e may separate
society into two classes, drawing just below the large retail traders, a
line of division which, as a rule, marks the distinction between skilled
and unskilled servants. In this upper division, we find a nurse who has
served an apprenticeship as under nurse in the same grade of life, a
cook who has served as under cook, etc. Each servant understands exactly
the duties that belong to her sphere, that is, the regimen in her branch
of work, proper for a family in that position.

Fashion says the women of the family should not only do no money-earning
work, but also no money-saving work. In short, the best criterion of
rank would be the degree and naturalness with which they indulge an
absolute leisure.

Ostensibly they very rigidly obey this fashion, though doubtless, in
many cases, some dressmaking or plain sewing is done somewhere out of
sight. The plan is for the mistress to spend half-an-hour in the morning
in giving her orders and looking over accounts; beyond this, for the
women of the family to be exempt from any real household service, while
all branches of sewing are to be given to professional seamstresses. If
the family lives in town, the evenings are supposed to be very regularly
spent in social enjoyment; if they live in the country, they fill in the
time as best they can, after the late dinner. But whether at home or
away, the food and habits are about the same, or, if there are late
hours, the sleep is made up in the morning. The children are in the
hands of a competent nurse, and from her they pass to a governess, who
looks after their physical habits as well as their lessons. Few mistakes
are likely to be made. The regimen of habits for the children at the
advancing ages is well understood, and the success of the nurse or
governess in keeping her place depends upon her fidelity in carrying
them out. The children are trained into these regular habits till they
become appetites, and seem to be laws of their nature.

In the lower division, the servants are less numerous and less
efficient. Mothers and daughters do a part, or all, of the domestic
work. But the baking, in most parts of the country, and much of the
sewing, is done out of the house. More servants are employed than in
corresponding families with us, and altogether much less work is
included in the domestic occupations. In the higher grades of this lower
division, the education of the girls continues till from fourteen to
sixteen,