 Chapter 9 of What Diantha Did This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Betsy Bush. March 2009 What Diantha Did by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chapter 9 Sleeping In Men have marched in armies, fleets have borne them, left their homes new countries to subdue. Young men seeking fortune wide have wandered, we have something new. Armies of young maidens cross our oceans, leave their mother's love, their father's care. Maidens young and helpless, widely wander, burdens new to bear. Strange the land and language, laws and customs, ignorant and all alone they come. Maidens young and helpless, serving strangers, thus we keep the home. When on earth was safety for young maidens, far from mother's love and father's care, we preserve the home and call it sacred, burdens new they bear. The sun had gone down on Madame Weatherstone's wrath, and risen to find it unabated. With condensed disapprobation, written on every well-cut feature, she came to the coldly gleaming breakfast table. That Mrs. Halsey was undoubtedly gone, she had to admit. Yet so far failed to find the exact words of reproof for a woman of independent means, discharging her own housekeeper when it pleased her. Young Matthew unexpectedly appeared at breakfast, perhaps in anticipation of a sort of Roman holiday, in which his usually late and apologetic stepmother would furnish the amusement. They were both surprised to find her there before them, looking uncommonly fresh in crisp, sheer white with deep-toned violets in her belt. She ate with every appearance of enjoyment, chatting amably about the lovely morning, the flowers, the garden and the gardeners, her efforts ill-seconded, however. Shall I attend to the orders this morning? asked Madame Weatherstone with an air of noble patience. Oh, no thank you, replied Viva, I have engaged a new housekeeper. A new housekeeper when? The old lady was shaken by this inconceivable promptness. Last night, said her daughter-in-law, looking calmly across the table, her color rising a little. And when is she coming, if I may ask? She has come. I have been with her an hour already this morning. Young Matthew smiled, this was amusing, though not what he had expected. You extremely alert and business-like, he said lazily, it's becoming to you, to get up early. You can't have got much of a person at a minute's notice, said his grandmother. Or perhaps you've been planning this for some time. No, said Viva, I have wanted to get rid of Mrs. Halsey for some time, but the new one I found yesterday. What's her name? inquired Matthew. Belle, Miss Diana Belle, she answered, looking as calm as if announcing the day of the week, but inwardly dreading the result somewhat. Like most of such terrors, it was overestimated. There was a little pause, rather an intense little pause, and then... Isn't that the girl who set them all by the ears yesterday? Asked the young man, pointing to the morning paper. They say she's a good looker. Madam Weatherstone rose from the table in some agitation. I must say, I am very sorry, Viva, that you should have been so precipitate. This young woman cannot be competent to manage a house like this, to say nothing of her scandalous ideas. Mrs. Halsey was, to my mind, perfectly satisfactory. I shall miss her very much. She swept out with an unanswerable air. So shall I, muttered Matt, under his breath, as he strolled after her. Unless the new one's equally amiable. Viva Weatherstone watched them go, and stood awhile, looking after the well-built, well-dressed, well-mannered, but far from well-behaved young man. I don't know, she said to herself, but I do feel, think, imagine, a good deal. I'm sure I hope not. Anyway, it's new life to have that girl in the house. That girl had undertaken what she described to Ross as, a large order, a very large order. It's the hardest thing I ever undertook, she wrote him, but I think I can do it, and it will be a tremendous help. Mrs. Weatherstone's a brick, a perfect brick. She seems to have been very unhappy for ever so long, and who have submitted to her domineering old mother-in-law just because she didn't care enough to resist. Now she's got waked up all of a sudden. She says it was my paper at the club. More likely my awful example, I think, and she fired her old housekeeper, I don't know what for, and rushed me in. So here I am, the salary is good, the work is excellent training, and I guess I can hold the place. But the old lady is a terror, and the young man, how you would despise that, Johnny! The home letters she now received were rather amusing. Ross, sternly patient, saw little difference in her position. I hope you will enjoy your new work, he wrote, but personally I should prefer that you did not, so you might give it up and come home sooner. I miss you as you can well imagine. Even when you were here life was hard enough, but now... I had a half-offer for the store the other day, but it fell through. If I could sell that incubus and put the money into a ranch, fruit, hens, anything, then we could all live on it, more cheaply, I think, and I could find time for some research work I have in mind. You remember that guinea pig experiment I want so to try? Diantha remembered and smiled sadly. She was not much interested in guinea pigs in their potential capacities, but she was interested in her lover and his happiness. Ranch, she said thoughtfully, that's not a bad idea. Her mother wrote the same patient-loving letters, perfuncturally hopeful. Her father wrote none. A woman's business, this letter-righten, he always held. And George, after one scornful up-braiding, had washed his hands of her with some sense of relief. He didn't like to write letters, either. But Susie kept up lively correspondence. She was attached to her sister, as to all her immediate relatives and surroundings. And while she utterly disapproved of Diantha's undertaking, a sense of sisterly duty to say nothing of affection prompted her to many letters. It did not, however, always make these agreeable reading. Mother's pretty well, and the girl she's got now does nicely. That first one turned out to be a failure. Father's as cranky as ever. We're all well here, and the baby—this was a brand new baby Diantha had not seen—is just a darling. You ought to be here, you unnatural aunt. Gerald doesn't even speak of you, but I do just the same. You hear from the Wardens, of course. Mrs. Warden's got to neuralgia or something. Keeps them all busy. They are much excited over this new place of yours. You ought to hear them go on. It appears that Madame Weatherstone is a connection of theirs. One of the FFVs, I guess, and they think she's something wonderful. And have you working there? Well, you can just see how they'd feel, and I don't blame them. It's no use arguing with you, but I should think you'd have enough of this disgraceful foolishness by this time and come home. Diantha tried to be very philosophic over her home letters, but they were far from stimulating. It's no use arguing with poor Susie, she decided. Susie thinks the sun rises and sets between kitchen, nursery, and parlor. Mother can't see the good of it yet, but she will later. Mother's all right. I'm awfully sorry the Wardens feel so, and make Ross unhappy. But, of course, I knew they would. It can't be helped. It's just a question of time and work. And she went to work. Mrs. Porn called on her friend most promptly with a natural eagerness and curiosity. How does it work? Do you like her as much as you thought? Do tell me about it, Viva. You look like another woman already. I certainly feel like one. Viva answered. I've seen slaves in housework, and I've seen what we fondly call queens in housework. But I never saw brains in it before. Mrs. Porn sighed. Isn't it just wonderful the way she does things? Dear me, we do miss her. She trained that Swede for us, and she does pretty well. But not like Miss Bell. I wish there were a hundred of her. If there were a hundred thousand, she wouldn't go around. Answered Mrs. Weatherstone. How selfish we are. That is the kind of woman we all want in our homes, and fuss because we can't have them. Edgar says he quite agrees with her views. Mrs. Porn went on. Skilled labor by the day, food sent in. He says if she cooked it, he wouldn't care if it came all the way from Alaska. She certainly can cook. I wish she'd set up her business the sooner the better. Mrs. Weatherstone nodded her head firmly. She will. She's planning. This was really an interruption, her coming here, but I think it will be a help. She's not had experience in large management before, but she takes hold splendidly. She's found a dozen leaks in our household already. Mrs. Thadler's simply furious, I hear, said the visitor. Mrs. Rhee was in this morning and told me all about it. Poor Mrs. Rhee. The home is church and state to her. That paper of Miss Bell's, she regards as simple blasphemy. They both laughed as that stormy meeting rose before them. I was so proud of you, Viva, standing up for her as you did. How did you ever dare? Why, I got my courage from the girl herself. She was superb. Talk of blasphemy. Why, I've committed lese majeste and regicide and the unpardonable sin since that meeting. And she told her friend of her brief passage at arms with Mrs. Halsey. I never liked the woman, she continued, and some of the things Miss Bell said set me thinking. I don't believe we half know what's going on in our houses. Well, Mrs. Thadler's so outraged by this scandalous attack upon the sanctities of the home that she's going about saying all sorts of things about Miss Bell. Oh, look! I do believe that's her car. Even as they spoke, a toneless voice announced. Mr. and Mrs. Thadler and Madam Weatherstone presently appeared to greet these visitors. I think you were trying a dangerous experiment, said Mrs. Thadler to her young hostess. A very dangerous experiment, bringing that young iconoclast into your home. Mr. Thadler, stout and sulky, sat as far away as he could and talked to Mrs. Porn. I'd like to try that same experiment myself, said he to her. You tried it some time, I understand. Indeed we did, and would still if we had the chance, she replied. We think her a very exceptional young woman. Mr. Thadler chuckled. She is that, he agreed. Gad, how she did set things humming. They're humming yet, at our house. He glanced rather rancorously at his wife, and Mrs. Porn wished, as she often had before, that Mr. Thadler wore more clothing over his domestic afflictions. Scandalous, Mrs. Thadler was saying to Madam Weatherstone, simply scandalous, never in my life did I hear such absurd, such outrageous charges against the sanctities of the home. There you have it, said Mr. Thadler under his breath, sanctity of the fiddle-sticks. There was a lot of truth in what that girl said. Then he looked rather sheepish and flushed a little, which was needless, easing his collar with a fat finger. Madam Weatherstone and Mrs. Thadler were at one on this subject, but found it hard to agree even so, no love being lost between them, and the former gave evidence of more satisfaction than distress at this dangerous experiment in the house of her friends. Viva sat silent, but with a look of watchful intelligence that delighted Mrs. Porn. It has done her good already, she said to herself. Bless that girl. Mr. Thadler went home disappointed in the real object of his call. He had hoped to see the dangerous experiment again, but his wife was well pleased. They will rue it, she announced. Madam Weatherstone is ashamed of her daughter-in-law. I can see that. She looks cool enough. I don't know what's got into her. Some of that young woman's good cooking, her husband suggested. That young woman is not there as cook, she replied tartly. What she is there for, we shall see later. Mark my words. Mr. Thadler chuckled softly. I'll mark him, he said. Diantha had her hands full. Needless to say, her sudden entrance was resented by the core of servants accustomed to the old regime. She had the keys. She explored, studied, inventoried, examined the accounts, worked out careful tables and estimates. I wish mother were here, she said to herself. She's a regular genius for accounts. I can do it, but it's no joke. She brought the results to her employer at the end of the week. This is tentative, she said, and I've allowed margins because I'm new to a business of this size, and here's what this house ought to cost you at the outside, and here's what it does cost you now. Mrs. Weatherstone was impressed. Aren't you a little spectacular, she suggested? Diantha went over it carefully. The number of rooms, the number of servants, the hours of labour, the amount of food and other supplies required. This is only preparatory, of course, she said. I'll have to check it off each month. If I may do the ordering and keep all the accounts, I can show you exactly in a month or two at most. How about the servants? asked Mrs. Weatherstone. There was much to say here. Questions of competence, of impertinence, of personal excellence with incompatibility of temper. Diantha was given a free hand, with full liberty to experiment, and met the opportunity with her usual energy. She soon discharged the unsatisfactory ones, and substituted the girls she had selected for her summer's experiment, gradually adding others to the household was fairly harmonious and more efficient and economical. A few changes were made among the men also. By the time the family moved down to Santa Ulrika, there was quite a new spirit in the household. Mrs. Weatherstone fully approved of the girls' club Diantha had started at Mrs. Porns, and it went on merrily in the largest quarters of the great cottage on the cliff. I'm very glad I came to you, Mrs. Weatherstone, said the girl. You were quite right about the experience. I did need it, and I'm getting it. She was getting some of which she made no mention. As she won and held the confidence of her subordinates and the growing list of club members, she learned their personal stories, what had befallen them in other families, and what they liked and disliked in their present places. The men are not so bad, explained Catherine Kelly at a club meeting, meaning the men's servants. I suspect an honest girl if she respects herself, but it's the young masters and sometimes the old ones. It's all nonsense, protested Mrs. James, widowed cook of long-standing. I've worked out for twenty-five years and I never met no such goings on. Little Ilda looked at Mrs. James' severe face and giggled. I've heard of it, said Molly Connors. I have a cousin that's working in New York, and she's had to leave two good places on account of her misbehaving themselves. She's a fine girl, but two good-looking. Diantha studied types, questioned them, drew them out, adjusted facts to theories and theories to facts. She found the weakness of the whole position to lie in the utter ignorance and helplessness of the individual servant. If they were only organized, she thought, and knew their own power. Well, there's plenty of time. As her acquaintance increased, and as Mrs. Motherstone's interest in her plans increased also, she started the small summer experiment she had planned for furnishing labor by the day. Mrs. James was an excellent cook, the most unpleasant to work with. She was quite able to see that getting up frequent lunches at three dollars and dinners at five dollars made a better income than ten dollars a week, even with several days unoccupied. A group of younger women, under Diantha's sympathetic encouragement, agreed to take a small cottage together, with Mrs. James as a species of chaperone, and to go out in twos and threes as chambermaids and waitresses at twenty-five cents an hour. Two of them could set in perfect order one of the small beach-houses in an hour's time, and the occupants, all already crowded for room, were quite willing to pay a little more in cash not to have a servant around. Most of them took their meals out in any case. It was a modest attempt, elastic and easily alterable, and based on the special conditions of a shore resort. Mrs. Weatherstone's known interest gave it social backing, and many ladies who heartily disapproved of Diantha's theories found themselves quite willing to profit by this very practical local solution of the servant-question. The club girls became very popular. Across the deep-hot sand they plowed, and clattered along the warping boardwalks, in merry pairs and groups, finding the work far more varied and amusing than the endless repetition in one household. They had pleasant evenings, too, with plenty of collars, albeit somewhat checked and chilled by rigorous Mrs. James. It is both foolish and wicked, said Madame Weatherstone to her daughter-in-law, exposing a group of silly girls to such danger and temptations. I understand there is singing and laughing going on at that house, until half past ten at night. Yes, there is, Viva admitted. Mrs. James insists that they shall all be in bed at eleven, which is very wise. I'm glad they have good times. There's safety in numbers, you know. There will be a scandal in this community before long, said the old lady solemnly, and it grieves me to think that this household will be responsible for it. Diantha heard all this from the linen room, while Madame Weatherstone button-holed her daughter-in-law in the hall, and in truth the old lady meant that she should hear what she said. She's right, I'm afraid, said Diantha to herself. There will be a scandal if I'm not mighty careful and this household will be responsible for it. Even as she spoke she caught Ilda's childish giggle in the lower hall, and looking over the railing saw her airily dusting the big Chinese vases and cooketting with young Mr. Matthew. Later on Diantha tried seriously to rouse her conscience and her common sense. Don't you see, child, that it can't do you anything but harm. You can't carry on with man like that, as you can with one of your own friends. He is not to be trusted. One nice girl I had here simply left the place, he annoyed her so. Ilda was a little sulky. She had been quite a queen in the small Norwegian village she was born in. Young men were young men. And they might even, perhaps. This severe young housekeeper didn't know everything. Maybe she was jealous. So Ilda was rather unconvinced, though apparently submissive, and Diantha kept a careful eye upon her. She saw to it that Ilda's room had a bolt as well as key in the door, and kept the room next to it empty, frequently using it herself, unknown to anyone. I hate to turn the child off, she said to herself, conscientiously revolving the matter. She isn't doing a thing more than most girls do. She's only a little fool, and he's not doing anything I can complain of, yet. But she worried over it a good deal, and Mrs. Weatherstone noticed it. Doesn't your pet club house go well, Miss Bell? You seem troubled about something. I am, Diantha admitted. I believe I'll have to tell you about it, but I hate to. Perhaps if you'll come and look I shan't have to say much. She led her to a window that looked on the garden, the rich, vivid, flower-crowded garden of Southern California by the sea. Little Ilda, in a fresh black frock and snowy frilly cap and apron, ran out to get a rose, and while she sniffed and dallied they saw Mr. Matthew saunter out and join her. The girl was not as severe with him as she ought to have been. That was evident. But it was also evident that she was frightened and furious when he suddenly held her fast and kissed her with much satisfaction. As soon as her arms were free she gave him a slap that sounded smartly even at that distance, and ran crying into the house. She's foolish, I admit, said Diantha, but she doesn't realize her danger at all. I've tried to make her, and now I'm more worried than ever. It seems rather hard to discharge her. She needs care. I'll speak to that young man myself, said Mrs. Weatherstone. I'll speak to his grandmother too. Oh, would you, urged Diantha? She wouldn't believe anything except the girl led him on, you know that. But I have an idea that we could convince her, if you're willing to do something rather melodramatic, and I think we'd better do it tonight. What's that? asked her employer, and Diantha explained. It was melodramatic, but promised to be extremely convincing. Do you think he'd dare, under my roof, hotly demanded Mrs. Weatherstone? I'm very much afraid it wouldn't be the first time. Diantha reluctantly assured her. It's no use being horrified, but if we could only make sure. If we could only make his grandmother sure, cried Mrs. Weatherstone. That would save me a deal of trouble and misunderstanding. See here, I think I could manage it. What makes you think it's tonight? I can't be absolutely certain, Diantha explained, and told her the reasons she had. It does look so, her employer admitted. We'll try it at any rate. Urging her mother-in-law's presence on the ground of needing her experienced advice, Mrs. Weatherstone brought the august lady to the room next to Ildes late that evening, the housekeeper in attendance. We mustn't wake the servants, she said in an elaborate whisper. They need sleep, poor things. But I want to consult you about these communicating doors, and the locksmith is coming in the morning. You see, this opens from this side. She turned the oiled key softly in the lock. Now Miss Bell thinks they ought to be left so, so that the girls can visit one another if they like. What do you think? I think you are absurd to bring me to the top floor at this time of night for a thing like this, said the old lady. They should be permanently locked to my mind. There's no question about it. Viva, still in low tones, discussed this point further, introduced the subject of wallpaper or hard finish, pointed out from the window a tall eucalyptus which she thought needed heading, did what she could to keep the mother-in-law on the spot, and presently her efforts were rewarded. A sound of muffled speech came from the next room, a man's voice dimly heard. Madam Weatherstone raised her head like a war-horse. What's this? What's this? she said in a fierce whisper. Viva laid a hand on her arm. Sh! said she. Let us make sure. And she softly unlatched the door. A brilliant moon flooded the small chamber. They could see little Ilda huddled in the bed-clothes staring at her door from which the key had fallen. Another key was being inserted, turned, but the bolt held. Come and open it, young lady, said a careful voice outside. Go away, go away, begged the girl, low and breathlessly. Oh, how can you? Go away quick. Indeed I won't, said the voice. You come and open it. Go away, she cried, in a soft but frantic voice. I-I'll scream. Scream away, he answered. I'll just say I came up to see what the screaming's about. That's all. You open the door. If you don't want anybody to know I'm here. I won't hurt you any. I just want to talk to you a minute. Madame Weatherstone was speechless with horror. Her daughter-in-law listened with set lips. Diantha looked from one to the other, and at the frightened child before them, who was now close to the terrible door. Oh, please, please go away, she cried in desperation. Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do? You can't do anything, he answered cheerfully. And I'm coming in anyhow. You'd better keep still about this for your own sake. Stand from under. Madame Weatherstone marched into the room. Ilda, with a little cry, fled out of it to Diantha. There was a jump, a scramble. Two knuckly hands appeared. A long leg was put through the transom. Two legs wildly wriggling, a descending body. And there stood before them, flushed, disheveled, his coat up to his ears. Matt Weatherstone. He did not notice the stern rigidity of the figure which stood between him and the moonlight, but clasped it warmly to his heart. Now I've got you, ducky! cried he, pressing all to affectionate kisses upon the face of his grandmother. Young Mrs. Weatherstone turned on the light. It was an embarrassing position for the gentlemen. He had expected to find a helpless, cowering girl, afraid to cry out because her case would be lost if she did, begging piteously that he would leave her, wholly at his mercy. What he did find was so inexplicable as to reduce him to gibbering astonishment. There stood his imposing grandmother, so overwhelmed with amazement, that her trenchant sentences failed her completely, his stepmother wearing an expression that almost suggested delight in his discomforture, and Diantha as grim as Radamantha's. Poor little Ilda burst into wild sobs and choking explanations, clinging to Diantha's hand. If only I'd listened to you, she said. You told me he was bad. I never thought he'd do such an awful thing. Young Matthew fumbled at the door. He had locked it outside in his efforts with the passkey. He was red, red to his ears, very red, but there was no escape. He faced them. There was no good in facing the door. They all stood aside and let him pass, a wordless gauntlet. Diantha took the weeping Ilda to her room for the night. Madame Weatherstone and Mrs. Weatherstone went down together. She must have encouraged him, the older lady finally burst forth. She did not encourage him to enter her room as you saw and heard, said Viva with repressed intensity. He's only a boy, said his grandmother. She is only a child, a helpless child, a foreigner away from home, untaught, unprotected. Viva answered swiftly, adding with quiet sarcasm, save for the shelter of the home. They parted in silence. End of Chapter 9 Chapter 10 of What Diantha Did This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Betsy Bush. March 2009 What Diantha Did by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Chapter 10 Union House We are weak, said the sticks, and men broke them. We are weak, said the threads, and were torn. Till new thoughts came, and they spoke them, till the faggot and the rope were born. For the faggot men find is resistant, and they anchor on the rope's taut length. Even grasshoppers combined are a force the farmers find. In union there is strength. Ross Warden endured his grocery business, strove with it, toiled at it, concentrated his scientific mind on alien tasks of financial calculation and practical psychology, but he liked it no better. He had no interest in business, no desire to make money, no skill in salesmanship. But there were five mouths at home, sweet affectionate feminine mouths, no doubt, but requiring food. Also two in the kitchen, wider and requiring more food. And there were five backs at home to be covered, to use the absurd metaphor, as if all one needed for clothing was a four-foot patch. The amount and quality of the covering was an unceasing surprise to Ross, and he did not do justice to the fact, but his women folk really saved a good deal by doing their own sewing. In his heart he longed always to be free of the whole hated load of tradesmanship. Continually his thoughts went back to the hope of selling out the business and buying a ranch. I could make it keep us anyhow, he would plan to himself, and I could get at that guinea pig idea, or maybe Hens would do. He had a theory of his own, or a personal test of his own rather, which he wished to apply to a well-known theory. It would take some years to work it out, and great many fine pigs, and to be of no possible value financially. I'll do it some time, he always concluded, which was cold comfort. His real grief at losing the companionship of the girl he loved was made more bitter by a total lack of sympathy with her aims, even if she achieved them in which he had no confidence. He had no power to change his course, and tried not to be unpleasant about it, but he had to express his feelings now and then. Are you coming back to me, he wrote? How can you bear to give so much pain to everyone who loves you? Is your wonderful salary worth more to you than being here with your mother, with me? How can you say you love me and ruin both our lives like this? I cannot come to see you, I would not come to see you calling at the back door, finding the girl I love in a cap and apron. Can you not see it is wrong, utterly wrong, all this mad escapade of yours? Suppose you do make a thousand dollars a year, I shall never touch your money, you know that. I cannot even offer you a home except with my family, and I know how you'll feel about that, I do not blame you. But I am as stubborn as you are, dear girl, I will not live on my wife's money, you will not live in my mother's house, and we are drifting apart. It is not that I care less for you, dear, or at all for anyone else, but this is slow death, that's all. Mrs. Warden wrote now and then, and expatiated on the sufferings of her son, and his failing strength under the unnatural strain, till Diantha grew to dread her letters more than any pain she knew. Fortunately they came seldom. Her own family was much impressed by the thousand dollars, and found the occupation housekeeper a long way more tolerable than that of housemaid, a distinction which made Diantha smile rather bitterly. Even her father wrote to her once, suggesting that if she chose to invest her salary according to his advice, he could double it for her in a year, maybe treble it in Belgian hairs. They'd double and treble fast enough, she admitted to herself, but she wrote as pleasant a letter as she could, in his proposition. Her mother seemed stronger, and became more sympathetic as the months passed. Large affairs always appealed to her more than small ones, and she offered valuable suggestions as to the account keeping of the big house. They all assumed that she was permanently settled in this well-paid position, and she made no confidences. But all summer long she planned and read and studied out her progressive schemes, and strengthened her hold among the working women. Laundress after laundress she studied personally and tested professionally, finding a general level of mediocrity till finally she hit upon a melancholy dain, a big, raw-boned, red-faced woman whose husband had been a miller, but was hurt about the head so that he was no longer able to earn his living. The huge fellow was docile, quiet, and endlessly strong, but needed constant supervision. He'll do anything you tell him, Miss, and do it well. But then he'll sit and dream about it. I can't leave him at all. But he'll take the clothes if I give him a paper with directions and come right back. Poor Mrs. Thorald wiped her eyes and went on with her swift ironing. Diantha offered her the position of laundress at Union House with two rooms for their own over the laundry. There'll be work for him, too, she said. We need a man there. He can do a deal of the heavier work. Be porter, you know. I can't offer him very much, but it will help some. Mrs. Thorald accepted for both and considered Diantha as a special providence. There was to be cook in two capable second maids. The work of the house must be done thoroughly well, Diantha determined, and the foods got to be good, or the girls won't stay. After much consideration she selected one Juliana, a person of color, for her kitchen. Not the jovial and sloppy personage usually figuring in this character, but a tall, angular and somewhat cynical woman. A misanthrope, in fact, with a small son. For men she had no respect, whatever, but conceded a grudging admiration to Mr. Thorald as the usefulest, biteableest male person she had ever seen. She also extended special sympathy to Mrs. Thorald on account of her peculiar burden, and the Swedish woman had no antipathy to her color and seemed to take a melancholy pleasure in Juliana's caustic speeches. Diantha offered her the place, boy and all. He can be bell-boy and help you in the kitchen, too. Can't you, Hector? Hector rolled the large, adoring eyes at her, but said nothing. His mother accepted the position, but without enthusiasm. I can't keep no eye on him, Miss, if I'm cooking, unless you keep your eye on him there is no work to be got out of any kind of boy. What is your last name, Juliana? Diantha asked her. I suppose, as a matter of fact, it's the name of the last nigger I married, she replied. There were several of them. All having different names, and to tell you the truth, Miss Bell, I got clean mixed amongst them, but Juliana's my name, world without end, amen. So Diantha had to wave her theories about the surnames of servants in this case. Did they all die? She asked with polite sympathy. Noem, they didn't none of them die. Worst luck. I'm afraid you have seen much trouble, Juliana. She continued sympathetically. They deserted you, I suppose. Juliana laid her long spoon upon the table and stood up with great gravity. Noem, she said again, they didn't none of them desert me on no occasion. I divorced them. The marital difficulties in bulk were beyond Diantha's comprehension, and she dropped to the subject. Union House opened in the autumn. The vanished pepper trees were dim with dust in Orchardina streets as the long, rainless summer drew to a close, but the social atmosphere fairly sparkled with new interest, those who had not been away chattered eagerly with those who had, and both with the incoming tide of winter visitors. That girl of Mrs. Porns was keeping shop. That Miss Bell has got Mrs. Weatherstone fairly infatuated with her crazy schemes. Do you know that bell girl has actually taken Union House? Going to make a girl's club of it. Did you ever hear of such a thing? Diantha Bell's really going to try to run her absurd undertaking right here in Orchardina. They did not know that the young captain of industry had deliberately chosen Orchardina as her starting point on account of the special conditions. The even climate was favorable to going out by the day or the delivering of meals. The number of wealthy residents gave opportunity for catering on a large scale. The crowding tourists and health seekers made a market for all manner of transient service and cooked food, and the constant lack of sufficient or capable servants forced to the people into an unwilling consideration of any plan of domestic assistance. In a year's deliberate effort Diantha had acquainted herself with the rank and file of the town's housemaids and day-workers and picked her assistance carefully. She had studied the local conditions thoroughly and knew her ground. A big-fitted building that used to be the Hotel in Orchardina's infant days, standing awkward and dingy on a site too valuable for a house lot and not yet saleable as a business block was the working base. A half year with Mrs. Weatherstone gave her five hundred dollars in cash. Besides the one hundred dollars she had saved at Mrs. Porn's and Mrs. Weatherstone's cheerfully offered backing gave her credit. I hate to let you, said Diantha. I want to do it all myself. You are a painfully perfect person, Miss Bell, said her last employer pleasantly, but you have ceased to be my housekeeper and I hope you will continue to be my friend. As a friend I claim the privilege of being disagreeable. If you have a fault it is conceit, immovable colossal conceit, and obstinacy. Is that all? asked Diantha. It's all I've found so far, gaily retorted Mrs. Weatherstone. Don't you see, child, that you can't afford to wait. You have reasons for hastening, you know. I don't doubt you could in a series of years work up this business all stark alone. I have every confidence in those qualities I have mentioned, but what's the use? You'll need credit for groceries and furniture. I am profoundly interested in this business. I am more than willing to advance a little capital or to ensure your credit. A man would have sense enough to take me up at once. I believe you are right, Diantha reluctantly agreed, and you shan't lose by it. Her eyes were acutely interested in her progress and showed it to families. The new woman's club furnished five families of patrons for the regular service of cooked food, which soon grew, with satisfaction, to a dozen or so, varying from time to time. The many families with invalids and lonely invalids without families were glad to avail themselves of the special delicacies furnished at Union House. Picnicers found it easier putting up inferior ones at home, and many who cooked for themselves or kept servants were glad to profit by this outside source on Sunday evenings and days out. There was opposition, too, both the natural resistance of inertia and prejudice and the active malignity of Mrs. Dadler. The pawns were sympathetic and anxious. That place'll cost her all of $10,000 a year, with those $25 to feed, and they only pay $4.50 a week. I know that," said Mr. Porn. It does look impossible, his wife agreed. But such as my faith in Diana Bell I'll back her against Rockefeller. Mrs. Weatherstone was not alarmed at all. If she should fail, which I don't for a moment expect, it won't ruin me," she told Isabelle. And if she succeeds, as I firmly believe she will, why, I'd be willing to risk almost anything to prove Mrs. Dadler in the wrong. Mrs. Dadler was making herself rather disagreeable. She used what power she had to cry down the undertaking and was so actively malevolent that her husband was moved to covert opposition. He never argued with his wife. She was easily ahead of him in that art, and if it came to recriminations had certain controversial charges to make against him which made him angrily silent. He was convinced in a dim way that her ruthless domineering spirit and the sheer malice she often showed were more evil things than his own bad habits and that even in their domestic relation her behavior really caused him more pain and discomfort than he caused her. But he could not convince her of it, naturally. That Diana Bell is a fine girl, he said to himself, a damn fine girl and as straight as a string. There had crept out through the quenchless leak of Servant's Talk a very colored version of the incident of Matthew and the transom and the town had grown so warm for that young gentleman that he had gone to Alaska suddenly to cool off as it were. His grandmother finding Mrs. Thadler invincible with this new weapon and what she had so long regarded as her home now visibly Mrs. Weatherstones had retired in regal dignity to her old Philadelphia establishment where she upheld the standard of decorum against the weakening habits of a deteriorated world for many years. As Mr. Thadler thought of this sweeping victory he chuckled for the hundredth time. She ought to make good and she will. Something's got to be done about it, said he. Diana had never liked Mr. Thadler. She did not like that kind of man in general nor his manner to report her in particular. Moreover, he was the husband of Mrs. Thadler. She did not know that he was still the largest owner in the town's best grocery store and when that store offered her special terms for her exclusive trade she accepted the proposition thankfully. She told Ross about it as a matter well within his knowledge if not his liking and he was mildly interested. I am much alarmed at this new venture, he wrote, you must get your experience I wish I could save you as to the groceries those are wholesale rates nearly they'll make enough on it yours is a large order you see and steady. When she opened her businessmen's lunch Mr. Thadler had a still better opportunity. He had a reputation as a high flyer and had really intended to sacrifice himself on the altar of friendship by patronizing and praising this undertaking he had lost to his pallet. But no sacrifice was needed. Diantha's group of day-workers had their early breakfast and departed taking each her neat lunch pail they ate nothing of their employers and both kitchen and dining-room would have stood idle till suppertime but the young manager knew she must work her plant for all it was worth and speedily opened the dining-room with the side entrance as a cafeteria with a larger one as a sort of meeting-place papers and magazines on the tables. From the counter you took what you liked and seated yourself and your friends at one of the many small tables or in the flat-armed chairs in the big room or on the broad piazza and as this gave good food, cheapness a chance for a comfortable seat and talk and a smoke if one had time it was largely patronized. Mr. Thadler as an experienced bonvignon despised sandwiches picnicky makeshifts he called them railroad rations bread and leavings and when he saw those piles on piles of sandwiches listed only as number one, number two, number three, and so on his benevolent intention wavered but he pulled himself together and took a plateful assorted come on, porn, he said we'll play it's a Sunday school picnic and he drew himself a cup of coffee finding hot milk, cream and sugar crystals at hand I never saw a cheap joint where you could fix it yourself before, he said and suspiciously taste the mixture by Jing, that's coffee he cried in surprise there's no scum on the milk and the cream's cream five cents, she won't get rich on this then he applied himself to his number one sandwich and his determined expression gave way to one of pleasure why, that's bread real bread I believe she made it herself she did, in truth she and Juliana with Hector as general assistant the big oven was filled several times every morning the fresh rolls disappeared at breakfast and supper the fresh bread was packed in the lunch pails and the stale bread was even now melting away in large bites behind the smiling mouths and mustaches of many men perfect bread excellent butter and what's the filling I'd like to know more than one inquiring minded patrons split a sandwich to add sight to taste, but few could be sure of the flavoursome contents fatless, gritless, smooth and even, covering the entire surface the last mouthful is perfect as the first some were familiar, some new all were delicious the six sandwiches were five cents the cup of coffee, five and the little drop cakes, sweet and spicy were two for five every man spent fifteen cents some of them more and many took away small cakes and paper bags if there were any left I don't see how you can do it and make a profit, urged Mr. Elthwood making a pastoral call they are so good you know Diana smiled cheerfully that's because all your ideas are based on what we call domestic economy which is domestic waste I buy in large quantities at wholesale rates and my cook with her little helper the two maids in my own share of the work of course provides for the lot of course one has to know how wherever did you find or did you create those heavenly sandwiches he asked I have to thank my laundress for part of that success she said she's a dain and it appears that the the dains are so fond of sandwiches that in large establishments there is a sandwich kitchen to prepare them it is quite a bit of work but they are good and inexpensive there is no limit to the variety as a matter of fact this lunch business paid well and led to larger things the girls methods were simple and so organized as to make one hand wash the other her house had some twenty odd bedrooms full accommodations for kitchen and laundry work on a large scale big dining dancing and reception rooms and broad shady piazzas on the side its position on a corner near the business part of the little city and at the foot of the hill crowned with so many millionaires and near millionaires as could get land there offered many advantages and everyone was taken the main part of the undertaking was a house workers union a group of thirty girls picked and trained these previously working out as servants had received six dollars a week and found they now worked and agreed number of hours were paid on a basis by the hour or day and found themselves each had her own room and the broad porches and ballroom were theirs except when engaged for dances and meetings of one sort and another it was a stirring years work hard but exciting and the only difficulty which really worried Diantha was the same that worried the average housewife accounts end of chapter ten chapter eleven of what Diantha did this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org read by Betsy Bush March 2009 what Diantha did by Charlotte Perkins Gilman chapter eleven the power of the screw your car is too big for one person to stir your chauffeur is a little man too yet he lifts that machine does the little chauffeur by the power of a gentle jack screw Diantha worked for all her employees she demanded a ten hour day she worked fourteen rising at six and not getting to bed till eleven when her charges were all safely in their rooms for the night they were all up at five thirty or their abouts breakfasting at six and the girls often time to reach their various places by seven their day was from seven a.m. to eight thirty p.m. with half an hour out from eleven thirty to twelve for their lunch and three hours between two thirty and five thirty for their own time including their tea then they worked again from five thirty to eight thirty on the dinner and the dishes and then they came home to a pleasant nine o'clock dinner and had all hour to dance a rest before the ten thirty bell for bedtime special friends and cousins often came home with them and frequently shared the supper for a quarter and the dance for nothing it was no light matter in the first place to keep twenty girls contented with such a regime and working with the steady excellence required and in the second place to keep twenty employers contented with them there were failures on both sides half a dozen families gave up the plan and it took time to replace them and three girls had to be asked to resign before the year was over but most of them had been in training in the summer and had listened for months to Diantha's earnest talks to the clubs with good results remember we are not doing this for ourselves alone, she would say to them our experiment is going to make this kind of work easier for all home workers everywhere you may not like it at first but neither did you like the old way it will grow easier as we get used to it and we must keep the rules because we made them she laboriously composed a neat little circular distributed it widely and kept a pile in her lunchroom for people to take it read thus union house food and service general housework by the week ten dollars general housework by the day two dollars ten hours work a day and furnish their own food additional labor by the hour twenty cents special service for entertainments maids and waitresses by the hour twenty-five cents catering for entertainments delicacies for invalids lunch is packed and delivered cafeteria twelve to two what annoyed the young manager most was the uncertainty and irregularity involved in her work the facts vary inconsiderably from her calculations in the house all ran smoothly solemn mrs. Thorwald did the laundry work for thirty-five by the aid of her husband and a big mangle for the flat work the girls washing was limited you have to be reasonable about it diantha had explained to them your fifty cents covers a dozen pieces no more if you want more you have to pay more just as your employers do for your extra time this last often happened no one on the face of it could ask more than ten hours of the swift steady work given by the girls at but a fraction over fourteen cents an hour yet many times the housekeeper was anxious for more labor on special days and the girls unaccustomed to the three free hours in the afternoon were quite willing to furnish it thus adding somewhat to their cash returns they had a dressmaking class at the club afternoons and as union house boasted a good sewing machine many of them spent the free hours in enlarging their wardrobes some amused themselves with light reading a few studied others met and walked outside the sense of honest leisure grew upon them with its broadening influence and among her thirty diantha found four or five who were able and ambitious and willing to work heartily for the further developments of the business her two housemaids were specially selected when the girls were out of the house these two maids washed the breakfast dishes with marvelous speed and then helped diantha prepare for the lunch this was a large undertaking and all three of them as well as juliana and hector worked at it until some six or eight hundred sandwiches were ready and two or three hundred little cakes diantha had her own lunch and then sat at the receipt of custom during the lunch hour making change and ordering fresh supplies as fast as needed the two housemaids had a long day but so arranged that it made but ten hours work and they had much available time of their own they had to be at work at five thirty to set the table for six o'clock breakfast and then they were at it steadily with the dining rooms to do and the lunch to get ready until eleven thirty when they had an hour to eat and rest from twelve thirty to four o'clock they were busy with the lunch cups the bedrooms and setting the table for dinner but after that they had four hours to themselves until the nine o'clock supper was over and once more they washed dishes for half an hour the cafeteria used only cups and spoons the sandwiches and cakes were served on paper plates in the hand-cart methods of small housekeeping it is impossible to exact the swift precision of such work but not in the standardized tasks and regular hours of such an establishment as this diantha religiously kept her hour at noon and tried to keep the three in the afternoon but the employer and manager cannot take irresponsible rest as can the employee she felt like a most inexperienced captain on a totally new species of ship and her paper plans looked very weak sometimes as bills turned out to be larger than she had allowed for or her patronage unaccountably dwindled but if the difficulties were great the girl's courage was greater it is simply a big piece of work she assured herself and may be a long one but there never was anything better worth doing every new business has difficulties I mustn't think of them I must just push and push and push a little more every day and then she would draw on all her powers to reason with laugh at and persuade some dissatisfied girl or hardest of all to bring in a new one to fill a vacancy she enjoyed the details of her lunch business and studied it carefully planning for a restaurant a little later her bread was baked and long cylindrical closed pans and cut by machinery into thin even slices not crust wasted for they were ground into crumbs and used in the cooking the filling for her sandwiches was made from fish, flesh and fowl from cheese and jelly and fruit and vegetables and so named or numbered that the general favorites were gradually determined Mr. Thadler chatted with her over the counter as far as she would allow it and discoursed more fully with his friends on the veranda Porn, he said where'd that girl come from anyway she's a genius, that's what she is a regular genius she's all that, said Mr. Porn and a benefactor to humanity thrown in I wish she'd start her food delivery though I'm tired of those two Swedes already oh, come from up in Yalapes, Inca County I believe England's stock I bet, said Mr. Thadler it's a damn shame the way the women go on about her not all of them surely, protested Mr. Porn no, not all of them but enough of them to make mischief you may be sure women are the devil sometimes Mr. Porn smiled without answer and Mr. Thadler went sulking away, a bag of cakes bulging in his pocket the little wooden hotel in Yalapes boasted an extra visitor a few days later a big red-faced man who strolled about among the tradesmen tried the barber's shop loafed in the post office hired a rig and traversed the length and breadth of the town and who called on Mrs. Warden talking real estate with her most politely in spite of her protestation and the scornful looks of the four daughters who bought tobacco and matches in the grocery store and sat on the piazza thereof to smoke as did other gentlemen of leisure Ross Warden occasionally leaned at the door-jam with folded arms he never could learn to be easily sociable with ranchmen and teamsters serve them he must but chat with them he need not the stout gentleman assayed some conversation but did not get far Ross was polite but far from encouraging and presently went home to supper leaving a carrot-haired boy to wait upon his lingering customers nice young feller enough said the stout gentleman to himself but raised on ramrods never got enough from those women folks of his either he has a row to hoe and he departed as he had come Mr. Elthwood turned out an unexpectedly useful friend to Diantha he steered club meetings and sociables into her large rooms and as people found how cheap and easy it was to give parties that way they continued to the habit he brought his doctor friends to sample the lunch and they tested the value of Diantha's invalid cookery and were more than pleased hungry tourists were holy without prejudice and prized her sandwiches for their own sake they descended upon the cafeteria in chattering swarms some days robbing the regular patrons of their food and sent sudden orders for picnic lunches that broke in routine hours of the place unmercifully but of all her patrons the families of invalids appreciated Diantha's work the most where a little shack or tent was all they could afford to live in or where the tiny cottage was more than filled with the patient attending relative and nurse this depot of supplies was a relief indeed a girl could be had for an hour or two or two girls together with amazing speed could put a small house in dainty order the sick man lay in his hammock under the pepper trees and be gone before he was fretting for his bed again they lived upon her lunches and from them and other quarters rose an increasing demand for regular cooked food why don't you go into it at once urged Mrs. Weatherstone I want to establish the day service first said Diantha it is a pretty big business I find and I do get tired sometimes I can't afford to slip up you know I mean to take it up next fall though all right and look here see that you begin in first rate shape I've got some ideas of my own about those food containers they discussed the matter more than once Diantha most reluctant to take any assistance Mrs. Weatherstone determined that she should I feel like a big investor already she said I don't think even you realize the money you are interested in establishing the working girls and saving money and time for the housewives I am interested in making money out of it honestly it would be such a triumph you're very good Diantha hesitated I'm not good I'm most eagerly and selfishly interested I've taken a new lease of life since knowing you Diantha Bell you see my father was a businessman and his father before him I like it there I was with lots of money and not an interest in life now why there's no end to this thing Diantha it's one of the biggest businesses on earth if not the biggest yes I know the girl answered but it's slow work I feel the weight of it more than I expected there's every reason to succeed but there's the combined sentiment of the whole world to lift it's as heavy as it is led heavy of course it's heavy the more fun to lift it you'll do it Diantha I know you will with that steady relentless push of yours but the cooked food is going to be your biggest power and you must let me start it right now you listen to me and make Mrs. Thadler eat her words Mrs. Thadler's words would have proved rather poisonous if eaten she grew more antagonistic and more advanced every fault that could be found in the undertaking she pounced upon and enlarged every doubt that could be cast upon it she heavily piled up and her opposition grew more rancorous as Mr. Thadler enlarged in her hearing upon the excellence of Diantha's lunches and the wonders of her management she's picked a bunch of winners in those girls of hers he declared to his friends like a flock of sweet peas in their pinks and whites and greens and violets and do more work in an hour than the average salary can do in three I'm told it was a pretty sight to see those girls start out they had a sort of uniform as far as a neat gingham dress went with elbow sleeves white ruffled and a dutch collar a sort of cross between a nurse's dress and that of la chocolatère but colors were left to taste each carried her apron and a cap that covered the hair while cooking and sweeping but nothing that suggested the black and white livery of the regulation servant this is a new stage of labor their leader reminded them you are not servants you are employees you wear a cap as an english carpenter does or a french cook and an apron because your work needs it it is not a ruffled label it's a business necessity and each one of us must do our best to make this new kind of work valued and respected it is no easy matter to overcome prejudices many centuries old and meet the criticism of women who have nothing to do but criticize those who were mistresses and wanted servants someone to do their will at any moment from early morning till late evening were not pleased with the new way if they tried it but the women who had interests of their own to attend to kept clean and the food well cooked and served were pleased the speed, the accuracy, the economy the pleasant quiet assured manner of these skilled employees was a very different thing from the old slip-shot methods of the ordinary general servant so the work slowly prospered while Diantha began to put in execution the new plan she had been forced into while it matured Mrs. Thadler matured hers with steady dropping she had let fall far and wide her suspicions as to the character of Union House it looks pretty queer to me she would say confidently all those girls together and no person to have any authority over them not a married woman in the house but that washer woman and her husband's a fool and again, you don't see how she does it neither do I the expenses must be tremendous the girls pay next to nothing and all that broth and brown bread flying about town pretty queer doings, I think the men seem to like that cafeteria, don't they? urged one caller perhaps not unwilling to nustle Mrs. Thadler who flushed darkly as she replied yes, they do men usually like that sort of place they like good food at low prices, if that's what you mean her visitor answered that's not all I mean by a long way said Mrs. Thadler she said so much and said it so ingenuously that a dark rumor arose from nowhere and grew rapidly several families discharged their Union House girls several girls complained that they were insultingly spoken to on the street even the lunch patronage began to fall off Diantha was puzzled a little alarmed the lifting of the prejudice against her was checked she could not put her finger on the enemy yet felt one distinctly and had her own suspicions but she also had her new move well arranged by this time then a maliciously insinuating story of the place came out in a San Francisco paper and a flock of local reporters buzzed in to sample the victim they helped themselves to the luncheon and liked it but they did not soften their pens they talked with such of the girls as they could get in touch with and wrote such versions of these talks as suited them they called repeatedly at Union House but Diantha refused to see them finally she was visited by the Episcopalian clergyman he had heard her talk at the club was favorably impressed by the girl herself and honestly distressed by the dark stories he now heard about Union House my dear young lady I have called to see you in your own interest I do not as you perhaps know approve of your schemes I consider them a subversive of the best interests of the home but I think you mean well though mistakenly now I fear you are not aware that this ill considered undertaking of yours is giving rise to considerable adverse comment in the community there is there is a great deal being said about this business of yours which I am sure you would regret if you knew it do you think it is wise do you think it is right my dear Miss Bell to attempt to carry on a place of this sort without the presence of a of a matron of assured standing Diantha smiled rather coldly may I trouble you to step into the back parlor Dr. Everthwaite she said and then may I have the pleasure to introduce you Mrs. Henderson Bell my mother wasn't it great said Mrs. Weatherstone I was there you see I had come to call on Mrs. Bell she is a dear and in came Mrs. Thadler Mrs. Thadler oh I know it was old Everthwaite but he represented Mrs. Thadler and her clique and had come there to preach to Diantha about propriety to her mother it was rich Isabel how did Diantha manage it asked her friend she's been trying to arrange it for ever so long of course her father objected you'd know that but there's a sister not a bad sort only very limited she's taken the old man to board as it were and I guess the mother really set her foot down for once said she had a right to visit her own daughter it would seem so I am so glad it will be so much easier for that brave little woman now it was Diantha held her mother in her arms the night she came and cried like a baby oh mother dear she sobbed I had no idea I should miss you so much oh you blessed comfort her mother cried a bit too she enjoyed this daughter more than either of her older children and missed her more she loves all her children naturally but a mother is also a person and may without sin have personal preferences she took hold of Diantha's tangled mass of papers with the eagerness of a questing hound you've got all the bills of course she demanded with her anxious rising inflection every one said the girl you taught me that much what puzzles me is to make things balance I'm making more than I thought in some lines and less in others make it come out straight it won't altogether till the end of the year I dare say, said Mrs. Bell but let's get clear as far as we can in the first place we must separate your business see how each one pays the first one I want to establish said her daughter, is the girls club not just this one with me to run it but to show that any group of twenty or thirty girls could do this thing in any city of course where rents and provisions were high they'd have to charge more I want to make an average showing somehow now can you disentangle the girl part from the lunch part and the food part mother dear and make it all straight Mrs. Bell could and did it gave her absolute delight to do it she sat down the total of Diantha's expenses so far in the service department as follows rent of union house one thousand five hundred dollars rent of furniture three hundred dollars one payment on furniture four hundred dollars fuel and lights etc three hundred and fifty two dollars service of five at ten dollars a week each two thousand six hundred dollars food for thirty seven three thousand eight hundred forty eight dollars total nine thousand dollars that covers everything but my board well now your income is easy thirty five times four dollars and fifty cents equals eight thousand one hundred and ninety dollars take that from your nine thousand dollars and you are eight hundred and ten dollars behind yes I know said Diantha eagerly but if it were merely a girl's club home the rent and fixtures would be much less a home could be built with thirty bedrooms and all necessary one thousand dollars I've asked Mr. and Mrs. Porn about it and the furnishing needed to cost over two thousand dollars if it was very plain ten percent of that is a rent of nine hundred dollars you see I see said her mother better say a thousand I guess it would be done for that so they set down rent one thousand dollars there have to be five paid helpers in the house Diantha went on the cook the laundress the maids and the matron she must buy and manage she could be one of their mothers or aunts Mrs. Bell smiled do you really imagine Diantha that Mrs. O'Shaughnessy or Mrs. Jan Jonson can manage a house like this as you can Diantha flushed a little no mother of course not but I am keeping very full reports of all the work just the schedule of labor, the hours the exact things done one laundress with machinery can wash for thirty five it's only six a day you see and the amount is regulated about six dozen a day and all the flat work mangled in a girls club alone the cook has all day off as it were she can do the downstairs cleaning and the two maids have only table service and bedrooms thirty five bedrooms yes but two girls together who knew how can do a room in eight minutes easily they are small and simple you see make the bed, shake the mats wipe the floors and windows you watch them I have watched them, the mother admitted they are as quick as mill workers well pursued Diantha they spend three hours on dishes and tables and seven on cleaning the bedrooms take two hundred and eighty minutes that's nearly five hours the other two are for the bathrooms tables, stairs, downstairs windows and so on that's all right then I'm keeping the menus just what I furnish and what it costs anybody could order and manage when it was all set down for her and you see, as you have figured it they'd have over five hundred dollars leeway to buy the furniture if they were allowed to yes Mrs. Bell admitted if the rent was what you allow and if they all work all the time that's the hitch of course but mother the girls who don't have steady jobs do work by the hour and that brings in more on the whole if they are the right kind they can make good if they find anyone who don't keep her job for good reasons they can drop her hmm said Mrs. Bell well it's an interesting experiment but how about you so far you were four hundred and ten dollars behind yes because my rent's so big but I cover that by letting the rooms you see Mrs. Bell considered the order of this sort so far it averages about twenty five dollars a week that's doing well it will be less in summer much less Diana suggested suppose you call it an average of fifteen dollars call it ten dollars said her mother ruthlessly at that it covers your deficit and a hundred and ten dollars over which isn't much to live on Diana agreed but then comes my special catering and the lunches here they were quite at sea for a while but as the months passed and the work steadily grew on their hands Mrs. Bell became more and more cheerful she was up with the earliest took entire charge of the financial part of the concern and at last Diana was able to rest fully in her afternoon hours to see her mother thrive in the work her thin shoulders lifted a little as small dragging tasks were forgotten and a large growing business substituted her eyes grew bright again she held her head as she did in her keen girlhood and her daughter felt fresh hope and power as she saw already the benefit of the new method as affecting her nearest and dearest all Diana's friends watched the spread of the work with keenly sympathetic intent but to Mrs. Weatherstone it became almost as fascinating as to the girl herself it's going to be one of the finest businesses in the world, she said and one of the largest and best paying now I'll have a surprise ready for that girl in the spring and another next year if I'm not mistaken there were long and vivid discussions of the matter between her and her friends the Porns and Mrs. Porns spent more hours in her drawing room than she had for years but while these unmentioned surprises were pending Mrs. Weatherstone departed to New York to Europe and was gone some months in the spring she returned in April which is late June in Orchardina she called upon Diana and her mother at once and opened her attack I do hope Mrs. Bell that you'll back me up she said you have the better business head I think in the financial line as Diana admitted she's ten times as good as I am at that but she's no more willing to carry obligation than I am Mrs. Weatherstone obligation is one thing investment is another said her guest I live on my money that is on other people's work I am a base capitalist and you seem to me good material to invest in so take it or leave it I've brought you an offer she then produced from her handbag some papers and from her car outside a large object carefully boxed about the size and shape of a plate warmer this being placed on the table before them was uncovered and proved to be a food container of a new model I had one made in Paris she explained and the rest copied here to save paying duty lift it they lifted it in amazement it was so light aluminum she said proudly it needed new process and bamboo at the corners you see all lined and inner lined with the best rubber fittings for silverware plate racks food compartments see she pulled out drawers opened little doors and rapidly laid out a table service for five it will hold food for five the average family you know for larger orders you'll have to send more I had to make some estimate what lovely dishes said Diantha aren't they aluminum silvered if your washers are careful they won't get dented and you can't break them Mrs. Bell examined the case and all its fittings with eager attention it's the prettiest thing I ever saw she said look Diantha here's for soup here's for water or wine if you want all your knives and forks at the side Japanese napkins up here lovely but I should think expensive Mrs. Weatherstone smiled I've had twenty five of them made they cost with the fittings a hundred dollars a piece two thousand five hundred dollars I will rent them to you Miss Bell at a rate of ten percent interest only two hundred and fifty dollars a year it ought to take more said Mrs. Bell there'll be breakage and waste you can't break them I tell you said the cheerful visitor and dense can be smoothed out in any tin shop you'll have to pay for it will that satisfy you Diantha was looking at her her eye is deep with gratitude I you know what I think of you she said Mrs. Weatherstone laughed I'm not through yet she said look at my next piece of impudence this was only on paper but the pictures were amply illuminating I went to several factories she gleefully explained here and abroad a Yankee firm built it it's in my garage now it was a light gasoline motor wagon the body built like those old fashioned moving wagons which were also used for excursions wherein the floor of the vehicle was rather narrow and set low and the seats ran lengthwise widening out over the wheels only here the wheels were lower and in the space under the seats ran a row of lockers opening outside Mrs. Weatherstone smiled triumphantly now Diantha Bell she said here's something you haven't thought of I do believe this estimable vehicle will carry 30 people inside easily and she showed them how each side held 12 and turn up seats accommodated six more and outside she showed the lengthwise picture it carries 24 containers if you want to send all your 25 at once one can go here by the driver now then this is not an obligation Miss Bell it is another valuable investment I'm having more made I expect to have use for them in a good many places this cost pretty near $3,000 and you can get it at the same good interest for $300 a year what's more if you are smart enough what you are you can buy the whole thing on installments same as you mean to with your furniture Diantha was dumb but her mother wasn't she thanked Mrs. Weatherstone with a hearty appreciation of her opportune help but no less of her excellent investment don't be a goose Diantha she said you will set up your food business in first class style and I think you can carry it successfully but Mrs. Weatherstone's right there's a new investment here that will pay her better than most others and to be a growing thing I do believe and still Diantha found it difficult to express her feelings she had lived under a great deal of strain for many months now and this sudden opening of her plans was a heavenly help indeed Mrs. Weatherstone went round the table and sat by her child said she you don't begin to realize what you've done for me and for Isabelle there are never so many in this town and all over the world and besides don't you think anybody else can see your dream we can't do it as you can but we can see what it's going to mean and we'll help if we can you wouldn't grudge us that would you as a result of all this the cooked food delivery service was opened at once it is true that the tourists are gone mostly said Mrs. Weatherstone as she urged it but you see there are ever so many residents who have more trouble with servants in summer than they do in winter and hate to have a fire in the house too so Diantha's circulars had an addition forthwith they were distributed among the Orchardinans setting their tongues wagging anew as a fresh breeze stirs the eaves of the forest the stealthy inroads of lunches and evening refreshments had been deprecated already this new kind of servant wasn't a servant but held her head up like anyone else they are as independent as as sales ladies said one critic was also viewed with alarm but when even this domestic assistant was to be removed and a square case of food and dishes substituted all archaic Orchardina was horrified there were plenty of new minds in the place however enough to start Diantha with seven full orders and five partial ones her work at the club was now much easier thanks to her mother's assistance to the smoother running of all the machinery with the passing of time and further to the fact that most of her girls were now working at summer resorts for shorter hours and higher wages they paid for their rooms at the club still but the work of the house was so much lightened that each of the employees was given two weeks of vacation on full pay the lunch department kept on a pretty regular basis from the patronage of resident businessmen and the young manager in her ambitious moments planned for enlarging it in the winter but during the summer her whole energies went to perfecting the menus and the service of her food delivery Mrs. Porn was the very first to order she had been waiting impatiently for a chance to try the plan and with her husband had the firmest faith in Diantha's capacity to carry it through we don't save much in money to the eager Mrs. Rhee who hovered fascinated over the dangerous topic but we do in comfort I can tell you you see I had two girls paid them twelve dollars a week now I keep just the one for six dollars my food and fuel for the four of us I don't count the babies either time they remain as before was all of sixteen dollars often more that made twenty eight dollars a week one day delivered for three of us fifteen dollars a week with the nurses wages twenty one dollars then I pay a laundress one day two dollars and her two meals fifty cents making twenty three dollars and fifty cents then I have two maids for an hour a day to clean fifty cents a day for six days three dollars and one made Sunday twenty five cents twenty six dollars and seventy five cents in all so we only make five cents but there's another room we have the cook's room for an extra guest I use it most for a sewing room though and the kitchen is a sort of day nursery now the house seems as big again but the food eagerly inquired Mrs. Rhee is it as good as your own is it hot and tempting Mrs. Rhee was fascinated by the new heresy as a staunch adherent of the old home and culture club her ideals she disapproved of the undertaking but her curiosity was keen about it Mrs. Porn smiled patiently you remember Diantha Bell's cooking I am sure Mrs. Rhee she said and Juliana used to cook for dinner parties when one could get her my sweet was a very ordinary cook as most of these untrained girls are so take off your hat and have dinner with us I'll show you urged Mrs. Porn I oh I mustn't flutter the little woman they'll expect me at home and surely your supply doesn't allow for guests we'll arrange all that by phone her host is explained and she promptly sent word to the re-household then called on Union House and ordered one extra dinner is it I'm dreadfully rude I know but I'm so interested is it expensive Mrs. Porn smiled haven't you seen the little circulars here's one extra meals to regular patrons 25 cents and no more trouble to order than to tell a maid Mrs. Rhee had a lively sense of pultering with Satan as she sat down to the Porn's dinner table she had seen the delivery wagon drive to the door had heard the man deposit something heavy on the back porch and was now confronted by a butler's tray as Mrs. Porn's left whereon stood a neat square shining object with silvery panels and bamboo trimmings it's not at all bad looking is it she ventured not bad enough to spoil one's appetite Mr. Porn cheerily agreed open sesame now you know the worst Mrs. Porn opened it and an inner front was shown with various small doors and drawers do you know what is in it asked the guest no thank goodness I don't replied her hostess anything tiresome it is to order meals and always know what's coming that's what men get so tired of at restaurants what they hate so when their wives ask them what they want for dinner now I can enjoy my dinner at my own table just as if I was a guest it is a tax sometimes Mrs. Rhee admitted adding hastily but one is glad to do it to make home attractive Mr. Porn's eyes sought his wife's and love and the contentment flashed between them as she quietly sat upon the table three silvery plates not silver surely said Mrs. Rhee lifting hers oh aluminum aluminum silver plated said Mr. Porn they've learned how to do it at last it's a problem of weight you see and breakage aluminum isn't pretty glass and silver are heavy but we all love silver it's a pleasant sense of gorgeousness in this outfit it did look rather impressive silver tumblers silver dishes the whole dainty service and so surprisingly light you see she knows that it is very important to please the eye as well as the palate said Mr. Porn now speaking of palettes let us all keep silent and taste this soup they did keep silent in supreme contentment while the soup lasted Mrs. Rhee laid down her spoon with the air of one roused from a lovely dream why why it's like Paris she said in an odd tone isn't it Mr. Porn agreed and not twice alike in a month I think why there aren't thirty kinds of soup are there she urged I never thought there were when we kept servants said he three was about their limit and greasy at that Mrs. Porn slipped the soup plates back in their place and served the meat she does not give a fish course does she Mrs. Rhee observed not at the table to oat price Mrs. Porn answered we never pretended to have a fish course ourselves do you Mrs. Rhee did not and eagerly disclaimed any desire for fish the meat was roast beef thinly sliced hot and juicy don't you miss the carving Mr. Porn asked the visitor I do so love to see a man at the head of his own table carving I do miss it Mrs. Rhee I miss it every day of my life with devout thankfulness I never was a good carver so it was no pleasure to me to show off and to tell you the truth when I come to the table I like to eat not saw wood and Mr. Porn ate with every appearance of satisfaction we never get roast beef like this I'm sure Mrs. Rhee admitted we can't get it small enough for our family and a little roast is always spoiled in the cooking yes this is far better than we used to have agreed her hostess Mrs. Rhee enjoyed every mouthful of her meal the soup was hot the salad was crisp and the ice cream hard there was sponge cake thick light with sugar freckles on the dark crust the coffee was perfect and almost burned the tongue I don't understand about the heat and cold she said and they showed her the bestest lined compartments and perfectly fitting places for each dish and plate everything went back out of sight small leavings in a special drawer knives and forks held firmly by rubber fittings nothing that shook or rattled and the case was set back by the door where the man called for it at eight o'clock she doesn't furnish table linen no there are Japanese napkins on the top here we like our own napkins and we didn't use a cloth anyway and how about silver we put ours away this plated where they furnish is perfectly good we could use ours of course if we wanted to wash it some do that and some have their own case marked and their own silver in it but it's a good deal of risk I think though they are extremely careful Mrs. Rhee experienced particularly mixed feelings as far as food went she had never eaten a better dinner but her sense of domestic aesthetics was jarred it certainly tastes good she said delicious in fact I am extremely obliged to you Mrs. Porn I know idea could be sent so far and be so good and only five dollars a week you say for each person yes I don't see how she does it all those cases and dishes and the delivery wagon that was the universal comment in Orchardina Circles as the months passed and Union House continued in existence I don't see how she does it end of chapter 11