It has frequently been observed by physiologists that men and women have been supplied with a left hand as well as a right, and there is no just reason why they should not employ both instead of leaving all the work to the right. Servants, therefore, show a laud- able ambition when they endeavor to use their left hands as well as their right hands, and, no doubt, it is praiseworthy in them to use them both at the same time whenever they are trying to do two things at once. Yet tea-cups and saucers, tumblers and wine-glasses, china tea-sets and coffee-sets, meat-plates and soup-plates, and fruit- plates, tureens and jugs, sauce ladles and bric-a-brac all cost a good deal of money, and it is very trying to see them destroyed at the rate of one or two a week by one of these ambitious servants, who always has both hands full in trying to do two things at the same time. Many a mistress has died of nervous prostration brought on hy\ the violent palp'tation and nervous excitement caused by constantly- seeing her new servant try how high a pyramid of plates she can carry in one hand, while she is tilting an irregular pile of cups and saucers in the other. When she slips and they go down, as much injury has been done to the poor mistress* constitution and as many nails have been knocked in her coffin as if she had lived to the age of Methuselah in that horrible five minutes. The habit of humming, muttering or talking to one's self in each other's company- is rcpre- 84 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. hensible, whether in servant or mistress. It is no excuse for making hideous sounds that you are singing one of Mr. Sankey's favorite hymns to a tune of your own. Grease spots on carpets have often turned the mutual gratitude and affection of mistress and servants for each other into the most implacable animosity. It is, indeed, more than flesh and blood can bear to see the cruet-stand or the ink-stand upset upon a new Brus- sels or tapestried carpet, all for want of the very commonest care. A girl will stand with her mouth wide open and her eyes staring while from either hand a vessel of grease is pouring its liquid treasures on to the carpet. These are the times that try mistress' souls. Many servants will exert an amount of industry and ingenuity in making a bed so hilly, uneven, misshapen, and uncomfortable that no one can get a wink of sleep upon it, when they might have made it up comfortably for one-half the time and pains. Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well, applies to tidying a room as much as to making a dress. " Many a mickle makes a muckle," is an old Scotch proverb,- and it is one which domestic servants should lay to heart. One pin, or burnt lucifer match, upon one's parlor carpet, if unre- buked, would in time result in carpets strewn with threads, crumbs, needles, bits of paper, snips of ribbon, locks of hair, etc., " Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks In Vallambrosa."

AI-modernized reading of the original text

It has frequently been observed by physiologists that men and women have been supplied with a left hand as well as a right, and there is no just reason why they should not employ both instead of leaving all the work to the right. Servants, therefore, show a laudable ambition when they endeavor to use their left hands as well as their right hands, and, no doubt, it is praiseworthy in them to use them both at the same time whenever they are trying to do two things at once. Yet tea-cups and saucers, tumblers and wine-glasses, china tea-sets and coffee-sets, meat-plates and soup-plates, and fruitplates, tureens and jugs, sauce ladles and bric-a-brac all cost a good deal of money, and it is very trying to see them destroyed at the rate of one or two a week by one of these ambitious servants, who always has both hands full in trying to do two things at the same time. Many a mistress has died of nervous prostration brought on by the violent palpitation and nervous excitement caused by constantly seeing her new servant try how high a pyramid of plates she can carry in one hand, while she is tilting an irregular pile of cups and saucers in the other. When she slips and they go down, as much injury has been done to the poor mistress* constitution and as many nails have been knocked in her coffin as if she had lived to the age of Methuselah in that horrible five minutes. The habit of humming, muttering or talking to one's self in each other's company is repre- 84 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. hensible, whether in servant or mistress. It is no excuse for making hideous sounds that you are singing one of Mr. Sankey's favorite hymns to a tune of your own. Grease spots on carpets have often turned the mutual gratitude and affection of mistress and servants for each other into the most implacable animosity. It is, indeed, more than flesh and blood can bear to see the cruet-stand or the ink-stand upset upon a new Brussels or tapestried carpet, all for want of the very commonest care. A girl will stand with her mouth wide open and her eyes staring while from either hand a vessel of grease is pouring its liquid treasures on to the carpet. These are the times that try mistress' souls. Many servants will exert an amount of industry and ingenuity in making a bed so hilly, uneven, misshapen, and uncomfortable that no one can get a wink of sleep upon it, when they might have made it up comfortably for one-half the time and pains. Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well, applies to tidying a room as much as to making a dress. " Many a mickle makes a muckle," is an old Scotch proverb,- and it is one which domestic servants should lay to heart. One pin, or burnt lucifer match, upon one's parlor carpet, if unrebuked, would in time result in carpets strewn with threads, crumbs, needles, bits of paper, snips of ribbon, locks of hair, etc., " Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks In Vallambrosa."

The hearthstone; or, Life at home