Voice of the People: Daily Life in the Antebellum Rural Delaware
County New York Area
Business/Labor |
Daily Plan of Work for a Housemaid
Before breakfast clean the sitting-room grates, where there have been fires in
winter; and in summer, dust them, and take care to have them always bright. Then
clean the sitting-rooms, beginning with that one which will first be wanted for
breakfast; and when there is not time to finish all the sitting rooms before
breakfast, return to complete them after you have had your breakfast.
The hall must, however, be swept and dusted after the first sitting room is
completed, before the others are entered upon; also the hall-door steps must
then be washed and kept very clean.
When the breakfast-room, hall; and door-steps, together with the remaining
sitting-rooms, are done, go into all the rooms that have been slept in, in order
to open the windows and turn down the beds to air and sweeten them, if the
occupants of the rooms have not already done this. Next fetch the slop-pail and
a can of hot water, and another of cold; empty all slops, and scald well all the
crockery that has contained them; after which, rinse every vessel with cold
water, and wipe each dry. Never fail to empty away all water left in the bottles
and jugs; rinse them well, and leave them supplied with fresh water.
Mind to have the cloths with which the bed-room crockery is wiped perfectly
sweet; to which end, wash them out daily after uses and hang them in the open
air.
Then, covering the rug with a cloth, and the sofas, &c., with dust sheets,
proceed to clean the grates and lay the fires ready for lighting.
Next wash your hands, put on a clean apron kept for the purpose, and make all
the beds, shake the feathers well, turning the beds; after which turn up the
valance, and sweep under the beds; and once a week wash under the beds with a
damp flannel.
Twice a week sweep each room; and before sweeping, fold up everything left
about, and put it into its place; and cover up beds, sofas, and furniture with
dust-sheets. Use tea-leaves when sweeping.
After sweeping a room, do not immediately remove the dust-sheets, but give a
little time for the dust to settle. Whether rooms have been swept or not, when
all else is done, they should be carefully and well dusted, and the furniture a
little rubbed.
No room is clean, unless the edges of doors and windows, the tops of wardrobes,
and all parts on which dust could rest, are well rubbed over with a duster.
The windows will want polishing from time to time; they should always look clean
and bright.
All fenders, fire-irons, and door-handles, should be kept bright and clean; a
little daily attention will effect this without much labor. No fire-places or
irons should be cleaned until the rug is turned back, and the carpet covered
with a hearth-cloth.
A black-lead box, and the brushes and cloths used in cleaning grates, &c.,
should never be set down on a carpet, but always on a hearth-cloth, and every
care should be taken that no spots or stains are made upon carpets and rugs.
Carpets should be taken up, and bed-rooms scoured once a month.
Stairs must be swept down every day, and cleaned more completely once a week,
when also all passages should be well swept.
The water-closet should be thoroughly cleaned each day.
Servants' sleeping-rooms should have the beds opened to air and sweeten, and the
windows opened before being left in the morning. This is highly requisite for
health. They should be scoured once in three weeks.
The slop-pail, after use, should be well rinsed with hot and cold water, and put
out of doors to keep it sweet, the lid being off it.
Banisters of stairs should be dusted every day.General Directions
Never begin to sweep a room or clean a grate, till the furniture is covered with
dust-sheets, and a hearth-cloth laid down. Always use tea-leaves in sweeping.
In fine weather, open all the windows, and keep them open as much as the
occupants of the room will permit. Shut them, however, before the evening damps
come on. In winter, never keep windows open after three o'clock.
A housemaid should portion out her extra room-cleaning, so as to divide the
sweeping and scouring equally amongst the days of the week.
All beds and mattresses should be occasionally taken off the bedsteads, that all
parts may be sweetened and dusted.
A good housemaid will have a pride in having everything under her care bright
and clean; she will not be afraid of trouble.
A good housemaid will watch over furniture, sewing on tapes and buttons as they
come off, and never allowing anything to become dull or dingy for want of
rubbing or polishing.
When the family quits a room for a time to take a meal in another, she should
enter that which they have left, attend to the fire and the hearth, put anything
right which is left out of order, and use her duster as may be requisite.
She should not fail to use the cobweb-brush from time to tune; indeed, her eye
will be in every corner to detect any particle of dust, or anything out of
order.
A good housemaid will be at her work every morning at six o'clock.
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