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8 hours
Immediately upon arriving at the house, the employee went to the
children and took complete charge of all of them. The two oldest dressed
themselves, but of course the other two required help. After dressing
them, she prepared breakfast. The cereal was always cooked the day
before, and as a gas stove was used for cooking purposes, it was not
hard to have breakfast ready promptly every morning at 7:30. Then the
employee, having had her own breakfast before leaving her home, worked
steadily until 10:30 A.M. During this time, the only work the mother
felt she ought to do was to go out with her two youngest children; the
other two went to school. She was always home again by 10:30, when her
employee stopped working. The employee lived too far away to go home for
lunch, and as there was no place in the neighborhood where she could go
for lunch, she always brought it with her and ate it in her employer's
house. During the hour she was off duty, the mother attended to some
household duties herself, and she also bathed the two children, and put
them to bed for their morning nap.
At 11:30, her employee reappeared on duty, and took full charge of the
house and children until 3:30 P.M.; her work for the day was then over
and she went home.
This schedule makes the mother stay home after half past three,
but by that time all the real housework had been done by her employee.
To give the children their supper and to put them to bed leisurely, was
much easier work than to rise early and dress them hurriedly in the
morning, and to get breakfast ready for the entire family. It was not
much trouble to get dinner herself in the evening for her husband and
herself only. The house was quiet, the children asleep, and there was
no necessity of hurrying as in the morning. When she wished to give a
dinner party, or to receive her friends, or to go to any entertainment
in the afternoon after 3:30, she asked her employee to give her extra
hours of work for which she paid extra. Once a week her employee had a
"day of rest," and on this day another woman was engaged to take her
place.
This schedule enabled the mother to have many hours each day absolutely
free from the children and household cares.
EIGHT HOUR SCHEDULES FOR TWO EMPLOYEES
It is much easier to plan an eight hour schedule for two employees than
for one, and there is no limit to the number of different ways in which
the si
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