DAILY HOUSE-WORK.

      82. The DAILY DUTIES of the HOUSE SERVANTS are as follow:--

      83. The beds are stripped, and slops emptied in all the rooms. Then bed-making follows ; then the sitting-room not used for breakfast must be swept, dusted, and arranged ; and then the routine cleaning of the day must follow. Every household has good reasons for each day's work. The following regulation has been thought to be a good guide:-

      84. The NURSE cleans her own nursery, night nursery, and her own bedroom. The COOK undertakes steps and hall, passages, kitchen, larder, scullery, and washhouse, and downstairs closets, and, by arrangement with the mistress at time of hiring, cleans the dining-room and helps to make the beds.

      85. WINDOW-CLEANING is also a matter of special arrangement. The cook "answers the door" until 12 o'clock, after which hour the housemaid is supposed to be dressed, and should be, if she is quick and clever at her work. The cook should clean her own bedroom, even if shared by the housemaid ; and the housemaid is bound, by kitchen etiquette, the unspoken tradition of the spit, to make the tea at breakfast, to arrange and make tea at the afternoon meal, and to lay the cloth for the kitchen supper. This rule has originated, no doubt, in the kindly feeling which prompts those who have no cooking to do to prepare the meals for those whose work is almost entirely cooking, and who are, therefore, little disposed to do so for themselves.

      86. It is well, WHEN ENGAGING SERVANTS, to mention all the rules that a mistress considers best for the happiness of her household, and these details cannot be too much studied by those who hold the reins. A holiday every six weeks should be given to each servant, and by turns they should be allowed to go out on Sunday evenings. Some families can manage to allow one maid the Sunday morning, the other the Sunday evening, but this cannot always be done. The wages should be paid regularly upon quarter-day -- the 25th March, 21st June, 29th September, and 25th December, -- upon which last day a nice Christmas-box should be added to encourage good service and promote kindly feelings. It is best to provide tea, sugar, beer, and washing, unless washing is done at home, when, of course, it is done by the maids and laundress. If servants work hard they require some ale, and by providing a cask of good ale, and putting it in the cook's charge, they have sufficient, and there is no objectionable calling of public-house boys for orders or beer-cans. The ale should be computed to last a certain time, and the brewer be ordered to call at regular intervals. Women servants are allowed a pint and men servants a quart per diem, and a gallon over should be allowed in small households for waste in constant drawing. The family, if ale-drinkers, should have a separate cask, as it is impossible to ascertain the right quantity to be used when friends drop in.

      88. Tea and bread and butter, or bread and preserve, are the servants' ordinary breakfast.

      89. DINNER, hot meat and vegetables, alternately with cold meat and pudding ; but a considerate mistress will consult her servants' health and her own interest by giving them an agreeable change of food.

      90. TEA and bread and butter for tea.

      91. SUPPER, bread and meat or bread and cheese.

      92. Coffee makes an agreeable change with tea, and should be occasionally allowed in the proportion of ½ lb. per head per week.

      93. Care economy without meanness, on the part of a mistress, will do more to correct the extravagance of servants than any precept. If a maid sees her mistress carefully throw up the ashes, put out unnecessary candles, or gaslights, and economize properly, she will try also to save her mistress's property.

      94. We think that by laying aside all pretence, and being open and honest with servants, we make them careful and exact too. Where the mistress is given to changing her servants, complaining of them, &c., the fault is usually  her own. The fault is with the driver, not with the horses, who, in light but firm hands, would run well together, and do their work well and quickly.

      95. SERVANTS should never be reproved before each other or before anyone. If there is occasion for more than a word of direction, a lady should ring for her servant and speak kindly and seriously to her, showing a willingness to help her, though by no means slighting over the subject in question, or allowing any timidity of demeanour to appear.

      96. DOMESTIC QUARRELS often embitter the peace of households and cause dismissals ; these can be quelled by a gentle firmness and the following rules:-- never listen to what one servant says of another ; never ask a question about a new comer of the old trusted servant ; if angry voices and loud talk reach your ear, ring for the delinquents, and before both  say, "I have no wish to interfere with your quarrels ; say and do what you please ; but I  must never hear a sound of dispute or anger in this house." The utter absurdity of being allowed  to quarrel will, in most cases, prevent a repetition of the offense ; and as this is a tried recipe for domestic broils, we give it verbatim.

      97. But it is only a gentlewoman who can say this -- one who never is betrayed into an angry word or cross retort ; example and precept must go hand in hand. Our experience is, that in life what we believe people to be, we make them.  "I believe you to be honest," has kept many a poor tempted soul from evil, and it is the duty of mistresses to guard their household  as they would their children from opportunities of doing wrong. Young girls should not be sent out late at night to post letters or to fetch beer ; should be advised to put by a little of each quarter's money in the post-office savings-Bank ; should be counciled as to what is nice to buy in the way of dress ; should never be given old finery ; should be lent nice books, not only religious but amusing works ; should be led to take an interest in the garden, or in the growing flowers, the birds or animals of the house ; and in the children, for if the children are not utterly spoiled, and the maids not utterly bad, they cannot help taking an interest in the nursery.

      98. If "suspicion haunts" the mistress's mind (we are supposing her to be a sensible, kind-hearted person), her best plan is to change her servants ; she cannot be comfortable with them, and there is usually more or less ground for these doubts. A mistress cannot follow her stores into the kitchen and see that every ounce is carefully used, but she can resist the continual petty larceny, which destroys all her attempts at economy and heavily burdens her purse.

      99. ENGAGING SERVANTS.-- this important business is usually thought a pleasing excitement by one class of mistresses, who are constantly changing, and who do not know how to appreciate a good servant ; or a dreadful trouble and worry by those who are idle or careless.

      100. If a lady will reflect upon the importance of engaging a good servant, she will hesitate before taking a written character, unless under very exceptional circumstances. There are four ways of obtaining servants : inquiring of trades-persons ; advertising for servants ; answering advertisements ; and applying at servants' offices.

      101. When servants are obtained through TRADESMEN, which is one of the easiest modes, there are some disadvantages. The servant is placed under favour to her patron, and in case of a dishonest butcher, for example, would be expected to shut her eyes to short weights, inferior meat, &c. Then she frequently has acquaintances in the neighbourhood, or has been servant to some of one's friends: two objections to begin with, and many others will suggest themselves. ADVERTISING for servants costs from three to five shillings, according to the length of advertisement, and entails remaining at home during the hours stated.

      102. This, where practicable, is an excellent plan, for when the lady sees a servant whose appearance pleases her, whose recommendations are apparently good, and whose "character" is not "short," she can enter into details of the work, show the servant the house, the rooms, and ascertain whether the arrangements, if carried out, are likely to be permanent. The servant, on her side, can judge of the kind of place and mistress, and decide for or against it at once, instead of in a "month's time."

      103. But,  as every plan has its drawbacks, if evilly disposed, the servant about to leave can prejudice the new comer against the place.

      104. Answering advertisements is by no means a certain way of obtaining servants, and should not be resorted to when time is an object.

      105. Applying at servants' offices and homes is one of the best plans ; and at some of these, ladies can comfortably see and engage servants. The characters are all inspected by the managers ; but as, with so large a number, the minute points which so particularly affect the comfort of a household cannot be determined, a mistress should never think any trouble too great which allows a personal interview with the late mistress of the proposed maid.