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48 chapters
PART I THE PLAY-HOUSE
PART I THE PLAY-HOUSE
You should have seen the china-closet. It was under a bent root, and all the dishes were white with violet markings. One might have thought they were big and little and middling-sized clam-shells, if one had not seen them in a china-closet. There was a bedroom between two big roots. A doll was taking a nap there, not on a pine-pillow, but on a whole bed of pleasant-smelling pine needles which had dropped off a tree in the neighbourhood. The mistress of the house was in the kitchen cooking, and t
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IRISH STEW
IRISH STEW
Do you ever have Irish Stew for luncheon? Most Irish Stews are a good deal alike, but this is the story of one that was different. Once upon a time there was an Irishman who lived in a little two-roomed hut on the edge of a bog. All day, he cut peats in the bog, for that is the way he made his living. It was not a very good living; in fact, he was very poor indeed. At night, when he came back to the hut, there were often only a few potatoes for supper, which he boiled in a pot over the fire. His
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KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES
KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES
A good while ago there was a king of England named Alfred. He was a great and good king, but in spite of this, he had many enemies, who tried to take his kingdom away from him. Once, after a battle, the country was so overrun with his enemies, that he had to separate from his followers and go away in disguise. You would never have guessed he was a king when he started, and when, after he had wandered a few days in the forest, he came to a cowherd's hut, he looked like a hungry, ragged beggar. Th
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ROAST PIG
ROAST PIG
Long ago, longer than you can even imagine, nobody in the world knew how to cook. People were not as dreadfully hungry on that account as you might think, because, you see, they ate their food uncooked. No one had ever cooked, and no one had ever thought of it; no one had ever eaten cooked food, and no one knew how pleasant it tasted. This is the story of the way a little Chinese boy found out how to roast pig. His name was Bo-bo and he had been left at home by his father, Ho-ti, to look after t
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THE KING'S KITCHEN
THE KING'S KITCHEN
When King Arthur was King of England, a boy named Gareth, was growing up in a castle far away from Camelot, the King's city. But he had two brothers who were at Court, and who were Knights of the Order of the Round Table, and when they came home, now and then, Gareth asked them more questions than you could count about the King and his knights, and the Court, and tournaments, and battles. Every day, he rode and practised with lance and sword, and exercised in all ways that would make him strong
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BROTHER JUNIPER'S COOKING
BROTHER JUNIPER'S COOKING
Have you heard stories about Saint Francis of Assisi? There are a great many, and people like to hear them over and over again. For, though Saint Francis lived most of his life in a little, faraway, country town in Italy, called Assisi, and though he died hundreds of years ago, yet every year many people go to see the place where he lived, and the church where he is buried, and many people in countries far away from Italy love him as well as they do their friends whom they can see and talk to. O
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THE WIDOW'S CRUSE
THE WIDOW'S CRUSE
Long, long ago, there was a famine in a little town called Sarepta. For months and months there had been no rain, and nothing could grow in the fields, and the streams dried up and the sheep died and many people died, too, because they had no food. A widow lived in Sarepta, who had one boy, and she was poor. When the famine began she had just one barrel of meal and one cruse of oil, and because she knew she could get no more, she and her son ate as little as they could, but even so, in a few mon
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THE LUNCHEON
THE LUNCHEON
If we sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and then sailed as far east on the Mediterranean Sea as we could, we should come to Asia. Then if we travelled into Asia for a little distance, we should come to a small lake. Long ago, this lake was called the Sea of Galilee, and one of the little towns on the shore was named Bethsaida. In this town, almost one thousand, nine hundred years ago, a boy lived and played and went to school. His uncles had boats on the lake, for they were fishermen, and the bo
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THE FIRE OF COALS
THE FIRE OF COALS
It was spring-time, and eventide, in the thirty-third year of that amazing time when God walked on the earth, not only everywhere, and in every man as He does now, but Himself in the form of one Man. Five of those men who loved Him best, and had been with Him most often, stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the quick-coming darkness. Only a week or two before, they had seen their dear Lord nailed on a cross and left to die. And He had died. And when that happened, they felt they could not
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LEARNING AND HELPING
LEARNING AND HELPING
"She was one of those persons who possess, as their exclusive patrimony, the gift of practical arrangement. It is a kind of natural magic that enables these favoured ones to bring out the hidden capabilities of things around them; and particularly to give a look of comfort and habitableness to any place which, for however brief a period, may happen to be their home." It is odd, is it not, the way we are always saying that we "feel at home," or "not at home," or "homesick," or that something is "
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I MY HERITAGE
I MY HERITAGE
"It is a fair ground." Then—"yea, I have a goodly heritage." There is joy in beauty, and in possession—and more than that. There is exultation in the vision of seed-time and harvest, of growing beauty and usefulness, of life renewed; and in the strength and power to work for all this and to achieve it. It is not fanciful to say that a woman may regard her heritage in some such way as this. The childhood, and the homes of the world are hers, and her work is the making of men and women. If she cho
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II THE PLAN
II THE PLAN
If we wish the people for whom we keep house to be well and happy, and good, we shall plan to make them so, as earnestly and definitely as if we were making a train schedule, or drawing the plans of a house, or writing the outline of a book. The object of a housekeeping plan may be an ideal, but the plan is based on a definite, practical fact—the amount of income. The plan itself is the record of the choices made in the outlay of that amount of income. The first thing for a family to do when the
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III THE ACCOUNTS
III THE ACCOUNTS
Accounts are as old as the brick books of Assyria. They have been found necessary to business transactions for ages. One of the reasons that housekeeping does not receive its proper recognition as a business and a profession is that it does not bear the stamp of either in the form of accurate accounts and statistics. Perhaps these are lacking because so many women are driven to tears or fury by accounts. It is odd that they are, too, for they keep golf and tennis scores, and devote themselves to
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(a) DAILY WORK
(a) DAILY WORK
The following is a list of daily work in an average house. Besides these things some piece of periodical work is done each day. Outside affairs usually decide the time at which these activities are performed. Meal hours in most cases depend on the work hours of some of the family, and on the meal hours depend the times when other things are done. Who shall do the work depends on the number of workers, the occupations which they have beside housework, and the periodical work of the day. If there
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(b) PERIODICAL WORK
(b) PERIODICAL WORK
The following is a list of periodical work for an average house. When can these things be done, and who is to do them? We will consider the laundry work first. This should be the periodical work for two days of the week; if it runs over it crowds other things, and indicates that the wash is larger than we may have it with the present number and quality of workers. On the days devoted to laundry work, the daily work should be as brief and the meals as simple as possible. Of course, when there is
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(c) SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES
(c) SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES
One or two general remarks about schedules are necessary before the subject can be closed. As far as possible heavy, dirty work should be done in the morning, the workers are more able to do it then, and besides, the cook does not wish to do such things when getting the dinner, nor the waitress when she should be dressed for the afternoon, nor the mistress at the social time of the day. In making a work schedule, a savings fund is as necessary as in making a plan of expenditure. If every one in
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V POSSESSIONS
V POSSESSIONS
Much time and money and weary labour would be saved, much comfort and loveliness would be gained if we could persuade ourselves to follow William Morris's rule: "Have nothing in your rooms which you do not think to be beautiful and know to be useful." Were this rule suddenly put in practice, what a bundling out of rubbish would ensue. A Bonfire of Vanities would rise in no time, built of little tables and pedestals, cushions and bows, curtains, vases, pictures that no future generations would ca
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VI CARE OF FITTINGS AND FURNITURE
VI CARE OF FITTINGS AND FURNITURE
The Ceiling. —In the first place each room has a ceiling. Ceilings are usually plain and light coloured, because they are not easy to look at and because they are reflectors. They are not ornamented on account of our necks; they are not made dark coloured on account of the light bills. Ceilings for the most part need little care. When the room is cleaned, they should be wiped, either with a long-handled mop with a wool head—dry—or with a broom in a bag. The former is harder to get but is better,
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VII UPSTAIRS WORK
VII UPSTAIRS WORK
The Sequence. —A reasonable order for this work is the following: Shut the door of the room unless the weather is warm. Roll the shades to the top of the windows. Open the windows top and bottom. Open the closet doors. Take the bedclothes from the bed and spread them across two chairs set far enough apart to keep the clothes from lying on the floor. Spread the lower sheet in a place by itself and remember which it is. Turn the mattress over the foot of the bed, or turn it up on edge. Do these th
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VIII DINING-ROOM AND PANTRY WORK
VIII DINING-ROOM AND PANTRY WORK
To allow fruit or any kind of food to stand in the dining room is a poor custom. Such things attract flies, create an odour of food in the room, and encourage the indulgent habit of eating bits now and then between meals. The plant or flowers used on the table need a little care each day. Water in which flowers stand, quickly becomes discoloured enough to show dark against a white cloth, and soon gives off an unpleasant odour. Even when there is little time for looking after such things, one can
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(a.) FURNISHINGS
(a.) FURNISHINGS
Many of us have no opportunity to choose whether our kitchens shall be large or small. In building a new house, however, the opportunity sometimes presents itself, and some of the things to consider in making the choice are the number of people who are to work in the kitchen, the size and elaborateness of the meals to be prepared there, whether there is to be also a pantry and a store room, whether the laundry work is done in the kitchen and whether the servant or servants have any other place t
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(b.) UTENSILS
(b.) UTENSILS
The number and size of kitchen utensils depend upon the space in which they must be kept and the number of persons in the household. Their quality and, to some extent, their number depend on what we are able to pay for them. If the space for keeping utensils is small, their number must be kept down to the minimum. Even with ample space, it is well now and then to weed out superfluous or inadequate utensils, for each adds a straw's weight to the work of the kitchen. It is only a straw, but you kn
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THE PLUMBING
THE PLUMBING
Before settling down to live in a place, one should know where the water supply comes from, and where waste water goes. If the water supply in a city or town comes from a far away stream or an artesian well, and the health of the community is fairly good, one may rest content. If, however, the water is notably or probably polluted, one should boil or at least filter water for drinking and cooking and in every way possible safeguard the family health from this source of danger. A sewerage system
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FIRES
FIRES
To make and manage fires one must understand them. They are simple and easy to understand, but they are also capable of giving a person who is unacquainted with their ways great trouble and anxiety. A Wood Fire. —A wood fire on the hearth is the simplest one in a house. Can you make it? One must have in the first place, a hearth, a flue and a draught. The hearth is merely a place in the floor laid with stone or brick to put the fire on. A flue is a chimney or a part of a chimney over the hearth
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LIGHT AND WATER
LIGHT AND WATER
Watch the bills which come in for light and water. If they vary considerably and for no discoverable cause, or if they seem unreasonably large, have some one come and see if there are leaks, if the metres register correctly, and if they have been correctly read and the bills made in accordance with the readings. Light bills naturally increase from June to December and decrease from December to June. They will be larger in a stormy month than in a bright one, and in an apartment with dark rooms t
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THE REFRIGERATOR
THE REFRIGERATOR
A refrigerator serves its purpose better if it is placed in a pantry or on an enclosed porch. If it must be put in the kitchen, it should have the place farthest from the fire. The drain pipe of the refrigerator, which carries off the water from the melting ice, sometimes empties into a pan, sometimes connects with other pipes which carry the water out of the house. It should never connect with the other drainage of the house, nor lead to any well or sewer which receives other drainage. No traps
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1. MENUS
1. MENUS
Mr. G. K. Chesterton has said a wise word on the subject of keeping good health. It is: "The one supreme way of making all those processes go right, the processes of health and strength and grace and beauty, the one and only way of making certain of their accuracy, is to think about something else." He supports this idea with the command: "Take no thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink." The only person in a household who should busy herself with matters of diet is the housekeeper. The
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MARKETING
MARKETING
Making a wise menu does not by any means produce a meal. It is a first step in the process, the next is to buy the food which is required by the menu. Many women like to shop, and even more like to have it thought that they know how to shop. For some unknown reason shopping for food does not usually excite the same interest nor is it so coveted an accomplishment. I wonder if it seems less interesting because the things shopped for are not "to keep." If this is the reason, one has but to remind o
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1. THE PROCESSES
1. THE PROCESSES
The most usual processes of cooking are broiling, boiling, stewing, braising, frying, roasting and baking. Broiling. —Food is broiled by being held close to a fire of glowing red coals. The utensil needed for doing this is a wire broiler, which should be greased before the meat is laid in it, preferably with a bit of fat from the meat. In broiling, the chief object is to keep the juices of the meat from running out. For this reason the meat is laid close over the red coals for about ten seconds,
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2. THE PREPARATIONS
2. THE PREPARATIONS
Food usually needs some preparation for the processes of cooking. Though it requires nothing more, it is almost invariably first washed in clean, fresh water. Meat. —Fresh meat should be rinsed quickly in cold water. Meat which has been smoked or salted often needs scrubbing with a brush as well as rinsing, and salt meat frequently requires to be soaked for several hours. Poultry. —Poultry is usually sent to the market killed and plucked, and is sometimes "drawn" before it is sent from the marke
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3. THE SEQUENCE
3. THE SEQUENCE
Going into the kitchen to make one dish; or getting a supper for which much of the food has been previously prepared, gives no suggestion of one of the chief difficulties in getting meals. This difficulty is the sequence of work. Unless thoughtful and orderly arrangements are made, one dish will be done too early, another too late, the cook may find she is required to perform two pieces of work at once and the last moments before the meal will be crowded with more things than can possibly be don
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WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
The laundry, like the kitchen, should be light coloured, cleanly, orderly and furnished only with articles needed for the work. I was taken in to see a laundry not long ago which had pale green walls and two sunny windows. It contained appliances for the work, a substantial laundress and a highly coloured picture of the Madonna . There was also a cricket, not the kind you sit on, but the kind that chirps....
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1. APPLIANCES
1. APPLIANCES
As the appliances for washing and ironing are many, and some of them for uses not entirely obvious, a list with a few comments on each item may be useful. Tubs. —Two are needed, three are more convenient. When the washing is finished, the tubs should be scrubbed, rinsed and dried before the covers are closed. Portable wooden tubs also need scrubbing and rinsing, but must not be allowed to get very dry. If they are kept in a warm, dry place, put a little clean water into each one. When allowed to
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2. THE PROCESS
2. THE PROCESS
Where soiled clothes are to be kept during the interval between wash days is often a difficult question. A closet in the laundry made especially for the purpose is one solution; a hamper set in some ventilated but secluded spot in the house is another. It is unfortunate that often the bathroom is the only refuge for a clothes hamper. Articles like bed linen, which are only changed once a week should be changed as near the wash day as possible, but I do not think this matter so important that the
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3. SPECIAL WASHING
3. SPECIAL WASHING
The time and care required for washing some articles is so much more than can well be given them in the regular wash, that it is better not to attempt to do them on the wash day. Such articles are blankets, curtains, embroideries, lace, chamois gloves or any very delicate fabrics. Blankets are successfully washed by the method given previously for woollens, though the water used may be warm if preferred. In that case, the rinsing water must be equally warm. In washing both wool and silk it is ve
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4. ALLEVIATIONS
4. ALLEVIATIONS
Housewives make various arrangements by which the family wash may be done with less expenditure of time and strength on the part of the household than it usually requires. Some have a woman in to do this work; some have the clothes washed out of the house and sent home rough dried for ironing; others send the flat pieces to a laundry and have the others done at home; others yet send the elaborate pieces out and do the flat wash in the house. A somewhat different sort of compromise can be made if
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5. EMERGENCIES
5. EMERGENCIES
A word or two may well be said in regard to a few of the commonest difficulties that arise in this work. A rainy or violently windy day is probably the most frequent emergency. If one has an attic or a cellar, temporary lines can be put up in either or both; if one has not, there may be room for a line or two in the kitchen and the clothes horse must help out. If there is no place where clothes can be hung in the house, either put the washing off, or get all the white clothes to the stage of the
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XIV HOUSE CLEANING
XIV HOUSE CLEANING
House cleaning is of two classes: that which is done when the house is continuously occupied, and that which is done when a house is opened or closed after a season of absence or of occupation. For either class, a careful preparation removes half the difficulties and for both ample time should be allowed. One should especially beware while house cleaning of what Bishop Hall calls the "lust of finishing." Try to clean only as much each day as can be put back into habitable order by the time the m
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1. COOKING EMERGENCIES
1. COOKING EMERGENCIES
Stale bread or cake can be freshened by plunging it into cold water and then setting it in the oven for a few minutes. It must be used at once. Pieces of stale bread may be thoroughly dried in the oven, then put through the meat chopper and kept in a glass jar for covering croquettes, fried oysters, etc. Pieces of meat which in appearance and quantity will not be suitable for a meal may often be used by arranging some vegetable on the same dish. The pieces can be warmed in gravy and wreathed wit
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2. SOME SUBSTITUTES FOR ARTICLES CALLED FOR BY RECEIPTS
2. SOME SUBSTITUTES FOR ARTICLES CALLED FOR BY RECEIPTS
For milk. —Water, or milk and water, may be used in either cake or bread when receipts say milk with little variation in result except that bread and cake thus made dry more quickly. Sour milk may be used in mixtures which require sweet if just enough soda is put into it to make it sweet, and the baking powder is measured grudgingly. Sweet milk may be used when a receipt calls for sour if lemon juice is stirred into it until the milk thickens. For celery in salad. —Use tender cabbage and celery
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3. STAINS AND SPOTS
3. STAINS AND SPOTS
Fruit and wine stains. —If fruit juice or wine is spilled at table, cover the spot with salt. The salt lessens the stain, saves the appearance of the table, and diverts attention from the culprit who did the spilling. Boiling water poured through fruit or wine stains will usually remove them entirely. If it does not, try a weak solution of oxalic acid. Coffee and tea. —Pour boiling water through the stains until they disappear. Ink and iron rust. —Cover a spot of either ink or iron rust with sal
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4. ANNOYING CREATURES
4. ANNOYING CREATURES
Ants. —Powdered borax sprinkled on shelves and along baseboards and door sills will keep ants away. Ants will not walk over broad, thick chalk lines. Such lines drawn round boxes and jars some distance above the shelf or floor on which they stand will protect them from ants. Ants and other crawling insects may be kept out of a cupboard which stands on legs, if its legs are set in bowls or cans of water. To wash cupboards and shelves with a strong solution of alum and water (1 lb. to 2 qts.) is a
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5. BURNS AND STINGS
5. BURNS AND STINGS
Keep in the kitchen a few soft, old white rags for wrapping burns, cuts, bruises and other injuries. Keep also for these hurts a bottle containing two teaspoonfuls of borax dissolved in one quart of water; or two ounces boracic acid dissolved in one quart of water. Either of these mixtures is healing, soothing and antiseptic. Always wrap burns; air aggravates them. Keep them wet with one of these solutions and the pain will soon be allayed. Wrap burned fingers separately, or they will stick toge
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6. SERVING OF MEALS FOR THE SICK
6. SERVING OF MEALS FOR THE SICK
Meals for people who are in bed are an emergency of housekeeping. In their preparation, economy should not be exercised unless it is grievously necessary. Sick people are easily annoyed and often have no appetite; sometimes they have even a disgust for food. The necessity then is that their food should be the best, the freshest, the most inviting and the most carefully cooked. It is also important that food should be really hot or really cold when it is intended to be. Coffee or tea served in a
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7. GUESTS
7. GUESTS
Including guests in the chapter on emergencies is not intended as a discourtesy. They owe the classification to the fact that they are sometimes unexpected and always need a little special thought and care, however simply they are received. It does not seem to me that the people who make no preparations whatever for guests are any more in the right than those who make themselves sick-in-bed getting ready for them. It is not necessary to sweep the whole house, clean the attic and whitewash the ce
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XVI SERVANTS
XVI SERVANTS
There are two things which each woman can do toward solving this problem; one is to find out all she can about it in general, and the other is to deal as wisely and calmly as she may with the particular servant or servants in her care. One of the most obvious things about the situation is that there is something very much the matter. Listen for only a few minutes to a group of women talking about their servants and you will hear a most disheartening list of complaints. Discount this list somewha
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XVII MARTHA
XVII MARTHA
For why should it not do all these things? Lawyers, doctors and teachers give all their time and thought to their work; nurses, companions and secretaries do not have much time to go out; women who stand behind counters, tend looms or sit at switchboards are often too tired even for pleasure when the day's work is done. A woman who earns her part of the family living by making a home cannot expect to be delivered from toil. Is it likely that she can succeed in a difficult profession without givi
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XVIII THE INSPIRATION
XVIII THE INSPIRATION
There is a picture by Murillo, called "The Angels' Kitchen," of angels with wide wings folded, and star-eyes bent on the daily tasks of housewives. There is also Brother Lawrence, who had "a great aversion" to the work of the kitchen, but "accustomed himself to do everything there for the love of God," and so found "everything easy during fifteen years." When Lacordaire was asked why he thought it important to keep his tiny secluded room in spotless order, he replied, "The Holy Angels always see
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