WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 209, 10 May 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

I (Conducted by "Eileen"). j j NEW SCHOOL FOR BRIDES. LEARNING TO MANAGE A HOUSE BEFORE MARRIAGE. (London Daily Mail). A new school for brides, in which the ' simple but not very obvious duties of < •housekeeping and servant management are to be I aught, and taught quickly, is the excellent idea of a lady in London, in view of the real need there is for sueh a course of instruction. But are not the mothers of prospective brides the right persons to impart such knowledge to their daughters? And are there not schools already here, there and everywhere in which the duty is undertaken in elaborate ''courses"? Such were the questions put to Mrs. Xorthcott, a London lady, ami the instigator of the new method, and here are her very pertinent replies:—■ "Let me go back to the very cause of my scheme," she said. "It so happens that to me have come from time to time girls who are going to marry young professional men, whose moderate incomes would need careful management. The brides-to-be have consulted me in a state bordering on panic. They have said: 'What am Ito do? I don't know anything about housekeeping. Oan't you give me some hints?' AN UNAVAILING APPEAL. "The appeal to their mothers has been unavailing. 'My dear,' said one mother, and her candidly expressed opinion was that of all the rest, 'I simply do not know how to help you. I have outgrown the kind of housekeeping that you are going to begin with. I can tell you j what it costs to run a house on £2OOO, l £3OOO or £SOOO a year, as the case may I be, and how many servants are required you know yourself by counting ours. " 'But how you are to portion out an I income of £7OO I confess I am utterly unable to say. Nor can I initiate you I into the duties of two or three servants,, nor tell you what you shou'd pay for I meat and vegetables, fruit, groceries, and so forth. I " 'Prices have changed since your fa- ' ther and I began life together on a small income—and —well, you must do as I did, I suppose, feel your way, and profit by your mistakes.'" easily leakned. It is Mrs. Nortlieott's ambition to help girls who suffer under disabilities of this kind; to instruct them, not theoretically, j but by actual practice in her own house, ; f in their future duties as housekeepers; ..) to prove to them that there is no gloomy j.hogey to face in keeping house on a modi crate.scale, but a thoroughly interesting f experience. Housekeeping, she mainj tains, is easily learned, and this is how | she proposes to teach it:

"I shall avoid theory as much as possible in favor of 'showing them how.' Theory is .all very well if a girl has plenty of time and can carry it out in practice under the supervision of experts, after the method of some schools of domesticity. Lectures may be interesting, and are. But the girls who come to me are living in a whirl of society functions, trousseau-buying, furnishing, and what not incidental to the approaching marriage. They need commonplace, ordinary, I'll-show-you-how methods.

"With one hour's tuition a day a month before marriage I can initiate them into the ways of the thrifty housewife. A greater length of time is better for them, but the one hour is a sound working basis. They arrive at 9.30, and proceed with my cook. That teaches them how to order and what to order for j a small family, with special reference to I the ecomonical sequence of dishes, j "Those who can afford more time may > learn to cook if they like. But the ground-work I propose will give a girl that comprehension and expert knowI ledge so necessary to her prestige as misj tress. ■ "After the interview with the cook I I take my pupils out to make the actual I purchases for the day's meals. They learn the price of meat and the names and appearance of the different joints, what poultry, game and fish are in season, their cost, and how to differentiate good from bad. They become experts in weights and measures, learning how much meat, how many pounds of butter, and what groceries are required for a family of a given size. THE BRIDE AND BRASSES. Buying-in is one of the most important lessons a bride-elect, who will have in the future a definite housekeeping sum a week to expend, has to learn. It may be that she will not have to do it in person when she is married, but even then she ought to know how it is done, in order to check the tradesmen's hooks. Girls there are who in their homes have no idea of how the work of the house is done. One bride-elect to whom Mrs. Northcott was talking upon household subjects said she had no idea that brasses were ever cleaned. She thought they never wanted cleaning! It had never occurred to her to imagine anything else. How can a girl who is so ignorant of the elementary phases of domestic work plan out their work for her servants? The mere suggestion that each servant should receive a card with her duties clearly defined thereon fills the prospective bride with dismay. In her absolute ignorance of the matter she cannot frame a programme. .Moreover, it is of no use to present duty cards to the maids if the task of seeing that they are obeyed is not carried out properly by the mistress. Many of the pupils will not, in all probability, ever require to clean silver or to make beds, but they may have to teach their servants how they like it done, and to those who are going with their husbands into oversea dominions remote from society, the knowledge is imperative. ° The management of -servants is another item of housekeeping that the young bride should learn. The exact kind of tact that is wanted to preserve pleasant relationships between mistress and maid cannot be learned from books, but the woman of experience who has solved the problem of how to make her servants comfortable and happy, how to get the best work possible out of them, and how to keep them, is able to pass her knowledge on to others. All such knowledge is necessary, and many a young life is made miserable through lack of it. On the wedding day the bride may look happy enough. But privately, perhaps, her happiness is tinged with consternation when she suddenly realises her woeful ignorance of everything appertaining to practical housekeeping.