should protect herself and others against risks. One of the
simplest helps to this is the use of washing-soda--a chemical
which is absolutely ruinous to clothing when used as a detergent
in laundry-work, but is admirable for cutting grease or fat which
has accumulated in waste-pipes and for eating away other foreign
particles which have gathered there. I hasten to add that it will not
disintegrate strands of hair or bone buttons--both of which are often
found by plumbers in the joints of choked pipes they have been called
in to open!
Another aid to keeping the pipes clean and free is household ammonia.
This does not need to be poured clear into the pipes, but when it has
been employed in rinsing greasy dishes or in cleansing the sink, or in
brightening glass or silver, the hot water to which it has been added
is of distinct benefit to the waste-pipes. It may be suggested, by the
way, that one of the best methods for using the washing-soda is to lay
a good-sized lump of it over the drain-pipe from the sink so that the
water which goes down carries particles of the soda with it on their
cleansing errand.
Either ammonia or a solution of washing-soda should be used in rinsing
out the set-tubs after laundry-work has been done. When one thinks of
the human waste from the skin which adheres to the clothing and is
washed off from it in these tubs, there is a degree of foulness in the
notion of letting the tubs pass with no more cleansing than the rinsing
they get from the second or third water through which the clothes are
passed.
Other cleansing preparations come which are perhaps less severe in
their effect on the hands than the common washing-soda. Many of those
on the market are known to be excellent by the proof they have given
housekeepers. The names of several of these will at once suggest
themselves to any one who keeps up with the times in the line of
domestic helps. Whatever the chosen cleaning medium may be, a bottle or
box of it should always stand in the bath-room, not only for rinsing
out pipes and keeping them clear, but also for preserving the purity of
basin and tub and toilet-bowl.
I have often been impressed by the carelessness of housekeepers in
this detail, especially in homes where there are several children.
Evidently these have never been taught the niceties of rinsing out the
tub after bathing, or the basin after washing the hands. Around each
vessel runs a high-tide mark of soap or dirt, the mere sight of which
is enough to deter the observer from using bowl or bath. The touch of
the hand to the inside of either will almost always discover a sediment
or accretion of grease or dirt or both. This accumulation is readily
removed by a soap-rubbed cloth or by one dipped in ammonia or other
detersive. Such care may seem a trifling detail, but it is one which
should never be neglected.
In connection with this a word does not come amiss as to the superior
attractiveness of nickel bath-room fittings, or of those of the kitchen
or butler’s pantry, when they are kept bright and clean, over those
which are suffered to lapse into dinginess. When the nickel coating is
hopelessly scoured off it is not a serious matter to have the fittings
done over and made to look like new.
The whole care of the bath-room deserves more attention than it usually
receives. Soiled towels and wet wash-cloths should not be flung down
here and there, or stray medicine-bottles and medicine-boxes left in
untidy rows on the shelves. The medicine-cabinet should be kept in
order; the towels and wash-cloths folded neatly and hung up after
using; clean towels in plenty in readiness for the chance guest; the
soap-dish should be scoured scrupulously as often as once a day. Of
course it takes time to do these little things, but their presence
or absence marks the difference between the good and the careless
housekeeper.
Washing-soda has another use beyond that of keeping drain-pipes
clear. A solution of it is excellent for washing out the ice-box or
refrigerator. This process should take place at least once a week. When
this is said it is not meant that the ice-box should not be cleared out
oftener than that. A new piece of ice should not go into it if there
is a possibility of bits of food of any sort having been left in the
corners or cracks of the ice-chamber. Daily inspection of the contents
of the refrigerator will make sure that all food in it is keeping well
and is sweet and fresh.
In most well-made refrigerators of the day the shelves are so built
that they can be slipped in and out. By this plan they can be scrubbed
clean and the sides of the refrigerator can also be scoured off, as
would not be feasible with non-detachable shelves. After it has been
made clean a few pieces of charcoal should be laid in the corners. This
will keep the place sweet by absorbing the odors from food, and every
few days the fragments of charcoal should be thrown out and new ones
put in their place.
Even with this care the ice-box will sometimes get a close smell; at
such times a small shovel should be made nearly red-hot, a little
ground coffee sprinkled upon it, and this put into the refrigerator
for a few minutes. It should be understood by every housekeeper that
butter, milk, and cream should never be kept near strong-smelling
articles of food. They absorb the odors and taste of the items they
have been with.
Milk is usually kept in open dishes or pans for those who wish to get
the full good of the cream which rises to the surface, and nothing
else except other milk products or perhaps fresh eggs should be
permitted near it.
When highly flavored foods of any sort must be kept in a refrigerator
they should either be closely covered--which is not always possible
or desirable--or put in a chamber by themselves. Butter should not be
suffered to remain in the wooden boxes or plates on which it is often
sent home; lettuce and greens should either be washed before they are
put away or wrapped in clean paper. Lettuce is best rinsed and then
done up in a clean cloth before it is laid near the ice.
When canned goods of any sort are opened they should at once be turned
from the tin. They will keep indefinitely in the can while this is
sealed, but as soon as the air gets at the contents a chemical change
is wrought by the contact of the fluid and the tin and the food soon
becomes affected and a positive menace to health. The housekeeper
should always have in her stock a number of small bowls or dishes into
which to turn the fruit, vegetables, etc., which have been sent home to
her in a can.
A wire meat-safe is an important item to have in the pantry, when
there is room for such a convenience. Lacking this space, the dweller
in flats achieves a compromise by a box built outside of her kitchen
window, covered on top with oilcloth or other water-proof material,
that the contents may be kept dry. According to the exposure of the
window to the sun, the sides of the box may either be of wire netting
or solid wood. In length the box matches the width of the window and is
usually high enough to allow of two shelves. In this improvised outdoor
pantry can be kept in cool weather many articles which would otherwise
crowd the refrigerator unduly and would perhaps wither or spoil in the
warm kitchen or pantry.
Every convenience she can lay her hands on the housekeeper is within
her rights in securing. When it is worth while it pays for itself in
sparing her busy hands and feet, in easing the tire of her overworked
back. On her floor she should have linoleum, as it is easier to keep
clean than the bare boards, more sanitary and more convenient than rugs.
The study of how to arrange her kitchen so as to save herself steps
is one of the first things the new housekeeper should undertake. The
table should stand near the sink and not too far from the stove; the
utensils most frequently in service should be hung on a row of hooks
close at hand or be ranged on a couple of shelves above the table.
Here, too, should be such articles of seasoning, etc., as are in
constant demand--the salt-box, the pepper-cruet, the vinegar-bottle,
the flour-dredger, and the like. The bread-box and bread-board should
be near the table on which the loaf is to be sliced; the bread-knife
should be close by.
One of the greatest conveniences for a kitchen is that piece of
furniture called a kitchen cabinet, which unites the functions of a
dresser, a receptacle for provisions, a table or shelf at which to
make bread and roll pastry, and various other qualities that must be
known to be appreciated fully. These cabinets come in different sizes,
styles, and finish, and are easily made by the clever home carpenter.
The fireless cooker must not pass unnoticed, whether this be of the
home-made hay-box kind or of the more elaborate variety containing
plates to heat for cooking the contents of the vessels of the cooker.
Whichever make is selected, the cooker itself is one of the most potent
aids the housekeeper can have as a saver of time, of fuel, of labor,
and of fatigue. By its assistance the meal virtually cooks itself, once
it has been started in the right way. Food prepared in the fireless
cooker preserves its flavor as it cannot do if cooked in the oven or on
top of the stove, and there is far less waste of the material of each
article than if it were suffered to go off in steam and aroma.
The most popular fuel of the day is undoubtedly gas, since the cost
of electric equipment puts it beyond the reach of most housekeepers
of moderate means. Yet there are many parts of the country where all
cookery must be done by coal or even by wood, and where the only solace
of the worker is that she has the comfort of the heat in winter and the
benefits of slow cooking at all times.
For housekeepers who must buy their coal it is well to know that the
most advantageous mixture for the average-sized range is a mixture of
egg-coal and nut-coal, in the proportion of equal parts of the red ash
and the white ash. The latter burns more slowly than the former, while
this gives a stronger fire and makes fewer cinders.
A fresh fire need not be made more than once a week if the housekeeper
is careful to rake out the ashes at bedtime, put on fresh coal, open
the draughts for ten or fifteen minutes or until the new coal is fairly
kindled, then close the draughts and leave the upper door of the stove
open. In the morning the draughts have only to be opened after the
upper door has been closed and a little fresh coal put on as soon as
the fire has begun to be red. Not until this has begun to burn well
should a further small supply of coal be added. This mode is much more
economical of fuel and work than making a fresh fire every day.
VII
THE HOME WITHOUT A SERVANT
The housekeeper who undertakes to run her establishment without a
servant is beset by certain disadvantages. When she has had a bad
night, is suffering from indisposition of any kind, or wishes to
undertake some piece of work, such as dressmaking, for which she
desires to have her time free, it is inconvenient to feel that without
her personal effort no part of the business of the house will be done,
that all responsibility as well as all performance falls upon her.
On the other hand, great are the comforts of the woman who has no
one but herself to do her work. These should be considered, since an
enormously large proportion of American housekeepers employ no regular
servant and many others call in assistance only for such toil as
washing and ironing and heavy cleaning.
The woman who does not keep a maid can run her kitchen to suit herself
and have things done as she prefers. She need not be constantly worried
because the cook neglects to line the garbage-pail with a newspaper
or to put on the cover, persistently leaves the refrigerator open in
hot weather and will not save left-overs. The mistress knows that the
dishes are washed by an approved method, since she does it herself,
and this position also enables her to have the utensils and general
plenishing of the kitchen and pantry in the order she likes.
The same freedom obtains in other parts of the house. There is no
uncertainty as to whether towels and napkins are used in the prescribed
routine; no doubt if the beds are properly aired and made, the corners
of the rooms swept and the top shelves dusted, sanitary precautions
observed as to drains and similar niceties of care followed. The woman
who does her own work can be sure of an attention to details which
she could not compel from a hireling except at the cost of close
watchfulness and more or less nagging.
More than this, the economies to be compassed in a house where no maid
is kept far exceed the mere outlay for food which is required to supply
an extra person. No one but the mistress of the home will watch for
small leaks, and, having bought judiciously, will take pains that the
saving thus practised is not lost by careless use of materials. She
will plan her meals so as to utilize remnants, will see that the trifle
which seems of no importance is put aside to combine with another
apparently negligible quantity, will guard worn-out household linens
for other services than the rag-bag, will watch for the first breaks
in table-cloth or napkins and stop them with a wise stitch or two.
Through it all she will possess the delightful sense of having her home
to herself, of knowing there is not a nook or a corner of it where she
does not reign supreme, and that her theories are put into practice
from the top of the house to the bottom.
Such delightful sensations as these are of course out of the question
for the woman who undertakes housekeeping without a good working
knowledge of how to conduct it. The theories to which reference has
been made may be the best of their kind, but unless they are backed
by the ability to do the things they describe there is likely to be
trouble. Still, the woman who has more book instruction in the line of
housekeeping than actual experience can learn by doing and in time
reach a point where her independence is a joy to her. The best aid she
can have in this endeavor is system, the habit of doing each task at a
certain hour and in a certain way, and she need not consider the time
wasted she bestows on planning out her routine so as to make it at once
easy and efficient.
In a city apartment or a small house fitted with the latest
improvements the way is much simplified. If one can have a fire by
striking a match and turning on the gas-stove, is supplied with
hot water by a means outside her own kitchen, has milk, ice, meat,
and other provisions brought to the door of her pantry, and no
responsibility as to getting rid of ashes or garbage, she may feel that
her lines have fallen in pleasant places.
Naturally, a woman who lives in these conditions must direct her work
in a very different way from that incumbent upon the dweller in a
village or on a farm, who must build and keep in her own fires for
cooking and heating, warm every drop of hot water that is used--often
perhaps having to draw or pump it first--fill the lamps by which the
house is lighted, and do all the many other duties which are performed
for the dweller in a city flat and taken by her for granted. Yet as
much efficiency, as delightful a life, exist in these conditions as
can be found in a home where the work is reduced to a minimum. The
housekeeper who must put up with inconveniences will generally find
that they are offset by benefits which go far to counterbalance the
drawbacks.
If the city housekeeper with all modern improvements at her command
requires system in her work, it is even more necessary for the one who
must do without such aids. At the same time she must secure every help
she can. When she can get one of the gasolene-stoves which, if properly
managed, are hardly second to a gas-range in excellence, or, if lacking
one of these, she can secure a good oil-stove with an oven; if she can
provide herself with an oil hot-water-back or heater which will warm
the water for cooking and bathing; if she purchases all such aids as
fireless cookers, steamers, hand vacuum-cleaners, and other up-to-date
appliances, she will simplify her labor and at the same time preserve
the youth and strength that would be devoured by the adherence to the
methods of her grandmother in a day when twentieth-century living is
taken for granted on even the remote rural free-delivery route.
In addition to this she should study the art of sparing herself in
other ways, even of shirking when it is wise. By this advice there
is no implication that she should be careless of work that should be
done or perform it in the wrong way. But often duties can be postponed
with no harm to anything except the housekeeper’s supersensitive
conscientiousness, just as there are times when it is even wiser
to leave the room unswept or undusted than to wear oneself down to
absolute fatigue and the fretfulness or irritability such weariness
connotes.
One of the first rules for the home-worker to lay down for herself is
that no positive moral superiority is displayed by standing at one’s
occupations. There is no reason except a custom better broken than
preserved why a woman should not have a high stool or chair on which
to sit while washing and drying dishes, while preparing vegetables,
beating eggs, creaming butter or flour, and performing other such
tasks, as well as while ironing small pieces. The stool or chair should
also be accompanied by a hassock or footstool on which to rest the
feet. The fact that some of the old type of housekeepers will call the
practice lazy does not in the least affect the common sense of the
suggestion and the habit.
Another means for rendering kitchen work agreeable is to have the
right sort of utensils with which to accomplish it. I have spoken of
some of the conveniences already. Certain of them are high-priced, but
many of the aids to easy and pleasant cookery are inexpensive. To have
plenty of bowls and spoons, the right kind of measuring-cups, pans,
and pudding-dishes, is as essential in its way as the purchase of a
bread or cake mixer or a washing-machine. Too often housekeepers put
up with the poor outfits they have and let a mistaken economy prevent
their securing the right kind of tools. Nothing worth having is gained
by washing dishes in a rusty and battered pan, drying them on ragged
towels, any more than by serving your puddings in a chipped bake-dish
or measuring ingredients in a leaky cup. This is not real economy; it
is either slovenliness or sloth. When a woman does her own work she can
surely trust herself to take care of the articles she uses, and she
should not stint herself in buying those she needs.
Also she should dress for the part of maid-of-all-work when she is
filling that rôle. Tightly fitting waists and long skirts should never
be worn, and wash frocks are the best, since the material not only does
not harbor odors of cooking as does a woolen fabric, but the garment
can be washed when it is soiled.
A shirtwaist and short skirt or a one-piece frock is the best uniform,
and always there should be a large and comprehensive apron with a
high bib and shoulder-straps. In addition to this it is well to have
a couple of aprons supplied with sleeves, which can be slipped on
over an afternoon frock when getting dinner ready or when washing up
afterward. All the aprons should be long enough to come down well
to the hem of the gown and should be of some pretty goods, such as
gingham or percale, or one of the crinkly fabrics which do not need to
be ironed after washing. There is no reason why a woman who does her
own work should not look attractive while she is at the process. Above
all, she should abjure curl-papers, kid curlers, and similar atrocities
both while at her duties and when presiding at the breakfast-table for
a family which should surely take away with them an agreeable mental
picture of the mistress of the house. If these adjuncts are actually
necessary to render the wearer presentable later in the day, she should
at least conceal them under a pretty boudoir cap. Such a cap is
advisable not only on account of the appearance, but as a protection to
the hair from smoke and steam.
After the morning meal is over the housekeeper may either put her
dishes to soak in hot water, leave her beds to air, and go out to do
her marketing, or she may decide to postpone the purchasing until
later in the day and despatch her household duties before she leaves
the house. Often it seems wiser to go to market late in the morning,
or even in the afternoon, and thus have the best part of the forenoon
unbroken for domestic occupations. The systematic housekeeper can
usually plan her meals so that this plan can be followed without
inconvenience.
In the well-kept flat there is not very much to do when there are only
two in the family. With so few in the house articles do not get out
of place to any marked extent, and when the windows have been opened
in the chambers and living-room while breakfast was going on there is
little to hinder the housekeeper from devoting only a short time to
pushing furniture back into place, running a carpet-sweeper over the
floor, and doing necessary dusting. A bed or two must be made, the
bath-room put in order, the dishes washed, and the dining-room and
kitchen set to rights; but in the apartment where the woman does her
own work there will be no accumulation of other persons’ dirt to be
removed.
When a whole house is occupied there is more to be done. Halls and
stairs must be brushed, perhaps front steps swept, stoves looked after
in winter, and flies beaten out and rooms shaded in summer. Other
duties will present themselves if there is more than a single floor
to be kept in order--a floor on which are found kitchen, pantry, and
dining-room as well as chambers and bath-room.
Whether it be an apartment or a whole house, the same order of work
should be followed. The morning should be the time applied to turning
off any heavy or disagreeable work which has to be done. Cleaning,
sweeping, dusting, making ready of vegetables for dinner, preparing the
pudding or other dessert which is to be cooked later in the day, should
always be planned for the early hours of the day. This is the time when
the energies are at their best and freshest, and it is also the period
when interruptions are least likely. In the afternoon one cannot be
secure against callers or other demands upon leisure--to say nothing of
the comfort one feels in knowing that the unpleasing portions of the
day’s toil are done and over with!
The young housekeeper who becomes absorbed in her new occupation
sometimes slips into the fault of yielding herself to it too
unreservedly. When a woman really loves the work of cooking and
planning, of keeping her house in exquisite order and contriving to
make supply and demand meet one another, she is in danger of becoming
given over to it. Her husband is not likely to be able to understand
her attitude, and although he may enjoy a well-kept home, he will
probably feel he desires something more in his wife than a domestic
devotee.
Against the danger of drifting into this position the young housekeeper
should be on the alert. No one else is as much interested as is she
in the business of running her particular home, and the sooner she
appreciates this the better for her and the more agreeable for every
one else. At first she will possibly wish to talk of little else, but
after the very earliest novelty has worn off she should wake up to the
perception that there are other things in the world besides her home.
She should see that she must keep herself in good mental condition as
well as keep her house; that the time is not wasted that she spends in
reading, in wise recreation, especially in permitting herself a little
rest each afternoon which will help preserve her freshness and vigor
and put her into condition to make life pleasant for her husband when
he comes home at night.