Then, there is the humane side of the question.

A recommendation of some sort is a form most housewives insist upon.

You may be taking the bread out of a 'girl's' mouth by denying her a scrap of paper." Nevertheless, I shall not give Katy a reference.

I have said to her in plain but temperate terms: "You are a poor cook.

You are wasteful, dirty, ill-tempered and impertinent.