HOUSEKEEPirl' l!lllil!lilill!l!|ll!llllllll!|llll!l!itlli!lilim FDRLITII GIRLS :V' r i V" >f^ BY OLIVE HYDE FOSTER r $ Coipght}!^. CDPyRIGHT DEPOSIT HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME COOKERY FOR LITTEE GIRLS SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS WORK AND PLAY FOR LITTLE GIRLS Illiisl ralrd. 7.) cents net THE TEA TABLE. HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS BY OLIVE HYDE FOSTER . r Author or " Cooker V for Little Girj.s" " Sewing for Littee Gires " NEW YORK DUFFIELD Si COMPANY 1912 Copyright, 1909, 1910, by PICTORIAL REVIEW Copyright, 1912, by DUFFIELD & COMPANY £CI.A328007 Preface The kindly welcome accorded my books for little girls on cooking and sewing, has led natu- rally to this volume for them on the next step in woman's Avork,— housekeeping. Though little has been written for children along these practical lines, librarians say that the few works obtain- able are in great demand. The study of Domestic Science is growing steadily in popular favour, because knowledge of its principles tends directly to increase interest in the family as well as eventually to improve the race. As in the home centre the life and happi- ness of the whole family, it is of the utmost im- portance that every girl should realize the dignity and pleasure of caring for a home. In it she will have the opportunity to make use of the best edu- cation she has been able to get in literature, music, science, morals and art ; and with these uplifting influences her housekeeping will become — instead of heart-breaking drudgery — a work of fasci- nating delight. With a knowledge of Domestic Science she can Y HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS add to the comfort and welfare of all the members of her household. She will be able to spend her money to better advantage, and to improve the health of those about her by maintaining hygienic surroundings and providing scientifically cooked meals. And as a well-kept home implies a family, in the course of her development as a model house- wife, she will probably come to realize a growing fondness for little ones, and a willingness to un- dertake the mental, moral and physical training of children. All little girls love to " play house," and it is very easy to get them so interested in doing things really worth while that they will take genuine pleasure in becoming good housekeepers. O. H. F. DEDICATED TO Two of the most helpful little girls that ever learned to keep house. CONTENTS PART I CHAl'TDIl I A Well-Kept Home II The General Cake or the House HI Care of the Dining-Room . IV A Dainty Livin(;-Room V An Attractive Upstairs . VI Law and Order in the Kitchen VII Holiday Preparations PAGE 3 8 18 28 36 l.() 55 PART II I Curious Fac ts Akout Things We Eat II The Prin( iples ov Cookery . Ill The Question of Food Values IV Planning Economical Meals V The Chemistry of Cleanincj VI Why and How to Fuiirr l)u Flies VII Hints on Furnishings and Decora- tions ♦ ♦ • • .110 ST AND 65 73 83 89 9G 102 ILLUSTRATIONS PART I The Tea Table Frontispiece PAGE A Business Basis 4 Preparing to Clean 11 Dusting 1 i The "Best Things" .19 Tea 25 Polishing Furniture 31 The Sleeping Room 37 Care of the Beds 40 A Fresh, Clean Kitchen 47 Cleaning the Stove 49 PART II Preparations 69 Carpentry 100 Getting Rid of Dust 107 Beauty and Use . . . Ill Dish-washing .. . . • . ♦ • • .114 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS PART I HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS CHAPTER I A Well-kept Home There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with 't. Shakespeare. Do you know, Girls, what that big name. Do- mestic Science, stands for? Why, something you really want to know ! I am sure of it. And when young women go to college, and spend a lot of money to study it they find when they get through that they have learned — what do you suppose? — the best, easiest and most scientific way to cook, keep house, and take care of the family. Even many little poor children in our big cities are now being taught all these wonderful things, and I saw a lot of them one day, with neat caps and aprons, working with a pleasant-looking teacher in a model kitchen. They were learning 3 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS to cook, and finding the best way to make de- licious bread and rolls, how to prepare all sorts of good things to eat, and to keep everything A BUSINESS BASIS. delightfully clean. They had their little note- books, so they would not forget or make a mis- take, and they looked, oh ! so happy. This is what every girl ought to know, too, for of course all of you expect when you grow up to have a nice home of your own, and wouldn't it be simply dreadful if you did not know how to take care of it properly ! Well, you can begin to learn right now, for Mother will be glad to have your help, and I am going to tell you a lot of things that you will have fun in proving for yourself. SAVING MONEY You would not think of throwing away a quar- ter, would you? I see you open your eyes in astonishment. But if you do not " run the house " on what is called a business basis, you will throw away (waste) a good many quarters! 4 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTT.E GIRLS Every girl should take a pride in learning how to get the most for her money, and saving all she can. In the first place, she should know exactly how nmch she has to spend, then just exactly what she needs to buy. Here will come in the fun of seeing how far she can make the money go. One girl I knew was told by her father that he would give her a certain amount each week to set the family table, and that she might have all that was left over for herself, to pay for tluis relieving her mother. I tell you she learned very quickly where to get the best things to eat for the least money, and she had a nice sum left for her own clothes. Before you buy anything, be sure that you are not paying more than it is worth, — and that you can afford to buy it at all. A good way to learn this is to get a little account book, write down all the money you get in one column, and every penny you spend in another, and then see that the two come out even. This " keeping accounts " is one of the things that college girls learn in connection with what is called " Household Management " ; and another, equally important, is planning the work so that the housewife will not be worn out in keeping the house clean and attractive. 5 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS THE KEASON AVHY. The most interesting part of the study, prob- ably, is learning about the things Ave eat and how to cook them. Did you ever wonder why people usually have meat, vegetables and dessert for dinner? Well, there is a very good reason, and when we get to it, I'll tell you. We will talk about " food values," and the best ways of cook- ing the things that really belong together, in order to properly nourish our bodies as well as please our appetites. We might get just as much actual nourishment from sour, dry bread as from a sweet, fresh loaf, but who would want to eat it? You will very soon find out that it is best to learn the right and scientific way to do things. It saves a lot of time, too. There are many short cuts and new methods, all making the work easier and more interesting. Of course it takes prac- tice to do things well, but you will soon learn to " make your head save your heels." Not any single branch of the work is very hard, and while no one would expect you to try to do it all alone, I want you to take up each part as we come to it, and try it for a while, so that you will have a good chance to learn it thoroughly. Your help will mean a great deal to JNIothcr if 6 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS she happens to be ill or called away from home ; and although I know you have always loved to " play house," suppose you go about it now in earnest to become good little housekeepers. CHAPTER II The General Care of the House Be it ever so humble, there's no phice like home. J. Howard Payne. In the very first place, always he neat and clean yourself. Does that seem difficult when you are washing dishes or huilding a fire? Why, you will hardly believe it when I tell you that in the big cities even the street-sweepers wear suits and helmets of white. It is sensible too, for not only do they look nice, but their clothes show when they are soiled, and can be immediately cleaned. If you have any half-worn wash dresses that are not quite nice enough to wear in the street, take them for house-dresses and when they get dirty have them washed. Old dresses too far gone for that, however, can be cut up for aprons — and I want you to be sure to always wear an apron. Your mother has probably been very systematic about her work, as most women are. Generally the washing is done on jNIonday^ the ironing on Tuesday and Wednesday, the extra work such as 8 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS cleaning silver, curtains and windows on Thurs- day, thorough sweeping and dusting on Friday, and baking, with the kitchen cleaning, on Satur- day, though everyone varies this to suit her own convenience. It is well for you, however, to notice the way your mother does, and learn the reason she has for her method. PREPARING TO CLEAN. This time I am going to tell you a few things about the general care of the house. It has to be kept fresh and clean, so naturally we think imme- diately of sweeping and dusting. If you have carpets in your house there is likely to be more dust than if you have polished floors and rugs. (I will talk to you about cleaning them another time.) When you are ready to sweep a room, after putting on an apron and fitting a dusting cap well down over your hair, wipe off the chairs with a soft cloth and move them into another apartment. Remove the books and papers from the table, dusting and piling them on one of the clean chairs, or else rearrange them on the table and then cover with an old sheet. If the curtains are on light rods, get someone to help you lift them down once in two weeks and shake them gently outside. Any small rugs 9 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS should be taken out, too, and swept on both sides on the grass. But do not hang them on a hne, as it is very apt to injure them through the centre. REMOVING ASHES. If a grate or stove happens to be in use there will be the ashes to remove, but any of my neat little girls can do this with care so as not to make the fine dust fly. But first you'd better spread around some old papers, then bring the coal- bucket close up to the ash-box. Slipping a small shovel into the pile of ashes, take out a small quantity, lift carefully over to the bucket and let the ashes gently slide down. If you repeat this with great care each time, and, too, hold a piece of newspaper over the top of the bucket, you will see that the ashes do not scatter about the room. Then sweep toward the draft any that may have fallen about the edge, close up the stove, and wipe clean with the stove cloth. For the grate, a small quantity of grease or oil on the rag will make the metal look bright and shining. In doing this work, however, the very dirtiest of all housework, you'd better ask mother to let you have an old pair of gloves that you can wear to keep your hands nice and white. 10 PREPARING TO CLEAN. 11 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS SWEEPING. Then, closing the doors to keep the dust from the rest of the house, and opening the windows for fresh air, proceed with a broom, that is the right weight for you to liandle, to sweep the carpet. If it has been down for some time (so that it holds much dust), you will find the work cleaner and more satisfactory if you first scatter around damp tea-leaves, or scraps of newspaper wrung out of clear water. In rolling over and over in the sweeping they collect the dirt, and also brighten the carpet. Be sure to get well into the corners and close to the baseboards. If a piece of furni- ture is too heavy for you to move, ask mother to let you have a small whisk broom, and sweep under with that. Hold your large broom nearly straight, do not bear down too hard, and take light easy strokes. Begin in the darkest corner and brush toward the light, so that as the dirt accumu- lates you can be sure of getting it all. Work it well up into a nice little pile, and take it up on the dust -pan, using your whisk if necessary to get this last spot perfectly clean. Never, 7iever do that untidy trick of brushing the dust from one room to another! 13 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS DUSTING. Leave the doors closed uiid the windows open until the dust has settled, then remove the cloth spread over the table and shake that outside. Wipe off all the woodwork with a clean soft cloth and don't forget to shake that outside every little while, too. Dust everything left in the room, putting it in its usual place, bring back the chairs, spread down the rugs, and then look around to DUSTING. make sure that everything is right. Don't forget the rounds of the chairs and the legs of the tables. The picture frames, too, must be carefully wiped off, front and back, and any little ornaments hanging around that collect dust and yet are apt to be overlooked. Cheese-cloth is about the very best thing you can get for dusting fine furniture. In piano ware-rooms it is used almost exclusively for polish- 14 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ing expensive rosewood and mahogany, and it never scratches. A few yards to be cut and hemmed for dusters will cost but ten or fifteen cents, yet will last for months. In the living- room, where you may wish to dust twice a day, have one of these pieces hang in some convenient place, in a pretty little bag made of some old scrap of silk. It will save a lot of trouble. BUILDING A FIRE. If you have to start a fire (and it is a good thing for you to know how in case of emergency), first clean your grate by shaking down all the ashes you can with the stove closed, using a small poker when necessary to rake them out. Then crumple up old papers enough to nearly half fill the fire-box, add a layer of fine kindling, then a layer of coarse, and place the coal or wood on top. Hard coal requires much more coarse kindling than soft coal does, but if the drafts in the front of the stove and in the chimney are all open there should be no trouble about getting it started. Only don't poke a hard-coal fire, and also don't start any kind and then go away, forget about it and let it burn out ! 15 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS WASHING WOODWORK. Always watch to see that the woodwork is clean. When you notice a door getting black with finger- marks, or a casing showing a line of dust, wash it. A few teaspoonfuls of ammonia in a couple of quarts of water will cut dirt easily and not mar the varnish. Wash only a small space at a time, dry it and rub with the cheese-cloth. When it is clean, go over it once more with a dry polisher to take off any blurs. This ammonia and water will make furniture look surprisingly clean and new, but you must wet only a little bit at a time and then wipe it dry at once. CLEANING THE PORCH. Your porches and steps ought to be swept off early every morning. This takes only a few moments, but their appearance makes a great im- pression on a stranger entering the house. Once a week they at least ought to be washed, too, and if you have a hose it is more fun than anything else to turn on the water and make them look nice. If you have no hose, first sweep off all the dust you can, then after putting on your gloves and rubbers, take an old broom and a bucket of water and scrub it that way. Some clean water thrown 16 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS oil afterward will rinse it off and make it dry more evenly, though if you prefer, you can go over it with a dry cloth fastened securely in a mop-stick. Now, I do not mean for you to start in to try and do all these things at once. As I said before, however, I hope you will learn to do each kind of work thoroughly before you try the next. Even if mother keeps a maid, tell her you are eager to become a good housekeeper and see if she can arrange with Mary or Katie to let you help with some part regularly. 17 CHAPTER III Care of the Dining-room Who sweeps a room as for Tliy laws Makes that and th' action fine. George Herbert You may be surprised to find how many inter- esting things there are to do in the dining-room. Here is where the whole family usually congregate two or three times a day, and it should be kept clean and orderly. I hope, to start with, that you have a bright, sunny room, for people, plants and flowers all need sunlight ; and a nice fern for the centre of the table, with a flowering plant or two at the window, will add greatly to the general attractiveness. FINE CHINA. It is needless to ask any of you if you like pretty clothes, but I wonder if you have ever thought much about pretty table ware.^^ Now, fine china is costly and easily broken, but I am sure if you ever felt the real pleasure that comes 18 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS from handling some dainty teacup that a dear old grandma once used, you will unconsciously be care- ful with your mother's things. Her best pieces she probably keeps for special occasions, but you must be just as considerate of the every-day ware if you would become expert enough to be trusted with all kinds. In carrying to and from the table and in putting away in the china closet, be mind- ful about placing the large pieces at the bottom, and not piling them up. It is much better to carry a few at a time and put them down in order, than to run the risk of a piece slipping on a full tray, and damaging several others in its downfall. Nicked or cracked dishes are unpleasant to look 19 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS at, and personally I would as soon have a piece broken outright. A fragile old cup and saucer that has come to me from a great-grandmother is doubly valued because in all its travels it has never been injured in the least. FAMILY SILVER. Old silver, too, is always highly prized, and, people will pay big prices in auction rooms and curiosity shops, but how much more valuable is that which has always been in your own family ! And whatever your mother may possess, take pains to help her keep it bright and free from blemishes. It means so much to a girl to have odd pieces of this kind, and perhaps some day, when you have a home of your own, you will be glad to be favoured with the sugar bowl or the teaspoons that once graced her table. Be sure to see that the flat silver is all counted frequently to guard against possible loss, and put in a suitable drawer or box where it can not get bent or scratched. Some old sterling tablespoons have just been given me, from the set made for my maternal grand- father out of the actual silver dollars he took to the silversmith ; and the loving care they have received through all these vears has silent testi- 20 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS inony to-day in the beauty of their unmarred form and design. CUT GLASS. Cut glass, too, requires the greatest of care. Aside from all the danger that attends the han- . dling of fine china, it has perils of its own. Boil- ing fluids will almost surely crack it, owing to itsu thickness, so never pour a hot custard into mother's favourite bowl or it will be apt to go to pieces in your hands. And if you happen to bej. washing the cream pitcher or the expensiver cut glass tumblers, after they have held milk, always rinse out first in cool water. Then wash in wnrmu soapy water with a soft cloth, brush the cut out- side with a little brush kept for the purpose, rinse in warm water and dry innnediately. Put care- fully away at once. , TABLE LINEN. You will find it interesting to help mother take care of her table linen. The little fancy pieces should be kept in a drawer by themselves, and right here let me say that she probably will be highly pleased if in your spare moments you occa- sionally make her something new. It will be fun 21 HOUSEKEEPING FOR TJTTLE GIRLS to do the embroidery, and surely you know some- one that can show you liow. The tablecloths and napkins for best use ought to be kept apart from the conmion ones, and if you will take the pains to fold up the tablecloth each time, in the original creases, it will keep fresh and inviting twice as long as it will if you fold carelessly and toss in the drawer. For a small family it is nice, though, to use the separate linen pieces instead, at least for breakfast and luncheon, putting a large doily at each place for the plate, a smaller one for the cup and saucer, and a tumbler size under the glass. Then with odd pieces under the principal dishes and the cruets, and a pretty centrepiece under the flowers or fern, the table will be attractive indeed. These small pieces are easily washed and ironed, too, but if you have charge of the linen drawers, be sure that you get back all that you send to the laundry. A NEAT SIDEBOARD. If mother has a sideboard, try — as a part of the coming month's lesson — to keep that in per- fect order. See that the articles used on the table are set back in their right places, and do not allow any spilt salt or sugar to remain after a single meal. Wipe off" the oil bottle, too, or it will leave 22 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS a grease mark on the cover; and if the glasses are placed on top, put them at regular intervals apart. A small serving-table is of great con- venience where there is no maid, and it can be drawn up near enough for mother to reach it with- out leaving her seat. On it can be put those extra things she may not care to have on the table, and here she can place the plates when she makes a change and does not want to take the time and trouble to remove them to the kitchen. SETTING THE TABLE. Of course every one of my girls will want to know the right way to set a table. First put on either the doilies as I have told you or the table- pad and cloth. The cloth nmst be always fresh and clean, however, and smoothed out straight. But if some careless little brother or sister has made a spot, spread a small napkin over the place to hide it, and make the table look nice. Next, put around all the flat silver needed at each place, at the right of the plate the knife, the soup spoon (bowl up) and the necessary teaspoons. The forks, with the tines up, go to the left of the plate, beginning in the order in which they are to be used. To be very proper at a dinner, put a service 23 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS plate, as it is called, directly in the centre of each place, so there will always be a plate before each person, and on this you can lay the napkin. The water glass should alwa3's be placed to the right, at the end of the knife. If jMother pours the tea or coffee, put the cups and saucers, the cream pitcher and sugar bowl before lier place, put the salts and peppers where they can be conveniently reached by all, and the dishes that Father serves in front of him, in their proper places. Don't set the platter down crooked, but on a straight line with the edges of the table ; and be sure the carv- ing knife and fork and the tablespoons are at hand. Of course, every family adapts these gen- eral instructions to its own liking, but you want at all times to have the table clean, neat and orderly. SERVING. The proper way to wait on a table, too, it would be nice for you to learn now. Breakfasts and luncheons are usually very simple, but dinners require more formality. If soup is served first, either bring from the kitchen or take from your father one plate at a time, and set down before the members of the family in the order of their impoi*tance, beginning with your mother. The ti4> HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS custom of serving the mother before the guests is becoming more and more general. Remember to offer and to set down food at the left side always, and to remove from the right. Next you take out TEA. the soup plates (in the original order, Mother's first), and bring in the dinner. Remove each ser- vice plate from the right side as you set the dinner plate down from the left. See that everytliing necessary is on the table before you resume your seat, for I do not mean to have you stand and serve as a waitress would have to do, but rather as Mother's own little well-trained helper. Besides, when you grow up and have the care of a home 3^ourself, you will know just how these things should be done, and will be able to train a servant properly if you should happen to have one. Every girl should be taught to do everything con- nected with housekeeping and home-making, for whether she does it herself or passes the knowl- edge on to others, it is a satisfaction to " know Jiow." ^5 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS If a salad course follows, clear away the entire dinner course you brought in, and set the salad, with the plates, before Mother. Pass each plate as rapidly as she prepares it, not forgetting the right way to set down and remove the dishes, as before explained. READY FOR DESSERT. When time for the dessert, clear the table of everything but the necessary forks and spoons, cream, sugar, water, and — of course — the cen- trepiece. That is never touched unless it hap- pens to be a bowl of fruit which has to be served. Brush the cloth free from all crumbs with a folded napkin and a plate, or a crumb-scraper, and then bring in the dessert, and pass that as you did the other dishes. The water pitcher may need replenishing, and this is a good time to do it. Now, of course, if your mother has a more formal way even than this, of serving her meals, it will be best for you to learn all you can about tlie fine points of serving; but if, on the other hand (as is often the case, in large families living alone in the country), she has had to get along without help and consequently had to let people wait on themselves, without regard to the usages of polite society, I think she will greatly appreci- 26 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ate it if you will start a new order of things. Your meals will actually taste better if the table is set in an orderly way, the linen spotless, and whatever food there is, be it much or little, attrac- tively prepared and served. All the members of the family will appreciate it, and you will be very proud of your table if a guest drops in and sees how well you understand these things. ^7 CHAPTER IV A Dainty Living-room A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Everyone likes to see pretty things about the living-room, and my girls will all he interested in learning the right way to care for bric-a-brac, books, music and pictures. Nothing detracts from their beauty so much as dust and finger- marks, and it requires some experience to handle and keep them clean. Vases, statuettes and orna- ments of all kinds should be examined every sweeping day. Dust them with a soft cloth or a little brush, and the pieces that need washing remove to the kitchen. The others can be set in another room or covered on a table while the rooms are being cleaned, and then carefully replaced. The pieces that need washing should be put in a basin of warm soapsuds, and scrubbed gently with a nail-brush or a small, fine bristle brush such as artists use, but first be sure that the decorations will not wash off. ^8 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS FLOWER HOLDERS. All bowls, vases and jugs used for flowers need to be cleaned frequently or the decaying leaves and stems will cause a bad odour; besides, clear glass ornaments show the sediment inside. The finest cut glass vase is not attractive unless it is clean, and after being brushed in the warm suds and washed inside with a cloth, it can be rinsed in clear water and left to drain dry. Bisque and fine china ornaments with a rough exterior will have to be dusted with a small, long-haired paint- brush. It will prove a great help, too, in cleaning the corners of a nice piece of statuary or a hand- some lamp. Cheese-cloth makes the best kind of dusting cloths, as I have told you before, and after it has been washed it is as soft as the finest linen. BOOKS AND MUSIC. Books and music require particularly clean hands and dusters. Wipe off lightly those out of use, dust the table or piano where they belong, and after replacing, cover them with a piece of old sheet if they are to be left in the room during sweeping. Books in cases are not handled so often, but unless behind glass doors they should be protected also by sheets on cleaning days. 29 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Straiglitcii up the loose music, and try to keep vocal and instrumental, popular and classical, in separate piles. A music cabinet, of course, is best for this purpose, but where there is none, a small table will answer the purpose. For a small collection a piano bench with a box under the seat is very convenient. CLEANING. Pictures collect the dust quickly as you will find when you really begin to see things with a housekeeper's eyes, and you must not only wipe off what is in sight from the visitor's point of view, but get up on a chair, clean the top of the frame, rub off the glass, and then, turning the whole pic- ture around very gently, face toward the wall, and dust the back. In a house having hardwood floors and rugs, these things I have been telling you are all to be done after the rugs have been taken out, but before the floor has been wiped ; otherwise the dust would all settle down on the clean floor. Even where heavy carpets have to be swept, I prefer to have most of such cleaning done first, then the windows opened to let out the dust from the sweeping, for if the carpets are kept properly cleaned and then are gone over with the damp 30 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS broom or the moistened papers I liave before men- tioned, there will not be a great amount of dust to fly, and whatever does settle can be easily removed afterward. CARE OF FURNITURE. You will remember also that I told you about taking out the small pieces of furniture in doing a room, and setting the chairs and tables in another POLISHING FURNITURE. apartment. You may notice that some of the pieces show scratches or marred spots. If so, a little furniture polish • — your mother probably has her own favourite kind — will make things like new. Take a small end of a cheese-cloth and 31 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS after shaking the bottle wet a httlc place, apply it to the dull or damaged spots, and then rub to a polish with the dry end. You may find it makes it look so well that you will be tempted to go all over it, but don't undertake too much. You must be very careful, however, not to leave the slightest trace of the cleaner, or it might ruin somebody's clothes. PRESERVING THE PIANO. You ought to give special care to the piano, for it cost a lot of money and you want it to last a good many years. Don't keep it closed, either, for it needs sunshine and air as much as the plants and flowers, strange to say, though many people do not know it. Darkness and dampness will yellow the ivories and rust the strings, so use but do not abuse 3^our instrument. Always close it on sweeping day, of course, to keep out the dust. Wipe the keys frequently with a damp cloth and dry innnediatcly, but be careful not to get a drop of water in any of the crevices ! A duster of fancy wool on a handle is ornamental enough to be left hanging in a convenient spot (for no pianist can bear dusty keys). Or a square of chamois is nice for cleaning, but our old friend the cheese- cloth is far cheaper and every bit as good. 32 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS CLEANING RUGS. In our first lesson, you know, I told you how to sweep a room covered with carpet ; hut if your liv- ing-room has a polished floor with small rugs, take outside all the rugs that have to he cleaned. They are not hard to handle, but do not attempt to shake them or hang them on a line. Either way is sure to injure them in time. I once had a fine Persian rug badly damaged by being hung up and then whipped with a carpet-beater. The safest, as well as the easiest, way is to lay the rugs face down on the grass, beat lightly with the flat side of a broom, and then sweep well on both sides. In stormy weather I have mine thoroughly swept on each side, out on the porch. This keeps all the dust out of the house, and saves work. POLISHED rLOORS. Go over the bare floor first with a brush or a broom covered with a cloth, and then dust it with a piece of cheese-cloth. Varnished floors can be wiped with a damp cloth, frequently wrung out of cold water, but hardwood or waxed floors only need a clean, dry cloth until the time for their regular treatment. Then some people use one thing, some another. A good floor wax comes in 33 HOUSEKEEPING FOR IJTTLE GIRLS half-pound cans, and it is a very simple matter to rub on a little with a piece of the cheese-cloth, and then polish with a larger cloth. Remember, I do not intend to have my little girls start in to take full care of a house with polished floors, as that would be too much. But I do want them to learn how to do everything about the house, and enough experience of this kind to teach them the right way to care for a nice floor will not hurt either their pride or their fingers. THE READING-LAMP. Do you use a reading-lamp in your living- room? Then, by all means learn how to take care of it. Lamps are particularly fashionable now, and many are fixed for gas or electricity, instead of oil, because they are as useful as they are or- namental. If you burn oil, however, get mother to show you how her lamp comes apart to be filled and cleaned, for different kinds vary. Then be sure of these things: First, do not spill the oil in filling. Second, take a little stick and scrape off the charred part of the wick and then rub it smooth wdth a bit of rag or paper, as this will make a more even flame than cutting with the scissors. Third, wipe every part of the lamp clean and 34 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS dry, brushing out any cliarred pieces of wick or match that may have dropped In by the wick. Fourth, be sure the lamp is properly screwed together after filling. Fifth, never fill a lamp anywhere near a light or a fire. Sixth, keep the chimney bright. Tissue-paper is very good for ordinary polishing, but if the chimney is badly smoked you will have to wash it in soap-suds, rinse and dry with a clean cloth. If you do this, it might be well to leave for a while in a warm place to get thoroughly dry before lighting. There, all that talk about the care of a lamp! but I am sure if you ever have to stay In a close room with one, on a cold night with the windows shut, you will be glad indeed to know how to keep it clean, so it will not smell or smoke. 35 CHAPTER V An Attractive Upstairs Order is Heaven's first law. Pope. Yon will find, I am sure, that the care of the bedrooms is one of the most Important (as well as one of tlie most Interesting) parts of all your housekeeping. The sleeping-room can be made as attractive as any In the house with a little care, just as It can be made a sight to shut the door on, by neglect. No matter how simple the furnish- ing, it will reflect the charm and personality of its occupant if always sweet, neat and orderly ; and no amount of fine furniture will overcome the effect on character of dust and disorder. There- fore — be tidy. MAKING THE BED. On getting up In the morning, the bedclothes should be thrown back over the foot of the bed or spread on chairs near the open window to air. In cold weather when the opening of all the bedroom 36 37 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS windows and doors would cool off the house too much by creating a draft, let each member of the family open her window and close her bedroom door for a short time, then close her window and open her door, and the fresh air will seem to warm up even more quickly than the stale air. On returning from breakfast, first make the bed. The mattress should be turned at least twice a week, and you may need to get someone to help you do this. Spread the pad on smoothly, and then the lower sheet, placing it with the wide hem always at the top so that the part that touches the feet will come to the bottom every time. Place the upper sheet on next, with its wide hem at the top, straighten out every wrinkle, and tuck both sheets in well across the bottom. (Nothing is so disagreeable to some people as having the bedclothes pull out at the end.) Then put on the comfort or blankets nice and even, and lastly the spread. Some housekeepers allow all the covers to hang over the side nearly to the floor — and where there is a valance attached to the mat- tress-cover as on a brass bed, the clothes can not be tucked in ; but if Mother has good old-fashioned wooden bedsteads, then you can fold under every- thing, leaving a smooth, white, inviting bed. And when the pillows have been well shaken and puffed 39 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS up as big as possible before laying carefully in place, your bed will look just as it should; then if you have an extra comfort, fold it over and over so as to make a nice roll, and place it across the foot of the bed. ORDER NEXT TO CLEANLINESS. Next put your room in order by hanging every article of clothing out of sight. If, unfortu- nately, you have not a closet, ask mother to allow you to have a curtain to hang over your hooks, and not only protect your clothing but also add CARE OF THE BEDS. to the neat appearance of your room. This cur- tain material may be cheap, but should match the furnishings. Put your shoes away, keep your good hat in a box, and hang your extra coat on a coat-hanger or even a piece of broom-handle, if you can get nothing better. This coat-hanger or stick will be nicer if first wrapped in cotton con- 40 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS taining a little sachet powder, and then covered with some odd piece of silk or ribbon. But never hang a coat or waist up by the back of the collar or the armhole. If you have carpet on your room it should be sw^ept thoroughly once a week in the way I have told 3 ou to do the down-stairs work. If you have matting, sweep it crosswise with a brush or a broom covered with a cloth. Shake the rugs out- side and sweep on the grass ; and if you have a polished floor, wipe it with a soft cloth as I told you before. The mirrors as well as the windows will get dim and dirty, and to clean them take clear warm water with a little ammonia, wash over quickly w^ith a small cloth, then rinse this out and after wringing dry, wipe the glass with it, and polish with a piece of cheese-cloth. The curtains will keep fresh longer if twice a month you take them outside and shake off every bit of loose dust ; and they should be made of some simple material that will permit of their being washed and boiled. TOILET ARTICLES, Of course my little girls will take especial pride in the care of the washstand and dresser. Wash the toilet articles every morning after using, clean and dry the bowl, wipe out the soap dish, and carry 41 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS out the slop-jar when you go after fresh water, if you have not a bath-room. Straighten up the top of the dresser, put pins, needles and hairpins in cushions, lay collars and ribbons in boxes (for I am sure you all delight in keeping your drawers in beautiful order), set toilet bottles, manicure articles, brushes, etc., in place, and wipe away every particle of dust. Also use the dusting cloth on every other piece of furniture, and wipe off all the woodwork. Pull all the window shades down the same distance, and straighten up any books, pictures and magazines you may have about. Then step to the door, just as if you were a stranger, take a look about 3^ou, and unless I am greatly mistaken you will be surprised to see how much improvement you have made in your room. NEAT CLOSETS. A closet is a bad place for getting out of order, and unless you are careful every time you put a garment away, will soon appear too crowded to hold any more. Then the remedy is to lay out everything, and replace the way you like, remov- ing to some other closet (or even a box in the attic) all unnecessary articles. A shelf across the top of the closet will give a lot of extra room for boxes to hold hats, shirt- 42 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS waists, the party dress, etc., and then there will be space along the under side of the shelf for your father to put in an extra row of hooks so you can hang your clothing two rows deep with- out creasing or crushing. In your top dresser-drawer you can keep better order too, if you will use separate boxes to hold your handkerchiefs, collars, ties, ribbons, etc. The ribbons, particularly, will keep fresh much longer if they are smoothed out each time they are worn and laid out straight or wrapped around a card. THE BATH-ROOM. If your house has running water, you certainly must learn how to clean the bath-room. First of all, remove the rug, sweep up the dust, and wipe the floor with a damp cloth. Take the scouring soap and wash out the bath-tub, being sure to get off the ring that settles around the edge if the water is at all hard. When all nice and white, rinse out with fresh water and wipe dry. Next scour the top of the washstand and the faucets, wipe off any particles of soap, wash out the bowl and wipe it dry. If the toilet needs attention, make a stiff roll of an old newspaper and clean it with the end of that, flushing frequently so that 43 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ^fpu cam sec you arc getting it clean. You do not need to evci^ wet your hands by doing it this way, but when it is done wrap up the paper in a dry pjece, and take down-s,t^irs to be burned or carried away. Pohsh the bath-room mirror and window, remove all soiled and wet linen, put out fresh towels, Avipe the dust from the molding, and after shaking and sweeping the mat outside, spread it down in front of the bath-tub. THE LINEN PRESS. There is real pleasure in handling masses of snowy sheets and pillow cases, and they should be laid in symmetrical piles, smooth and cycn. Large sheets should he pLiccd by themselves, with the threc-(|uartcr and single ones where they can be obtained at a moment's notice without stopping to unfold and measure. Pillow cases should be matched and piled together, so placed that there will be no difficulty about getting the sizes desired quickly 1. Towels should be stacked conveniently, too, so that those for ordinary use will be riglit at hand, while the fine ones kept for special occasions will be within reach yet back far enough that they will not be picked up by mistake. Spreads should be folded wrong side out, so they can not possibly U HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS get soiled on the shelves, which must be kept nice and fresh, with clean papers. HALL AND STAIRS. The upper hall and the stairs are to be cleaned in the same way as the living-room. If carpeted, close all the doors into the bedrooms, so that the dirt will not spread. Sweep lightly toward the light, using the damp tea leaves or moistened scraps of newspaper if the carpet is very dusty, taking up all the hall sweepings before touching the stairs. For the steps a whisk broom will be the most convenient, brushing from each step directly into the pan and thus avoiding the scat- tering of the dust. If the hall and stairs are un- carpeted, go over them first with a brush, and then with a cloth. Dust the banister carefully, and all the woodwork. Being a model housekeeper has always meant much, and in the Bible we read of the good woman, " She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. * * * Her price is far above rubies." 45 CHAPTER VI Law and Order in the Kitchen Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought. Marcus Aurelius. Even a child, I believe, feels the pleasure of going into a fresh, clean kitchen, and I want all niv little housekeepers to learn how to keep things nice. Every girl wants to become a good cook, but this means that she should also learn how to take care of the place she has to work in, and to make her labor as light as possible. In the first place, a little care will keep the floor spotless quite a Avhile. After it has been freshly scrubbed, see that no grease is allowed to spatter from the stove, or dishwater be spilled around the sink. After a time it will come so natural to be careful about these little details that you will scarcely think of them. The stove itself, unless you use gas, will be a source of dust and ashes, so be careful in opening and closing the doors not to 46 A FRESH, CLEAN KITCHEN. 47 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS allow any to get on the floor. Always spread a paper down first if yon have to fix a fire, and then jou can clean up quickly afterward. CT.EAXIXG THE STOyE. TAKING CAKE OF FOOD. Next, be mindful of all the food, cooked and uncooked. Meat, fruit and fresh yegetables should always be put on ice, or in a cold place, as soon as they come in. The food left after a meal should be sorted oyer, and small quantities put in small covered dishes where they will be sure to be seen and used while they are good. If not enough to be served alone fragments can be utilized in soups, stews, salads, or as garnishings for desserts. A plain boiled rice will look very attractive if 49 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS dotted with small bits of red jelh', or slices of a rich preserved peach. ]\Iilk and cream ought not to be allowed to stand in the warm kitchen a moment longer than necessary. jNIeasure out what is going to be used, and set the rest back immediately on the ice. Butter, eggs and lard should be handled in the same way, the small quantity of butter coming from the table being put aside for cake, pastry, etc. Suet and scraps of fat must be saved to " try out " for cooking, bacon grease put by itself to be clarified, and other fat hardly suitable for frying put in a kettle for soap. You would l)e surprised to see what fine white kitchen soap can be made with very little time or trouble! One person I know recently made, in about an hour, from the accumulations of a fifteen-pound crock of such grease and the addition of twenty cents' worth each of lye and powdered borax $8.00 worth of soap as white as castile, and which also would float. COVERING EATABI.ES. Never leave any kind of food open, exposed to the air, for dust blows whether you notice it or not, and flies and mice are always ready to take advantage of the unsuspecting housekeeper. 50 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Cover up everything! And what you do not want kept air-tiglit, tie over with a small piece of nap- kin or cheese-cloth. Fresh fish ought to be kept next to the ice, but as it is sure to taint the butter and milk in the ice-box, I always put it in a closely covered dish or crock. Broken portions of cooked fish should be picked apart and placed in a covered bowl, ready to be creamed or made into croquettes, while fruit which might not keep over night will be nice if stewed and served with hot biscuit for breakfast. So do not throw out anything that is good. Watch your ice-box. Make it a rule to empty it entirely at least twice a week, and wash out every part with warm soapsuds, pushing a tiny piece of cloth with a slender stick through the drain pipe. An ice-box must always be fresh and sweet. In the china closet have the plates, saucers, etc., piled up separately, the largest pieces at the back, and the cups (where possible) hung from hooks. Keep the glasses in nice straight lines, each kind by itself, and really study to see the prettiest pos- sible arrangement. The kitchen closet, too, can show just as good taste and systematic care; and it is a pleasure to work where things are in place, neat and clean. 51 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS A LITTLK LAIXDRESS. How iiuiny of joii, I wonder, have ever wanted to wear a favourite wliite dress and had mother say, " No, dear, you can not, because it is not clean enougli and we can not take tlie time now to wasli and iron it?" Can you guess wliat I am going to tell you next? Well, I will illustrate with a true story. A child ten years old wanted to wear a very fine fancy white dress to dancing- school every week, but her mother objected be- cause she could not do up the dress herself and the maid was not skilful enough. What did the little girl do? She said, " Mannna, if you will let Katy wash and starch my dress, I'll iron it my- self!" It was all ruffles and fine Valenciennes lace, but thinking the child would thereby learn the value of dainty clothes, the mother consented. ^ly little friend found the task rather harder than she expected the first time, but she succeeded so well, and made the dress look so nice, that she was allowed to wear it whenever she wished, on suit- able occasions. POINTS ox LAUNDRY WORK. So, if you want to put on a favourite waist that happens not to be clean, just see what you can do 52 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS with it. If white, first put to soak in cold water and a Httle soap, leaving ten or fifteen minutes. If coloured, however, make a slightly warm suds with white soap, but do not soak. Then if your material is very fine, rub with your hands care- fully, so it will not tear. Be sure to get the neck- band and cuffs clean, as these parts are the most soiled. When you are sure every part is per- fectly clean press out lightly in your hands, but do not wring hard, or you might strain the ma- terial. Rinse first in clear water, and then in a slightly blue water. Should you need starch, ask mother or the maid how much she thinks you will require for the size garment you have, and put it in a pan with enough cold water to dissolve. Then pour in, very slowly, boiling water from the teakettle to make it thick, but transparent, stir- ring all the time to avoid lumps. Add, too, a drop of blueing and either a little speck of lard, a few drops of kerosene, or a small quantity of borax, whichever your mother prefers, to keep the starch from sticking, and boil a few moments. If you want your waist quite stiff, leave the starch thick, but if you desire only a little firmness, such as you see in new goods, dilute with cold water until rather thin. Rub well into the material and press through your hands again (without wring- 53 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ing) as you did with the rinse water. Shake out well and pin on the line so that the wind can fill out and dry quickly, hut rcmeniher to always hang coloured goods in the shade. When you are ready to do your ironing, bring it, back, all stiff and sweet-smelling from the sun- slilne and air, sprinkle lightly with tepid water, roll up tightly to spread the dampness evenly, and leave a little while. Have your irons clean and hot, but not so they will scorch. Put the ironing- board where you can reach it easily, be sure the cover is spotless, and have a paper or rag to wipe your iron every time you change. ' Pull out all the points of lace and embroidery edging and iron on the wrong side. If you are doing a dress, however, you will find it easier to take the skirt first and leave the waist rolled up so it will not get too dry. Iron the bottom hem first so you will get that even, then stretch and iron each gore lengthwise, to keep the skirt in shape. Take the sleeves next, smoothing them out on the board before you begin by straightening from the inside seam across to the elbow. If you have a regular sleeve-board, it may help you to make them look nice. Then lastly, the body of the waist, taking pains to keep it from pulling crooked. 54 CHAPTER VH Holiday Preparations At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year. Tusser. Now, if yon are going to be real capable little housekeepers, you will not leave all the prepara- tions for Christmas until the last moment. There will be as much as you can possibly do then, so commence several days beforehand to help mother get the house nice and clean. Our other lessons have told you how to do this, and then you can take the day before Christmas to put up the holi- day trimmings. My city children will of course go to the near- est grocery or market or the pedlar on the corner for their greens. At one of these places they will choose their tree, big or little, and select their mistletoe and holly. My little country maids, however, will have a joy their metropolitan sisters have never dreamed of — that of going directly to the fields and woods to help Father cut the wonder- 55 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ful tree and search for the evergreens. If far- sighted enough, they gathered balsam and bitter- sweet late in the autumn, and so have that ah'eady at home, waiting to be woven into wreaths or hung in natural bunches wherever it will look prettiest. DECORATING THE HOUSE. Great bunches of green, securely fastened over doors and window-sills in halls and living-rooms, give a festive touch hardly obtainable even with festoons, which, by the way, are made by wrap- ping small sprigs to a slender cord or wire. A pretty way is to use the large branches and the big bouquets everywhere but in the dining-room, and to trim that with the garlands. Have these start from the light directly over the table, and caught up to the picture-moulding or the ceiling at different points around the room. For a cen- trepiece, on the dining-table, have a beautiful bunch of holly, with red ribbons leading to each plate, and a dinner card with the name, and a small sprig of green for each person to wear. A bit of mistletoe will furnish amusement for young and old. A stairway can be made beautiful by winding the rail with garlands and tying large bunches of greens at regular intervals to the banisters, hiding 56 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS the newel post with holly. Such decorations will not injure the finest woodwork, either. The making of festoons and wreaths will furnish many a pleasant evening's pastime before Christmas, but you must not forget to keep all greens out in the cold or they will get dry and look old before they are needed. Wreaths for every window make a house look particularly pretty ; and while they would cost considerable if bought at the stores at usual prices, they cost only the time and trouble if prepared at home. Geraniums and fuchsias will take on a gala look if the pots are wrapped in green or white crepe paper, and tied in place with scarlet baby ribbon. PAPER DECORATIONS. Some of my little city girls, though, may want to trim their homes and yet not be able to buy the necessary quantity of evergreens. This calls to mind one year when two sisters, of ten and twelve, thought it would be great fun to make yards and yards of paper chains (like the wee tots do in kindergarten) to trim their dining-room and the bay-window holding the tree. Green French tis- sue-paper costs only one cent a sheet, and they cut that in strips four inches long by half an inch 57 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS wide, and using a paste of flour and water, pasted one ring inside another until they had a great quantity of chains, each ten to fifteen feet long. Some chains they made of red and yellow papers, too. Then, the night before Christmas, father was called to tie them to the chandelier, and fes- toon around the room. These decorations pleased them immensely and cost scarcely anything. THE PRESENTS. If you do not expect to have a Christmas tree — and one is not always possible or even desira- ble — then have the presents, all tied in fancy tissue-paper and baby ribbon, piled up on the piano or the table in the corner. But of course the small brothers and sisters must be warned against going near these precious parcels until the time comes for their distribution. And this brings up the subject of presents — a most important one for young and old. Don't forget that it takes away from the joyousness of tlie day to feel that you have spent more than you ought, or used for gifts money really needed for other things. Start in a month beforehand, make a list of all the people you wish to remember, and set down the sum you can spend. If you only have one dollar, that is all the more reason for see- 58 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ing how far you can make it go. Many little re- membrances you can easily and quickly make your- self, if only a card tied on a blotter, with " A Merry Christmas " in fancy letters across the top, or a small calendar on a novel mounting. PLANTS. Did you ever think, by the way, what a nice present a growing plant makes .^^ While everyone loves cut flowers, they are very expensive at this season, and soon wither ; a plant, however, with ordinary care, keeps getting prettier. So, if you are in doubt about what to give mother or sister, suppose you decide on a dainty fern or a small palm. Several varieties of the ferns can be bought at the florist's as cheap as fifteen and twenty cents apiece (for the small ones), and if you make a selection early in December and ask the man to hold it for you, you will get a choice of the plants at the lowest price. These little ferns are very pretty to set on the dining-room table, and, tied with a fresh piece of tissue-paper around the pot every few days, always look nice. Then, in a few months, if it has grown well, take it back to the florist and liave it put in a larger pot, and it will be nicer than ever. Yet better and cheaper still are the flowers you have grown 59 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS yourself. Bulbs cost only a few cents apiece, but the narcissus or hyacinth that you have tenderly cared for and brought to fragrant perfection will prove a most delicate and acceptable offering. If you have a camera, try to get a few pretty pictures of familiar landscapes or woodland scenes, some beautiful trees or cattle in the fields, a good snap-shot of a member of the family, or even your favourite pet. A photograph of this kind mounted on a card above a tiny calendar, or a collection of pictures for one you know cares for such things, is far more acceptable often than many articles costing a large amount of money. It is the thoughtfulness evidenced in the selection of a gift that makes us feel the love which accom- panies it and gives it the real value. SOME INEXPENSIVE GIFTS. Then one more hint on presents. Collect all your old magazines and family papers and cut them to pieces. Put recipes in one pile for your newly married aunty ; sewing and embroidery hints in another for the cousin that likes to make her own clothes ; cut out the short stories for the in- valid friend that likes to read ; give the puzzles and answers to some playmate, and paste the pretty pictures on sheets of wrapping paper to 60 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS make a scrap-book for the little children. There are innumerable things of this kind that you can do. Just think how many presents you can make this way without costing you a penny ! TRIMMING THE TREE. If you are going to have a tree, you should pop your corn and string it in plenty of time for the trimming. A cranberry run in every few inches will give the desirable touch of red. Get half a yard of tarletan, cut out little stockings and over- cast them with bright wool. Here, again, if you are a city girl, you will probably buy the candy and nuts to fill these stockings at the nearest store ; but if you live away out on some farm, you will have the nuts that you gathered yourself, and as for the candy, why, one of your last cooking les- sons told you how to make a lot of different kinds. A box of such candy is always an acceptable present. If money is scarce for buying ornaments sup- pose you ask Mother to let you use your cooky recipe, and when your dough is rolled out nice and thin, cut out funny people and odd cats and dogs. When baked and swelled to all sorts of shapes, and tied to the branches of 3^our tree, they will please the little children more than expensive ornaments, 6X HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Nuts can be gilded and then suspended by thread; rosy apples will look pretty swung from the branches with baby ribbon, and a cornucopia for each one present, made from white writing paper or wrapping paper covered with red crepe paper, will hold the candy and popcorn, making an extra gift apiece. The candles come in boxes of two dozen each, as cheap as ten cents. Father will fit the tree securely in a box or stand, so there will be no danger of it upsetting, and you can spread an old sheet under it to keep the candle grease from the carpet. Then, to avoid any pos- sibility of fire, have a bucket of water close at hand. 63 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS PART II CHAPTER I Curious Facts About Things We Eat Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value. La Fontaine. In beginning I must tell you that we are going to use some big words which you must under- stand in order to know what we are talking about. Of course you are perfectly familiar with such common articles as salt, paper, water and wood. Such things are called " substances," and are really made up of several different things. Things which are not combinations, however, and which can not be further divided, are called " ele- ments." A long time ago people thought water was an element, — something that could not be divided, — but they discovered that by passing an electric current through it in the right way that they could easily separate it into two elements, called oxygen and hydrogen. Do you know, I wonder, that the human body 65 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS is made up of fifteen or twenty different elements? Well, it is, and the principal ones are ox'-v-gen, hy-dro-geii, car'-bon, ni'-tro-gen, cal'-ci-um, phos'-phor-us, sul'-phur, which I want you to say over and over until you have them fixed in your mind, for you are going to learn some very interesting things about them. Now, these very things which make up our body also make up our food. This food serves two purposes. Part of it is taken up by the body, which builds it right into itself and thus repairs the worn parts as well as builds up new ; and part of it is turned into the heat and power that we need to work and think. The human body runs very much like an engine, and it requires fuel to keep it running. This fuel is the food we eat. The flesh and blood that is used in the human engine by our mental and phys- ical efforts, is replaced by what we put into our stomachs, bodily tissue is built up, and energy (the power to do things,) is created. Therefore you see the great need of supplying the body with the kind of fuel it needs, — good nourishing food. WATER. When different elements unite, they form what are commonly called "" compounds," and when 66 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS oxygen unites with double its amount of hydrogen, the resulting compound is — water. While water is not usually called a food, it is required in preparing nearly everything we eat, and a liberal quantity has to be taken into the body to keep it in good condition. A great deal is particularly needed to wash away the worn-out parts of the body as well as the discarded portions of the food ; and this is all replaced by the water we get in what we eat as well as by what we drink. AIR. We can not get along without air any more than we can get along without water. We find, when we come to study it, that it contains (be- sides small quantities of several other things,) about one-fifth oxygen and four-fifths nitrogen. The oxygen that we take into the lungs by breathing is carried by the blood to the parts that require it, and the blood then brings back to the lungs a waste from the body, called caf-bon di-ox-ide, which we throw off with our breath. If we sit in a close room we soon fill it with bad air, totally unfit to be taken into the lungs again, and therefore we see the necessity of having our rooms, where we spend so many hours, thoroughly ventilated. 67 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS But do not think tliat this carbon dioxide is useless ! Nothing in Nature is wasted, and this poisonous gas which human beings and animals exhale, is one of tlie foods of plants, trees, and other forms of vegetable life. As they take in the carbon dioxide, they throw off as their waste the pure oxygen so necessary in large quantities to our health. FOOD. Besides water and air, we require to support human life a number of other compounds, which may be divided into four general classes : — Car-bo-hy'drates, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon. Fats, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon. Pro'te-ins, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur and nitrogen. Mineral matter, made of calcium, phosphorus, iron, sulphur, etc. As the elements composing these compounds are all found in the body, not a single one can be left out of our food or the body will show the lack. And as you therefore must know more about these compounds, I will explain. 1. The carboliydrates, which are the starches and sugars, serve as fuel for the human engine, and supply energy for work, although they do 68 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS not build up the body. The starch is found in peas and beans, (called legumes,) potatoes and such vegetables, cereals and nuts ; and the sugar principally in fruits and vegetables. PREPARATIONS. 2. The fats also serve as fuel, though they do not build up the body. They are found in fat meats, lard, oil, milk, cream and butter. 3. The proteins do build up the body, and also keep it in repair, while at the same time (as they contain carbon,) they serve for fuel. They are found in lean meat, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, cheese, nuts, oatmeal and wheat. 4. The minerals serve particularly to build up the bones, the teeth, and good, rich, red blood. They are found in bread, milk, eggs, meat and many vegetables. The carbohydrates, aside from water, form about two-thirds of all our foods, but the starch can not be used in the body until it has been changed into sugar, when it is easily absorbed. 69 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Rice, potatoes, flour and other starchy foods have to be changed by heat first, however, to prepare them for the chemical action in the moutli and stomach that turns them from starch to sugar. The mineral matter in foods people usually do not know as much about as they do tlie other ingredients. This class of elements, however, which includes lime and iron, as well as common salt, is so very necessary to our welfare and gen- eral good health that — would you believe it? — were we put on a diet of fats, carbohydrates and proteins alone, we should very quickly starve. How to combine these different classes, then, is the question. One perfect meal, suggested by an authority, consists of whole wheat bread, unskimmed milk and prunes ! Think of it, — so simple. Yet " The protein is furnished by both l)read and milk ; fat by bread and milk; carbohydrates by bread, milk and prunes ; iron by prunes and whole wheat ; phosphorus by milk and whole wheat ; calcium by milk and whole wheat ; magnesium and potassium by prunes, milk and bread; and huUx by prunes and whole wheat," — for we feel better when our stomachs arc reasonably full, and the bulk is needed to carry off the waste. In order that you may quickly get an idea of 70 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS the foods containing these different necessary in- gredients, I will give you the following list, which I advise you to memorize as you will need it every time you plan a meal : Carbohydrates. Fats. Cereals Lard Peas and beans Fat meat Starchy foods Egg yolk Potatoes Nuts Sweet fruits Milk Cream Butter Oil Proteins. Minerals. Meat Dried be; ans Dried peas Cheese Whole wheat Green beans Eggs Meat Prunes Milk Milk Spinach Nuts Parsnips Cabbage Oatmeal Turnips Celery Wheat Potatoes Raisins Peas Eggs Beans So you see that the important things for every cook to learn is to which classes the different foods belong, in order that she may have her meals nourishing and well-balanced. She will soon dis- cover that it has not been mere chance or custom that has made people generally adopt the rule (which she can pretty safely follow,) of serving 71 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS fruit, cereals and eggs for breakfast, and soup, fish or meat, vegetables and dessert for dinner. Where the pocketbook will not admit such a variety, though, she can, with care and study, provide other combinations costing less that will provide the same amount of nourishment. CHAPTER II The Principles of Cookery Cookery is become an art, a noble science. Burton. Everyone enjoys sitting down to a nice dinner- table, bountifully spread, but how many ever stop to think of the real uses of food? As food cor- responds to the fuel put into an engine, it fur- nishes power for body and brain to work ; and it also renews the broken down tissues and builds up the body. Now, while we can eat many things in their natural state, we have several good reasons for cooking food, one being to make it more digesti- ble, another to make it more palatable, and a third to destroy disease germs and parasites. The cooking, too, makes many kinds that would be unfit for use in a raw condition, both inviting and nourishing. WHAT A COOK SHOULD KNOW. The cook, therefore, should understand the composition of the different foods, so as to be 73 PIOUSEKEEPIXG FOR LITTLE GIRLS able to prepare meals that are reasonable in price, nourisliing in quality, and suited to the people they are intended for. She should know how much she can afford to spend, the best way to cook what she buys, .and the proper way to serve. Although some people seem to have a natural ability for cooking, just as they have for nmsic or drawing, yet anyone, with study and practice, can learn the art. A good cook-book is necessary, (though often too nuich importance is given to recipes,) and every time fi new dish is tried and found satis- factory, the '■ directions should be written down and kept for future reference. I hope to make so plain some of the principles of cookery, how- ever, that anyone having learned the general rules about the preparation of a few foods in each class, will know how to cook the rest. EGG COOKERY. Eggs are easily digested raw, and are taken by invalids either plain or combined with milk, sugar and flavouring, for the great amount of nourish- ment they contain. In both egg and meat (protein) cookery, one of the principal points Is to keep the food tender by cooking at a low temperature. Eggs, boiled 74 ■ HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS or poached, for example, should be covered with boiling water and then set where they will not get any hotter. The coldness of the eggs will reduce the temperature to the point where they will cook so as to be most digestible. Soft eggs should be left from five to ten minutes, and hard eggs forty-five minutes, in order to be mealy. While we could scarcely cook at all without eggs, they lack the carbohydrates, and for that reason we generally combine them with other foods containing starch and sugar. Mixed with milk and sugar, they make a delicious custard which if cooked at the proper temperature, — not too hpt or too long, — will be perfectly smooth. Com- bined with starchy foods like cornstarch, rice, tapioca, or bread, they form other puddings. Boiled hard and served on toast with cream sauce, or mixed Avith cheese, minced ham, peas or rice, in a nicely browned omelet, they afford a good substitute for meat. MEAT COOKERY. The way to cook meat depends on the cut of meat or the use for which it is intended. For soup, cut the meat in small pieces, to ex- pose as much of the surface as possible. Cover with cold or tepid water, to draw out the juices 75 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS and those proteins that will dissolve in cold water. Of course we know that soup is better when a bone is added, and the reason is that in the bone and in the marrow is found another kind of protein. This kind is not dissolved in cold water, but by long continued cooking at low temperature. Any cuts of meat will do to make soup, though as ten- derness is unnecessary, the cheaper ones are preferable. The tender cuts of meat, — steaks, chops and roasts, — should be cooked with dry heat, such as they get in broiling, frying and roasting. This heat should be intense at first, to sear over the outside and keep the juices from escaping (as they would otherwise do,) and then the temperature should be lowered in order to cook the inside with- out burning the outside. And one rule to be re- membered is that the smaller the roast, the hotter should be the temperature. The tougher pieces of meat require moist heat and long continued cooking to make them ten- der, and they get both in braising, stewing and boiling. VEGETABLE COOKERY. In cooking vegetables the main points to be remembered are as follows : 76 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 1. Those varieties which have been dried, (peas and beans,) should be soaked until double their size, then put on in cold water and stewed until tender. 2. The old strongly flavoured kinds, (onions, turnips, and cabbage,) should first be left stand- ing for an hour or two in cold water, then put on with a large quantity of boiling water in an uncovered pan, — so that the gases can escape, — and cooked as quickly as possible. 3. Those which have become slightly wilted should be freshed by soaking in cold water, or by wrapping in a wet cloth and putting in a cool place. 4. The young, tender varieties, (new peas, beans, asparagus, etc.,) should be stewed slowly in a covered pan, with a small quantity of water, to preserve their delicate flavour. 5. All fresh vegetables, except old potatoes, should be put on to cook in boiling water, salted when nearly done, removed from the fire when tender, and drained immediately. CEREAL COOKERY. To be both digestible and palatable, all cereals must be provided with water enough to swell them thoroughly and then given time enough to cook 77 HOUSKKEKPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS until perfectly done. The coarser the grain, the more water and the more time required. The printed directions on package goods seldom call for enougli of either. Too little water or too little cooking leaves the mush thick, dry and sticky, — unfit for the stomach because the un- cooked starch in the grain is indigestible. DIRECTIONS FOR THE FINER GROUND CEREALS. 1. Take necessary amount of boiling water, well salted. (Three cups of water will be required for one cup of rolled oats, to insure perfect cook- ing.) S. Sprinkle cereal into the boiling water, and stir constantly for five minutes, while cooking. 3. Set on back of the stove or in a double boiler, and cook from one to five hours, stirring occasionally. 4. Or, if preferred, cook for an hour in the evening, allow to stand in a double boiler over night, and cook for another hour before breakfast. Oatmeal is particularly delicious cooked the latter way. Raw starch is absolutely indigestible, and is not affected by a cold liquid. A hot liquid, however, causes the starch grains to swell and burst, pre- 78 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS paring them for cooking so tliat thej can be digested. In preparing the powdered forms of starchy foods, such as flour and cornstarcli, the great prin- ciple to be remembered is to separate the Httle starch grains by some means, such as mixing witli l)utter or a cold liquid, so that when heat is ap- plied it can reach every separate grain. One good illustration of powdered starchy food cookery is found in the making of tlie delicious familiar white or cream sauce, one of the most important things we use. WHITE OR CREAM SAUCE. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a sauce- pan, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir together and cook until perfectly smooth and frothy, add one cup of milk and stir for five minutes longer to keep perfectly smooth until thoroughly cooked. Season with salt and pepper. The constant stir- ring is necessary to prevent lumps and also to keep from scorching. The flour must be cooked by moderate heat until perfectly done or it will taste raw, however smooth and attractive it looks. Made in this way, the sauce is used on fish and vegetables. 79 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Made witli half the quantity of milk, it is used in mixing croquettes. Made as directed and combined with an equal quantity (or more if desired,) of soup stock made from fish, meat or vegetables, it forms a cream soup. SUGAR COOKERY. The principles of sugar cookery are to cook the sugar or syrup as thick as needed for the use to which it is to be put, and to prevent or retard it from crystallizing, — as we often say, " going to sugar." If granulated (cane) sugar is cooked with an acid like vinegar or cream of tartar, as candy recipes sometimes direct, a part of it is changed to a form of sugar called " glucose." This is less sweet than the granulated sugar, and does not easily crystallize or become " grainy." The pres- ence of a small amount of this glucose in cane sugar syrup retards crystallization, and makes it form smaller crystals when it does crystallize. You will see this in the making of cream can- dies, such as fudge, fondant and icings. These should not be stirred while boiling, as any stirring tends to make the syrup crystallize. The crystals or grains that do form around the edge of the 80 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS pan (luring the cooking arc apt to make tlic candy crystallize, and so should be wiped away with a wet cloth. Too much glucose In the syrup, however, will prevent crystallization altogether. Be careful therefore, not to put too much vinegar or cream of tartar in your candy, or it will not get creamy at all. In making caramels or taffy, which we do not want to crystallize, a larger amount of acid is necessary, to prevent the candy from going to sugar. You will be much more sure of getting your candy exactly the way it ought to be if you can have the use of a cooking thermometer. As the syrup thickens the temperature rises, and when it reaches the necessary point, you will know the candy is done. 115 degrees Centigrade, or 238 degrees Fahrenheit, shows that the candy has reached the " soft ball " stage, which Is right for fudge, icing, etc. 123 degrees Centigrade, or 254 Fahrenheit is right for taffy and the hard, brittle candies. Anyone just beginning to cook will find it very interesting as well as lielpful to experiment first with one food of a kind, (like cabbage in the vegetable class, or fudge in the candy class,) and 81 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS then go on with other things in the same class that demand the same kind of treatment. In that way the rules governing each class will be easily mem- orised. 82 CHAPTER III The Question of Food Values Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books. Francis Bacon. It is time now to think about how we can plan our meals in order to combine the necessary kinds of foods, — and also to have attractive meals at reasonable cost, — for we have found out that in order to keep the body well and strong we must eat those foods containing all of the elements found in the body. Most of us in good health can eat the ordinary foods, — fish, meat, eggs, butter, milk, cheese, sugar, bread, potatoes, vegetables and fruits — which make a suitable diet. Of course these should be combined in suitable proportions, but both cus- tom and common sense will help us in deciding how much to use of each. Any child, for example, would know — or very quickly find out from experience — that a whole meal of cake and pie would be not only unsatisfy- 83 HOUSEKEEPIxNG FOR LITTLE GIRLS ing but would leave unpleasant results. What we need is a varied diet, though a good rule for people to remember is to eat only those things which " agree " with them. HOW TO SAVE. Planning meals, therefore, is a very important work. Particularly is this true if we wish to keep down the cost, for it is possible to serve daint}', attractive and nourishing dishes at less than half the price of others which have no more food value. Eor instance, a piece of beef costing twelve cents a pound could be nicely cooked in a brown stew to make it inviting, and be just as nourishing as a porterhouse steak costing twenty-eight cents a pound. For another example, to get a specified amount of nourishment a person would have to eat two servings of cooked onions to one of green peas, but then the onions are so much cheaper in the early summer when new vegetables are expensive, that the double portions of the onions probably would not cost one-quarter as much as the single portion of the peas. Again, more than twenty times as much energy for work will come from five cents worth of dried 84 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS wliitc beans as from five cents worth of celery. Of course we all like the new, fresh vegetables, and they have their value, but when people are short of money and have to make it go as far as possible, they need not suffer from lack of lux- uries. It is highly important, therefore, that we should learn the food value of the different things to eat. In our ordinary fare, the chief sources of pro- tein (which builds up the tissues of the body,) are fish, meat, milk, cereals, and legumes ; nearly all of the fat comes from the animal foods: the carbohydrates (which with the fats furnish our energy,) come from the vegetable foods and milk, while the mineral matter (needed for various rea- sons but particularly for building bones, teeth, and good rich blood,) is found in all of the common foods. SOME SIMPLE MENUS. It is comparatively easy, then, when we know this much, to get the right things together. If you are interested enough to want to know more, however, write to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and tell him you would like to have the government bulletins on food values and diet. He will send you, free of charge, some 85 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS little pamphlets, giving just the inforiimtion you desire. To show 3'ou how simple and at the same time how nourishing a day's meals can be, I will give you a set of menus provided by one eminent au- thority : Breakfast. Shredded wheat biscuit 14 ^up cream Bread Butter Apple sauce Dinner. oiled beef Spinach Baked i)otato Bread Butter Cream Rice Supper. pudding Bread Butter Prunes Cream You will find it almost necessar}^ if you are going to be a careful manager, to plan the meals in advance. By so doing you will save time, strength and money. If you want a nice roast of beef for dinner on Sunday, order one a little larger than necessary, so there will be some left over for dinner on Monday. This can be sliced cold and served with baked potatoes, escalloped 86 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS cabbage or tomatoes, and a baked pudding, all of which can be cooked at one time in the oven. If the supply of left-over meat is small, however, cut it in little pieces and reheat, with diced po- tatoes, in the gravy. Or, if you can, add one- quarter cup each of diced carrots, turnips and celery, with a small onion, cooked half an hour, and you will have a delicious stew. If the supply of meat is insufficient for a meal, you can use milk, cheese and eggs to advantage for a substitute. Salads have a high food value, are always ac- ceptable, and when made with eggs, fish or meat and served with bread, bring together in one mix- ture the five food principles we require. THE NEED OF BEING CAREFUL. If we would get the full value of all our food, from the point of view of both nourishment and cost, we should keep it clean and fresh. Vegeta- bles and fruits, particularly when they are to be eaten raw, should be closely examined for worms and bugs, and then placed where they will keep fresh, away from flies. Meat should be put in a cold place immediately on coming into the house, and butter and milk also kept cold and away from all odours. Eggs, too, must be kept as cold as 87 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS possible, to preserve their freshness. All dishes and cooking utensils should be kept out of reach of dust, and then wiped before being used. Par- ticularly should staple dry groceries, such as cornmeal, boxed cereals, currants and raisins be closely examined, as often they get wormy after being opened. In fact, all foods should be care- fully looked over, in a strong light, at the time they are to be used. The actual food value of an attractively pre- pared dish is far greater than is generally real- ised. Authorities tell us that which appeals to the eye as well as the palate is really better di- gested. We know that invalids often will eat some- thing specially prepared that they would not touch if cooked in the ordinary way. Let us there- fore take pains to make everything we serve as inviting as possible. 88 CHAPTER IV Planning Economical Meals Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate can not harm nie, — I have dined to-day. Sidney Smith. In order to plan your meals as economically as possible, always arrange them ahead of time with reference to using at once the things that might spoil, and to buying what is reasonable in price because it is in season. The staple groceries like sugar, coffee, flour, etc., can be ordered a week or even a month in advance, thus saving further study of that sub- ject as well as the difference in price between large and small lots. The fruits, vegetables and meat need to be or- dered only once a week in winter and two or three times a week in summer. Indeed, I have known people skilful enough in household management to get along with ordering only once a week the year around. Suppose you try this yourself and see how well 89 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS you can do it. I am sure tliat mother would be glad to have you relieve her of thinking about what to eat for a week, and you would learn many things. ORDERING IN ADVANCE. If 3^ou have to plan for a family of four or five, suppose you market on Friday, when you will be sure of getting fresh fish for your first dinner. A hind quarter of lamb would furnish chops to be broiled for dinner Saturday, and a leg to be roasted for Sunday. Then as you would not want to serve the same kind of meat three days in suc- cession, you could keep the remaining portions on ice until Tuesdaj'^, Avhen they would make a fine lamb-and-pea pie. Steak would be acceptable for dinner Monday, and boiled ham or corned beef served hot for Wednesday and sliced cold for Thursday. Thus all the meat would be used while it was perfectly fresh. Of the fruits and vegetables that you buy, use the most delicate kinds, — those that spoil most quickly, — like lettuce and berries, for the first meals, keeping those more solid, like beets and peaches, for the end of the week. Anything in danger of spoiling can be cooked and put in the ice-box until needed. 90 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS In preparing potatoes, one way to save time, strength and fire is to cook a large quantity at once. The first may be served mashed or plain boiled, the next diced in cream sauce, and the rest either fried, scalloped or made into a salad. If put in a cold place, they will keep nicely for several days. Many people now use little or no meat, but al- most everyone wants plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. Both are of high nutritive value on account of the starch, sugar and mineral salts they contain. Therefore true economy is not in omitting them from our diet, but rather in choosing those varieties which are most plentiful and there- fore the cheapest. Then by using them in con- nection with dried and canned goods, we get a pleasing assortment all the year around. Nearly all the dlff^erent fruits can be used by the majority of people. Oranges, grapes, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, and cooked apples are usually pronounced the most easily digested. Melons, pears, apricots, raw apples, bananas and currants come next. Oranges, lemons, bananas, baked apples and stewed prunes are all recom- mended for invalids. Nuts have a high nutritive value, and are easily digested when made part of a meal. Almonds are 91 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS particularly nourishing, and peanuts even richer. Nuts can be used in place of meat, and are espe- cially good in various kinds of fruit salads, fancy breads and cakes. Peanut butter is a very good substitute for meat. USING ODDS AND ENDS. To plan meals economically, you must use up all the left-overs, and throw away nothing that can be eaten. You can do this, but it takes time and study. All the bones, scraps of meat and vegetables combine to make soups that need not cost any- thing in direct outlay. If the vegetables are fresh, they should be boiled with the meat, but if cooked, they can be added after the soup has been strained and skimmed. Rice, barley, maca- roni and noodles will take the place of vegetables at little cost. A few fresh vegetables, such as a tomato, a cucumber and a little lettuce or watercress, or a small quantity of the cooked varieties like beets, string beans, peas and cauliflower, make an invit- ing combination salad. In fact, almost anything in the way of fruit, vegetables and poultry, as well as certain kinds of fish, may be worked into an appetizing dish by the addition of salad dressing. HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Tlie small amount of meat left from a meal need not be made up into the ordinary hash, but will be more attractive if sliced and reheated in the gravy. Or it may be chopped and moulded into croquettes, or filled into sweet green peppers and served on toast with cream sauce. Some trouble.'' Yes, but the results justify it, and the resulting quantity will go nearly twice as far as the original. Broken bits of fish should be picked over, freed from bones and skin, mixed with mashed potato, and made into fish balls for breakfast or lunch. Cold cereals, such as cream of wheat, corn meal and rice, are most appetizing sliced, fried brown, and served either plain (as a substitute for pota- toes,) or with jelly or syrup. Leftover milk that is likely to sour before the next meal should be heated for cream soup, milk toast, custards, etc. A little fresh fruit in danger of spoiling can be stewed, while a little preserved fruit or jelly will go nicely with any kind of a rice or custard pud- ding. INEXPENSIVE FOODS. INIilk is one of the most complete foods we have as it contains all of the five necessary elements. 93 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS One quart of milk has the same food value as one quart of oysters which would pro})al)lj cost six times as much. It can be used to advantage, too, as the foundation of many dishes, as for example, cream soups, milk puddings, etc. One pound of cheese, costing eighteen cents, contains about twice as much nourishment as a pound of meat costing as much or more. Eggs are valuable for all kinds of use, and are reasonable in price most of the year. When they are very high, cut down the supply as much as possible or use some substitute. A small quan- tity, however, can often be combined with other foods so as to make an economical dish at all times. Potatoes are usually cheap, but as they lack proteins and fat we have learned to use them with meat, butter, milk and eggs. As they are not pronounced in flavour we do not grow tired of tlicm even when served every day. But we do appreciate a variety in their cooking. If you are tempted to buy some particularly inviting food that seems expensive, see if you can not even up the cost of the meal by planning to serve what you want with other things cheaper than you would buy otherwise. If you want a chicken and yet feel that you must economize, get 94 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS inexpensive vegetables and a simple dessert ; or if you want ice cream and cake, study to find the most moderate priced meat that you can prepare attractively. As a matter of fact, you can save or waste a large amount of the food both fresh and cooked, that comes into the kitchen, and you will be a skilful housekeeper to the extent that you learn how to use up every thing that is eatable. 95 CHAPTER y The Chemistry of Cleaning Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater. Epictetus. There are many different points you ought to know about cleaning, for soap and water will not always do the work. You will find from experience that it Is far better and easier to keep your clothes clean than it is to get them clean. INIany garments cannot be washed, and different kinds of spots have to be removed in different ways. Grease spots should first be well brushed to re- move all dust, then laid over a folded cloth, and rubbed on the right side with a small cloth wet with benzine, gasoline, naptha, or chloroform. The dirt will go through on to the under cloth, and the grease will disappear. All these clean- ing fluids, hov/ever, are very inflammable, and they must never be used in a room where there is a 96 I HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS light or a fire, and tliey had l^ottcr be taken out- doors. REMOVING STAINS. Fresh ink stains can usually be taken out by soaking in sweet milk ; or, if on white goods, by covering with salt and lemon juice, leaving in the sun until dry, and then washing. On heavy car- pets or rugs, first take up all the ink you possibly can with a blotter or a cloth, then cover the spot with salt, rub in and leave until it becomes dis- coloured. Brush out and repeat the process as long as any stain remains. If the carpet begins to get dry before the ink has disappeared, moisten the spot with sweet milk, covered with a thick layer of salt and leave for several hours. Then brush out and remove any signs of grease from the milk with something like benzine. But re- member ! Not where there is any light or fire ! Iron rust, if not very bad, can also be taken out with repeated applications of salt and lemon juice, the garment meanwhile being left in the sun. For a grass stain on coloured goods, try rub- bing with a little alcohol ; on white goods, how- ever, wash and boil in the usual way, and it will probably disappear. 97 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Tea, coffee and fruit stains, if fresh, can be removed by stretching them over a bowl, and pour- ing boiHng water on them until they disappear. Old stains are difficult, if not impossible to take out without injury to the material or the colour. Fresh paint can usually be gotten oflF without much trouble by rubbing with a cloth dipped in turpentine, followed by another clean and dry. If necessary, repeat the turpentine. Sticky spots, which usually hold more or less dust, are most easily taken off with a cloth dipped in warm water to which has been added a little ammonia. In using these various cleaning agents, re- member that acid will take the colour out of coloured goods. The explosive fluids, though dangerous to handle, will not affect the colours. CLEANING METALS. You know, of course, how very dark silver and other metals will get. This is because of the action of the air, the presence of certain gases in the house, and certain chemicals in our food, — as for example when the sulphur in eggs blackens teaspoons. This tarnish wmII not come off with soap and water, but is easily removed with cer- tain other things. Rub the silver with a paste 98 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS made of whiting and a little ammonia, leave until dry and then polish with a soft cloth or chamois. Wash well with soap and water, rinse, and wipe dry with a clean, fresh wiper. The different silver powders and liquids sold by dealers are good, but more expensive. Copper and brass can be made to shine by the old-fashioned method of rubbing with a cloth dipped in vinegar and salt. When all tarnish has been removed, rinse in hot water and polish with a soft cloth. Various metal polishes are for sale in the market, but are not any better than what I have suggested. They also generally require friction or what you would call hard rubbing. Steel knives can be brightened with the scour- ing sand used in the kitchen, (like Scourine,) and should be cleaned for every meal. CLEANING WOODWORK. In your housekeeping you will occasionally have to clean some woodwork. Sometimes the " trim " around the room, the doors and window- frames are painted, sometimes stained and var- nished, sometimes waxed. These finishes, except the wax, may be cleaned with water and a little ammonia by washing a very small space at a time, drying quickly and then polishing with a soft 99 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS cloth. But never put water on a waxed wood as that would spoil its beauty. Highly polished surfaces should first be dusted, and then wiped with a cloth moistened with a very little kerosene. You must be careful to get every bit of it off, however, for it does not evaporate CARPENTRY. quickly, and any that was left would catch the dust. But the harder you rub, the brighter will be the polish. Unfinished wood, like that in kitchen tables, bread boards, etc., must be kept clean by scour- ing with soap and water, rinsing with clean, fresh 100 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS water, and wiping dry. If you don't wipe dry, the water catches the dust. In the kitchen you will probably notice that a layer of greasy dust collects very quickly on every- thing. This is because in cooking part of the solid matter is carried off with the steam and settles everywhere, catching and holding the dust. This is hard to get off, and will probably require scrubbing with warm water, good soap, and a lit- tle borax or ammonia to cut the grease. Wash only a small surface at a time, so that the alkali in the soap will not injure the paint or varnish, rinse with clear water, and wipe perfectly dry. 101 CHAPTER VI Why and How to Fight Dust and FHes While bright-eyed Science watches round. Gray. Where does all the dust come from ! You frequently hear people say this. Well, the great- est amount comes from the wearing away of the things we use, — our houses and their furnishings, our fires, our clothing, and even our own bodies. Wood, stone, hair, wool, cotton, bones, — all are at last ground down to a powder so fine that it is carried away by the wind. Dust is found everywhere. We cannot escape It, — in town or country, on land or sea. The cleanest kind of a house, closed up and left alone miles away from any neighbours, would be found dusty when opened ; and the finest passenger boat sailing the ocean has to be dusted regularly. Dust is probably necessary to life, too, because we cannot live without light, and scientists tell 102 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS us that the rays of Hght are carried by means of the dust. Balloonists say that tlie higher they get the darker appears the sky, and the reason is that the higher they get the freer the air is from the dust needed to scatter the light. Do you wonder, then, why we are so anxious to get rid of it, — why we spend so much time sweep- ing and cleaning? Because the dust carries with it the tiniest imaginable living things, which are sometimes very harmful. These living particles are called germs or bacteria, and are so very minute that they can be seen only with a microscope. DUST GARDENS. When people take up this study, called bac- te-ri-ol'-d^-gy, and want to find out how these things live, they prepare a strange kind of a gar- den. They take the right kind of a glass box or dish, make it perfectly clean (by boiling in water for a long time,) and put in some carefully pre- pared beef broth jelly for the soil. They are then ready for the planting, and they get their seed just by leaving the jelly for a little while, — from 10 to 30 minutes, — exposed to the dust in the air ! What settles in that time is enough. Then they cover the box or dish very carefully with glass, put it in a warm place (for heat is 103 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS needed to make things grow.) and leave it from one to two days. When tliej examine it at the end of this time, they find that their garden has started to grow ! The jelly will be covered with little tiny specks, some smooth and round, some branched like moss, some like velvet, — in all sorts of colours, red, pink, orange, yellow, green and blue. If they let the garden grow for a week, and then gently uncover it, they will notice a bad smell, which proves that the growing of the dust garden has spoiled the jelly. Now, all living things, plants as well as animals, take food in some way, make it part of themselves, and throw off a waste. The germs or bacteria make the changes in our food by taking up the part they need themselves, changing it into their own bodies, and throwing off a waste. This waste sometimes is poisonous. People have thus been made ill by eating tainted oysters or spoiled ice cream where the seasoning or flavouring hid the fact that the food was not good. The lesson that you are to get from this is that if you leave any kind of eatables exposed to the dust, you are going to start a dust garden which may spoil your food before you use it. 104 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS CARE OF MILK. I^Iilk is one of the most suitable grounds for bacteria, because as we have learned already, it contains all the elements of a perfect food. So you will see the necessity of keeping our milk clean and pure. We cannot always be sure, though, that the milk is clean when we get it, for the cows and the milkers may not have been clean, and the dust of the stable which the warm milk caught in passing into the bucket at once starts to grow. j\Iilk sours or spoils very quickly, because of the presence of the bacteria. In model dairies, where the milk has been kept as clean as it possibly could be, and also very cold, to check any growth, it has remained perfectly sweet and fresh for ten days. You must therefore make sure that your milkman is careful to keep things clean, and you must do your part by putting the milk in a cool place, in covered vessels. DESTROYING DUST GERMS. The ice-box needs regular washings with hot soapsuds because the dust, which gets in every- where, settles on the lining, the shelves and in the drain pipe. It will also lodge on any bits of food that have been spilled or left open, and start to grow, throwing off as it does so certain gases that 105 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS spoil milk, meat and other foods. The water- pan beneath must be cleaned carefully to get rid of the slime that collects when neglected. The drain pipe is most easily cleaned by pushing a small cloth through on the end of a switch. The addition of a little washing soda to boiling water for rinsing, will make everything sweet and fresh. Since we find that dust, with all its trouble- breeding germs, flies everywhere and all the time, we have to be cleaning all the time. ]Much of the dust that lodges in carpets, rugs, curtains, etc., can be gotten out of the house by having these things well beaten outdoors. Upholstered furni- ture and mattresses can also be beaten outside, and bedclothes should be shaken and hung on the clothesline to air. After a room has been cleared of its movable furniture and swept, it should be left until the dust has settled. Then this dust should be wiped up with a cloth and shaken outside, — not scat- tered again indoors hy a feather duster! All of the clothes going to the wash that can be boiled, should be boiled, — underwear, bedding, towels, bed linen, table linen, — for bacteria are most certain to be destroyed this way. Soap, boiling water, fresh air and sunshine are the four things that combined will free us from germs. 106 housekp:eping for little girls USEFUL BACTERIA. Not all bacteria are harmful, however. You may be surprised to learn that one variety of dust plants, sometimes found growing wild in the country around apple trees, we commonly know as yeast. Yeast is necessary for making bread, and people have now learned how to grow and handle the tiny plants so that they can be packed in the convenient form we use as compressed GETTING KID OF DUST. yeast. Then, one kind of bacteria that turns milk and cream sour gives that fine flavour we like in butter; and people have studied the "but- ter bacilli " as they call it, until now they can cultivate that special variety and grow it to sell to the buttermakers for producing extra good butter! Cheese, which is made from milk, has its flavour and its digestibility changed by different kinds of germs and is not really good until they 107 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS have had a chance to do their work. Apple juice (or cider,) is affected by the yeast plants and other bacteria in the air, so that in a short time it is turned to vinegar. One reason, therefore, why people should study about dust plants is to find out which kinds are useful and which inju- rious, and how each kind should be treated. Sunshine and fresh air we know are foes to disease germs, and consequently we want all of the house to be light and airy. FLIES. You must keep out the flics! They breed in dirty places, and are attracted by filth, so that when they finally get into the house they are likely to bring in all sorts of germs on their bodies. It is positively unpleasant even to think of their walking over our food. You should exclude them as nmch as you can by keeping screen doors and windows closed, and destroy what do get in by means of fly-paper. You can get a good many out of a room by making it dark, leaving one door or window partly open, and then driving them toward the light. Mosquitoes also ai'e both a nuisance and a menace to health. They breed in stale water, and so old cans, broken bottles or other things that 108 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS will hold a little water, prove good hatching places. Keep the house and yard free from all such traps. 109 CHAPTER VII Hints on Furnishings and Decora- tions An iinlesson'd girl, unschoord, unpracticed; Happy in this, she is not yet so old. But she may learn. Shakespeare. Did 3'ou ever stop to think why some houses are so much more attractive than others which perhaps are more expensively furnished.^ Well, it is all a matter of good taste, and you will sec, if you look carefully, where the difference comes in. In the first place, the home is for the comfort and convenience of the family, and it should sug- gest cleanliness, orderliness and simplicity. Many houses are so filled with all sorts of furniture, pic- tures and so-called ornaments, that they give you a feeling of being crowded and uncomfortable. To be artistic, the house should contain only those things which — in the words of William Morris, — we know to be useful or believe to be 110 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS beautiful. It is ideal when they are both useful and beautiful. Now there are several reasons why people fail to make their homes the way they really want them. They do not realize what is appropriate, jQL 'najP BEAUTY AND USE. they do not know how to get the right colour effects, and possibly they lack the money. As to what is appropriate, we can best decide by considering the purpose to which a thing is to be put, and we can generally settle this by asking ourselves each time, if it is useful, if it is suit- able, if it is well made, if it is of good colour and 111 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS design. An effect of simplicity is most desirable, and in trying to make a room artistic, we should banish all unnecessary furniture, useless orna- ments, and motley pictures. It is surprising how much larger and more pleasing a room will look after such a change. When it comes to choosing good colour effects, we should remember that the walls should not be too bright in colour or pronounced in pattern. Large figures on wall paper grow very tiresome, and spoil the best of pictures, while plain or nearly plain effects make pictures look better, and are really restful to the eye. Soft shades of gray- blues and greens, tans and browns blend well with the mixed colours of our furniture, rugs and draperies. When you have a chance to help choose in decorating a room, remember that a good plan is to have the walls of some delicate tone and let the bright bits of colour show in the lamp- shades, books and pictures. RUGS AND MATS. Bare floors and rugs arc far preferable to car- pets. Any kind of an ordinary floor is easily prepared by going over it flrst with a floor stain and then with a good varnish or shellac. Any lis HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS girl could easily do her own room, after getting someone to move the big pieces of furniture. Then any kind of a rug that is simple in design and quiet in colouring would look well. The old- fashioned rag rugs and hand-made mats such as our grandmothers used to make, are popular again and in good taste. You can make one yourself by cutting pieces of cloth in strips, about an inch wide, braiding into a strand, and sewing this strand round and round on a strong foundation. One rule to bear in mind is to use very little or no white if the other colours are dark, because too much white gives an appearance of scraps and therefore untidiness. Two small mats, one in front of the bed and one before the dresser would be enough for a small room. I have known of girls that wanted their rooms a certain colour, doing the painting of the wood- work themselves ; and they did not find it hard, cither, though they had to be careful about get- ting the paint on other things and on themselves. White or French gray looks very nice for a girl's bedroom, particularly if the furniture is of a kind that the family will consent to having painted the same way. Then the bit of colour needed can be introduced in flowered muslin curtains, and tilings 113 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS for tlic dressLT, including scarf, pin-cushion, handkerchief and glove boxes, etc. A WORD ABOUT EXPENSE. As to the money required, it costs nothing to take out the things that a little study will tell you are either unnecessary or undesirable. You can DISHWASHING. get a few desirable pictures from old magazines, of which every family accumulates so many back numbers. A good plan is to choose either copies of famous old pictures, or good ones by the artists of to-day, — and frame them yourself by cover- 114 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS ing with glass, backing with cardboard, and binding around the edge with passe-partout paper. Then if mother will allow you, perhaps as a birthday or a Christmas present, to fix up your room, decide what improvements you would like to make. A north room is nice done in pale yel- low, as that makes it look warm and sunny where a blue or green would make it look cold and dark. When you have chosen your colour, try to have everything harmonize, and keep to one tone as nmch as possible or you will lose your colour effect. You can fix up many pieces of furniture from boxes. I once saw a beautiful room, in green and white, that was furnished entirely with box furni- ture, — furniture made from packing cases and crates. The dainty bed was a cot spring, fastened at each corner to a four-inch, white enamelled post. The window seat made a box for shirtwaists, and the space under the washstand a place to keep shoes. The lady who did this work found it so easy that she wrote a book telling how everything was made, so that others could profit by her experience. So you see it is not necessary to spend a great deal to make a room tasteful and attractive. 115 HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS Indeed, people often spend too much in trynig to get artistic effects when they do not know how, with the result that they get a tiresome mixture of ill-assorted articles and conflicting colours. Remember always to consider usefulness first and then shnplicity, and you will probably be pretty nearly right. THE END 116 OCT 22 1912 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 355 016 3