XXX.
THE CARE OF ROOMS.
IT would be impossible in a work dealing, as this does, with general
principles of house-keeping, to elaborate in full the multitudinous
details which arise for attention and intelligent care. These will be
more largely treated of in the book soon to be published for the present
writer, (the senior authoress of this volume.) Yet, in the different
departments of family labor, there are certain leading matters
concerning which a few hints may be found useful in aiding the reader to
carry into operation the instructions and ideas of the earlier chapters
of this book, and in promoting the general comfort and convenience of
families.
And first, asking the reader to bear in mind that these suggestions
are chiefly applicable to country homes, not within easy reach of all
the conveniences which go under the name of "modern improvements," we
will say a few words on the care of
Parlors.
In hanging pictures, put them so that the lower part shall be
opposite the eye. Cleanse the glass of pictures with whiting,
as water endangers the pictures.
Gilt frames can be much better preserved by putting on a coat of
copal varnish, which with proper brushes, can be bought of
carriage or cabinet-makers. When dry, it can be washed with fair
water. Wash the brush in spirits of turpentine.
Curtains, ottomans, and sofas covered with worsted, can be cleansed
with wheat bran, rubbed on with flannel. Shades
of linen or cotton, on rollers and pulleys, are always useful to shut
out the sun from curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on old
cotton, are good for chambers. Put them on rollers, having cords nailed
to them, so that when the curtain falls, the cord will be wound up.
Then, by pulling the cord, the curtain will be rolled up.
Varnished furniture should be rubbed only with silk, except
occasionally, when a little sweet-oil should be rubbed
over, and wiped off carefully.
For unvarnished furniture, use bees-wax, a little
softened with sweet-oil; rub it in with a hard brush, and
polish with woolen and silk rags.
Some persons rub in linseed-oil; others mix bees-wax
with a little spirits of turpentine and rosin,
making it so that it can be put on with a sponge, and wiped off with a
soft rag.
Others keep in a bottle the following mixture: two ounces of
spirits of turpentine, four table-spoonfuls of sweet-oil,
and one quart of milk. This is applied with a sponge, and
wiped off with a linen rag.
Hearths and jambs, of brick, look best painted over with black
lead, mixed with soft-soap. Wash the bricks which
are nearest the fire with redding and milk,
using a painter's brush. A sheet of zinc, covering the
whole hearth, is cheap, saves work, and looks very well. A tinman can
fit it properly.
Stone hearths should be rubbed with a paste of powdered stone,
(to be procured of the stone-cutters,) and then brushed with a stiff
brush.
Kitchen hearths, of stone, are improved by rubbing in
lamp-oil.
Stains can be removed from marble, by oxalic acid and
water, or oil of vitriol and water,
left on a few minutes, and then rubbed dry.
Gray marble is improved by linseed-oil.
Grease can be taken from marble, by ox-gall and
potter's clay wet with soapsuds, (a gill of each.)
It is better to add, also, a gill of spirits of turpentine.
It improves the looks of marble, to cover it with this mixture, leaving
it two days, and then rubbing it off.
Unless a parlor is in constant use, it is best to sweep it only once
a week, and at other times use a whisk-broom and dust-pan. When a parlor
with handsome furniture is to be swept, cover the sofas, centre table,
piano, books, and mantelpiece with old cottons kept for the purpose.
Remove the rugs and shake them, and clean the jambs, hearth, and
fire-furniture. Then sweep the room, moving every article. Dust the
furniture with a dust-brush and a piece of old silk. A painter's brush
should be kept, to remove dust from ledges and crevices. The dust-cloths
should be often shaken and washed, or else they will soil the walls and
furniture when they are used. Dust ornaments and fine books with feather
brushes, used for no other purpose.
Chambers and Bedrooms are of
course a portion of the house to be sedulously and scrupulously attended
to, if either health or comfort are aimed at in the family. And first,
every mistress of a family should see, not only that all sleeping-rooms
in her house can be well
ventilated at night, but that they actually are so. Where there is no
provision made for the introduction of pure air, in the construction of
the house, and in the bedroom itself no open fire-place to allow the
easy exit of foul air, a door should be left open into an entry or room
where fresh air is admitted; or else a small opening should be made in a
window, taking care not to allow a draught of air to cross the bed. The
debility of childhood, the lassitude of domestics, and the ill-health of
families, are often caused by neglecting to provide a supply of pure
air.
It is not deemed necessary to add much to the earlier chapters
treating of bedroom conveniences; but one subject is of marked
importance, as being characteristic of good or poor housekeeping--that
is, the making of beds.
Few servants will make a bed properly, without much attention from
the mistress of the family; and every young woman who expects to have a
household of her own to
manage should be able to do it well herself, and to instruct others in
doing it. The following directions should be given to those who do this
work:
Open the windows, and lay off the bed-covering on two chairs, at the
foot of the bed. If it be a feather-bed, after it is well aired, shake
the feathers from each corner to the middle; then take up the middle,
shake it well, and turn the bed over. Then push the feathers in place,
making the head higher than the foot, and the sides even, and as high as
the middle part. A mattress, whether used on top of a feather-bed or by
itself, should in like manner be well aired and turned. Then put on the
bolster and the under sheet, so that the wrong side of the sheet shall
go next the bed, and the marking
always come at the head, tucking in all around. Then put on the pillows,
evenly, so that the open ends shall come to the sides of the bed, and
spread on the upper sheet so that the wrong side shall be next the
blankets, and the marked end always at the head. This arrangement of
sheets is to prevent the part where the feet lie from being reversed, so
as to come to the face; and also to prevent the parts soiled by the body
from coming to the bedtick and blankets. Put on the other covering,
except the outer one, tucking in all around, and then turn over the
upper sheet at the head, so as to show a part of the pillows. When the
pillow-cases are clean and smooth, they look best outside of the cover,
but not otherwise. Then draw the hand along the side of the pillows, to
make an even indentation, and then smooth and shape the whole outside. A
nice housekeeper always notices the manner in which a bed is made; and
in some parts of the country, it is rare to see this work properly
performed.
The writer would here urge every mistress of a family, who keeps
more than one domestic servant, to provide them with single beds, that
they might not be obliged to sleep with all the changing domestics, who
come and go so often. Where the room is too small for two beds, a narrow
truckle-bed kept under another during the day will answer. Domestics
should be furnished with washing conveniences in their chambers, and be
encouraged to keep their persons and rooms neat and in order.
The care of the Kitchen, Cellar, and Store-room is necessarily the
foundation of all proper housekeeping.
If parents wish their daughters to grow up with good domestic
habits, they should have, as one means of securing this result, a neat
and cheerful kitchen. A kitchen should always, if possible, be entirely
above-ground, and well lighted. It should have a large sink, with a
drain running under-ground, so that all the premises may be kept sweet
and clean. If flowers and shrubs be cultivated around the doors and
windows, and the yard near them be kept well turfed, it will add very
much to their agreeable appearance. The walls should often be cleaned
and white-washed, to promote a neat look and pure air. The floor of a
kitchen should be painted, or what is better, covered with an oilcloth.
To procure a kitchen oilcloth as cheaply as possible, but cheap tow
cloth, and fit it to the size and shape of the kitchen. Then have it
stretched, and nailed to the south side of the barn, and, with a brush,
cover with a coat of thin rye paste. When this is dry, put on a coat of
yellow paint, and let it dry for a fortnight. It is safest to first try
the paint, and see if it dries well, as some paint never will dry. Then
put on a second coat, and at the end of another fortnight, a third coat.
Then let it hang two months, and it will last, uninjured, for many
years. The longer the paint is left to dry, the better. If varnished, it
will last much longer.
A sink should be scalded out every day, and occasionally with hot
lye. On nails, over the sink, should be hung three good dish-cloths,
hemmed, and furnished with loops; one for dishes not greasy, one for
greasy dishes, and one for washing greasy pots and kettles. These should
be put in the wash every week. The lady who insists upon this
will not be annoyed by having her dishes washed with dark, musty and
greasy rags, as is too frequently the case.
Under the sink should be kept a slop-pail; and, on a shelf by it, a
soap-dish and two water-pails. A large boiler of warm soft water should
always be kept over the fire, well covered, and a hearth-broom and
bellows be hung near the fire. A clock is a very important article in
the kitchen, in order to secure regularity at meals.
WASHING DISHES.
No item of domestic labor is so frequently done in a negligent
manner, by domestics, as this. A full supply of conveniences will do
much toward the remedy of this evil. A swab, made of strips of linen
tied to a stick, is useful to wash nice dishes, especially small, deep
articles. Two or three towels, and three dish-cloths should be used. Two
large tin tubs, painted on the outside, should be provided; one for
washing, and one for rinsing; also, a large old waiter, on which to
drain the dishes. A soap-dish, with hard soap,
and a fork, with which to use it, a slop-pail, and two pails for
water, should also be furnished. The following rules for washing
dishes will aid in promoting the desired care and neatness:
1. Scrape the dishes, putting away any food which may remain on
them, and which it may be proper to save for future use. Put
grease into the grease-pot, and whatever else may be
on the plates into the slop-pail. Save tea-leaves for
sweeping. Set all the dishes, when scraped, in regular piles, the
smallest at the top.
2. Put the nicest articles in the wash-dish, and wash them in hot
suds with the swab or nicest dish-cloth. Wipe all metal
articles as soon as they are washed. Put all the rest into the
rinsing-dish, which should be filled with hot water. When
they are taken out, lay them to drain on the waiter. Then rinse the
dish-cloth, and hang it up, wipe the articles washed, and put them in
their places.
3. Pour in more hot water, wash the greasy dishes with
the dish-cloth made for them, rinse them, and set them to drain. Wipe
them, and set them away. Wash the knives and forks,
being careful that the handles are
never put in water; wipe them, and then lay them in
a knife-dish, to be scoured.
4. Take a fresh supply of clean suds, in which wash the
milk-pans, buckets, and tins. Then rinse and hang up this
dish-cloth, and take the other, with which, wash the roaster, gridiron,
pots, and kettles. Then wash and rinse the dish-cloth, and hang it up.
Empty the slop-bucket, and scald it. Dry metal teapots and tins before
the fire. Then put the fire-place in order, and sweep and dust the
kitchen.
Some persons keep a deep and narrow vessel, in which to wash knives
with a swab, so that a careless servant
can not lay them in the water while washing them.
This article can be carried into the eating-room, to receive the knives
and forks when they are taken from the table.
KITCHEN FURNITURE.
Crockery.--Brown earthen
pans are said to be best for milk and for cooking. Tin pans are lighter,
and more convenient, but are too cold for many purposes. Tall earthen
jars, with covers, are good to hold butter, salt, lard, etc. Acids
should never be put into the red earthen ware, as there is a poisonous
ingredient in the glazing which the acid takes off. Stone ware is better
and stronger, and safer every way than any other kind.
Iron Ware.--Many kitchens
are very imperfectly supplied with the requisite conveniences for
cooking. When a person has sufficient means, the following articles are
all desirable: A nest of iron pots, of different sizes, (they should be
slowly heated when new,) a long iron fork, to take out articles from
boiling water; an iron hook, with a handle, to lift pots from the crane;
a large and small gridiron, with
grooved bars, and a trench to catch the grease; a Dutch oven, called
also a bake-pan; two skillets, of different sizes, and a spider, or flat
skillet, for frying; a griddle, a waffle-iron, tin and iron bake and
bread pans; two ladles, of different sizes; a skimmer; iron skewers; a
toasting-iron; two teakettles, one small and one large one; two brass
kettles, of different sizes, for soap-boiling, etc. Iron kettles, lined
with porcelain, are better for preserves. The German are the best. Too
hot a fire will crack them, but with care in this respect, they will
last for many years.
Portable charcoal furnances, of iron or clay, are very useful in
summer, in washing, ironing, and stewing, or making preserves. If used
in the house, a strong draught must be made, to prevent the deleterious
effects of the charcoal. A box and mill, for spice, pepper, and coffee,
are needful to those who use these articles. Strong knives and forks, a
sharp carving-knife, an iron cleaver and board, a fine saw, steelyards,
chopping-tray and knife, an apple-parer, steel for sharpening knives,
sugar-nippers, a dozen iron spoons, also a large iron one with a long
handle, six or eight flat-irons, one of them very small, two
iron-stands, a ruffle-iron, a crimping-iron, are also desirable.
Tin Ware.--Bread-pans; large
and small patty-pans; cake-pans, with a centre tube to insure their
baking well; pie-dishes, (of block-tin;) a covered butter-kettle;
covered kettles to hold berries; two sauce-pans; a large oil-can; (with
a cock;) a lamp-filler; a lantern; broad bottomed candlesticks for the
kitchen; a candle-box; a funnel; a reflector for baking warm cakes; an
oven or tin-kitchen; an apple-corer; an apple-roaster; an egg-boiler;
two sugar-scoops, and flour and meal-scoop; a set of mugs; three
dippers; a pint, quart, and gallon measure; a set of scales and weights;
three or four pails, painted on the outside; a slop-bucket with a tight
cover, painted on the outside; a milk-strainer; a gravy-strainer; a
colander; a dredging-box; a pepper-box; a large and small grater; a
cheese-box;
also a large box for cake, and a still larger one for bread, with tight
covers. Bread, cake, and cheese, shut up in this way, will not grow dry
as in the open air.
Wooden Ware.--A nest of
tubs; a set of pails and bowls; a large and small sieve; a beetle for
mashing potatoes; a spade or stick for stirring butter and sugar; a
bread-board, for moulding bread and making pie-crust; a coffee-stick; a
clothes-stick; a mush-stick; a meat-beetle, to pound tough meat; an
egg-beater; a ladle, for working butter; a bread-trough, (for a large
family;) flour-buckets, with lids, to hold sifted flour and Indian meal;
salt-boxes; sugar-boxes; starch and indigo-boxes; spice-boxes; a
bosom-board; a skirt-board; a large ironing-board; two or three
clothes-frames; and six dozen clothes-pins.
Basket Ware.--Baskets of all
sizes, for eggs, fruit, marketing, clothes, etc.; also chip-baskets.
When often used, they should be washed in hot suds.
Other Articles.--Every
kitchen needs a box containing balls of brown thread and twine, a large
and small darning needle, rolls of waste paper and old linen and cotton,
and a supply of common holders. There should also be another box,
containing a hammer, carpet-tacks, and nails of all sizes, a
carpet-claw, screws and a screw-driver, pincers, gimlets of several
sizes, a bed-screw, a small saw, two chisels, (one to use for
button-holes in broadcloth,) two awls and two files.
In a drawer or cupboard should be placed cotton tablecloths for
kitchen use; nice crash towels for tumblers, marked T T; coarser towels
for dishes marked T; six large roller-towels; a dozen hand-towels,
marked H T; and a dozen hemmed dish-cloths with loops. Also two thick
linen pudding or dumplings-cloths, a jelly-bag made of white flannel, to
strain jelly, a starch-strainer, and a bag for boiling clothes.
In a closet should be kept, arranged in order, the following
articles: the dust-pan, dust-brush, and dusting-cloths,
old flannel and cotton for scouring and rubbing, large sponges for
washing windows and looking-glasses, a long brush for cobwebs, and
another for washing the outside of windows, whisk-brooms, common brooms,
a coat-broom or brush, a whitewash-brush, a stove-brush, shoe-brushes
and blacking, articles for cleaning tin and silver, leather for cleaning
metals, bottles containing stain-mixtures and other articles used in
cleansing.
CARE OF THE CELLAR.
A cellar should often be whitewashed, to keep it sweet. It should
have a drain to keep it perfectly dry, as standing water in a cellar is
a sure cause of disease in a family. It is very dangerous to leave
decayed vegetables in a cellar. Many a fever has been caused by the
poisonous miasm thus generated. The following articles are desirable in
a cellar: a safe, or movable closet, with sides of wire or perforated
tin, in which cold meats, cream, and other articles should be kept; (if
ants be troublesome, set the legs in tin cups of water;) a refrigerator,
or a large wooden-box, on feet, with a lining of tin or zinc, and a
space between the tin and wood filled with powdered charcoal, having at
the bottom a place for ice, a drain to carry off the water, and also
movable shelves and partitions. In this, articles are kept cool. It
should be cleaned once a week. Filtering jars to purify water should
also be kept in the cellar. Fish and cabbages in a cellar are apt to
scent a house, and give a bad taste to other articles.
STOREROOM.
Every house needs a storeroom, in which to keep tea, coffee, sugar,
rice, candles, etc. It should be furnished with jars, having labels, a
large spoon, a fork, sugar and flour-scoops, a towel, and a dish-cloth.
MODES OF DESTROYING
INSECTS AND VERMIN.
Bed-bugs should be kept
away, by filling every chink in the bedstead with putty,
and if it be old, painting it over. Of all the mixtures for killing
them, corrosive sublimate and alcohol
is the surest. This is a strong poison.
Cockroaches may be destroyed
by pouring boiling water into their haunts, or setting a mixture of arsenic mixed with Indian
meal and molasses where they are found.
Chloride of lime and sweetened water will
also poison them.
Fleas. --If a dog be
infested with these insects, put him in a tub of warm soapsuds,
and they will rise to the surface. Take them off, and burn them. Strong
perfumes about the person diminish their attacks. When caught between
the fingers, plunge them in water, or they will escape.
Crickets. --Scalding, and
sprinkling Scotch snuff about the haunts of these insects,
are remedies for the annoyance caused by them.
Flies can be killed in great
quantities, by placing about the house vessels filled with
sweetened water and cobalt.
Six cents' worth of cobalt is enough for a pint of water.
It is very poisonous.
Mosquitoes. --Close nets
around a bed are the only sure protection at night against these
insects. Spirits of hartshorn is the best antidote for
their bite. Salt and water is good.
Red or Black Ants may be
driven away by scalding their haunts, and putting Scotch snuff
wherever they go for food. Set the legs of closets and safes in pans of
water, and they can not get at them.
Moths. --Airing clothes does
not destroy moths, but laying them in a hot sun does. If articles be
tightly sewed up in linen when laid away, and fine tobacco
put about them, it is a sure protection. This should be done in April.
Rats and Mice. --A good cat
is the best remedy for these annoyances.
Equal quantities of hemlock (or
cicuta) and old cheese
will poison them; but this renders the house liable to the inconvenience
of a bad smell. This evil, however, may be lessened, by placing a dish
containing oil of vitriol poured on saltpetre
where the smell is most annoying.
Chloride of lime and water is also good.
In using any of the above-mentioned poisons, great care should be
taken to guard against their getting into any article of food or any
utensil or vessel used for cooking or keeping food, or where children
can get at them.
|
