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A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
The Ideal Series for Girls
* * * * *
A little Cook Book for a Little Girl
BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
The simple, vivacious style makes this little manual as delightful
reading as a story-book.
A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; OR MARGARET'S SATURDAY
MORNINGS
BY CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
Cloth decorative, small 12mo.
75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
A little girl, home from school on Saturday mornings, finds out how to
make helpful use of her spare time.
A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl
BY AMY L. WATERMAN
Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
This is a book of special appeal, as it explains in simple fashion the
processes of making delicious fudges, fondants, nut dainties and the
like.
A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl
BY LOUISE FRANCES CORNELL
Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, small, 12mo.
75 cents; carriage paid, 85 cents
A splendid volume to encourage little girls in the study of the useful
and beautiful art of the needle.
* * * * *
THE PAGE COMPANY
53 BEACON ST., BOSTON, MASS.
A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
OR, MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS
By
Caroline French Benton
AUTHOR OF
"A LITTLE COOK BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL"
Boston
THE PAGE COMPANY
Publishers
_Copyright, 1906_
BY THE PAGE COMPANY
PUBLISHERS' NOTE
This little book was originally published under the title
_Saturday Mornings_,
but there has been some criticism of that title because it is not
sufficiently descriptive of the contents of the book. The Publishers,
consequently, have thought it wise in the present edition to change the
title to
_A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl_
OR
MARGARET'S SATURDAY MORNINGS.
This change has the advantage also of making the title uniform with the
other titles in the series--
_A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl_,
_A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl, etc._
Thanks are due the editor of _Good Housekeeping_ for permission to
reproduce the greater part of this book from the serial in that
magazine.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE 13
II. THE KITCHEN FIRE 19
III. THE DINING-ROOM TABLE 33
IV. WASHING DISHES 57
V. THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS 70
VI. SWEEPING AND DUSTING 84
VII. THE BATHROOM; BRASSES, GRATES, OILCLOTHS, AND VESTIBULE 99
VIII. HOUSECLEANING; CELLAR AND ATTIC 110
IX. LAUNDRY WORK 122
X. THE LINEN CLOSET; PANTRIES; POLISHING SILVER; THE CARE OF
THE REFRIGERATOR; CLEANING THE LAMPS 133
XI. MARKETING AND KEEPING ACCOUNTS 148
XII. THE DAY'S WORK 161
CHAPTER I
MARGARET'S CHRISTMAS TREE
About Christmas time Margaret was accustomed to see things tucked out of
sight whenever she came around, and her feelings were never hurt when
her Pretty Aunt, or her Other Aunt, or her mother, or her grandmother
said: "Don't you want to run down-stairs a little while, dear!" or,
"Margaret, would you mind staying out of the sitting-room all this
morning?" But this Christmas everybody said these things twice as often
as usual, and Margaret wondered about it.
"Mother," she said one day, "if you were a little girl and every one
said 'Run away, now,' over and over, twice as many times as other
Christmases, what would you think?"
Her mother laughed. "Well," she said, "I suppose I should think I was
going to have twice as many presents as usual."
Margaret drew a long breath. "Would you?" she asked, thoughtfully. "Two
pairs of skates, and two sets of furs, and two boxes of handkerchiefs,
and two pink kimonos, and six books; that would be twice as many
presents as last year. But what does one little girl want with twos? Now
if I was twins--"
The Pretty Aunt laughed. "Let me explain it to her," she said.
"Margaret, how would you like two Christmas trees, one for everybody,
just as usual, with your presents on it, and one little tree, all for
yourself, with more presents? Would you like that for a change?"
Margaret said she thought she would, but it seemed very queer. Two
trees, and only one little girl! Now if she really had been twins--
"Twins, indeed!" said the Other Aunt.
"Just wait till you see, and perhaps you will be glad there's only one
of you!" And everybody laughed again except Margaret, who thought it all
very queer indeed.
When Christmas morning came she jumped up in a hurry and waked every one
up calling out, "Merry Christmas!" and then she danced with impatience
because it took them so long to get ready. But at last the doors of the
parlor were thrown open and she rushed in. There stood the great,
beautiful tree, hung with tinsel and bright balls, and twinkling with
beautiful lights, and on its branches were bundles and bundles, tied
with red ribbons and holly, and on the floor were more bundles, and she
forgot about the little tree she had meant to look for. But by and by,
when she had opened all her presents, and made a pile of them on the
piano, and thanked everybody for them, she whispered:
"Mother, was there to be a little tree, all for me?"
"Why, of course," said her mother, smiling, "we nearly forgot, didn't
we? Suppose you look behind the library door?"
Margaret ran and looked, and, sure enough, there was the tree, but such
a queer one! It was small, and had no candles and no ornaments. The
corner was dark and she could not see very well, but it seemed to be
hung with things that looked like dust-pans and whisk-brooms. She stood
looking at it, wondering if it was all a joke.
Just then her father saw her and came to pull the tree out where she
could see it, and, sure enough, there was a dust-pan tied on with a red
tape, and a whisk-broom with another red tape, and a little sweeping-cap
with a red bow, some gingham aprons and white aprons, and brown towels
and red-and-white towels, and dust-cloths, all with red M's in their
corners; and put at the top was a little book tied on the tree with a
big red bow. Her mother took this down and handed it to her, and every
one stood and looked on and smiled because she was so surprised. When
Margaret looked at the cover of the book she knew what was inside in a
minute, because, painted on the cover was a little girl who looked just
like her with a big apron on, and a sweeping-cap, holding a broom in one
hand and a dust-pan in the other, and above, in bright red letters, were
the words, Saturday Mornings.
"Oh, it's for me!" she cried, delighted. "It's like my own cook-book,
only it tells how to clean house instead of cook. I love to clean house!
I love to make beds! I love to wash dishes! I just _love_ to sweep! May
I wear that beautiful cap, and are all those dish-towels for me, and is
that my very own dust-pan?" Then she ran to the tree and got everything
down. First she put on all the aprons, one on top of another, with the
ruffled waiting-on-table apron on top of the rest, and she put the cap
on her head, and hung all the dish-towels over one arm and all the
dusters over the other, and gathered up the brooms and dust-pan in her
arms and sat down in a corner with her book.
"This is the best of all," she said, soberly. "My other presents are
lovely, too, my books and my gold heart pin, and my white rocking-chair
for my own room, and the mittens grandmother knit for me with the lace
stitches down the back, but I like my little book best, and all the
things on my own little tree most. This is the nicest Christmas I ever,
ever had! The name of my book is Saturday Mornings, because other days I
have to go to school, but Saturdays I can sweep and dust and wash
dishes. What fun it will be! I don't know which chapter sounds best."
She hugged the little dust-pan and shook out the dish-towels. "Oh, I
just can't wait to begin," she said.