It is amazing to the mistress who is her own cook how long things last and how far they go.

All the interest which a hired cook may take in her work does not impart the peculiar care which one feels for that which is one's own.
In this point the woman without a domestic has the advantage over the woman with a servant, and she with one maid-of-all-work is better off than she who keeps two.

Every extra mouth counts, and the waste caused by each added Bridget or Gretchen is incalculable.

The only redress which the housekeeper with a servant has, is constant vigilance and personal supervision, and even then she is the loser.

At the South the servants are used to having provisions kept under lock and key.