Wisdom from the Past

My other Good Housekeeping book came today! It is the 1926 Good Housekeeping Book on The Business of Housekeeping, New Ways of Handling the Familiar Routine of Housework. It was originally published in 1924. Where as the advice I am finding in my 1947 Housekeeping Book  was from the days my grandmother was a young homemaker, this book was published to the audience of my great-grandmother, the advice she would have been given. 

This book is more like listening to the wisdom of generations gone by. The advice in here so far, is pretty timeless, only the technology and average household incomes have changed. I was intrigued by the title, The Business of Housekeeping. The first chapter is about new "labor saving equipment," like fireless cookers (gas ranges), water heating systems, electric refrigeration, laundry equipment, vacuum cleaner, and electric sewing machine. The book says, "there is ample opportunity for saving both time and labor  as well as money in servant hire by the purchase of well constructed and well designed equipment... And it is a fallacy to think that servants cannot learn to use them."

Imagine how much we will save on servant hire! And they are easy enough that even a servant can learn to use them.  Oh my! 

This chapter was very entertaining, and even included the suggestion of leaving a snack (wrapped in parchment) on your child's nightstand so if they wake up before you on a Sunday morning, they can have a snack and play quietly until you wake up. That, I thought, was kind of genius!