n a shirt-waist, crisp and clean, with a collar and
belt.

There is a popular delusion to the effect that household tasks
require slipshod garments and unkempt hair, but let the frowsy ones
contemplate the trained nurse in her spotless uniform, with her snowy
cap and apron and her shining hair. Let the doubtful ones go to a
cooking school, and see a neat young woman, in a blue gingham gown and
a white apron, prepare an eight-course dinner and emerge spotless from
the ordeal. We get from life, in most cases, exactly what we put into
it. The world is a mirror which gives us smiles or frowns, as we
ourselves may choose. The woman who faces the world in a shirt-waist
will get shirt-waist appreciation, while for the dressing-sack there
is only a slipshod reward.

In the Meadow

The flowers bow their dainty heads,
And see in the shining stream
A vision of sky and silver clouds,
As bright as a fairy's dream.

The great trees nod their sleepy boughs,
The song birds come and go,
And all day long, to the waving ferns
The south wind whispers low.

All day among the blossoms sweet,
The laughing sunbeams play,
And down the stream, in rose-leaf boats
The fairies sail away.

One Woman's Solution of the
Servant Problem

Being a professional woman, my requirements in the way of a housemaid
were rather special. While at times I can superintend my small
household, and direct my domestic affairs, there are long periods
during which I must have absolute quiet, untroubled by door bell,
telephone, or the remnants of roast beef.

There are two of us, in a modern six room apartment, in a city where
the servant problem has forced a large and ever-increasing percentage
of the population into small flats. We have late breakfasts, late
dinners, a great deal of company, and an amount of washing, both house
and personal, which is best described as "unholy."

Five or six people often drop in informally, and unexpectedly, for
the evening, which means, of course, a midnight "spread," and an
enormous pile of dishes to be washed in the morning. There are,
however, some advantages connected with the situation. We have a
laundress besides the maid; we have a twelve-o'clock breakfast on
Sunday instead of a dinner, getting the cold lunch ourselves in the
evening, thus giving the girl a long afternoon and evening; and we are
away from home a great deal, o