ung people in all conditions of life
can be found who use this form of address to persons older than
themselves. I do not suggest for one moment that any attempt should be
made to delude a girl into the belief that she will not be expected,
in conventional households, to behave with equal deference to persons
younger than herself. Such deception would be unpardonable. But it is
anything but kind to allow a young girl to drift into careless and
familiar habits of speech bound to lead to dismissal for "impudence"
in her next "place." There is a type of person, for example, who seems
to believe that, in order to show that he is "as good as anybody
else," it is necessary to be rude and familiar. But good manners are
not necessarily associated with servility. And it is no kindness to
help to unfit a girl for getting her living in the world as it is.

It may seem that, in this article, I am more concerned for the "hired
help" than the homemaker for whom I am ostensibly writing. But the
points I have touched on are just those about which I know many
thoughtful women are puzzled. I cannot solve their individual problems
for them, of course, I can only just barely indicate some of the
thoughts that have come to me on a subject that is so intimately bound
up with the whole of our present unsatisfactory social and economic
conditions that it cannot be adequately discussed in a little tract
upon domestic economy.

FLORENCE DANIEL.

THE CARE OF CUPBOARDS.

There are three methods in general use of caring for cupboards. Some
housewives prefer their cupboard shelves of bare wood, to be well
scrubbed with soap and water at the periodical "turn-out." Others
cover all shelves with white American cloth, which only needs wiping
over with a wet house-flannel; while still others prefer to dispense
with the necessity for wetting the shelves and line them with white
kitchen paper, or even clean newspaper, which is periodically renewed.

Of the three methods I prefer the last, with the addition of a good
scrubbing at the spring clean. The weekly or fortnightly scrubbing is
apt to result in permanently damp cupboards, unless they can be left
empty to dry for a longer time than is usually convenient. The use of
American cloth is perhaps the easiest, most labour-saving method, but
the cloth soon gets superficially marked and worn long before its real
usefulness is impaired, so that the cupboard shelves never look quite
so neat as after scr