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
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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 went out to dinner on these alternate Saturdays and Sundays.

SCHEDULE NO.  III

In this schedule, the employee’s work is divided into two periods, with one hour for rest between.  The family consisted of a man and his wife, who lived in an apartment.  The hours of work were as follows: 

From 12 M. to 3 P.M. 3 hours
From 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. 5 hours
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8 hours

The housewife was very fond of entertaining, and she chose an employee who was an excellent cook and a very good waitress.  In consequence she was able to place the entire responsibility of luncheons and dinners on her, and on days when no guests were present all the house-cleaning was done.  As the employee did not report on duty before noon, the housewife was obliged to get breakfast herself.  However this was a very simple matter, for her employee always set the table for breakfast the night before.  The next morning it was very easy for the housewife, with the aid of an electric heater on the breakfast table, to heat the cereal, boil the water for the coffee, and broil the bacon or scramble the eggs, or indeed to prepare any of the usual breakfast dishes.

The employee did all the washing, ironing and mending each week, and although she came to her work only at noon, she accomplished as much work during her eight hours as if she began earlier in the day.

SCHEDULE NO.  IV

Many schedules were tried before a really satisfactory one was finally chosen for a family of six:  mother, father, four small children.  The eldest child was seven years old, and there was only one household employee to help with the work.  They lived in the country, and breakfast had to be served promptly at 7:30 A.M., on account of taking the early morning train to town.