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Page 11
We have already found that each day has its fixed routine, and are ready
now to take up the order of work, which will be the same in degree whether
one servant is kept, or many, or none. The latter state of things will
often happen in the present uncertain character of household service. Old
family servants are becoming more and more rare; and, unless the new
generation is wisely trained, we run the risk of being even more at their
mercy in the future than in the past.
First, then, on rising in the morning, see that a full current of air can
pass through every sleeping-room; remove all clothes from the beds, and
allow them to air at least an hour. Only in this way can we be sure that
the impurities, thrown off from even the cleanest body by the pores during
the night, are carried off. A neat housekeeper is often tempted to make
beds, or have them made, almost at once; but no practice can be more
unwholesome.
While beds and bedrooms are airing, breakfast is to be made ready, the
table set, and kitchen and dining-room put in order. The kitchen-fire must
first be built. If a gas or oil stove can be used, the operations are all
simpler. If not, it is always best to have dumped the grate the night
before if coal is used, and to have laid the fire ready for lighting. In
the morning brush off all ashes, and wipe or blacken the stove. Strong,
thick gloves, and a neat box for brushes, blacking, &c., will make this a
much less disagreeable operation than it sounds. Rinse out the tea-kettle,
fill it with fresh water, and put over to boil. Then remove the ashes,
and, if coal is used, sift them, as cinders can be burned a large part of
the time where only a moderate fire is desired.
The table can be set, and the dining or sitting room swept, or merely
brushed up and dusted, in the intervals of getting breakfast. To have
every thing clean, hot, and not only well prepared but ready on time, is
the first law, not only for breakfast, but for every other meal.
After breakfast comes the dish-washing, dreaded by all beginners, but
needlessly so. With a full supply of all conveniences,--plenty of soap and
sapolio, which is far better and cleaner to use than either sand or ashes;
with clean, soft towels for glass and silver; a mop, the use of which not
only saves the hands but enables you to have hotter water; and a full
supply of coarser towels for the heavier dishes,--the work can go on
swiftly. Let the dish-pan be half full of hot soap and water. _Wash glass
first_, paying no attention to the old saying that "hot water rots glass."
Be careful never to put glass into hot water, bottom first, as the sudden
expansion may crack it. Slip it in edgeways, and the finest and most
delicate cut-glass will be safe. _Wash silver next._ Hot suds, and instant
wiping on dry soft cloths, will retain the brightness of silver, which
treated in this way requires much less polishing, and therefore lasts
longer. If any pieces require rubbing, use a little whiting made into a
paste, and put on wet. Let it dry, and then polish with a chamois-skin.
Once a month will be sufficient for rubbing silver, if it is properly
washed. _China comes next_--all plates having been carefully scraped, and
all cups rinsed out. To fill the pan with unscraped and unrinsed dishes,
and pour half-warm water over the whole, is a method too often adopted;
and the results are found in sticky dishes and lustreless silver. Put all
china, silver, and glass in their places as soon as washed. Then take any
tin or iron pans, wash, wipe with a dry towel, and put near the fire to
dry thoroughly. A knitting-needle or skewer may be kept to dig out corners
unreachable by dishcloth or towel, and if perfectly dried they will remain
free from rust.
The cooking-dishes, saucepans, &c., come next in order; and here the wire
dish-cloth will be found useful, as it does not scratch, yet answers every
purpose of a knife. Every pot, kettle, and saucepan must be put into the
pan of hot water. If very greasy, it is well to allow them to stand partly
full of water in which a few drops of ammonia have been put. The _outside
must be washed_ as carefully as the inside. Till this is done, there will
always be complaint of the unpleasantness of handling cooking-utensils.
Properly done, they are as clean as the china or glass.
Plated knives save much work. If steel ones are used, they must be
polished after every meal. In washing them, see that the handles are never
allowed to touch the water. Ivory discolors and cracks if wet.
Bristol-brick finely powdered is the best polisher, and, mixed with a
little water, can be applied with a large cork. A regular knife-board, or
a small board on which you can nail three strips of wood in box form, will
give you the best mode of keeping brick and cork in place. After rubbing,
wash clean, and wipe dry.
The dish-towels are the next consideration. A set should be used but a
week, and must be washed and rinsed each day if you would not have the
flavor of dried-in dish-water left on your dishes. Dry them, if possible,
in the open air: if not, have a rack, and stand them near the fire. On
washing-days, let those that have been used a week have a thorough
boiling. The close, sour smell that all housekeepers have noticed about
dish-towels comes from want of boiling and drying in fresh air, and is
unpardonable and unnecessary.
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