Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

14 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

CONFESSION OF POISONING A…

THE TRIAL OF MRS. LANGFORD.

GERMAN HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

GERMAN HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. A gentleman writing to the Daily News has sent the fol- lowing information respecting the domestic habits of German ladies, and if English ladies would but emulate so good an example, there would be more comfort and happiness in many homes than there is at present; and it may be added, without being irreverent to the "gentler sex," that there would be fewer old maids:— As a subscriber to your paper, and a person long resident abroad, I hope I may be allowed to make a few remarks on one of your recent articles on social questions. I allude to one in which you point out the economy in German households, from the ladies being in the habit of taking part in the duties performed in England by highly paid servants. There are some very mistaken ideas prevalent in England on these sub- jects, as to the time spent in cooking, as to the manner in which it is spent. In fairness to the English lady, it should be recol- lected that a German kitchen is a much cleaner and more airy place with its tidy stove, even though one room serves for kitchen and scullery, than the English one with its great range. A German pot would have no opportunity of saying to the kettle, as in our old homely proverb, "How smutty thou art," for neither one is sooty and I speak of a coal not of a wood burning country. The cooking in an ordinary German gentleman's house is all over by one or two o'clock, which is the gen- ral dinner hour and the afternoon is an much at the disposal of the ladies for visiting, coffee. parties (exactly the counterparts of our afternoon teas) music or reading, as it is in England. A German professor wishing to marry on what would be a hoptlepsly small income in England, does not "marry a cook," in the sense of a woman who knows nothing but cooking, but a young lady who in the most ordinary cases has had a very sound ground- work of education on which subsequent intellectual culture may be based, according to her mental tastes and powers, far more securely than is generally the case in England. When she left school, however, at about seventeen, she did not drop down into an idle life at home, or take to schools and hospitals to work on her superfluous energies she took her share of the household duties I do not mean she scrubbed floors or cleaned bedrooms, but she went with her mother occasionally to market. She first saw and then took part in the cooking, and was very soon able to do the smaller part herself- cakes, puddings, and help in preserves; experience only can teach the superintendence of roasting, baking, boiling-times and quantities—but it is experience easily gained. Nor is it only cooking the ladies help in—the light work of the housemaid, dusting the ornaments, washing the best china and glass, falls to their part, and thus the upper housemaids' occupation's gone," and when the mistress has duly gained her experience in the kitchen the first-rate cook is not required. There is a housemaid less, and a cook at half the wages only needed, a distinc- and direct economy. Then as to waiting at table the German ladies do help, but not as standing about to wait as our green- grocers and vergers do in cathedral towns, or a half- dozen black-coated gentlemen in London. The servant brings in the dishes and sets them on the table, the party pass them round, and the family often change the plates, and the room is all the quieter for it._ Now, what is to hinder our English ladies doing the like ? For there is no neglect of accomplishments, so called, or needlework caused by it, nor does it any way hinder the German lady from joining in society. There is in some cases le8 out-door work done, but there are many who work for and visit the poor a great deal. May I suggest as a question worthy of consideration whether the judgment of damsels of eighteen, fresh from the isolation of the schoolroom, is quite as ripe and equal to supply social, economical, and religious advice to poor married women with families, as it might be after a few years of household experience at home ? May I also remind the young ladies that if they are competent to manage the house without the expense of first-rate servants, they are likely to be acceptable wives to sensible men.

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