regard themselves as a part of it, with a future identified with its fortunes. To do this, the mistress must respect her maid as a sensitive woman like herself, and not class her as a mere drudge of an inferior order of creation. She must recognize the fact that character, and not station or wealth, make the lady, and that it is possible for those who serve to respect themselves. She must let her domestics see that she does not consider their work degrading, but honorable, and that she does not for a moment expect them to regard it in any other light. Above all, she must never show them, by word, look, or action, that she "looks down" on them because of their work. By the cultivation of such amenities as these, the house may really be made a home for the domestic as