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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl, by 
+Caroline French Benton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl
+       Margaret's Saturday Mornings
+
+Author: Caroline French Benton
+
+Release Date: January 9, 2010 [EBook #30897]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
+scanned images of public domain material from the Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
+
+OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
+
+
+
+
+The Ideal Series for Girls
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A little Cook Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
+
+  Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+The simple, vivacious style makes this little manual as delightful
+reading as a story-book.
+
+
+A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; OR MARGARET'S SATURDAY
+MORNINGS
+
+  BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
+
+  Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+A little girl, home from school on Saturday mornings, finds out how to
+make helpful use of her spare time.
+
+
+A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY AMY L. WATERMAN
+
+  Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+This is a book of special appeal, as it explains in simple fashion the
+processes of making delicious fudges, fondants, nut dainties and the
+like.
+
+
+A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY LOUISE FRANCES CORNELL
+
+  Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+A splendid volume to encourage little girls in the study of the useful
+and beautiful art of the needle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+53 BEACON ST., BOSTON, MASS.
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
+
+OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
+
+
+By
+Caroline French Benton
+
+AUTHOR OF
+"A LITTLE COOK BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL"
+
+
+Boston
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+Publishers
+
+
+_Copyright, 1906_
+BY THE PAGE COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHERS' NOTE
+
+
+This little book was originally published under the title
+
+_Saturday Mornings_,
+
+but there has been some criticism of that title because it is not
+sufficiently descriptive of the contents of the book. The Publishers,
+consequently, have thought it wise in the present edition to change the
+title to
+
+_A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl_
+
+OR
+
+MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS.
+
+This change has the advantage also of making the title uniform with the
+other titles in the series--
+
+_A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl_,
+
+_A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl, etc._
+
+
+Thanks are due the editor of _Good Housekeeping_ for permission to
+reproduce the greater part of this book from the serial in that
+magazine.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        CHAPTER                                                     PAGE
+
+     I. MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE                                     13
+
+    II. THE KITCHEN FIRE                                              19
+
+   III. THE DINING-ROOM TABLE                                         33
+
+    IV. WASHING DISHES                                                57
+
+     V. THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS                                      70
+
+    VI. SWEEPING AND DUSTING                                          84
+
+   VII. THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE       99
+
+  VIII. HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC                              110
+
+    IX. LAUNDRY WORK                                                 122
+
+     X. THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF
+          THE REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS                       133
+
+    XI. MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS                               148
+
+   XII. THE DAY'S WORK                                               161
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE
+
+
+About Christmas time Margaret was accustomed to see things tucked out of
+sight whenever she came around, and her feelings were never hurt when
+her Pretty Aunt, or her Other Aunt, or her mother, or her grandmother
+said: "Don't you want to run down-stairs a little while, dear!" or,
+"Margaret, would you mind staying out of the sitting-room all this
+morning?" But this Christmas everybody said these things twice as often
+as usual, and Margaret wondered about it.
+
+"Mother," she said one day, "if you were a little girl and every one
+said 'Run away, now,' over and over, twice as many times as other
+Christmases, what would you think?"
+
+Her mother laughed. "Well," she said, "I suppose I should think I was
+going to have twice as many presents as usual."
+
+Margaret drew a long breath. "Would you?" she asked, thoughtfully. "Two
+pairs of skates, and two sets of furs, and two boxes of handkerchiefs,
+and two pink kimonos, and six books; that would be twice as many
+presents as last year. But what does one little girl want with twos? Now
+if I was twins--"
+
+The Pretty Aunt laughed. "Let me explain it to her," she said.
+"Margaret, how would you like two Christmas trees, one for everybody,
+just as usual, with your presents on it, and one little tree, all for
+yourself, with more presents? Would you like that for a change?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she would, but it seemed very queer. Two
+trees, and only one little girl! Now if she really had been twins--
+
+"Twins, indeed!" said the Other Aunt.
+
+"Just wait till you see, and perhaps you will be glad there's only one
+of you!" And everybody laughed again except Margaret, who thought it all
+very queer indeed.
+
+When Christmas morning came she jumped up in a hurry and waked every one
+up calling out, "Merry Christmas!" and then she danced with impatience
+because it took them so long to get ready. But at last the doors of the
+parlor were thrown open and she rushed in. There stood the great,
+beautiful tree, hung with tinsel and bright balls, and twinkling with
+beautiful lights, and on its branches were bundles and bundles, tied
+with red ribbons and holly, and on the floor were more bundles, and she
+forgot about the little tree she had meant to look for. But by and by,
+when she had opened all her presents, and made a pile of them on the
+piano, and thanked everybody for them, she whispered:
+
+"Mother, was there to be a little tree, all for me?"
+
+"Why, of course," said her mother, smiling, "we nearly forgot, didn't
+we? Suppose you look behind the library door?"
+
+Margaret ran and looked, and, sure enough, there was the tree, but such
+a queer one! It was small, and had no candles and no ornaments. The
+corner was dark and she could not see very well, but it seemed to be
+hung with things that looked like dust-pans and whisk-brooms. She stood
+looking at it, wondering if it was all a joke.
+
+Just then her father saw her and came to pull the tree out where she
+could see it, and, sure enough, there was a dust-pan tied on with a red
+tape, and a whisk-broom with another red tape, and a little sweeping-cap
+with a red bow, some gingham aprons and white aprons, and brown towels
+and red-and-white towels, and dust-cloths, all with red M's in their
+corners; and put at the top was a little book tied on the tree with a
+big red bow. Her mother took this down and handed it to her, and every
+one stood and looked on and smiled because she was so surprised. When
+Margaret looked at the cover of the book she knew what was inside in a
+minute, because, painted on the cover was a little girl who looked just
+like her with a big apron on, and a sweeping-cap, holding a broom in one
+hand and a dust-pan in the other, and above, in bright red letters, were
+the words, Saturday Mornings.
+
+"Oh, it's for me!" she cried, delighted. "It's like my own cook-book,
+only it tells how to clean house instead of cook. I love to clean house!
+I love to make beds! I love to wash dishes! I just _love_ to sweep! May
+I wear that beautiful cap, and are all those dish-towels for me, and is
+that my very own dust-pan?" Then she ran to the tree and got everything
+down. First she put on all the aprons, one on top of another, with the
+ruffled waiting-on-table apron on top of the rest, and she put the cap
+on her head, and hung all the dish-towels over one arm and all the
+dusters over the other, and gathered up the brooms and dust-pan in her
+arms and sat down in a corner with her book.
+
+"This is the best of all," she said, soberly. "My other presents are
+lovely, too, my books and my gold heart pin, and my white rocking-chair
+for my own room, and the mittens grandmother knit for me with the lace
+stitches down the back, but I like my little book best, and all the
+things on my own little tree most. This is the nicest Christmas I ever,
+ever had! The name of my book is Saturday Mornings, because other days I
+have to go to school, but Saturdays I can sweep and dust and wash
+dishes. What fun it will be! I don't know which chapter sounds best."
+She hugged the little dust-pan and shook out the dish-towels. "Oh, I
+just can't wait to begin," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE KITCHEN FIRE
+
+
+Although Margaret had become pretty well acquainted with the kitchen
+during the year she was learning to cook she had never quite understood
+how to manage the kitchen range or the fire, because Bridget always
+attended to that part for her. But at the very first lesson in the
+Saturday Morning Class her mother, who was to be the teacher that day,
+said the subject would be "Ranges and Fires," because it was the
+beginning of all housekeeping.
+
+Margaret put on her biggest, longest-sleeved gingham apron, got a hearth
+brush, a dust-pan, the little dish which held the stove blacking, brush
+and polisher, rolled up her sleeves and prepared to listen.
+
+"The reason why so many women find cooking hard work," her mother
+began, "is because they do not understand their range or stove. They
+cannot make a fire grow hot quickly, or make it cooler if it is too hot;
+they do not know how to get what the cook-books call a 'moderate oven.'
+'We never could understand about drafts and things,' they say, but the
+real truth of the matter is that they are too lazy to try and learn, I'm
+afraid, because it is so very simple that even a little girl can learn
+about it in ten minutes. The only way to be a good housekeeper is to
+understand all about a fire and how to keep a kitchen range in a good
+temper."
+
+Margaret laughed at this, but her mother said stoves were just like
+people, and sometimes would refuse to do as they were told, and were
+cross and sulky; but they could be as pleasant and smiling and obliging
+as a good little girl. Then she took off the covers and explained all
+about the inside of the range. "You see," she began, "the fire is in a
+sort of box lined with heavy brick. Now, if the coals come up to the
+very top of this, or lie on its edges, they will crack the brick as they
+get heated, and so spoil it, and fire-brick is very expensive and
+troublesome to replace. You can heat the sides and bottom very hot, and
+it will not hurt it, but not the top edges. So, in putting on coal you
+must never let it quite fill the box, and after you set the scuttle down
+on the floor you must take the long poker and feel all around on top of
+the ovens and see if any bit has rolled there, and bring it back where
+it belongs. If it should roll down the sides you could not get it out,
+and it would spoil the draft and injure the stove. Now if you understand
+all this we will shake out the coal and make a new fire."
+
+"Oh, let me shake!" exclaimed Margaret, and before her mother could stop
+her she had put in the shaker and moved it about so quickly that the
+ashes came out of the open covers and drafts and filled the room, and
+both she and her mother were coughing and choking.
+
+Her mother stopped her. "That isn't the way to shake a fire," she said.
+"The covers must all go on first, and everything be shut up tight." Then
+she showed her the two slides over the oven doors, and the others in
+front, and pushed them shut. The two in the stovepipe were opened, so
+the ashes could go up that way, and the covers were tightly put in their
+places. "Now," she said, "you may shake."
+
+So Margaret shook and shook until her arms were tired, but though the
+fine ashes all came out, there was a handful of large coals which would
+not go through the grate. These, her mother explained, were partly good,
+unburned coal, and partly poor, hard bits, called clinkers. Some people
+just turned them all out with the ashes and threw them away, but this
+was wasteful. They must be picked over and the good bits burned again.
+Margaret hunted up a big pair of old gloves of her father's, and with
+these on she picked out the good pieces of coal and laid them on one
+side, and then she tipped the grate by turning the stove handle quite
+around, and the clinkers all fell into the ash-pan and the grate was
+left empty. A big newspaper was next spread on the floor and the ash-pan
+carefully drawn out over it and emptied into a scuttle kept ready for
+this, so it could be easily carried to the place where the ashes were
+kept, and emptied into the can there. She put the empty pan on the
+paper, and with her brush swept out all the cracks inside the stove, up
+and down, here and there, till no ashes were to be seen anywhere. Then
+the pan was put back. The ovens were opened next, and these, too, swept
+out with a clean whisk-broom, and away back in the corners they found
+several bits of toast and such things all dried to a crisp, which
+Bridget had not seen at all. When all the ashes were taken up and those
+on the newspaper cleared away, her mother said, "Now we are ready for
+the fire."
+
+"First we put a crumpled paper on the bottom; on this we lay crossed
+sticks of kindling, a good many, because this is to be a coal fire; if
+we were going to burn wood we would not need so many; we must shut the
+little slide in the front of the stove directly before the fire, and
+open the one at the bottom, so the smoke will go up. Look and see if the
+two drafts in the pipe are open; if not, the room will be full of smoke
+as soon as we start the kindling. The dampers into the ovens must be
+shut, too, so the fire will have nothing to distract its attention; if
+we left them open it would think it had not only to burn, but to get the
+ovens hot, too. Now if you are ready you can light the paper."
+
+In a moment Margaret heard the wood roaring well, then she took off a
+cover and sprinkled on one shovel of coal and closed the top again; as
+soon as she saw by peeping in that this was red, she put on another,
+scattering it evenly all around, and presently she added a third
+shovelful, and by this time the wood was well burned away and the coal
+was hot, so she knew the fire was made.
+
+The lesson then took up heating the ovens, which was still more
+important. Her mother showed Margaret how to push in and out the
+dampers over the oven doors, and explained the shutter inside which they
+worked. "When we want the oven hot we pull the shutter open to let the
+heat go all around the oven. When we want to cool it we shut the
+shutter. The first thing to learn about a stove is this: find out
+whether the damper is pushed in or pulled out to heat the ovens; you can
+tell by taking off the top covers and watching, for you can see in that
+way how the shutter works. Some push in and others pull out, and each
+stove may be different. These push in when you want to get the oven hot.
+Now, if you want to cook on top of the stove, and want all the heat up
+there, of course you do not need the ovens heated, so you shut them
+away. When you are all done with the fire never let it burn uselessly,
+but close it up, and so keep it. The reason of the draft in the front of
+the stove at the bottom, is this: the air rushes in up through the coal
+and on into the chimney, and makes the fire go hard. If you want to
+have it go slowly and not waste the coal, of course you must shut this
+tight. The other draft, directly in front of the fire, lets the cool air
+right in on the hot coals, and keeps them from burning up rapidly, so if
+you want a hot fire you must shut this, and when you want the fire to go
+down you must open it. Is that plain?"
+
+"Yes," said Margaret, thoughtfully. "When I bake I make the ovens hot by
+pushing in the dampers, and opening the slide at the bottom and shutting
+it at the top. When I want to make something on top, I pull out the
+dampers to get the ovens cool, and I open the one at the bottom and shut
+the one at the top. When I'm all done I leave the oven dampers out, shut
+the bottom draft in front and open the top one. Then the fire gets cool.
+But what do I do to the chimney dampers?"
+
+"Sure enough," said her mother, "we almost forgot those. You see the
+queer handles on them--thin and straight; those are like the flat plates
+inside the pipe that turn just as they do. When you want the fire to
+burn hard you turn the handle along the pipe, and that turns the plate
+the same way, and the heat can get out and make a good draft. But if you
+are shutting up the fire you turn the handle across the pipe, and that
+makes the plate turn straight across, too, and stops the heat from
+getting out, and so the fire dies down."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Margaret, "that's easy to understand. But what do people
+do who don't have coal fires? Sometimes they have wood to burn."
+
+"But the dampers and drafts all work the same way," said her mother.
+"Wood is nice and clean to burn, and makes a quick, hot fire, but it has
+to be watched all the time or it will go out. Coal makes a steady heat,
+and so for most things it is better to use. Now look in and see how
+things are going."
+
+Margaret raised the covers and found a bed of bright red coals. Her
+mother told her to put on coal at once; if she waited the fire would
+grow still hotter,--what was called white hot,--and then it would be
+spoiled. Coal must always go on before this point, but not too much,
+which would be wasteful. A bright, low fire was always best.
+
+"Now leave the drafts all open just a moment," said her mother, "to let
+the coal gas burn away, and then you can shut the fire up and it will
+keep just right for hours. And one thing more--never let the coal come
+up near the covers of the stove, or the great heat will warp these and
+spoil them; they will always have cracks around their edges, and the
+heat will be wasted."
+
+"Bridget never lets her fire go out at night," said Margaret, as she
+shut the fire all up. "She likes to keep it a whole week and then let
+the stove get cold and make it all over again on Saturdays."
+
+"Yes," said her mother, "that is a very good way to do, for it does not
+use up the kindling, and it takes no more coal to keep the fire all
+night than to start a new one every morning. But if you ever notice how
+she manages you will see that she shakes out the ashes at night, puts on
+coal, and lets the gas burn off, just as we have done. Then she shuts up
+the oven drafts, and the one at the bottom, and opens the one in front
+of the fire as we did; in the morning she finds her fire exactly right;
+all she has to do is to make it a little brighter and hotter, so she
+shuts the draft in front of the coal and opens the one at the bottom, to
+get the air to rush up through the coal, and sets the drafts in the pipe
+open, too, so the hot air can get out; then when the fire burns up red
+she shakes out the ashes a little and puts on fresh coal, and it is
+ready for the day, and as hot as she wants it."
+
+"I don't see why she ever lets it go out at all," said Margaret. "Why
+does it burn worse on Fridays, and have to be built all over on
+Saturdays?"
+
+Her mother laughed. "Why, you see," she said, "the ashes will get into
+the corners and the clinkers into the grate in spite of all the care
+one can take, so once a week she takes everything out as we have done
+and makes a nice, clean, new fire. But now we are all done except
+blacking the stove. Generally that ought to be done when the fire is not
+hot, but we were talking and I did not have you do it then; next time we
+will manage better."
+
+Margaret wet the blacking a little, dipped in her brush, and scrubbed
+the stove well all over, especially in the corners. Then she polished it
+with the dry side of the brush till it shone like a mirror. The little
+knobs on the doors she rubbed with a bit of nickel polish she found in
+another box, and used a dry flannel cloth on them last. Her mother
+explained that it was necessary to keep a stove very bright and shining,
+or it would wear out, and, besides that, a bright one made the kitchen
+look tidy and attractive. "Some people just paint the whole stove over
+once or twice a year with a black enamel, and never polish it at all,
+and perhaps that is a good way for very busy people to do, but I like
+the old-fashioned way better myself. Shine it a little every day in the
+week, and once in every few days give it a good thorough blacking and
+polishing when the fire is out, and you will make the stove wear a long
+time and keep it in good working order as well. A clean range, one that
+is really clean and well cared for inside and out, is always
+good-natured and happy, and does the very best it knows how for you when
+you try and cook, but one that is full of ashes and clinkers, with a
+face all grimy and dusty and gray, gets sullen and cross, and will not
+try and please anybody. You must keep it good-natured. Just see how
+proud and happy it looks now."
+
+Margaret smiled admiringly at the shiny range and bright fire.
+"Sometimes Bridget puts things in her stove that make all the house
+smell," she said. "I am never going to put anything into mine but nice,
+clean wood and coal."
+
+"The reason Bridget puts them in," her mother replied, "is a good one. I
+often burn up small quantities of garbage myself, but I never have a
+bit of odor, for all I have to do is to open the drafts in the chimney
+and at the bottom, and shut those going into the ovens and the one in
+front of the fire, and then all the smell goes straight up the chimney.
+If you are careful you can often get rid of little things in the kitchen
+by burning them, but you should be sure and never let the odor get out
+into the room."
+
+Just then Bridget came into the kitchen and said it was time for her to
+get lunch.
+
+"See, Bridget," Margaret exclaimed, proudly, "we blacked the range and
+made it smile all over. It just loves to be clean and shiny!"
+
+"It does that," said Bridget. "I guess it'll bake sponge cakes for lunch
+to say it feels glad."
+
+"Oh, goody!" said Margaret, as she ran to take off her big apron and
+wash her hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE DINING-ROOM TABLE
+
+
+The second lesson in Margaret's book really took her a whole month to
+learn perfectly, because there were so many things to remember. One
+Saturday she studied about the breakfast-table, and during the next week
+she practised the lesson over every day; the next week she took the
+luncheon-table and laid that and waited on it, and the third and fourth
+weeks she learned all about the dinner-table, and that was hardest of
+all. But, as her mother said, if she learned in one single month to be a
+perfect waitress she was an unusually bright maid!
+
+
+BREAKFAST
+
+The first Saturday morning her Other Aunt woke her rather early, and
+told her after she was ready to put on a nice white apron and over it a
+fresh gingham apron to protect it, or, if she did not feel quite sure
+she could keep it fresh even so, to put on the gingham one and bring
+down the white one to put on when everything was ready.
+
+The dining-room was dark when they went into it, and smelled of the
+dinner the night before; they threw open the windows and let the wind
+sweep through while Margaret got the carpet-sweeper and took up the few
+crumbs which had not been found and taken away after the last meal. Then
+they closed the windows again, and dusted about where it was necessary,
+leaving the thorough dusting until later in the day.
+
+"We are going to have oranges for a first course at breakfast," said her
+aunt, coming in with some in her hands, "and we will put them on the
+table now. See how nice and cold they are because they have been in the
+refrigerator all night. Some people leave their fruit-dish standing on
+the sideboard all the time, and all the oranges and apples and bananas
+grow warm and stale, instead of being cold and crisp and refreshing. Put
+a white centrepiece in the middle of the table, and we will pile these
+in a flat dish on it instead of using the pot of ferns we sometimes
+have. It is always nice to have something pretty in the middle of the
+table."
+
+Margaret was standing before the drawer in the sideboard hesitating
+whether she should bring a table-cloth or not. Then she saw a large
+hemstitched square in a corner, and remembered that her mother had said
+she had just bought some new cloths for breakfast and luncheon, and that
+made it still harder to decide. What should they have on the
+breakfast-table? They usually had little squares of linen, one under
+each plate and larger ones under the platter and tray, but perhaps she
+was to learn some new way this morning. Her aunt came and looked over
+her shoulder.
+
+"For breakfast and luncheon we do not use a table-cloth," she said. "Few
+people do nowadays. Some use the doilies we have been using, and others
+use a small cloth with a fancy border, such as fringe, or a narrow
+pattern; the dinner-cloth, you know, is large and heavy, not suitable
+for a simple meal. But now we have some nice small cloths, which are
+less trouble to put on than the doilies. See, this is a square which
+lies on the table with a point hanging over each side, leaving the table
+corners bare. The plates go on it, but still it looks informal and
+pretty. Here is a pad just the right size to go under it. You must
+always put a pad or something of the kind under everything you use on
+the table; under the doilies, you know, we put squares of felt, and
+under the big dinner-cloth a large piece of double Canton flannel; if we
+did not, the varnish on the table-top would be spoiled in no time. Now
+let us get the silver."
+
+There were always six places laid at the table, so Margaret counted out
+the knives, forks and spoons, and brought them over from the drawer. At
+each place they put a knife on the right, the sharp edge of the blade
+toward the plate, and outside that a dessert-spoon for cereal and a
+teaspoon for coffee; on the left was a fork, and then a napkin. At the
+top of the place, directly in front, they put a tumbler at the right and
+a small plate for bread and butter at the left, with a little knife,
+called a spreader, on it. They then got out small fruit-plates, and on
+each they laid first, a small, clean doily, then a finger-bowl with a
+little water in it,--not very much, as it was not intended to swim in,
+the aunt said,--and on the edge of the plate a fruit-knife and an orange
+spoon. These plates were laid all around the table at the different
+places. At the top of the table where her father was to sit Margaret put
+a carving knife and fork, but took them away when she found there would
+be bacon for breakfast, and it would be passed around with a fork and
+spoon on the small platter; if there had happened to be beefsteak she
+would have left them on, as then they would have been needed.
+
+At the other end of the table, where her mother was to sit, they put a
+tray covered with a fresh napkin, and arranged on it the sugar-bowl, the
+cream-pitcher, the tray-bowl, and a small pitcher for hot water. At the
+right near by, the cups and saucers were arranged, each cup standing in
+its own saucer, not piled up. As it was cold weather Margaret was told
+she must bring in hot water and half-fill them just before the meal was
+ready, so they would be hot and not chill the coffee; her mother would
+empty the water in the tray-bowl when she was ready to use them. Then
+they brought out of the china-closet the dishes which were to go into
+the kitchen to be heated: the dish for cereal, the small, deep plates to
+use with it, the plates and vegetable dish, and the round platter.
+
+"Never serve a hot cereal in a cold dish, or use cold dishes to put it
+in on the table," said the aunt. "And never, never ask anybody to eat
+hot bacon and potatoes, or anything else which has just come from the
+fire, on a cold plate. It is no trouble to warm everything, and it
+makes just the difference between a good meal and a poor one. A famous
+man once said that if he could have only one thing for his dinner he
+would choose a hot plate." Margaret laughed as she began to carry out
+the dishes.
+
+Her aunt stopped her. "You have a dinner platter," she said, "get the
+pretty round platter; always use that for luncheon and breakfast,
+because it looks more informal, and seems more appropriate. And we must
+stop a minute to put on the salts; we forgot them." They did not have
+shakers, because Margaret's mother thought small, low, open silver or
+glass bowls were prettier; these they filled freshly with salt and shook
+them evenly, and placed them near the centrepiece at the ends of the
+table. They only put on two because the table was small; sometimes,
+however, they used four or six, when guests were there.
+
+While the dishes were heating, and Bridget was getting breakfast ready,
+they filled the glasses and put the butter balls on the bread and
+butter plates; then, Margaret had her lesson in waiting on the table.
+
+"After we sit down," her aunt said, "pass the fruit, going to each
+person's left, so he can take it with the right hand and hold the dish
+low down. Then put the dish back in the middle of the table, and leave
+it there through the meal. If there are flowers or a plant on the table,
+serve the fruit from the sideboard, and put it back there when you have
+passed it. If you have berries or melons to serve, those may be ready on
+the sideboard before breakfast, and a plate with a finger-bowl on it can
+stand at each place. The berries may be passed, and each person can lift
+off the finger-bowl and doily at the same time and set it near the plate
+and serve himself to the berries. Melons are usually set on the table
+before breakfast on each plate, the finger-bowl standing near by, but if
+you want to have it more elegantly arranged than this, put the melons on
+small plates, and after the finger-bowl is removed, lay this plate down
+on top of the one standing already on the table. Just now it is
+considered very nice to nearly always have a plate in front of one. I
+will tell you more about that when we come to serving dinner.
+
+"You can have the hot plates brought into the room when the cereal comes
+in with its hot dishes, and you can lift off a fruit-plate, standing on
+each person's right, and lay down a hot plate with the small cereal dish
+already on it, and when all are around you can pass the cereal, and then
+the sugar and cream."
+
+"But," objected Margaret, "I can't carry a tray and take off a plate and
+put down a plate all at once, because I don't have three hands, only
+just two!"
+
+"No, of course not," smiled her aunt. "But you don't use a tray in
+changing plates. You slip off the soiled one with the left hand and lay
+down the clean one with the right, holding this clean one over the
+other. It really saves time in the end to manage in this way, as you
+will see. After the cereal, if those small plates have been so
+good-sized as to well cover the hot plates underneath them and so
+protect them from cream, all you have to do is to take these off,
+leaving the larger plates, using your tray this time and standing always
+on the right; put the first dish on the tray and take the next in your
+hand and carry them to the sideboard and leave them there and then take
+the next two, and so on; never pile your plates. Then pass the bacon
+around, going to the left, as with the fruit, and then the potato and
+muffins. Bring the cups on the tray, as your mother fills them, and set
+them down carefully at each person's right; do not offer a cup to any
+one, because coffee is so easily spilled in taking it off and on a tray
+and handing it about.
+
+"Few people would ever have fruit, cereal, hot things, and then cakes,
+too; but some day you may have fruit, bacon or meat, and then cakes, so
+you had better learn how to manage with them. Just have ready small,
+hot plates, and bring one at a time and exchange it with the meat plate
+as you did before; you must put on two forks instead of one at the left
+of each plate when you lay the table, if you are to have a second hot
+course.
+
+"You do not take off the crumbs at breakfast because it is such an
+informal meal, but you must watch and see if any tumbler needs
+refilling, or if anybody needs a second butter ball, and supply it
+without being asked. The meat platter, the dish of potatoes, and the
+muffins or toast should also be offered twice to every one. Your mother,
+however, will ask if any one wants a second cup of coffee, and then you
+bring her the cup, and after she has rinsed it out by pouring in hot
+water from her little pitcher, she will fill it and you can carry it
+back and set it down again. Now that is all, I think, and you can wash
+your hands and take off your gingham apron and ask Bridget if you may
+call down the family; that is, if you may say to your mother, very
+quietly and politely, 'Breakfast is served!'" Margaret laughed, and
+smoothed down her nice crisp white apron proudly as she left the room.
+
+
+LUNCHEON
+
+Laying the luncheon-table proved to be exactly like laying the
+breakfast-table, and, as her aunt said, if they were laying a
+supper-table that would have also been done in the same way; so really
+all Margaret had to learn was how to lay two tables, one for breakfast,
+luncheon or supper, and one for dinner.
+
+However, her aunt thought they would use doilies instead of the
+lunch-cloth for a change, so Margaret would not think her lesson did not
+amount to much, and she got these out at lunch time and put one down for
+each person with its square of felt underneath it. In the middle she put
+a large doily which matched the others, and added one or two smaller
+ones, one for bread, one for a dish of olives, and so on, arranging them
+evenly on the table. She put a dish of ferns on for a centrepiece and a
+tray for tea for her mother at the end.
+
+"If," said her aunt, "you wish a formal luncheon you lay a pretty
+plate--a cold one--in front of each place, and exchange this for a hot
+one when you pass the main dish. But when you are just laying a family
+table you can put a hot plate down and merely pass the food as usual.
+You need not put the dishes of food on the table--just bring them from
+the sideboard. But remember at every meal never to let the food get
+cold. The vegetables you can keep in covered dishes, of course, but
+after you have passed everything so you can leave the room, carry the
+meat out and put it in the oven until you want to pass it a second time.
+
+"If you are to have salad, have this ready on the sideboard before
+lunch, with its plates, and, if you are to have them, the crackers and
+cheese also. You can take off the soiled plates after the meat course,
+and lay down clean ones just as before, standing at each person's right,
+taking off the soiled plate with the left hand and laying down the
+clean one with the right, holding it above the other. Then pass the
+salad, on the tray to each one's left, and next the salad dressing or
+crackers or olives, or whatever goes with it. After the salad, crumb the
+table, both at luncheon and supper, but if you use doilies do not take
+the regular crumb-knife and tray, but carry a folded napkin in your
+right hand and gently sweep off the crumbs into the tray; a knife might
+scratch the table, and would certainly sound disagreeable against the
+wood.
+
+"The dessert, which may be fruit, should be ready before the meal on the
+sideboard, with the plates and finger-bowls. When the last course before
+it is taken off and the crumbs removed, there are no plates on the table
+at all; it is the one time when it is cleared. So all you have to do is
+to lay down the plates and finger-bowls with the fruit-knives and spoons
+and pass the fruit. If you have cake, or preserves, or dessert of any
+kind instead of fruit, you do just the same way; lay down the plates
+and pass the things."
+
+"But what do I do with the tray and teacups?" Margaret asked.
+
+"Take them off when you do the last plates before the table is crumbed,"
+said her aunt. "Take off the bread and butter plates, too. A good way to
+do this is to take the large plate on the tray and carry the small one
+in the hand. Of course the large bread plate is removed, too, and any
+dish of jelly or olives which is done with. But dishes of salted nuts or
+candies are left on, to keep the table looking pretty. Now I really
+think that is all. Do you think you can serve luncheon as well as you
+did breakfast?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she ought to do twice as well, because it was
+really the same thing over again.
+
+
+DINNER
+
+If the lesson on dinner had come first Margaret would have thought it
+pretty hard, but after the other two she had just had, it seemed easy
+enough.
+
+This time she put on the large pad and the long, heavy dinner-cloth; her
+aunt had to stand at the opposite end of the table and help her with
+these, and she warned her to always be very careful not to crease the
+cloth, because a mussed cloth was worse than none at all.
+
+"Be careful always to have table linen spotless," she said. "If anything
+gets on the cloth at dinner, as soon as the meal is over put a cup under
+the place and pour a tiny stream of hot water through and then rub the
+place gently with a clean, dry cloth and smooth it out with your hand;
+leave the cloth on the table till morning, and usually it will be smooth
+and dry; if not, take a flat-iron then and quickly and lightly iron the
+place; then fold the cloth and lay it away. Most people cannot have a
+new cloth on every night, but no one need ever have on a cloth that is
+not clean; a good housekeeper never does, so of course you never will."
+Margaret said she certainly never would.
+
+"One reason why we use doilies or a lunch-cloth for breakfast and
+luncheon and supper is because if these get soiled it is easy to wash
+them out at once; it makes housework simpler in the end to have them
+instead of using table-cloths three times a day, which are large and
+very troublesome to wash. People who once learn to use them never go
+back to the old-fashioned way of doing. Now get a pretty centrepiece and
+put that on in the middle, and bring the bunch of roses from the parlor;
+we will have them to-night instead of the fern-dish, because we want an
+especially nice table for you."
+
+After the flowers were on, the silver was laid, almost as at breakfast.
+A knife at the right, blade to the plate; a dessert-spoon beyond, for
+soup; two forks at the left; the bread and butter plate at the top, at
+the left, and the tumbler also at the top, to the right. If they were
+having a company dinner, Margaret was told, the bread and butter plate
+would not be used, for then a dinner roll would be laid in the napkin
+and no butter served at all. The napkin, as before, went to the left,
+beyond the forks, and a large, cold plate was laid down between the
+silver. The salts were freshly filled and put on, and a glass dish for
+jelly at one end of the table. In front of her father's place they laid
+a carving cloth, and on it a large knife and fork, putting the tips on a
+little rest.
+
+Next they took the soup-plates, the dinner-plates, the large platter and
+two vegetable dishes out into the kitchen to be made hot; they also
+carried out the bread-plate, the salad-bowl, and the pudding-dish, as
+well as the after-dinner coffee-cups and saucers. Then they arranged the
+plates for salad on the sideboard, and the dessert-plates, putting a
+dessert-spoon and fork for each person on these. While the dinner was
+getting ready came the lesson in waiting, as before.
+
+"You see we have laid down cold plates," the aunt said. "Some people
+lay down hot ones, as we did at luncheon, but the soup is so likely to
+soil them that it is really hardly safe. Besides, dinner is a more
+formal meal than the others, so we must be more particular. When Bridget
+brings in the tureen she will stand it on the sideboard with the hot
+soup-plates, and you are to dip a spoonful of soup carefully in each
+plate and carry it on your tray to each person's right and set it
+down,--do not offer it on the left. When all are served, carry out the
+tureen. If we had no waitress of course your mother would serve the soup
+from the table, but this is the way we do when we are nicely waited on.
+
+"When it is time to carry off the soup-plates, take your tray and go to
+each person's right and lift the plate, putting the first one on the
+tray and taking the next in your hand. Put them on the sideboard, and
+carry them out later, very quietly, but do not stop now. Leave the cold
+plate on the table still. Then bring in the hot plates and put them in a
+pile in front of the carver, slipping out his cold plate first. Bring
+in the vegetables and put them on the sideboard; last of all bring in
+the meat and set it before the carver; do not leave the room after the
+meat is on the table, for it will get cold.
+
+"As each plate is filled, take it to the first person served--your
+mother, if you are a family party, and either your mother or a woman
+guest first, if you have company; some people always have the mother
+served first even if guests are present, and others prefer the other
+way; but always serve the ladies first, whether guests are there or not.
+Slip out the cold plate and lay down the hot one at the right, as you
+have before, and put the cold plates neatly in a pile on the sideboard.
+Pass the vegetables next, offering them at the left, and then the bread
+in the same way. While this course is eaten, carry out the soup-plates,
+if they are still on the sideboard, and fill the glasses.
+
+"When all have finished take off the roast first and carry it out; then
+take off the soiled plates and lay down the salad-plates at the right,
+as you have done each time, and pass the salad to the left. Take off
+these when they are used, with the bread and butter plates, bread and
+jelly, and crumb the table, using the knife and tray. Then lay down
+before each one a dessert-plate with either a fork or a dessert-spoon on
+it, or both, if the dish to come needs them; nowadays this is done even
+where the dessert is served at one end of the table. If you can, pass
+the pudding, or whatever the sweet is, so that each one can serve
+himself, offering it at the left, of course. If it is very soft, or is
+something difficult for one to manage in this way, then have the dish
+put at one end of the table before your mother. She will put a portion
+on the plate before her, removing the spoon as she does so and laying it
+at one side, and you can set the plate down before the one you serve
+first, exchanging the two plates; this person will also remove his spoon
+and lay it down as the plate is slipped away. Stand on the right to do
+this; then take the second plate for your mother to fill, and so on.
+
+"It is a good plan to have one extra plate ready, and when you take the
+first plate lay this down before your mother, and when you come back
+with the second one this will be filled waiting, and you can exchange
+the two, and so save time. There will be one over at the end, of course,
+and this you can lay on the sideboard.
+
+"When you have company, the coffee is served in the drawing-room, and
+you must bring it in on a tray. But when you are alone, and wish to have
+it on the table, take off the pudding-dish, when all have finished, and
+then all the plates, and bring in the coffee-cups filled on the tray,
+and set one down before each, from his right. If you use finger-bowls
+after dinner, lay these down, too, a little above each place.
+
+"This is a long lesson, and a difficult one for a little girl, and you
+must not be discouraged if it takes you quite a while to learn it well.
+Keep on trying, and soon you will be a perfect waitress. Just remember
+these things, anyway, and everybody will forgive you if you forget some
+others:
+
+"Be sure your hands are clean, your hair very tidy, and your apron white
+and starched. Wear silent shoes, and do not clatter the dishes; do not
+speak to any one, unless you do not understand what to do next, then
+quietly whisper to your mother. Do not offer anybody a cup of tea or
+coffee, or a plate of soup, or even a plate with food on it; set these
+all down at the right. Offer platters, vegetable dishes, bread, and such
+things always at the left. Change all plates at the right. While a
+course is being eaten, softly carry out any soiled dishes from the
+sideboard and fill the glasses. Watch to see what is needed, and offer
+it. Do not offer any one what is already on his plate; that is, if you
+are passing a dish all around and see that he has some of it left, skip
+him and go on to the next. Now I hear Bridget coming in with the
+soup-tureen; run and put on your very best apron and announce dinner as
+though you were the finest waitress in the land!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WASHING DISHES
+
+
+It was Margaret's grandmother who gave her the lesson on dish-washing.
+She said it was the part of housekeeping she really liked the best of
+all and did most easily, so everybody said, "Oh, well, if you really
+_like_ it, perhaps you had better be the one to show Margaret how to do
+it properly!" and then they all laughed.
+
+The gingham apron with sleeves was the one Margaret put on after
+breakfast. It buttoned around her wrists snugly, but on unfastening the
+buttons the sleeves could be rolled up and pinned out of the way, so
+they would keep clean. After she was ready the grandmother showed her
+how to stand all the dining-room chairs back against the wall and take
+up the crumbs under the table, pushing this to one side and then the
+other, so that the rug would really be clean when they were done.
+
+"Now," she said, "run into the kitchen and see that the table there is
+quite empty, so there will be plenty of room for the dishes we are going
+to bring out; bring back with you the large tray, and get out the
+scraping-knife."
+
+Margaret found that Bridget had left some pans and dishes on the table
+after she had cooked the breakfast, and these she piled neatly at one
+end, out of the way. The scraping-knife was a long one with a thin blade
+which bent easily; a palette knife, such as artists use in cleaning
+their paints up, her grandmother explained.
+
+"It seems funny to use an artist's knife to scrape dishes with," said
+Margaret, when she came back. "I should think we would just scrape the
+plates with the silver knives on them. That's the way Bridget does."
+
+"But it is bad for the knives," her grandmother said. "Besides, a stiff
+knife cannot get the grease off, and this thin one can. You will see
+presently how beautifully it works. Now we must carry out the food."
+
+The dishes of meat, potatoes, bread, and other things were taken to the
+kitchen table and emptied; the bread was put back into its box; the bits
+of meat and vegetable were put on small dishes and put in the
+refrigerator; the butter on the small plates was scraped together into a
+little bowl and set aside to cook with. Then they were ready to get the
+dishes together on the dining-room table. They carefully emptied the
+tumblers and coffee-cups into the tray-bowl, so they would not be
+spilled in carrying them out. They piled the silver carefully on a dish,
+and carried out the plates and other things on the table. When it was
+quite cleared, Margaret took up the crumbs and laid the cloth and pad in
+the sideboard drawer. A centrepiece was put on the bare table with the
+fern-dish on it, and the two armchairs were pushed back in their places,
+one at each end. "There," said the grandmother, "when you have dusted
+the room will be right to leave until luncheon. Once or twice a week, of
+course, it has to be thoroughly swept and put to rights, but this is the
+way we do every day."
+
+In the kitchen they scraped the plates very carefully, putting all the
+scraps into a bowl to empty into the garbage pail. They piled them
+nicely, putting all the same kind of plates into one pile, not mixing
+two sizes or sorts. The cups were put together, and the saucers piled
+also. The tray was set ready on one end of the table, and Margaret got
+out her new, clean dish-towels, soft ones for glass and silver, and
+firmer ones for the rest of the things. Then she put out the two
+dish-pans, and turned on the water. It ran very hot from the first, so
+it was all right, but Margaret was told she must always try it before
+she sat down to a meal, and if it was only warm she must put on a
+kettleful to heat, so it would be ready when needed, because it was
+impossible to wash dishes well in any sort of water but the very
+hottest.
+
+They only filled one dish-pan to begin with, and after it was half-full
+Margaret put in the soap-shaker and stirred it around till the water was
+foamy. She hung it up again, and began to put in the tumblers.
+
+"You must be careful that those are not icy," her grandmother cautioned.
+"Even after they have been emptied they must stand till they are fairly
+warm, or they will crack as soon as they touch the hot water. But you
+must be most careful of all about cut glass; that really needs a special
+lesson. If you have a piece there, set it to one side, and when the rest
+of the glass is done and the silver, we will take that." There was a
+fruit-dish which had been used for breakfast, so it was put on a corner
+of the table where it could not be knocked off, to wait its turn.
+
+The tumblers and finger-bowls were put into the hot soapy water at once
+and turned about in it till they were clean. Then they were wiped while
+they were still a little soapy, without rinsing them, because in that
+way they were polished like diamonds. After they were lifted out and put
+on the tray the silver went into the pan and was well scrubbed with the
+mop, and then rinsed with very hot water, which proved to be too much
+for Margaret's hands; when she tried to lift out the forks and spoons
+she could hardly touch them.
+
+"Ouch!" she exclaimed. "It burns me. I must put in some cold water."
+
+"No, indeed!" said her grandmother, "that would spoil everything. Just
+slip a large spoon under all the silver, and lift it out at once. There
+is a saying that no water is hot enough to wash silver in unless it is
+too hot to put your hands in. Just see how fast the heat in it dries it
+as it lies on the tray! And see how it polishes, too, as I wipe it! If
+it were cold it might be greasy, and certainly it would not look half as
+well when it was done. Now before we take the china I will tell you
+about washing cut glass. You can put some fresh water in the dish-pan,
+but make it only as warm as your hand."
+
+While she was getting it ready the grandmother got a soft brush and a
+cake of nice white soap, and, after trying the water to see that it was
+not too warm or too cold, she mixed the soap in thoroughly. The
+beautiful glass bowl was lifted carefully into the pan and scrubbed with
+the little brush till every crack was cleaned and it was brilliant with
+the suds. Margaret was not allowed to lift it out on the tray for fear
+she should let it slip, but she watched how her grandmother handled it.
+
+"If I had done as some careless maids do," her grandmother began, as she
+wiped, "I might have put this bowl right into the very hot water the
+tumblers can bear, and cracked it at once. Cut glass cannot bear either
+hot or cold water. I once had a beautiful bowl broken in two because it
+was held directly under the faucet in the sink while the hot water ran
+into it, and another dish was broken by having a piece of ice put in it
+on the table. Iced lemonade often breaks lovely and costly pitchers.
+You must always wash each piece by itself in lukewarm water, and never
+put it in the pan with other things. Make a suds with good white soap,
+scrub the cracks well with a soft brush which will not scratch, and wipe
+dry without rinsing, and you will have beautiful, brilliant glass, and
+your care will make it last a lifetime. I will set this away in the
+dining-room while you draw some hotter water with soap in it for the
+china. Put in the cleanest things first, and only a few at a time, so
+they will not be chipped."
+
+"Why do I take the cleanest china first?" Margaret inquired, as she put
+in the fruit-plates. "Why don't I take them as they happen to come on
+the table!"
+
+"Some plates are greasy and some are not, and the greasy ones would
+spoil your dish-water," her grandmother explained. "Now rinse those, and
+while I wipe them, wash the rest and then change your water."
+
+When Margaret lifted out the plates, she turned them up edgewise and let
+the water run back into the rinsing-pan, so that they were already
+half-dry when she laid them on the tray. But her grandmother got a fresh
+towel for them, because the first one had become damp, and the dishes
+would not dry easily with it.
+
+Margaret decided that the easiest way to empty the dish-pan before
+putting in more hot water would be to tip it up, so she took it by the
+handles and turned the water directly into the sink. Her grandmother
+stopped her.
+
+"Use the sink-basket," she said. "See, the wire one in the corner. Pour
+the water through that, and then if any bits of food are in it they will
+stop there and not get into the drain; it's a great convenience, and one
+we never had when I was a little girl. So with the dish-mop; that goes
+into hot water where the hands do not like to go, and into cups and
+dishes where it would be much more trouble to take a cloth, as we used
+to do. Nowadays we do not use dish-cloths very often, because doctors
+tell us that they are not as cleanly as they might be, and may bring us
+typhoid fever and other things. A mop can be scalded in very hot water
+after it has been well washed in soap suds, and then shaken out
+perfectly clean to dry quickly, so that it is better to use. On the iron
+and tin things we use a wire dish-washer, which is also very clean,
+indeed, and these make us feel safe."
+
+When the glass, silver, and china was done, Margaret took them on her
+tray and carried them into the dining-room and put them all away. When
+she came back, she looked at the pile of pots and pans on the table, and
+groaned. "Now," she said, "comes the worst of all!"
+
+"These are no trouble," laughed her grandmother, "though there are a
+great many more of them than there ought to be. If Bridget only washed,
+wiped, and put away every dish as soon as she had finished using it,
+there might not be one to wash now. As it is, scald out the dish-mop,
+and put it away, and get the wire dish-washer, and a little household
+ammonia and sapolio, and some more very hot water in the dish-pan, and
+we will do these in a minute."
+
+Then she showed Margaret how to wash out her rinsing-pan well, and wipe
+it dry before hanging it on its nail. The other pan was half-filled with
+very hot water, and a teaspoonful of ammonia put in. "The cleanest
+dishes first," Margaret was told, so in went the baking-tins, after they
+were well scraped, and the wire-washer soon scrubbed them clean, and
+grandmother dried them with a strong towel, and put them on a corner of
+the stove for a moment to get rid of any dampness before they were put
+away. The scorched marks on the white enamelled saucepans had to be
+rubbed well with sapolio, and a nice dish-cloth was found hanging up
+over the sink for the purpose. The coffee-pot had a special bath all
+alone, and was scrubbed out carefully inside as well as out, and every
+single ground was picked out of the spout and corners, and it was wiped
+and dried very carefully, because otherwise it would never make good
+coffee.
+
+The frying-pan had to have a little ammonia to cut the grease, and as
+the outside seemed to be rough, as though it needed attention, too, this
+was well scrubbed with the wire washer till it was just as nice as the
+inside. After it was wiped, it, too, was dried off on the stove, lest
+any dampness might rust it.
+
+This finished the dishes, and Margaret washed out the dish-pan and
+scalded it, and then wiped and hung it up, as she had the rinsing-pan.
+The sink was swept up with a little wire broom, and the bits gathered on
+a small iron shovel. These they put first into the wire sink-basket, and
+then turned out into the bowl of garbage; they scalded the shovel and
+broom, and the basket--turned upside down in the sink--till they were
+all clean. A bit of washing-soda was laid over the drain-pipe, and a
+quantity of very hot water was poured into the sink to flush it. The
+soda melted away, and as it went down the pipe it took all the grease
+with it which the water had left on the sides and in the corners of the
+pipe.
+
+A special cloth was always kept hanging up over the sink for the tables.
+This Margaret wrung out, and used in wiping off all the dish-water which
+lay there; she also wiped up the wood of the sink. Then the kitchen
+broom was brought out and the floor nicely swept, especially under the
+tables and in the corners. The damp dish-towels were scalded and hung
+out in the sunshine; the chairs were set straight, the window-sills
+wiped off and some flat-irons put away which had been left on the stove.
+
+"There," said the grandmother, as they stood looking at the tidy
+kitchen, "that's all there is to do, and I call it pleasant work. I like
+to make things clean and sweet, and I never could see why so many women
+hate to wash dishes."
+
+"Why, grandmother," said Margaret, "I think it's just fun!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS
+
+
+When it was the turn of the Pretty Aunt to give her lesson in
+housekeeping, she said she should begin at daybreak, so Margaret was not
+surprised to hear her knock at the door early in the morning, almost
+before she was dressed.
+
+She helped the little girl take the clothes off the bed, one at a time,
+and put them on two chairs near the windows, being careful not to let
+the blankets get on the floor. She beat the pillows well, and turned the
+mattress up over the foot of the bed so the air could get underneath it.
+The white spread she kept by itself, and had Margaret help fold it up in
+its creases. "Nothing wrinkles more easily," she told Margaret, "and a
+wrinkled spread spoils the look of neatness a bed ought to have when it
+is made. If you have a heavy Marseilles spread, do not sleep under it;
+fold it at night and put it away, and use only the blankets, because it
+is not good for any one to sleep under such a weight. Now hang up your
+night-dress, and put away your slippers and bath-wrapper. I am delighted
+to see that you have no dress or petticoats lying around this morning
+from last night. Too many girls do not hang them up at once when they
+take them off, but leave them over a chair, and put them away in the
+morning, perhaps creased with lying. It is much better to put them away
+as you take them off. Open your windows, next, top and bottom, and set
+the closet door open, too, and then we will go to breakfast."
+
+"Why do I open the closet door?" asked Margaret, laughing at the idea.
+
+"Because your closet needs airing just as much as your room does; more,
+indeed, because its door has been shut all night, while the fresh air
+has been blowing into the room through the open windows. If you did not
+air it every day, it would soon have a close, shut-up odor, and perhaps
+your dresses would have it, too, which would certainly not be nice at
+all. It has to have fresh air to keep it sweet. Now we will shut the
+door of your room as we go, for the cold wind would chill the halls, and
+besides, the sight of a disordered bedroom is not attractive."
+
+After breakfast Margaret went up-stairs and shut the windows of her
+room, and a little later, when it was warm, she and her aunt put on
+fresh white aprons and went in and began to put it to rights.
+
+One stood on each side of the bed and turned the mattress from head to
+foot; the next day, Margaret was told, it must be turned from side to
+side as well as over, to keep it always in good shape. If this was not
+done constantly there would soon be a hollow place in the middle, which
+would never come out, and the mattress would be spoiled. They laid over
+it the nice white pad which kept it looking always new and clean, and
+then the lower sheet, the wide hem at the top and the narrow one at the
+bottom, the seams toward the mattress, and tucked it smoothly in at the
+sides.
+
+"Some people are careless about these little things," said the aunt as
+they worked. "They think it does not matter if there is a hollow in the
+mattress, or whether they have a cover for it or not. They mix the top
+and bottom sheets, and never know which is which; but you are going to
+do things the right way, which is always the easiest in the end."
+
+They laid the upper sheet on with the wide hem at the top, as before,
+but with the seam up instead of down. Margaret wondered at this, but was
+told that this way made the two smooth sides of the sheets come next to
+the one who slept between them, and at the same time made the upper
+sheet turn over at the top with the seam underneath.
+
+When the blankets went on, the Pretty Aunt said she was thankful to
+notice that Margaret's mother always cut hers in two.
+
+"What for?" asked the little girl.
+
+"Well," was the reply, "double blankets are difficult to handle. They
+are really one long blanket folded together, and one-half sometimes
+slips and gets wrinkled, and is hard to get into place. Then,
+half-blankets are more easily aired than whole ones, and more easily
+washed, also. And if one is too warm in the night, and wishes to throw
+off half of the clothes, it can be done without pulling the bed to
+pieces. It is simple enough to cut a pair in two and bind the edges with
+ribbon so the colors will match, and it well pays for the small
+trouble."
+
+"I sometimes wish I had a nice, fat comfortable instead of two
+blankets," said Margaret. "I know a girl who has such a hot one, all
+made of cotton and cheesecloth."
+
+"They are not nearly as healthful as blankets, my dear, nor so easily
+kept clean. People who own them would hate to have to tell how seldom
+they are washed, because they are so heavy to handle that it is put off
+month after month, and season after season. A pretty little silkolene
+coverlet to lay on the foot of the bed, such as you have, or a small
+eiderdown puff, is very nice, but blankets are the things to sleep
+under. Now let us put the white spread on."
+
+"But, auntie," objected Margaret, "you haven't tucked anything in! Just
+see, not the sides nor the bottom! I don't like to have my feet out all
+night; I like to be tucked in all nice and warm. Shan't we tuck in
+everything as we go along? That's the way Bridget does when she makes my
+bed."
+
+Her aunt laughed. "Just wait!" she said. Then she put on the white
+spread, and smoothed it nicely all over, and told Margaret to stand
+opposite to her at the side of the bed near the foot, and do as she did.
+
+First she turned the spread back, just as though it was at the top
+instead of the bottom; then she turned back one blanket; then the
+other; then the upper sheet, and next the lower one, leaving the
+mattress and pad showing. They raised the mattress, and putting their
+hands under all the folded back clothes at once, they put them under the
+end of it smoothly, pushing them well back; then they tucked in the
+sides. "There," said the aunt, nodding her pretty head at her little
+niece, "I'd like to see you pull those clothes out at night, as you do
+when Bridget makes your bed! If you tuck things in one by one sometimes
+they will come out, but if you tuck them in as we have done they are
+sure to stay. Now for the top."
+
+She turned over the spread, blankets, and sheet, and laid them flat on
+the spread, and then turned them under themselves, making a smooth,
+rather narrow fold, close up to the place the pillows were going to
+stand.
+
+"If the sheet was mussed I would not do this," she explained. "Then I
+would just lay all the clothes back under the pillows; but when the
+sheet is fresh it looks nice this way. Beat up the pillows, smooth them
+out, and stand them up evenly. Remember, if you have a white spread with
+a fringe on it and a muslin valance around the bed, the spread is not
+tucked in at all, but after the bed is finished and tucked in all
+around, it is laid on and left hanging over sides and foot.
+
+"If, instead of a spread, you have a figured cover, or one made of lace
+or muslin, you do not use any spread, but put that on over the blankets
+during the day and take it off at night. A roll covered with the same
+stuff is used with such a bed cover, and at night this, too, is put away
+and the pillows brought out from the cupboard and put on when the bed is
+opened. The bed in the guest-room is like that; you know it has a pretty
+cover and a roll. But whatever you have, it is always nice to have the
+bed opened for one at night, the clothes folded smoothly back, the
+spread laid away and the pillows put down flat, so all one has to do is
+to slip in."
+
+"I know," Margaret replied. "It makes you feel sleepy to see a bed like
+that."
+
+"Now let us take the wash-stand," her aunt went on, after she had passed
+her hands all over the bed as though she were ironing it, leaving it as
+smooth as a nice white table. "Get the cloths from the bathroom, a clean
+white one, you know, and a clean colored one; and the soap."
+
+She showed Margaret how to wash everything out neatly, beginning with
+the tooth-brush mug and soap-dish, and she was told to look carefully
+and see if they were both clean in the bottom, "because probably they
+are not," she said. The wash-bowl was washed with soap, especially where
+there was a greasy streak around it, and the pitcher was filled, and
+wiped where the water dripped down the front. The dark cloth was used on
+the rest of the china; it was better to have two cloths of different
+colors, her aunt explained, to avoid mixing them.
+
+After the stand was finished, and the top wiped off with the white
+cloth, the cloths were both washed out in the bathroom and put away,
+with the soap. The towels were folded in the creases they had been
+ironed in, and pulled into shape and rehung; the wash-cloth was wrung
+dry and shaken out before it was hung up on the rack. The cake of soap
+had been washed off in the bowl when that was washed, and it was now put
+back in the clean dish. "Whatever you forget, Margaret, never forget to
+wash off the soap!" her aunt warned her.
+
+There seemed a good deal to do to make the room nice even after the bed
+and wash-stand were done, for the closet was opened and everything taken
+out and put on chairs around the room, and then put back. The dresses
+had to be hung up by the loops on the skirt, and the waists which
+matched hung each on the same hook with its own skirt by the loops at
+the sleeves. The petticoats had to go by themselves in a separate part
+of the closet, and the shoes were all put in pairs in the bag on the
+door, instead of being left on the floor in piles. Margaret did not like
+to do these things, but she had to admit that she could dress faster in
+the morning when she knew just where everything was, and when she could
+find mates to her shoes in just half a second, instead of having to take
+a minute or more to hunt them in the corners of the closet on the floor.
+
+Arranging the bureau was still worse than making the closet tidy. All
+the drawers were emptied out, and everything sorted in heaps and put
+away. Some pretty boxes without covers were brought from her aunt's
+bureau and put in Margaret's upper drawer, one for gloves, one for
+handkerchiefs, one for ribbons, so that everything should be where it
+belonged, yet as soon as the drawer was opened one could see where
+everything was. Underclothes were made into neat piles, and arranged in
+the drawers below, one sort of thing in one pile and another in another,
+and the stockings laid in a nice row, mates together, folded and tucked
+in, ready to go on.
+
+The top of the bureau had many pretty silver ornaments, but they were
+dull and shabby, and Margaret had to get the silver polish and a bit of
+chamois and make them shine before they could go on the fresh
+bureau-cover the aunt put on, and she was given a bit of velvety stuff
+to tuck in a corner of a drawer, ready to use every day or two, so they
+would not grow dull again.
+
+When all else was done they brushed up the floor, dusted everything
+thoroughly, straightened the pictures on the wall and the window-shades,
+and set the chairs where they would look best. Then Margaret sat down to
+rest, and her aunt finished the lesson in this way:
+
+"A lady," she began, "no matter whether she is grown up or not, always
+keeps her bedroom in beautiful order, fresh and dainty, especially the
+places which do not show, like bureau drawers! Her closet has plenty of
+hooks, and her gowns are kept together, each on one. Her hats are in
+their boxes on the shelves, her shoes in their bag. Her bureau is
+orderly, the silver clean and shining. Her hair-brush is washed at least
+once a week, to keep it white and fresh, and the comb is never allowed
+to have bits of hair in it, but is as clean as the brush. Her wash-stand
+is always perfectly clean and tidy, and nothing is ever left about in
+the room. Most important of all, the air of her room is always fresh and
+sweet, because the window is left open at night and often opened during
+the day for a time. Now this has been a good long lesson to-day--it's
+almost noon; but if you have learned it, you have not wasted a minute of
+even this nice bright Saturday. There's a prize offered by this teacher
+for perfect lessons. Keep your room in order for a month, and see what
+you'll find on your bureau then!"
+
+"Oh, what?" cried Margaret, running after her Pretty Aunt as she went
+out into the hall.
+
+"Wait and see!" was all she would say, but Margaret decided to keep the
+room beautifully tidy for the prize, just the same.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SWEEPING AND DUSTING
+
+
+Margaret could hardly wait for the time for her sweeping lesson, because
+she wanted so much to wear her sweeping-cap. When she heard her mother
+say one Saturday morning that the lesson that day would be on the care
+of the parlors and hall, she asked to be excused from the
+breakfast-table, and ran up and put on her long-sleeved apron and the
+pretty little cap with the red bow in front, and came down proud and
+smiling.
+
+The halls and stairs were of hardwood, so Margaret selected from the
+broom-closet the long-handled floor-brush, the large dust-pan and the
+small one, a flat wicker beater for the rugs, the bottle of floor oil,
+and the flannel cloth which was with it, a certain small dish kept
+especially for the oil, and some of her new dust-cloths. She tried to
+remember all the things her mother had told her to get, but, after all,
+she forgot the broom, and had to go back twice for it, the second time
+because she brought the wrong one. The very best broom, used only on the
+freshest carpets, had a red tape tied around the handle, so it would not
+get mixed with the one used in the dining-room, or the rest of the
+house.
+
+Bridget helped carry out the rugs and put them over the clothes-line,
+and Margaret gently struck them with the wicker beater till all the dust
+was out. She knew she would injure them if she pounded as hard as she
+wanted to, so she was very careful to hit them softly, but to do it so
+often that they were clean when she was done. She laid them on the back
+porch, and brushed them with the whisk-broom afterward until they were
+like new; then they were folded and left in a corner of the dining-room,
+ready to go down when the halls were done.
+
+Her mother told her to go to the very top of the house and shut the
+doors of the rooms all the way down that no dust could get in. Then they
+moved the table and chair and umbrella jar out of the hall, and carried
+the coats and hats to the closet, and shut them up. The upper hall was
+very dark with all the doors closed which usually lighted it, so the gas
+was lit, that the corners might be easily seen. Beginning at the top of
+the house Margaret swept down the halls and stairs all the way, using
+her long-handled brush and taking a little whisk-broom, which was also
+soft for the corners and the stairs, putting the dust into the pan as
+she went along, especially on the stairs.
+
+Her mother wanted her to let Bridget wipe off the wood with oil, but
+Margaret begged to be allowed to do at least one floor and the lower
+stairs, so she would know just how to do it in her very own house, when
+she had one! She put on a large, strong pair of gloves, put a little oil
+in the dish from the bottle, dipped in her flannel cloth, and was going
+to begin when her mother stopped her. "Wring out the cloth," she said;
+"you are not going to wash the floor, only to wipe it." Then she went
+away until this part of the work was done, so she might not step on the
+wood while it was wet, and perhaps spoil the whole floor.
+
+The work was not very pleasant, perhaps, and the oil did not smell very
+nice, but it was interesting to do something new, and Margaret did not
+mind it at all. She wiped up one floor and one flight of stairs, and
+then wiped also the baseboard around the floor and the balustrades of
+the stairs, and when she was done it all looked so fresh and nice she
+wished she had done all the halls. However, she put away the oil and
+cloth and floor-brush, and, setting the front door open to let the air
+come in and dry the wood and carry away the odor of the oil, she dusted
+the rest of the halls with her ordinary dust-cloth, wiping the tops of
+the pictures well, and the hall table and chair, which Bridget helped
+her put back. They brought in the step-ladder, too, so that Margaret
+could get to the chandelier and the top of the doors, and wipe these off
+thoroughly.
+
+The vestibule had been swept and dusted early in the morning, and there
+was nothing to do outside, but the glass in the front door looked dingy,
+and Margaret wiped it off with a clean, damp cloth and polished it with
+the chamois duster and shook out the lace which hung over it, and dusted
+the edges of the glass and the wood of the door. Then she ran and got
+the rugs and spread them down, and called her mother to come and see how
+beautiful the halls looked.
+
+"Beautiful! I should think so, indeed!" her mother exclaimed. "I could
+not have done the work better myself. What made you think of the glass
+in the door? I forgot to tell you about that."
+
+"Oh," said Margaret, "I pretended I was a new maid, and that you were
+showing me all about the work, and first I said to myself, 'Next, Mary
+Jane, the front door,' and then I was Mary Jane, and did the front
+door, you see!"
+
+Her mother smiled. "Well, certainly, Mary Jane does her work
+thoroughly," she said. "I am sure I shall keep her. Now if you are not
+tired we will do the parlors."
+
+These two rooms took all the rest of the Saturday morning lesson. The
+window-curtains and portières were pinned up and put into bags, long,
+loose ones, which kept them off the floor and out of the dust, but did
+not muss them. They dusted the piano and large sofa and covered them
+with strong sheets. They wiped off the book-shelves, and tucked
+newspapers in and out until all the books were entirely covered and
+protected. They brushed off the cushions of the chairs with a
+whisk-broom as they had the sofa, and wiped their woodwork, and then
+carried them into the dining-room; the sofa-pillows were shaken and
+beaten and put there also. All the ornaments on the tables and mantels,
+and the lamps, were wiped and put on the dining-room table.
+
+When the rooms were as empty as possible they shut the doors and
+sprinkled bran on the carpets just as though they were sewing garden
+seeds, which Margaret thought was great fun.
+
+"Some people use tea-leaves on their carpets," her mother explained,
+"and as they are damp they do take up the dust nicely; but they will
+stain delicate colors so, I think it is safer to use bran, which also
+takes up dust but never hurts any carpet. Now I will show you how to
+sweep."
+
+Beginning at one side of the room near the wall, she made long, even
+strokes with the broom, not bearing on too hard, and sweeping toward the
+centre all the time. "Don't give little jerky dabs at the carpet," she
+cautioned, "for that is bad for it, and don't sweep from one side to the
+other, but always toward the middle. But we forgot to open the window."
+
+Margaret pushed up the one nearest to her and instantly in rushed the
+wind, scattering bran and dust all over the floor. Her mother hurried
+to shut it. "You must find out from which way the wind comes before you
+open the window," she said. "That one did more harm than good. Try the
+other one."
+
+When this was open they could not feel any breeze at all, and it seemed
+as though it was not worth opening, but the mother said it was exactly
+right, for it made a draught, and carried all the dust gently outdoors.
+
+After a time Margaret took the broom and finished the floor, and when
+the dust lay in a little pile in the middle, her mother held the pan for
+her and she swept it all up, except a little which refused to come on;
+this they brushed up with the whisk-broom; they also brushed out all the
+corners of the room with the whisk and pan, because the broom was so
+large that it would not go in easily, and a little bit of dust had been
+left in each one. The carpets looked nice and fresh when they had
+finished.
+
+"Once in awhile," the mother said, "it is a good plan to have Bridget
+wipe off the carpets quickly with warm water in which a little ammonia
+has been put. She squeezes out a cloth almost dry and works quickly, not
+to wet the carpet too much, and the ammonia brings out the colors and
+makes the whole look like new. Some housekeepers like to put a couple of
+tablespoonfuls of turpentine in the water instead of the ammonia, and
+this is just as good for the carpet, and if there is any fear of moths
+being in it, it is even better. Every two or three months a carpet ought
+to be wiped off in one way or the other to keep it nice. Now while we
+wait for the dust to settle we will make the marble mantel clean. You
+can get a basin of water, the sapolio, a flannel cloth, and a white
+cotton one."
+
+They wet the cake of soap a little and rubbed the flannel on it and
+scrubbed the mantel thoroughly, and then the hearth, rinsing them off
+and wiping them dry afterward. They also wiped off the fireplace, using
+a dry cloth here, too, for fear of rust, and then took a damp one to
+wipe off the baseboard. If there had been a wood floor, that would have
+had to be treated just as the halls had been--brushed up with the soft
+brush, and wiped off with floor oil. And, her mother explained, if the
+halls had been carpeted Margaret would have had to sweep them with the
+broom and use the whisk in the corners and on all the stairs, one at a
+time, carefully.
+
+By this time there seemed to be no dust left in the air, so they wiped
+the pictures off with a clean duster, especially on the top where
+Bridget's duster sometimes failed to go. The sheets were taken off the
+sofa and piano next, and they were lightly dusted again, "just to make
+sure," Margaret said.
+
+The piano keys proved to be very sticky, and in some spots there were
+dark marks, as though a little girl had practised with unwashed
+fingers,--though, of course, no little girl would really do such a
+thing, the mother said. So Margaret got a little bottle of alcohol and a
+flannel cloth and sponged off each key. If she had used water on the
+ivory it would have made it yellow, but the alcohol did not injure it at
+all.
+
+The chairs were brought in after this, and the other things they had
+carried out, and all arranged again. Some of the bric-à-brac was not
+clean in spite of its dusting, and this had to be carefully washed in
+warm water and wiped dry before it was put in place. "Anything but
+soiled ornaments," her mother told the little girl. The curtains and
+portières were taken out of their bags and smoothed, and the bags and
+sheets folded and put away till the next sweeping day. The parlors
+looked beautifully fresh and orderly, but something seemed missing.
+"Why, the palm!" Margaret said at length. "Bridget took it out this
+morning for its bath and did not bring it back."
+
+They found there had been no time for the bath yet, so Margaret and her
+mother said they would attend to it. They wet the earth well, and while
+the water drained off into a large pan they washed the leaves, using a
+soft cloth dipped in a basin which held a cup of water and a cup of
+milk.
+
+"I did not know plants liked milk," said Margaret, as she helped sponge
+the large leaves all over, the back as well as the front sides.
+
+"Palms love it," her mother replied, "and it pays to use it on them, for
+it keeps them green and glossy; you will see how pretty this looks when
+we have finished it."
+
+Sure enough, when they were done the palm looked as though the leaves
+had just opened, and they agreed that it should have a drink of milk and
+water every week. Then they put it back in its pot in the window of the
+parlor, and the room was all done.
+
+The last thing of all was the lesson the mother repeated for Margaret to
+remember for all kinds of sweeping and dusting. It was like this:
+
+"First get rid of all the ornaments and furniture in a room; in a
+bedroom you can put the things from the bureau and mantel on the bed,
+provided you dust them all well first. The chairs can go into the hall,
+and over the bureau, table, sofa, and bed, you must put sheets and
+towels, or even newspapers; never sweep till everything is well covered,
+or you will have to do double work when you come to dust. Pin up the
+curtains, and put bran on the carpet, and get somebody to help you push
+the heavy furniture about so you can sweep under it; there are some
+people who do not move these things for months, because it is too much
+trouble, but nice housekeepers always move them every single time they
+sweep. Use the whisk-broom in all the corners; wipe off the baseboards;
+dust the pictures thoroughly, and shake out the curtains, and when the
+room is rearranged, dust all the little things and your rooms will
+always look as though they had been housecleaned."
+
+"My windows really and truly need washing," said Margaret. "When I sweep
+my room next week I shall wash them all myself."
+
+"Then you had better learn how now," her mother said. "That will be a
+good ending for the lesson. To wash windows you need a basin of warm
+water, a little ammonia, and two clean cloths. Wring out your first
+cloth in the ammonia-water until it is nearly dry, and rub the glass
+over and over from one side to the other, and around and around. Wipe
+dry each pane as you finish it, so it will not be streaked, and when all
+are done, polish them off with a handful of tissue-paper or a chamois.
+When you wash plate glass, such as we have in the parlors, do not use
+ammonia, but instead put a few drops of blueing in the water, and when
+they are wiped dry go over the glass again with a cloth wrung out in
+alcohol. Do mirrors in this way if they are very dim; if they are new
+but dusty, do not use any water, only the alcohol, and polish them with
+the chamois. Would you like to try one window or one mirror still, this
+morning?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she would rather wait a week, and as it
+proved to be luncheon time she hurried to put all the things away which
+they had been using, and get herself ready.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE
+
+
+When the Saturday morning came on which Margaret was to learn how to
+take care of the bathroom, and clean grates, and do other such things,
+she groaned out loud. So far her lessons had been delightful, but this
+one sounded as though it would be work instead of fun. However, she put
+on her long-sleeved apron and out of the little bathroom cupboard she
+took the flannel cloth, the cotton cloth, the sapolio, the metal polish,
+a queer little brush of twigs with a long handle and a bottle of
+disinfectant, all of which stood ready there in a neat row. Then her
+Other Aunt came into the room, with a big apron on just like Margaret's,
+and began:
+
+"The bathtub, luckily for us," she said, "is of white enamel, so it is
+easy to keep clean. But see, all around it there is a streak where the
+top of the water came after somebody's bath this morning. Now, of
+course, every single person who uses a bathtub ought to wipe it out
+afterward; but men don't take the trouble, and women sometimes forget;
+little girls never do, of course! So the tub has to be washed and wiped
+out every morning."
+
+"Every single morning?" Margaret asked, grumblingly. "It seems as if
+that would be too often; it must wear the nice enamel off to wash it so
+much."
+
+"Not at all," said her aunt; "it is good for it! Get the nice white
+cloth and a cake of soap,--not the sapolio, because that would scratch
+it,--and roll up your sleeves. Kneel down by the tub, put in the
+stopper, and draw a little warm water; wring out your cloth in it, rub
+it well on the soap, and scrub off the greasy mark first, and afterward
+wash the tub all over; rinse out your cloth, let out the water, and
+wash the tub again and wipe it dry. Sometimes, perhaps twice a week, put
+a little ammonia in the first water so that the tub will have an extra
+cleaning. If ever you have a really dirty tub to scrub, take gasoline on
+a flannel cloth and wash with that, and it will be like new; but tubs
+which are washed out every day never need gasoline.
+
+"If you have a tub lined with zinc remember that needs even more care
+than a white one, if it is to be kept shining bright. You can scrub it
+out with gasoline if it seems greasy, then with vinegar, if it is dark,
+then with metal polish, and so on; zinc tubs are really difficult to
+care for. A better way is to paint it all over with two coats of white
+paint and when it is dry enamel it. It costs only a dollar to do it, and
+it does save so much work; besides, a white tub always looks best of
+all. Now we will do the wash-stand."
+
+They took off the soap-dish and tooth-brush mug and bottles of tooth
+powder, because, as the aunt explained, one must always wipe under
+things, not around them. The marble slab and bowl were scrubbed and
+dried, and the mugs and soap-dish washed, wiped, and replaced. After
+this they cleaned the closet by pulling the handle and letting the water
+run while they put in the long-handled brush of twigs and brushed out
+every inch of china, even down into the pipe as far as possible.
+Margaret was told that when she used ammonia in the tub she must put
+some in the closet, too, and once or twice a week a little disinfectant
+must be poured down to keep the pipe perfectly clean. The woodwork was
+wiped off with a cloth kept for that purpose, and then they turned to
+the polishing of the faucets and pipes.
+
+This was hard, but as Margaret and her aunt both worked it made it
+easier. They put some polishing paste on a flannel and rubbed and rubbed
+till they could see the metal shining through the paste; then they wiped
+it off with a dry cloth. "If this was all rubbed a little every single
+day," said the aunt, "it would never be such hard work. I should say
+that this nickel had been just a little bit neglected lately, but see
+how bright we have made it! Now for the oilcloth on the floor."
+
+They set the hamper and a chair out into the hall, and Margaret went to
+the kitchen for a basin of milk with a little warm water in it. Out of
+the cupboard she brought the Japanese seat she had learned she must
+always use when she got down on the floor, partly to save her dress, and
+partly because there was a painful disease called sometimes "housemaid's
+knee," which one could get by kneeling and working on a hard floor with
+nothing underneath one. When she was all ready her aunt wrung out the
+cloth for her in the milk, and told her to begin at one edge and work
+straight across the floor, wiping every part well, but especially under
+the tub and wash-stand, because those were likely to need it most. "The
+milk will freshen the oilcloth and make it shine," she said. "Always try
+and have some when you wipe up an oilcloth, for water alone is not good
+for it."
+
+When the floor was dry they set in the hamper again, folded the towels
+neatly, and hung them straight on the rack, and dusted around the window
+and the wood around the sides of the room. "We are done here," the aunt
+said, as they put away all the things they had been using, "but the
+lesson isn't over yet, for while we are in the scrubbing business you
+may as well learn how to take care of steps and vestibule. You may get
+the old broom from the kitchen Bridget keeps for this, and ask her to
+bring a pail of water; you will need the scrubbing-brush, too, and the
+sapolio, and two cloths; the Japanese seat, some more metal polish, a
+flannel, and a duster."
+
+Margaret got them all, and brought them out to the vestibule. The
+door-mat was taken up, shaken well, and hung over the balustrade
+outside, and, after sweeping out the vestibule, Margaret knelt on the
+seat and scrubbed the marble floor, especially in the corners, and then
+wiped them dry. The steps had already been swept once that morning, so
+all they needed was a good bath. A little water at a time was poured
+over them and swept off with the broom, and while they dried in the
+sunshine, she rubbed the door handles and bell with polish, and gave
+them a beautiful finish with chamois leather. The woodwork of the doors
+was pretty dusty, and before it could be made to look just right it had
+to be rubbed off with a damp duster and a little stick used in the
+cracks of the wood. When the rug was laid down once more Margaret and
+her Other Aunt stood and admired their work.
+
+"A good housekeeper always has nice, clean steps and a well-cared-for
+vestibule," said the aunt. "They are like a sign-board on the front of a
+house, telling the sort of people who live inside. That thought ought to
+make you keep your vestibule in nice order."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Margaret. "I'd be ashamed to have a sign-board in
+front of my steps, saying, 'An untidy girl lives here!' Now what do we
+do?"
+
+"Well, let us see if we can find any brass to polish. There are the
+andirons in the hall, for instance, and the shovel and tongs." So out
+came the metal polish once more, and, after putting down a newspaper,
+they rubbed them all well. They found out, however, that some of the
+brass about the house had an enamel finish over it to keep out the air,
+and all this needed was wiping off with a cloth instead of rubbing,
+which was a great saving of time; though this brass was not quite as
+nice looking as that which they rubbed till it shone like a mirror, in
+the old-fashioned way. It happened that the chandelier in the hall was
+covered with the enamel, and here her aunt told Margaret she did not
+dislike it, because it would have been nearly impossible to rub a
+chandelier clear up to the ceiling every week. They brought out the
+step-ladder and wiped it off with a dry duster, however, and then they
+washed the globes nicely in warm water, and dried them. Globes often
+got very dusty, the aunt said, and nobody remembered to wash them off
+instead of merely dusting them once in awhile, and then the family
+thought the gas must be very poor because the light was dim.
+
+"Now, auntie, what next?" Margaret asked, when this work was done.
+
+"The sitting-room fireplace," her aunt replied. "It is full of wood
+ashes."
+
+Margaret went once more to the broom closet and got a shovel, a
+dust-pan, a whisk-broom, a damp cloth, and a newspaper.
+
+There were andirons in the fireplace and the ashes lay all over and
+around them, so her aunt first helped her lift these heavy things out on
+the newspaper at one side. Then she told her to sweep most of the ashes
+into a small pile right in the centre of the hearth, at the back.
+
+"But, auntie, they won't burn any more; why don't I take them right
+out!" asked Margaret.
+
+"Because they make the fire burn better and last longer. You can take up
+part of them and put them in the scuttle, but leave some, and
+especially all the bits of charred wood; it would be wasteful to take
+those away."
+
+Margaret carefully swept up the greater part of the ashes, working from
+the edges of the hearth toward the middle, and put them into the
+scuttle. Once she spilled a shovelful, but as a newspaper was spread on
+the carpet it did not matter. Her aunt told her to be sure and always
+have plenty of papers ready to use in housework, because in the end they
+saved so much work. "Suppose you had to sweep up those ashes," she said,
+"and clean the carpet, too, would not that be a bother! Now if the
+hearth is clean, wipe it with the damp cloth, and dust off the andirons
+well. If there had been a grate here you would have had to polish it
+with the blacking from the kitchen stove. When you have finished you can
+get more paper and kindling and lay a fire."
+
+They put crumpled paper between the andirons, covering all the ashes
+which lay there so they did not show. On this they laid kindling,
+crossed, and then some pieces of wood. When they gathered up the
+newspaper there was nothing to brush from the carpet, and everything was
+neat.
+
+"There," said her aunt, "that's all for to-day. Run and wash your face
+and hands,--they need it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC
+
+
+Margaret's Saturday morning lessons were interrupted at this point by
+the spring housecleaning. Everybody was so busy taking up and putting
+down carpets, hanging curtains and pictures over, putting away winter
+clothes and getting out summer ones, that the lessons seemed forgotten.
+The grandmother, however, remembered, and one day she took the little
+girl around the house while the cleaning was going on, showing her how
+the work was done. They found the guest-room had been finished, so they
+sat down there and talked.
+
+"Housecleaning is very different nowadays from what it used to be," she
+began. "We used to take up all the carpets at once, and keep everything
+upset for a week or two, and then get all to rights. Now we take a room
+at a time, and so do the whole house gradually and comfortably. Perhaps
+the work is divided, and part done in the spring and part in the fall,
+to make it still easier. Then we do not take up every carpet every year,
+as we did. This guest-room carpet, for one, does not need beating and
+cleaning and putting down again, because the room is not used all the
+time, and once or twice a year it has a scrubbing with warm water or
+turpentine or ammonia after it is swept."
+
+"Yes," said Margaret, "I learned about that in my sweeping lesson."
+
+"When this room was cleaned," her grandmother went on, "the curtains
+were taken down, and the pictures wiped off and put into the storeroom.
+The furniture was well dusted and put away also, and the bed all taken
+apart, the mattress beaten gently, the springs dusted and wiped off; the
+bed slats were washed in hot soap and water, and put away, too. Then the
+bed itself was taken to pieces and washed in warm soap-suds, because
+being white iron they could not hurt it. If it had been a wooden bed it
+would have been wiped with a damp cloth. And then, Margaret, what do you
+think? a brush dipped in turpentine was put in all the corners of the
+bed and the springs, so that if by any chance a little bug should have
+crept in there to hide, it would be driven out."
+
+Margaret looked disgusted. "We don't have bugs in our beds," she said,
+indignantly. "Nice, clean people never do."
+
+Her grandmother smiled. "Even a very nice, clean person may bring home a
+bug from a crowded street-car," she said. "And if it happens to be on a
+coat which is thrown on a bed, it may crawl quickly into a corner
+without anybody's seeing it, and presently the bed will have half a
+dozen bugs in it. Of course a good housekeeper would never let them stay
+in a bed a single minute after she finds out they are there, and she
+always hunts occasionally, at least as often as every few months, so
+that she may be perfectly sure everything is all right. If ever you
+think you are perfectly safe, my dear, and do not look to make sure, you
+will be the very one to be surprised some day! You must often put the
+mattress on a sheet on the floor, and look all along the edge and in the
+corners and under the ties. The spring must be painted with turpentine,
+especially in the hidden places, and so must the corners of the bed. It
+is a good plan to use only metal beds with iron spring frames, for bugs
+like wood much better; they seldom stay where there is none. If you ever
+find a bug, or the tiny black speck it makes, get the white of an egg
+and beat it with a teaspoonful of quicksilver, and paint everything with
+it, and you will have no more trouble.
+
+"After the bed is cleaned and taken down, the floor is to be swept twice
+over, and the carpet taken away; the paper under it may be swept clean
+in the yard. The walls are to be swept down with a soft brush, or a
+broom covered with a duster. The closet is to be emptied entirely, the
+drawers, shelves, floor, and baseboard washed well, and the closet floor
+washed also. The windows must be cleaned and all the woodwork washed in
+warm water with a little nice soap, and rinsed well. When all is fresh
+and the floor dry, the paper can be laid, the carpet put down, the
+furniture wiped again, the bed put together and made, the pictures hung,
+and the fresh curtains put up, if they are used in summer, and the room
+will be thoroughly done. All rooms are alike in the way they are
+cleaned. First do the closets, remember, all the drawers as well as
+shelves; then, shutting this up, empty the room, and do walls, floor,
+paint, and windows. If there is a matting down, this must be wiped off
+with salted water, which freshens it. Now I think we can go down to the
+cellar for the next part of the lesson."
+
+The cellar proved to be rather chilly, but they stayed long enough to
+learn a good many things about it. There were two rooms, one for the
+coal and wood, and one for vegetables and preserved fruit and such
+things. All these, Margaret was told, must be looked after. The fuel
+room should have several bins, one for kitchen coal, one for furnace
+coal, and one low one for wood; it was untidy to leave any of these
+lying in heaps on the floor. The vegetables had to be constantly looked
+over for fear any should decay, and so bring sickness to the family, who
+might never know why it came. The preserves must be examined, lest any
+begin to leak, and the whole place must be kept cool and dry by having a
+window open a little at the top, with a good bolt or a few nails to keep
+any one from opening it from the outside. The windows did not need to be
+washed quite as often as those up-stairs, but they should never be left
+grimy and dirty. "A good housekeeper always keeps watch of her cellar,"
+said the grandmother. "She sees that the air is fresh, the floor clean,
+the walls free from cobwebs, and that no rubbish is allowed to
+accumulate. The wood and coal must not get too low in the bins; the
+grocer's boxes must be kept chopped into kindling, and, most important
+of all, every cellar should have a good coat of whitewash every spring
+to make it all sweet and clean."
+
+Margaret said she thought she knew this part of her lesson now, and that
+cellars were not so very interesting.
+
+"Well, suppose we take the attic next," grandmother said, smiling; "that
+is, if you are really certain you can keep your own cellar clean and
+nice when you have one." Margaret promised to try.
+
+The attic was a nice, dusky room, with some old furniture, trunks, and
+boxes, rolls of carpet, and bags of pieces. It had a dry, comfortable
+sort of smell in the air. "I like attics," said Margaret. "I mean to
+have a great big one some day, all full of interesting things, like the
+girls in story-books."
+
+"The more things in your attic the more trouble you will have to be a
+good housekeeper," said her grandmother. "Let us sit down on this sofa
+for our lesson, and suppose that was really your own attic. What would
+you do to put it in order and keep it so!"
+
+"Well," said Margaret, thoughtfully, "I'd move everything out and sweep
+it; then I'd brush off the walls and wash the windows; then I'd arrange
+things--and then it would be done."
+
+"Oh, no!" her grandmother replied. "That isn't half. I see you needed
+the lesson on the attic, as I thought. Now listen:
+
+"You see it is rather dark up here, and so moths love the place, and if
+it was left to them they would eat up all that is in the trunks. The
+first thing in cleaning an attic is to empty all the trunks, one at a
+time, and look everything over. There are pieces of clothing which may
+be used again which have to go outdoors on the line in the sunshine and
+be beaten, and furs, especially, require this done frequently. Your
+pretty little baby things are in one trunk, and those your mother wishes
+to keep always, so she airs them and refolds the dresses so they will
+not get discolored streaks by lying always one way; the flannels are
+aired, too, and folded in papers with perhaps a bit of camphor or a moth
+ball, though these are not as much protection as the constant airing and
+shaking is.
+
+"In that large trunk there are some old silk dresses, and such things,
+which are also to be kept. Moths do not touch silks, but these, too,
+must be taken out and shaken and refolded once in awhile to keep them
+from cracking in the places where they have laid. Once a year, at least,
+all trunks must be emptied, wiped out, and relined with fresh papers,
+the things aired and put back freshly.
+
+"If there are any clothes which are being kept which, after all, are not
+needed, it is always best to give them away before they are out of style
+or moth-eaten. It is wrong to keep things one does not want when so many
+are cold. One always keeps certain things like your mother's
+wedding-gown, and some handsome pieces of velvet, too valuable to give
+away, and other things which would be of no use to any one else; but
+your father's old clothes, and your outgrown dresses, and my heavy
+winter coat which I shall not wear again, must all go before they are
+half-spoiled by lying.
+
+"You see there are several piece-bags hanging up; those we must go over,
+too. We always keep bits of our dresses to patch with, or to use in
+re-making them. But sometimes we keep the pieces long after the dress is
+gone, when perhaps some one would like them for patchwork, or to make a
+pincushion or needle-book out of. The pieces must be sorted often, the
+woollen ones put by themselves with moth balls, and the silk and cotton
+ones divided, some to keep, and some to give to anybody who needs them
+more than we do.
+
+"The roll of old carpet is to go away, too, this time to be made into a
+kitchen rug. Carpets must not be left in the attic or they will surely
+make a nice home for moth-families. The broken chairs are to go to-day
+to be mended, I heard your mother say this morning. Some she will use
+again, and the rest she will pass on to somebody who wants chairs and
+has not enough. This old sofa, of course, she will keep, because some
+day she will have it re-covered; it is a strong, good piece of
+furniture, and she knows we can use it.
+
+"The summer clothes are kept in those two large trunks under the window;
+in a few days they will go down-stairs, and the winter ones, all shaken
+and beaten on the clothes-line till they are fresh and clean, will be
+packed away carefully in their places after the trunks have had fresh
+paper put in them. Do you know how to put away winter clothes, by the
+way?"
+
+Margaret said she did not think she did, so they stopped the lesson for
+a minute to put this in.
+
+"After the things are aired well, fold each dress or coat or suit of
+clothes up by itself, and pin it snugly in newspapers, which moths do
+not like. Tie a strong string around the bundle to lift it by, and paste
+a slip of paper on the top, and write on this plainly just what is
+inside. If you have anything very nice to put away, such as a
+broadcloth suit, put it in a new paste-board box and paste a strip of
+paper all around the edge of the cover; use good mucilage, and the moths
+cannot possibly get at it. Put furs in paper bags after they are clean,
+and hang them from the rafters. Hats and such things may go into boxes,
+and you can lay a paper over each box before putting on its cover, to
+keep the dust out. Summer clothes do not need so much care; just fold
+them neatly and put them in a nice clean trunk, and they will take care
+of themselves. Now do you think you know how to keep a cellar and attic
+in good order? Suppose you make up a rule to give me."
+
+Margaret thought a moment. "Keep the cellar clean," she said at length,
+"and give away the things in the attic."
+
+Her grandmother laughed. "Keep both the cellar and attic clean, and
+don't hoard uselessly," she corrected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LAUNDRY WORK
+
+
+Margaret's teachers held a meeting before her next lesson. They could
+not decide whether she should be taught to wash and iron or not.
+
+Her Pretty Aunt said, "Certainly not! She will never need to know. Even
+on a desert island she will find some Woman Friday to do her laundry
+work!"
+
+"But," suggested her Other Aunt, "suppose she had a very beautiful thin
+dress to be washed, and had a very poor laundress to do it who might
+spoil it; don't you think she would wish she knew how to do it herself?"
+
+"Besides," said her mother, "however could she teach an ignorant
+servant to wash and iron if she did not know how?"
+
+"Of course she must know," said her grandmother, sternly. "I will teach
+her myself."
+
+So on Friday night Margaret made up a bundle of clothes as she was told;
+"samples," grandmother called them, because there were some of every
+sort of thing found in a regular washing; these they took down to the
+laundry.
+
+"The first thing is to sort the clothes," the lesson began. "Put the
+white, starched things in one pile; the bed and table linen in another;
+the flannels by themselves; the stockings by themselves; the
+handkerchiefs and colored things in two more piles.
+
+"Many people do not soak clothes over night, and it is not necessary to
+do so, but I am going to teach you to do it because it is the easiest
+way. If you are ready, look over the white things first for spots.
+Coffee, tea, and fruit stains must have boiling water poured through
+them till they disappear. Rust must be rubbed with lemon juice and salt
+and laid on a new, shiny tin in the sunshine till the spot disappears;
+some people use acid, but this is apt to eat the cloth. Blood stains
+must be soaked in cold water; get the handkerchief you had on your cut
+finger and put it in this pail. Now wet the white things only, rub on a
+little soap, and get out every spot; put them in nice rolls, the soapy
+side turned in, and lay them all in the warm water in these two tubs,
+clothing in one, and table and bed linen in the other--never put the two
+together. Do not soak the flannels or they will shrink; nor the colored
+things, or they will fade; nor the stockings.
+
+"The handkerchiefs, well soaped and rubbed and squeezed, go into a pail
+of water all alone with a tablespoonful of kerosene to kill any germs of
+cold in the head which may be in one of them, and would spread to all
+the handkerchiefs. The oil boils out and does not smell after they are
+ironed. That is all for to-night, but be up bright and early in the
+morning, for only lazy people hang out their washing at noon."
+
+The next day Margaret came into the laundry with her biggest apron and
+her sleeves rolled up and pinned to her shoulders, ready for work.
+
+"Flannels first," she was told. "Draw two tubs of warm water, one just
+exactly as warm as the other. Put in some nice white soap and make a
+good suds, and then take it out and put in the flannels; rub and squeeze
+them with your hands till they are clean, but never rub them on the
+wash-board, or put any soap directly on them or they will grow hard and
+stiff; as soon as they are clean, wring them out and rinse them in the
+second water. The reason why they must be washed and rinsed in the same
+sort of water is that if they were dropped from cold to hot or hot to
+cold water they would shrink all up and be spoiled at once. A little
+ammonia or borax in the rinsing water makes them soft and white. You
+cannot take too much care in washing flannels, for they are expensive
+and easily spoiled; think how often your winter undervests are shrunken
+before they are half-worn, and how once Bridget spoiled a pair of
+beautiful new blankets she washed for the first time, all because the
+two waters were not just alike, and because she rubbed soap on them and
+made them hard and yellow. Now you may wring yours out with your hands
+and hang them out on the line."
+
+When Margaret came in again her grandmother had put the white apron into
+the water the flannels had been rinsed in, for its first bath. She said
+it was still fresh and warm and soapy and ought not to be wasted. The
+first tubful, however, she had thrown away as useless any longer. She
+told Margaret to put a little more soap on the apron and gently rub it
+on the board, turning it over and over till it was clean; then she
+dropped it in the wash-boiler, which her grandmother had filled with
+fresh water and put on the fire. The linen was washed in the same way,
+rubbing and turning it till it was all fresh, and putting it in the
+boiler. The water was allowed to boil up well for a moment, the clothes
+pushed down and turned around with a stick as they rose to the top. They
+were lifted out with the stick into a tub of fresh, hot water, and
+rinsed till all the soap was out, and dropped in a tub of cold water
+which had a little blueing in it. Here they were rinsed once more, and
+wrung out dry and then put out in the sunshine.
+
+Bridget had hung a low clothes-line for Margaret between two small
+trees, so she could easily reach it. The clothes-pins were in one of her
+aprons, in a pocket made by turning up the bottom almost half-way to the
+belt, so none could fall out. This apron was made of heavy ticking, and
+none of the water reached her dress as she carried out the wet things to
+the line.
+
+When she came in this second time she found her grandmother ready to
+make starch. As there were only a very few things to stiffen she
+measured a heaping tablespoonful of dry starch, wet it with just as
+much cold water, and added a cup of boiling water, with a
+half-teaspoonful of sugar, to make it extra nice and glossy. The white
+apron was dipped in this and wrung out; then more water was added till
+the starch was like milk, and the pillow-cases and gingham apron were
+dipped in.
+
+"I never starch table or bed linen," said her grandmother, "but you may,
+if you wish to, if you use very thin starch. I know a better way to make
+such things look nice, however, and when we iron I will teach it to you.
+Now we must finish the washing. Wash and rinse the stockings in hot
+water, but do not boil them; wash and rinse and boil the handkerchiefs
+by themselves. When these are all on the line, and you have made the
+laundry tidy, you can rest for an hour, while the irons get nice and
+hot, and then we will take the second half of the laundry lesson."
+
+The sunshine had made everything dry and sweet when Margaret brought in
+the clothes from the line and heaped them on the laundry table. She
+spread the napkins and pillow-cases out smoothly, and from a nice white
+bowl of clean water she sprinkled them, one at a time, and smoothed out
+the creases as her grandmother showed her. "The fewer wrinkles, the
+easier ironing," she said. Each was made into a tidy roll and laid in
+the basket again. The handkerchiefs were sprinkled also, and made into
+one roll and laid by them. The flannels were still damp, and so just
+ready to iron as they were, and so were the stockings. As the irons were
+hot, Margaret now spread the ironing-pad of flannel over the table, and
+laid the ironing-sheet very smoothly over it. She put the iron-stand on
+one corner on a square, white tile, so the heat would not burn the cloth
+underneath and got out a thick, soft holder.
+
+She also got out the ironing-board, because the flannel petticoats were
+easier to manage on this than on the table. She tried the iron by
+holding it to her cheek, and found it quite warm. Then she wet the tip
+of her finger, as she had seen Bridget do, and quickly touched it. It
+seemed just right, hot, but not burning, so she began on the stockings,
+and ironed them flat, on the right side, turning each one over and
+pressing both sides. She did not turn in the toes, because some of them
+needed to be darned, and whoever did it would have to turn each one back
+to see if there were any holes in it; but she made them into pairs,
+folding each once, and hung them on the little clothes-horse standing
+before the fire.
+
+The flannel skirts she slipped over the skirt-board, and ironed them by
+beginning at the hem and working toward the belt, pulling each one
+around the board to bring the unironed part up. These, too, she hung
+near the fire, because flannels take so long to grow perfectly dry.
+
+The table napkins were a real pleasure to do. Her grandmother taught her
+why they needed no starch--because if they were ironed over and over,
+with a good hot iron, first on one side and then on the other, they
+grew a little stiff, and became very glossy and beautiful, like satin,
+while if starch was used they easily got too stiff. These were folded
+very carefully indeed, so the edges exactly matched, and laid in a pile
+by themselves.
+
+By the time these were done the iron was again cool and had to be
+changed for the second time for a hot one. Linen, the grandmother
+explained, needed hot irons, but one should always be very careful not
+to have them so hot that there is any danger of scorching, because linen
+is very expensive, and easily ruined.
+
+The towels were ironed exactly as the napkins had been, on both sides,
+and again and again, till they were dry and shining. Then they were
+folded carefully, not in four narrow folds, but in three parts, so they
+would "look generous," grandmother said. The side edges had to match
+exactly, and the lower edge had to be a tiny bit longer than the rest,
+so that when hung on the towel-rack it would be perfect. This took time,
+but when once Margaret learned how they should look, she said it was no
+trouble.
+
+The white apron also took some time to do because it had to be polished,
+and the gatherings and ruffles were bothersome, but still it was done
+presently, and also the gingham apron, which was easier. The
+handkerchiefs were only play, but they had to be carefully folded, so
+the edges would be even. At last everything was done, and there was a
+whole clothes-horse full of beautiful clothes. It looked like a
+blossoming tree, all white and fragrant, and Margaret felt very proud
+and happy as she ran to call the family to come and admire.
+
+"I knew she could learn!" said her grandmother, nodding to her mother,
+as they all came in to look and praise the little laundress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF THE
+REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS
+
+
+"I think," said the Pretty Aunt one day, "we must be coming to the end
+of the Saturday morning lessons. We have had the kitchen and
+dining-room, the bedrooms, halls, and parlors, the bathroom, cellar,
+attic, and vestibule. I really can't think of anything else to teach
+Margaret about the care of the house."
+
+"Why," exclaimed the Other Aunt, "I can! I can think of five or six
+things you have not said a word about; all important ones, too!"
+
+"How nice!" laughed the Pretty Aunt, "because now you can give the
+lesson!"
+
+Margaret had felt disappointed when she thought the lessons were over,
+for she liked to learn something new each week; so when she was told to
+put on a clean apron and be ready in half a minute, she ran off in a
+hurry.
+
+Her aunt was in the upper hall when she appeared, with the door of the
+linen closet open, and she told Margaret they would begin here.
+
+"This little room is the one good housekeepers are especially fond of,"
+she began. "Clean, white linen, polished and beautiful, is a joy to look
+at and handle, and every woman is proud if she has a quantity, all
+nicely kept. Let us begin with the shelves, taking them in order, and
+see what is on each."
+
+The top one held blankets, each pair folded together smoothly and pinned
+up in a clean, strong piece of white cotton cloth, and labelled. The
+first label read, "Guest-room blankets," and when they were opened there
+lay a fresh, soft, fleecy pair, with a lovely border of pale pink, and
+edges of broad pink ribbon.
+
+"This is your mother's very best pair of blankets," began her aunt.
+"They are cut in two and bound alike at each end, you see; they have
+never been washed or cleaned yet, so they are still very white and soft.
+By and by they will begin to look a little soiled, and then they will be
+cleaned perhaps, once or twice, and presently they will be washed, and
+they will not be nearly as nice as they are now, though well-washed
+blankets should still be fleecy and white."
+
+"'Soft, warm water, with suds of white soap,'" murmured Margaret,
+reviewing her laundry lesson; "'rub with your hands, rinse in the same
+sort of water as you used in washing, with a little borax or ammonia,
+and they will look like new.'"
+
+"Splendid!" said her aunt. "I see you can wash blankets to perfection.
+But even so, some day there will be new ones for the guest-room, and
+these will be on one of the family beds. The next two or three bundles,
+you see, are clean, washed blankets, in pairs, laid away till they are
+needed. All blankets have to be put on the line in the sunshine
+frequently whether they are washed or not, or they may be eaten by
+moths.
+
+"Here are a few clean comfortables next, on this second shelf, done up
+like the blankets. These have to be washed, too, and are more difficult
+to manage than blankets, because they are so heavy; they have to be
+aired often to keep them sweet, for the cotton holds odors easily. Then
+come the white spreads, the heavy Marseilles in one pile, the lighter
+ones in another, and the single ones and double ones kept separate.
+
+"The third shelf holds towels, you see. This pile is for the best ones;
+notice how beautifully they are ironed and folded, and how the
+embroidered initials stand out. The ordinary bedroom towels come next;
+see how many your mother has, and how each kind is by itself: the
+hemstitched ones in one pile, the plain huckaback in another; those with
+colored borders in this one, and the bath towels in that. Any one could
+come in and get a towel in the dark, sure of taking just the right one.
+You must remember always to keep your own towels just this way; too many
+people mix them in in any careless fashion, and do not take the trouble
+to have them arranged neatly, but it's the best way to do.
+
+"The sheets and pillow-cases are in these deep drawers. This top one has
+the double sheets and the best linen ones; notice how they lie in piles,
+each kind by itself, just like the towels. They are all marked on the
+narrow edge, and so they can be recognized at a glance; the large sheets
+have your mother's full name. In this next drawer are the single bed
+sheets, marked with her first initials, and her last name. The servants'
+sheets have only her three initials. You see how easy it is to tell
+which is which. The pillow-cases are marked in the same way, and put in
+piles. You must be sure when you have a washing to put away that you do
+not put the clean things on top of each pile, and then take them off
+again to use at once; put things on top and take them off the bottom of
+the pile, so they will all be used in turn. Now for the table-linen."
+
+This was in another drawer, and Margaret exclaimed when she saw how
+beautiful it was. The cloths were like satin, the napkins which matched
+lay in dozens by them; the every-day cloths and napkins were by
+themselves, and the small lunch-cloths had a pile of their own. The
+doilies were in a smaller drawer, all in piles, too, and the pretty
+centrepieces were fastened around stiff paper made into rolls.
+
+"If you ever have lovely table-linen you will want to keep it nicely,"
+said the aunt. "I think it is high time you had some, too. I believe in
+the old German custom of making a linen-chest for each girl; so learn
+your lesson well, and when your birthday comes who knows what you'll
+get? Perhaps a lunch-cloth or some embroidered napkins!"
+
+"I'd like some towels, too," Margaret said, soberly. "I guess I'd like
+to have some linen every birthday."
+
+"Very well, I'll remember," said her aunt as they closed the drawers.
+"And when you really begin to fill your chest I will make you some
+pretty bags of lavender to lay among your sheets and pillow-cases to
+make them smell sweet. We will go down-stairs now."
+
+The pantry shelves were looked over next; in the china-closet in the
+dining-room everything was in order; the dishes neatly arranged on white
+paper, with pretty scalloped flouncings hanging over the front. The
+plates were piled in sets, the platters were together, the glasses and
+small dishes on the sides of the closet where the shelves were short.
+There was really nothing to be done here, so they went into the kitchen.
+
+The pantry where the pots and pans stood had rather dingy papers, and
+they decided to have a good cleaning. They took everything off and
+washed the shelves with warm water and borax and wiped them dry, and put
+on fresh papers. The tins and dishes which were seldom used, were then
+arranged on the highest shelf, and those which were used every day were
+put lower down. The little things, such as the skimmer, the small sieve,
+the egg-beater, and the spoons, were hung on nails driven into the edge
+of the shelf which was over the baking-table in the kitchen, where stood
+also the cups, bowls, and plates used in cooking, within easy reach.
+When they were done, the aunt said, "Always watch for ants in the
+pantry, and roaches and water-bugs in the sink. Ants hate borax, so you
+can put that on the shelves in all the corners, and it will help keep
+them away. Roaches come to the sink for food, and you must see to it
+that they do not find it. Keep it perfectly clean and scalded out,
+especially at night, and never let the sink-basket have any crumbs in
+it. If, in spite of everything, the bugs do come, put insect powder on
+the corners of all the woodwork and use washing-soda to flush the drain
+every day, and they will get discouraged and leave your house for
+somebody else's, where there is something in the sink for them. Now for
+the refrigerator."
+
+Margaret helped empty this entirely, setting the things in it on the
+table, and putting the ice in a large dish. They looked underneath at
+the pan into which the ice drained and found it half-full, so they
+emptied it. Then the lesson began as usual.
+
+"You see all these little covered bowls and plates with bits of food on
+them. We never put nice china dishes in a refrigerator, for fear of
+breaking them; this heavy, yellow ware is just the thing, and a saucer
+can go over each bowl. We do not put anything in which has a strong
+odor, such as onions or cheese, or they would make everything taste like
+themselves. Butter must be in a covered crock, and milk in bottles with
+a tight top. Warm food must never go in, or it will waste the ice. Let
+us look in the top; you see there is a nice piece of ice, all covered up
+with a bit of old blanket, so it will last. You must watch and see that
+you do not take more ice than you really need and use it economically.
+Some people never cover it at all, because it keeps the food colder if
+it is left so, but often it is unnecessary; there may be little food in
+the box, and that would keep as well if it were not quite as cold. Now
+you may get a basin of water, two clean cloths, and the borax, and I
+will show you how to clean a refrigerator."
+
+Margaret put a tablespoonful of borax in the water, rung out her cloth,
+and washed out all the inside of the great box, poking a little stick
+into the corners, and scrubbing the shelves thoroughly, as well as the
+sides and bottom. Then she wiped them dry and the food was put in again
+neatly. There had been a small pan of charcoal in one corner, and this
+was emptied on a paper and the pan refilled from a bag near by and put
+back.
+
+"What do you put black charcoal in the clean box for?" Margaret asked,
+curiously.
+
+"Because it dislikes a disagreeable odor, and destroys it at once," her
+aunt replied. "We change this pan every few days because it will take up
+only so much, while fresh charcoal will keep everything sweet and nice;
+Bridget burns up what is not fresh, putting it in the fire when she
+wants to broil or toast, for it makes a clear fire without flame. It
+only costs a few cents for a large bagful, and we can always have it on
+hand.
+
+"Remember to wash out your refrigerator at least three times a week.
+This is very important, indeed; if you forget it somebody in the family
+may be very ill. If you have not time to wash it out and still sweep the
+parlors, let the parlors go!"
+
+Just as they finished they noticed the garbage pail outside the door and
+took a look into it. It was nearly empty, so Margaret got a dipper of
+boiling water and a handful of washing-soda and put them in, as her aunt
+told her, to keep the pail from getting greasy and sour. "The better the
+housekeeper the less she has in her garbage pail, and the cleaner it is
+kept," she said, as she put back the cover.
+
+"We have still one pleasant thing and one disagreeable thing to do
+before we are done this morning; which would you rather take first?"
+asked the aunt.
+
+Margaret said she thought she would keep the pleasant one to finish off
+with.
+
+"Then get a newspaper," was the reply, "and spread it over the table,
+first of all."
+
+"That's the way most kitchen lessons seem to begin," said Margaret, as
+she took one from the paper drawer. "'First get a newspaper.'"
+
+"And very sensible, too," smiled her aunt. "It saves so much work if
+everything can be carried away and the table left clean at once. You may
+go to the closet and bring the box of things for the lamps while I bring
+the large one from the sitting-room."
+
+The box proved to have in it two cloths, one of flannel, and a white one
+free from lint; a pair of scissors; a round brush with a wire handle,
+and a piece of soap.
+
+The lamp was taken to pieces, filled with kerosene from the can kept in
+the cellar-way, and wiped off nicely. The charred wick was rubbed and
+trimmed, and the corners rounded a little to keep them from throwing
+the flame against the sides of the chimney and breaking it. The glass
+chimney was put in a basin of warm water with soap-suds, and washed with
+the flannel cloth, rubbed with the round brush, and wiped dry with the
+white cloth. Whenever a new wick was put in a lamp, Margaret was told,
+the burner should be boiled with washing-soda to free it from clogging
+oil, and if a wick ever smelled it was to be cooked a few minutes in
+vinegar and dried, and it would then be all right again. When the lamp
+was put back they gathered up the things used, and put the newspaper
+with the kindling for the kitchen fire.
+
+"Now for the pleasant thing," Margaret said, as she carried away the
+oil-can and washed her hands. "I don't think doing lamps is very nice
+work."
+
+"No, it is not," her aunt replied; "but it is certainly very nice to
+have a clear, strong light to read by at night, and you cannot have that
+unless the lamp is perfectly clean, so the work is worth doing. Look
+now on the closet shelf once more and find another box with the silver
+polish, while I go for the basket from the sideboard."
+
+Once more a newspaper was spread on the table, and they set out the box
+of powder, a small flannel cloth, a little saucer of water, a soft
+brush, and a chamois. They dipped the flannel into the water, then into
+the powder, and rubbed the pieces of silver well, scrubbing them with
+the brush, except where they were perfectly smooth, as in the bowls of
+the spoons. When it was done they washed it in hot water, wiped it dry,
+and polished it well with the chamois, and it shone like new.
+
+As they put it away again they counted it carefully, using the list
+which was kept in the bottom of the basket; every piece was there,
+fortunately, so no time was lost in hunting for it.
+
+"Do you count the silver every time it is cleaned?" Margaret inquired,
+as she took up the basket to put it away.
+
+"Every single time," said her aunt, firmly. "It must always be done.
+One can find a missing spoon when it first disappears, but not after it
+has been gone a month or more."
+
+"We are all done," Margaret said, cheerfully, as they put the kitchen to
+rights. "Won't Bridget be pleased when she sees her clean refrigerator
+and pantry, and the nice shiny silver,--and the garbage pail too! That
+looks just as nice as can be!"
+
+"Of course it does," said her aunt. "Everything looks nice when it is
+clean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS
+
+
+"I think it must be my turn to give you your lesson to-day," said
+Margaret's Pretty Aunt at breakfast-time, "because I have thought of
+something none of your other teachers have as much as mentioned. You can
+get ready as soon as possible."
+
+"Which apron?" asked the little girl, curiously.
+
+"No apron at all," said her aunt; "your hat and coat. We are going
+a-marketing. How can anybody be a good housekeeper without knowing how
+to buy a dinner?"
+
+Before they set out they went to the kitchen with a small pad and
+pencil, and looked into the refrigerator to see what they had already,
+to know what they would need to buy. There proved to be several things
+which would be used for luncheon, and then they asked Bridget what she
+wanted them to get. She said she was out of flour and granulated sugar,
+and would want raisins and coffee and tea, beside a vegetable for dinner
+and some lettuce and meat. They planned the meals together, and decided
+on having a dessert of apple-tart, made with apples and cream, and these
+were added to the list Margaret wrote down so nothing would be
+forgotten; then they set out.
+
+They stopped at the grocery first, and Margaret was told to order a
+seven-pound bag of sugar. While the clerk was getting it the aunt
+explained that this was a better way to buy it than to get it loose, as
+then it would be sent home in a paper bag, which might break and spill
+it; then, too, the nice cotton bag in which it would come home would be
+just the thing to strain jelly through. The flour was also ordered in a
+bag, this time a large one.
+
+"Some things we buy in small quantities because there is danger of
+waste in the kitchen if there is an unlimited supply at hand. But flour
+is needed every day, and never wasted, so we buy a good deal of that at
+a time. If we had a very large family we would buy a whole barrel at
+once, and so save a little money; as it is, the big bag does very well
+for us. Now for coffee; tell the clerk to give you his very best Java
+and Mocha mixed, in a tin can. We will take it browned, but not ground."
+
+"I thought Bridget always browned the coffee," said Margaret, who
+remembered the delicious smell which often had filled the house when the
+coffee came from the oven.
+
+"So she did," her aunt explained, "until we found she would sometimes
+burn just a few grains each time, which made the whole taste burned. Now
+we buy it in a can, only a pound or two at a time, and of a man who has
+just had it browned for him. We keep the tin closely shut always so the
+odor cannot escape, and grind each morning only as much as we need, and
+have this heated very hot just before the water is added, and that
+gives it the same fresh odor you remember. It is the easiest way to
+manage, though, of course, freshly roasted coffee is the best of all.
+But remember always to get a good quality in buying, for poor coffee is
+not fit to drink. Order the tea, when the clerk is ready, and get that
+also in a package, because it is cleaner and fresher that way. You can
+pay anything you like for tea, from thirty cents a pound to about two
+dollars, but your mother gets a black tea without a bit of green mixed
+in it for from sixty to eighty cents, and buys it in half-pound
+packages. What is next on the list?"
+
+"Raisins," said Margaret.
+
+"Well, order those in a paper box, the kind which come already seeded,
+and when you get them home, take them out of the box and shut them up in
+a glass jar with a tight top, to keep them fresh. The vegetables come
+now, but before we buy those you must put down in this little book what
+we have bought already, with the price of each article opposite. I
+could wait till we got home, but I am afraid you may forget the cost of
+things, because you are not used to them."
+
+She handed Margaret a cunning little book and a tiny pencil, and showed
+her how to find the right month and day printed at the top of the page,
+and to put down under a column headed "Groceries," just what they had
+bought so far and what each thing cost. After this they crossed the shop
+to the place where the vegetables and fruit were piled, and looked these
+over.
+
+The apples were of all kinds, sweet and sour, big and little, red and
+green. Margaret said she would take the biggest red ones for the
+apple-tart.
+
+"No, those are not cooking apples, they are meant for the table," her
+aunt told her. "And do not take the yellow ones, because they are sweet
+and only good for baking. Take a nice green apple, not too large,
+because the smaller ones do just as well and cost less. Let us get half
+a peck of those greenings. We want oranges for breakfast, too, though
+Bridget forgot to say so. Can you pick those out, do you think?"
+
+There were a good many boxes of these, some with rough skins, some with
+smooth, some with little bunches at the end. These last, her aunt
+explained to the little girl, were seedless and rather too dry for
+breakfast, though very nice for dinner. "The rough-skinned ones are
+light, as you will see if you lift one, so they would have little juice.
+Choose a heavy one of medium size and a rather smooth skin; but do not
+get those which are a very light yellow, for they may be sour."
+
+The vegetables had to be looked over carefully. Spinach proved withered,
+so they passed it by; the cauliflower had tiny black spots on it; the
+green string beans would not snap as they should when they were bent;
+but they found a large egg plant, with a fresh, smooth skin, which they
+took. The lettuce was all dark green, with thick strong leaves, and the
+aunt said it would never do; lettuce must be in heads, like cabbage,
+and pale green. Instead they chose some chicory with a white centre,
+which seemed crisp and newly gathered. All these things were written
+down in Margaret's account-book under "Fruits" and "Vegetables."
+
+A nice dairy was not far from the grocery, and there they ordered a
+little bottle of cream and put this down in the book before they went on
+to the meat market. As they entered this shop her aunt said the lesson
+here was so long it would take years to learn it, and they would only
+take the a, b, c, of it in one day.
+
+"Buying good meat means learning day after day," she explained.
+"However, there are some things you can learn this morning, and one is
+to be sure you buy in a clean place. Look around the floor and see
+whether the sawdust is fresh; notice the odor of the place and whether
+it is disagreeable or not; look at the counter, too, and be sure it is
+white and freshly wiped off; and above all, see whether the meat is kept
+in the ice-box at the back of the shop, not hung up on nails, or left
+lying carelessly about. Don't buy any meat which has been hanging or
+lying around; insist that it comes from the box."
+
+"But I can't think of the kinds of meat there are if I don't see them,"
+Margaret said, anxiously.
+
+"You will learn," the aunt smiled. "I am sure you will never be willing
+to eat meat which you are not certain is clean. Then look well at what
+the butcher brings out to show you. Beef ought to be firm, clear red and
+white, and not streaked with little lines; mutton must not be too fat;
+veal not too young--you can tell when it is because then it will be very
+small. Bacon must not be too lean nor too salt, and cut as thin as a
+wafer. Fish must be fresh, with nice, clear eyes. Chickens too often are
+buried in a barrel of chopped ice for weeks, and come out blue and
+clammy; such are not fit to eat. Suppose we buy a pair of roasting
+chickens this morning, and then you will see how they ought to look."
+
+The butcher brought out a pair which were yellow and dry, showing they
+had not been covered with ice. The aunt bent down the breastbone to see
+if they were tender, and showed the little girl that if it had been too
+stiff to bend she would have known by that that they would not do. She
+also looked inside to see if there was a good deal of fat, for this,
+too, was a sign of age. She said they had few pin-feathers, were firm
+and plump, and the feet were clean, so she was quite sure they would be
+good, and told the butcher to send them home, and not to forget the
+giblets.
+
+"Chicken liver gravy!" Margaret exclaimed at this. "I like your lessons,
+auntie!"
+
+After they reached home and their things were put away the account-book
+was brought out again, and a lesson given in that. Margaret had to
+listen carefully, for it seemed rather difficult at first.
+
+"It is best to know always how much you are going to spend on your table
+every week," her aunt began. "At first you may spend too much or too
+little, but by looking over your book you can tell in a moment where the
+trouble lies, and the next week you can make it right. Some things cost
+a great deal, such as turkeys, or strawberries too early in the season,
+or certain fancy groceries, and by seeing just where your money has gone
+you can remember the next time not to get these. Look at the different
+columns in your book. One says Groceries, the next, Vegetables; then
+Fruits; Milk and Cream; Butter and Eggs; Meat; Fish; Wages; Incidentals.
+You can put down under these exactly what you spend each day, and when
+the month is over you can put down in another book what each has
+amounted to. Let me show you:
+
+"Suppose when you add up your columns in your day-book you find at the
+end of the month you have spent twelve dollars for groceries, fifteen
+for meat, four for vegetables, three for fruit, and so on. You simply
+open your second book at the right month and put down what the whole
+has been; the next month you do the same thing under the new date, and
+so on. At the end of the year you do not have to go over all the little
+sums spent each day, but by looking in the right book under each month
+you can see exactly what all the meat cost and all the vegetables, and
+so on. If your October bill for meat was larger than it ought to have
+been and more than it was in September or November, you can look back
+and see just why, if you care to. Under Incidentals you put all your
+car-fares spent in shopping for the house, and such things as
+dust-cloths, or new kitchen tins. When the last of December comes you
+can see all you spent during the whole year by adding what each month
+came to, and know exactly how much it costs you to live, and you can
+plan to spend more or less next year, as you think best. That is not
+hard to understand, is it?"
+
+"No," said Margaret, "not to understand, but you see I am afraid I will
+forget to put things down, and then I will not know after all what I
+spent."
+
+"But you must put them down at once," her aunt said. "Either taking a
+pencil with you to market, or writing them down as soon as you come
+home. You will soon learn, and you will like the plan more and more. It
+is so nice to know exactly where the money went, day by day."
+
+"Sometimes the grocer has a little book to put things down, too," said
+the little girl. "If he has a book why do I have to have one?"
+
+"Because he may make a mistake, for one thing," her aunt replied, "and
+because if you have him put things down and do not do it too, you spend
+more than you think, and grow extravagant. You can pay each day, if you
+prefer, or once a week, or once a month; some people like one way, and
+some another about this, but you should always keep your own accounts,
+anyway, and know what you have had and how much, and what it cost; and
+at the end of each month you must copy off the result of adding your
+columns, and see what the expenses of the month have come to, and so at
+the end of the year. That's the way a good housekeeper does!"
+
+"Well," said Margaret, "then I will do that way, too, even if it is some
+trouble."
+
+"That's right," said her aunt. "If you do, I'll give you the loveliest
+set of account-books and the prettiest silver pencil I can buy when
+Christmas comes."
+
+"Oh, I truly, truly will!" Margaret exclaimed. "I'll put down every
+single penny."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DAY'S WORK
+
+
+It happened that just as Margaret was finishing her Saturday morning
+lessons Bridget had to go away for a few days, and the last lesson of
+all, which was given by her mother, was really a sort of review of what
+she had learned, such as she had in her school lessons.
+
+It was hardly more than six o'clock in the morning when the little girl
+woke and jumped out of bed. She dressed softly so that she should not
+wake any one, and took her bed to pieces and set her closet door open,
+as she had learned in her Bedroom lesson. She threw up the windows and
+hung up her night-dress, and then left the room, closing the door behind
+her.
+
+Her mother met her in the hall, and they went down-stairs together,
+tying on their clean gingham aprons as they went. The house was all shut
+up of course, so they opened the front doors, raised the shades in the
+parlors, and opened the windows a little to change the air. In the
+kitchen the fire was burning, shut up as they had left it the night
+before, and they first closed it to shake it down, and then opened the
+drafts and put on fresh coal, as Margaret had learned when she studied
+about the range. While the fire was burning up she pinned a little shawl
+about her head and swept off the front steps and sidewalk, and came in
+all glowing from the cold air.
+
+By this time the fire was hot and bright, and the cereal was put on to
+cook in the double boiler, the kettle filled with fresh water and put on
+to boil for coffee. Her mother said she would stay out in the kitchen
+and make muffins for breakfast while the other rooms were put in order,
+so Margaret went into the parlors and sitting-room and straightened the
+chairs, put away books and papers, and dusting a little here and there,
+leaving the regular dusting until later in the day. The windows were now
+shut, and the rooms looked very tidy, so she went to the dining-room to
+prepare that for breakfast.
+
+She brushed up the crumbs, aired the room, and put it in order. She
+arranged the doilies on the table, one under each plate, with a round of
+felt under that, laid the silver, put on her mother's tray with the cups
+and saucers, set the tumblers and napkins around, and the plates with
+the finger-bowls and fruit-knives, and the bread and butter plates with
+the spreaders. She filled the salts freshly, and last of all put on a
+vase of flowers. Then she took the cereal dishes, platter, and plates
+out to heat in the oven.
+
+She found her mother was getting ready the eggs and other things for
+breakfast, and she need not help, so she carried into the dining-room
+the butter balls and put them around; filled the finger-bowls and
+tumblers with cold water and the coffee-cups with hot; arranged the
+fruit on the sideboard, and put cream into the pitcher on the tray as
+well as in another pitcher for the cereal. By the time breakfast was
+ready she had on her white apron and had washed her hands, and when the
+family came down she was ready to show them all what a well-trained
+waitress she was.
+
+"Do sit down with us," her father begged. "You have done so much
+already!" But Margaret felt a little proud that she knew her waiting
+lesson so well, and said she would rather not. She really enjoyed moving
+very quietly around the table, bringing in and taking out things,
+passing everything to the left, and laying down plates at the right, and
+generally remembering just what she had been taught.
+
+After all had finished she ate her own breakfast, and found she had been
+up so long and worked so much that it tasted twice as good as usual.
+When she had finished she put on her gingham apron again and cleared the
+table. She took up the crumbs carefully and used the carpet-sweeper all
+over the rug. She scraped and piled the dishes in nice, neat piles, and,
+drawing the hot water, she washed and wiped them all nicely, and put
+them away. She swept the kitchen, wiped off the tables, shut up the
+range and washed out the dish-towels exactly as her grandmother had
+taught in the lesson she gave on the kitchen. Then she went up-stairs.
+
+Her grandmother, mother, and aunts had been afraid she would get too
+tired with such a long day's work as she had planned to do, and they had
+made their own beds, but they left Margaret's room for her for fear she
+would be disappointed. She closed the windows first, and while the room
+warmed she made the bathroom neat, washed and wiped out the tub and
+scrubbed off the wash-stand.
+
+Her room was put in beautiful order, to her closet and shoe-bag, and she
+even stopped to put a clean cover on the bureau and dust nicely, to show
+she had not forgotten a single thing. The halls and parlors had to be
+thoroughly dusted now, but as none of them needed sweeping it did not
+take very long, and there was still time to go to market. She got out
+her jacket and hat, took her pencil, account-book, and kitchen pad, and
+went out to see what was in the refrigerator. Here she had to stop, for
+Bridget had gone away in such a hurry she had quite forgotten to wash
+this out and arrange it properly, so on went the gingham apron again,
+and out came all the things from the box. She gave it a good scrubbing
+with warm water and borax, and put in a fresh dish of charcoal before
+she put back the ice and dishes of food. Then she got her pad again, and
+with her mother's help, planned the meals and wrote down what she must
+buy.
+
+The walk to the grocery and meat market was pleasant, and Margaret quite
+enjoyed ordering the vegetables, chops, fruit, and fish, which were
+needed, and watched to see if she was getting fresh things and good
+measure, and wrote down the prices as though she had been an old
+housekeeper instead of a new one.
+
+When she got back again she found there was an hour until lunch, and she
+at once wiped off the shelves in the pantry and put fresh papers on them
+and arranged the tins in a more orderly way than she found them. By the
+time she had finished her Pretty Aunt came out to help get luncheon, and
+together they laid the table and got the meal. She put on her
+waiting-apron again, when it was ready, but this time she sat down with
+the family because her mother said she must surely be tired.
+
+Her grandmother insisted on helping with the dishes, and watched with
+pride when afterwards Margaret poured boiling water down the sink after
+laying a bit of washing-soda over the drain, and scrubbed off all her
+tables until they shone, and blacked her range until it was like a
+mirror. "You surely are going to make a wonderful housekeeper!" she
+said.
+
+Margaret laughed as she took off her apron. "But I just _love_ to do
+things, grandmother," she replied, as she went up-stairs.
+
+Bridget always found that she had an hour or two to rest in the
+afternoon after her work was done, and so did the little girl, but after
+she had taken a walk and read in a new book for a time, she suddenly
+remembered that the silver needed cleaning, and she might surprise the
+family at dinner with it all polished. She got it out and rubbed it
+well, delighted to see how quickly it grew bright. As she finished her
+mother came into the kitchen with her Other Aunt, and said they meant to
+help get the dinner.
+
+The mother looked around her. "Everything is very nice," she said. "The
+sink is clean, and so is the pantry, and so are all the dishes. The
+range is bright; the dish-towels are washed; the dining-room is in
+order. I noticed as I came through the other rooms that the bedrooms,
+bathroom, and parlors have all been looked after to-day, too. Margaret,
+I do believe you are as good a housekeeper as I am already."
+
+"Well," said the little girl, thoughtfully, "I didn't sweep any to-day,
+nor wash any windows; I didn't shine the faucets in the bathroom,
+either, because I forgot them till this minute. I didn't have time to
+oil the floors in the hall this morning-- I only brushed it up; and I
+haven't looked at the cellar or the attic at all."
+
+Her mother laughed. "But nobody does the whole house from top to bottom
+every single day," she said. "We sweep twice a week, only, and we wash
+windows when they need washing, not all the time. The attic and cellar
+are to be kept in order, but not put in order daily, you know. The
+really good housekeeper does a little putting to rights all the time,
+and every day she takes a certain part of the house and makes it clean,
+but she never tries to do more in one day than belongs to that one. To
+know how to keep a house nice is quite as necessary as to know how to
+make it so. The most important thing of all is knowing what you have
+learned to-day--to quietly go through the work, taking one thing after
+another, each in its turn, and to do all well, without hurry or worry.
+To be able to do this is to make housework pleasant."
+
+"Well," said Margaret, earnestly, "I like to keep house. When I am a
+woman I mean to have the nicest, cleanest house in all the world!"
+
+"Suppose you help me keep this one nice till then!" said her mother.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a
+Little Girl, by Caroline French Benton
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl, by 
+Caroline French Benton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl
+       Margaret's Saturday Mornings
+
+Author: Caroline French Benton
+
+Release Date: January 9, 2010 [EBook #30897]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
+scanned images of public domain material from the Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
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+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL</h1>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Or, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS</span></h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>The Ideal Series for Girls</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>A little Cook Book for a Little Girl</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By Caroline French Benton</span></h4>
+
+<p class="center">Cloth decorative, small 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class="center">75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents</p>
+
+<p>The simple, vivacious style makes this little manual as delightful
+reading as a story-book.</p>
+
+<h3>A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; <span class="smcap">or Margaret's Saturday
+Mornings</span></h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By Caroline French Benton</span></h4>
+
+<p class="center">Cloth decorative, small 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class="center">75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents</p>
+
+<p>A little girl, home from school on Saturday mornings, finds out how to
+make helpful use of her spare time.</p>
+
+<h3>A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By Amy L. Waterman</span></h4>
+
+<p class="center">Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class="center">75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents</p>
+
+<p>This is a book of special appeal, as it explains in simple fashion the
+processes of making delicious fudges, fondants, nut dainties and the
+like.</p>
+
+<h3>A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By Louise Frances Cornell</span></h4>
+
+<p class="center">Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class="center">75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents</p>
+
+<p>A splendid volume to encourage little girls in the study of the useful
+and beautiful art of the needle.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h4>THE PAGE COMPANY</h4>
+
+<h4>53 <span class="smcap">Beacon St., Boston, Mass.</span></h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1>A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL</h1>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Or, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS</span><br /><br /></h2>
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+
+<h2>Caroline French Benton</h2>
+
+<h3>AUTHOR OF</h3>
+
+<h3>"A LITTLE COOK BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL"<br /><br /><br /></h3>
+
+<h4>Boston</h4>
+
+<h4>THE PAGE COMPANY</h4>
+
+<h4>Publishers<br /><br /><br /></h4>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1906</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By The Page Company</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PUBLISHERS' NOTE</h2>
+
+<p>This little book was originally published under the title</p>
+
+<h3><i>Saturday Mornings</i>,</h3>
+
+<p>but there has been some criticism of that title because it is not
+sufficiently descriptive of the contents of the book. The Publishers,
+consequently, have thought it wise in the present edition to change the
+title to</p>
+
+<h3><i>A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl</i></h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Or</span></h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Margaret's Saturday Mornings</span>.</h4>
+
+<p>This change has the advantage also of making the title uniform with the
+other titles in the series&mdash;</p>
+
+<h3><i>A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl</i>,</h3>
+
+<h3><i>A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl, etc.</i></h3>
+
+<p>Thanks are due the editor of <i>Good Housekeeping</i> for permission to
+reproduce the greater part of this book from the serial in that
+magazine.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Margaret's Christmas Tree</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Kitchen Fire</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Dining-room Table</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Washing Dishes</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Care of the Bedrooms</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Sweeping and Dusting</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">The Bathroom; Brasses, Grates, Oilcloths, and Vestibule</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Housecleaning; Cellar and Attic</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Laundry Work</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">The Linen Closet; Pantries; Polishing Silver; the Care of the Refrigerator; Cleaning the Lamps</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Marketing and Keeping Accounts</span></b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">The Day's Work</span></b></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE</h3>
+
+<p>About Christmas time Margaret was accustomed to see things tucked out of
+sight whenever she came around, and her feelings were never hurt when
+her Pretty Aunt, or her Other Aunt, or her mother, or her grandmother
+said: "Don't you want to run down-stairs a little while, dear!" or,
+"Margaret, would you mind staying out of the sitting-room all this
+morning?" But this Christmas everybody said these things twice as often
+as usual, and Margaret wondered about it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," she said one day, "if you were a little girl and every one
+said 'Run away, now,' over and over, twice as many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> times as other
+Christmases, what would you think?"</p>
+
+<p>Her mother laughed. "Well," she said, "I suppose I should think I was
+going to have twice as many presents as usual."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret drew a long breath. "Would you?" she asked, thoughtfully. "Two
+pairs of skates, and two sets of furs, and two boxes of handkerchiefs,
+and two pink kimonos, and six books; that would be twice as many
+presents as last year. But what does one little girl want with twos? Now
+if I was twins&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Pretty Aunt laughed. "Let me explain it to her," she said.
+"Margaret, how would you like two Christmas trees, one for everybody,
+just as usual, with your presents on it, and one little tree, all for
+yourself, with more presents? Would you like that for a change?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she thought she would, but it seemed very queer. Two
+trees, and only one little girl! Now if she really had been twins&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Twins, indeed!" said the Other Aunt.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Just wait till you see, and perhaps you will be glad there's only one
+of you!" And everybody laughed again except Margaret, who thought it all
+very queer indeed.</p>
+
+<p>When Christmas morning came she jumped up in a hurry and waked every one
+up calling out, "Merry Christmas!" and then she danced with impatience
+because it took them so long to get ready. But at last the doors of the
+parlor were thrown open and she rushed in. There stood the great,
+beautiful tree, hung with tinsel and bright balls, and twinkling with
+beautiful lights, and on its branches were bundles and bundles, tied
+with red ribbons and holly, and on the floor were more bundles, and she
+forgot about the little tree she had meant to look for. But by and by,
+when she had opened all her presents, and made a pile of them on the
+piano, and thanked everybody for them, she whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, was there to be a little tree, all for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," said her mother,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> smiling, "we nearly forgot, didn't
+we? Suppose you look behind the library door?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret ran and looked, and, sure enough, there was the tree, but such
+a queer one! It was small, and had no candles and no ornaments. The
+corner was dark and she could not see very well, but it seemed to be
+hung with things that looked like dust-pans and whisk-brooms. She stood
+looking at it, wondering if it was all a joke.</p>
+
+<p>Just then her father saw her and came to pull the tree out where she
+could see it, and, sure enough, there was a dust-pan tied on with a red
+tape, and a whisk-broom with another red tape, and a little sweeping-cap
+with a red bow, some gingham aprons and white aprons, and brown towels
+and red-and-white towels, and dust-cloths, all with red M's in their
+corners; and put at the top was a little book tied on the tree with a
+big red bow. Her mother took this down and handed it to her, and every
+one stood and looked on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> and smiled because she was so surprised. When
+Margaret looked at the cover of the book she knew what was inside in a
+minute, because, painted on the cover was a little girl who looked just
+like her with a big apron on, and a sweeping-cap, holding a broom in one
+hand and a dust-pan in the other, and above, in bright red letters, were
+the words, Saturday Mornings.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's for me!" she cried, delighted. "It's like my own cook-book,
+only it tells how to clean house instead of cook. I love to clean house!
+I love to make beds! I love to wash dishes! I just <i>love</i> to sweep! May
+I wear that beautiful cap, and are all those dish-towels for me, and is
+that my very own dust-pan?" Then she ran to the tree and got everything
+down. First she put on all the aprons, one on top of another, with the
+ruffled waiting-on-table apron on top of the rest, and she put the cap
+on her head, and hung all the dish-towels over one arm and all the
+dusters over the other, and gathered up the brooms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> and dust-pan in her
+arms and sat down in a corner with her book.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the best of all," she said, soberly. "My other presents are
+lovely, too, my books and my gold heart pin, and my white rocking-chair
+for my own room, and the mittens grandmother knit for me with the lace
+stitches down the back, but I like my little book best, and all the
+things on my own little tree most. This is the nicest Christmas I ever,
+ever had! The name of my book is Saturday Mornings, because other days I
+have to go to school, but Saturdays I can sweep and dust and wash
+dishes. What fun it will be! I don't know which chapter sounds best."
+She hugged the little dust-pan and shook out the dish-towels. "Oh, I
+just can't wait to begin," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KITCHEN FIRE</h3>
+
+<p>Although Margaret had become pretty well acquainted with the kitchen
+during the year she was learning to cook she had never quite understood
+how to manage the kitchen range or the fire, because Bridget always
+attended to that part for her. But at the very first lesson in the
+Saturday Morning Class her mother, who was to be the teacher that day,
+said the subject would be "Ranges and Fires," because it was the
+beginning of all housekeeping.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret put on her biggest, longest-sleeved gingham apron, got a hearth
+brush, a dust-pan, the little dish which held the stove blacking, brush
+and polisher, rolled up her sleeves and prepared to listen.</p>
+
+<p>"The reason why so many women find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> cooking hard work," her mother
+began, "is because they do not understand their range or stove. They
+cannot make a fire grow hot quickly, or make it cooler if it is too hot;
+they do not know how to get what the cook-books call a 'moderate oven.'
+'We never could understand about drafts and things,' they say, but the
+real truth of the matter is that they are too lazy to try and learn, I'm
+afraid, because it is so very simple that even a little girl can learn
+about it in ten minutes. The only way to be a good housekeeper is to
+understand all about a fire and how to keep a kitchen range in a good
+temper."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret laughed at this, but her mother said stoves were just like
+people, and sometimes would refuse to do as they were told, and were
+cross and sulky; but they could be as pleasant and smiling and obliging
+as a good little girl. Then she took off the covers and explained all
+about the inside of the range. "You see," she began, "the fire is in a
+sort of box lined with heavy brick. Now, if the coals come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> up to the
+very top of this, or lie on its edges, they will crack the brick as they
+get heated, and so spoil it, and fire-brick is very expensive and
+troublesome to replace. You can heat the sides and bottom very hot, and
+it will not hurt it, but not the top edges. So, in putting on coal you
+must never let it quite fill the box, and after you set the scuttle down
+on the floor you must take the long poker and feel all around on top of
+the ovens and see if any bit has rolled there, and bring it back where
+it belongs. If it should roll down the sides you could not get it out,
+and it would spoil the draft and injure the stove. Now if you understand
+all this we will shake out the coal and make a new fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let me shake!" exclaimed Margaret, and before her mother could stop
+her she had put in the shaker and moved it about so quickly that the
+ashes came out of the open covers and drafts and filled the room, and
+both she and her mother were coughing and choking.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother stopped her. "That isn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> the way to shake a fire," she said.
+"The covers must all go on first, and everything be shut up tight." Then
+she showed her the two slides over the oven doors, and the others in
+front, and pushed them shut. The two in the stovepipe were opened, so
+the ashes could go up that way, and the covers were tightly put in their
+places. "Now," she said, "you may shake."</p>
+
+<p>So Margaret shook and shook until her arms were tired, but though the
+fine ashes all came out, there was a handful of large coals which would
+not go through the grate. These, her mother explained, were partly good,
+unburned coal, and partly poor, hard bits, called clinkers. Some people
+just turned them all out with the ashes and threw them away, but this
+was wasteful. They must be picked over and the good bits burned again.
+Margaret hunted up a big pair of old gloves of her father's, and with
+these on she picked out the good pieces of coal and laid them on one
+side, and then she tipped the grate by turning the stove handle quite
+around, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> the clinkers all fell into the ash-pan and the grate was
+left empty. A big newspaper was next spread on the floor and the ash-pan
+carefully drawn out over it and emptied into a scuttle kept ready for
+this, so it could be easily carried to the place where the ashes were
+kept, and emptied into the can there. She put the empty pan on the
+paper, and with her brush swept out all the cracks inside the stove, up
+and down, here and there, till no ashes were to be seen anywhere. Then
+the pan was put back. The ovens were opened next, and these, too, swept
+out with a clean whisk-broom, and away back in the corners they found
+several bits of toast and such things all dried to a crisp, which
+Bridget had not seen at all. When all the ashes were taken up and those
+on the newspaper cleared away, her mother said, "Now we are ready for
+the fire."</p>
+
+<p>"First we put a crumpled paper on the bottom; on this we lay crossed
+sticks of kindling, a good many, because this is to be a coal fire; if
+we were going to burn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> wood we would not need so many; we must shut the
+little slide in the front of the stove directly before the fire, and
+open the one at the bottom, so the smoke will go up. Look and see if the
+two drafts in the pipe are open; if not, the room will be full of smoke
+as soon as we start the kindling. The dampers into the ovens must be
+shut, too, so the fire will have nothing to distract its attention; if
+we left them open it would think it had not only to burn, but to get the
+ovens hot, too. Now if you are ready you can light the paper."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment Margaret heard the wood roaring well, then she took off a
+cover and sprinkled on one shovel of coal and closed the top again; as
+soon as she saw by peeping in that this was red, she put on another,
+scattering it evenly all around, and presently she added a third
+shovelful, and by this time the wood was well burned away and the coal
+was hot, so she knew the fire was made.</p>
+
+<p>The lesson then took up heating the ovens, which was still more
+important.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Her mother showed Margaret how to push in and out the
+dampers over the oven doors, and explained the shutter inside which they
+worked. "When we want the oven hot we pull the shutter open to let the
+heat go all around the oven. When we want to cool it we shut the
+shutter. The first thing to learn about a stove is this: find out
+whether the damper is pushed in or pulled out to heat the ovens; you can
+tell by taking off the top covers and watching, for you can see in that
+way how the shutter works. Some push in and others pull out, and each
+stove may be different. These push in when you want to get the oven hot.
+Now, if you want to cook on top of the stove, and want all the heat up
+there, of course you do not need the ovens heated, so you shut them
+away. When you are all done with the fire never let it burn uselessly,
+but close it up, and so keep it. The reason of the draft in the front of
+the stove at the bottom, is this: the air rushes in up through the coal
+and on into the chimney, and makes the fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> go hard. If you want to
+have it go slowly and not waste the coal, of course you must shut this
+tight. The other draft, directly in front of the fire, lets the cool air
+right in on the hot coals, and keeps them from burning up rapidly, so if
+you want a hot fire you must shut this, and when you want the fire to go
+down you must open it. Is that plain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Margaret, thoughtfully. "When I bake I make the ovens hot by
+pushing in the dampers, and opening the slide at the bottom and shutting
+it at the top. When I want to make something on top, I pull out the
+dampers to get the ovens cool, and I open the one at the bottom and shut
+the one at the top. When I'm all done I leave the oven dampers out, shut
+the bottom draft in front and open the top one. Then the fire gets cool.
+But what do I do to the chimney dampers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough," said her mother, "we almost forgot those. You see the
+queer handles on them&mdash;thin and straight; those are like the flat plates
+inside the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> pipe that turn just as they do. When you want the fire to
+burn hard you turn the handle along the pipe, and that turns the plate
+the same way, and the heat can get out and make a good draft. But if you
+are shutting up the fire you turn the handle across the pipe, and that
+makes the plate turn straight across, too, and stops the heat from
+getting out, and so the fire dies down."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," said Margaret, "that's easy to understand. But what do people
+do who don't have coal fires? Sometimes they have wood to burn."</p>
+
+<p>"But the dampers and drafts all work the same way," said her mother.
+"Wood is nice and clean to burn, and makes a quick, hot fire, but it has
+to be watched all the time or it will go out. Coal makes a steady heat,
+and so for most things it is better to use. Now look in and see how
+things are going."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret raised the covers and found a bed of bright red coals. Her
+mother told her to put on coal at once; if she waited the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> fire would
+grow still hotter,&mdash;what was called white hot,&mdash;and then it would be
+spoiled. Coal must always go on before this point, but not too much,
+which would be wasteful. A bright, low fire was always best.</p>
+
+<p>"Now leave the drafts all open just a moment," said her mother, "to let
+the coal gas burn away, and then you can shut the fire up and it will
+keep just right for hours. And one thing more&mdash;never let the coal come
+up near the covers of the stove, or the great heat will warp these and
+spoil them; they will always have cracks around their edges, and the
+heat will be wasted."</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget never lets her fire go out at night," said Margaret, as she
+shut the fire all up. "She likes to keep it a whole week and then let
+the stove get cold and make it all over again on Saturdays."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said her mother, "that is a very good way to do, for it does not
+use up the kindling, and it takes no more coal to keep the fire all
+night than to start a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> new one every morning. But if you ever notice how
+she manages you will see that she shakes out the ashes at night, puts on
+coal, and lets the gas burn off, just as we have done. Then she shuts up
+the oven drafts, and the one at the bottom, and opens the one in front
+of the fire as we did; in the morning she finds her fire exactly right;
+all she has to do is to make it a little brighter and hotter, so she
+shuts the draft in front of the coal and opens the one at the bottom, to
+get the air to rush up through the coal, and sets the drafts in the pipe
+open, too, so the hot air can get out; then when the fire burns up red
+she shakes out the ashes a little and puts on fresh coal, and it is
+ready for the day, and as hot as she wants it."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why she ever lets it go out at all," said Margaret. "Why
+does it burn worse on Fridays, and have to be built all over on
+Saturdays?"</p>
+
+<p>Her mother laughed. "Why, you see," she said, "the ashes will get into
+the corners and the clinkers into the grate in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> spite of all the care
+one can take, so once a week she takes everything out as we have done
+and makes a nice, clean, new fire. But now we are all done except
+blacking the stove. Generally that ought to be done when the fire is not
+hot, but we were talking and I did not have you do it then; next time we
+will manage better."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret wet the blacking a little, dipped in her brush, and scrubbed
+the stove well all over, especially in the corners. Then she polished it
+with the dry side of the brush till it shone like a mirror. The little
+knobs on the doors she rubbed with a bit of nickel polish she found in
+another box, and used a dry flannel cloth on them last. Her mother
+explained that it was necessary to keep a stove very bright and shining,
+or it would wear out, and, besides that, a bright one made the kitchen
+look tidy and attractive. "Some people just paint the whole stove over
+once or twice a year with a black enamel, and never polish it at all,
+and perhaps that is a good way for very busy people to do, but I like
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> old-fashioned way better myself. Shine it a little every day in the
+week, and once in every few days give it a good thorough blacking and
+polishing when the fire is out, and you will make the stove wear a long
+time and keep it in good working order as well. A clean range, one that
+is really clean and well cared for inside and out, is always
+good-natured and happy, and does the very best it knows how for you when
+you try and cook, but one that is full of ashes and clinkers, with a
+face all grimy and dusty and gray, gets sullen and cross, and will not
+try and please anybody. You must keep it good-natured. Just see how
+proud and happy it looks now."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret smiled admiringly at the shiny range and bright fire.
+"Sometimes Bridget puts things in her stove that make all the house
+smell," she said. "I am never going to put anything into mine but nice,
+clean wood and coal."</p>
+
+<p>"The reason Bridget puts them in," her mother replied, "is a good one. I
+often burn up small quantities of garbage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> myself, but I never have a
+bit of odor, for all I have to do is to open the drafts in the chimney
+and at the bottom, and shut those going into the ovens and the one in
+front of the fire, and then all the smell goes straight up the chimney.
+If you are careful you can often get rid of little things in the kitchen
+by burning them, but you should be sure and never let the odor get out
+into the room."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Bridget came into the kitchen and said it was time for her to
+get lunch.</p>
+
+<p>"See, Bridget," Margaret exclaimed, proudly, "we blacked the range and
+made it smile all over. It just loves to be clean and shiny!"</p>
+
+<p>"It does that," said Bridget. "I guess it'll bake sponge cakes for lunch
+to say it feels glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, goody!" said Margaret, as she ran to take off her big apron and
+wash her hands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DINING-ROOM TABLE</h3>
+
+<p>The second lesson in Margaret's book really took her a whole month to
+learn perfectly, because there were so many things to remember. One
+Saturday she studied about the breakfast-table, and during the next week
+she practised the lesson over every day; the next week she took the
+luncheon-table and laid that and waited on it, and the third and fourth
+weeks she learned all about the dinner-table, and that was hardest of
+all. But, as her mother said, if she learned in one single month to be a
+perfect waitress she was an unusually bright maid!</p>
+
+<h3>BREAKFAST</h3>
+
+<p>The first Saturday morning her Other Aunt woke her rather early, and
+told her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> after she was ready to put on a nice white apron and over it a
+fresh gingham apron to protect it, or, if she did not feel quite sure
+she could keep it fresh even so, to put on the gingham one and bring
+down the white one to put on when everything was ready.</p>
+
+<p>The dining-room was dark when they went into it, and smelled of the
+dinner the night before; they threw open the windows and let the wind
+sweep through while Margaret got the carpet-sweeper and took up the few
+crumbs which had not been found and taken away after the last meal. Then
+they closed the windows again, and dusted about where it was necessary,
+leaving the thorough dusting until later in the day.</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to have oranges for a first course at breakfast," said her
+aunt, coming in with some in her hands, "and we will put them on the
+table now. See how nice and cold they are because they have been in the
+refrigerator all night. Some people leave their fruit-dish standing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> on
+the sideboard all the time, and all the oranges and apples and bananas
+grow warm and stale, instead of being cold and crisp and refreshing. Put
+a white centrepiece in the middle of the table, and we will pile these
+in a flat dish on it instead of using the pot of ferns we sometimes
+have. It is always nice to have something pretty in the middle of the
+table."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret was standing before the drawer in the sideboard hesitating
+whether she should bring a table-cloth or not. Then she saw a large
+hemstitched square in a corner, and remembered that her mother had said
+she had just bought some new cloths for breakfast and luncheon, and that
+made it still harder to decide. What should they have on the
+breakfast-table? They usually had little squares of linen, one under
+each plate and larger ones under the platter and tray, but perhaps she
+was to learn some new way this morning. Her aunt came and looked over
+her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"For breakfast and luncheon we do not use a table-cloth," she said. "Few
+people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> do nowadays. Some use the doilies we have been using, and others
+use a small cloth with a fancy border, such as fringe, or a narrow
+pattern; the dinner-cloth, you know, is large and heavy, not suitable
+for a simple meal. But now we have some nice small cloths, which are
+less trouble to put on than the doilies. See, this is a square which
+lies on the table with a point hanging over each side, leaving the table
+corners bare. The plates go on it, but still it looks informal and
+pretty. Here is a pad just the right size to go under it. You must
+always put a pad or something of the kind under everything you use on
+the table; under the doilies, you know, we put squares of felt, and
+under the big dinner-cloth a large piece of double Canton flannel; if we
+did not, the varnish on the table-top would be spoiled in no time. Now
+let us get the silver."</p>
+
+<p>There were always six places laid at the table, so Margaret counted out
+the knives, forks and spoons, and brought them over from the drawer. At
+each place they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> put a knife on the right, the sharp edge of the blade
+toward the plate, and outside that a dessert-spoon for cereal and a
+teaspoon for coffee; on the left was a fork, and then a napkin. At the
+top of the place, directly in front, they put a tumbler at the right and
+a small plate for bread and butter at the left, with a little knife,
+called a spreader, on it. They then got out small fruit-plates, and on
+each they laid first, a small, clean doily, then a finger-bowl with a
+little water in it,&mdash;not very much, as it was not intended to swim in,
+the aunt said,&mdash;and on the edge of the plate a fruit-knife and an orange
+spoon. These plates were laid all around the table at the different
+places. At the top of the table where her father was to sit Margaret put
+a carving knife and fork, but took them away when she found there would
+be bacon for breakfast, and it would be passed around with a fork and
+spoon on the small platter; if there had happened to be beefsteak she
+would have left them on, as then they would have been needed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the other end of the table, where her mother was to sit, they put a
+tray covered with a fresh napkin, and arranged on it the sugar-bowl, the
+cream-pitcher, the tray-bowl, and a small pitcher for hot water. At the
+right near by, the cups and saucers were arranged, each cup standing in
+its own saucer, not piled up. As it was cold weather Margaret was told
+she must bring in hot water and half-fill them just before the meal was
+ready, so they would be hot and not chill the coffee; her mother would
+empty the water in the tray-bowl when she was ready to use them. Then
+they brought out of the china-closet the dishes which were to go into
+the kitchen to be heated: the dish for cereal, the small, deep plates to
+use with it, the plates and vegetable dish, and the round platter.</p>
+
+<p>"Never serve a hot cereal in a cold dish, or use cold dishes to put it
+in on the table," said the aunt. "And never, never ask anybody to eat
+hot bacon and potatoes, or anything else which has just come from the
+fire, on a cold plate. It is no trouble to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> warm everything, and it
+makes just the difference between a good meal and a poor one. A famous
+man once said that if he could have only one thing for his dinner he
+would choose a hot plate." Margaret laughed as she began to carry out
+the dishes.</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt stopped her. "You have a dinner platter," she said, "get the
+pretty round platter; always use that for luncheon and breakfast,
+because it looks more informal, and seems more appropriate. And we must
+stop a minute to put on the salts; we forgot them." They did not have
+shakers, because Margaret's mother thought small, low, open silver or
+glass bowls were prettier; these they filled freshly with salt and shook
+them evenly, and placed them near the centrepiece at the ends of the
+table. They only put on two because the table was small; sometimes,
+however, they used four or six, when guests were there.</p>
+
+<p>While the dishes were heating, and Bridget was getting breakfast ready,
+they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> filled the glasses and put the butter balls on the bread and
+butter plates; then, Margaret had her lesson in waiting on the table.</p>
+
+<p>"After we sit down," her aunt said, "pass the fruit, going to each
+person's left, so he can take it with the right hand and hold the dish
+low down. Then put the dish back in the middle of the table, and leave
+it there through the meal. If there are flowers or a plant on the table,
+serve the fruit from the sideboard, and put it back there when you have
+passed it. If you have berries or melons to serve, those may be ready on
+the sideboard before breakfast, and a plate with a finger-bowl on it can
+stand at each place. The berries may be passed, and each person can lift
+off the finger-bowl and doily at the same time and set it near the plate
+and serve himself to the berries. Melons are usually set on the table
+before breakfast on each plate, the finger-bowl standing near by, but if
+you want to have it more elegantly arranged than this, put the melons on
+small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> plates, and after the finger-bowl is removed, lay this plate down
+on top of the one standing already on the table. Just now it is
+considered very nice to nearly always have a plate in front of one. I
+will tell you more about that when we come to serving dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"You can have the hot plates brought into the room when the cereal comes
+in with its hot dishes, and you can lift off a fruit-plate, standing on
+each person's right, and lay down a hot plate with the small cereal dish
+already on it, and when all are around you can pass the cereal, and then
+the sugar and cream."</p>
+
+<p>"But," objected Margaret, "I can't carry a tray and take off a plate and
+put down a plate all at once, because I don't have three hands, only
+just two!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not," smiled her aunt. "But you don't use a tray in
+changing plates. You slip off the soiled one with the left hand and lay
+down the clean one with the right, holding this clean one over the
+other. It really saves time in the end to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> manage in this way, as you
+will see. After the cereal, if those small plates have been so
+good-sized as to well cover the hot plates underneath them and so
+protect them from cream, all you have to do is to take these off,
+leaving the larger plates, using your tray this time and standing always
+on the right; put the first dish on the tray and take the next in your
+hand and carry them to the sideboard and leave them there and then take
+the next two, and so on; never pile your plates. Then pass the bacon
+around, going to the left, as with the fruit, and then the potato and
+muffins. Bring the cups on the tray, as your mother fills them, and set
+them down carefully at each person's right; do not offer a cup to any
+one, because coffee is so easily spilled in taking it off and on a tray
+and handing it about.</p>
+
+<p>"Few people would ever have fruit, cereal, hot things, and then cakes,
+too; but some day you may have fruit, bacon or meat, and then cakes, so
+you had better learn how to manage with them. Just have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> ready small,
+hot plates, and bring one at a time and exchange it with the meat plate
+as you did before; you must put on two forks instead of one at the left
+of each plate when you lay the table, if you are to have a second hot
+course.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not take off the crumbs at breakfast because it is such an
+informal meal, but you must watch and see if any tumbler needs
+refilling, or if anybody needs a second butter ball, and supply it
+without being asked. The meat platter, the dish of potatoes, and the
+muffins or toast should also be offered twice to every one. Your mother,
+however, will ask if any one wants a second cup of coffee, and then you
+bring her the cup, and after she has rinsed it out by pouring in hot
+water from her little pitcher, she will fill it and you can carry it
+back and set it down again. Now that is all, I think, and you can wash
+your hands and take off your gingham apron and ask Bridget if you may
+call down the family; that is, if you may say to your mother, very
+quietly and politely, 'Breakfast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> is served!'" Margaret laughed, and
+smoothed down her nice crisp white apron proudly as she left the room.</p>
+
+<h3>LUNCHEON</h3>
+
+<p>Laying the luncheon-table proved to be exactly like laying the
+breakfast-table, and, as her aunt said, if they were laying a
+supper-table that would have also been done in the same way; so really
+all Margaret had to learn was how to lay two tables, one for breakfast,
+luncheon or supper, and one for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>However, her aunt thought they would use doilies instead of the
+lunch-cloth for a change, so Margaret would not think her lesson did not
+amount to much, and she got these out at lunch time and put one down for
+each person with its square of felt underneath it. In the middle she put
+a large doily which matched the others, and added one or two smaller
+ones, one for bread, one for a dish of olives, and so on, arranging them
+evenly on the table. She put a dish of ferns on for a centrepiece<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> and a
+tray for tea for her mother at the end.</p>
+
+<p>"If," said her aunt, "you wish a formal luncheon you lay a pretty
+plate&mdash;a cold one&mdash;in front of each place, and exchange this for a hot
+one when you pass the main dish. But when you are just laying a family
+table you can put a hot plate down and merely pass the food as usual.
+You need not put the dishes of food on the table&mdash;just bring them from
+the sideboard. But remember at every meal never to let the food get
+cold. The vegetables you can keep in covered dishes, of course, but
+after you have passed everything so you can leave the room, carry the
+meat out and put it in the oven until you want to pass it a second time.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are to have salad, have this ready on the sideboard before
+lunch, with its plates, and, if you are to have them, the crackers and
+cheese also. You can take off the soiled plates after the meat course,
+and lay down clean ones just as before, standing at each person's right,
+taking off the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> soiled plate with the left hand and laying down the
+clean one with the right, holding it above the other. Then pass the
+salad, on the tray to each one's left, and next the salad dressing or
+crackers or olives, or whatever goes with it. After the salad, crumb the
+table, both at luncheon and supper, but if you use doilies do not take
+the regular crumb-knife and tray, but carry a folded napkin in your
+right hand and gently sweep off the crumbs into the tray; a knife might
+scratch the table, and would certainly sound disagreeable against the
+wood.</p>
+
+<p>"The dessert, which may be fruit, should be ready before the meal on the
+sideboard, with the plates and finger-bowls. When the last course before
+it is taken off and the crumbs removed, there are no plates on the table
+at all; it is the one time when it is cleared. So all you have to do is
+to lay down the plates and finger-bowls with the fruit-knives and spoons
+and pass the fruit. If you have cake, or preserves, or dessert of any
+kind instead of fruit, you do just the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> same way; lay down the plates
+and pass the things."</p>
+
+<p>"But what do I do with the tray and teacups?" Margaret asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Take them off when you do the last plates before the table is crumbed,"
+said her aunt. "Take off the bread and butter plates, too. A good way to
+do this is to take the large plate on the tray and carry the small one
+in the hand. Of course the large bread plate is removed, too, and any
+dish of jelly or olives which is done with. But dishes of salted nuts or
+candies are left on, to keep the table looking pretty. Now I really
+think that is all. Do you think you can serve luncheon as well as you
+did breakfast?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she thought she ought to do twice as well, because it was
+really the same thing over again.</p>
+
+<h3>DINNER</h3>
+
+<p>If the lesson on dinner had come first Margaret would have thought it
+pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> hard, but after the other two she had just had, it seemed easy
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>This time she put on the large pad and the long, heavy dinner-cloth; her
+aunt had to stand at the opposite end of the table and help her with
+these, and she warned her to always be very careful not to crease the
+cloth, because a mussed cloth was worse than none at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful always to have table linen spotless," she said. "If anything
+gets on the cloth at dinner, as soon as the meal is over put a cup under
+the place and pour a tiny stream of hot water through and then rub the
+place gently with a clean, dry cloth and smooth it out with your hand;
+leave the cloth on the table till morning, and usually it will be smooth
+and dry; if not, take a flat-iron then and quickly and lightly iron the
+place; then fold the cloth and lay it away. Most people cannot have a
+new cloth on every night, but no one need ever have on a cloth that is
+not clean; a good housekeeper never does, so of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> course you never will."
+Margaret said she certainly never would.</p>
+
+<p>"One reason why we use doilies or a lunch-cloth for breakfast and
+luncheon and supper is because if these get soiled it is easy to wash
+them out at once; it makes housework simpler in the end to have them
+instead of using table-cloths three times a day, which are large and
+very troublesome to wash. People who once learn to use them never go
+back to the old-fashioned way of doing. Now get a pretty centrepiece and
+put that on in the middle, and bring the bunch of roses from the parlor;
+we will have them to-night instead of the fern-dish, because we want an
+especially nice table for you."</p>
+
+<p>After the flowers were on, the silver was laid, almost as at breakfast.
+A knife at the right, blade to the plate; a dessert-spoon beyond, for
+soup; two forks at the left; the bread and butter plate at the top, at
+the left, and the tumbler also at the top, to the right. If they were
+having a company dinner, Margaret was told, the bread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> and butter plate
+would not be used, for then a dinner roll would be laid in the napkin
+and no butter served at all. The napkin, as before, went to the left,
+beyond the forks, and a large, cold plate was laid down between the
+silver. The salts were freshly filled and put on, and a glass dish for
+jelly at one end of the table. In front of her father's place they laid
+a carving cloth, and on it a large knife and fork, putting the tips on a
+little rest.</p>
+
+<p>Next they took the soup-plates, the dinner-plates, the large platter and
+two vegetable dishes out into the kitchen to be made hot; they also
+carried out the bread-plate, the salad-bowl, and the pudding-dish, as
+well as the after-dinner coffee-cups and saucers. Then they arranged the
+plates for salad on the sideboard, and the dessert-plates, putting a
+dessert-spoon and fork for each person on these. While the dinner was
+getting ready came the lesson in waiting, as before.</p>
+
+<p>"You see we have laid down cold plates," the aunt said. "Some people
+lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> down hot ones, as we did at luncheon, but the soup is so likely to
+soil them that it is really hardly safe. Besides, dinner is a more
+formal meal than the others, so we must be more particular. When Bridget
+brings in the tureen she will stand it on the sideboard with the hot
+soup-plates, and you are to dip a spoonful of soup carefully in each
+plate and carry it on your tray to each person's right and set it
+down,&mdash;do not offer it on the left. When all are served, carry out the
+tureen. If we had no waitress of course your mother would serve the soup
+from the table, but this is the way we do when we are nicely waited on.</p>
+
+<p>"When it is time to carry off the soup-plates, take your tray and go to
+each person's right and lift the plate, putting the first one on the
+tray and taking the next in your hand. Put them on the sideboard, and
+carry them out later, very quietly, but do not stop now. Leave the cold
+plate on the table still. Then bring in the hot plates and put them in a
+pile in front of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the carver, slipping out his cold plate first. Bring
+in the vegetables and put them on the sideboard; last of all bring in
+the meat and set it before the carver; do not leave the room after the
+meat is on the table, for it will get cold.</p>
+
+<p>"As each plate is filled, take it to the first person served&mdash;your
+mother, if you are a family party, and either your mother or a woman
+guest first, if you have company; some people always have the mother
+served first even if guests are present, and others prefer the other
+way; but always serve the ladies first, whether guests are there or not.
+Slip out the cold plate and lay down the hot one at the right, as you
+have before, and put the cold plates neatly in a pile on the sideboard.
+Pass the vegetables next, offering them at the left, and then the bread
+in the same way. While this course is eaten, carry out the soup-plates,
+if they are still on the sideboard, and fill the glasses.</p>
+
+<p>"When all have finished take off the roast first and carry it out; then
+take off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the soiled plates and lay down the salad-plates at the right,
+as you have done each time, and pass the salad to the left. Take off
+these when they are used, with the bread and butter plates, bread and
+jelly, and crumb the table, using the knife and tray. Then lay down
+before each one a dessert-plate with either a fork or a dessert-spoon on
+it, or both, if the dish to come needs them; nowadays this is done even
+where the dessert is served at one end of the table. If you can, pass
+the pudding, or whatever the sweet is, so that each one can serve
+himself, offering it at the left, of course. If it is very soft, or is
+something difficult for one to manage in this way, then have the dish
+put at one end of the table before your mother. She will put a portion
+on the plate before her, removing the spoon as she does so and laying it
+at one side, and you can set the plate down before the one you serve
+first, exchanging the two plates; this person will also remove his spoon
+and lay it down as the plate is slipped away. Stand on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> right to do
+this; then take the second plate for your mother to fill, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good plan to have one extra plate ready, and when you take the
+first plate lay this down before your mother, and when you come back
+with the second one this will be filled waiting, and you can exchange
+the two, and so save time. There will be one over at the end, of course,
+and this you can lay on the sideboard.</p>
+
+<p>"When you have company, the coffee is served in the drawing-room, and
+you must bring it in on a tray. But when you are alone, and wish to have
+it on the table, take off the pudding-dish, when all have finished, and
+then all the plates, and bring in the coffee-cups filled on the tray,
+and set one down before each, from his right. If you use finger-bowls
+after dinner, lay these down, too, a little above each place.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a long lesson, and a difficult one for a little girl, and you
+must not be discouraged if it takes you quite a while to learn it well.
+Keep on trying, and soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> you will be a perfect waitress. Just remember
+these things, anyway, and everybody will forgive you if you forget some
+others:</p>
+
+<p>"Be sure your hands are clean, your hair very tidy, and your apron white
+and starched. Wear silent shoes, and do not clatter the dishes; do not
+speak to any one, unless you do not understand what to do next, then
+quietly whisper to your mother. Do not offer anybody a cup of tea or
+coffee, or a plate of soup, or even a plate with food on it; set these
+all down at the right. Offer platters, vegetable dishes, bread, and such
+things always at the left. Change all plates at the right. While a
+course is being eaten, softly carry out any soiled dishes from the
+sideboard and fill the glasses. Watch to see what is needed, and offer
+it. Do not offer any one what is already on his plate; that is, if you
+are passing a dish all around and see that he has some of it left, skip
+him and go on to the next. Now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> I hear Bridget coming in with the
+soup-tureen; run and put on your very best apron and announce dinner as
+though you were the finest waitress in the land!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>WASHING DISHES</h3>
+
+<p>It was Margaret's grandmother who gave her the lesson on dish-washing.
+She said it was the part of housekeeping she really liked the best of
+all and did most easily, so everybody said, "Oh, well, if you really
+<i>like</i> it, perhaps you had better be the one to show Margaret how to do
+it properly!" and then they all laughed.</p>
+
+<p>The gingham apron with sleeves was the one Margaret put on after
+breakfast. It buttoned around her wrists snugly, but on unfastening the
+buttons the sleeves could be rolled up and pinned out of the way, so
+they would keep clean. After she was ready the grandmother showed her
+how to stand all the dining-room chairs back against the wall and take
+up the crumbs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> under the table, pushing this to one side and then the
+other, so that the rug would really be clean when they were done.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she said, "run into the kitchen and see that the table there is
+quite empty, so there will be plenty of room for the dishes we are going
+to bring out; bring back with you the large tray, and get out the
+scraping-knife."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret found that Bridget had left some pans and dishes on the table
+after she had cooked the breakfast, and these she piled neatly at one
+end, out of the way. The scraping-knife was a long one with a thin blade
+which bent easily; a palette knife, such as artists use in cleaning
+their paints up, her grandmother explained.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems funny to use an artist's knife to scrape dishes with," said
+Margaret, when she came back. "I should think we would just scrape the
+plates with the silver knives on them. That's the way Bridget does."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is bad for the knives," her grandmother said. "Besides, a stiff
+knife<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> cannot get the grease off, and this thin one can. You will see
+presently how beautifully it works. Now we must carry out the food."</p>
+
+<p>The dishes of meat, potatoes, bread, and other things were taken to the
+kitchen table and emptied; the bread was put back into its box; the bits
+of meat and vegetable were put on small dishes and put in the
+refrigerator; the butter on the small plates was scraped together into a
+little bowl and set aside to cook with. Then they were ready to get the
+dishes together on the dining-room table. They carefully emptied the
+tumblers and coffee-cups into the tray-bowl, so they would not be
+spilled in carrying them out. They piled the silver carefully on a dish,
+and carried out the plates and other things on the table. When it was
+quite cleared, Margaret took up the crumbs and laid the cloth and pad in
+the sideboard drawer. A centrepiece was put on the bare table with the
+fern-dish on it, and the two armchairs were pushed back in their places,
+one at each end. "There,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> said the grandmother, "when you have dusted
+the room will be right to leave until luncheon. Once or twice a week, of
+course, it has to be thoroughly swept and put to rights, but this is the
+way we do every day."</p>
+
+<p>In the kitchen they scraped the plates very carefully, putting all the
+scraps into a bowl to empty into the garbage pail. They piled them
+nicely, putting all the same kind of plates into one pile, not mixing
+two sizes or sorts. The cups were put together, and the saucers piled
+also. The tray was set ready on one end of the table, and Margaret got
+out her new, clean dish-towels, soft ones for glass and silver, and
+firmer ones for the rest of the things. Then she put out the two
+dish-pans, and turned on the water. It ran very hot from the first, so
+it was all right, but Margaret was told she must always try it before
+she sat down to a meal, and if it was only warm she must put on a
+kettleful to heat, so it would be ready when needed, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> it was
+impossible to wash dishes well in any sort of water but the very
+hottest.</p>
+
+<p>They only filled one dish-pan to begin with, and after it was half-full
+Margaret put in the soap-shaker and stirred it around till the water was
+foamy. She hung it up again, and began to put in the tumblers.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be careful that those are not icy," her grandmother cautioned.
+"Even after they have been emptied they must stand till they are fairly
+warm, or they will crack as soon as they touch the hot water. But you
+must be most careful of all about cut glass; that really needs a special
+lesson. If you have a piece there, set it to one side, and when the rest
+of the glass is done and the silver, we will take that." There was a
+fruit-dish which had been used for breakfast, so it was put on a corner
+of the table where it could not be knocked off, to wait its turn.</p>
+
+<p>The tumblers and finger-bowls were put into the hot soapy water at once
+and turned about in it till they were clean. Then they were wiped while
+they were still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> a little soapy, without rinsing them, because in that
+way they were polished like diamonds. After they were lifted out and put
+on the tray the silver went into the pan and was well scrubbed with the
+mop, and then rinsed with very hot water, which proved to be too much
+for Margaret's hands; when she tried to lift out the forks and spoons
+she could hardly touch them.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" she exclaimed. "It burns me. I must put in some cold water."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed!" said her grandmother, "that would spoil everything. Just
+slip a large spoon under all the silver, and lift it out at once. There
+is a saying that no water is hot enough to wash silver in unless it is
+too hot to put your hands in. Just see how fast the heat in it dries it
+as it lies on the tray! And see how it polishes, too, as I wipe it! If
+it were cold it might be greasy, and certainly it would not look half as
+well when it was done. Now before we take the china I will tell you
+about washing cut glass. You can put some fresh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> water in the dish-pan,
+but make it only as warm as your hand."</p>
+
+<p>While she was getting it ready the grandmother got a soft brush and a
+cake of nice white soap, and, after trying the water to see that it was
+not too warm or too cold, she mixed the soap in thoroughly. The
+beautiful glass bowl was lifted carefully into the pan and scrubbed with
+the little brush till every crack was cleaned and it was brilliant with
+the suds. Margaret was not allowed to lift it out on the tray for fear
+she should let it slip, but she watched how her grandmother handled it.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had done as some careless maids do," her grandmother began, as she
+wiped, "I might have put this bowl right into the very hot water the
+tumblers can bear, and cracked it at once. Cut glass cannot bear either
+hot or cold water. I once had a beautiful bowl broken in two because it
+was held directly under the faucet in the sink while the hot water ran
+into it, and another dish was broken by having a piece of ice put in it
+on the table. Iced lemonade often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> breaks lovely and costly pitchers.
+You must always wash each piece by itself in lukewarm water, and never
+put it in the pan with other things. Make a suds with good white soap,
+scrub the cracks well with a soft brush which will not scratch, and wipe
+dry without rinsing, and you will have beautiful, brilliant glass, and
+your care will make it last a lifetime. I will set this away in the
+dining-room while you draw some hotter water with soap in it for the
+china. Put in the cleanest things first, and only a few at a time, so
+they will not be chipped."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do I take the cleanest china first?" Margaret inquired, as she put
+in the fruit-plates. "Why don't I take them as they happen to come on
+the table!"</p>
+
+<p>"Some plates are greasy and some are not, and the greasy ones would
+spoil your dish-water," her grandmother explained. "Now rinse those, and
+while I wipe them, wash the rest and then change your water."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When Margaret lifted out the plates, she turned them up edgewise and let
+the water run back into the rinsing-pan, so that they were already
+half-dry when she laid them on the tray. But her grandmother got a fresh
+towel for them, because the first one had become damp, and the dishes
+would not dry easily with it.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret decided that the easiest way to empty the dish-pan before
+putting in more hot water would be to tip it up, so she took it by the
+handles and turned the water directly into the sink. Her grandmother
+stopped her.</p>
+
+<p>"Use the sink-basket," she said. "See, the wire one in the corner. Pour
+the water through that, and then if any bits of food are in it they will
+stop there and not get into the drain; it's a great convenience, and one
+we never had when I was a little girl. So with the dish-mop; that goes
+into hot water where the hands do not like to go, and into cups and
+dishes where it would be much more trouble to take a cloth, as we used
+to do. Nowadays we do not use<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> dish-cloths very often, because doctors
+tell us that they are not as cleanly as they might be, and may bring us
+typhoid fever and other things. A mop can be scalded in very hot water
+after it has been well washed in soap suds, and then shaken out
+perfectly clean to dry quickly, so that it is better to use. On the iron
+and tin things we use a wire dish-washer, which is also very clean,
+indeed, and these make us feel safe."</p>
+
+<p>When the glass, silver, and china was done, Margaret took them on her
+tray and carried them into the dining-room and put them all away. When
+she came back, she looked at the pile of pots and pans on the table, and
+groaned. "Now," she said, "comes the worst of all!"</p>
+
+<p>"These are no trouble," laughed her grandmother, "though there are a
+great many more of them than there ought to be. If Bridget only washed,
+wiped, and put away every dish as soon as she had finished using it,
+there might not be one to wash now. As it is, scald out the dish-mop,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+and put it away, and get the wire dish-washer, and a little household
+ammonia and sapolio, and some more very hot water in the dish-pan, and
+we will do these in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Then she showed Margaret how to wash out her rinsing-pan well, and wipe
+it dry before hanging it on its nail. The other pan was half-filled with
+very hot water, and a teaspoonful of ammonia put in. "The cleanest
+dishes first," Margaret was told, so in went the baking-tins, after they
+were well scraped, and the wire-washer soon scrubbed them clean, and
+grandmother dried them with a strong towel, and put them on a corner of
+the stove for a moment to get rid of any dampness before they were put
+away. The scorched marks on the white enamelled saucepans had to be
+rubbed well with sapolio, and a nice dish-cloth was found hanging up
+over the sink for the purpose. The coffee-pot had a special bath all
+alone, and was scrubbed out carefully inside as well as out, and every
+single ground was picked out of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> spout and corners, and it was wiped
+and dried very carefully, because otherwise it would never make good
+coffee.</p>
+
+<p>The frying-pan had to have a little ammonia to cut the grease, and as
+the outside seemed to be rough, as though it needed attention, too, this
+was well scrubbed with the wire washer till it was just as nice as the
+inside. After it was wiped, it, too, was dried off on the stove, lest
+any dampness might rust it.</p>
+
+<p>This finished the dishes, and Margaret washed out the dish-pan and
+scalded it, and then wiped and hung it up, as she had the rinsing-pan.
+The sink was swept up with a little wire broom, and the bits gathered on
+a small iron shovel. These they put first into the wire sink-basket, and
+then turned out into the bowl of garbage; they scalded the shovel and
+broom, and the basket&mdash;turned upside down in the sink&mdash;till they were
+all clean. A bit of washing-soda was laid over the drain-pipe, and a
+quantity of very hot water was poured into the sink to flush it. The
+soda<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> melted away, and as it went down the pipe it took all the grease
+with it which the water had left on the sides and in the corners of the
+pipe.</p>
+
+<p>A special cloth was always kept hanging up over the sink for the tables.
+This Margaret wrung out, and used in wiping off all the dish-water which
+lay there; she also wiped up the wood of the sink. Then the kitchen
+broom was brought out and the floor nicely swept, especially under the
+tables and in the corners. The damp dish-towels were scalded and hung
+out in the sunshine; the chairs were set straight, the window-sills
+wiped off and some flat-irons put away which had been left on the stove.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said the grandmother, as they stood looking at the tidy
+kitchen, "that's all there is to do, and I call it pleasant work. I like
+to make things clean and sweet, and I never could see why so many women
+hate to wash dishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, grandmother," said Margaret, "I think it's just fun!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS</h3>
+
+<p>When it was the turn of the Pretty Aunt to give her lesson in
+housekeeping, she said she should begin at daybreak, so Margaret was not
+surprised to hear her knock at the door early in the morning, almost
+before she was dressed.</p>
+
+<p>She helped the little girl take the clothes off the bed, one at a time,
+and put them on two chairs near the windows, being careful not to let
+the blankets get on the floor. She beat the pillows well, and turned the
+mattress up over the foot of the bed so the air could get underneath it.
+The white spread she kept by itself, and had Margaret help fold it up in
+its creases. "Nothing wrinkles more easily," she told Margaret, "and a
+wrinkled spread spoils the look of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> neatness a bed ought to have when it
+is made. If you have a heavy Marseilles spread, do not sleep under it;
+fold it at night and put it away, and use only the blankets, because it
+is not good for any one to sleep under such a weight. Now hang up your
+night-dress, and put away your slippers and bath-wrapper. I am delighted
+to see that you have no dress or petticoats lying around this morning
+from last night. Too many girls do not hang them up at once when they
+take them off, but leave them over a chair, and put them away in the
+morning, perhaps creased with lying. It is much better to put them away
+as you take them off. Open your windows, next, top and bottom, and set
+the closet door open, too, and then we will go to breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do I open the closet door?" asked Margaret, laughing at the idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Because your closet needs airing just as much as your room does; more,
+indeed, because its door has been shut all night, while the fresh air
+has been blowing into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> the room through the open windows. If you did not
+air it every day, it would soon have a close, shut-up odor, and perhaps
+your dresses would have it, too, which would certainly not be nice at
+all. It has to have fresh air to keep it sweet. Now we will shut the
+door of your room as we go, for the cold wind would chill the halls, and
+besides, the sight of a disordered bedroom is not attractive."</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast Margaret went up-stairs and shut the windows of her
+room, and a little later, when it was warm, she and her aunt put on
+fresh white aprons and went in and began to put it to rights.</p>
+
+<p>One stood on each side of the bed and turned the mattress from head to
+foot; the next day, Margaret was told, it must be turned from side to
+side as well as over, to keep it always in good shape. If this was not
+done constantly there would soon be a hollow place in the middle, which
+would never come out, and the mattress would be spoiled. They laid over
+it the nice white pad which kept it looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> always new and clean, and
+then the lower sheet, the wide hem at the top and the narrow one at the
+bottom, the seams toward the mattress, and tucked it smoothly in at the
+sides.</p>
+
+<p>"Some people are careless about these little things," said the aunt as
+they worked. "They think it does not matter if there is a hollow in the
+mattress, or whether they have a cover for it or not. They mix the top
+and bottom sheets, and never know which is which; but you are going to
+do things the right way, which is always the easiest in the end."</p>
+
+<p>They laid the upper sheet on with the wide hem at the top, as before,
+but with the seam up instead of down. Margaret wondered at this, but was
+told that this way made the two smooth sides of the sheets come next to
+the one who slept between them, and at the same time made the upper
+sheet turn over at the top with the seam underneath.</p>
+
+<p>When the blankets went on, the Pretty Aunt said she was thankful to
+notice that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> Margaret's mother always cut hers in two.</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" asked the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," was the reply, "double blankets are difficult to handle. They
+are really one long blanket folded together, and one-half sometimes
+slips and gets wrinkled, and is hard to get into place. Then,
+half-blankets are more easily aired than whole ones, and more easily
+washed, also. And if one is too warm in the night, and wishes to throw
+off half of the clothes, it can be done without pulling the bed to
+pieces. It is simple enough to cut a pair in two and bind the edges with
+ribbon so the colors will match, and it well pays for the small
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I sometimes wish I had a nice, fat comfortable instead of two
+blankets," said Margaret. "I know a girl who has such a hot one, all
+made of cotton and cheesecloth."</p>
+
+<p>"They are not nearly as healthful as blankets, my dear, nor so easily
+kept clean. People who own them would hate to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> to tell how seldom
+they are washed, because they are so heavy to handle that it is put off
+month after month, and season after season. A pretty little silkolene
+coverlet to lay on the foot of the bed, such as you have, or a small
+eiderdown puff, is very nice, but blankets are the things to sleep
+under. Now let us put the white spread on."</p>
+
+<p>"But, auntie," objected Margaret, "you haven't tucked anything in! Just
+see, not the sides nor the bottom! I don't like to have my feet out all
+night; I like to be tucked in all nice and warm. Shan't we tuck in
+everything as we go along? That's the way Bridget does when she makes my
+bed."</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt laughed. "Just wait!" she said. Then she put on the white
+spread, and smoothed it nicely all over, and told Margaret to stand
+opposite to her at the side of the bed near the foot, and do as she did.</p>
+
+<p>First she turned the spread back, just as though it was at the top
+instead of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the bottom; then she turned back one blanket; then the
+other; then the upper sheet, and next the lower one, leaving the
+mattress and pad showing. They raised the mattress, and putting their
+hands under all the folded back clothes at once, they put them under the
+end of it smoothly, pushing them well back; then they tucked in the
+sides. "There," said the aunt, nodding her pretty head at her little
+niece, "I'd like to see you pull those clothes out at night, as you do
+when Bridget makes your bed! If you tuck things in one by one sometimes
+they will come out, but if you tuck them in as we have done they are
+sure to stay. Now for the top."</p>
+
+<p>She turned over the spread, blankets, and sheet, and laid them flat on
+the spread, and then turned them under themselves, making a smooth,
+rather narrow fold, close up to the place the pillows were going to
+stand.</p>
+
+<p>"If the sheet was mussed I would not do this," she explained. "Then I
+would just lay all the clothes back under the pillows;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> but when the
+sheet is fresh it looks nice this way. Beat up the pillows, smooth them
+out, and stand them up evenly. Remember, if you have a white spread with
+a fringe on it and a muslin valance around the bed, the spread is not
+tucked in at all, but after the bed is finished and tucked in all
+around, it is laid on and left hanging over sides and foot.</p>
+
+<p>"If, instead of a spread, you have a figured cover, or one made of lace
+or muslin, you do not use any spread, but put that on over the blankets
+during the day and take it off at night. A roll covered with the same
+stuff is used with such a bed cover, and at night this, too, is put away
+and the pillows brought out from the cupboard and put on when the bed is
+opened. The bed in the guest-room is like that; you know it has a pretty
+cover and a roll. But whatever you have, it is always nice to have the
+bed opened for one at night, the clothes folded smoothly back, the
+spread laid away and the pillows put down flat, so all one has to do is
+to slip in."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know," Margaret replied. "It makes you feel sleepy to see a bed like
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us take the wash-stand," her aunt went on, after she had passed
+her hands all over the bed as though she were ironing it, leaving it as
+smooth as a nice white table. "Get the cloths from the bathroom, a clean
+white one, you know, and a clean colored one; and the soap."</p>
+
+<p>She showed Margaret how to wash everything out neatly, beginning with
+the tooth-brush mug and soap-dish, and she was told to look carefully
+and see if they were both clean in the bottom, "because probably they
+are not," she said. The wash-bowl was washed with soap, especially where
+there was a greasy streak around it, and the pitcher was filled, and
+wiped where the water dripped down the front. The dark cloth was used on
+the rest of the china; it was better to have two cloths of different
+colors, her aunt explained, to avoid mixing them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After the stand was finished, and the top wiped off with the white
+cloth, the cloths were both washed out in the bathroom and put away,
+with the soap. The towels were folded in the creases they had been
+ironed in, and pulled into shape and rehung; the wash-cloth was wrung
+dry and shaken out before it was hung up on the rack. The cake of soap
+had been washed off in the bowl when that was washed, and it was now put
+back in the clean dish. "Whatever you forget, Margaret, never forget to
+wash off the soap!" her aunt warned her.</p>
+
+<p>There seemed a good deal to do to make the room nice even after the bed
+and wash-stand were done, for the closet was opened and everything taken
+out and put on chairs around the room, and then put back. The dresses
+had to be hung up by the loops on the skirt, and the waists which
+matched hung each on the same hook with its own skirt by the loops at
+the sleeves. The petticoats had to go by themselves in a separate part
+of the closet, and the shoes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> were all put in pairs in the bag on the
+door, instead of being left on the floor in piles. Margaret did not like
+to do these things, but she had to admit that she could dress faster in
+the morning when she knew just where everything was, and when she could
+find mates to her shoes in just half a second, instead of having to take
+a minute or more to hunt them in the corners of the closet on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Arranging the bureau was still worse than making the closet tidy. All
+the drawers were emptied out, and everything sorted in heaps and put
+away. Some pretty boxes without covers were brought from her aunt's
+bureau and put in Margaret's upper drawer, one for gloves, one for
+handkerchiefs, one for ribbons, so that everything should be where it
+belonged, yet as soon as the drawer was opened one could see where
+everything was. Underclothes were made into neat piles, and arranged in
+the drawers below, one sort of thing in one pile and another in another,
+and the stockings laid in a nice row, mates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> together, folded and tucked
+in, ready to go on.</p>
+
+<p>The top of the bureau had many pretty silver ornaments, but they were
+dull and shabby, and Margaret had to get the silver polish and a bit of
+chamois and make them shine before they could go on the fresh
+bureau-cover the aunt put on, and she was given a bit of velvety stuff
+to tuck in a corner of a drawer, ready to use every day or two, so they
+would not grow dull again.</p>
+
+<p>When all else was done they brushed up the floor, dusted everything
+thoroughly, straightened the pictures on the wall and the window-shades,
+and set the chairs where they would look best. Then Margaret sat down to
+rest, and her aunt finished the lesson in this way:</p>
+
+<p>"A lady," she began, "no matter whether she is grown up or not, always
+keeps her bedroom in beautiful order, fresh and dainty, especially the
+places which do not show, like bureau drawers! Her closet has plenty of
+hooks, and her gowns are kept together, each on one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> Her hats are in
+their boxes on the shelves, her shoes in their bag. Her bureau is
+orderly, the silver clean and shining. Her hair-brush is washed at least
+once a week, to keep it white and fresh, and the comb is never allowed
+to have bits of hair in it, but is as clean as the brush. Her wash-stand
+is always perfectly clean and tidy, and nothing is ever left about in
+the room. Most important of all, the air of her room is always fresh and
+sweet, because the window is left open at night and often opened during
+the day for a time. Now this has been a good long lesson to-day&mdash;it's
+almost noon; but if you have learned it, you have not wasted a minute of
+even this nice bright Saturday. There's a prize offered by this teacher
+for perfect lessons. Keep your room in order for a month, and see what
+you'll find on your bureau then!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what?" cried Margaret, running after her Pretty Aunt as she went
+out into the hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wait and see!" was all she would say, but Margaret decided to keep the
+room beautifully tidy for the prize, just the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>SWEEPING AND DUSTING</h3>
+
+<p>Margaret could hardly wait for the time for her sweeping lesson, because
+she wanted so much to wear her sweeping-cap. When she heard her mother
+say one Saturday morning that the lesson that day would be on the care
+of the parlors and hall, she asked to be excused from the
+breakfast-table, and ran up and put on her long-sleeved apron and the
+pretty little cap with the red bow in front, and came down proud and
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>The halls and stairs were of hardwood, so Margaret selected from the
+broom-closet the long-handled floor-brush, the large dust-pan and the
+small one, a flat wicker beater for the rugs, the bottle of floor oil,
+and the flannel cloth which was with it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> a certain small dish kept
+especially for the oil, and some of her new dust-cloths. She tried to
+remember all the things her mother had told her to get, but, after all,
+she forgot the broom, and had to go back twice for it, the second time
+because she brought the wrong one. The very best broom, used only on the
+freshest carpets, had a red tape tied around the handle, so it would not
+get mixed with the one used in the dining-room, or the rest of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Bridget helped carry out the rugs and put them over the clothes-line,
+and Margaret gently struck them with the wicker beater till all the dust
+was out. She knew she would injure them if she pounded as hard as she
+wanted to, so she was very careful to hit them softly, but to do it so
+often that they were clean when she was done. She laid them on the back
+porch, and brushed them with the whisk-broom afterward until they were
+like new; then they were folded and left in a corner of the dining-room,
+ready to go down when the halls were done.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her mother told her to go to the very top of the house and shut the
+doors of the rooms all the way down that no dust could get in. Then they
+moved the table and chair and umbrella jar out of the hall, and carried
+the coats and hats to the closet, and shut them up. The upper hall was
+very dark with all the doors closed which usually lighted it, so the gas
+was lit, that the corners might be easily seen. Beginning at the top of
+the house Margaret swept down the halls and stairs all the way, using
+her long-handled brush and taking a little whisk-broom, which was also
+soft for the corners and the stairs, putting the dust into the pan as
+she went along, especially on the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother wanted her to let Bridget wipe off the wood with oil, but
+Margaret begged to be allowed to do at least one floor and the lower
+stairs, so she would know just how to do it in her very own house, when
+she had one! She put on a large, strong pair of gloves, put a little oil
+in the dish from the bottle, dipped in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> her flannel cloth, and was going
+to begin when her mother stopped her. "Wring out the cloth," she said;
+"you are not going to wash the floor, only to wipe it." Then she went
+away until this part of the work was done, so she might not step on the
+wood while it was wet, and perhaps spoil the whole floor.</p>
+
+<p>The work was not very pleasant, perhaps, and the oil did not smell very
+nice, but it was interesting to do something new, and Margaret did not
+mind it at all. She wiped up one floor and one flight of stairs, and
+then wiped also the baseboard around the floor and the balustrades of
+the stairs, and when she was done it all looked so fresh and nice she
+wished she had done all the halls. However, she put away the oil and
+cloth and floor-brush, and, setting the front door open to let the air
+come in and dry the wood and carry away the odor of the oil, she dusted
+the rest of the halls with her ordinary dust-cloth, wiping the tops of
+the pictures well, and the hall table and chair, which Bridget<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> helped
+her put back. They brought in the step-ladder, too, so that Margaret
+could get to the chandelier and the top of the doors, and wipe these off
+thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p>The vestibule had been swept and dusted early in the morning, and there
+was nothing to do outside, but the glass in the front door looked dingy,
+and Margaret wiped it off with a clean, damp cloth and polished it with
+the chamois duster and shook out the lace which hung over it, and dusted
+the edges of the glass and the wood of the door. Then she ran and got
+the rugs and spread them down, and called her mother to come and see how
+beautiful the halls looked.</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful! I should think so, indeed!" her mother exclaimed. "I could
+not have done the work better myself. What made you think of the glass
+in the door? I forgot to tell you about that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Margaret, "I pretended I was a new maid, and that you were
+showing me all about the work, and first I said to myself, 'Next, Mary
+Jane, the front door,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and then I was Mary Jane, and did the front
+door, you see!"</p>
+
+<p>Her mother smiled. "Well, certainly, Mary Jane does her work
+thoroughly," she said. "I am sure I shall keep her. Now if you are not
+tired we will do the parlors."</p>
+
+<p>These two rooms took all the rest of the Saturday morning lesson. The
+window-curtains and porti&egrave;res were pinned up and put into bags, long,
+loose ones, which kept them off the floor and out of the dust, but did
+not muss them. They dusted the piano and large sofa and covered them
+with strong sheets. They wiped off the book-shelves, and tucked
+newspapers in and out until all the books were entirely covered and
+protected. They brushed off the cushions of the chairs with a
+whisk-broom as they had the sofa, and wiped their woodwork, and then
+carried them into the dining-room; the sofa-pillows were shaken and
+beaten and put there also. All the ornaments on the tables and mantels,
+and the lamps, were wiped and put on the dining-room table.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When the rooms were as empty as possible they shut the doors and
+sprinkled bran on the carpets just as though they were sewing garden
+seeds, which Margaret thought was great fun.</p>
+
+<p>"Some people use tea-leaves on their carpets," her mother explained,
+"and as they are damp they do take up the dust nicely; but they will
+stain delicate colors so, I think it is safer to use bran, which also
+takes up dust but never hurts any carpet. Now I will show you how to
+sweep."</p>
+
+<p>Beginning at one side of the room near the wall, she made long, even
+strokes with the broom, not bearing on too hard, and sweeping toward the
+centre all the time. "Don't give little jerky dabs at the carpet," she
+cautioned, "for that is bad for it, and don't sweep from one side to the
+other, but always toward the middle. But we forgot to open the window."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret pushed up the one nearest to her and instantly in rushed the
+wind, scattering bran and dust all over the floor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> Her mother hurried
+to shut it. "You must find out from which way the wind comes before you
+open the window," she said. "That one did more harm than good. Try the
+other one."</p>
+
+<p>When this was open they could not feel any breeze at all, and it seemed
+as though it was not worth opening, but the mother said it was exactly
+right, for it made a draught, and carried all the dust gently outdoors.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Margaret took the broom and finished the floor, and when
+the dust lay in a little pile in the middle, her mother held the pan for
+her and she swept it all up, except a little which refused to come on;
+this they brushed up with the whisk-broom; they also brushed out all the
+corners of the room with the whisk and pan, because the broom was so
+large that it would not go in easily, and a little bit of dust had been
+left in each one. The carpets looked nice and fresh when they had
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>"Once in awhile," the mother said, "it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> is a good plan to have Bridget
+wipe off the carpets quickly with warm water in which a little ammonia
+has been put. She squeezes out a cloth almost dry and works quickly, not
+to wet the carpet too much, and the ammonia brings out the colors and
+makes the whole look like new. Some housekeepers like to put a couple of
+tablespoonfuls of turpentine in the water instead of the ammonia, and
+this is just as good for the carpet, and if there is any fear of moths
+being in it, it is even better. Every two or three months a carpet ought
+to be wiped off in one way or the other to keep it nice. Now while we
+wait for the dust to settle we will make the marble mantel clean. You
+can get a basin of water, the sapolio, a flannel cloth, and a white
+cotton one."</p>
+
+<p>They wet the cake of soap a little and rubbed the flannel on it and
+scrubbed the mantel thoroughly, and then the hearth, rinsing them off
+and wiping them dry afterward. They also wiped off the fireplace, using
+a dry cloth here, too, for fear of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> rust, and then took a damp one to
+wipe off the baseboard. If there had been a wood floor, that would have
+had to be treated just as the halls had been&mdash;brushed up with the soft
+brush, and wiped off with floor oil. And, her mother explained, if the
+halls had been carpeted Margaret would have had to sweep them with the
+broom and use the whisk in the corners and on all the stairs, one at a
+time, carefully.</p>
+
+<p>By this time there seemed to be no dust left in the air, so they wiped
+the pictures off with a clean duster, especially on the top where
+Bridget's duster sometimes failed to go. The sheets were taken off the
+sofa and piano next, and they were lightly dusted again, "just to make
+sure," Margaret said.</p>
+
+<p>The piano keys proved to be very sticky, and in some spots there were
+dark marks, as though a little girl had practised with unwashed
+fingers,&mdash;though, of course, no little girl would really do such a
+thing, the mother said. So Margaret got a little bottle of alcohol and a
+flannel cloth and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> sponged off each key. If she had used water on the
+ivory it would have made it yellow, but the alcohol did not injure it at
+all.</p>
+
+<p>The chairs were brought in after this, and the other things they had
+carried out, and all arranged again. Some of the bric-&agrave;-brac was not
+clean in spite of its dusting, and this had to be carefully washed in
+warm water and wiped dry before it was put in place. "Anything but
+soiled ornaments," her mother told the little girl. The curtains and
+porti&egrave;res were taken out of their bags and smoothed, and the bags and
+sheets folded and put away till the next sweeping day. The parlors
+looked beautifully fresh and orderly, but something seemed missing.
+"Why, the palm!" Margaret said at length. "Bridget took it out this
+morning for its bath and did not bring it back."</p>
+
+<p>They found there had been no time for the bath yet, so Margaret and her
+mother said they would attend to it. They wet the earth well, and while
+the water drained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> off into a large pan they washed the leaves, using a
+soft cloth dipped in a basin which held a cup of water and a cup of
+milk.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know plants liked milk," said Margaret, as she helped sponge
+the large leaves all over, the back as well as the front sides.</p>
+
+<p>"Palms love it," her mother replied, "and it pays to use it on them, for
+it keeps them green and glossy; you will see how pretty this looks when
+we have finished it."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, when they were done the palm looked as though the leaves
+had just opened, and they agreed that it should have a drink of milk and
+water every week. Then they put it back in its pot in the window of the
+parlor, and the room was all done.</p>
+
+<p>The last thing of all was the lesson the mother repeated for Margaret to
+remember for all kinds of sweeping and dusting. It was like this:</p>
+
+<p>"First get rid of all the ornaments and furniture in a room; in a
+bedroom you can put the things from the bureau and mantel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> on the bed,
+provided you dust them all well first. The chairs can go into the hall,
+and over the bureau, table, sofa, and bed, you must put sheets and
+towels, or even newspapers; never sweep till everything is well covered,
+or you will have to do double work when you come to dust. Pin up the
+curtains, and put bran on the carpet, and get somebody to help you push
+the heavy furniture about so you can sweep under it; there are some
+people who do not move these things for months, because it is too much
+trouble, but nice housekeepers always move them every single time they
+sweep. Use the whisk-broom in all the corners; wipe off the baseboards;
+dust the pictures thoroughly, and shake out the curtains, and when the
+room is rearranged, dust all the little things and your rooms will
+always look as though they had been housecleaned."</p>
+
+<p>"My windows really and truly need washing," said Margaret. "When I sweep
+my room next week I shall wash them all myself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then you had better learn how now," her mother said. "That will be a
+good ending for the lesson. To wash windows you need a basin of warm
+water, a little ammonia, and two clean cloths. Wring out your first
+cloth in the ammonia-water until it is nearly dry, and rub the glass
+over and over from one side to the other, and around and around. Wipe
+dry each pane as you finish it, so it will not be streaked, and when all
+are done, polish them off with a handful of tissue-paper or a chamois.
+When you wash plate glass, such as we have in the parlors, do not use
+ammonia, but instead put a few drops of blueing in the water, and when
+they are wiped dry go over the glass again with a cloth wrung out in
+alcohol. Do mirrors in this way if they are very dim; if they are new
+but dusty, do not use any water, only the alcohol, and polish them with
+the chamois. Would you like to try one window or one mirror still, this
+morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she thought she would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> rather wait a week, and as it
+proved to be luncheon time she hurried to put all the things away which
+they had been using, and get herself ready.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE</h3>
+
+<p>When the Saturday morning came on which Margaret was to learn how to
+take care of the bathroom, and clean grates, and do other such things,
+she groaned out loud. So far her lessons had been delightful, but this
+one sounded as though it would be work instead of fun. However, she put
+on her long-sleeved apron and out of the little bathroom cupboard she
+took the flannel cloth, the cotton cloth, the sapolio, the metal polish,
+a queer little brush of twigs with a long handle and a bottle of
+disinfectant, all of which stood ready there in a neat row. Then her
+Other Aunt came into the room, with a big apron on just like Margaret's,
+and began:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The bathtub, luckily for us," she said, "is of white enamel, so it is
+easy to keep clean. But see, all around it there is a streak where the
+top of the water came after somebody's bath this morning. Now, of
+course, every single person who uses a bathtub ought to wipe it out
+afterward; but men don't take the trouble, and women sometimes forget;
+little girls never do, of course! So the tub has to be washed and wiped
+out every morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Every single morning?" Margaret asked, grumblingly. "It seems as if
+that would be too often; it must wear the nice enamel off to wash it so
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," said her aunt; "it is good for it! Get the nice white
+cloth and a cake of soap,&mdash;not the sapolio, because that would scratch
+it,&mdash;and roll up your sleeves. Kneel down by the tub, put in the
+stopper, and draw a little warm water; wring out your cloth in it, rub
+it well on the soap, and scrub off the greasy mark first, and afterward
+wash the tub all over; rinse out your cloth, let out the water, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+wash the tub again and wipe it dry. Sometimes, perhaps twice a week, put
+a little ammonia in the first water so that the tub will have an extra
+cleaning. If ever you have a really dirty tub to scrub, take gasoline on
+a flannel cloth and wash with that, and it will be like new; but tubs
+which are washed out every day never need gasoline.</p>
+
+<p>"If you have a tub lined with zinc remember that needs even more care
+than a white one, if it is to be kept shining bright. You can scrub it
+out with gasoline if it seems greasy, then with vinegar, if it is dark,
+then with metal polish, and so on; zinc tubs are really difficult to
+care for. A better way is to paint it all over with two coats of white
+paint and when it is dry enamel it. It costs only a dollar to do it, and
+it does save so much work; besides, a white tub always looks best of
+all. Now we will do the wash-stand."</p>
+
+<p>They took off the soap-dish and tooth-brush mug and bottles of tooth
+powder, because, as the aunt explained, one must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> always wipe under
+things, not around them. The marble slab and bowl were scrubbed and
+dried, and the mugs and soap-dish washed, wiped, and replaced. After
+this they cleaned the closet by pulling the handle and letting the water
+run while they put in the long-handled brush of twigs and brushed out
+every inch of china, even down into the pipe as far as possible.
+Margaret was told that when she used ammonia in the tub she must put
+some in the closet, too, and once or twice a week a little disinfectant
+must be poured down to keep the pipe perfectly clean. The woodwork was
+wiped off with a cloth kept for that purpose, and then they turned to
+the polishing of the faucets and pipes.</p>
+
+<p>This was hard, but as Margaret and her aunt both worked it made it
+easier. They put some polishing paste on a flannel and rubbed and rubbed
+till they could see the metal shining through the paste; then they wiped
+it off with a dry cloth. "If this was all rubbed a little every single<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+day," said the aunt, "it would never be such hard work. I should say
+that this nickel had been just a little bit neglected lately, but see
+how bright we have made it! Now for the oilcloth on the floor."</p>
+
+<p>They set the hamper and a chair out into the hall, and Margaret went to
+the kitchen for a basin of milk with a little warm water in it. Out of
+the cupboard she brought the Japanese seat she had learned she must
+always use when she got down on the floor, partly to save her dress, and
+partly because there was a painful disease called sometimes "housemaid's
+knee," which one could get by kneeling and working on a hard floor with
+nothing underneath one. When she was all ready her aunt wrung out the
+cloth for her in the milk, and told her to begin at one edge and work
+straight across the floor, wiping every part well, but especially under
+the tub and wash-stand, because those were likely to need it most. "The
+milk will freshen the oilcloth and make it shine," she said. "Always try
+and have some when you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> wipe up an oilcloth, for water alone is not good
+for it."</p>
+
+<p>When the floor was dry they set in the hamper again, folded the towels
+neatly, and hung them straight on the rack, and dusted around the window
+and the wood around the sides of the room. "We are done here," the aunt
+said, as they put away all the things they had been using, "but the
+lesson isn't over yet, for while we are in the scrubbing business you
+may as well learn how to take care of steps and vestibule. You may get
+the old broom from the kitchen Bridget keeps for this, and ask her to
+bring a pail of water; you will need the scrubbing-brush, too, and the
+sapolio, and two cloths; the Japanese seat, some more metal polish, a
+flannel, and a duster."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret got them all, and brought them out to the vestibule. The
+door-mat was taken up, shaken well, and hung over the balustrade
+outside, and, after sweeping out the vestibule, Margaret knelt on the
+seat and scrubbed the marble floor, especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> in the corners, and then
+wiped them dry. The steps had already been swept once that morning, so
+all they needed was a good bath. A little water at a time was poured
+over them and swept off with the broom, and while they dried in the
+sunshine, she rubbed the door handles and bell with polish, and gave
+them a beautiful finish with chamois leather. The woodwork of the doors
+was pretty dusty, and before it could be made to look just right it had
+to be rubbed off with a damp duster and a little stick used in the
+cracks of the wood. When the rug was laid down once more Margaret and
+her Other Aunt stood and admired their work.</p>
+
+<p>"A good housekeeper always has nice, clean steps and a well-cared-for
+vestibule," said the aunt. "They are like a sign-board on the front of a
+house, telling the sort of people who live inside. That thought ought to
+make you keep your vestibule in nice order."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed," said Margaret. "I'd be ashamed to have a sign-board in
+front<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> of my steps, saying, 'An untidy girl lives here!' Now what do we
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let us see if we can find any brass to polish. There are the
+andirons in the hall, for instance, and the shovel and tongs." So out
+came the metal polish once more, and, after putting down a newspaper,
+they rubbed them all well. They found out, however, that some of the
+brass about the house had an enamel finish over it to keep out the air,
+and all this needed was wiping off with a cloth instead of rubbing,
+which was a great saving of time; though this brass was not quite as
+nice looking as that which they rubbed till it shone like a mirror, in
+the old-fashioned way. It happened that the chandelier in the hall was
+covered with the enamel, and here her aunt told Margaret she did not
+dislike it, because it would have been nearly impossible to rub a
+chandelier clear up to the ceiling every week. They brought out the
+step-ladder and wiped it off with a dry duster, however, and then they
+washed the globes nicely in warm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> water, and dried them. Globes often
+got very dusty, the aunt said, and nobody remembered to wash them off
+instead of merely dusting them once in awhile, and then the family
+thought the gas must be very poor because the light was dim.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, auntie, what next?" Margaret asked, when this work was done.</p>
+
+<p>"The sitting-room fireplace," her aunt replied. "It is full of wood
+ashes."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret went once more to the broom closet and got a shovel, a
+dust-pan, a whisk-broom, a damp cloth, and a newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>There were andirons in the fireplace and the ashes lay all over and
+around them, so her aunt first helped her lift these heavy things out on
+the newspaper at one side. Then she told her to sweep most of the ashes
+into a small pile right in the centre of the hearth, at the back.</p>
+
+<p>"But, auntie, they won't burn any more; why don't I take them right
+out!" asked Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"Because they make the fire burn better and last longer. You can take up
+part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> them and put them in the scuttle, but leave some, and
+especially all the bits of charred wood; it would be wasteful to take
+those away."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret carefully swept up the greater part of the ashes, working from
+the edges of the hearth toward the middle, and put them into the
+scuttle. Once she spilled a shovelful, but as a newspaper was spread on
+the carpet it did not matter. Her aunt told her to be sure and always
+have plenty of papers ready to use in housework, because in the end they
+saved so much work. "Suppose you had to sweep up those ashes," she said,
+"and clean the carpet, too, would not that be a bother! Now if the
+hearth is clean, wipe it with the damp cloth, and dust off the andirons
+well. If there had been a grate here you would have had to polish it
+with the blacking from the kitchen stove. When you have finished you can
+get more paper and kindling and lay a fire."</p>
+
+<p>They put crumpled paper between the andirons, covering all the ashes
+which lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> there so they did not show. On this they laid kindling,
+crossed, and then some pieces of wood. When they gathered up the
+newspaper there was nothing to brush from the carpet, and everything was
+neat.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said her aunt, "that's all for to-day. Run and wash your face
+and hands,&mdash;they need it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC</h3>
+
+<p>Margaret's Saturday morning lessons were interrupted at this point by
+the spring housecleaning. Everybody was so busy taking up and putting
+down carpets, hanging curtains and pictures over, putting away winter
+clothes and getting out summer ones, that the lessons seemed forgotten.
+The grandmother, however, remembered, and one day she took the little
+girl around the house while the cleaning was going on, showing her how
+the work was done. They found the guest-room had been finished, so they
+sat down there and talked.</p>
+
+<p>"Housecleaning is very different nowadays from what it used to be," she
+began. "We used to take up all the carpets at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> once, and keep everything
+upset for a week or two, and then get all to rights. Now we take a room
+at a time, and so do the whole house gradually and comfortably. Perhaps
+the work is divided, and part done in the spring and part in the fall,
+to make it still easier. Then we do not take up every carpet every year,
+as we did. This guest-room carpet, for one, does not need beating and
+cleaning and putting down again, because the room is not used all the
+time, and once or twice a year it has a scrubbing with warm water or
+turpentine or ammonia after it is swept."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Margaret, "I learned about that in my sweeping lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"When this room was cleaned," her grandmother went on, "the curtains
+were taken down, and the pictures wiped off and put into the storeroom.
+The furniture was well dusted and put away also, and the bed all taken
+apart, the mattress beaten gently, the springs dusted and wiped off; the
+bed slats were washed in hot soap and water, and put away, too. Then the
+bed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> itself was taken to pieces and washed in warm soap-suds, because
+being white iron they could not hurt it. If it had been a wooden bed it
+would have been wiped with a damp cloth. And then, Margaret, what do you
+think? a brush dipped in turpentine was put in all the corners of the
+bed and the springs, so that if by any chance a little bug should have
+crept in there to hide, it would be driven out."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret looked disgusted. "We don't have bugs in our beds," she said,
+indignantly. "Nice, clean people never do."</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother smiled. "Even a very nice, clean person may bring home a
+bug from a crowded street-car," she said. "And if it happens to be on a
+coat which is thrown on a bed, it may crawl quickly into a corner
+without anybody's seeing it, and presently the bed will have half a
+dozen bugs in it. Of course a good housekeeper would never let them stay
+in a bed a single minute after she finds out they are there, and she
+always hunts occasionally, at least as often as every few months, so
+that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> may be perfectly sure everything is all right. If ever you
+think you are perfectly safe, my dear, and do not look to make sure, you
+will be the very one to be surprised some day! You must often put the
+mattress on a sheet on the floor, and look all along the edge and in the
+corners and under the ties. The spring must be painted with turpentine,
+especially in the hidden places, and so must the corners of the bed. It
+is a good plan to use only metal beds with iron spring frames, for bugs
+like wood much better; they seldom stay where there is none. If you ever
+find a bug, or the tiny black speck it makes, get the white of an egg
+and beat it with a teaspoonful of quicksilver, and paint everything with
+it, and you will have no more trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"After the bed is cleaned and taken down, the floor is to be swept twice
+over, and the carpet taken away; the paper under it may be swept clean
+in the yard. The walls are to be swept down with a soft brush, or a
+broom covered with a duster. The closet is to be emptied entirely, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+drawers, shelves, floor, and baseboard washed well, and the closet floor
+washed also. The windows must be cleaned and all the woodwork washed in
+warm water with a little nice soap, and rinsed well. When all is fresh
+and the floor dry, the paper can be laid, the carpet put down, the
+furniture wiped again, the bed put together and made, the pictures hung,
+and the fresh curtains put up, if they are used in summer, and the room
+will be thoroughly done. All rooms are alike in the way they are
+cleaned. First do the closets, remember, all the drawers as well as
+shelves; then, shutting this up, empty the room, and do walls, floor,
+paint, and windows. If there is a matting down, this must be wiped off
+with salted water, which freshens it. Now I think we can go down to the
+cellar for the next part of the lesson."</p>
+
+<p>The cellar proved to be rather chilly, but they stayed long enough to
+learn a good many things about it. There were two rooms, one for the
+coal and wood, and one for vegetables and preserved fruit and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> such
+things. All these, Margaret was told, must be looked after. The fuel
+room should have several bins, one for kitchen coal, one for furnace
+coal, and one low one for wood; it was untidy to leave any of these
+lying in heaps on the floor. The vegetables had to be constantly looked
+over for fear any should decay, and so bring sickness to the family, who
+might never know why it came. The preserves must be examined, lest any
+begin to leak, and the whole place must be kept cool and dry by having a
+window open a little at the top, with a good bolt or a few nails to keep
+any one from opening it from the outside. The windows did not need to be
+washed quite as often as those up-stairs, but they should never be left
+grimy and dirty. "A good housekeeper always keeps watch of her cellar,"
+said the grandmother. "She sees that the air is fresh, the floor clean,
+the walls free from cobwebs, and that no rubbish is allowed to
+accumulate. The wood and coal must not get too low in the bins; the
+grocer's boxes must be kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> chopped into kindling, and, most important
+of all, every cellar should have a good coat of whitewash every spring
+to make it all sweet and clean."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she thought she knew this part of her lesson now, and that
+cellars were not so very interesting.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, suppose we take the attic next," grandmother said, smiling; "that
+is, if you are really certain you can keep your own cellar clean and
+nice when you have one." Margaret promised to try.</p>
+
+<p>The attic was a nice, dusky room, with some old furniture, trunks, and
+boxes, rolls of carpet, and bags of pieces. It had a dry, comfortable
+sort of smell in the air. "I like attics," said Margaret. "I mean to
+have a great big one some day, all full of interesting things, like the
+girls in story-books."</p>
+
+<p>"The more things in your attic the more trouble you will have to be a
+good housekeeper," said her grandmother. "Let us sit down on this sofa
+for our lesson, and suppose that was really your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> own attic. What would
+you do to put it in order and keep it so!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Margaret, thoughtfully, "I'd move everything out and sweep
+it; then I'd brush off the walls and wash the windows; then I'd arrange
+things&mdash;and then it would be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!" her grandmother replied. "That isn't half. I see you needed
+the lesson on the attic, as I thought. Now listen:</p>
+
+<p>"You see it is rather dark up here, and so moths love the place, and if
+it was left to them they would eat up all that is in the trunks. The
+first thing in cleaning an attic is to empty all the trunks, one at a
+time, and look everything over. There are pieces of clothing which may
+be used again which have to go outdoors on the line in the sunshine and
+be beaten, and furs, especially, require this done frequently. Your
+pretty little baby things are in one trunk, and those your mother wishes
+to keep always, so she airs them and refolds the dresses so they will
+not get discolored<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> streaks by lying always one way; the flannels are
+aired, too, and folded in papers with perhaps a bit of camphor or a moth
+ball, though these are not as much protection as the constant airing and
+shaking is.</p>
+
+<p>"In that large trunk there are some old silk dresses, and such things,
+which are also to be kept. Moths do not touch silks, but these, too,
+must be taken out and shaken and refolded once in awhile to keep them
+from cracking in the places where they have laid. Once a year, at least,
+all trunks must be emptied, wiped out, and relined with fresh papers,
+the things aired and put back freshly.</p>
+
+<p>"If there are any clothes which are being kept which, after all, are not
+needed, it is always best to give them away before they are out of style
+or moth-eaten. It is wrong to keep things one does not want when so many
+are cold. One always keeps certain things like your mother's
+wedding-gown, and some handsome pieces of velvet, too valuable to give
+away, and other things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> which would be of no use to any one else; but
+your father's old clothes, and your outgrown dresses, and my heavy
+winter coat which I shall not wear again, must all go before they are
+half-spoiled by lying.</p>
+
+<p>"You see there are several piece-bags hanging up; those we must go over,
+too. We always keep bits of our dresses to patch with, or to use in
+re-making them. But sometimes we keep the pieces long after the dress is
+gone, when perhaps some one would like them for patchwork, or to make a
+pincushion or needle-book out of. The pieces must be sorted often, the
+woollen ones put by themselves with moth balls, and the silk and cotton
+ones divided, some to keep, and some to give to anybody who needs them
+more than we do.</p>
+
+<p>"The roll of old carpet is to go away, too, this time to be made into a
+kitchen rug. Carpets must not be left in the attic or they will surely
+make a nice home for moth-families. The broken chairs are to go to-day
+to be mended, I heard your mother say this morning. Some she will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> use
+again, and the rest she will pass on to somebody who wants chairs and
+has not enough. This old sofa, of course, she will keep, because some
+day she will have it re-covered; it is a strong, good piece of
+furniture, and she knows we can use it.</p>
+
+<p>"The summer clothes are kept in those two large trunks under the window;
+in a few days they will go down-stairs, and the winter ones, all shaken
+and beaten on the clothes-line till they are fresh and clean, will be
+packed away carefully in their places after the trunks have had fresh
+paper put in them. Do you know how to put away winter clothes, by the
+way?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she did not think she did, so they stopped the lesson for
+a minute to put this in.</p>
+
+<p>"After the things are aired well, fold each dress or coat or suit of
+clothes up by itself, and pin it snugly in newspapers, which moths do
+not like. Tie a strong string around the bundle to lift it by, and paste
+a slip of paper on the top, and write on this plainly just what is
+inside. If you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> have anything very nice to put away, such as a
+broadcloth suit, put it in a new paste-board box and paste a strip of
+paper all around the edge of the cover; use good mucilage, and the moths
+cannot possibly get at it. Put furs in paper bags after they are clean,
+and hang them from the rafters. Hats and such things may go into boxes,
+and you can lay a paper over each box before putting on its cover, to
+keep the dust out. Summer clothes do not need so much care; just fold
+them neatly and put them in a nice clean trunk, and they will take care
+of themselves. Now do you think you know how to keep a cellar and attic
+in good order? Suppose you make up a rule to give me."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret thought a moment. "Keep the cellar clean," she said at length,
+"and give away the things in the attic."</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother laughed. "Keep both the cellar and attic clean, and
+don't hoard uselessly," she corrected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>LAUNDRY WORK</h3>
+
+<p>Margaret's teachers held a meeting before her next lesson. They could
+not decide whether she should be taught to wash and iron or not.</p>
+
+<p>Her Pretty Aunt said, "Certainly not! She will never need to know. Even
+on a desert island she will find some Woman Friday to do her laundry
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>"But," suggested her Other Aunt, "suppose she had a very beautiful thin
+dress to be washed, and had a very poor laundress to do it who might
+spoil it; don't you think she would wish she knew how to do it herself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Besides," said her mother, "however could she teach an ignorant
+servant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> to wash and iron if she did not know how?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she must know," said her grandmother, sternly. "I will teach
+her myself."</p>
+
+<p>So on Friday night Margaret made up a bundle of clothes as she was told;
+"samples," grandmother called them, because there were some of every
+sort of thing found in a regular washing; these they took down to the
+laundry.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing is to sort the clothes," the lesson began. "Put the
+white, starched things in one pile; the bed and table linen in another;
+the flannels by themselves; the stockings by themselves; the
+handkerchiefs and colored things in two more piles.</p>
+
+<p>"Many people do not soak clothes over night, and it is not necessary to
+do so, but I am going to teach you to do it because it is the easiest
+way. If you are ready, look over the white things first for spots.
+Coffee, tea, and fruit stains must have boiling water poured through
+them till they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> disappear. Rust must be rubbed with lemon juice and salt
+and laid on a new, shiny tin in the sunshine till the spot disappears;
+some people use acid, but this is apt to eat the cloth. Blood stains
+must be soaked in cold water; get the handkerchief you had on your cut
+finger and put it in this pail. Now wet the white things only, rub on a
+little soap, and get out every spot; put them in nice rolls, the soapy
+side turned in, and lay them all in the warm water in these two tubs,
+clothing in one, and table and bed linen in the other&mdash;never put the two
+together. Do not soak the flannels or they will shrink; nor the colored
+things, or they will fade; nor the stockings.</p>
+
+<p>"The handkerchiefs, well soaped and rubbed and squeezed, go into a pail
+of water all alone with a tablespoonful of kerosene to kill any germs of
+cold in the head which may be in one of them, and would spread to all
+the handkerchiefs. The oil boils out and does not smell after they are
+ironed. That is all for to-night,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> but be up bright and early in the
+morning, for only lazy people hang out their washing at noon."</p>
+
+<p>The next day Margaret came into the laundry with her biggest apron and
+her sleeves rolled up and pinned to her shoulders, ready for work.</p>
+
+<p>"Flannels first," she was told. "Draw two tubs of warm water, one just
+exactly as warm as the other. Put in some nice white soap and make a
+good suds, and then take it out and put in the flannels; rub and squeeze
+them with your hands till they are clean, but never rub them on the
+wash-board, or put any soap directly on them or they will grow hard and
+stiff; as soon as they are clean, wring them out and rinse them in the
+second water. The reason why they must be washed and rinsed in the same
+sort of water is that if they were dropped from cold to hot or hot to
+cold water they would shrink all up and be spoiled at once. A little
+ammonia or borax in the rinsing water makes them soft and white. You
+cannot take too much care in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> washing flannels, for they are expensive
+and easily spoiled; think how often your winter undervests are shrunken
+before they are half-worn, and how once Bridget spoiled a pair of
+beautiful new blankets she washed for the first time, all because the
+two waters were not just alike, and because she rubbed soap on them and
+made them hard and yellow. Now you may wring yours out with your hands
+and hang them out on the line."</p>
+
+<p>When Margaret came in again her grandmother had put the white apron into
+the water the flannels had been rinsed in, for its first bath. She said
+it was still fresh and warm and soapy and ought not to be wasted. The
+first tubful, however, she had thrown away as useless any longer. She
+told Margaret to put a little more soap on the apron and gently rub it
+on the board, turning it over and over till it was clean; then she
+dropped it in the wash-boiler, which her grandmother had filled with
+fresh water and put on the fire. The linen was washed in the same way,
+rubbing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> turning it till it was all fresh, and putting it in the
+boiler. The water was allowed to boil up well for a moment, the clothes
+pushed down and turned around with a stick as they rose to the top. They
+were lifted out with the stick into a tub of fresh, hot water, and
+rinsed till all the soap was out, and dropped in a tub of cold water
+which had a little blueing in it. Here they were rinsed once more, and
+wrung out dry and then put out in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>Bridget had hung a low clothes-line for Margaret between two small
+trees, so she could easily reach it. The clothes-pins were in one of her
+aprons, in a pocket made by turning up the bottom almost half-way to the
+belt, so none could fall out. This apron was made of heavy ticking, and
+none of the water reached her dress as she carried out the wet things to
+the line.</p>
+
+<p>When she came in this second time she found her grandmother ready to
+make starch. As there were only a very few things to stiffen she
+measured a heaping tablespoonful of dry starch, wet it with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> just as
+much cold water, and added a cup of boiling water, with a
+half-teaspoonful of sugar, to make it extra nice and glossy. The white
+apron was dipped in this and wrung out; then more water was added till
+the starch was like milk, and the pillow-cases and gingham apron were
+dipped in.</p>
+
+<p>"I never starch table or bed linen," said her grandmother, "but you may,
+if you wish to, if you use very thin starch. I know a better way to make
+such things look nice, however, and when we iron I will teach it to you.
+Now we must finish the washing. Wash and rinse the stockings in hot
+water, but do not boil them; wash and rinse and boil the handkerchiefs
+by themselves. When these are all on the line, and you have made the
+laundry tidy, you can rest for an hour, while the irons get nice and
+hot, and then we will take the second half of the laundry lesson."</p>
+
+<p>The sunshine had made everything dry and sweet when Margaret brought in
+the clothes from the line and heaped them on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> the laundry table. She
+spread the napkins and pillow-cases out smoothly, and from a nice white
+bowl of clean water she sprinkled them, one at a time, and smoothed out
+the creases as her grandmother showed her. "The fewer wrinkles, the
+easier ironing," she said. Each was made into a tidy roll and laid in
+the basket again. The handkerchiefs were sprinkled also, and made into
+one roll and laid by them. The flannels were still damp, and so just
+ready to iron as they were, and so were the stockings. As the irons were
+hot, Margaret now spread the ironing-pad of flannel over the table, and
+laid the ironing-sheet very smoothly over it. She put the iron-stand on
+one corner on a square, white tile, so the heat would not burn the cloth
+underneath and got out a thick, soft holder.</p>
+
+<p>She also got out the ironing-board, because the flannel petticoats were
+easier to manage on this than on the table. She tried the iron by
+holding it to her cheek, and found it quite warm. Then she wet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> the tip
+of her finger, as she had seen Bridget do, and quickly touched it. It
+seemed just right, hot, but not burning, so she began on the stockings,
+and ironed them flat, on the right side, turning each one over and
+pressing both sides. She did not turn in the toes, because some of them
+needed to be darned, and whoever did it would have to turn each one back
+to see if there were any holes in it; but she made them into pairs,
+folding each once, and hung them on the little clothes-horse standing
+before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>The flannel skirts she slipped over the skirt-board, and ironed them by
+beginning at the hem and working toward the belt, pulling each one
+around the board to bring the unironed part up. These, too, she hung
+near the fire, because flannels take so long to grow perfectly dry.</p>
+
+<p>The table napkins were a real pleasure to do. Her grandmother taught her
+why they needed no starch&mdash;because if they were ironed over and over,
+with a good hot iron, first on one side and then on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> other, they
+grew a little stiff, and became very glossy and beautiful, like satin,
+while if starch was used they easily got too stiff. These were folded
+very carefully indeed, so the edges exactly matched, and laid in a pile
+by themselves.</p>
+
+<p>By the time these were done the iron was again cool and had to be
+changed for the second time for a hot one. Linen, the grandmother
+explained, needed hot irons, but one should always be very careful not
+to have them so hot that there is any danger of scorching, because linen
+is very expensive, and easily ruined.</p>
+
+<p>The towels were ironed exactly as the napkins had been, on both sides,
+and again and again, till they were dry and shining. Then they were
+folded carefully, not in four narrow folds, but in three parts, so they
+would "look generous," grandmother said. The side edges had to match
+exactly, and the lower edge had to be a tiny bit longer than the rest,
+so that when hung on the towel-rack it would be perfect. This took time,
+but when once Margaret learned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> how they should look, she said it was no
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>The white apron also took some time to do because it had to be polished,
+and the gatherings and ruffles were bothersome, but still it was done
+presently, and also the gingham apron, which was easier. The
+handkerchiefs were only play, but they had to be carefully folded, so
+the edges would be even. At last everything was done, and there was a
+whole clothes-horse full of beautiful clothes. It looked like a
+blossoming tree, all white and fragrant, and Margaret felt very proud
+and happy as she ran to call the family to come and admire.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew she could learn!" said her grandmother, nodding to her mother,
+as they all came in to look and praise the little laundress.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF THE
+REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS</h3>
+
+<p>"I think," said the Pretty Aunt one day, "we must be coming to the end
+of the Saturday morning lessons. We have had the kitchen and
+dining-room, the bedrooms, halls, and parlors, the bathroom, cellar,
+attic, and vestibule. I really can't think of anything else to teach
+Margaret about the care of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Why," exclaimed the Other Aunt, "I can! I can think of five or six
+things you have not said a word about; all important ones, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"How nice!" laughed the Pretty Aunt, "because now you can give the
+lesson!"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret had felt disappointed when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> she thought the lessons were over,
+for she liked to learn something new each week; so when she was told to
+put on a clean apron and be ready in half a minute, she ran off in a
+hurry.</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt was in the upper hall when she appeared, with the door of the
+linen closet open, and she told Margaret they would begin here.</p>
+
+<p>"This little room is the one good housekeepers are especially fond of,"
+she began. "Clean, white linen, polished and beautiful, is a joy to look
+at and handle, and every woman is proud if she has a quantity, all
+nicely kept. Let us begin with the shelves, taking them in order, and
+see what is on each."</p>
+
+<p>The top one held blankets, each pair folded together smoothly and pinned
+up in a clean, strong piece of white cotton cloth, and labelled. The
+first label read, "Guest-room blankets," and when they were opened there
+lay a fresh, soft, fleecy pair, with a lovely border of pale pink, and
+edges of broad pink ribbon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is your mother's very best pair of blankets," began her aunt.
+"They are cut in two and bound alike at each end, you see; they have
+never been washed or cleaned yet, so they are still very white and soft.
+By and by they will begin to look a little soiled, and then they will be
+cleaned perhaps, once or twice, and presently they will be washed, and
+they will not be nearly as nice as they are now, though well-washed
+blankets should still be fleecy and white."</p>
+
+<p>"'Soft, warm water, with suds of white soap,'" murmured Margaret,
+reviewing her laundry lesson; "'rub with your hands, rinse in the same
+sort of water as you used in washing, with a little borax or ammonia,
+and they will look like new.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid!" said her aunt. "I see you can wash blankets to perfection.
+But even so, some day there will be new ones for the guest-room, and
+these will be on one of the family beds. The next two or three bundles,
+you see, are clean, washed blankets, in pairs, laid away till they are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+needed. All blankets have to be put on the line in the sunshine
+frequently whether they are washed or not, or they may be eaten by
+moths.</p>
+
+<p>"Here are a few clean comfortables next, on this second shelf, done up
+like the blankets. These have to be washed, too, and are more difficult
+to manage than blankets, because they are so heavy; they have to be
+aired often to keep them sweet, for the cotton holds odors easily. Then
+come the white spreads, the heavy Marseilles in one pile, the lighter
+ones in another, and the single ones and double ones kept separate.</p>
+
+<p>"The third shelf holds towels, you see. This pile is for the best ones;
+notice how beautifully they are ironed and folded, and how the
+embroidered initials stand out. The ordinary bedroom towels come next;
+see how many your mother has, and how each kind is by itself: the
+hemstitched ones in one pile, the plain huckaback in another; those with
+colored borders in this one, and the bath towels in that. Any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> one could
+come in and get a towel in the dark, sure of taking just the right one.
+You must remember always to keep your own towels just this way; too many
+people mix them in in any careless fashion, and do not take the trouble
+to have them arranged neatly, but it's the best way to do.</p>
+
+<p>"The sheets and pillow-cases are in these deep drawers. This top one has
+the double sheets and the best linen ones; notice how they lie in piles,
+each kind by itself, just like the towels. They are all marked on the
+narrow edge, and so they can be recognized at a glance; the large sheets
+have your mother's full name. In this next drawer are the single bed
+sheets, marked with her first initials, and her last name. The servants'
+sheets have only her three initials. You see how easy it is to tell
+which is which. The pillow-cases are marked in the same way, and put in
+piles. You must be sure when you have a washing to put away that you do
+not put the clean things on top of each pile, and then take them off
+again to use at once; put things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> on top and take them off the bottom of
+the pile, so they will all be used in turn. Now for the table-linen."</p>
+
+<p>This was in another drawer, and Margaret exclaimed when she saw how
+beautiful it was. The cloths were like satin, the napkins which matched
+lay in dozens by them; the every-day cloths and napkins were by
+themselves, and the small lunch-cloths had a pile of their own. The
+doilies were in a smaller drawer, all in piles, too, and the pretty
+centrepieces were fastened around stiff paper made into rolls.</p>
+
+<p>"If you ever have lovely table-linen you will want to keep it nicely,"
+said the aunt. "I think it is high time you had some, too. I believe in
+the old German custom of making a linen-chest for each girl; so learn
+your lesson well, and when your birthday comes who knows what you'll
+get? Perhaps a lunch-cloth or some embroidered napkins!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like some towels, too," Margaret said, soberly. "I guess I'd like
+to have some linen every birthday."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I'll remember," said her aunt as they closed the drawers.
+"And when you really begin to fill your chest I will make you some
+pretty bags of lavender to lay among your sheets and pillow-cases to
+make them smell sweet. We will go down-stairs now."</p>
+
+<p>The pantry shelves were looked over next; in the china-closet in the
+dining-room everything was in order; the dishes neatly arranged on white
+paper, with pretty scalloped flouncings hanging over the front. The
+plates were piled in sets, the platters were together, the glasses and
+small dishes on the sides of the closet where the shelves were short.
+There was really nothing to be done here, so they went into the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>The pantry where the pots and pans stood had rather dingy papers, and
+they decided to have a good cleaning. They took everything off and
+washed the shelves with warm water and borax and wiped them dry, and put
+on fresh papers. The tins and dishes which were seldom used,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> were then
+arranged on the highest shelf, and those which were used every day were
+put lower down. The little things, such as the skimmer, the small sieve,
+the egg-beater, and the spoons, were hung on nails driven into the edge
+of the shelf which was over the baking-table in the kitchen, where stood
+also the cups, bowls, and plates used in cooking, within easy reach.
+When they were done, the aunt said, "Always watch for ants in the
+pantry, and roaches and water-bugs in the sink. Ants hate borax, so you
+can put that on the shelves in all the corners, and it will help keep
+them away. Roaches come to the sink for food, and you must see to it
+that they do not find it. Keep it perfectly clean and scalded out,
+especially at night, and never let the sink-basket have any crumbs in
+it. If, in spite of everything, the bugs do come, put insect powder on
+the corners of all the woodwork and use washing-soda to flush the drain
+every day, and they will get discouraged and leave your house for
+somebody else's, where there is something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> in the sink for them. Now for
+the refrigerator."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret helped empty this entirely, setting the things in it on the
+table, and putting the ice in a large dish. They looked underneath at
+the pan into which the ice drained and found it half-full, so they
+emptied it. Then the lesson began as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"You see all these little covered bowls and plates with bits of food on
+them. We never put nice china dishes in a refrigerator, for fear of
+breaking them; this heavy, yellow ware is just the thing, and a saucer
+can go over each bowl. We do not put anything in which has a strong
+odor, such as onions or cheese, or they would make everything taste like
+themselves. Butter must be in a covered crock, and milk in bottles with
+a tight top. Warm food must never go in, or it will waste the ice. Let
+us look in the top; you see there is a nice piece of ice, all covered up
+with a bit of old blanket, so it will last. You must watch and see that
+you do not take more ice than you really need and use it economically.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+Some people never cover it at all, because it keeps the food colder if
+it is left so, but often it is unnecessary; there may be little food in
+the box, and that would keep as well if it were not quite as cold. Now
+you may get a basin of water, two clean cloths, and the borax, and I
+will show you how to clean a refrigerator."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret put a tablespoonful of borax in the water, rung out her cloth,
+and washed out all the inside of the great box, poking a little stick
+into the corners, and scrubbing the shelves thoroughly, as well as the
+sides and bottom. Then she wiped them dry and the food was put in again
+neatly. There had been a small pan of charcoal in one corner, and this
+was emptied on a paper and the pan refilled from a bag near by and put
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you put black charcoal in the clean box for?" Margaret asked,
+curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Because it dislikes a disagreeable odor, and destroys it at once," her
+aunt replied. "We change this pan every few days because it will take up
+only so much, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> fresh charcoal will keep everything sweet and nice;
+Bridget burns up what is not fresh, putting it in the fire when she
+wants to broil or toast, for it makes a clear fire without flame. It
+only costs a few cents for a large bagful, and we can always have it on
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember to wash out your refrigerator at least three times a week.
+This is very important, indeed; if you forget it somebody in the family
+may be very ill. If you have not time to wash it out and still sweep the
+parlors, let the parlors go!"</p>
+
+<p>Just as they finished they noticed the garbage pail outside the door and
+took a look into it. It was nearly empty, so Margaret got a dipper of
+boiling water and a handful of washing-soda and put them in, as her aunt
+told her, to keep the pail from getting greasy and sour. "The better the
+housekeeper the less she has in her garbage pail, and the cleaner it is
+kept," she said, as she put back the cover.</p>
+
+<p>"We have still one pleasant thing and one disagreeable thing to do
+before we are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> done this morning; which would you rather take first?"
+asked the aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret said she thought she would keep the pleasant one to finish off
+with.</p>
+
+<p>"Then get a newspaper," was the reply, "and spread it over the table,
+first of all."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the way most kitchen lessons seem to begin," said Margaret, as
+she took one from the paper drawer. "'First get a newspaper.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And very sensible, too," smiled her aunt. "It saves so much work if
+everything can be carried away and the table left clean at once. You may
+go to the closet and bring the box of things for the lamps while I bring
+the large one from the sitting-room."</p>
+
+<p>The box proved to have in it two cloths, one of flannel, and a white one
+free from lint; a pair of scissors; a round brush with a wire handle,
+and a piece of soap.</p>
+
+<p>The lamp was taken to pieces, filled with kerosene from the can kept in
+the cellar-way, and wiped off nicely. The charred wick was rubbed and
+trimmed, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> corners rounded a little to keep them from throwing
+the flame against the sides of the chimney and breaking it. The glass
+chimney was put in a basin of warm water with soap-suds, and washed with
+the flannel cloth, rubbed with the round brush, and wiped dry with the
+white cloth. Whenever a new wick was put in a lamp, Margaret was told,
+the burner should be boiled with washing-soda to free it from clogging
+oil, and if a wick ever smelled it was to be cooked a few minutes in
+vinegar and dried, and it would then be all right again. When the lamp
+was put back they gathered up the things used, and put the newspaper
+with the kindling for the kitchen fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for the pleasant thing," Margaret said, as she carried away the
+oil-can and washed her hands. "I don't think doing lamps is very nice
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is not," her aunt replied; "but it is certainly very nice to
+have a clear, strong light to read by at night, and you cannot have that
+unless the lamp is perfectly clean, so the work is worth doing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Look
+now on the closet shelf once more and find another box with the silver
+polish, while I go for the basket from the sideboard."</p>
+
+<p>Once more a newspaper was spread on the table, and they set out the box
+of powder, a small flannel cloth, a little saucer of water, a soft
+brush, and a chamois. They dipped the flannel into the water, then into
+the powder, and rubbed the pieces of silver well, scrubbing them with
+the brush, except where they were perfectly smooth, as in the bowls of
+the spoons. When it was done they washed it in hot water, wiped it dry,
+and polished it well with the chamois, and it shone like new.</p>
+
+<p>As they put it away again they counted it carefully, using the list
+which was kept in the bottom of the basket; every piece was there,
+fortunately, so no time was lost in hunting for it.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you count the silver every time it is cleaned?" Margaret inquired,
+as she took up the basket to put it away.</p>
+
+<p>"Every single time," said her aunt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> firmly. "It must always be done.
+One can find a missing spoon when it first disappears, but not after it
+has been gone a month or more."</p>
+
+<p>"We are all done," Margaret said, cheerfully, as they put the kitchen to
+rights. "Won't Bridget be pleased when she sees her clean refrigerator
+and pantry, and the nice shiny silver,&mdash;and the garbage pail too! That
+looks just as nice as can be!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it does," said her aunt. "Everything looks nice when it is
+clean."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS</h3>
+
+<p>"I think it must be my turn to give you your lesson to-day," said
+Margaret's Pretty Aunt at breakfast-time, "because I have thought of
+something none of your other teachers have as much as mentioned. You can
+get ready as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Which apron?" asked the little girl, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"No apron at all," said her aunt; "your hat and coat. We are going
+a-marketing. How can anybody be a good housekeeper without knowing how
+to buy a dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>Before they set out they went to the kitchen with a small pad and
+pencil, and looked into the refrigerator to see what they had already,
+to know what they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> would need to buy. There proved to be several things
+which would be used for luncheon, and then they asked Bridget what she
+wanted them to get. She said she was out of flour and granulated sugar,
+and would want raisins and coffee and tea, beside a vegetable for dinner
+and some lettuce and meat. They planned the meals together, and decided
+on having a dessert of apple-tart, made with apples and cream, and these
+were added to the list Margaret wrote down so nothing would be
+forgotten; then they set out.</p>
+
+<p>They stopped at the grocery first, and Margaret was told to order a
+seven-pound bag of sugar. While the clerk was getting it the aunt
+explained that this was a better way to buy it than to get it loose, as
+then it would be sent home in a paper bag, which might break and spill
+it; then, too, the nice cotton bag in which it would come home would be
+just the thing to strain jelly through. The flour was also ordered in a
+bag, this time a large one.</p>
+
+<p>"Some things we buy in small quantities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> because there is danger of
+waste in the kitchen if there is an unlimited supply at hand. But flour
+is needed every day, and never wasted, so we buy a good deal of that at
+a time. If we had a very large family we would buy a whole barrel at
+once, and so save a little money; as it is, the big bag does very well
+for us. Now for coffee; tell the clerk to give you his very best Java
+and Mocha mixed, in a tin can. We will take it browned, but not ground."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought Bridget always browned the coffee," said Margaret, who
+remembered the delicious smell which often had filled the house when the
+coffee came from the oven.</p>
+
+<p>"So she did," her aunt explained, "until we found she would sometimes
+burn just a few grains each time, which made the whole taste burned. Now
+we buy it in a can, only a pound or two at a time, and of a man who has
+just had it browned for him. We keep the tin closely shut always so the
+odor cannot escape, and grind each morning only as much as we need, and
+have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> this heated very hot just before the water is added, and that
+gives it the same fresh odor you remember. It is the easiest way to
+manage, though, of course, freshly roasted coffee is the best of all.
+But remember always to get a good quality in buying, for poor coffee is
+not fit to drink. Order the tea, when the clerk is ready, and get that
+also in a package, because it is cleaner and fresher that way. You can
+pay anything you like for tea, from thirty cents a pound to about two
+dollars, but your mother gets a black tea without a bit of green mixed
+in it for from sixty to eighty cents, and buys it in half-pound
+packages. What is next on the list?"</p>
+
+<p>"Raisins," said Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, order those in a paper box, the kind which come already seeded,
+and when you get them home, take them out of the box and shut them up in
+a glass jar with a tight top, to keep them fresh. The vegetables come
+now, but before we buy those you must put down in this little book what
+we have bought already, with the price of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> each article opposite. I
+could wait till we got home, but I am afraid you may forget the cost of
+things, because you are not used to them."</p>
+
+<p>She handed Margaret a cunning little book and a tiny pencil, and showed
+her how to find the right month and day printed at the top of the page,
+and to put down under a column headed "Groceries," just what they had
+bought so far and what each thing cost. After this they crossed the shop
+to the place where the vegetables and fruit were piled, and looked these
+over.</p>
+
+<p>The apples were of all kinds, sweet and sour, big and little, red and
+green. Margaret said she would take the biggest red ones for the
+apple-tart.</p>
+
+<p>"No, those are not cooking apples, they are meant for the table," her
+aunt told her. "And do not take the yellow ones, because they are sweet
+and only good for baking. Take a nice green apple, not too large,
+because the smaller ones do just as well and cost less. Let us get half
+a peck of those greenings. We want oranges for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> breakfast, too, though
+Bridget forgot to say so. Can you pick those out, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>There were a good many boxes of these, some with rough skins, some with
+smooth, some with little bunches at the end. These last, her aunt
+explained to the little girl, were seedless and rather too dry for
+breakfast, though very nice for dinner. "The rough-skinned ones are
+light, as you will see if you lift one, so they would have little juice.
+Choose a heavy one of medium size and a rather smooth skin; but do not
+get those which are a very light yellow, for they may be sour."</p>
+
+<p>The vegetables had to be looked over carefully. Spinach proved withered,
+so they passed it by; the cauliflower had tiny black spots on it; the
+green string beans would not snap as they should when they were bent;
+but they found a large egg plant, with a fresh, smooth skin, which they
+took. The lettuce was all dark green, with thick strong leaves, and the
+aunt said it would never do; lettuce must be in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> heads, like cabbage,
+and pale green. Instead they chose some chicory with a white centre,
+which seemed crisp and newly gathered. All these things were written
+down in Margaret's account-book under "Fruits" and "Vegetables."</p>
+
+<p>A nice dairy was not far from the grocery, and there they ordered a
+little bottle of cream and put this down in the book before they went on
+to the meat market. As they entered this shop her aunt said the lesson
+here was so long it would take years to learn it, and they would only
+take the a, b, c, of it in one day.</p>
+
+<p>"Buying good meat means learning day after day," she explained.
+"However, there are some things you can learn this morning, and one is
+to be sure you buy in a clean place. Look around the floor and see
+whether the sawdust is fresh; notice the odor of the place and whether
+it is disagreeable or not; look at the counter, too, and be sure it is
+white and freshly wiped off; and above all, see whether the meat is kept
+in the ice-box at the back of the shop,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> not hung up on nails, or left
+lying carelessly about. Don't buy any meat which has been hanging or
+lying around; insist that it comes from the box."</p>
+
+<p>"But I can't think of the kinds of meat there are if I don't see them,"
+Margaret said, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"You will learn," the aunt smiled. "I am sure you will never be willing
+to eat meat which you are not certain is clean. Then look well at what
+the butcher brings out to show you. Beef ought to be firm, clear red and
+white, and not streaked with little lines; mutton must not be too fat;
+veal not too young&mdash;you can tell when it is because then it will be very
+small. Bacon must not be too lean nor too salt, and cut as thin as a
+wafer. Fish must be fresh, with nice, clear eyes. Chickens too often are
+buried in a barrel of chopped ice for weeks, and come out blue and
+clammy; such are not fit to eat. Suppose we buy a pair of roasting
+chickens this morning, and then you will see how they ought to look."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The butcher brought out a pair which were yellow and dry, showing they
+had not been covered with ice. The aunt bent down the breastbone to see
+if they were tender, and showed the little girl that if it had been too
+stiff to bend she would have known by that that they would not do. She
+also looked inside to see if there was a good deal of fat, for this,
+too, was a sign of age. She said they had few pin-feathers, were firm
+and plump, and the feet were clean, so she was quite sure they would be
+good, and told the butcher to send them home, and not to forget the
+giblets.</p>
+
+<p>"Chicken liver gravy!" Margaret exclaimed at this. "I like your lessons,
+auntie!"</p>
+
+<p>After they reached home and their things were put away the account-book
+was brought out again, and a lesson given in that. Margaret had to
+listen carefully, for it seemed rather difficult at first.</p>
+
+<p>"It is best to know always how much you are going to spend on your table
+every week," her aunt began. "At first you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> may spend too much or too
+little, but by looking over your book you can tell in a moment where the
+trouble lies, and the next week you can make it right. Some things cost
+a great deal, such as turkeys, or strawberries too early in the season,
+or certain fancy groceries, and by seeing just where your money has gone
+you can remember the next time not to get these. Look at the different
+columns in your book. One says Groceries, the next, Vegetables; then
+Fruits; Milk and Cream; Butter and Eggs; Meat; Fish; Wages; Incidentals.
+You can put down under these exactly what you spend each day, and when
+the month is over you can put down in another book what each has
+amounted to. Let me show you:</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose when you add up your columns in your day-book you find at the
+end of the month you have spent twelve dollars for groceries, fifteen
+for meat, four for vegetables, three for fruit, and so on. You simply
+open your second book at the right month and put down what the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+has been; the next month you do the same thing under the new date, and
+so on. At the end of the year you do not have to go over all the little
+sums spent each day, but by looking in the right book under each month
+you can see exactly what all the meat cost and all the vegetables, and
+so on. If your October bill for meat was larger than it ought to have
+been and more than it was in September or November, you can look back
+and see just why, if you care to. Under Incidentals you put all your
+car-fares spent in shopping for the house, and such things as
+dust-cloths, or new kitchen tins. When the last of December comes you
+can see all you spent during the whole year by adding what each month
+came to, and know exactly how much it costs you to live, and you can
+plan to spend more or less next year, as you think best. That is not
+hard to understand, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Margaret, "not to understand, but you see I am afraid I will
+forget to put things down, and then I will not know after all what I
+spent."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But you must put them down at once," her aunt said. "Either taking a
+pencil with you to market, or writing them down as soon as you come
+home. You will soon learn, and you will like the plan more and more. It
+is so nice to know exactly where the money went, day by day."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes the grocer has a little book to put things down, too," said
+the little girl. "If he has a book why do I have to have one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he may make a mistake, for one thing," her aunt replied, "and
+because if you have him put things down and do not do it too, you spend
+more than you think, and grow extravagant. You can pay each day, if you
+prefer, or once a week, or once a month; some people like one way, and
+some another about this, but you should always keep your own accounts,
+anyway, and know what you have had and how much, and what it cost; and
+at the end of each month you must copy off the result of adding your
+columns, and see what the expenses of the month have come to, and so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> at
+the end of the year. That's the way a good housekeeper does!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Margaret, "then I will do that way, too, even if it is some
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," said her aunt. "If you do, I'll give you the loveliest
+set of account-books and the prettiest silver pencil I can buy when
+Christmas comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I truly, truly will!" Margaret exclaimed. "I'll put down every
+single penny."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DAY'S WORK</h3>
+
+<p>It happened that just as Margaret was finishing her Saturday morning
+lessons Bridget had to go away for a few days, and the last lesson of
+all, which was given by her mother, was really a sort of review of what
+she had learned, such as she had in her school lessons.</p>
+
+<p>It was hardly more than six o'clock in the morning when the little girl
+woke and jumped out of bed. She dressed softly so that she should not
+wake any one, and took her bed to pieces and set her closet door open,
+as she had learned in her Bedroom lesson. She threw up the windows and
+hung up her night-dress, and then left the room, closing the door behind
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother met her in the hall, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> went down-stairs together,
+tying on their clean gingham aprons as they went. The house was all shut
+up of course, so they opened the front doors, raised the shades in the
+parlors, and opened the windows a little to change the air. In the
+kitchen the fire was burning, shut up as they had left it the night
+before, and they first closed it to shake it down, and then opened the
+drafts and put on fresh coal, as Margaret had learned when she studied
+about the range. While the fire was burning up she pinned a little shawl
+about her head and swept off the front steps and sidewalk, and came in
+all glowing from the cold air.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the fire was hot and bright, and the cereal was put on to
+cook in the double boiler, the kettle filled with fresh water and put on
+to boil for coffee. Her mother said she would stay out in the kitchen
+and make muffins for breakfast while the other rooms were put in order,
+so Margaret went into the parlors and sitting-room and straightened the
+chairs, put away books and papers, and dusting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> a little here and there,
+leaving the regular dusting until later in the day. The windows were now
+shut, and the rooms looked very tidy, so she went to the dining-room to
+prepare that for breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>She brushed up the crumbs, aired the room, and put it in order. She
+arranged the doilies on the table, one under each plate, with a round of
+felt under that, laid the silver, put on her mother's tray with the cups
+and saucers, set the tumblers and napkins around, and the plates with
+the finger-bowls and fruit-knives, and the bread and butter plates with
+the spreaders. She filled the salts freshly, and last of all put on a
+vase of flowers. Then she took the cereal dishes, platter, and plates
+out to heat in the oven.</p>
+
+<p>She found her mother was getting ready the eggs and other things for
+breakfast, and she need not help, so she carried into the dining-room
+the butter balls and put them around; filled the finger-bowls and
+tumblers with cold water and the coffee-cups with hot; arranged the
+fruit on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> sideboard, and put cream into the pitcher on the tray as
+well as in another pitcher for the cereal. By the time breakfast was
+ready she had on her white apron and had washed her hands, and when the
+family came down she was ready to show them all what a well-trained
+waitress she was.</p>
+
+<p>"Do sit down with us," her father begged. "You have done so much
+already!" But Margaret felt a little proud that she knew her waiting
+lesson so well, and said she would rather not. She really enjoyed moving
+very quietly around the table, bringing in and taking out things,
+passing everything to the left, and laying down plates at the right, and
+generally remembering just what she had been taught.</p>
+
+<p>After all had finished she ate her own breakfast, and found she had been
+up so long and worked so much that it tasted twice as good as usual.
+When she had finished she put on her gingham apron again and cleared the
+table. She took up the crumbs carefully and used the carpet-sweeper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> all
+over the rug. She scraped and piled the dishes in nice, neat piles, and,
+drawing the hot water, she washed and wiped them all nicely, and put
+them away. She swept the kitchen, wiped off the tables, shut up the
+range and washed out the dish-towels exactly as her grandmother had
+taught in the lesson she gave on the kitchen. Then she went up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother, mother, and aunts had been afraid she would get too
+tired with such a long day's work as she had planned to do, and they had
+made their own beds, but they left Margaret's room for her for fear she
+would be disappointed. She closed the windows first, and while the room
+warmed she made the bathroom neat, washed and wiped out the tub and
+scrubbed off the wash-stand.</p>
+
+<p>Her room was put in beautiful order, to her closet and shoe-bag, and she
+even stopped to put a clean cover on the bureau and dust nicely, to show
+she had not forgotten a single thing. The halls and parlors had to be
+thoroughly dusted now, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> as none of them needed sweeping it did not
+take very long, and there was still time to go to market. She got out
+her jacket and hat, took her pencil, account-book, and kitchen pad, and
+went out to see what was in the refrigerator. Here she had to stop, for
+Bridget had gone away in such a hurry she had quite forgotten to wash
+this out and arrange it properly, so on went the gingham apron again,
+and out came all the things from the box. She gave it a good scrubbing
+with warm water and borax, and put in a fresh dish of charcoal before
+she put back the ice and dishes of food. Then she got her pad again, and
+with her mother's help, planned the meals and wrote down what she must
+buy.</p>
+
+<p>The walk to the grocery and meat market was pleasant, and Margaret quite
+enjoyed ordering the vegetables, chops, fruit, and fish, which were
+needed, and watched to see if she was getting fresh things and good
+measure, and wrote down the prices as though she had been an old
+housekeeper instead of a new one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When she got back again she found there was an hour until lunch, and she
+at once wiped off the shelves in the pantry and put fresh papers on them
+and arranged the tins in a more orderly way than she found them. By the
+time she had finished her Pretty Aunt came out to help get luncheon, and
+together they laid the table and got the meal. She put on her
+waiting-apron again, when it was ready, but this time she sat down with
+the family because her mother said she must surely be tired.</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother insisted on helping with the dishes, and watched with
+pride when afterwards Margaret poured boiling water down the sink after
+laying a bit of washing-soda over the drain, and scrubbed off all her
+tables until they shone, and blacked her range until it was like a
+mirror. "You surely are going to make a wonderful housekeeper!" she
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret laughed as she took off her apron. "But I just <i>love</i> to do
+things, grandmother," she replied, as she went up-stairs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Bridget always found that she had an hour or two to rest in the
+afternoon after her work was done, and so did the little girl, but after
+she had taken a walk and read in a new book for a time, she suddenly
+remembered that the silver needed cleaning, and she might surprise the
+family at dinner with it all polished. She got it out and rubbed it
+well, delighted to see how quickly it grew bright. As she finished her
+mother came into the kitchen with her Other Aunt, and said they meant to
+help get the dinner.</p>
+
+<p>The mother looked around her. "Everything is very nice," she said. "The
+sink is clean, and so is the pantry, and so are all the dishes. The
+range is bright; the dish-towels are washed; the dining-room is in
+order. I noticed as I came through the other rooms that the bedrooms,
+bathroom, and parlors have all been looked after to-day, too. Margaret,
+I do believe you are as good a housekeeper as I am already."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the little girl, thoughtfully,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> "I didn't sweep any to-day,
+nor wash any windows; I didn't shine the faucets in the bathroom,
+either, because I forgot them till this minute. I didn't have time to
+oil the floors in the hall this morning&mdash; I only brushed it up; and I
+haven't looked at the cellar or the attic at all."</p>
+
+<p>Her mother laughed. "But nobody does the whole house from top to bottom
+every single day," she said. "We sweep twice a week, only, and we wash
+windows when they need washing, not all the time. The attic and cellar
+are to be kept in order, but not put in order daily, you know. The
+really good housekeeper does a little putting to rights all the time,
+and every day she takes a certain part of the house and makes it clean,
+but she never tries to do more in one day than belongs to that one. To
+know how to keep a house nice is quite as necessary as to know how to
+make it so. The most important thing of all is knowing what you have
+learned to-day&mdash;to quietly go through the work, taking one thing after
+another, each in its turn, and to do all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> well, without hurry or worry.
+To be able to do this is to make housework pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Margaret, earnestly, "I like to keep house. When I am a
+woman I mean to have the nicest, cleanest house in all the world!"</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose you help me keep this one nice till then!" said her mother.</p>
+
+<h3>THE END</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a
+Little Girl, by Caroline French Benton
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl, by
+Caroline French Benton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl
+       Margaret's Saturday Mornings
+
+Author: Caroline French Benton
+
+Release Date: January 9, 2010 [EBook #30897]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
+scanned images of public domain material from the Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
+
+OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
+
+
+
+
+The Ideal Series for Girls
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A little Cook Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
+
+  Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+The simple, vivacious style makes this little manual as delightful
+reading as a story-book.
+
+
+A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; OR MARGARET'S SATURDAY
+MORNINGS
+
+  BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
+
+  Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+A little girl, home from school on Saturday mornings, finds out how to
+make helpful use of her spare time.
+
+
+A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY AMY L. WATERMAN
+
+  Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+This is a book of special appeal, as it explains in simple fashion the
+processes of making delicious fudges, fondants, nut dainties and the
+like.
+
+
+A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl
+
+  BY LOUISE FRANCES CORNELL
+
+  Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
+
+  75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
+
+A splendid volume to encourage little girls in the study of the useful
+and beautiful art of the needle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+53 BEACON ST., BOSTON, MASS.
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
+
+OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
+
+
+By
+Caroline French Benton
+
+AUTHOR OF
+"A LITTLE COOK BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL"
+
+
+Boston
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+Publishers
+
+
+_Copyright, 1906_
+BY THE PAGE COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHERS' NOTE
+
+
+This little book was originally published under the title
+
+_Saturday Mornings_,
+
+but there has been some criticism of that title because it is not
+sufficiently descriptive of the contents of the book. The Publishers,
+consequently, have thought it wise in the present edition to change the
+title to
+
+_A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl_
+
+OR
+
+MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS.
+
+This change has the advantage also of making the title uniform with the
+other titles in the series--
+
+_A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl_,
+
+_A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl, etc._
+
+
+Thanks are due the editor of _Good Housekeeping_ for permission to
+reproduce the greater part of this book from the serial in that
+magazine.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        CHAPTER                                                     PAGE
+
+     I. MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE                                     13
+
+    II. THE KITCHEN FIRE                                              19
+
+   III. THE DINING-ROOM TABLE                                         33
+
+    IV. WASHING DISHES                                                57
+
+     V. THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS                                      70
+
+    VI. SWEEPING AND DUSTING                                          84
+
+   VII. THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE       99
+
+  VIII. HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC                              110
+
+    IX. LAUNDRY WORK                                                 122
+
+     X. THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF
+          THE REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS                       133
+
+    XI. MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS                               148
+
+   XII. THE DAY'S WORK                                               161
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE
+
+
+About Christmas time Margaret was accustomed to see things tucked out of
+sight whenever she came around, and her feelings were never hurt when
+her Pretty Aunt, or her Other Aunt, or her mother, or her grandmother
+said: "Don't you want to run down-stairs a little while, dear!" or,
+"Margaret, would you mind staying out of the sitting-room all this
+morning?" But this Christmas everybody said these things twice as often
+as usual, and Margaret wondered about it.
+
+"Mother," she said one day, "if you were a little girl and every one
+said 'Run away, now,' over and over, twice as many times as other
+Christmases, what would you think?"
+
+Her mother laughed. "Well," she said, "I suppose I should think I was
+going to have twice as many presents as usual."
+
+Margaret drew a long breath. "Would you?" she asked, thoughtfully. "Two
+pairs of skates, and two sets of furs, and two boxes of handkerchiefs,
+and two pink kimonos, and six books; that would be twice as many
+presents as last year. But what does one little girl want with twos? Now
+if I was twins--"
+
+The Pretty Aunt laughed. "Let me explain it to her," she said.
+"Margaret, how would you like two Christmas trees, one for everybody,
+just as usual, with your presents on it, and one little tree, all for
+yourself, with more presents? Would you like that for a change?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she would, but it seemed very queer. Two
+trees, and only one little girl! Now if she really had been twins--
+
+"Twins, indeed!" said the Other Aunt.
+
+"Just wait till you see, and perhaps you will be glad there's only one
+of you!" And everybody laughed again except Margaret, who thought it all
+very queer indeed.
+
+When Christmas morning came she jumped up in a hurry and waked every one
+up calling out, "Merry Christmas!" and then she danced with impatience
+because it took them so long to get ready. But at last the doors of the
+parlor were thrown open and she rushed in. There stood the great,
+beautiful tree, hung with tinsel and bright balls, and twinkling with
+beautiful lights, and on its branches were bundles and bundles, tied
+with red ribbons and holly, and on the floor were more bundles, and she
+forgot about the little tree she had meant to look for. But by and by,
+when she had opened all her presents, and made a pile of them on the
+piano, and thanked everybody for them, she whispered:
+
+"Mother, was there to be a little tree, all for me?"
+
+"Why, of course," said her mother, smiling, "we nearly forgot, didn't
+we? Suppose you look behind the library door?"
+
+Margaret ran and looked, and, sure enough, there was the tree, but such
+a queer one! It was small, and had no candles and no ornaments. The
+corner was dark and she could not see very well, but it seemed to be
+hung with things that looked like dust-pans and whisk-brooms. She stood
+looking at it, wondering if it was all a joke.
+
+Just then her father saw her and came to pull the tree out where she
+could see it, and, sure enough, there was a dust-pan tied on with a red
+tape, and a whisk-broom with another red tape, and a little sweeping-cap
+with a red bow, some gingham aprons and white aprons, and brown towels
+and red-and-white towels, and dust-cloths, all with red M's in their
+corners; and put at the top was a little book tied on the tree with a
+big red bow. Her mother took this down and handed it to her, and every
+one stood and looked on and smiled because she was so surprised. When
+Margaret looked at the cover of the book she knew what was inside in a
+minute, because, painted on the cover was a little girl who looked just
+like her with a big apron on, and a sweeping-cap, holding a broom in one
+hand and a dust-pan in the other, and above, in bright red letters, were
+the words, Saturday Mornings.
+
+"Oh, it's for me!" she cried, delighted. "It's like my own cook-book,
+only it tells how to clean house instead of cook. I love to clean house!
+I love to make beds! I love to wash dishes! I just _love_ to sweep! May
+I wear that beautiful cap, and are all those dish-towels for me, and is
+that my very own dust-pan?" Then she ran to the tree and got everything
+down. First she put on all the aprons, one on top of another, with the
+ruffled waiting-on-table apron on top of the rest, and she put the cap
+on her head, and hung all the dish-towels over one arm and all the
+dusters over the other, and gathered up the brooms and dust-pan in her
+arms and sat down in a corner with her book.
+
+"This is the best of all," she said, soberly. "My other presents are
+lovely, too, my books and my gold heart pin, and my white rocking-chair
+for my own room, and the mittens grandmother knit for me with the lace
+stitches down the back, but I like my little book best, and all the
+things on my own little tree most. This is the nicest Christmas I ever,
+ever had! The name of my book is Saturday Mornings, because other days I
+have to go to school, but Saturdays I can sweep and dust and wash
+dishes. What fun it will be! I don't know which chapter sounds best."
+She hugged the little dust-pan and shook out the dish-towels. "Oh, I
+just can't wait to begin," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE KITCHEN FIRE
+
+
+Although Margaret had become pretty well acquainted with the kitchen
+during the year she was learning to cook she had never quite understood
+how to manage the kitchen range or the fire, because Bridget always
+attended to that part for her. But at the very first lesson in the
+Saturday Morning Class her mother, who was to be the teacher that day,
+said the subject would be "Ranges and Fires," because it was the
+beginning of all housekeeping.
+
+Margaret put on her biggest, longest-sleeved gingham apron, got a hearth
+brush, a dust-pan, the little dish which held the stove blacking, brush
+and polisher, rolled up her sleeves and prepared to listen.
+
+"The reason why so many women find cooking hard work," her mother
+began, "is because they do not understand their range or stove. They
+cannot make a fire grow hot quickly, or make it cooler if it is too hot;
+they do not know how to get what the cook-books call a 'moderate oven.'
+'We never could understand about drafts and things,' they say, but the
+real truth of the matter is that they are too lazy to try and learn, I'm
+afraid, because it is so very simple that even a little girl can learn
+about it in ten minutes. The only way to be a good housekeeper is to
+understand all about a fire and how to keep a kitchen range in a good
+temper."
+
+Margaret laughed at this, but her mother said stoves were just like
+people, and sometimes would refuse to do as they were told, and were
+cross and sulky; but they could be as pleasant and smiling and obliging
+as a good little girl. Then she took off the covers and explained all
+about the inside of the range. "You see," she began, "the fire is in a
+sort of box lined with heavy brick. Now, if the coals come up to the
+very top of this, or lie on its edges, they will crack the brick as they
+get heated, and so spoil it, and fire-brick is very expensive and
+troublesome to replace. You can heat the sides and bottom very hot, and
+it will not hurt it, but not the top edges. So, in putting on coal you
+must never let it quite fill the box, and after you set the scuttle down
+on the floor you must take the long poker and feel all around on top of
+the ovens and see if any bit has rolled there, and bring it back where
+it belongs. If it should roll down the sides you could not get it out,
+and it would spoil the draft and injure the stove. Now if you understand
+all this we will shake out the coal and make a new fire."
+
+"Oh, let me shake!" exclaimed Margaret, and before her mother could stop
+her she had put in the shaker and moved it about so quickly that the
+ashes came out of the open covers and drafts and filled the room, and
+both she and her mother were coughing and choking.
+
+Her mother stopped her. "That isn't the way to shake a fire," she said.
+"The covers must all go on first, and everything be shut up tight." Then
+she showed her the two slides over the oven doors, and the others in
+front, and pushed them shut. The two in the stovepipe were opened, so
+the ashes could go up that way, and the covers were tightly put in their
+places. "Now," she said, "you may shake."
+
+So Margaret shook and shook until her arms were tired, but though the
+fine ashes all came out, there was a handful of large coals which would
+not go through the grate. These, her mother explained, were partly good,
+unburned coal, and partly poor, hard bits, called clinkers. Some people
+just turned them all out with the ashes and threw them away, but this
+was wasteful. They must be picked over and the good bits burned again.
+Margaret hunted up a big pair of old gloves of her father's, and with
+these on she picked out the good pieces of coal and laid them on one
+side, and then she tipped the grate by turning the stove handle quite
+around, and the clinkers all fell into the ash-pan and the grate was
+left empty. A big newspaper was next spread on the floor and the ash-pan
+carefully drawn out over it and emptied into a scuttle kept ready for
+this, so it could be easily carried to the place where the ashes were
+kept, and emptied into the can there. She put the empty pan on the
+paper, and with her brush swept out all the cracks inside the stove, up
+and down, here and there, till no ashes were to be seen anywhere. Then
+the pan was put back. The ovens were opened next, and these, too, swept
+out with a clean whisk-broom, and away back in the corners they found
+several bits of toast and such things all dried to a crisp, which
+Bridget had not seen at all. When all the ashes were taken up and those
+on the newspaper cleared away, her mother said, "Now we are ready for
+the fire."
+
+"First we put a crumpled paper on the bottom; on this we lay crossed
+sticks of kindling, a good many, because this is to be a coal fire; if
+we were going to burn wood we would not need so many; we must shut the
+little slide in the front of the stove directly before the fire, and
+open the one at the bottom, so the smoke will go up. Look and see if the
+two drafts in the pipe are open; if not, the room will be full of smoke
+as soon as we start the kindling. The dampers into the ovens must be
+shut, too, so the fire will have nothing to distract its attention; if
+we left them open it would think it had not only to burn, but to get the
+ovens hot, too. Now if you are ready you can light the paper."
+
+In a moment Margaret heard the wood roaring well, then she took off a
+cover and sprinkled on one shovel of coal and closed the top again; as
+soon as she saw by peeping in that this was red, she put on another,
+scattering it evenly all around, and presently she added a third
+shovelful, and by this time the wood was well burned away and the coal
+was hot, so she knew the fire was made.
+
+The lesson then took up heating the ovens, which was still more
+important. Her mother showed Margaret how to push in and out the
+dampers over the oven doors, and explained the shutter inside which they
+worked. "When we want the oven hot we pull the shutter open to let the
+heat go all around the oven. When we want to cool it we shut the
+shutter. The first thing to learn about a stove is this: find out
+whether the damper is pushed in or pulled out to heat the ovens; you can
+tell by taking off the top covers and watching, for you can see in that
+way how the shutter works. Some push in and others pull out, and each
+stove may be different. These push in when you want to get the oven hot.
+Now, if you want to cook on top of the stove, and want all the heat up
+there, of course you do not need the ovens heated, so you shut them
+away. When you are all done with the fire never let it burn uselessly,
+but close it up, and so keep it. The reason of the draft in the front of
+the stove at the bottom, is this: the air rushes in up through the coal
+and on into the chimney, and makes the fire go hard. If you want to
+have it go slowly and not waste the coal, of course you must shut this
+tight. The other draft, directly in front of the fire, lets the cool air
+right in on the hot coals, and keeps them from burning up rapidly, so if
+you want a hot fire you must shut this, and when you want the fire to go
+down you must open it. Is that plain?"
+
+"Yes," said Margaret, thoughtfully. "When I bake I make the ovens hot by
+pushing in the dampers, and opening the slide at the bottom and shutting
+it at the top. When I want to make something on top, I pull out the
+dampers to get the ovens cool, and I open the one at the bottom and shut
+the one at the top. When I'm all done I leave the oven dampers out, shut
+the bottom draft in front and open the top one. Then the fire gets cool.
+But what do I do to the chimney dampers?"
+
+"Sure enough," said her mother, "we almost forgot those. You see the
+queer handles on them--thin and straight; those are like the flat plates
+inside the pipe that turn just as they do. When you want the fire to
+burn hard you turn the handle along the pipe, and that turns the plate
+the same way, and the heat can get out and make a good draft. But if you
+are shutting up the fire you turn the handle across the pipe, and that
+makes the plate turn straight across, too, and stops the heat from
+getting out, and so the fire dies down."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Margaret, "that's easy to understand. But what do people
+do who don't have coal fires? Sometimes they have wood to burn."
+
+"But the dampers and drafts all work the same way," said her mother.
+"Wood is nice and clean to burn, and makes a quick, hot fire, but it has
+to be watched all the time or it will go out. Coal makes a steady heat,
+and so for most things it is better to use. Now look in and see how
+things are going."
+
+Margaret raised the covers and found a bed of bright red coals. Her
+mother told her to put on coal at once; if she waited the fire would
+grow still hotter,--what was called white hot,--and then it would be
+spoiled. Coal must always go on before this point, but not too much,
+which would be wasteful. A bright, low fire was always best.
+
+"Now leave the drafts all open just a moment," said her mother, "to let
+the coal gas burn away, and then you can shut the fire up and it will
+keep just right for hours. And one thing more--never let the coal come
+up near the covers of the stove, or the great heat will warp these and
+spoil them; they will always have cracks around their edges, and the
+heat will be wasted."
+
+"Bridget never lets her fire go out at night," said Margaret, as she
+shut the fire all up. "She likes to keep it a whole week and then let
+the stove get cold and make it all over again on Saturdays."
+
+"Yes," said her mother, "that is a very good way to do, for it does not
+use up the kindling, and it takes no more coal to keep the fire all
+night than to start a new one every morning. But if you ever notice how
+she manages you will see that she shakes out the ashes at night, puts on
+coal, and lets the gas burn off, just as we have done. Then she shuts up
+the oven drafts, and the one at the bottom, and opens the one in front
+of the fire as we did; in the morning she finds her fire exactly right;
+all she has to do is to make it a little brighter and hotter, so she
+shuts the draft in front of the coal and opens the one at the bottom, to
+get the air to rush up through the coal, and sets the drafts in the pipe
+open, too, so the hot air can get out; then when the fire burns up red
+she shakes out the ashes a little and puts on fresh coal, and it is
+ready for the day, and as hot as she wants it."
+
+"I don't see why she ever lets it go out at all," said Margaret. "Why
+does it burn worse on Fridays, and have to be built all over on
+Saturdays?"
+
+Her mother laughed. "Why, you see," she said, "the ashes will get into
+the corners and the clinkers into the grate in spite of all the care
+one can take, so once a week she takes everything out as we have done
+and makes a nice, clean, new fire. But now we are all done except
+blacking the stove. Generally that ought to be done when the fire is not
+hot, but we were talking and I did not have you do it then; next time we
+will manage better."
+
+Margaret wet the blacking a little, dipped in her brush, and scrubbed
+the stove well all over, especially in the corners. Then she polished it
+with the dry side of the brush till it shone like a mirror. The little
+knobs on the doors she rubbed with a bit of nickel polish she found in
+another box, and used a dry flannel cloth on them last. Her mother
+explained that it was necessary to keep a stove very bright and shining,
+or it would wear out, and, besides that, a bright one made the kitchen
+look tidy and attractive. "Some people just paint the whole stove over
+once or twice a year with a black enamel, and never polish it at all,
+and perhaps that is a good way for very busy people to do, but I like
+the old-fashioned way better myself. Shine it a little every day in the
+week, and once in every few days give it a good thorough blacking and
+polishing when the fire is out, and you will make the stove wear a long
+time and keep it in good working order as well. A clean range, one that
+is really clean and well cared for inside and out, is always
+good-natured and happy, and does the very best it knows how for you when
+you try and cook, but one that is full of ashes and clinkers, with a
+face all grimy and dusty and gray, gets sullen and cross, and will not
+try and please anybody. You must keep it good-natured. Just see how
+proud and happy it looks now."
+
+Margaret smiled admiringly at the shiny range and bright fire.
+"Sometimes Bridget puts things in her stove that make all the house
+smell," she said. "I am never going to put anything into mine but nice,
+clean wood and coal."
+
+"The reason Bridget puts them in," her mother replied, "is a good one. I
+often burn up small quantities of garbage myself, but I never have a
+bit of odor, for all I have to do is to open the drafts in the chimney
+and at the bottom, and shut those going into the ovens and the one in
+front of the fire, and then all the smell goes straight up the chimney.
+If you are careful you can often get rid of little things in the kitchen
+by burning them, but you should be sure and never let the odor get out
+into the room."
+
+Just then Bridget came into the kitchen and said it was time for her to
+get lunch.
+
+"See, Bridget," Margaret exclaimed, proudly, "we blacked the range and
+made it smile all over. It just loves to be clean and shiny!"
+
+"It does that," said Bridget. "I guess it'll bake sponge cakes for lunch
+to say it feels glad."
+
+"Oh, goody!" said Margaret, as she ran to take off her big apron and
+wash her hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE DINING-ROOM TABLE
+
+
+The second lesson in Margaret's book really took her a whole month to
+learn perfectly, because there were so many things to remember. One
+Saturday she studied about the breakfast-table, and during the next week
+she practised the lesson over every day; the next week she took the
+luncheon-table and laid that and waited on it, and the third and fourth
+weeks she learned all about the dinner-table, and that was hardest of
+all. But, as her mother said, if she learned in one single month to be a
+perfect waitress she was an unusually bright maid!
+
+
+BREAKFAST
+
+The first Saturday morning her Other Aunt woke her rather early, and
+told her after she was ready to put on a nice white apron and over it a
+fresh gingham apron to protect it, or, if she did not feel quite sure
+she could keep it fresh even so, to put on the gingham one and bring
+down the white one to put on when everything was ready.
+
+The dining-room was dark when they went into it, and smelled of the
+dinner the night before; they threw open the windows and let the wind
+sweep through while Margaret got the carpet-sweeper and took up the few
+crumbs which had not been found and taken away after the last meal. Then
+they closed the windows again, and dusted about where it was necessary,
+leaving the thorough dusting until later in the day.
+
+"We are going to have oranges for a first course at breakfast," said her
+aunt, coming in with some in her hands, "and we will put them on the
+table now. See how nice and cold they are because they have been in the
+refrigerator all night. Some people leave their fruit-dish standing on
+the sideboard all the time, and all the oranges and apples and bananas
+grow warm and stale, instead of being cold and crisp and refreshing. Put
+a white centrepiece in the middle of the table, and we will pile these
+in a flat dish on it instead of using the pot of ferns we sometimes
+have. It is always nice to have something pretty in the middle of the
+table."
+
+Margaret was standing before the drawer in the sideboard hesitating
+whether she should bring a table-cloth or not. Then she saw a large
+hemstitched square in a corner, and remembered that her mother had said
+she had just bought some new cloths for breakfast and luncheon, and that
+made it still harder to decide. What should they have on the
+breakfast-table? They usually had little squares of linen, one under
+each plate and larger ones under the platter and tray, but perhaps she
+was to learn some new way this morning. Her aunt came and looked over
+her shoulder.
+
+"For breakfast and luncheon we do not use a table-cloth," she said. "Few
+people do nowadays. Some use the doilies we have been using, and others
+use a small cloth with a fancy border, such as fringe, or a narrow
+pattern; the dinner-cloth, you know, is large and heavy, not suitable
+for a simple meal. But now we have some nice small cloths, which are
+less trouble to put on than the doilies. See, this is a square which
+lies on the table with a point hanging over each side, leaving the table
+corners bare. The plates go on it, but still it looks informal and
+pretty. Here is a pad just the right size to go under it. You must
+always put a pad or something of the kind under everything you use on
+the table; under the doilies, you know, we put squares of felt, and
+under the big dinner-cloth a large piece of double Canton flannel; if we
+did not, the varnish on the table-top would be spoiled in no time. Now
+let us get the silver."
+
+There were always six places laid at the table, so Margaret counted out
+the knives, forks and spoons, and brought them over from the drawer. At
+each place they put a knife on the right, the sharp edge of the blade
+toward the plate, and outside that a dessert-spoon for cereal and a
+teaspoon for coffee; on the left was a fork, and then a napkin. At the
+top of the place, directly in front, they put a tumbler at the right and
+a small plate for bread and butter at the left, with a little knife,
+called a spreader, on it. They then got out small fruit-plates, and on
+each they laid first, a small, clean doily, then a finger-bowl with a
+little water in it,--not very much, as it was not intended to swim in,
+the aunt said,--and on the edge of the plate a fruit-knife and an orange
+spoon. These plates were laid all around the table at the different
+places. At the top of the table where her father was to sit Margaret put
+a carving knife and fork, but took them away when she found there would
+be bacon for breakfast, and it would be passed around with a fork and
+spoon on the small platter; if there had happened to be beefsteak she
+would have left them on, as then they would have been needed.
+
+At the other end of the table, where her mother was to sit, they put a
+tray covered with a fresh napkin, and arranged on it the sugar-bowl, the
+cream-pitcher, the tray-bowl, and a small pitcher for hot water. At the
+right near by, the cups and saucers were arranged, each cup standing in
+its own saucer, not piled up. As it was cold weather Margaret was told
+she must bring in hot water and half-fill them just before the meal was
+ready, so they would be hot and not chill the coffee; her mother would
+empty the water in the tray-bowl when she was ready to use them. Then
+they brought out of the china-closet the dishes which were to go into
+the kitchen to be heated: the dish for cereal, the small, deep plates to
+use with it, the plates and vegetable dish, and the round platter.
+
+"Never serve a hot cereal in a cold dish, or use cold dishes to put it
+in on the table," said the aunt. "And never, never ask anybody to eat
+hot bacon and potatoes, or anything else which has just come from the
+fire, on a cold plate. It is no trouble to warm everything, and it
+makes just the difference between a good meal and a poor one. A famous
+man once said that if he could have only one thing for his dinner he
+would choose a hot plate." Margaret laughed as she began to carry out
+the dishes.
+
+Her aunt stopped her. "You have a dinner platter," she said, "get the
+pretty round platter; always use that for luncheon and breakfast,
+because it looks more informal, and seems more appropriate. And we must
+stop a minute to put on the salts; we forgot them." They did not have
+shakers, because Margaret's mother thought small, low, open silver or
+glass bowls were prettier; these they filled freshly with salt and shook
+them evenly, and placed them near the centrepiece at the ends of the
+table. They only put on two because the table was small; sometimes,
+however, they used four or six, when guests were there.
+
+While the dishes were heating, and Bridget was getting breakfast ready,
+they filled the glasses and put the butter balls on the bread and
+butter plates; then, Margaret had her lesson in waiting on the table.
+
+"After we sit down," her aunt said, "pass the fruit, going to each
+person's left, so he can take it with the right hand and hold the dish
+low down. Then put the dish back in the middle of the table, and leave
+it there through the meal. If there are flowers or a plant on the table,
+serve the fruit from the sideboard, and put it back there when you have
+passed it. If you have berries or melons to serve, those may be ready on
+the sideboard before breakfast, and a plate with a finger-bowl on it can
+stand at each place. The berries may be passed, and each person can lift
+off the finger-bowl and doily at the same time and set it near the plate
+and serve himself to the berries. Melons are usually set on the table
+before breakfast on each plate, the finger-bowl standing near by, but if
+you want to have it more elegantly arranged than this, put the melons on
+small plates, and after the finger-bowl is removed, lay this plate down
+on top of the one standing already on the table. Just now it is
+considered very nice to nearly always have a plate in front of one. I
+will tell you more about that when we come to serving dinner.
+
+"You can have the hot plates brought into the room when the cereal comes
+in with its hot dishes, and you can lift off a fruit-plate, standing on
+each person's right, and lay down a hot plate with the small cereal dish
+already on it, and when all are around you can pass the cereal, and then
+the sugar and cream."
+
+"But," objected Margaret, "I can't carry a tray and take off a plate and
+put down a plate all at once, because I don't have three hands, only
+just two!"
+
+"No, of course not," smiled her aunt. "But you don't use a tray in
+changing plates. You slip off the soiled one with the left hand and lay
+down the clean one with the right, holding this clean one over the
+other. It really saves time in the end to manage in this way, as you
+will see. After the cereal, if those small plates have been so
+good-sized as to well cover the hot plates underneath them and so
+protect them from cream, all you have to do is to take these off,
+leaving the larger plates, using your tray this time and standing always
+on the right; put the first dish on the tray and take the next in your
+hand and carry them to the sideboard and leave them there and then take
+the next two, and so on; never pile your plates. Then pass the bacon
+around, going to the left, as with the fruit, and then the potato and
+muffins. Bring the cups on the tray, as your mother fills them, and set
+them down carefully at each person's right; do not offer a cup to any
+one, because coffee is so easily spilled in taking it off and on a tray
+and handing it about.
+
+"Few people would ever have fruit, cereal, hot things, and then cakes,
+too; but some day you may have fruit, bacon or meat, and then cakes, so
+you had better learn how to manage with them. Just have ready small,
+hot plates, and bring one at a time and exchange it with the meat plate
+as you did before; you must put on two forks instead of one at the left
+of each plate when you lay the table, if you are to have a second hot
+course.
+
+"You do not take off the crumbs at breakfast because it is such an
+informal meal, but you must watch and see if any tumbler needs
+refilling, or if anybody needs a second butter ball, and supply it
+without being asked. The meat platter, the dish of potatoes, and the
+muffins or toast should also be offered twice to every one. Your mother,
+however, will ask if any one wants a second cup of coffee, and then you
+bring her the cup, and after she has rinsed it out by pouring in hot
+water from her little pitcher, she will fill it and you can carry it
+back and set it down again. Now that is all, I think, and you can wash
+your hands and take off your gingham apron and ask Bridget if you may
+call down the family; that is, if you may say to your mother, very
+quietly and politely, 'Breakfast is served!'" Margaret laughed, and
+smoothed down her nice crisp white apron proudly as she left the room.
+
+
+LUNCHEON
+
+Laying the luncheon-table proved to be exactly like laying the
+breakfast-table, and, as her aunt said, if they were laying a
+supper-table that would have also been done in the same way; so really
+all Margaret had to learn was how to lay two tables, one for breakfast,
+luncheon or supper, and one for dinner.
+
+However, her aunt thought they would use doilies instead of the
+lunch-cloth for a change, so Margaret would not think her lesson did not
+amount to much, and she got these out at lunch time and put one down for
+each person with its square of felt underneath it. In the middle she put
+a large doily which matched the others, and added one or two smaller
+ones, one for bread, one for a dish of olives, and so on, arranging them
+evenly on the table. She put a dish of ferns on for a centrepiece and a
+tray for tea for her mother at the end.
+
+"If," said her aunt, "you wish a formal luncheon you lay a pretty
+plate--a cold one--in front of each place, and exchange this for a hot
+one when you pass the main dish. But when you are just laying a family
+table you can put a hot plate down and merely pass the food as usual.
+You need not put the dishes of food on the table--just bring them from
+the sideboard. But remember at every meal never to let the food get
+cold. The vegetables you can keep in covered dishes, of course, but
+after you have passed everything so you can leave the room, carry the
+meat out and put it in the oven until you want to pass it a second time.
+
+"If you are to have salad, have this ready on the sideboard before
+lunch, with its plates, and, if you are to have them, the crackers and
+cheese also. You can take off the soiled plates after the meat course,
+and lay down clean ones just as before, standing at each person's right,
+taking off the soiled plate with the left hand and laying down the
+clean one with the right, holding it above the other. Then pass the
+salad, on the tray to each one's left, and next the salad dressing or
+crackers or olives, or whatever goes with it. After the salad, crumb the
+table, both at luncheon and supper, but if you use doilies do not take
+the regular crumb-knife and tray, but carry a folded napkin in your
+right hand and gently sweep off the crumbs into the tray; a knife might
+scratch the table, and would certainly sound disagreeable against the
+wood.
+
+"The dessert, which may be fruit, should be ready before the meal on the
+sideboard, with the plates and finger-bowls. When the last course before
+it is taken off and the crumbs removed, there are no plates on the table
+at all; it is the one time when it is cleared. So all you have to do is
+to lay down the plates and finger-bowls with the fruit-knives and spoons
+and pass the fruit. If you have cake, or preserves, or dessert of any
+kind instead of fruit, you do just the same way; lay down the plates
+and pass the things."
+
+"But what do I do with the tray and teacups?" Margaret asked.
+
+"Take them off when you do the last plates before the table is crumbed,"
+said her aunt. "Take off the bread and butter plates, too. A good way to
+do this is to take the large plate on the tray and carry the small one
+in the hand. Of course the large bread plate is removed, too, and any
+dish of jelly or olives which is done with. But dishes of salted nuts or
+candies are left on, to keep the table looking pretty. Now I really
+think that is all. Do you think you can serve luncheon as well as you
+did breakfast?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she ought to do twice as well, because it was
+really the same thing over again.
+
+
+DINNER
+
+If the lesson on dinner had come first Margaret would have thought it
+pretty hard, but after the other two she had just had, it seemed easy
+enough.
+
+This time she put on the large pad and the long, heavy dinner-cloth; her
+aunt had to stand at the opposite end of the table and help her with
+these, and she warned her to always be very careful not to crease the
+cloth, because a mussed cloth was worse than none at all.
+
+"Be careful always to have table linen spotless," she said. "If anything
+gets on the cloth at dinner, as soon as the meal is over put a cup under
+the place and pour a tiny stream of hot water through and then rub the
+place gently with a clean, dry cloth and smooth it out with your hand;
+leave the cloth on the table till morning, and usually it will be smooth
+and dry; if not, take a flat-iron then and quickly and lightly iron the
+place; then fold the cloth and lay it away. Most people cannot have a
+new cloth on every night, but no one need ever have on a cloth that is
+not clean; a good housekeeper never does, so of course you never will."
+Margaret said she certainly never would.
+
+"One reason why we use doilies or a lunch-cloth for breakfast and
+luncheon and supper is because if these get soiled it is easy to wash
+them out at once; it makes housework simpler in the end to have them
+instead of using table-cloths three times a day, which are large and
+very troublesome to wash. People who once learn to use them never go
+back to the old-fashioned way of doing. Now get a pretty centrepiece and
+put that on in the middle, and bring the bunch of roses from the parlor;
+we will have them to-night instead of the fern-dish, because we want an
+especially nice table for you."
+
+After the flowers were on, the silver was laid, almost as at breakfast.
+A knife at the right, blade to the plate; a dessert-spoon beyond, for
+soup; two forks at the left; the bread and butter plate at the top, at
+the left, and the tumbler also at the top, to the right. If they were
+having a company dinner, Margaret was told, the bread and butter plate
+would not be used, for then a dinner roll would be laid in the napkin
+and no butter served at all. The napkin, as before, went to the left,
+beyond the forks, and a large, cold plate was laid down between the
+silver. The salts were freshly filled and put on, and a glass dish for
+jelly at one end of the table. In front of her father's place they laid
+a carving cloth, and on it a large knife and fork, putting the tips on a
+little rest.
+
+Next they took the soup-plates, the dinner-plates, the large platter and
+two vegetable dishes out into the kitchen to be made hot; they also
+carried out the bread-plate, the salad-bowl, and the pudding-dish, as
+well as the after-dinner coffee-cups and saucers. Then they arranged the
+plates for salad on the sideboard, and the dessert-plates, putting a
+dessert-spoon and fork for each person on these. While the dinner was
+getting ready came the lesson in waiting, as before.
+
+"You see we have laid down cold plates," the aunt said. "Some people
+lay down hot ones, as we did at luncheon, but the soup is so likely to
+soil them that it is really hardly safe. Besides, dinner is a more
+formal meal than the others, so we must be more particular. When Bridget
+brings in the tureen she will stand it on the sideboard with the hot
+soup-plates, and you are to dip a spoonful of soup carefully in each
+plate and carry it on your tray to each person's right and set it
+down,--do not offer it on the left. When all are served, carry out the
+tureen. If we had no waitress of course your mother would serve the soup
+from the table, but this is the way we do when we are nicely waited on.
+
+"When it is time to carry off the soup-plates, take your tray and go to
+each person's right and lift the plate, putting the first one on the
+tray and taking the next in your hand. Put them on the sideboard, and
+carry them out later, very quietly, but do not stop now. Leave the cold
+plate on the table still. Then bring in the hot plates and put them in a
+pile in front of the carver, slipping out his cold plate first. Bring
+in the vegetables and put them on the sideboard; last of all bring in
+the meat and set it before the carver; do not leave the room after the
+meat is on the table, for it will get cold.
+
+"As each plate is filled, take it to the first person served--your
+mother, if you are a family party, and either your mother or a woman
+guest first, if you have company; some people always have the mother
+served first even if guests are present, and others prefer the other
+way; but always serve the ladies first, whether guests are there or not.
+Slip out the cold plate and lay down the hot one at the right, as you
+have before, and put the cold plates neatly in a pile on the sideboard.
+Pass the vegetables next, offering them at the left, and then the bread
+in the same way. While this course is eaten, carry out the soup-plates,
+if they are still on the sideboard, and fill the glasses.
+
+"When all have finished take off the roast first and carry it out; then
+take off the soiled plates and lay down the salad-plates at the right,
+as you have done each time, and pass the salad to the left. Take off
+these when they are used, with the bread and butter plates, bread and
+jelly, and crumb the table, using the knife and tray. Then lay down
+before each one a dessert-plate with either a fork or a dessert-spoon on
+it, or both, if the dish to come needs them; nowadays this is done even
+where the dessert is served at one end of the table. If you can, pass
+the pudding, or whatever the sweet is, so that each one can serve
+himself, offering it at the left, of course. If it is very soft, or is
+something difficult for one to manage in this way, then have the dish
+put at one end of the table before your mother. She will put a portion
+on the plate before her, removing the spoon as she does so and laying it
+at one side, and you can set the plate down before the one you serve
+first, exchanging the two plates; this person will also remove his spoon
+and lay it down as the plate is slipped away. Stand on the right to do
+this; then take the second plate for your mother to fill, and so on.
+
+"It is a good plan to have one extra plate ready, and when you take the
+first plate lay this down before your mother, and when you come back
+with the second one this will be filled waiting, and you can exchange
+the two, and so save time. There will be one over at the end, of course,
+and this you can lay on the sideboard.
+
+"When you have company, the coffee is served in the drawing-room, and
+you must bring it in on a tray. But when you are alone, and wish to have
+it on the table, take off the pudding-dish, when all have finished, and
+then all the plates, and bring in the coffee-cups filled on the tray,
+and set one down before each, from his right. If you use finger-bowls
+after dinner, lay these down, too, a little above each place.
+
+"This is a long lesson, and a difficult one for a little girl, and you
+must not be discouraged if it takes you quite a while to learn it well.
+Keep on trying, and soon you will be a perfect waitress. Just remember
+these things, anyway, and everybody will forgive you if you forget some
+others:
+
+"Be sure your hands are clean, your hair very tidy, and your apron white
+and starched. Wear silent shoes, and do not clatter the dishes; do not
+speak to any one, unless you do not understand what to do next, then
+quietly whisper to your mother. Do not offer anybody a cup of tea or
+coffee, or a plate of soup, or even a plate with food on it; set these
+all down at the right. Offer platters, vegetable dishes, bread, and such
+things always at the left. Change all plates at the right. While a
+course is being eaten, softly carry out any soiled dishes from the
+sideboard and fill the glasses. Watch to see what is needed, and offer
+it. Do not offer any one what is already on his plate; that is, if you
+are passing a dish all around and see that he has some of it left, skip
+him and go on to the next. Now I hear Bridget coming in with the
+soup-tureen; run and put on your very best apron and announce dinner as
+though you were the finest waitress in the land!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WASHING DISHES
+
+
+It was Margaret's grandmother who gave her the lesson on dish-washing.
+She said it was the part of housekeeping she really liked the best of
+all and did most easily, so everybody said, "Oh, well, if you really
+_like_ it, perhaps you had better be the one to show Margaret how to do
+it properly!" and then they all laughed.
+
+The gingham apron with sleeves was the one Margaret put on after
+breakfast. It buttoned around her wrists snugly, but on unfastening the
+buttons the sleeves could be rolled up and pinned out of the way, so
+they would keep clean. After she was ready the grandmother showed her
+how to stand all the dining-room chairs back against the wall and take
+up the crumbs under the table, pushing this to one side and then the
+other, so that the rug would really be clean when they were done.
+
+"Now," she said, "run into the kitchen and see that the table there is
+quite empty, so there will be plenty of room for the dishes we are going
+to bring out; bring back with you the large tray, and get out the
+scraping-knife."
+
+Margaret found that Bridget had left some pans and dishes on the table
+after she had cooked the breakfast, and these she piled neatly at one
+end, out of the way. The scraping-knife was a long one with a thin blade
+which bent easily; a palette knife, such as artists use in cleaning
+their paints up, her grandmother explained.
+
+"It seems funny to use an artist's knife to scrape dishes with," said
+Margaret, when she came back. "I should think we would just scrape the
+plates with the silver knives on them. That's the way Bridget does."
+
+"But it is bad for the knives," her grandmother said. "Besides, a stiff
+knife cannot get the grease off, and this thin one can. You will see
+presently how beautifully it works. Now we must carry out the food."
+
+The dishes of meat, potatoes, bread, and other things were taken to the
+kitchen table and emptied; the bread was put back into its box; the bits
+of meat and vegetable were put on small dishes and put in the
+refrigerator; the butter on the small plates was scraped together into a
+little bowl and set aside to cook with. Then they were ready to get the
+dishes together on the dining-room table. They carefully emptied the
+tumblers and coffee-cups into the tray-bowl, so they would not be
+spilled in carrying them out. They piled the silver carefully on a dish,
+and carried out the plates and other things on the table. When it was
+quite cleared, Margaret took up the crumbs and laid the cloth and pad in
+the sideboard drawer. A centrepiece was put on the bare table with the
+fern-dish on it, and the two armchairs were pushed back in their places,
+one at each end. "There," said the grandmother, "when you have dusted
+the room will be right to leave until luncheon. Once or twice a week, of
+course, it has to be thoroughly swept and put to rights, but this is the
+way we do every day."
+
+In the kitchen they scraped the plates very carefully, putting all the
+scraps into a bowl to empty into the garbage pail. They piled them
+nicely, putting all the same kind of plates into one pile, not mixing
+two sizes or sorts. The cups were put together, and the saucers piled
+also. The tray was set ready on one end of the table, and Margaret got
+out her new, clean dish-towels, soft ones for glass and silver, and
+firmer ones for the rest of the things. Then she put out the two
+dish-pans, and turned on the water. It ran very hot from the first, so
+it was all right, but Margaret was told she must always try it before
+she sat down to a meal, and if it was only warm she must put on a
+kettleful to heat, so it would be ready when needed, because it was
+impossible to wash dishes well in any sort of water but the very
+hottest.
+
+They only filled one dish-pan to begin with, and after it was half-full
+Margaret put in the soap-shaker and stirred it around till the water was
+foamy. She hung it up again, and began to put in the tumblers.
+
+"You must be careful that those are not icy," her grandmother cautioned.
+"Even after they have been emptied they must stand till they are fairly
+warm, or they will crack as soon as they touch the hot water. But you
+must be most careful of all about cut glass; that really needs a special
+lesson. If you have a piece there, set it to one side, and when the rest
+of the glass is done and the silver, we will take that." There was a
+fruit-dish which had been used for breakfast, so it was put on a corner
+of the table where it could not be knocked off, to wait its turn.
+
+The tumblers and finger-bowls were put into the hot soapy water at once
+and turned about in it till they were clean. Then they were wiped while
+they were still a little soapy, without rinsing them, because in that
+way they were polished like diamonds. After they were lifted out and put
+on the tray the silver went into the pan and was well scrubbed with the
+mop, and then rinsed with very hot water, which proved to be too much
+for Margaret's hands; when she tried to lift out the forks and spoons
+she could hardly touch them.
+
+"Ouch!" she exclaimed. "It burns me. I must put in some cold water."
+
+"No, indeed!" said her grandmother, "that would spoil everything. Just
+slip a large spoon under all the silver, and lift it out at once. There
+is a saying that no water is hot enough to wash silver in unless it is
+too hot to put your hands in. Just see how fast the heat in it dries it
+as it lies on the tray! And see how it polishes, too, as I wipe it! If
+it were cold it might be greasy, and certainly it would not look half as
+well when it was done. Now before we take the china I will tell you
+about washing cut glass. You can put some fresh water in the dish-pan,
+but make it only as warm as your hand."
+
+While she was getting it ready the grandmother got a soft brush and a
+cake of nice white soap, and, after trying the water to see that it was
+not too warm or too cold, she mixed the soap in thoroughly. The
+beautiful glass bowl was lifted carefully into the pan and scrubbed with
+the little brush till every crack was cleaned and it was brilliant with
+the suds. Margaret was not allowed to lift it out on the tray for fear
+she should let it slip, but she watched how her grandmother handled it.
+
+"If I had done as some careless maids do," her grandmother began, as she
+wiped, "I might have put this bowl right into the very hot water the
+tumblers can bear, and cracked it at once. Cut glass cannot bear either
+hot or cold water. I once had a beautiful bowl broken in two because it
+was held directly under the faucet in the sink while the hot water ran
+into it, and another dish was broken by having a piece of ice put in it
+on the table. Iced lemonade often breaks lovely and costly pitchers.
+You must always wash each piece by itself in lukewarm water, and never
+put it in the pan with other things. Make a suds with good white soap,
+scrub the cracks well with a soft brush which will not scratch, and wipe
+dry without rinsing, and you will have beautiful, brilliant glass, and
+your care will make it last a lifetime. I will set this away in the
+dining-room while you draw some hotter water with soap in it for the
+china. Put in the cleanest things first, and only a few at a time, so
+they will not be chipped."
+
+"Why do I take the cleanest china first?" Margaret inquired, as she put
+in the fruit-plates. "Why don't I take them as they happen to come on
+the table!"
+
+"Some plates are greasy and some are not, and the greasy ones would
+spoil your dish-water," her grandmother explained. "Now rinse those, and
+while I wipe them, wash the rest and then change your water."
+
+When Margaret lifted out the plates, she turned them up edgewise and let
+the water run back into the rinsing-pan, so that they were already
+half-dry when she laid them on the tray. But her grandmother got a fresh
+towel for them, because the first one had become damp, and the dishes
+would not dry easily with it.
+
+Margaret decided that the easiest way to empty the dish-pan before
+putting in more hot water would be to tip it up, so she took it by the
+handles and turned the water directly into the sink. Her grandmother
+stopped her.
+
+"Use the sink-basket," she said. "See, the wire one in the corner. Pour
+the water through that, and then if any bits of food are in it they will
+stop there and not get into the drain; it's a great convenience, and one
+we never had when I was a little girl. So with the dish-mop; that goes
+into hot water where the hands do not like to go, and into cups and
+dishes where it would be much more trouble to take a cloth, as we used
+to do. Nowadays we do not use dish-cloths very often, because doctors
+tell us that they are not as cleanly as they might be, and may bring us
+typhoid fever and other things. A mop can be scalded in very hot water
+after it has been well washed in soap suds, and then shaken out
+perfectly clean to dry quickly, so that it is better to use. On the iron
+and tin things we use a wire dish-washer, which is also very clean,
+indeed, and these make us feel safe."
+
+When the glass, silver, and china was done, Margaret took them on her
+tray and carried them into the dining-room and put them all away. When
+she came back, she looked at the pile of pots and pans on the table, and
+groaned. "Now," she said, "comes the worst of all!"
+
+"These are no trouble," laughed her grandmother, "though there are a
+great many more of them than there ought to be. If Bridget only washed,
+wiped, and put away every dish as soon as she had finished using it,
+there might not be one to wash now. As it is, scald out the dish-mop,
+and put it away, and get the wire dish-washer, and a little household
+ammonia and sapolio, and some more very hot water in the dish-pan, and
+we will do these in a minute."
+
+Then she showed Margaret how to wash out her rinsing-pan well, and wipe
+it dry before hanging it on its nail. The other pan was half-filled with
+very hot water, and a teaspoonful of ammonia put in. "The cleanest
+dishes first," Margaret was told, so in went the baking-tins, after they
+were well scraped, and the wire-washer soon scrubbed them clean, and
+grandmother dried them with a strong towel, and put them on a corner of
+the stove for a moment to get rid of any dampness before they were put
+away. The scorched marks on the white enamelled saucepans had to be
+rubbed well with sapolio, and a nice dish-cloth was found hanging up
+over the sink for the purpose. The coffee-pot had a special bath all
+alone, and was scrubbed out carefully inside as well as out, and every
+single ground was picked out of the spout and corners, and it was wiped
+and dried very carefully, because otherwise it would never make good
+coffee.
+
+The frying-pan had to have a little ammonia to cut the grease, and as
+the outside seemed to be rough, as though it needed attention, too, this
+was well scrubbed with the wire washer till it was just as nice as the
+inside. After it was wiped, it, too, was dried off on the stove, lest
+any dampness might rust it.
+
+This finished the dishes, and Margaret washed out the dish-pan and
+scalded it, and then wiped and hung it up, as she had the rinsing-pan.
+The sink was swept up with a little wire broom, and the bits gathered on
+a small iron shovel. These they put first into the wire sink-basket, and
+then turned out into the bowl of garbage; they scalded the shovel and
+broom, and the basket--turned upside down in the sink--till they were
+all clean. A bit of washing-soda was laid over the drain-pipe, and a
+quantity of very hot water was poured into the sink to flush it. The
+soda melted away, and as it went down the pipe it took all the grease
+with it which the water had left on the sides and in the corners of the
+pipe.
+
+A special cloth was always kept hanging up over the sink for the tables.
+This Margaret wrung out, and used in wiping off all the dish-water which
+lay there; she also wiped up the wood of the sink. Then the kitchen
+broom was brought out and the floor nicely swept, especially under the
+tables and in the corners. The damp dish-towels were scalded and hung
+out in the sunshine; the chairs were set straight, the window-sills
+wiped off and some flat-irons put away which had been left on the stove.
+
+"There," said the grandmother, as they stood looking at the tidy
+kitchen, "that's all there is to do, and I call it pleasant work. I like
+to make things clean and sweet, and I never could see why so many women
+hate to wash dishes."
+
+"Why, grandmother," said Margaret, "I think it's just fun!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS
+
+
+When it was the turn of the Pretty Aunt to give her lesson in
+housekeeping, she said she should begin at daybreak, so Margaret was not
+surprised to hear her knock at the door early in the morning, almost
+before she was dressed.
+
+She helped the little girl take the clothes off the bed, one at a time,
+and put them on two chairs near the windows, being careful not to let
+the blankets get on the floor. She beat the pillows well, and turned the
+mattress up over the foot of the bed so the air could get underneath it.
+The white spread she kept by itself, and had Margaret help fold it up in
+its creases. "Nothing wrinkles more easily," she told Margaret, "and a
+wrinkled spread spoils the look of neatness a bed ought to have when it
+is made. If you have a heavy Marseilles spread, do not sleep under it;
+fold it at night and put it away, and use only the blankets, because it
+is not good for any one to sleep under such a weight. Now hang up your
+night-dress, and put away your slippers and bath-wrapper. I am delighted
+to see that you have no dress or petticoats lying around this morning
+from last night. Too many girls do not hang them up at once when they
+take them off, but leave them over a chair, and put them away in the
+morning, perhaps creased with lying. It is much better to put them away
+as you take them off. Open your windows, next, top and bottom, and set
+the closet door open, too, and then we will go to breakfast."
+
+"Why do I open the closet door?" asked Margaret, laughing at the idea.
+
+"Because your closet needs airing just as much as your room does; more,
+indeed, because its door has been shut all night, while the fresh air
+has been blowing into the room through the open windows. If you did not
+air it every day, it would soon have a close, shut-up odor, and perhaps
+your dresses would have it, too, which would certainly not be nice at
+all. It has to have fresh air to keep it sweet. Now we will shut the
+door of your room as we go, for the cold wind would chill the halls, and
+besides, the sight of a disordered bedroom is not attractive."
+
+After breakfast Margaret went up-stairs and shut the windows of her
+room, and a little later, when it was warm, she and her aunt put on
+fresh white aprons and went in and began to put it to rights.
+
+One stood on each side of the bed and turned the mattress from head to
+foot; the next day, Margaret was told, it must be turned from side to
+side as well as over, to keep it always in good shape. If this was not
+done constantly there would soon be a hollow place in the middle, which
+would never come out, and the mattress would be spoiled. They laid over
+it the nice white pad which kept it looking always new and clean, and
+then the lower sheet, the wide hem at the top and the narrow one at the
+bottom, the seams toward the mattress, and tucked it smoothly in at the
+sides.
+
+"Some people are careless about these little things," said the aunt as
+they worked. "They think it does not matter if there is a hollow in the
+mattress, or whether they have a cover for it or not. They mix the top
+and bottom sheets, and never know which is which; but you are going to
+do things the right way, which is always the easiest in the end."
+
+They laid the upper sheet on with the wide hem at the top, as before,
+but with the seam up instead of down. Margaret wondered at this, but was
+told that this way made the two smooth sides of the sheets come next to
+the one who slept between them, and at the same time made the upper
+sheet turn over at the top with the seam underneath.
+
+When the blankets went on, the Pretty Aunt said she was thankful to
+notice that Margaret's mother always cut hers in two.
+
+"What for?" asked the little girl.
+
+"Well," was the reply, "double blankets are difficult to handle. They
+are really one long blanket folded together, and one-half sometimes
+slips and gets wrinkled, and is hard to get into place. Then,
+half-blankets are more easily aired than whole ones, and more easily
+washed, also. And if one is too warm in the night, and wishes to throw
+off half of the clothes, it can be done without pulling the bed to
+pieces. It is simple enough to cut a pair in two and bind the edges with
+ribbon so the colors will match, and it well pays for the small
+trouble."
+
+"I sometimes wish I had a nice, fat comfortable instead of two
+blankets," said Margaret. "I know a girl who has such a hot one, all
+made of cotton and cheesecloth."
+
+"They are not nearly as healthful as blankets, my dear, nor so easily
+kept clean. People who own them would hate to have to tell how seldom
+they are washed, because they are so heavy to handle that it is put off
+month after month, and season after season. A pretty little silkolene
+coverlet to lay on the foot of the bed, such as you have, or a small
+eiderdown puff, is very nice, but blankets are the things to sleep
+under. Now let us put the white spread on."
+
+"But, auntie," objected Margaret, "you haven't tucked anything in! Just
+see, not the sides nor the bottom! I don't like to have my feet out all
+night; I like to be tucked in all nice and warm. Shan't we tuck in
+everything as we go along? That's the way Bridget does when she makes my
+bed."
+
+Her aunt laughed. "Just wait!" she said. Then she put on the white
+spread, and smoothed it nicely all over, and told Margaret to stand
+opposite to her at the side of the bed near the foot, and do as she did.
+
+First she turned the spread back, just as though it was at the top
+instead of the bottom; then she turned back one blanket; then the
+other; then the upper sheet, and next the lower one, leaving the
+mattress and pad showing. They raised the mattress, and putting their
+hands under all the folded back clothes at once, they put them under the
+end of it smoothly, pushing them well back; then they tucked in the
+sides. "There," said the aunt, nodding her pretty head at her little
+niece, "I'd like to see you pull those clothes out at night, as you do
+when Bridget makes your bed! If you tuck things in one by one sometimes
+they will come out, but if you tuck them in as we have done they are
+sure to stay. Now for the top."
+
+She turned over the spread, blankets, and sheet, and laid them flat on
+the spread, and then turned them under themselves, making a smooth,
+rather narrow fold, close up to the place the pillows were going to
+stand.
+
+"If the sheet was mussed I would not do this," she explained. "Then I
+would just lay all the clothes back under the pillows; but when the
+sheet is fresh it looks nice this way. Beat up the pillows, smooth them
+out, and stand them up evenly. Remember, if you have a white spread with
+a fringe on it and a muslin valance around the bed, the spread is not
+tucked in at all, but after the bed is finished and tucked in all
+around, it is laid on and left hanging over sides and foot.
+
+"If, instead of a spread, you have a figured cover, or one made of lace
+or muslin, you do not use any spread, but put that on over the blankets
+during the day and take it off at night. A roll covered with the same
+stuff is used with such a bed cover, and at night this, too, is put away
+and the pillows brought out from the cupboard and put on when the bed is
+opened. The bed in the guest-room is like that; you know it has a pretty
+cover and a roll. But whatever you have, it is always nice to have the
+bed opened for one at night, the clothes folded smoothly back, the
+spread laid away and the pillows put down flat, so all one has to do is
+to slip in."
+
+"I know," Margaret replied. "It makes you feel sleepy to see a bed like
+that."
+
+"Now let us take the wash-stand," her aunt went on, after she had passed
+her hands all over the bed as though she were ironing it, leaving it as
+smooth as a nice white table. "Get the cloths from the bathroom, a clean
+white one, you know, and a clean colored one; and the soap."
+
+She showed Margaret how to wash everything out neatly, beginning with
+the tooth-brush mug and soap-dish, and she was told to look carefully
+and see if they were both clean in the bottom, "because probably they
+are not," she said. The wash-bowl was washed with soap, especially where
+there was a greasy streak around it, and the pitcher was filled, and
+wiped where the water dripped down the front. The dark cloth was used on
+the rest of the china; it was better to have two cloths of different
+colors, her aunt explained, to avoid mixing them.
+
+After the stand was finished, and the top wiped off with the white
+cloth, the cloths were both washed out in the bathroom and put away,
+with the soap. The towels were folded in the creases they had been
+ironed in, and pulled into shape and rehung; the wash-cloth was wrung
+dry and shaken out before it was hung up on the rack. The cake of soap
+had been washed off in the bowl when that was washed, and it was now put
+back in the clean dish. "Whatever you forget, Margaret, never forget to
+wash off the soap!" her aunt warned her.
+
+There seemed a good deal to do to make the room nice even after the bed
+and wash-stand were done, for the closet was opened and everything taken
+out and put on chairs around the room, and then put back. The dresses
+had to be hung up by the loops on the skirt, and the waists which
+matched hung each on the same hook with its own skirt by the loops at
+the sleeves. The petticoats had to go by themselves in a separate part
+of the closet, and the shoes were all put in pairs in the bag on the
+door, instead of being left on the floor in piles. Margaret did not like
+to do these things, but she had to admit that she could dress faster in
+the morning when she knew just where everything was, and when she could
+find mates to her shoes in just half a second, instead of having to take
+a minute or more to hunt them in the corners of the closet on the floor.
+
+Arranging the bureau was still worse than making the closet tidy. All
+the drawers were emptied out, and everything sorted in heaps and put
+away. Some pretty boxes without covers were brought from her aunt's
+bureau and put in Margaret's upper drawer, one for gloves, one for
+handkerchiefs, one for ribbons, so that everything should be where it
+belonged, yet as soon as the drawer was opened one could see where
+everything was. Underclothes were made into neat piles, and arranged in
+the drawers below, one sort of thing in one pile and another in another,
+and the stockings laid in a nice row, mates together, folded and tucked
+in, ready to go on.
+
+The top of the bureau had many pretty silver ornaments, but they were
+dull and shabby, and Margaret had to get the silver polish and a bit of
+chamois and make them shine before they could go on the fresh
+bureau-cover the aunt put on, and she was given a bit of velvety stuff
+to tuck in a corner of a drawer, ready to use every day or two, so they
+would not grow dull again.
+
+When all else was done they brushed up the floor, dusted everything
+thoroughly, straightened the pictures on the wall and the window-shades,
+and set the chairs where they would look best. Then Margaret sat down to
+rest, and her aunt finished the lesson in this way:
+
+"A lady," she began, "no matter whether she is grown up or not, always
+keeps her bedroom in beautiful order, fresh and dainty, especially the
+places which do not show, like bureau drawers! Her closet has plenty of
+hooks, and her gowns are kept together, each on one. Her hats are in
+their boxes on the shelves, her shoes in their bag. Her bureau is
+orderly, the silver clean and shining. Her hair-brush is washed at least
+once a week, to keep it white and fresh, and the comb is never allowed
+to have bits of hair in it, but is as clean as the brush. Her wash-stand
+is always perfectly clean and tidy, and nothing is ever left about in
+the room. Most important of all, the air of her room is always fresh and
+sweet, because the window is left open at night and often opened during
+the day for a time. Now this has been a good long lesson to-day--it's
+almost noon; but if you have learned it, you have not wasted a minute of
+even this nice bright Saturday. There's a prize offered by this teacher
+for perfect lessons. Keep your room in order for a month, and see what
+you'll find on your bureau then!"
+
+"Oh, what?" cried Margaret, running after her Pretty Aunt as she went
+out into the hall.
+
+"Wait and see!" was all she would say, but Margaret decided to keep the
+room beautifully tidy for the prize, just the same.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SWEEPING AND DUSTING
+
+
+Margaret could hardly wait for the time for her sweeping lesson, because
+she wanted so much to wear her sweeping-cap. When she heard her mother
+say one Saturday morning that the lesson that day would be on the care
+of the parlors and hall, she asked to be excused from the
+breakfast-table, and ran up and put on her long-sleeved apron and the
+pretty little cap with the red bow in front, and came down proud and
+smiling.
+
+The halls and stairs were of hardwood, so Margaret selected from the
+broom-closet the long-handled floor-brush, the large dust-pan and the
+small one, a flat wicker beater for the rugs, the bottle of floor oil,
+and the flannel cloth which was with it, a certain small dish kept
+especially for the oil, and some of her new dust-cloths. She tried to
+remember all the things her mother had told her to get, but, after all,
+she forgot the broom, and had to go back twice for it, the second time
+because she brought the wrong one. The very best broom, used only on the
+freshest carpets, had a red tape tied around the handle, so it would not
+get mixed with the one used in the dining-room, or the rest of the
+house.
+
+Bridget helped carry out the rugs and put them over the clothes-line,
+and Margaret gently struck them with the wicker beater till all the dust
+was out. She knew she would injure them if she pounded as hard as she
+wanted to, so she was very careful to hit them softly, but to do it so
+often that they were clean when she was done. She laid them on the back
+porch, and brushed them with the whisk-broom afterward until they were
+like new; then they were folded and left in a corner of the dining-room,
+ready to go down when the halls were done.
+
+Her mother told her to go to the very top of the house and shut the
+doors of the rooms all the way down that no dust could get in. Then they
+moved the table and chair and umbrella jar out of the hall, and carried
+the coats and hats to the closet, and shut them up. The upper hall was
+very dark with all the doors closed which usually lighted it, so the gas
+was lit, that the corners might be easily seen. Beginning at the top of
+the house Margaret swept down the halls and stairs all the way, using
+her long-handled brush and taking a little whisk-broom, which was also
+soft for the corners and the stairs, putting the dust into the pan as
+she went along, especially on the stairs.
+
+Her mother wanted her to let Bridget wipe off the wood with oil, but
+Margaret begged to be allowed to do at least one floor and the lower
+stairs, so she would know just how to do it in her very own house, when
+she had one! She put on a large, strong pair of gloves, put a little oil
+in the dish from the bottle, dipped in her flannel cloth, and was going
+to begin when her mother stopped her. "Wring out the cloth," she said;
+"you are not going to wash the floor, only to wipe it." Then she went
+away until this part of the work was done, so she might not step on the
+wood while it was wet, and perhaps spoil the whole floor.
+
+The work was not very pleasant, perhaps, and the oil did not smell very
+nice, but it was interesting to do something new, and Margaret did not
+mind it at all. She wiped up one floor and one flight of stairs, and
+then wiped also the baseboard around the floor and the balustrades of
+the stairs, and when she was done it all looked so fresh and nice she
+wished she had done all the halls. However, she put away the oil and
+cloth and floor-brush, and, setting the front door open to let the air
+come in and dry the wood and carry away the odor of the oil, she dusted
+the rest of the halls with her ordinary dust-cloth, wiping the tops of
+the pictures well, and the hall table and chair, which Bridget helped
+her put back. They brought in the step-ladder, too, so that Margaret
+could get to the chandelier and the top of the doors, and wipe these off
+thoroughly.
+
+The vestibule had been swept and dusted early in the morning, and there
+was nothing to do outside, but the glass in the front door looked dingy,
+and Margaret wiped it off with a clean, damp cloth and polished it with
+the chamois duster and shook out the lace which hung over it, and dusted
+the edges of the glass and the wood of the door. Then she ran and got
+the rugs and spread them down, and called her mother to come and see how
+beautiful the halls looked.
+
+"Beautiful! I should think so, indeed!" her mother exclaimed. "I could
+not have done the work better myself. What made you think of the glass
+in the door? I forgot to tell you about that."
+
+"Oh," said Margaret, "I pretended I was a new maid, and that you were
+showing me all about the work, and first I said to myself, 'Next, Mary
+Jane, the front door,' and then I was Mary Jane, and did the front
+door, you see!"
+
+Her mother smiled. "Well, certainly, Mary Jane does her work
+thoroughly," she said. "I am sure I shall keep her. Now if you are not
+tired we will do the parlors."
+
+These two rooms took all the rest of the Saturday morning lesson. The
+window-curtains and portieres were pinned up and put into bags, long,
+loose ones, which kept them off the floor and out of the dust, but did
+not muss them. They dusted the piano and large sofa and covered them
+with strong sheets. They wiped off the book-shelves, and tucked
+newspapers in and out until all the books were entirely covered and
+protected. They brushed off the cushions of the chairs with a
+whisk-broom as they had the sofa, and wiped their woodwork, and then
+carried them into the dining-room; the sofa-pillows were shaken and
+beaten and put there also. All the ornaments on the tables and mantels,
+and the lamps, were wiped and put on the dining-room table.
+
+When the rooms were as empty as possible they shut the doors and
+sprinkled bran on the carpets just as though they were sewing garden
+seeds, which Margaret thought was great fun.
+
+"Some people use tea-leaves on their carpets," her mother explained,
+"and as they are damp they do take up the dust nicely; but they will
+stain delicate colors so, I think it is safer to use bran, which also
+takes up dust but never hurts any carpet. Now I will show you how to
+sweep."
+
+Beginning at one side of the room near the wall, she made long, even
+strokes with the broom, not bearing on too hard, and sweeping toward the
+centre all the time. "Don't give little jerky dabs at the carpet," she
+cautioned, "for that is bad for it, and don't sweep from one side to the
+other, but always toward the middle. But we forgot to open the window."
+
+Margaret pushed up the one nearest to her and instantly in rushed the
+wind, scattering bran and dust all over the floor. Her mother hurried
+to shut it. "You must find out from which way the wind comes before you
+open the window," she said. "That one did more harm than good. Try the
+other one."
+
+When this was open they could not feel any breeze at all, and it seemed
+as though it was not worth opening, but the mother said it was exactly
+right, for it made a draught, and carried all the dust gently outdoors.
+
+After a time Margaret took the broom and finished the floor, and when
+the dust lay in a little pile in the middle, her mother held the pan for
+her and she swept it all up, except a little which refused to come on;
+this they brushed up with the whisk-broom; they also brushed out all the
+corners of the room with the whisk and pan, because the broom was so
+large that it would not go in easily, and a little bit of dust had been
+left in each one. The carpets looked nice and fresh when they had
+finished.
+
+"Once in awhile," the mother said, "it is a good plan to have Bridget
+wipe off the carpets quickly with warm water in which a little ammonia
+has been put. She squeezes out a cloth almost dry and works quickly, not
+to wet the carpet too much, and the ammonia brings out the colors and
+makes the whole look like new. Some housekeepers like to put a couple of
+tablespoonfuls of turpentine in the water instead of the ammonia, and
+this is just as good for the carpet, and if there is any fear of moths
+being in it, it is even better. Every two or three months a carpet ought
+to be wiped off in one way or the other to keep it nice. Now while we
+wait for the dust to settle we will make the marble mantel clean. You
+can get a basin of water, the sapolio, a flannel cloth, and a white
+cotton one."
+
+They wet the cake of soap a little and rubbed the flannel on it and
+scrubbed the mantel thoroughly, and then the hearth, rinsing them off
+and wiping them dry afterward. They also wiped off the fireplace, using
+a dry cloth here, too, for fear of rust, and then took a damp one to
+wipe off the baseboard. If there had been a wood floor, that would have
+had to be treated just as the halls had been--brushed up with the soft
+brush, and wiped off with floor oil. And, her mother explained, if the
+halls had been carpeted Margaret would have had to sweep them with the
+broom and use the whisk in the corners and on all the stairs, one at a
+time, carefully.
+
+By this time there seemed to be no dust left in the air, so they wiped
+the pictures off with a clean duster, especially on the top where
+Bridget's duster sometimes failed to go. The sheets were taken off the
+sofa and piano next, and they were lightly dusted again, "just to make
+sure," Margaret said.
+
+The piano keys proved to be very sticky, and in some spots there were
+dark marks, as though a little girl had practised with unwashed
+fingers,--though, of course, no little girl would really do such a
+thing, the mother said. So Margaret got a little bottle of alcohol and a
+flannel cloth and sponged off each key. If she had used water on the
+ivory it would have made it yellow, but the alcohol did not injure it at
+all.
+
+The chairs were brought in after this, and the other things they had
+carried out, and all arranged again. Some of the bric-a-brac was not
+clean in spite of its dusting, and this had to be carefully washed in
+warm water and wiped dry before it was put in place. "Anything but
+soiled ornaments," her mother told the little girl. The curtains and
+portieres were taken out of their bags and smoothed, and the bags and
+sheets folded and put away till the next sweeping day. The parlors
+looked beautifully fresh and orderly, but something seemed missing.
+"Why, the palm!" Margaret said at length. "Bridget took it out this
+morning for its bath and did not bring it back."
+
+They found there had been no time for the bath yet, so Margaret and her
+mother said they would attend to it. They wet the earth well, and while
+the water drained off into a large pan they washed the leaves, using a
+soft cloth dipped in a basin which held a cup of water and a cup of
+milk.
+
+"I did not know plants liked milk," said Margaret, as she helped sponge
+the large leaves all over, the back as well as the front sides.
+
+"Palms love it," her mother replied, "and it pays to use it on them, for
+it keeps them green and glossy; you will see how pretty this looks when
+we have finished it."
+
+Sure enough, when they were done the palm looked as though the leaves
+had just opened, and they agreed that it should have a drink of milk and
+water every week. Then they put it back in its pot in the window of the
+parlor, and the room was all done.
+
+The last thing of all was the lesson the mother repeated for Margaret to
+remember for all kinds of sweeping and dusting. It was like this:
+
+"First get rid of all the ornaments and furniture in a room; in a
+bedroom you can put the things from the bureau and mantel on the bed,
+provided you dust them all well first. The chairs can go into the hall,
+and over the bureau, table, sofa, and bed, you must put sheets and
+towels, or even newspapers; never sweep till everything is well covered,
+or you will have to do double work when you come to dust. Pin up the
+curtains, and put bran on the carpet, and get somebody to help you push
+the heavy furniture about so you can sweep under it; there are some
+people who do not move these things for months, because it is too much
+trouble, but nice housekeepers always move them every single time they
+sweep. Use the whisk-broom in all the corners; wipe off the baseboards;
+dust the pictures thoroughly, and shake out the curtains, and when the
+room is rearranged, dust all the little things and your rooms will
+always look as though they had been housecleaned."
+
+"My windows really and truly need washing," said Margaret. "When I sweep
+my room next week I shall wash them all myself."
+
+"Then you had better learn how now," her mother said. "That will be a
+good ending for the lesson. To wash windows you need a basin of warm
+water, a little ammonia, and two clean cloths. Wring out your first
+cloth in the ammonia-water until it is nearly dry, and rub the glass
+over and over from one side to the other, and around and around. Wipe
+dry each pane as you finish it, so it will not be streaked, and when all
+are done, polish them off with a handful of tissue-paper or a chamois.
+When you wash plate glass, such as we have in the parlors, do not use
+ammonia, but instead put a few drops of blueing in the water, and when
+they are wiped dry go over the glass again with a cloth wrung out in
+alcohol. Do mirrors in this way if they are very dim; if they are new
+but dusty, do not use any water, only the alcohol, and polish them with
+the chamois. Would you like to try one window or one mirror still, this
+morning?"
+
+Margaret said she thought she would rather wait a week, and as it
+proved to be luncheon time she hurried to put all the things away which
+they had been using, and get herself ready.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE
+
+
+When the Saturday morning came on which Margaret was to learn how to
+take care of the bathroom, and clean grates, and do other such things,
+she groaned out loud. So far her lessons had been delightful, but this
+one sounded as though it would be work instead of fun. However, she put
+on her long-sleeved apron and out of the little bathroom cupboard she
+took the flannel cloth, the cotton cloth, the sapolio, the metal polish,
+a queer little brush of twigs with a long handle and a bottle of
+disinfectant, all of which stood ready there in a neat row. Then her
+Other Aunt came into the room, with a big apron on just like Margaret's,
+and began:
+
+"The bathtub, luckily for us," she said, "is of white enamel, so it is
+easy to keep clean. But see, all around it there is a streak where the
+top of the water came after somebody's bath this morning. Now, of
+course, every single person who uses a bathtub ought to wipe it out
+afterward; but men don't take the trouble, and women sometimes forget;
+little girls never do, of course! So the tub has to be washed and wiped
+out every morning."
+
+"Every single morning?" Margaret asked, grumblingly. "It seems as if
+that would be too often; it must wear the nice enamel off to wash it so
+much."
+
+"Not at all," said her aunt; "it is good for it! Get the nice white
+cloth and a cake of soap,--not the sapolio, because that would scratch
+it,--and roll up your sleeves. Kneel down by the tub, put in the
+stopper, and draw a little warm water; wring out your cloth in it, rub
+it well on the soap, and scrub off the greasy mark first, and afterward
+wash the tub all over; rinse out your cloth, let out the water, and
+wash the tub again and wipe it dry. Sometimes, perhaps twice a week, put
+a little ammonia in the first water so that the tub will have an extra
+cleaning. If ever you have a really dirty tub to scrub, take gasoline on
+a flannel cloth and wash with that, and it will be like new; but tubs
+which are washed out every day never need gasoline.
+
+"If you have a tub lined with zinc remember that needs even more care
+than a white one, if it is to be kept shining bright. You can scrub it
+out with gasoline if it seems greasy, then with vinegar, if it is dark,
+then with metal polish, and so on; zinc tubs are really difficult to
+care for. A better way is to paint it all over with two coats of white
+paint and when it is dry enamel it. It costs only a dollar to do it, and
+it does save so much work; besides, a white tub always looks best of
+all. Now we will do the wash-stand."
+
+They took off the soap-dish and tooth-brush mug and bottles of tooth
+powder, because, as the aunt explained, one must always wipe under
+things, not around them. The marble slab and bowl were scrubbed and
+dried, and the mugs and soap-dish washed, wiped, and replaced. After
+this they cleaned the closet by pulling the handle and letting the water
+run while they put in the long-handled brush of twigs and brushed out
+every inch of china, even down into the pipe as far as possible.
+Margaret was told that when she used ammonia in the tub she must put
+some in the closet, too, and once or twice a week a little disinfectant
+must be poured down to keep the pipe perfectly clean. The woodwork was
+wiped off with a cloth kept for that purpose, and then they turned to
+the polishing of the faucets and pipes.
+
+This was hard, but as Margaret and her aunt both worked it made it
+easier. They put some polishing paste on a flannel and rubbed and rubbed
+till they could see the metal shining through the paste; then they wiped
+it off with a dry cloth. "If this was all rubbed a little every single
+day," said the aunt, "it would never be such hard work. I should say
+that this nickel had been just a little bit neglected lately, but see
+how bright we have made it! Now for the oilcloth on the floor."
+
+They set the hamper and a chair out into the hall, and Margaret went to
+the kitchen for a basin of milk with a little warm water in it. Out of
+the cupboard she brought the Japanese seat she had learned she must
+always use when she got down on the floor, partly to save her dress, and
+partly because there was a painful disease called sometimes "housemaid's
+knee," which one could get by kneeling and working on a hard floor with
+nothing underneath one. When she was all ready her aunt wrung out the
+cloth for her in the milk, and told her to begin at one edge and work
+straight across the floor, wiping every part well, but especially under
+the tub and wash-stand, because those were likely to need it most. "The
+milk will freshen the oilcloth and make it shine," she said. "Always try
+and have some when you wipe up an oilcloth, for water alone is not good
+for it."
+
+When the floor was dry they set in the hamper again, folded the towels
+neatly, and hung them straight on the rack, and dusted around the window
+and the wood around the sides of the room. "We are done here," the aunt
+said, as they put away all the things they had been using, "but the
+lesson isn't over yet, for while we are in the scrubbing business you
+may as well learn how to take care of steps and vestibule. You may get
+the old broom from the kitchen Bridget keeps for this, and ask her to
+bring a pail of water; you will need the scrubbing-brush, too, and the
+sapolio, and two cloths; the Japanese seat, some more metal polish, a
+flannel, and a duster."
+
+Margaret got them all, and brought them out to the vestibule. The
+door-mat was taken up, shaken well, and hung over the balustrade
+outside, and, after sweeping out the vestibule, Margaret knelt on the
+seat and scrubbed the marble floor, especially in the corners, and then
+wiped them dry. The steps had already been swept once that morning, so
+all they needed was a good bath. A little water at a time was poured
+over them and swept off with the broom, and while they dried in the
+sunshine, she rubbed the door handles and bell with polish, and gave
+them a beautiful finish with chamois leather. The woodwork of the doors
+was pretty dusty, and before it could be made to look just right it had
+to be rubbed off with a damp duster and a little stick used in the
+cracks of the wood. When the rug was laid down once more Margaret and
+her Other Aunt stood and admired their work.
+
+"A good housekeeper always has nice, clean steps and a well-cared-for
+vestibule," said the aunt. "They are like a sign-board on the front of a
+house, telling the sort of people who live inside. That thought ought to
+make you keep your vestibule in nice order."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Margaret. "I'd be ashamed to have a sign-board in
+front of my steps, saying, 'An untidy girl lives here!' Now what do we
+do?"
+
+"Well, let us see if we can find any brass to polish. There are the
+andirons in the hall, for instance, and the shovel and tongs." So out
+came the metal polish once more, and, after putting down a newspaper,
+they rubbed them all well. They found out, however, that some of the
+brass about the house had an enamel finish over it to keep out the air,
+and all this needed was wiping off with a cloth instead of rubbing,
+which was a great saving of time; though this brass was not quite as
+nice looking as that which they rubbed till it shone like a mirror, in
+the old-fashioned way. It happened that the chandelier in the hall was
+covered with the enamel, and here her aunt told Margaret she did not
+dislike it, because it would have been nearly impossible to rub a
+chandelier clear up to the ceiling every week. They brought out the
+step-ladder and wiped it off with a dry duster, however, and then they
+washed the globes nicely in warm water, and dried them. Globes often
+got very dusty, the aunt said, and nobody remembered to wash them off
+instead of merely dusting them once in awhile, and then the family
+thought the gas must be very poor because the light was dim.
+
+"Now, auntie, what next?" Margaret asked, when this work was done.
+
+"The sitting-room fireplace," her aunt replied. "It is full of wood
+ashes."
+
+Margaret went once more to the broom closet and got a shovel, a
+dust-pan, a whisk-broom, a damp cloth, and a newspaper.
+
+There were andirons in the fireplace and the ashes lay all over and
+around them, so her aunt first helped her lift these heavy things out on
+the newspaper at one side. Then she told her to sweep most of the ashes
+into a small pile right in the centre of the hearth, at the back.
+
+"But, auntie, they won't burn any more; why don't I take them right
+out!" asked Margaret.
+
+"Because they make the fire burn better and last longer. You can take up
+part of them and put them in the scuttle, but leave some, and
+especially all the bits of charred wood; it would be wasteful to take
+those away."
+
+Margaret carefully swept up the greater part of the ashes, working from
+the edges of the hearth toward the middle, and put them into the
+scuttle. Once she spilled a shovelful, but as a newspaper was spread on
+the carpet it did not matter. Her aunt told her to be sure and always
+have plenty of papers ready to use in housework, because in the end they
+saved so much work. "Suppose you had to sweep up those ashes," she said,
+"and clean the carpet, too, would not that be a bother! Now if the
+hearth is clean, wipe it with the damp cloth, and dust off the andirons
+well. If there had been a grate here you would have had to polish it
+with the blacking from the kitchen stove. When you have finished you can
+get more paper and kindling and lay a fire."
+
+They put crumpled paper between the andirons, covering all the ashes
+which lay there so they did not show. On this they laid kindling,
+crossed, and then some pieces of wood. When they gathered up the
+newspaper there was nothing to brush from the carpet, and everything was
+neat.
+
+"There," said her aunt, "that's all for to-day. Run and wash your face
+and hands,--they need it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC
+
+
+Margaret's Saturday morning lessons were interrupted at this point by
+the spring housecleaning. Everybody was so busy taking up and putting
+down carpets, hanging curtains and pictures over, putting away winter
+clothes and getting out summer ones, that the lessons seemed forgotten.
+The grandmother, however, remembered, and one day she took the little
+girl around the house while the cleaning was going on, showing her how
+the work was done. They found the guest-room had been finished, so they
+sat down there and talked.
+
+"Housecleaning is very different nowadays from what it used to be," she
+began. "We used to take up all the carpets at once, and keep everything
+upset for a week or two, and then get all to rights. Now we take a room
+at a time, and so do the whole house gradually and comfortably. Perhaps
+the work is divided, and part done in the spring and part in the fall,
+to make it still easier. Then we do not take up every carpet every year,
+as we did. This guest-room carpet, for one, does not need beating and
+cleaning and putting down again, because the room is not used all the
+time, and once or twice a year it has a scrubbing with warm water or
+turpentine or ammonia after it is swept."
+
+"Yes," said Margaret, "I learned about that in my sweeping lesson."
+
+"When this room was cleaned," her grandmother went on, "the curtains
+were taken down, and the pictures wiped off and put into the storeroom.
+The furniture was well dusted and put away also, and the bed all taken
+apart, the mattress beaten gently, the springs dusted and wiped off; the
+bed slats were washed in hot soap and water, and put away, too. Then the
+bed itself was taken to pieces and washed in warm soap-suds, because
+being white iron they could not hurt it. If it had been a wooden bed it
+would have been wiped with a damp cloth. And then, Margaret, what do you
+think? a brush dipped in turpentine was put in all the corners of the
+bed and the springs, so that if by any chance a little bug should have
+crept in there to hide, it would be driven out."
+
+Margaret looked disgusted. "We don't have bugs in our beds," she said,
+indignantly. "Nice, clean people never do."
+
+Her grandmother smiled. "Even a very nice, clean person may bring home a
+bug from a crowded street-car," she said. "And if it happens to be on a
+coat which is thrown on a bed, it may crawl quickly into a corner
+without anybody's seeing it, and presently the bed will have half a
+dozen bugs in it. Of course a good housekeeper would never let them stay
+in a bed a single minute after she finds out they are there, and she
+always hunts occasionally, at least as often as every few months, so
+that she may be perfectly sure everything is all right. If ever you
+think you are perfectly safe, my dear, and do not look to make sure, you
+will be the very one to be surprised some day! You must often put the
+mattress on a sheet on the floor, and look all along the edge and in the
+corners and under the ties. The spring must be painted with turpentine,
+especially in the hidden places, and so must the corners of the bed. It
+is a good plan to use only metal beds with iron spring frames, for bugs
+like wood much better; they seldom stay where there is none. If you ever
+find a bug, or the tiny black speck it makes, get the white of an egg
+and beat it with a teaspoonful of quicksilver, and paint everything with
+it, and you will have no more trouble.
+
+"After the bed is cleaned and taken down, the floor is to be swept twice
+over, and the carpet taken away; the paper under it may be swept clean
+in the yard. The walls are to be swept down with a soft brush, or a
+broom covered with a duster. The closet is to be emptied entirely, the
+drawers, shelves, floor, and baseboard washed well, and the closet floor
+washed also. The windows must be cleaned and all the woodwork washed in
+warm water with a little nice soap, and rinsed well. When all is fresh
+and the floor dry, the paper can be laid, the carpet put down, the
+furniture wiped again, the bed put together and made, the pictures hung,
+and the fresh curtains put up, if they are used in summer, and the room
+will be thoroughly done. All rooms are alike in the way they are
+cleaned. First do the closets, remember, all the drawers as well as
+shelves; then, shutting this up, empty the room, and do walls, floor,
+paint, and windows. If there is a matting down, this must be wiped off
+with salted water, which freshens it. Now I think we can go down to the
+cellar for the next part of the lesson."
+
+The cellar proved to be rather chilly, but they stayed long enough to
+learn a good many things about it. There were two rooms, one for the
+coal and wood, and one for vegetables and preserved fruit and such
+things. All these, Margaret was told, must be looked after. The fuel
+room should have several bins, one for kitchen coal, one for furnace
+coal, and one low one for wood; it was untidy to leave any of these
+lying in heaps on the floor. The vegetables had to be constantly looked
+over for fear any should decay, and so bring sickness to the family, who
+might never know why it came. The preserves must be examined, lest any
+begin to leak, and the whole place must be kept cool and dry by having a
+window open a little at the top, with a good bolt or a few nails to keep
+any one from opening it from the outside. The windows did not need to be
+washed quite as often as those up-stairs, but they should never be left
+grimy and dirty. "A good housekeeper always keeps watch of her cellar,"
+said the grandmother. "She sees that the air is fresh, the floor clean,
+the walls free from cobwebs, and that no rubbish is allowed to
+accumulate. The wood and coal must not get too low in the bins; the
+grocer's boxes must be kept chopped into kindling, and, most important
+of all, every cellar should have a good coat of whitewash every spring
+to make it all sweet and clean."
+
+Margaret said she thought she knew this part of her lesson now, and that
+cellars were not so very interesting.
+
+"Well, suppose we take the attic next," grandmother said, smiling; "that
+is, if you are really certain you can keep your own cellar clean and
+nice when you have one." Margaret promised to try.
+
+The attic was a nice, dusky room, with some old furniture, trunks, and
+boxes, rolls of carpet, and bags of pieces. It had a dry, comfortable
+sort of smell in the air. "I like attics," said Margaret. "I mean to
+have a great big one some day, all full of interesting things, like the
+girls in story-books."
+
+"The more things in your attic the more trouble you will have to be a
+good housekeeper," said her grandmother. "Let us sit down on this sofa
+for our lesson, and suppose that was really your own attic. What would
+you do to put it in order and keep it so!"
+
+"Well," said Margaret, thoughtfully, "I'd move everything out and sweep
+it; then I'd brush off the walls and wash the windows; then I'd arrange
+things--and then it would be done."
+
+"Oh, no!" her grandmother replied. "That isn't half. I see you needed
+the lesson on the attic, as I thought. Now listen:
+
+"You see it is rather dark up here, and so moths love the place, and if
+it was left to them they would eat up all that is in the trunks. The
+first thing in cleaning an attic is to empty all the trunks, one at a
+time, and look everything over. There are pieces of clothing which may
+be used again which have to go outdoors on the line in the sunshine and
+be beaten, and furs, especially, require this done frequently. Your
+pretty little baby things are in one trunk, and those your mother wishes
+to keep always, so she airs them and refolds the dresses so they will
+not get discolored streaks by lying always one way; the flannels are
+aired, too, and folded in papers with perhaps a bit of camphor or a moth
+ball, though these are not as much protection as the constant airing and
+shaking is.
+
+"In that large trunk there are some old silk dresses, and such things,
+which are also to be kept. Moths do not touch silks, but these, too,
+must be taken out and shaken and refolded once in awhile to keep them
+from cracking in the places where they have laid. Once a year, at least,
+all trunks must be emptied, wiped out, and relined with fresh papers,
+the things aired and put back freshly.
+
+"If there are any clothes which are being kept which, after all, are not
+needed, it is always best to give them away before they are out of style
+or moth-eaten. It is wrong to keep things one does not want when so many
+are cold. One always keeps certain things like your mother's
+wedding-gown, and some handsome pieces of velvet, too valuable to give
+away, and other things which would be of no use to any one else; but
+your father's old clothes, and your outgrown dresses, and my heavy
+winter coat which I shall not wear again, must all go before they are
+half-spoiled by lying.
+
+"You see there are several piece-bags hanging up; those we must go over,
+too. We always keep bits of our dresses to patch with, or to use in
+re-making them. But sometimes we keep the pieces long after the dress is
+gone, when perhaps some one would like them for patchwork, or to make a
+pincushion or needle-book out of. The pieces must be sorted often, the
+woollen ones put by themselves with moth balls, and the silk and cotton
+ones divided, some to keep, and some to give to anybody who needs them
+more than we do.
+
+"The roll of old carpet is to go away, too, this time to be made into a
+kitchen rug. Carpets must not be left in the attic or they will surely
+make a nice home for moth-families. The broken chairs are to go to-day
+to be mended, I heard your mother say this morning. Some she will use
+again, and the rest she will pass on to somebody who wants chairs and
+has not enough. This old sofa, of course, she will keep, because some
+day she will have it re-covered; it is a strong, good piece of
+furniture, and she knows we can use it.
+
+"The summer clothes are kept in those two large trunks under the window;
+in a few days they will go down-stairs, and the winter ones, all shaken
+and beaten on the clothes-line till they are fresh and clean, will be
+packed away carefully in their places after the trunks have had fresh
+paper put in them. Do you know how to put away winter clothes, by the
+way?"
+
+Margaret said she did not think she did, so they stopped the lesson for
+a minute to put this in.
+
+"After the things are aired well, fold each dress or coat or suit of
+clothes up by itself, and pin it snugly in newspapers, which moths do
+not like. Tie a strong string around the bundle to lift it by, and paste
+a slip of paper on the top, and write on this plainly just what is
+inside. If you have anything very nice to put away, such as a
+broadcloth suit, put it in a new paste-board box and paste a strip of
+paper all around the edge of the cover; use good mucilage, and the moths
+cannot possibly get at it. Put furs in paper bags after they are clean,
+and hang them from the rafters. Hats and such things may go into boxes,
+and you can lay a paper over each box before putting on its cover, to
+keep the dust out. Summer clothes do not need so much care; just fold
+them neatly and put them in a nice clean trunk, and they will take care
+of themselves. Now do you think you know how to keep a cellar and attic
+in good order? Suppose you make up a rule to give me."
+
+Margaret thought a moment. "Keep the cellar clean," she said at length,
+"and give away the things in the attic."
+
+Her grandmother laughed. "Keep both the cellar and attic clean, and
+don't hoard uselessly," she corrected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LAUNDRY WORK
+
+
+Margaret's teachers held a meeting before her next lesson. They could
+not decide whether she should be taught to wash and iron or not.
+
+Her Pretty Aunt said, "Certainly not! She will never need to know. Even
+on a desert island she will find some Woman Friday to do her laundry
+work!"
+
+"But," suggested her Other Aunt, "suppose she had a very beautiful thin
+dress to be washed, and had a very poor laundress to do it who might
+spoil it; don't you think she would wish she knew how to do it herself?"
+
+"Besides," said her mother, "however could she teach an ignorant
+servant to wash and iron if she did not know how?"
+
+"Of course she must know," said her grandmother, sternly. "I will teach
+her myself."
+
+So on Friday night Margaret made up a bundle of clothes as she was told;
+"samples," grandmother called them, because there were some of every
+sort of thing found in a regular washing; these they took down to the
+laundry.
+
+"The first thing is to sort the clothes," the lesson began. "Put the
+white, starched things in one pile; the bed and table linen in another;
+the flannels by themselves; the stockings by themselves; the
+handkerchiefs and colored things in two more piles.
+
+"Many people do not soak clothes over night, and it is not necessary to
+do so, but I am going to teach you to do it because it is the easiest
+way. If you are ready, look over the white things first for spots.
+Coffee, tea, and fruit stains must have boiling water poured through
+them till they disappear. Rust must be rubbed with lemon juice and salt
+and laid on a new, shiny tin in the sunshine till the spot disappears;
+some people use acid, but this is apt to eat the cloth. Blood stains
+must be soaked in cold water; get the handkerchief you had on your cut
+finger and put it in this pail. Now wet the white things only, rub on a
+little soap, and get out every spot; put them in nice rolls, the soapy
+side turned in, and lay them all in the warm water in these two tubs,
+clothing in one, and table and bed linen in the other--never put the two
+together. Do not soak the flannels or they will shrink; nor the colored
+things, or they will fade; nor the stockings.
+
+"The handkerchiefs, well soaped and rubbed and squeezed, go into a pail
+of water all alone with a tablespoonful of kerosene to kill any germs of
+cold in the head which may be in one of them, and would spread to all
+the handkerchiefs. The oil boils out and does not smell after they are
+ironed. That is all for to-night, but be up bright and early in the
+morning, for only lazy people hang out their washing at noon."
+
+The next day Margaret came into the laundry with her biggest apron and
+her sleeves rolled up and pinned to her shoulders, ready for work.
+
+"Flannels first," she was told. "Draw two tubs of warm water, one just
+exactly as warm as the other. Put in some nice white soap and make a
+good suds, and then take it out and put in the flannels; rub and squeeze
+them with your hands till they are clean, but never rub them on the
+wash-board, or put any soap directly on them or they will grow hard and
+stiff; as soon as they are clean, wring them out and rinse them in the
+second water. The reason why they must be washed and rinsed in the same
+sort of water is that if they were dropped from cold to hot or hot to
+cold water they would shrink all up and be spoiled at once. A little
+ammonia or borax in the rinsing water makes them soft and white. You
+cannot take too much care in washing flannels, for they are expensive
+and easily spoiled; think how often your winter undervests are shrunken
+before they are half-worn, and how once Bridget spoiled a pair of
+beautiful new blankets she washed for the first time, all because the
+two waters were not just alike, and because she rubbed soap on them and
+made them hard and yellow. Now you may wring yours out with your hands
+and hang them out on the line."
+
+When Margaret came in again her grandmother had put the white apron into
+the water the flannels had been rinsed in, for its first bath. She said
+it was still fresh and warm and soapy and ought not to be wasted. The
+first tubful, however, she had thrown away as useless any longer. She
+told Margaret to put a little more soap on the apron and gently rub it
+on the board, turning it over and over till it was clean; then she
+dropped it in the wash-boiler, which her grandmother had filled with
+fresh water and put on the fire. The linen was washed in the same way,
+rubbing and turning it till it was all fresh, and putting it in the
+boiler. The water was allowed to boil up well for a moment, the clothes
+pushed down and turned around with a stick as they rose to the top. They
+were lifted out with the stick into a tub of fresh, hot water, and
+rinsed till all the soap was out, and dropped in a tub of cold water
+which had a little blueing in it. Here they were rinsed once more, and
+wrung out dry and then put out in the sunshine.
+
+Bridget had hung a low clothes-line for Margaret between two small
+trees, so she could easily reach it. The clothes-pins were in one of her
+aprons, in a pocket made by turning up the bottom almost half-way to the
+belt, so none could fall out. This apron was made of heavy ticking, and
+none of the water reached her dress as she carried out the wet things to
+the line.
+
+When she came in this second time she found her grandmother ready to
+make starch. As there were only a very few things to stiffen she
+measured a heaping tablespoonful of dry starch, wet it with just as
+much cold water, and added a cup of boiling water, with a
+half-teaspoonful of sugar, to make it extra nice and glossy. The white
+apron was dipped in this and wrung out; then more water was added till
+the starch was like milk, and the pillow-cases and gingham apron were
+dipped in.
+
+"I never starch table or bed linen," said her grandmother, "but you may,
+if you wish to, if you use very thin starch. I know a better way to make
+such things look nice, however, and when we iron I will teach it to you.
+Now we must finish the washing. Wash and rinse the stockings in hot
+water, but do not boil them; wash and rinse and boil the handkerchiefs
+by themselves. When these are all on the line, and you have made the
+laundry tidy, you can rest for an hour, while the irons get nice and
+hot, and then we will take the second half of the laundry lesson."
+
+The sunshine had made everything dry and sweet when Margaret brought in
+the clothes from the line and heaped them on the laundry table. She
+spread the napkins and pillow-cases out smoothly, and from a nice white
+bowl of clean water she sprinkled them, one at a time, and smoothed out
+the creases as her grandmother showed her. "The fewer wrinkles, the
+easier ironing," she said. Each was made into a tidy roll and laid in
+the basket again. The handkerchiefs were sprinkled also, and made into
+one roll and laid by them. The flannels were still damp, and so just
+ready to iron as they were, and so were the stockings. As the irons were
+hot, Margaret now spread the ironing-pad of flannel over the table, and
+laid the ironing-sheet very smoothly over it. She put the iron-stand on
+one corner on a square, white tile, so the heat would not burn the cloth
+underneath and got out a thick, soft holder.
+
+She also got out the ironing-board, because the flannel petticoats were
+easier to manage on this than on the table. She tried the iron by
+holding it to her cheek, and found it quite warm. Then she wet the tip
+of her finger, as she had seen Bridget do, and quickly touched it. It
+seemed just right, hot, but not burning, so she began on the stockings,
+and ironed them flat, on the right side, turning each one over and
+pressing both sides. She did not turn in the toes, because some of them
+needed to be darned, and whoever did it would have to turn each one back
+to see if there were any holes in it; but she made them into pairs,
+folding each once, and hung them on the little clothes-horse standing
+before the fire.
+
+The flannel skirts she slipped over the skirt-board, and ironed them by
+beginning at the hem and working toward the belt, pulling each one
+around the board to bring the unironed part up. These, too, she hung
+near the fire, because flannels take so long to grow perfectly dry.
+
+The table napkins were a real pleasure to do. Her grandmother taught her
+why they needed no starch--because if they were ironed over and over,
+with a good hot iron, first on one side and then on the other, they
+grew a little stiff, and became very glossy and beautiful, like satin,
+while if starch was used they easily got too stiff. These were folded
+very carefully indeed, so the edges exactly matched, and laid in a pile
+by themselves.
+
+By the time these were done the iron was again cool and had to be
+changed for the second time for a hot one. Linen, the grandmother
+explained, needed hot irons, but one should always be very careful not
+to have them so hot that there is any danger of scorching, because linen
+is very expensive, and easily ruined.
+
+The towels were ironed exactly as the napkins had been, on both sides,
+and again and again, till they were dry and shining. Then they were
+folded carefully, not in four narrow folds, but in three parts, so they
+would "look generous," grandmother said. The side edges had to match
+exactly, and the lower edge had to be a tiny bit longer than the rest,
+so that when hung on the towel-rack it would be perfect. This took time,
+but when once Margaret learned how they should look, she said it was no
+trouble.
+
+The white apron also took some time to do because it had to be polished,
+and the gatherings and ruffles were bothersome, but still it was done
+presently, and also the gingham apron, which was easier. The
+handkerchiefs were only play, but they had to be carefully folded, so
+the edges would be even. At last everything was done, and there was a
+whole clothes-horse full of beautiful clothes. It looked like a
+blossoming tree, all white and fragrant, and Margaret felt very proud
+and happy as she ran to call the family to come and admire.
+
+"I knew she could learn!" said her grandmother, nodding to her mother,
+as they all came in to look and praise the little laundress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF THE
+REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS
+
+
+"I think," said the Pretty Aunt one day, "we must be coming to the end
+of the Saturday morning lessons. We have had the kitchen and
+dining-room, the bedrooms, halls, and parlors, the bathroom, cellar,
+attic, and vestibule. I really can't think of anything else to teach
+Margaret about the care of the house."
+
+"Why," exclaimed the Other Aunt, "I can! I can think of five or six
+things you have not said a word about; all important ones, too!"
+
+"How nice!" laughed the Pretty Aunt, "because now you can give the
+lesson!"
+
+Margaret had felt disappointed when she thought the lessons were over,
+for she liked to learn something new each week; so when she was told to
+put on a clean apron and be ready in half a minute, she ran off in a
+hurry.
+
+Her aunt was in the upper hall when she appeared, with the door of the
+linen closet open, and she told Margaret they would begin here.
+
+"This little room is the one good housekeepers are especially fond of,"
+she began. "Clean, white linen, polished and beautiful, is a joy to look
+at and handle, and every woman is proud if she has a quantity, all
+nicely kept. Let us begin with the shelves, taking them in order, and
+see what is on each."
+
+The top one held blankets, each pair folded together smoothly and pinned
+up in a clean, strong piece of white cotton cloth, and labelled. The
+first label read, "Guest-room blankets," and when they were opened there
+lay a fresh, soft, fleecy pair, with a lovely border of pale pink, and
+edges of broad pink ribbon.
+
+"This is your mother's very best pair of blankets," began her aunt.
+"They are cut in two and bound alike at each end, you see; they have
+never been washed or cleaned yet, so they are still very white and soft.
+By and by they will begin to look a little soiled, and then they will be
+cleaned perhaps, once or twice, and presently they will be washed, and
+they will not be nearly as nice as they are now, though well-washed
+blankets should still be fleecy and white."
+
+"'Soft, warm water, with suds of white soap,'" murmured Margaret,
+reviewing her laundry lesson; "'rub with your hands, rinse in the same
+sort of water as you used in washing, with a little borax or ammonia,
+and they will look like new.'"
+
+"Splendid!" said her aunt. "I see you can wash blankets to perfection.
+But even so, some day there will be new ones for the guest-room, and
+these will be on one of the family beds. The next two or three bundles,
+you see, are clean, washed blankets, in pairs, laid away till they are
+needed. All blankets have to be put on the line in the sunshine
+frequently whether they are washed or not, or they may be eaten by
+moths.
+
+"Here are a few clean comfortables next, on this second shelf, done up
+like the blankets. These have to be washed, too, and are more difficult
+to manage than blankets, because they are so heavy; they have to be
+aired often to keep them sweet, for the cotton holds odors easily. Then
+come the white spreads, the heavy Marseilles in one pile, the lighter
+ones in another, and the single ones and double ones kept separate.
+
+"The third shelf holds towels, you see. This pile is for the best ones;
+notice how beautifully they are ironed and folded, and how the
+embroidered initials stand out. The ordinary bedroom towels come next;
+see how many your mother has, and how each kind is by itself: the
+hemstitched ones in one pile, the plain huckaback in another; those with
+colored borders in this one, and the bath towels in that. Any one could
+come in and get a towel in the dark, sure of taking just the right one.
+You must remember always to keep your own towels just this way; too many
+people mix them in in any careless fashion, and do not take the trouble
+to have them arranged neatly, but it's the best way to do.
+
+"The sheets and pillow-cases are in these deep drawers. This top one has
+the double sheets and the best linen ones; notice how they lie in piles,
+each kind by itself, just like the towels. They are all marked on the
+narrow edge, and so they can be recognized at a glance; the large sheets
+have your mother's full name. In this next drawer are the single bed
+sheets, marked with her first initials, and her last name. The servants'
+sheets have only her three initials. You see how easy it is to tell
+which is which. The pillow-cases are marked in the same way, and put in
+piles. You must be sure when you have a washing to put away that you do
+not put the clean things on top of each pile, and then take them off
+again to use at once; put things on top and take them off the bottom of
+the pile, so they will all be used in turn. Now for the table-linen."
+
+This was in another drawer, and Margaret exclaimed when she saw how
+beautiful it was. The cloths were like satin, the napkins which matched
+lay in dozens by them; the every-day cloths and napkins were by
+themselves, and the small lunch-cloths had a pile of their own. The
+doilies were in a smaller drawer, all in piles, too, and the pretty
+centrepieces were fastened around stiff paper made into rolls.
+
+"If you ever have lovely table-linen you will want to keep it nicely,"
+said the aunt. "I think it is high time you had some, too. I believe in
+the old German custom of making a linen-chest for each girl; so learn
+your lesson well, and when your birthday comes who knows what you'll
+get? Perhaps a lunch-cloth or some embroidered napkins!"
+
+"I'd like some towels, too," Margaret said, soberly. "I guess I'd like
+to have some linen every birthday."
+
+"Very well, I'll remember," said her aunt as they closed the drawers.
+"And when you really begin to fill your chest I will make you some
+pretty bags of lavender to lay among your sheets and pillow-cases to
+make them smell sweet. We will go down-stairs now."
+
+The pantry shelves were looked over next; in the china-closet in the
+dining-room everything was in order; the dishes neatly arranged on white
+paper, with pretty scalloped flouncings hanging over the front. The
+plates were piled in sets, the platters were together, the glasses and
+small dishes on the sides of the closet where the shelves were short.
+There was really nothing to be done here, so they went into the kitchen.
+
+The pantry where the pots and pans stood had rather dingy papers, and
+they decided to have a good cleaning. They took everything off and
+washed the shelves with warm water and borax and wiped them dry, and put
+on fresh papers. The tins and dishes which were seldom used, were then
+arranged on the highest shelf, and those which were used every day were
+put lower down. The little things, such as the skimmer, the small sieve,
+the egg-beater, and the spoons, were hung on nails driven into the edge
+of the shelf which was over the baking-table in the kitchen, where stood
+also the cups, bowls, and plates used in cooking, within easy reach.
+When they were done, the aunt said, "Always watch for ants in the
+pantry, and roaches and water-bugs in the sink. Ants hate borax, so you
+can put that on the shelves in all the corners, and it will help keep
+them away. Roaches come to the sink for food, and you must see to it
+that they do not find it. Keep it perfectly clean and scalded out,
+especially at night, and never let the sink-basket have any crumbs in
+it. If, in spite of everything, the bugs do come, put insect powder on
+the corners of all the woodwork and use washing-soda to flush the drain
+every day, and they will get discouraged and leave your house for
+somebody else's, where there is something in the sink for them. Now for
+the refrigerator."
+
+Margaret helped empty this entirely, setting the things in it on the
+table, and putting the ice in a large dish. They looked underneath at
+the pan into which the ice drained and found it half-full, so they
+emptied it. Then the lesson began as usual.
+
+"You see all these little covered bowls and plates with bits of food on
+them. We never put nice china dishes in a refrigerator, for fear of
+breaking them; this heavy, yellow ware is just the thing, and a saucer
+can go over each bowl. We do not put anything in which has a strong
+odor, such as onions or cheese, or they would make everything taste like
+themselves. Butter must be in a covered crock, and milk in bottles with
+a tight top. Warm food must never go in, or it will waste the ice. Let
+us look in the top; you see there is a nice piece of ice, all covered up
+with a bit of old blanket, so it will last. You must watch and see that
+you do not take more ice than you really need and use it economically.
+Some people never cover it at all, because it keeps the food colder if
+it is left so, but often it is unnecessary; there may be little food in
+the box, and that would keep as well if it were not quite as cold. Now
+you may get a basin of water, two clean cloths, and the borax, and I
+will show you how to clean a refrigerator."
+
+Margaret put a tablespoonful of borax in the water, rung out her cloth,
+and washed out all the inside of the great box, poking a little stick
+into the corners, and scrubbing the shelves thoroughly, as well as the
+sides and bottom. Then she wiped them dry and the food was put in again
+neatly. There had been a small pan of charcoal in one corner, and this
+was emptied on a paper and the pan refilled from a bag near by and put
+back.
+
+"What do you put black charcoal in the clean box for?" Margaret asked,
+curiously.
+
+"Because it dislikes a disagreeable odor, and destroys it at once," her
+aunt replied. "We change this pan every few days because it will take up
+only so much, while fresh charcoal will keep everything sweet and nice;
+Bridget burns up what is not fresh, putting it in the fire when she
+wants to broil or toast, for it makes a clear fire without flame. It
+only costs a few cents for a large bagful, and we can always have it on
+hand.
+
+"Remember to wash out your refrigerator at least three times a week.
+This is very important, indeed; if you forget it somebody in the family
+may be very ill. If you have not time to wash it out and still sweep the
+parlors, let the parlors go!"
+
+Just as they finished they noticed the garbage pail outside the door and
+took a look into it. It was nearly empty, so Margaret got a dipper of
+boiling water and a handful of washing-soda and put them in, as her aunt
+told her, to keep the pail from getting greasy and sour. "The better the
+housekeeper the less she has in her garbage pail, and the cleaner it is
+kept," she said, as she put back the cover.
+
+"We have still one pleasant thing and one disagreeable thing to do
+before we are done this morning; which would you rather take first?"
+asked the aunt.
+
+Margaret said she thought she would keep the pleasant one to finish off
+with.
+
+"Then get a newspaper," was the reply, "and spread it over the table,
+first of all."
+
+"That's the way most kitchen lessons seem to begin," said Margaret, as
+she took one from the paper drawer. "'First get a newspaper.'"
+
+"And very sensible, too," smiled her aunt. "It saves so much work if
+everything can be carried away and the table left clean at once. You may
+go to the closet and bring the box of things for the lamps while I bring
+the large one from the sitting-room."
+
+The box proved to have in it two cloths, one of flannel, and a white one
+free from lint; a pair of scissors; a round brush with a wire handle,
+and a piece of soap.
+
+The lamp was taken to pieces, filled with kerosene from the can kept in
+the cellar-way, and wiped off nicely. The charred wick was rubbed and
+trimmed, and the corners rounded a little to keep them from throwing
+the flame against the sides of the chimney and breaking it. The glass
+chimney was put in a basin of warm water with soap-suds, and washed with
+the flannel cloth, rubbed with the round brush, and wiped dry with the
+white cloth. Whenever a new wick was put in a lamp, Margaret was told,
+the burner should be boiled with washing-soda to free it from clogging
+oil, and if a wick ever smelled it was to be cooked a few minutes in
+vinegar and dried, and it would then be all right again. When the lamp
+was put back they gathered up the things used, and put the newspaper
+with the kindling for the kitchen fire.
+
+"Now for the pleasant thing," Margaret said, as she carried away the
+oil-can and washed her hands. "I don't think doing lamps is very nice
+work."
+
+"No, it is not," her aunt replied; "but it is certainly very nice to
+have a clear, strong light to read by at night, and you cannot have that
+unless the lamp is perfectly clean, so the work is worth doing. Look
+now on the closet shelf once more and find another box with the silver
+polish, while I go for the basket from the sideboard."
+
+Once more a newspaper was spread on the table, and they set out the box
+of powder, a small flannel cloth, a little saucer of water, a soft
+brush, and a chamois. They dipped the flannel into the water, then into
+the powder, and rubbed the pieces of silver well, scrubbing them with
+the brush, except where they were perfectly smooth, as in the bowls of
+the spoons. When it was done they washed it in hot water, wiped it dry,
+and polished it well with the chamois, and it shone like new.
+
+As they put it away again they counted it carefully, using the list
+which was kept in the bottom of the basket; every piece was there,
+fortunately, so no time was lost in hunting for it.
+
+"Do you count the silver every time it is cleaned?" Margaret inquired,
+as she took up the basket to put it away.
+
+"Every single time," said her aunt, firmly. "It must always be done.
+One can find a missing spoon when it first disappears, but not after it
+has been gone a month or more."
+
+"We are all done," Margaret said, cheerfully, as they put the kitchen to
+rights. "Won't Bridget be pleased when she sees her clean refrigerator
+and pantry, and the nice shiny silver,--and the garbage pail too! That
+looks just as nice as can be!"
+
+"Of course it does," said her aunt. "Everything looks nice when it is
+clean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS
+
+
+"I think it must be my turn to give you your lesson to-day," said
+Margaret's Pretty Aunt at breakfast-time, "because I have thought of
+something none of your other teachers have as much as mentioned. You can
+get ready as soon as possible."
+
+"Which apron?" asked the little girl, curiously.
+
+"No apron at all," said her aunt; "your hat and coat. We are going
+a-marketing. How can anybody be a good housekeeper without knowing how
+to buy a dinner?"
+
+Before they set out they went to the kitchen with a small pad and
+pencil, and looked into the refrigerator to see what they had already,
+to know what they would need to buy. There proved to be several things
+which would be used for luncheon, and then they asked Bridget what she
+wanted them to get. She said she was out of flour and granulated sugar,
+and would want raisins and coffee and tea, beside a vegetable for dinner
+and some lettuce and meat. They planned the meals together, and decided
+on having a dessert of apple-tart, made with apples and cream, and these
+were added to the list Margaret wrote down so nothing would be
+forgotten; then they set out.
+
+They stopped at the grocery first, and Margaret was told to order a
+seven-pound bag of sugar. While the clerk was getting it the aunt
+explained that this was a better way to buy it than to get it loose, as
+then it would be sent home in a paper bag, which might break and spill
+it; then, too, the nice cotton bag in which it would come home would be
+just the thing to strain jelly through. The flour was also ordered in a
+bag, this time a large one.
+
+"Some things we buy in small quantities because there is danger of
+waste in the kitchen if there is an unlimited supply at hand. But flour
+is needed every day, and never wasted, so we buy a good deal of that at
+a time. If we had a very large family we would buy a whole barrel at
+once, and so save a little money; as it is, the big bag does very well
+for us. Now for coffee; tell the clerk to give you his very best Java
+and Mocha mixed, in a tin can. We will take it browned, but not ground."
+
+"I thought Bridget always browned the coffee," said Margaret, who
+remembered the delicious smell which often had filled the house when the
+coffee came from the oven.
+
+"So she did," her aunt explained, "until we found she would sometimes
+burn just a few grains each time, which made the whole taste burned. Now
+we buy it in a can, only a pound or two at a time, and of a man who has
+just had it browned for him. We keep the tin closely shut always so the
+odor cannot escape, and grind each morning only as much as we need, and
+have this heated very hot just before the water is added, and that
+gives it the same fresh odor you remember. It is the easiest way to
+manage, though, of course, freshly roasted coffee is the best of all.
+But remember always to get a good quality in buying, for poor coffee is
+not fit to drink. Order the tea, when the clerk is ready, and get that
+also in a package, because it is cleaner and fresher that way. You can
+pay anything you like for tea, from thirty cents a pound to about two
+dollars, but your mother gets a black tea without a bit of green mixed
+in it for from sixty to eighty cents, and buys it in half-pound
+packages. What is next on the list?"
+
+"Raisins," said Margaret.
+
+"Well, order those in a paper box, the kind which come already seeded,
+and when you get them home, take them out of the box and shut them up in
+a glass jar with a tight top, to keep them fresh. The vegetables come
+now, but before we buy those you must put down in this little book what
+we have bought already, with the price of each article opposite. I
+could wait till we got home, but I am afraid you may forget the cost of
+things, because you are not used to them."
+
+She handed Margaret a cunning little book and a tiny pencil, and showed
+her how to find the right month and day printed at the top of the page,
+and to put down under a column headed "Groceries," just what they had
+bought so far and what each thing cost. After this they crossed the shop
+to the place where the vegetables and fruit were piled, and looked these
+over.
+
+The apples were of all kinds, sweet and sour, big and little, red and
+green. Margaret said she would take the biggest red ones for the
+apple-tart.
+
+"No, those are not cooking apples, they are meant for the table," her
+aunt told her. "And do not take the yellow ones, because they are sweet
+and only good for baking. Take a nice green apple, not too large,
+because the smaller ones do just as well and cost less. Let us get half
+a peck of those greenings. We want oranges for breakfast, too, though
+Bridget forgot to say so. Can you pick those out, do you think?"
+
+There were a good many boxes of these, some with rough skins, some with
+smooth, some with little bunches at the end. These last, her aunt
+explained to the little girl, were seedless and rather too dry for
+breakfast, though very nice for dinner. "The rough-skinned ones are
+light, as you will see if you lift one, so they would have little juice.
+Choose a heavy one of medium size and a rather smooth skin; but do not
+get those which are a very light yellow, for they may be sour."
+
+The vegetables had to be looked over carefully. Spinach proved withered,
+so they passed it by; the cauliflower had tiny black spots on it; the
+green string beans would not snap as they should when they were bent;
+but they found a large egg plant, with a fresh, smooth skin, which they
+took. The lettuce was all dark green, with thick strong leaves, and the
+aunt said it would never do; lettuce must be in heads, like cabbage,
+and pale green. Instead they chose some chicory with a white centre,
+which seemed crisp and newly gathered. All these things were written
+down in Margaret's account-book under "Fruits" and "Vegetables."
+
+A nice dairy was not far from the grocery, and there they ordered a
+little bottle of cream and put this down in the book before they went on
+to the meat market. As they entered this shop her aunt said the lesson
+here was so long it would take years to learn it, and they would only
+take the a, b, c, of it in one day.
+
+"Buying good meat means learning day after day," she explained.
+"However, there are some things you can learn this morning, and one is
+to be sure you buy in a clean place. Look around the floor and see
+whether the sawdust is fresh; notice the odor of the place and whether
+it is disagreeable or not; look at the counter, too, and be sure it is
+white and freshly wiped off; and above all, see whether the meat is kept
+in the ice-box at the back of the shop, not hung up on nails, or left
+lying carelessly about. Don't buy any meat which has been hanging or
+lying around; insist that it comes from the box."
+
+"But I can't think of the kinds of meat there are if I don't see them,"
+Margaret said, anxiously.
+
+"You will learn," the aunt smiled. "I am sure you will never be willing
+to eat meat which you are not certain is clean. Then look well at what
+the butcher brings out to show you. Beef ought to be firm, clear red and
+white, and not streaked with little lines; mutton must not be too fat;
+veal not too young--you can tell when it is because then it will be very
+small. Bacon must not be too lean nor too salt, and cut as thin as a
+wafer. Fish must be fresh, with nice, clear eyes. Chickens too often are
+buried in a barrel of chopped ice for weeks, and come out blue and
+clammy; such are not fit to eat. Suppose we buy a pair of roasting
+chickens this morning, and then you will see how they ought to look."
+
+The butcher brought out a pair which were yellow and dry, showing they
+had not been covered with ice. The aunt bent down the breastbone to see
+if they were tender, and showed the little girl that if it had been too
+stiff to bend she would have known by that that they would not do. She
+also looked inside to see if there was a good deal of fat, for this,
+too, was a sign of age. She said they had few pin-feathers, were firm
+and plump, and the feet were clean, so she was quite sure they would be
+good, and told the butcher to send them home, and not to forget the
+giblets.
+
+"Chicken liver gravy!" Margaret exclaimed at this. "I like your lessons,
+auntie!"
+
+After they reached home and their things were put away the account-book
+was brought out again, and a lesson given in that. Margaret had to
+listen carefully, for it seemed rather difficult at first.
+
+"It is best to know always how much you are going to spend on your table
+every week," her aunt began. "At first you may spend too much or too
+little, but by looking over your book you can tell in a moment where the
+trouble lies, and the next week you can make it right. Some things cost
+a great deal, such as turkeys, or strawberries too early in the season,
+or certain fancy groceries, and by seeing just where your money has gone
+you can remember the next time not to get these. Look at the different
+columns in your book. One says Groceries, the next, Vegetables; then
+Fruits; Milk and Cream; Butter and Eggs; Meat; Fish; Wages; Incidentals.
+You can put down under these exactly what you spend each day, and when
+the month is over you can put down in another book what each has
+amounted to. Let me show you:
+
+"Suppose when you add up your columns in your day-book you find at the
+end of the month you have spent twelve dollars for groceries, fifteen
+for meat, four for vegetables, three for fruit, and so on. You simply
+open your second book at the right month and put down what the whole
+has been; the next month you do the same thing under the new date, and
+so on. At the end of the year you do not have to go over all the little
+sums spent each day, but by looking in the right book under each month
+you can see exactly what all the meat cost and all the vegetables, and
+so on. If your October bill for meat was larger than it ought to have
+been and more than it was in September or November, you can look back
+and see just why, if you care to. Under Incidentals you put all your
+car-fares spent in shopping for the house, and such things as
+dust-cloths, or new kitchen tins. When the last of December comes you
+can see all you spent during the whole year by adding what each month
+came to, and know exactly how much it costs you to live, and you can
+plan to spend more or less next year, as you think best. That is not
+hard to understand, is it?"
+
+"No," said Margaret, "not to understand, but you see I am afraid I will
+forget to put things down, and then I will not know after all what I
+spent."
+
+"But you must put them down at once," her aunt said. "Either taking a
+pencil with you to market, or writing them down as soon as you come
+home. You will soon learn, and you will like the plan more and more. It
+is so nice to know exactly where the money went, day by day."
+
+"Sometimes the grocer has a little book to put things down, too," said
+the little girl. "If he has a book why do I have to have one?"
+
+"Because he may make a mistake, for one thing," her aunt replied, "and
+because if you have him put things down and do not do it too, you spend
+more than you think, and grow extravagant. You can pay each day, if you
+prefer, or once a week, or once a month; some people like one way, and
+some another about this, but you should always keep your own accounts,
+anyway, and know what you have had and how much, and what it cost; and
+at the end of each month you must copy off the result of adding your
+columns, and see what the expenses of the month have come to, and so at
+the end of the year. That's the way a good housekeeper does!"
+
+"Well," said Margaret, "then I will do that way, too, even if it is some
+trouble."
+
+"That's right," said her aunt. "If you do, I'll give you the loveliest
+set of account-books and the prettiest silver pencil I can buy when
+Christmas comes."
+
+"Oh, I truly, truly will!" Margaret exclaimed. "I'll put down every
+single penny."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DAY'S WORK
+
+
+It happened that just as Margaret was finishing her Saturday morning
+lessons Bridget had to go away for a few days, and the last lesson of
+all, which was given by her mother, was really a sort of review of what
+she had learned, such as she had in her school lessons.
+
+It was hardly more than six o'clock in the morning when the little girl
+woke and jumped out of bed. She dressed softly so that she should not
+wake any one, and took her bed to pieces and set her closet door open,
+as she had learned in her Bedroom lesson. She threw up the windows and
+hung up her night-dress, and then left the room, closing the door behind
+her.
+
+Her mother met her in the hall, and they went down-stairs together,
+tying on their clean gingham aprons as they went. The house was all shut
+up of course, so they opened the front doors, raised the shades in the
+parlors, and opened the windows a little to change the air. In the
+kitchen the fire was burning, shut up as they had left it the night
+before, and they first closed it to shake it down, and then opened the
+drafts and put on fresh coal, as Margaret had learned when she studied
+about the range. While the fire was burning up she pinned a little shawl
+about her head and swept off the front steps and sidewalk, and came in
+all glowing from the cold air.
+
+By this time the fire was hot and bright, and the cereal was put on to
+cook in the double boiler, the kettle filled with fresh water and put on
+to boil for coffee. Her mother said she would stay out in the kitchen
+and make muffins for breakfast while the other rooms were put in order,
+so Margaret went into the parlors and sitting-room and straightened the
+chairs, put away books and papers, and dusting a little here and there,
+leaving the regular dusting until later in the day. The windows were now
+shut, and the rooms looked very tidy, so she went to the dining-room to
+prepare that for breakfast.
+
+She brushed up the crumbs, aired the room, and put it in order. She
+arranged the doilies on the table, one under each plate, with a round of
+felt under that, laid the silver, put on her mother's tray with the cups
+and saucers, set the tumblers and napkins around, and the plates with
+the finger-bowls and fruit-knives, and the bread and butter plates with
+the spreaders. She filled the salts freshly, and last of all put on a
+vase of flowers. Then she took the cereal dishes, platter, and plates
+out to heat in the oven.
+
+She found her mother was getting ready the eggs and other things for
+breakfast, and she need not help, so she carried into the dining-room
+the butter balls and put them around; filled the finger-bowls and
+tumblers with cold water and the coffee-cups with hot; arranged the
+fruit on the sideboard, and put cream into the pitcher on the tray as
+well as in another pitcher for the cereal. By the time breakfast was
+ready she had on her white apron and had washed her hands, and when the
+family came down she was ready to show them all what a well-trained
+waitress she was.
+
+"Do sit down with us," her father begged. "You have done so much
+already!" But Margaret felt a little proud that she knew her waiting
+lesson so well, and said she would rather not. She really enjoyed moving
+very quietly around the table, bringing in and taking out things,
+passing everything to the left, and laying down plates at the right, and
+generally remembering just what she had been taught.
+
+After all had finished she ate her own breakfast, and found she had been
+up so long and worked so much that it tasted twice as good as usual.
+When she had finished she put on her gingham apron again and cleared the
+table. She took up the crumbs carefully and used the carpet-sweeper all
+over the rug. She scraped and piled the dishes in nice, neat piles, and,
+drawing the hot water, she washed and wiped them all nicely, and put
+them away. She swept the kitchen, wiped off the tables, shut up the
+range and washed out the dish-towels exactly as her grandmother had
+taught in the lesson she gave on the kitchen. Then she went up-stairs.
+
+Her grandmother, mother, and aunts had been afraid she would get too
+tired with such a long day's work as she had planned to do, and they had
+made their own beds, but they left Margaret's room for her for fear she
+would be disappointed. She closed the windows first, and while the room
+warmed she made the bathroom neat, washed and wiped out the tub and
+scrubbed off the wash-stand.
+
+Her room was put in beautiful order, to her closet and shoe-bag, and she
+even stopped to put a clean cover on the bureau and dust nicely, to show
+she had not forgotten a single thing. The halls and parlors had to be
+thoroughly dusted now, but as none of them needed sweeping it did not
+take very long, and there was still time to go to market. She got out
+her jacket and hat, took her pencil, account-book, and kitchen pad, and
+went out to see what was in the refrigerator. Here she had to stop, for
+Bridget had gone away in such a hurry she had quite forgotten to wash
+this out and arrange it properly, so on went the gingham apron again,
+and out came all the things from the box. She gave it a good scrubbing
+with warm water and borax, and put in a fresh dish of charcoal before
+she put back the ice and dishes of food. Then she got her pad again, and
+with her mother's help, planned the meals and wrote down what she must
+buy.
+
+The walk to the grocery and meat market was pleasant, and Margaret quite
+enjoyed ordering the vegetables, chops, fruit, and fish, which were
+needed, and watched to see if she was getting fresh things and good
+measure, and wrote down the prices as though she had been an old
+housekeeper instead of a new one.
+
+When she got back again she found there was an hour until lunch, and she
+at once wiped off the shelves in the pantry and put fresh papers on them
+and arranged the tins in a more orderly way than she found them. By the
+time she had finished her Pretty Aunt came out to help get luncheon, and
+together they laid the table and got the meal. She put on her
+waiting-apron again, when it was ready, but this time she sat down with
+the family because her mother said she must surely be tired.
+
+Her grandmother insisted on helping with the dishes, and watched with
+pride when afterwards Margaret poured boiling water down the sink after
+laying a bit of washing-soda over the drain, and scrubbed off all her
+tables until they shone, and blacked her range until it was like a
+mirror. "You surely are going to make a wonderful housekeeper!" she
+said.
+
+Margaret laughed as she took off her apron. "But I just _love_ to do
+things, grandmother," she replied, as she went up-stairs.
+
+Bridget always found that she had an hour or two to rest in the
+afternoon after her work was done, and so did the little girl, but after
+she had taken a walk and read in a new book for a time, she suddenly
+remembered that the silver needed cleaning, and she might surprise the
+family at dinner with it all polished. She got it out and rubbed it
+well, delighted to see how quickly it grew bright. As she finished her
+mother came into the kitchen with her Other Aunt, and said they meant to
+help get the dinner.
+
+The mother looked around her. "Everything is very nice," she said. "The
+sink is clean, and so is the pantry, and so are all the dishes. The
+range is bright; the dish-towels are washed; the dining-room is in
+order. I noticed as I came through the other rooms that the bedrooms,
+bathroom, and parlors have all been looked after to-day, too. Margaret,
+I do believe you are as good a housekeeper as I am already."
+
+"Well," said the little girl, thoughtfully, "I didn't sweep any to-day,
+nor wash any windows; I didn't shine the faucets in the bathroom,
+either, because I forgot them till this minute. I didn't have time to
+oil the floors in the hall this morning-- I only brushed it up; and I
+haven't looked at the cellar or the attic at all."
+
+Her mother laughed. "But nobody does the whole house from top to bottom
+every single day," she said. "We sweep twice a week, only, and we wash
+windows when they need washing, not all the time. The attic and cellar
+are to be kept in order, but not put in order daily, you know. The
+really good housekeeper does a little putting to rights all the time,
+and every day she takes a certain part of the house and makes it clean,
+but she never tries to do more in one day than belongs to that one. To
+know how to keep a house nice is quite as necessary as to know how to
+make it so. The most important thing of all is knowing what you have
+learned to-day--to quietly go through the work, taking one thing after
+another, each in its turn, and to do all well, without hurry or worry.
+To be able to do this is to make housework pleasant."
+
+"Well," said Margaret, earnestly, "I like to keep house. When I am a
+woman I mean to have the nicest, cleanest house in all the world!"
+
+"Suppose you help me keep this one nice till then!" said her mother.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Housekeeping Book for a
+Little Girl, by Caroline French Benton
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