Read "The Eternal Feminine (Novel)" by Carolyn Wells online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"Oh,-how do you do? Are you Miss Allfriend? -the Housewife's Helper? You must excuse me, but I never saw a Visiting Housekeeper before, and I'd no idea they looked so,-so correct! Well, since you're here, please begin to housekeep at once. I'm in such a flurry. You see, I'm standardizing my housework, and it makes so much confusion. You understand-don't you,-all about Lost Motion and Increased Efficiency? I'm a perfect crank on those two things. They mean so much to us enlightened women. Am I a suffragette? Oh, mercy, no! I'm happily married. But I believe in Ethics and Standardization and all those modern conveniences.
"Now, Miss Allfriend, if you'll please set the dinner table. I'm having a little dinner to-night for Senator Caldwell and his wife. They're terribly swagger, and, of course, I don't want to put on any airs, but I do want things to be nice. So, you set the table-Where are the things? Why, hunt them up from the cupboards and buffets? If I get the things out, I may as well do the work myself! I thought you were to help! Here's the center-piece I want used. Oh,-it is creased, isn't it? Well, just press it off. Do it carefully,-there's so much in pressing. Well, yes,-it is a little spotted. I guess you'll have to wash it. Use only a pure white soap,-and don't let the colors run.