ITS CUPBOARDS.
Mine house is not an old-fashioned, picturesque one; it boasts of no
mullioned windows or deep embrasures. It is like hundreds of others
to be found scattered over England--built after the same plan and
decorated after the same fashion. It stands in a street, and is
reduplicated on every hand like a cardboard expanding toy. It draws a
peaked gable roof over its red brick face, and has no originality to
awake attention.
In one thing only is mine house unique. Its general architecture it
owes to its builder, its cupboards to a certain little old lady who
lived therein for many years. Every spot has been utilised, and I
rejoice in the most comfortable interior it is possible to imagine. "A
place for everything and everything in its place" is a motto easily
followed in this mine house.
Nowadays most matrons have wakened to the delights of a well-cupboarded
"manio," or abiding-place. The first thing looked for in taking a
new house is its capabilities in this direction. The long-headed
woman values every recess and corner as a possible press. She knows a
few shillings spent in pine-boards, hooks, curtains, and locks, can
transform dust-collecting angles into dust-resisting receptacles.
With a little forethought and contrivance, our carpenter can be so
superintended that such work need not be made into "fixtures"--sliding
grooves and panels, a few staples and screws, insure easily taken-down
wardrobes, and need not strain the purse of even a frequent flitter.
The first necessary cupboard in mine house is the linen press. This
should, if possible, be built over those unseemly hot-water pipes which
supply the bath from our kitchen boiler. There should be graduated
shelves in it--wide ones to hold sheets, narrow ones for table napkins,
d'oyleys, etc. Every shelf should be neatly lined with white paper, and
one at least must have linen laps to tie over our least-used napery.
Plenty of lavender bags--measuring the length of the press--should be
placed everywhere; not tiny satchel-like things, which rumple into
corners and get mislaid, but at least a yard in length and just as wide
as each shelf.
On the door should be pasted a list of the linen stored in this our
press. This list varies much in each house; but I will tell you what I
consider absolutely necessary only. First, there should be six Irish
linen tablecloths for parlour use and three breakfast cloths; six fine
table-napkins for every member of the family. For kitchen wear, three
smaller coarser cloths are required, and, if you wish to inculcate
habits of nicety in your maids, three napkins apiece must be provided.
This allows for one in use, one at the laundry, and one in reserve.
Half-a-dozen fringed tea-cloths, half-a-dozen sideboard slips, a couple
of dozen oval, round, and square d'oyleys, and the embellishment of the
dining-table is secured.
We next come to the sleeping rooms. In our press we must number three
pair of sheets for each bed--each upper one frilled and embroidered
with our monogram. These sheets may be of twilled cotton, but their
accompanying fellow slips must be of linen. Linen wears better, looks
better, and feels nicer than cotton. There should be six to each single
bed. Cash's hem-stitched frilling gives a dainty finish to these
slips, and will wear as long as the linen. Beside the bed-linen should
lie chamber-towels; of these it is nice to have several dozen, with
different borders, when possible, so that each room may keep to its
own set. Cheap towels are most expensive in the long run; those flimsy
honeycomb ones requiring incessant laundrying. Buy good huckaback, or
satin diaper, and beautify them with marking initials in cross stitch.
This is easily done by tacking a small square of coarse canvas into the
corner and withdrawing its strands after working. Ingrain cottons of
all colours can now be bought for this work; the red wears and washes
best.
Our dressing-tables also claim a niche in our linen press. Three sets
of covers being necessary for each.
At the very top of our press, it is well to have some very wide shelves
fixed. They will be overhead, so may jut out into the room. In this
cupboard--lined with brown holland, and scented with camphor balls--we
shall do well to store spare blankets in the summer, down quilts when
not in use, and any straw pillows. They will always be warm and ready
for immediate service, as the hot-water pipes will keep them well aired.
So much about furnishing our linen press. The replenishment of
it should be constant. Even when we use our dozens of towels in
rotation, they will wear out, and it is necessary to keep up the
stock by occasional purchases. Careful mending, too, is necessary. No
pillow-slips minus buttons or tapes, no tiny hole in a tablecloth,
should be seen in a well-kept linen press. When sheets wear thin, they
should be split in half, sides brought to the centre, and the worn
edges hemmed. When constant folding brings frays in a tablecloth, the
laundress should be directed to fold them across instead of lengthways.
This will double the life of our finest diaper. Towels, when ragged,
can be doubled and made into bath cloths and chamber rubbers; loops of
tape attached will be useful for hanging in place.
The next cupboard claiming attention in mine house is the crockery one.
Here are stored cups and saucers, plenty of spare glass, water-jugs
and crofts. It is well to keep in this press extra lamp-chimneys and
gas-globes. Best dessert dishes, too, should be placed on the top shelf
and any ornaments not in daily use.
Hanging presses are a great boon to the tidy housewife. One for spare
dresses should be built on any landing large enough. American pegs
screwed into the wall over a sheet of well-stretched holland answer the
purpose of skirt-hanging. To each of them should be tied a double width
of the same material to wrap round our silk and muslin robes. Sometimes
bags, forty-six inches long, are preferred to draw over the skirt and
to hang with it from a peg. With these bags it is unnecessary to have
doors to this cupboard, as their use is a safeguard against dust, even
if a curtain only be hung in front of the recess.
A remnant cupboard is not always met with, but what a boon it is in
mine house. My old lady had one fixed in a spare room. A top shelf is
ready for rolls of wall paper, remnants of curtains, calicoes, and
flannels, old square of blanket fit for scouring purposes, old linen
for dust-cloths fill its pigeon-holes, whilst a rag-bag of red twill
hangs below all, and is stuffed with scraps too small to be rolled or
folded.
A medicine cupboard is a necessity in mine house. One hung not higher
than one's head is best. This should be divided in half; one partition
provided with a well-locked door, the other protected only by a
curtain. In this latter portion may be kept narrow and wide bandages,
goldbeater's skin, and sticking plaster, cotton-wool, and a pair of
scissors, some strong thread and tape, vaseline and powder. In the
locked part all the family pharmacopœia must be secluded. "Poisons"
should be printed legibly on the door, and the key should never
leave our own _chatelaine_. Have in this a bottle of sweet nitre for
feverishness, and some pilules of aconite; spirits of camphor for a
cold, and a screw of lump sugar; a two-ounce bottle of castor oil
with an old teaspoon near it, spongia, Ipecacuanha wine, and syrup
of squills ready for croup; a tin of linseed, another of mustard, a
flask of sweet oil, a bottle each of eucalyptus, camphorated oil and
glycerine; belladonna tincture for sore throats; carron or green oil
for a burn; and liquorice powder or Cascara pellets for constipation.
In mine house all these things are necessary, and should be found in
the medicine cupboard.
A jam press is a nice addition to our housewife's corner. Every pot of
marmalade or jelly should have a label on it stating when it was made.
"Raspberry jam,
No. 1 boiling,
July 20th, 1899."
In a dry situation there is no need to cover each crock. If well boiled
and made of fresh sound fruit, it should "jell" enough to keep without
excluding air. A sheet of newspaper laid over the rows of pots is all
my old lady ever thought necessary for her home-made jam. But then
her jam press had air-holes bored in the door. These were masked with
finest wire netting, and effectually prevented mouldiness.
A boot cupboard lengthens the lives of all our bottines. Two shelves
about two feet apart should be protected in front with a chintz curtain
hanging from tiny rings to a brass pole. Every pair of boots should
be kept here, protected from dust and ready for wear. Trees fitted
into each are really economical, as they double the existence of all
outdoor footgear. Damp boots, too, can be filled with oats, and dry
slowly in this cupboard, instead of being hardened and shrivelled over
the kitchen range.
Of course a store press is a _sine quâ non_ in mine house. I do not
keep this locked, for servants should be trusted in a family. Here
everything likely to be wanted in an emergency is kept--tins of salmon,
herrings and tomatoes, collared head, _pâte de foie gras_, corned
beef, pickles and chutnees, potted meats, bottled fruit for pies,
capers, peppers, spices, lentils by the stone, and all farinaceous
preparations; soap by weight cut up and dried, currents washed and
picked ready for use, raisins, sultanas, soda in a sack, etc., etc.
In order to keep these things really nice and fresh, stone jars with
covers are the best to put them in. But when these prove too expensive,
wide-mouthed pickle bottles may be used, labelled clearly so that
their contents are recognised at once. Flour should be kept in a tub,
apples and sugar in casks. This store cupboard must be cleared out once
a month, its shelves swept down, and fresh lining paper put there on
them. It is easy then to note where our supply is running short, and to
supplement it, easy to see where a bag has burst, or bottle is leaking,
and to substitute other ones.
A _multum in parvo_ cupboard is one of the comforts in mine house.
Here, under lock and key, are kept spare dozens of cotton, spools,
papers of needles, boxes of pins, both hair and dress, tapes and
measures, paper and envelopes, pens by the gross, and pencils by the
score. These can often be picked up at sales for next to nothing, and a
constant supply of such necessities is at hand.
A carpenter's cupboard is a boon to every household. In mine house one
is fitted up in a tiny closet under the stairs. So many little things
go wrong in the framework of our homes--locks grow stiff, handles come
off, window cords break, nails want driving. How well it is when the
mistress of a house can wield hammer and gimlet and screwdriver; and
yet how often are such tools missing when required. In my carpenter's
cupboard there is always a heavy-headed, light-handled little hammer
for adjusting carpets or putting in tacks; also a coal-hammer for
heavier work. Here a gimlet may be found, and several different-sized
screwdrivers, a box of assorted nails; hooks and screws are also found
there when wanted. A small sharpening plate and flask of oil for
keeping the family couch in easy trim, a smoothing plane and saw, wire
nails and coils of thin cord, a pair of pincers, and a good knife. I
find a stitch in time in carpentering saves more than the proverbial
nine.
And now I think I have told you about most of the cupboards in mine
house, and what is found therein. I have not described the housemaid's
closet with its hairbroom, its pope's head, its twig, its besom, its
dustpan and brush, or its other et ceteras. Every mistress of a family
knows what is required therein, only let me suggest that her usual
feather-head dusting-brush should be conspicuous by its absence. Never
was so senseless a plan devised for flicking particles from one place
to another as that same feather whisk. Let the housemaid have plenty
of damp dusters at hand, and germ-pregnant dust will be effectually
removed.
I have omitted, too, all account of the butler's pantry. Houses
nowadays that keep such an official are governed by a housekeeper,
and not by the mistress herself. Besides, I am writing about small
establishments in which women do the work. For that reason, my next
paper will be all about the ingle-nooks in mine house, and how to
economise these.
(_To be continued._)
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
MEDICAL.
KATHERINE.--We can tell you all about your complaint, for we can speak
from personal experience, having been liable to the condition for many
years. The disease is called "herpes labialis." It is one of a large
group of affections which consist of small blisters on a red base and
occur on various parts of the body. That variety of herpes which occurs
on the side of the trunk is called herpes zoster or shingles. Herpes
labialis is a very common complaint. It frequently recurs in those
liable to it and often occurs on both sides of the mouth at once. It
is very erratic and scarcely ever occupies the same site in two or
more successive attacks. Of its cause we know but little. It is very
common in typhoid fever and other infectious diseases, and is almost
constantly present in pneumonia. In some people it occurs after every
slight disturbance of digestion, after alterations of diet, or after
change of residence from one place to another. It frequently recurs at
regular intervals of time. Its origin is unquestionably nervous. It
begins with a sharp smarting pain in a limited region of the lips or
chin. The smarting increases, the place gets red, and in a few hours
vesicles make their appearance. In a day or two the vesicles dry up
and a scab forms which eventually drops off, leaving a red mark which
persists for a week or more. It is purely superficial and never leaves
a scar. To prevent this condition is by no means easy. Find out, if
possible, what causes it, and then, if you can remove the cause, the
condition will probably cease. During an attack, thickly dust the place
over with zinc oxide and cover it with cotton wool. No drug has the
slightest effect on the condition, and indeed the same may be said
of every form of treatment. Like so many other nervous diseases, it
runs its course uninfluenced by treatment. Often the liability to the
condition disappears as if by magic and never again returns.
MARGUERITA.--No, there is not any danger in threadworms. An injection
of salt and water will remove them. A dose of one grain of santonin
followed by a mild purge is sometimes sufficient to get rid of them.
ONE IN TROUBLE.--Of course, if a person next door contracted typhoid
fever from bad drains, you do stand a risk of catching the disease from
the same source. Typhoid fever is not infectious in the usual sense of
the term; that is, it is not caught from one person by another. Washing
the soiled linen of typhoid patients may produce the disease unless
the clothes have been disinfected. If the vegetables that you grow are
cooked before you eat them, they will not produce typhoid, for the
organism of typhoid is killed by boiling water. If the men have not yet
removed the old pipes from your garden, you should certainly complain
to the sanitary inspector of the district about it, and have the
pipes removed at once, for they are not only unsightly but positively
dangerous, both to yourself and to the whole neighbourhood.
A LOVER OF THE "G.O.P."--Irregular action of the heart may be due to
weakness, anæmia, indigestion, or true heart disease. Of course by
irregular action of the heart you mean perceptible, irregular thumpings
of the heart--what we usually call palpitation, in fact. You yourself
cannot tell whether your heart is beating regularly or not, unless
you are a physician. By far the commonest cause of palpitation is
indigestion, and infinitely the rarest cause is heart disease.
STUDY AND STUDIO.
M. C. F. (Bristol).--Many thanks for your card. We have already
corrected the error of our correspondent, A. S. C. D., about B. M.
CRIMSON RAMBLER.--We should advise you to read Mrs. Watson's articles
on "What are the County Councils doing for girls?" in THE GIRL'S
OWN PAPER for March, July, August, and September, 1887. There is a
domestic economy school at Northampton where girls can obtain board,
lodging, and thorough practical instruction in cookery. This would
perhaps be the nearest to you. Fifteen free studentships are offered
for competition, but if you did not gain one, the sum you mention
would probably be more than enough. Write for full details to Byron R.
Simpson, Esq., County Hall, Northampton. Opportunities simply abound in
all directions for the training you require, and space would fail us to
enumerate them all, but we may just add that the cost of training at
the London National Training School of Cookery, Buckingham Palace Road,
S.W., is thirteen guineas for the full course of twenty-four weeks. The
papers we mention will supply every detail.
DOROTHY.--We should advise you also to consult Mrs. Watson's articles.
The Clerk, Technical Instruction Committee, West Riding Offices,
Wakefield, may help you if you write to him. You might also write
to the Secretary of Girton College, Miss Kensington, 83, Gloucester
Terrace, Hyde Park, London, requesting information.
FOSBURY.--The character of Tom Thurnall appears in _Two Years Ago_, by
Charles Kingsley. The book is a charming and beautiful one, and will
never be "old-fashioned" in the depreciatory sense.
BETSY TROTWOOD.--1. In the bars of organ music you enclose, the bass
notes are played on the pedals. 2. A turn placed over a chord means
that the top note of the chord is played as a turn.
BONGIE'S FRIEND.--1. We should advise you to write to the poetess
you name through the publishing office of the paper. 2. Your English
writing is very good. "Comply" is a better word than "agree" with my
desire, and Mr. is always written in the abbreviated form, but you
express yourself excellently.
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.
MISS M. H. COUPLAND, 12, Crescent Parade, Ripon--a teacher, fond of
literature and music--would like a German correspondent, each writing
in the language of the other.
GERTRUDE PADFIELD, Birtsmorton Court, near Tewkesbury, Worcestershire,
wishes to correspond with a French girl, who is requested to send her
name and address.
GÄNSEBLÜMCHEN.--A German girl would like to exchange letters with an
Italian girl, a French girl, and an English girl, living in London. Her
greatest wish would be to find an Italian correspondent. Would those
who like to answer please give their address.
MISS VALENTINE MASSARIA, S. Moisé 2243, Venice, would like to
correspond with an English girl of good family of about her own age
(16) or a little older; both to write in English.
MISS K. L. A., c/o the Misses Thompson, Orgill House, 15, Goldsmith
Road, King's Heath, Birmingham, would like a French lady correspondent
between twenty and thirty years of age.
J. A.--Cruet-stands have long been relegated to the side-board, and
from thence handed round by the footman or waitress. Pepper, salt and
mustard are placed at the corners of the dinner table, together with
tablespoons. Ham and chicken patties, and mince-pies, are generally
placed on dish papers (with stamped borders) in plated dishes. Eggs
(boiled) and hot chestnuts folded in a napkin in a deep pudding dish,
or a bowl with a stand, such as is used for fruit.
FLORENCE BENTON.--1. Longfellow's Poems are far preferable to those
others to which you refer; which are very rough and sometimes obscure.
So you have lost nothing by inability to purchase them.--2. Old red
and black English stamps have a certain value, and this depends on the
letters on the corners. The water-mark also must be consulted, which
may be seen by holding the stamp up to the light. This was sometimes
a crown or a star, or a crown surmounting two "C's"; for India, an
elephant's head; Jamaica, a pineapple, etc. It is called a "water-mark"
as it was produced by very small jets of water projected in the stamp,
which washed away minute fragments of paper and thinned it in the
outline pattern required. These water-marks and the corner letters
were employed to protect the Government from forgery. These letters
varied in their selection and combination; and if you had examined a
whole sheet of them you would have discovered that no two stamps had a
similar arrangement of letters. A little "Handbook for a Collector of
Postage Stamps," by W. T. Ogilvie, would help you. Swan, Sonnenschein
& Co., Paternoster Row, E.C., would also assist you. We are glad our
paper pleases you so much.
I. W. L. inquires what can be done to relieve, or save the flesh from
burning through an accidental sprinkling of vitriol. It cannot be
too much impressed on those who have occasion to employ so dangerous
a liquid, that no application of water should be made. It is that
combination of liquids that burns into the flesh. Wipe off the vitriol,
or any other such burning liquid, with a perfectly dry cloth at once,
and no injury will follow. The application of common chalk on the place
will likewise prevent burning. Wipe thoroughly, and then rub in the
chalk before venturing to wash it at the time of your next ablutions.
MARGARET.--It is quite true that there are blue, green, yellow or
sand-coloured, and red diamonds; for the colour is no absolute guide to
the nature of the gem. There are green sapphires, white ones, and some
of a yellowish, or grey hue. There are also black or grey pearls, and
it is only the composition of the gem that determines its class.
MILDRED MARCHANT.--There is a book on _Orchids for Amateurs_, which is
greatly commended by the _Gardener's Chronicle_, and published at 170,
Strand, W.C. It is by James Britten, F.L.S., and W. H. Gower. It would
be sent carriage free. The illustrations are excellent.
MAORI.--Certainly, you must not touch meat, nor a bone with your
fingers when eating. You should clean your teeth both morning and
night, at least; three times would be better, and requisite for those
who wear false teeth on a plate. Your writing is very neat and legible.
FOUR GIRLS.--See our Extra Christmas Number for what you ask.
WHITE HEATHER.--We do not believe in the so-called science of
palmistry.
THE GIRL'S OWN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS COMPETITION.
_Full details of this Competition, with its prizes and certificates of
merit open to all readers of THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, were given on page
14_.
Questions 37-48.
37. What famous musical composition came to a violinist in a dream?
* * * * *
38. When did witchcraft cease to be recognised as a crime by the law of
England?
* * * * *
39. What famous book was mislaid when in manuscript and partly written,
and was only discovered by the author nine years afterwards in the
drawer of an old writing-desk?
* * * * *
40. What English Cathedral was set on fire and severely damaged by a
man who was afterwards found to be insane?
* * * * *
41. What is the best diet for brain-workers?
* * * * *
42. What saint was so able a musician that according to tradition an
angel descended to earth enraptured with her melodious strains?
* * * * *
43. What is the origin of the three ostrich feathers as a badge of the
Princes of Wales?
* * * * *
44. When did ignorant people in this country imagine they had been
defrauded out of eleven days by those in authority?
* * * * *
45. Who was the hermit who lived for over thirty years on the top of a
pillar?
* * * * *
46. What famous stone in this country is said to have been Jacob's
pillow?
* * * * *
47. Why is the wedding-ring worn on the fourth finger of the left hand?
* * * * *
48. How did the forget-me-not get its name?
The answers to the above questions, Nos. 37-48, together with the
answers to questions 25-36, which appeared on page 78, must be sent in
on or before January 27, 1899.
Address to THE EDITOR, THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER Office, 56, Paternoster
Row, London, E.C., and at the left-hand top corner of the envelope or
wrapper write the words "QUESTIONS COMPETITION."
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.
The following changes have been made to the original text:
Page 110: "Ltitle" to "Little".
Page 111: "aad" to "and"--"tapes and measures".