THE CARE OF ROOMS


XXX.

THE CARE OF ROOMS.


It would be impossible in a work dealing, as this does, with general
principles of house-keeping, to elaborate in full the multitudinous
details which arise for attention and intelligent care. These will be
more largely treated of in the book soon to be published for the present
writer, (the senior authoress of this volume.) Yet, in the different
departments of family labor, there are certain leading matters
concerning which a few hints may be found useful in aiding the reader
to carry into operation the instructions and ideas of the earlier
chapters of this book, and in promoting the general comfort and
convenience of families.

And first, asking the reader to bear in mind that these suggestions
are chiefly applicable to country homes, not within easy reach of all
the conveniences which go under the name of "modern improvements," we
will say a few words on the care of _Parlors_.

In hanging pictures, put them so that the lower part shall be opposite
the eye. Cleanse the glass of pictures with whiting, as water endangers
the pictures. Gilt frames can be much better preserved by putting on
a coat of copal varnish, which with proper brushes, can be bought of
carriage or cabinet-makers. When dry, it can be washed with fair water.
Wash the brush in spirits of turpentine.

Curtains, ottomans, and sofas covered with worsted, can be cleansed
with wheat bran, rubbed on with flannel. Shades of linen or cotton,
on rollers and pulleys, are always useful to shut out the sun from
curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on old cotton, are good
for chambers. Put them on rollers, having cords nailed to them, so
that when the curtain falls, the cord will be wound up. Then, by pulling
the cord, the curtain will be rolled up.

Varnished furniture should be rubbed only with silk, except
occasionally, when a little sweet-oil should be rubbed over, and wiped
off carefully. For unvarnished furniture, use bees-wax, a little
softened with sweet-oil; rub it in with a hard brush, and polish with
woolen and silk rags. Some persons rub in linseed-oil; others mix
bees-wax with a little spirits of turpentine and rosin, making it so
that it can be put on with a sponge, and wiped off with a soft rag.
Others keep in a bottle the following mixture: two ounces of spirits
of turpentine, four table-spoonfuls of sweet-oil, and one quart of
milk. This is applied with a sponge, and wiped off with a linen rag.

Hearths and jambs, of brick, look best painted over with black lead,
mixed with soft-soap. Wash the bricks which are nearest the fire with
redding and milk, using a painter's brush. A sheet of zinc, covering
the whole hearth, is cheap, saves work, and looks very well. A tinman
can fit it properly.

Stone hearths should be rubbed with a paste of powdered stone, (to be
procured of the stone-cutters,) and then brushed with a stiff brush.
Kitchen hearths, of stone, are improved by rubbing in lamp-oil.

Stains can be removed from marble, by oxalic acid and water, or oil
of vitriol and water, left on a few minutes, and then rubbed dry. Gray
marble is improved by linseed-oil. Grease can be taken from marble,
by ox-gall and potter's clay wet with soapsuds, (a gill of each.) It
is better to add, also, a gill of spirits of turpentine. It improves
the looks of marble, to cover it with this mixture, leaving it two
days, and then rubbing it off.

Unless a parlor is in constant use, it is best to sweep it only once
a week, and at other times use a whisk-broom and dust-pan. When a
parlor with handsome furniture is to be swept, cover the sofas, centre
table, piano, books, and mantelpiece with old cottons kept for the
purpose. Remove the rugs and shake them, and clean the jambs, hearth,
and fire-furniture. Then sweep the room, moving every article. Dust
the furniture with a dust-brush and a piece of old silk. A painter's
brush should be kept, to remove dust from ledges and crevices. The
dust-cloths should be often shaken and washed, or else they will soil
the walls and furniture when they are used. Dust ornaments and fine
books with feather brushes, used for no other purpose.

_Chambers and Bedrooms_ are of course a portion of the house to
be sedulously and scrupulously attended to, if either health or comfort
are aimed at in the family. And first, every mistress of a family
should see, not only that all sleeping-rooms in her house _can be_
well ventilated at night, but that they actually are so. Where there
is no provision made for the introduction of pure air, in the
construction of the house, and in the bedroom itself no open fire-place
to allow the easy exit of foul air, a door should be left open into
an entry or room where fresh air is admitted; or else a small opening
should be made in a window, taking care not to allow a draught of air
to cross the bed. The debility of childhood, the lassitude of domestics,
and the ill-health of families, are often caused by neglecting to
provide a supply of pure air.

It is not deemed necessary to add much to the earlier chapters treating
of bedroom conveniences; but one subject is of marked importance, as
being characteristic of good or poor housekeeping--that is, the _making
of beds_.

Few servants will make a bed properly, without much attention from the
mistress of the family; and every young woman who expects to have a
household of her own to manage should be able to do it well herself,
and to instruct others in doing it. The following directions should
be given to those who do this work:

Open the windows, and lay off the bed-covering on two chairs, at the
foot of the bed. If it be a feather-bed, after it is well aired, shake
the feathers from each corner to the middle; then take up the middle,
shake it well, and turn the bed over. Then push the feathers in place,
making the head higher than the foot, and the sides even, and as high
as the middle part. A mattress, whether used on top of a feather-bed
or by itself, should in like manner be well aired and turned. Then put
on the bolster and the under sheet, so that the wrong side of the sheet
shall go next the bed, and the _marking_ always come at the head,
tucking in all around. Then put on the pillows, evenly, so that the
open ends shall come to the sides of the bed, and spread on the upper
sheet so that the wrong side shall be next the blankets, and the marked
end always at the head. This arrangement of sheets is to prevent the
part where the feet lie from being reversed, so as to come to the face;
and also to prevent the parts soiled by the body from coming to the
bedtick and blankets. Put on the other covering, except the outer one,
tucking in all around, and then turn over the upper sheet at the head,
so as to show a part of the pillows. When the pillow-cases are clean
and smooth, they look best outside of the cover, but not otherwise.
Then draw the hand along the side of the pillows, to make an even
indentation, and then smooth and shape the whole outside. A nice
housekeeper always notices the manner in which a bed is made; and in
some parts of the country, it is rare to see this work properly
performed.

The writer would here urge every mistress of a family, who keeps more
than one domestic servant, to provide them with single beds, that they
might not be obliged to sleep with all the changing domestics, who
come and go so often. Where the room is too small for two beds, a
narrow truckle-bed kept under another during the day will answer.
Domestics should be furnished with washing conveniences in their
chambers, and be encouraged to keep their persons and rooms neat and
in order.

_The care of the Kitchen, Cellar, and Store-room is necessarily the
foundation of all proper housekeeping._

If parents wish their daughters to grow up with good domestic habits,
they should have, as one means of securing this result, a neat and
cheerful kitchen. A kitchen should always, if possible, be entirely
above-ground, and well lighted. It should have a large sink, with a
drain running under-ground, so that all the premises may be kept sweet
and clean. If flowers and shrubs be cultivated around the doors and
windows, and the yard near them be kept well turfed, it will add very
much to their agreeable appearance. The walls should often be cleaned
and white-washed, to promote a neat look and pure air. The floor of
a kitchen should be painted, or, what is better, covered with an
oilcloth. To procure a kitchen oilcloth as cheaply as possible, buy
cheap tow cloth, and fit it to the size and shape of the kitchen. Then
have it stretched, and nailed to the south side of the barn, and, with
a brush, cover it with a coat of thin rye paste. When this is dry, put
on a coat of yellow paint, and let it dry for a fortnight. It is safest
to first try the paint, and see if it dries well, as some paint never
will dry. Then put on a second coat, and at the end of another
fortnight, a third coat. Then let it hang two months, and it will last,
uninjured, for many years. The longer the paint is left to dry, the
better. If varnished, it will last much longer.

A sink should be scalded out every day, and occasionally with hot lye.
On nails, over the sink, should be hung three good dish-cloths, hemmed,
and furnished with loops; one for dishes not greasy, one for greasy
dishes, and one for washing greasy pots and kettles. These should be
put in the wash every week. The lady who insists upon this will not
be annoyed by having her dishes washed with dark, musty and greasy
rags, as is too frequently the case.

Under the sink should be kept a slop-pail; and, on a shelf by it, a
soap-dish and two water-pails. A large boiler of warm soft water should
always be kept over the fire, well covered, and a hearth-broom and
bellows be hung near the fire. A clock is a very important article in
the kitchen, in order to secure regularity at meals.


WASHING DISHES.

No item of domestic labor is so frequently done in a negligent manner,
by domestics, as this. A full supply of conveniences will do much
toward the remedy of this evil. A swab, made of strips of linen tied
to a stick, is useful to wash nice dishes, especially small, deep
articles. Two or three towels, and three dish-cloths should be used.
Two large tin tubs, painted on the outside, should be provided; one
for washing, and one for rinsing; also, a large old waiter, on which
to drain the dishes. A soap-dish, with hard soap, and a fork, with
which to use it, a slop-pail, and two pails for water, should also be
furnished. The following rules for washing dishes will aid in promoting
the desired care and neatness:

1. Scrape the dishes, putting away any food which may remain on them,
and which it may be proper to save for future use. Put grease into the
grease-pot, and whatever else may be on the plates into the slop-pail.
Save tea-leaves for sweeping. Set all the dishes, when scraped, in
regular piles, the smallest at the top.

2. Put the nicest articles in the wash-dish, and wash them in hot suds
with the swab or nicest dish-cloth. Wipe all metal articles as soon
as they are washed. Put all the rest into the rinsing-dish, which
should be filled with hot water. When they are taken out, lay them to
drain on the waiter. Then rinse the dish-cloth, and hang it up, wipe
the articles washed, and put them in their places.

3. Pour in more hot water, wash the greasy dishes with the dish-cloth
made for them, rinse them, and set them to drain. Wipe them, and set
them away. Wash the knives and forks, _being careful that the handles
are never put in water_; wipe them, and then lay them in a
knife-dish, to be scoured.

4. Take a fresh supply of clean suds, in which wash the milk-pans,
buckets, and tins. Then rinse and hang up this dish-cloth, and take
the other, with which, wash the roaster, gridiron, pots, and kettles.
Then wash and rinse the dish-cloth, and hang it up. Empty the
slop-bucket, and scald it. Dry metal teapots and tins before the fire.
Then put the fire-place in order, and sweep and dust the kitchen.

Some persons keep a deep and narrow vessel, in which to wash knives
with a swab, so that a careless servant _can not_ lay them in the
water while washing them. This article can be carried into the
eating-room, to receive the knives and forks when they are taken from
the table.


KITCHEN FURNITURE.

_Crockery_.--Brown earthen pans are said to be best for milk and
for cooking. Tin pans are lighter, and more convenient, but are too
cold for many purposes. Tall earthen jars, with covers, are good to
hold butter, salt, lard, etc. Acids should never be put into the red
earthen ware, as there is a poisonous ingredient in the glazing which
the acid takes off. Stone ware is better and stronger, and safer every
way than any other kind.

_Iron Ware_.--Many kitchens are very imperfectly supplied with
the requisite conveniences for cooking. When a person has sufficient
means, the following articles are all desirable: A nest of iron pots,
of different sizes, (they should be slowly heated when new,) a long
iron fork, to take out articles from boiling water; an iron hook, with
a handle, to lift pots from the crane; a large and small gridiron,
with grooved bars, and a trench to catch the grease; a Dutch oven,
called also a bake-pan; two skillets, of different sizes, and a spider,
or flat skillet, for frying; a griddle, a waffle-iron, tin and iron
bake and bread pans; two ladles, of different sizes; a skimmer; iron
skewers; a toasting-iron; two teakettles, one small and one large
one; two brass kettles, of different sizes, for soap-boiling, etc.
Iron kettles, lined with porcelain, are better for preserves. The
German are the best. Too hot a fire will crack them, but with care in
this respect, they will last for many years.

Portable charcoal furnaces, of iron or clay, are very useful in summer,
in washing, ironing, and stewing, or making preserves. If used in the
house, a strong draught must be made, to prevent the deleterious effects
of the charcoal. A box and mill, for spice, pepper, and coffee, are
needful to those who use these articles. Strong knives and forks, a
sharp carving-knife, an iron cleaver and board, a fine saw, steelyards,
chopping-tray and knife, an apple-parer, steel for sharpening knives,
sugar-nippers, a dozen iron spoons, also a large iron one with a long
handle, six or eight flat-irons, one of them very small, two
iron-stands, a ruffle-iron, a crimping-iron, are also desirable.

_Tin Ware_.--Bread-pans; large and small patty-pans; cake-pans,
with a centre tube to insure their baking well; pie-dishes, (of
block-tin;) a covered butter-kettle; covered kettles to hold berries;
two sauce-pans; a large oil-can; (with a cock;) a lamp-filler; a
lantern; broad bottomed candlesticks for the kitchen; a candle-box;
a funnel; a reflector for baking warm cakes; an oven or tin-kitchen;
an apple-corer; an apple-roaster; an egg-boiler; two sugar-scoops, and
flour and meal-scoop; a set of mugs; three dippers; a pint, quart, and
gallon measure; a set of scales and weights; three or four pails,
painted on the outside; a slop-bucket with a tight cover, painted on
the outside; a milk-strainer; a gravy-strainer; a colander; a
dredging-box; a pepper-box; a large and small grater; a cheese-box;
also a large box for cake, and a still larger one for bread, with tight
covers. Bread, cake, and cheese, shut up in this way, will not grow
dry as in the open air.

_Wooden Ware_.--A nest of tubs; a set of pails and bowls; a large
and small sieve; a beetle for mashing potatoes; a spade or stick for
stirring butter and sugar; a bread-board, for moulding bread and making
pie-crust; a coffee-stick; a clothes-stick; a mush-stick; a meat-beetle,
to pound tough meat; an egg-beater; a ladle, for working butter; a
bread-trough, (for a large family;) flour-buckets, with lids, to hold
sifted flour and Indian meal; salt-boxes; sugar-boxes; starch and
indigo-boxes; spice-boxes; a bosom-board; a skirt-board; a large
ironing-board; two or three clothes-frames; and six dozen clothes-pins.

_Basket Ware_.--Baskets of all sizes, for eggs, fruit, marketing,
clothes, etc.; also chip-baskets. When often used, they should be
washed in hot suds.

_Other Articles_.--Every kitchen needs a box containing balls of
brown thread and twine, a large and small darning needle, rolls of
waste paper and old linen and cotton, and a supply of common holders.
There should also be another box, containing a hammer, carpet-tacks,
and nails of all sizes, a carpet-claw, screws and a screw-driver,
pincers, gimlets of several sizes, a bed-screw, a small saw, two
chisels, (one to use for button-holes in broadcloth,) two awls and two
files.

In a drawer or cupboard should be placed cotton table-cloths for kitchen
use; nice crash towels for tumblers, marked T T; coarser towels for
dishes marked T; six large roller-towels; a dozen hand-towels, marked
H T; and a dozen hemmed dish-cloths with loops. Also two thick linen
pudding or dumpling-cloths, a jelly-bag made of white flannel, to
strain jelly, a starch-strainer, and a bag for boiling clothes.

In a closet should be kept, arranged in order, the following articles:
the dust-pan, dust-brush, and dusting-cloths, old flannel and cotton
for scouring and rubbing, large sponges for washing windows and
looking-glasses, a long brush for cobwebs, and another for washing the
outside of windows, whisk-brooms, common brooms, a coat-broom or brush,
a whitewash-brush, a stove-brush, shoe-brushes and blacking, articles
for cleaning tin and silver, leather for cleaning metals, bottles
containing stain-mixtures and other articles used in cleansing.


CARE OF THE CELLAR.

A cellar should often be whitewashed, to keep it sweet. It should have
a drain to keep it perfectly dry, as standing water in a cellar is a
sure cause of disease in a family. It is very dangerous to leave decayed
vegetables in a cellar. Many a fever has been caused by the poisonous
miasm thus generated. The following articles are desirable in a cellar:
a safe, or movable closet, with sides of wire or perforated tin, in
which cold meats, cream, and other articles should be kept; (if ants
be troublesome, set the legs in tin cups of water;) a refrigerator,
or a large wooden-box, on feet, with a lining of tin or zinc, and a
space between the tin and wood filled with powdered charcoal, having
at the bottom a place for ice, a drain to carry off the water, and
also movable shelves and partitions. In this, articles are kept cool.
It should be cleaned once a week. Filtering jars to purify water should
also be kept in the cellar. Fish and cabbages in a cellar are apt to
scent a house, and give a bad taste to other articles.


STOREROOM.

Every house needs a storeroom, in which to keep tea, coffee, sugar,
rice, candles, etc. It should be furnished with jars, having labels,
a large spoon, a fork, sugar and flour-scoops, a towel, and a
dish-cloth.


MODES OF DESTROYING INSECTS AND VERMIN.

_Bed-bugs_ should be kept away, by filling every chink in the bedstead
with putty, and if it be old, painting it over. Of all the mixtures for
killing them, _corrosive sublimate and alcohol_ is the surest. This is a
strong poison.

_Cockroaches_ may be destroyed by pouring boiling water into their
haunts, or setting a mixture of arsenic mixed with Indian meal and
molasses where they are found. Chloride of lime and sweetened water
will also poison them.

_Fleas_.--If a dog be infected with these insects, put him in a
tub of warm soapsuds, and they will rise to the surface. Take them
off, and burn them. Strong perfumes about the person diminish their
attacks. When caught between the fingers, plunge them in water, or
they will escape.

_Crickets_.--Scalding, and sprinkling Scotch snuff about the haunts of
these insects, are remedies for the annoyance caused by them.

_Flies_ can be killed in great quantities, by placing about the house
vessels filled with sweetened water and _cobalt_. Six cents' worth of
cobalt is enough for a pint of water. It is very poisonous.

_Mosquitoes_.--Close nets around a bed are the only sure protection
at night against these insects. Spirits of hartshorn is the best
antidote for their bite. Salt and water is good.

_Red or Black Ants_ may be driven away by scalding their haunts,
and putting Scotch snuff wherever they go for food. Set the legs of
closets and safes in pans of water, and they can not get at them.

_Moths_.--Airing clothes does not destroy moths, but laying them
in a hot sun does. If articles be tightly sewed up in linen when laid
away, and fine tobacco put about them, it is a sure protection. This
should be done in April.

_Rats and Mice_.--A good cat is the best remedy for these annoyances.
Equal quantities of hemlock (or _cicuta_) and old cheese will poison
them; but this renders the house liable to the inconvenience of a bad
smell. This evil, however, may be lessened, by placing a dish containing
oil of vitriol poured on saltpetre where the smell is most annoying.
Chloride of lime and water is also good.

In using any of the above-mentioned poisons, great care should be taken
to guard against their getting into any article of food or any utensil
or vessel used for cooking or keeping food, or where children can get
at them.