Note 308 — Chapter XIII · POSSIBLE REMEDIES—SPECIALIZATION OF HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYMENTS

Mrs. A has for several years gone from house to house at stated times sweeping and dusting rooms containing fine bric-à-brac.

Mr. B cares for all of the lawns of a large number of gentlemen, each of whom pays him a fixed sum for the season in proportion to the size of his grounds.

Mr. C cares for all of the furnaces and clears the walks in a city block.

Mrs. D earns a partial support by arranging tables for lunches and afternoon teas.

Mrs. E washes windows once in two weeks for a number of employers.

Mrs. F takes charge of all arrangements for afternoon teas.

Mrs. G earns $3 a day as a cook on special occasions.

Miss H waits on a table in a boarding house three hours a day.

Miss I distributes the clothes from the laundry in a large city school.

Mrs. J is kept busy as a cook, serving as a substitute in kitchens temporarily vacant.

Mrs. K derives a considerable income from the supervision of party suppers. “Her social position is quite unaffected by it.”

Mrs. L “makes herself generally useful” at the rate of ten cents an hour if regularly employed and twenty cents when serving occasionally.

Mrs. M goes out as a waitress at lunches and dinners.

Mrs. N employs a young man working his way through school to keep wood-boxes and coal-hods filled.

Many college students in cities partially pay their expenses by table service.

Hotels and restaurants frequently send out waiters on special occasions.

One employer writes, “I think a central office in this city at which competent waitresses could be hired by the hour would be largely patronized.”

The Syracuse, New York, Household Economic Club publishes a Household Register, giving the names and addresses of all persons in the city who do by the piece, hour, or day all forms of household work. Thirty-five different classes of work are enumerated.