FoodNet

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

1900

Page 195

Presented as published in 1900. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
There are so many ways in which girls can be made to feel that they are keeping house, with all the ordinary inter- ests of a housekeeper whose life is full of thoughts of the home and the influence it has for good on those who come in contact with it. After the room has been selected and the partitions put up, the girls might take their first lesson in furnishing. A blackboard is very necessary, and should be placed in either the kitchen or laundry. The girls could go there each morning for the general outline of their work, also for any remarks to be copied or remembered. It must be remembered in furnishing a room like this that it should be done with taste and simplicity ; that stuffed things grow rapidly dingy, and have to be replaced; that children should not only be taught to work well and neatly, but the general air of the whole apartment should be so sweet and fresh that their senses would become accustomed to it and miss it. This cannot be obtained in a room crowded with furniture, nor if it is of a kind that will grow soiled and musty and cannot be washed. As a last remark the writer wishes to say that she has tested the statements made in this chapter, and knows that the work given is perfectly practicable. If small classes are impracticable, then either larger rooms must be provided, or else the same space must be divided into smaller rooms. Therefore Diagrams III.-V. are sub- mitted in the hope that they may prove of use. Besides the gas range provided for in the kitchen, and the round gas stove for the wash-boiler in the laundry, there should be provision made for several small stoves. Either 404 HANDBOOK OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE a table, a long narrow box, or a shelf could be used. The box, if used, should be either sandpapered and varnished, or painted to look neat, and fastened so that it will stand securely on the ground. A shelf of heavy wood from twelve to eighteen inches wide and long enough to hold two or more stoves could be Tf r ^15-ftT- LAUNDRY LAUNDRY STOVE KITCHEN STOVE SHELVES KITCHEN STOVE PARLOR BED ROOM DINING ROOM u STORE ROOM 5 ft. ■-1 Diagram III fastened to the wall. It should be made either stationary or to fold down. If stationary, the space between the shelf and floor could be enclosed and used as a closet. The shelf should not be more than twenty-eight inches from the ground. The top should be covered with zinc : and the wall faced up from the shelf about eighteen inches. This should be done as much for cleanliness as safety. TO TURN A SCHOOLROOM INTO A WORKSHOP 405 If gas stoves are used, they should be screwed to the table by means of holes bored through the feet. If oil stoves are used, a band of zinc about one and one- half inches wide, with the top edge turned, should be soldered on to the strips of zinc, which is on top of the table or shelf. This should be shaped to form a case in which the Diagram IV stove can stand. The case should be made to fit the out- side of the stove tightly enough to hold it firmly when placed in it to prevent its being knocked over by the children. The writer once used for two years a long dining-room table covered with white enamel cloth, and having a strip of zinc running through the middle lengthwise with cases 406 HANDBOOK OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE