them washed with ivory soap and water, and obtain good results. Others
add a little ammonia to the water, and still others use the powdered
pumice.
The cost of painted walls are great, and it is a great saving to any
proprietor, if the housekeeper can successfully clean a painted wall
without calling the decorators.
Perhaps the most practical and most economical way to do the work and
obtain the best results is to wash the wall with water, in which has
been dissolved a cake of sapolio.
To proceed to clean the parlor walls: first, take out all the
bric-a-brac and tapestry and furniture; then take up the carpet. Have
the carpenter erect a scaffolding for the houseman to stand on. Have two
pails of hot water, and in one let a cake of sapolio dissolve. Keep the
other pail of water for rinsing. Have two large sponges, one for
cleaning and the other for rinsing. Souse the cleaning-sponge in the
pail in which the sapolio has been dissolved, then squeeze the water out
of the sponge. Then begin on the ceiling or in one corner, cleaning only
a small square at a time. After cleaning, rinse with the sponge from the
clean pail, not making the sponge too dry. Do not wipe the wall with a
cloth, but leave moist, after which have ready a pail of starch, and
with an ordinary paint or white-wash-brush, starch the square that you
have cleaned, before it is thoroughly dry. The starching-process is very
necessary. It will leave a gloss on the paint, and also preserves it the
next time it is washed; for, in this case, it will be the starch that
will be washed off instead of the paint. To make the starch take
ordinary laundry starch and dissolve one cupful in one pint of cold
water. Into this pour boiling water until it is as thick as cream and
let boil, stirring constantly.
The following is an excellent preparation for cleaning wall-paper, and
perhaps it might serve as well to clean walls hung with burlap:
2 pounds of rye flour.
1/2 pound of wheat flour.
1 handful of salt.
Mix well together with water and bake one hour in the oven. Then peel
and work back into a dough, adding 1/2 ounce of ammonia and 1/2 ounce of
gasoline.
This is not an expensive preparation and will clean papered or burlap
walls very nicely.
Calcimined walls will have to be re-decorated.
A good way to clean hardwood floors in halls where the carpet does not
entirely cover the floor, is to take a can of linseed oil and a small
woolen cloth and dip one end of the cloth in the oil, being careful not
to spill the oil on the carpet, or touch the edge of the carpet while
cleaning; this will remove the dust and dirt, after which the floor may
be polished with ordinary floor-wax put on with a flannel cloth and
polished with a brick, over which has been sewed a piece of Brussels
carpet.
_How to Scrub a Floor._
What is prettier than a hardwood floor after it has been properly
scrubbed? To scrub a floor and get satisfactory results is a science. To
change the water frequently is one secret of success. "Elbow grease" is
another. Mops are impossible, and this is another subject on which the
housekeeper can wax eloquent. What is more disgusting than to see the
baseboards of a room smeared, or the dirt shoved in the corners with an
old dirty mop?
Before commencing to scrub, place every article of furniture on the
table and then sweep. Beginning in the rear of the door so as not to
track over the clean part until it is perfectly dry, scrub with a brush
a small section at a time; first wipe up with a damp rag and then with a
dry one. The New York Knitting Mills, of Albany, N. Y., furnish remnants
of cloth that are indispensable for scrubbing. Enough of these remnants
can be bought for $3 to last six months.
A little ammonia in the water will help to whiten the floors. The modern
skewers from the kitchen are very useful in getting into the corners of
the window sills and into the corners of the stair steps. A weak
solution of oxalic acid and boiling water will remove the very worst
kind of ink-stains from the floor.
Pads for kneeling on are made of burlap, and one is given to each
scrubber. The unnatural position that the scrubber assumes makes the
work laborious; the scrubber may change her position frequently by
getting clean water.
HOW TO GET RID OF VERMIN.
The worst kind of house-pests, if you do not know how to get rid of
them, but not the easiest to exterminate, are bedbugs. They do not
confine themselves to any section of the country, though the
International Encyclopedia gives the belief "that up to Shakespeare's
time they were not known in England," and that "they came originally
from India."
In Kansas, the bedbug is improperly called the chintz-bug, and is
believed to dwell under the bark of the cotton-wood tree. There is no
authentic truth for this belief.
The spread of the bedbug is mainly due to its being carried from place
to place in furniture and clothing. It has the power of resisting great
cold and of fasting indefinitely. The eggs of the bedbug are very small,
whitish, oval objects, laid in clusters in the crevices used by the bugs
for concealment; they hatch in eight days. Under favorable conditions
and slovenly housekeeping, their multiplication is extremely rapid. The
greatest trouble lies with the housekeeper who allows the bugs to
increase unchecked until they are so numerous in the floors and walls
that it is nearly impossible to kill them off.
It is useless waste of time to try to exterminate with Persian insect
powder, or sulphur candles. These remedies have been recommended by the
International Encyclopedia, but have not demonstrated their worth when
subjected to tests by careful experimental methods, by the author.
_Scientific Way of Extermination._
The only scientific and practical way to get rid of them is to clean
thoroughly, religiously, and scrupulously the room and every article in
it. Bedbugs are exceedingly difficult to fight, owing both to their
ability to withstand the action of many insecticides and owing also to
the protection afforded them by the walls and the woodwork of the room.
If the mattress is old, it should be burned. The bed should be taken
apart, the slats and springs taken to the bathroom and scalded, and then
treated with a mixture of corrosive sublimate and alcohol, liberally
applied, after which a coat of varnish should be given to the entire
bed--slats, springs and all. The carpet should be taken up and sent to
the cleaners. The paper should be scraped from the walls and sent to the
furnace and burned, and the walls should be left bare until the bugs
are exterminated. The holes in the walls and woodwork and the cracks
and crevices in the floor should be filled up with common yellow soap.
This is better than to fill them with putty; it is more practical and is
easier to handle. Use the thumb or an old knife to put the soap into the
holes; the workman should get the stepladder and go over the entire
ceiling, getting the soap into every crack and crevice. After this is
done, it will be impossible for the eggs to hatch or the bugs to get
out. This is the most important part of the extermination of bugs. The
floor should then be scrubbed, after which it should be well poisoned
with the mixture of corrosive sublimate and alcohol. Every piece of
furniture in the room should be washed and poisoned, and given a coat of
varnish.
_Treating the Mattress._
If the mattress is too good to be thrown away, the following will be
found a good method to destroy the vermin in it: dissolve two pounds of
alum in one gallon of water; let it remain twenty-four hours until all
the alum is dissolved. Then, with a whisk-broom, apply while boiling
hot. This is also a good way to rid the walls and ceiling of bugs.
Getting on the stepladder, the workman should apply the wash with the
whisk-broom, never missing an inch of the entire ceiling and walls,
keeping the liquid boiling hot while using. It should be poured in all
the cracks of the floor, in the corners, over the doors and over the
windows. The operation should be repeated every day for two weeks, after
which the woodwork should be painted and the walls papered.
A strict watch should be kept on all the help's rooms, and any signs of
bugs should be promptly treated with the mixture of corrosive sublimate
and alcohol.
_Cleanliness a Necessity._
Cleanliness is a prime factor in ridding rooms of vermin. In many of the
hotels there is one woman appointed to look after the bugs, and she has
no other duty.
A good night's sleep is necessary to health and happiness. It can not be
found in a room with vermin. The housekeeper should keep up the
continual warfare against the standing army of bugs, and never allow the
enemy to take possession.
Roaches, or water-bugs, are easily exterminated. Hellebore sprinkled on
the floor will soon kill them off. It is poison. They eat it at night
and are killed. Some people object to having poison around. In that
case, powdered borax will prove an expedient eradicator.
A good way to keep rats from a room is to saturate a rag with cayenne
pepper and stuff it in the hole; no rat or mouse will touch the rag, not
if it would open a communication with a depot of eatables.
_A Nauseating Subject._
Of all the obnoxious being that get into a hotel, the one whose feet
smell to the heavens is the worst. Every housekeeper in America--heaven
bless them--if she has a normal and simple mind as fits her calling,
finds smelling feet an intolerable nuisance.
Health requires at least one bath a day for the feet, and when they
perspire freely they should be bathed twice a day. What must be said of
the maid who, on entering a room, compels you to leave it on account of
the sickening odor from her feet. In a case like this, the housekeeper
must "take the bull by the horns," tell the maid that "her feet smell"
and that "she must keep herself cleaner." The maid's feelings are not to
be spared in the performance of this important duty. After washing the
feet carefully twice a day for a week a cure will be effected. Clean
hosiery should be put on every day. A very good remedy for offensive
feet is a few drops of muriatic acid in the water when bathing the feet
before retiring to bed.
THE SUPERIORITY OF VACUUM CLEANING.
This is an age of surprises and scientific researches. The up-to-date
vacuum-cleaning machine is a huge debt to an ancient past. It is a big
improvement over the methods employed in days gone by. As a preventive
for moths, it has no equal. In hotels where this labor-saving device has
not been installed, carpets must be carried to the roof to be cleaned,
or sent to the regular carpet-cleaners, and soon converted into
ravelings. Carpets are very expensive, and, if you want your money's
worth from them, you must preserve them from moths. In order to do this,
they must be either vacuum-cleaned or taken to the roof every six months
and given a beating. After the moths get a start in a carpet it is
surprising to learn what vast inroads toward destruction they can make
in a few weeks. Moving the furniture and thoroughly sweeping and
brushing the edges with turpentine are good preventives. But nothing
will so effectually destroy them as does the vacuum-cleaning process.
In order to secure detailed information regarding the workings of the
vacuum-cleaning system for hotels, I wrote to a gentleman in Milwaukee,
who is probably the best informed man on that subject in the country.
Besides being in the vacuum-cleaning business, he is a hotel man himself
and therefore knows how to meet the needs of the hotel housekeeper. I
quote a part of his reply:
_System Explained by an Expert._
"The vacuum-cleaning system in a hotel will pay for itself every year by
reducing the cleaning force and by increasing the life of carpets, rugs,
hangings, upholstery, and decorations, whether paper, fresco, or paint.
"In hotels where this system is in use--and their number is increasing
every month--carpets and rugs are cleaned on the floor. Right here is a
big saving. First, taking up and relaying carpets is expensive. There is
nothing that wears them out quicker than this sort of handling and the
beating and "tumbling." Vacuum-cleaning not only saves this, but saves
the daily wear and tear of grinding in the dirt and wearing off the nap
with a broom. Third, with the vacuum-system, valuable rooms are never
put out of commission while the carpets and rugs are away being cleaned.
"Not only are the carpets and rugs kept cleaner by the vacuum-system,
but everything else is cleaner because dust is kept down. The
housekeeper of a certain hotel told the owner that since he put in the
vacuum-system, the transoms had to be washed only one-fourth as often as
before. Now, the dust on those transoms came out of the air. It settled
everywhere, but it showed plainly only on the transoms. With the
vacuum-system, there is only one-fourth as much dust to settle on the
walls and decorations, and even that little is quickly removed with the
vacuum-wall-brush. Dust on the walls is what causes the unpleasant,
musty smell of many hotel rooms. Keeping walls clean means less frequent
redecorating.
_Purifies Nearly Everything._
"Upholstered furniture is quickly and thoroughly cleaned by the
vacuum-method. Dust is removed not only from the surface, but also from
the folds and creases and even the interior of the cushions. Moths and
their eggs are sucked out from their hiding places under the upholstery
buttons or in the corners.
"Mattresses and pillows are kept clean and sweet by vacuum-treatment.
Passing the cleaning tool over the surface prevents dust from
accumulating and sifting in. It sucks out the stale dusty air inside and
draws in fresh air, thus preventing that unpleasant musty smell which
hotel beds sometimes have.
"By the vacuum-method, tapestries and hangings are kept fresh and bright
without the trouble and expense of taking them down. One hotel manager
told me his vacuum-system saved him $10 every time he cleaned the
hangings in his dining-room, for it used to cost him that sum to have
them re-draped.
"By means of a special brush, wood and tile floors can be cleaned
without the dust of dry sweeping, or the muddy aftermarks of sawdust.
_Vacuum Always on Tap._
"The most and recent important improvement in vacuum-cleaning consists
in having the vacuum or 'suction power' always 'on tap' on every floor.
At convenient points in the corridors, nickel-plated taps are placed. To
these, the housemen or maids can quickly attach the rubber hose
connected with the cleaning-tools. Opening a valve turns on the suction
or vacuum. Then, as fast as the tool is moved over the surface to be
cleaned, dust and dirt are sucked through the hose into the pipes and
away to an air-tight dust-tank in the basement. The 'on tap' vacuum is
always ready for use. No need to telephone or send word to the engineer
to start that pump or to stop it when the work is done.
"Although the vacuum, or suction, is kept on tap all the time,
practically no power is consumed except when the cleaning is going on.
Even then the amount of power used--whether it be steam or
electricity--is automatically proportioned to the number and the size
of the cleaning tools in use. Whenever you lay down the sweeper to move
a chair, just so much less power is consumed while the tool is idle. If
one sweeper is in use, only one-tenth as much power is needed as when
ten sweepers are working. The little upholstery tuft-cleaner consumes
only one-ninth as much power as the carpet-sweeper. This means a great
saving of power and is a great improvement over the old vacuum-methods,
by which it was impossible to keep the vacuum on tap and by which, once
the apparatus was started, full power was consumed, no matter how many
sweepers were at work."
THE LINEN-ROOM AND THE LINEN-WOMAN.
The linen-woman has in her care all the beautiful and expensive linen in
the hotel; if she is careless in counting it when sending it to the
different departments, careless in counting it after it has been
returned, there will be a deficit in the "stock-report" at the end of
the month. The linen-room is a position of trust. The linen-woman should
be as accurate in counting her employer's napkins and table-cloths as
the cashier is in counting his employer's dollars.
The following set of rules and essential requirements are suggested for
the management of the linen-woman:
1. She must be prompt to open the linen-room at 6:30 a.m.
2. Must not leave the linen-room without notifying the housekeeper.
3. Must sort the linen.
4. Must see that no damaged article of linen is sent out to the
guest-rooms.
5. Must mend all the linen.
6. Must keep track of the linen.
7. Must keep the linen-room books.
8. Must mark the new linen before sending it out.
The linen-room is the housekeeper's pride. What is more pleasing to a
housekeeper than to look into a well-kept linen-room. This room is the
housekeeper's "stock-exchange," the room where all her business
transactions take place. It is also her home. She has her geraniums in
the window and her desk in one corner. She has her sewing-machine, and
telephone, and a bright rug or two on the spotless floor. The linen-room
is the place where the housekeeper is found or her whereabouts made
known.
The room should be thoroughly cleaned every Saturday, and swept and
dusted every day. It requires skill and labor to keep a well regulated
linen-room looking neat and pretty. Linen-shelves are scrubbed, not
papered. All heavy articles, such as spreads, blankets, pillows, and
table-felts should be kept on the top shelf. The water-glasses,
ice-water pitchers, extra slop jars, washbowls and pitchers, should also
be kept on the top shelves, and covered with a dust-cover. The other
shelves should be scrubbed, and the sheets, slips, face-towels, and
bath-towels used for the guest-rooms, put on a shelf by themselves. The
helps' linen should be put on another shelf. The table-linen should be
placed by itself, and so on--a place for everything and everything in
its place.
_How Linen is Mended._
The table-cloths should be mended first before they are sent to the
laundry. The best way to mend table-linen is first to fill the holes
with darning-cotton, just as you would if you were darning a stocking;
then loosen the presser-foot of your sewing-machine and darn it down
neatly with the machine. If the hole is very large--say as large as your
hand--the better way is to cover the hole with darning-net before
filling it in with the darning-cotton; then it may be finished on the
machine.
When the table-cloths are too bad to mend, the large ones can be cut
down into small ones and the small ones into tray-covers. Old napkins
can be sewed together and used for cleaning-cloths. Table-linen is very
expensive and the careful housekeeper will easily save her salary above
that of a careless one by properly taking care of the linen.
_How Coffee Bags Are Made._
The coffee-bags should be made from the stewards' dictation. No two
stewards will have them made the same. Bath-towels, when damaged, may be
made into wash-cloths, and used in the public baths. The cases for
hot-water bags are made of white flannel.
A supply of soap, matches, toilet-paper, and sanitary powder, should be
kept in the linen-room, where it is convenient for the maids.
The progressive housekeeper will not allow the stock of linen to grow
too small. She will see that it is replenished each month.
The linen-room should be opened at 6:30 a.m. and closed at 10:00 p.m. If
it is a commercial hotel, the linen should be portioned among the maids,
in the morning. The linen issued in the morning should be charged to
each girl on the slate. The maids should count the soiled linen on their
floor, pin the count to the bundle, and bring it to the linen-room,
where the linen-woman again should count it and give each maid credit on
the slate. The linen-woman should deduct the clean linen issued in the
morning from the soiled linen returned, and, if the linen-room owes the
maid, she should be given her linen at once. After that, the maid should
get only one piece of clean linen for one of soiled. If the maid brings
in no soiled linen, she should not get any clean. In this way, the
linen-woman will be able to keep track of the linen. She will be able to
tell the manager where every piece of linen is at any time of the day.
The dining-room linen should be issued in the same way. The linen-woman
should be able to tell by her books how many napkins are in the
dining-room, how many are in the laundry, and the number that are on the
shelf in the linen-room.
It may not be an innovation, but a blackboard in the linen-room will be
of great assistance to the housekeeper in copying the changes that are
sent up from time to time during the day. The board may be freshly
ruled every day, with as many columns as there are maids, and the maid's
name, or number, should be written above her column.
As the changes are sent up on a pad by the clerks, the linen-woman
should copy them on the board, putting each maid's changes under her
name. The maids should take the chalk and draw a straight line through
their changes, indicating that the rooms have received proper attention.
As there are few hotels that have not had some trouble about reporting
changes, it would be a splendid idea for the clerk to insist on the
housekeeper or the linen-woman signing for the changes. The fact that
the clerk can produce his duplicate, showing the time to the very minute
he sent the change, is not proof that the change was received in the
linen-room. The bell-boy may be a new boy, and may have taken the
change-slip to some other part of the house. But if the housekeeper, or
the linen-woman, signs the pad on which the changes have been sent up,
and the pad is returned to the office, the housekeeper or the
linen-woman will have to furnish some other excuse for the room being
out of order, than that she did not get the change.
The housekeeper should see that an accurate account is taken every month
of all the linen, and correctly entered on the linen-room stock-book.
This account should show the new linen purchased during the month. The
following form is suggested for the stock-book for the linen-room:
Inventory of Linen-Room for month ending January 1, 1908.
================+============+=====+=====+====+======++=========
|Total No. | Plus| | | ||
Jan. 1, 1908. |last count | new |Grand|Worn| ||
|Dec. 1, 1907|stock|Total|out |Stolen||Net Total
----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++---------
Sheets | 800 | 50 | 850 | 25 | || 825
Slips | | | | | ||
Spreads | | | | | ||
Face-Towels | | | | | ||
Bath-Towels | | | | | ||
Table-Cloths | | | | | ||
Napkins | | | | | ||
Side-Towels | | | | | ||
Tray-Towels | | | | | ||
Tops | | | | | ||
Kitchen-Towels | | | | | ||
Glass-Towels | | | | | ||
Roller-Towels | | | | | ||
Bar-Towels | | | | | ||
Wash-room Towels| | | | | ||
----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++---------
Paradise, indeed, to the housekeeper, is the hotel that has its
reserve-linen closet, where, in case of accident in the laundry, she may
find linen to put the rooms in order. On the other hand, how very
discouraging it is where there is only one set of linen for the beds and
the maids must wait until the linen is back from the laundry before they
can put the rooms in order. In such hotels, the housekeeper spends much
of her time running to and from the laundry.
When a new linen-woman is installed in the linen-room, the housekeeper
should write out all the details of the duties required of her,
regardless of any previous experience she may claim to have had.
CARE OF TABLE-LINEN.
A table-cloth should be long enough to hang over the table, at least
eighteen inches on all sides. Pattern cloths are prettier than the
piece-linen. They are more expensive, but it pays to buy the best for
hotel use. Linen, to have sufficient body to wear well, should have a
certain weight to the square inch. Table-linen should weigh at least
four and one-half ounces to the square yard. All pattern-cloths have the
napkins to match. The napkins and table-cloths should have a tiny,
narrow hem. They are best hemmed by hand, but this can not be thought of
for hotels.