Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/243

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
OFFICIAL QUESTIONS
213

polishing floors, which (if they are waxed) needs to be done once a month at least. They also keep the brasses clean and do such other extra cleaning as seems necessary. Their most important duty is to relieve the guards at lunch time. Both janitors and guards should be in uniform, the former not necessarily in an expensive outfit, a plain khaki with the initials of the museum in black is good form. Caps should, by all means, be provided, as they give a trig appearance and serve to identify the museum's men. The guards are provided with cloth uniforms which may be of whatever color the museum chooses. For summer a light-weight serge is chosen. White duck is very effective but the laundry is quite an item.

There is one more employee in this department and that is the night watchman. He is, of course, under the superintendent of buildings unless there is none, in which case he reports to the director. His hours are long and his service is at night, yet his salary is usually small, $60 a month as an average. On him depends the safety of the museum for fully half the time. He must take care of the boilers, make the rounds once an hour, pull the boxes and be fully responsible. He must not go to sleep, and he must have all his wits about him in case of sudden emergency.

To keep the time of the executive staff is quite