Two girls making a bedPhotograph by Helen W. CookeStraight and Smooth
Photograph by Helen W. Cooke
Straight and Smooth
Put on the blankets, their upper edges reaching to the place where you intend to make the backward fold in the sheet. Fold them under about twelve inches at the foot, not at all at the sides; smooth them carefully.
If two people sleep in a bed or if the blankets are narrow, put a single blanket on crosswise, placing one of the selvages even with the edge of the mattress at the foot of the bed, then the ends will hang some distance over the sides. Some people fold double blankets evenly, some prefer to fold them with one binding a good way below the other binding. This preference depends on whether one likes the upper part of the bed covering thick or thin, and also whether the blanket is long enough to turn under at the foot when folded evenly. The fold, not the bindings should be at the foot of the bed, in order that, if too warm, one thickness of the blanket can be easily thrown back.
When all the bedclothes are on, with the exception of the spread, turn back the edge of the upper sheet over the blankets, leaving about a foot of the under sheet exposed. Then fold all the coverings neatly under the mattress at the sides, drawing them smooth and straight.
The spread is put over the whole bed. It shouldhang over at the sides and foot, far enough to hide the mattress, springs and all under parts of the bed which are not of the same material or finish as the upper parts.
Bolsters are laid flat either under or over the spread at the head of the bed. They are not so invariably used as in times past.
If there is no bolster, two pillows are sometimes laid flat in its place, and two pillows set on edge upon them. If there is a bolster, the pillows are set edgewise upon it. They must be well beaten, smoothed and set up securely.
If shams are used they should be spread over the pillows and bolster as smoothly as possible. They are usually supported by tapes fastened across the upper corners of the shams on the wrong side, and slipped over the corners of the pillows.
In places where dust and smuts must be constantly guarded against, one must either use shams or else cover the pillows with the spread. This last is often not an agreeable arrangement to the eye, but it is better than smirched and dingy pillows.
Bed linen is changed according to the quantity of linen the housewife possesses, the amount of laundry she can have done, and her own taste in the matter. The common tradition is a sheet a weekfor each bed, and a pillowcase a week for each pillow regularly used. In this case, the upper sheet becomes the lower sheet during the second week of its wear. This change is made because it is more agreeable to have the cleaner linen nearest one's face, and turned out to view when the bed is opened for the night.
If you do not sleep long and soundly after reading this description of bed making, I am sure it isn't my fault.
When the bed has been made, the room should be put in order; clothes put in the closet and the closet door shut, the sweeper run over the rugs if needful, all visible dust removed, articles on bureaus and tables put in their accustomed places, all drawers tightly closed, faded flowers and burnt matches removed, and everythingstraightened. Then partly close the windows, draw the shades to the same level at each window, and go on to the next room.
In extremely damp or extremely cold weather, one may have to get along with less airing, but it should not be lessened except for grave cause. In some houses, it will be more convenient to make all the beds before doing any dusting. If there are people in the house who do not leave their roomsuntil after breakfast, or who wish to occupy them very soon after breakfast, such rooms will have to be done separately and later or earlier than the others.
In the evening, bedrooms should be prepared for the night. Waste water should be carried away, pitchers filled, washstands tidied and beds opened. Shams and spread are removed from each bed and neatly folded. Leaving the sheet folded over the other bedclothes as it is already, turn them all back until they make a straight wide fold across the bed a little above the middle. Then straighten the coverings at the sides and tuck them under the mattress again, making everything very neat and straight. Put the pillows on the bed as the person who occupies it likes to have them. This can sometimes be discovered by noticing in the morning how the pillows are placed, unless the person is so exemplary as to open his own bed for airing. If you are preparing the bed for a stranger put the bolster and pillows back on the bed and allow the guest to arrange them later.
The night clothes and wrapper belonging to the occupant of the room should be laid across the foot of the bed or over a chair, and bedroom slippers put beside them on the floor.
This part of the upstairs work adds exceedingly to the comfort of a family, but I think it is one of the things to be left undone in households where the work is heavy and the workers few.
Bathroom.—The bathroom, like other rooms, needs some daily care and some periodical care.
Daily the stationary basin must be cared for as previously described.
The tub and its fixtures must be washed, and wiped entirely dry. For this it is good to have a stiff brush with a handle and a soft cloth. Both these conveniences should always be kept hanging on a hook near the tub. It is only common decency after one has used a bathtub to rinse and wipe it for the sake of the next person. If a brush and neat cloth are kept near the tub, the good-intentioned will find it easier to cleanse the tub, and the lazy will have less excuse for not doing it.
The wood and metal parts of the closet should be wiped, first with a damp cloth, then with a dry one. The china parts should be scrubbed thoroughly with soap and one of the long-handled brushes made for this purpose. When the scrubbing is finished, flush the closet and rinse it with the brush, then flush again. Leave the cover open. The bathroom should be thoroughly aired and as much sun aspossible let in while the upstairs work is being done.
Once a week, or twice a week, the bathroom will need a more thorough cleaning. Wipe the ceiling and walls with water if the finish permits. If not, with a dry cloth or mop. Wash all the fixtures, the woodwork and the floor with soap and water, and carefully dry them. Do not forget the outsides of the tub and basin. If the fixtures are nickel, they should be polished when they really need it, not oftener, with some patent nickel polish or with whiting. The woodwork of the closet should be rubbed with oil, especially if the finish begins to be worn. This prevents the wood from absorbing impurities.
If there are rugs in the bathroom, they should be washed as soon as they show need. No rug which cannot be washed should be allowed in an ordinary bathroom.
Many people recommend flushing waste-pipes now and then with a strong hot solution of washing soda. The overflow pipes should be included in this performance. Good, new plumbing, however can probably be spared treatment of this sort.
two girls in laundry roomPhotograph by Helen W. CookeAir, Sun, and Water
Photograph by Helen W. Cooke
Air, Sun, and Water
Bedrooms are cleaned every week or every fortnight in the same way that other rooms are. Theyare apt, however, to contain closets and these require some special care.
Closets.—When a room is being prepared for cleaning, the floor and baseboards of the closet should be wiped with a dry mop or cloth—anything which will not make a dust—and the door tightly closed. Once in a while, before the cleaning of the room if there is time, if not, on some other day, the clothing should be removed from the closet, the walls wiped, and everything washed which can be,—hooks, wire hangers, the rods on which these hang, shelves and floor should be washed with water in which has been put a generous quantity of ammonia, borax or boracic acid. These things are not liked by the various small insects which annoy housewives. They also help to prevent mustiness and "close" odours. After the washing, everything should be carefully wiped dry, and as much light and air let into the closet as possible. The contents should not be put in again until this drying and airing is finished. Do not wash closets on a rainy or humid day. If they have a musty or unpleasant odour, a few drops of oil of lavender put on a shelf or on the floor will help to remove it. A little chloride of lime, poured into a saucer and set on the floor of the closet, will also remove odours. Little bags of lavender or rose-geraniumleaves laid on closet shelves add much to the daintiness and freshness of the clothes kept there. The shelves should be covered with white paper cut, not folded, to fit the shelf. Folds afford harbourage for insects. Floors should be left without covering of any sort. Ideally, they are of hard wood like the floor of the room.
Clothes get more air, and are less creased and rumpled if they are hung on hangers suspended on a pole or wire, than when they are hung one piece on top of another on hooks fastened into the wall. Even in a wall closet, not more than ten inches deep, one gains space by stretching a strong wire from opposite hooks, and putting hangers on this. Four or five waists or dresses will hang without crushing on such a ten-inch wire. A closet with a shelf in it offers better hanging-space if hooks are put at intervals into the under side of the shelf. A hook like two J's, back to back, is made especially for this purpose.
It is well to give bedrooms a look of peacefulness. Some things which help in this are: perfect cleanliness, few decorations, few colours, a bed which looks like a bed, a regard for the occupant's wishes to have personal possessions one way rather thananother, and something else—I have no name for it, but it is there because the housewife has wished, as she made the bed and arranged the room, that the person who sleeps there may have rest and quiet of heart.
She has folded into the sheets perhaps this prayer:
And four great Angels guard this bed,Two at the foot and two at the head.
THE dining room is put in order daily and cleaned periodically in the same way that the other rooms in the house are cared for. The daily care of this room, however, has to be a little more thoroughly and thoughtfully given. It should be noticeably neat, carefully aired, and a trifle cooler than a living room. Pure air and the restfulness of order are favourable and refining to appetite.
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 take the flowers out, holding themin position, quickly clip off the ends of the stems and the leaves that are wet, and put them back into fresh water. A plant should be watered each day and have dust and withered leaves removed from it.
The hours for meals should be times of rest and social pleasure, they cannot be if disagreeable sights, sounds, or smells accompany them. Keep the dining room neat, aired and cool. In a clean, well-kept room there will be less fault-finding, scolding and gloom than in a neglected one. Such a room will also help people to be agreeable, attentive and interesting, in harmony with their surroundings.
The Table.—If the dining table has a polished top it will need special and frequent care. Some people prefer a table of which the top is a plain white wood because it does not need special care. Such a table must of course be kept covered with a linen cloth at meals and a table cover at other times.
A polished table must be constantly guarded from heat and scratches, and must be polished at regular intervals. Where very hot dishes are to be placed the table should have added to the usual protection of an undercloth the further protection of asbestos or basketwork mats. These can be hidden, if you wish, with linen carving cloths or doilies.
Rub the table briskly for a few moments everyday with a soft cloth or a piece of chamois skin. About once a week polish it more carefully. Before either of these performances remove any stickiness or greasiness with a damp cloth.
The mixture of sweet oil and vinegar recommended for furniture is excellent for a table. (1 tablespoonful of vinegar to 3 of sweet oil.) A mixture of equal parts sweet oil and turpentine is also good. Rub the table thoroughly with a soft cloth dampened with the mixture, then rub it with a clean cloth.
Dull spots occasionally appear even on the most carefully guarded tables. Long and frequent polishing will sometimes remove these. If the finish is seriously injured, however, amateur efforts to restore it are more likely to make it worse than better.
On account of frequent rubbing and unavoidable wear, the table-leaves in use should often be changed for those not in use, the whole table will then be of the same colour and in the same condition.
Table Setting.—Before beginning to set the table, see that it is the right size. Neither people nor dishes should be crowded if this can possibly be avoided; it is also undesirable to have the table too large for the number at the meal.
For dinner the table is first spread with a cotton-flannel or felt undercloth. This is not only to savea polished table from injuries; it improves the appearance of any table and prevents noise. Over it is laid the linen cloth, the middle crease running the length of the table exactly in the middle.
In some households a smaller, lighter tablecloth is used for breakfast and luncheon. In others, a luncheon cloth of embroidered linen, lace or drawn work is used for these less formal meals. In others, the table is left bare and doilies spread where plates and dishes are to be set. Many people who use doilies or a luncheon cloth for luncheon prefer a covered table at breakfast. These are all matters of taste or economy with one exception. It is the custom to spread the table for dinner with a cloth which entirely covers it.
When the tablecloth has been laid, a centrepiece of linen or lace is sometimes placed upon it in the centre of the table. If carving is to be done, a carving cloth is placed at the foot of the table in such a position that the platter will stand in the middle of it.
All the table linen, when removed, should be refolded in the creases made by the iron. Centrepieces and doilies should be laid flat in a drawer or the former rolled on a roller. A little care in this matter keeps the cloths fresh longer and protects delicate linen from too frequent washing.
A napkin is laid at each place, on the right or in the centre. Napkins should match the tablecloth but this is not always possible because they have to be changed more frequently than the cloth. Fresh napkins every day at dinner is the agreeable and not extreme method of changing them; to have fresh ones at every meal is rarely possible or necessary except in hotels; a change twice a week is the minimum at which any degree of comfort can be maintained.
When all the linen necessary is on the table, place exactly in the middle of the linen centrepiece the vase of flowers, plant or dish of fruit which is to be the centre decoration of the table. It makes variety and daintiness if this decoration is flowers or a plant or even a silver or glass vase rather than food in any form. A pretty thing helps to remind us that eating is not the only thing for which we come together. It may also afford a topic for pleasant conversation.
Two girls setting tablePhotograph by Helen W. CookeOrder and Daintiness
Photograph by Helen W. Cooke
Order and Daintiness
After the centre decoration is placed put on candlesticks or lamps, carafes, decanters, salts and peppers and any large objects which are to be used, leaving places for bread plates, relish dishes and the like. These things should be arranged symmetrically, not as if they were men on a checker-board, but withthe sort of symmetry which the leaves on a vine have. If there is not some evidence of design in the arrangement of a table, it will look littered.
Add now to the napkin at each place, everything which will be needed during the meal, or until the serving of the sweet at luncheon or at dinner, or until the serving of fruit as a last course at any meal. The finger bowl, doily and silver needed for these courses are frequently arranged on the plate to be used and brought to each place at the beginning of the course.
At the left of the place lay the forks in the order in which they are to be used; at the right lay the knives in the same order with their edges toward the plates; at the right of the knives lay the soup spoon. If the dessert spoon is put on the table it is placed at the right of the knives and the soup spoon. Spoons are laid on the table with the hollow of the bowl up, and forks with the ends of the tines up.
Besides the silver each place needs a glass for water—glasses are turned up, not down—and others suitable for any beverages which are to be served. A salt cellar will be needed if individual salts are used. These are not regarded favourably at present but are tolerated if each has a spoon. And either a small butter plate or a bread and butterplate and butter knife are put at each place except sometimes at dinner when butter is not served. When meals are formally served a plate is put at each place which is removed when the first course is brought.
One cannot lay places correctly without knowing the menu for the meal. The food to be eaten determines the objects needed for eating it.
When the table is set with the exception of the food, the sideboard or serving table, or both should be arranged. On these are put dessert or fruit plates arranged with finger bowls and silver, all the china not to be heated which will be needed for the courses of the meal, any seasonings or bottled sauces which the family are in the habit of asking for, a crumb tray and napkin or scraper, a small napkin or doily with which a spot of gravy or fruit juice could be quickly removed from the tablecloth, a water pitcher and a serving tray. If after-dinner coffee is made on the table, it is convenient to set out all the articles needed for this on a tray on the sideboard. Room must be kept on the serving table for the vegetable dishes which are usually left there during the course to which they belong.
A few minutes before a meal is served is the time toplace food such as pickles, jelly, bread, butter and milk on the table or the serving table and to fill the glasses with water. If ice is put into each glass it should be done carefully with a spoon. It adds to the appearance of butter balls and helps to keep them cool if a lettuce leaf is laid in the dish under them. They keep their shape and firmness better if kept in a bowl of water when in the refrigerator. At luncheon or breakfast bread is served on a plate or tray, or the loaf, board and knife are put on the table. At dinner a piece of bread is laid by each place or tucked into each napkin. Hot biscuits keep hot longer if a napkin is spread over the plate and folded over them. Cold bread or crackers, also cheese, are often served on a folded napkin, they look better so than on a plate.
In laying the table, time, steps and thought can be saved by taking as many things as possible from one place at one time. That is, after the linen is on the table. First put on everything needed from the sideboard, then everything needed from the china closet, then everything needed from the pantry. All the articles from each place can sometimes be brought in one trip with the help of a tray. If the flat silver is kept in a basket, it is better to carry the basket from place to place and take out whatis needed. This saves steps and some handling of the silver.
When the places where the dishes and silver are to be kept are first decided upon, and when the order in which the table is set is first learned, both should be done with the thought of saving steps and of opening drawers and doors as seldom as possible.
Tables should be set without noise. Not only because it is disagreeable to hear the rattling of dishes but because thumps, and clatter, and jingle mean scars on the table, nicks in the china, scratches on the silver and a lack of that dainty carefulness without which a table is never perfectly set.
Waiting.—"Waiting" requires more "head" than other household employments. One can keep accounts slowly and laboriously, one can sweep without possessing much tact, one can even cook without possessing a great degree of administrative ability, or do laundry work without a good memory. To "wait" cleverly requires all these qualities.
The object of waiting is that the needs and wants of those seated at table shall be supplied without effort, often without consciousness on their part. It also preserves the orderliness of the table, and makes inquiries about people's wishes unnecessary. One occasionally hears the objection made to carefulwaiting that it makes people thoughtless for the comfort of others. I would suggest that conversation made agreeable and amusing to others requires greater and more continued thoughtfulness than passing the beans and the butter.
The waitress should have in her mind a plan of the meal including not only the food but also the china, silver and linen needed for serving it. If a meal is more than two courses long, it is often better to have the plan written out. This is a little trouble, but saves mistakes, and the necessity of stopping to think when one has not time to think.
The waitress is expected to be in the dining room when the family enter for the meal. She should be ready to serve the first course as soon as they are seated. If this course is oysters or grape-fruit or some such thing, plates containing it are set before each guest. Two plates can be brought at once if there are no plates already on the table; if there are, the waitress can only bring one plate for she must remove the empty plate before she can set the other down. When the plates are all on the table she will then pass anything which accompanies the course. Sometimes various small relishes and biscuits such as are required with raw oysters can be put on the tray and all passed at the same time.
When the course is finished the soiled plates are removed two at a time and after that anything from the table belonging to the course. The soup plates are then brought and set before the hostess if the soup is to be served on the table. The tureen is placed before her, uncovered, and the cover deposited on the serving table. The waitress stands at the left of the person serving, takes each plate as it is ready and places it before a guest. If the soup is served from the pantry or the serving table, the plates are brought two at a time, as for the former course.
With a few changes in detail to be noted below, courses are served as one or other of the two described. This is an outline for serving a course.
Detail (a).—It is the custom for the host to serve the fish and do the carving. Perhaps it is a survival from the days when these things were the trophies of his hunting and fishing. The hostess serves the soup, salad and dessert.
Detail (b).—If the family is large the plates for the meat should be put on the serving table and one placed before the carver at a time. The waitress stands beside the carver with the next plate in her hand and puts it before him when she removes the one which is ready to pass. Or if the waitress is too much occupied to do this, three or four plates can be put before the carver, then three or four more.
Detail (c).—A vegetable requiring a separate plate, such as asparagus or corn on the cob, is served after the other vegetables. A plate for it is first put at the left of each place and then the vegetable is passed. Salad, when served with the meat course, is arranged for and passed in the same way.
Detail (d).—Everything to which a guest is to help himself is passed to him from the left side that he may comfortably use his right hand. Things which he has already accepted, like a serving of meat or a cup of coffee, are placed before him by the waitress.
Detail (e).—Some authorities say that the people on one side of the table should be served in the order in which they sit, then the people on the other side in the same order, without regard to sex or precedence. This is well enough for a table full of people of about equal age and importance, but in an ordinary family there are apt to be guests or a grandmother to whom all slight deferences are due. I took a meal with a family not a great while ago at which the two small children were served before the guests and their mother. Extraordinary spectacle!
The question whether the hostess shall be served first or not is much discussed. I can only say that I have never yet seen a "guest of honour" who would not have been glad if the hostess had been served before her.
The outline for serving a course, with the addition of the suggestions above, holds good until dessert. At the end of the course before dessert, the table is cleared of everything except the decorations and glasses. The carving cloth is lightly folded together and carried away. Crumbs are removed and any disarrangement restored to order. Then the dessert plates, arranged with finger bowl, doily and silver are brought from the sideboard. As soon as oneis placed before each guest the dessert is served. If it is served by the hostess the waitress takes the first plate from before the hostess as soon as it is ready and replaces it with an extra one which she has in her hand. She brings back the one she removes from before the guest whom she served and places it before the hostess when she removes the one filled in her absence.
The conventional dress for a waitress is a plain black frock with white collar and cuffs, a large white apron with a bib and shoulder straps, and a small cap. At breakfast she usually wears a light-coloured cotton frock instead of the black one as this is more suitable for the work she does in the morning. Her shoes should be comfortable for her own sake, and noiseless for the sake of others. The same cleanliness and daintiness which are necessary in her work should also be hers personally. I cannot believe that it is ever very difficult to persuade a girl to this. Probably a mistress need only express an interest in her waitress's hair, and teeth, and hands, and pretty looks and they will soon be well cared for. Such interest on the part of the mistress is not merely requited with an improvement in the appearance of her waitress. A girl who can put a dainty collar on herself has taken a long step toward being ableto put a dainty collar on a chop-bone; if her hands are clean and soft, she will not like disgusting dishwater or soppy glass-towels any better than her mistress does.
Waiting and elaborate methods of serving meals may easily become a nuisance and a burden instead of a help and a pleasure. To try for "appearances" to which the skill and strength of a waitress or a maid-of-all-work are unequal is to produce a worried hostess and nervous, wearied guests. A certain degree of order, daintiness and formality should characterize every meal, but these things do not depend upon the number of courses, nor upon the presence of a waitress.
In a household where there is no maid, thoughtfulness beforehand can prevent any getting up from table except between courses. All the food and accessories for a course must be placed on the table and served by some member of the family, and the plates must be passed from hand to hand. Sometimes two or even three courses can be agreeably put together, as when a salad is served with the meat course, or fruit and coffee are brought with the dessert. Often in this way a dinner can be acceptably served with only one or two clearings of the table, which under other circumstances would have been five or sixcourses long. A large tray on the serving table upon which the plates and dishes can be put and all removed together is a great assistance. Upon such a tray, also, everything necessary for a whole course can often be brought from the kitchen at one trip. The article known as a dinner wagon is even better as an assistant than a tray.
In a small family it makes less confusion if only one person does the necessary waiting. A daughter rather than a mother should do this, or the person who has not done the cooking rather than the person who has. In a large family two people should do the waiting, partly for speed, partly because it is hard work. There is the further advantage that work done by two people is much more cheerful than work done by one. I have little patience with families in which one sister does all the housework for a week or a month, and then another takes it for the same length of time. It is well enough to divide the work into departments and sometimes exchange those, but no sister should rock on the veranda while the other washes the dishes alone. In the first place it is not economic—two could do the work more quickly and then both could rest. And besides, what a loss of companionship! The most helpful and intimate talks I have ever hadwith one of my sisters have been while we were washing dishes together.
In households where there is but one maid, it is wise to make her duties as waitress few and simple. She is probably not trained for the work, and besides, if she has cooked the meal, she is hot and tired just at the moment when she should be fresh and alert. Under such conditions the waiting is not likely to be well and quickly done. If the maid does those things which prevent any getting up from table, that is really enough for her to do. If, however, you wish her to pass plates and vegetables, at least serve the sauce on the platter with the fish, have the gravy for the meat and the sauce for the pudding placed where the server can help them, and depend upon those seated at the table to pass the bread, butter, pickles and jelly which are before them.
In clearing the table, the large tray mentioned before is an aid which should be allowed to one maid. Any piling of dishes as they are removed, however carefully done, looks unpleasant; taking two plates to the pantry at a time costs many steps. The large tray on the serving table is a compromise between these alternatives which I have found good.
Waiting, like table setting cannot become excellent unless it is characterized by an almost exaggeratedcarefulness. Whether the meal is elaborate or extremely simple, evidences should never be lacking of minute thoughtfulness and of the use of careful hands.
The Pantry.—A pantry is like a tea basket, or a handy box, or a ship's cabin. It is a small space containing a great variety of useful things. The one virtue necessary above all others in such a space is orderliness. Without it convenient compactness becomes crowded confusion.
Things not connected with pantry work should have a place found for them elsewhere.
Things most frequently used should be on the shelves and in the drawers which require least reaching and stooping.
Things of the same kind should be grouped together except when this violates the previous rule. That is, for the sake of keeping all the platters together, it is not necessary to use precious space on the most practicable pantry shelf for a platter only used at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Dish Washing.—Dish washing is such a frequent and important part of pantry work that it deserves a few words of description, perhaps of praise.
Dish-washing accessories should be within arms' reach as one stands at the sink. They are: a dishpan,soap, borax or ammonia, towels—soft ones for the fine dishes, coarser ones for the heavier dishes—a dish drainer, a sink strainer for scraps. To these may be added a mop and a dishcloth if you feel you must have these articles, but I wish I could convert you to the use instead of a small-sized whisk, or a little fibre broom such as is sold for cleaning sinks. Broom straws softened by warm water will not scratch cut glass and yet are stiff enough to use for washing pots. The little broom can be scalded and dried through and through on the back of the stove. It does not smell, and dish washing done with it is as different from dish washing done with a cloth, as eating with a fork is different from eating with your fingers.
In a pantry where many dishes are washed a folding table is a serviceable accessory to dish washing. It can be set up to receive the dried dishes, and folded again when no longer needed.
The list of accessories for dish washing done where there is no running water is slightly different. One must then have one or two kettles of hot water on the fire. The dish drainer must have a tray to stand on or be replaced with pans. The sink strainer will not be needed. A bowl can be used instead, but not a tin receptacle, for scraps of food sometimescombine to form acids which eat or discolour tin.
The Preparation.—For the work of dish washing, first get yourself ready. Put on an apron, preferably one with a bib. If your sleeves are long, either turn them back or cover them with half-sleeves which button tightly round the wrist.
Next put away all food.
Then prepare the dishes. Gather the glass together. Empty the tumblers which have contained water, but fill with water those which have contained milk. Collect the cups and saucers, emptying the cups and rinsing out dregs or tea leaves. Scrape the plates thoroughly with a spoon, not with a knife, and pile each kind together. If there is much gravy or sauce upon them, rub them off quickly with a discarded crust or a celery stalk. Put the silver into a bowl or pitcher and pour water upon it. Platters should be scraped like the plates. Fill cream pitchers, gravy boats and vegetable dishes with water.
All this preparation is not old-maidishness and a waste of time. It saves time, and dishes, and disgust.
The Process.—When the dishes have been made ready for washing, pour a generous supply of hotwater into the dishpan. Put into it a little borax, or a larger supply if the water is hard. Lay in two or three glasses. They should be put in edge first, wet inside and out at the same moment, and not laid close enough to touch each other. Take them out one at a time and immediately wipe them dry and bright. They become streaked if allowed to drain. Replace those taken out with others to be washed. Set the wiped glasses in a space prepared for them on a shelf or table, or if there is little room in the pantry put them on a tray which can be carried at once to the cupboard. After the glasses, wash and wipe any other glass which is not greasy, but leave anything which is until after soap has been put into the water.
Neither the glass nor any of the dishes should be touched with one's bare hand after it is lifted from the water, but should be held always with the cloth, wiped and polished with the cloth and set down at last with a hand still covered.
When the glass is finished, put soap into the water with the aid of a soap shaker or any other contrivance which prevents the soap from lying in the water or from being stuck on a fork. Make good suds, but not strong suds, for this injures colour and gilding.
Dishes are usually washed in the order of greasiness, therefore the cups and saucers come next after the glass and after these any plates which are but slightly soiled. These cleaner dishes often need no rubbing with cloth or brush, but can be lifted out of the water and placed in a drainer or pan, the cups on their sides, the plates on edge. Rubbing, however gentle, at last wears off decoration. Dishes must never lie soaking in the dish-water because this also injures their decorations. A few of the same kind should be put in the water at a time, washed and immediately removed. This is the chief preventive of chipping and breaking, and it also allows room enough in the water for thorough washing.
The silver is the next thing to wash. If the water has cooled by this time it should be changed, or if one has to be economical, it can be partially changed and more soap added. Usually the flat silver can all be put into the water at once, then washed a few pieces at a time and laid carefully in a drainer or pan. Some housewives prefer to wipe the silver, like the glasses, immediately from the dish-water, but as it has to be washed with soap, there is a good reason for rinsing it. Larger pieces of silver must be put in like the dishes, a piece or two at a time, to prevent dents and scratches.
Next wash plates, never allowing small ones and large ones in the water together, then platters, vegetable dishes, milk pitchers, salad bowl and gravy boat, putting not more than one or two in the water at a time.
As often as dishwater becomes cool or greasy, change it. This is a fixed rule for those who have an ample water supply. If however, it is necessary to be extremely economical with water, it is better to stint the dishwater than the rinsing water.
There are two extreme ways of rinsing dishes and a middle way. One of the extremes is to immerse the dishes in a pan of hot water and wipe them therefrom. This is indeed cleanly but it takes much water and many towels. The other extreme is to arrange them in a drainer and either pour scalding water over them or immerse them for a moment in scalding water and then leave them to dry by their own heat which they do almost instantly. A zealous housewife finds it hard to believe that this is as good as wiping, but the smooth, shining dishes which result from it convince her.
The middle way is to set the dishes in a drainer and pour scalding water over them as in the other case, but this time to complete the work by wiping each piece. They are so nearly dry that the wipingis but a small act, often little more than a keen inspection and a rub for good measure.
Delicate china must not be rinsed with extremely hot water as a sudden change of temperature sometimes breaks it as it does glass.
The rinsing method first described is best for silver for it should be thoroughly rinsed in very hot water and dried with a cloth and vigorous rubbing. Any evaporating process leaves it dull and spotted. As one wipes it, any piece discoloured or dull should be laid aside for special attention. Egg stains can be removed with a little salt, or often just with rubbing them with a cloth which has been used to apply silver polish. If one has no covered shelf or table on which the silver can be laid as it is wiped, it is well to spread a towel to receive it. This saves noise and scratching.
Carafes, decanters, vinegar cruets or any narrow necked articles can be cleaned with chopped white potato, or with crushed egg shells. A combination of crushed egg shells, ¼ cup of salt and ½ cup of vinegar is also good for this purpose. A slim paint brush—the kind used to paint window casings, not pictures—is excellent for washing bottles. The brush end will do the washing and the handle end with a towel over it will do the wiping. There areregular bottle brushes but I have found a paint brush better than any one I have yet tried.
Steel knives, whether plated or not, need special care. They should never,neverbe laid in water but held in the dish washer's hands while they are washed, then wiped perfectly dry. If they are silver plated they are polished like the rest of the silver except that they are wet as little as possible. If not plated they must be scoured as often as used. This helps to keep them sharp as well as bright. Rest the blades flat on a board when cleaning them, otherwise they may be bent or even broken. After they have been scoured, they must be washed with the same care as before and dried thoroughly. Avoid anything, whether hot water or excessive friction, which greatly heats the blades, for this breaks the handles by expanding the steel pieces which run up into them.
Discoloured knife handles will sometimes whiten if scoured with a piece of lemon dipped in salt and washed off quickly with hot soapsuds. Powdered pumice also whitens them.
After the dishes are washed and wiped, all the cloths and brushes used should be thoroughly washed in hot suds, then carefully rinsed. If they can be hung out in the sun, that is best, but if not,they should be hung where they will dry before they are needed again. One may not be able to spare time to wash or even rinse the towels after every dish washing, but they must positively be washed once a day. Sticky and unpleasant-smelling table appointments quickly result from neglected towels and dishcloths.
And what can be said in praise of dish washing? Well, it is making things clean and there is always satisfaction in that; it is a sign that one more thing is finished and there is satisfaction in that, even though another begins at once; and, personally I like dish washing because it is work that after a little practice can be done almost entirely with hands and eyes, and so the time it takes may be a rest time, or a thought time, or a prayer time as one wills it.
Silver Cleaning.—Some people say silver must be cleaned once a week, others once a fortnight, others contend that once a month is enough. A general rule cannot be made, however, for a thing which depends entirely on particular climate, particular light and heating apparatus and particular standards of care and orderliness. One can only say polish it as often as it needs polishing and not oftener.
Those silver polishes which are intended to berubbed on the articles and then removed with very hot water are the more desirable. A silver polish which is hard on hands is to be avoided, not merely for the hands' sake but for the silver's.
To clean silver, one requires a soft cloth and a soft hair brush for applying the polish; also several other soft cloths, a piece of chamois skin and a clean, soft brush for polishing.
Rub the polish on smooth surfaces with a soft cloth, on filigree or engraving with a soft brush. Wash in very hot water, wipe with soft cloths, polish with chamois skin and a soft brush. Never touch the silver with bare hands after it comes out of the hot water. To wear a pair of chamois gloves while doing this work is an excellent help and protection.
If silver not constantly in use is kept in canton-flannel bags in a box where there is a piece of gum camphor, it will be as bright when it is taken out as it was when it was put in. The bags are better than tissue paper, for this sometimes contains chemicals which discolour the silver. New silver usually comes in such bags, but the time and money necessary for making bags for older pieces, are saved again and again by the unaided care they take of the silver committed to them.Whitecanton flannelis not good for this purpose, it soils easily and the chemicals used for bleaching it discolour silver.
There remains but to say that ideal dining room and pantry work combine military order with a daintiness which puts pansies into finger bowls. That simple loveliness and devoted thoughtfulness are more necessary in table service than heavy damask and beautiful china. And that, above all, one must not think that care and work expended upon meals are put to a poor use. Family meals are deeply hallowed by long custom and by sacred associations. We shall not be wrong to try earnestly and gladly to make the meal hours times of loveliness and thankfulness and laughter.