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diff --git a/30897.txt b/30897.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ed6ca8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30897.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3214 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 30897.txt or 30897.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/8/9/30897/ + +Produced by Annie McGuire. 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