Vintage Advertising - Congoleum Flooring

Advertisement for Congoleum, McCall's, March 1937.  I swear this was the pattern about four layers down when we were refinishing the floors in our kitchen.

And in other news, posting may be sketchy for a while - since I am not currently able to deploy with the Red Cross, I'm going to be working two days and one evening each week at the chapter office until November, replacing a woman who is currently out supporting reunification services (a job I would not take in a million years.  Too hard on the heart).

We're Ready

 

Other Crafts - How To Re-Purpose An Old Buggy Wheel

 

Because we all have one just hanging around the basement or garage.  Modern Mechanics, February 1937.

Sewing - Makeovers from 1947

 

For those of us with a set of Navy officer's whites and a need for a new summer suit, the "Found Money" column in the Woman's Day issue of June, 1947  (we've seen this column before), is just the ticket.

And everybody has a striped pique summer evening gown just hanging around the back of the closet, right?

I think that this last project - a top made from a large silk scarf - is within a modern maker's grasp, however. Instructions are on my Flickr page.

The same issue has instructions for no-pattern summer playclothes and a swimsuit that I'll post next week.

Woodworking Crafts - An Exploding Battleship Toy, 1936

 

Published in the December, 1935 issue of Modern Mechanix, just in time for Christmas.  Readers were supposed to make and sell these things to unsuspecting parents, I suppose, but as Bill Watterson once put it, the opportunities for mayhem would have been unlimited.

Grrrsday

Reason #1,268 Why We Don't Watch TV Together

"Rio Grande" is on, and the regimental singers have just come to serenade the Colonel's lady (Maureen O'Hara) in a remote Army post during the Indian Wars, so 1870-ish.  One of the songs they sing is "The Bold Fenian Men."

Me:  There's something wrong with this scene.

He:  What?

Me:  That song wasn't written until 1916.

John Ford was an Irishman, even! 

(And if anyone is interested, the actor who played Captain St Jacques - center right, with eyepatch - was Peter Ortiz, who lived a life of buckle and swash long before he arrived in Hollywood.  I had to bring him up on Google before Brian believed me).

Aunt Martha's Workbasket, March 1937

With household hints, crocheted egg-cosies, glass cosies, a tie for father, a boy's knitted sweater, and a pattern for a Star of Bethlehem quilt, among other offerings in this free download from the Antique Pattern Library.

(For those of you who can -- they could always use a little help).

Aunt Martha's Workbasket, January 1937

Patterns for the baby outfit on the cover, a Russian blouse for a schoolgirl, "Dutch Boy" quilt embroidery pattern, how to make yarn flowers, lots of pattern offers, and household tips (including how to get your little girl interested in doing dishes. An apron of her very own should do the trick).  

A free download from the Antique Pattern Library.

Roughing It

“The Requirements for a Camp.  Each person should be supplied with a good, big-bladed jack-knife; a woodsman, or what is about the same thing, a person with good common-sense, can supply himself with food and shelter, with no other ready-made tool than a good strong knife.

Salt, pepper and sugar, must be put on the list, then flour in a sack, oatmeal, cornmeal, rice and lard; crackers, beans, coffee in tin, tea in bag, cocoa, condensed milk in cans, evaporated cream in cans, butter in pail, pickles, dried fruit in bags, a bag of potatoes, molasses, pork, boneless bacon, and, if you are fond of it, a few jars of orange marmalade; sal-soda for sweetening “dubs,” and ginger for medicinal purposes; several cakes of common soap for dish-washing, some dishtowels, and some soap for toilet purposes; also a tin coffee-pot, a long-handled frying-pan, a small griddle, a nest of tin pails, the smallest capable of holding a quart or less, and the largest a gallon or more; two or three paper pails or water-buckets, two or three iron kitchen spoons and forks, and a camp boiler, a firkin and a wooden spoon, also a strong axe and a hatchet.”

The Jack of All Trades, New Ideas for American Boys, by D. C. Beard, 1900.

Good For What Ails You, British Edition

INVALID COOKERY.

Beef Tea.

Ingredients.—One pound of shin of beef, one pint of water, a little salt, a few drops of lemon juice.

Method.—Take away all skin and fat from the beef, and shred it finely, putting it as you do so into a jar with the water, lemon juice, and salt; put on the lid and let it stand half an hour; stand the jar on a dripping tin with cold water, and put it in the oven for two hours. Stir up, pour off against the lid and remove any fat with kitchen paper.

Quick Beef Tea.

Ingredients.—Same as preceding.

Method.—Cut the meat up small and let it stand in the water twenty minutes; put in a saucepan and let it just heat through, pressing the pieces against the side with a wooden spoon.

Raw Beef Tea.

Ingredients.—Same as preceding.

Method.—Prepare as in the first recipe for beef tea; cover closely and let it stand for two hours; stir up and pour off. This must be made fresh often as it soon turns sour.

Strengthening Broth.

Method.—Take equal quantities of beef, mutton, and veal, and prepare in the same way as ordinary beef tea.

Mutton Broth.

Ingredients.—One pound of scrag of mutton, one pint of water, two ounces of pearl barley, salt, a blade of mace, a little chopped parsley.

Method.—Cut as much fat as possible from the meat; cut the meat up small and chop the bones; put the meat and bones in a saucepan with the water, mace, salt and barley, which should be blanched (see "Odds and Ends"). Put on the lid and simmer very gently for two hours. Stir up and pour off against the lid into a basin; stand in cold water in a larger basin for the fat to rise, skim well, re-heat and add a little chopped and blanched parsley.

Essence of Beef.

Ingredients.—One pound of shin of beef, two tablespoonfuls of water, a little salt, a few drops of lemon juice.

Method.—Scrape the meat, put it in a jar with the water, salt, and lemon juice; put on the lid and stand the jar in a saucepan of boiling water; let the water boil round it four hours. Stir up and pour off.

Raw Meat Sandwiches.

Method.—Scrape a little raw beef finely and put a little piece in the middle of some tiny squares of thin bread, cover with other squares and press the edges tightly together with a knife so that the meat may not show.

Meat Custard.

Ingredients.—One large egg, half a gill of beef tea.

Method.—Beat the egg and beef tea together and steam in a buttered teacup for twenty minutes.

A Cup of Arrowroot.

Ingredients.—Half a pint of milk, one ounce of arrowroot, one ounce of castor-sugar.

Method.—Mix the arrowroot smoothly with a little cold milk; boil the rest of the milk and stir in the arrowroot; stir and boil well, taking care it does not burn.

Cornflour Soufflée.

Ingredients.—Half a pint of milk, one egg, one ounce of cornflour, one ounce and a half of castor sugar, one bay leaf.

Method.—Mix the cornflour smoothly with a little cold milk; boil the rest with the bay leaf and sugar; stir in the cornflour and let it thicken in the milk; separate the white and yolk of the egg and beat in the yolk when the cornflour has cooled a little; beat the white very stiffly and stir it in very lightly. Pour into a buttered pie-dish, and bake in a good oven until well thrown up and a good light brown colour.

Custard Shape.

Ingredients.—Half a pint of milk, two eggs, quarter of an ounce of gelatine, two ounces of castor sugar, vanilla.

Method.—Beat up the eggs with the sugar and milk; pour into a jug, stand in a saucepan of boiling water and stir with the handle of a wooden spoon until it thickens; dissolve the gelatine in it, flavoured with vanilla, pour into a wetted mould and turn out when set.

Sponge Cake Pudding.

Ingredients.—Two stale sponge cakes, three eggs, half a pint of milk, two ounces of castor sugar, a piece of thin lemon rind.

Method.—Boil the milk with the rind and the sugar; let it cool a little and add the eggs well beaten; cut the sponge cakes in pieces and lay them in a buttered tin, pour the custard over and bake gently until set. Turn out and set cold.

Lemonade.

Ingredients.—Two large lemons, one quart of water, a quarter of a pound of castor sugar.

Method.—Pare the lemons very thinly, so that the rind is yellow both sides, put the rind with the sugar and the lemon-juice in a jug, pour boiling water on it, and let it stand till cold, strain and use.

Barley Water.

Ingredients.—Two ounces of pearl barley, one quart of water, a small piece of lemon rind, one ounce and a half of castor sugar.

Method.—Blanch the barley; put it in a saucepan with the lemon-rind and sugar, and simmer gently one hour. Strain and use.

Toast and Water.

Method.—Toast a piece of bread until nearly black. Put it in a jug and pour cold water on it.

 From The Girl's Own Paper, October 1st, 1898.  Free download from Project Gutenburg.

Meals a la Carte

Vintage photo from Pinterest

From the Woman's Home Companion, July 1921 (available on Google Books):

Are you planning a camping trip this summer?  It is well worthwhile to collect the utensils for it with care.  Even to those not intending "camp en route," a thoughtfully planned camp home is a "safety first" precaution, and for those who stay at home, the following suggestions put into realization as permanent summer fixtures on the car make possible daily suppers in the park, or country trips on an hour's notice.

The running-board kitchen is an untold convenience.  By curving the front end slightly the box can extend some distance upon the front fender and give added length.  Five-eight-inch lumber is the proper material for it, solidly joined at the corners, as the continuous jar of travel tests weak places.  Iron right angles, screwed inside as joints, should reinforce the corners.  Two strips of thin iron across the bottom (inside), extending up and screwed to the front and back sides will keep the box from spreading.  These iron pieces are very important, as through the holes in their centers the box is fastened onto the running board.  The bottom of the box should be made of galvanized tin nailed closely from underneath to the under rim.  The advantage of this is that, as it is thin, it gives greater depth than wood and also makes a smooth, sanitary surface to keep clean.

Paint inside of box and underside of cover light gray.  Place this box on right or parking side of the car.  Paint outside of box and cover the same color as your car.

Next week -- some information on equipment, but in the meantime, here is Bettina's idea of a cool-weather motor picnic, from A Thousand Ways To Please A Husband.

Warm Veal Loaf        Cold Potato Salad

Fresh Brown Bread       Butter

Spanish Buns     Bananas

Hot Coffee

Veal Loaf

2 lbs lean veal

1/2 lb salt pork

6 large crackers

2 T lemon juice

4 t onion salt

1 T salt

1/2 t pepper

4 T cream

Put two crackers in the meat grinder, add bits of meat and pork and the rest of the crackers.  The crackers first and last prevent the pork and meat from sticking to the grinder.  Add other ingredients in order named.  Pack in a well-buttered bread-pan.  Smooth evenly on top, brush with white of an egg, and bake one hour in a moderate oven.  Baste frequently.  The meat may be cooked in a fireless cooker between two stones.  It is perfectly satisfactory cooked this way, and requires no basting.

Boston Brown Bread

1 c rye or graham flour

1 c cornmeal

1 c white flour

1 t salt

1 1/2 t soda

3/4 c molasses

1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c sour milk or 1 1/4 c sweet milk or water

2/3 c raisins

Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses and liquid.  Fill well-buttered moulds two-thirds full, butter the top of mould, and steam three and one-half hours.  Remove from moulds and place in an oven to dry ten minutes before serving.  If sweet milk is used, 1 T vinegar to the 1 1/4 c will sour the milk.  

Baking powder cans, melon moulds, lard pails or any attractively shaped tin cans may be used as a mould.

Winter Housekeeping

"There are various ways of keeping eggs; all of those given below are good.

Greased Eggs.  -- Warm some fat of almost any kind, put the eggs in; cover them quite, take them out and lay them in an old tin or earthen vessel; paste them up, or better, cement with the tin, as named elsewhere, and they will be found good all winter.

Eggs in Lime. -- Pour 2 gallons hot water of 1 pint lime, and 1/2 pint salt; when cold put some eggs in a jar, and pour it over them; be sure there are no cracked ones. - R.H.

Keeping Eggs. -- Having tried many ways of preserving eggs, I have found the following to be th easiest, cheapest, surest, and best.  Take your crock, keg, or barrel, according to the quantity you have, cover the bottom with half an inch salt, and set your eggs close together on the small end; be very particular to put the small end down; for it put in any other position, they will not keep as well, and the yelk will adhere to the shell; sprinkle them over with salt, so as to fill the interstices, and then put in another layer of eggs, and cover with salt, and so on, till your vessel is filled.  Cover it tight, and put it where it will not freeze, and the eggs will keep perfectly fresh and good any desirable length of time."

What I know; or, Hints on the daily duties of a housekeeper, comprising nearly five hundred receipts, for cooking, preserving, pickling, washing, ironing, gardening, plain and fancy needlework, putting up of winter stores, and numerous other receipts, useful and needful in every well-regulated household, by Elizabeth Nicholson, 1856.  Three hints on coping with the refusal of hens to lay eggs in winter in the days before electric lights.

Another Reason I'm Glad I Was Born in 1955

From Mechanical Devices in the Home, by Edith Allen, 1922.

A brief explanation of stoves is given in this chapter to help the woman with a new stove or with an old one which she does not understand so that she may manage it without wasting fuel and nervous energy. Cooking stoves (Fig. 1) were invented as a convenient means for holding pots and pans in close proximity to the fire. They include a device for regulating the supply of air to the burning fuel.

1. Air Supply for Fire. A proper amount of air must be supplied to the fuel to produce a hot fire. A smoky or yellow flame indicates a lack of sufficient air to produce complete combustion of the fuel. Smoke is unburnt fuel. A smoky fire does not produce as much heat as one which burns with a blue or almost colorless flame. It is usually not the fault of the fuel, but the way it is being used that causes a smoky fire.

2. The Grate. Cooking stoves may be constructed for burning either wood or coal. In both cases, the operation is similar, except that more air should be passing thru the stove while wood is being burnt. For burning coal, the grate should be less open in order to prevent the coal from falling thru. Some modern stoves are made with double grates. These may be turned so that the more open part of them is used for supporting the wood, and the less open part for coal.

These grates are usually reversed by a stove shaker. The housekeeper must understand how this is done in order to avoid reversing them when she shakes down the ashes. Two difficulties arise in reversing the grate when the stove is filled with fuel. The coal may be wasted by falling thru the part intended for wood, or pieces of fuel may fall between the parts so that they cannot be moved. When this happens, it is best to let the fire go out, take out the fuel, adjust the grates as they should be and rebuild the fire.

3. Drafts or Dampers. There are from three to six dampers on a stove  as follows:
1) The draft below the fire box, found on all stoves, is to let in air to the burning fire.
2) The draft above the fire box, not found on all stoves, when slightly opened, lets in air which completes the combustion of the gases arising from the top of the fire. When opened too wide, it checks the burning of the fire.
3) The oven damper, found on all cook stoves, is placed at the point where the flame naturally enters the stove pipe. When this damper is closed, the flame must go around the oven instead of directly up the chimney.

To see the oven damper, take off the lid nearest the stove pipe and watch the direction of the flame. The handle to the oven damper may be at the side of the pipe on top of the stove or at the front of the stove under the top near the reservoir. Closing this damper causes the hot gases from the fire to go back over the top of the stove down behind the oven, turn under the oven and come up the chimney. Good stoves are constructed so that the hot gases come in contact with every part of the oven. This makes a longer journey for the gases, but, if the drafts in the front of the stove and chimney are properly adjusted, the gases will make the circuit without forming soot.

4) A damper in the stove pipe for letting air from the room into the pipe serves to check the burning of the fire by taking the place of the draft thru the stove.
5) A damper, or shutter, found in the pipe or chimney of most stoves, when closed, checks the draft up the chimney, and, when open, lets it pass freely.
6) The reservoir damper, found on some stoves having reservoirs, lets the hot gases pass next to the reservoir when open and prevents this when closed.

4. Starting the Fire. If the stove has a reversible grate, see that it is adjusted to suit the fuel before building the fire; then adjust the drafts. Open the draft below the fire box, the oven damper, and the shutter in the chimney; close the draft above the fire box, and the draft which lets air from the room into the pipe, so that the air may pass up thru the fire box and directly up the chimney. Some chimneys produce such strong drafts that the shutter in the chimney has to be kept closed most of the time, even when starting the fire. After the fuel has become ignited, the draft below the fire may be partly closed so that it burns less rapidly. If the fire is to be used for heating water or food on top of the stove, it is now ready for use. If it is still burning too rapidly, the draft may be entirely closed, or the shutter in the chimney partly closed. If at any time the stove smokes, the shutter or drafts above the fire may be closed too much and should be opened enough to let all the smoke pass. Adding too much fuel at one time and not spreading it in a thin layer over the entire surface of the fire may cause the stove to smoke.

5. Keeping a Fire. If, after a fire has been used, it is wanted for use later, close the draft below the fire box, open the one above the fire box, or, if there chances to be no draft here, tilt the lids on the stove to let in the air; close the shutter in the chimney and open the draft in the pipe that lets in[19] air from the room. With the drafts so adjusted, the fire should keep a long time, as it will burn very slowly.

6. Heating the Oven. When baking is to be done, wait until the fire is well started; then close the oven damper. The eveness of heat in the oven depends upon the even distribution of the hot gases below and on the sides of it. This is provided for in the manufacture of the stove itself. The heat in the oven may be regulated by the intensity of the heat from the fire as well as by the damper. Whenever a cooler oven is wanted, the flame may be permitted to go directly up the chimney. Since hot air is always seeking a higher level than cold air, opening the oven door cools the oven, but it will not prevent food set on the bottom of the oven from burning on the bottom. In a closed oven, the greatest degree of heat is at the top, excepting sometimes the surface of the bottom of the oven. Many stoves require the placing of a thin grating on the bottom of the oven to prevent food from burning on the bottom. If food does not brown sufficiently on the bottom, remove the grating so that the dish comes in closer contact with the heating unit.

The insulation of the oven door helps to hold heat in the oven, but the amount lost here is so small that many housekeepers prefer the convenience of the glass door, which, in turn, saves heat by doing away with the necessity of opening the oven door to watch the cooking food.

Some housewives adjust the dampers for heating the oven and then never change them. They heat the kitchen in summer more than is necessary and use more fuel than they need for cooking. It has been estimated that where the careful manager of a stove uses one pound of fuel, the careless manager uses three and a half pounds.

"Clever Ideas" from 1933

From The Australian Women's Weekly, June 17th, 1933.

A BOOT-SCRAPER for wet weather can be made from the lid of a butter box and about 35 metal tops from soft drink bottles.  Turn them upside down, and nail them on the lid.  Put the box lid in a place where it will stand firm, and make the family scrape their feet on it. -- Mrs. Lindeman, Station Street, Leura.

BROKEN CHINA can often be mended and cracked china preserved, by boiling in milk.  If broken see that pieces are quite clean, fit together, and bind tightly with thread.  Boil slowly in enough milk to cover the article. -- Mrs. A. E. Jeffery, Crown Street, Parramatta.

SAVE ALL paper bags and fill with coal or coke.  Then place in scuttle ready for use.  In this way fuel need not be touched with the hands, and dust will not fly about the room.  Miss C. Read, 8 Moody Street, Roselle.

(The Tiled Kitchen, painted by Harry Bush).

Hints for Housekeepers

From Our Knowledge Box; Or, Old Secrets and New Discoveries, 1875.

Alum in Starch.—For starching muslins, ginghams, and calicoes, dissolve a piece of alum the size of a shellbark, for every pint of starch, and add to it. By so doing the colors will keep bright for a long time, which is very desirable when dresses must be often washed, and the cost is but a trifle.

To Destroy Cockroaches.—The following is said to be effectual: These vermin are easily destroyed, simply by cutting up green cucumbers at night, and placing them about where roaches commit depredations. What is cut from the cucumbers in preparing them for the table answers the purpose as well, and three applications will destroy all the roaches in the house. Remove the peelings in the morning, and renew them at night.

Fire Kindlers.—Take a quart of tar and three pounds of resin, melt them, bring to a cooling temperature, mix with as much sawdust, with a little charcoal added, as can be worked in; spread out while hot upon a board, when cold break up into lumps of the size of a large hickory nut, and you have, at a small expense, kindling49 material enough for a household for one year. They will easily ignite from a match and burn with a strong blaze, long enough to start any wood that is fit to burn.

Remedy against Moths.—An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered shell of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for several days, then strained. With this tincture the furs or cloths are sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. Instead of the pepper, bitter apple may be used. This remedy is used in Russia under the name of the Chinese tincture for moths.

To Color Brown on Cotton or Woolen.—For ten pounds of cloth boil three pounds of catechu in as much water as needed to cover the goods. When dissolved, add four ounces of blue vitriol; stir it well; put in the cloth and let it remain all night; in the morning drain it thoroughly; put four ounces of bi-chromate of potash in boiling water sufficient to cover your goods; let it remain 15 minutes; wash in cold water; color in iron.

To Cleanse and Brighten Faded Brussels Carpet.—Boil some bran in water and with this wash the carpet with a flannel and brush, using fuller's earth for the worst parts. When dry, the carpet must be well beaten to get out the fuller's earth, then washed over with a weak solution of alum to brighten the colors. Some housekeepers cleanse and brighten carpets by sprinkling them first with fine salt and then sweeping them thoroughly.

To give Stoves a Fine, Brilliant Appearance.—A teaspoonful of pulverized alum mixed with stove polish will give a stove a fine luster, which will be quite permanent.

Composition for Restoring Scorched Linen.—Boil, to a good consistency, in half a pint of vinegar, two ounces of fuller's earth, an ounce of hen's dung, half an ounce of cake soap, and the juice of two onions. Spread this composition over the whole of the damaged part; and if the scorching is not quite through, and the threads actually consumed, after suffering it to dry on, and letting it receive a subsequent good washing or two, the place will appear full as white and perfect as any other part of the linen.

To Remove Indelible Ink Stains.—Soak the stained spot in strong salt water, then wash it with ammonia. Salt changes the nitrate of silver into chloride of silver, and ammonia dissolves the chloride.

To Cleanse Carpet.—1 teaspoonful liquid ammonia in one gallon warm water, will often restore the color of carpets, even if produced by acid or alkali. If a ceiling has been whitewashed with the carpet down, and a few drops are visible, this will remove it. Or, after the carpet is well beaten and brushed, scour with ox gall, which will not only extract grease but freshen the colors—1 pint of gall in 3 gallons of warm water, will do a large carpet. Table floor-cloths may be thus washed. The suds left from a wash where ammonia is used, even if almost cold, cleanses these floor-cloths well.

(These are only a few choice morsels -- the entire volume may be downloaded from Project Gutenberg).

Hints for Bread-Baking

"Mrs. L.M. child says, 'Economical People will use fagots and brush to heat the Oven.' Hard wood heats it quicker and hotter.  Take four foot wood split fine and pile it criss-cross so as to nearly fill the oven, and keep putting in.

A roaring Fire for an Hour or more is usually enough.  The Top and Sides will at first be covered with black soot.  See that it is all burned off.  Rake the coals over the bottom and let them lie a minute.  Then sweep it out clean.  If you can hold your hand inside while you count Forty it is about right for flour bread; to count twenty is right for Rye and indian.

Bake the Brown bread first, then flour bread and Pies, then Cake or puddings, and last custards.  After everything else is out put in a pan of apples.  Next morning they will be deliciously baked.  A pot of Beans can be baking back side, out of the way, with the Rest."

The Pocumtuc Housewife; A Guide to Domestic Cookery, As It Is Practiced In The Connecticut Valley.  To which are added plain directions for soap-making, brewing, candle-dipping, clear starching, caring for the sick and all duties of a careful housewife.  Especially adapted to the use of young wives who come from outside places and are not coversant with the ways of the Valley, and of female orphans who have not had a mother's training.  By Several Ladies.  Deerfield, first edition 1805, reprint with additions 1897.

The 1897 version, complete with helpings of late-Victorian snark, can be downloaded from archive.net.

The Domestic Problem, Part II

(Please note that the labors listed below are the servant's common daily tasks and do not include chores that are performed on specific days of the week such as Monday washing, Tuesday ironing, etc.)

"Certain regular duties are practically the same each day, no matter what the other work may be. Early rising should be insisted upon. Six o'clock is none too early for a maid to be up in a house where breakfast is at seven-thirty or eight o'clock. By half after six the maid should be dressed and down-stairs. If the care of the furnace falls upon her, her first duty in winter is to open the draughts of the furnace and put on a little coal. While this is kindling she can go back to her work up-stairs. The kitchen fire must be lighted, the kettle filled freshly and set to boil, the cereal put over the fire, before the maid goes into the living-rooms to open the windows. While these rooms are airing she may brush out the front hall and sweep off the steps, unless there is a man engaged to take care of the outside work of the house and to look after the furnace. When there is a gas-stove, the maid's work is much simpler, and in that case she may open the windows and do the brushing-up before she puts the kettle to boil. When the furnace fire has come up, she may go down, put on more coal, and close the draughts.

In most families where but one maid is employed the mistress of the house dusts her drawing-room. When this is the rule, the maid has only to air the rooms, straighten the furniture that is out of place, and brush up any scraps or dust that need to be removed. If the floors or parts of them are bare, she should go over them with a damp cloth. Should the family be very small, consisting of but two or three persons, it is possible for the maid to do all the dusting. If this does not devolve upon her, there are other small duties she can perform at this time, such as filling and cleaning lamps. When there is a sitting-room, this, too, should be set in order.

Whatever else may be postponed until after breakfast, the dining-room must not be overlooked. It must be brushed up and thoroughly dusted. Few things are more de-appetizing than to sit down to the first meal of the day in a room which is still, so to speak, in curl-papers. If the servant is brisk about her work she can look after the drawing-room, halls, and dining-room, and set the table before she has to go back to the kitchen. In households where a heavy breakfast is served, or where the rooms are elaborately furnished, she may have to get up earlier or leave part of the dusting to be done later. But the dusting of the dining-room must never be omitted. The morning tasks may be lightened a little by setting the breakfast-table overnight, and when this is done a thin cover—a sheet of cheese-cloth is excellent—should be thrown over the table after it is set to protect the dishes and other table-furniture from dust.

The preparation of the breakfast is the maid's next duty. The extent of the work this involves varies, of course, in different households. In some homes the old-fashioned American breakfast of hot meat or fish, warm bread, and potatoes cooked in some form is still preserved. Other families have adopted a modification of the Continental breakfast, and find all they need for the morning meal in fruit, a cereal, rolls or toast, eggs or bacon, and coffee. The latter breakfast simplifies the work of the household, but it is not popular everywhere. Whatever the breakfast, it should be in readiness at the hour appointed, if the members of the family are on hand or not. It need not be served until it is ordered, but it should be entirely ready. 

When all the persons in a household can reconcile themselves to breakfasting together, it makes work easier and saves time. Should they find it impossible to partake of it in harmony as well as in unison, and each one eats alone, it renders the meal a more prolonged function. Under such circumstances, the food may be kept hot for the tardy ones and they may be granted the privilege of getting it for themselves from the kitchen when they arrive, instead of impeding progress by making the duties of the day yield to their convenience.

The fruit-course may be on the table when the family is summoned. At breakfast they usually do for themselves such waiting as passing plates, cups and saucers, and the like. A plate and finger-bowl may be in front of each person, and the porridge-bowl and saucer may be close by also, if it is desirable to simplify the service. Or these dishes may be on the serving-table or sideboard, and the maid may put them on the table with the cereal when she comes in to take out the fruit-plates. After the cereal-dishes have been removed and the rest of the breakfast served, the maid may be excused to go about her other work. The time of her own breakfast may be settled by the mistress and herself. The sensible course is for the maid to eat something and take a cup of tea or coffee in the intervals of her early work, but there are few servants who can be persuaded to do this. If the maid prefers she can take her breakfast while the family is eating, but most maids and mistresses seem to find it more convenient to dispose of the bedroom work as early as possible.

When this is the case the maid should go to the chambers as soon as the substantial part of the breakfast is on the table. The occupants of the beds should have stripped these on rising and opened the windows on leaving the rooms. If this has been done the bedclothing has had a chance to air. In order that such airing may be adequately done, the covers should be taken from the bed and spread across a couple of chairs placed back to back. The covers must not drag on the floor. The mattresses should be beaten and turned back over the foot of the bed that the air may reach them from both sides. To freshen them thoroughly, they should be left thus, the windows open, for from fifteen minutes to half an hour. While this is going on the rooms may be brushed or gone over with a carpet-sweeper—not thoroughly swept: this comes at another time. The beds may now be made and the dusting done.

In a small family it is taken for granted that the maid should do this work, but in a household of more than two or three it is customary for the women of the family to look after the beds. In that case the maid need only brush up the rooms, strip the beds, and empty soiled water, leaving the rest of the up-stairs work undone while she goes back to the kitchen. She may now take her own breakfast if she has not had it earlier, and clear the table. After every meal the dishes should be removed from the table as soon as possible. They should be carried into the kitchen or the butler's pantry, the cloth brushed—never shaken—and folded, and the dining-room put in order, the crumbs brushed from about the table, the chairs put in their places, the room darkened, if it is warm weather. If the mistress of the house dusts the chambers, the maid may now wash the dishes; if not, she may scrape them and leave them to soak in warm water while she goes back to her dusting and cleans and arranges the bath-room.

To clean the bath-room properly, there should always be a bottle of household ammonia at hand, one of forty per cent. solution of formaldehyde or other good disinfectant, a couple of cloths, a long-handled brush, and a scrubbing-brush. It is also well to have a can of concentrated lye or one of the preparations like it which will cut accumulations in waste-pipes. The hand-basin, tub, and closet should be scoured out each morning, the drain-pipes flushed twice a week with water to which has been added formaldehyde or the lye. The former is admirable for removing stains and deposits, but if these are very obstinate the formaldehyde must be left in the basin overnight. The long-handled brush enables the maid to clean the closet basin satisfactorily. Ammonia on the cloth used in washing the tub and basin will remove greasy deposits. The nickel fittings and woodwork must be wiped off, the soap-dishes and tooth-brush racks washed. The vessels used in the bedrooms must be cleansed in the same manner, the water-pitchers rinsed out and filled fresh every day, and the slop-jars and commodes scalded daily.

The linen-closet should be in the charge of the mistress of the house, and the maid should have nothing to do with giving out fresh linen for the beds or towels for the bath-room.

When the bath-room work is finished, the maid may return to the kitchen, wash and put away the dishes, and get the kitchen and pantries in order. The maid who takes proper care of her china, glass, and silver will rinse her dishes thoroughly in one water and then wash them in hot suds, the glass first, then the silver, and then the china, drying each piece as it comes from the suds. The breakfast-dishes washed, the dish-towels should be rubbed out. Once a day they should be boiled.

This is the time when the mistress inspects the contents of the refrigerator and decides what shall be the meals for the day. Either before or after such inspection the maid must wipe off the shelves of the ice-box, and three times a week it must be scoured out with hot water and washing-soda.

The general work of the house—of which more later—is undertaken now, and after it comes the preparation of the mid-day luncheon. At this meal little waiting is required. The table is set as for breakfast. If the work is properly managed there should be no heavy tasks for the maid to accomplish in the afternoon, except on washing and ironing days. She may perhaps attend to some light work like the polishing of silver, but, if her duties are arranged as they should be and she is brisk in their performance, she ought to be able to have a little time to herself in the afternoon. The preparation of dinner is seldom undertaken until after four o'clock in houses where dinner is served at seven.

The maid is expected to discharge the work of a regular waitress at dinner, so far as serving the dishes, passing plates, and the like are concerned. She is not required to remain in the room, but to come when rung for. Her work of clearing away and washing dishes is practically the same after luncheon and dinner as after breakfast."

The Expert Maidservant, by Christine Terhune Herrick, 1904.

The Domestic Problem

"A word about the maid's bedroom. In some circumstances it is impossible to make it very alluring. When all of a family are tucked away in dark, inside rooms, as is the case in many city apartments, it cannot be expected that the maid will fare better than her employers. But, fortunately, all humanity are not cliff-dwellers. There are plenty of homes where it is possible for the maid to have a light, airy bedroom, which could be made attractive at a small expenditure of time and money. Yet it is seldom that a servant's room has anything pleasing about it. The mistresses defend themselves by saying that the servants are heedless with good things, that they do not take care of what is given them, and any mistress can cite facts to prove this position.

Without disputing the truth of these statements, it may yet be urged that it is hard for a servant to come into a room that bears plainly the traces of its former occupant's untidiness. Possibly the new-comer has in her the potentialities of neatness and cleanliness, and it is unfair to check these at the start. The room cannot be refurnished for every new maid; but the furniture it contains can be of a sort that is readily freshened. The white iron cots are neat as well as comfortable, and there should be a good mattress always. A hard-working maid has a right to a comfortable bed. If there are two servants, they should have separate beds. This should be an invariable rule. The mattress should be protected by one of the covers that come for this purpose. This can be washed as often as it needs it. The blankets, too, should be washed between the departure of one maid and the arrival of another. A neat iron wash-stand, a plain bureau that can have a fresh bureau-cover or a clean towel laid over it, a comfortable chair, a rug by the bed, are not expensive and add much to the comfort of a room. It is wiser to have the floor bare and painted, or spread with a matting, than covered with a shabby and worn-out carpet which gathers dust and dirt. The walls are better painted than papered. The mistress can consult her own preferences as to whether or not she shall put pictures on the walls, but she should not make of the maid's room a lumber place for the old engravings and chromos that will be tolerated in no other part of the house, and do it under the impression that she is making the place attractive to the maid-servant within her gates. The bed should, if possible, be made up before the maid arrives, with a fresh spread, and the room should have the absolute cleanliness that is always a charm.

One more point should be looked after in preparing for the maid's arrival. The mistress should make sure that the supply of china and cutlery that the maid will use for her own meals is in decent order. It cannot be pleasant for any one to have bent and tarnished forks and spoons, cracked and stained cups, saucers, and plates for her food. The cost of replacing these by new is very slight and pays for itself in the agreeable impression given the maid by the fresh, bright articles."

The Expert Maidservant, 1904, by Christine Terhune Herrick.

"REMEDIES, &c."

FOR DYSENTERY. -- Dissolve as much table salt in  pure vinegar as will ferment and work clear.  when the foam is discharged cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use.  A large spoonful of this in a gill of boiling water is efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholic.

CURE FOR CHILLS. -- The plant, commonly called hoarhoand, is said to afford a certain cure.  Boil it in water, and drink freely of the tea.

GARGLE FOR SORE THROAT, DIPTHERIA, OR SCARLET FEVER. -- Mix in a common size cup of fresh milk two teaspoonfuls of pulverized charcoal and ten drops of spirits of turpentine.  Soften the charcoal with a few drops of milk before putting into the cup.  Gargle frequently, according to the violence of the symptoms.

TO RELIEVE ASTHMA. -- Take the leaves of the stramonium (or Jamestown weed,) dried in the shade, saturated with a pretty strong solution of salt petre, and smoke it so as to inhale the fumes.  It may strangle at first if taken too freely, but it will loosen the phlegm in the lungs.  The leaves should be gathered before frost.

SIMPLE CURE FOR CROUP. -- If a child is taken with croup apply cold water suddenly and freely to the neck and chest with a sponge or towel.  The breathing will instantly be relieved, then wipe it dry, cover it up warm, and soon a quiet slumber will relieve the parent's anxiety.

CURE FOR CAMP ITCH. -- Take iodide of potassium, sixty grains, lard, two ounces, mix well, and after washing the body well with warm soap suds rub the ointment over the person three times a week.  In seven or eight days the acarus or itch insect will be destroyed.  In this recipe the horrible effects of the old sulphur ointment are obviated.

The Confederate Receipt Book, 1863. I am wondering (based on the reference to sulphur) if camp itch is a polite euphemism for lice.