Anne Frances Springsteed

“ And cleanliness means more than a clean gown and clean collar and cuffs. One of the first things for a waitress to consider is her supply of underclothing. She will see the necessity of fresh print dresses for morning work, and a neat dark costume for afternoons; but she may be thoughtless at first about underclothing. Yet to keep clean, and by keeping clean to promote good health, nothing is more important than to be able to change underclothing whenever she feels the need of doing so. ”

“ When the fruit course is finished, remove everything pertaining to it. Take first the fruit dish, then, in each hand, a plate with its finger-bowl, knife, and spoon, and place quietly and quickly in the pantry until all are removed. If a knife, only, has been used, do not leave the fruit spoon because it is clean, but take it away with the other things. If any fruit juice has, by chance, found its way to the polished table, take it up so deftly with a small napkin that no one is aware of it. ”

“ It is not something to be kept on one side, while it lets the other go free of responsibility. If responsibility be shirked by one party, then the other is at liberty to consider the contract broken, and decline to keep his part of it. For instance, a carpenter agrees to build a house for a certain sum of money. If he fails to build the house, the man for whom he agreed to build it does not feel bound to pay him anything for promising to build it. ”

“ If she can learn to make a bit of a pause at the plate—not disrespectfully, but by way of suggestion that some of the dish may be cared for—she will soon have no trouble.
In every household there are some things that will puzzle an ignorant girl and some that may puzzle even a competent, well-trained waitress; but study and careful thought will make her find the best way to promote the general comfort and keep each person at table happy and serene. ”

“ To be true and honest in spirit is to have an intelligent care of whatever is put in a worker’s charge and which belongs to her department. It is not honest to let a beautiful damask cloth with a little rent in it go to the laundress without first reporting the rent to the owner of the cloth. It is not honest to let a fine carver rust for lack of attention at the proper time. It is not true that no gas is wasted when a gas stove is left partly turned on all night near an open window. ”

“ One is always pleased by a novelty, that is, after the more substantial part of a meal is finished, and a waitress who becomes an artist in her especial line may not only give a great deal of pleasure to others, but keep herself from getting tired of the daily routine. ”

“ A waitress should remember, when going into a new family, that some things, which seem novel to her and only to be done away with, may be old-established family customs, to which she must adapt herself if she is to [Pg 89] give satisfaction. If she finds that pease, tomatoes, and other vegetables are served in a semi-liquid state instead of the drier one to which she has been accustomed, she must use the small dishes provided, remembering that the rule, “all vegetables are to be eaten from the dinner plate,” is not accepted by all housekeepers, although it is by a great number. ”

“ When she has adapted herself to her pantry and her pantry to herself, so that she can do her work in the best possible manner, she may turn her attention more entirely to the peculiarities of the family which she has agreed to serve, for it goes without saying that they have their peculiarities just as she has her own. For instance, we will suppose that one of the gentlemen always wishes butter at dinner, no matter how many sauces have been provided. ”

“ There are good reasons for serving the lady of the house first, although this rule is often waived to do honor to the distinguished guest [Pg 87] for whom a luncheon or dinner is given. In a country-house several distinguished people or dear friends are entertained at one time; to serve the hostess first and follow a regular order along the table makes no distinction. Novelties are often introduced, both in food and in service. Dishes are served before which a guest hesitates as to which fork or which spoon to use until he glances at his hostess to see which one she takes up. ”

“ When the idea is once grasped that a contract is not a one-sided affair, when a maid realizes that she is as much bound by it as her employer, then she will think before she promises, and she will not undertake more than she has capacity and training to perform. ”

“ Nothing should ever be done because Mrs. X’s butler does so and so, or because Mrs. Y’s maid says she saw it done like this in England. Every good rule has a good reason for its foundation; every rule which has not a good reason for being should be replaced by a better one. ”

“ The tray taken to an invalid should be studied as carefully as the table in the dining-room. A trained eye will let no spot or stain on the dining-room linen escape it; nor will a trained waitress fail to replace a spotted cloth by a fresh one. On a tray cloth a coffee stain or a fruit stain is not at all sure to escape notice because it is covered by a plate or a saucer. ”

“ A really good waitress can always command a proper return for her services. If she has brains enough to become a model waitress she will have sense enough to know what her services are worth, and her demands will be gladly acceded to when she has proved that her work is worth the price which she has placed upon it. This point being settled, she will be satisfied with the stated amount, and bend her mind to her work without any idea of attracting the favor of, or receiving tips from, any member or guest of the household. ”

“ The proper placing of a side-table makes every difference in the serving of a meal. A small table at each end of the room is often desirable. This gives a proper place to put down a vegetable or other dish, without walking the length of the room, when the waitress needs to take a plate to the carver for a second helping. This table may hold whatever extras may be needed by the hostess for the dishes which she serves, as the table near the host holds extra carvers, etc., which he may need. ”

“ There should be absolute cleanliness and noiseless movement. Meals should be ready on time, and there should be no occasion to wait for things that ought to be close at hand. Time may be gained without causing confusion, if proper thought be given beforehand to the serving of each particular dish. Instead of passing a fish sauce, it may, in many cases, be put on the platter with the fish, so that the carver serves some of it with each helping. Meat gravies may be put on [Pg 78] the table to be passed from one to another without the help of the waitress. ”

“ A waitress who has become competent may arrange and serve special meals, delegating the work done formerly with a caterer to assistants under her. She must be careful not to attempt more than she can safely perform, and then carry out her plan with quiet confidence in her own ability. Except in case of an accident which she cannot remedy, she should not speak to the hostess, who should be left perfectly free to entertain her guests without a care about the food which they are eating. ”

“ That plate or that saucer is the very one that will surely be lifted, and the stain will jar the sense of neatness, which grows more keen when one is shut in from all outside things which in health claim the attention.
Selection of china and glass is another important matter. A cup of one pattern set in a saucer of another pattern is an offence to the invalid’s eye, and to let a person suffering with pain put to his lips a glass with a piece chipped out of the edge is a cruelty. ”

“ Put the next dish on the top of the one you have already taken and the spoon by the other spoon. When you have taken dishes and spoons, take plates, piling one above another on your tray.
If there are few people at table, you may take all at once; if there are more, you must judge for yourself how many times to go. Follow this rule: Never pile dishes on a tray in a manner to look disagreeable to yourself or to those who sit at table.
Salad and dessert plates you may remove as you do cereal dishes, putting forks or spoons on the tray by the side of the plates. ”

“ Elderly persons should not be neglected, but should be especially considered at meals. Often some little thing from the side-board, not cared for by the rest of the family, may be desired by them. A little forethought will provide the vinegar or celery salt or whatever it may be, and no unnecessary interruption to the meal need be made.
At breakfast and luncheon a, waitress may add much to every one’s comfort by keeping a watchful eye on the plates of the children. A hungry child is sometimes apparently unreasonable without wishing to be naughty. ”

“ In the hands of an ignorant maid they are utterly useless. In careful hands they are a great aid and comfort in the breakfast-room.
A breakfast served in this way gives the following rules:
I—A dining-room must be in perfect order before breakfast is served.
II—A waitress is responsible for the heat of the dishes after they come from the kitchen. If too hot, she must cool them; if not hot enough, she must send them back.
III—Coffee and hot milk must be kept at the right temperature to preserve their best flavor. ”

“ To make every one comfortable is not easy, but it is quite possible. There must be no hurry; that is, no appearance of haste; but a waitress must move quickly to accomplish what is needed. If the butler’s pantry has a [Pg 11] gas stove, her task will be much simplified. The mistress of a household who breakfast in this manner will be glad to furnish her pantry with every convenience necessary for the comfort of her family. ”

“ The best serving is often most appreciated where there are not the conveniences necessary for carrying out rules which at first sight seem very simple. To remove the dishes from [Pg 80] a dinner of even five or six courses, according to the directions given, it is necessary to have a pantry large enough to put down the dishes as they are taken from the table, without piling one upon the other. This takes a good deal of space. The one waitress has no assistant to take from her hand and deftly separate knives, forks, and spoons from plates and dishes, piling all in a compact manner. ”

“ Truthfulness in the Waitress A waitress should be truthful in spirit, as well as truthful regarding the letter of her contract. We are told sometimes that this is impossible; that it is necessary to tell some falsehoods in order to secure a good place, or to keep one after being in it for a time. But this is not so. An expert waitress need never be without a place, and she need never stay in a place for lack of another after real difficulties have arisen in her way. ”

“ It will not be long before china closets which have been locked will be opened, old glass will be brought out for occasional use, and great pleasure expressed by its owners that it is again possible to have it handled without fear of its being destroyed. This [Pg 103] care bestowed upon inanimate things is one indication of a truthful character, and the waitress will find herself treated, not like one who must be watched and in a sense suspected, but with the confidence which is her right, and which will give her the sense of being an individual, not merely part of the household machinery. ”

“ Ladies say that again and again they have taken pleasure in fitting up cosey rooms for the maids who were to do the work of the household, and they have been grievously disappointed to find that their efforts were not in the least appreciated. No care was taken to preserve order and neatness; in fact, carelessness had been so universal that they had lost all heart about it. What is needed is plenty of fresh air, with an opportunity to preserve thorough cleanliness, and no right-minded lady will fail to respect a maid who makes a point of claiming these privileges. ”

“ When she does decide to go she will leave with regret what has been to her really a home, and, on the part of her employer, the most genuine regret will be felt and expressed. Great interest will be taken in all that concerns her future welfare, gifts will be prepared by each member of the household, [Pg 105] the wedding will be made merry, and good wishes will follow her to the new home, where it will be hoped that she may have as much comfort as she has given to others during her years of faithful work as a waitress. ”

“ Cheese should always be served on a folded napkin, for the reason that it is more or less oily and looks pleasanter on the napkin than on the plate.
The crisp green salad, with its accompaniment [Pg 85] of a red or golden cheese, is one of the most agreeable courses of the dinner, and no unsightly crumbs should be left on the cloth before it is served.
A carving-cloth should not be folded on the table. The corners may be turned deftly together and the cloth removed to a tray on which it may be carried to the pantry, to be folded later. ”

“ We have often heard that time is money. Now if one does not understand her work as she may understand it if she will study, she is constantly taking other people’s time, which we are told is other people’s money. ”

“ Never put many dishes to wash at one time. The size of your sink or pan will regulate the number. Put dishes of one kind in at one time, and dishes of another kind in the next time. Then you can work rapidly.
If you put in a pile of dinner plates, some bread-and-butter plates, a little pitcher, and a sauce boat, and you find when you are through that the pitcher is cracked, a handle off of the sauce boat, and a chip out of one of the large plates, do not report that you could not prevent these accidents. Such things do not come under the head of accidents ”

“ One point to be considered is that the articles which a maid destroys are often too valuable for her to replace. Even if she has the willingness, she has not the money to buy pieces of equal value. All the more should she provide herself with all possible safeguards against the destruction of other persons’ property. A contract might be entered into which would be something like this: A certain sum of money is promised to a waitress in return for work performed in an acceptable manner. ”

“ When a lady does dispense with finger-bowls and follows the custom of a Grand Pacha in having passed to her guests a large silver bowl of rose water, in which each one in turn is expected to dip the tips of the fingers and wipe them on a pearl-fringed towel, she need not be surprised if the first guest, seeing this bowl of rare workmanship presented at her left hand, looks about on the tray for some spoon or ladle by [Pg 88] which she is to help herself to the pale beverage. ”