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diff --git a/75560-0.txt b/75560-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3be4a69 --- /dev/null +++ b/75560-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2576 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75560 *** + + + + + + A-B-C + OF + HOUSEKEEPING + + + BY + CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK + + + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + NEW YORK & LONDON + + + + +HARPER’S A-B-C SERIES + + A-B-C OF HOUSEKEEPING. + By CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK + + A-B-C OF ELECTRICITY. + By WILLIAM H. MEADOWCROFT + + A-B-C OF GARDENING. By EBEN E. REXFORD + + A-B-C OF GOOD FORM. By ANNE SEYMOUR + + 16mo, Cloth + + +HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK + + COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY HARPER & BROTHERS + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + PUBLISHED MAY, 1915 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. CHOOSING A HOME 1 + + II. FURNISHING THE HOME 13 + + III. THE TABLE 26 + + IV. CONCERNING HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 38 + + V. THE HOUSE IN ORDER 50 + + VI. HYGIENE AND PLUMBING 63 + + VII. THE HOME WITHOUT A SERVANT 75 + + VIII. IN THE LAUNDRY 88 + + IX. WHEN COMPANY COMES 99 + + X. THE CHILD IN THE HOUSE 111 + + + + +A-B-C OF HOUSEKEEPING + +I + +CHOOSING A HOME + + +The choice of a home is usually decided by the pocket-book. Other +considerations carry weight, but matters of convenience, preference, +and location are lighter in the scale than the sum one can afford to +pay for a shelter. What proportion this will bear to the rest of the +income must be settled by each one for himself after an estimate of the +other expenses which must be met. + +When a whole house is taken and the cost of heating and the charge of +the outer premises, as well as the entire care of the place, have to be +assumed by the tenant, one-fifth or one-sixth of the income is all he +should give for rent. The price of coal, the wage to be paid the person +who is to clean snow from the sidewalk in winter and dirt from it the +rest of the year, look after the furnace and ashes, put out garbage; +the consideration of the services of the one who must sweep front +steps, halls, and stairs; the small repairs every house demands from +time to time, will all have to be added to the sum devoted to rent. +While the tenant and his wife may perform part or all of these duties, +it is only reasonable that they should understand how much they are +saving in actual cash, and comprehend that what they economize in this +respect is the equivalent of what they would pay to the landlord were +they to occupy an apartment in a flat building. + +This state of affairs justifies the man who lives in an apartment +in allowing a larger proportion of his income for his rooftree. The +details to which I have referred just now are included in the price +paid for a flat, to say nothing of the reduction of work when all the +living is on one floor, when stairs do not exist for the housekeeper, +and her responsibilities end at her own front door. + +The selection of a location is determined by the make-up of the family +and the man’s place and time of business. These considerations must be +taken into account before the house-hunting is begun. Distance from +the center of the town usually means a reduced rent, better air, and +more attractive surroundings. To counterbalance these are the long +journey back and forth, night and morning, the cost of transportation, +inability to come home for the midday meal. As a rule these drawbacks +do not equal the advantages to be gained by a home remote from the +business district. + +In order to accomplish the strenuous task of finding a home with the +least outlay of labor and worry--for in any case there will be enough +of both these commodities--as much planning as possible should be done +in advance. The number of rooms necessary should be settled, as well +as the sum which can be paid for rent. The sections of the city which +are suitable should be studied and, if feasible, traversed, so as to +get a general idea of them. Sometimes even a cursory inspection of a +neighborhood decides the would-be tenant against it. + +Then, when lists of houses or apartments have been culled from +advertisements and secured from real-estate agents the actual work of +house-hunting is begun. One resolution to be laid down at first and +adhered to positively is not to go over a house or an apartment if the +first glance shows it to be undesirable. When six rooms are the limit +for a flat there is no more sense in inspecting a ten-room apartment +than there is in scanning a house at twelve hundred a year if seven +hundred and fifty is the extreme price that can be paid for rent. Such +examination not only consumes time and strength, but it also provokes +dissatisfaction with smaller and cheaper quarters which may be seen +afterward. + +A few essentials must be fixed in the mind, to which any house or flat +should conform. It must be light--not a dim twilight illumination, but, +if possible, sunshine, either direct or reflected--in the living and +sleeping rooms. The kitchen must not be a dark corner, not only because +such work-places affect the health of those who occupy them, but also +because of the additional charge there will be for gas or electricity +burned by day as well as by night. + +The matter of heat must next be considered. When a house is taken the +rent is usually higher if there is a first-class heating arrangement +included. Old-fashioned appliances mean lower rent, but they also +require increased work on the part of the tenant or servant and are +often unsatisfactory in the amount of warmth they supply. A good +furnace or steam-heating plant may add to the actual sum of the rent, +but it is generally cheaper in the long run. The quantity of coal +burned by such a plant should be ascertained before concluding to take +the house. + +All these questions are eliminated for the man who engages a +steam-heated apartment, but he may change the place and keep the pain. +The comfort of the entire winter depends upon a sufficient amount of +heat, and radiators should be examined and a number of direct inquiries +put so as to make sure that adequate warmth may be secured in bitter +weather. The time when the heat is turned on and off should also be +learned, since it is quite possible to shiver and suffer in September +and May as well as at Christmas-time. + +Plumbing is always to be investigated closely, whether in a house or an +apartment. No amount of gilding and marble fittings can compensate for +cheap plumbing and a poor supply of hot water. The dweller in a house +is dependent upon his own kitchen fire for hot water, as a general +thing, but in nearly all apartment-houses the hot water is declared to +be supplied from the cellar. Even in high-priced flats hot water is +not always ready, and queries as to this are to be voiced before the +lease is signed. More than that, care must be taken to make sure that +the plumbing is in perfect repair and is not likely to give way at +inconvenient seasons. + +All these details are essential and there are others little less +important. The quantity of closet room, the pantries, the facilities +for washing and drying clothes, the quiet of the house as assured or +banished by the character of the neighbors and other tenants, the +cleanliness of paint and paper, must all be looked after. + +No matter what inducements in the way of lowered rent are offered, it +is always a mistake to go into a house which is not absolutely clean. +This does not mean only that it should be swept and scoured before +taking possession of it, but that paint and paper should be refreshed. +The latter is not to be done by pasting fresh paper on over that which +already covers the walls, as is the custom of many decorators--a custom +connived at by landlords because of the saving of expense it implies. +The incoming tenant must insist that the walls shall be scraped clean +before the new paper is hung and that fresh paint shall be used +wherever it is needed. It is hard enough to keep a house spotless +in the best of circumstances, and when one enters a dwelling and +establishes himself in the midst of the dirt of the departed tenants +the task is the most discouraging that can be undertaken. + +Moreover, vermin must be banished. This is an easy thing to say, but +hardly a housekeeper of middle age can be found in the length and +breadth of the country who has not had a struggle with the pest in some +form or other. In one home it may have been cockroaches or water-bugs; +in another it may have been black or red ants; in many it has been that +worst and most dreaded of plagues, bedbugs. Sporadic cases of any of +these may be conquered without much difficulty, but when once the enemy +is intrenched in the home it seems almost as if the only way to get rid +of them finally is by burning the house down! + +On all considerations, therefore, the house-hunter must make sure that +vermin are not established in the new dwelling. If there is even a +possibility of their presence she must insist upon radical measures +being taken before she will contemplate entering the house. When the +pests have been there and have been driven out it is still wise to +take reasonable precautions against their return. No picture-moldings +should be tolerated in the bedrooms, since these make a lurking-place +for insects. The walls of sleeping-rooms should be painted rather than +papered, and dark cupboards, drawers, etc., should be scoured out, +disinfected, and painted. + +I have dwelt upon the need of such care in the bedrooms, but it is no +less essential in the kitchen and pantries. While bedbugs occasionally +get a foothold even here, the usual plague is the roach or Croton-bug. +He is said to be inoffensive and he does not possess the deadly odor of +the _Cimex lectularius_, but apart from the damage he undoubtedly does +in nibbling table-linen and the like, he is an exceedingly unpleasant +housemate. He frequents uncovered garbage-pails, bread and cake boxes +which have been left open, wire safes with imperfectly closing doors, +and the provision compartments of refrigerators; and it does not tend +to improve the appetite to have him pop out of the cereal carton or run +from under the cold roast. + +So every precaution should be taken against such creatures as well +as against mice and rats before renting the house. Mice-holes should +be choked up with broken glass and dusted with red pepper; boiling +water should, when possible, be poured down the runways of insects; +borax scattered about their haunts. After that, strict care in the +way of keeping food put away closely, pains to see that no crumbs +or drippings are allowed on the floor or the shelves, and rigorous +cleanliness of every vessel which has been employed in cooking are the +best agencies against the return of the adversaries. + +Other points should be looked to about the kitchen. The stove is the +chief consideration after light, cleanliness, and pantry space. + +Locality has much to do in determining by what means cooking shall be +done. In the country, where gas is not and wood or coal is burned, a +good range, suitable for either, must be depended upon. Of such ranges +there are many, and there are divers items to be regarded in each +make. The size and fashion of the fuel-box is one. The average kitchen +stove will burn a ton of coal in from five to seven weeks, the time +contingent not only upon the care of the cook, but upon the size of the +range. One should be selected with a maximum of heat for a minimum of +fuel consumption. The range with an upper oven is easier for the cook, +who by its means is spared constant stooping and bending, but some +ranges with the upper oven are said to burn more fuel. + +No range or stove should be considered which does not provide adequate +means for heating water. When there is running hot water in the house +a boiler is usually arranged at the side of the stove, but in the +country, where the water must be drawn by a pump or from the well and +put into the reservoir by the pailful, a large enough receptacle must +be furnished to make it possible to have the supply for the day all +poured in at once. In this way the man of the house may attend to this +heavy duty in the morning or at night, so that no woman may have to +strain her back by filling and lifting pails of water during the day. + +The coal or wood stove in the country may be supplemented by an oil +or gasolene stove. Of these there is a good variety, each possessing +its own special merits, but they are not to be considered in renting +a house, since they are purchased by the tenant, not supplied by the +landlord. + +In every large city, and in many small towns, cookery by gas has +superseded coal and wood almost entirely. The cleanliness and +convenience of gas in cooking, while inferior to those of electricity, +are yet so far ahead of the other means to which we have been +accustomed that the amount of time and trouble the gas saves is +incalculable. The stove is generally owned by the local company, who +install it and keep it in order, but in some places effort is made +by the landlord to charge the tenant for the use of the stove. Common +usage will have to determine the tenant’s course in the matter, but as +a rule the stove is included in the rent and it is worth while for the +man renting the house to make an attempt to secure this concession. + +There is a difference in gas-stoves and an up-to-date kind should +be selected, fitted with an upper oven as well as a lower one, and +possessing such features as a low flame for simmering, a plate-warmer, +the latest make of broiler, etc. The inexperienced housekeeper is +frequently imposed upon and the old-fashioned stove is foisted off upon +her. This should be guarded against when the house is rented. + +The inside of the house has received principal attention in this +consideration of the rented home. The outer surroundings usually +compel a measure of thought and are obvious enough to force themselves +upon even the uncritical observer. Yet there are a few points worth +emphasizing. + +The character of the neighborhood in a country or a small town +generally proclaims itself and the details that must be noticed have +to do with sanitary conditions, the presence or absence of such +nuisances as unsavory factories or businesses, the vicinity of noisy +occupations, the over-close proximity to public schools with the +accompanying racket at certain hours of the day, etc. In the city the +drawbacks may be less self-assertive but no less objectionable. Before +renting a house in a street it is always wise to learn something of the +people who occupy the adjoining dwellings, to make sure that there are +no unpleasing features connected with the section and so insure oneself +against future annoyances. + + + + +II + +FURNISHING THE HOME + + +The first details to be regarded in furnishing a house have to do with +the woodwork and walls. + +Sometimes the landlord has settled these and the tenant has no choice. +This is especially likely to be the case with the woodwork. If it is a +cheap and unattractive variety of “hardwood,” so called, or is painted +in imitation of hardwood, it is difficult to induce the owner to change +this. When he will consent to paint to please the tenant selection +should be made either of white or of a soft, neutral tint which will +not conflict with any color of furniture. The painting which simulates +the graining of a natural wood is distinctly bad and should never be +tolerated except when it cannot be changed. + +The kitchen should be painted throughout, walls as well as woodwork, +and in some good light color, such as buff; this will give the room a +bright, cheery look, and the steam which accumulates on the walls of a +kitchen can be scrubbed off the paint as it cannot be from a kalsomined +or papered wall. + +In choosing papers, the tenant should bear in mind that they will have +to be lived with for a long time, and should pick out such as can stand +familiar association without becoming objectionable. Striking patterns +and assertive hues should be avoided. When two or three rooms open +into one another it is well to have them papered alike and thus avoid +the patchy effect produced by several small rooms all with different +wall-coverings. In this day cheap papers which are also pretty and +artistic can easily be found and it is worth while to bestow a good +deal of time and thought upon their choice. + +If possible, all painting and papering should be done and the workmen +out of the house before the tenant moves in. This plan permits the +rooms to be cleaned and saves double toil to the housekeeper. + +The furniture of the house does not always lie within the tenant’s +power of selection. Few are the homes which are freshly furnished +throughout by a young couple. Almost invariably there are “left-overs” +and “hand-downs” which are presented to the newly married pair, +and they are fortunate indeed if such relics are desirable and not +discarded pieces which no one else wants. + +When even a portion of the furniture is to be bought, it should not +be purchased at random. “Sets” of any sort are best avoided. For the +parlor of a modest establishment, wicker and willow articles are far +better than the conspicuous styles which attain a sudden popularity and +then become old-fashioned and out of date. Comfort should be considered +in every item chosen and nothing taken merely because it looks well or +is reasonable in price. While sets are deprecated, a room need not look +like a harlequin collection. A certain uniformity of style and coloring +is to be studied, that the apartment may produce a harmonious effect. +Odd pieces, such as a deep arm-chair, a fancy tea-table, an attractive +set of book-shelves, are entirely suitable and will not strike an +incongruous note in the general surroundings. + +Bare floors are more used now than carpets, and rugs may make islands +of safety here and there on the smooth surface. When fine antique rugs +have not been given and cannot be bought, the best choice is from among +the many good varieties of inoffensive native rugs. Or a rug may be +made of a quiet-toned carpet, the breadths sewed together to form a +square of the size desired, and surrounded with a border to match. Good +druggets or art-squares may be found for the dining-room, matting or +bare floors and rugs will serve for the bedrooms, and hall and stairs +are to be covered with the runners which come for these purposes or +with a neat stair carpet in quiet colors and pattern. + +The dining-room furniture demands a good deal of deliberation. It +is a mistake to buy it in too great a hurry and so to be laden down +with something one does not really want. The table and sideboard are +usually purchased for a lifetime, and it is better to put up with +makeshifts for a while on the chance of finding something really good +and satisfactory than to buy in a hurry and repent at leisure. + +The wood of the dining-room furniture is not so much a matter of choice +in many cases as of necessity. One must buy what one can. Every one +cannot have mahogany or Circassian walnut, and it is a comfort that so +many of the less costly woods are made up into excellent designs. It is +much better to buy a good article of a low-priced material than a cheap +variety of the more expensive woods. Oak, ash, cherry, birch, gumwood +and other native growths may be found in pieces of excellent lines +which will satisfy even an artistic eye. When there is money enough +to get all that is wanted for the dining-room, a serving-table and a +china-closet of some kind may be added to the sideboard, dining-table, +and chairs that rank as essentials. + +The requirements of the kitchen will receive more detailed +consideration later on. Among the must-haves are the range, to which +reference has already been made; a good kitchen table, supplied either +with a zinc top or with a shelf to draw out and use as a bread-board; a +refrigerator; a wire meat-safe; liberal pantry room, shelf room, and, +if possible, a kitchen cabinet. + +When the bedrooms are to be furnished the same simplicity must be +followed which is recommended for the other apartments. The less +furniture the bedroom contains the better, from a sanitary point of +view. The Biblical inventory of a bed and a table, a stool and a +candlestick, had much to commend it. The bedstead should be of iron +or iron and brass; the dresser, table, etc., of white enamel or some +light-colored wood. The heavy pieces our grandparents took for granted +are fortunately out of vogue in a modest household. A box-couch +may be included in the furnishing of the room, or what is known as +a utility-box for holding shirtwaists and the like, and it is to be +hoped there is either abundant closet room or an extra wardrobe or +clothes-press. + +Such are the large and important furnishings of the house. These may be +reduced or increased, simplified or elaborated, in accordance with the +preference and powers of the owners of the dwelling. + +Other articles, hardly less essential, have to be considered. Take the +question of draperies, for instance. + +Within the past few years the fashion has grown of having two and +sometimes three pairs of curtains for each window--inner hangings of +lace or some similar fabric, outer draperies of rich and heavy goods, +and frequently these will be supplemented by sash-curtains close +against the pane, to say nothing of one or two shades to the window. + +This may answer for the woman who is at a loss what to do with her +money and can devise no better use to make of it than a multiplication +of her possessions, but the custom is not one the young housekeeper +need feel it incumbent upon her to follow. One shade of a neutral +tint at each window of her living-rooms, a pair of curtains of some +material which can be readily washed, are all that she requires. For +the principal rooms a good Madras, a pretty scrim, a pleasing though +inexpensive lace (all fabrics which will look well after careful +washing) will meet every necessity and present an attractive appearance. + +In the chambers two shades may be demanded by those who wish to have +a dark room for sleeping, but short white curtains of wash-goods, or +sash-curtains, are sufficient here, and something of the same sort, +but possibly a little better in quality, can be procured for the +dining-room. As a rule plain, straight curtains, without ruffles, are +not only more easily laundered, but look better after they are done up +than those pranked out with frills. + +When ornaments are to be considered one generally makes the best of +what one has. The newly settled couple may be thankful if they have +not been burdened with pictures and bric-à-brac which not only do not +please their personal taste, but refuse to harmonize with one another +or with anything else. In some cases one can only make the best of +conditions, and after endeavoring to arrange the unwelcome gifts to +the best advantage and scattering them over the house so as to dispel +the curse to as many different quarters as possible, resign oneself to +endurance until such time as the presents can be removed, one at a time. + +Those fortunate persons who can buy their own luxuries will recall the +Oriental proverb: “If thou hast but two loaves of bread, sell one and +buy jacinths for the soul!” What form the jacinths may take will be +determined by individual preference. One will find more joy and uplift +in really fine pictures than in anything else; another will concentrate +upon books and magazines; another will turn from both of these and +toward music. It makes little difference which way the window is opened +into the Infinite. The vital point is that such an outlet must be +provided if soul and spirit are to be nourished and grow as well as +body and physical strength. + +However much the importance of such plenishing as this may impress +either the man or the woman, the latter would be profoundly lacking +if she did not display a keen interest in other essentials of her new +home. The pictures, the books, the other arts, may rejoice and help +her, but she would be wanting in femininity if she failed to select her +table and bed linen with almost as much thought as she would expend +upon her “jacinths.” + +Even with unlimited means, it is not wise to buy more linen than +can be used in a small household. Plenty there should be, but not a +large stock which will lie aside and yellow from lack of service. +Three or four dinner-cloths, each with its accompaniment of a dozen +napkins, will be ample for her average needs, especially if she uses a +centerpiece and doilies on the bare table for breakfast and lunch. In +her purchasing she should avoid the fringed articles; these wear badly +and are difficult to do up well. Fruit-plate doilies to place under +finger-bowls, fish-cloths, centerpieces, tray-cloths, sideboard and +dresser covers, tea and carving cloths, and other ornamental as well as +useful linens will probably be given to her by relatives or friends, or +she may pick them up from time to time as she has need for them or the +chance to purchase them advantageously. As her table-cloths and larger +pieces begin to wear out she can usually cut from them squares which +will serve to lay under hot baked potatoes in the dish, to wrap about +rolls or other hot bread, to use for fish-cloths. + +A dozen each of dish and china towels she should have, and the +same number of heavier towels for kitchen use, as well as three +roller-towels. But the napery in this line she should keep under her +own hand, if she has hired service in her kitchen and pantry, and give +the towels out a few at a time in order to save her linen as well as to +inculcate habits of care. + +When bed-linen is to be considered, the housekeeper should follow the +same line as that she has laid down in her purchase of table-linen. +The ornamental may be selected as suits her fancy, but there are +certain must-haves in the plainer articles. Six pairs of cotton sheets +are none too many, and pillow-slips to go with them. If she and her +family cherish a weakness for linen pillow-slips, some of these may be +provided in place of so many pairs of the cotton cases. For three beds +three or four spreads should be procured, so as to allow of change, and +these spreads should be of the kind which wash easily and look well +afterward. Mattress-covers are also essential, as are blankets and +extra coverings. Silk or lace counterpanes cannot be reckoned among +must-haves, any more than can like dressings for the bureau, but may be +supplied at will. + +At least two or three dozen fine towels must be included in the list +of essentials, half a dozen good firm bath-towels, and wash-cloths at +discretion, as well as a dozen heavier towels for the use of domestics. +Guest-towels, bath-sheets, bath-mats, and the like are luxuries which +may be accumulated after the necessities are attained. + +When the housekeeper is filling out her list of household linens and +cottons she must not overlook dusters, floor-cloths, mop-cloths, +dish-cloths, or mops--I hope she uses the latter!--and other similar +requirements. In this advanced day there are new articles in this line +which present themselves constantly and which the housekeeper must +decide for herself to be luxuries or necessities. + +For supplying the china-closet a fixed rule is almost impossible. The +best plan is for the housekeeper to make out for herself what her +family will need and then to consult an intelligent clerk in a good +china-shop. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a whole set of china than +to select from “open stock” the pieces that are absolutely required. +Soup, dinner, dessert plates; plates for lunch and for breakfast, +for afternoon tea, for salad, for entrées; service plates; meat and +vegetable dishes in china or silver, can all be purchased in a charming +variety and at a reasonable price. The same is true of glassware. Many +gifts will fit in well here, and the stock of silver is pretty sure to +be received from the family or friends. + +In the kitchen matters are different. Few persons present culinary +plenishing, and it almost always devolves upon the housekeeper to +select it for herself. While she may have developed needs in certain +explicit directions, there are a few rules which can be laid down for +her general guidance, certain articles which it is safe to declare +essentials. Such are the following: + + Two 1-quart saucepans + One 2-quart saucepan + One 5-quart saucepan + One 3-quart double boiler + One 2-quart double boiler + Two baking-pans for meat _or_ one plain baking-pan and + one covered roaster + One large frying-pan + One small frying-pan + One colander + One graduated quart measure + One graduated half-pint cup + One meat-broiler + One fish or oyster broiler + Three jelly-cake tins + One large cake-tin + One biscuit-pan + One set muffin-tins + Three bread-tins + Three pie-plates + One 2-quart pitcher + Two jelly-molds + One pudding-mold + One steamer + One teakettle + One teapot + One coffee-pot + Fireless cooker + Chopping bowl and knife + Meat chopper or grinder + Soapstone griddle + Cake-turner + Bread bowl and board + Rolling-pin + Board for cutting meat + Board for cutting bread + Meat-saw + Bread-knife + Bread-box + Cake-box + Butter-paddles + Potato-beetle + Egg-beater + Scales + Lemon-squeezer + Meat-fork + One large crockery mixing-bowl + Two small crockery mixing-bowls + One platter + Two pudding-dishes + Set of skewers + Cheese or vegetable grater + Nutmeg-grater + Vegetable-press + Soup-strainer + Coffee or tea strainer + Coffee-mill + Corkscrew + Pair of scissors + Can-opener + Small vegetable-knives + Mixing-spoons + Flour-dredger + Salt-shaker + Cake-cutters + Split spoon + Skimmer + Ice-pick + +Other no less important articles are as follows: + + Two dish-pans + A garbage-pail with cover + Sink-brush + Soap-shaker + Wire dish-cloth + Oil-can + Brooms, dust-pans, whisk brooms, carpet-sweeper, etc. + + + + +III + +THE TABLE + + +The judicious purchase and use of food is the chief economical +possibility of housekeeping. + +The rent is an incompressible item. Every month that immutable charge +presents itself. It cannot be cut down. The only way to reduce it is by +changing the dwelling. + +Fuel may be used with a discretion which lessens outlay, but in cold +weather the house must be kept comfortable, even though the coal +bills mount high. When certain repairs are due they have to be made +or the rooms become unbearably shabby. Only in the domain of food is +it feasible to apply a wise judgment in buying, a cultivated skill in +cooking which induces cheap selections to be as savory in taste, as +nutritious in qualities, as those which cost far more. + +Such ability in marketing and preparation does not come by nature. It +must be studied and worked for, but it is worth the effort. + +At the first glimpse nothing seems simpler than for the young +housekeeper to sally forth to a good market, make her selections, order +them cut off and sent home, and pay for them--or have them charged! +(Usually it is fatally easy to open a charge account!) The same notion +prevails as to buying groceries. If a good shop is chosen, there is +apparently no trouble about the transaction. + +Possibly there need be no difficulties if the family purse is so well +filled that a little more or less expenditure is of no real importance. +But few are the homes in which this state of affairs exists and most +of us find it desirable, if not actually essential, to study the +comparative prices of staples in different shops and localities, to +learn if there is an advantage in making some purchases at one shop +and some at another, instead of giving all the family custom to one +merchant. + +Earlier reference has been made to the proportion of the income which +is to go for rent. Positive assertions as to how much shall be spent +on the food of the family are far less easy to make, and the degree of +definiteness with which they are uttered is hampered by the constant +changes in the price of food. + +Not more than ten years ago a liberal allowance for the food of an +adult was from three dollars to three dollars and a half a week. This +covered only the price of the commodities and did not allow for the +fuel used in preparation, service, etc. To-day this expenditure would +be totally inadequate for the same order of nourishment it would +have included a decade back. At that time a breakfast consisting of +fruit, cereal, bacon, fish or eggs, bread, coffee or tea; a luncheon +comprising a solid dish of meat, fish, eggs, or cheese, one or two +vegetables, or a hot bread, a simple sweet, and tea or cocoa; a dinner +of soup, a meat, two vegetables, a salad, crackers and cheese, or a +good sweet, and coffee--could all have been secured in the family at a +little over three dollars a head, when there were three or more to be +fed. From four and a half to five dollars per capita would be required +at the present time for a similar provision. + +The rise in prices may have altered the sums of our estimates; it has +not lessened the necessity for a study of the proportion of the family +means which must go for nutriment. This must be determined by the heads +of the house in conclave. The harder part of the work devolves upon the +woman, who must devise economies and carry them into effect, both in +marketing and in cooking. + +The inexperienced housekeeper should try to gain a few lessons in +the best methods of purchasing. Sometimes a brief attendance at a +cooking-school is of aid; or she may be able to join a class for +learning how to market--such classes exist and are most helpful--or she +may gain counsel from some older and more experienced housewife, or by +conning books on these topics. In this day there is no excuse for even +a beginner making the mistakes which have supplied material for many of +the hackneyed jokes at the expense of young matrons. + +Important as is the practical and personal lesson in knowing how +to market wisely, much can be gained from manuals on the subject. +Some of these furnish cuts and charts of the various animals, with +descriptions of the portions and of the uses to which each may be put. +Instructions as to the periods of the year when certain articles are +at their best are also supplied. Prices can be learned from the market +reports published in the daily papers and much is to be acquired by +going from one shop to another. After a little the housekeeper will +become acquainted with the appearance of meat and be able to judge for +herself if it looks fresh and good. She can likewise observe how the +shops are kept and in which certain obvious sanitary arrangements are +complied with. She will not need much tuition to inform her that she +should turn aside from shops where the food is not guarded from flies +and dust, where strict cleanliness does not prevail in the salesmen and +the appurtenances, and the objects on sale are not handled with proper +care. + +A few points it may be well to emphasize for the benefit of the +beginner. The fat of meat should be white and clean, the lean a clear +red, the joints of poultry must break easily and the skin look smooth +and healthful. When a fowl is yellow, bony, and hairy it is bound to be +old and tough. The gills of fish should be fresh and the eyes bright. + +I cannot speak too strongly against the growing habit of marketing by +telephone. Not only is the housekeeper who follows this custom at the +mercy of her marketman, who can put off on her any cut which has been +rejected by the wiser housewives who have come in person to do their +trading; he is subjected to the pleasing temptation to cut off more +than she has ordered or charge her for a heavier piece than he sends +home. + +The woman who goes to market gains other advantages beyond those of +seeing for herself the appearance and the size of the piece she orders +and has cut off while she stands by and superintends the process. She +also has offered to her chances for bargains she would never get if she +marketed by telephone. Often there will be a change in the market or in +the weather that will bring down the cost of articles which are usually +high-priced, and the woman who does her own marketing is the one to +benefit by this as well as by suggestions which introduce variety into +her bill of fare. + +This same variety is to be studied by the sensible housekeeper, not +only on account of the gratification it gives her to set a pleasing +provision before her family, but also because of the genuine good that +is gained by avoiding a monotony which fails to encourage the appetite. +Moreover, saving is aided by this diversity, since cheap dishes can be +slipped into the commissary without awakening the suspicions of the +eaters that economy is being practised at their expense. + +Among the rational details to be observed in buying meat is that of +insisting that all “trimmings” shall be sent home. When a roast of +beef or a breast of lamb or a shoulder of mutton or veal is boned and +rolled, the bones should never be left at the market for the butcher +to sell over again, but sent with the meat that they may be used as a +foundation for soup or gravy stock. The giblets and feet of poultry +should also be demanded. When chops are “Frenched” or a steak cut into +seemliness, none of the scraps should be considered unworthy of saving. +All have their place in the stock-pot or as stew-meat. + +Too large a piece of meat should not be bought by the woman with a +small family. Meat merchants have a way of discouraging the purchase of +the smaller roasts on the plea that they dry out in cooking. If they do +it is because the work is not properly done. It is quite possible to +make a small roast toothsome and tender instead of dry and hard if the +housekeeper will cook it in the right way and with due care. + +Steak and chops, the frequent resource of the woman with a small +family, are expensive luxuries. She is wise if she learns how to cook +the cheaper cuts in a sufficiently attractive fashion to make her +family contented with these instead of leaving them longing for the +higher-priced portions. + +A “run” upon any one kind of food should be avoided as much as having +fixed days for specific viands. Fish on Friday one may take as a matter +of course, but there is no real reason why one should have roast beef +every Sunday or a boiled dinner on Saturday night. I know it is the +plaint of the majority of housewives that it is most difficult to +secure variety in the meat dishes, but this trouble should not exist +in a family where practically all sorts of meat can be eaten. In one +household such as I know, where veal and pork are both taboo, and fish +can be eaten by only one person, the choice is narrowed down a good +deal. Even then, however, with a knowledge of how to prepare savory +stews, minces, hashes, scallops, croquettes, fritters, meat-pies, +stuffed peppers, tomatoes and peppers with a meat filling, as well as +roast, boiled, broiled, braised, and fried meat dishes, there should +be no wail over the trials of the housekeeper in changing her menus +frequently. + +No time can be considered wasted which is bestowed on the study of how +to cook cheap meat well. Always it should be recollected that many of +the so-called cheap cuts really contain a greater amount of nutriment +than the choicer selections. As I have said on various occasions, the +housekeeper must be prepared to pay a price for excellence of food, +and if she cannot pay this in hard cash she must supply the equivalent +in careful cookery and wise seasoning. A knowledge of the uses of +curry powder, anchovy, and other condiments in changing and modifying +the tastes of familiar foods, a willingness to give the time to slow +and long cooking which will bring out the best flavor of the meat, an +acquaintance with the manifold ways in which left-overs of food can +be utilized in pleasing combinations, are among the branches which a +housekeeper of small means finds well worth her study. + +Reference has been made to the help a fireless cooker is to the woman +who keeps house well. It is a saving of time, fuel, labor, and food +values. By its assistance the housekeeper can prepare her meal hours +ahead of time and go about other pursuits in the calm certainty that +when she is ready for her dinner it will be ready for her, and as +good as if she had simmered over the kitchen fire all the afternoon, +using up her fuel and herself. There are several varieties of these +cookers, all of them on practically the same plan, and it will pay a +woman to look about her to find which kind suits her best. For soups, +stews, cereals, they are unequaled, as for making jams, preserves, or +anything else which demands a long period of deliberate cooking. + +Special attention has been given to the purchase of meat, but there is +almost equal judgment to be shown in buying groceries. Here there is a +chance for the inexperienced marketer to be imposed upon. Certain fixed +principles she should follow. + +The first of these is that it is, as a rule, unwise to buy in bulk. +That is, there is little gained in a small family by laying in large +supplies at a time. A barrel of flour is likely to be musty and weevily +before it can be used; corn meal in large quantities develops vermin; +so do cereals purchased by a number of packages or pounds at a time. +Care should be taken to select an honest grocer or to know enough of +prices not to be overcharged, and then to order supplies as they are +needed. + +Buying in bulk means more than this: it also refers to getting the +“loose” crackers, cereals, and the like, instead of those inclosed +in cartons. The latter is always the better plan, and care should be +taken to select a good variety that is put up by manufacturers whose +names are a guarantee of the excellence of the products. Until one has +investigated the matter one has no idea of how many cheap and poor +materials are foisted off upon a guileless public, bearing the stamp of +unknown makers, with the assurance that they are “just as good” as like +articles put up by well-known houses. + +This fiction is especially prevalent about canned goods. When these +are first-class they are admirable, and fortunately there are daily +increasing numbers of fine and trustworthy establishments who can +fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, etc., in conditions which assure the +complete protection of the consumer. Yet there are still in existence +small and unscrupulous concerns whose output is cheap and poor if not +actually dangerous to health, and these should be boycotted by all +housekeepers. + +Care should be exercised in buying fresh vegetables and fruits. In +most of our large cities the laws as to protecting these against dust +and dirt are being enforced more vigorously with every year, and here, +too, the housewife can help to bring about a better state of affairs +by insisting upon purchasing only such articles as have been properly +cared for. Vegetables which are to be cooked before eating may not +suffer so much by being exposed to dust, but salads and berries and +other fruits or vegetables which are eaten raw are a menace when they +have been suffered to lie and wilt in a current of air laden with dust +and disease germs. + + + + +IV + +CONCERNING HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS + + +One of the first items of business to be considered by a newly married +couple, or a pair who are about to begin housekeeping, is the division +of the income between the husband and wife. + +This does not imply that their interests are to be opposed or that they +are to have absolutely separate purses. It does mean that there must be +a clear understanding on both sides of what the expenditure is to be +for certain purposes and that the funds for food, domestic service, and +other strictly housekeeping outlay should be in the hands of the wife. + +This point has been much debated and the pros and cons on both sides +exploited. Some men argue that the possession of ready money will +lead the wife to extravagance, that it is far better to have all +articles charged and the bills paid by the husband, that women do +not understand household accounts or bookkeeping. Enough foolish and +shallow women exist to lend a trifling force to this position. But the +general and growing view is that the housekeeper upon whom is laid +the responsibility of purveying for an establishment rises to the +emergency, that she does better work and makes wiser purchases when +she is trusted with an allowance for such expenses, that an exhaustive +knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping is not demanded for simple +domestic accounts, that even the immature and untrained wife gains +knowledge by experience and competence by errors made and corrected. + +Certain disbursements seem naturally to devolve upon the man of the +house. That he should pay the rent, defray outside or general repairs, +perhaps meet the coal bill, appears a matter of course. But it is +unquestionably the province of the wife to buy provisions and pay for +them, either in cash or by weekly or monthly accounts. Charges for +work done in the house, the replacement of cooking utensils, household +linen and the like, the bills for gas and electric light, all should be +within her control, to be settled by her as they fall due, after she +has examined them and convinced herself that they are correct. + +If other arrangement is made than this, it should be after careful +consideration and unbiased discussion of the advantages and demerits of +the system. As a general thing such a division as that just suggested +proves the best. + +Exactly what proportion of the income shall be placed in the hands of +the wife is a matter which must be decided by individual circumstances. +Estimate has already been made as to the allowance to be given to +food, and it can readily be seen that this must be determined by +the character and size of the family as well as by the conditions +surrounding them. The household of a farmer or of one who commands a +garden and dairy can be kept on a much smaller pecuniary expenditure +for actual food than is possible in the home of a dweller in the city, +who must buy and pay for every particle of food which comes into the +house. The sum disbursed may amount to the same thing in the long +run, since the cost of keeping up the garden plot or caring for the +cattle must be met by the man of the house, but he will not need to +give as much cash into his wife’s hands as will be required in other +circumstances. + +However the amount may be apportioned, whatever may be the charges +laid upon the wife and those assumed by the husband, the necessity of +strict and accurate household accounts should be insisted upon. I am +not advocating any special system. I have known excellent outlines +of domestic expenses which simply darkened counsel with words for +some housekeepers and rendered the business of following their outlay +confusion worse confounded. Sometimes a woman with little more than a +common-school education and an ordinary working knowledge of arithmetic +can keep her accounts with a conciseness and cleanness many a trained +bookkeeper might envy. If a housekeeper has a system which proves +satisfactory it is a mistake for her to try to change it for one which +may be more scientific but is less useful. + +Merely as a suggested guide I would advise the beginner to provide +herself with two books, one small and cheap, to be slipped into the +pocket when going to market, the other larger and of better quality. +In the first one, to which is attached a pencil, is to be set down +every purchase and its cost, as soon as made. The memory should never +be trusted in these matters, but each outlay--no matter how small, +if it be nothing more than a car-fare or a three-cent bunch of +parsley--entered immediately. Then these items are to be transferred +in ink to the larger book as soon as possible after the housekeeper’s +return to the home. It is fatal to accuracy and to really helpful +bookkeeping to let the accounts accumulate before they are written down +and balanced. + +Still keeping along the most elementary principles of household +accounts, let me counsel that on the left-hand page be written the +amount of money in hand, while the sums expended and the items for +which they are paid out are set down on the opposite page. The two +pages may be balanced each day or as the bottom of each page is +reached, as best suits the housekeeper. The one immutable rule is that +the sum which the written balance shows ought to be in her purse should +absolutely be there. This may sound like the very primer of household +expenses, but no woman who has ever gone through the anguish of trying +to determine what has become of the stray dime her figures show should +be in her possession, or of discovering how she happens to have a +quarter more than her ciphering proves to belong to her, will ever make +light of the endeavor to square her accounts and her cash balance. Such +struggles are avoided by the consistent practice of noting down each +payment as soon as made. + +Possibly the most important decision the young housekeeper has to make +in beginning her domestic bookkeeping is how she shall pay for her +purchases. Shall it be cash or credit? And if the latter, how often +shall bills be paid? + +From the standpoint of wise economy it is safe to state that the +strictly cash habit is probably the most economical method to follow. +The old saying of “pay as you go, and if you can’t pay don’t go!” is +put into practical effect. Foolish as it may be, the fact remains +that we all feel a certain reluctance to part with actual cash which +lays a detaining grasp upon us when we might be tempted to “plunge” +if the charge were not to be presented until the end of the week or +month. The housekeeper thinks more than once before she buys the more +expensive cut of meat, the higher-priced fruits or vegetables than her +purse shows she ought to purchase. And there is undoubtedly a comfort +beyond words in the knowledge that no vexing bills are coming in after +the food has been consumed and forgotten. When feasible, there are +countless advantages in paying cash for everything which is brought +into the house and leaving to credit only such items as cannot well be +met except periodically--such as fuel, light, wages, and in some cases +milk and ice. + +On the other hand, the charge system has something to its account. It +is much more convenient, in the first place. When one is in a hurry +to finish her marketing and get on to something else the nuisance of +having to wait for change is vexatious. Sometimes the article desired +is not in stock and must be ordered. One hesitates to pay for it before +it is certain that it can be obtained. Again, the telephone marketing +or commanding of groceries, disadvantageous as it is, must sometimes be +followed because of illness or inclement weather, and then the habit +of paying cash is a bother. Moreover, there is little doubt that the +charge customer usually receives a meed of consideration often refused +the cash payer. It is also a genuine inconvenience to pay cash for milk +and for ice and for certain other commodities, such as butter and eggs +supplied by special dealers. + +I have not touched upon the possibility that ready money may be +lacking, as is sometimes the case with the man on a salary and still +more with the one who does piecework and is not paid on a fixed day. +Often the need for paying “real money” amounts to a hardship, not +because the purchaser is not solvent, but because his remuneration is +slow in arriving. At such periods the charge account partakes of the +nature of a sheet-anchor. And yet there are strong arguments against it. + +Perhaps it is useless to lay stress on the disadvantages of the charge +account, and yet I would feel I was in error if I did not speak a word +of warning against the fatal facility attending on credit arrangements. +It is altogether too easy to have an article charged, forgetting that a +day of reckoning can only be postponed at the best. The housekeeper who +for good and sufficient reasons decides to pay by check periodically +should lay down for herself certain fixed rules. + +One of the chief of these is to have short accounts. A grocer’s or a +butcher’s bill should be presented weekly and paid punctually. When +the bill comes in it should be gone over carefully and the items on it +checked up, to be sure, in the first place, that every article charged +has been delivered; in the second place, that the charge set against +it is that which was stated when the purchase was made. It is a common +occurrence to find an increase of from one to five cents on several +entries on a bill. The error may be due to the bookkeeper’s mistake +or to the dealer’s dishonesty. In either event the blunder should be +called to the merchant’s attention and corrected. He will respect the +housekeeper none the less because he learns she is on the alert for +possible discrepancies. + +Another principle to be followed is that the marketer should not be +led into making foolish or extravagant purchases because they are to +be charged. In the majority of cases it is a mistake for the small +housekeeper to buy in quantity, since the cash saved by the transaction +is offset by the waste of the material, either by spoiling or because +of extravagant use. Yet when the purchase can be charged it is easy to +yield to the temptation toward what seems at the first glance like an +economy. + +Again, the possession of the charge account should not be permitted to +lead the housekeeper into the habit of vicarious marketing--either by +telephone or by messenger or by ordering through an employee of the +concern she patronizes. Other mistakes may also be made, but these are +probably the most frequent and those into which the woman who is not on +her guard against pitfalls in the domestic path is likely to slip. + +I have said that it is not feasible to state here a fixed sum to +which the housekeeper must limit her outlay for food. Her best plan +for arriving at an approximate estimate is by a process of averages. +A single day or even a single week cannot furnish a standard any more +than can a single meal. The wisest method is by the aid of strict +system to keep track of her expenditures and then study how the economy +of one time offsets the liberality of another. + +To illustrate: when the holiday season is at hand expenses are bound to +increase. The cost of the Thanksgiving or the Christmas turkey and pies +cannot be appreciably reduced. But it is possible to make a science of +economical purchasing and catering--this, too, without stinting the +family or feeding them poorly--so that the burden of high-priced food +may not hopelessly swamp the income. + +A like principle may be followed on other occasions. If company must +be entertained, if a family feast must be observed, prudent marketing +and skilful cookery may delude the household into an ignorance of the +fact that money is being saved to carry the housekeeper over the time +of increased bills. Constant thought and consideration are required for +this, but to the lover of housekeeping the occupation after a while +becomes almost like a game in which she pits her wits against the cost +of living and glories when she comes out ahead. + +Here is an enterprise in which the habit of going to market for oneself +and the custom of keeping strict account of disbursements both help +the worker. She can pick up at a bargain a cut of meat, a selection +of fish, a choice of vegetables or of fruit, or an occasion in canned +goods which will at once bring down her average and permit her to lay +aside a little toward the next heavy pull upon her purse. This is +especially likely to be the case in the period of preserving, pickling, +and similar pursuits, when often a happy “find” in fruit will help to +lighten the unavoidable weight of conserving of any sort. + +The wise student of housekeeping need not let her family recognize the +alternation of a feast and a fast at the table. When they eat a larded +lamb’s liver, they will not suspect an economy; when they rejoice in +filleted sole they will have no idea that the cheapness of flounders is +responsible for their treat, any more than they guess that a delectable +trifle which redeems a rather simple dinner is made from the remains +of stale cake, the left-overs of a couple of jars of jam, and a simple +custard. + +Some of the so-called economies do not economize. A bread-pudding which +requires eggs, milk, sugar, butter, and raisins to the value of fifteen +or twenty cents to use up three cents’ worth of stale bread can by no +stretch of the imagination be regarded as a saving. Better make toast +of the bread, save it for stuffing, or dry it and keep it for crumbs +to serve in frying. But there are genuine economies galore, and the +woman who makes a science of them will lay up for herself a series of +agreeable sensations when she balances her housekeeping accounts at the +end of the month. + + + + +V + +THE HOUSE IN ORDER + + +Putting the house in order is one thing. + +Keeping it in order is quite another. + +Once upon a time there was a theory that every house, no matter how +well kept, how frequently swept and scrubbed, must be torn up by +the roots twice a year, for the spring and fall cleaning. At those +dreadful periods mere men fled from before the devastating broom and +scrubbing-brush wielded by the woman of the family. Even when they +stole home in the evening to the slim meal which was all the worn-out +housekeeper could provide, the halls and stairs were likely to be +blocked by pails of suds, by furniture or rolls of carpet _en route_. + +To the aged survivors of that epoch the phrase “housecleaning-time” is +still enough to provoke a shudder. I have heard the assertion made that +it lasted at least six weeks, although all seem to be agreed that the +spring visitation was more severe than that of the autumn. + +Even in this day and generation there are found certain authorities to +declare that a house cannot be kept so clean that it does not once in +so often require a thorough going-over. In a way there is an element +of truth in their claim. In every home there are nooks and corners not +in constant use, and therefore not regularly cleaned; store-closets, +trunk-rooms, cupboards or drawers reserved for extra bedding, clothing, +furnishings, into whose closed confines dust mysteriously seeps, +wherein moth and other vermin make their breeding-places. + +At least once a year--and better, twice in a twelvemonth--these +“glory-holes” should be emptied, the contents looked over, beaten or +dusted, the floors, walls, shelves, etc., wiped off carefully. This is +the time to give away or throw away treasured possessions no longer of +use to their owners and which may be of service elsewhere; to rearrange +such articles as escape banishment; to put aside for the next season +the summer or winter clothing, hangings, and the like which are not +needed at the moment. So long as dirt and dust continue to exist and +to work themselves into the most jealously guarded precincts, so long +must the housekeeper bestow at least a semi-annual inspection on her +reserves and their quarters. + +She fails signally to understand her business, however, if she +permits an accumulation of dirt with the comforting conviction that +it will all be removed in the spring and fall clearance. More and +more we understand the importance of purity to health, and with this +comprehension we have grown to perceive that the best method of +retaining high cleanliness is by never allowing the dirt to get the +better of us. A little brushing and sweeping and cleaning here and +there as it is needed, a more attentive treatment once a week, will +keep the house clean without making the labor a burden. + +The system which should be the housekeeper’s most valued ally in the +effort after efficiency comes into play here. By the time she is fairly +settled in her new home she should have evolved a routine which, so +far from being an irksome groove, will be rather a track on which the +domestic wheels revolve without undue friction and the consequent wear +and tear. + +Take into consideration first the round of the day as it has to do with +keeping the house in order. When the maid or the housekeeper herself +comes down in the morning to start the breakfast, either by making a +fire with wood or coal, or by lighting the oil or gas flame, or turning +the key that sets the electric current to work, she should open the +windows to let in fresh air and the light which reveals the dusty or +the untidy corners. + +While the kettle is boiling or the cereal simmering she may have to +set the table, or if this has been done the night before and a light +cloth thrown over it to protect from the dust, the dust-pan and broom +may be called into service or the carpet-sweeper run over the places +which demand attention. The fortunate woman who has a vacuum-cleaner, +either one of the hand variety or the larger style which connects with +the electric current supplying the house, has work simplified and time +saved, as well as strength conserved. + +In those homes where an early and rather hasty breakfast is obligatory +for the sake of the commuter or the business man who must get to his +office promptly, or the children who must be off to school, it is +better to have done what superficial tidying was possible the night +before and to let the sweeping and dusting go until after the morning +meal is despatched and the workers on their way. If a system is +followed which obliges the readers of books and newspapers to put them +in their place before going to bed, which insists that toys, tools, +and clothing shall not be left lying about for some one besides the +scatterers to put away the next morning, there need be no confusion +encompassing the breakfast-table. A few moments should have been +snatched for dusting the more conspicuous portions of the dining-room +furniture, and distress of digestion should never be induced by the +presence of dirt or disorder in the surroundings. + +When the housekeeper has the home to herself, has disposed of the +details of dish-washing, bed-making, etc., has planned for her +meals and made out the list for her marketing, she should turn her +attention to the removal of the “matter out of place,” as dirt has been +gracefully termed. The living-room will probably require her first +efforts after she has reduced the dining-room to the proper condition +of shining tidiness. + +I have referred to the vacuum-cleaner. I wish I could put one into the +hands of every housekeeper! Several kinds are on the market and I carry +no brief for any special make, but I know there is more than one good +variety. The woman of slender means can use one of the hand-machines, +which, while perhaps more tiresome to work than the cleaner run by +electricity, will yet make much less call upon the strength than the +ordinary broom and do the work much more effectively. Not the least of +the advantages of the vacuum-cleaner is a merit it possesses in common +with the ordinary carpet-sweeper--that it does not scatter dust as well +as gather it up. + +More than this, the vacuum-cleaner enables the worker to remove the +dust from draperies without taking them down, to clean walls by a less +arduous means than going over them with a cloth-wrapped brush or broom. +Decidedly, one of the best investments a housekeeper can make is a +good vacuum-cleaner; and she will find that it soon pays for itself in +the amount of time and toil it saves. The work it takes a woman hours +to accomplish is done by the vacuum-cleaner in a fraction of the time +she would bestow on cleansing by the old methods, and more than one +housekeeper has found that she saved the wages of an extra helper by +the purchase of a vacuum-cleaner that she could handle herself. + +When such a cleaner is out of the question, a substitute for minor +work in this line is a carpet-sweeper. True, it cannot go into corners +and its accomplishment must be supplemented by a dust-pan and broom, +but even so, it saves much stooping and struggle to the housekeeper. A +trustworthy variety should be selected; it should be emptied regularly +and kept in perfect working order. With this there should be provided +what is known as a dustless mop--there are several makes of these--to +use on the bare floors after the rugs have been treated by the sweeper. + +As a matter of course everything of this sort, as well as the use of +a broom which raises dust, should be concluded before the housekeeper +attacks the furniture with the brush for the upholstered pieces, a +flannelette or cheese-cloth duster for the hardwood, or one of the +so-called oiled dusters. Of these, too, a good choice is offered at +house-furnishing establishments. While the cleaning goes on the windows +should be open, but not in such a way as to blow the dust, and the +doors into the other part of the house should be kept closed. The old +method, still practised by untrained maids or by housekeepers whose +zeal is in excess of their knowledge, of cleaning two or three rooms at +once and driving the dust from one room to another should be entirely +out of date in these sanitary days. + +The same sort of surface-cleaning should be followed throughout the +house, in halls and chambers, as well as in the down-stairs rooms. Even +in the tidiest household dust is likely to gather from day to day, and +if neglected twenty-four hours its presence is unpleasantly conspicuous. + +This superficial care answers excellently for part of the time, but it +is not sufficient without a more thorough attack at least once a week. +The housekeeper need not follow the modes of her mother and grandmother +and have the whole house swept from top to bottom on one day of the +week, unless she finds, after study of ways and means, that this +simplifies living for her. A better plan is to have one room or two +done a day, so that the labor is lightened by being spread out through +the week. + +The same method should be followed in each room that is to be cleaned. +The smaller ornaments should be wiped and laid away, either in the +bureau drawer or on some large piece of furniture which cannot be +moved but may have its surface and the objects put on it covered with +a sweeping-sheet. Lighter articles, such as chairs and small tables, +should be dusted and then carried from the room. The postponement of +the dusting until they are brought back after the room has been swept +means a fresh scattering of the dust about the clean chamber. + +Sweeping-sheets, made of cotton cloth bound with red, that they may not +be confused with the regulation bed-linen, should be at hand to lay +over such large pieces as cannot be removed. The sweeping should be +done from the sides of the room toward the center, recollecting always +to have at least one window opened and all doors closed. When the dust +is all in one compact heap it should be taken up in the dust-pan, +transferred at once to a newspaper, this rolled up tight and put aside +to be carried down to the furnace or the ash-can. After the dust has +settled the walls can be gone over with a cloth or with a broom about +which has been wrapped a duster, or a hair brush with a long handle, +such as comes for this purpose. + +The above method can be followed in a room with a carpeted floor or +with a large rug fastened down. When small loose rugs are used they may +be swept first, then rolled up and carried from the room, after which +the bare floor is dusted or wiped off with oil or rubbed with one of +the good waxing preparations which the popularity of the hardwood floor +has brought into the market. In a house supplied with a vacuum-cleaner +the floor and the rugs can both be cleansed without the labor of +carrying out the latter, and the upholstered furniture will not need +the offices of the small brush in removing the dust from folds and +tufts. + +Water should not be used on a hardwood floor. It may be wiped off with +a cloth dipped in crude oil and turpentine mingled in equal parts, and +the mixture must be well rubbed in. In default of this, kerosene may +be employed, observing moderation in the quantity of the oil applied. +Too much of any kind of dressing makes an unpleasant odor which lingers +persistently. + +It may be said, by the way, that when oilcloth is washed the cloth +should be wrung out nearly dry. If the water gets under the oilcloth +this will rot. + +When windows are to be washed the dust and dirt from the frames should +be removed before the glass is touched. If not, the panes will be +streaked. Warm water should be used, and no soap; this would make the +glass cloudy. A little borax or ammonia may be added to the water, and +in cold weather alcohol should be mixed with the water to prevent this +from freezing on the cloth. + +In scouring paint the soap or other preparation should be applied on a +flannel or the paint will be scratched. Hardwood finishings, such as +door-posts, window-frames, and the like, should have the same sort of +oiling as is used for the floors. + +If the silver which is in daily family service is always washed as +it should be after each meal there is no reason why it should become +dull and dingy and require a weekly scouring. Scalding-hot water is an +essential; the silver should be rinsed off in hot suds, dropped into +the almost boiling clean water, fished out quickly, a piece or two at a +time, and dried immediately. No draining of silver or glass should ever +be allowed, no matter what compromises are permitted in this line with +china and crockery. + +Close to the worker’s hand should stand a few helps toward keeping her +silver and glass bright and shining. A bottle of household ammonia +or a box of borax is one of her best aids. Also she should have a +little coarse salt with which to take egg stains from silver, and a +cake or box of good silver polish in case some of the pieces look less +brilliant than they should. A chamois-skin to give a final polish is +also a desideratum. If silver has been laid away and become dull so +that a general scouring is demanded, it is well for the housekeeper +to have one of the patented devices by which silver can be cleansed +by an immersion in a bath of soda and salt contained in an aluminum +pan. Again, there are several good articles of this kind for sale at +reasonable prices. + +The daily equipment for dish-washing should consist of two dish-pans +for the housekeeper who does not possess a butler’s-pantry sink with +running water. In one of these pans the silver and china should be +rinsed free of all grease before they are put into the clean hot suds +of the other pan. The glasses should be washed in the clear water +before soap has been added; next come the silver pieces, and these, +like the glasses, should be wiped dry as soon as they are taken out. + +The ideal method is to dry the china in the same way, but if it is +perfectly clean when taken from the suds, the pieces ranged in a rack +and boiling water poured over them, they will usually dry evenly and +show no marks or streaks. This method undoubtedly saves much time +and bother. A dish-mop is better for use in washing dishes than a +dish-cloth, since it keeps the hands from the hot water, but should be +scalded after each service and boiled once a day. The towels should be +washed and boiled with equal regularity. + + + + +VI + +HYGIENE AND PLUMBING + + +Some of the apparently minor details of housekeeping really possess +more importance than those which seem to bulk larger. + +Consider drains, for instance. In this day it is taken for granted that +no one buys or rents a house without being assured that the plumbing +is in perfect order, as well as having been of the best quality in +the beginning. I say that this is taken for granted, and yet I feel I +should modify this statement, recollecting homes in which I have been +a guest where the plumbing is obsolete and neglected to a degree which +would be dangerous with even the most up-to-date fittings. When such +carelessness exists relative to the old-fashioned closed plumbing with +the cheapest and least scientific of traps and stop-cocks, one gains a +rather alarming notion of the hazards to which householders recklessly +subject their families. + +Let me state here that the absence of evil odor is no proof that drains +and traps are in excellent order. The deadly sewer-gas is practically +without smell, and persons can be badly poisoned by it with no warning +on the part of their olfactory nerves. There are tests which will +demonstrate the presence of noxious vapors, but these must be made by +sanitary engineers or specialists in this line. Unless the dweller in +any home is positively assured that the drains, plumbing, etc., are in +perfect condition there should be no delay in making such tests and in +proving the good or evil state of the house-fittings. + +This is not sufficient, however. The drains must be kept clear, not +only for such a simple hygienic reason as the desire to guard against +disease, but also because a greasy or dirty pipe soon means a choked +pipe, and this in turn brings the inconvenience of a sink which cannot +be used, of a backed-up overflow of waste water, with the possible +accompaniment of injured floor-coverings, walls, and ceilings. + +The expert may be required to decide as to the perfection of drains. +The veriest beginner in housekeeping needs little education to know +how to keep them free. In the first place she should see that nothing +is thrown down a waste-pipe but the things it is meant to carry off. +When wads of paper, broken pasteboard boxes, rolls of hair-combings, +and similar refuse are flung into the mouth of even a wide and +generous waste-pipe there is pretty sure to be trouble sooner or +later. When grease and particles of food, tea-leaves, coffee-grounds, +and collections of dust are dumped into a sink, or a corresponding +amount of debris is permitted to try to make its way through the pipe +running from the wash-basin, no one but the person guilty of such gross +carelessness may be to blame, but the whole household is likely to +suffer for the offense. + +In view of the fact that most persons are heedless, the housekeeper +should protect herself and others against risks. One of the +simplest helps to this is the use of washing-soda--a chemical +which is absolutely ruinous to clothing when used as a detergent +in laundry-work, but is admirable for cutting grease or fat which +has accumulated in waste-pipes and for eating away other foreign +particles which have gathered there. I hasten to add that it will not +disintegrate strands of hair or bone buttons--both of which are often +found by plumbers in the joints of choked pipes they have been called +in to open! + +Another aid to keeping the pipes clean and free is household ammonia. +This does not need to be poured clear into the pipes, but when it has +been employed in rinsing greasy dishes or in cleansing the sink, or in +brightening glass or silver, the hot water to which it has been added +is of distinct benefit to the waste-pipes. It may be suggested, by the +way, that one of the best methods for using the washing-soda is to lay +a good-sized lump of it over the drain-pipe from the sink so that the +water which goes down carries particles of the soda with it on their +cleansing errand. + +Either ammonia or a solution of washing-soda should be used in rinsing +out the set-tubs after laundry-work has been done. When one thinks of +the human waste from the skin which adheres to the clothing and is +washed off from it in these tubs, there is a degree of foulness in the +notion of letting the tubs pass with no more cleansing than the rinsing +they get from the second or third water through which the clothes are +passed. + +Other cleansing preparations come which are perhaps less severe in +their effect on the hands than the common washing-soda. Many of those +on the market are known to be excellent by the proof they have given +housekeepers. The names of several of these will at once suggest +themselves to any one who keeps up with the times in the line of +domestic helps. Whatever the chosen cleaning medium may be, a bottle or +box of it should always stand in the bath-room, not only for rinsing +out pipes and keeping them clear, but also for preserving the purity of +basin and tub and toilet-bowl. + +I have often been impressed by the carelessness of housekeepers in +this detail, especially in homes where there are several children. +Evidently these have never been taught the niceties of rinsing out the +tub after bathing, or the basin after washing the hands. Around each +vessel runs a high-tide mark of soap or dirt, the mere sight of which +is enough to deter the observer from using bowl or bath. The touch of +the hand to the inside of either will almost always discover a sediment +or accretion of grease or dirt or both. This accumulation is readily +removed by a soap-rubbed cloth or by one dipped in ammonia or other +detersive. Such care may seem a trifling detail, but it is one which +should never be neglected. + +In connection with this a word does not come amiss as to the superior +attractiveness of nickel bath-room fittings, or of those of the kitchen +or butler’s pantry, when they are kept bright and clean, over those +which are suffered to lapse into dinginess. When the nickel coating is +hopelessly scoured off it is not a serious matter to have the fittings +done over and made to look like new. + +The whole care of the bath-room deserves more attention than it usually +receives. Soiled towels and wet wash-cloths should not be flung down +here and there, or stray medicine-bottles and medicine-boxes left in +untidy rows on the shelves. The medicine-cabinet should be kept in +order; the towels and wash-cloths folded neatly and hung up after +using; clean towels in plenty in readiness for the chance guest; the +soap-dish should be scoured scrupulously as often as once a day. Of +course it takes time to do these little things, but their presence +or absence marks the difference between the good and the careless +housekeeper. + +Washing-soda has another use beyond that of keeping drain-pipes +clear. A solution of it is excellent for washing out the ice-box or +refrigerator. This process should take place at least once a week. When +this is said it is not meant that the ice-box should not be cleared out +oftener than that. A new piece of ice should not go into it if there +is a possibility of bits of food of any sort having been left in the +corners or cracks of the ice-chamber. Daily inspection of the contents +of the refrigerator will make sure that all food in it is keeping well +and is sweet and fresh. + +In most well-made refrigerators of the day the shelves are so built +that they can be slipped in and out. By this plan they can be scrubbed +clean and the sides of the refrigerator can also be scoured off, as +would not be feasible with non-detachable shelves. After it has been +made clean a few pieces of charcoal should be laid in the corners. This +will keep the place sweet by absorbing the odors from food, and every +few days the fragments of charcoal should be thrown out and new ones +put in their place. + +Even with this care the ice-box will sometimes get a close smell; at +such times a small shovel should be made nearly red-hot, a little +ground coffee sprinkled upon it, and this put into the refrigerator +for a few minutes. It should be understood by every housekeeper that +butter, milk, and cream should never be kept near strong-smelling +articles of food. They absorb the odors and taste of the items they +have been with. + +Milk is usually kept in open dishes or pans for those who wish to get +the full good of the cream which rises to the surface, and nothing +else except other milk products or perhaps fresh eggs should be +permitted near it. + +When highly flavored foods of any sort must be kept in a refrigerator +they should either be closely covered--which is not always possible +or desirable--or put in a chamber by themselves. Butter should not be +suffered to remain in the wooden boxes or plates on which it is often +sent home; lettuce and greens should either be washed before they are +put away or wrapped in clean paper. Lettuce is best rinsed and then +done up in a clean cloth before it is laid near the ice. + +When canned goods of any sort are opened they should at once be turned +from the tin. They will keep indefinitely in the can while this is +sealed, but as soon as the air gets at the contents a chemical change +is wrought by the contact of the fluid and the tin and the food soon +becomes affected and a positive menace to health. The housekeeper +should always have in her stock a number of small bowls or dishes into +which to turn the fruit, vegetables, etc., which have been sent home to +her in a can. + +A wire meat-safe is an important item to have in the pantry, when +there is room for such a convenience. Lacking this space, the dweller +in flats achieves a compromise by a box built outside of her kitchen +window, covered on top with oilcloth or other water-proof material, +that the contents may be kept dry. According to the exposure of the +window to the sun, the sides of the box may either be of wire netting +or solid wood. In length the box matches the width of the window and is +usually high enough to allow of two shelves. In this improvised outdoor +pantry can be kept in cool weather many articles which would otherwise +crowd the refrigerator unduly and would perhaps wither or spoil in the +warm kitchen or pantry. + +Every convenience she can lay her hands on the housekeeper is within +her rights in securing. When it is worth while it pays for itself in +sparing her busy hands and feet, in easing the tire of her overworked +back. On her floor she should have linoleum, as it is easier to keep +clean than the bare boards, more sanitary and more convenient than rugs. + +The study of how to arrange her kitchen so as to save herself steps +is one of the first things the new housekeeper should undertake. The +table should stand near the sink and not too far from the stove; the +utensils most frequently in service should be hung on a row of hooks +close at hand or be ranged on a couple of shelves above the table. +Here, too, should be such articles of seasoning, etc., as are in +constant demand--the salt-box, the pepper-cruet, the vinegar-bottle, +the flour-dredger, and the like. The bread-box and bread-board should +be near the table on which the loaf is to be sliced; the bread-knife +should be close by. + +One of the greatest conveniences for a kitchen is that piece of +furniture called a kitchen cabinet, which unites the functions of a +dresser, a receptacle for provisions, a table or shelf at which to +make bread and roll pastry, and various other qualities that must be +known to be appreciated fully. These cabinets come in different sizes, +styles, and finish, and are easily made by the clever home carpenter. + +The fireless cooker must not pass unnoticed, whether this be of the +home-made hay-box kind or of the more elaborate variety containing +plates to heat for cooking the contents of the vessels of the cooker. +Whichever make is selected, the cooker itself is one of the most potent +aids the housekeeper can have as a saver of time, of fuel, of labor, +and of fatigue. By its assistance the meal virtually cooks itself, once +it has been started in the right way. Food prepared in the fireless +cooker preserves its flavor as it cannot do if cooked in the oven or on +top of the stove, and there is far less waste of the material of each +article than if it were suffered to go off in steam and aroma. + +The most popular fuel of the day is undoubtedly gas, since the cost +of electric equipment puts it beyond the reach of most housekeepers +of moderate means. Yet there are many parts of the country where all +cookery must be done by coal or even by wood, and where the only solace +of the worker is that she has the comfort of the heat in winter and the +benefits of slow cooking at all times. + +For housekeepers who must buy their coal it is well to know that the +most advantageous mixture for the average-sized range is a mixture of +egg-coal and nut-coal, in the proportion of equal parts of the red ash +and the white ash. The latter burns more slowly than the former, while +this gives a stronger fire and makes fewer cinders. + +A fresh fire need not be made more than once a week if the housekeeper +is careful to rake out the ashes at bedtime, put on fresh coal, open +the draughts for ten or fifteen minutes or until the new coal is fairly +kindled, then close the draughts and leave the upper door of the stove +open. In the morning the draughts have only to be opened after the +upper door has been closed and a little fresh coal put on as soon as +the fire has begun to be red. Not until this has begun to burn well +should a further small supply of coal be added. This mode is much more +economical of fuel and work than making a fresh fire every day. + + + + +VII + +THE HOME WITHOUT A SERVANT + + +The housekeeper who undertakes to run her establishment without a +servant is beset by certain disadvantages. When she has had a bad +night, is suffering from indisposition of any kind, or wishes to +undertake some piece of work, such as dressmaking, for which she +desires to have her time free, it is inconvenient to feel that without +her personal effort no part of the business of the house will be done, +that all responsibility as well as all performance falls upon her. + +On the other hand, great are the comforts of the woman who has no +one but herself to do her work. These should be considered, since an +enormously large proportion of American housekeepers employ no regular +servant and many others call in assistance only for such toil as +washing and ironing and heavy cleaning. + +The woman who does not keep a maid can run her kitchen to suit herself +and have things done as she prefers. She need not be constantly worried +because the cook neglects to line the garbage-pail with a newspaper +or to put on the cover, persistently leaves the refrigerator open in +hot weather and will not save left-overs. The mistress knows that the +dishes are washed by an approved method, since she does it herself, +and this position also enables her to have the utensils and general +plenishing of the kitchen and pantry in the order she likes. + +The same freedom obtains in other parts of the house. There is no +uncertainty as to whether towels and napkins are used in the prescribed +routine; no doubt if the beds are properly aired and made, the corners +of the rooms swept and the top shelves dusted, sanitary precautions +observed as to drains and similar niceties of care followed. The woman +who does her own work can be sure of an attention to details which +she could not compel from a hireling except at the cost of close +watchfulness and more or less nagging. + +More than this, the economies to be compassed in a house where no maid +is kept far exceed the mere outlay for food which is required to supply +an extra person. No one but the mistress of the home will watch for +small leaks, and, having bought judiciously, will take pains that the +saving thus practised is not lost by careless use of materials. She +will plan her meals so as to utilize remnants, will see that the trifle +which seems of no importance is put aside to combine with another +apparently negligible quantity, will guard worn-out household linens +for other services than the rag-bag, will watch for the first breaks +in table-cloth or napkins and stop them with a wise stitch or two. +Through it all she will possess the delightful sense of having her home +to herself, of knowing there is not a nook or a corner of it where she +does not reign supreme, and that her theories are put into practice +from the top of the house to the bottom. + +Such delightful sensations as these are of course out of the question +for the woman who undertakes housekeeping without a good working +knowledge of how to conduct it. The theories to which reference has +been made may be the best of their kind, but unless they are backed +by the ability to do the things they describe there is likely to be +trouble. Still, the woman who has more book instruction in the line of +housekeeping than actual experience can learn by doing and in time +reach a point where her independence is a joy to her. The best aid she +can have in this endeavor is system, the habit of doing each task at a +certain hour and in a certain way, and she need not consider the time +wasted she bestows on planning out her routine so as to make it at once +easy and efficient. + +In a city apartment or a small house fitted with the latest +improvements the way is much simplified. If one can have a fire by +striking a match and turning on the gas-stove, is supplied with +hot water by a means outside her own kitchen, has milk, ice, meat, +and other provisions brought to the door of her pantry, and no +responsibility as to getting rid of ashes or garbage, she may feel that +her lines have fallen in pleasant places. + +Naturally, a woman who lives in these conditions must direct her work +in a very different way from that incumbent upon the dweller in a +village or on a farm, who must build and keep in her own fires for +cooking and heating, warm every drop of hot water that is used--often +perhaps having to draw or pump it first--fill the lamps by which the +house is lighted, and do all the many other duties which are performed +for the dweller in a city flat and taken by her for granted. Yet as +much efficiency, as delightful a life, exist in these conditions as +can be found in a home where the work is reduced to a minimum. The +housekeeper who must put up with inconveniences will generally find +that they are offset by benefits which go far to counterbalance the +drawbacks. + +If the city housekeeper with all modern improvements at her command +requires system in her work, it is even more necessary for the one who +must do without such aids. At the same time she must secure every help +she can. When she can get one of the gasolene-stoves which, if properly +managed, are hardly second to a gas-range in excellence, or, if lacking +one of these, she can secure a good oil-stove with an oven; if she can +provide herself with an oil hot-water-back or heater which will warm +the water for cooking and bathing; if she purchases all such aids as +fireless cookers, steamers, hand vacuum-cleaners, and other up-to-date +appliances, she will simplify her labor and at the same time preserve +the youth and strength that would be devoured by the adherence to the +methods of her grandmother in a day when twentieth-century living is +taken for granted on even the remote rural free-delivery route. + +In addition to this she should study the art of sparing herself in +other ways, even of shirking when it is wise. By this advice there +is no implication that she should be careless of work that should be +done or perform it in the wrong way. But often duties can be postponed +with no harm to anything except the housekeeper’s supersensitive +conscientiousness, just as there are times when it is even wiser +to leave the room unswept or undusted than to wear oneself down to +absolute fatigue and the fretfulness or irritability such weariness +connotes. + +One of the first rules for the home-worker to lay down for herself is +that no positive moral superiority is displayed by standing at one’s +occupations. There is no reason except a custom better broken than +preserved why a woman should not have a high stool or chair on which +to sit while washing and drying dishes, while preparing vegetables, +beating eggs, creaming butter or flour, and performing other such +tasks, as well as while ironing small pieces. The stool or chair should +also be accompanied by a hassock or footstool on which to rest the +feet. The fact that some of the old type of housekeepers will call the +practice lazy does not in the least affect the common sense of the +suggestion and the habit. + +Another means for rendering kitchen work agreeable is to have the +right sort of utensils with which to accomplish it. I have spoken of +some of the conveniences already. Certain of them are high-priced, but +many of the aids to easy and pleasant cookery are inexpensive. To have +plenty of bowls and spoons, the right kind of measuring-cups, pans, +and pudding-dishes, is as essential in its way as the purchase of a +bread or cake mixer or a washing-machine. Too often housekeepers put +up with the poor outfits they have and let a mistaken economy prevent +their securing the right kind of tools. Nothing worth having is gained +by washing dishes in a rusty and battered pan, drying them on ragged +towels, any more than by serving your puddings in a chipped bake-dish +or measuring ingredients in a leaky cup. This is not real economy; it +is either slovenliness or sloth. When a woman does her own work she can +surely trust herself to take care of the articles she uses, and she +should not stint herself in buying those she needs. + +Also she should dress for the part of maid-of-all-work when she is +filling that rôle. Tightly fitting waists and long skirts should never +be worn, and wash frocks are the best, since the material not only does +not harbor odors of cooking as does a woolen fabric, but the garment +can be washed when it is soiled. + +A shirtwaist and short skirt or a one-piece frock is the best uniform, +and always there should be a large and comprehensive apron with a +high bib and shoulder-straps. In addition to this it is well to have +a couple of aprons supplied with sleeves, which can be slipped on +over an afternoon frock when getting dinner ready or when washing up +afterward. All the aprons should be long enough to come down well +to the hem of the gown and should be of some pretty goods, such as +gingham or percale, or one of the crinkly fabrics which do not need to +be ironed after washing. There is no reason why a woman who does her +own work should not look attractive while she is at the process. Above +all, she should abjure curl-papers, kid curlers, and similar atrocities +both while at her duties and when presiding at the breakfast-table for +a family which should surely take away with them an agreeable mental +picture of the mistress of the house. If these adjuncts are actually +necessary to render the wearer presentable later in the day, she should +at least conceal them under a pretty boudoir cap. Such a cap is +advisable not only on account of the appearance, but as a protection to +the hair from smoke and steam. + +After the morning meal is over the housekeeper may either put her +dishes to soak in hot water, leave her beds to air, and go out to do +her marketing, or she may decide to postpone the purchasing until +later in the day and despatch her household duties before she leaves +the house. Often it seems wiser to go to market late in the morning, +or even in the afternoon, and thus have the best part of the forenoon +unbroken for domestic occupations. The systematic housekeeper can +usually plan her meals so that this plan can be followed without +inconvenience. + +In the well-kept flat there is not very much to do when there are only +two in the family. With so few in the house articles do not get out +of place to any marked extent, and when the windows have been opened +in the chambers and living-room while breakfast was going on there is +little to hinder the housekeeper from devoting only a short time to +pushing furniture back into place, running a carpet-sweeper over the +floor, and doing necessary dusting. A bed or two must be made, the +bath-room put in order, the dishes washed, and the dining-room and +kitchen set to rights; but in the apartment where the woman does her +own work there will be no accumulation of other persons’ dirt to be +removed. + +When a whole house is occupied there is more to be done. Halls and +stairs must be brushed, perhaps front steps swept, stoves looked after +in winter, and flies beaten out and rooms shaded in summer. Other +duties will present themselves if there is more than a single floor +to be kept in order--a floor on which are found kitchen, pantry, and +dining-room as well as chambers and bath-room. + +Whether it be an apartment or a whole house, the same order of work +should be followed. The morning should be the time applied to turning +off any heavy or disagreeable work which has to be done. Cleaning, +sweeping, dusting, making ready of vegetables for dinner, preparing the +pudding or other dessert which is to be cooked later in the day, should +always be planned for the early hours of the day. This is the time when +the energies are at their best and freshest, and it is also the period +when interruptions are least likely. In the afternoon one cannot be +secure against callers or other demands upon leisure--to say nothing of +the comfort one feels in knowing that the unpleasing portions of the +day’s toil are done and over with! + +The young housekeeper who becomes absorbed in her new occupation +sometimes slips into the fault of yielding herself to it too +unreservedly. When a woman really loves the work of cooking and +planning, of keeping her house in exquisite order and contriving to +make supply and demand meet one another, she is in danger of becoming +given over to it. Her husband is not likely to be able to understand +her attitude, and although he may enjoy a well-kept home, he will +probably feel he desires something more in his wife than a domestic +devotee. + +Against the danger of drifting into this position the young housekeeper +should be on the alert. No one else is as much interested as is she +in the business of running her particular home, and the sooner she +appreciates this the better for her and the more agreeable for every +one else. At first she will possibly wish to talk of little else, but +after the very earliest novelty has worn off she should wake up to the +perception that there are other things in the world besides her home. +She should see that she must keep herself in good mental condition as +well as keep her house; that the time is not wasted that she spends in +reading, in wise recreation, especially in permitting herself a little +rest each afternoon which will help preserve her freshness and vigor +and put her into condition to make life pleasant for her husband when +he comes home at night. + +For this is as important a point as any other in housekeeping. Even a +man who loves his home wearies of finding a worn-out wife at dinner +every evening, and of being confined for subjects of conversation to +the round of the happenings connected with the butcher, the baker, and +the grocer. He likes a lively, fresh wife awaiting him; he enjoys being +entertained after the hard toil of the day; he is pleased when she is +glad to go with him for a little outing or a mild dissipation. To be +in readiness for this is an object the housekeeper should have in view +through the work of the day, and she should resolutely cut out any +additional labor which will interfere with her making the dwelling a +home as well as a mere place to live in. + +As a practical illustration of this let me commend the habit of letting +the dinner-dishes wait to be washed until the next morning when there +is something on hand with which this work would clash. While it is +undoubtedly agreeable to go to bed with the pleasant sensation that +there are no “hangovers” in the way of undischarged duties, it is +often wiser to postpone a task than to perform it at the cost of hurry +and flurry. The dishes may be put in a pan with hot water and a little +washing-powder, and left until after breakfast the next day, when they +may be washed without haste or nervousness. + + + + +VIII + +IN THE LAUNDRY + + +Whether or not a housekeeper expects to do her own washing and ironing, +she should know in every detail how it is to be done. The occasion +may not arise for her to put her hands into the wash-tub or to wield +a flat-iron, but she should understand the operations and know how to +correct intelligently the errors of her laundress. + +There has been a good deal said of the burden of laundry-work, and +yet I have known many women who preferred undertaking it themselves +to trusting it to the charge of an ignorant or untrained washerwoman. +This is sometimes the only variety that can be secured in the country +or in small places, but the laundry, which is the resource so often +of dwellers in the city, is frequently far more injurious to clothing +than the treatment of the poorest laundress. In such circumstances or +when economy seems necessary the housekeeper who has the ability to do +up the clothing of her family and the bed and table linen possesses a +power which means not only comfort, but saving of wear and tear as well +as of money. + +In the effort to provide the A-B-C of laundry-work a beginning must be +made with directions for sorting and preparing the clothes for washing. + +The first step is to separate towels and bed-linen from starched +white garments and place them in different piles, with flannels and +stockings in a third gathering. This should be done on the evening +preceding wash-day, as the labor is much lessened by putting the +clothes into soak overnight. The method--or lack of method--of the +careless laundress is to throw those garments to be submitted to this +preliminary treatment into a tub of warm water to which has been added +some washing-powder or detersive and leave them thus all night. + +Instead of this the clothing should be looked over carefully, dipping +the worst-soiled portions into warm water and rubbing the spots well +with laundry soap. Each garment should then be rolled up with the +soaped side inward, and all the rolls thus made packed down into a tub +of lukewarm water to which has been added a small quantity of borax, +household ammonia, or other equally good and harmless detersive. + +Just here it is well to make a slight digression on this subject. +I have already spoken of the injurious effects of washing-soda in +laundry-work. It cuts and perforates the linen on which it is used, +but it is so potent in taking out dirt that I have known laundresses +to bring it with them in their pockets when its use was forbidden +by a housekeeper. Washing-soda is possibly the most destructive of +these agencies, but there are others on the market, sold as patented +preparations, which are hardly less harmful. Of a number of them it +is true that they are helpful if used in moderation. The trouble is +that the unskilled worker is likely to imagine that where a little is +good much would be better, and to apply the powder or fluid with a +liberality that has disastrous results. + +Even when borax or ammonia--probably the least deleterious of all +detersives--is used, it should be in small quantities when the clothing +is to be left with it for any length of time. Therefore there should be +very little put in the tub in which the raiment is to be soaked. + +Woolens, cotton and wool, or silk and wool, colored clothes, and +stockings are not given this soaking, but left to one side until the +next morning. + +When the actual washing begins flannels should have the first +attention. They should be given especial care, since upon this depends +their coming from the wash smooth and soft instead of thickened and +rough. Soap should not be rubbed upon them unless there are badly +soiled spots, and then these should be soaped without applying soap +to the rest of the garment. A little ammonia should be added to the +water in which they are washed, and this should be lukewarm and made +into suds by the addition of shaved soap before the flannels are put +in. They should not be rubbed on the board but between the hands, with +frequent dipping up and down in the water until they look clean. + +The flannels are then squeezed between the hands until as much water +as possible is gone from them, when they are thrown for rinsing into +water of the same temperature as that from which they were taken. This +is essential. Water which is either colder or hotter will thicken and +shrink the flannels. After a thorough rinsing they are again wrung out +and hung to dry at once, in the shade, if an outdoor drying-place is +used. They look better if they are ironed while still slightly damp. +When both colored and white flannels are to be washed the latter should +come second, that specks of lint from them may not disfigure the +colored articles. + +The second water from the flannels will answer very well for the first +washing of the other clothes. It is not necessary to practise this +economy in a flat furnished with hot water from the cellar, but the +fact is worth recalling when the supply of warm water is insufficient. + +Too many pieces should not be put into the tub at once, as the clothes +cannot be washed properly if crowded together, and plenty of water is +demanded to get them clean. The water should be warm and the clothes +which have been soaked overnight will require little rubbing on the +board in order to make them clean. It may be mentioned that clothing +which is worn long enough to become badly soiled will need an amount of +hard rubbing which will wear it out much sooner than garments that have +been thrown into the wash before they are very dirty. + +The boiler, half full of cold water, should be at hand. Colored clothes +are never boiled, and they may be washed separately if this seems more +convenient. After the soiled spots on the white clothes have been well +soaped the pieces should be dropped into the boiler. The addition of a +tablespoonful of kerosene to the water is beneficial. The boiler should +be put on the stove and the water brought to a boil, stirring the +clothes up from the bottom with a clothes-stick from time to time. The +boiling should not continue long, but the clothes be removed as soon as +the water has fairly boiled. Too long on the fire yellows the clothing. + +Clean hot water should be at hand and into this each article should +be dropped as it comes from the boiler. Careful rinsing is one of the +secrets of having clothes a good color after washing. Each piece should +be turned inside out to rinse it sufficiently. The garments to be blued +should be transferred from the rinsing water to cold water to which +a few drops of bluing have been added. Judgment must be used in this +addition or the clothing will be too blue. A favorite trick of careless +laundresses is to save themselves the scrubbing which would make the +garments clean, and cover their fault by making them very blue. + +After the bluing the unstarched pieces may be wrung and hung out to +dry. The other pieces must be starched as will be directed a little +further on. + +The rinsing water in which the clothes were dipped after coming from +the boiler will serve for the first washing of the colored garments. As +these need no bluing, such of them as do not require starching may be +rinsed and hung out at once to dry. Those that must be stiffened may be +dipped into the starch, wrung out, well shaken, and dried. + +For boiled starch, a half-cupful of the dry starch is needed in +proportion to a quart of boiling water. The starch is made to a paste +with cold water, the boiling water poured upon it, and the mixture +stirred over the fire until it is clear and smooth. Some laundresses +insist upon boiling the starch an hour, but good results may be gained +with the preparation made as just directed. This starch is of the right +consistency for shirts, aprons, etc., but it must be thinned to use for +either table-linen or for delicate underwear until it is little thicker +than single cream. If shirt bosoms or cuffs or the cuffs of shirtwaists +are to be stiffened, raw starch must be added to the boiled. Raw starch +is prepared by moistening a handful of the raw starch to a paste with a +little cold water, increasing the water until a quart of it has been +used, and stirring it with a piece of fine white soap. + +The pieces which have already been passed through the boiled starch +may be dipped into the raw starch for additional stiffening, after the +first starch has dried in them. They are well moistened in the raw +starch, rolled up and left for half an hour or so, and ironed while +damp. The quantity for which direction has just been made is rather +large for a small family, but the proportions may be used in smaller +measure. + +Cheap soap and starch should never be employed; they are an +extravagance in the end. The soap should be bought, in a small family, +about a dozen cakes at a time and dried. One cake is enough for a small +wash, unless left floating in the tub after its use is over. + +All stains should be looked to before the clothes are washed at all. +Fruit and wine stains, like those from coffee and tea, may be taken +out by stretching the spotted part over a basin and pouring boiling +water through the fabric. The process should be repeated several times +or until the stain is gone. Soap will often “set” a spot which would +come out if washed in clear water. Fruit stains, rust stains--such as +iron-mold--and sometimes ink stains may be removed by wetting the +spots with lemon-juice, sprinkling salt upon this, and laying the +article in the sun. The operation must be done more than once before +the spot will come out entirely. The same treatment will sometimes +obliterate mildew stains, but if these prove obstinate, boiling in +buttermilk the article marked will perhaps take them out. Turpentine +will remove paint stains, and oil marks must be washed with cold water +and a good white soap. Grass stains are sometimes taken out by rubbing +with butter and then washing this out. All spots or stains are far +harder to get rid of after they have once been put through the regular +wash. + +Fine pieces of linen like doilies, centerpieces, embroidered and +lace-trimmed handkerchiefs, or very delicate lingerie underwear should +never be washed with the ordinary clothing unless the housekeeper gives +her special attention to them. They should under no circumstances be +rubbed on the wash-board, but rubbed between the hands in a good suds +made of warm water and a fine white soap, and rinsed very carefully. If +they are to be stiffened at all the starch water through which they are +passed should be no heavier than milk. While still warm such articles +should be pressed on the wrong side; and if embroidered, a thick woolen +cloth must be laid under the ironing-sheet. By this method the work on +the article stands out well. + +A little experience with ironing is worth more than instruction. +When the clothes have been well sprinkled and folded, the work done +evenly, and each piece rolled up tightly when dampened, a strong arm +and steady, smooth strokes will give good results; but practice is +needed to make the work entirely satisfactory. Experience will tell +when the iron is the right heat. For starched clothes a greater heat is +needed than for flannels; the iron must be tried on a piece of paper +to make sure it is not too hot. Each piece pressed should be ironed +until dry to make a smooth finish. Table and bed linen should be ironed +lengthwise. Always the irons should be well wiped off before using, and +when not in service they should stand on end on a shelf. Never should +they be left on the range when not in use; this roughens the surface. + +The electric iron is a great aid, but this must be used with care or it +will be short-circuited and burned out. Always the power must be turned +off when the iron is laid aside for even a few minutes. + +No advice as to laundry-work would be complete that did not speak a +word relative to mending. The woman who does her own work will be on +the alert for breaks or thin places in any article and will lay pieces +thus damaged to one side as they are pressed. As a matter of course +it is well to make repairs before the washing is done, when this is +possible, but many garments are far pleasanter to mend after laundering +than before. Stockings do not gain enough harm by being washed before +darning to offset the unpleasantness of having to mend them while they +are still soiled. + +When possible, fine articles which have to be darned or carefully +mended with a patch or by piecing are best repaired before they are +ironed. After they have been washed they can be put aside until the +housekeeper has time to mend them properly, and they can then have an +iron run over them and the mended spot smoothed. + +The life of fine table-linen can be prolonged indefinitely by attention +to the first break in the hemstitching, the first wear of a thread in +the fabric, the first hole in lace. After the material once begins +to go, even long and careful mending will scarcely save it, but +watchfulness for the earliest symptoms of wear will postpone the evil +day. + + + + +IX + +WHEN COMPANY COMES + + +Elaborate entertaining should not be undertaken by a young couple of +moderate means. Hospitality should be a matter of course, but never on +a scale that makes it a burden to carry out at the time or to pay for +afterward. + +Perhaps the best and in many respects the most agreeable form of +hospitality is that which calls in the occasional guest to an informal +meal--a sort of improvised party. The husband asks a crony to dine on a +certain night, the wife invites a friend to meet him. Little change is +made in the family meal--perhaps a salad added as well as a sweet, or +more unusual items ordered, or a special dessert prepared, but nothing +which would bring the repast into the line of a dinner-party. There is +no state and ceremony and everything is pleasant and jolly. Such little +dinners are among the most charming forms of entertainment that can +be achieved by young people of moderate means. When it seems well to +widen the circle of invited guests, all to be done is to increase the +provision made without departing from the simplicity which is one of +the features of this kind of entertaining. + +In the properly regulated home, where the observances of polite society +are followed as much when the family is alone as when there is company, +guests have no terrors. When the unexpected visitor arrives the table +is found spread for two in the same style that it would be for ten. The +napery is fresh and well laundered; the silver, glass, and china are +shining--clean and arranged in correct order--the knife at the right of +the plate with the soup or bouillon spoon, the fork at the left with +the napkin; the bread-and-butter plate, with its slice of bread or roll +and the butter-ball, near the fork, to correspond with the water-glass +on the other side. + +In such a home the maid is taught to follow the orderly sequence of +courses, changing the plates and crumbing the table with as much pains +for one as for half a dozen. Little by little she becomes accustomed to +the routine, so that when a more formal entertainment is planned her +work seems to her merely an amplification of that to which she has +grown wonted. + +At the same time a warning should be uttered to the housekeeper of +small ménage against attempting to ape the hospitality of those whose +incomes far exceed her own. Pretense is always absurd, and the woman +who undertakes to imitate the style of the wealthy and fashionable +hostess only renders herself ridiculous without in the least impressing +those with whom she is striving to compete. Such entertaining strains +her income and is in reality far inferior to the little parties she +might give that would possess a merit all their own. + +The hostess who aspires to give dinners should make them small, in +the first place. Six is an excellent number--four besides the man +and woman of the house--and it is rarely safe for the beginner to +have more than eight all told, unless she is prepared to hire extra +service. Fully as much attention should be bestowed upon the selection +of the guests as upon the items of the bill of fare. Friends may be +unexceptionable taken alone or in their own environment who do not mix +with those from another circle, and in these conditions even the most +delightful develop unexpected powers of boring and being bored. To get +the right persons together at a dinner and to seat them in the proper +combinations requires a good deal of social skill, and for this reason +it is better for the tyro in entertaining to start with small parties +and only work up to the larger affairs as she becomes more accustomed +to exercising general hospitality. + +Experiments in food should never be tried on company. Only those +articles should be served which the maid has proved her ability to +prepare perfectly and to serve correctly. When innovations are to be +presented it should be in the privacy of the family circle. A dinner +that is confined to a few courses should be remarkable rather for their +excellence than for their unusual character or for their costliness. +I have known housekeepers who won themselves a reputation for their +dinners when the items of these were of the simplest character, but +were beautifully cooked and served with a touch of unusualness which +redeemed them from the commonplace. + +Again let me warn the hostess against attempting too much on such +occasions. In any establishment not supplied with a corps of trained +servants a great deal of the work of even the quietest dinner falls +upon the hostess. To her it comes to see that the table is set, +the many small and fussy details looked after; generally she must +give the final touches of seasoning or blending to soup, sauces, and +salad-dressing. It is no wonder if sometimes she comes to the table too +tired either to enjoy the food or to lead the talk of the board and +play the part so important for a hostess who desires to have her guests +enjoy their evening. + +Such fatigue is not necessary if the rules I have laid down are +followed. If, for example, the cook can make an unapproachable tomato +or oyster bisque; if she can roast a leg of lamb so that it will melt +in the mouth, prepare candied sweet-potatoes to tempt an epicure, and +spinach with the knack of a French chef; if there is some special sweet +dish for which she has made herself famous, whether this be a prune +soufflé with whipped cream, or a frozen mousse or ice--then let the +hostess confine herself to these items for her company dinners until +her maid has acquired further accomplishments. What difference does +it make if precisely the same dinner was served to a knot of friends +last week? The guests are different this time, even if the dishes are +unchanged, and these are good enough to stand repetition though they +appear half a dozen times in succession! + +In a neighborhood where dinner is usually served in the middle of the +day and the period for social festivity is in the evening, supper may +take the place of dinner and be no less attractive. When this is the +case, I would advise the hostess to adopt some specialty and stick to +it, with only a few variations. + +For instance, I know one housekeeper who was transplanted from the +South to another section of the country, and who there became famous +for the meals she served from her mother’s cook-book. Fried chicken +with cream gravy, Southern sweet-potatoes, beaten biscuit, Sally +Lunn, waffles, fried oysters, batter-bread, syllabubs, were among the +dainties she offered her appreciative guests. Not that she had all +these at one time, but she rang the changes on them, to the delectation +of the company. + +Another woman I know who was born and raised in New England made a +success much farther south than this by feasting her friends on such +delicacies as genuine baked beans, cooked in a bean-pot (she made the +fireless cooker take the place of the ancient brick oven), Boston brown +bread--she called it “rye ’n’ Injun”--fried pork with cream gravy, +even creamed codfish and boiled potatoes, made to taste as no one had +ever before dreamed such things could taste. Of course doughnuts and +coffee were included in her menus, and pumpkin-pies and other dishes +of that sort. It was amusing and, in a way, pathetic to see the joy of +the exiles from New England before whom were placed the viands they had +been used to in the long-ago. + +The simplicity of the provision should not be made an excuse for +departing from the orthodox methods of service. A supper such as I have +described can be served with as much daintiness as a formal dinner, and +the courses should follow one another in as orderly a style. + +As strict in the lines of its etiquette as a dinner is the lunch, where +usually women are the only guests. Such a meal as this may also be +limited in its items. It may begin with bouillon or soup in cups and, +without pausing for an entrée, may go directly on to a solid course, +such as chicken in some form, chops, cutlets, and the like, with a +vegetable or two; this be followed by a salad with crackers and cheese, +and the meal wind up with a sweet of light character, and coffee. +When one has a well-enough trained maid to introduce such an entrée +as oyster pâtés, crab meat _au gratin_, eggs _à la Bénédictine_, +or something of the kind, and can reconcile the extra cost to her +economical conscience, the guests will probably enjoy the additional +provision, but no hostess can feel she is guilty of social stinginess +if she omits these features and follows the simpler lines. + +The same caution may be given here as with the dinner--to introduce no +novelties for the first time. Use the family as an experiment station +before presenting the new dishes or the untried fashion of serving them +to outsiders. + +Like the luncheon is the breakfast-party, with this difference--that +men are frequently invited to the latter, while they are seldom at the +formal luncheon. For such a breakfast, to be served at twelve-thirty or +one, the first item may be fruit; the soup may be omitted and the meat +course, consisting of some such dish as broiled or fried chicken, chops +or steak or fish, should be accompanied by a good hot bread as well as +by potatoes daintily cooked; and coffee in large cups may be served the +same time. A sweet to wind up a meal like this is rather out of place +unless it takes the form of waffles or griddle-cakes of a delicate +variety with maple syrup or honey. Sometimes the breakfast concludes +as it began, with fruit, although of a different kind from that with +which the meal opened. When oranges or grapefruit prelude the repast, +grapes, etc., may end it. + +All these affairs I have mentioned are for a small number. The +afternoon tea is the best method of entertaining guests on a larger +scale, and with a minimum of expense. + +I do not need to go here into the details of sending out cards for +such an affair. Whether the tea be a single one, given for the amiable +purpose of wiping out social obligations, or as a means of introducing +a visitor to the local friends of the hostess; or a series of three +or four afternoons, the method followed is the same and the guest who +comes expects nothing beyond a light refreshment. At the more elaborate +affairs of this sort coffee or chocolate may be served as well as +tea, or a bowl of punch offered. The edible provisions are always +practically the same and cover a range of sandwiches of different +kinds--piquant, solid, and sweet--varied by toast buttered plain or +sprinkled with cinnamon, hot scones, small buttered biscuit and similar +cates, followed by cakes of various kinds, plain or fancy, and in some +cases bonbons and salted nuts. The last are not really necessary. + +At such a tea as this, if it comprise more than a few intimates, the +maid is usually in attendance to open the door, direct the guests to +the drawing-room, bring hot tea or hot water when needed, remove soiled +cups and perhaps pass the food. In the latter service the hostess may +have the aid of her friends, who usually appreciate the honor of being +asked to “pour” or to help act as hostesses in introducing new-comers, +looking after the comfort of strangers and making sure that no one is +neglected in the distribution of refreshments. + +Thus far reference has been made to hospitality exercised in the home +where a maid is kept. Far more numerous are those establishments in +which no regular service is employed. Even in these one’s friends may +be entertained as delightfully, if not as formally, as in the houses +supplied with hired domestics. + +The regulation dinner is practically out of the question, and it is +wiser not to attempt it. But merry informal suppers, luncheons, and +breakfasts can be compassed and often these are greater successes +than those parties given under the supervision of a staff of trained +servants. The main point to be guarded against is the attempt at +anything which cannot be put through well. As soon as struggle is +made to do the impossible the effort becomes not only a burden to +the host and hostess, but a sort of nightmare to the guests. Better +have a roast-oyster party in the kitchen, where selected members of +the company do the cooking over the gas-stove, while others take upon +themselves the responsibility of serving the eaters, and the whole +affair is a jolly picnic, than to endeavor to manage a stately function +with insufficient aid and appurtenances. + +The same sort of informality may mark the afternoon-tea party in +the home where no maid is kept. All the making ready can be done in +advance, the sandwiches cut and piled, the cakes arranged, the china +and tea equipage set out, so that nothing is needed but to start the +kettle to boiling and make the tea when it is needed. A friend will +preside at the tea-table, other friends will look after other details +and leave the hostess free to welcome and entertain her guests. Such a +party as this is one of the pleasantest, least costly, and generally +satisfactory ways of gathering one’s friends about one for a social +hour or two. + +The hostess of small means and no maid should concentrate upon some +such line of entertaining as this and stick to it. She should aspire +to become known for her merry afternoon teas, her pleasant Sunday-night +suppers, her gay and informal after-theater spreads, where the +chafing-dish is the principal feature and where her guests are so well +amused that they think far less of the simple food put before them than +they do of the good-fellowship they have enjoyed. Formal entertaining +may have to be foregone, but the substitutes she offers are more +genuinely satisfactory both to the guests who share them and to the +host and hostess who have to pay for them! + + + + +X + +THE CHILD IN THE HOUSE + + +With the introduction of a baby into an establishment the whole general +management of the place is changed. + +That is to say, it is changed for a while. A serious mistake is made +when even so important an event as the arrival of a new member of the +family is permitted to cause a permanent alteration in the conduct +of the home. The most devoted of husbands and fathers will yield his +position as first-and-foremost for a while to the latest advent; will +take it for granted that his wife shall be absorbed in the needs of the +baby, shall have no conversation but that which deals with its joys and +woes, its accidents and accomplishments; but eventually any man worth +a row of pins will recollect that after all he was a human being, a +husband, and a householder before he was a parent, and will claim a few +of the rights coming to him in those capacities. + +The prospective mother who grasps this truth and puts it into practical +service after the baby comes is much more likely to make a success of +her wifehood and matronhood than the one who is all mother and nothing +else. If the child is well and is properly trained there is no reason +why it should not be a satisfactory member of society and a joy to the +household and to all about it instead of a nuisance to every one except +its most devoted parent. + +A great deal more of the comfort of the child and its future good +habits is settled within the first month of its life than is suspected +by those who have had little to do with the care of babies. If it +is started with regular habits of eating and sleeping, is from the +beginning accustomed to lie in its cradle or crib instead of being held +in the arms constantly and lifted and rocked at its first whimper, it +takes such treatment for granted and forms no habit of making demands +for that which is difficult for the attendant always to supply and does +no good to the child to receive. + +With a delicate or sickly babe the same strict rules cannot be enforced +as with a healthy infant, and yet even a puny child is better off +if kept to a steady regimen than if fed, taken up, and put down at +uncertain intervals, and allowed to accumulate a crop of irregular +fashions of eating and sleeping. Sometimes the struggle to implant a +sense of law and order is a difficult undertaking when the ill health +of the child or the carelessness of the first nurse has brought it into +bad ways, but persistence in the effort is worth while for the sake of +the comfort success is bound to bring later to all concerned. + +The periods of feeding are determined by the doctor, to begin with, and +the space between them is gradually widened as the child grows older. +The system which should be the guide of the housekeeper in her home has +as large a field of usefulness applied to children as anywhere else. +The baby should be washed and dressed at a regular hour; the time for +its meals and its outing should be invariable; the hour for undressing +it, washing it, and making it ready for bed should never vary except in +cases of rare exigency. If it is a healthy child it will fall naturally +into the habit of taking a morning nap after the bath and the meal, of +waking at a certain time, and then of lying comfortably in the bed or +on a couch or in its carriage with no wails to be lifted and walked +with. Modern medical science has declared that the less handling a +little baby receives the better for it, and that for some months its +growth should be in most respects as much like that of a vegetable as +possible. + +As the child gets older and begins to use its limbs it will be good for +it to be exercised rather more, but nature is a pretty safe guide to +follow in this respect. The baby who is well and normal is not slow to +show its growth and progress, and it is far wiser for the parent to be +led by these than to attempt to hurry development either of body or of +mind. The child will assert itself soon enough, and so decidedly as to +leave no room for doubt as to its proclivities. + +Possibly it may sound a trifle absurd to say that from the first the +child should have the habit of obedience implanted, yet this is no +absurdity, but a serious and important fact. At an astonishingly early +age the infant endeavors to pit its small will against that of its +seniors, and the initial step in revolt is promptly followed by others +unless the attempt is checked at once. + +Neither time nor place is sufficient here to go into the reasons why +the training of a child in obedience, even at the cost of suffering +and punishment, is not the exercise over the weak of the tyranny of +the strong, but the display of superior wisdom for the benefit of the +inexperienced. It is enough to remind those who think that a child +should be allowed to grow up naturally, unrestrained by rule and +severity, when severity is required to enforce discipline, that all +through life the human being must conform to constituted authority +as exemplified in the laws of health, of the state, of teachers and +employers, of morality, of religion. In view of this the sooner the +child learns to defer to those in whose charge it is the better for it +later on, the less cruel the lessons life holds in store for it. + +Apart from this there can be no doubt that the well-trained child is +actually happier than the one with no law but its own whim. Also it is +much pleasanter company than the self-willed, undisciplined infant who +follows its own sweet will regardless of the comfort or preference of +others. + +The same kind of regimen established for a child in babyhood should +be pursued when it grows older and begins to share more actively in +the life of the household. The mistaken custom of permitting a child +to keep the same hours, eat the same diet, and follow practically the +same life as its elders cannot be sufficiently condemned. The habit of +going to bed early after a light meal, of having the heaviest repast +in the middle of the day, of partaking of such food as is particularly +suited to the needs of a growing child, of being debarred rich and +indigestible articles of diet, of having postponed until more advanced +years exciting amusements and pursuits instead of being hurried into +them while hardly out of infancy, should all be enforced. A child is +not a miniature man or woman, but an immature human being who must +develop naturally, as plants grow, and is wronged by being forced +into premature bloom or fruition, mentally or emotionally as much as +physically. + +The child’s food should be carefully considered by the mother and she +should not regard the time wasted she bestows in studying food values +and devising the best sort of diet for the nursery. Not until the first +teeth begin to come should starchy food of any sort be given, and then +with caution. Until the saliva flows freely to help digest starch, +bread in any form, crackers, etc., should be withheld. As the child +reaches the stage where solid food is allowed this should continue to +be simple in character. A child does not have the longing for variety +common to more sophisticated palates. + +For the breakfast of the child of two or more years of age a cereal, +well cooked, with plenty of milk, should be given. Sugar should not +accompany it. When sweet is desirable, as it often is, it should be +taken in some other way than as an adjunct to a regular article of +diet. With the cereal and milk the child seldom needs anything more, +but if the consumption of the porridge is not sufficient, a soft-boiled +egg or a poached egg may be supplied, with a little toast. Milk should +be the drink. + +In the middle of the morning a supplementary meal may be taken, and +this may consist of a piece of bread and butter and a glass of milk. +Whole-wheat bread is better than that made from the bolted flour. When +there is a tendency to constipation Graham bread is good. + +At noon the substantial provision of the day is to be served and a +cup of soup may begin the dinner, followed by a very small piece of +steak or chop cut up fine, or by an egg, if one has not been taken at +breakfast, a baked potato, well mashed, with butter or cream and salt +upon it. Rice is also excellent when served with plenty of good butter. +A plain sweet, like stewed fruit, a milk pudding, one of rice, of +arrowroot, tapioca, or a custard, will answer. Milk may again be drunk +unless the child has eaten a meat soup or broth and meat besides. + +Generally the little one who has taken so substantial a meal as this +at noon will need nothing more until supper-time, when bread and milk, +crackers and milk, or something of the sort may be provided; or bread +and a good plain jam or stewed fruit, like prunes or apple-sauce, with +a glass of milk. After this comes the child’s bed-time, and it should +be put to sleep in a quiet room, alone, with the door open if symptoms +of nervousness declare themselves, but without a nurse or other +attendant. This may sound hard-hearted, but the child who is accustomed +to such solitude from infancy will not feel it an infliction, and the +saving of inconvenience to the parents in the habit of going to sleep +unattended is incalculable. + +The good manners of the child should receive early consideration. +The habit of courtesy implanted in infancy gives a finish of manner +in later life that no surface polish can impart. It is as easy for a +little boy and girl to be taught to rise when elders come into the +room, to take their turn at the table, to handle a knife, fork, and +spoon properly, to eat in a decent fashion, to say, “Thank you,” “If +you please,” and the like, and to show the thoughtfulness for the +feelings and comfort of others which is the foundation of all good +breeding, as it is to let the youngsters grow up as they will and +hammer superficial manners into them when they are older. The good old +rule that “children should be seen and not heard” is sadly in need of a +revival in many homes, and parents cannot wonder at the unpopularity of +their offspring when they reflect upon the disagreeable qualities these +often possess. + +All this does not mean that children should constantly be snubbed and +repressed until individuality and initiative are crushed out of them. +In most children these characteristics are strong and triumphant. But a +certain measure of deference to elders should be inculcated--a respect +which will prevent a child from interrupting the conversation of his +seniors, a regard for the conventions which, after all, have more to do +with peace and amity in the family than many of us are willing to admit. + +As the child grows older and begins school and kindergarten, other +children will be associated with him, and from them he will learn many +things it would never occur to his parents to teach him. Sometimes it +seems as though the least that children acquire at school is their +regular lessons. These become almost a side issue. The influence of the +strange boy or girl often carries more weight with a child than all +the precepts of father, mother, and teacher. Part of this effect is +transitory, but much of it sticks through life; and while the children +are little more than babies it becomes incumbent upon the parents--by +which is usually meant the mother--to strengthen the bond between +herself and her child so that she may the more effectually offset the +outside forces that sway him. + +The sooner the mother recognizes that this is her lifelong “job” and a +most important one, the better for all concerned. The mere animal care +of the child any competent nurse could bestow, and sometimes it seems +as if the charge of a specialist who understood the ins and outs of +dietetics and was able to study the child’s constitution impersonally +might perhaps be better than the attention received from the average +parent. With regard to the question of instruction in book learning +there is little doubt that a well-qualified teacher is far more capable +than the most devoted father or mother. All such duties as these can be +delegated to those who are trained and paid for the work. + +When it comes to the companionship, however, it is another matter. +Here is something only the mother can give. It is “up to her” to +study the ins and outs of her child’s nature; to know where and how +to bring pressure in order to counterbalance another influence; to +make herself so one with him that he turns to her instinctively, with +complete confidence in her ability to meet his need; to be so close +in his intimacy that she grasps his thoughts almost before they are +formulated; to persuade him unconsciously to rely upon her judgment, +her companionship, her understanding to an extent that will hold him in +temptation and move him to range himself on the side of right against +wrong. + +Of course it is not always easy. The mother does not resign her own +individuality by the mere fact of motherhood; she does not lay aside +her special interests when she takes up those of her child. Yet if she +lets him suspect that anything comes ahead of his well-being in her +heart she makes a fatal mistake; she starts the rift between them which +may widen into a chasm not to be bridged by all her agony and tears. + +It may sometimes be hard to yield up one’s own will and preference in +this way, and yet the mother gets her pay as she goes along, and her +labor brings its reward in a fashion unequaled in any other vocation in +the universe. Nothing in the whole world pays so well as being a mother! + + +THE END + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Italics are shown thus: _sloping_. + + Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained. + + Perceived typographical errors have been changed. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75560 *** |