appearance.  Twenty years ago, every maid in a lady’s house wore a cap except the personal maid, who wore (and still does) a velvet bow, or nothing.  But when every little slattern in every sloppy household had a small mat of whitish Swiss pinned somewhere on an untidy head, and was decked out in as many yards of embroidery ruffling on her apron and shoulders as her person could carry, fashionable ladies began taking caps and trimmings off, and exacting instead that clothes be good in cut and hair be neatly arranged.

A few ladies of great taste dress their maids according to individual becomingness; some faces look well under a cap, others look the contrary.  A maid whose hair is rather fluffy—­especially if it is dark—­looks pretty in a cap, particularly of the coronet variety.  No one looks well in a doily laid flat, but fluffy fair hair with a small mat tilted up against a knot of hair dressed high can look very smart.  A young woman whose hair is straight and rebellious to order, can be made to look tidy and even attractive in a headdress that encircles the whole head.  A good one for this purpose has a very narrow ruche from 9 to 18 inches long on either side of a long black velvet ribbon.  The ruche goes part way, or all the way, around the head, and the velvet ribbon ties, with streamers hanging down the back.  On the other hand, many extremely pretty young women with hair worn flat do not look well in caps of any description—­except “Dutch” ones which are, in most houses, too suggestive of fancy dress.  If no caps are worn the hair must be faultlessly smooth and neat; and of course where two or more maids are seen together, they must be alike.  It would not do to have one wear a cap and the other not.

=THE LADY’S MAID=

A first class lady’s maid is required to be a hairdresser, a good packer and an expert needlewoman.  Her first duty is to keep her lady’s clothes in order and to help her dress, and undress.  She draws the bath, lays out underclothes, always brushes her lady’s hair and usually dresses it, and gets out the dress to be worn, as well as the stockings, shoes, hat, veil, gloves, wrist bag, parasol, or whatever accessories go with the dress in question.

As soon as the lady is dressed, everything that has been worn is taken to the sewing room and each article is gone over, carefully brushed if of woolen material, cleaned if silk.  Everything that is mussed is pressed, everything that can be suspected of not being immaculate is washed or cleaned with cleaning fluid, and when in perfect order is replaced where it belongs in the closet.  Underclothes as mended are put in the clothes hamper.  Stockings are looked over for rips or small holes, and the maid usually washes very fine stockings herself, also lace collars or small pieces of lace trimming.

Some maids have to wait up at night, no matter how late, until their ladies return; but as many, if not more, are never asked to wait longer than a certain hour.