mistress does not put out all her washing: besides, lodgers generally make a little present if the servant-girl is civil, which I hope I shall always be. I was very glad of the half-crown, for I wanted to buy a little worsted to set on some stockings for winter, because I can knit while I am watching Miss Fanny play about in the back garden. But I hope I shall be able to keep one-and-sixpence towards the saving bank; for I must begin this year, you know." I have mentioned that these two girls continued in their places a second year; but you may like to glance through their account books with them at their next meeting, when each had received their first year's wages. So here are the THOUGH small be my portion, and humble my birth, Yet I'm sure (though the great ones may reckon it strange) And pleasure's a phantom, and honour's a name, I should hate, when I heard her, to hurry and run, For labour is light when perform'd with good will. 'Tis a robbery, methinks, of the sick and the poor; Were I wasteful and careless, 'tis they that must lose. I like to go quickly and steadily through; I have bought a new Bible, for that you, no doubt, And then, 'tis but right I should send a small part - Servants' Magazine. FRIENDLY HINTS TO SERVANTS. ON ANSWERING THE DOOR AND THE BELLS. Be attentive and quick. Never suffer any one to stand long at the door, especially in wet, or cold, or very hot weather; do not oblige them either to knock or ring twice. Be civil in your treatment of all comers. Civility is as cheap as it is pleasing; pertness is both odious and inexcusable. Be cautious whom you admit into the house in the absence of the family. If a stranger call, however plausibly he may speak, do not admit him to any of the rooms, or leave him to fetch pen and ink, or comply with any other request he may make, unless some of the other servants are in the way; and by no means inform him of any of the circumstances of the family, as to who may be out, or who at home, &c. In receiving a message or name, be careful to take it exactly, and deliver it punctually. Do not give an answer without authority, especially to a person in the habit of calling it is easy to say, "I will inquire," and much better to do so; the member of the family about whom inquiry is made, though absent, may have left a message for the inquirer. If your employer is at home, but does not wish to be seen, say at once, "that he is engaged;" but do not say that he is not at home when he is. Servants should accustom themselves, on all occasions, to answer a bell immediately. A household servant having had an accident, which disabled her arm, took her tinderbox into the nursery, and requested the nurse-maid to strike a light for her, which she did; and by some accident a spark communicated to the clothes of a bed, where two children were asleep. After this the nurse-maid remained half an hour in the nursery, and then went down to prepare for her morning duties, without perceiving what had happened. On her opening the door, the air fanned the spark, and in a few minutes the slumberers were awakened by the flames which surrounded them. The mother, who was confined to her bed by sickness in an adjoining room, heard the children calling, "Jane, there's fire in the bed!" but she thought they said, "a spider in the bed;" without, therefore, being alarmed, she rang the bell, which Jane immediately answered, and reached the spot just in time to snatch the two babes from their perilous situation. Had Jane reasoned one minute, as is often done,—“ No doubt that bell is for me, to dress the children; I will just finish what I am about," or, "I will just fetch their shoes," or, "just fill this water jug, and then go,"- that minute would have rendered her assistance useless; the children would have perished, without the possibility of approaching to save them. I cannot refrain here from warning young girls of the frightful consequences that too often proceed from the carelessness of servants; such as leaving little children alone in a room with fire or candles; carrying the bed-candles about the house with long wicks, that actually drop fire about; putting a light into a closet, or on a shelf, near linen or papers; or, as I have often seen, a shelf above the candle, where the flame reaches so as to char the wood in a very short time; or, as was probably the case in the accident I have related, heedless scattering of lucifer-matches, which are very convenient articles, but highly dangerous in the hands of careless servants. Servants' Magazine; Faithful Servant; &e. |