This is all wrong. If one's house were intended for enter-
tainment and continual festivity, then it would be well to place
its parlor and dining-room first and foremost; but in a farm
house, where the house-mother's work lies mainly in the kitchen
and dairy, and where are needed all the aids and conveniences
for making this work pleasant as well as profitable, it is simply
feilly to deny one's self valuable and useful every-day things for
the sake of what-nots, upholstered chairs and Nottingham-lace
curtains, that must necessarily be shut up, and of no benefit to
anybody nine-tenths of the year.
The room should be of good size, with windows on oppo-
site sides, as they thus give a peculiarly cheerful light. The
ceiling and walls should be whitened or calcimined in som^
82 HOUSEHOLD.
dieerftii tint, and the woodwork oiled and varnished. For the
floor— if it is even and of decent quality of lumber — nothing is
better than two or three coats of oil, put on one after the other
as fast as absorbed. Such a floor needs no scrubbing, a weekly-
mopping with plenty of warmish water, being sufficient to keep
it clean. Comfortable little rugs should be placed before the
sink and the ironing table, and, if this room must do duty as a
dining-room, there should be, in winter, a large square of car-
peting under the dining-table. A neat screen, made by tacking
chintz or furniture calico upon a light wooden frame, about five
feet high and six feet wide, might be placed between the table
and the cook- stove, not only to temper the heat, but to shut off
the not always attractive view of saucepans, spiders, and ket-
tles used in the dinner-getting.
The sink should be capacious, lined with zmc. provided
with drain-pipes, and flanked by pumps connected with cistern
and well. Underneath may be a cupboard for pots and kettles,
and above it a row of pegs on which to hang a dishcloth holder,
a stiff brush for cleaning vegetables, a little mop for wash-
ing bottles and narrow-necked pitchers and jars, the lamp
scissors, and such small articles as are in daily use in this
department of the kitchen. Two small shelves should be
placed at either end for soap dishes. A large, conveniently
arranged sink goes a great way in making kitchen work easy^
A good-sized, substantial table of white-wood or pine is
needed for ironing and baking days. It should have three
drawers — a large one for ironing sheets, shirt-board and holders,
and two smaller ones for baking-tins, spoons and knives used
in cooking, and boxes of spices, salt, etc. Having once used
such a table, no housekeeper will like to be without it. Above
this table can be fastened a hanging rack for ironed clothes.
These are much more convenient than the sort which stand on
the floor, and when not in use can be folded back against the
wall, entirely out of the way.
For washing days are needed a long bench two and a half
feet wide, and of the right height, two or three tubs, a wringer,
and, for heavy clothes, a washer. The latter, which costs $5
or $6, can be fitted to any tub, and ought to be an indispen-
sable article. It is to washing-day what a reaping-machine i^
HOUSEHOLD. 83
Page 55
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
This is all wrong. If one's house were intended for entertainment and continual festivity, then it would be well to place its parlor and dining-room first and foremost; but in a farm house, where the house-mother's work lies mainly in the kitchen and dairy, and where are needed all the aids and conveniences for making this work pleasant as well as profitable, it is simply folly to deny one's self valuable and useful every-day things for the sake of what-nots, upholstered chairs and Nottingham-lace curtains, that must necessarily be shut up, and of no benefit to anybody nine-tenths of the year.
The room should be of good size, with windows on opposite sides, as they thus give a peculiarly cheerful light. The ceiling and walls should be whitened or calcimined in some pleasing tint, and the woodwork oiled and varnished. For the floor— if it is even and of decent quality of lumber — nothing is better than two or three coats of oil, put on one after the other as fast as absorbed. Such a floor needs no scrubbing, a weekly mopping with plenty of warmish water, being sufficient to keep it clean. Comfortable little rugs should be placed before the sink and the ironing table, and, if this room must do duty as a dining-room, there should be, in winter, a large square of carpeting under the dining-table. A neat screen, made by tacking chintz or furniture calico upon a light wooden frame, about five feet high and six feet wide, might be placed between the table and the cook- stove, not only to temper the heat, but to shut off the not always attractive view of saucepans, spiders, and kettles used in the dinner-getting.
The sink should be capacious, lined with zinc. provided with drain-pipes, and flanked by pumps connected with cistern and well. Underneath may be a cupboard for pots and kettles, and above it a row of pegs on which to hang a dishcloth holder, a stiff brush for cleaning vegetables, a little mop for washing bottles and narrow-necked pitchers and jars, the lamp scissors, and such small articles as are in daily use in this department of the kitchen. Two small shelves should be placed at either end for soap dishes. A large, conveniently arranged sink goes a great way in making kitchen work easy.
A good-sized, substantial table of white-wood or pine is needed for ironing and baking days. It should have three drawers — a large one for ironing sheets, shirt-board and holders, and two smaller ones for baking-tins, spoons and knives used in cooking, and boxes of spices, salt, etc. Having once used such a table, no housekeeper will like to be without it. Above this table can be fastened a hanging rack for ironed clothes. These are much more convenient than the sort which stand on the floor, and when not in use can be folded back against the wall, entirely out of the way.
For washing days are needed a long bench two and a half feet wide, and of the right height, two or three tubs, a wringer, and, for heavy clothes, a washer. The latter, which costs $5 or $6, can be fitted to any tub, and ought to be an indispensable article. It is to washing-day what a reaping-machine is