Let me remind our Mary, first of all, of the truth that there is no meanness in economy, and that—­as I cannot repeat too often or too strongly—­waste is vulgar.  It is not the lady who scorns to save scraps of butter, who throws the few cold boiled potatoes left from dinner into the ash-barrel, and empties the teaspoonful of cream from the bottom of the pitcher into the kitchen sink.  Your servant will not have the brains and foresight to detect in these seemingly useless articles factors which may aid materially in the construction of a delicacy, or “help out” to-morrow’s breakfast or lunch.  It is amazing to the mistress who is her own cook how long things last and how far they go.  All the interest which a hired cook may take in her work does not impart the peculiar care which one feels for that which is one’s own.

In this point the woman without a domestic has the advantage over the woman with a servant, and she with one maid-of-all-work is better off than she who keeps two.  Every extra mouth counts, and the waste caused by each added Bridget or Gretchen is incalculable.  The only redress which the housekeeper with a servant has, is constant vigilance and personal supervision, and even then she is the loser.  At the South the servants are used to having provisions kept under lock and key.  Each day the mistress deals out the requisite flour, butter, eggs, etc., and the cook is perfectly satisfied.  Were a Northern housekeeper to adopt this system she would soon have the misery of engaging new servants.  The Irish and Germans among us are not accustomed to such restrictions, and will not tolerate them.

To utilize the little “left-overs,” then, Mary must make up her mind to do much of her own cooking.  If she has a servant in the kitchen, she may frequently so exchange work with her that the preparation of dainty dishes will fall to her share.  Norah may sweep the parlor, wipe up the hall floor, or wash the windows while her mistress is attending to cooking too delicate for the domestic’s fingers.  The servant may do what I call the heavy kitchen-work, such as preparing vegetables for cooking, chopping meat, peeling potatoes, etc., and she should always be allowed to wash pots, pans and kettles, after the cooking is done.  But if the mistress will spend half an hour in the kitchen before each meal, John will soon discover that his food has a delicacy of flavor and is served with a daintiness imparted only by a professional French cook,—­or a lady.

Another of the petty economies which is not belittling is the washing of one’s own dining-room dishes.  The money saved by this process is easily understood by the housewife whose cut-glass and egg-shell china are continually smashed to fragments by the hirelings whose own the fragiles are not.  The china bill for one year of the woman with many servants assumes proportions so huge that she is actually afraid to let herself consider its enormity.  And there are still more things broken of which she is never told until the day comes when this or that article is needed, and the answer to inquiry is: