CHAPTER XXIV

THE GREAT AMERICAN DISH

To be one hundred per cent American, each one of us must eat at least

two and a quarter quarts of ice-cream annually. This is the national

American dish, despite Boston’s claim for the baked bean and the South’s

for beaten biscuits.

Rich and poor, the be-butlered and the maidless make their own

ice-cream. The more remote from civilization, the more each individual

housekeeper makes her own ice-cream.

It is no longer a luxury; it is now recognized as a food. The Government

classifies it, and it is experimented with at most of the State

agricultural colleges and State experimental stations. Its making has

become an industry standardized by the Government and certain rules must

be adhered to by every manufacturer.

The introduction of ice-cream as an industry not only stimulated

purchasers of ice-cream, but has stimulated machinery builders. To-day

the making of large plants and small household freezers comprises a

large industry.

For these mechanisms many problems of refrigeration, ice, brine, rock

salt and packing arise. Some of these problems are important to the

housekeeper as a maker of ice-cream, some as a buyer, and some not at

all.

KINDS OF ICE-CREAM

In this sketch we will, of course, only touch upon those parts of this

problem that are of interest to the housekeeper--doing her own work or

with assistance.

Ice creams are classified under various heads and sub-heads. Nearly

every one interested classifies them differently. For the sake of

convenience, we will give here one classification.

I. Plain uncooked ice-cream

Known as Philadelphia ice-cream, which consists of sugar, flavoring

cream with or without condensed milk.

1. Plain with flavoring.

2. Fruit with flavoring.

3. Nut with flavoring.

4. Bisque with marshmallow, macaroon cake, wafers and other bread

products well dried out.

II. Cooked

French ice-cream--sometimes called Neapolitan (though Neapolitan is

really the many-colored layer ice cream only) made of cream, sugar,

eggs and flavoring.

1. Parfaits

Highly flavored fruits, nuts, spices (Nesserold pudding, Roman and

English plum puddings).

2. Custards

Flavoring, cornstarch, vanilla.

III. Sherberts and Ices

Water and milk, sugar, white of egg, fruit juices, etc.

1. Ices (granites frozen by oscillation and frappés--semi-frozen like

mush.

2. Water Sherberts--Ices and egg, sometimes called soufflé.

3. Punches--with liquor (passing out).

4. Milk Sherbets.

5. Lacto--skimmed milk bases.

IV. Mousse

Rich cream sweetened and whipped, frozen in molds without oscillating

or turning the freezer.

V. Fruit layers

Stabilizers and fillers.

Stabilizers--such as gelatine, ice-cream powders and gum tragacanth,

are used in commercial ice-creams to give the product body, but

manufacturers should, according to law, admit this addition if

necessary.

Housekeepers often use gelatine; it is quite wholesome and not

dangerous in any way.

FREEZING

Apart from the recipes, with which this chapter shall not deal, the most

important part about ice-cream is the freezing of the mixture. Its

dangers are many.

First of all, freezing incorporates air into the mixture and therefore

increases its bulk.

Ice-cream can be frozen too slowly or too fast, and experience here is

the best teacher.

If frozen too rapidly, says the Omaha State Experiment Station, the

ice-cream doesn’t expand very much (this is more important to the

commercial maker of ice-cream). Without the air incorporated, it is

soggy and heavy. It will also be grainy and will fall apart.

If frozen too slowly, it is buttery, greasy, non-expansive and fat will

rise.

If frozen too long, it will be churned creamy, it loses expansion, it is

greasy, soggy and heavy.

These are the reasons why cream is not a velvety, smooth, ungrained

stand-without-hitching quality.

Here are some other defects and their causes:

First, the cream must be clean and creamy, combined with flavoring

material which blends with the cream to a full delicious flavor.

There may be defects in the flavor, due to the cream used, such as sour,

old, bitter or metallic cream flavor.

It may be due to the filler or stabilizer, such as a starch, gum or

gelatine.

Defects may also be due to other ingredients. It may be too sweet, not

sweet enough, coarse flavor due to flavor material, stale fruit, rancid

nuts, moldy nuts.

The cream must be firmly frozen to be smooth and velvety. If it is not,

these conditions may prevail:

Icy: Due to improper packing.

Coarse: Too thin cream or packing while too soft.

Sticky: Due to fillers, such as gelatine or a sweetened condensed

milk.

Buttery: Use of cream partially churned before freezing, or to cream

too cold when put into freezer, or because freezer was operated at too

high speed.

THE CURE

First, buy a good freezer, never less than a gallon, because you can

always freeze a little in it and always be ready for a crowd.

There are various types of freezers on the market. (1) those that you

turn by hand, (2) by motor, (3) ones that aren’t turned at all, (4) ones

that are oscillated only and in which, at home, two flavors can be

frozen at once. In this type it takes longer to freeze cream, but as the

arm only works back and forth it is not so tiring. The can in the tub is

partitioned in two segments and the paddles and dasher only turn half

way.

The freezer that isn’t turned at all needs no lyric from me. It tells

its own story in making good ice-cream of a smooth mousse-like

consistency, but real ice-cream. It is rapid and restful.

The various motorized freezers are good for large families and the small

motors attachable to small freezers geared for motors are joys.

There are some kitchen units that are clumsy, some that are convenient

which turn the freezer, polish the silver, sharpen the knives, in fact

do everything but shine one’s boots. (See Chapter XXV).

In buying these units don’t be “pulled in” by salesmen talk. Watch for

compactness, durability, cleanability, lack of danger in use,

replaceable parts, and ease of manipulation. In the use of motors the

attachment must be so made that the connections will not be catching in

gearing, etc. Above four quarts, hand work is heavy and we would advise

turning the freezer by a motor.

In the non-turning freezer, the chamber for the ice and salt is

separated from the can so that the freezing mixture cannot enter the

ice-cream.

It is cheaper to buy ice-cream, the home-made kind tastes far better.

When you buy ice-cream, it is wise to watch the containers in which it

comes, and to know where it is made. The Government is very particular,

but slight slips in the ice-cream organizations can breed the most

dangerous of bacilli. At home you can watch everything; above all,

cleanliness of ingredients.

FREEZING MIXTURE

The greatest of all the science of ice-cream making is the mixture of

ice and salt. Most cook books say three parts ice to one of salt for

home use. For hardening after it is frozen eight parts of ice to one of

salt, and the mixture must cover the can entirely, top and sides.

Of course, the ratio of ice to salt regulates the freezing. The United

States Government Bulletins are full of these ratios if you want to look

up this matter.

On this subject Bowen of the United States Department of Agriculture in

Bulletin 98 says:

“When two solid bodies, as salt and ice, mix to form a layer, a certain

amount of heat becomes latent, called the latent heat of solution. Since

this latent heat is taken from the mixture itself the temperature falls

correspondingly. The temperature obtained by a salt and ice mixture

depends on relative proportions of the mixture and to less extent on the

salt at which the heat is supplied from the outside, the size of the ice

lump and salt particles and the amount and density of the resulting

brine. Hence it is impracticable to give other than approximate

temperatures with fixed ratios of salt and ice.”

It usually takes thirty minutes at least to freeze a gallon of

ice-cream.

FREEZERS

Electric freezers come from about $75 up and can be had for alternate

(A. C.) or direct (D. C.) current.

The advantage of the freezer with its own directly-connected motor,

rather than a motor which has to be connected, is readily apparent to

those who have suffered the annoyance of belting, pulleys, and

countershafts. Being self-contained, such an outfit may be readily

located at will; to operate merely requires securing it in place and

connecting the wires. You have, therefore, no belts with attendant

annoyance and expense, no countershaft with its necessity for continued

attention and causing vibration, nor is there dirt and oil being thrown

here and there. In addition to the mechanical advantages secured by the

motor-driven ice-cream freezer unit, there are had by its use

cleanliness and increased space.

Every freezer should be so made that the action of scrapers and dasher

is continuous. Some freezers have a device in which the scrapers are

hung on the dasher so their lower ends rest on the bottom of the can,

and the friction between ends of scrapers and can bottom when in motion

moves the scrapers against the side of the can, and holds them there

positively and continuously.

TUBS

The tubs should be strong and if possible bound with welded wire hoops

or metal bands. If the tub is metal this is unnecessary. Tubs are made

of pine, white cedar, etc. The zinc tub is a good substitute for the

wooden tub, but the wooden one is good if made water tight and smooth

and easy to clean. All parts of the freezer should be non-rustable,

especially the can.

The best cans are made with drawn-steel bottoms. They do not leak, do

not fall out, as may happen with those having the tin plate or cast

bottoms.

The best bodies of the can are made of heavy tin plate. The top of can

is strongly wired and turned over, while the bottom of can is made to

fit over and under the drawn steel bottom.

All gears must be completely covered so that neither ice nor salt can

get in the cogs nor the fingers be caught and injured. Some freezers

have gearing enclosed in a box-like fixture.

The inside parts touching the cream should be of harmless metal,

generally of pure block tin. All outside parts should be smoothly

finished, galvanized usually.

The ice space between the can and the tub must be so arranged as to use

the least amount of ice and salt, and freeze as quickly as possible.

The cross bars which connect the handles and cover and clamp on the

opposite side are often a source of agony. These must be simple in

operation. Some freezers have a clamp, some a key. This is a matter of

choice and manufacturer. Some cross bars are hinged and others are

dove-tailed.

Freezers are supplied with fly wheel instead of cranks to turn. The fly

wheel costs a little more but it is far more convenient, as it requires

less turning.

Some freezers have a glass peep hole in the cover of can so one can see

the progress of the freezing and obviate loss of time and cold by

opening the can.

Scrapers are made of rolled steel bars ground straight and fine to fit

can and to insure clean scraping of the cream, so that all parts of the

mixture are being frozen continuously.

The dashers and beater are usually of malleable iron heavily coated with

pure block tin. Generally (and better so) there is one scraper for the

bottom of the can and two metal scrapers for side.

BUYING FREEZERS

The same principals hold in buying freezers as any other culinary

utensil. They must be seamless, smooth, easily cleaned, non-dangerous,

non-corrosive, non-chipping, and be made by a reputable manufacturer.

Besides the freezer must have ease in running, quick freezing, economy,

convenience, and give practical results.

Freezers are equipped with best standard motors. The motors should be so

placed as to eliminate danger of motors burning out or being injured by

careless handling of the ice and salt.

In ordering a motor outfit include the following--your voltage, Direct

or Alternating Current; if Alternating what Cycle and Phase. (See

Chapter I).

Buy a freezer with thought. All machinery pays better when the best is

bought and close attention has been given to the purchase.

CHAPTER XXV

THE KITCHEN ROTARY CLUB

Are you a culinary rotarian? Or do you still “beat it” by hand?

The Kitchen Rotary Club is becoming a real factor in culinary economics!

By means of rotary motion the mixer, the beater, the combination of

these two have come to relieve the back, arm and hand and where

electrically driven cause no waste of time!

ELECTRIC ROTARIES

To begin with, these fairy-like machines are somewhat like and unlike

patent medicine advertisements--alike because they claim to do many

things and unlike because they can and do fulfill their claims!

For example, they beat eggs, mix bread dough, mayonnaise; stir cake

batter, frostings, dressings; whip cream; mash potatoes; grind nuts,

spices and meat; drive (some) ice-cream freezers; turn the food chopper;

have grinding and buffing wheels for sharpening cutlery and polishing

silver. In fact, they are companions not idly to be cast aside.

HOUSEWIVES BAD MIXERS

This will especially appeal to the housewife mayonnaisly--because many a

good mixture has been wasted by inefficient mixings by the mixer being

called away suddenly, etc. Then, too, many a mayonnaise is never born

at all because the housewife or the cook “hasn’t the time to-day.” Where

the mixer is electrically driven, time is added unto the menage and

while the mayonnaise is forming the cook is _per_forming elsewhere.

Egg beating, cream whipping, batter beating, all these take time. Now

with the electric machine the home can revel in soufflés and cake. It

can buy coffee in the bean and grind it with no effort--here is a real

epicurean saving. For coffee in the bean and grinding it at home saves

the volatile essences of the coffee which gives to perfect coffee the

added aroma and full flavor. These machines grind cutlery and not

“exceedingly slow” and so can add finesse to a slice of meat!

As with the mayonnaise mixing, these utilitarian investments take the

guess work out of cake, meringues, batters. Improper mixing is an

immorality not easily cleansed from kitchens. Yet these instruments with

perfection of mechanical agitation do the mixing with assurance and

become real vice chasers. Imagine! (all things being right)--you can be

sure that success will come to your cakes, sauces, breads, rolls, pies,

cookies, doughnuts, cheese dishes, puddings, sauces--Remember that lumpy

cream sauce? Well no more of that! Your sauces and your mashed

vegetables will be lumpless!

Removing doubt, removes nerve strain in a kitchen--and maybe the cook

without nerve strain will be affable and a comforting dweller in your

halls!

THE NEW MACHINES

Among the best machines is one so made as to effectively chop food and

meat, grind coffee, slice vegetables and fruit, etc., etc.; has with its

attachments a hot-water and ice container to be used as a “bath,” if

stirring must needs be done in a cold or hot medium; soup strainer and

colander connection; ice-cream freezer attachment; a meat slicer (a

great comfort and saving of meat). This motor has three speeds.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Troy Metal Products Co._

A MEMBER OF THE KITCHEN ROTARY CLUB AT WORK ON CAKE-MIXING.]

You may have never felt the need of these types of workers, but then you

never knew the use of the radiogram until you used it!

Don’t you hate to strain and _persuade_ large quantities?

The strain is gone from straining large quantities now. This is gently

done by the coaxing electric strainer and colander device.

One “mixer” is also accompanied by a cabinet if desired. It is finished

in white and is made especially for this device and houses comfortably

all its attachments. It has an enameled metal top and does not add much

to the total cost of machine.

Another power unit advertises two speeds and has all the above

attachments. It comes with a metal table with a shelf (open), on which

all the work can be done with comfort.

SMALLER CRAFT

If you don’t want a machine that can do so much, there is one on the

market electrically driven, which beats eggs, mixes mayonnaise, angel

cake and light batter, mashes potatoes and fluffs them if mixed with

butter and cream, mixes custard, soufflés, etc.

It has a small ¹⁄₂ H. P. motor of fine construction designed for 110

voltage. It is necessary in this case to state whether your current is

direct or alternating (DC or AC). This motor can run on either direct or

alternating if the speed control device is not to be used. But the speed

control in this instrument is its crowning glory. That is, you can mix

rapidly or slowly, a performance the older type of mixers small or large

could not do. It was racing speed or nothing. All cooks know that some

things take rapid beating or stirring, some other things slower

agitation. The cook or housewife can in the course of her experience

with these new comers into our kitchens find new uses continually for

them.

For example, this small motor has a speed regulator which ranges from

4800 to 8000 revolutions per minute. This motor takes from 25 watts

(extra load) to 60 watts (heavy load).

It is well to have a detachable motor as in this one, for when cleaning

is necessary the motor remains--due to its hydrophobiac (fear of water)

elements--unharmed!

The beater itself here is the ancient and honorable Dover type, so you

see it is not so foreign to your ken.

TIME AND THE MIXER

1000 revolutions is all you can effect in a minute, no matter how “Red”

you may be. This machine turns 2000 revolutions, outrushing the Russians

and all Central Europe!

SOME EVOLUTIONS

In from one to five and ten minutes can eggs, frostings, and mayonnaise

be accomplished!

Full speed for heavy mixtures, half speed for lighter, a gram of cream

can be had in less than five minutes.

A gallon of oil in relation to a mayonnaise dressing took but ten

minutes to be used up.

Now can _you_ beat it? Hasn’t this phrase lost its slangy significance?

This little angel weighs but 2³⁄₄ pounds, and its lightness is one of

its charms.

REQUIREMENTS

All these machines should be easily attached to wall or lighting sockets

or outlets. (Electric).

They must be easily cleaned.

The motor must be protected from you and food stuffs and you must be

protected from it.

All attachments must attach easily. When easily is used it is meant to

the limit of ease. All parts must fit, so that the doing of a new

operation is not accompanied with dread. It must be a pleasure to depart

from coffee grinding to turning the ice-cream pail and polishing silver.

Now, kitchening is no endurance test. The fatigue is eliminated. Your

days may not be so “stirring” but at the end of them you will feel like

the theatre and what not.

The hand-turned cake and bread mixers are better than mixing by hand and

spoon--but if possible, the electrically driven mixers which come in

many styles and prices will give you more than comfort and will outlast

many a cook.

The hand-turned stoners, buffers, grinders, etc., are very efficient but

not quite the joy an electrically driven unit may be in an electrically

conducted ménage.

These machines are Utopian agitators! Agitating for food and helping the

Kitchen Workers of the World.

CHAPTER XXVI

FLAWS OR FLOORS IN YOUR KITCHEN

The question of the kitchen flooring in the home is of course, a very

profound and serious subject. Those who build away from cities are hard

put to it to know exactly what there is on the market and those who live

in cities are confused by the variety of floorings and the attractive

attributes as their salesmen recite their eulogies. In order to help the

prospective buyer we have set down a few basic facts.

FLOOR REQUIREMENTS

Of course, you realize that every kitchen flooring should, as nearly as

possible, be:--

Attractive,

Easy to keep clean,

Noiseless,

Odorless,

Vermin and dust proof,

Comfortable to feet and back,

Non-slippery whether dry or wet,

Durable (no upkeep but washing and polishing),

Fire proof or fire retardent,

Impervious to changes in temperature,

Laid over any kind of floor base,

Lightweight enough to be suitable to any structure,

Seamless or joined so as to be virtually seamless,

Non-warping, non-expansive or non-contracting.

Before enumerating the kinds of floors that you will have laid before

you in this chapter, it would be well to realize that a floor will

sometimes keep a maid or lose her, and you will not know the “why.” But

the fact is that a floor can tire you if it be not a good kind for the

purpose and can reduce fatigue and make for general well being if it be

a good type.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Janes & Kirtland_

AN IDEAL KITCHEN WITH LINOTILE FLOOR (ARMSTRONG CORK CO.), BUILT-IN

STEEL KITCHEN CABINET UNITS (JANES & KIRTLAND), AND COOK’S TABLE, WITH

POT HANGER COMFORT]

Here is a list of the most important kinds of flooring in use:--

Marble,

Wood and wood block,

Linoleum, Linotile,

Cork,

Composition and concrete, (laid in paste or blocks)

Tile,

Terrazzo.

Marble can be dismissed as being too expensive, too beautiful and too

resisting to the feet. It is also too cold under foot.

Wood is very popular because in the commoner varieties it is the

cheapest flooring. In whatever grade a wooden floor is used, it has the

disadvantage of needing attention. It always needs refinishing. The

better the floor the more attention it will need. It will splinter

eventually and show marks if things are dragged over it. Although the

scraping down and refinishing always make the floor look like new, the

wooden floor is better in any room in the house than the kitchen,

laundry or pantry. There are some housekeepers who wouldn’t have

anything else but the hard wood floors in their kitchens--oak, maple or

Georgia pine, etc.

LAYING THE FLOOR

The wooden floor must be carefully laid or else the cracks become traps

for germs and dust. Of course, this applies to all flooring. And while

on the subject of laying floors, let me say that even though you order

the best kind of flooring in the world, if it is laid badly, you might

as well have bought the worst sort of material. It is imperative that

you have the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s delegated dealer lay

your floor. Don’t go to your village builder or carpet man. It won’t

pay; in fact, it will cost you dearly, as in such case the maker of

these products has developed a way to lay flooring which is inseparable

from the life of the flooring itself.

Many a householder knows a good floor, but few know what to look for in

the laying of it.

THE LINOLEUM FAMILY

Among the best known floorings for kitchen use is linoleum. It is so

well known and so popular that purchasers in their ignorance often

accept, unwittingly, substitutes and lay felt paper instead of the real

thing!

If you decide to buy linoleum, go to the best maker or his dealer.

Follow their gospel _Buy the Best_. If you heed this you make an

investment. If you do not, you make an expenditure.

So when you decide to buy linoleum first look on the wrong side of it,

and if it has burlap on the back and if it is very difficult to tear, it

is pretty definitely linoleum. It also carries the name of the maker.

It is well for the prospective buyer to know something of the

manufacture of a popular article. It makes you appreciate and understand

how to take care of it better.

Women should not buy unless they know exactly what they are buying.

Linoleum is made of burlap, linseed oil and cork, as the main

ingredients. The oil is first boiled to thicken it. When it is cooled it

is poured down over suspended sheets or scrim and by coming in contact

with the oxygen of the air, becomes oxidized and solidified. Then these

oil-impregnated skins are ground up and mixed with gums to give the

fabric elasticity and it is then mixed with ground cork or cork flour,

the coloring matter, and the rosin, (to harden it). This mixture is fed

into a machine which distributes it evenly over the burlap. It later

passes through a series of finely adjusted rollers weighing about 27

tons each and adjustable to space of ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch between rolls

which, of course, give any required thickness to the linoleum. This is

plain linoleum and it is many weeks in the making.

The printed linoleum is made by passing the plain over print drums.

The straight line or inlay is done by a still more involved process, but

the patterns never wear out as they are an integral part of the

linoleum, going through from back to front of the material.

Highly paid designers are engaged in this work and many craftsmen of

great skill are employed for stencil work, etc.

You don’t always realize the time, work, and expense of the ordinary

things that you see about you.

When the linoleum is being laid, look out for these things. (They apply

pretty generally to the laying of any flooring of this kind.) If over

wood--the nails must be hammered in below the surface, the wood laid too

to avoid dampness and cracking. If over concrete--it must have dried a

month or two and be filled in with plaster of paris if it has any

cracks. It should be laid over felt in both cases to insure long life to

the linoleum and the comfortable resiliency to the foot and consequent

ease to the back. The felt acts as a cushion, makes the linoleum fit

better, and obviates later refitting and trimmings. See too, that the

workmen are careful to force the strips close together and cement

closely. These things if it is absolutely impossible to get the linoleum

people themselves to lay the floor. It would be wise then, to get their

booklet.

It is easily kept in condition if you:

Use only mild soaps, never caustic powder, with warm water. Rinse

immediately with clear water and dry immediately. Wash and dry about a

square yard at a time; do not flood the whole room at once. Strong soaps

will eat the pattern in the printed linoleum and wear the inlay.

Use elbow grease!

Use glass casters on heavy furniture as the linoleum will show marks.

Store linoleum, when necessary, away from excessive heat and moisture.

Waxing occasionally is good. But an oil mop does very well.

The numberless designs and coloring to be had in this fabric add to its

value and pleasure, and the kitchen can be in lovely accord with the

decorations of the house.

The ordinary dripping will not effect linoleum, nor the ordinary

moisture. It requires no extra mats as foot resters, is not a substitute

but a flooring, and in every way deserves its great popularity.

THE CORK FAMILY

Another attractive, useful and popular flooring is what is called the

corks. It is made of clean cork shavings compressed in closed steel

molds about an inch thick for five hours under high pressure and high

temperature. All the moisture is thus driven out and it is pressed

together into a waterproof mass. No foreign substance is introduced to

bind it together as this is done by its own gums. Inferior cork tile is

mixed with foreign substances and this often makes it break down and

detracts from the resiliency and wearing power. After this process is

completed it is cut into the desired sizes.

Cork tile comes in shades of brown and there is an excellent cork

compound tile that comes in many designs and colors.

It is not absolutely fireproof but is what is called a fire retardent in

that it takes a flame of 1500 degrees F. one hour to burn a hole in a

tile 6″ × 6″ × ¹⁄₂″.

The cork tile floor of the best make will last as long as the building.

It is of the loveliest coloring, delightful in tone, noiseless and

soothing to the feet and back, warm to the touch and altogether

psychologically comforting to the nerves.

It requires but soap and water and elbow grease to keep it in condition

forever. It is never slippery, is non-absorbent of dust and moisture and

when laid correctly needs no effort nor money for its upkeep. This is

why the initial investment though larger than for some other flooring is

a wise one, as it is positively the ultimate expenditure.

There is much inferior cork tile on the market and it is very hard to

tell it from the best quality. It looks attractive until it has been

used a little while, then it will begin to “pit” and “sap” (become dark,

and emit a pungent odor), due to inferior manufacture.

Heavy tracking does not effect cork tile as it is so elastic that is

springs back into place. This is proven by the restaurants, banks,

libraries and hospitals that use it so generously.

In laying this, the same general things should be observed as in the

case of linoleum. It is laid over felt, the base must be free from

moisture, cracks and nails. If the cork is put over nailable material,

small headless sunken brads are used. If not, it is pasted on the base.

All joints are pressed together by a special compressing machine, and

are sealed with a preparation virtually making the cork tile into one

large seamless covering under which no dust, moisture, germs or vermin

can collect.

The velvety quiet of these floors imparts a tranquillity to the kitchen,

contagious to mistress and to maid.

It is needless to say much for the tile as you know its beauties. It may

be cold to the feet, non-resistant and tiring to the back and slippery

when wet, but this is overcome by mats of matting, cork or linoleum.

Tile is made in every design and color to fit any desire or design. All

corners and joints at the base of walls can be curved. It makes a unit

of the whole room in design and intention as no other thing does. It can

be cleaned out with a small hose. Of course, poor tile cracks.

Needless to say, it takes real skill to lay these floors as the under

bed of cement has to be very perfect to protect the tile upon it.

However, it looks royal, it wears, and is a favorite with great kitchen

builders.

COMPOSITIONS

The floorings of composition, cements and mineral mixtures are

innumerable. Some are excellent, embodying nearly all the good points

enumerated in this latter. They are a little warmer than tile and not

quite so expensive. They have probably a little more foot comfort but

not much more. They are fire proof, do not weigh too much for a lightly

constructed house, and are kept clean with the usual elbow grease and

water.

These floors for the most part are made in various colors and designs.

In tile and composition the joint at the base of walls can be made

practically one with the wall in a curving connection. In the case of

linoleum and cork, this joint is either accomplished by a curving

connection or more generally by a highly compressed and sealed joint,

allowing for absolutely no trapping of foreign matter and rendering the

floor easily swept and washed.

Many great institutions and some private homes have found these to be

practical, so if you observe the “Buy the Best from the Best” rule you

cannot go wrong.

LINOTILE

A newer kind of floor is a cross between a cement and a linoleum. It

wears indefinitely and can be highly recommended, as handsome as it

comes in tile form, and silent, easily kept clean, resilient and all the

good points of cement as well as linoleum.

CHAPTER XXVII

FEDERALIZING YOUR KITCHEN

Fancy a carpenter with his tools all over the room!

Fancy a painter with one color here and another color there! Do you

think we would have had a Michelangelo if he had been forced to get down

from the scaffold every minute for a tool or a bit of clay? And yet

women for the most part, women who need their energy for making the home

a fit place to live in, still persist in scattering their tools about

the kitchens and walk miles daily, because they have not mobilized their

tools.

To what can be accredited the woman’s hatred of saving steps, even

though she complains of fatigue and extra work? What can account for the

woman’s dislike of having her things handy? Is it money? No, because she

often buys motors, “movie” tickets, dogs, jewels and garments in

quantities far more than she needs. It is perhaps due to a past vastness

of ignorance. But now when there are specialists descanting on the

glories of saving steps, time and money there is little excuse. In this

article one stumbling block will be removed and the kitchen can well

transform itself into a room where the most methodical man can work and

where any maid coming in for the first time will not have to use levers,

telescopes, periscopes and what not to prepare the first meal. For the

kitchen cabinet is the first plank in the platform of standardizing

domestic work even as it is being standardized in the factory. This is

the basic glory of the kitchen cabinet. Now, for the more important

details of its makeup.

[Illustration:

_Courtesy of Janes & Kirtland_

A STEEL UNIT KITCHEN CABINET FLANKED BY BROOM AND DUSTER CLOSETS. SEE

THE ELEVATION FROM THE FLOOR. THIS CAN BE BUILT-IN TOO]

These cabinets group in one place the necessary tools and materials for

getting together the meals of the house. They hold the spices, flour,

sugar, bottles, pots and pans, sometimes linens, ice and gas or electric

stoves, packages of cereals, etc., and they are the table, the bread

board, the flour board, the flour bin and dish rack all in one.

Here you can work where everything is within arm’s reach; you can sit at

your work and not fatigue yourself. In short, you have a work bench at

last and can feel as professional as the carpenter or the artist, and

you must, if the kitchen is ever going to be as important in the life

and best living of mankind as it deserves to be.

Built of steel entirely in some cases, all wood in others, and a

combination of both in still others, they are comfortable and worth

while in the best makes. Of course in this product, as in all others,

one must go to the best manufacturers who know their business and take

an interest beyond the sale.

When you buy a kitchen cabinet you must get the maximum comfort and

utility. Go about and see which one you think will save you the most

work.

The all-steel cabinet, of course, is less responsibility to keep free of

vermin. The wood type is a little more care.

If your cabinet is to be of wood, see to it that it is ant proof (the

castors as well), has all round corners, is varnished and finished

steamproof, has locks that lock, doors that easily open, whether one

leaf is shut or both, whether it is winter or summer, supplies a broad

enough table to sit down and work at comfortably, a table top impervious

to liquids, grease and heat, sanitary glass drawer pull, dovetail wood

joinings, easy rolling castors, everything easily withdrawn to clean,

and of non-warping, well-seasoned wood. The finish must be the best,

whether enameled, painted or varnished.

In the cabinet of steel construction you must be sure that the enamel is

on to stay; that the doors, drawers and locks are of the best

construction, electrically welded. The doors, etc., must be rigid enough

not to emit hollow sounds every time they are closed. In the best type

the doors do not dent or wobble but are double, about ⁷⁄₁₆″ thick,

reinforced on the inside with heavy steel angles, making them rigidity

enthroned. The frames are rabbeted to receive doors and drawers, thus

giving no overhang but making a flush surface. The doors in the steel

cabinet are more comfortable to handle if they are hung on concealed

brass hinges, with bullet catches which enable the doors to open and

shut absolutely independent of each other.

In both the steel and the wood cabinets the table tops are all of

different material. The best steel type in our opinion uses nickled

zinc; the best wood cabinets use porcelain, iron, aluminum, vitreous

steel, enamel, etc. Any of these tops are good and when in the standard

makes you can be very sure that they have been well tried and not found

wanting in any essential quality.

In general, then, the cabinet is a receptacle for the most used things

in the kitchen; therefore, is so much used itself that it cannot be too

good and should be adapted to your special need.

If you are building a house and want to have your kitchen a real

comfort, install a kitchen cabinet or go to the firm that, with its unit

system, can make up a kitchen cabinet combining most of the best things

you see in any. This is an expensive way but a miraculous joy. If you

want a cabinet to be installed before the house is built it is a saving

in wall tiling where the cabinet is placed, especially if the cabinet is

made of steel.

There is one cabinet on the market that has an ice box in it, which when

installed with the back toward the porch wall makes it possible for the

ice to be put in from the porch and all packages delivered from the

porch through its parcel-service shelf opening on the porch!

In this cabinet there is, too, room for a gas stove or electric plates,

so that with it you have a complete, compact kitchen.

The unit systems in steel are most elastic, as they can be duplicated

over the broadest and the narrowest, longest and shortest kitchens.

Whole pantries can be equipped with them. Diet kitchens in the upper

floors of large residences can also be equipped with these units so that

any member of the family, nurse or valet, can prepare a little meal with

everything comfortably housed in the pantry cabinet. They are one of

those examples of household developments which are so rapidly coming to

the front to-day and mean so much in convenience.

Each maker of kitchen cabinets has a specialty or two which he tells you

makes for superiority. Each one is right, so you must choose your

favorite and most appealing speciality and buy accordingly.

Some, to obviate the little back bending, have a device by which the

whole shelf of the bottom of the cabinet pulls out when you open the

door and enables you to see what you want without strain, or time loss.

This we think a delightful device. Others have gravity locks and catches

which always fall in place; sanitary leg bases, high enough from the

floor to sweep under; a rolling open front, which makes it simple always

to keep the cabinet closed and away from cooking odors; white enamel

interior; roller bearing on table so that the table rolls in and out

with least possible rebellion or noise; and a drawer for kitchen linen,

which is a great comfort.

Another advertises the possibility of its use with detached gas or

electric range, its silver drawer, bread board, parcel service, and ice

box and special flour bin. All the cabinets are proud of their flour

bins and sifters. And nearly all have special construction so that they

are filled and emptied with ease and dispatch.

One fine cabinet has a revolving spice container which is very

convenient, of course.

The unit system is proud of the adaptability to any need, including even

broom closets on the side of the cabinet, filling any wall space. These

are usually made of steel and provide a cheaper method of backing up one

side of the kitchen than by the use of tile or kitchen shelving.

The steel unit systems also come in special “store” sizes and are not

much more expensive than the wood.

The steel are either 6″ from the floor to allow for cleaning or are

stationary and are attached to the floor by curved constructed tile or

linoleum, which gives continuity and unity, thus reducing the swabbing

out of the floor to simplest terms.

The kitchen cabinet that is put in when the house is built, be it of

wood or steel, is more convenient than any other closet, as no builder

has given sufficient thought to maximum utilities. We have seen

architects send their “handy man” to install closets who seemed to be

absolutely unlearned in the necessities of the problems. Therefore,

before and after building, the kitchen cabinet or the kitchen cabinet

unit system is by far the best policy to pursue.

THE ESSENTIALS OF THE CABINET

The cabinet must be able to fulfill these conditions: It must be easily

moved if on castors, it must be easily taken apart, drawers must run

smoothly, racks to hold things must hold things, they must hold enough

things, too, to prevent relay kitchen races.

The wood cabinets are excellent, the steel we think a degree more

self-protecting because they cannot absorb odors, or get vermin

investitures. However, the best grades of wood cabinets are so perfect

that we can endorse them ungrudgingly.

The cabinet must have: Supply closets, china (nearly every case),

molding boards, work table, cutting board, linen receptacle, pot, pan

and lid holders, bread, cake, spice, sugar containers and flour and bin

shifter devices.

All other departures are specialties and are more or less inviting

according to the buyer.

There is a cabinet, remember, for any space as well as purse. Get the

best of the best dealer and make yourself sure that the one you are

getting is the least complicated and the easiest to keep clean. They

range in price from around $50 up to the thousands. But no matter what

they contain, or how thrilling they look, unless the cabinet itself is

the acme of fine workmanship, you will be in constant irritation over

warping parts, dust and uncleanable surfaces.

CHAPTER XXVIII

WHEN THE POT HANGS HIGH

My text is “one kitchen tool hung up is worth two in a low

cupboard”--taken from The Kitchen Libel--Chapter 1, Verse 1.

This may not look like a technical chapter--like one with a lot of

mechanical information--and it really isn’t--it intends to get behind

technicalities and be a radical (don’t fear the word) over-hauling of

women’s opinion on the disestablishment of old forms of kitchen usage by

very slight changes in kitchen arrangement.

For years kitchens have been built with closets for kitchen pots built

in “below the belt” with pernickety little doors with cranky little

locks. For years these closets gave the kitchen denizen or housekeeper

herself all the rhythmic exercise necessary to the development of

backache and nerves and sense of touch. Into these closets you had to

feel for the pan you wanted and then often had the musical treat of

hearing them crash down behind something, and you must needs kneel in

prayerful posture to extract the necessary pot or pan.

If there were ever a condition in the kitchen so uncongenial to the

Woman-Doing-Her-Own-Work, it’s this hidden pot and pan game. If the

carpenter has learned how to save his back, why not the housewife, who

not only does cooking but also a hundred other things.

Avaunt ancient superstitions and affections about dark low-set closets

and come out in the open on high with your utensils and whether you have

a maid or not, some one’s back will be preserved, if not for higher for

more things!

THE ARGUMENT FOR HANGING

I have written the above in the past tense--but it is really existent

to-day in the majority of homes. “Why,” I asked a splendid housekeeper,

“don’t you seal up those dark receptacles and hang up your utensils?”

“Gracious,” said she, “if I hang them up they’d get all dusty and it

wouldn’t be sanitary. Ridiculous,” quoth she!

“But, my dear friend, do you think those dark closets are dust-proof and

do you think darkness is a germ killer?”

The truth is these closets, away from light, are almost ominous!

“But,” continued my friend, “if I decided to hang my things up, where

could I do it in this tiny kitchen? It’s all right in modern kitchens,

but here it is impossible!”

Here she touched a universal note--in fact, two notes--the old fashioned

kitchen, and no room. Two notes upon which the housekeeper plays

monotonous choruses to excuse modern advances.

“My dear friend,” snapped I--“once upon a time I ran an experiment

station in a tenement kitchen--the kitchen was four feet wide by ten

feet long--in it were tubs, stove, glass closets under which were the

pot and pan receptacles. I was too busy to stoop every time I needed

anything so I had the carpenter nail on the wall over the tubs and over

the sink a piece of wood three inches wide (this will go in even the

tiniest kitchen) into which I screwed hooks, and there I hung every tool

I used. Later I had a shelf nailed above it and made my work a smooth

performance. I felt like a carpenter working at my bench with all my

tool ‘en plein air.’” And I went on to say, as I had a good opportunity,

there is no reason why your kitchen can’t be made like a tool chest. No

man would tolerate breaking his very strong back to get a pan, or his

nerve to pull out a drawer, which so often sticks, for a can opener! Not

he.

Could you imagine a carpenter, a butcher, or any one else, who worked at

everything requiring sharp tools, or fine quality tools, jumbling them

all up together in a drawer that moves in and out, provoking an

earthquake rhythm among the tools, or a little closet in which

everything is banged to pieces and has to be groped for?

GOOD TOOLS, GOOD TREATMENT

No!--No one could. Because no tools will last under such treatment and

good tools are worth keeping--and the very best are reduced to

nothingness if not kept well. It’s a case, pure and simple, of noblesse

oblige.

There is a good housekeeping reason, too, for things to be hung up, and

this is: when things are in plain sight they become a constant curse to

the cook or to the beholder if they are not scrupulously clean. In the

kitchen of “suspended animation” you are pretty sure to have clean and

spotless pots and pans, to have knives whose edges are not nicked, and

to have egg beaters and mayonnaise mixers that are not so out of kilter

that you get nervous prostration in coming in contact with a scrambled

egg or Russian dressing. These are facts to grapple with.

To prove it, just visit a man-manned restaurant or hotel kitchen some

time--and there you will see the brightest, cleanest looking copper,

aluminum, nickel, etc., etc., pots and pans hung up on racks near

operating centers--ready to be used. If this were anti-hygiene the

Board of Health would intervene. Anyhow, water is at hand in a kitchen

and dust is easily swabbed out!

Of course, in the new kitchen, racks are built, and you have no choice,

so you accept the pleasanter condition without cavil.

In this connection I can’t forbear to mention the apartment garbage can

which owns a hygienic lid which sits a foot above the floor and for

every useless egg shell to be thrown away the worker must needs bend

double to remove the lid, empty her plate, put on the lid and raise

herself up. Time and energy lost. This could easily be on a little stool

under a common kitchen table in which a round hole could be cut, or

alongside the garbage creating table and the stuff slid into it, if it

can be bought with a sliding lid. There is also a pail whose lid is

lifted by a pedal worked by the foot.

HANGING WITHIN REACH

To be sure, this does not mean to hang up the kitchen table or the

stove, but it does mean to keep things, that are used hundreds of times

every day, within the reach of your hands without superfluous stooping

and bending. It means, too, that cleaning utensils, such as brooms and

dusters and rags, if hung in separate racks in or outside of a closet,

will live longer in good condition than if hurled into a corner of a

closet where they get smashed and have their one hundred per cent.

utility diminished.

Where a culinary tool decreases in efficiency, the human element effort

is necessarily increased, and unnecessary fatigue ensues--then: sloppy

preparation of food and then, dyspepsia.

Now, don’t you see the inevitable result of slipshod kitchen

arrangement?

If, for any reason, you like closets for pots and pans, have glass

doors on them and have them no lower than thirty-two inches from the

floor. This way you don’t have to stoop, the light penetrates, and an

arrangement like this has only the opening and shutting of the door in

its disfavor and the fitting in of the utensils each time and their

possible denting. Even the finest utensils will dent with improper

provocation. Open shelves are very convenient, too, if you do not care

to hang things up.

If you have a niche for each tool, the work becomes almost play.

CHAPTER XXIX

BRUSHING UP ON BRUSHES

Household work is drudgery unless it is put on as nice (I say “nice”

advisedly in its purest sense) a plane as any other craft. The best way

of doing this is to have tools that are adapted to the different kinds

of work--and furthermore, and quite as important, tools you are proud

of, proud enough to keep well and advantageously.

The carpenter does not use one kind of tool for everything--he does not

use a chisel where a plane could be used not only to better the job but

for his own comfort or pleasure. The same thing can be said of the

painter, who would not use a whitewash brush for a varnish job. But the

housekeeper seems to think it part of her duty, somehow, to use a

one-for-all tool, and then wonder why her work is irksome and her job

ill done. It is very often difficult to get a maid to use the proper

brush, but you will find, if you do your own work, that you will

simplify it by using the right brush at the right time. The long handled

type for long distance work, the short for local jobs, soft ones for

delicate and so on. This careful work too will preserve the finishes of

various things which must needs be brushed and save the cost of renewing

paints and varnishes.

Brush work in the home is the most pregnable of citadels, but one that

can be easily fortified against calumnies by a little attention to what

a brush is, does, and can be.

Of course, a brush is meant to brush. The two main classes of brushes in

which you are interested are the household and personal. Of these two we

will discuss the household and just touch in passing the personal brush

(such as nail brush, clothes, etc.), and will not enter into the

paint-brush story even though the paint-brush is in household use on a

surprising number of occasions.

Bristles and fibers and hair are the brush of the brush. The finest

brushes are of bristle and hair and the less fine are of fiber save

where bristle would not function any better for the job than fiber. Hair

is used in some brushes where fine work and delicate surfaces are

involved. For example, the shaving brush is of hair, the silver brush of

bristle, the whisk of fiber. A room wall brush, too, is often of hair to

save the paper or wall finish.

Bristles come from the hog’s (or boar’s) back, and the colder the

country in which this quadruped roams the longer and tougher the

bristle. Therefore, the Siberian bristle has always been the

toughest--and the Chinese have come a close second. We get bristles,

too, from France and Belgium. The bristles from the United States are

not tough, as we kill the hog too soon--for bacon. However, for a soft

brush these bristles are very fine. Japan imports bristles and so did

Austria before 1914.

The resilient, springy quality in the bristle cannot be duplicated in

any other brush material. Due to-day to the disorganized trade

conditions, with Europe and Asia, the bristle brush is almost a luxury.

The American brush has been conceded to be as fine as the European or

magically “imported” brush, as there is not any place to-day where the

home is being studied by the brush makers as it is being done in

America.

Bristles don’t break if bent--and the longer the bristle, the stiffer

and stouter is the butt end by which it is securely fastened. Therefore

all hail the wild old hog!

Horsehair, badger, camel’s hair, etc., are ideal materials for some

brushes. Many household brushes are made of horsehair, shaving brushes

of badger, and the artist’s brush is made of camel’s hair when it can be

had. Hearth brushes are sometimes made of the mane hair of the horse,

wall brushes, too; sometimes goat hair is used. Among other brushes made

of horsehair frequently are the crumb (table), pastry, bottle and dish

washing (white hair). The very best white horsehair comes from the

Russian pony and is very nearly as stiff as bristles. The black

horsehair of the finest grade is also imported, as the domestic is not

as good. Other horsehair comes from China, Australia, South America.

FIBER OR BRISTLE

When you buy a brush, if you don’t know a fiber from a bristle, ask your

dealer. He may say: “No this is not bristle, it is made of Bass” (or

Bassine, Kitool, Palmyra or Palmetto or Rice Root, or Mixed Fibers, or

Union, or Union Marble, etc.). If he is a good dealer you need not fear,

if his price is not very low you need not be suspicious, because no good

brush is inexpensive to-day and no cheap brush is a saving.

Of all the fibers Tampico (from Mexico, Central America largely), the

product of a species of cactus plant, is probably the best fiber.

Palmyra, too, is an excellent fiber, and comes from a plant indigenous

to regions near the Indian Ocean and the Valley of the Tigris. What

geographical scope we have in our homes!

There are trade names for fibers such as Ox fiber, a fine quality of

fiber from the cabbage palmetto, and many other trade named fibers which

must be procured by ye purchasers only from purveyors of royal lineage.

Brushes are made of mixtures of bristle and hair, such as some flesh

brushes or hand brushes, the bristles taking the brunt of the action and

holding the water better, yet protecting the hair. Fiber and bristles

are sometimes used in combination, too.

If you buy an “all bristle” brush you don’t want a mongrel variety. If

it is a mixture you are getting a usable and amply priced brush.

Black bristle is often made into pipe, window, stove, wall, radiator,

milk bottle and percolator brushes.

The color, black or white, of bristles doesn’t stamp quality. In some

cases black bristles are bleached for esthetic reasons. For example, a

white tooth brush is more attractive. The natural white bristle usually

comes from China and the natural black from Siberia.

Fibers in browns and whites, blacks and whites are mixed in brushes for

appearances. Color in brushes is a matter of attractiveness and does not

alter the usefulness or the wear of them.

The number and variety of brushes on the market are tremendous--one firm

makes sixty-nine ordinary household brushes, and besides this has others

tucked away, to say nothing of the personal, industrial and professional

classes of brushes. Thousands is not an exaggerated figure to apply to

the variety of brushes for all uses on the market to-day.

Another firm shows twenty-nine different kinds of scrubbing brushes (all

of fiber--Palmyra, Rice-Root, White Tampico, Ox Fiber, Palmetto, etc.,

etc.) of varying shapes, sizes and color. The object being in every case

for the purchaser to buy the brush that fits the hand and the job.

BRUSHES MUST BRUSH ONLY

Brushes, like any other implement, should do their own jobs only and

nothing else. A brush that gouges and does a chisel’s work is a poor

brush, no matter what quality the fiber or brush mark. The brush you buy

for your wall or your hardwood floor must not scratch, and must have

nothing in its construction that can scratch. Likewise, the brush you

buy for your toilet bowl must not scratch or wear the enamel and the

bristles must be bristles, for if of fiber you will have your brush

acting like a blotter. Your brush must clean and brush, it must not

become a bacteria nestling haven.

Brushes bought for the radiator can get under the piano and into small

spaces, but they are still brushes and the more things they brush the

better, of course. Furthermore, bristles in a stove brush should not be

stiff enough to engrave designs on the nickel-work on the stove.

The same may be said for the pot-scouring brush. It (if made of fiber or

bristle) must not chip enamel or aluminum by any part of its

construction.

The brush that fits its works, saves time. For example, the brush that

is meant for the toilet bowl should be shaped to fit the toilet trap. It

should be so built that its wire will not rust; after it is shaken out

it ought not to drip when hung up; the bristles should not mat or

separate and should be so made as to bend to your will. If it is of

fiber, this brush will mat and become of no avail in short order. Such a

brush can be used as a bath-tub cleaning brush and will not break the

back when functioning.

Baldness is the worst disease of bad brushes. Bristles and fiber must be

stitched and anchored so as not to shed. The frosting brush would be a

danger if a bristle were swallowed with a bite of cake. You probably

know the agony of a clothes brush that sheds bristles. The backless

twisted-in-wire brushes give brush area on all sides, and are so secured

that the bristle is fixed indefinitely. The brush that is all brush,

which has no emerging back to scratch, and which brushes at every angle,

saves time and extra effort, too.

THE PROTEAN VEGETABLE BRUSH

One of the most useful brushes on the market is the vegetable brush. A

little brush whose uses are many. If there are a few in a household they

can be used for washing vegetables, scraping silk from corn, scrubbing

poultry, scouring pots and pans, cleaning white shoes, sprinkling

clothes, for they hold enough water, and scrubbing dishes.

For the kitchenette to-day the sink brush and dishwashing brush with

their long handles are a boon for the housewife as she can keep her

hands in condition by not getting them into hot water so constantly.

These brushes have various other obvious uses besides.

Don’t use paper to grease pans or glaze cakes; use a pastry brush. Of

course this brush must be made without glue or cement so that it can be

frequently washed in scalding water and the bristles still be where they

should be.

A brush small enough for the percolater tube is to be had. It is good

for teapot spouts, gas burner holes, typewriter interstices, etc.

Among other brushes to which you may need introduction are:

_Wicker-Reed._ This gets in the tiny places so annoying to clean with

mammoth tools.

_Refrigerator_ (or pipe brush). This is a fairy wand to keep off

plumbers from your estate. Almost a pipe-dream in its general

pipe-cleaning skill.

_Hearth Brush._ A good utilitarian tool for those owning not only a home

but a hearth.

_Radiator._ Gets around a radiator as if it loved it. Can be used under

a piano, etc. Good for chandeliers, under oven or gas stove, etc.

_Comb Cleaner._ The same brush company which makes the above backless,

and twisted wire brushes has just put a little comb cleaning brush on

the market. It is like a little lawn mower which travels over and

through the comb teeth.

_Brush cleaner._ This new thing is intended to loosen the soil which

attaches itself to brushes by scraping it off. It is made of bone

entirely.

Remember there are hundreds of brushes and that they are designed for

every kind of thing, and best of all, there are companies who exist just

to fit you out with brushes and who will advise you just what kinds to

get.

MOPS AND DUSTERS

Just a word or two about mops, which are more and more coming to be made

of cotton which, though not technically absorbent cotton, does absorb

the dust. They are not oily, but chemically treated and so will not hurt

the rugs. They should be of wire construction, no parts exposed so as to

scratch. They must be of strong, enduring cotton, reversible, washable,

with an adjustable long handle, usable for ceiling, walls, doors,

windows, pictures, baseboards and floors; good for corners. The handle

should be at least long enough to obviate all back bending.

Of course there is a dish mop for washing cups, pitchers or dishes, and

the light weight wet mop, with long handle, of washable, reversible,

corner-hunting, absorbant cotton yarn.

The duster that dusts and does not smudge is what is needed. The one

that can dust finger marks off polished surfaces, absorb the dust and

can get into difficult places without breaking the back or--more

important still--the heart. These and many other brushes are to be had

for your comfort and for the asking--and paying.

Many times in the use of fiber brushes, whether for personal or

household uses, it is wise to immerse them completely in water for

one-half minute and set them aside to dry, resting on the fiber face of

the brush instead of the wooden back or on one of the ends. Laying the

brush flat down permits the entire surface to drain in the shortest

possible time. The object of dipping the brush in water before use is to

overcome a factory defect which is possible in some factories, for once

the fibers of the brush are dipped in water, the water is drawn up into

the hole by capillary attraction and rusts the staple which is of iron

wire; and as this staple starts to rust, it forms a bond with the wood

that makes the anchoring permanent. Should there be one or two loose

tufts, they will be cured by the rusting process.

After using the brush, shake out the water and place it face downward or

standing on the bristles so that it will drain and dry.

You are particularly interested in the manufacture of brushes, except to

get what you pay for.

The handles of your brushes must be comfortable, smooth, long enough in

some instances to save your back from pain and short or small enough to

fit your hand. In all cases they must be firm and reliable. The handles

are preferably not joined with a swivel joint, as this is apt to turn.

The clamp is a better fastening.

In the best grade of household brush most of the handles are of wood or

twisted wire, treated so as to be practically rustless.

The nail brush and tooth brushes, of course, are often of French ivory

and the handle is so made as to allow no dirt to remain in the handle.

Often, too, the bristles can be taken out to be cleaned or replaced.

(The hair-brush is a story in itself.)

Brushes must be easily cleaned and cared for.

Brush racks can be bought or carpenters make them very simply.

Above all, you want a brush that brushes, whose bristles or fibers are

anchored to stay, whose utility goes with years, not months, whose death

depends not on use but abuse, and to whose employing you look forward

with pleasure.

CHAPTER XXX

THE QUIET HOUSE

The entrance to a house is like the tonic chord of a sonata. It gives

you the key, the introduction to the atmosphere of the home. You really

get an impression of a home immediately upon entering the hallway. It is

also true that on entering a house you are lured or repelled by the

sounds in it, whether from the house itself or the people living there.

If you are greeted by loud voices, slamming doors, creaking stairs,

there is immediately the impression that this particular home is not

well ordered and that the people in it are not at peace. But if you are

at once enveloped by quiet and loveliness, a feeling of peace is

suggested and involuntarily we expect to meet a charming family.

The good architect always gives the builder a set of plans that should

make a satisfactory house, but, as an eminent architect recently said,

“It seems to be the aim of most builders to change every detail of the

architect’s plan.” So it is a wise idea to watch the construction of

your home so that when the house is actually built you will find it not

only attractive to look at but so well constructed in every detail that

there are no complaints to make as to leaks or noise or cold. If a house

is built of good materials, is well planned, is well put together, a

sense of peace is usually the result. In order to accomplish this, every

detail of the house must be considered, the windows and the doors, the

stairs and floors.

Due to the high cost of building, heavy masonry is not always used in

the division of rooms and the separating of stairs from rooms. Where a

slight partition only is required, there are on the market to-day

asbestos, felt, and composition “boards” which render excellent service,

and are often fireproof and sound-proof.

To shut away a nursery, these light weight, sound-proof partitions are

admirable. They not only leave a nursery perfectly quiet at night, shut

away from all the disturbances of the house, but during the daytime they

keep the family from hearing the play, the romping, or the unhappy times

in the nursery. Of course, the arrangement of rooms, such as the

relation of the nursery and kitchen to other parts of the house, has

much to do with the peace of the home. The service end of the house

should, so far as possible, be shut away by halls and doors, from too

close communication with the living part of the house. Think of this

when you are planning your home.

All uncovered floors are noisy no matter how well they are laid or how

nicely they are finished. Of whatever your floor is made it should be

well constructed, over an adequate sub-floor; if of wood, it should be

put down so compactly that there is never a sound from it. But when it

comes to quiet you must have the carpets or rugs. Bare floor never

produces it, under any conditions.

Metal weather strips! So important are they in relation to comfort and

peace in the house that they should really be included in the

specifications for the building of a home. Besides keeping out wintry

blasts, they contribute much to a quiet atmosphere. In the first place,

they help to keep the din of the street from indoors; also when they are

applied to the interior of doors, the noise from one room doesn’t

easily reach another. Windows that carry weather strips slide up and

down easily. And a good word can be said of the weather-stripped door. A

door with this silencer about it closes quietly and surely; even if one

is in a hurry, the door does not show it. Another device for lessening

the sound of doors shutting is a piston noise retarder. It has an air

cushion which is attached to the frame of the door and the piston is

fixed to the door. This keeps the door from slamming. Screen doors,

which are of no use unless they shut quite tightly, should be fitted

with this device. Children will bless it and so will the servants in the

house. All these things should be considered both as to price and

comfort when you are planning your house, so that when you first begin

to live in it you find peace and quiet, instead of a succession of

irritating worries.

A small device but one not to be regarded lightly, is a set of rubber or

glass furniture protectors which, when affixed to the legs of any piece

of furniture, make it possible to move it about without noise and

without any especial effort. These protectors also save the floor and

keep the carpets from being worn and torn. They are easily attached and

not expensive.

The “silence cloth” on the dining table, whether made of cloth or

asbestos, is another means of lessening disturbing sounds in a house.

And in some homes I have known it to be a rule that all the servants

must wear rubber heels. This not only lessens the noise in the house,

but it mitigates, to a very great extent, the weariness felt by busy

maids who are on their feet practically all day long.

A great deal of the clattering sound in a kitchen can be avoided by

lining the cutlery drawers with felt, so that when silver and knives are

put away the clashing of pieces together is avoided. Pantry dresser

drawers should be lined in the same way. This lining felt can easily be

installed by pasting or tacking, and it is not expensive.

A place for everything and everything in its place is an especially good

idea in connection with the pots and pans in a kitchen. Much of the

annoying sound from this source can be obviated by hanging the utensils,

because most of the sound is due to the falling together of pots and

pans as they are piled on top of each other when being put away on the

shelves after use.

One of the chief offenders against the charm of the home in the matter

of noise is cheaply constructed plumbing. This is not only unsanitary,

but at times deeply embarrassing. Good plumbing is an absolute essential

in the well-constructed house. Nothing will betray your economy so

promptly as plumbing that is not of good materials and well placed. It

is necessary to get all your fixtures from the most reputable dealer,

and have the best workman put them in, and then you will save money in

the long run and charm and peace will envelop the plumbing side of life.

The bathtub with a water inlet so fixed that there is only a little

noise for a few seconds or none at all is a point of perfection that

manufacturers are making every effort to attain. Perhaps the nearest to

it is a device hung very low in the tub so that after the first few

inches of water the faucet is covered, and the noise from the inflowing

water is smothered.

People who will not endure the slightest rattle or creaking in an

automobile will live for months with a squeaking, leaking faucet. A

slight adjustment will usually remedy the difficulty; sometimes only a

washer is needed. And even an entirely new faucet is not a purchase with

very serious consequences.

As yet no way has been found to modify the noise of the telephone

without lessening its effectiveness. The telephone is rung to catch your

attention and if you muffle the bell too completely you are liable to

lose an important call. If you have a very noisy telephone bell in an

apartment where every sound is heard, you can muffle it slightly with a

little pad of absorbent cotton. This is an especially good thing to try

where the sound of the bell disturbs an invalid or little children.

Rugs are a delightful way to reduce noise in the hall. A long runner

that goes the whole length of the hall and about half its width will

keep your hall quiet for your own house and prevent its disturbing your

neighbors. Of course, in a house where the hall is large and capacious,

the surface is much more interesting covered with groups of rugs; a

runner spoils its interest and a carpet is less intriguing.

Quiet is one of the most difficult things to find these days in the

city, and also one of the most essential things for one’s work and

happiness and health. There is only one way to acquire it in the modern

home and that is to look after every detail of your house at the very

beginning.

After all, the things that make for quiet are in the main little things.

Yet it takes thought, some experience and a good deal of attention to

detail at the beginning of making a home, to insure in it that pervasive

charm which must have for its foundation quiet throughout the house.

CHAPTER XXXI

OSTRACIZING THE FLY

“Try my glasses,” coaxed a kind old lady, when her young friend broke

her own bone rims. And she did. But she was far from happy--in fact,

quite miserable; and her eyes took a long time to recover from the

ravages of the ill-fitting glasses.

Naturally nobody should use glasses made for another. Glasses that have

been more than carefully fitted to the individual’s eye are none too

good if comfort and eye ease are desired.

So it is with the installation of screens. It may sound queer to compare

eye-glasses and screens, but nevertheless the analogy is nearly perfect.

As the eyes vary, so do the apertures of the various homes. Therefore,

unless screens are fitted carefully to each window, door or porch there

will be discrepancies, and if one fly or insect can get in others can

and there will be not only discomfort but probably disease distribution.

Swat the fly? No! Don’t give yourself a chance to swat it. Keep it out!

Therefore if you have a house to screen do it the best way you can or

the money spent will be a dead loss. They must be bug-tight even as a

ship is water tight; unless they are, you will be the host at continual

insect balls and chairman of the rust convention and store up for

yourself an irritability unprecedented. For there is no more annoying

thing in the home than recalcitrant or obstinate screens.

It is strange that any missionary work need be done about screens

because almost every one agrees upon their uses in health prevention and

comfort assurance, yet withal the purchasing of them is done ignorantly

and as carelessly as the young woman who uses anybody’s glasses for her

own particular and peculiar eyes.

To begin with, do not order screens to be made “right away”; they cannot

be done in less than a thirty-day month and be made with any finish.

Order early enough after you have received estimates from the best

screen makers; then take the estimate which gives you the best value

after you have either seen the models, actual installations, or are

satisfied that you will get the thing that you need for your particular

case. The skilful screen men treat your case as individually as the

oculist treats your eyes.

Your screens should be:

1. Simple to manipulate, should pull up, lower, raise or thrust out,

easily and happily, and should be simply removed for storage if

necessary and uncomplicatedly re-applied.

2. All the hardware should be inseparable from the body of the

screen--that is: catches, bolts, locks, etc.

3. All the metal work should be rustless and adapted to the region in

which you live.

4. Frames must be rigid and wire cloth taut, well fastened at every

point in the frame, not sag, and be rigid.

5. Wooden frame screens must be of kiln-dried, seasoned wood, and when

expedient, of hard wood.

6. Renewal of wire cloth must be a simple matter without an armory of

fancy tools.

7. All should be neat, attractive, matching the window, door or porch

trim where they are placed.

8. They must be a pleasure to use, not limiting the use of the window

or door screened, nor breaking the back or arm when in use.

Screen frames are made of metals and of wood. Due to the architectural

design of some windows or doors it is necessary for a wood frame to be

used, and for the same reason it is often wiser to use a metal frame.

Wherever metal frames can be used they are the best to buy, as they will

stand up longer, and, if the best be bought, they will need less

renovation, as they can be made rigid at only half the width of the wood

screen. Furthermore, you get more ventilation than you do with the

wood-framed screen. Of course, you want air and as much as you can get

of it; therefore the narrower the frame the more perfect the screen.

The metals used in frames are pretty much up to the quality of your

screens’ maker. They are to be had of bronze and various concoctions of

bronze dependent on the patents of your purveyor; of grass finish,

copper finish; steel enameled; steel painted; steel grained to look like

the wood trim; steel galvanized and steel regalvanized; monel metal.

To be honest, there are two better classifications of screens: those

that are rustless and those that are not.

Monel metal is used for seashore houses, as the salt air does not

corrode or corrupt it. Variations of the bronze screen are also adapted

to seashore use.

The painted steel screen has to be painted over and over again to keep

it from rusting and wearing out.

The galvanized screen is practically rustless and the re-galvanized is

quite positively an insurance against rust.

Be sure that when you buy a bronze frame it is not simply a bronze steel

frame. Steel invites rust, and the way to have a rustless screen is to

make steel an absentee or galvanize it.

All the hardware must be of non-rusting metal. No doubt, as soon as the

rustless steel is on the market in large quantities, screen men will be

using it instead of galvanizing, painting, etc., and using it and bronze

and monel metals for hardware.

SOME DETAILS

The corners in the metal (and in the wood frame as well) have to be of

exquisite workmanship. The best types have no screws or rivets or plates

or projections of any sort, yet are of a perfect interlocking or welded

construction and hold the screen cloth at every point with infallible

tenacity.

There is no aperture so shaped that it cannot be framed in screens by

the ablest screen makers. In the case of the metal screen the bent work

is really a work of art, in that they are not puckered or pinched, but

are _sans_ humps, _sans_ bumps, _sans_ everything but beauty, rigidity

and conformity to conditions.

Every screen manufacturer has his own scheme for fastening the screen

cloth firmly in both metal and wood frames. The idea is that the cloth

must not sag in the frames, on the largest openings in doors or windows,

porches, etc., that when either whacked by the children or inadvertently

struck by adults, the cloth will remain taut and rigid and stay in place

in the frame. The tubular metal frame in this connection seems the most

logical metal frame. It is lighter and as strong as the other types of

metal frames. It is so admirably contrived that the cloth can be removed

without an extra tool and the springs and slides can be very

conveniently and admirably fitted.

The tracks or slide upon which the metal frame works must be a slide and

not a series of sticking points. This means good workmanship.

Another advantage the metal frame has over the wood frame is that it

does not need the disfiguring hinges; if hinged, it can be hung on the

pivot hinge which leaves no scar, and is inserted in the casing of

window and leaves no trace. When it is to be taken down for the winter

it is simply lifted out--no pins to come out of hinges and no

unscrewing.

VARIETIES OF METAL SCREENS

The type of screen is of course dependent upon the kind of window or

opening you have to screen. The usual types are: sliding and rolling,

casement and stationery.

The sliding screens are usually used on the double hung window and slide

on a slide. The best slides are of metal backed by wood. A double hung

window can be screened by a single screen or a double one, dependent on

the wish of the purchaser. The double slide is necessary, of course, in

the case of the double screen.

In this connection it is interesting to note that there is a new type of

window lately on the market that arranges in the head of the window a

space into which not only the screen can disappear but the window

itself, and be out of the way. This of course allows for a completely

open window even more so than the casement.

The pleasure of the slide screen is in the fact of its sliding and not

catching in a series of struggles to make it work. Springs and tubular

grooved frames complete this type. If the springs get out of order in a

tubular grooved frame, they can easily be taken out and restored without

special tools. They are protected also from wear and rust and made so as

to withstand atmospheric ravages. A safety device should be provided to

prevent the spring from accidentally disengaging itself. If the screen

is hung inside the window, one hand lift is sufficient. If it is hung

outside it is well to have another on the inside to be of service when

removing them for winter storage.

ROLLING SCREENS

The acme of screen perfection is attained in the rolling screen. At

present this type is creating the interest it deserves, as it is adapted

to every kind of window and can be kept on the window throughout the

year.

The screen is of metal and rolls up on a roller like a window shade; it

is of simple construction, durable and non-rusting. It is light and

rolls with great despatch. Some of these shadelike frames can be raised

and lowered at any point on the window frame; they are rigid, do not sag

on the broadest of windows and are equipped with non-rusting metal, and

are either of monel or bronze in fittings and framing. The track in

which they slide is also non-rusting and holds the screen well in place.

The screen cloth is of the best mesh and is tightly fastened at every

point in the frame.

The fact that these screens are inside the window leaves them free from

the ravages of the elements, which is another point in their favor. Some

of these screens are supplied with a cord like a shade that pulls up and

down the same way. Some of these roller screens have employed zinc on

all exposed parts, and this is a rust preventive. The same brand employs

a waterproofed fabric less expensive than metal, also bronze, copper and

monel metal.

One especial type of rolling screen presents an advantage that is very

desirable--it has a patent side grip for the edges of the monel screen

cloth and a perfected runway in which travels a series of metal clips

holding the cloth and so arranged as to roll up without difficulty. The

screen roll is assembled in a zinc casing, made exactly to fit the

window, which is easily attached to the “stops” at the top of the window

frame and, when painted or stained to match the trim, looks like a part

of it and is almost invisible. The two side “runways,” also of zinc, are

screwed to the window “stops” like weather strips and are painted or

stained in similar manner making them entirely inconspicuous.

[Illustration:

_Wire cloth rolls into this bar_

_Screen raised to any height for adjustment of windows_

_Courtesy of Rolup Screen Co._

THE SCREEN WHICH ROLLS UP IS A COMFORT AS WELL AS A SAFE AND SANE INSECT

OSTRACIZER]

The window shade is then replaced just below the screen casing and

neither interferes with the other.

The screen is so adjusted that it easily pulls down or pushes up at

will, automatically locks itself on being brought down to the sill, and,

after being released by a slight upward push remains in whatever

position it is left. It covers the whole of every window and is so

simple in construction and direct in action that, once installed, it

should never get out of order. In case of damage it can easily be

removed, new parts obtained and as easily be relocated. In new houses,

under construction, provision can easily be made to “sink” the screen

casing and side runways into the window frames so that they are almost

invisible.

If the rolling screen is not used, the casement can be covered with

top-hung outside screens, side-hung, double-door style, or single from

one side or stationary on the outside, if the window opens inside. When

possible the casement screen should be hung on pivot hinges to permit

ease of detaching for storage, and, as we said before, to leave the

window without the marring of the hinge there or removed. However,

frequently in the case of the unusually large screen the use of a little

strap hinge is sometimes necessary to carry the extra weight. In marble

window casing the hinge of course is an impossibility.

A couple of side levers on either side of the screen for releasing the

pivots when the screens are to be taken off for the winter make the

matter of removal as easy as “falling off a log.”

The top hinge screen on the outside of the window which pushes out from

the inside has to be hung very securely and the bolts and pivots and

handles and adjusters have to be made to perfection. The adjuster for

pushing this window out or open must be a pleasure to use or else this

type of screen will be a curse. There is an adjuster now on the market

that is put on the window in such a way that the screen can be opened or

closed without opening the inside of the window. A double insurance

against inroads of bugs while opening the window to adjust screen!

Put up to “stay put” stationary screens are fastened with bolts which

are removed when necessary to store.

WOODEN FRAMES

The story of the wooden frame is about the same as the metal, only that

the wood frame can’t rust, but can wear out if not seasoned and kiln

dried and given all the care in manufacture that long life in woods

necessitates.

Here, too, the corner construction must be perfect, must be able to bear

the weight of the screen and take out the jars. The frame must be rigid,

light and strong. The wire cloth must be so fastened at every point that

there is no sag or bagginess in the broadest window.

Now all this is possible in the best wood frame screens and with good

workmanship. Every one thought for a long time that the metal screen

could not incorporate their good points. Don’t be fooled by some one

saying that the wood screen cannot be made “fool proof,” for it can and

is. Here again every maker has his own device for catching the metal

cloth; here again the metal cloth must be rustless; here again the metal

work and hardware must be rustless; the screen must make easy

manipulation possible.

The screen door question, too, is rallied round with the same provisos

of manufacture as metal and wood screens. There are the two leaf door

and the one leaf.

The new thing on the door is the fact that the whole door may be

screened or only one-half screened, the rest of wood or metal. Yet it is

far better to have the whole door screened, but for the sake of beauty

and lack of monotony the lower half can be guarded with a metal panel

which will not only look well but protect the wire cloth. Sometimes,

too, in the wholly screened door just a metal guard rail is applied to

prevent injury to the wire cloth on the full expanse of a door.

If half the door is of wood, there again you lose the free entry of air,

so it is advisable to screen the door completely and use the guard metal

work to beautify and protect it.

Some of the lower portions of doors (as is the case with French windows)

are beautifully carved to be in keeping with a handsome wood interior.

Doors, too, should be equipped with a good check to prevent them from

banging and close tightly.

Locks or no locks, are questions to be decided by the buyer, but all

hardware, belts, catches, pins, hinges, etc., should, of course, follow

the “no-rust” régime, and be of the most durable stuff and match up with

the surrounding hardware.

Even though the frame and its hanging are of vital importance, yet what

would the screen be without the screen cloth? And, of course, there are

as many kinds of cloth in this quarter of the world’s work as in any

other and you have to know something of the variety in order to know

what you are buying, to buy advantageously. Here again you play the old

tune: Rustlessness.

The cloth must be of a mesh not too fine for free entry of air, and fine

enough to prevent the smallest insects from entering. But here you must

use discretion. If your home is in the Adirondacks where black flies and

midgets precede the mosquitoes, then it is the better part of wisdom to

use a finer mesh; if you are at the seashore, the ordinary coarser mesh

is sufficient.

WIRE CLOTH VARIETIES

There is also choice here. You can have:

1. Painted steel cloth which must be repainted often in accordance

with its exposure and in regard to where it is exposed and whether it

is hung inside or outside of the window.

2. Galvanized steel mesh: This is often blackened for eye ease.

3. Monel metal (an alloy of copper and nickel) guaranteed rust proof,

used mainly at seashore resorts but good for any place.

4. Bronze and patented bronzes: Used as is the monel wire cloth. Here

a coat of paint to dull the bronze glare is of real service to the

eye.

5. Copper: A coat of dull paint here, too, will take off the glare.

Manufacturers have various bronze cloths and they are sold under various

names. Its great use is imperviousness to rust but it has to be of the

best manufacture to insure this paradisiacal condition.

The porch that is screened with pernickety screens never is screened in

time to reject the insect world. So here is another case where they must

fit and be made to order.

What is a sleeping porch without a screen? Without a functioning screen?

One swallow may not make a summer, but one fly can make torture out of

night.

Some makers will key your screens so that each screen has its tag for

replacement and there is no loss of effort and time in resetting them

next year in their proper places. This can be done in windows, door and

porch work. Of course, with the rolling screen--they are never taken

down and much labor is saved.

Screens are not a luxury; they are a health measure. When we get more

civilized we will probably have our screens inspected to see that they

fit, and the boards of health in the various towns will keep a close

watch on them, for diseases are rapidly being traced to the minute

insect carriers. Typhus and yellow fever are the last results. Think

what Central Europe would have been spared had it been properly

screened!

Contrary to usual opinion screens can be most attractive and fit in with

the surrounding wood trim, and be a department of house furnishing not

to be belittled. And don’t fail to realize that a lot of trouble can be

saved and unsightliness be avoided, if the screen is thought of before

building your home--and if the roller type is installed, you have no

storage care, or removal and recurring slavery.

CHAPTER XXXII

POLISHING THE WATER SUPPLY

“I found a fish in my bath-tub to-day,” said I to a friend.

“Wasn’t that the best place in the house to find one?” was the reply.

“Yes,” I said, “but I can’t say I enjoy bathing in an aquarium, and my

civic pride is hurt because I have been so proud of my city’s water

quality and all of the sister municipalities which filter or chlorinate

or both.”

In this anecdote is the crux of the filter situation.

In times gone by a filter was sold to save life from polluted waters,

from streams, wells, surface sources, sewage-burdened rivers, etc. It

was a dire necessity and became by its efficiency or lack of it a

godsend or a menace. If it were a good filter it needed care and

attention in the greatest degree to make it a boon; if it were a bad

filter it continued despite care to be a curse far more dangerous than

the unfiltered product because it became a collector and a breeding

place for bacteria and doled out water as pure to the most modest of

drinkers.