Chapter II: Part 2

What is prettier than a hardwood floor after it has been properly scrubbed? To scrub a floor and get satisfactory results is a science. To change the water frequently is one secret of success. "Elbow grease" is another. Mops are impossible, and this is another subject on which the housekeeper can wax eloquent. What is more disgusting than to see the baseboards of a room smeared, or the dirt shoved in the corners with an old dirty mop?

Before commencing to scrub, place every article of furniture on the table and then sweep. Beginning in the rear of the door so as not to track over the clean part until it is perfectly dry, scrub with a brush a small section at a time; first wipe up with a damp rag and then with a dry one. The New York Knitting Mills, of Albany, N. Y., furnish remnants of cloth that are indispensable for scrubbing. Enough of these remnants can be bought for $3 to last six months.

A little ammonia in the water will help to whiten the floors. The modern skewers from the kitchen are very useful in getting into the corners of the window sills and into the corners of the stair steps. A weak solution of oxalic acid and boiling water will remove the very worst kind of ink-stains from the floor.

Pads for kneeling on are made of burlap, and one is given to each scrubber. The unnatural position that the scrubber assumes makes the work laborious; the scrubber may change her position frequently by getting clean water.

HOW TO GET RID OF VERMIN.

The worst kind of house-pests, if you do not know how to get rid of them, but not the easiest to exterminate, are bedbugs. They do not confine themselves to any section of the country, though the International Encyclopedia gives the belief "that up to Shakespeare's time they were not known in England," and that "they came originally from India."

In Kansas, the bedbug is improperly called the chintz-bug, and is believed to dwell under the bark of the cotton-wood tree. There is no authentic truth for this belief.

The spread of the bedbug is mainly due to its being carried from place to place in furniture and clothing. It has the power of resisting great cold and of fasting indefinitely. The eggs of the bedbug are very small, whitish, oval objects, laid in clusters in the crevices used by the bugs for concealment; they hatch in eight days. Under favorable conditions and slovenly housekeeping, their multiplication is extremely rapid. The greatest trouble lies with the housekeeper who allows the bugs to increase unchecked until they are so numerous in the floors and walls that it is nearly impossible to kill them off.

It is useless waste of time to try to exterminate with Persian insect powder, or sulphur candles. These remedies have been recommended by the International Encyclopedia, but have not demonstrated their worth when subjected to tests by careful experimental methods, by the author.

_Scientific Way of Extermination._

The only scientific and practical way to get rid of them is to clean thoroughly, religiously, and scrupulously the room and every article in it. Bedbugs are exceedingly difficult to fight, owing both to their ability to withstand the action of many insecticides and owing also to the protection afforded them by the walls and the woodwork of the room.

If the mattress is old, it should be burned. The bed should be taken apart, the slats and springs taken to the bathroom and scalded, and then treated with a mixture of corrosive sublimate and alcohol, liberally applied, after which a coat of varnish should be given to the entire bed--slats, springs and all. The carpet should be taken up and sent to the cleaners. The paper should be scraped from the walls and sent to the furnace and burned, and the walls should be left bare until the bugs are exterminated. The holes in the walls and woodwork and the cracks and crevices in the floor should be filled up with common yellow soap. This is better than to fill them with putty; it is more practical and is easier to handle. Use the thumb or an old knife to put the soap into the holes; the workman should get the stepladder and go over the entire ceiling, getting the soap into every crack and crevice. After this is done, it will be impossible for the eggs to hatch or the bugs to get out. This is the most important part of the extermination of bugs. The floor should then be scrubbed, after which it should be well poisoned with the mixture of corrosive sublimate and alcohol. Every piece of furniture in the room should be washed and poisoned, and given a coat of varnish.

_Treating the Mattress._

If the mattress is too good to be thrown away, the following will be found a good method to destroy the vermin in it: dissolve two pounds of alum in one gallon of water; let it remain twenty-four hours until all the alum is dissolved. Then, with a whisk-broom, apply while boiling hot. This is also a good way to rid the walls and ceiling of bugs. Getting on the stepladder, the workman should apply the wash with the whisk-broom, never missing an inch of the entire ceiling and walls, keeping the liquid boiling hot while using. It should be poured in all the cracks of the floor, in the corners, over the doors and over the windows. The operation should be repeated every day for two weeks, after which the woodwork should be painted and the walls papered.

A strict watch should be kept on all the help's rooms, and any signs of bugs should be promptly treated with the mixture of corrosive sublimate and alcohol.

_Cleanliness a Necessity._

Cleanliness is a prime factor in ridding rooms of vermin. In many of the hotels there is one woman appointed to look after the bugs, and she has no other duty.

A good night's sleep is necessary to health and happiness. It can not be found in a room with vermin. The housekeeper should keep up the continual warfare against the standing army of bugs, and never allow the enemy to take possession.

Roaches, or water-bugs, are easily exterminated. Hellebore sprinkled on the floor will soon kill them off. It is poison. They eat it at night and are killed. Some people object to having poison around. In that case, powdered borax will prove an expedient eradicator.

A good way to keep rats from a room is to saturate a rag with cayenne pepper and stuff it in the hole; no rat or mouse will touch the rag, not if it would open a communication with a depot of eatables.

_A Nauseating Subject._

Of all the obnoxious being that get into a hotel, the one whose feet smell to the heavens is the worst. Every housekeeper in America--heaven bless them--if she has a normal and simple mind as fits her calling, finds smelling feet an intolerable nuisance.

Health requires at least one bath a day for the feet, and when they perspire freely they should be bathed twice a day. What must be said of the maid who, on entering a room, compels you to leave it on account of the sickening odor from her feet. In a case like this, the housekeeper must "take the bull by the horns," tell the maid that "her feet smell" and that "she must keep herself cleaner." The maid's feelings are not to be spared in the performance of this important duty. After washing the feet carefully twice a day for a week a cure will be effected. Clean hosiery should be put on every day. A very good remedy for offensive feet is a few drops of muriatic acid in the water when bathing the feet before retiring to bed.

THE SUPERIORITY OF VACUUM CLEANING.

This is an age of surprises and scientific researches. The up-to-date vacuum-cleaning machine is a huge debt to an ancient past. It is a big improvement over the methods employed in days gone by. As a preventive for moths, it has no equal. In hotels where this labor-saving device has not been installed, carpets must be carried to the roof to be cleaned, or sent to the regular carpet-cleaners, and soon converted into ravelings. Carpets are very expensive, and, if you want your money's worth from them, you must preserve them from moths. In order to do this, they must be either vacuum-cleaned or taken to the roof every six months and given a beating. After the moths get a start in a carpet it is surprising to learn what vast inroads toward destruction they can make in a few weeks. Moving the furniture and thoroughly sweeping and brushing the edges with turpentine are good preventives. But nothing will so effectually destroy them as does the vacuum-cleaning process.

In order to secure detailed information regarding the workings of the vacuum-cleaning system for hotels, I wrote to a gentleman in Milwaukee, who is probably the best informed man on that subject in the country. Besides being in the vacuum-cleaning business, he is a hotel man himself and therefore knows how to meet the needs of the hotel housekeeper. I quote a part of his reply:

_System Explained by an Expert._

"The vacuum-cleaning system in a hotel will pay for itself every year by reducing the cleaning force and by increasing the life of carpets, rugs, hangings, upholstery, and decorations, whether paper, fresco, or paint.

"In hotels where this system is in use--and their number is increasing every month--carpets and rugs are cleaned on the floor. Right here is a big saving. First, taking up and relaying carpets is expensive. There is nothing that wears them out quicker than this sort of handling and the beating and "tumbling." Vacuum-cleaning not only saves this, but saves the daily wear and tear of grinding in the dirt and wearing off the nap with a broom. Third, with the vacuum-system, valuable rooms are never put out of commission while the carpets and rugs are away being cleaned.

"Not only are the carpets and rugs kept cleaner by the vacuum-system, but everything else is cleaner because dust is kept down. The housekeeper of a certain hotel told the owner that since he put in the vacuum-system, the transoms had to be washed only one-fourth as often as before. Now, the dust on those transoms came out of the air. It settled everywhere, but it showed plainly only on the transoms. With the vacuum-system, there is only one-fourth as much dust to settle on the walls and decorations, and even that little is quickly removed with the vacuum-wall-brush. Dust on the walls is what causes the unpleasant, musty smell of many hotel rooms. Keeping walls clean means less frequent redecorating.

_Purifies Nearly Everything._

"Upholstered furniture is quickly and thoroughly cleaned by the vacuum-method. Dust is removed not only from the surface, but also from the folds and creases and even the interior of the cushions. Moths and their eggs are sucked out from their hiding places under the upholstery buttons or in the corners.

"Mattresses and pillows are kept clean and sweet by vacuum-treatment. Passing the cleaning tool over the surface prevents dust from accumulating and sifting in. It sucks out the stale dusty air inside and draws in fresh air, thus preventing that unpleasant musty smell which hotel beds sometimes have.

"By the vacuum-method, tapestries and hangings are kept fresh and bright without the trouble and expense of taking them down. One hotel manager told me his vacuum-system saved him $10 every time he cleaned the hangings in his dining-room, for it used to cost him that sum to have them re-draped.

"By means of a special brush, wood and tile floors can be cleaned without the dust of dry sweeping, or the muddy aftermarks of sawdust.

_Vacuum Always on Tap._

"The most and recent important improvement in vacuum-cleaning consists in having the vacuum or 'suction power' always 'on tap' on every floor. At convenient points in the corridors, nickel-plated taps are placed. To these, the housemen or maids can quickly attach the rubber hose connected with the cleaning-tools. Opening a valve turns on the suction or vacuum. Then, as fast as the tool is moved over the surface to be cleaned, dust and dirt are sucked through the hose into the pipes and away to an air-tight dust-tank in the basement. The 'on tap' vacuum is always ready for use. No need to telephone or send word to the engineer to start that pump or to stop it when the work is done.

"Although the vacuum, or suction, is kept on tap all the time, practically no power is consumed except when the cleaning is going on. Even then the amount of power used--whether it be steam or electricity--is automatically proportioned to the number and the size of the cleaning tools in use. Whenever you lay down the sweeper to move a chair, just so much less power is consumed while the tool is idle. If one sweeper is in use, only one-tenth as much power is needed as when ten sweepers are working. The little upholstery tuft-cleaner consumes only one-ninth as much power as the carpet-sweeper. This means a great saving of power and is a great improvement over the old vacuum-methods, by which it was impossible to keep the vacuum on tap and by which, once the apparatus was started, full power was consumed, no matter how many sweepers were at work."

THE LINEN-ROOM AND THE LINEN-WOMAN.

The linen-woman has in her care all the beautiful and expensive linen in the hotel; if she is careless in counting it when sending it to the different departments, careless in counting it after it has been returned, there will be a deficit in the "stock-report" at the end of the month. The linen-room is a position of trust. The linen-woman should be as accurate in counting her employer's napkins and table-cloths as the cashier is in counting his employer's dollars.

The following set of rules and essential requirements are suggested for the management of the linen-woman:

1. She must be prompt to open the linen-room at 6:30 a.m.

2. Must not leave the linen-room without notifying the housekeeper.

3. Must sort the linen.

4. Must see that no damaged article of linen is sent out to the guest-rooms.

5. Must mend all the linen.

6. Must keep track of the linen.

7. Must keep the linen-room books.

8. Must mark the new linen before sending it out.

The linen-room is the housekeeper's pride. What is more pleasing to a housekeeper than to look into a well-kept linen-room. This room is the housekeeper's "stock-exchange," the room where all her business transactions take place. It is also her home. She has her geraniums in the window and her desk in one corner. She has her sewing-machine, and telephone, and a bright rug or two on the spotless floor. The linen-room is the place where the housekeeper is found or her whereabouts made known.

The room should be thoroughly cleaned every Saturday, and swept and dusted every day. It requires skill and labor to keep a well regulated linen-room looking neat and pretty. Linen-shelves are scrubbed, not papered. All heavy articles, such as spreads, blankets, pillows, and table-felts should be kept on the top shelf. The water-glasses, ice-water pitchers, extra slop jars, washbowls and pitchers, should also be kept on the top shelves, and covered with a dust-cover. The other shelves should be scrubbed, and the sheets, slips, face-towels, and bath-towels used for the guest-rooms, put on a shelf by themselves. The helps' linen should be put on another shelf. The table-linen should be placed by itself, and so on--a place for everything and everything in its place.

_How Linen is Mended._

The table-cloths should be mended first before they are sent to the laundry. The best way to mend table-linen is first to fill the holes with darning-cotton, just as you would if you were darning a stocking; then loosen the presser-foot of your sewing-machine and darn it down neatly with the machine. If the hole is very large--say as large as your hand--the better way is to cover the hole with darning-net before filling it in with the darning-cotton; then it may be finished on the machine.

When the table-cloths are too bad to mend, the large ones can be cut down into small ones and the small ones into tray-covers. Old napkins can be sewed together and used for cleaning-cloths. Table-linen is very expensive and the careful housekeeper will easily save her salary above that of a careless one by properly taking care of the linen.

_How Coffee Bags Are Made._

The coffee-bags should be made from the stewards' dictation. No two stewards will have them made the same. Bath-towels, when damaged, may be made into wash-cloths, and used in the public baths. The cases for hot-water bags are made of white flannel.

A supply of soap, matches, toilet-paper, and sanitary powder, should be kept in the linen-room, where it is convenient for the maids.

The progressive housekeeper will not allow the stock of linen to grow too small. She will see that it is replenished each month.

The linen-room should be opened at 6:30 a.m. and closed at 10:00 p.m. If it is a commercial hotel, the linen should be portioned among the maids, in the morning. The linen issued in the morning should be charged to each girl on the slate. The maids should count the soiled linen on their floor, pin the count to the bundle, and bring it to the linen-room, where the linen-woman again should count it and give each maid credit on the slate. The linen-woman should deduct the clean linen issued in the morning from the soiled linen returned, and, if the linen-room owes the maid, she should be given her linen at once. After that, the maid should get only one piece of clean linen for one of soiled. If the maid brings in no soiled linen, she should not get any clean. In this way, the linen-woman will be able to keep track of the linen. She will be able to tell the manager where every piece of linen is at any time of the day.

The dining-room linen should be issued in the same way. The linen-woman should be able to tell by her books how many napkins are in the dining-room, how many are in the laundry, and the number that are on the shelf in the linen-room.

It may not be an innovation, but a blackboard in the linen-room will be of great assistance to the housekeeper in copying the changes that are sent up from time to time during the day. The board may be freshly ruled every day, with as many columns as there are maids, and the maid's name, or number, should be written above her column.

As the changes are sent up on a pad by the clerks, the linen-woman should copy them on the board, putting each maid's changes under her name. The maids should take the chalk and draw a straight line through their changes, indicating that the rooms have received proper attention. As there are few hotels that have not had some trouble about reporting changes, it would be a splendid idea for the clerk to insist on the housekeeper or the linen-woman signing for the changes. The fact that the clerk can produce his duplicate, showing the time to the very minute he sent the change, is not proof that the change was received in the linen-room. The bell-boy may be a new boy, and may have taken the change-slip to some other part of the house. But if the housekeeper, or the linen-woman, signs the pad on which the changes have been sent up, and the pad is returned to the office, the housekeeper or the linen-woman will have to furnish some other excuse for the room being out of order, than that she did not get the change.

The housekeeper should see that an accurate account is taken every month of all the linen, and correctly entered on the linen-room stock-book. This account should show the new linen purchased during the month. The following form is suggested for the stock-book for the linen-room:

Inventory of Linen-Room for month ending January 1, 1908.

================+============+=====+=====+====+======++=========
|Total No. | Plus| | | ||
Jan. 1, 1908. |last count | new |Grand|Worn| ||
|Dec. 1, 1907|stock|Total|out |Stolen||Net Total
----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++---------
Sheets | 800 | 50 | 850 | 25 | || 825
Slips | | | | | ||
Spreads | | | | | ||
Face-Towels | | | | | ||
Bath-Towels | | | | | ||
Table-Cloths | | | | | ||
Napkins | | | | | ||
Side-Towels | | | | | ||
Tray-Towels | | | | | ||
Tops | | | | | ||
Kitchen-Towels | | | | | ||
Glass-Towels | | | | | ||
Roller-Towels | | | | | ||
Bar-Towels | | | | | ||
Wash-room Towels| | | | | ||
----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++---------

Paradise, indeed, to the housekeeper, is the hotel that has its reserve-linen closet, where, in case of accident in the laundry, she may find linen to put the rooms in order. On the other hand, how very discouraging it is where there is only one set of linen for the beds and the maids must wait until the linen is back from the laundry before they can put the rooms in order. In such hotels, the housekeeper spends much of her time running to and from the laundry.

When a new linen-woman is installed in the linen-room, the housekeeper should write out all the details of the duties required of her, regardless of any previous experience she may claim to have had.

CARE OF TABLE-LINEN.

A table-cloth should be long enough to hang over the table, at least eighteen inches on all sides. Pattern cloths are prettier than the piece-linen. They are more expensive, but it pays to buy the best for hotel use. Linen, to have sufficient body to wear well, should have a certain weight to the square inch. Table-linen should weigh at least four and one-half ounces to the square yard. All pattern-cloths have the napkins to match. The napkins and table-cloths should have a tiny, narrow hem. They are best hemmed by hand, but this can not be thought of for hotels.

It takes the same amount of money to purchase the unbleached linen as it does to buy the bleached. The Irish bleached linen is of a more snowy whiteness than that of Germany. This is owing to the climate of Ireland, which is particularly adapted by sunshine and rain for natural bleaching.

_Table-Linen Most Important._

The table-linen is more important than the bed-linen, and should receive the first consideration in the laundry.

It should be carefully counted and sorted by the linen-woman at night, after dinner, and should be ready for the laundryman who must rise very early in the morning in order to have the table-linen ready for the laundry-maids that come on duty at seven o'clock.

A table-cloth should be folded lengthwise twice, then doubled, putting both ends together, then folded, and it will be ready for the shelf. Napkins should be put through the mangle three times and left without folding, so the linen-woman can easily sort them.

_Removing Stains._

Fruit-stains in linen may be removed by pouring boiling water through the stained spot. Lemon juice and salt will remove iron-rust.

Tea, coffee, chocolate, and fruit-stains should be removed as soon as possible by pouring boiling water over them. After fruit-stains have been washed a few times in soapsuds, they become as firmly fixed in the linen as though they were dyed there, and can only be removed by a bleaching process. A good bleach can be made by taking one pint of boiling water to one teaspoonful of oxalic acid and one teaspoonful of ammonia. One teacupful of ammonia to a wash will keep the table-linen white.

The care of the table-linen is a very important feature of the housekeeper's work. In many hotels, the housekeeper is required to purchase the linen. Fashion changes in table-linen as in other things. A careful study of facts and figures has proved that, in proportion to the population, the United States of America consumes more linen than any other country in the world. It is not, however, a leader in the production of flax. Russia takes the lead in this industry. The United States grows flax for the seed and not for the fibre; hence very little weaving is done in this country.

_Kinds of Linen._

Linen has a variety of names, as Holland, damask, et cetera. Damask linen was first made in Damascus--the oldest city in the world--and was figured in fruit and flowers. A long time ago linen made in Scotland was sent to Germany to be bleached; hence the name Holland.

The old-time way of bleaching was long and expensive, sometimes taking an entire summer. After it was bleached by a natural process of open air, dew, and sunshine, it was then treated with an alkaline, and then buttermilk. It was left lying on the grass for a month, and sprinkled frequently with water and sometimes sour milk.

At the present time, linen can be bleached in two weeks. The cost of bleaching is much less and linen fabric is one-half cheaper than formerly. The chemicals used in the modern process of bleaching greatly injures the fibre, and linen is not so durable as it was under the old-fashioned way of bleaching.

_How to Test Linen._

The housekeeper in selecting linen at the counter may test the linen by ravelling out some of the threads. The threads that form the woof as well as the warp should be strong, and long thread linen. Never buy linen that is stiff and glossy, as it will be thin after it is laundered. Linen should be substantial, but pliant when crushed in the hand. Never buy a table-cloth that is part linen and part cotton, as the shrinkage of linen and cotton fibre varies greatly, which causes the threads to break, and the table-cloth will soon be full of holes.

LAUNDRY WORK.

"Order is Heaven's first law," sang the poet, and to keep order in a hotel seems not such an Herculean task. System makes work easy, and the superintendent of the laundry must insist on the work being systematically performed.

Soap and water are the most important materials used in the laundry work. To do good work with little or no damage to the linen, soft water and good soap are absolutely necessary. In many parts of the United States, the water is permanently hard, and is a perplexing question to laundry workers. The first thing to do is to soften the water. It can not be made soft by boiling, and must be treated with chemicals which must be used before the soap is added. When soap is used in hard water before it has been softened, the soap unites with the minerals in the water, and clings to the linen like a greasy scum. Borax is the best softening agent for hard water.

To soften water with borax, use one tablespoonful to each gallon of water. A tablespoonful of ammonia and one tablespoonful of turpentine to each washing will keep clothes white. Hard water may be softened with potash or sal soda, which is much cheaper than borax and ammonia, but potash and sal soda are both corrosive and very injurious to the linen. Great care must be used in softening water with these alkalines. If they are not thoroughly dissolved before using in the washer, little particles are apt to escape the solvent action of the water and stick to the linen and form brown spots which soon become holes.

_Good Soap a Necessity._

Soap is the next cleaning agent to be considered. You can not have pretty, white linen without good soap. A good soft soap for use in hotel laundries can be made from the refuse fat from the kitchen. This soap will effect the cleaning of the hotel bed and table-linen, but for bundle-washing, flannels, and prints, a milder soap is generally used. A very good soap for washing flannels and prints may be made from the pieces of soap that are collected from the rooms.

How linen is laundered and to be able to give a scientific reason for each step are the very first things a housekeeper should learn. No housekeeper is worthy of the title if she is unskilled in laundry tactics. Yet how few housekeepers there are that could give even a recipe for making bleach, to say nothing of the most effective way to use it so as to cause the least injury to the fabric? Few housekeepers know little or anything of the benefits of the scientific researches that have been made to render laundering easy.

The linen must be carefully sorted and counted in the linen-room by the linen-woman. In hotels where the houseman gathers the linen from the different floors and carries it direct to the laundry, the laundryman has been known to dump it in the washer without sorting it. This is the source of many a lost pillow, blanket, nightshirt, and even pocketbooks and jewelry. Guests often put their valuables under the pillow or in the pillowslip and forget them. These valuables sometimes escape the chambermaid's eyes in her haste to strip the beds. Sometimes a new waiter in the dining-room will use a napkin to wipe his tray; these greatly soiled napkins should be rinsed out before they are put in the washer.

_Why the Hotel Laundry Work is Discolored._

Is it any wonder that the sheets and table-linen soon get that brown color? All the soft water in the kingdom will not bring about the desired results if the linen is not carefully sorted. The napkins should be put in one pile, those that are badly soiled with mustard or gravy in another pile, and the table-cloths in another. Napkins and table-cloths that are stained with tea, coffee, chocolate, or fruit, should be laid aside and boiling water should be poured through the stains before they come in contact with soap, as the soap will help to set the stains permanently.

The laundryman should rise early and have the first washing from the extractor before the laundrygirls make their appearance, which is usually at seven o 'clock.

The table-linen should receive the first attention. It is the least soiled, the most expensive, and it may be needed before the bed-linen. The napkins and table-cloths should not remain long after they are shaken out. They will have a finer gloss if they are mangled immediately after being taken from the extractor.

One reason that linen gets that dirty brown color is because it has not been properly rinsed before adding the blueing. The soap should be thoroughly rinsed from the linen before the blueing is put in the washer. How many hotel laundries send the linen to the linen-room damp and steaming and smelling of soap? Is it any wonder that the linen is soon full of holes and worn out?

Two tablespoonfuls of kerosene in a washing will greatly aid in cleansing, though more soap must be used in this case.

In many laundries, there is not sufficient help. There should be at least two girls employed to shake out and two at the mangles, in a 200-room house. Where there is bundle-washing it will require even more help than this.

The kitchen-linen should be washed by hand on the board and not put in the washer.

The housekeeper should be allowed plenty of help to properly do the work.

_Bleaching Linens._

When clothes have become yellow by the use of impure water or any other cause, the snowy whiteness must be restored by a bleaching process. Chloride of lime and oxalic acid are powerful agents, and, if not quickly removed from the fabric, they will corrode and do much injury to the linen. Turpentine has some power as a bleacher as also has borax. Blueing will aid in keeping the clothes white, but do not use too much. There are a variety of blueings to be had. The indigo blue is the best.

Starch will greatly aid in keeping clothes clean. It is made mostly from rice, wheat, corn, or potatoes. Only a little starch should be used with delicate fabrics. They should be no stiffer than when they are new. The starch should be completely dissolved in cold water before adding the boiling water. Stir the starch constantly while the boiling water is being poured in. A few things may be put in to give a gloss, and to make the iron run smooth; among them are paraffine, lard, kerosene, and gum arabic.

_How to Iron._

Before commencing to iron, have ready a bowl of water and a cloth for smoothing wrinkles and rubbing away any soot or spots that may get on the garment. Have a piece of paraffine tied in a cloth to rub over the iron, and a knife for scraping any starch from the iron that may stick to it in the process of ironing.

Put much weight on the iron and do not raise it from the garment but move it quickly over the surface. When a wrinkle is made, dampen it again with a wet cloth and smooth again with the iron. Always iron in a good light so that scorching may be avoided. A garment should be ironed quickly; otherwise it will dry out and much time will be wasted in going over it with the damp cloth and changing the irons.

In ironing a white duck skirt, stretch it in shape quickly while it is damp and iron it into shape, else it will be long here and short there. When ironing a ruffled skirt, always iron the bottom ruffle first and turn it back while ironing the others. Iron around hooks and eyes and not over them. Never iron a crease in a garment unless it is necessary. A crease will mar the effect of the garment and also cause the threads to break sooner, thereby making holes.

_Recipe for Making Bleach._

An inexpensive recipe for making a good bleach to be used every day will be found in the following:

Fill a clean barrel half full of boiling water and put into it ten pounds of chloride of lime and stir until well dissolved. Dissolve ten pounds of caustic soda in boiling water and stir in the barrel. Fill the barrel with boiling water and stir. Let it settle and skim the little white particles from the surface, as these are what rot the clothes. Use one gallon of the bleach in a washing.

Although laundering is one of the last kinds of work to receive the benefits of scientific research, much effort has recently been made to present easy and effective ways of laundering. The "how" and "why" has been learned. It is no difficulty for the housekeeper to hire a laundryman and to install him in his work with the words: "This is the laundry; you will meet with many difficulties in your line, but you must work out your own salvation."

_How Curtains are Washed and Mended._

Take down the lace curtains that you are going to wash and shake them well so as to get all of the dust from them. Put them in cold water to soak. Then wash by hand in warm suds, to which has been added one teaspoonful of ammonia. Do not rub them, squeeze dry and rinse through two waters. Do not blue them. If they are of an ecru shade, put a little coffee in the water and they will look like new. Starch and stretch loosely on the curtain frames while they are wet. The holes can be drawn together while on the bars so they will never be noticed after they are dry, and it is a far better way to mend curtains than darning them on the machine after they have dried. Cream-colored curtains may be washed in the same way. Colored madras and silk curtains can be cleansed in gasoline. Great care must be taken, as gasoline is explosive. The curtains should be taken to the bathroom, and the door should be bolted and kept bolted until the curtains are cleaned and the gasoline is washed down the sewer. The curtains are then taken to the roof and aired for half a day.

Embroidered and lace-trimmed pieces should be taken from the line while only half dry and immediately ironed, to secure the best result. To raise the embroidery, iron on the wrong side over several layers of flannel covered with a sheet of old linen.

Never iron lace with the point of the iron, if you would have it look like new. Pull and pat it into place, picking out the loops with a hairpin, or with a pointless darning-needle or bodkin. Dampen it with a wet cloth and press with the reverse iron, using its "heel" only.

When ironing circular centerpieces and table-cloths, see that the iron moves with the straight grain of the cloth. If this method is followed, the circular edge will take its true line. Guard against ironing on the bias or on a curve, lest the linen stretch hopelessly out of shape. Never fold a piece of this character after ironing it.

THE HOUSEKEEPER'S RULES.

If the management does not provide the housekeeper with rules, she is safe in formulating the following:

1. Maids must report for duty at 7:00 a.m.

2. Maids must lock all doors when leaving rooms.

3. No maid is allowed to transfer chairs or furniture from one room to another by order of the guests, unless they have an order from the office.

4. Maids must report at once any articles which are misplaced or taken from the rooms.

5. Keep all soiled linen in closets.

6. Maids must not leave any article of soiled linen lying in the halls.

7. Maids must not leave their brooms, feather dusters, dust-cloths, or sweepers, in the halls at any time during the day.

8. Any article found in the rooms must be brought to the linen-room, with the number of the room and date when found.

9. All keys found left in rooms and doors must be sent to the office.

10. When a tray of dishes is left in a room, the maid must ring for a bell-boy and have him notify the headwaiter or report it to the housekeeper who will telephone the headwaiter.

11. All ink, paper, and pens left in the rooms must be put in the wire ink and stationery-receiver.

12. The watch-girls must report at 6 p.m. and remain until 10 p.m. or later, if required.

13. All torn blankets and spreads must be brought to the linen-room for repairs.

14. Maids must not receive men friends in their rooms.

15. The housekeeper will relieve the linen-woman while she goes to her meals.

_Sunday._

1. Maids must report at 8 a.m. and remain until 1 p.m.

2. Watch-girls must report for duty at 1 p.m. and remain until 9 p.m.

All of these rules can not be, at all times, strictly enforced by the housekeeper. She will make such modifications as are made necessary by circumstances. But rules she must have, and she must insist on their being observed.

THE PARLOR MAID.

Excepting the linen-room position, that of parlor maid is the most desirable situation that the hotel housekeeper can offer a girl. The wages are usually better than those of a chambermaid, and her work is not near so laborious. At all times, the parlor-maid is neatly dressed, suave, serene, and courteous. A quiet and unobtrusive manner is absolutely essential. She needs to take many steps during the day, and thus youth and a slender figure are the first qualities in one who wishes to make a success of the position. She meets people of wealth and refinement and the ultra fastidious, hence her position is a responsible one and requires a dignified appearance and demeanor. She must have self-respect and must claim the respect of others. None of the moralities must be omitted nor must she forget the daily bath, clean underwear, and clean hosiery every day. The morning is the time for the parlor-maid to do the cleaning, and she should wear about her work a washable dress of percale or dimity, with a white apron. In the afternoon and evening, this should be exchanged for a black skirt, white waist, and white apron.

_Where Work Is Diversified._

She is expected to render quite diversified services. Her duties vary with the mode of life of those by whom she is employed. She will scarcely be called on to do all the work that is herein enumerated; but the success of any hotel employe is largely due to the number of things he or she is able to do well. A parlor-maid may raise her occupation to a level with that of millinery or dress-making. There is room at the top of the ladder for the expert parlor-maid just the same as there is for any other person in any other calling.

In the small hotels, the parlor-maid usually cares for the proprietor's private apartments. In addition to these, a suite next to the parlor may be given her to keep in order. She can easily look after these rooms where she has only one parlor. The cleaning of the ladies' toilet-room and reception-hall and the ladies' entrance-stairs usually falls to the parlor-maid. She must look after the writing-rooms, do the high dusting, clean the tiles, clean the mirrors, polish the brass trays, clean the cuspidors, wash the lace curtains, and sweep and dust. In washing windows and mirrors, she should use warm water to which a little ammonia has been added. She should not use soap, as the grease in the soap makes the polishing difficult. Wipe with a dry cotton cloth and polish with a chamois skin.

_Keeping Parlor in Order._

As the parlor must always be in readiness for the reception of guests, it is thoroughly cleaned early in the morning. Once a week is often enough for a thorough cleaning. Monday is the best day for it. The furniture is moved into the hallway or into one corner of the parlor, the parlor is swept and dusted and every article replaced before breakfast. On week days, the corners are dug out with a whisk-broom and the dirt taken up with the sweeper. The parlor is dusted frequently and the cuspidors washed at least four times a day. She should wash the cuspidors inside and out, using soap and water; then wipe with a dry cloth. Leave a little clean water in the cuspidors, as this will make the vessels easier to clean next time.

_Cleaning Brass Trays._

If the brass trays under the cuspidors are very badly stained, the stains may be easily removed with a solution of vinegar and salt, to which has been added a little flour. Have the mixture boiling hot; rub the tray with the mixture with a flannel cloth, then wash the tray with hot water and wipe dry with a cloth. After this, it may be polished with a good mineral paste or some of the special preparations made for the purpose, using a flannel cloth for polishing.

The high dusting is done with a long handled broom. Tie a bag made of cotton flannel over the broom and brush the walls downward. Brush the dust off the cornice and over the doors and windows. Then, using a clean cheesecloth duster, go over the doors, window sills, mantles, and furniture, changing the soiled dust-cloth frequently for a clean one. The housekeeper must see that the parlor-maid is supplied with plenty of clean dust-cloths.

_The Maid's Many Duties._

If the fireplace is finished with tile, the parlor-maid should wash these with soap and water. She should polish the brass and replace it. The curtains and silk draperies should be taken down and hung in the open air and brushed with a whisk-broom. The rugs should be rolled up and the houseman should take them to a flat roof where they should be laid flat and swept. They should not be whipped or beaten, as "whipping" will ruin an expensive rug. When sweeping the stairs of the ladies' entrance, the parlor-maid should use the whisk-broom and dust-pan. The ladies' toilet-room requires some care to keep it always neat and clean. After sweeping the floor and dusting the doors, the bowls should be washed inside and out with the toilet-brush and a disinfectant put in. The stationary wash-basins should be scrubbed with sapolio and the faucets polished. There should be kept always on hand clean towels and soap, a comb and brush, a box of face-powder--the English prepared chalk is the best for toilet-rooms. The public baths on the parlor floor come under the parlor-maid's charge. She should keep the tubs and the floor clean, and see that soap and towels are supplied.

The writing rooms should be cleaned before breakfast. The sweeping should be done the first thing in the morning. The desks should be supplied with fresh pen points, paper and ink once a day. The waste paper baskets should be emptied as often as is necessary, and the cuspidors should be cleaned at least four times a day.

_Keeps Assembly-Room in Order._

It is usually the parlor maid's duty to take care of the casino, more familiarly called the assembly-hall. The casino floor requires very careful cleaning. No scrubbing or sweeping with ordinary brooms is permissible on a polished hardwood floor. It should be carefully swept with a bristle broom and the dust taken up on the dust-pan. The floor should then be dusted with a broom, over which has been tied the cotton-flannel bag made for the purpose. If there are any spots on the floor, they will have to be washed up, but this will take off the polish; therefore, it must be restored by the weighted brush or weighted box with Brussels carpet tacked on the bottom of it. The original polish is restored by pulling the box back and forth over the floor. A housekeeper will make a sad mistake if she attempts to scrub the ballroom floor.

_Waxing the Ballroom Floor._

In most every hotel, it is left to the housekeeper to wax the ballroom floor before the opening of the "hop." The wax is sprinkled over the floor.

In very large hotels in large cities where there are three or four public parlors, and where three or four parlor-maids are employed, their work is confined to the parlors. The parlor-maid waits on the ladies, helps them on and off with their wraps, and caters to their comfort both physically and mentally; keeps the parlor clean, and does many little acts which go to make a great big hotel seem like home.

_The Card and Wine-Rooms._

No drinks are served in the public parlors, public halls, or cosy-corners. The wine-rooms are usually kept in order by the parlor-maid. The bar-porter should come for the bottles and remove the dishes. The parlor-maid should sweep and dust the wine rooms and wipe the tables, if they are polished wood. If they are ordinary dining-room tables, she should put clean table-cloths on them twice a day. The wine-rooms are usually named for the cities: Chicago, New York, Binghamton, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Denver, and New Orleans.

The card-rooms are kept in order by the parlor-maid. There is seldom much furniture in a card-room, only chairs and tables. Sweeping and dusting once a day and a clean cover for the table is all that is required.

To make a muslin cover for a poker-table, take a piece of muslin and cut it round to fit the table, allowing six inches to hang down. Run a casing on the edge of it, with a bias piece two inches wide. Run in the casing, a drawing-string of common wrapping-twine. The drawing-string must be as long as the muslin is around so it will not have to be removed when laundered. After it is laundered, put it on the table and pull the drawing-string, and tie under the table.

In small hotels where the parlor-maid is called on to perform all of these manifold duties, she is assisted by the houseman.

ABOUT CHAMBERMAIDS.

Some person that does not know anything about the life of a chambermaid will tell you that the "chambermaid has no protection, no morality, and is without the influence of a fixed place or home atmosphere;" finally, that "chamber-work is the most degrading occupation a girl can engage in!"

If a girl is not capable of a higher calling, why should not she make beds in a hotel when there is such a crying need from the hotel managers for conscientious and painstaking work? It is not every girl that Providence has blessed with a prima donna's voice. Not every girl can be admitted on the vaudeville stage. Not all have had kind and wealthy parents to send them through college and fit them for the higher attainments.

_Chambermaid Can Take Care of Self._

The proprietor is ever ready to protect the maids from undue familiarity from the male patrons of the hotel. This is seldom necessary. The average maid meets an incivility with a cold disdain that puts to rout a second attempt. Men that wreck women's lives are found outside of hotels.

_Religion a Factor._

It is an undisputed fact that the Irish-American Catholic girls make the best chambermaids. The comfort found in the Catholic religion compensates for the loss of home ties. She is without any danger signal save her own conscience, yet there does not exist on the face of the earth a more moral class of girls than the Irish-American Catholic chambermaids in the hotels of the United States.

She goes at her work determined to use her experience as a stepping-stone to something higher. She encounters many pitfalls. She makes a few mistakes, but during her stay in Yankeeland she has learned President Roosevelt's maxim: "The man who never makes any mistakes is the man who never does anything." She is consoled by it, and from her pitfalls learns a lesson that enables her to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

_Not a Bad Day's Program._

At the Grand Union Hotel in New York City, and in hotels in other cities in New York state, the writer has learned from observation that the social side of the chambermaid's life is a pleasant one. She begins the day at 7:15 and quits at 4:00, except the night she is on watch. She is given a ten o'clock lunch; she has one hour for dinner, and at 2:30 she is given fifteen minutes for a cup of tea. The night she is on watch, she is served with a good dinner of chicken and all the good things the hotel affords. She has every third Sunday off and may follow her own will. She has time to cultivate acquaintances, and attend to her religious duties.

_Christmas Time._

There is kindness and courtesy existing among the maids. When Christmas day draws near, the festivities are looked forward to with eager anticipation. Mysterious-looking bundles are coming in and going out. Friends are remembered. The father and mother, brother and sister over the water are not forgotten; and likewise the maids are not forgotten by their employer. The dining-hall is wreathed in holly, the table is loaded with all the season's delicacies. Trade is dull in the hotel, and the time is given over to enjoyment.

_Chambermaids at Their Best._

There are evening parties in the "help's hall." The weekly "tips" or any "stray coins" are invested in sugar and butter, and "fondant" is made that would melt in your mouth. Then there is the "taffy-pull," the cups of tea, and the "fortunes told," over the cups. The jokes go round, the merry laughter resounds and gets so loud that the housekeeper, who has retired, rises, and hastens to put a stop to the noise. Arriving on the scene, she has not the heart to reprove them. Herein she tastes an old joy of girlhood. It is Christmas. She slips back to her own room and into bed again. The airs of "Killarney" and "The Wearing of the Green" die away, and the house is quiet.

MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS.

The housekeeper should furnish the houseman with a synopsis of his duties every morning.

In addition to this, he has, of course, his regular duties--sweeping halls, dusting, cleaning cuspidors, washing windows, hanging curtains, moving furniture, laying carpets, and cleaning lights. Sweeping roofs and keeping gutters clean fall to his share also. Fortunate indeed is the housekeeper that can have a houseman for each floor. A skull cap and an over-all suit would be appropriate apparel for the houseman.

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Any defective plumbing in bathrooms should be promptly reported by the housekeeper. Sometimes a guest will justly complain that the faucet in the bathtub is out of order, and the water trickling all night keeps him awake.

A tray under the ice-water pitcher will save the table or dresser.

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