Good evening and welcome to boring books for bedtime. I hope tonight's installment provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you get some sleep for once.

So lie back, adjust your volume.

Take a nice, deep breath.

And off we go.

This evening, we continue our month

of revisiting some of your favorite episodes

with selections from the book of household management

comprising information for the mistress housekeeper,

cook, kitchenmaid, butler, footman, coachman, valet, upper and underhousemaids, ladies made,

made of all work, laundry made, nurse and nurse made, monthly wet and sick nurses,

etc, etc. Also sanitary, medical and legal memoranda by Mrs Isabella

Beaton published originally by S.O. Beaton in 24 monthly parts, 1859 to 1861. First published in a bound edition, 1861.

Let's pick up with her very detailed advice

for domestic servants. with Chapter 2, The Housekeeper

A Second in Command in the House,

except in large establishments where there is a house steward.

The housekeeper must consider herself as the immediate representative of her mistress and bring to the management of the household all those qualities of honesty,

industry and vigilance in the same degree as if she were at the head of her own family.

Constantly on the watch to detect any wrongdoing on the part of any of the domestics, she will overlook all that goes on in the house, and will

see that every department is thoroughly attended to, and that the servants are comfortable, the same time that their various duties are properly performed.

Cleanliness, punctuality, order, and method are essentials in the character of a good housekeeper.

Without the first, no household can be said to be well managed. The second is equally all important. For those who are

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