Chapter IV: Part III: My Heritage (2)

The following is a list of daily work in an average house. Besides these things some piece of periodical work is done each day.

Fire made or made up.
Shades rolled up; windows opened a few minutes; suggestions
of yesterday removed.
(In summer, veranda arranged.)
Breakfast prepared, served and cleared away.
Pantry and kitchen put in order.
Menu made and orders given.
Downstairs rooms put in order.
Bedrooms put in order.
Bathroom put in order.
Accounts.
Preparations for second and third meals.
Second meal served and cleared away.
Rest.
Third meal prepared, served and cleared away.

Outside affairs usually decide the time at which these activities are performed. Meal hours in most cases depend on the work hours of some of the family, and on the meal hours depend the times when other things are done. Who shall do the work depends on the number of workers, the occupations which they have beside housework, and the periodical work of the day.

If there is one woman in the house, she must go through this list of things, doing each slightly or elaborately, as she is able and as they require. On the days when there is washing or sweeping or baking to do she will have to abbreviate other things. Upstairs and down she will merely put things in their places and remove visible dust; she will leave the table set until after luncheon, on washdays until after dinner; she will have planned the meals for this day the day before, and she will hurry all the work a little.

In a house where there is a mistress and a maid, the mistress will pick out from the daily work the things she wishes to do. She will perhaps set the table, put the house in order, plan the meals, go to market and make her accounts before luncheon. On washing and ironing days, if no extra person comes in to help, she will add to this the chamber-work and perhaps the washing of the breakfast dishes. Probably on those mornings she will not go to market.

When there are two maids in the house, the second will do the work suggested in the former case for the mistress on a washday, with the exception of the menu and the accounts, and with the addition of waiting on the table, washing the dishes, and some preparations for the meals which are not actual cooking.

When there is a third maid the upstairs part of the house will be her domain, and she will probably do some personal services for the mistress. In a large family she will help to wait on the table, and to wash the dinner dishes. After breakfast she will be busy with upstairs work and some sweeping, and after luncheon she will rest and dress and then answer the doorbell and the telephone during the time that the waitress is resting and dressing.

A fourth maid is usually a laundress, a fifth would do the rougher and simpler part of the kitchen work, and a sixth--but there, a housekeeper with five or six maids will not need suggestions from this book.

In households where there are several servants, their meals are added to the list of daily work. These come before those served to the family with sometimes the exception of dinner. When this exception is made, "tea" keeps the time between luncheon and dinner from being too long. It has always seemed to me that separate meals should be arranged for as soon as a family decide to keep a servant whose regular duty it is to wait on the table. A particularly tangible shadow lies upon a meal which is served by some one who after a long morning's work may be faint and hungry for the food she brings to you.

(_b_) PERIODICAL WORK

The following is a list of periodical work for an average house.

Washing.
Ironing.
Sorting and mending linen and clothes.
Sweeping and dusting.
Bread baking.
Thorough cleaning of the kitchen.
Cleaning garbage can, and surroundings.
Cleaning refrigerator and food receptacles.
Arrangements for days out.
Preparations for Saturday and Sunday.

* * * * *

Polishing furniture and floors.
Cleaning silver.
Cleaning of linen closet and others.
Care of cellar.

When can these things be done, and who is to do them?

We will consider the laundry work first. This should be the periodical work for two days of the week; if it runs over it crowds other things, and indicates that the wash is larger than we may have it with the present number and quality of workers. On the days devoted to laundry work, the daily work should be as brief and the meals as simple as possible. Of course, when there is a woman in the house, or who comes into the house especially to do washing and ironing, the usual schedule can be adhered to.

The day on which the washing is done is a matter of choice. It is traditional to wash on Monday, but some people say that Tuesday is better. If a woman comes in to do the washing it must be done when she can come. The advocates of washing on Monday say that as it is the longest and heaviest weekly job, it is best got out of the way as early in the week as possible; that the work of the week seems to wait round until the laundry work is finished; they say, too, that it is easier to wash on Monday because other people are washing.

The advocates of Tuesday say that as more of the family are at home on Sunday and as the regular clearing up is not done, the house needs especial attention on Monday; also, that they do not like putting clothes to soak the last thing Sunday night.

If circumstances leave one free to choose the day, it is as well to try each long enough to get used to it, and then to decide on the one which proves easiest for every one concerned.

In the household with one maid, the mistress should help on the days the laundry is done with the daily work and in some cases with the laundry itself. In the two-maid household, the cook washes, the waitress assists, and the mistress frequently does some of the daily work. In the three-maid household it is possible for each to do her usual part of the daily work and give some assistance with the laundry.

The sorting and mending of the clean clothes is the work of the mistress or of an upstairs maid. The sorting should be done when the wash is finished. The mending, if heavy, often has to wait for odd times.

The next heaviest periodical work to the washing is the weekly cleaning. In a household with two maids or less, the cleaning should not be the periodical work on more than two days, one for upstairs, one for down. The living room and the dining room will probably have to be thoroughly cleaned each week, but the other rooms can usually be done in alternate weeks with the help of the daily setting in order and the careful use of a sweeper two or three times in the interval. It is more immaculate and more agreeable to have all the rooms thoroughly cleaned each week, but in a fairly large house with two women to do the work this ideal may become a grievous burden.

In houses in which there is an ample number of servants, the cleaning of the downstairs rooms, daily and periodical, is often done before breakfast. It is the ideal way of accomplishing this disturbing and uncomfortable job, but it cannot be so done unless there are enough workers in the house to divide the work into distinct departments.

Baking, cleaning the refrigerator and food receptacles, cleaning the kitchen and looking after the garbage can is the work of the cook. If there is another maid in the house, the cook has the four days of the week not used for the laundry work when she may do these things. If she is the maid-of-all-work, she will have the two days left from the laundry and sweeping in which to do them and many others.

Bread baking is usually done twice or three times a week. Cake baking, nowadays, is an irregular performance. As making bread is not a day's work, it can be combined with other pieces of work, preferably with those which are done in the kitchen. It combines nicely with cleaning the refrigerator and food receptacles because one of these is for bread and should be perfectly fresh for the new batch. A careful housewife sometimes makes the cleaning of the refrigerator her own work, but even so, she will appoint a time for doing it. A good refrigerator need be cleaned only once or twice a week, a poor one may have to be done oftener.

A garbage can should be cleaned as often as it is emptied, and should with its surroundings be watched all the time, lest the cover is left off or any scraps or splashes are left outside to draw flies and make disagreeable odours.

A kitchen in which much work is done needs a thorough weekly cleaning. People are apt to do this on Saturday, but there will be many households in which it will be unwise to do so. If the master of the house has a half holiday on Saturday, and the mistress of the house does the housework, the work of Saturday morning must be only the daily work and such preparations as will leave Saturday afternoon and Sunday as free from work as possible. Some extra cooking, marketing and menu making, some adornment of the house and laying out of fresh table linen will be desirable and necessary; but kitchen cleaning, the changing of bed linen, or the making up of weekly accounts, should be appointed for some other day in the week.

If the housewife has servants to help her, she can have more work done on Saturday, but even then, she will guard against having things done which make the house seem unrestful, or which occupy her.

Arrangements for "days out" are merely adjustments by which one person's work is done by others. If there is one maid, the mistress takes her place; if two, one does the necessary work of both, the mistress helping a little. For the day a maid goes out no periodical work belonging to her department must be appointed. "Sundays out," like the days, are merely an adjustment of duties to allow for fewer workers.

Some of the periodical work is much more occasional than that already mentioned. This must be fitted in, sometimes by leaving more frequent work undone for one day, but usually by appointing it for a day when there happens to be a little less to do than usual. The silver, for instance, usually need not be done more than once a fortnight or once a month, and can be fitted into a morning when there is no sweeping, or into a rainy Monday. Other infrequent work can be managed in the same way.

In simple households a detailed written schedule is not necessary perhaps nor desirable, unless it be for periodical work and the "days out." For these a schedule like the one herewith might be made. This one is for two maids and includes some infrequent work.

+--------+--------+--------+----------+--------+----------+---------+--------+
| | _Mond._| _Tues._| _Wed._ |_Thurs._| _Fri._ | _Sat._ | _Sun._ |
|--------+--------+--------+----------+--------+----------+---------+--------|
|COOK | Washing| Ironing| Bake | Day | Put | Bake | Sunday |
| | | | Clean | out | cellar | Clean | out |
| | | |refrig., | | in | kitchen | |
| | | |etc. Take | | order | | |
| | | |waitress's| | | | |
| | | | work | | | | |
|--------+--------+--------+----------+--------+----------+---------+--------|
|WAITRESS| Washing| Ironing| Day out | Sweep | Sweep | Clean | Take |
| | | | |upstairs|downstairs| silver | cook's |
| | | | | | | | work |
|--------+--------+--------+----------+--------+----------+---------+--------|
|MISTRESS| Help | Help |Sort and | Help | Help | Get out | Help |
| | a | a |mend wash | with | a | clean | with |
| | little | little |Help with | work | little | linen | work |
| | | | work | | | and set | |
| | | | | | | closet | |
| | | | | | | in order| |
+--------+--------+--------+----------+--------+----------+---------+--------+

[*Transcriber's Note: Days of the week were abbreviated by the transcriber to make the table more narrow.]

(_c_) SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES

One or two general remarks about schedules are necessary before the subject can be closed.

As far as possible heavy, dirty work should be done in the morning, the workers are more able to do it then, and besides, the cook does not wish to do such things when getting the dinner, nor the waitress when she should be dressed for the afternoon, nor the mistress at the social time of the day.

In making a work schedule, a savings fund is as necessary as in making a plan of expenditure. If every one in the house is doing as much as is possible, there is no allowance for accident, or illness, or unexpected demands. A little strength which is not nerves should be left in you and in your handmaidens at the end of the day. Housework extends over an exceedingly long day. At present, the only way to remedy this seems to be to arrange that each worker get a little rest some time in the day. I have put this as a necessary item in the table of daily work.

If no savings fund of strength is possible, more workers are needed, or better workers; or, if this is impossible, the style of living should be modified until it is appropriate to the force of workers.

The schedule is not the important thing, but the work; and there are things more important even than the work. For instance, a reasonable degree of liberty for the whole household.

The family, unless they take part in the work, should not be conscious of the work schedule. It is a framework to be carefully draped; a new kind of family skeleton to be kept in the closet as carefully as the old kind. It is necessary because it makes easy, natural regularity possible, and without it, as we have said, there is neither character, nor peace, nor mutual service in a home.

The housework must be done--well and regularly done--and to accomplish this, days must be alike, and weeks must be alike, and months and years alike. But they must be as the leaves on a tree are--alike to the casual glance, yet really somewhat different because capable of infinite adaptability.

V

POSSESSIONS

THE time and strength necessary for housework, and the comfort and happiness resulting from the work depend much upon something which housekeepers have to a great extent the power to control. I mean the quantity and kind of things they have in their houses.

Much time and money and weary labour would be saved, much comfort and loveliness would be gained if we could persuade ourselves to follow William Morris's rule:

"Have nothing in your rooms which you do not think to be beautiful and know to be useful."

Were this rule suddenly put in practice, what a bundling out of rubbish would ensue. A Bonfire of Vanities would rise in no time, built of little tables and pedestals, cushions and bows, curtains, vases, pictures that no future generations would call us vandals for destroying, fringes and ruffles, souvenirs of travel, broken and mended objects from the top shelves of closets, bronze and china statuettes, and that whole miserable race of blotters which do not blot, book-racks which faint under the weight of books, pen-wipers which would be insulted if they were inked, collapsible waste-baskets always in a state of collapse, holders that hold nothing, cases that fit nothing, impervious pin cushions!

May the smoke of them ascend!

One would think that this rule of use and beauty were austere enough, yet many people, before they acquire even a useful or a beautiful object, must consider whether there is room for it in their home, whether the members of the household have time and strength to take care of it, and whether it is appropriate to their possessions and to their way of living.

The amount of space we have about us seriously effects our health of body and mind. The more furniture there is in a room, the less air space there is. The sense of oppression one feels in a room crowded with furniture is not imagination, there is literally much less air to breathe. It is also not merely an idea that a house full of ornaments and pictures is not restful to live in. One knows what matchless weariness results from hours spent in a museum; it is caused by continually readjusting one's eyes, and thoughts, and emotions to an endless succession of things. A room crowded with ornaments and pictures is a miniature museum. With familiarity one may cease to see the individual objects the room contains, but this is indifference, not peace.

Those who have not done housework with their own brains and bodies cannot realize how many thousands of times every object in a house has to be touched and moved merely for the sake of cleanliness and order. It seems a small matter whether there are six pictures in a room or eight, whether flower vases are kept in the china closet or on the tops of book shelves and tables, whether there are five little fal-lals on a mantelshelf or twenty-five; but I hardly think it is a small matter whether a woman spend a half-hour with her children, or out of doors, or reading a book, or spends it in dusting tormenting trifles. These considerations are equally important when the work is done by maids; there are always enough useful things to do in a house to fill reasonable work hours.

One must ask, then, even when a useful or beautiful object is in question, Have I room for it? and, Is it worth the time and strength needed to care for it? And then one more question: Is this thing I desire suitable? That is, will it make the rest of the furniture which cannot now be renewed look shabby? Shall I feel that it is too good for the sun to shine upon, or the family to use? Will it set up a standard which I cannot keep up to without feverish effort?

In order to select or to weed out possessions in a reasonable way, attachments have to be kept in check; one must keep in mind that the family are more worthy of regard than the family chairs, and one must have such respect for oneself as a spiritual and intellectual creature that one will not fall in love with a silver-service or a set of ancient plates. I can think of few things more humiliating than the fact that families can be divided by old furniture; that sisters can be estranged by silver sugar-tongs; that lives can be spoiled, hearts broken and fortunes spent in the service of possessions which should exist only for the temporary comfort and happiness of their owners.

All this does not mean that our homes should be bare as hospitals, and ugly as barracks, and that, if the furniture is shabby, we ought not to have the one beautiful picture, or the good piano, or the hoard of books, which may be the treasure of the family. Nor does it mean that we ought not to love our household goods.

We want our homes as complete in comforts and appliances as we can reasonably afford. We want them lovely to look at. And we shall be all the better if we have an affection for every stick they contain. Scrooge hugged his own bed-curtains, because the sight of them assured him that he was at home. For the same reason we love the things we live with, and the place where we live. We like to come back after an absence and find the same things in the same places, and get an extra welcome from every one of them.

This is incidentally an argument against frequently changing the arrangement of the furniture, as some housewives think it economical and diverting to do. Such changes destroy that settled, established look which is homelike, and very comfortable to live with. Do you know about the man who was not afraid of burglars when he got up at night, but was awfully afraid of bureaus and rocking-chairs which his wife found a new place for every week?

We naturally become attached to things which we like, and which we have taken thought to get, and which we have looked after year after year. Heirlooms are the result of such care and affection and companionship continuing year after year, generation after generation until the objects on which this care has been expended seem to become a part of ourselves and our lives, until they seem to have absorbed some of the personality and affection of those who no longer dwell with them, nor with us.

But when possessions begin to seem something more than tables and tea-cups and silver spoons, have a care--they're not.

VI

CARE OF FITTINGS AND FURNITURE

EVERY house contains a great variety of objects and substances. If these are to be kept clean and in good condition, one must know what they are and what to do for them.

_The Ceiling._--In the first place each room has a ceiling. Ceilings are usually plain and light coloured, because they are not easy to look at and because they are reflectors. They are not ornamented on account of our necks; they are not made dark coloured on account of the light bills.

Ceilings for the most part need little care. When the room is cleaned, they should be wiped, either with a long-handled mop with a wool head--dry--or with a broom in a bag. The former is harder to get but is better, because the combined length of the ordinary broom and the ordinary woman is not usually enough to reach the ceiling effectually and without strain. Besides, many brooms are too heavy to use above one's head. Such wiping nicely done is all the regular care a ceiling needs, whether it is whitewashed or frescoed.

_The Walls._--Walls are panelled, or painted, or calcimined, or covered with fabric or paper. Wood, paint and calcimine are considered cleaner than other coverings, but all can be kept up to an ordinary standard of cleanliness.

Panelling should be carefully wiped with the wool-headed mop used for the ceiling, or with a cloth where it is within reach. If the wood is dark and polished, it may now and again be rubbed with a little good furniture polish; if it is light or unpolished it is better to content oneself with wiping off the dust.

Fabric-covered walls should be cleaned once or twice a year with a vacuum cleaner. If this is not possible, they may be as often brushed. This must not be done violently, but carefully, and preferably with a hair broom--a white hair broom such as one uses for clothes, if the wall covering is especially handsome or delicate in colour.

Painted walls may be wiped with a dry or dampened mop, or they may be washed with soap and water, or even with disinfectant, should this happen to be desirable.

Calcimined walls may be wiped only with a soft mop, or very gently with a broom in a bag. Mop or broom bag must often be shaken out of the window, otherwise the walls will be smirched or clouded. Very little in the way of restoration or cleaning should be attempted with calcimine, for it almost invariably makes a bad matter worse. Spots such as are made by hands or heads can sometimes be removed by rubbing them with a piece of dry bread, or with some corn meal. It is safe to experiment with any _dry_ remedy; but a wet remedy will always fail. Even calcimine itself, put over a spot or a scar, will leave a mark.

Papered walls may be wiped with a dry mop, or a broom in a bag. They are not as easily smirched as calcimine, but one must frequently shake out of doors, or else change any brush or cloth used for wiping walls.

If you need a reason for wiping walls and ceilings, look at the mop or the cover of the broom with which you have done the work. Dirt is the enemy of health and loveliness.

_Woodwork._--When woodwork is cleaned, all cracks, ornaments and irregularities should first be gone over with a small, soft brush. A flat brush such as is used for varnishing is good.

If the woodwork is not polished, it should next be carefully--that is, every inch of it--wiped and rubbed with a soft, dry cloth, or if the room is exceedingly dusty, with a cloth very slightly dampened. Any sort of oil, or polish, or even water is apt to darken or spot unpolished wood. In the case of baseboards and window ledges, however, a little dressing of some kind should occasionally be rubbed into them, for they have to be defended from dampness in the one case, and hard usage in the second. A little of the polish used for floors will do very well for this purpose.

If woodwork is polished, the dust should be wiped off after the cracks have been cleaned with the little brush. It should then be rubbed briskly with a flannel or soft cotton cloth dampened with good furniture polish. Kerosene, which is usually at hand, is inexpensive and excellent for this and other purposes of the kind. But use this or polish sparingly.

Painted woodwork should ordinarily be dusted with a little brush and then wiped just as if it were hard wood. Once in a while, it should be wiped with slightly warm suds made with mild soap. It should not be soaped nor made very wet, and should be wiped dry as soon as it is washed. Spots which will not yield to this cleaning can be removed with alcohol or kerosene.

_Floors._--Some people will tell you that uncarpeted floors are a great deal of trouble, and some will say that they are very little. Perhaps part of the trouble which they seem to give is due to the fact that people keep their floors cleaner than their carpets. Dust _shows_, as we say, on a bare floor; it lies under furniture and blows about in fluffs. If the floor is carpeted, that very same dust, also the dust of other days when no sweeping is done, sinks into the carpet and assists in making colds and throat disorders and a stuffy smell. If we really minded dust, we would mind it just as much buried in the carpet as rolling round in fluffs. But we don't mind dust, we mind being thought dusty. If we have the same standard of cleanliness for the carpet as for the floor, the floor is the easier to care for.

Uncarpeted floors are usually finished with oil, shellac, stain, wax or some other smooth, preservative substance. Floors thus finished require three kinds of care; refinishing, polishing and dusting.

_Dusting._--Dusting should be done, if possible, every day. It does not require much time or strength. With a good mop or a broom in a bag, floors can be as quickly and lightly dusted as polished desks or tables.

_Polishing._--The frequency with which floors require polishing depends on the finish, the amount of wear, and the standard of appearance required. Some people polish them once a week, some once a fortnight, some once a month; others have their floors refinished twice a year and do nothing to them in the intervals except dust them.

Waxed floors are polished differently from those finished with oil or shellac.

To polish a waxed floor, first remove all dust with a hair broom, a wool mop, or a broom in a bag. Then rub carefully and energetically every inch of the floor with a heavy polisher until the polish is restored. The best polishers are costly, but others, less expensive, are made of strips of felt or chamois. They can also be home-made from a block of heavy wood with a hole bored diagonally in the top large enough to hold an old broom handle or a mop-stick. The bottom of the block must have several thicknesses of heavy material tacked over it. Old flannel, old bath towels, and old carpet are good for this purpose.

Floors not finished with wax are polished with oil or some patent polish. Many patent mixtures for this purpose are exceedingly good. Besides these, two parts linseed oil to one part kerosene is a good polish; also one-half turpentine to one-half crude oil. Kerosene used by itself both cleans and polishes floors, but its odour is an objection to its use.

As in the cases of the waxed floor, all dust must be removed before the polishing begins. When this is accomplished, rub the floor with a soft thick cloth dampened with polish. There should always be much rubbing and little oil. A quart of floor polish should last months. If by mistake too much oil is applied, rub the floor again with a dry cloth. When finished, it should feel smooth to the hand, not oily.

If oily cloths are kept from one time to another, they should not be shut up closely in a box or closet for they are liable to spontaneous combustion.

_Refinishing._--Floors are refinished by receiving a new coat of finish. Before this is put on, the floors should be thoroughly cleaned. This cleaning is well done with sandpaper and turpentine. Every board must be rubbed in the direction of the grain until it is entirely smooth and clean. After this the floor should be wiped with a dry cloth, and the finish applied and polished.

When it is necessary or desirable to wash a hardwood floor, it should be done just before refinishing and with tepid water, soap that would not hurt hands nor lace and a cloth well wrung out before it is applied to the floor. Water is injurious to polished floors of any kind, and to waxed floors especially.

If a floor receives hard wear in one or two places, or if something hurtful is spilled upon it, it may be necessary to refinish these places when the remainder of the floor does not need it. In such cases a few square feet can be done just as a whole floor is done. The final polishing will keep the place from looking like a patch.

_Rugs and Carpets._--Carpets tacked down close to the walls are not as clean as loose floor covering, and they are the chief cause of the fearful misery called house cleaning. Every other act necessary to the cleanliness of a house can be done without turning it upside down and driving the family to the club or the tavern except--taking up carpets. Rugs can be gathered up and taken to the lawn or the roof to be cleaned. The walls and floor of a room can be wiped within an hour. Windows can be washed and furniture and brasses polished with people sitting undisturbed in the room where it is being done.

Before the possibility of unobtrusive cleaning had dawned on me, I was once making a visit in a large city house. My surprise was almost painful when I saw a man cleaning the windows in the drawing room only an hour before an afternoon reception. It did not mean that they had been forgotten, or that the house was carelessly run--far from it--it was merely the day for window cleaning and the man whose business it was to do it went from room to room and cleaned them, making no disturbance and leaving no trace.

I make my protest against carpets for the reason that it is impossible to clean them in an unobtrusive way, and because they are the inspiring evil genius of cleaning done with _emphasis_--done, not for the sake of health and happiness, but for the sake of appearing to be a particular housekeeper.

Nonetheless, if we have carpets they must be cared for. Before the sweeping is begun, something should be scattered over the carpet to keep the dust down. Some of the things used for this purpose are damp tea leaves, sawdust, bran, corn meal, and shreds of newspaper. There are also patent substances for the purpose. One must be careful that these things mentioned are _damp_, not wet. Tea leaves should be wrung out hard before they are scattered, and never used on any delicately coloured carpet. Newspaper also is not safe for very delicate colours.

Any of these substances may be used in sweeping a tiled or painted floor; and any for an unpainted wooden floor except tea leaves.

When preparing to sweep, make the room as light as possible. Sweep the cracks along the walls and the edges of the carpet first, then sweep as much of the room as possible in the same direction, that direction being with the nap of the carpet, not against it. Sweep with short, light strokes--it is sweeping, not digging. When the dust is gathered into as small a pile as possible, take it up in a dustpan.

After sweeping it is good to wipe the carpet with a cloth wrung out of warm, soapy water in which is a little ammonia. Turpentine is even better than ammonia for carpets, but not for hands. Do not wet the carpet, wipe it lightly and quickly, rinsing the cloth often, but wringing it out hard.

One can to some extent combine this wiping process with sweeping by dipping one's broom now and then in water in which there is a little salt, ammonia or turpentine. Shake the broom lightly before applying it to the carpet, or the first stroke will leave a wet spot. Salt, ammonia and turpentine brighten the colours of a carpet, and the latter two are objectionable to moths. It is better not to dampen carpets in any way on rainy or humid days.

Rugs, when they cannot be carried out of the room, may be swept according to the directions for carpets and then rolled up, or folded round some piece of furniture difficult to move, until the floor has been cared for. The pleasantest and best way to clean rugs, however, is to take them out of doors and beat them on the grass or on a clothes line. Beat them with a furniture beater, or light cane, or stick, first on one side then on the other, then lay flat and brush the surface with a broom. Beating is better than shaking, both for the rug and for the shaker. When they are shaken, however, it is advisable to hold them by the side instead of the end; they are then less likely to tear or ravel.

Matting should be swept with especial care for cracks and edges, and crosswise of the breadths as far as possible. It should be wiped occasionally with salt and water, which cleans it and keeps it from becoming brittle. Many people prefer to use a hair broom for sweeping matting.

_Shades and Curtains._--All the cleaning that shades need can be given them by drawing them down to their full length and dusting them first on one side then on the other with a short-handled mop, or a duster if you can reach the roller with it. The side next the window is the more dusty as it is the outside of the roll. When the shades have been dusted they should be rolled to the top of the window until the cleaning of the room is finished.

If they do not roll up tightly and at once, take the shade from the socket, roll it up evenly, then hold the flat piece of metal which projects from one end of the roller between your thumb and fingers and turn the roller round and round with the other hand until it is very hard to turn. See that the little ratchet has fitted into the notch for it in the piece you are holding, to prevent it from flying back when you let go. Then the shade is ready to be replaced in the sockets. Shades which fly up unexpectedly are wound up too tight.

Curtains should be shaken and brushed, with a whisk if they are of heavy material, with a softer brush if they are delicate. They should then be put in bags made for the purpose, or folded over the rod and covered with a dusting sheet until the room is clean.

_Furniture._--Upholstered furniture should if possible be put out on a veranda where it can be aired and brushed. If this is not possible it should be beaten or brushed when we are preparing the room for cleaning. All creases and tufting should be carefully explored with a whisk and the furniture afterward covered with a cloth until the other cleaning is finished. Furniture upholstered in leather should be wiped, not brushed, and occasionally rubbed with vinegar, and sweet oil--proportions, one tablespoonful vinegar to three of oil. In time this slightly darkens the colour of the leather, but it keeps it from cracking.

On regular cleaning days polished furniture should have its carvings and cracks brushed out with the paint brush used for the woodwork of the room, and should then be rubbed with a very soft cloth. About once a month--oftener if the wear is hard, less often if it is easy--it should be rubbed with a good polish. The old furniture in France has usually been rubbed for generations with sweet oil and vinegar, in the proportions given above for leather furniture; probably few things are better. Two of the polishes suggested for floors, are equally good for furniture:

½ turpentine to ½ crude oil.

1 part kerosene to 2 parts linseed oil.

Also, equal parts turpentine, linseed oil and vinegar.

I believe that the best care an amateur can give to a very highly polished piece of furniture like a piano, is to wash it, when it becomes clouded, with luke-warm soapsuds. The soap should be mild, good soap. Wash a bit of the furniture at a time and dry it carefully, using very soft cloths; when it has all been dried, polish it with chamois and as much energy as you can conscientiously spare.

If painted furniture looks dingy, rub it with a little kerosene. Kerosene will usually remove spots from painted furniture--finger-marks from white enamelled beds, for instance.

_Windows._--The woodwork of windows should be brushed and wiped free from dust before the washing of the glass begins. It is better not to use soap for washing windows or glass of any kind; it sometimes clouds it, sometimes gives it a blue tinge. Put ammonia or borax in the water used, or else rub the glass with whiting, or a scouring soap which is not gritty. If one of these, or whiting, is used, it should be allowed to dry and should then be rubbed off with a dry cloth or a newspaper until the glass shines. Newspaper is as good as anything you can get for polishing windows. There is nothing especial to say about cleaning windows with water except wash the panes clean and dry them dry, one at a time, beginning with those nearest the top of the sash. Do not try to wash all the windows in a house with a pint of water and a wristband, but the opposite extreme is as bad--worse for your dwelling. Any method of cleaning windows by dashing quantities of water on the panes, breaks the putty, loosens the glass, spoils the paint on the woodwork and soaks the wood itself with water.

Mirrors should not be wet. Fly-specks and finger-marks can be removed with a damp cloth or alcohol, and the mirror polished with whiting and chamois.

Pictures, also, should not be wet. The frames and backs may be brushed and wiped, and the glass cleaned with a damp cloth or with a little alcohol.

_Brass._--Brasses, such as andirons, lamps, jardinières, candlesticks, sconces and the like must be divided into two classes for cleaning. Those things which are lacquered must only be washed and then polished with flannel or chamois. Any sort of cleaning other than this will soon remove the lacquer entirely. Unlacquered brass may be polished as energetically and severely as any substance in the house.

Wood ashes are a good brass polish, especially pine ashes.

The bath-brick with which people clean knives will also clean brass.

An old coloured woman, who lived with me once, polished the andirons with salt and vinegar.

These things are not as quick or as easy to use as many patent brass cleaners which one can buy nowadays. It is just as well, however, to know what one could do if separated from modern conveniences.

_Tiles._--Glazed tiles may be wiped with a cloth wrung out of warm soapsuds, but water should not be put directly upon them. It tends to soften the cement in which they are laid. Unglazed tiles are restored to colour and cleanliness by a rubbing with linseed oil.

_Lamps._--Lamps used every night need care every day. They should be kept full of oil for two reasons. One is, that if we then happen to use them for an unusually long time they will not burn out; the other, is, that if a lamp is full of oil no space is left for vapours rising from the oil, which otherwise may become compressed in the bowl and ignite when a match is applied to the wick. If there is a little screw-topped opening in the lamp where it can be filled without unscrewing the burner, use that opening for filling it. The burner should not be unscrewed unless it must be. Great care should be taken not to fill lamps too full; the level of the oil should be just below the lower side of the little opening, otherwise the oil will ooze out on the lamp and catch dust and give off a disagreeable odour.

It is better to _rub_ off the hard burned crust of a wick than to cut it off. This leaves the wick more even and wastes it less. When it has been rubbed smooth and soft, see that it turns up and down easily and, if a round wick, that it is even. A flat wick should be slightly rounded, the middle being the highest point, like this diacritic ˘, not this ̑ one. To be perfectly sure, light the lamp for a moment, put on the chimney, and if the flame is not the right shape alter the wick. When this is finished, wipe the burner inside and out, above and below, as carefully as possible. An old water-colour brush is good for cleaning intricate burners.

The time when a lamp needs a new wick is a good time to boil the burner. Remove the old wick and put the burner into some receptacle not used for food, with water and washing-soda: one teaspoonful soda to one quart water. Then boil it well. This is a good thing to do whenever a lamp smells or gives a poor light. If a new wick and a boiled burner do not help the matter, either the oil is poor or a new burner is necessary.

If a new lampwick is a little too wide for a burner, draw out two or three strands at one side. A wick should fill the opening for it, however, quite closely, especially if it has not yet been wet.

One should have a special place for cleaning lamps, and for keeping the oil and everything else used in their care. Nothing used for lamp cleaning or for applying kerosene should be used for any other purpose. Newspaper is good for cleaning lamps because when the work is finished it can be burned. It can be used to protect the table on which the cleaning is done, wicks can be rubbed and lamps wiped with it, and nothing cleans chimneys so well. Chimneys polished with newspapers rarely have to be washed. Washing is not good for them, it clouds them and makes them break more easily.

The catches which hold the chimney must not press very tightly, for this breaks the expanding glass; they must, though, be tight enough to keep the chimney from falling if the lamp is moved.

When a lamp is put in its place ready for lighting, the wick should be just visible above the socket in which it moves. It should be lighted while still at this level, then turned higher when the chimney has had time to heat. When the light is to be put out, turn the wick down until it disappears into the socket. This keeps the wick from smoking and thereby smelling. Turning a wick down, however, does not always put out the flame; be sure that it is out before leaving the lamp for the night.

_Plants._--It seems not unreasonable to say that plants should not occupy the most agreeable windows of the living room, nor prevent the proper airing of the house in winter. This does not happen as often as it used to, but it does occasionally even now. In very few houses is there room for more than three or four plants, if it is remembered that the family have the first right to the light, and air, and window space.

There is also the consideration that few plants can receive better care than many. House plants ought to be immaculate. They should be in neat pots standing in saucers or jardinières, and should have all withered or unsightly leaves removed and the other leaves kept free from dust. If this is not done, they become that greatest eyesore, a degenerated ornament.

They should be put in a bathtub or sink when the rooms are cleaned, and sprayed and sponged and soaked. This helps to offset their unnatural life in warm, dry rooms. Plants thrive on attention. They love to be stirred, and watered, and sponged, and petted, and made much of. If we have only a few, we can treat them in this way, to their pleasure and our own.

_The Process._--We have spoken of the substances which more usually require the care of the housekeeper outside the kitchen and pantry, and of ways in which they can be cared for. It will be well now to describe the order in which cleaning is done, and to say a word about the appliances used.

The first thing when cleaning is to be done is to gather the appliances needed for the work. If possible one should have a broom closet in which all the objects used in cleaning can be kept, then no time is wasted in hunting them up. Two rows of hooks, one high and one low, in some secluded spot will do instead of a closet.

I do not say that one cannot clean a room with merely a broom and a duster. One can sweep everything with the broom, dust everything with the duster, and take the dust up on a newspaper. Good appliances, however, make work more thorough, more easy, and more interesting. Those which I suggest here are merely such as I know to be useful. As a woman learns her work and becomes more and more interested in it she will choose and invent appliances for herself.

The Broom Closet]

The following are the things I like to have to clean with:

A short step-ladder, not heavy.
A wool mop head with two handles, one long, one short.
A hair broom.
A mop handle with two heavy floor cloths.
A broom of medium weight, with a slim handle.
A furniture beater.
A long-handled dust pan.
A flat paint brush.
A whisk.
A piece of chamois skin.
Two cheese-cloth dusters, one damp, one dry.
Two flannel dusters.
Several dusting sheets.

Dusters and dusting sheets can be made of very inexpensive or old material, and they are things in which it is well not to stint oneself.

Wool-headed mops are usually called, in shops, piano dusters, but why should pianos have a monopoly of anything so comfortable and convenient? They are rather expensive but they last a long time, and can be washed perfectly clean. One can get along with one head and two handles, if necessary, by dusting the high things first, using the long handle, then the lower things and the floor, using the short handle. After this the head must be washed, for the floors will make it too dirty to use for walls. Wool gathers and holds dust more than any other substance I know.

Other appliances which are used for wiping walls and floors are string mops, broom bags, and heavy cloths attached to a mop handle. String mops scatter lint and it is impossible to wash them entirely clean. Broom bags are good because they can be washed easily, and because they make a broom into a combination appliance useful either for sweeping or wiping. They are said to be better made with a ruffle. Mop handles with attachments to hold the cloths are easily obtainable and much better for all purposes than string mops. In choosing one, see that the attachment is neither heavy nor intricate. Cloths can be easily attached to a mop stick if a deep groove is cut in the stick two or three inches from the end. Hold the stick with the grooved end up. Lay over it two or three heavy cloths--in the way one would put an unfolded handkerchief over the end of one's finger. Draw them down and tie a string tightly round them in the groove. Then reverse the handle and the mop is ready for use. Patent handles are better than this homely contrivance in all but one respect: in using them one must guard against striking furniture or baseboards with the metal piece which holds the cloth.

Here are a few important principles of cleaning.

1. Prepare the place which is to be cleaned.

2. Begin at the top. A house is cleaned from garret to cellar, a room from ceiling to floor, a staircase from top to bottom.

3. Do not flap round with a cloth or a feather duster. The object of cleaning is to remove dust, getting as little into the air as possible.

4. All necessary shaking and brushing must be done before the floor is cleaned; afterward, only _wiping_ should be done.

We will now go over the process of cleaning a room as if we were prompting ourselves for the actual work.

Remove the plants to the sink.

Remove and carefully dust the ornaments, putting them on a tray which can be carried into an adjoining room, or put them on a stationary piece of furniture, which has been dusted to receive them, and cover with a dusting sheet.

Shut the doors into adjoining rooms.

Open the windows.

Dust the shades and roll to the top of the windows.

Shake, brush and cover the curtains.

Remove the upholstered furniture and rugs if possible.

If not, brush the furniture and cover it, sweep and roll the rugs.

If there is a fireplace in the room remove the ashes and lay the fire.

Wipe the ceiling, walls, woodwork, light fixtures and pictures.

Wipe the floor, not forgetting the baseboards, or sweep the carpet.

Whatever is done to the floor is the climax of the cleaning. After that we restore the room to order. This is the period when everything should be done by wiping.

Clean rugs and furniture which have been put outdoors.

Wipe furniture, mirrors, picture-glasses, windows and tiles.

Restore the rugs, furniture and ornaments to their places.

Bits of special cleaning like polishing brasses, washing windows, caring for lamps, and the like are best done at some other time than that appointed for cleaning the room. If these jobs are included, they make the regular cleaning too heavy and too long.

This process has been written out as if the work were to be done by one person, which frequently is not the case. It is the logical order of the work, however, whatever the number of workers. The outline of the process is this:

First all brushing and dusting--everything which gets dust off other things on to the floor.

Then the cleaning of the floor.

Then wiping away all dust made by the cleaning and restoring order.

One cannot effectually do this or any housework with one's mind on something else. The processes are intricate and logical and require thoughtful organization beforehand, and intense attention at the moment. If we can think about our neighbours, or brood over our grievances while we are cleaning, we can be quite sure that we have not done the work as well nor as quickly as we could.

VII

UPSTAIRS WORK

"UPSTAIRS work" is, I believe a colloquialism for making beds, tidying bedrooms, and caring for washstands and bathrooms.