CHAPTER VII

Man and the ape shared a common ancestor.Is it a reversion to type which causes us to scramble about on all fours when we scrub and clean?Our developed intelligence should deter us from adopting monkey-like attitudes and time-wasting methods.

Man and the ape shared a common ancestor.

Is it a reversion to type which causes us to scramble about on all fours when we scrub and clean?

Our developed intelligence should deter us from adopting monkey-like attitudes and time-wasting methods.

PLATE XXIXA STEAMER WHICH CAN BE USED TO COOK A WHOLE DINNER OVER ONE GAS RINGThis is made of block tin and boils with very little gas. Several forms of steamer, with from three to six compartments, can now be bought. The multiple steamer costs much less than three to six single saucepans, and burns much less gas.

PLATE XXIX

A STEAMER WHICH CAN BE USED TO COOK A WHOLE DINNER OVER ONE GAS RINGThis is made of block tin and boils with very little gas. Several forms of steamer, with from three to six compartments, can now be bought. The multiple steamer costs much less than three to six single saucepans, and burns much less gas.

A STEAMER WHICH CAN BE USED TO COOK A WHOLE DINNER OVER ONE GAS RING

This is made of block tin and boils with very little gas. Several forms of steamer, with from three to six compartments, can now be bought. The multiple steamer costs much less than three to six single saucepans, and burns much less gas.

CHAPTER VIIWhat this Chapter is AboutLabour and Time-Saving Housekeeping—Ordering in Advance—Cooking Mornings—Labour-Saving Utensils—The Late-Dinner Bogey—Simplified Requirements.

What this Chapter is About

Labour and Time-Saving Housekeeping—Ordering in Advance—Cooking Mornings—Labour-Saving Utensils—The Late-Dinner Bogey—Simplified Requirements.

CHAPTER VIIOther People's Experiences of Labour-Saving Homes(Continued)

CHAPTER VII

Other People's Experiences of Labour-Saving Homes(Continued)

For many a year I have thought that the average good domesticated woman wasted far too much of her own time and that of her servants in housekeeping, while, on the other hand, many women give too little time and attention to their households.

Clever organisation will do much to lighten the work of a household. Take, for example, the ordering of meals and the cooking thereof. The average mistress orders the meals each day with no regard except for the needs of that special day, and the average cook cooks in just the same short-sighted manner. Now, I hold that in a well-regulated establishment, with an intelligent cook, it should not be necessary to order the meals more than three times a week, unless special entertaininghas to be considered. The mistress knows the number of her household, and can calculate with sufficient nicety what can be done with the available material, while the cook should be able to make the most of the various odds and ends which can be utilised for breakfast dishes, savouries, servants' supper, and so forth.

Where an inexperienced or otherwise unsatisfactory cook reigns, then a brief daily inspection of larder and back premises in general may be necessary; but still all the main part of the planning and ordering can be done twice or three times a week.

In this book I do not wish to deal specially with war conditions, so let us take, for example, a well-to-do country household of four persons (husband, wife, two children) and five servants, cook, between-maid, housemaid, parlourmaid, and nurse. In such a case the maids are, as a rule, experienced, and the cook a woman who receives anything between £26 and £35 a year.

There is generally a guest staying in the house, and a couple of people to lunch on Sunday, various friends to tea, and probably two or three more friends to lunch during the week. The mistress of this house elects to have housekeeping mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, though, ofcourse, it is understood that she will visit the back premises on any other mornings if it is advisable to do so.

On Monday the contents of the larder are as follows: Piece of cold roast ribs of beef, remains of two boiled chickens, half a ham, half a cold fruit tart, some lemon sponge, some potted meat, and part of a tin of sardines.

Now, meat should always be ordered in advance so that the butcher may have it properly hung. If the larder is not very good the butcher will keep the meat until the day on which it is needed, otherwise a joint should always be hanging in the larder, and in this case aforequarter of lamb has been in the house since Saturday.

Madame plans her menu, and writes it in her order book as follows:—

Order Day.—Monday.—Lunch for Five, 1.30P.M.—(The two children are present.) Cold Beef. Salad. Mashed Potato. Minced Chicken with Pearl Barley stewed in stock. Milk Pudding. Cold Fruit Tart. Lemon Sponge in glasses. Cheese, Biscuits and Butter. Servants' hall same as dining-room, except for chicken.

Dinner for Three, 8P.M.—Cream of Cucumber Soup (made from chicken stock). Soufflé of DriedHaddock. Lamb Cutlets. Potatoes. Cabbage Purée. Apple Meringue. Sardine Savoury.

Tuesday.—Breakfast, 9A.M.—Cold Ham. Scones. Fruit. Boiled Eggs.

Luncheon, 1.30P.M.(two extra).—Tomatoes au gratin. Mousse of Salmon. Roast Partridges. Sauce. Crumbs. Fried Potatoes. Salad. Apple Gâteau. Cheese Biscuits. Fruit. Coffee.

Servants' Dinner.—Roast Shoulder of Lamb. Potatoes. Vegetable. Pudding.

Dinner for Three, 7.45P.M.—Clear Soup. Fillets of Sole, and Macaroni au gratin. Tournedos of Beef. Potatoes. Vegetable Marrow. Ginger Cream. Curried Croûtons.

Order Day.—Wednesday.—Breakfast.—Cold Ham. Cold Game. Salmon Coquilles.

Luncheon for Four, 1.30P.M.—Scotch Broth (scrag end of Neck of Lamb). Roast Beef. Yorkshire Pudding. Brown Potatoes. Stewed Spanish Onion. Bread-and-Butter Pudding. Ginger Cream. Servants' dinner same, except for soup.

Dinner for Two, 7.45P.M.—Carrot Purée. Timbale of Lamb (remains of cold lamb). Vegetables. Fricassée of Eggs. Apple Tart.

Thursday.—Breakfast.—Ham. Toast. Potted Game (remains of partridges). Boiled Eggs.

Luncheon, 1.30P.M.(one extra).—Riz à la Turque. Cold Beef. Salad. Potatoes. Fruit Compote. Junket. Cheese, etc.

Dinner for Two, 7.45P.M.—Curry Soup. Fillets of fresh Haddock. Roast Grouse. Crumbs. Salad. Fried Potatoes. Nut Sauce. Pineapple Jelly (some of pine used in Fruit Compote). Anchovy Straws.

Order Day.—Friday.—Breakfast.—Egg Kedgeree. Bacon.

Luncheon, 1.30P.M.—Fish Pie. Knuckle of Veal stewed with rice. Parsley Sauce. Boiled Damson Pudding. Servants' hall same.

Dinner for Four, 8P.M.(two guests Friday to Monday).—Celery Soup. Fillets of Whiting. Chutney Sauce. Soufflé of Veal. Curry Sauce. Roast Partridges. Sauce. Crumbs. Salad. Potatoes. Compote of Pears. Devilled Liver Croutons.

Saturday.—Breakfast.—Game Toast. Bacon. Poached Eggs. Cold Tongue. Scones. Fruit.

Luncheon.—Hominy Cutlets. Beef Steak Pie. Cold Game. Salad. Vegetables. Portuguese Apples. Milk Pudding. Cheese.—Servants' dinner.—Beef Steak Pie. Baked Apple Pudding.

Dinner for Four, 8P.M.—Clear Beetroot Soup. Mock Whitebait. Tartar Sauce. Chicken Cutlets.Braised Tongue and Sweet Corn. Spinach. Mousse of Blackberries. Cheese croquettes.

Sunday.—Breakfast.—Grape Nuts and Cream. Cold Tongue. Haddock. Egg Dish.

Luncheon for Eight, 1.30P.M.—Mousse of Chicken and Tomato Salad. Braised Beef (hot). Cold Tongue. Salad. Vegetables. Damson Tart. Pearl Barley Cream. Cheese Biscuits. Fruit. Cake.

Supper.—Soup. Stuffed Eggs in aspic. Cold Braised Beef. Salad. Potatoes. Trifle. Stewed Fruit. Savoury Tartlets.

Monday.—Breakfast for Four, 8.30A.M.—Porridge. Creamed Eggs. Bacon. Cold Tongue. Fruit.

It is not necessary, of course, for the mistress to write directions as to the stock to be used for this or that soup, etc. These details I have added for the use of the inexperienced reader.

When a dish is queried it means that the cook must use her own discretion as to whether there is enough chicken, or whatever it may be, or if she must substitute some otherplat.

PLATE XXXSQUARE AND SHALLOW KETTLE, WHICH EXPOSES A LARGE SURFACE TO THE GAS, BOILS QUICKLY AND SAVES MONEY

PLATE XXX

SQUARE AND SHALLOW KETTLE, WHICH EXPOSES A LARGE SURFACE TO THE GAS, BOILS QUICKLY AND SAVES MONEY

PLATE XXXaA SINGLE STEAMER—TWO DISHES COOKING—ONLY ONE GAS RING BURNING

PLATE XXXa

A SINGLE STEAMER—TWO DISHES COOKING—ONLY ONE GAS RING BURNING

The object of ordering in this fashion is that it saves the time of both mistress and cook, the tradesmen's orders can be given in advance, and the cook can arrange her work to the bestadvantage. The butcher should have his orders weekly, if possible, and the fish order will probably be sent by post or rail, the keeper of the poultry yard can be warned of what will be needed from his department also, and so muddle and fluster is discouraged throughout the establishment. In a town household I have practised this method with success also, and recommend it to any busy woman, while I have never yet known a cook who did not appreciate it when once she had given it a trial.

In towns, because the shops are so near, cooks are far too liable to leave everything to the last minute, and the mistresses' telephone bell and the unfortunate tradesmen's boys and horses suffer greatly in consequence, or the time of the kitchen underling is wasted in "just running out" to get something which should have been ordered the day before.

In houses where the cook is inexperienced, and food is bought in far smaller quantities, the daily visit to the kitchen becomes necessary partly because the mistress must see that the premises are kept clean each day, and partly because the cook may not realise how to make the best of the "pieces."

Half the secret of catering well on a smallallowance lies in knowing how to use pieces, and of taking advantage from day to day of fluctuations in price, which latter cannot be done in the same way when standing orders must be given.

Even in tiny households, however, the mistress may do much to lighten the labour of the cook, and to save expense both of coal and material by planning her bills of fare with care, and showing her cook how she may prepare in one morning various items which will come in during the next two days, when perhaps there will be less time to spare for culinary efforts owing to the necessity for turning out a room, cleaning the kitchen, or washing.

The example given is that of a good-sized country house; but in town it is possible to shop personally and take advantage of the state of the market. Even so, three housekeeping and two shopping days should suffice. Perishable odds and ends can be bought when going out on other business.

These methodical methods answer well in several small households known to me, where the mistresses are women busy over social work, or who have professions.

One clever manager sends me the following letter:—

PLATE XXXIAN OVEN WITH HOT PLATE AND GRILL(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

PLATE XXXI

AN OVEN WITH HOT PLATE AND GRILL(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

AN OVEN WITH HOT PLATE AND GRILL

(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

"In these days, when so many women are managing with a smaller domestic staff than usual, and often doing much of the actual work themselves, they might try the experiment with advantage of 'cooking mornings,' a plan already mentioned several times by you. It is a method which makes for efficiency and better results with less work.

"In the first place, to give up the whole of Friday morning and a couple of hours on Tuesday to the preparation of food alone, means that one has not to leave the housework or sewing on other days to mix one odd dish or so, thereby effecting a certain saving of time; secondly, much less fuel is used than would have been required to heat the stove for the same number of dishes prepared separately; thirdly, the labour of washing up and cleaning culinary utensils is much reduced. A really good manager can always plan the meals well for several days ahead, so if provisions and stores are ordered in beforehand, that again is far better than constant daily marketing for small supplies.

"My personal plan, which answers very well, is to sketch out menus roughly, order meat, etc., onThursday, and prepareso far as I canon Friday, something after this fashion.

"The range, being well heated, will cook both in the oven and on the top as fast as I can get things ready, and I can usually make two sorts of soup (two meals' supply in each), a milk soup for immediate use, and a vegetable, lentil, or haricot purée which will keep a day or two; then any remains of meat, game, or ham are minced and used to stuff tomatoes, onions, or potatoes, and put aside for breakfast or lunch dishes; fish is flaked and made into rissoles or a pie; beef steak or shin of beef, cutlets or rabbit or a pigeon can be prepared and cookeden casseroleready for reheating when required; a cold dish for Sunday supper, which will come in also for breakfast or lunch, such as a small meat mould, or a beef galantine is prepared; next, a batch of scones, which keep well in a tin, and some rock cakes or a plain ginger loaf or sultana cake (for present use), and either a good chocolate or cherry cake or some little fancy 'petits fours,' which will be ready in case of emergency, and, if not required earlier, will be just as good towards the end of the week.

"Sweets are the next thing, and usually four or five are arranged for. A good batch of pastry may be made, say a fruit tart, one or two fancy ones, such as Bakewell, treacle, or custard, some little jam puffs or lemon cheesecakes or 'maids-of-honour,' which keep splendidly; in this case a meat pie (steak and kidney, rabbit, or veal and ham) would be made instead of the cold meat dish. On alternate weeks, or if pastry is not wished for, the sweets take some such form as a Swiss roll, a batch of castle puddings, French pancakes (all of which will keep in the invaluable air-tight tin), with a rice meringue or rice, cream and fruit for Saturday, and a boiled suet pudding of some sort (ginger, treacle, or lemon), or a steamed sponge pudding for Friday's dinner.

"Now work this out and see what a well-supplied larder you can rejoice over, and how little cooking you have to do the next three days. Then when Tuesday comes, utilise any remains of Sunday's joint, make another simple sweet or two, some cheese straws, or savoury eggs; develop more soup out of the stock which will by now have accumulated, and with a fresh batch of scones, and perhaps some stewed fruit, you may count on two more days clear for the many other tasks which fall to a good housekeeper's lot, and also for the most necessary free time for rest and recreation.Moreover, still another advantage of this 'look-ahead' plan is the ease of mind which the knowledge of your well-filled shelves will give you in the case of an unexpected visitor, or any other of those unlooked-for emergencies which will arise even in the best-regulated and most business-like households."

Because everyone else does it scarcely seems a reason why you must do it.

PLATE XXXIIANELECTRIC KITCHEN IN A CITY INSTITUTION. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)

PLATE XXXII

ANELECTRIC KITCHEN IN A CITY INSTITUTION. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)

"For a long time it was the late-dinner bogey which caused us to keep more servants than we needed, and to live expensively and rather uncomfortably.

"At last my husband's dislike of cooks became so passionate (and not without reason), that I determined to change my household arrangements, arguing that we could scarcely have worse food than we were having already. My husband, I must explain, is one of those men who cannot eat a heavy lunch and work after it, so he needs a hot and substantial dinner. How was this to be arranged with only one servant who went out twice a week, and a wife who only wished to cook in the morning?

"Well, we managed thus. We bought a neat electrical heater for the dining-room, and put the hot dishes ready on it and all the cold things on the sideboard. Then when dinner was announced, the maid waited, and as she never had to leave the room, she managed well, even when we had friends to dinner.

"After all, in restaurants food is not cooked just for you, it is prepared and finished or kept hot in hot cupboards or on hot plates. Managing as we now do our hot food is always hot, and the saving in wages, upkeep and food considerable. On Sunday night we have supper with hot soup, and on the other nights I choose such a menu as soup, stewed oxtail with carrot and turnip, potato cake, cold sweet or cheese, celery, etc. Coffee (if we need it) we make in an apparatus in the dining-room.

"Of course, we had to have a labour-saving house, otherwise I could not have done the work with one servant and a nurse."

The writer of this letter uses an electric heater, but in a "gas house" the "Utility" gas ring with hot plate would take its place.

An illustrated booklet and price list of this excellent contrivance may be obtained from the Gas, Light and Coke Company, Horseferry Road, S.W.

PLATE XXXIIITHE ELECTRIC IRON (NEVER BECOMES DIRTY)(The Brompton and Kensington Accessories)

PLATE XXXIII

THE ELECTRIC IRON (NEVER BECOMES DIRTY)(The Brompton and Kensington Accessories)

THE ELECTRIC IRON (NEVER BECOMES DIRTY)

(The Brompton and Kensington Accessories)

PLATE XXXIIIaAN ELECTRIC HEATER FOR THE SIDE TABLE(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

PLATE XXXIIIa

AN ELECTRIC HEATER FOR THE SIDE TABLE(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

AN ELECTRIC HEATER FOR THE SIDE TABLE

(The Dowsing Radiant Heat Co.)

"In reply to your letter, I will describe my domestic methods. You can testify, can you not, that my little flat is well-kept and that the meals are nicely served?

"As you know, the flat consists of sitting-room, bedroom, bathroom, tiny kitchen, linen cupboard and box cupboard, and a cupboard in which I keep all cleaning utensils.

"In the bathroom is a fitted basin, so I have not even a washstand in my bedroom. The kitchen sink and bathroom are served by one gas geyser, and I have gas fires and a gas cooker. I should like a coal fire in the drawing-room, but it would make too much work. There is electric light.

"There is an 'in' and 'out' indicator in the hall, and a little box under it for my cards and notes.

"My floors throughout the flat are covered with a soft, streaked, green linoleum (not the plain, as that shows every mark). My dining-room table (just large enough for four) is round, and folds flat against the wall in the hall when not in use. I have rugs which I can go over with my Bissel sweeper, or with my Good Housewife suction cleaner. I use the latter for the chairs, sofa, mattresses, and curtains. The linoleum I dust and polish with long-handled mops, and as I object to crawling about on hands and knees, I have a special long-handled mop and pail with wringer attached for washing floors and a long-handled scrubber for the kitchenand hall. But when you do your own housework, and have no coal, it is wonderful how clean things keep. My knives are stainless steel and need no polishing. I have glass rather than silver, and fireproof china ware in which I cook and serve the food. I have no polished metal, and I use newspapers for most purposes for which other people use cloths. I never dry plates and cups, but just put them in a rack to dry.

"My rooms are rather empty, but what is in them is really good.

"My day is arranged thus. Foreign-fashion breakfast, put ready over night on a tray (covered), with coffee and milk ready mixed. This I heat. I light the geyser, and while the water heats have my breakfast in bed. In cold weather I can switch on my bedroom fire from my bed, and as my gas-ring has a long tube, heat my coffee without getting out of bed if I please.

"After breakfast I get up and put on an overall instead of my dress. With no fires and no washstand work and my long-handled cleaners the work is quickly done. I prepare what I need for lunch and dinner; food is so simple a matter when you live alone: my lunch, for example, is generally milk pudding, cheese and fruit, and my dinner oftwo courses, meat or fish and sweet or cheese, and often I buy cooked food if I am very busy.

"I work from eleven until three or four. Then I go out and generally have tea with friends or at my club.

"I come in, dine, tidy up, put breakfast ready, and often work for an hour or two, or read, and go to bed.

"I give up Friday to special turning out and cleaning, mending, etc.

"My entertaining consists of tea or dinner (not more than four). Then I have a waitress who clears away and washes up. For such dinners I have soup, fish au gratin, stewed pigeons with savoury rice, or chicken en casserole, potato croquettes, cold sweet, cheese, coffee, dessert. The kind of dinner which can all be put ready for the waitress down to the last detail.

"I should detest to exist in a squalid muddle, but really it is not necessary to do so. Living as I do I can save money. If I kept a servant I should spend all I earn and be no more comfortable."

"I wonder if ladies who do their own work realise that it is possible to wash up and still keep one'shands nice by using rubber gloves and different sized mops. When I began to do my own work for a family of husband and four children I had great trouble with my nails splitting. Now my hands are as nice as ever they were. I have three mops of different sizes, one with a brush on the back for hard rubbing. I wear a rubber glove on my left hand (they cost 1s. 3d. a pair, and I have had one pair for months) and use the water practically boiling, as one can tilt up plates, etc., out of the water with the mop, and plates slipped into a rack will then require no drying. My saucepan brush has a long handle and the wire bristles are put in on the slant. I can wash up after any meal without wetting one finger. I have an old skewer stuck in the woodwork beside the sink, and on to it I slip the glove to dry between washings up. I have found it a great saving of time and trouble, too, to have long-handled sweeping brushes, and I have ordered a long-handled hard scrubbing brush, mop, and wringer, so that I can do the scullery and kitchen, etc., without getting down on my knees or putting my hands in water."

"The higher a woman's education, the better housewife she ought to be. When Molière was so hard on learned women, he was not making fun of erudition, but of the affectation of erudition, which relegated into a corner all homely virtues.""First Aid to the Servantless,"By Mrs. J. G. FRASER.

"First Aid to the Servantless,"

By Mrs. J. G. FRASER.

CHAPTER VIIIWhat this Chapter is AboutCounting the Cost—The Cost of Service as well as of Material—Coke Furnaces—Radiators—How to Light and Stoke a Coke Furnace—Rubbish Burning—Some Figures—Two Examples of Houses in which Coke Furnaces are used—A Maisonette in which a Gas Circulator is used—Taking Advice—Gas for Water Heating and for Lighting—Gas Fires—The Gas Cooker and how to use it—The Cost of Gas Cooking—Cooking Utensils—Cleaning—Rubbish Destructors—Slot Meters—Reading the Meter.

What this Chapter is About

Counting the Cost—The Cost of Service as well as of Material—Coke Furnaces—Radiators—How to Light and Stoke a Coke Furnace—Rubbish Burning—Some Figures—Two Examples of Houses in which Coke Furnaces are used—A Maisonette in which a Gas Circulator is used—Taking Advice—Gas for Water Heating and for Lighting—Gas Fires—The Gas Cooker and how to use it—The Cost of Gas Cooking—Cooking Utensils—Cleaning—Rubbish Destructors—Slot Meters—Reading the Meter.

CHAPTER VIIICoal, Coke, and Gas: How to Use Them to the Best Advantage

CHAPTER VIII

Coal, Coke, and Gas: How to Use Them to the Best Advantage

Of all labour-saving forces at present available, I think we must regard electricity and gas as the most important.

Often, however, it is not for us to choose which we will employ. We must needs use gas if electric current is not available, and we must count the cost of both before deciding whether or no we may employ either.

Counting the cost is not so simple a matter as it seems, for it does not suffice to ascertain the price of gas per 1000 feet, and of electricity per unit, and of coal and coke per ton, and of wood per 100 bundles, because you have also to ascertain what you can save in labour and in other items before you can arrive at any just conclusion.

Let us suppose that you decide to build a house and warm it by hot water, to light it and to cookby gas or electricity. In that case you could save the cost of grates, chimneys, the kitchen range, fenders, fireirons, coal boxes, chimney sweeping, a considerable amount of cleaning, and the labour of the people who would be needed to handle the coal and do the cleaning.

So you must consider the matter carefully, not forgetting that it is further complicated by the fact that you may find it difficult to obtain servants, and that it might pay you to use gas or electricity even though coal was cheaper, because of the scarcity and high cost of labour. You have also to consider that the cost of coal, gas, and electricity depend to some extent on the people who use them. One cook, for example, will burn nearly double the coal burned by another and obtain no better result. It is the same with gas and electric current.

PLATE XXXIVELECTRICAL KITCHEN OF A SMALL FLAT. ALL LIFTING AND STOOPING IS AVOIDED.(The British Electric Transformer Co.)

PLATE XXXIV

ELECTRICAL KITCHEN OF A SMALL FLAT. ALL LIFTING AND STOOPING IS AVOIDED.(The British Electric Transformer Co.)

ELECTRICAL KITCHEN OF A SMALL FLAT. ALL LIFTING AND STOOPING IS AVOIDED.

(The British Electric Transformer Co.)

Now, taking into account the fact that no water company has yet been sufficiently enterprising to provide a supply of hot water, I think the cheapest and most labour-saving method of warming houses and providing hot water is by means of a coke furnace or possibly two furnaces. These should heat all the radiators and supply all hot water.My personal experience of a coke furnace is that it needs but little attention, and that coke is light, clean, and easy to handle as compared with coal. These furnaces do, however, need some coal to light them. The procedure is as follows:—

PLATE XXXVA DINING-ROOM HOT PLATE. (Messrs. Townshends, Ltd.)

PLATE XXXV

A DINING-ROOM HOT PLATE. (Messrs. Townshends, Ltd.)

PLATE XXXVaTHE "DREADNOUGHT" WASHING-UP MACHINEWhich may be worked by hand or by electricity. It is made in various sizes and obviates the necessity of putting the hands into greasy water or of wiping the plates, cups, etc. Silver may be washed in addition to china in the machine.

PLATE XXXVa

THE "DREADNOUGHT" WASHING-UP MACHINEWhich may be worked by hand or by electricity. It is made in various sizes and obviates the necessity of putting the hands into greasy water or of wiping the plates, cups, etc. Silver may be washed in addition to china in the machine.

THE "DREADNOUGHT" WASHING-UP MACHINE

Which may be worked by hand or by electricity. It is made in various sizes and obviates the necessity of putting the hands into greasy water or of wiping the plates, cups, etc. Silver may be washed in addition to china in the machine.

First thing in the morning, rake out the furnace and keep the clinker (burnt coke). Put in paper, some sticks, and a shovelful of coal. Light. When burning up add some fresh coke. When well alight, and the water hot, add more coke mixed with clinkers. If the water is quite cold it takes some fifty minutes to get it really hot, though a warm bath would be ready in thirty minutes. If, however, the furnace is banked at night, the water would still be warm at 6.30 in the morning.

In my own house, we need three hot baths before the 8.30 breakfast, and the furnace must be lighted by 6.30 to 6.40 to obtain them. If the cook comes down late she uses more coal to get the furnace burning quickly. After breakfast the cook feeds the furnace with a little more coke, the rubbish and some more coke on top. Rubbish should not be put in unless the fire is fairly hot. The furnace heats a large radiator, water for two bathrooms,two sinks, and three hand-basins. In winter, the furnace is banked up after lunch, and not made up again until before dinner, and the supply of hot water is constant, and there can be hot baths at night if needed; but if all the hot water is run off at night and the furnace is not made up again it naturally takes longer to heat the water in the morning. In summer the furnace is let out after the rubbish is burned; and with a small household the water for washing up is heated on the gas.

One cook who came down late used far too much coal to light the furnace (which is bad for it, as it fouls the flue with soot), threw away all clinkers, and would not burn rubbish, and therefore consumed quite one-third more coke than the present cook, and obtained no better result.

Still, all things considered, I know no better or more economical method of heating the rooms and providing hot water in a household of any size than the coke furnace. This I should not say were gas and electricity cheaper, because, of course, a water heater which is set going by turning a tap or switch is obviously more labour-saving than a furnace.

In almost all households gas or electric heaters are practical, because if used carefully they are not too expensive, and in small houses or flats where the mistress is her own maid, or depends upon help from a visiting worker, I should certainly recommend the abolition of either coke or coal from the labour-saving point of view alone.

PLATE XXXVIAN ELECTRIC COOKER SUITABLE FOR ORDINARY USEOven, grill and toaster plate, warmer and hot plate. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)

PLATE XXXVI

AN ELECTRIC COOKER SUITABLE FOR ORDINARY USEOven, grill and toaster plate, warmer and hot plate. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)

AN ELECTRIC COOKER SUITABLE FOR ORDINARY USE

Oven, grill and toaster plate, warmer and hot plate. (Messrs. Crompton & Co.)

I find that in the two years we have used the furnace we have consumed 120 sacks of coke, but part of it was mixed with the coal burned in the drawing-room. I must also admit that during part of this time the fuel was carelessly used. In addition to the coke burned in the furnace, coal was needed for lighting it. We used nine tons of coal in two years, for the drawing-room fire (a large old-fashioned, extravagant grate) and for the furnace. These were partly war years, and coal cost on an average 35s. a ton, and the coke 1s. 2d. a sack; roughly £11 10s. for furnace and drawing-room fire per year. In addition, the gas bills for two years have been, for cooker and five fires (one of the latter lighted in dining-room for about three hours a day, another burned a good deal in Christmas holidays, fire in servants' hall used in the afternoon in cold weather, and two bedroom fires only for an hour or two in the eveningwhenverycold, except during a three-weeks' illness, and one or two days when people had colds), about £40. Gas is at the war price (in London) 3s. per 1,000 feet, and (for "war reasons") inferior in quality to what it was before the war, and the figure includes meter and stove rent (two stoves, kitchen, and servants' hall).

When considering these sums it must be remembered that this is a small London house, and that the furnace in the kitchen heats that and keeps the smoking-room above from ever being very cold. The large radiator in the hall, heated from the furnace, makes an enormous difference to the warmth of the house; also the drawing-room fire was not lighted in the morning except in really cold weather. To the coal, coke, and gas bills must be added 14s. worth of wood during the two years. Old boxes were chopped up, so that if all the wood had been bought it might have amounted to 18s. or £1, say £32 10 0 for a year's fuel.

Had we used a coal range and coal fires and had no radiator, I calculate that the cost of coal would amount to at least £35, and that we should have used more wood, and certainly we could not have run the house without more help.

When counting the cost of heating, lighting, and cooking, allow for expert's figures. The average servant, and for that matter, the average mistress, is not an expert, and until she is, will not be able to obtain the best value for the money spent as does the expert.

In another household known to me, the furnace is larger and more coke is used, and it is made up at about seven o'clock, at midday, and again at night. This furnace heats water for two bathrooms, three sinks, four hand-basins, and radiators all over the house. The house is always beautifully warm, and only a small fire "for company" is needed in the drawing-room. In this house there is a coal range for cooking, but in hot weather an oil stove is used. The quantities of fuel used are for two years: 13 tons coal, 18 tons coke, 8 tons anthracite, 234 gallons of oil.

In a maisonette of three floors, gas is used for cooking and for water heating and nursery ironing ring, and coal for dining-room fire, drawing-room in late afternoon and evening, and nursery when necessary. (Child goes to a kindergarten.) The cost for coal and gas for the year 1915 was £28 10s. In flats where the bathroom is near the furnace less fuel is needed.

In all of the three cases mentioned the labour bill would have had to be increased had coal been inuse everywhere. Furthermore, a gas expert tells me that with more careful use the bills could be reduced; but as one is seldom able to secure the services of experts, allowance must be made for careless usage of fuel when counting the cost.

PLATE XXXVIIA GOOD TYPE OF ELECTRIC FIRE(Messrs. Crompton and Co.)

PLATE XXXVII

A GOOD TYPE OF ELECTRIC FIRE(Messrs. Crompton and Co.)

A GOOD TYPE OF ELECTRIC FIRE

(Messrs. Crompton and Co.)

Let us deal now with the question of gas, and suppose that the hot water is provided by a gas circulator, that it is, for various reasons, not feasible to put in radiators, and that a gas cooker and gas fires are used.

There are various kinds of circulators, rubbish destructors, cookers and fires, and so great has been the improvement in their mechanism and appearance that I really do not think any objection on the score of health or appearance can be made now to the use of gas. One disadvantage is, possibly, that some of the best and most modern fires and cookers cannot be hired. Still, one does not hire one's fireplaces and coal ranges, so why do we always expect to obtain gas fires and cookers on hire?

Some fires I have lately seen were really attractive, and would not spoil the effect of any room.

Readers of this book who wish to see what can be done for them by means of gas should visitthe showrooms of the various gas companies, and especially those of Messrs. Davis, 60, Oxford Street, W.

Before deciding on any special fires, stoves, etc., the customer should ask the gas company to inspect the premises and to give advice as to the best method of dealing with that particular house or flat, because the choice of apparatus must depend on the situation of the boiler, the length of pipes needed, the height of the house, the position of the bathroom, and the kind of grates available.

In some houses it would be out of the question to heat water by gas, in others it would be possible and even economical.

But I regret to have to say that the gas companies do not always seem to have employees capable of giving the best advice. In London, the Gas Light and Coke Company have a clever staff, amongst whom are several ladies known as the Women's Advisory Staff. These ladies are extremely helpful, and when they have talked the matter over with the prospective customer, will call in experts who deal with the questions of cost, of fitting, etc. Two heads are better than one, and therefore I alwaysadvise the would-be gas-user to pick the brains of one of these ladies (who are trained cooks as well as gas experts), as well as those of the male staff.

When the cookers and fires have been installed a lady will then call, free of charge, and demonstrate the use of the various apparatus, and it can also be arranged that the fires, cooker, etc., are inspected and kept in order for a nominal sum per annum.

Regarding the use of gas for water heating, it would be useless for me to go into details, for only an expert who has seen the house can know how best to deal with the matter, and whether to advise the use of geysers, califonts, hydrotherms, etc.; or whether gas circulators should be ruled out and a coke furnace substituted. Excluding the cost of installation, and under suitable circumstances, it is estimated that a large hot bath costs rather less than twopence, and one less full and not quite so hot, rather more than one penny. The cost must vary a little, as in summer time the temperature of the water before heating is higher than in winter, also the size of baths varies.

When using gas for heating, the baths and fitted basins should not be unnecessarily large, and notethat a square-bottomed bath will need more water to fill it than that which is curved. Do not forget that every pint of hot water costs something to make it hot.

Many improvements have been made in geysers of late, and they are now as fool-proof as any apparatus can be. But when one has to deal with a girl who will turn on the gas in the oven and forget that she has not lighted it, shut the door, and then, when the house reeks of gas, arm herself with a lighted taper and start looking for the escape, it is difficult to estimate against what depth of human folly the gas apparatus must be made immune.

Geysers are now contrived so that the one apparatus will serve several taps, and circulators are fitted with concentric burners, so that when the water is hot the ring is put out and only the small inner burner used.

Thermostats are fixed to reduce automatically the consumption of gas directly the water reaches a certain temperature.

A cut-out system is also applied to existing cylinders and tanks of unnecessarily large size.

When using a gas circulator the gas should be turned out when hot water is not required—a detail which many people forget.

For example, one servant heats the water for baths, washing up and cleaning, then the gas is put out after lunch, and is not lighted again until hot water is wanted at night. Another keeps the gas burning the whole day.

When electricity is available, I should not choose gas as an illuminant, but when it must be employed it is now so arranged and shaded that the effect is perfect and the blacking of walls and ceiling reduced to a minimum. It may surprise some of my readers to know that gas can now be fitted so that it is switched on and off from a wall switch in the same fashion as electricity. Incandescent burners make for economy, and nowbijouburners are to be had suitable for small rooms, offices, etc., which consume less than the large burners. Allowing for gas at 3s. per 1000 feet, one large incandescent burner costs one penny every eight hours, a medium burner one penny for every twelve hours, and abijouone penny for every eighteen hours.

When choosing a gas fire see that there is a duplex burner, so that two or three jets can be turned out, leaving the centre jets burning. Whenthe room is warm the smaller fire will suffice to keep it so. The best modern fires are noiseless and ventilated beautifully, and, as I have already said, they are really pleasing in appearance.

Nevertheless, I do not advise a gas fire, however good, as an economy in a room which is used for hours at a time. The cost of an average fire is said to be 1¼d. per hour, counting gas at 3s. per 1000 feet, and it does not pay to burn 1¼d. worth of gas per hour for fourteen or fifteen hours at a stretch. From the point of view of money-saving it would be cheaper to burn coal.

On the other hand, supposing a gas fire is lighted in a sitting-room in the morning, it can be turned out if the family are out in the afternoon, and not relighted until shortly before they return, for the advantage of gas and electric fires is that they are red-hot practically at once, whereas a coal fire takes time to burn up and become hot, and each time it is lighted it eats wood as well as coal.

Still, say what one will, a coal or wood fire is pleasanter to sit with, and for that reason, unless I were quite servantless, I would have one "live" fire in the house. Expert advice must be obtained when putting in gas fires in order to be sure thatthe kind most suitable is obtained, and the ventilation must be carefully attended to.

People often say, "Oh, I couldn't sit in a room with a gas fire," having no experience of a well-made, well-ventilated, and properly fitted fire.

There are old-fashioned, badly fitted gas fires which deserve every evil thing which can be said of them; but again there are many others: there is even a fire which can be set alight by turning a switch at your bedside, so that you do not set foot out of that warm refuge until the temperature of the room has become pleasant to your lightly clad form.

When choosing a gas cooker there are many points to consider, and I own that to my mind the ideal cooker has not yet been put upon the market. It is, however, bound to come, and gas cookers, unlike ranges, are easily changed.

The cooker should have a solid hot plate,[2]and not an open top, but if this make cannot be obtained, a sheet of iron covering two-thirds of the top of the cooker can be laid on it. One gas burner will heat this, and several pans will simmer on it at the cost of one burner.

The ordinary cooker is generally fitted with one simmering burner and about three boiling burners, which is wrong, for to one dish which needs boiling for more than a few minutes, at all events, many need to simmer.[3]The great fault of English cooks is that they cook everything too fast, and the average gas stove does not discourage this naughty practice.

Still, this difficulty can be overcome by using the makeshift hot-plate as already described.

In addition to the boiling burners there should be a griller, which is used for browning and toasting, as well as grilling.

The size of the cooker must depend upon the amount of cooking needed, but it is no economy to have a very small one, because when the oven is in use it should be employed for almost everything. The average cook bakes a milk pudding in the ovenand cooks vegetables and hashed mutton and stewed fruit each on a boiling tap, and probably uses the griller as well, and wonders why the gas bills are so high.

Back to Index Next