d considerably each day. Luncheon was
served at one o'clock; it was but a light meal easy to cook and easy to
serve, therefore the time from two to three o'clock was usually devoted
to ironing, or mending, or cleaning silver, or polishing brasses, or
preparing some of the dishes in advance either for dinner that evening
or for luncheon the next day. Two hours were sufficient to cook and
serve dinner and wash up the dishes afterwards. A woman came once a
week, on the day the employee was off duty, to do the family washing and
assist with the general housework. She also did some of the ironing; the
rest of the ironing was done the next day by the regular employee.

This schedule has been tested, not merely once for a few months, but
several times, and not with the same employee, but with different
employees, and it has always been most satisfactory.

It may seem doubtful to those who have never had their housework done on
schedule time that the work can be completed in the time stated, but the
greatest incentive that an employee can have to work quickly and well,
is to know that her position is as good as any she can find elsewhere,
and that when her work is over she is free to do exactly as she pleases
with the remainder of her time.

SCHEDULE NO. II

The following schedule is very different from the preceding one,
inasmuch as the housewife did not consider it necessary for her
employee to be on duty in the middle of the day. There were no children
in this family and as the housewife was alone in the day time, she very
frequently went out for luncheon. She concluded therefore that it was
the best time of the day for her to dispense with the services of her
employee, whose working hours were arranged thus:

From 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. 4 hours
From 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. 4 hours
-------
8 hours

By half past eleven in the morning, all the usual housework was
finished, and the employee went home; she returned at half past four in
the afternoon, in time to attend to five o'clock tea and dinner. Once a
week, on alternate Saturdays and Sundays, she had a "day of rest." On
these days the housewife got breakfast ready herself, after which she
did as much or as little of the regular work as she chose. It is not
difficult to reduce housework to a minimum on special occasions. The
family, which was a small one, consisting of three adults, usually w