will go to pieces even under the careful touch of the mistress, and
no hireling can be taught to handle fragile things as carefully as
will their owner. A potent aid in inculcating caution is the habit of
deducting from a servant's wages the price of the pieces broken. This
rule should not be enforced in the case of a really careful maid, but
only with one who shows a decided tendency to heedlessness. Even with
this penalty there will be chips and cracks that will prove almost as
great a trial to the mistress as a total fracture. To the importance
of these minor accidents the average serving-maid seems serenely
unconscious.
"Norah, if I treated you as you deserve, I would take the value of this
out of your wages," said a mistress, ruefully contemplating a Limoges
chocolate pot, from the lip of which a triangular fragment had been
neatly chipped.
"Indade, ma'am, an' can't ye use it as well as iver ye did?" was the
surprised reply.
Without going as far as one woman, who used to declare she would rather
have a piece of china completely smashed than to see it cracked,
one may safely say that the good housekeeper never perceives even a
trifling breakage in any piece of her table-ware without a real pang at
heart. To avert these accidents she is wise if she intrusts to no hands
but her own or those of an exceptionally careful maid the cleansing
of her most precious belongings of porcelain and crystal. Sometimes,
however, a woman's other duties are so pressing that she cannot spare
the time to wash the delicate dishes which she prides herself upon
having in constant use, and then she must simply make up her mind to be
resigned to the losses she must sustain if she permits her servants to
take entire charge of these breakables.
Without using unsightly stone-ware, it is yet possible to procure for
every-day service pretty crockery that is less easily broken than the
delicate French china. In purchasing a dinner set which is to do steady
duty, the housewife must be guided by prudential as well as artistic
considerations. She can find what is known as the English Dresden and
one or two other kinds of china which combine pretty designs with
durability of material, and are not very expensive.
Often there are included in a dinner set a full dozen each of tea,
breakfast coffee, and after-dinner coffee cups; and sometimes the set
can be purchased to greater advantage by taking them all. Frequently,
too, the dealer will not break the set. Unless either or both of these
conditions should prevail, there is little gain for the housekeeper
in taking the whole set. Usually she already has a fair number of
cups and saucers, and in any case she would not need as many as the
set comprises. By a little search it is often practicable to pick up
a broken set, consisting of a certain number of plates, vegetable and
meat dishes, and in this day there is no obligation upon one to have
everything to match. The principal pieces should be alike, if possible;
but the fish, salad, dessert, and fruit plates may all be of different
designs, and be none the worse on that account.
Her dinner dishes purchased, the young mistress may congratulate
herself. There is no other equally heavy pull ahead of her in the line
of china. Now she may at her leisure pick up her pretty harlequin set
of cups and saucers, her dessert dishes, her large cake and bread
plates, and her small bread and butter plates, her fish set, her
chocolate-pot, her bouillon-cups, her nappies, her individual dishes
for shirred eggs, for scalloped fish, oysters, or chicken, and the
dozen of other dainty fancies with which the china shops are crowded.
Her accumulations will be all the dearer to her because many of them
have been procured at the cost of a little personal sacrifice.
When one begins to price cut glass she is generally wofully
discouraged. The cost of the plainest cut is very high if the glass is
heavy, and a little experience soon teaches the housekeeper that it
is very poor economy to buy the thin glass for every-day use. It will
often break in washing in spite of the most careful handling, and a
slight blow to it means fracture. Now that pressed glass comes in such
pretty patterns, it may be made to do duty for common use, and is so
attractive that no one need be ashamed to put it on her table.
"You should see my new glass dish," said a young housekeeper,
gleefully. "It cost me just seventy-nine cents, and when you set it on
handsome damask it looks like the real cut. Of course you can't put two
cheap things together, but my table-cloths are all so good that I can
afford to set a few imitations on them."
The advantages of this heavy glass are seen less in the dishes, large
and small, than in the goblets or tumblers that are in daily use. Here
the havoc is dreadful when the glass is of the egg-shell species. Cheap
though it often is, it does not pay to purchase it when its destruction
is merely a question of a few days or weeks.
LINEN AND SILVER
Even at the best, securing a provision of table linen is bound to be
a heavy expense. Whatever economies the housekeeper may practise by
purchasing Japanese or stout English porcelain, and pressed glass, she
will never find that it pays to buy cheap damask. It does not look
well even at the first, and it is worse after each washing. No matter
how handsome may be the china, silver, and glass put upon it, a sleazy
damask will give a cheap appearance to the whole table.
On the other hand, really good linen pays by its wearing qualities for
the original outlay. If it is not allowed to become so dirty before
it is washed that hard rubbing is required to make it clean, it will
last for years. The first tiny breaks must be carefully watched for and
repaired at once. By such precautions even a cloth which is in daily
service may be made to last several years. Above all, no washing-soda,
no bleaching preparation of any kind, must ever be used upon it. It may
whiten the linen at first, but the small holes with which the damask
will soon be riddled will tell more plainly than words the harm the
fabric has sustained from the alkali. Should the linen become yellow,
it may be whitened by being laid on the grass in the dew or rain first,
and afterwards in the sunshine.
Linen should never be put away damp, as it is almost certain to mildew.
These spots may sometimes be removed or lessened by boiling the stained
linen in buttermilk, or by the use of Javelle water, but it is a
difficult and doubtful task.
A young housekeeper does not need a large supply of table linen at the
beginning of her career. Of course it is very delightful to her to feel
that her sideboard drawers are so thoroughly stocked that they will not
need to be replenished for years to come; and if she has had a long
engagement in which to make her preparations, or if she has followed
the wise old-fashioned custom of beginning a linen chest while yet a
young girl, she may be able to rejoice in a generous assortment of
table-cloths, napkins, and doilies. Or possibly some kindly relative or
friend has given her a check to be expended in this fashion; or she may
have a wealthy father whose liberality relieves her from the necessity
of economizing in this direction.
Taking it for granted, however, that every dollar counts, the young
wife must consider seriously just what she will need. If she expects
to entertain a good deal of company, she will have to lay in a large
supply of linen. But if she intends to live in comparative quiet, not
giving many luncheons or dinner parties, even although always ready
to receive her own or her husband's friends, she will find that she
can manage comfortably without a large quantity of napery. In a family
where there are few children, and where ordinary care is observed, it
is quite practicable, barring accidents, to get along easily with but
one white table-cloth a week. In this case, of course, a colored cloth
must be used for breakfast and lunch or for breakfast and tea. If the
bare table is used at lunch, the housekeeper may manage to make shift
with one breakfast cloth, with the accompanying dozen napkins. If she
can possibly afford it, however, she should buy two colored cloths and
two dozen colored napkins. For dinner use she must provide two white
cloths with the napkins to match. These cloths may be about two and a
quarter or two and a half yards long. Besides these, she should have
one handsomer white cloth a little longer, to use when she wishes to
entertain several guests. There is no reason in her purchasing the long
table-cloths that range from twelve to sixteen feet in length, unless
she has a very large dining-room and anticipates an occasional family
party, which will oblige her to use the table in its most extended form.
To buy table-cloth damask by the yard is cheaper than to purchase the
cloth in one piece. The designs are often very pretty, but the separate
cloth is usually more satisfactory. Large flaring patterns are out of
place on a small table. Such designs as the old and always pleasing
snow-drop pattern, or a little block or diamond, or ivy or fern leaves,
or small stars or shells, one does not weary of so soon as of something
more showy. It is not worth while to purchase a cloth chiefly on
account of its attractive border, for this is seldom seen. The centre
figures are those which receive the most attention.
In doing up table-cloths there should always be a suspicion of starch
used, but there should be none in the napkins.
With the provision of table-linen described above and a set of fruit
napkins, the housekeeper will be able to manage very easily. Of course
she will desire tray cloths, sideboard covers, centre-pieces, doilies,
and the like, but these may be made by her own fingers. The costliness
of these consists in the work bestowed upon them, and they can be made
at home for half or less than half the price asked for them in the
shops. By working them herself play is given to the ingenuity of her
fancy, and she may have the pleasure of knowing that she has something
different from what every one else can buy.
The housewife can hardly have too many doilies. Not only are they
useful to put under finger-bowls, and to lay on cake and bread plates,
but they are admirable to place under hot dishes, to lay between a
scallop-shell and the plate, under pâtés, etc. And when the home
mistress has enough of these, she may set to work to provide herself
with carving-cloths, corn and biscuit napkins, and the many other
pretty pieces of table linen that are always in demand.
There is very seldom a bride who does not receive enough small silver,
such as forks and spoons, to supply her own table. If she is not so
fortunate, however, she should, if possible, try to buy solid silver,
even if she can afford to get but half a dozen pieces of each kind.
Should this be beyond her means, she will find plated silver in neat
designs, although it will in time wear out, while the solid silver will
last a lifetime or longer. It never pays to buy thin silver, for this
bends and dents easily.
Some people who own solid small silver lock it up except upon rare
occasions, and use only plated ware when _en famille_, affirming that
the peace of mind thus gained is worth more than the luxury of using
real silver. In this matter every one must judge for herself; but if
a vote were taken the chances are that those who use the solid silver
would testify that its care costs them very little time or thought. The
simple expedient of counting it two or three times a week is generally
sufficient to insure its safety, and the duty of carrying it up-stairs
at night is too trifling to deserve mention.
Those who have ever been so fortunate as to possess plated silver
vegetable dishes or a soup tureen would never willingly use those of
china. Not only do the silver vessels keep their contents hot, but they
are not breakable, and a dent may be remedied at a small cost. They are
not hard to keep clean. A plunge into clean scalding water, and a quick
wiping afterwards, whenever they have been used, with an occasional
rubbing with a piece of flannel or chamois-skin, will generally keep
them bright.
Whenever silver, solid or plated, needs a thorough cleaning,
electro-silicon may be used; and after the scouring has been done
with a brush dipped in the powder, the pieces should be rinsed off
in scalding water containing a little ammonia, and well rubbed with
flannel. Even the most tarnished silver may be brightened by this
means.
INDEX
Anchovy toast, 138.
Apples and bacon, 81.
Apples, méringued, 227.
Apricot fritters, 211.
Asparagus biscuit, 144.
Asparagus with eggs, 213.
Baked mince, 52.
Bananas, baked, 130.
Bananas, fried, 211.
Beef _à la mode_, 219.
Beef, crisped smoked, 55.
Biscuit, breakfast, 84.
Biscuit, brown, 56.
Biscuit, cheese, 136.
Biscuit, lunch, 133.
Biscuit, quick, 64.
Biscuit, rye, 148.
Bread, Boston brown, 54, 141.
Bread, fried, 152.
Bread, hot loaf, 134.
Bread omelet, 55.
Bread, rice, 131.
Bread-and-butter, 130.
Breakfast cloth, 19.
Breakfast mats, 20.
Breakfast menu, 44.
Breakfast, wedding, 46.
Brewis, 52.
Broth, mutton and rice, 207.
Brown Betty, peach, 205.
Brown-bread toast, 150.
Butter cakes, 65.
Cabbage, baked, 233.
Cake, hot, 152.
Cake, orange, 160.
Cakes, bread-and-milk, 85.
Cakes, butter, 65.
Cakes, lunch, 162.
Cakes, rice, 156.
Candles, 8.
Cauliflower, scalloped, 237.
Caviare toast, 134.
Cerealine fritters, 153.
Cerealine, moulded, 59.
Cheese biscuit, 136.
Cherry dumplings, 214.
Chicken, deviled, 140.
Chicken, jellied, 159.
Chicken mince, 60.
Chicken pie, cold, 149.
China, buying, 292, 293.
Chowder, fish, 214.
Cocoa, 90.
Cod, creamed with potatoes, 50.
Cod, scalloped, 135.
Cold slaw, 158.
Company dinner, menu, 192, 193.
Corn, baked, 235.
Corn, boiled, 145.
Corn-bread, boiled, 145.
Corn-bread, loaf, 81.
Corn croquettes, 144.
Corn-meal gems, 67.
Crullers, quick, 154.
Crumpets, 79.
Crumpets, rice, 140.
Cucumbers, fried, 219.
Custards, chocolate, 232.
Custards, cocoanut, 223.
Cut glass, 294.
Desserts, Sunday, 186.
Diet for children, 249.
Dining-room draperies, 6.
Dining-room floor, 5.
Dining-room furniture, 11, 12, 13.
Dining-room walls, 4.
Dinner-cloth, 167.
Dinner toilette, 171.
Doilies, 301.
Dumplings, cherry, 214.
Egg-plant, fried, 222.
Egg-plant, stuffed, 228.
Eggs _à la crême_, 139.
Eggs, curried, 54.
Eggs, moulded, 83.
Eggs, poached, with anchovy toast, 141.
Eggs, scrambled, with asparagus, 136.
Eggs, timbales, with cheese, 75.
Fish, left-over, 155.
Fish-cakes, dropped, 72.
Fritters, clam, 74.
Fritters, green-corn, 61.
Furniture polish, 89.
Galantine, veal, 285.
Gems, corn-meal, 67.
Gems, Graham, 53.
Gems, oatmeal, 135.
Gems, rye, 59.
Gems, wheat-flour, 73.
Gingerbread, 150.
Griddle-cakes, corn-meal, 151.
Griddle-cakes, simple, 73.
Ham, barbecued, 65.
Ham, deviled, 148.
Ham fritters, 129.
Ham toast, 48.
Hash, a scrap, 131.
Hash, turkey, 158.
Hominy croquettes, 160.
Invalids' food, 38.
Jelly, coffee, 238.
Jelly toast, 148.
Jumbles, 164.
Kidneys, stewed, 153.
Lamb, stewed, _à la Jardinière_, 224.
Lawn teas, 260, 269.
Left-overs, 93.
Lemon tarts, 236.
Lettuce, 212.
Light loaf, 83.
Liver toast, 132.
Lobster, creamed, 155.
Lobster croquettes, 136.
Lobster mayonnaise sandwiches, 284.
Lobster salmi, 283.
Luncheon menu, 100, 110, 111.
Macaroons, 158.
Mackerel, salt, broiled, 61.
Mackerel, salt, broiled, _à la maître d'hôtel_, 82.
Mackerel, soused, 71.
Mayonnaise dressing, 138.
Meat loaf, 151.
Menu for high tea, 274, 275.
Muffins, batter, 161.
Muffins, corn, 50.
Muffins, English, 74.
Muffins, feather, 52.
Muffins, griddle, 51.
Muffins, hasty, 75.
Muffins, nursery, 163.
Muffins, plain, 154.
Muffins, raised, 152.
Muffins, raised corn-meal, 147.
Muffins, rice, 54.
Muffins, risen, 82.
Muffins, rye, 78.
Muffins, sour milk, 80.
Muffins, toasted, 160.
Mutton, boiled, 206.
Mutton, deviled, 134.
Mutton, minced, with poached eggs, 70.
Omelet, baked, 63.
Omelet, baked chicken, 144.
Omelet, baked with cheese, 128.
Omelet, bread, 55.
Omelet, parsley, 49.
Omelet with corn, 66.
Onions, browned, 230.
Orange cake, 160.
Orange roly-poly, 231.
Oysters, curried, 157.
Oysters, panned, 133.
Pancakes, canned pea, 83.
Parsnips, creamed, 208.
Pâté, game, 141.
Peach Brown Betty, 205.
Pease, canned French, 212.
Pease, canned green, 236.
Pickerel, fried, 142.
Pie, sliced peach, 224.
Pigeons, stewed, 211.
Pop-overs, Graham, 62.
Porridge, 25.
Potato balls, 71.
Potato, moulded, 75.
Potato purée, 226.
Potatoes _au gratin_, 154.
Potatoes, buttered, 50.
Potatoes, hashed, 86.
Potatoes hashed with cream, 69.
Potatoes, Lyonnaise, 76.
Potatoes, Parisian, 62.
Potatoes, savory, 85.
Potatoes, sliced, 148.
Potatoes, stuffed, 67.
Pudding, baked peach, 220.
Pudding, cream rice, 229.
Pudding, peach and tapioca, 227.
Pudding, plain fruit, 235.
Pudding, raspberry, 216.
Pudding, rice and pear, 226.
Puddings, cup, 204.
Rapid eating, 174.
Rice bread, 131.
Rice cakes, 156.
Rice croquettes, 157.
Rusk, 132.
Rye gems, 59.
Salad, 171.
Salad, asparagus, 210.
Salad, celery and radish, 142.
Salad, chicken, 138.
Salad, egg, 145.
Salad, French fish, 284.
Salad, literary, 276.
Salad, potato, 150.
Sally-Lunn, quick, 69.
Sally-Lunn, raised, 62.
Sandwiches, 125, 126, 285.
Sandwiches, lobster mayonnaise, 284.
Sardines _au gratin_, 62.
Sardines, broiled, on toast, 162.
Sauce, cream, 62.
Sauce, hard, 205.
Sauce, mint, 218.
Sauce, soubise, 206.
Sauce, white, 60.
Sausage, baked, 161.
Sausage, broiled, 73.
Sausage rolls, 78.
Scallop patties, 53.
Scallops, fried, 86.
Seasoning, 245.
Setting breakfast-table, 42.
Setting dinner-table, 168.
Shad roes in ambush, 59.
Short-cake, canned peach, 150.
Short-cake, peach, 64.
Short-cake, raspberry, 56.
Silver, cleaning, 303.
Silver, solid, 301.
Silver-plated dishes, 302.
Soup, 171.
Soup, asparagus, 216.
Soup, black-bean, 237.
Soup, canned, 183.
Soup, cauliflower, 221.
Soup, cheese, 218.
Soup, corned-beef, 234.
Soup, egg, 217.
Soup, green-corn, 210.
Soup, green-pea, 213.
Soup, lentil, 204.
Soup, oyster, 233.
Soup, salmon, 228.
Soup, tomato, _maigre_, 225.
Soup, turkey, 232.
Soup, veal, 223.
Spaghetti, creamed, 209.
Spanish chestnuts, roast, 156.
Sponge-cake trifle, 208.
Standing lunch menu, 118.
Steak, broiled, with mushrooms, 72.
Strawberries, 58.
Strawberry méringue, 215.
Sugar cakes, 163.
Supper dishes, 258.
Sweetbread pâtés, 147.
Sweet potatoes, buttered, 205.
Table linen, 297, 298.
Table manners, 248.
Tomatoes, baked, 209.
Tomatoes, broiled, 140.
Tomatoes, deviled, 66.
Tomatoes and corn, baked, 222.
Tongue, jellied, 142.
Tripe, Lyonnaise, 85.
Turnip purée, 230.
Veal croquettes, 79.
Veal cutlets _au maître d'hôtel_, 69.
Veal galantine, 285.
Veal Hamburg steaks, 163.
Waffles, quick, 71.
Waffles, raised, 162.
Welsh rabbit, 145.
Wheat-flour gems, 73.
Wheat puffs, 76.
White-fish, baked, 225.
THE END.
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