Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/50

28 Order and Punctuality are so important to the comfort and happiness of the household that every mistress should fix stated hours for meals, etc., which ought to be strictly observed by every member of the family.

The specimen card of order of the household will guide the mistress in drawing up a set of rules adapted to the special requirements of her own home.

Furnishing a House is an anxious and onerous undertaking, involving far more ramifications, details and difficulties than can be dealt with here. A few useful elementary rules to be observed are as follows: before purchasing a single article, the future abode should be carefully inspected, and a careful plan made with exact measurements of the height, length and breadth of every room and of all recesses contained in them, for a few inches difference more or less will render quite impossible or useless for your room a suite or article of furniture fancied by you, or recommended by the plausible salesman, who has never seen the house to be furnished. Then, still, before any purchases are made, a list of the articles desired and necessary for the new house should be made, re-made, altered and considered, priced and re-priced, estimated and re-estimated. No trouble or care can be considered excessive in this task, for to most people, furnishing from cellar to attic, as the phrase