Chapter XV: Section XI: The Scout Aide (1)

Introduction.

The six following subjects, Home Economics, Child Care, First Aid, Home Nursing, Public Health, and Personal Health are grouped together, and for proficiency in all of them a special badge called "Scout Aide" is awarded.

This badge will probably be regarded by the outside world as the most important decoration the Girl Scouts can win, and all Scouts who will try for it should realize that those who wear it will represent the organization in a very special sense and will be eager to prove their practical knowledge and ability in the important subjects it stands for.

No young child could pretend to represent ALL this medal stands for. Any grown girl or woman should be proud to own it.

Practical knowledge of Personal Health, Public Health and Child Care will add to the efficiency and happiness of this nation, and the women of today have a better chance to control these things than ever before.

Home Nursing and First Aid will save lives for the nation in the two great emergencies of illness and accident.

Household Economics, the great general business and profession of women, if it is raised to the level of the other great businesses and professions, and managed quickly, efficiently and economically, will cease to be regarded as drudgery and take its real place among the arts and sciences.

When the girls of today have learned to do this, the women of tomorrow will be spared the criticism of waste and extravagance that our nation has had to bear. If Girl Scouts make good as far as this medal is concerned and become real "Scout Aides" the Scout reputation is secure.

1. THE HOME MAKER

BY SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD

Formerly Dean of Simmons College

_The Keeper of the House._ Every Girl Scout knows that good homes make a country great and good; so every woman wants to understand home-making. Of course that means "keeping" a house; and of course that means that Girl Scouts should try for the Housekeeper Merit Badge, the "Home Maker."

Now "making a home" doesn't mean just having it, owning it and holding its key. It means making it a good place to live in, or helping to make it so. This sounds like the House that Jack built; but all this belongs to the making of a home.

_Planning Your House._ When you plan a house of your own you must think what it needs most. You would choose, first of all, to have abundant air, fresh and clean; a dry spot where dampness will not stay; sunshine at some time of day in every room of the house, which you can have if your house faces southeast; and you must be able to get a good supply of pure water. You will want to make your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so you will look out for windows, doors and porches.

Think what must be done in a house: eating, sleeping, working, resting, by the whole family. How many rooms must you have? Draw a plan of some house in your neighborhood that seems good to live in. Make up your mind what you like best in that house.

_Furnishings._ Then houses must be furnished with the things that the family needs. The furniture will be for use. You must ask every piece what it is good for. What will you do with it? Could you get along without it? Some things you would use constantly, others once in a while. Which would you get first if you were planning carefully? How much would it cost to furnish the house for which you have drawn the plans: to furnish the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms? Make a list of the furniture _needed_ (not just _wanted_) for each room with the cost of each piece.

It is worth while for you to go to look at furniture in stores and to think about buying it. Then you will discover that a piece of furniture that looks well in the store might not look at all well in your house, for furniture must "suit" the house and the room into which it goes. It must "fit," we say. No other furniture will do. So the Girl Scout will make up her mind what will fit her house; and of course this means also what will fit the family purse. For the keeper of the house must not let into her house one single thing that she cannot afford to buy. She will take pride in that.

So when you make a list of furniture--with its price--make sure that everything you choose, suits, or fits, _your_ house.

_The Cellar._ Most houses are built over cellars, for purposes of sanitation, heating and water supply, as well as for storage.

The Girl Scout who lives in the country probably knows all about cellars for they are much needed there. The city girl may live in an apartment and may never think of a cellar.

Look at the cellars of two or three houses. How are they built? Did you plan for one in your house?

The cellar should be well ventilated, having light as well as air. Its windows should be screened; the floor should be dry and if possible made of cement; the walls should be whitewashed. Ashes should be kept in a galvanized iron barrel, to prevent fire.

A cellar should be a clean place, corners and all.

_The Kitchen._ The kitchen is a work-shop; it should be sunny and airy.

Look out for windows to let in the fresh air and sunshine. And while you are thinking of windows, be sure that they can open at the top and bottom to let sweetness in, and drive bad odors out.

Your kitchen should hold things that are necessary, and nothing else. It should be easy to keep clean, having painted walls, and the floor should be of hard pine or else covered with linoleum. When a Girl Scout takes care of the kitchen she is in honor bound to keep all the corners clean and to leave no dust nor crumbs of food anywhere about. She will take great pains to keep flies out of the kitchen and so will have her windows screened.

A good kitchen is provided with a sink and if possible with running water; and it must have a good stove, with a place for keeping wood or coal if either is used.

_The Kitchen Floor._ The floor of the kitchen should be made of hard wood. Maple or hard pine will make a good floor. A hard-wood floor can be dressed with shellac or with oil. The wood absorbs this dressing so that water will not soak in. A floor which has been shellacked should be wiped with warm water. Not much water will be needed. The oiled floor can be wiped and dried, then oiled lightly from time to time.

Linoleum or oilcloth may be used to cover an old floor. If the floor is rough it should be made even by planing before the linoleum is put down, and the cracks should be filled. If you can't get linoleum you can paint your floor with a hard floor paint. Be sure to get a paint that dries hard. The linoleum should be frequently washed with warm water and soap and then rinsed carefully before it is dried.

_The Kitchen Stove._ The chief business of the kitchen stove is to provide heat for cooking. It must hold a fire, and so must be made of something which will not burn. Stoves are usually made of iron. Fire will not burn without air, so a place must be arranged to let air into the stove, and just enough to make the fire burn clearly and furnish the right amount of heat. That is what the front dampers or slides are for. The fuel, wood or coal, is held in the fire-box. The heated air makes the top of the stove hot for frying, broiling or boiling, and the oven hot for baking.

The smoke and gases from the fire must not come out into the room to blind our eyes or suffocate us; the chimney is built to take care of the smoke and gases, and there must be a way for them to get into the chimney; the stove pipe is for this. But the game you have to play with your stove is to let the smoke and gases run up chimney, but to save all the heat you can for the work to be done. So your stove is supplied with dampers. When the fire is new, and there is much smoke or gas, you open the damper into the stovepipe, and in the stovepipe. Try to get a picture of the way the heated air goes from the fire-box up into the chimney. We call this direct draft. Of course a great deal of heat runs away through the chimney, and so your fuel is wasted. Now if you want to save heat, and particularly if you want to bake, and must have a hot oven, you will close the oven damper that has made the short easy way into the stovepipe. Then the heated air must find another way to get to the chimney, and it has to go around the oven to do this. While the hot air is finding its way around the oven, it heats it, ready for your baking. We call this the "indirect draft." Look over your kitchen stove and see how this happens. Take off the covers, open every door, and examine every part.

Stoves must be carefully managed. The fires must burn readily and the cooking must be done with the least possible amount of wood or coal. This means a clean stove, free from ashes and with a clear draft. Wood or coal will burn freely in the air. They will stop burning if there is no draft.

Learn to manage your draft. Remember that stoves are made with a damper, in order to control the current of hot air. If the oven damper is closed this heated air _must_ pass over and around the oven before it gets to the chimney and so heat the oven. If it is open the hot air can immediately escape up the chimney.

When starting the fire leave the damper open. As soon as it is burning well, close it so that the oven will be heated. Your stove should also have a damper in the pipe, to save the heat which would otherwise run up the chimney. If there is none, have one put in. There are also dampers or slides in front of the stove to control the amount of air going in.

The housekeeper must learn how to manage her stove; she must get acquainted with it, for every stove has its own way. Draw a picture or plan of the stove that you know best. See if you can tell plainly how to build a fire in your stove. If you use natural gas or a kerosene stove tell how that should be managed.

_Gas and Oil Stoves._ Cooking may be done on an iron stove with either coal or wood as fuel, or the stove may be planned for burning gas or kerosene. The coal fire must be fed several times a day with coal and the ashes must be removed to keep the fire burning clearly. Wood burns out quickly and must be replaced often. Both wood and coal stoves mean almost constant care for the housekeeper.

Gas gives less trouble. It comes in pipes from outside the house. This means that somebody else--the gas company--provides the supply. You turn on the gas when you want to use it and turn it off, if you are wise and thoughtful, the moment it is not needed. The gas company measures the amount of gas that you use by its meter, and you pay for every bit that you burn or waste. The important thing, then, is to use as little gas as possible in order to pay for as little as possible. You would rather pay twenty-five cents for a thrift stamp, than for gas that had burned simply because you had forgotten to turn it off. Be sure that gas is turned completely off at all places and never have a low light burning, as the flame may be blown out and the unburned gas escape. This would be dangerous and might even kill persons in the house.

The kerosene stove may be used instead of a gas stove in houses which are not piped for a gas supply. If wicks are used they must be carefully trimmed, so that they will be clean and even. A kerosene stove needs frequent cleaning. It should be kept free from dust and from drippings of oil.

The Fireless Cooker

When a Girl Scout gets to thinking about all the work to be done in a kitchen she will ask some very important questions. How much work is to be done? How long does it take to do it? Can time be saved by doing it in a better way? How can I save labor? Save time? Save money?

The Girl Scout will find the answers one at a time, if she does her own work. And if you do your own work you will at once call for a fireless cooker. The name sounds impossible, for you have always cooked with a stove, and, of course, a fire. How can you cook without a fire?

The women of Norway taught us how. When they went out to work in the fields or on the farm they took the hot kettle of soup off the stove and hid it away in a hay box. The hay kept the heat in the kettle instead of letting it escape; so the soup kept on cooking, and when the women came home from their work in the fields there it was, all steaming hot and ready for dinner.

Everyone has noticed how some things carry or conduct heat and other things don't. That's why we use a "holder," when handling a hot dish or stove lifter or tea-pot. The "holder" does not carry the heat to the hand; it keeps it away. So the hay packed around the hot kettle kept the heat in the kettle, refusing to "conduct" it away. Therefore the soup went on cooking.

Your English cousins use a "cosy" to cover the hot teapot or coffee pot. This "cosy" is made of quilted cotton; and looks like the quilted hood that your great-grandmother used to have. This keeps the heat in the tea or coffee, so that you can have a second cup for the asking.

America was slow to learn from her thrifty cousins, but at last she adopted the fireless cooker; and this is what it does:

The fireless cooker, a case packed with some material which refuses to conduct heat, is used to continue the cooking of foods after they have been made hot on the stove. When securely covered in the cooker they will go on cooking for several hours because the heat is retained by the protecting case. A Girl Scout may buy a fireless cooker, paying from $5 to $25 for it, or she may make one, which will cost less than one dollar. Of course this is a challenge to make one. You may be very sure that if you make a fireless cooker you will understand all about it. To make a fireless cooker you will need:

(1) _A cooker or container_, which should be an agate pail with a close fitting cover. The sides should be straight up and down, the bottom just as big as the top. You can choose a small one holding two quarts, or a gallon pail which would be large enough for anything an ordinary family would be likely to cook.

(2) _A case_, which must be at least eight inches wider than your container, for the packing must extend at least four inches around the pail on every side. You may use a round case like a big wooden candy pail, which you can usually get at the ten cent store for ten cents; or it may be a galvanized iron can with a cover like the one ordinarily used for garbage; or it may be a box shaped like a cube.

(3) For packing you may use crumpled newspapers tightly packed in; or ground cork, which is used in packing Malaga grapes, is fine, and you may be able to get it from a fruit store. Excelsior is good, and perhaps you will find that in the shed in some packing case; while, if you live in the country, you may be able to get Spanish moss. This should be dried, of course. And then there is hay--which our Norwegian cousins use.

Let us try paper. Pack the box or can four inches deep, with crumpled paper, making a very even layer. Put a piece of pasteboard much larger than the bottom of your pail upon this layer and set your pail in the middle of it. Now pack the paper tightly around the pail up to the very top, using a stick of wood or mallet to press it down.

Now you must make a cloth cover for your pail in the shape of a tall hat. The rim of the hat must reach out to the edges of your case and be tacked there. Take out your pail, fit this cloth cover into the hole and tack the edge evenly to the box.

You must now make a cushion to fill the rest of the box, packing it full of the crumpled paper. Make hinges for the lid of your box and put some sort of fastener on the front to keep the lid down tight.

Now you have your fireless cooker. When your oatmeal or your stew, or your chicken, or your vegetables have boiled ten or fifteen minutes on the stove in your agate pail, clap on its cover, set it into the nest, push the cushion into the top of the cooker, clamp down the lid, and your work is done, for the cooking will go merrily on all alone by itself in your fireless cooker.

While you are making your fireless cooker, remember that the thermos bottle is made on the same principle. And remember, too, that your non-conducting packing material will keep heat out just as well as it keeps heat in. In the summer time you may wish to keep your ice cream cold for a while in your fireless cooker. Perhaps you will see how this might help on a hot summer's day and what a comfort a fireless cooker might prove in a sick room.

The Ice Chest. How It Is Made

In taking care of food we must be provided with a cool place, for the storage of milk, butter, cream, and all cooked food that may spoil. In summer this is especially important; in an apartment, and in most city houses the ice chest is needed all the year around; in the country, it is needed only in the warm months.

The ice chest is built much as the fireless cooker is made. Its case is usually made of wood, its packing material must be non-conducting, and its lining must be some smooth surface through which water cannot pass. Some ice chests are lined with zinc and some with porcelain tiles. In some ice chests, food and ice are kept in the same box, which usually opens at the top; in other chests there is a separate chamber for the ice. From the ice chamber a drain pipe carries away the water which drips from the melting ice.

Every ice chest must be kept clean and sweet. It should be looked over every day and washed carefully at least once a week. No crumbs of food should be left on the shelves. If you spill anything, wipe it up _clean_ at once.

The drain pipe must be kept clean. A long wire brush is used for this. If you are buying an ice box, get one with removable pipes, which are easily cleaned. If there is any odor from the chest, scald with water and soda, a teaspoonful of soda to a quart of water. Rinse with fresh cold water.

If your ice chest drips into a pan which must be emptied daily, have a regular time for emptying it. An overflowing pan in an apartment may damage the ceiling below. If it drips into a pan which drains itself, be sure that the drain is kept clean and the entrance to the pipe unclogged. Clean the drip pan whenever you clean the ice chest.

It is a good plan to keep food in closed containers like fruit jars. Wide dishes take up too much space. Containers should be tall rather than broad.

Put no hot dishes in the ice box; it wastes the ice.

The Iceless Refrigerator

An "iceless refrigerator" sounds like a "fireless cooker." This is an arrangement made to keep food cool in the summer when there is no ice. A wooden cage with shelves is covered with a cloth cover and placed near a window or out of doors. If in the house it should stand in a large pan to prevent the dripping of water on the shelf or floor.

A piece of the cloth cover should rest in a pan of water. If this is not convenient a strip of cloth can be sewed to the cover endwise and this piece should be placed in a pan or bowl of water which should be set on top of the cage. This water will be sucked throughout the cloth cover of the refrigerator until it is wholly wet. As the water evaporates from the cover the air inside the refrigerator is cooled.

The iceless refrigerator works well on days when dry air is moving about. It does not do well on damp, quiet days.

Another simple refrigerator which does very well for a little milk or a pat of butter is a clean, earthen flower pot, turned upside down in a shallow pan of water. This will keep very cool the food which it covers.

The Kitchen Sink

Next to the stove, the sink is the most important piece of kitchen furniture.

The best sinks are of enamel or are made of porcelain. They have a fine wire drainer so that nothing solid will go into the trap and plug the pipes. The Girl Scout uses boiling water, and plenty of it, to flush the sink. She takes pains that no grease gets into the drain to harden there. When grease is accidentally collected, soda and hot water will wash it away, but it should never collect in the pipes.

The Keeper of the House takes pride in a perfectly clean sink.

Taking Care of the House and the Things in It

Taking care of a house and its furniture means keeping the house clean, neat, and orderly, and keeping everything in good repair. This means a great deal of thought on the part of the Keeper of the House. For there are many sorts of work to be done, and there is a right way of doing every bit of it. By paying attention a Girl Scout may learn very fast, and become very helpful and competent.

First, there's the Dish Washing.

Dish Washing

In making ready for dish washing scrape every plate carefully to remove crumbs that would get into the dish water. Try using crumpled tissue paper to remove milk, grease, or crumbs before the dishes are put into the pan. Save tissue paper, and paper napkins for this.

Pile in separate piles, all dishes of each sort; wash first glass, then silver, then cups, saucers, plates, then the rest; do not put bone, ivory or wooden handles of knives into the water. Use hot water and soap for dish washing, then rinse with clean hot water.

Dish towels should be cleansed after every dish washing; wash clean in hot soapy water, then rinse all the soap away in clean water. Cooking utensils should soak in cold water until time for dish washing, unless they can be washed as soon as used.

Use a tray for carrying dishes to the closet or pantry instead of travelling with a handful back and forth. Strain the dish water before pouring it down the sink. Be sure that no greasy water is put into the sink. Let the grease rise and cool; skim it off and dispose of it after the dishes are washed.

Taking Care of Rooms

Keeping a house in order means having everything in its place in every room. It means sweet, fresh air in every room; it means removal of dust and litter. A good housekeeper "tidies" her rooms as she goes along, always picking up anything that is out of place and putting it where it belongs. But she also has a method in doing things. Perhaps she sweeps the entire house every day or every other day, or perhaps she puts one room in order on one day and another on another and so on. The important thing is to have a regular plan.

The Living Room

Taking care of a living room means cleaning the floor and the rugs; dusting the walls, the pictures; cleaning, dusting, and sometimes polishing the furniture. Open the windows top and bottom, dust and brush them inside and out; use a soft brush or a dust mop to take the dust from the floor. Use a carpet sweeper for the rugs unless you have electricity and can use a vacuum cleaner; collect the sweepings and burn them.

Dampen one quarter of your cheese-cloth duster and roll it inside the rest of the duster, then wring. This makes a dampish cloth for dusting the base-boards, window sills, and other woodwork as well as the furniture. Where the furniture is highly polished, or would be injured by water, use oil on the duster instead. Dust after the dust has settled, not when it has been stirred into the air. Shake and replace doilies or covers.

Be sure that the pictures hang straight after dusting and that every piece of furniture is put in its right place. See how long it takes to clean the room; then study to find out how the time can be shortened.

Do not keep useless furniture nor have too many things in your room.

_The Bathroom_ and the bath tub require daily cleansing. In the ordinary family every one who uses the tub should leave it perfectly clean for the next one who needs it. All the furnishings of the bathroom should be kept sweet and clean. Use a flush closet brush daily, scalding it after using it. And remember that fresh air and sunshine are cleansing agents. Get them to work for you.

_The Bedroom._ Your bedroom needs all the fresh air it can get. The Girl Scout sleeps with her windows open. As soon as you have dressed in the morning throw the windows wide open again, if they have been closed. Open the bed, so that both sheets may be reached by the fresh air. Shake up your pillows and put them on a chair near the window. Leave your night clothing spread or hung where it will be well aired. Let your room have a fresh air bath!

You know already how to make a bed. You will remember that all the bedclothing must be smooth and even, when the bed is made. You are lucky if you have a sister to help you make your bed, for this piece of work is easier for two than for one. You will see that the mattress is lying straight. Once a week you (the two of you) will turn the mattress, end over end one week, and side over side the next week. Then your mattress will wear evenly, and not have a hollow in the middle where you sleep all the time. Then you two will lay the mattress cover straight, and tuck it in firmly, so that you will have no hard wrinkles to sleep on. The under sheet, smooth and straight, must be tucked in all around. You will make the bed as smooth as the table. Now the upper sheet, which is the hardest thing to manage in bed making, must be neatly tucked in at the foot. But you must allow eight inches at the top to be turned over the blankets and spread. Now the blankets, straight and smooth, and evenly tucked in at the foot. Then you may choose between tucking in the sides after folding the top sheet down over the blankets, and afterwards covering the whole bed with the spread, letting the sides and ends hang down; and laying the spread even with the blankets, tucking in the sides, and turning down the sheet over all. Try both ways.

Now, shake and pat the pillows, making them very smooth and quite square-cornered; then lay them or stand them neatly at the head of the bed, meeting exactly in the middle; and your bed is fit for a queen, or a tired Girl Scout after a tramp!

With the bed neatly made, everything must be put in its proper place. The furniture and window sills must be dusted with a clean cheese-cloth duster; and the bare floors must be nicely dusted with a dry floor-mop, or a cloth pinned over a broom. If there are rugs, use a carpet sweeper, if you have one, or a broom. If you do any broom sweeping, however, you will do it before you dust.

Now a last look to see that the room is tidy, every chair in place and the shades even at the windows, and your room is ready for the day. Of course any Girl Scout who wants a Homemaker's badge will _do_ all these things;--not guess or suppose how others do them and how long it takes. That is the honest way to learn. So find out how long it takes to put your room in order. There is only one way to find out.

Fighting Germs

Keeping clean in these days means keeping free from troublesome germs as well as visible dirt. Germs thrive in dampness and darkness. They can be overcome by sunshine. For thorough cleanness, the house needs fresh air and sunshine as well as sweeping and dusting. The Girl Scout must remember to let the fresh air blow through every room in the house every day. She should sleep with her windows open. She is fortunate if she can sleep out of doors.

Of course she is in honor bound to have no dark, damp, hidden, dirt-filled corners in any part of her house, not even in shed or cellar. Let in the light and clean out the dirt.

Fighting the House Fly and Mosquito

House flies carry disease. They breed in filth, human waste, animal droppings, decayed animal or vegetable matter, and are so made that they carry filth wherever they go. Since the fly alights wherever it pleases, it carries dirt from outside and distributes it wherever it CHOOSES.

Clean up all heaps of rubbish where flies may breed. Keep your garbage pail _absolutely clean_. Disinfect outdoor water-closets and cover with gravel or slacked lime. Get fly traps to set on your porches. Kill all flies that come into the house, especially the early ones, in the spring. Keep your windows and doors screened.

Fight mosquitoes just as you fight flies. Leave no still water even in an old tin can, for the eggs of mosquitoes are deposited in still water and hatch there. The mosquito, like many other insects, has an intermediate stage between the egg and the grown mosquito. During this stage it swims about in quiet water. Mosquitoes in great numbers may be growing in old cans or bottles, rain-filled and hidden away under the bushes in your yard. Watch for such breeding places; clean up your yard and banish the mosquito.

Taking Care of Waste

All waste must be carefully disposed of. It should never accumulate in the kitchen; but the important thing is to have _no real waste_. See that everything is put to the utmost use. If you live in the country, chickens and pigs will take the parings, the outer leaves of vegetables, etc., and you can bury or burn waste. If you live in the city the garbage man will collect all waste.

The garbage can must be kept thoroughly clean. It should be rinsed and scalded whenever it is empty, so that there will be no bad odors about the kitchen. Find out how garbage is taken care of in your town. How can you help to keep your neighborhood clean? What should be done if there is carelessness about garbage?

Taking Care of Woolen Things

Housekeepers must fight moths as well as flies. The clothes moth loves to lay its eggs in wool. It is very keen in searching out bits of wool and finding a place for its baby to thrive. Unless you have a care it will lay its eggs in your best winter dress which you forgot and left hanging in the hot summer days.

When the baby worm pokes its head out of the egg, it begins to feed upon the wool; and when some cold winter morning you get your dress you will find holes neatly cut where the little worm has gnawed, and beside the holes the little woven cradle which the tiny creature spun for itself, and in which the crawling worm changed to the flying, silvery moth.

The housekeeper must therefore, carefully brush and pack away all woolen things before the moths arrive. After the garment is cleansed and brushed it may be folded in newspapers carefully pinned at the ends, so that no crack is left for the moth to get in it, or it may be laid in a cedar box; or in any plain box with moth balls or camphor. Every box should be labelled so that you know without opening it what is in it.

Watch edges of carpets and rugs for the carpet beetle and the "Buffalo bug." The last bothersome creature may eat your cotton dresses in your closet. All clothing must have care.

Make a list of the woolen things that must be taken care of if the house is closed in summer and what personal clothing must be packed away for the summer even if the house is not closed.

Storage of Food

Taking care of food so that it will "keep" well is just as important as the careful buying of food. Much waste, and therefore loss of money and labor, comes from carelessness in the storage of food. The bright Girl Scout will keep her eyes open to see how foods are taken care of in the house; which foods must be kept in the cellar; which ones must be stored on the shelves of dry closets; which ones come in sealed parcels; which in paper bags; which in boxes; which in barrels. There must be a place in the house for keeping all these things. So you need to think which foods _must_ be kept in the house and which must be bought from day to day. And in the house which you plan there must be ample space for closets and shelves, for keeping properly all that must be stored. No one can say which things must be kept in the house by every family. If the Girl Scout happens to live in a crowded city where rents are high, she will have little storage space, and will not keep so many things on hand. If she lives in the country, miles from a store, she must have a "store" of her own. So keep your eyes open, Girl Scout, and see what is being done in your part of the world. That is what eyes are made for.

Heating the House

A house may be heated by a furnace, by stoves, or even by open fires in the fireplace, as in old days. Heating the house makes the chimney necessary. This must be carefully arranged for in planning your house. Heating by stoves is the most common arrangement. In the large city or town, the furnace is used. This is merely a big stove in the cellar or basement, so planned that its heat is distributed through the house. By this means one big stove does the work of many little ones, and warms the whole house.

The furnace may use its heat to turn water into hot steam, which is sent through all the house through the iron pipes and radiators. Or the water in the boiler may be made quite hot, though not turned into steam, and sent through the house in the same way, by means of pipes. Or hot air from around this big stove or furnace may be sent through big pipes directly to the various rooms. This means dust and dirt, and we are learning to use steam and hot water instead of the hot air system.

The fireplace is almost a luxury. It is found oftenest in country houses where wood can easily be got and stored. The town or city home may have its open fire, however. Everyone loves an open fire; and when you plan your own house, you must manage to get one if you can. The hearth is the heart of the house.

Labor Saving

The housekeeper must learn how to do her work in the least possible time; she must save steps. Look at the house that you have planned and see whether everything you need to use is within easy reach. Look carefully at the closets where you keep things. Are they big enough? Are they in the right place? Suppose your water comes from a well which is a long way from the house. What difference will it make? What would you do about it?

The Water Supply

The water supply of every home should be carefully guarded. If the water is defiled or contaminated by germs of typhoid fever, diphtheria, or other diseases, whose bacteria may be carried by water, the disease may be spread wherever the water is used.

No earth closets or human or animal waste should be in the neighborhood of the well. Water should come from high ground and clean places with no possibility of gathering infection on the way to the house. Great pains should be taken to keep drinking water absolutely clean. All drinking vessels should be washed and scalded and the rims should never be handled.

In the country every home has a private water supply and takes pains to guard it. In the city there is a common water supply and everyone is responsible for keeping it pure. Where does the water come from that supplies your city or town? How is it kept clean? Who takes care of it?

Whenever there is any question about the purity of common drinking water, the table supply should be boiled, for safety. Boiling will destroy any bacteria that could produce disease. This boiled water should be used for rinsing dishes as well as for drinking.

Girl Scouts will interest themselves in municipal or neighborhood housekeeping, for that is a responsibility which all share together.

Learning to take care of one's own home is a good beginning, if one is to share in providing good conditions for the neighborhood.

Little Things Worth Remembering

The stove should be cleaned with crumpled newspaper whenever the kitchen is put in order. All ashes should be neatly brushed off.

In lifting ashes from the ash pan with a shovel use a newspaper to cover the pail into which the ashes are poured, so that the dust will not scatter over the room. Don't dump them and raise dust; and never put hot ashes into a wooden box or barrel.

Watch the floor of closets and see that no dusty corners are hidden out of sight.

Air and dry soiled clothing before putting it in the laundry basket. If damp clothes are hidden away they will mildew.

Learn to make out a laundry list and to check it when the laundry comes home.

Save the soap chips and use a soap shaker.

Get all the help you can from older housekeepers in your neighborhood. Ask them how they do things and why. Your mother may know something better than anybody else does.

The Girl Scout asks questions and learns why things are done as they are. She may think out a better way some day, but first she must pay attention to the old way.

Sing at your work; it goes better so. Besides, joy belongs with housekeeping and your song helps to keep her there. Always sing if the work drags, but let it be a lively song!

Making Things Clean and Keeping Clean

Making things clean is a most important duty of the Keeper of the House. But don't forget, Girl Scout, that keeping things clean is a constant duty. You know many a body who "cleans up" with a lot of stir once in a while, but who litters and spills and spreads dirt and lets dust collect in corners all the rest of the time.

"Keeping clean" is the housekeeper's regular business, and "cleaning up" never need stir up the whole house.

For keeping clean, soap and water must always be had. The soap loves to wrestle with grease. The water softens and rinses away both dirt and soap. You will use a scouring soap or powder to clean stained or dirty metal or glass; and you should cover water-closets and other out-of-door places for refuse with clean slaked lime now and then to keep them clean.

Ten Ways of Removing Stains

1. When you have _raspberry_ or _blueberry_ or _strawberry_ stains on your white handkerchief or blouse or skirt, do not be too much disturbed. Hold the stained part firmly over an empty bowl, with the spot well in the centre, and ask some one to pour boiling hot water over the spot and into the bowl. The stains will disappear like magic. Then the wet spot may be dried and pressed with a hot iron, and the damage is repaired.

2. _Peach_ stains are much harder to remove, but they should be treated just as the others were treated. Often several applications of hot water are necessary for these stubborn stains. But you must not lose patience. And you must not use soap. The stain will fade out at last under the hot water.

3. _Ink_ stains are a great bother, especially to the school girl who carries a leaky fountain pen. Do not let them get dry. They will be much harder to remove. Sometimes cold water, applied immediately, will remove the ink, if the spot is rinsed carefully. Use the cold water just as the hot water is used for the peach stain. If that does not remove it try milk. If the milk fails, let the spot soak in sour milk. Sometimes it must soak a day or two; but it will disappear in the end, with rinsing and a little rubbing.

4. _Ink_ stains on a carpet are a serious matter. Let us hope that no Girl Scout will be so unlucky as to upset an ink bottle on a friend's carpet or rug. If she does, she should know the best way to set about removing it. This should be done as quickly as possible before the ink dries, or "sets." Take cotton, or soft tissue paper or blotting paper, and absorb all that has not soaked in. You will see that the "sooner" _is_ the "better" in this case. Try not to increase the size of the spot, for you must keep the ink from spreading. Then dip fresh cotton in milk, and carefully sop the spot. Do not use the cotton when it is inky; that will smear the carpet and spread the stain. Use fresh bits of cotton, dipped in clean milk, until the stain has disappeared. Then rinse with clean water in the same way, and dry with dry cotton.

5. The _spots_ made on silk or woolen by _acids_ may be removed by touching with ammonia or baking soda, dissolved in a little water. The bright yellow spot on a black dress will sometimes run away like lightning when touched by the wet cork of the ammonia bottle.

6. _Egg stains_ on the napkin, or sometimes, unfortunately, on a dress front, must be removed before washing. Use cold water alone. The egg will dissolve and can be rinsed out. Hot water will cook the egg and it will be hard to remove.

7. _Liquid shoe blacking_ is almost worse than ink. It must be treated in the same way, _and at once_.

8. _Coffee_ and _tea stains_ will wash out with either warm water or soap and water. A black coffee stain on a fresh tablecloth may be removed like the berry stains, by the teakettle and bowl method.

9. _Grease spots_ may be removed from washable fabrics by soap and water. For silk and woolen, gasoline should be used. Use gasoline in daytime only, to avoid lamps or gas in the neighborhood; and _never_ near a fire. Use carbona instead of gasoline or benzine when possible, as it cannot burn. Remember that all grease or sugar spots should be removed before putting a woolen garment away. Moths always seek them out, and they will find them if you don't.

10. _Paint_ can be removed by soaking the spot in turpentine. This dissolves it, and a bit of rubbing shakes it out. A brush helps, when the paint spot is on a woolen garment, after the turpentine has done its work.

_Remember_: All spots and stains should be removed before washing the garment.

GOOD MANNERS AND SOCIAL FORMS

It is easier to meet people socially if we are acquainted with the simple forms of introductions, meeting and parting, and so forth. A girl who is entertaining her friends will be more successful in doing so if she plans ahead how she can welcome them and has all the necessary preparations for a substantial good time, at hand. This planning also makes it possible for her to be less occupied when the time comes, and to have a good time herself.

Stand where guests can see you at once when they enter.

Always introduce a younger person _to_ an older one, as "Mrs. Smith, may I present Miss Jones, or Mr. Brown?" A man is always presented _to_ a woman, or a girl, as "Miss Brewster, may I present Mr. Duncan?"

If you have many guests, ask some of your friends to join you in watching to be sure that no one is left out, so that the evening may be a success for every one. It is sometimes difficult for a hostess to do this alone.

If you ask other girls to help you ask each to do a definite thing, as to arrange for wraps, sing or play, pay special attention to some older person, etc. This saves confusion, as the Pine Tree patrol does in camp.

A few intimate friends need no plan to make them have a good time, but with a large number it is usually better to plan games, music, charades, or some other form of entertainment.

When invited to a house at a certain time, be prompt. Promptness is always a mark of courtesy, as it means consideration for the time and convenience of others. One should also watch carefully the time of leaving, and not stay about unless specially detained.

TABLE MANNERS

Accept what is offered or placed before you, with a quiet "Thank you." If you are asked what you prefer, it is proper to name it.

Do not drink while food is in the mouth.

Take soup quietly from the side of the spoon, dipping it into the plate _from_ instead of towards you, to avoid dripping the soup.

Break bread or roll, and spread with butter only the piece which you are about to eat.

Use knife only as a divider, the fork to take food to the mouth. Where one can dispense with a knife, and use only the fork to divide food, do so. When not using either, lay them together across the side of the plate, not resting on the table cloth.

A spoon should never be allowed to rest in a tall receptacle such as a cup or glass, as it is likely to overturn the receptacle. Place the spoon on plate or saucer.

At close of meal, fold napkin, that table may be left in orderly condition. When napkins are to be washed at once, or when they are paper napkins, they need not be folded.

Do not begin a course until all are served.

Sometimes it is better to serve the hostess first, and sometimes it is the custom to serve the guest first, that is the guest of honor who sits on the hostess' right. When the host or hostess does the serving, the guest is served first.

Do not be troubled if you use the wrong spoon or fork, and never call attention to anyone else's doing so. No matter how you feel, or what the blunder or accident may be, such as spilling something or dropping a plate, never show displeasure to either servant or guest. Good breeding and pleasant atmosphere are essential to all entertainment.

Good breeding means first of all thoughtfulness of others, and nothing shows lack of breeding so quickly as a lack of such politeness to those who happen to be serving us in hotels, at home, in shops, or when travelling, or anywhere else.

When acting as waitress, stand at the left of the person to be served, so that the portion may be taken with the right hand.

Preparing the Meal

Plan the cooking so that the food that is to be served may be kept hot; for instance, soup may be kept hot on the back of the stove or where there is less heat, while the meat or vegetables are being cooked. Food that is to be served cold, should be kept in the ice-box or standing in water until the last moment and served in chilled dishes. In placing the food on the dishes and platters care should be taken to make it look attractive.

Setting the Table

When setting the table keep in mind how many courses there will be, and therefore, how many knives, forks, and spoons are needed. Have everything clean, and lay everything straight. Air room well. Wipe table, and if a tablecloth is used, cover table with a felt silence cloth. If a tablecloth is used, it should be laid with the fold in the center of the table. If a centerpiece and doilies are used, they should be laid at even distances. Clean white oil cloth and paper napkins make an attractive looking table. At each cover the knife, edge in, is placed at the right with the spoon, and the glass is placed at the right in line with the end of the knife. The fork is at the left and bread and butter plate and small knife are at the left opposite the glass. Put the napkin between the knife and fork.

Salt, pepper, water, bread and butter should be on the table, and if necessary, vinegar, mustard, sugar, pickles, etc.

When possible a few flowers add to the appearance of the table.

Have as much ready as possible before sitting down at the table. See at least that (1), glasses are filled; (2), butter portioned; (3), chairs placed.

Hard and fast rules as to table setting do not exist. Local customs, the amount of service at hand, and common sense must govern this. The captain, assisted by the council, must be the judges.

THE GIRL SCOUT COOK

BY ULA M. DOW, A. M.

_In charge of Division of Food, Simmons College_

The Girl Scout who has earned the Cooking Badge may be a great help at home if she has learned to work quickly and neatly and may get much amusement both at home and on camping parties. If the first trial of a process is not a success, the Scout should have patience to try again and again until her result is satisfactory. If she has learned to prepare a few simple dishes well she should have courage to try unfamiliar recipes which are found in any good cook book. If she is to be ready to take responsibility when it is necessary, she should be able to plan the meals in such a way that nothing is wasted and that the family is satisfied and well-nourished.

When working in the kitchen the Scout should wear a clean, washable dress, or a washable apron which covers her dress. She should be sure that her hair is tidy, and she should remember to wash her hands before beginning work. She should try to use as few dishes as possible and not to spill or spatter. She should remember that her cooking is not finished until she has cleaned up after herself, has washed and put away the dishes, washed the dish towels and left the kitchen in order.