It is a truism that there should be no hostilities between the heads of the different departments of a hotel. Everything works more smoothly and satisfactorily when pleasant relationships exist between the different departments of any business.

A housekeeper feels stronger if she thinks that she is of sufficient importance to her employer to have her views receive some consideration. She takes up her daily tasks with an added sense of responsibility, and with a desire to do still better work.

No housekeeper is perfect. It cannot be wisely assumed that any housekeeper will possess all the requisite qualifications for successful housekeeping, nor can she develop them all, no matter how ambitious, industrious, and naturally fitted for the work she may be. But "Knowledge is power," and she that has the most of it, coupled with the greatest ability to utilize it, enjoys advantages that will contribute largely to her success.

Keeping a Position.

A housekeeper studies not only to secure a good situation, but also to avoid losing it. "Good enough" is not her motto; "the very best" are her constant watchwords. Some one has said: "A housekeeper is born, not made." The "born housekeeper" is a spasmodic housekeeper. As a rule, she is not evenly balanced. A housekeeper with plain common sense, susceptible to instructions, willing to obey orders, is the housekeeper that leaves the old situation for one of better pay. There must be, of course, a foundation on which to build. The stones of that foundation should be self-control, self-confidence, education, neatness in dress, and cleanliness. None of these is a gift, but an accomplishment that can be developed more or less according to the individual.

Good manners are very essential. Politeness alone will not bring about the desired results in any profession, but it has never been known to be a hindrance. Manners that will be accepted without criticism in one woman, will be odious and objectionable in another. Too much familiarity breeds contempt. An employer would better be approached with dignity and reserve.

The Charm of Neatness.

Few housekeepers realize the charm of the neatly dressed woman. The hair should always be neatly arranged and not look as if it was about to fall on her shoulders. The binding of her skirt should not show ragged in places. These are little things, but they weigh heavily in the general results. The well-groomed woman knows that the neglect of these things is full of shame to womankind.

In regard to "bumping up against" the bell-boys, clerks, stewards, and stenographers, the wise housekeeper is shrewd enough to "stand in." She "turns the other cheek," which may sometimes be a difficult task to perform.

Remember that no one on earth can ever succeed in life and hold a "grudge." The inability to forgive his enemies lost James G. Blaine the White House.

If a bell-boy is caught doing something detrimental to the success of the management, the housekeeper should write a note to the clerk, or the captain of the watch, and inform him of the bell-boy's misdeeds. This will be sufficient from the housekeeper.

On assuming the duties of a new field, the housekeeper may remember merely a few important duties; for instance, she must carefully scrutinize the time-book and learn all the maids' names and stations. Next learn the location of rooms and become familiarized with every piece of furniture in them. Then, step by step, she should build up the general cleanliness of the house. This is by far the most important of all the requisites pertaining to hotel housekeeping. Guarding against difficulties encountered with the employes and with the managers' wives is secondary.

A housekeeper that can not take orders is not fit to give them; if the manager asks for the removal of an offensive employe, the housekeeper should immediately get rid of the objectionable person. If the housekeeper fails in deference to the manager's wishes, is not that good evidence that she is not a good soldier? She should be eager to maintain the dignity of her position—must maintain it in fact—and do as high service as possible for the management. Yet she can not always carry out her own ideas. The manager has his ideas about matters, which right or wrong, must be respected. The housekeeper carries out the manager's orders. If the hotel fails to bring a profit or give satisfaction, the manager alone is held accountable.

About Hiring Help.

To dismiss a maid is a very easy matter; to obtain a substitute that will perform the duties assigned her in a manner that will prove more effectual, is not so easy.

The employment-agency is the housekeeper's recruiting station. She gets most of her help from this place. The housekeeper should always consult the manager when other help is to be hired. Everyone knows that old employes are always best, even if they do spoil the new ones. The housekeeper endeavors to keep the help as long as she can, using persuasion, kindness, and forbearance, striving to teach them the best and easiest way to do their work, bearing with their imperfections, overlooking a great deal that is actually repulsive, not expecting to find in the hard-working individual the graces of a Marie Antoinette, or the inherent qualities of a Lady Jane Gray.

The housekeeper should not only be scrupulously honest herself, but should insist that the maids be honest. It is true that almost irresistible temptations and opportunities to steal are constantly thrown in the way of the maids; and those that are steadfastly honest deserve great credit.

If a maid is neat and clean in appearance and does her work well—these qualities cover a multitude of sins. From the standpoint of many housekeepers, too much curiosity and gossiping are the chiefest and quickest causes—next to the neglect of work—for a maid's dismissal. A housekeeper is usually disliked by the maids that do not want to do their work, just as a stepmother is hated by some stepchildren, regardless of her kindness and her consideration for their welfare. Employes in any business prefer to take their orders from the person that pays them their money. For this, they are not to be blamed; but if the proprietor or the proprietor's wife wishes to retain the services of a good housekeeper, and be relieved of the trying ordeal of training the help, he or she will not encourage tattling from the housekeeper's inferiors.