The complete Indian housekeeper & cook : giving the duties of mistress and servants, the general management of the house and practical recipes for cooking in all its branches / by F.A. Steel & G. Gardiner.

  • Flora Annie Steel
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The complete Indian housekeeper & cook : giving the duties of mistress and servants, the general management of the house and practical recipes for cooking in all its branches / by F.A. Steel & G. Gardiner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The bearer must be an early riser. He has charge of every single thing in the house, save those in the dining-room and ])antry, and any loss or breakage has to be accounted for by him; therefore it is to his own advantage that he should keep an eye on the under-servants. In addition, one of the greatest alleviations of Indian discomfort lies in his hands ; that is, keeping the house free of mosquitoes. To do this he must in the hot weather shut every window before dawn. They may be opened afterwards ; but if they are not shut be- tween four o’clock and six o’clock mosquitoes will come in. His next duty is to remove the lamps used the night before to the lamp-room, taking those used in the bedrooms from the ayah or Ichilmufgar, as the case may be, whose duty it is to bring them out to the bearer. This should be done at the opportunity afforded by the taking in to the bedroom of the early cup of tea. He should also call upon the hhit- viuigdr to remove coffee cups, tumblers, &c., that may have escaped notice. He should not remove them himself. When the sweejjer has swept the outer verandahs, the upper and lower windows should be thrown open, but not till then, or the dust will come in. One day a week the drawing-room should receive a thorough cleaning, summer and winter; and after a dust- storm a complete tuniing out is also necessary; but on other days the sweeper should, with a soft brush and dustpan, sweep over the whole room, shaking mats, &c., outside, as they are apt to harbour vermin. The bearer meanwhile should remove the flower-vases and place them on a table in the verandah, fold up newspapers and put them in a certain fixed receptacle, replace books in the bookshelf, restore chairs to their proper place, and sort everything up as far as possible. It is a good plan to have a separate basket for all papers, envelopes, &c., found on the floor anywhere about the house, as it is then a sure find for lost letters or memoranda. Punkahs and thermantidotes often blow scraps of paper off tables. When this is done thewhole room should be carefully dusted. 'Hie weekly turn-out should include a polish to all articles of fui-Tiiture, a smart beating of the backs of the carpets, and a cleaning of windows. Dirty windows are the sign of a bad bearer. If the bearer is valet also, he should now attend to