Mrs. Oliver Harriman's Book of Etiquette: 2

Time for another lesson from the high society women of 1942! As promised, starting with
Chapter 39: The Servant in the House

• To begin with, the maximum number of working hours for any servant is twelve.
  
• The customary time off is one afternoon and evening a week and every other Sunday afternoon and evening. But other arrangements can be worked out which are equally satisfactory. A Filipino servant, for instance, whose bachelor employer is seldom at home, may be given no specific days off. His work is light and he already has free time.
  
• It seems almost unnecessary to say that servants' rooms should be clean and attractive and their meals well planned and plentiful, yet many employers are guilty on this score. Several agencies have told me that many servants leave a job because there is not enough food. Apparently we don't all realize that adequate nourishment is essential to those who do housework.
  [Wait, so do the servants have to be walked regularly too?]
  

Now, on to Chapter 40: Lady's Maid

• A lady's maid is entirely responsible for your wardrobe
  
• A lady's maid is never supposed to do anything about the house. Her only concern is the madam and her wardrobe. Too many people expect one servant to do the work of three today.
  
• My maid crossed the ocean with me twenty-nine times. Like all competent lady's maids, she bought the tickets, took care of the baggage, and arranged for the hotel accommodations.
  [Okay, maybe I want a lady's maid.]
  

And finally ... get ready ... Chapter 41: If You Have No Servant

• If you have no servant, entertaining need not be a burden. Instead, make it a gay adventure. Treat it as you did when you played house as a child.
  
• The hostess without servants must, above all, have a sense of humor. She should never appear to take herself or her party too seriously. If she laughs when the biscuits burn, her guests will feel at ease. Afterward they'll remark, "It's always so much fun at Natalie's. She's such a good sport."
  [Hot damn! Condescend much? And finally:]
  
• We don't realize that a home systematically run is as important to our social life as knowledge of good manners. Homemaking is not some mysterious gift bestowed on certain individuals. Fundamentally, every woman has the instinct for is. Like childbearing, whether she admits it or not, it is part of her very being.
  

I feel so much wiser.