Handbook of domestic science and household arts for use in elementary schools

Facts. — When the dinner is served at night, luncheon will be eaten in the middle of the day ; but with the midday dinner an evening supper is the rule. Luncheon or Supper These are the family meals in which " left-overs " are usually consumed, and are therefore very variable in their content. The following menu is the average perhaps : — Meat dish Potatoes, another Vegetable Bread and Butter Fruit and Dessert Cocoa or Tea The care of the room previous to luncheon has already been given. Set the table as for breakfast, except that fruit dish, plates, knives, and spoons should be on the sideboard. Put flowers or a plant in the middle of the table. Prepare olives or pickles. The olives must be kept in the refrigerator until the last moment, but this is not necessary with pickles. Serve precisely as indicated for the same courses in the section on breakfast and dinner. Method. — It seems scarcely worth while to make more than a class-room lesson of these meals. The principles have been taught in the lessons on breakfast and dinner. By all means, however, discuss these meals from the point of view of foods (see chapter on Foods), and let the students make menus subject to your criticism and direction. It is an excellent plan to have faulty menus put on the board and criticised with reasons by the children themselves. Weekly Cleaning Facts. — Utensils Needed. Cheese-cloth dusters, brushes, feather duster, covers, broom, flannel or cotton flannel, carpet beaters, soap, ammonia, newspapers, turpentine or coal oil. Clean the chairs, and take them out of the room. If there is carving on them, a brush must be used. Then rub with a soft cloth. Leather may be washed with a cloth wrung out of hot milk. Rub until dry. Roll up the rug. Take it out in the yard and hang it up on the line, — not by one corner only, since this will cause it to ravel later. Put all the dishes from the sideboard and ornaments from the mantel on a paper which covers the table. Cover them. Deftly shake out and tie back the hangings. Open the windows. Shut all drawers and doors. Dust the frames of the pictures. Brush the backs with a coarse brush. Dust the tops of curtain poles and of mouldings. Cover the pictures with unbleached muslin kept for the purpose. Brush the dust from the corners of the window-sills. Wipe with a cheese-cloth duster. Shake the duster out-of-doors. Cover the broom with clean flannel or cotton flannel. Brush down the walls. Wipe up the floor with a damp cloth. This may be tied around a broom. When it is perfectly dry, rub it over with a very small quantity of coal oil or turpentine, which may be applied by hand, using clean cotton waste, or by putting it on a clean cloth tied over the broom. For directions for cleaning windows see the section on " Cleansing," in the chapter on The Kitchen. Clean in the same way mirrors and glass doors. With carpet beaters, give the rug a thorough cleaning. Relay the rug. Dust the room thoroughly. Shake all dusters out-of-doors. Bring back the chairs. Dust and replace the ornaments. Remove covers. Look over all the furniture, the woodwork, the hangings. See that everything is whole and in good order. Wash all cloths in soap-suds with a little ammonia added to it. Hang them in the air to dry.