=THE PARLOR-MAID=

The parlor-maid keeps the drawing-room and library in order.  The useful man brings up the wood for the fireplaces, but the parlor-maid lays the fire.  In some houses the parlor-maid takes up the breakfast trays; in other houses, the butler does this himself and then hands them to the lady’s maid, who takes them into the bedrooms.  The windows and the brasses are cleaned by the useful man and heavy furniture moved by him so she can clean behind them.

The parlor-maid assists the butler in waiting at table, and washing dishes, and takes turns with him in answering the door and the telephone.

In huge houses like the Worldlys’ and the Gildings’, the footmen assist the butler in the dining-room and at the door—­and there is always a “pantry maid” who washes dishes and cleans the pantry.

=THE HOUSEMAID=

The housemaid does all the chamber work, cleans all silver on dressing-tables, polishes fixtures in the bathroom—­in other words takes care of the bedroom floors.

In a bigger house, the head housemaid has charge of the linen and does the bedrooms of the lady and gentleman of the house and a few of the spare rooms.  The second housemaid does the nurseries, extra spare rooms, and the servants’ floor.  The bigger the establishment, the more housemaids, and the work is further divided.  The housemaid is by many people called the chambermaid.

=UNIFORMS=

In all houses of importance and fashion, the parlor-maid and the housemaids, and the waitress (where there is no butler), are all dressed alike.  Their “work” dresses are of plain cambric and in whatever the “house color” may be, with large white aprons with high bibs, and Eton collars, but no cuffs (as they must be able to unbutton their sleeves and turn them up.) Those who serve in the dining-room must always dress before lunch, and the afternoon dresses vary according to the taste—­and purse—­of the lady of the house.  Where no uniforms are supplied, each maid is supposed to furnish herself with a plain black dress for afternoon, on which she wears collars and cuffs of embroidered muslin usually (always supplied her), and a small afternoon apron, with or without shoulder straps, and with or without a cap.

In very “beautifully done” houses (all the dresses of the maids are furnished them), the color of the uniforms is chosen to harmonize with the dining-room.  At the Gildings’, Jr., for instance, where there are no men servants because Mr. Gilding does not like them, but where the house is as perfect as a picture on the stage, the waitress and parlor-maid wear in the blue and yellow dining-room, dresses of Nattier blue taffeta with aprons and collars and cuffs of plain hemstitched cream-colored organdie, that is as transparent as possible; blue stockings and patent leather slippers with silver buckles, their hair always beautifully smooth.  Sometimes they wear caps and sometimes not, depending upon the waitress’