Order in Our Homes.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 212, 23 July 1887, Page 3

Order in Our Homes.

One of the first requisites of a well ordered home is punctuality. If there is no regard for time, but a " happy-go-lucky " administration, there is always more or less friction. Trains run at a regular hour. Schools and offices begin at a certain time. So, if the arrangements of a house are not punctual its inmates will always be in a wearying, irritating hurry and yet never in time. Napoleon's cook always had a roast chicken ready for his> master at any time he called for bi eakfast, because every quarter of an hour he put a fresh chicken down to roast. If we con not afford so many chickens we | must be punctual to the settled hour of I meals. A lady of experience observes that a good way to pick out a husband is to see how patiently he waits for dinner when it ig behindtime. Her husband remarks that a good way to pick out a wife is to see whether the woman has dinner ready in time. A man said, " I have a very reliable clock, for when it points at 2 it always strikes 12, and then I know it is half-past 7 o'clock." I spent the other day in a house the mistress of which resembles that clock, and I never wish to enter it again. Every meal was at least an hour late. The hostess spent much of her time in looking for keys, and only spoke to apologize for things that never would have gone wrong if she had been a centro of order rather than as she was, painfully chaotic. We often speak of " business men," but are there not business women, too in the world ? Certainly, for the management of a household is as much a matter of business as the management of a shop or of a counting-houso. It requires method, accuracy, oi'ganisation, industry, economy, discipline, tact, knowledge and capacity for adapting means to ends. All this is of the essence of business, and hence business habits ought to be cultivated by giils who aspire to succeed in life. Mr Bright has said of boys : " Teach a boy arithmetic thoroughly and he is a made man." Why ? Because it teaches him method, accuracy, value, proportion, relations. But does not a girl require to learn arithmetic as much as does a boy? She does, for when she becomes a wife, if she is not up to her business — that is, the management of her domestic affairs in conformity with the simple principles of arithmetic — she will, through sheer ignorance, be liable to commit extravagances which may be most injurious to her family peace and comfort. Mothod, which is the soul of business, is also of great importance in the home. The unpunctual woman, like the unpunctual man, occasions dislike because she consumes and wastes time. To the business man time is money ; but to the business woman method is more— it is peace, comfort and domestic prosperity.