Various

“ Then Florence had privately urged Lucy to start with two servants.
“Get two smart girls for low wages,” she had said, “you won’t have much to do for a long time, except to watch that they are honest. It sounds well to say ‘my cook’ and ‘my housemaid.’ People think of a general servant as a mere slavey.”
But Lucy had steadily persisted in having only one, and Pollie’s diligence and progress had rewarded her.
Now, however, Lucy asked herself whether Charlie and she had done the very best after all. ”

“ Switzerland I have always thought most resembles England, in the interest of its history, and in the character of its people. In many ways it is the model country of Europe, for the Swiss are ever open to change and improvement, and to trying experiments in all the social walks of life into which many other greater nations would shrink from embarking. A book recently published on Social Switzerland gives a view of their charitable and other institutions, and shows this very clearly, and it is worth reading if you be interested in that side of the country. ”

“ This actually comforted Lucy a little. For though she was already paying all the wage her means could honestly afford, yet she had begun to reflect bitterly that, between the two registry offices, she had already laid out six shillings in less than two months, not to mention “deterioration of household stock” in burnt napery and other kitchen damages, still less to consider the wear and tear of her own nerves and the loss of her own time. If she was to go on paying and losing at this rate, she had realised that it would come to the same thing as offering twenty or twenty-two pounds a year. ”

“ For a history of England we cannot do better than select Green’s History of the English People, which is not only history, but history written in a delightsome manner, and quite long enough to be interesting and concise enough not to fatigue the reader of any age. ”

“ The lie is the first romance of childhood. The child plays with words as with everything else, and makes phrases without troubling himself as to reality. The real lie—the moral lie—is dissimulation which only arises from fear. ”

“ She knew enough of social conditions to know that few of those girls earned wages higher than her servant’s salary, while these had to provide everything out of their earnings, and her maid had to buy only her clothes, and had plenty of leisure to make and mend them. This proved that no mere increase of wages will bring back the tide of female labour to the haven of domestic service. ”

“ Foreigners have done much to make Switzerland delightful, and especially the English, for have we not that delightful Playground of Europe by Leslie Stephens, and J. A. Symonds’ Swiss Highlands, Tyndall’s Glaciers and Whymper’s Alps, to say nothing of a long series of most excellent guide-books, and histories, and the finest of poetry, beginning with Coleridge’s Hymn to Mont Blanc, and Byron’s Prisoner of Chillon.
There seems to be hardly a foot of this most delightful country that is without its interest, and its literature ”

“ If the country in which we travel be our own England, we generally have learnt enough of its history to make the names of the actors in it household words; and the local histories have been carefully collected for us by the many archæological societies in all parts of England. So that we may, if we like, know all particulars of the styles of living, and the people, and manners of the past centuries. In England especially, men who lived in it made the interest of the land they lived in, and the same is true of Scotland. ”

“ Fiction is natural to children. They do not, as a rule, lie artificially. The lie is the first exercise of the imagination—the first invention, the germ of art. Children often invent or lie to themselves. ”

“ A child should not need to choose between right and wrong. It should not conceive of wrong. Obedient, not by sudden strain or effort, but in the freedom of its bright course of constant life. True, with an undistinguished, unboastful truth, in a crystalline household of truth. ”

“ Another plan is to bake the cake in a Yorkshire pudding tin, and when baked to cover the top with pink icing, made with the white of an egg beaten up till fairly liquid but not frothy, and mixed very smoothly with sufficient icing sugar to make a smooth paste. You will find the readiest way of doing this is to use a wooden spoon on a dinner-plate, holding the bowl of the spoon with the fingers; a little practice and patience are needed to make the icing perfectly smooth, but remember one lump spoils the appearance of the icing. ”

“ And now for the recipes themselves, and as savoury sandwiches—and, indeed, sandwiches of every kind—are always favourites we will have a friendly chat concerning them before passing on to cakes and biscuits.
For the foundation of all sandwiches, we must use evenly cut, and not too liberally buttered, bread, and be very careful that our seasoning is generously used, but with discretion. To crunch a lump of salt in a sandwich is by no means a pleasant experience. ”

“ Others who travel are eager to see, but have had in their past life neither the time nor the means to educate themselves for enjoyment; or they are too young to have had the opportunity to do so. We all meet with examples of these classes on our own travels, and there are few of us who have not, at some time, had cause to exclaim, “Good gracious! what on earth did these people come abroad for?” so little interest do they find or show in the beauties of nature or art which surround them. ”

“ To those who are weary of formal entertainments, it comes as a boon and a blessing, while to those whose love of social pleasures is larger than their purse it is even more welcome, as it enables them to entertain their friends more frequently, with but little of the cost and trouble which more elaborate social gatherings involve. And it is to this latter class of afternoon-tea devotees that I dedicate the following recipes and suggestions. ”

“ One of the European countries round which both history and literature have been making and growing is Holland; and for so small a country the amount of both is quite marvellous. It is all so interesting too, and most of it in our own tongue, so that we need not be professors in Dutch. The most delightful of all histories have been written for us by American hands, and no library is complete without Motley’s two great Dutch works, The Rise of the Dutch Republic and the History of the United Netherlands. ”

“ Sixthly—Do not be disheartened if your first attempt to make a new cake is a failure. We too often forget that success is frequently the outcome of many failures.
Before giving any recipes for fancy cakes, let me advise you to give the following recipes for “Sally Lunns” and “Tea Cakes made with yeast,” a trial.
For the former, mix half a teaspoonful of salt in a pound of flour, and add three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Melt half an ounce of butter in half a pint of new milk, and when milk-warm pour it over half an ounce of German yeast. Add a well-beaten egg and a little grated nutmeg. ”

“ Fancy Biscuits can be made at home, and will be found quite equal in taste and appearance to the more expensive kinds sold in the shops. Care must be taken that the oven is not too hot as they will not look well if they are browned; and the flour and sugar used for them must be very finely sifted and thoroughly dry. To make four varieties of these biscuits at once, take one pound of fresh butter and cream it with half a pound of castor sugar, and add two well-beaten eggs. When well whisked divide the mixture into four basins. ”

“ A certain amount of nervousness is inseparable from singing, whether we sing to just one or two chosen friends or before a large concert audience, and even when we won’t confess to “feeling nervous,” we cannot escape from another form of it and a very trying one—self-consciousness. And the usual result of self-consciousness is to seize upon the muscles of the throat, to cramp and contract them till the head is held as if in a vice, so that the voice comes hard and strained ”

“ Egg Sandwiches are filled with the same paste of pounded eggs, well seasoned, but without the anchovy; another ounce of butter or two tablespoonfuls of cream is an improvement in this case.
So much for sandwiches; the eight varieties I have mentioned will serve as a foundation from which clever housekeepers will devise numerous other kinds. Almost any scraps of shell-fish, game, or poultry, can be pounded and used as I have described, and if the seasoning is all that it should be, and the sandwiches are delicately made and served, they will always find some appreciative mortals to enjoy them! ”

“ With a pleasant manner and a neat becoming style of dress, a girl may always make an agreeable impression, whereas there are many handsome girls who are so selfish and disagreeable that their beauty gives no pleasure to anybody, not even to themselves. ”

“ A quick oven is best for buns and small cakes, and a tolerably quick one to raise large cakes, and then the heat must be lowered and kept at a regular temperature to bake them through. When a cake has risen, lay a sheet of buttered paper over the top to prevent it blackening. To ascertain if a cake is sufficiently baked, plunge a clean knife or skewer through the centre; if it comes out clean and dry the cake is baked, if sticky, it requires further baking.
Thirdly—Be very careful that your cake-tins or moulds are thoroughly clean and well greased. ”

“ The consequence is, the bad ideals have withdrawn the mass of girls from household life. I should not wonder but the mothers of most of these girls have been domestic servants. Yet what they have told their daughters (possibly quite as often in commendation and praise as in bitterness and warning) has not attracted the girls, because they are not living in the same world as their mothers lived, and they have picked up the fact that domestic service is, in the main, left stationary in the out-of-date sphere. ”

“ When there is only a small party, the use of a luncheon tray, with three divisions, will save trouble in handing cakes, etc., and, be it whispered, these same trays are also convenient when your stock of cake is low, as small pieces of cake which could not possibly attain to the dignity of the cake-basket, will make quite an imposing appearance if cut in slices and arranged in one division of the tray, with some biscuits in the second and some carefully-rolled bread-and-butter in the third. ”

“ But if time be not an object to you, take Miss Strickland’s histories and read them through, every one of them, even including those of the Bachelor Kings. It may be the fashion to think her gossipy, but her gossip is worth anything in making you feel that the people of whom you read really lived, breathed, and walked the earth. ”

“ Had you been under eighteen, you might have become an apprentice as a pupil-teacher in an elementary school; but as you are eighteen already, you had better pass the Queen’s Scholarship Examination, and then seek employment as an assistant teacher, or, much better, enter a teachers’ training college. You could study all the requirements more fully by obtaining through a bookseller a copy of the New Code, issued by the Education Department. If you wanted further advice, it is probable that some Board School or National School mistress in your own town would give it. ”

“ It always seems to me a good plan to start with the history of the country to which your steps are turned, because the chief interest of every land must naturally be derived from its past, from the people who made it what it is, and who lived in its buildings, on its lands, and worshipped in its temples. ”

“ But many girls do not advance beyond 25s. per week, and employment is to some extent precarious, as so many girls can now do typing and write shorthand with moderate skill. But we consider that a girl occupies a tolerably secure position who can do verbatim reporting, and can be relied on to take down all that is said at a long meeting, which, when interruption and discussion takes place, is by no means an easy task. ”

“ Let us take Cherry Cake to commence with. For this you will require six ounces of flour, three ounces of butter, three ounces of castor sugar, two eggs, the grated rind of half a lemon, two ounces of crystallised or glacé cherries and a teaspoonful of baking-powder. Slightly warm but do not oil the butter, beat it to a cream with the sugar and lemon, add the eggs, well beaten, then the flour and cherries (cut in halves) , and lastly the baking-powder. Whisk thoroughly, pour into a paper-lined tin and bake from three-quarters to half an hour. ”

“ There are also, as you perhaps know, several settlements in the East of London in which women work. For instance, there is the St. Margaret’s House, Bethnal Green, a Church of England Settlement, and there is also the Canning Town Settlement, 459, Barking Road, Plaistow, which is unsectarian. You would probably find that should the occasion arise for you to earn your living, the experience gained by working in one of these settlements would help you to obtain a position as matron of some charitable institution. ”

“ Alfred Rimmer’s book on the Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England is most helpful, and I will end by remarking that you had better begin Ruskin, with, I think, the Elements of Drawing and the Lectures on Art.
In France we are very well off for books in all languages; but in the way of history, Guizot’s is rather a long business, and any shorter history which is available is less tiring, if you be not a rapid reader. ”

“ Another point to be remembered is that afternoon tea is not a substantial meal, so that we must endeavour to have all our dishes as dainty and elegant as possible both in their composition and manner of serving. ”

“ Stir lightly into the flour with a wooden spoon, cover with a cloth and set it in a warm place to rise; then bake from fifteen to twenty minutes in a quick oven. Some well-greased hoops are best to use for baking Sally Lunns, and the cakes should be brushed over with some beaten egg before they are quite baked. To serve, split each one into three slices, toast a delicate brown, butter and cut each slice in two, place together and serve on a very hot plate. ”

“ Brides do not supply house-linen, nor furniture, nor any household requisites. If her parents like to make a present of such a nature, it is perfectly gratuitous. The bridegroom is naturally to have a home suitable for the reception of his bride when he takes her from her father’s house. ”

“ But as you are quite young, write a good clear hand, which you will doubtless improve within the next twelvemonth, and are determined to work, we should counsel the Post Office Department of the Civil Service in your case, especially if you pass the Cambridge Junior Examination well, for which you are preparing yourself. You should try to get into the Service as a girl clerk as soon as you are sixteen; that is better than waiting till you are eighteen to enter as a woman clerk. ”