Household Organization

Book Excerpt: ...of unexampled prosperity, so much so as to make the customs of wealth a familiar habit with even those who only possess a competence. To them the domestic difficulty is very great, since they exact from inferior servants the quality of service that can only be obtained from the best trained of their order. This occasions disappointment and irritation. The people whose means are inadequate to the gratification of their tastes belong mainly to the professional classes, whose brain-work most demands repose at home; yet these are, beyond all others, perplexed by the increasing toils and troubles of home life. They find that a struggle which should be peace, and so the whole machinery of their lives is thrown out of gear.This upper working-class is so occupied by endeavours to make the fortune, or, if not fortune, at any rate to make both ends meet--which has been denied them by birth or accident--that they have no time nor energy left to think these things out for themselves. So they go on bearing the ye...