TX 145 
 .H85 
 Copy 1 
 
HOME MAKING 
 
 ITS PROBLEMS AND 
 THEIR SOLUTIONS 
 
 PuDlished as Serial Articles each Saturday for 
 10 montns m fne N. i . Globe ana Commer- 
 cial Advertiser. Ine series is no>iv presented 
 m book lorm for tne guidance and instruction 
 or beginners at housekeeping and those contem- 
 plating the establishment of their own homes. 
 
 Published by 
 
 DARBY RICHARDSON CO. 
 
 New York 
 
Copyright, iQfl, 
 
 by 
 
 Darby Richardson. 
 
 >Cl.A:^07405 
 
HOUSEKEEPING IN THE CITY 
 
 THE question of home versus hotel life is one of the few prob- 
 lems in life which have only one solution. Every man worth 
 his salt needs a home, and the ones who are not yet worth 
 their salt can only become so by having a home. Thanks to the 
 invention of the apartment, it is possible to found a home, in these 
 days, without previous experience or very much capital. 
 
 More depends on the choice of a locality in New York than 
 on any other one point. What will suit one person will not suit 
 another. If one must have large rooms, a moderate rent, a large 
 apartment, sunlight, abundant gas and hot water, one must choose 
 a new apartment in one of the up-town streets. The most expensive 
 neighborhood is that near Riverside Park, and the least expensive 
 is in the Bronx and southward. But there are inexpensive apart- 
 ments on the west side, and there are houses of a good class in 
 neighborhoods where the rents are low; New York is a place in 
 which there are exceptions to all rules. The apartments in up-town 
 neighborhoods are nearly all of four to six rooms and bath, or 
 more. There are practically no very small apartments above the 
 Park, and few above Forty-second Street. In the neighborhood 
 of lower Fifth Avenue there are a few new houses of high-class 
 eight and ten-room apartments, with two and even three baths 
 each, but most of the apartments in this region belong to the studio 
 class, and are in remodelled old buildings in which one's chance 
 of getting anything satisfactory is a lottery. It is all but impos- 
 sible, in this neighborhood, to secure more than two or three rooms, 
 and one is likely to be dark. Moreover, the heat and water, to 
 say nothing of the gas, are uncertain quantities, the houses being 
 piped for water, light, and heat when the stories now used for 
 lodging-houses were merely bedrooms in a private house. One 
 cannot count on a sufficient supply of gas in a house that was not 
 piped for gas later than the seventies. Two rooms and bath for $35, 
 $40, and even $50 may be considered the usual price in this region. 
 As far up as Twenty-third Street west the prices for from four to 
 six rooms with bath run from $35 up, and this holds in all parts of 
 the city below the northern limits of the Park. When one reaches 
 the region above 125th Street there are four-room apartments to be 
 had as low as $20 a month, but these are in six-story houses without 
 elevators, and one's ability to live there depends on one's ability to 
 climb stairs without exhaustion, and also on the number of flights 
 to be climbed. The objection to a ground-floor apartment is that it 
 has no direct sunlight unless it happens to open on the street or 
 
 3 
 
4 Home Making 
 
 a vacant lot, which is sometimes the case. Moreover, one docs not 
 get high enough to avoid the "dust line" below the fourth or fifth 
 floor. A sixth-floor apartment with an elevator in the rear of ? 
 building fronting north or west, is as nearly an ideal choice as one 
 can makcj for it has the morning sun in winter, is cool on summer ' 
 evenings, and if tb.ere is a practicable roof one can spend one's even- 
 ings on a home roof garden, as New Yorkers have an increasing 
 habit of doing. If one must choose, a private telephone is often a 
 greater convenience than an elevator, since one can do marketing by 
 telephone, and thus save a journey over the stairs. An apartment of 
 this kind (minus elevator) can be had for from $20 to $30 a month, 
 three-quarters of an hour from the City Hall by subway or elevated 
 express, and it will have four, five, or six rooms, including bath and 
 kitchen, with gas range. For $35 a month, in the neighborhood of 
 the High Bridge or the lower Bronx, one can do better still. 
 
 If there are children, or if the wife is fond of out-of-door life, 
 an efTort should be made to live within a few minutes' walk of River- 
 side, Mount Morris, or Morningside Park, or upper Central Park. 
 Children who have the run of these green spaces are as well as many 
 village children who play in their own home grounds. 
 
 If one wishes artistic accessories in the apartment, or can pay 
 $50 or $60 a month for a small apartment, the liberty of choice is, of 
 course, wider, and, generally speaking, an apartment that is just 
 large enough for the family, and no larger, is more satisfactory than 
 one in which extra room is secured at the expense of artistic plan- 
 ning and other luxurious details. It is better to have three rooms 
 that are just what you want than six rooms that are not quite 
 suitable. 
 
 In considering the question of home versus hotel life the mar- 
 keting has to be looked into carefully. It varies with the individual 
 taste of the family. If one knows where the various foreign colonies 
 are in New York one can take advantage of the bargains peculiar 
 to each. 
 
 Third Avenue and Second Avenue, between Fourteenth and 
 Thirtieth Streets, are largely German, and in these blocks German 
 delicatessen shops abound, where German sausage, sauerkraut, beer, 
 cheese, bread, and salad may be bought for astonishingly low prices, 
 for the German Hausfrau is a thrifty soul, and competition for her 
 trade is keen enough to keep prices down. There is no neighbor- 
 hood where marketing is easier and cheaper for a small family than 
 here. Below Fourteenth Street on these avenues the Hungarian 
 shops begin. 
 
 The French markets and pensions are largely situated near Sixth 
 and Seventh Avenues from Twenty-fourth to Thirtieth Street, and 
 here one may buy many characteristic French cooked foods. There 
 
Housekeeping in the City 5 
 
 is a large Italian colony south of Washington Square, and Italian 
 bread, tinned food, and macaroni may be bought at the Italian 
 groceries in this neighborhood. In one shop there could be counted 
 thirty-two different kinds of macaroni and spaghetti, and one may 
 buy as little as three cents' worth, while three-cent loaves of bread 
 arc also sold. There is another large Italian colony near 103d Street 
 and Avenue A. 
 
 The housekeeper who lives far up-town will often find it to her 
 interest to buy certain supplies far down-town, even if she has to 
 make a trip to the Battery once a week to do so. The further 
 down-town one goes the better is the fruit, and on Saturday one may 
 buy a supply of delicious fruit which will last for several days at an 
 amazingly low price. If one is in the habit of using fruit for pre- 
 serves, puddings, and pies, and must cater for a large family, it is 
 well worth while to lay in a supply in this way. Likewise, Fulton 
 Market is the best place to buy fish, oysters, and all kinds of sea 
 food. 
 
 If one wishes to offer guests something quite novel it is worth 
 while to visit now and then the Syrian quarter, on Washington and 
 Carlisle Streets, near Pier 10, North River. Here one may buy 
 pistachio nuts, Syrian and Greek sweetmeats and cakes, and other 
 Oriental delicacies which are good as well as curious and reasonably 
 cheap. 
 
 For olive oil at its best one should go to the Italian quarter and 
 buy it in quantity. For the best tea one should go to Chinatown, 
 and the preserved ginger sold there, and some of the other sweet- 
 meats, are delicious. 
 
 There is much to be said, however, in favor of marketing in the 
 neighborhood of the new streets which have just been settled with 
 long rows of clean, fresh, new apartment houses. Near here several 
 groceries and delicatessen shops are likely to be established, and 
 their keen rivalry begets bargains. One cannot do better than at 
 these shops in buying high-class groceries, canned goods, jams and 
 jellies, and, in fact, all such things as they sell. It is better to settle 
 in a block where there are two groceries, two butcher shops, two 
 delicatessen shops within easy reach than in a neighborhood where 
 there is but one of a kind. Competition is the salvation of the 
 consumer. 
 
 The transportation question is one which the man of the family 
 will probably settle for himself. Here, again, it is the individual 
 who must decide how to choose. If one has any tendency to con- 
 sumption or nervous indigestion it is not wise to settle in one of the 
 districts only to be reached by a long journey on the subway. Two 
 or three hours a day in the subway is no joke to such a constitution. 
 It is better to go and come on the elevated railway or even the 
 
6 Home Making 
 
 surface cars than to run any risk (if a nervous breakdown or tubercu- 
 losis for want of light and air. This is especially true if one's work 
 lies in an office not properly ventilated. Nobody ought to live with- 
 out getting fresh air, sunlight, and ozone at least part of the day. 
 If the working members of the family toil in unhygienic offices they 
 should take particular care to get fresh air going and coming, if 
 they have to get it by living several blocks fron) the car line and 
 walking half a mile each way. But if the apartment is well venti- 
 lated and lighted, and the office down-town is healthy, one can take 
 the subway for a ride of an hour and a lialf without any bad eiTects, 
 and it is certainly a most convenient and speedy route to most of the 
 places one wishes to reach. 
 
 The question of amusement is becoming simplified as the 
 theatres move up-town. It will not be long before excellent comedy, 
 light opera, and vaudeville, to say nothing of the ubiquitous moving 
 picture, will' be as attainable far up-town as on the Rialto. Already 
 there is a popular theatrical and shopping district on 125th Street. 
 And from every part of Manhattan Island it is possible to reach any 
 theatre on the island during the time between dinner and 8 o'clock, 
 while the matinee is still more accessible for the women of the 
 family. The parks furnish lovely places of resort for the children 
 and the mothers, and the parks have come to stay. For family life 
 in an apartment the upper half of Manhattan Island is ideal. For 
 the light-hearted and changeful domesticity which finds pleasure in 
 watching the great human drama of the city a small apartment down- 
 town will suit the purpose. It is merely a matter of taste. 
 
 ARRANGING THE FLAT 
 
 THE floor space in apartments is ordinarily divided between a 
 large single or double living room (by courcesy called parlor 
 and dining room), small bedrooms, and a tiny kitchen. This 
 has been proved to be the most comfortable and economical arrange- 
 ment for the ordinary small family. The two larger rooms, with 
 portieres hung from an archway, one or two small bedrooms, bath, 
 and kitchen are quite all that the family of two can require. In such 
 an apartment with one bedroom it is possible to entertain one or 
 even two guests for a night or two, and entertain from four 
 to half a dozen guests at dinner or supper. It is absurd, of course, 
 to attempt to entertain in the style one would observe if one had a 
 house. It is far better taste to suit all arrangements to the hospital- 
 ity which one can exercise without great exertion. 
 
 The living room, which must serve as general sitting room, 
 should be so furnished that all of its furniture will harmonize, though 
 it need not be all of the same pattern; in fact, the effect is far better 
 
Arranging the Flat 7 
 
 if it is not. One should not buy a dining room set and a set of par- 
 lor furniture. It is better to have one good-sized table, four chairs 
 or more of the same pattern, a sideboard if the size of the room 
 allows it, and a china closet which can also be used as a bookcase 
 and will display one's prettiest china and one's nicest books behind 
 glass doors. With this as foundation one may add other straight 
 chairs which can be used as dining chairs on occasion, an easy chair 
 or two, a small reading table and writing desk in the other room, 
 and one of the wire couches which open out into a double couch on 
 occasion. On this put two thin mattresses and a pillow, and cover 
 the whole with a couch cover and cushions. In this way one has an 
 extra bed for two always available, for the mattresses can be laid 
 side by side. If one has a guest room the same plan may be fol- 
 lowed in furnishing it, and when not in use for company it will 
 serve as a sewing room, den, or library. 
 
 One of the problems of the living room is likely to be the 
 bestowal of books if one has a sizable library. The plan best suited 
 for an apartment is not shelves built to fit the walls, because no two 
 apartments have walls of the same size. One can buy sets of low 
 bookshelves without doors at the department stores for very small 
 prices — sometimes as low as two dollars a set. Have one, two, or 
 more of these, or have them made, set them up in a row close 
 together along the walls, with perhaps a desk between the two on 
 the wall and another set joining each of the corners, and you have 
 something which looks like the built-in shelves, takes up little room, 
 and will fit anywhere. These may, of course, be made to order in 
 any style, and a cheap shelf stained in one of the high-grade pre- 
 pared stains — weathered oak. fumed oak, or Flemish oak — looks like 
 something very fine, especially if the rest of one's furniture is of 
 good quality. Those who begin life in an apartment will be wise to 
 put their money first into rugs, pictures, good easy-chairs, and 
 silver, which will not be injured by moving. Then they will have a 
 beautiful nucleus for later housekeeping in larger quarters. 
 
 The crucial question in a bedroom is usually the wardrobe room 
 it has. One wardrobe is all that the average small apartment can 
 possibly hold, and if it has a cupboard above and two drawers below 
 so much the better. But there are ways of making the best of it. 
 Rows of e.xtra hooks in the roof of the wardrobe and at the sides 
 are, of course, an alleviation, with coat hangers for every coat and 
 blouse. Boxes for all the different kinds of odds and ends one has 
 to stow away may be packed in the top cupboard, and it is con- 
 venient to use good, firm pasteboard boxes, cover them with wall 
 paper to match the room or decorations, and punch a hole in one 
 end of each box, from which a tag is hung telling what the box con- 
 tains. This saves time when one is in a hurry. 
 
8 Home Making 
 
 Another great convenience is a small folding clothes horse on 
 which to hang anything which needs to be aired, and another is a 
 towel rack screwed to the wall somewhere, which can be folded out 
 of sight or used to dry bath towels and such matters in the open 
 window. 
 
 In the bathroom one should have plenty of towel racks, one for 
 each member of the family. The glass ones with nickel fittings are 
 delightful, but cheaper ones will do. A bathroom with nickel fit- 
 tings, hooks for clothes, soap dishes fitted with drainers, and a shelf 
 full of bottles containing ammonia, borax, toilet water, and sand 
 soap to keep the bathtub clean is one of the most joyous sights one 
 can find in a dusty city like New York. 
 
 ARTISTIC EFFECTS 
 
 iiy^VERY APARTMENT," said a well-known decorator, "is an 
 r"^ individual problem to the artist in decoration." 
 * ^ In other words, it would be just as absurd to attempt 
 
 to paper, carpet, and furnish a four-room apartment as one would 
 a large house as it would be for a slim girl to wear the clothes of a 
 stout matron. It is well to remember that even in palaces some of 
 the most beautiful effects are found in boudoirs and other small 
 rooms — but they are not the same effects as those found in the 
 reception halls and banquet rooms. 
 
 The floors and walls are, of course, first to be considered, and 
 here the small apartment has the distinct advantage of the big room. 
 It does not cost so much to repaper it if one does not like the color 
 scheme, and the landlord is consequently more amenable. One may 
 sometimes get into a house so new that one can select one's own 
 wall papers and frescoes, which is ideal. There are various processes 
 of finishing a wall in plain color which are better than papering, and 
 worth more study; and a wall properly finished in this way can be 
 cleaned. French gray, warm buff, in fact, any of the gray, cream or 
 gray-green shades are suitable for a living room, and if the living room 
 opens by folding doors or an archway into the dining room both 
 rooms should be papered or finished alike. This gives an effect of 
 space, and, if the hall is done in the same shade, so much the better. 
 A really spacious effect can be secured in several small rooms open- 
 ing into one another if all have plain white matting as floor covering, 
 and very cheap matting, put down by the carpet man, will be smooth 
 and hard enough to be washed, like a floor, with salt and water to 
 keep it fresh. If bare floors are preferred they should be all finished 
 alike, and large rugs are apt to make the room look more crowded 
 than much floor space with a few small but good rugs where they 
 
Artistic Effects 9 
 
 are needed. To buy Oriental rugs one should be wise enough to 
 know the real ones from the aniline dye imitations, but in New 
 York there are many rug experts who will give valuable information 
 on this point. For real wear the American-made rug is quite as 
 good, and sometimes suits the general efifect of the apartment better. 
 
 The floor of the average apartment is apt to be both too light 
 and too uneven, but it is unnecessary to spend a lot of money and 
 time rubbing into it an expensive floor wax. Any floor that is even 
 an imitation of hard-wood finish can be put in order by using a 
 twenty-five-cent can of good floor oil on a dry mop, after the floor 
 lias been thoroughly swept. A towel tied over a broom will do 
 instead of the mop, and only a little of the oil should be used at a 
 time. After this first oiling is done, the floor should be oiled a 
 little with oil on the mop or the cloth tied over the broom every 
 time it is swept for a week or two, and then only once or twice a 
 week. In this way, the longer the floor is in use the more thor- 
 oughly oiled it will be, and moreover, there will be no stated periods 
 at which it must be done over, and no tiresome rubbing in. 
 
 Any laundry will boil the dry mop clean for ten or fifteen cents, 
 and a floor treated in this way looks well, keeps clean, and is not 
 slippery. 
 
 The keynote of the artistic apartment on a small scale should 
 be simplicity. This is not saying that things should be cheap; that 
 they may be as good as you like; but the general efifect should be 
 that of a miniature home, not a fancy shop. Heavy curtains are out 
 of place. Even in expensive apartments the decorators are putting 
 in art linens, thin mull, white net, and dainty muslins instead of lace, 
 and for the heavy curtains they are using cretonnes and chintzes in 
 bedrooms and heavy art linen in rooms where the weathered oak 
 furniture is a feature. The heavy curtains are, of course, never 
 draped, their object being simply to add richness to efifect by straight 
 lines of color in harmony with the rooms, and they should never 
 contrast sharply with the walls. In portieres, a dull green or old 
 gold is a relief from the usual red, and it is wise to have all the 
 portieres alike, both from the point of artistic efTect and that of 
 economy. 
 
 Each room should be planned as a unit, all its furnishings being 
 harmonious. It is a- good plan to select some one beautiful thing of 
 striking color and make all the other things tone in harmony with 
 it. If one has a beautiful landscape, for example, one can choose 
 portieres, couch covers, and upholstery to harmonize with its lovely 
 russets, greens, or reds. Then, in choosing cushions for the couch, 
 have one small and vividly red of some beautiful fabric, and let 
 others have touches of red here and there, while the nearby book- 
 case has a few books with handsome red bindings, and you have a 
 
lo Home Making 
 
 beautiful corner. But if the portieres are red, or the bookcase has a 
 scarlet silk curtain, the harmony is killed. Backgrounds arc impor- 
 tant in furnishing. 
 
 The floor is a better place for bright colors than the wall or 
 ceiling. To give the room a restful effect have the pictures hung 
 rather low, and the most brilliant colors in the rugs or footstools, 
 with a touch of high color in lamp shade, cushion, or picture. All 
 decorations anywhere near the ceiling should be unobtrusive. The 
 instinctive cfTort to look up wearies the eyes. 
 
 In furnishing the small apartment make a list of the things 
 one cannot do without and stick to those, putting money into 
 quality rather than quantity. In chairs, for the living room, choose 
 at least two really good ones, two or three others comfortable, 
 but not large, and straight chairs of odd patterns that will not 
 take up room, and be decorative in corners. Too many small tables 
 are a mistake. If one is likely to need extra tables for a card party, 
 provide folding tables that can be tucked away out of sight. Too 
 many rocking chairs are also a mistake. Their rockers take up 
 room. Corner cupboards are pretty, but in the end less convenient 
 than straight cupboards with rather narrow shelves, for a corner 
 cupboard does not look well everywhere. A round dining table 
 takes up less room in proportion to the people it will seat than a 
 square one, and its efTect is cosier. Many shops will undertake to 
 make a table to order in imitation of some selected model, if they 
 do not have it in stock, and one can buy a sideboard and chairs and 
 have other things made to match and to fit the apartment. 
 
 The box couch does not deserve all of its popularity. It is 
 better to have a couch under which a good-sized wooden box will 
 slide on casters, and have handles on the front of this box, than to 
 be obliged to lift up the heavy lid of a couch every time anything is 
 wanted. Moreover, the box couch is not artistic; a wire couch with 
 a hard pillow at one end, covered with a handsome couch cover, is. 
 
 When it comes to the bedroom, the fewer pieces of furniture it 
 has, the better. Sometimes one can have a tall chiffonier with a 
 shaving glass at the top instead of a bureau, and a moderate-sized 
 pier glass can be put up somewhere (fitted into a door if the door is 
 not likely to slam in a way to break it). For bedroom furniture 
 nothing is prettier than the old-fashioned mahogany, in the slender, 
 claw-footed shapes. If one does not feel inclined to put money into 
 this, in view of possible movings, the best investment may be the 
 plain white furniture matching white door casings and doors, if that 
 is the way the bedroom is finished. White curly maple has two 
 faults — it is apt to grow yellow with time, and it never looks well 
 with any color scheme except delicate pink and blue, which have to 
 be constantly renewed and cleaned. Moreover, one should consider 
 
Artistic Efffxts H 
 
 in furnishing a roon^ that it is the background for the people who 
 are to live there. Nothing but the fairness of extreme youth can 
 stand a room all done in pink or baby blue and light, smooth wood, 
 and one does not like tu look ten years older than the truth, even 
 in a mirror. 
 
 The old-fashioned chintzes with their impossible birds and 
 flowers are very pretty for bedroom furnishing, if one does not 
 overdo it. Straight curtains of such material over white muslin 
 flowered and ruffled, a wicker chair with cushions of the chintz, and 
 a shirt-waist box covered with it, will set ofif any sort of furniture 
 beautifully, but more than this would make a small room look 
 crowded. Very dainty effects may be had in white netting spreads 
 over pale blue or rose color, with Battenberg lace figures in the 
 centre. For a room with a bed dressed in this way one should have 
 curtains of the same at the windows, and plain green, blue, or russet 
 pongee silk or some such material for the heavier curtains and 
 portieres. 
 
 The prettiest color for bathroom finishing is a pale green like 
 sea water, with plenty of white, in woodwork and tiling. A pretty 
 touch is to have the bathroom curtain of figured muslin with the 
 figure on the edge worked in colored cotton to match the color of 
 the room. Stencilling will also give dainty effects. 
 
 Pictures should be selected for the various rooms with a view 
 to the size of the wall space. For a living room in the style of a 
 library it is often charming to have all the pictures framed alike in 
 narrow black frames, which gives a ciuaint uniformity of effect. 
 Most of the pictures should be in the living room; the dining room 
 and bedroom should be kept simple. To avoid heterogeneity when 
 one has more bric-a-brac than is convenient, there are two methods. 
 One is to select for each wall some special object (a picture, a statu- 
 ette, a stuffed bird, or whatever one's pet decoration may be), put it 
 wJiere-it will look the best, and make all the other things in that neigh- 
 borhood subordinate to it. In that way one can accomplish a great 
 deal of decoration without a crowded effect. The other way is to 
 have a spare bag or covered box that can be put away, and after put- 
 ting up all bric-a-brac which is needed to give a good effect pack 
 away the'irestv'to be brought out later when one feels the need of 
 a change. 'Vr'-^;-' 
 
 The cost of fitting up an apartment differs, of course, with the 
 individual taste and style of living. It is much wiser to have a few- 
 good possessions and the rest extremely cheap than to get every- 
 thing just a little too cheap to look well. It does not pay to put 
 much money into matting, wall paper, curtains, large rugs, every- 
 day china, or chairs, because all these things suffer from moving. 
 One can have a tea set of fine china, but the bulk of the table 
 
12 Home Making 
 
 service should be such as can be replaced with ease. It may be said 
 in a general way that if one buys things cheap the best way is to 
 buy them very cheap. People who shop at stores that sell matting, 
 tins, and necessary furniture at low prices usually domand the best 
 possible value for their money, and the cheapest is apt to be just as 
 good, if it is on a good model, as that which is sold perhaps at a 
 price one-fifth higher. There is no practical difference in a cheap 
 store between a ten-cent and a twenty-cent plate, and the former 
 may be in quite as good taste as fine French china at $6 per dozen, 
 though not as fine in grade. 
 
 There is little difference between curtains that are sixty-five 
 cents a pair at a bargain sale and those whose regular price is $1.25. 
 In muslin curtains, to buy ready made is cheaper than to make; in 
 the art linens one can get a more select quality by buying the mate- 
 rial and, if possible, doing the decorating. Any young housekeeper 
 who will keep an eye on bargains for a year before going to house- 
 keeping will be able to pick up many harmonious furnishings at a 
 very low price, but she should have a plan clearly defined in her 
 head with which all she buys must harmonize. 
 
 One of the best ways of fitting up a small apartment is to take 
 judicious advantage of the instalment system. To do this apply the 
 system mainly to inexpensive things, so that the bill will not be so 
 large as to be a dead weight, but furnish the whole house at once. 
 Then, if by any chance of accident or illness the instalments cannot 
 be paid, one does not lose the pet chair and desk and couch one 
 chose because they were ideal. The instalment houses do not charge 
 extravagant prices in any large city, and the saving in living in one's 
 own home more than covers the slight difference between their 
 prices and those of cash houses. Also, the habit of saving to meet 
 the instalment once formed will grow into the habit of saving for a 
 home — investment is a fascinating amusement when one has learned 
 to play the game. There is much less temptation to extravagance 
 when one can be thoroughly comfortable at home. 
 
 It is not a bad plan to make a list of all the things absolutely neces- 
 sary for the home, every appliance needed for good rest at night, 
 three meals a day, and modest hospitality. Cut and prune this list 
 until every unnecessary article has left it. Then go to some good 
 instalment houses and look the field over and get estimates from 
 each. Make an estimate of the sum that can easily be spared each 
 month and make the list meet that. Then take half the ready money 
 available and put it into things one specially wants, and get just 
 what you most want. It may be a small but exquisite oriental rug, 
 or a luxurious chair, or a desk, or a picture, or some beautiful china, 
 or fine silver. This is the nucleus of the home. The other half of 
 the cash should be used either for the first instalment, or for special 
 
Choosing the Suburb 13 
 
 bargains. When the cash is accounted for, finish the home building 
 on the instalment plan. This means comfort and convenience, and 
 that touch of ideality, of having just what we like, which makes a 
 home a home. 
 
 CHOOSING THE SUBURB 
 
 IN CHOOSING the suburban home the first question is, of course, 
 health. If one can find a lot in one of these old estates which 
 are being developed without cutting down all the trees it is ideal, 
 for this makes it possible to sit out of doors all day without waiting 
 for trees to grow, and their foliage is a health asset for more reasons 
 than one. The water and sewer systems should reach the land, if 
 possible — and the purchase of a "city lot" is supposed to assure these 
 advantages. Gas, electricity, and telephone ought to be accessible; 
 but one can do without these ; one cannot do without good air, light, 
 water and drainage. 
 
 The accessibility of the suburb is another crucial point, and the 
 business of the home buyer must determine what points are accessible, 
 and whether he must look for the neighborhood of a trolley line or 
 a railway station, and how often the trains must run to suit him. 
 
 The ideal building site is a gravel soil on an elevation. Our 
 ancestors, who built on little hills, with a terrace in front of the 
 house, knew how to select building sites. If one can secure such a 
 place it is wise to put as much money as one can afford into buying 
 more than one lot. In this way one has some control of neighbors 
 and some chance of making money as the land increases in value — 
 and any land near enough to the City for a man in office to live 
 in will certainly increase in value with a few years. 
 
 The choice of a neighborhood also depends on individual needs 
 and tastes. There are two ways of choosing a home. One is to 
 think of it as an investment. Many couples decide in early married 
 life to buy a home which they will improve in just such ways as 
 will increase its selling value, and plan to sell at some future time 
 and move into a better neighborhood, or go into the country and 
 buy a farm. This is an excellent plan, and, with judgment in buying 
 and selling, is generally profitable, but one must take the chance of 
 the neighborhood being temporarily undesirable, while the land is 
 gradually increasing in value, and one may not have the privacy 
 which can be had by buying in a section less rapid in development. 
 By the latter plan one may have more land at lower prices, a better 
 house, and a greater sense of permanency. But, in order to be sure 
 of such an investment, the greatest care should be taken to secure 
 the right neighbors. 
 
 Perhaps the ideal plan is to get into some neighborhood already 
 
14 IIoMK Making 
 
 inhabited by the sort of people with whom one can be friendly. 
 Such suburban villages gradually gain an atmosphere of their own, 
 which is unattractive to the people they do not wish to attract. 
 Here and there one can find a suburb where one must give guarantee 
 of character and permanent intentions as well as of business ability, 
 and where all the houses must be erected according to a certain 
 standard, though with the widest opportunity for individual taste. 
 A place of this kind may not, in the beginning, be accessible ; it 
 may have only one or two good trains a day, but it is sure to get 
 better service in time, and one's children get the right associations 
 in their school and play hours. 
 
 The question whether to buy or to rent is, like the choice of 
 the suburb, both psj'chological and economic. It depends somewhat 
 on personal circumstances. To move into a rented house means 
 either putting off complete furnishing or buying furniture that 
 may not be suited to one's own house. The cost is considerable 
 in proportion to the comfort, and the renter is apt to continue to 
 be a renter indefinitely instead of carrying out the plan of being a 
 householder at the earliest possible moment. Moving is expensive, 
 and so are the little changes one naturally wishes to make even in 
 a rented house that is taken for a year. In our day the old saying, 
 "Three removes are as bad as a fire," is almost literally true. 
 
 Human nature is such that it tends to make the best of a thing 
 that is settled, so that the family, having bought a place and 
 settled down there irrevocably, will set about being contented with 
 it, ignoring small defects or removing them, and cheerfully putting 
 up with temporary distance from trains, cars and markets with 
 the knowledge that these disadvantages will presently cease to exist. 
 In the rented house one has all the disadvantages of the undeveloped 
 suburb without the personal interest in its development which comes 
 of ownership. However, even a rented house in the suburb is, to 
 people with the home-hunger, better than the eternal impermanency 
 of the city apartment. 
 
 It is not a bad plan for the man of the family to spend a summer 
 in the village chosen before the lot is purchased. He will probably 
 pick up information about its disadvantages both by experience and 
 by conversation with other commuters. Moreover, if he intends to 
 imild, he will find out a great many things about the proper placing 
 and constructing of a house in that particular neighborhood, what 
 trees to plant, what to look for in the way of a garden, and so on. 
 The old English gardener Parkinson said that inasmuch as God has 
 set men's habitations in places from which they cannot easily be 
 moved, it is well for them to understand what herbs and trees will 
 grow in certain soils. Though this may sound absurd in our movable 
 communities, it is nevertheless true that a man cannot easily move 
 
Choosim; the Suburb 15 
 
 when he has put all his capital into a home, and if he wants a rose 
 garden or a cabbage plot or an onion bed he will be wise to select 
 a house lot where roses or cabbages or onions will grow. Particu- 
 larly if he have a family, he should select a place where children 
 will grow, thrive, and be happy. 
 
 It is the height of unwisdom to settle near a sluggish lowland 
 stream. This not only means mosquitoes, but various kinds of swamp 
 diseases, and not infrequently bad water, flooded cellars, and gen- 
 eral unhealthiness. If one has a well on the lot care should be 
 taken to have it deep enough to go below all surface drainage, and 
 not to place a house or stable so that any of the sewage can creep 
 into the drinking watdr. The ancients pictured the angel of pestilence 
 as descending meteorlike from heaven. In reality he lives in damp 
 cellars and contaminated wells. 
 
 Suburban house hunters nearly always have a lovely garden 
 phantom among their dreams, and there are few suburban homes 
 which may not have gardens of exquisite beauty. A row of ever- 
 greens to break the wind on the coldest exposure is a fine substitute 
 for a hedge, and evergreens have the merit of looking beautiful from 
 infancy, while some kinds grow very quickly. Nasturtiums thrive in 
 poor soil, and will climb a fence of wire netting so as to form a 
 delectable screen to shut out unlovely sights. Banksia and Rambler 
 roses are easily raised, and if one plants hardy roses and shrubs 
 one may have a charming bower in a very short time with little 
 trouble. 
 
 To every married couple sooner or later comes the longing to 
 own a home — and, generally speaking, the sooner it comes the better. 
 Children who have not among their earliest memories the smell of 
 dooryard grass and the glint of dandelion discs, the changing hues 
 of the unwalled sky, and the delight of pets which need a plot of 
 ground to range in, miss something that can never be really made 
 up to them. Moreover, while the family is small in numbers and 
 stature it is easier to make new ventures than when moving assumes 
 more formidable proportions, and in case of temporary bad luck no 
 one can overestimate the comfort of the thought, "We have our 
 home, anyway." A house is an asset. 
 
 The roads to owning one's home are as numerous as the roads 
 to the home itself, and those are legion in the neighborhood of New 
 York. The first consideration is the amount of money one can 
 spend. Having decided upon this, gather all the statistics available 
 and weed out everything above or much below this estimate. Now 
 and then one may find a bargain in the shape of a house whose dis- 
 advantages are only temporary, but the land about the great metropolis 
 has been so thoroughly inspected and canvassed that, as a rule, 
 phenomenally low prices are due to some phenomenal fault. 
 
i6 Home Making 
 
 THE SUBURBAN HOME 
 
 ONE WAY of building a suburban home is to act through a 
 real estate company that will sell the land and put up the 
 house. To do this one must have in the case of a $5,000 
 house about one-fifth of this sum in order to pay for the land. The 
 company then builds the house for $4,000, secures a $3,000 first 
 mortgage for the owner, and itself takes a second mortgage for 
 $1,000, to run six years. One then pays $165 interest on the first 
 mortgage, $165 instalment on second mortgage, about $55 interest 
 on the latter, and about $70 for insurance, taxes and water, making 
 the yearly expense $455. As a six-room apartment in a fair locality 
 in the city costs more than this, it would seem that there is a clear 
 saving in owning the home, especially when it is considered that, 
 with improved transportation, it takes no longer to get into some of 
 the suburbs than to reach some parts of Harlem, Brooklyn, or the 
 Bronx. However, it should be remembered that when one has a 
 house there are unlooked-for expenses which are liable to come up, 
 and one of the first rules for the suburban dweller is: "Don't be 
 too optimistic." 
 
 In fact, a good rule for home makers anywhere would be, 
 "Remember that there is always something!" This rule works both 
 ways. There is always some disadvantage, and some special delight, 
 wherever one's home may be. If one finds all the entertainment 
 needed in "fixing up" one's very own house, vegetable garden, flower 
 bed, and neighborhood, being part of life itself in the little circle of 
 family and friends, there is nothing like owning a home in the 
 suburbs. 
 
 At the end of six years, in addition to the $455 a year, there 
 remains the first mortgage of $3,000, payable in a lump sum, or to 
 be renewed. It is wise, therefore, for home makers who go on this 
 first plan to arrange to save, if possible, $500 a year besides current 
 rental expenses, so that the home will be owned, clear, in six or 
 seven years at most. It will never again be so easy to pay for it. 
 
 Another plan is to let the company build your house on its own 
 land and carry the mortgage, w^hile you make payments to it at the 
 rate of about $40 a month on a $4,000 loan, with interest about half as 
 much more, but decreasing eacli month. It takes a little less than' 
 nine years to pay for a home in this way. There is no knowing 
 just what kind of neighborhood will grow up around the house; the 
 company may have a mortgage on the land, and the land may change 
 hands before the house is paid for. The purchaser has all the dis- 
 comfort of living on undeveloped property, and it may not turn out 
 to be what he wants after all. 
 
 If one depends on a private loan one should be something of a 
 
The Suburban Home 17 
 
 building expert and have some time to give to the work of building 
 the house in order to insure its being properly built. Still another 
 way is to arrange the matter through a good co-operative building 
 and loan association. The association will then appraise the land, 
 search the title, give a title guarantee, and look after the contractor. 
 Moreover, such an association will advance a larger loan than can 
 be had generally in any other way. 1 
 
 On general principles a good real estate man or building asso- 
 ciation will build a better house for a man than he can build for 
 himself, because there are a hundred small details of building which 
 take expert knowledge. There is one point worth noting which can 
 be explained even to the tyro. It is better to build a house in the 
 fall than in the spring, and it is better not to hurry the building too 
 much. This is because, no matter how well built a house may be, 
 it "settles together" after it is built, and if part of this settling takes 
 place before the door and window casings and other iinishings are 
 on, the latter will fit better and the house will be less subject to repair 
 and easier to keep warm in winter. 
 
 For a small house the woodwork should be kept uniform or 
 nearly so. Nothing is prettier than white paint inside or out, but if 
 the house is situated where there is much smoke, paint soon grows 
 dingy, and it is better to use the native wood inside, stained and 
 oiled, with cartridge paper and hard finished walls or cheap paper 
 that can easily be renewed, and the shingled or dark-painted finish 
 outside. The concrete houses are extremely pretty and satisfactory, 
 especially if one has mission or bungalow furniture. One should 
 never use heavy columns or ornament on a small house ; but, on the 
 other hand, ornament should not be trivial and meaningless. Fan- 
 lights over doors, graceful arches supporting verandas, quaint hooded 
 porches with the pleasant side seats found in the old Dutch "stoop," 
 or the narrow upper balcony of the Colonial house, supported by the 
 front porch or side veranda — all these are quite in place even on a 
 small cottage. The upper balcony, with its outlook into tree tops, is 
 apt to be a peculiar delight, but it should not be wide enough to 
 darken lower rooms. 
 
 It is not wise to have the kitchen on a different level from the 
 dining room in the suburban house. Servants are not easy to keep 
 there at best, and a flight of even two steps makes more difference 
 in the course of a day than one would think. There ought to be a 
 gas range in the kitchen, and a gas hot water heater. These things 
 make the difference between comfort and discomfort in summer. In 
 short, the main points to be looked out for in building a suburban 
 home are the heating, lighting, convenience, and general artistic 
 effect. Expensive finishings are not necessary, and are apt to cost 
 much more than they are worth from any point of view. 
 
i8 Home .Making 
 
 THE TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUAL ROOMS 
 
 THE HALL AND THE STAIRS 
 
 THE decoration and furnishing of a house should begin with the 
 hall, for it is there that guests gain their first impression of 
 the hospital)le spirit of the home. If the home is an artistic- 
 one, even the front door sliould convey this idea, and tliis is possible 
 if care is taken. 
 
 As the arrangement of the entrance halls varies widely in dif- 
 ferent houses, the treatment must depend upon the dimensions of 
 the room.' In some homes the outer door opens directly into a 
 vestibule, not much larger than a closet, and with such a little space 
 little can l)e done except tiiat the floor may be tiled and the walls 
 painted and stenciled harmoniously or papered with burlap or crash, 
 or with imitation leather. If a door opens from the vestibule to a 
 living room, the panel should be of glass with small leaded panes, 
 over which a sash curtain of sheet net should be hung. 
 
 If the hall is small, but not so diminutive, it is possible to make 
 it seem much larger by the way in which it is furnished. If folding 
 doors connect it with the parlor or dining room, they should stand 
 open, and heavy portieres hanging straight to the floor from the 
 curtain pole will furnish the screen effect without giving the room a 
 confined appearance. 
 
 In a small hall effort should be made to dispense with the hat- 
 rack or other facilities for the disposal of wraps. A hall stand is 
 anything but attractive, and, if possible, a small closet should be 
 used for this purpose, or the rack should be placed in the most 
 unobtrusive corner. The umbrella holder, which should be of heavy 
 decorated Japanese porcelain or wrought iron in fancy design, may 
 occupy a place behind the door. When no hall stand is used, there 
 is usually a rather large mirror framed to match the woodwork, 
 with a hall seat beneath it. For this a seat of simple design may be 
 chosen, or it may be in the form of a carved chest with a high 
 back. If desired, the- seat, or cover of the chest, may be concealed 
 with a cushion. 
 
 If the space devoted to the entrance is large enough to attain 
 the dignity of a reception hall, the furnishings, while still simple, 
 may be more elaborate. If there is a fireplace, and the room is 
 large enough, the open fire may be made the background for a cozy 
 corner, which may be screened in, and other furnishings, so far as 
 possible, should be in harmony with this ideal. To meet this re- 
 quirement, pieces of mission work or of antique design are best, 
 for they are substantial and of good material, and are not subject to 
 
Thk Treatment of Inuividlal Rooms 19 
 
 the change in fashions. In houses in which the number of rooms 
 is limited, the reception hall sometimes takes the place of the music 
 room, in which case the piano and other musical instruments would 
 occupy a conspicuous place. 
 
 If the ball has, as it should have, a hard-wood floor, there is no 
 better way of carpeting it than with rugs, for they are as healthful 
 as they are durable and attractive. When fitted carpets are used, 
 they should be of a quiet color to harmonize with the walls. Plain 
 colors do not wear well on a floor that is used so continuously as a 
 hall, and bright, many-colored designs are too conspicuous. If the 
 hall is of merely moderate size the carpet requires no border. 
 
 The selection of wall paper must be governed by the size and 
 exposure of the room as well as by the woodwork. If a hall is 
 finished in dark oak, a tapestry or plain paper is best ; if the wood- 
 work is painted white and the furnishings are of antique design, 
 an imitation of one of the old-fashioned picture papers would be 
 appropriate, or papers with stripes or pattern in two tones of the 
 same color may be used with any tint of wood with which they har- 
 monize. When the hall is rather dark only warm-toned papers should 
 be selected, and one in which there is considerable yellow will com- 
 pensate somewhat for the lack of sunlight. If the room is large 
 and there are to be many pictures on the wall, plain hangings are 
 preferable. 
 
 The pictures for the hall should be rather small in size, and 
 they look better if they are framed somewhat similarly. A series 
 of pictures, uniform in subject and frames, have a pleasing effect. 
 These may be hung one above the other, and if there are more 
 small pictures than are required for the wall space the balance may 
 be carried up the side wall of the stairs, in an ascending scale, to 
 the second floor. 
 
 If the hall is used as a living room, comfort may suggest some 
 modifications of the plan outlined, either in the way of tables or 
 particularly comfortable chairs. The lighting should be from fi.Ktures 
 in the centre of the room, and if there is a separate vestibule there 
 should be a light from the centre of the ceiling between the outer 
 and the inner door. A clock should be placed on the mantel or hung 
 on the wall in the corner, or, if there is an old-fashioned clock 
 among the household possessions, the hall is the place where it 
 should stand. 
 
 Uncarpeted stairs may be kept clean more easily, but the noise 
 made in using them may be sufficiently objectionable to make the 
 carpet seem advisable. 
 
Home Making 
 
 DOWNSTAIRS IN THE HOME 
 
 ONE ROOM kept exclusively for the entertainment of guests, 
 or for use only on "particular" occasions, is no longer popu- 
 lar. Home-makers to-day strive to make their houses a 
 "home," and it is held that the home atmosphere is threatened if one 
 room is set apart as sacred to formal occasions. Accordingly, the 
 modern parlor, or drawing room, is designed for daily use, for while 
 it may contain the best pieces of furniture and the most artistic 
 pictures and bric-a-brac in the home, its adaptation to human needs 
 is no longer overloked. The woodwork should be of a soft tone, 
 like brown, and the walls should be covered with a plain or two- 
 toned paper of inconspicuous design, to give a suitable background 
 for the pictures. There should not be too many of these, but a few, 
 properly hung, add greatly to the attractive appearance of the room. 
 Family portraits, however, or pictures that have no value except 
 that of personal significance, have no place in the parlor. H the 
 floor is of hard wood it should be partly covered with a good oriental 
 rug, and, as the rug is one of the most conspicuous furnishings, it 
 is best to select it first and plan the rest of the room in harmony. 
 Long lace curtains may be hung in the windows, and the over- 
 curtains and other draperies must be selected with a view to the 
 general effect of the room. In furnishing the parlor, regulation sets 
 should be avoided, and care must be taken not to place too many 
 pieces in the room. A few chairs, a settle, or small sofa, a table, 
 and a tabouret or two are appropriate. While some chairs may be 
 luxurious, they should not be , rocking-chairs or of the lounging- 
 chair variety, and tables should stand at the side of the room, not 
 in the centre, where they are so frequently placed. 
 
 The dining room should be one of the lightest rooms in the 
 house, as the morning sunlight or the last rays of the setting sun 
 add materially to the pleasures of the table. H such a possibility 
 cannot be attained, however, this disadvantage may be offset to some 
 degree by planning the decorations with a view to a warm effect. 
 This can be somewhat governed by the character of the wall paper, 
 subdued hues being used in light rooms, while dark rooms are 
 greatly lightened by the use of strong, bright tones on the walls. A 
 rug woven with a rather strong figure is the best floor covering for 
 this room. H the floor is not of hard wood, the boards should be 
 stained or painted in a soft tint that does not detract from the effect 
 of the rug, which should be large enough to permit the chairs to be 
 pushed back without touching the bare floor. The treatment of the 
 woodwork in this room must depend largely upon the character of 
 the furniture. Thus, if the large pieces are of the mission type, the 
 
Downstairs in the Home 21 
 
 background should be dark to correspond, whereas oak is adapted 
 to a hghter shade of brown, and mahogany calls for a still lighter 
 tone, even harmonizing with white. While massive pieces seem 
 crowded when placed in a room of moderate proportions, dining 
 room furniture is necessarily large, and should be selected with a 
 view to durability, as the usefulness of table, chairs and cabinets of 
 good material is not likely to be impaired by temporary changes in 
 fashion. For that reason a liberal expenditure for the furnishing of 
 the dining room is not likely to l)e money wasted. Although square 
 and oblong tables are still in use, and will long continue to be used, 
 it is generally held that a round table is more satisfactory, especially 
 in a rented house. The chairs should be of the same material as 
 the table, and in a general way should match it in design. It is cus- 
 tomary to place arm chairs at either end of the table, while the 
 other chairs are without arms. The character of the sideboard and 
 china cabinets must depend to a great degree upon the size of the 
 dining room. If the room is very large a generous-sized sideboard 
 adds a hospitable note that can be obtained in no other way. If space 
 permits, a serving-table should also be included. If no china closet 
 with glass doors has been built into the wall there should be one or 
 two good-sized cabinets in which to display the china, cut glass, etc. 
 If the dining room is to be used exclusively for the service of meals, 
 rocking-chairs or a couch are out of place. When used as the living 
 room, on the other hand, the table should have an attractive cover, 
 that it may be used for other purposes during the day, and under 
 such conditions there is no need for the exclusion of the couch and 
 rocking-chairs or the other conveniences that help to make a room 
 comfortable. The uses to which this room is to be put naturally 
 play an important part in the selection of the pictures. In no case, 
 however, should wall space be given to the still life studies of fish, 
 game, and animals that were once so popular. In the selection of 
 curtains the matter of light must be kept in mind, as their purpose 
 is to shade, not exclude, the light from the room. 
 
 As the library is likely to be the place in which all members of 
 the family love to linger, and as it will probably be used more or less 
 for the entertainment of familiar guests, it should possess more of 
 the livable atmosphere than any other room in the house. Care must 
 be exercised in selecting a color scheme. Any discord in this respect 
 will do much to detract from the quieting influence that the library 
 is supposed to exert. For this reason bright colors must be avoided, 
 and the more sober tones, like Indian reds, browns, greens, or the 
 darker blues, should be used instead. To this ideal even the wood- 
 work must conform. If possible, the colors in the library should 
 blend from the floor to the walls, the rugs or carpet being of the 
 darkest tones, with furniture of a similar shade, draperies and hang- 
 
22 Home Making 
 
 ings a little lighter, and wall paper of the lightest tone of al! If 
 there are enough books to warrant building the bookcases into the 
 walls the question of wall decorations practically solves itself. Port- 
 able cases are often more desirable, as they take up less space, and 
 permit of additions being made easily. Such cases come ready built, 
 in various shapes, and with or without doors. If the bookcases leave 
 considerable wall space the matter of the paper is important. The first 
 choice is a plain paper of the same color, but of a lighter tone than 
 the other furnishings; or, for the second choice, a two-toned paper 
 of a design that is sufficiently self-effacing to be inconspicuous. The 
 furniture in the library should consist of a few chairs, a reading 
 table, a writing desk, and, if desired, a couch or divan. The chairs 
 should be luxurious and deep-seated, inviting occupancy ; the couch 
 should be provided with enough pillows to make rest upon it prac- 
 ticalik', and everything about the room should suggest comfort and 
 hospitality. In furnishing a library it is almost impossible to select 
 pieces that are too massive, especially if the room is a large one, as 
 it should be. As good light is a prime necessity in the library, proper 
 illumination should be provided for all parts of the room. Th= study 
 table and writing desk should have drop-lights, with shades that 
 throw a soft, agreeable light through green, and instead of the regu- 
 lation chandelier there should be suitably-shaded lights from the 
 side walls. The curtains selected should be so arranged that they 
 may be drawn entirely away from the window glass during the day. 
 
 THE LIVING ROOM AND THE DEN 
 
 ALL authorities in domestic economy who have made a par- 
 ticular study of the art of home-making insist strongly that 
 every home should have a living room — one room to which 
 every member of the family may resort freely, where there is no 
 chance of interference with one another, and where the furnishings 
 are so distinctly for use and comfort that the very atmosphere throbs 
 with good-fellowship and hospitality. 
 
 It is not imperative that the living room should be nothing but 
 a sitting room. It may, if desired, combine the qualities of sewing 
 room or nursery with those of the sitting room, but it should be the 
 one room in the house that is held most sacred to the family, for it 
 is in this way that its individuality may best be maintained. For 
 many practical reasons, therefore, it is best that this room should 
 be located on the second floor. 
 
 The furnishing of a living room should be largely a matter of 
 development, for it is to this room that favorite chairs may be 
 relegated when they have become so marked with the evidence of 
 service that wisdom .^^aggests tlieir banishment from the parlor or 
 
The Living Room r^t-io the Den 23 
 
 library. Placed in the living room, however, they remain the shrine 
 to which those who love them may resort for a comfortable nap or 
 a few moments of rest when clad in dressing gown and slippers, for 
 it is in the living room that such delightful freedom is always 
 possible. 
 
 As the living room is likely to become a reading room, a sewing 
 room, the nursery, or a general sitting room, there must be an 
 abundance of light, and the walls and curtains must be chosen with 
 this end in view. As in the dining room,- the curtains should be 
 made of thin, washable material, while the walls should be covered 
 with a paper of quiet tone and unobtrusive design. Burlap, crash, 
 jute, or other textile fabrics are well adapted for the walls of such a 
 room, as they permit of the hanging of the family portraits and all 
 the pictures that, while of personal value because of their intimate 
 significance, are of little artistic merit, as well as too dissimilar in 
 character to rest pleasingly upon a paper of very distinct design. 
 
 As the living room is likely to be put to almost constant use, a 
 rug makes the most desirable floor covering, as it may be kept clean 
 without the necessity of tearing the room to pieces to meet the 
 exigencies of semi-annual housecleaning. In a room so generally 
 used a large rug is more satisfactory than two or three small ones. 
 
 As the living room is furnished primarily for comfort, there 
 should be a couch or sofa, with an ample supply of cushions, as well 
 as floor cushions and low chairs for the use of children. There 
 should also be a good-sized table in the centre of the room that all 
 the members of the household may sit around it when reading or 
 working. If desired, it may be used at times as a card table. In 
 one part of the room there should be a small case for favorite 
 volumes, and, if space permits, a rack for current newspapers and 
 magazines. 
 
 In homes where provisions have been made for both a library 
 and a living room there may be little need for a den, unless, as 
 sometimes occur, the odor of tobacco is so obnoxious to certain 
 members of the household that the smoker must be provided with a 
 place where he can smoke his pipe in peace. If the home boasts 
 the possession of a billiard table, the billiard room and den may be 
 combined; otherwise the den should be a room by itself, to which 
 the man of the house may go when he desires to be alone or to 
 which he may take his friends that they may have a quiet chat over 
 their after-dinner cigars. 
 
 In any case, however, the den should have an individuality of its 
 own, nor should that individuality savor of the rummage sale, as is 
 too often the case, where it is the practice to furnish the man's den 
 with the cast-ofif furniture from every other part of the hoiwe. 
 
24 Home Making 
 
 Indeed, as much care should be shown in furnishing this room as 
 any other, for while the pieces required to make a den habitable and 
 comfortable are not as many or as costly as those needed to make 
 a parlor attractive, good taste demands that a proper selection be 
 made. -Thus antique furniture looks best in old-fashioned surround- 
 ings, mission furniture calls for dark woodwork and sober tones 
 here as it always does, and so one may go through the list of avail- 
 able decorations — each calling for a different kind of woodwork, 
 hangings, and wall paper if the correct atmosphere is to be main- 
 tained. 
 
 A small writing desk is not out of place in the corner of a den, 
 whatever the decorative scheme employed, and another corner of 
 the room should contain a round table of medium size, suitable to 
 be used as a card table. Manufacturers of den furnishings make 
 card tables, or combination chess and card tables, that meet this 
 requirement perfectly. They also manufacture smokers' sets of 
 various types, some of which have met with high favor. 
 
 If no regulation smokers' set is provided, however, a substitute 
 must be found if the den is to play the role of the smoking room. 
 The accessories that are most necessary are pipe racks and tobacco 
 jars, a humidor for the cigars, a cigar lighter operated from an 
 alcohol lamp, match safes, and ash receivers, and, for decorative 
 effect at least, a Turkish water pipe on a low tabouret. Beyond 
 this individual taste must direct, for furnishing schemes that would 
 delight the soul of one man would prove a hopeless jumble of use- 
 less articles to another. The one thought to keep in inind, however, 
 is that the den is first and foremost a room for recreation, and so 
 must be a place for comfort. Let the chairs, therefore, be of the 
 lounging type — Morris chairs, or deep-seated, heavily upholstered 
 armchairs; let the couch be generous in its invitations to the tired 
 body, and let there be nothing in the room that will tend to jar 
 ever so slightly upon the atmosphere of repose. 
 
 ARTISTIC TREATMENT OF THE BEDROOMS 
 
 THERE is probably no part of the home that ofifers a wider 
 latitude in the selection of furnishings than the sleeping 
 rooms. The ideal bedroom is the one which is used almost 
 exclusively for the hours devoted to sleep or rest, for while it is 
 possible to make a sewing room or sitting room out of a sleeping 
 apartment, it loses much of its attractiveness when forced to play a 
 dual part. Not even by the greatest stretch of the imagination can 
 the sewing machine and work table be made to harmonize with the 
 ordinary furnishings of a bedroom, so it is wisest, whenever pos- 
 sible, to banish the discordant elements by sending them to some 
 
Artistic Treatment of the Bedrooms 25 
 
 other part of the house — even to the dining room — rather than that 
 the reposeful qualities should be eliminated from the rooms in which 
 we are supposed to spend the recreative hours in sleep. 
 
 The best furnished bedroom is that which is furnished most 
 simply. Arrange the rooms with as many windows as possible, and 
 see that they extend closely to the ceiling, that there may be no 
 question as to the amount of light and vent^ation that the rooms 
 are to receive. Let there be light curtains, and, if desired, sash 
 curtains of an equally light material at the windows, while the new 
 wash rugs that may be bought so cheaply at any furnishing store 
 make the best and most healthful covering for the floor. If it is 
 deemed necessary that the entire floor should be covered it should 
 be with matting, not with carpet, but if the floor is of hardwood, 
 and polished, several cotton rugs of dififerent sizes will answer every 
 purpose admirably. 
 
 As the color effect in the bedrooms should be as bright and 
 cheery as possible, the woodwork should be painted white, while the 
 walls should either be tinted or covered with a light paper in one 
 of the chintz paterns that may so easily be made to harmonize with 
 the other furnishings of the room. 
 
 While wooden bedsteads are still used, and now manufactured 
 in most attractive designs, it is an open question if the white-painted 
 metal or all-brass beds are not to be preferred. There is no doubt 
 that they can be kept clean more easily, and their durability is an- 
 other advantage. The question whether each person should have a 
 separate bed is one that is still open to argument on both sides, for 
 while the single beds have recognized advantages, there are many 
 who prefer the standard-sized double bed. Accordingly, the choice 
 must be left to individual judgment. 
 
 Besides the bed there should be a comfortable couch for daytime 
 naps, if the room is sufficiently large to permit of such a luxury. 
 This should be so arranged that the head will not face the light, and 
 in addition to a serviceable cover it should contain an afghan or 
 blanket, and one or two pillows. 
 
 All the chairs in the room, with the exception of a single rocker 
 or easy chair, should be of the ordinary cane-seated, straight-backed 
 type, as they will naturally receive but little use. 
 
 If a dressing room adjoins the sleeping room, the wash stand, 
 the dressing table, and the clothes tree would logically be located 
 there, but as the majority of homes have no special provisions for 
 dressing, these articles of furniture, with the bureau and other con- 
 veniences, must usually find a place in the bedroom. In this case 
 the bureau or dressing table, or both, if possible, should stand 
 between two windows that they may get light from both sides during 
 
26 Home M \ktng 
 
 the day, and the lighting scheme sliould be so arranged that light 
 may be obtained in the same way at night. A chiffonier is also a 
 great convenience, especially when the man's clothes must be kept 
 in the bedroom, and special chiffoniers are made expressly for this 
 purpose, being fitted with trays instead of drawers. 
 
 While both the bureau and the dressing table may contain a 
 mirror, few of these, glasses meet the exigencies of dressing per- 
 fectly, and this difficulty may easily be overcome by adding a cheval- 
 glass to the furnishings of the room, or, if this is impractical, a 
 long mirror set in the wall or fastened to the back of a door — in 
 such manner that there is no danger of breaking it — will meet the 
 same requirements almost as satisfactorily. 
 
 Every bedroom that is also used for dressing should have a 
 screen, and, if desired, this may be made at home at comparatively 
 slight cost. If no member of the household is handy with tools, any 
 carpenter will make the framework cheaply, and this, when covered 
 with paper or cloth, may be made quite as attractive and serviceable 
 as any of the more expensive screens that the stores supply. 
 
 The pictures on the walls of the bedroom should be of the 
 reposeful sort — dainty prints, or paintings in soft tones, framed 
 lightly to harmonize with the tint of the wall paper. 
 
 Many housekeepers who furnish the major part of their homes 
 adequately make the mistake of furnishing the housemaid's room 
 with every sort of nondescript articles. Anything that is not good 
 enough to be shown in other parts of the house is regarded as quite 
 worthy to find a place in the girl's room, and as the natural result 
 the general effect is far from being either homelike or agreeable. 
 People forget that the maid must spend more tirne in her room 
 than the other members of the family do in their sleeping apart- 
 ments, and they do not realize that a small sum of money expended 
 to make this room pleasing will do much to engender the peace of 
 mind that is the first requisite in a satisfactory servant. 
 
 In furnishing the maid's room it is not necessary that costly 
 pieces should be selected. There should be either a washable cotton 
 rug or a decent carpet on the floor; the walls should be tinted in 
 soft tones or papered with a soft, two-toned paper of inconspicuous 
 design; there should be muslin or other inexpensive draperies at the 
 windows, and a few attractive pictures on the walls. 
 
 The articles of furniture should be chosen with a view to their 
 sanitary and durable qualities. A white-painted metal bedstead with 
 a comfortable spring and mattress should be obtained, and there 
 should be a sanitary washstand with a toilet set of attractive pattern, 
 a good bureau with several drawers and a mirror, and at least two 
 chairs, one of them an easy chair. 
 
Things Needed in tke Kitchen 27 
 
 THINGS NEEDED IN THE KITCHEN 
 
 AS A KITCHEN is primarily devoted to cooking, the stove or 
 range is the most important article of furniture. This should 
 be large enough to supply all the requirements of the family, 
 and, if possible, it should be supplemented by a gas range for use 
 during the warm weather when a coal fire assumes the character of 
 an unnecessary hardship for the cook. 
 
 So far as the range is concerned, there arc all kinds at widely 
 varying prices. Some are very simple in construction, while others 
 are supplied with every imaginable convenience, including mechan- 
 ism that accurately registers the heat of the oven. If the more 
 elaborate stoves are too costly, however, the smaller ones will do 
 good work, for once the cook has mastered the secret of running it 
 almost any good range can be depended upon, and, let it be remem- 
 bered, reliable dealers sell no other kind. 
 
 A carpet on the kitchen floor is as thoroughly out of place as 
 lace curtains would be in the windows. Instead, let the floor be 
 covered with oilcloth or linoleum, and let the window hangings be 
 made from some pretty piece of wash goods, like dimity or muslin. 
 If rugs are used on the floor at all let them be small wash rugs, just 
 large enough to soften the efl"ect of the hard oilcloth upon the feet 
 when there is much standing to be done. For the walls paint is 
 best^the tint being of a light color that the effect may be cheery — 
 or they may be covered with imitation tile paper, or with the newer 
 oilcloth covering in an unobtrusive pattern and dull finish. 
 
 If a butler's pantry has been provided, the kitchen is thus re- ' 
 lieved of the dishes and food supplies, otherwise there should be 
 ample provision made for the multitude of things that must find a 
 place in the kitchen or the kitchen closet. Of course, in most homes 
 there is a china closet in which the better grades of dishes are 
 stored, but even this does not relieve the kitchen of its most serious 
 burdens, a fact which indicates to some degree the importance, if 
 not the actual necessity, of the butler's pantry, and this becomes 
 still more apparent if no special place has been provided for the ice 
 box, with the result that it, too, has to stand on the kitchen floor, 
 where the heat from the range plays havoc with the ice, to say 
 nothing of the annoyance that it causes by being constantly in the 
 way. 
 
 In furnishing a kitchen the chairs must not be omitted, for there 
 should be two or three of these, and one should be an easy chair. 
 A kitchen clock is also a necessity, and other articles will undoubt- 
 edly be added to the above list as the need for them is felt. 
 
28 Home Making 
 
 Many lists have been made of the utensils needed to make the 
 kitchen equipment complete, but the following list is generally 
 admitted to be one of the best: 
 
 WOODENWARE. 
 
 Rolling pin, two cutting boards, bread board, stirring spoon, tray for kitchen 
 cutlery, potato masher, meat board, moulding board, butter boards, cake spoon, 
 salt box, chopping bowl. 
 
 EARTHENWARE. 
 
 Six bowls, ranging in size from half pint to two quarts, six small oval dishes 
 of various sizes, six plates, three covered dishes, molasses jug, large crock, cas- 
 serole, bean pot, two small pitchers, three baking dishes, two platters, six re- 
 frigerator plates of different sizes, small crock, vinegar jug, set of custard cups. 
 
 IRONWARE. 
 
 Three broilers, one for toast, one for meat, one for fish; two spiders, potato 
 ricer, set of steel skewers, pan for roasting, three pans for baking, griddle, muffin 
 pan, set of scales, three flatirons, pot for frying, waffle irons, meat rack. 
 
 GRANITEWARE. 
 
 Two double boilers, one quart and two quarts; six saucepans, from one pint 
 to one gallon; coffee pot, colander, two mixing bowls, two-quart and four-quart; 
 soup pot, eight-quart kettle, dishpan, hand basin. 
 
 WIRE AND TINWARE. 
 
 Two cake tins, three layer cake tins, four pie plates, two strainers, milk pan, 
 dish drainer, egg beater, spice boxes, two graters, nutmeg grater, wire whisk, 
 vegetable cutter, biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, bread and cake, boxes, flour sifter, 
 two funnels, steamer, ice cream mould, mould for jellies, etc.; two ladles, two 
 dippers, sheet for cookie baking, coffee strainer, tea kettle, frying basket, soap 
 shaker, long-handled wire fork, pepper box, set of canisters, skimmer. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 
 
 Two palette knives, different sizes; bread knife, cake knife, butcher's knife, 
 two vegetable knives, six steel knives, lemon squeezer, knife sharpener, apple 
 corer, wooden mallet, chopping knife, corkscrtw, coffee mill, six dish towels, six 
 coarser towels, towel roller, three dish cloths, drink shaker, washboard, tireless 
 cooker, six forks, various sizes; one-half teaspoon, two teaspoons, two tablespoons, 
 two large spoons, vegetable brush, scissors, meat chopper, four hand towels, bread 
 mixer, cake mixer, can opener, pastry bag, jelly bag, three holders, mop, broom, 
 floor brush, canvas bag for chopping ice, fruit press, ice pick, food chopper. 
 
 LAUNDRY AND BATHROOM 
 
 WHEN the laundry work is done at home, and this is advis- 
 able wherever it is possible, many articles will be needed 
 that have not been enumerated in the list of kitchen 
 utensils. If the cellar has been wisely constructed, provision will 
 have been made for this work; if not, it will have to be done in the 
 kitchen, although this is by no means as desirable. 
 
 If a regular laundry has been established it will include set tubs 
 and a small stove upon which water may be heated and the clothes 
 boiled. Otherwise two washtubs will be required, as well as a water 
 pail and a clothes wringer. The remainder of the list includes a 
 closed wicker hamper to hold the soiled clothes, a wash boiler in 
 
Laundry and Bathroom 29 
 
 which to boil them, an open wicker basket to carry the wet ck^thcs 
 from the laundry to the line, one or two clothes horses, or racks, on 
 which to dry the clothes in bad weather and to air them after iron- 
 ing, a sufficiently long clothes line, and clothes pins enough to go 
 round. In selecting clothes pins it is wise to purchase cheap ones, 
 that they may be throvvn away as soon as they have become soiled. 
 The best of pins will get dirty as quickly as the cheapest kind, and 
 even those that are least costly will be strong enough to hold the 
 clothes oh the line as long as they are fit to be used for that purpose 
 
 Where there are no set tubs in the house a stand for the two 
 washtubs becomes a necessity, and it is a saving in time and strength 
 to get the stand with a wringer attachment, that the latter may 
 remain firmly fixed between the tubs. Such a bench should be high 
 enough to make it unnecessary for the person who is washing to 
 bend far over the tubs, and if it is not it should be elevated. Wash- 
 ing is back-breaking work at best, and anything that can be provided 
 to lighten the labor should be regarded as a necessity. 
 
 It is also unwise to practice economy in the purchase of a 
 wringer or wash boiler. A good wringer will last enough longer 
 than a poor one to make up for the difference in the cost a dozen 
 times over, and a cheap tin wash boiler is a delusion that soon ex- 
 poses itself. If one that is all copper seems too expensive, see that 
 the bottom at least is of copper. It will cost a little more, but it 
 will recompense the purchaser liberally for the difference in price. 
 
 For ironing, a board that sets upon a frame which folds when 
 not in use is a convenience with which one can hardly dispense. 
 If gas is used to heat the irons, several irons should be kept heating 
 at the same time, for if they are placed upon a cover, over the gas, 
 the expenditure for fuel will be materially decreased and better 
 results will be obtained. A small iron rest, to hold the flat, should 
 stand at the end of the iron board, and beside it a cake of wax, 
 wrapped in muslin, with a wooden handle, to be used in waxing the 
 irons. 
 
 When gas or electric irons are used in ironing, the work is 
 much simplified, as there is no need to give thought to the heat of 
 flats that are self-heating. That these are a great source of economy 
 in time and strength, as well as in the cost of fuel, all housekeepers 
 who have used them are eager to testify, and while the first expense 
 of such appliances is greater than that for ordinary flats, it is a 
 question if the economy in fuel alone is not sufficient to make them 
 pay for themselves before many months have elapsed. 
 
 In planning a house it is often the case that top little thought 
 
30 Home Making 
 
 is given to the equipment of the bathroom and toilet. Of course, 
 in many instances where the sum of money that can be devoted to 
 housefurnishing is Hniited, it is impossible to expend the amount 
 necessary to equip an ideally perfect bathroom, yet the requisite 
 articles may now be obtained so reasonably that there is small 
 excuse for incorporating cheap material, especially when such ex- 
 cessive economy in this direction is likely to create all sort of un- 
 sanitary and necessarily unhealthy conditions. 
 
 One of the expenditures for which no regret will ever be felt is 
 the purchase of matched rubber tiling for the floor and side walls of 
 the bathroom. Of course, if money is an object, the tiles need 
 extend only about three or four feet from the floor, as the rest of 
 the wall space may be tinted in a corresponding tone or covered 
 with imitation tile wall paper, some kinds of which are washable. 
 If the»floor is not tiled, however, it should be covered with oilcloth 
 or linoleum, over which one or two washable cotton or wool rugs 
 may be laid. 
 
 The general color scheme of the bathroom should be white, or, 
 at the most, a tint closely approaching it in blue, green, pink, or 
 yellow. Such an effect may be suggested in the tiles as well as in 
 the treatment of the walls and windows, but it must not be so pro- 
 nounced as to be in conspicuous contrast to the ivory white tone of 
 the sanitary bathroom furnishings. 
 
 If but one tub can be afforded, the ordinary long bathtub should 
 be selected, as this may be put to many uses. If there is to be more 
 than one, the housefurnisher may choose between a sitting bath, a 
 foot bath, and a shower bath. When the long tub is the only one 
 selected, extra appliances may be attached to provide for both shower 
 and shampoo baths, so that the other tubs need not be seriously 
 missed. Portable shower baths are now made with nickelplated 
 tubing and soft white rubber curtains, enabling any person to supply 
 even the cheapest bathtub with a shower and at comparatively little 
 cost. If only a footbath is required, adjustable seats may be obtained 
 that will turn any tub into as good a footbath as anyone could 
 desire. 
 
 Both the washstand and toilet should compare favorably with 
 the bathtub in sanitary qualities, as it is only this sort of plumbing 
 that makes the lodgment of dust and disease-breeding germs im- 
 possible. Woodwork in a bathroom, however thoroughly it may 
 be cleansed, is a source of constant danger, whereas the better class 
 of plumbing, as represented by well enameled iron, reduces such 
 perils to a minimum. 
 
Three Vital Reasons 
 Underlying the Popularity 
 
 of the 
 
 O'NEILL- ADAMS CO. 
 
 And Why Our Business 
 Is Ever on the Increase 
 
 O'Neill-Adams (2 
 
 Sixth Ave.. 20th to 22nd St., N. Y. 
 
-•-•••••••>•-••••>*•••"*>•••••••••••<••••-••••••••••••••••■•••••-•■••••••■ 
 
 •••"• } 
 
 What Do We Mean by Profit 
 
 I Sharing? 
 
 i 
 
 { And What Are Surety Stamps? 
 i 
 
 I We decided some time ago to try to make 
 
 4 each patron's share in the profits of this store 
 
 i in exact ratio to their permanent trading here. 
 
 • We found this could best be done by issuing 
 
 • Surety Stamps. 
 
 I A filled book of 990 stamps can be redeemed 
 
 I by you in merchandise, actual value of $2.50, you 
 
 selecting the goods from over our sales-count- 
 ers, whenever you like. THESE STAMPS 
 REPRESENT A DIVIDEND OF 2^ PER 
 CENT. ON EVERY DOLLAR'S WORTH 
 OF GOODS BOUGHT FROM US. 
 
 In addition to this we try to make our 
 prices average from 10 to 25 per cent, less on 
 all merchandise than it is sold elsewhere in 
 the city. It is never higher. 
 
 ONeillAdams (q 
 
 Sixth Ave.. 20th to 22nd St.. N. Y. 
 
Our Club Plan — Yours! 
 
 If you are contemplating refurnishing your home, 
 it would pay you to investigate our popular Home 
 Furnishing Club Plan. 
 
 By joining the Club, you are enabled to purchase 
 all lines of home furnishings at our lowest cash prices, 
 at regular or special sales, payments as arranged with 
 our Club Charge Office. Payments are to be made in 
 person at the office or by check, as you prefer, the 
 transaction being surrounded with the same cour- 
 tesies as attendant upon a regular charge account. 
 
 We sell home furnishings of the best quality only, 
 and our prices are as low if not lower than can be 
 obtained elsewhere for the same grade of dependable 
 furniture, draperies, etc. 
 
 Further particulars cheerfully given at our Clul) 
 Plan Office, Balcony, O'Neill Main Store. 
 
 We Issue Surety Stamps to Our Club-Plan Customers 
 
 O'Neill^AdamsS 
 
 Sixth Ave., 20th to 22nd St., N. Y. 
 
 h 
 ? 
 
 t 
 
i 
 
 Open a Deposit Purchase Account with 
 O'NEILL -ADAMS CO. and enjoy its 
 Unequalled Profit-Sharing Advantages 
 
 It is Valuable to You 
 
 It Encourages You to Save 
 
 You deposit with us whatever sum you desire, make 
 your purchases in the usual way, having them charged 
 against your account. Your purchases are itemized 
 and a statement sent you monthly which shows you 
 exactly how your transaction stands and the cash 
 balance remaining in your favor. 
 
 Interest on Balances 
 
 Your cash balance earns 6 per cent, per annum, 
 compounded quarterly, on months during which you 
 make purchases. The months during which you 
 make no purchases, your cash balance will earn at 
 the rate of 4 per cent, per annum. 
 
 Surety Stamps 
 
 We give Surety Stamps on all Deposit Purchase 
 charges. These stamps return you 2}^ per cent, in 
 goods from over our sales counters. 
 
 This is Not a Banking Institution AND DOES 
 NOT ISSUE CHECKS. Only such accounts as are 
 intended for purchasing purposes are acceptable. 
 
 O'Neill^Adams (2 
 
 Sixth Ave., 20tK to 22nd Si.. N. Y. 
 
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THE O'NEILL HOUSE FURNISHINGS INCLUDE NO "SECONDS" 
 
 Decorative Pieces In Abundance at O'Neill's. 
 
 Reliable Beds and Beddine of the O'Neill Standard. 
 
The Income of the Family, and Ways to Apply It. 51 
 
 THE INCOME OF THE FAMILY, AND WAYS TO 
 
 APPLY IT 
 
 THE disbursement of tlie family income is of as much importance 
 and requires as much care and training as the accumulation 
 of that income, and until the woman is trained for her work 
 as the man is for his the management of the home will never take 
 its rightful place as a profession. It is just as much a business 
 proposition as any other work, and must be planned for with a simi- 
 lar system to that which a merchant would use in the conduct of his 
 business. 
 
 Regular accounts must be kept of all expenditures, so that in 
 the event of the allowance being exceeded, a careful scrutiny of 
 these accounts will show at once where the fault lay, and the matter 
 can thus be remedied with much greater ease than would be possible 
 with haphazard methods. 
 
 Much has been said and v.'ritten regarding the approximate al- 
 lowance which should be made for various household and other 
 expenses, and while no one can lay down hard and fast rules for 
 the governing of another's home, and while some of these expenses 
 must of necessity vary according to the location of the home, the 
 size of the family and the individual requirements of the different 
 members of the household, there are certain items which, under 
 normal conditions, should always bear a definitely fixed ratio to the 
 entire income. 
 
 Take, for example, the home of the average man, with a wife 
 and two children whom he wishes to surround with comfort and 
 refinement. We will suppose his income to be $1,500 a year, or 
 about $30 a week. If the wife is a capable manager, she will be able 
 to apportion this sum in such a manner as to cover all necessary 
 expenses, give a reasonable number of lu.xuries, and still lay aside 
 a nest egg for the proverbial rainy day, which is bound to come 
 sooner or later. 
 
 Naturally, the first item to be considered is that of rent, which 
 should never exceed one-fifth of the entire income; so that in this 
 particular case $300 should be set aside to cover this. In some loca- 
 tions this amount will more than cover the actual cost of the rent, 
 but this is likely to be at some distance from the husband's place of 
 business, and the cost of his commutation to and from the city should 
 be added to the actual amount paid out for house rent. Where his 
 home is within easy reach of office or store the cost of transportation 
 is not likely to exceed the regular five-cent carfare, which, in such case, 
 will be included in his personal expense allowance and need not be 
 considered in connection with the foregoing item. 
 
52 Home Making 
 
 Fuel and light may be classed together, and will probably be 
 found to average, in such a home as the one under consideration, 
 about $75 per year. Where gas is used for fuel as well as lighting, 
 constant watchfulness will be necessary to keep expenses down in 
 this direction. It has l)ccn well said that the gas which is wasted 
 in cooking a meal frequently is greater than that legitimately used 
 for that purpose. The same remark applies to lighting, for it stands 
 to reason that bills can be greatly reduced if care be taken by every 
 member of the family to turn down the light when leaving a room. 
 
 Food, of course, calls for the largest expenditure, and $500, or 
 one-third of the total income, should be allowed for this item. It 
 is in connection with this expenditure, perhaps, that the housekeeper 
 will find the greatest scope, not only for economy, but also for orig- 
 inality. The actual question of foods and cooking will be dealt with 
 at greater length in future chapters, but it may be remarked in 
 passing that, with capable management, the sum allowed will provide 
 a varied and healthful dietary which need by no means be monot- 
 onous, if a little intelligent thought and study be given in advance 
 to the planning of menus so as to utilize all supplies and serve foods 
 in pleasing form, even though the ingredients composing them may 
 not be the .most costly in the market. 
 
 With an income of $[,500, not more than $200 can be allowed 
 for clothing, and a good deal of economy must necessarily be prac- 
 tised if the family is to present a well-dressed appearance on this 
 sum. It will be found necessary for the mother to do a good deal of 
 her own needlework, and if she is capable of this she can economize 
 greatly, both as regards her own and the children's clothing. Where 
 garments must be bought ready made, the cost of dress is increased 
 fully 50 per cent., and even then the material will not be found of 
 nearly as good quality as where it is possible to purchase it by the 
 yard and make it up at home. This latter statement applies more 
 particularly to undergarments than to suits, dresses, etc. Ajgain, 
 where it is possible to have a reserve fund which can be drawn upon 
 as occasion demands, considerable money may often be saved, as 
 toward the end of the season goods are likely to be marked down to 
 a greatly reduced figure in order that the dealer may not have to 
 carry stock over from one season to another. Care must be used, 
 however, in the selection of such goods both as regards quality and 
 suitability to the purpose for which they are intended, for indiscrim- 
 inate buying is neither economical nor sensible, and a bargain is only 
 a bargain when the article jiurchased is reasonable in price and 
 adapted both in quantity, quality, and general appearance to a well- 
 defined and definitely understood purpose. It is of even more im- 
 portance where the income is limited than where there is an abundance 
 that the best things of their kind be chosen, even though they may 
 
Economy In the Management of the Home 53 
 
 be fewer in number, for one suit of good material, well cut and well 
 made, will give more lasting satisfaction and look better to the end 
 than two cheap ones costing together the same as, or even more 
 than, one good one. This applies equally to every member of the 
 family. 
 
 ECONOMY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE 
 
 HOME 
 
 THE term "economy" is defined by Webster as "primarily, the 
 management, regulation and government of a family or the 
 concerns of a household; it implies a judicious use of money 
 and the kind of management which spends to advantage and incurs 
 no waste." Contrary to the general opinion, the term differs greatly 
 from parsimony, with which it is too often confounded, and which 
 implies "an improper saving of expense." 
 
 Where a housekeeper either does her own work or is in position 
 to give constant personal supervision to those who do it for her, it 
 is a comparatively simple matter to practice economy both in the use 
 of food supplies and household appliances and in the economy of 
 labor as applied to household duties. Here, as in all work, mental or 
 manual training counts. The untrained worker has never learned to 
 "make her head save her heels." She will go upstairs for something 
 which is needed, empty-handed, utterly oblivious of the fact that 
 there is perhaps a basket of clean linen waiting to be taken up and 
 that the one journey could have been made to serve the double purpose. 
 
 There arc so many labor-saving devices and appliances for house- 
 hold use that were they thoroughly understood and applied, house- 
 work would surely lose its terrors and cease to be the bugbear which 
 it is so often considered. Take, for example, the furnishings of a 
 kitchen to-day and compare them with those of twenty-five years ago. 
 In place of the old-fashioned stove with its ashes and dirt and the 
 long wait after kindling before the cooking could begin, we now have 
 the gas range, where the touch of a match gives an intense flame 
 ready for instant use, and this flame can be instantly extinguished as 
 soon as its work is done. 
 
 The old-time method of bread making was one requiring a con- 
 siderable expenditure of time and strength on the part of the cook 
 who can now acquire precisely the same results with a few minutes' 
 labor, if she uses a modern bread mixer. Added to the advantage 
 of the saving of time and strength by the use of this convenient 
 accessory, there is the additional improvement of not having to touch 
 the dough by hand during the mixing and kneading process, a fact 
 which should appeal to every thoughtful person. Equally 'useful, 
 though perhaps not as well known, is a cake mixer which mechan- 
 
54 Home Making 
 
 ically produces light, tender, fine-grained cake, and which can also 
 be used for preparing pop-overs or batter of any kind. 
 
 Perhaps the most useful of all the labor-saving appliances, par- 
 ticularly from the viewpoint of economy of material, is the meat 
 chopper — though why it should be defined as a "meat" chopper when 
 it is equally useful for vegetables, fruits, grinding breadcrumbs, or 
 making nut butter, it is hard to say. With its help so many left- 
 overs can be utilized to advantage that it saves its cost in a very 
 limited time. 
 
 Steam cookers, fireless cookers, and small portable ovens all 
 have their place in the economic furnishing of an up-to-date kitchen, 
 and she is a wise housekeeper who will stint a little, if necessary, on 
 some of the luxuries of the table to provide herself with an equip- 
 ment which will save time, money, and strength in the running of 
 her home. By supplying herself with these accessories she will so 
 lighten her own labors as to be better fitted for those that remain, to 
 say nothing of the fact of conserving her nervous energy and 
 being in consequence calm and good-tempered at the end of the day 
 and more able to enjoy the companionship of husband and children 
 at the evening meal. 
 
 Mention has been made of the portable oven. This will be 
 found of decided advantage, especially in a small family where gas 
 is the fuel used for cooking. The over burners of tlie average gas 
 range burn nearly four times as much gas as those on top; therefore, 
 where only a small amount of baking is to be done, considerable 
 gas is consumed. The portable oven (which is made in different 
 sizes) can be placed over one of the top burners, and does just as 
 good work as the large oven at a great deal less expense. If, how- 
 ever, it is necessary to use the large oven, the expense can be re- 
 duced by planning to do as much baking as possible at one time, for 
 the same gas needed to bake a pie will also bake a cake or a pudding 
 for the next day. Then, too, it does not seem to occur to the average 
 cook that, while she is using the oven to bake or roast a part of the 
 dinner, she can save fuel by having baked potatoes instead of boiling 
 them, and her forethought may even carry her far enough to bake 
 an extra supply which can be used another time for creaming or 
 frying, and will be found much better and drier for either purpose 
 than would be the case if freshly boiled ones were used. 
 
 There is no better way of economizing on fuel than by the use 
 of the fireless cooker, and not on fuel alone, for the long exposure 
 to a moderate temperature, as is the case in this branch of cookery, 
 renders possible the use of cheaper grades of meat, while it gives to 
 the finished food a flavor which can never be attained by the shorter 
 cooking at a higher temperature practiced by those who are not so 
 fortunate as to possess one of these useful cookers. An old fowl. 
 
A Good Housekeeper's Regimen 55 
 
 cooked twenty minutes over the fire, and then placed in the cooker 
 and left there for six or eight hours, will be more tender and of 
 infinitely better food value than the average young chicken, while 
 corned beef or ham will, by this treatment, prove equally satis- 
 factory. 
 
 A GOOD HOUSEKEEPER'S REGIMEN 
 
 A HOME is not well ordered unless there is a definite system 
 for the care of every part of it. The old-fashioned plan of 
 cleaning house at stated intervals is no longer accepted. It 
 must be borne in mind, however, that there is such a thing as too 
 great strenuousness in keeping the house in immaculate order, for it 
 is quite possible to carry this so far as to make the whole atmosphere 
 uncomfortable. It is infinitely better to foster and promote the 
 "home feeling" even at the expense of a little "clean disorder." 
 
 Housekeeping and home making, if not synonymous terms, are at 
 least complementary to each other, for housekeeping — even under the 
 most favorable circumstances — is beset by many drawbacks and dis- 
 couragements which, were it not for the satisfaction of homemaking, 
 would seem unendurable. It is essentially the woman's work, for, as 
 has been said, "the making of a true home is our peculiar and in- 
 alienable right, a right which no man can take from us, for a man 
 can no more make a home than a drone can make a hive." 
 
 The best housekeeper is the one who has a personal, practical 
 knowledge of the routine work of the house, even if it is unnecessary 
 for her to do it herself, and while it is essential to have an organized 
 plan that the week's duties may be performed in their proper order 
 and without clashing one with another, it is well to be a little blind 
 now and then to those things which will occasionally go wrong de- 
 spite the most careful planning. It is a mistaken idea to allow work 
 to become so important tliat it makes one positively unhappy if not 
 carried out exactly according to schednlc. 
 
 While Monday has from time immemorial been looked upon as 
 washing day, it would appear that tlie week's work would go more 
 smoothly if Monday were taken as a general "cleaning-up" day, for 
 the very fact that the family has been at home more than usual on 
 Sunday must mean that there are many little things out of place 
 which necessitates a longer time than usual for tlie cvery-day straight- 
 ening out of the various rooms. Then, too, if this method be fol- 
 lowed, there is an opportunity to look over the soiled clothes, and 
 in some instances make such repairs as may be necessary before 
 these are put to soak ready for the next day's wash. 
 
 With the house in order, Tuesday is then left free for the 
 washing in those houses where this is done at home, and only the 
 
56 Home Making 
 
 absolutely necessary superficial tidying and dusting need be done on 
 this day. With a small family and good weather, some of the smaller 
 things may possibly be ironed and got out of tlie way on Tuesday 
 afternoon. 
 
 Wednesday morning can be devoted to cleaning at least one bed- 
 room, after which the remainder of the ironing and the repairing of 
 such garments as may need it will probably consume the remainder 
 of the working day. 
 
 On Thursday the bathroom and remaining bedrooms will receive 
 their weekly cleaning. If a carpet sweeper or vacuum is used when- 
 ever necessary, rooms should only require a thoroughly turning out 
 once in two weeks, part being done thoroughly one week, while the 
 others receive merely superficial attention, the order being reversed the 
 succeeding week, or, if the rooms are few in number, extra time on 
 this day can be devoted to cleaning silver, general tidying of cup- 
 boards, and such details as can best be fitted in with the time at the 
 worker's disposal 
 
 Friday, the parlor, hall, and stairs will demand attention, while 
 on Saturday the dining-room and kitchen and the extra cooking and 
 marketing in preparation for Sunday will be more than enough to 
 occupy both mind and hands. 
 
 If the whole house is regularly and systematically gone over in 
 this way, there will be little or no necessity for the old-fashioned 
 spring and fall cleaning which caused so much confusion and dis- 
 comfort in the old days. 
 
 The floors, woodwork, furniture, and other accessories of each 
 room receive attention at the time that the room is cleaned. Differ- 
 ently finished floors require different treatment. In these days very 
 few fitted carpets are to be seen, but the floors are either of hard 
 wood, painted, varnished, or waxed, and more or less covered with 
 rugs or matting. 
 
 Oiled or painted floors are easily cared for by wiping them with 
 a damp cloth, and, if either a little milk or kerosene be added to tlie 
 water used for this purpose, the surface will look better and brighter 
 than where nothing but plain water is used. 
 
 Waxed floors require a great deal of care, and while they may 
 be wiped with a damp cloth, the wax finish must never be allowed 
 to become really wet. as this makes it ajipear wliite and spotted. A 
 very little wa.x should be applied to the floor occasionally and thor- 
 oughly rubbed in with a weighted brush, and where either oil or 
 wax is used on floors the smallest possible quantity should be applied, 
 and great care must be taken that the oil is not allowed to mar the 
 surface of baseboards or other woodwork. A heavy strip of tin with 
 the edges carefully turned back (or even of cardboard) can be held 
 
A Good Housekeeper's Regimen 5^ 
 
 against such woodwork while the oil is being applied. This will 
 prevent the rubbing of the cloth against the side walls. 
 
 Rugs, if small, can be frequently taken up and either hung over a 
 line and beaten with a light rattan, or placed face downward on a 
 grass plot, if one is accessible, lightly beaten, and well swept. The 
 same treatment will apply to matting rugs. 
 
 Small pieces of paper, dampened, then squeezed almost dry and 
 sprinkled over carpets before sweeping, help to prevent dust from 
 rising. The old-time methods of using tea leaves or corn meal for 
 this purpose have some disadvantages, for with the former, because 
 if not thoroughly rinsed, there is a possibility of their dicoloring 
 hght-colored carpets, while the later, if not thoroughly swept up, 
 tends to attract insects. 
 
 Where expense is not a great consideration in keeping a house 
 in order, a vacuum cleaner, either worked by hand or by electricity, 
 is the most thorough, most sanitary, and in every way most desir- 
 able method of cleaning, for by means of the various attachments 
 not only can carpets and floors be cleaned, but draperies, upholstered 
 furniture, mattresses, walls, and even picture mouldings and cornices 
 yield up every particle of dirt to the strong pressure brought to 
 bear on them by these machines. 
 
 Where, however, the vacuum cleaner is not a part of the house- 
 hold equipment, all this work must be done by careful and patient 
 brushing and dusting. In the case of walls and mouldings the accu- 
 mulation of dust can be removed by means of a broom covered 
 with a soft cloth or with canton flannel, but be sure to change the 
 cloth frequently or you will do more harm than good. Pointed 
 brushes are now made which will find their way into the corners 
 and recesses of carved mouldings as well as into the tufts of mat- 
 tresses and upholstered furniture, and nearly all details of cleaning 
 may much be simplified if the new dustless mops and dusters are 
 used. 
 
 It is an excellent plan to protect mattresses by a closely fitting 
 cover of unbleached muslin, which can be removed and washed at 
 frequent intervals, and which, in addition to keeping the mattress 
 clean, also prevents it from spreading. These covers may either 
 be sewed on or fastened by means of tapes or buttons. 
 
 For cleaning furniture a good home-made polish can be pro- 
 duced by taking equal quantities of turpentine, linseed oil, and vin- 
 egar. These must be well shaken together before being used, a 
 very little of the mixture applied, and the furniture then vigorously 
 rubbed with a soft cloth. 
 
 To clean white paint wash with lukewarm water containing a 
 very little household ammonia; wipe very dry after washing. 
 
 The windows of a room should always be cleaned at the same 
 
58 Home Making 
 
 time with the room itsef. A brilliant polish can be given to these 
 as well as to the glass of mirrors by moistening a little whiting 
 with cold water, rubbing it over the glass, allowing it to dry, then 
 polishing with a chamois or soft cloth. 
 
 For picture glasses wash carefully with damp newspaper, then 
 dry either with soft paper or a linen cloth. Fly specks on gilt frames 
 or chandeliers can be removed by wiping with a cloth dipped in 
 water in which an onion has been boiled. 
 
 Of preparations for polishing silver there is apparently no end, 
 but one of the most satisfactory, as well as least expensive, is made 
 by moistening whiting with alcohol, running this on the silver, allow- • 
 ing it to dry, and then polishing with a soft cloth or leather, using 
 a brush for any raised parts. 
 
 For the cleaning of kitchen utensils, enamelled and graniteware 
 there are many excellent preparations, mineral soaps, and powders. 
 Care should be taken to avoid any gritty-feeling preparations, as 
 they remove the enamelled surface together with the stain. 
 
 These same preparations can also be used for the cleaning of 
 bathtubs, porcelain washstands, and bedroom utensils. 
 
 Lmoleum and oilcloth require occasional washing with milk and 
 water. Care should be taken to wipe the surface as dry as possible 
 after washing. The life of both these floor coverings will be con- 
 siderably lengthened if they are given a coat of varnish every six 
 months. 
 
 THE CLOTHING AND ITS CARE 
 
 THE art of appearing well dressed depends as much or more on 
 the care and attention given to one's clothes as on the actual 
 money spent on them in the first place. With a few dresses, 
 properly cared for, a better appearance can be made than with twice 
 the number which are allowed to become creased and soiled from 
 lack of attention. All outdoor garments should be brushed and shaken 
 when taken off, to remove the dust of the street, then well aired 
 before being put away. 
 
 All waists should be turned inside out and placed in a current of 
 air after being worn, and dress shields changed constantly, sponged 
 with alcohol and water and placed in the open air instead of being 
 left attached to the waist as is too often done, li a braid becomes 
 loosened or a few stitclies are needed, repair the damage as soon as 
 discovered, for the old proverb, "a stitch in time," is as true to-day 
 as the first time it was uttered. All women, but especially those who 
 must practise economy, should have a regular time for inspecting 
 their wardrobe and cleaning, pressing, and repairing such garments 
 as need it. This applies just as much to thin summer dresses as to 
 
The Clothing and Its Care 59 
 
 the heavier woolen gowns, for it frequently happens that a Hght gown 
 which is rumpled and soft from wear can be so freshened as to look 
 almost as good as new if dampened with a little starch-water and then 
 pressed with a cool iron. 
 
 A liberal allowance of hangers will do much toward preserving 
 both shape and appearance of coats, waists, and skirts, for these 
 cannot be expected to look well if hung carelessly and without due 
 attention to their appearance. Excellent rods, from which coat hangers 
 can depend, are now on sale, and six garments can be stored where, 
 without a rod, only one could find room. As the cost is only twelve 
 cents, there seems no good reason for being without so convenient 
 an accessory to one's wardrobe. For skirts an equally satisfactory 
 hanger is made, which, like the first one, is screwed to the under 
 side of a shelf. This skirt hanger will hold six skirts, and has two 
 hooks for each one, so that the band may hang evenly. 
 
 Where thin skirts with ruffles are worn, these should be pro- 
 vided with loops near the bottom, and the skirts should be hung up- 
 side down so as to avoid the ruffles flattening. 
 
 When packing clothing away at the end of the season, care 
 should always be taken that it is free from dust and spots or stains. 
 Cotton garments should be washed or otherwise cleansed, but not 
 starched, while those of wool must be well brushed, sponged- — when 
 this is required — and after being hung in the sun for some hours, 
 carefully packed either in tar-paper bags or wrapped in newspapers, 
 then placed in a box with all openings pasted up with strips of paper 
 to keep out the moths. It is essential that all moth eggs be killed 
 before the garments are packed, or these will mature and destroy the 
 clothing. 
 
 Where a cedar box can be afforded it will prove a good invest- 
 ment as a storage receptacle for woolen garments or furs, but these 
 boxes are distinctly a luxury. A little oil of cedar can be sprinkled 
 among the garments as they are packed away, but this is less effective 
 than the cedar chest or cedar-lined box. 
 
 Furs should be exposed to the sun for some hours, then gone 
 over inch by inch in the search for moths, brushed the wrong way of 
 the fur with a fairly stiff brush, then packed as described. Where 
 one is the possessor of expensive furs it is better to have these stored 
 by a furrier or one of the large department stores during the summer, 
 as these dealers have facilities unattainable by the housekeeper, and 
 the storage charge is far outbalanced by the feeling tiiat one's furs 
 are in safe hands and need occasion no worriment. 
 
 Laces, ribbons, and the smaller accessories of dress require just 
 as much care in their way as do the larger garments. The ribbons 
 must be rolled or folded — the former is the better method as creases 
 are avoided — as soon as they are taken off, while the laces must be 
 
6o Home Making 
 
 pressed and smoothed into shape and laundered as soon as soiled. If 
 left unwashed for any length of time after they become soiled they 
 soon get yellow, and are difficult to restore to their original freshness. 
 
 Very delicate laces can be cleaned by placing them between folds 
 of paper, sprinkling thickly with French chalk, and allowing them to 
 remain for a time, then, if necessary, repeating the process. Ribbons, 
 if of good quality, can often be washed in lukewarm soapy water, 
 well rinsed, and pressed with a cool iron, having a thin cloth between 
 the iron and the ribbon. They can also be washed in naphtha or 
 gasoline, but in this case care must be taken to do the work in the 
 open air, or at least in a room without fire or artificial light, as these 
 liquids are both highly inflammable. 
 
 Chloroform is an excellent medium for removing grease, paint 
 and other stains from fabrics, but where such stains are to be re- 
 moved, it is always well to begin by applying the solvent a little 
 distance away from the stain and gradually working toward it, as 
 by doing so there is less likelihood of a ring being reft around the 
 place from which the stain was removed. 
 
 When making preparations for the washing day, commence by 
 separating the laundry into piles. The following is a good division 
 to make : i, table linen ; 2, bed linen and towels ; 3, shirt waists and 
 other starched clothes; 4, handkerchiefs; 5, woven undergarments; 
 6, woolens : 7, stockings ; 8, colored things and very much soiled 
 kitchen towels, oven cloths, etc. The badly soiled things should be 
 put to soak over night in cold water with a little ammonia, and may, 
 if convenient, have a little soap rubbed on to them. It is well to 
 commence the laundry work with the flannels, that these may be hung 
 out to dry and finished off as quickly as possible, while it is always 
 best to wash and rinse flannels in lukewarm water. It is of even 
 more importance that the several waters used for washing and rinsing 
 be of about the same temperature. 
 
 The cleanest of the white clothes should be washed next. Wash 
 and rub all soiled parts; rinse, then boil fifteen or twenty minutes, 
 remembering that the boiling is to whiten the clothes. They should 
 be clean before being put into the boiler. Rinse very thoroughly, as 
 any soap left in the clothes will affect the blueing, because the alkali 
 in the soap decomposes the coloring matter and causes it to form 
 rust spots. Blue, starch if necessary, and hang out to dry, remember- 
 ing that colored things should be dried in the shade, wrong side 
 out to avoid fading. In hanging let two or three inches of the 
 fabric hang over the line to prevent tearing. 
 
 Clotheslines should always be taken in between washing days, 
 as they will last much longer than if exposed to the weather. Hand- 
 kerchiefs should be soaked in cold water to which half a cup of salt 
 
The Clothing and Its Care 6i 
 
 has been added, as this eliminates the most unpleasant feature of 
 washing them. 
 
 Woolens and stockings should never have soap rubbed on them, 
 but soap jelly should be dissolved in the water in which they are 
 washed. To make this, add half a pound of thinly shaved soap to a 
 quart of boiling water, boil until the soap is dissolved and use as much 
 as is necessary to make good "suds." This same jelly is used in wash- 
 ing blankets or fine-colored things. In the case of flannels and 
 blankets add a iablespoon of ammonia to each gallon of water. This 
 absorbs grease and helps to prevent shrinking. 
 
 Borax is one of the most useful helps in laundry work. It is safer 
 to use than washing soda because its action is gentler. 
 
 Javelle water is made by boiling together one pound of washing- 
 soda and a quart of boiling water, then dissolving half a pound of 
 chloride of lime in two quarts of cold water, and straining and blend- 
 ing the two mixtures. It is useful both for bleaching cotton goods 
 and for removing stains from white goods. Soak the fabrics in equal 
 quantities of Javelle water and hot water until the stains disappear, 
 then rinse thoroughly, having a little ammonia in the last rinsing 
 water. As tiiis mixture takes out all colors it must not be used on 
 any colored goods. 
 
 It is a wise precaution to rinse curtains, hangings, and children's 
 garments in alum water (one ounce of alum to two quarts of water), 
 as this renders them practically non-inflammable. Avoid highly con- 
 centrated washing powders and solutions, as these are almost in- 
 variably composed chiefly of soda or other strong bleaches which 
 are liable not only to destroy the color, but even the fabric itself. 
 It is on account of such chemical compounds being used that clothing 
 sent to public laundries wears out so much more quickly than if done 
 at home. 
 
 There are excellent labor-saving laundry appliances in the form 
 of washing machines, which eliminate practically all the hard work 
 of washing day. Care should be taken in purchasing such a machine 
 to select one so arranged that the suction of the water draws out 
 the dirt rather than a model in which the clothes are beaten and 
 moved about by paddles which are likely to tear them. 
 
 Gas and electric irons add much, to the comfort of the laundries, 
 and if properly used are an economy, as the iron, once hot, is re- 
 tained at the same temperature until the work is completed. 
 
 It is always an economy to provide such helps as sleeve boards, 
 shirt and skirt boards, etc., as even under the best conditions laundry 
 work is the hardest branch of housework. Provide also, if possible, 
 either a high stool that the ironer may sit while doing the smaller 
 pieces, or, failing this, at least see that there is a heavy mat on which 
 she can stand while at the ironing board. 
 
62 Home Making 
 
 It is only a step from the laundry to the sewing room, for before 
 the clean linen is put away it must be gone over and any necessary 
 repairs made. The furnishing for this room should be just as care- 
 fully planned as any part of tlie house. A large table for cutting out 
 is a necessity, and one edge of it should be plainly marked off with a 
 yard measure. Chalk, skirt gauge, and such accessories should be 
 found here, while scissors of varying sizes, kept thoroughly sharp, 
 should also be at hand. Of course, a sewing-machine, with attacli- 
 ments, should be part of the equipment, and, if possible, try to supply 
 a small chiffonier in the drawers of which patterns can be kept and 
 unfinished work put away between times. If a room cannot be 
 definitely set aside for a sewing room, a very fair substitute will be 
 found in a sewing screen, which can be made of a small clothes drier 
 covered with cretonne and fitted on the inside with bags of the same 
 for patterns and small pieces of work, and with an abundance of hooks 
 to hang" scissors, tape measure, workbag, etc. This can be folded to- 
 gether when not in use. It takes up little space, and has the added 
 advantage of being portable, so that it can be easily carried to any 
 part of the house where it may be needed. 
 
 THE SELECTION OF PURE AND WHOLESOME 
 
 FOODS 
 
 IT IS a difficult matter to lay down hard and fast rules regarding 
 the purchase of household supplies, for varying conditions of 
 living demand different methods. The woman with a large 
 house and ample storage room will do wisely to purchase many of 
 her supplies of staple foods and what are known as "dry groceries" 
 in quantity, for by so doing she can secure better prices. On the 
 other hand, the woman living in an apartment where space is at 
 a premium, and who has no large celler or pantry in which to keep 
 her reserve stock, will do better to buy only in such quantities as 
 will suit her needs, letting her dealer take all risk of deterioration. 
 Where space will allow it, it is well to lay in a large supply of 
 canned foods— fruits, meats and vegetabes — provided one is assured 
 lliat these are of the present season's packing. It not infrequently 
 happens that, at the beginning of the fall, dealers will materially 
 reduce the prices of such products in order to have their shelves 
 clear and make space for the new stock. It does not necessarily 
 follow that the stale goods are poor in quality, but it would seem 
 wiser to secure such as are fresh and new. 
 
 Ill the purchase of canned foods be careful about two things, — 
 first, that the cans do not bulge at all; and, second, that there is 
 not more than one soldered place on the can, The former denotes 
 
The Selection of Pure and Wholesome Foods 63 
 
 the presence of gas and means that the contents of the can are 
 unfit for food, while the latter is just as bad, and proves that there 
 has been a tendency toward the generation of gas and that the can 
 has been punctured to let this out, then subjected to a second process 
 of sterilization and the second opening afterward reclosed. 
 
 When a certain brand has been proved good it is an excellent 
 plan to make a note of that brand that it may be ordered again, 
 for either brand or trade mark is a valuable asset to the manufac- 
 turer and a guarantee of quality to the consumer, who knows that 
 she may expect to find the same degree of excellence which 
 prompted her to decide to adhere to that particular make. 
 
 With a moderate supply of canned provisions in the storeroom 
 the housekeeper need never feel utterly at a loss for something to 
 serve when an emergency arises, especially if she keeps a little note- 
 book, or book of recipes, containing suggestions for the quick and 
 appetizing service of such foods. Then, too, if one's storage facili- 
 ties admit of it, such staple articles as flour and cereals (including 
 rice and macaroni) can be laid in during the fall in such quantities 
 as are likely to be consumed during the winter and early spring, 
 but it is false economy for the housekeeper to carry a stock of these 
 through the warm weather, as they are apt to spoil. Dried vege- 
 tables, such as beans and peas, may also be purchased in fair-sized 
 quantities, while it is a well-known fact that soap will last much 
 longer if bought by the box, unwrapped and allowed to dry before 
 using. Coffee, tea, dried fruits, etc., are better bought as needed, 
 as they deteriorate unless stored under perfect conditions. 
 
 The housekeeper who pays cash for her supplies has one great 
 advantage over her sister who runs a credit account, for she can 
 go where she chooses to make her purchases, and it not infrequently 
 happens that considerable saving is possible in this way. Let her 
 be careful, however, not to be tempted by the saving of a few cents 
 at the expense of quality, for in such case she will lose far more 
 than she gains ; then, too, it sometimes happens that the less cost 
 means short weight, and in such event also she will be the loser. 
 Dealers soon learn on whom they can impose and with which of 
 their customers it is to their advantage to deal fairly, and when a 
 woman justly earns a reputation for knowing values she will seldom 
 be imposed upon. 
 
 One great advantage of purchasing at large stores is that the 
 goods sell so much more rapidly, stocks are more frequently re- 
 newed, so that the housekeeper is likely to get newer and fresher 
 provisions. Those living in the suburbs will find a distinct saving 
 in laying in a weekly or monthly stock from one of the large mar- 
 kets or department stores, thus leaving only the perishable articles 
 for the day-to-day shopping. The department stores and large 
 
64 Home Making 
 
 grocery houses issue monthly price Hsts which will be mailed to 
 any housekeeper on application. She can then make out her list of 
 requirements, mail it to the store, and receive her supplies the next 
 day without even the trouble of going into the city for them. Even 
 those living at a considerable distance can take advantage of this 
 method, as express charges arc paid on orders of reasonable value. 
 Marketing by telephone is responsil)le for a great deal of wasted 
 money, for, in the first place, particularly as applied to the pur- 
 chase of meat, the dealer is apt to send from a quarter pound to a 
 pound more than is ordered or required, and, secondly, even if the 
 item ordered is scarce on that particular day, and, therefore, higher 
 in price than when the supply is plentiful, he will send it, whereas, 
 had the marketing been done in person, this fact would be noticed 
 and some other equally _satisfactory but more plentiful, and conse- 
 quently less high-priced, joint substituted. 
 
 There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, where the dealer 
 will present the facts of the case and, perhaps, even suggest a pos- 
 sible substitution, but these instances are extremely rare. 
 
 Another reason for excessive marketing bills is lack of fore- 
 thought in planning. A broad rule, but nevertheless a true one, is 
 that, in catering for a family, one must be prepared for a lavish ex- 
 penditure either of money or time, for it is an almost invariable 
 rule, especially with meats, that only the tenderest, and consequently 
 highest priced, portions can be cooked quickly, while the cheaper, 
 but equally if not more nutritious parts, must receive long, slow 
 cooking. 
 
 FOOD VALUES 
 
 IN SELECTING foods for a family it is not sufficient that mate- 
 rials should be used that will appease the appetite. It is pos- 
 sible for a person to literally starve to death without ever being 
 hungry, and this may occur, to a greater or less degree, if the food 
 elements consumed are not of a kind to keep one properly alive. 
 To meet their proper purpose foods must not only taste good, but 
 they must do us good. 
 
 As generally arranged, foods are placed in three classes: 
 
 (i) The foods that help to make fat and that enable us to main- 
 tain the heat of the body are the fats of meats, the starch in grain 
 and cereals, butter, cream, sugar, and the root vegetables like pota- 
 toes and most other tubers. 
 
 (2) The foods that renew tissue and build up the muscles, bones, 
 and nerves are the lean meats, eggs, cheese, milk, grain and cereals, 
 because of the gluten they contain, and dried vegetables, like beans, 
 peas, and lentils. 
 
Food Values 65 
 
 (3) The foods that help the blood to maintain its purity are the 
 fresh fruits and vegetables. 
 
 The amount of food recjuired depends largely upon the occupa- 
 tion of the person who is to be fed. A person of sedentary habits 
 does not need more than four or five ounces of meat per day. This 
 is about as much as an ordinary helping of steak, a slice of roast, 
 or a chop. In addition, he should eat one or two eggs, milk, and 
 cheese in some form, and a small amount of sugar. If desired, the 
 milk, eggs, and sugar may be served in the form of pudding or cake, 
 or otherwise cooked. Cheese is also good when cooked. Beyond 
 this the foods necessary to satisfy the appetite, or to maintain health, 
 should be found in the vegetables and fruits that help to constitute 
 the day's fare. 
 
 As the food value of soup is slight, except when it is made 
 with cream or milk, or is composed of vegetables, its action is that 
 of a stimulant in preparing tlie stomach for the more important 
 foods to follow. If the meal is a substantial one, serve a light or 
 clear soup; if not quite so substantial, a cream soup may be sub- 
 stituted, but a thick, hearty soup should be served only as a pre- 
 liminary course to an otherwise light repast. 
 
 A well-balanced dinner should consist of one kind of meat, one 
 starchy vegetable, one fresh vegetable (a succulent one, if obtain- 
 able), a salad, dessert, and coffee. If the meat and vegetable dishes 
 have been of a heavy character, the salad should be as simple as 
 possible, and dessert may be limited tt) fruit, with crackers and 
 cheese. It is only with less heavy rejiasts that hearty puddings and 
 rich desserts should be served. 
 
 The starchy foods that may be served as a first vegetable are 
 potatoes, rice, hominy, and the \'arious kinds of macaroni. The 
 l)lood-making vegetable are peas, beans, asparagus, cabbage, cauli- 
 flower, carrots, etc. 
 
 Knowing these classifications, and the amount of foods neces- 
 sarj', the arrangement of the daily menu becomes merely a matter 
 of good judgment and a little practice. Thus common sense would 
 indicate the absurdity of serving a fat meat like roast pork witli 
 lim.a beans, or scalloped oysters with cabbage, whereas a dinner of 
 lamb cutlets with creamed potato, green peas, tomato salad, and 
 a simple fruit dessert, like baked apples or stewed apricots, would 
 meet all the demands of the body equitably. Often taste is a safe 
 criterion to follow, for the foods that possess the best food elements 
 harmonize most perfectly in flavor, but this rule does not always 
 prove true. 
 
 The (luestion of what should be eaten at breakfast has been 
 argued by food specialists for years, and will probably never be 
 answered to the satisfaction of all, so the matter may be left largely 
 
66 Home Making 
 
 to individual judgment. While many are able to go along nicely 
 with nothing more than rolls and coffee for breakfast, there are 
 others who would be unable to begin the day's work with anything 
 less than a substantial meal. 
 
 The character of the luncheon or supper depends largely upon 
 the quality of the preceding meal. Thus, if a hearty meat breakfast 
 has been eaten, luncheon should be very light — simply designed to 
 appease the appetite, leaving the duty of providing food elements 
 to the dinner, the substantial meal of the day. 
 
 When we eat meat and various kinds of vegetables at break- 
 fast, luncheon, and dinner, we consume more meat than the body 
 can properly care for. The surplus thus formed quickly throws the 
 entire system out of order. This is the cause of much of the dis- 
 ease from which people suffer. 
 
 If breakfast has been very light, the luncheon should be more 
 substantial, consisting of a tissue-building food and a heat-main- 
 taining food. Stews, eggs in various forms, and especially with cheese, 
 beans cooked with pork, some style of macaroni — all these and many 
 more dishes that can readily be recognized will help to make up an 
 ideal luncheon or su])per menu. 
 
 COOKING FOR SMALL FAMILIES 
 
 BREADMAKING. 
 
 BREAD. 
 
 To make two loaves of bread, or one loaf of bread and a pan of biscuits, 
 dissolve i cake of compressed yeast in i Yi teacups of tepid water. Sift 2 quarts 
 of Hour into a deeji mixing bowl : make a hole in the centre of the flour and 
 I)ut the dissolved yeast into it ; mix with the flour thoroughly. To i pint of 
 milk add Vi teacup of water, i level teaspoon of salt, i level tablespoon of 
 sugar, and a jiiece of butter the size of a hickory nut. Heat until lukewarm 
 and both sugar and salt have dissolved ; then stir the mixture into the flour 
 and knead steadily for about twenty minutes. If the latter seems too soft add 
 a little n.ore sifted flour and mix until smooth. Cover the bowl and set it 
 in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk, which will take about 4 hours in 
 the daytime, if the house is warm, or about 8 hours at niglit ; then mould 
 into the form of a loaf, biscuits, or rolls, with the hand, first kneading the 
 dough slightly on a floured board. Put in buttered pans ; let them stand 
 near the stove from 20 to 30 minutes longer to rise again ; bake in a moderate 
 oven. Remove from tlie pans as soon as done. 
 
 I If a bread mixer is used — as it should be when possible — first put all the 
 
 liquids into the mixer, including the dissolved sugar and salt; then add the 
 sifted flour and turn the handle of the mixer about 12 ininutes. Afterward, 
 proceed as above. 
 
 BAKING POWDER BISCUITS. 
 
 Sift I '/$ teacups of flour into a mixing bowl and work into it a piece of 
 lard the size of a small egg. Add i Yz teaspoons of baking powder, i teaspoon 
 of salt, and Y2 tablespoonful of sugar; moisten with enough inilk and water, in 
 equal parts, to make a dough that will roll out easily to a thickness of three- 
 quarters of an inch. Cut into rounds with a tin cutter — this can be done by 
 using the top of a baking powder can — jiut in greased tins, and bake until the 
 tops of the biscuits are golden brown. 
 
 QUICK MUFFINS. 
 Sift 1Y2 teacups of flour into a mixing bowl, add ^ teaspoon of salt, Vi 
 tablespoon of sugar, i egg, and 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder. Moisten 
 with milk and water enough to make a batter — about 1 Y2 teacups of milk and 
 water, in equal jiarts — and bake, in muiTm tins, in a moderate oven. 
 
Cooking for Small Families (fj 
 
 RAISED MUFFINS. 
 
 One teacup and a half of sifted flour, i tablespoon of butter, melted, H 
 compressed yeast cake, dissolved in Yn, cup of tepid water. Mix the ingredients 
 together, add r well-beaten egg, Yz teaspoon of salt, and enough warm milk to 
 make a moderately thin batter. Cover the mixing bowl and place it where 
 it will keep warm. After about eiglit hours, add 2 tablespoons of granulated 
 sugar, stir it in well, pour the batter into buttered muffin tins, and bake in a 
 moderate oven. 
 
 WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS. 
 
 One teacup and a half of sifted entire wheat flour, 2 tablespoons of butter, 
 melted, V> teaspoon of salt, i J/S teaspoons of baking powder, and y, teacup of 
 granulated sugar. Moisten with enough cold milk and water, in equal parts, 
 to make a thick batter. Bake in a moderate oven. " 
 
 CORNMEAL MUFFINS. 
 
 One teacup of cornmeal, 5<2 teacup of sifted flour, Yz teaspoon salt, i egg, 
 and I heaping teaspoon baking powder. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and add 
 enough milk and water, in equal parts, to make a thick batter. Bake in a 
 moderate oven. 
 
 GRAHAM MUFFINS. 
 
 One teacup and a half of graham flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar or Ya teacup 
 of molasses, i egg, Y2 teaspoon of salt, and i heaping teaspoon of baking 
 powder. Moisten with enough milk and water, in equal parts, to make a stiff 
 batter. Bake in moderate oven. 
 
 POP-OVERS. 
 
 Two well-beaten eggs, 2 teacups of milk, i Y2 teacups of sifted flour, and Y? 
 teaspoon of salt. Stir the ingredients together and beat the mixture until 
 practically all the lumps have been removed. Fill deep pop-over tins that have 
 been well buttered until they are a little more than half filled, then bake for 
 25 or 30 minutes in a quick oven and do not open the oven door until after 
 the pop-overs have baked for fully 20 minutes. 
 
 BELVIDERE PUFFS. 
 
 One pint of sifted flour, Y2 teacup of butter, melted, 2 eggs well beaten, and 
 Y2 cake of yeast dissolved in warm water. Mix the ingredients and make into 
 a stiff batter, moistening as necessary with sweet milk. Let the batter set all 
 night in a warm place. The next morning add V2 teacup of finely sifted corn- 
 meal, beat the dough well, put it in buttered cups or muffin tins, and let it rise 
 again before baking in a moderate oven. 
 
 STEAMED BROWN BREAD. 
 
 One teacup graham flour, Y2 teacup of cornmeal, Y2 teaspoon of salt, and i 
 heaping teaspoon of baking powder. Sift the dry ingredients together and add 
 ;/2 teacup of molasses and 1 teacup of milk. Mix thoroughly and pour into a 
 well-greased tin with a tightly-fitting cover, being careful to see that the batter 
 does not more than two-thirds fill the tin. Steam three hours. If a dry crvist 
 is desired, the bread may be placed in the oven for a few minutes after it has 
 been steamed. 
 
 PANCAKES. 
 
 Sift 1 1/^ teacups of flour with Y2 teaspoon of salt. Beat one egg thoroughly, 
 add T-Yz teacups of cold milk, and stir into the flour. If the batter is not thin 
 enough to run easily, add as much milk as may be necessary, and at the last 
 moment add i heaping teaspoon of baking powder. Mix thoroughly to remove 
 all lumps and fry on a hot, greased griddle, using i kitchenspoonful of the 
 batter for each cake. 
 
 Another excellent way to serve pancakes is to fry each cake the full size 
 of the giiddle, which will require about four spoonfuls of the batter. When 
 fried on both sides, butter each cake immediately, spread it with granulated 
 sugar, dust it with cinnamon, and roll it up, serving one cake to each person. 
 The quantities given will make four cakes. 
 
 QUICK WAFFLES. 
 
 Sift together i teacup of flour, Y2 teaspoon of salt, and i J/2 teaspoons of 
 baking powder. Add the beaten yolks of 2 eggs and i pint of sweet milk and beat 
 until smooth, then stir in 2 table?i)oons of melted butter and the stiffly-whipped 
 whites of the 2 eggs. Bake in vvell greased waffle irons. 
 
68 Home Making 
 
 SOUPS 
 
 CLEAR SOUF. 
 
 To make one quart of clear soup, lake a two-pound shin rif liecf, meat anil 
 bone together; cut the meat into pieces the size of a walnut, and break the 
 bones into tlirt-e or four-inch lengtlis, being careful to remove all the marrow. 
 for if this is not done tlie soup will not clear. Put ' the meat and liones in 
 three pints of cold water, to which one teaspoon of salt has been added. Let 
 them stand for three-ijuartei s of an hour, to extract the juices; then bring 
 slowly to a boil. When the scum begins to rise, add one or two tablesijoons 
 of cold water, as this helps to clear the soup. Boil for five minutes, removing 
 the scum; then set aside and add one medium-sized onion, one medium-sized 
 carrot, and one. small turnip, each cut in half, two or three slices of parsnip, 
 one-half slick of celery, one dozen peppercorns, two cloves, and a bimch of 
 kitchen herbs — parsley, thyme, and bayleaf. (If the parsnip is not obtainable, 
 it may be omitted without seriously dttracting from the flavor of the soup. 
 If the fresh celery cannot be secured, use celery salt, or one-half teaspoon of 
 celery seed tied in a piece of muslin.) Wlien the vegetables have been added, 
 place the cover on the soup pot, and let the contents simmer gentljr for five 
 hours, then strain through a hair sieve and cool, that the grease may be re- 
 moved easily. To clear the soup for serving, mince one-half i)ound of lean 
 beef very fine, and mix it with one-half pint of the soup, adding the well- 
 whi])ped whites and the crushed shells of two eggs. Whip this with a wire 
 whisk until it attains the consistency of porridge, then add the vegetables as 
 well as the rest of the slock, and put in a clean saucepan to heat. Continue 
 whisking until a light froth rises; then boil gtntly for five minutes, when the 
 saucepan should be drawn aside to simmer for one and one-half hours. Strain 
 through a linen cloth, and season to taste. 
 
 Consomme. — Soup made in this way and served clear, is known as con- 
 somme. 
 
 Julienne. — When carrot and turnip are cut into narrow inch-long strips 
 and are served in the soup, it is called julienne. 
 
 Brunoi=e.--When the carrot and turnip are cut into one-half-inch cubes, 
 the soup is called brunoise. 
 
 Vegetable Soup. — To make a vegetable soup, cut vegetables in fancy shape 
 by u.'ing the cutters that may be obtained at the hardware store; cook them 
 separately until almost tender, rinse them several times in warm water, and add 
 them to the clear soup. If this is not done, the vegetables will "cloud" the 
 soup. 
 
 Macaroni Soup. — Macaroni in its various forms makes an attractive gar- 
 nish for clear soup. To prepare it, jireviously cook the macaroni, and rinse 
 it carefully before adding it to the soup. 
 
 Consomme Royal. — This is a clear soup in which a prepared custard takes 
 the place of other 'garnishes. The custard, whicli is unsweetened, is made with 
 two tablespoons of milk to each egg. The egg and milk are beaten together, and 
 when seasoned and strained the cup containing them is i)laced in a saucepan 
 of water, either over the fire or in the oven, until the custard has set. It is 
 then cut in dice or fancy forms, and is placed in the soup just before it is served. 
 
 OXTAIL SOUP. 
 
 Cut one oxtail into joints, one small carrot and one medium-sized onion 
 into dice, and fry them in one tablespoon of lard. When brown, add one 
 cjuart of cold water, and a stalk of celery, a sprig of parslej-, and a bay leaf, tied 
 together securely. Heat until boiling, but after three or four minutes, add a 
 tablespoon of pearl barley, and move back where the mixture can simmer. 
 Cook slowly for four hours; then, remove the bones and the flavoring herbs; 
 thicken the soup with one-half tablcs;)oon of flour that has been blended with 
 one tablespoon of water, and season to taste. If a particularly rich soup is de- 
 sired, a litle sherry may be added with the other seasoning. 
 
 MUTTON BROTH. 
 
 Get two pounds of mutton from the neck, cut the meat into small pieces, 
 add two quarts of cold water, bring slowly to the boiling point; add one 
 teaspoon of salt, and simmer for one hour, skimming as often as may be 
 necessary. At the end of this time, add one small turnip, one medium-sized 
 onion, and one small carrot, cut into dice, add two tablespoons of pearl b'arley. 
 Cook until the vegetables and barley are tender; season to taste. If desired, 
 the broth may be garnished with chopped parsley just before serving. 
 
COOKIXG FOR SaFALL FAMILIES 69 
 
 \EAL BROTH (FOR INVALIDS). 
 
 I'ul a pound of fillet or knuckle of veal to cook on a moderate fire with 
 three pints of water; add half a head of lettuce, one leek, one stalk of celery, 
 four leaves of sorrel, four sprigs of chervil, and a teaspoon of salt. Skim as 
 much scum as possible from the broth before it begins to boil; then boil gently 
 for one hoiu-, and strain before serving. 
 
 BEEF TEA (FOR INVALIDS). 
 
 Cut one-half pound of round steak into very small pieces — the smaller the 
 better- an<i let il stand in one-half pint of cold water for half an hour. Then 
 put it in a Mason jar, cover, and place in a saucepan of cold water where il 
 will heat slowly to about 140 degrees. Cook for two hours, strain, season with 
 salt, and serve. 
 
 CHICKEN SOUP. 
 
 Wash one chicken, cut it in pieces, removing all skin and fat. Put over 
 the fire in two quarts of water and add half a pound of bacon, cut in slices; 
 one large onion, finely chopped; and salt, pepper, and parsley as seasoning. 
 When the chicken is tender, remove the joints and lay them aside for use in 
 other ways. Strain the soup and serve, with or without rice or macaroni, either 
 of which may be cooked in the soup just before it is served. 
 
 FISH AND SHELLFISH 
 
 TO SELECT FISH. 
 
 Four rules are to be observed in selecting, fish for the table: (i) See that 
 the eyes are bright; (2) see that the body is firm and phu'np ; (3) see that the 
 skin is smooth and ujiwrinkled ; (4) see that the colors are fresh and clear. 
 
 TO PREPARE FISH. 
 
 Boiling — A small, compact fish, or a firm slice of a large one, is usually 
 selected for boiling. For this purpose cod, halibut, haddock, sea bass, bonita, 
 salmon, and mackerel are especially good. Wash the fish thoroughly ; wrap it 
 in a piece of cheesecloth, tying the ends securely, and placing it on the drainer 
 of the fish kettle, or, if no regular fish cooker is tised, on a plate in the bottom 
 of the ordinary kettle, that the cloth may not stick to the metal. 
 
 See that the water is very hot, but not actually boiling. The only exceptions 
 to this rule are salmon and mackerel. For the former, which is a very delicate 
 fish, the water should be merely tepid ; for the latter, in which the skin is very 
 tough, the water should have just reached the boiling point. 
 
 L^se just enough v/ater to cover the fish, and let it simmer only, not boil, 
 during the period of cooking, and add i ounce of salt and two tablespoons of 
 vinegar to each quart of water. The time required to cook all fish except 
 salmon is six minutes to the pound and six minutes over; salmon requires ten 
 minutes to the pound. 
 
 For boiling, fish are never skinned, but, while the heads are left on, the 
 lyes should be taken out. 
 
 If the fish is not an especially tasty variety, it should be cooked in a 
 court bouillon. To prepare this: Place in the bottom of the kettle some 
 sliced carrots, sliced onions, sprigs of parsley, a little thyme, baylcaf, one 
 sliced lemon, and six or eight whole peppercorns. Put the fish on this ; cover 
 it with cold water and add three tablespoons of vinegar, or a wineglass of 
 sour white wine. Cook slowly over a moderate fire until the liquor boils, by 
 which time the fish will be done. 
 
 Baking — Large fish, like bluefish, weakfish, cod, sea bass, halibut, shad, 
 salmon, trout, red snapper, Sjtanish mackerel, etc., are delicious wlien baked. 
 To piepare the fish do not remove cither head or tail. 
 
 Make a stuffing— Soak two or three good-si/;ed slices of bread in cold 
 water, and when soft, mash them smooth and add one tablespoonful of butter, 
 one small, finely minced onion, one tablespoonful of minced parsley, one beaten 
 egg, salt and pepper to taste, and, if necessary, moisten with a little milk. When 
 the stuffing is firm enough to retain- its shape, fill the fish with it, wrapping it 
 round and round with tape so securely that the opening will remain closed. If 
 any of the stuffing is left over, form it into small cakes and bake it in the pan 
 with the fish. Arrange a few slices of salt pork over the top of the fish, dust 
 it with breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper, and place a little butter and 
 water in the bottom of the pan to supply a liquid for basting. Bake in a hot 
 oven, basting frequently, allowing ten to fifteen minutes to each pound for 
 cooking. 
 
70 Home Making 
 
 Broiling — The more oily fish, like bluefish, salmon, mackerel, and herring 
 are best for broiling. When other varieties are cooked in this way they require, 
 after cooking, generous seasoning with melted butter and lemon juice. 
 
 For broiling, fish must be wiped dry and seasoned with salt and pepper 
 before being placed betwen the wires of the broiler. The broiler must be 
 well greased or the fish will stick badly. Broil the flesh side first, then the skin 
 side, turning several times during the process of cooking. If large, the fish 
 should be split open and the head and tail removed. To broil small fish 
 nicely, the fire must be clear and hot. When the fish is large a more mod- 
 crate fire should be used. 
 
 Frying — Any fish that can be broiled may be fried, and for sorne of the 
 smaller fish frying is the best method of cooking. Pan fish, porgies, black 
 bass, butterfish, flounders, etc., are best suited to this treatment, although 
 large fish, when cut in slices, fry nicely. 
 
 There are two methods of frying: (i) When slices of a large fish arc used, 
 coat them lightly with flour and fry them on a well-greased griddle, turning 
 them that they may brown on both sides. (2) When small fish are to be 
 cooked, clean and wipe them dry; then dip them in beaten egg and powdered 
 breadcrumbs, or cornmeal, being careful to see that they are completely covered, 
 and plunge them, a few at a time, into deep, smoking hot fat, letting them 
 remain until they are a nice brown. Drain well before serving. 
 
 CLAMS. 
 
 Steamed Clams — Put the clams in a kettle over the fire, with one coffee 
 cup of water ; cover the kettle with flannel, or other thick cloth, and steam 
 until all the shells have opened. 
 
 Clam Fritters — Make a batter with one egg, one cup of milk, and enough 
 flour to bring to proper consistency (about two teacups). Season with salt 
 and pepper. Chop two dozen clams, and stir them, with a little of the clam 
 juice, into the batter. Fry, dropping by the kitchenspoonful into steaming hot 
 deep fat. 
 
 Clam Chowder — Fry two sliced onions until brown with two slices of salt 
 pork cut into dice. When done, remove the pork ; add one pint of clam 
 liquor, one teacup of cold water, and two raw potatoes diced. Cook until 
 the potatoes are tender; add the strained juice from one small can of tomatoes; 
 bring to a boil, and skim carefully as the scum rises. Boil for three or four 
 minutes ; then add one pint of chopped clams. If soft clams are used, chop 
 only the necks and use the stomachs whole; if hard clams, chop the whole 
 clam. Boil and cook five minutes rather slowly ; then remove from the fire, 
 and when the bubbling has entirely ceased, add one-quarter of a pint of cream 
 and one pint of milk. Season with butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Serve 
 with pilot crackers, breaking them into the chowder just before sending the 
 dish to the table. 
 
 OYSTERS. 
 
 Fried Oysters — Place the oysters on a dry napkin that all the moisture 
 may be absorbed ; sprinkle them with salt and coat them with egg and bread- 
 crumbs, being careful to see that they are entirely covered. Shake them gently, 
 one by one, to remove any loose crumbs; fry brown in smoking hot fat. 
 
 Oyster Stew — Place one pint of milk in a double boiler ; season to taste 
 with salt, celery salt, and paprika. With a sharp-pointed kitchen knife cut 
 off the root end of an onion, thrust the knife into the heart, and by reaming 
 extract the juice, allowing it to drip into the milk; add one-half teaspoon of 
 butter and eight oyster crackers, crumbled finely. When the milk has reached 
 the boiling point, add one pint of freshly opened oysters, with their juice; 
 when the beards have commenced to curl, remove the stew from the fire and 
 stir into it one egg, already beaten to a froth. Serve with heated oyster 
 crackers. 
 
 SCALLOPS. 
 
 Scallops may be cooked like oysters. 
 
 LOBSTERS. 
 
 To Boil — Fill a kettle half full of water; add a kitchenspoonful of salt, and 
 when the water is boiling vigorou!-ly, thrust the lobster into it, head first. 
 Reduce the heat under the kettle, as it will not do to boil the lobster too 
 rapidly; cook from twenty to thirty minutes, according to size. 
 
 To Broil — Split a live lobster down the back, beginning at the head. Re- 
 move the stomach and intestines. Spread open as fully as possible, and broil — 
 first the flesh side, then the shell side. Crack the claws with a mallet, and 
 serve with melted butter, lemon juice, salt, ])aprika, and Worcestershire or 
 walnut catsup. 
 
Cooking for Small Families 71 
 
 POULTRY AND GAME 
 
 THE PREPARATION OF POULTRY. 
 
 When a bird has been selected for roasting, have the tendons drawn by 
 the butcher, unless you know how to do it yourself. As soon as the pur- 
 chase has been delivered remove the giblets and wash the bird, both inside 
 and out, with cold water in which a teaspoon of soda has been dissolved. 
 Dry, and go over it carefully to see that all the pin feathers have been plucked, 
 then singe it to remove all removing hairs. If possible to do it without tearing 
 the skin, cut away any superfluous fat. When all this has been done, dust 
 the bird lightly with salt, rubbing it into the flesh and put the fowl in a cool 
 place to stay until it is time to cook it. 
 
 Just before roasting the bird, stew the giblets — the heart, liver, and giz- 
 zard — until they are tender, but save the water in which they were cooked 
 and use it as a gravy with which to baste the fowl after it has gone to the 
 oven. 
 
 Stuffing for Chicken — Cut about one-quarter of a loaf of stale bread into 
 cubes, pour over it one cup of boiling water and stand until all the water has 
 been absorbed. If not sufficiently moist, add a little more water. Slice and 
 parboil four onions. Squeeze all the water possible from the bread, add the 
 onions, one tablespoonful of minced salt pork or one tablespoonful of butter 
 melted and season to taste with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. 
 
 Chestnut Stuffing for Turkey — Shell about one quart of chestnuts, boil 
 them for five minutes, remove the skin, then cover with water again and boil 
 ten minutes longer. When dry, mash and season with melted butter, salt and 
 pepper to taste. 
 
 Rice and Apple Stuffing for Ducks — Put four peeled and cored apples, 
 four peeled onions, one heaping teaspoonful of sage and the same quantity 
 of thyme in a saucepan with enough water to cover. When tender pour off 
 the water and rub through a sieve, season with pepper and salt to taste and 
 mix with about a cup of freshly boiled rice. 
 
 Prune Stuffing for Geese — Soak one-quarter pound of prunes as usual and 
 stew until tender; remove the pits. Boil one cup of rice. When tender drain 
 and cover with three cups of prune juice. If there is not enough juice n.ake 
 up the deficiency with water. Cook this mixture about five minutes, season 
 to taste with salt, then add the prunes, previously cut into small pieces, six 
 or eight large chestnuts, blanclied and chopped, and one-half cup of melted 
 butter and aild necessary seasoning. 
 
 Preparing a Goose for Roasting — To clean a goose, it must be given a 
 thorough scrubbing with warm water and soda, for nothing short of this will 
 assure the removal of the dirt and dust adhering to the skin. Moreover, the 
 washing with warm water will tend to open the ports through which the oil 
 must flow if the goose is not to be too greasy to be palatable. If you have a 
 regular steamer, steam the goose until it is halfdonc ; if not, tie it to a stick 
 and suspend it over the clothes boiler until as much of the oil as possible has 
 been extracted. Then stuff the goose; dredge it with flour; dust it with salt 
 and pepper, and bake in the oven. Dredge the goose with flour each time that 
 it is basted, for it is this alternate dredging and basting that gives to the skin 
 its appetizing brown appearance. 
 
 GRAVY FOR POULTRY. 
 
 For Chicken, Turkey, or Ducks — Heat the liquor left in the dripping pan, 
 skim it and add the necessary quantity of boiling water; season with butter, 
 pepper and salt ; thicken witli flour, and just before serving, add the previously 
 cooked and chopped giblets. 
 
 For Goose — Let the gravy in the dripping pan cool slightly, skim off all 
 the grease; add the juice and grated rind of two oranges, and the juice of 
 one-half lemon. Season to taste. 
 
 FRIED CHICKEN. 
 Sift a little flour, salt and pepper together. Cut the chicken into con- 
 venient pieces; dip each in water, and then into the seasoned flour, shaking 
 off all that does not adhere to the flesh. Heat the mixture of lard and butter 
 in a frying pan and fry brown. Serve with a brown gravy. 
 
 FRICASSEE CHICKEN. 
 Joint the chicken as if for frying, and brown the pieces slightly in a little 
 pork fat. Put them in a stewpan with two small onions; cover with boiling 
 water and cook' until tender. When done, remove the chickens ; place each 
 joint on a slice of toasted bread ; thicken the gravy with a blend of flour 
 and butter, and pour it over both chicken and toast. 
 
"jz Home Making 
 
 CHICKEN PIE, VIliGIXIA STYLE. 
 
 Cut the chicken into reasonably small pieces and parboil them; then put 
 them in a baking dish, already lined with dough, in alternate layers with 
 sliced white potatoes. Sprinkle each layer with ; alt and pepper. On the top 
 layer place one large onion and two or three thin slices of fat salt prrk. Moisten 
 the pie with a little of the water in which the fowl was parboiled, and preserve 
 the latter as a foundation for the gravy. Cover with a crust and bake in a 
 moderate oven. 
 
 GA.M E. 
 
 Wild birds, if large, like duck, should be roasted rare, without stuffing. Do 
 not wash either inside or outside ; simply wipe with a dry cloth and dust with 
 salt and pepper. Serve with a sour jelly. 
 
 To cook small birds, parboil them for twenty minutes and place them where 
 they will keep hot. Melt one heaping tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, blend 
 with it two tablespoons of flour; add one cup of the liquor in which the birds 
 were boiled, one-half pint of rich cream, the beaten yolks of three eggs, and 
 pepper and salt as seasoning. This sauce is poured over the hot birds, and they 
 are served immediately. 
 
 VENISON. 
 
 Venison is cooked like beef, only it must be served rare. Send to the table 
 with an accompaniment of sour jelly. 
 
 R.VBr.ITS. 
 Joint the rabbits and wash them thoroughly with cold water in which a gen- 
 erous teaspoon of baking soda has been dissolved. Roll each joint in flour; 
 cover with water and cook for one hour. When half cooked, add pepper, salt, 
 and three bay leaves as seasoning. Serve with boiled rice. 
 
 MEATS 
 
 TO ROAST MEATS. 
 
 Beef. — Rub a little salt and pepper over the top; put in a hot oven, and 
 let it cook in its own juices — for one hour for a five-pound piece, if rare ; a 
 longer time if the meat is to be well done. 
 
 Mutton. — Rub salt over the meat; put^ it in a moderate oven, 'with a pint 
 of water, and b ste frequently during cooking. For five or six pounds of nit-at 
 allow three hoi . s of cooking. If the liquid in the pan evapoiales^ add more 
 water. If the meat seems tough, jMit a kitehenspoon of vinegar in the water 
 used for basting. 
 
 Lamb. — Prepare the same as mutton; cook spring lamb about two hoins; 
 older lamb a trifle longer. 
 
 Pork. — Roast in a slow oven, allowing three and one-half to fmn- hours for 
 a four-pound piece. 
 
 Veal. — Cook like jiork. 
 
 GRAVY FOR ROAST MEAT. 
 Skim all the grease from the drippings in the pan after they have cooked 
 a little; add enough boiling water to make the requisite amount of gravy, and 
 a little strained flour and water to thicken ; stir to remove all lumps ; season 
 with salt and pepper to taste. 
 
 TO BOIL MEATS. 
 Cook until tender in cold salted water; as the water boils out replace with 
 slightly salted boiling water. 
 
 SAUCES FOR BOILED MEATS. 
 
 Horseradish Sauce for Beef. — Blend two tablespoons of butter with two 
 tablespoons of flour; when smooth add, a little at a time, one and one-half cups 
 of milk or stock; stir until the mixture boils; then add pepper, salt, and lemon 
 juice to taste. When almost ready to serve add two tablespoons of grated 
 horseradish and the beaten yolk of one egg. 
 
 Caper Sauce for Mutton. — Make a cream sauce- of milk, flour, butter,- salt. 
 and pepper. When thickened add capers as desired, with a little of the caper 
 juice. 
 
 Melt a little butter, or drippings, in the bottom of a kettle, and sear the 
 meat, both top and bottom. Let it cook five minutes until some of the juice 
 cooks out. Add carrots, turnips, and parsnips in small pieces, and put them 
 with some green peas in the kettle with the meat; brown them in the fat; 
 then add salted water enough to cover the meat and cook slowly until tender. 
 Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
 
CooKiXG KOK Small Familiks '^■x, 
 
 TO r.ROIL MEATS. 
 
 In broiling meats a hot fiie is required. When gas is used, light the broiler 
 at least five minutes before the meat is to be cooked. Grease the broiler so 
 that the meat may not stick. Sear the meat first on both sides over a clear, 
 lot fire; then reduce the heat and finish the cooking more slowly. Season with 
 butter, pepper, and salt just before serving. The tougher meats, like round steak 
 and veal cutlets, should be pounded well befcre being broiled. 
 
 TO FRY MEATS. 
 
 Meats that are very fat reciuire practically no other grease in frying. A 
 slight greasing of the griddle to prevent the sticking of the meat is sufficient. 
 \'cry lean meats require more grease. Pork and veal may be dipped in egg 
 and breadcrumbs before being fried. 
 
 TO STEW MEATS. 
 
 The cheaper cuts of meat are good for stewing and may be cooked with 
 rpr without vegetables. Cook slowly, and, if possible, make the stew the day 
 before it is to be served, as all the grease may then be removed easily. Season a 
 <ew before serving it. 
 
 STUFFIXC FOR ROAST ^[EATS. 
 
 When meats are to be stuffed, make the same kind of stuffing as for poultry. 
 
 CORNED BEEF. 
 
 Put the meat in cold water and cook until tender. If cabbage or other 
 vegetables are to be served with it, add them when the meat is half done, and 
 let them cook with it. 
 
 BOILED TONGUE. 
 
 Trim the tongue and cover it with cold water ; when it has come to a boil 
 pour off the water and cover the tongue once more with fresh cold water; 
 simmer until tender and remove the skin before serving. 
 
 HAM, VIRGINIA STYLE. 
 
 Simmer a ham until tender, but do not let it boil. Remove the skin, stick 
 closely with whole cloves, and sprinkle with sugar. Pour Madeira wine over 
 the ham until the sugar and fat will absorlj no more; then bake for one hour, 
 basting with wine. Fully one pint of wine should be absorbed by the ham 
 before it is taken from the oven. 
 
 VEGETABLES 
 
 ASPARAGUS. 
 
 Tie the stalks together securely and stand them up in boiling water so that, 
 while the stalks boil, the tips will merely steam. Cook twenty-five to thirty 
 minutes. Serve hot, with melted butter, or a cream sauce; or cold, with a 
 
 Fi ench dressing. 
 
 GREEN PEAS. 
 
 Put in a saucepan over the fire ; cover with boiling water ; add a little 
 sugar; cook until tender; season with salt; cook two minutes longer; add butter 
 to taste ; stir until it melts ; then add the pepper. 
 
 STRING BEANS. 
 
 Cook in slightly salted water until tender, adding a good-sized piece of fat 
 bacon while cooking. When done, pour off the water and season with butter, 
 salt and pepper to taste. If desired, a cup of rich milk or cream may be added. 
 
 POD BEANS. 
 
 Cook in boiling salted water until tender; then season with butter, salt and 
 pepper to taste. 
 
 BEETS. 
 
 New — Wash, drain, and cook in boiling water until tender, without break- 
 ing the skin or cutting ofif the root. When done, drain and remove the skin by 
 scrapfng; season "with butter, salt and pepper. 
 
 Old — Cook, like new beets, from one and a half to three- hours. 
 
74 Home Making 
 
 POTATOES. 
 
 New — Cook in boiling water until tender ; then peel them, and serve with 
 melted butter, or a cream sauce. 
 
 Old — Old potatoes may be boiled in the same way, after which they may be 
 served plain or mashed, witli a seasoning of cream, butter, salt and pepper. 
 
 Baked Potatoes — Bake in a moderate oven until tender; serve immediately. 
 
 Creamed Potatoes — Cut left-over boiled potatoes into dice; add cream (oi 
 milk) and heat thoroughly; season with butter; i)epper and salt; thicken with a 
 little flour. 
 
 Hashed Brown Potatoes — Cut cold potatoes into small pieces; toss them 
 about in hot pork fat, or butter, until tlioroughly heated; season with salt and 
 pepper to taste; then let them stand in the frying pan until they have browned. 
 
 Lyonnaise Potatoes — Cut left-over potatoes into slices ; fry two onions in 
 butter ; when a golden yellow add the potatoes, and pepper and salt as seasoning. 
 If desired, some minced parsley may be added, when the potatoes are almost 
 done. Brown evenly and serve. 
 
 SQUASH. 
 
 Summer Squash — Cut into pieces and cook in boiling water without peeling. 
 When tender, drain very thoroughly; season with butter, salt and pepper. 
 
 Old Squash — Bake, boil, or steam old squash. To bake it, cut into large 
 pieces; place in the oven, skin-side down, and bake until tender; remove the 
 flesh from the skin ; season to taste. 
 
 GREEN CORN. 
 
 Remove the husks and silk, and place in boiling \yater ; bring the water to 
 a boil again, and continue boiling rapidly for eight minutes. 
 
 Corn in Milk — Left-over corn is delicious when warmed up in milk or cream 
 Cut the corn from the cobs ; add milk, or cream, as necessary ; heat thoroughly ; 
 setLCion with salt, pepper, and, if milk is used, butter to taste. 
 
 Fried Corn — Cut the corn from the cobs when raw ; put it in the frying pan 
 will: plenty of butter; season with pepper and salt to taste; fry until tender. 
 
 CARROTS. 
 
 New — Cook in boiling water until tender ; scrape off the skin, if desired ■ 
 serve with a ceani sauce. 
 
 Old — Cook :i boiling salted water until tender (about one hour); peel; cut 
 into slices, and seive with a cream sauce. 
 
 TURNIPS. 
 
 New — Cook in boiling salteo water until tender ; peel, and serve whole, with 
 a melted butter sauce. 
 
 Old — Cook in boiling waited water until tender (about forty-five minutes) ; 
 peel, mash, and season to taste with butter, salt and pepper. 
 
 ONIONS. 
 
 Scallions — Cut off the roots and most of the green tops ; tie in bunches 
 again, and cook in boiling salted water until tender; drain, and serve with a 
 melted butter sauce. 
 
 Ohl — Peel and cook until tender in boiling water ; serve with "nelttd butter, 
 salt and pepper, or with a cream sauce. 
 
 EGGPLANT. 
 
 Eggplant is usually fried. Cut it into rather thick slices, and fry in plenty 
 of butter; season with salt and pepper. If desired, the eggplant may be dipped 
 in beaten egg and breadcrumbs before it is fried. 
 
 TOMATOES. 
 
 Fried Tomatoes — Peel and cut the tomatoes into rather thick slices; fry on 
 both sides in melted butter. Season lightly with salt and pepper; serve with a 
 cream sauce. 
 
 Stewed Tomatoes — Fresh tomatoes are delicious when stewed. Put the 
 peeled tomatoes in a saucepan; stew them until they break up; season with 
 butler, salt, pepper, and a little sugar. 
 
 Fried Green Tomatoes — Slice the green tomatoes; let them lie in cold salted 
 water for thirty minutes; then drain them thoroughly; sprinkle lightly with 
 sugar; roll in flour or cornmeal, and fry brown on both sides in hot lard; season 
 with salt and pepper. 
 
Cooking for Small Families 75 
 
 CABDAGE. 
 
 Cut the cabbage into pieces and cook in boiling salted water until tender; 
 serve plain, or with a sauce made by the following recipe : Put two-thirds cup 
 of vinegar diluted with one-third cup of water in a double boiler and bring to a 
 boil ; stir in one heaping teaspoon of made English mustard, one-half teaspoon 
 of salt, and one saltspoon of pepper. Remove the vinegar from the fire ; heat 
 three-quarters cup of cream and stir into the vinegar. The cream must be added 
 slowly or the sauce will curdle. Curdling does not spoil the taste, but it de- 
 tracts from its appearance. 
 
 Any left-over cabbage may be fried in butter, for service on the second day. 
 
 SALADS 
 
 SALAD DRESSINGS. 
 
 Mayonnaise — To the beaten yolks of two eggs add one teaspoon of salt, one- 
 half teaspoon of white pepper, and one tablespoon of dry mustard. Stir them 
 thoroughly; add the juice of one lemon, and then, drop by drop, one-half pint of 
 the best olive oil, stirring the mixture constantly as the oil blends. Put the 
 dressing in a sealed jar in the ice box. When to be used take the quantity 
 necessary and thin it to proper consistency by adding the required amount of 
 fresli cream, adding the cream, a few drops at a time, and stirring ceaselessly 
 while it is being added. 
 
 French Dressing — Rub the interior of the bowl with a clove of garlic. Mix 
 one saltspoon of salt with one-half saltspoon of white pepper, a dash or two of 
 paprika, and one-half saltspoon of dry mustard. Add three tablespoons of olive 
 oil ; mix thoroughly with the dry ingredients ; then add one tablespoon of red 
 wine vinegar, if possible, one-half teaspoon of chopped tarragon, one-half tea- 
 spoon chopped chervil, and one teaspoon minced chives should be added just 
 preceding the vinegar. 
 
 Quick French Dressing — Mix two tablespoons of olive oil with one table- 
 spoon of vinegar until they lose their clearness ; add pepper and salt to taste 
 and serve. 
 
 Salad Cream — Mix the yolk of one egg with one-half teaspoon of made Eng- 
 lish mustard ; add oil, cream, and vinegar, alternately, in small quantities, until 
 two tablespoons of oil, two tablespoons of cream, and one and one-half table- 
 spoons of cider vinegar and one tablespoon of tarragon vinegar have been used, 
 rubbing the mixture well between each addition, that the cream may be thick 
 when it is mixed. 
 
 Boiled Salad Dressing — Put two beaten eggs, two tablespoons of butter, two 
 teaspoons of sugar, one teaspoon of dry mustard, one-half teaspoon of salt and 
 one saltspoon of pepper in a double boiler and cook until the mixture begins to 
 thicken. Add one teacup of cider vinegar; cook three minutes longer; then beat 
 the mixture until it has become quite cool. If kept in a cool place this dressing 
 will be good for some weeks. 
 
 Horseradish Dressing — Whip one teacup of cream thoroughly; when thick 
 add one tablespoon of grated _ horseradish. When blended, add two tablespoons 
 of lemon juice, a little at a time, stirring constantly. Season to taste and keep 
 near the ice until used. 
 
 Dressing Without Oil — Rub the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs until smooth : 
 add one teaspoon of mixed English mustard, one saltspoon of salt, one-half salt- 
 spoon of white pepper, two dashes of paprika, and two tablespoons of rich cream. 
 Mix thoroughly ; then add enough vinegar to make the dressing of proper con- 
 sistency. 
 
 PREPARATION OF SALADS. 
 
 Almost every kind of vegetable and fruit may be used in the making of 
 salads. Fish, meats, eggs, etc.. are also utilized, sometimes alone and sometimes 
 in combination with some variety of vegetables. Among the vegetables most 
 commonly used are asparagus, lettuce of all kinds, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, 
 celery, cauliflower, endive, green beans as well as lima and black beans, potatoes, 
 onions, peppers, watercress, dandelion leaves, radishes, artichokes, cabbage, and 
 chicory. 
 
 In preparing vegetable salads, the following rules must be observed: 
 
 I. The vegetables must be fresh when obtained and kept in good condition 
 until used. Green salads should be chilled before they are used, to make them 
 crisp. Wrap them in soft clcth and let tliem lie near, but not on the ice. 
 
7^ 
 
 TToMK Making 
 
 2. All vegetables, bul green salads especially, should be washed with great 
 care, to remove all the dirt and other foreign matter. They should not be left 
 too long in the water, however. A brief washing -Nvill help to make them crisp, 
 but if very fresh they require merely to be rinsed thoroughly and dried. 
 
 3. Care must be taken to see that they arc very dry before tlie dressing 
 is added. To do this drain llic salad in the colander; then place it in a clean 
 napkin, holding the latter by (he comers, and shake it lightly initil all the 
 moisture has evaporated. 
 
 4. Do not cut a green salad with a metal knife ; tear it in shreds if the 
 leaves are loo large. Use a wooden fork and spoon when mixing salads. 
 
 Green salads, like lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, etc., are usually served with 
 a French dressing, although mayonnaise or a boiled dressing may be used if 
 desired. Vegetables like cucumbers, beets, black beans, lima beans, onions, 
 watercress, and potatoes do not harmonize so nicely with a mayonnaise or boiled 
 dressing — the French dressing being preferable. Tomatoes are very tasty when 
 served with a horseradish dressing. 
 
 Combination Salads.— Many delicious combinations of flavors may be obtained 
 by combining several vegetables in the salad. Pei)pers and onions may be com- 
 bined delicately with lettuce, cuciunbers, and tomatoes. Celery combines nicely 
 with cabbage, or radish, or apple, or watercress, and, of course, lettuce provides 
 the best foundation for almost -any salad. 
 
 Fruit and Nut Salads — Oranges, grapefruit, bananas, pears, apples, pine- 
 apples, figs, dates, peaches, and Malaga grapes are among the fruits that may be 
 used in making salads, cither with or without the accompaniment of nuts. 
 Grapefruit and alligator pear, with a French dressing, make a very tasty salad ; 
 pineapple with maraschino cherries and nuts is a delicious combination,- or all 
 the fruits may be combined in a single salad, using a small quantity of each. 
 Either the mayonnaise, the salad cream, tlie boiled dressing, or the French dress- 
 ing may be used in the preparation of fruit salads, or if the salad is to serve as 
 a dessert, either strained honey or maple syrup may take the place of the ordi- 
 nary dressing. 
 
 Fish Salad — Any firm, solid fish like cod, halibut, or seabass, may be served 
 in the form of a salad. It may either be boned and served in a salad bowl with 
 lettuce, or boiled and served cold with the dressing in a separate dish. A mayon- 
 naise or salad cream may be used as dressing or a special dressing may be 
 prepared as follows : 
 
 Mash the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs until smooth, add one-half tea- 
 spoonful of made English mustard; mix well; then add one tablespoonful of 
 vinegar, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste, and three tablespoonfuls of. olive oil, 
 drop by drop, working it into the egg thoroughly. Add the raw yolk of one egg 
 •and beat until light, and finally the juice of half a lemon. If the flavor is not 
 objectionable, half a clove of garlic, finely minced, should be added with the 
 other seasoning. Care must be taken to mix the ingredients thoroughly, how- 
 ever, for otherwise the dressing will curdle. Serve as soon as cold. Garnish 
 with the sliced whites of the hard-boiled eggs. 
 
 Lobster, crab, shrimp, or oyster salad should always be served with a Tnayon- 
 naise dressing. To make the oyster salad, first boil Hie oysters in their own 
 liquor for five minutes ; then drain and chill before adding the dressing. 
 
 Meat and Poultry Salads — Lamb, veal, pork, chicken, and turkey make the 
 best salads, and should be served with mayonnaise or salad cream dressings. 
 
 Cheese Salads — American dairy, cream, or Neufchatel cheese may be used 
 for salad. If American cheese is used, grate the cheese, mix it with the mayon- 
 naise, adding celery, salt, paprika, and capers as seasoning. Form into small 
 balls. Serve on lettuce leaves, ff one of the other cheeses is preferred, cream 
 the cheese with a little butter, season to taste with chopped parsley, olives, 
 onion, salt, and paprika, form into balls, and serve on lettuce leaves with the 
 dressing over them. 
 
 DESSERTS 
 
 PIES. 
 
 In making pastry it is necessary that all the ingredients shall be as cold 
 as possible and that they be kept so until they are placed in the oven, for it is 
 this sudden change from cold to heat that helps to make the pastry light. Some 
 of the best cooks make pastry the day before it is to be baked, and keep it, in 
 the meantime, in the ice box. They also make use of a marble slab as a pastry- 
 board and a porcelain or glass rolling-pin, because these are more easily kept 
 cold. While it would be wise to follow their example, it is not necessary, as 
 good results can be secured tlnoucjh the use of more commonplace utensils. 
 
Cooking for Small Families "j"] 
 
 Simple Pie Crust — Sift one teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of baking 
 powder with three cups of flour ; into this run lightly, with the hand, one cup of 
 lard and, butter (equal parts), add ice water sufficient to make a firm dough; 
 roll out on a floured ijastry board. 
 
 Rich Pastry -To make very rich pastry use equal quantities of butter and 
 flour. Sift Ih^ Hour thoroughly, and wash the butter well to extract some of the 
 salt. In the last sifting of the flour, add one teaspoon of salt to each three cups 
 of flour, and do not mix any lard with the butler. Use ice water to moisten. 
 When the flour, salt, and water have been mixed thoroughly with a knife, knead 
 it until it is free from lumps, finely moulding it into llie form of a cake, in the 
 centre of which the butter should he placed. Work the dough up around the 
 butter until it is covered; then, roll it out from you with the rolling-pin, con- 
 tinuing until you have a long narrow strip. Take the end farthest from you and 
 fold the dough evenly into three layers ; roll it out again, and repeat the folding 
 and rolling twice more. Continue rolling until the butter is in layers, not 
 luinps and the paste is flaky. Then let it lie in the ice box to chill thoroughly 
 before rolling it for the oven. 
 
 In making pie, cut a pie'ce of the paste one-quarter as large as the pie plate, 
 and roll it to the size desired. Crease the plate; line with the paste; add the 
 filling; cover with a top crust, if necessary, or with crossed strips, if they are 
 required, and bake in a moderate oven. 
 
 APPLE PIE. 
 
 Line the pie plate with paste; pare and slice enough tart apples to fill it, 
 sprinkling granulated sugar and a dusting of nutmeg between each layer of 
 apples. Moisten the edges of the lower crust with ice water; lay on the upper 
 crust, pressing it down securely, and bake until done. This will take from 
 thirty to forty-five minutes, according to the quality of the apples. 
 
 MIXCE PIE. 
 
 When only one or two mince pies arc to be made, it is better to buy the 
 prepared minced meat. The quantities given in the following recipe will make 
 from eight to ten pies, and may be kept all winter if put in an earthen jar and 
 left in a cool place: To one pound of seeded raisins, one pound of currants, the 
 grated rind of two lemons, one-quarter pound of fine chopped orange peel, one- 
 quarter pound finely chopped citron, one pound of sugar, one tablespoon of salt, 
 one and one-half teaspoons of mixed spices, and one teacup of brandy. ^ Mix all 
 the ingredients thoroughly, and let them stand for about ten days, stirring them 
 every day, before using. 
 
 PUMPKIN PIE. 
 
 Stew a small pumpkin over a moderate fire, after cutting it into small pieces 
 and removing the seeds ; when soft, pour ofif any water reinaining and let the 
 pumpkin steam slowly fifteen or twenty minutes longer, guarding against its 
 catching. When done, press through a colander to remove the lumps, and add 
 one jLiuart of rich milk and five eggs to each pint of the strained pumpkin. Add 
 sugar, salt, and ground ginger to taste, and bake without an upper crust. 
 
 FRUIT PIES. 
 
 In making fruit pics, do not put the sugar used in sweetening on top of the 
 pie, but mix it with the fruit that is to be used in filling. If the fruit is very 
 juicy, it may be dusted with flour before the top crust is put 0:1. This will 
 absorb much of the juice. Bake a fruit pie in a steady but moderate oven, for 
 it is necessary that the fruit should cook before the crust has baked. 
 
 RICE PUDDING. 
 
 Wash three tablespoons of rice and put them in one quart of sweet milk, 
 add three tablesjioons of granulated sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, a 
 pinch of salt, and a grating of nutmeg. Put this mixture over the fire and stir 
 until it begins to thicken ; then put it in the oven and bake until nicely browned. 
 
 SIMPLE SUET PUDDING. 
 
 To one cup of finely chopped beef suet, add one cup of molasses, one cup of 
 raisins, one cup of currants, and one cup of sweet milk. Mix one level teaspoon 
 of soda with a little water; stir this in; add flour enough to make a stiff dough; 
 stir for a few minutes and steam for three hours. 
 
 Sauce — Blend one cup of sugar with one tablespoon of butter; add one well- 
 beaten egg; season with vanilla to taste, and add boiling water, stirring cease- 
 lessly, until the sauce is smooth. 
 
78 
 
 Home Making 
 
 BROWN BETTY. 
 
 Melt three tablespoons of sugar and mix with two cups of fine breadcrumbs. 
 Grease a baking dish ; put a layer of breadcrumbs in the bottom ; then a layer 
 of stewed apples ; tlicn repeat until the dish is filled, making the last layer one 
 of crumbs. Dot the top with bits of butler and bake. 
 
 COTTAGE PUDDING. 
 
 Sift two cups of flour, one-half teaspoon of salt, and two teaspoons of baking 
 powder together; add one teacup of granulated sugar and one beaten egg, and 
 mix to a batter, adding the necessary quantity of milk (about one cup). Bake 
 in a buttered pan for thirty minutes or a trifle less. Serve with hard sauce. 
 
 Hard Sauce — Cream one-quarter cup of butter with one-half cup of powdered 
 sugar and one tablespoonful of boiling water, adding the sugar and water little 
 by little. When thoroughly blended flavor to taste with vanilla or sherry wine. 
 
 CAKE. 
 
 The one secret in cake baking is in obtaining accurate measurements and in 
 following literally the method of mixing given in the recipe. 
 
 In cake recipes the term "cup" invariably means a standard half pint 
 measure level full, and the use of the term "spoon," as teaspoon, tablespoon, 
 etc., means the spoon of the stated size level full. When it is necessary to use 
 half a spoonful of any ingredient, it is best to measure it in one of the spoons 
 that come for that purpose, although an ordinary spoon may be used if great 
 care is taken to make the measurements lengthwise. 
 
 There are three different methods of mixing mentioned in cake recipes, (i) 
 "Stirring" is the same thing as "creaming." When stirring, the bowl of the 
 spoon is not lifted from the batter until the work of mixing is completed, except 
 for the few seconds when it is raised to scrape the sides of the bowl. (2) 
 "Beating," which is designed to break up the air cells, must be done rapidly and 
 vigorously, for the more conscientiously the batter is beaten the lighter the cake 
 will be. (3) ''Folding," on the other hand, accomplishes a very different pur- 
 pose, for it is designed to incorporate ingredients into the batter without dis- 
 turbing the air cells. To do this, the batter must be lifted from the bottom of 
 the bowl and folded over as lightly as possible. This method is generally used 
 when^ the whites of eggs are to be mixed into the batter. 
 
 See that all the ingredients used in making the cake are the best obtainable, 
 and remember that pastry flour will make a lighter and better cake than ordinary 
 flour. The oven also must be in the right condition, for, once the cake is mixed, 
 there must be no delay in baking it. If patent cake pans are used, it will not 
 be necessary to grease them ; if not, the pans should be greased with imsalted 
 fat. In baking loaf cake the bottom of the pan may be lined with greased paper. 
 
 Remove the cake from the pan as soon as it is taken from the oven and 
 place it on a patent cake cooler, or on a wire sieve, that the air may circulate 
 around it freely. Do not put it in a draught or in a room that is cooler than the 
 kitchen. If this rule is not heeded the cake may fall. 
 
 POOR MAN'S CAKE. 
 
 Beat one egg and one cup of sugar until light; add one cup of milk, two 
 tablespoons of melted butter, and one teaspoon of flavoring extract. Sift two 
 cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking powder together twice; add the liquid 
 to the flour, and beat vigorously. Bake about forty-five minutes in a moderate 
 oven. 
 
 LAYER CAKE. 
 
 Beat two eggs with one cup of sugar until light: add one-half cup of milk; 
 two cups of flour with which one-quarter teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of 
 baking powder have been sifted together twice; then one teaspoon of flavoring 
 extract. Bake in layer tins about twenty minutes. Put together with any filling 
 preferred. 
 
 BUTTERMILK CAKE. 
 
 Beat one-half cup of butter to a cream; add one and one-half cups of sugar, 
 sifted fine, and beat butter and sugar together; add the yolks of two eggs, and 
 beat until light. Dissolve one-quarter teaspoon of baking soda in one cup of 
 buttermilk; add the milk to the eggs and butter; then, gradually, add the sifted 
 flour, and heat till smooth; add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiflf fmth; 
 bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. 
 
 ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR CAKE. 
 
 Beat one cup of butter to a cream: add two cups of sugar; beat unti? light; 
 beat four eggs very light and add them gradually to the butter and sugar, beatmg 
 vigorously; add three cups of sifted flour and beat again until very light. Bake 
 in a moderate oven about one hour and a quarter. 
 
Cooking for Small Families 
 
 MOLASSES CAKE. 
 
 79 
 
 Dissolve one teaspoon of baking soda in boiling- water and mix it with one 
 cup of molasses. Melt two tablespoons of butter; add to the molasses, and pour 
 in gradually one cup of boiling water; mix well, and add gradually three cups 
 of flour, biating well before adding one teaspoon of ground ginger. Beat until 
 smooth, and bake for thirty minutes in a moderate oven. 
 
 ICE CREAM. 
 
 Beat one egg and mix with one pint of ri(;h milk and one-half pint of cream; 
 add sugar enough to make the mixture very sweet ; then add the flavoring and 
 freeze. 
 
 ORANGE ICE. 
 
 Boil one pint of water and pour it over one-half pound of sugar. When the 
 latter has dissolved, pour tlie syrup over the juice of tliree oranges and one 
 lemon. Let it stand for thirty minutes, then strain and freeze. 
 
 MOUSSE. 
 
 Soak one heaping teaspoon of gelatine in one-fourth cuj) of cold milk, dis- 
 solving by placing the mixture over hot water. When cool, strain it into one 
 pint of cream already beaten to a froth and to which one-half cup of powdered 
 sugar has been added. Flavor to taste, and freeze by packing the mixture in a 
 mould covered with salt and ice. 
 
 BREAKFAST DISHES 
 
 CORNED BEEF HASH. 
 
 Chop enough cold corned beef to make three cupfuls; boil four potatoes, 
 when cold, cut them into tiny cubes ; mince two medium-sized onions. Mix all 
 these together in a greased frying pan ; season with salt and pepper to taste, and 
 cook until nicely browned. 
 
 LAMB'S KIDNEY STEW. 
 
 Remove the skins and cut the kidneys into thin slices, put them in a frying 
 pan with one tablespoon of butter to each five kidneys ; season with salt, pepper, 
 and a suggestion of nutmeg. When the kidneys have browned nicely, stir in one 
 teaspoon of flour; when smooth, add one coffee cup of soup stock. Stir until the 
 mixture thickens a little. Serve plain or oh toasted bread. 
 
 FRIED LIVER. 
 
 Slice calf's liver about one-third of an inch in thickness. Have a frying pan 
 in which the grease is at least two inches deep. When the fat has become very 
 hot, drop the liver into it and cook until each slice has browned sufficiently. 
 Season with salt and pepper. By cooking the liver in deep fat all the juices are 
 retained in the meat, whereas when cooked on a griddle they stew out, leaving 
 the meat dry and tasteless. 
 
 FRIED BEEF IN CREAM. 
 
 Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan ; blend with it one tablespoon of 
 flour; add one-half pint of milk, stir until it thickens; then add the beef, simmer 
 for five minutes ; season with salt and pepper to taste. 
 
 BROILED TRIPE. 
 
 Cut three-quarters of a pound of honeycomb tripe into good-sized pieces. 
 Make a sauce by mixing one tablespoonful of olive oil with the juice of one 
 lemon, one saltspoonful of salt, one-half saltspoonful of pepper, a few drops of 
 onion juice, and one bay leaf crushed into bits. Cover the tripe with the sauce 
 and stand for two hours, then drain the tripe almost dry and broil on both sides. 
 Serve with melted butter, to which the juice of lemon and a little Worcestershire 
 sauce have been added. 
 
 FINNAN HADDIE. 
 
 Rub the fish clean with a moist cloth, but do not put it in water unless the 
 smoky taste is objectionable, in which case it may be soaked in cold water for 
 thirty minutes. Broil until browned nicely. Serve it with melted butter and 
 lemon juice. 
 
8o Home AIakinc 
 
 Another way to prepare finnan haddie is to parboil the fish and separate the 
 flesh from the bones. Make a sauce, using one pint of cream to two tablcspoon- 
 fuls of butter, the well beaten yolks of two eggs, three hard-boiled eggs chopped 
 fine, one tablespoonful of grated cheese (Edam cheese, if possible), and salt and 
 pepper to taste. Mix the fish and sauce, heat thorouglily, and serve with toasted 
 bread. 
 
 CODFISH P.ALLS. 
 
 Cut enough raw potato to make one cupful ; shred enough codfish to fill 
 one and a half cups. If the fish is very salt put it into a colander and let water 
 run through it for a few minutes. Cook the potatoes until tender, then mash 
 them, and mix with the fish, being careful to see that no lumps of potato remain. 
 Add one tablespoonful of butter, one-half teaspoonful of pepper, and one beaten 
 egg, and beat the mixture until very light. Drop from the spoon into hot fat 
 and brown on both sides. 
 
 BAKED FISH AND POTATOES. 
 
 Boil three wliite potatoes ; when done mash them ; season with salt and pep- 
 per and add enough milk to make the mixture the consistence of heavy cream. 
 Soak enough salt codfish to fill one coffee cup when shredded. Mix the fish with 
 the mashed potato ; put in a buttered dish, and bake until browned on top. 
 
 ESCALLOPED FISH. 
 
 Take left-over fish, like halibut, bluefish, shad, salmon, etc. : pick to pieces, 
 and put in a greased baking dish, with alternate layers of crumbled bread. Sea- 
 son each layer with butter, pepper, and salt, and moisten all with milk or cream.- 
 See that the last layer is of bread, that the top may brown. Bake in a moderate 
 oven. 
 
 CREAMED HERRIXG. 
 
 Take smoked herring — or bloaters — cover them with milk ; boil until tender. 
 Remove the back bone and all the smaller bones that are attached to it. Dis- 
 card the milk ; place the herring in a shallow baking dish. Cover them with 
 cream, and brown the top of the cream in the oven. 
 
 SALT MACKEREL IN CREAM. 
 
 Salt mackerel is also good when baked in cream. Soak the fish as desired. 
 Place it in a shallow baking dish ; cover with cream and brown in the oven. 
 
 POACHED EGGS. 
 
 Use a shallow pan and see that- the water is boiling and properly salted. 
 Drop the eggs, one at a time, in muflSn rings placed in the water and cook 
 until the whites have set. Serve on slices of buttered toast.- 
 
 SCRAMBLED EGGS. 
 
 Beat three eggs lightly ; add three tablespoons of cream and pepper and salt 
 to taste. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan; pour -in the eggs, and stir 
 until the mixture has commenced to thicken ; then move a little further from 
 the heat, and continue to stir until the eggs have set. Serve on slices of 
 toasted bread. 
 
 OMELET. 
 
 There is nd better recipe for omelet than that given by M. Soyer, the cele- 
 brated chef: 
 
 Break four eggs into a basin, add half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter of 
 a teaspo n of pepper, and beat them well up with a fork. Put into the frying 
 pan one and one-haif ounces of butter, lard or oil; place it on the fire, and when 
 hot pour in the egg.= , and keep on mixing them with a spoon until they are 
 delicately set ; then let them slip to the edge of the pan, laying hold by the 
 handle and raising it slantwise, which will give an elongated form to the omelet; 
 turn in the edges; let it -rest a moment to set, turn it over on a dish and serve. 
 
 An omelet made in this way may be filled with ham, tongue, kidneys, chicken, 
 chickens' livers, mushrooms, oysters, little necTc clams, or almost any other mix- 
 ture that may be [jreferred. 
 
 To make a Spanish omelet, mince finely enough ham to half fill a teacup; 
 add two small, finely chopped onions, one-half cup of tomato, one-third of a 
 minced green pepper from which the seeds have been extracted, six or eight 
 sliced button mushrooms, one heajiing tables[)oon of cold green peas, etc. Heat 
 all ingredients together, season with salt, pepper, paprika, and butter to taste. 
 Use a filling for the omelet. 
 
 Sweet omelets are plain omelets filled with preserve or jam and dusted with 
 powdered sugar. 
 
Cooking foi^ Small I-"amilies 8i 
 
 SOME SUPPER DISHES 
 
 A BEDSPREAD FOR TWO. 
 
 Beat lightly six eggs (whites and yolks together) in a small bowl; in another 
 Ijovvl cut twelve medium-sized oysters into moderately large pieces. Heat a 
 saucepan, or the chafing dish; rub the bottom liberally with anchovy paste; melt 
 a heaping tablespoon of butter, and scramble the eggs ; when nearly set add 
 the oysters, and cook two or three minutes longer. Serve on slices of buttered 
 toast that have been spread with anchovy paste. 
 
 TOMATO AND EGGS. 
 
 Chop one onion and one-half a green pepper (extracting all, the seeds) ; fry 
 in one heaping tablespoon of butter; add four ripe tomatoes (or one small can), 
 being careful to pour away as much of the juice from the pulp as possible ; cook 
 live minutes; add pepper and salt to taste, »nc-half cup of strong American 
 cheese, grated; when the cheese has melted ad<l two beaten eggs; scramble them 
 in the mixture, and serve on slices of buttered toast. 
 
 DEVILED LOBSTER. 
 
 Boil one live lobster; when cool, extract the meat and cliop it finely; season 
 to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika. Heat one-half pint of cream and one- 
 half pint of milk in a double boiler; thicken with flour and butter. When the 
 milk and cream have thickened sufficiently, add one teaspoon of dry English 
 mustard and two dashes of cayenne pepper to the lobster meat ; mix the latter 
 with the sauce ; cook slowly for tvventy minutes. When done, return to the 
 shells ; cover the top with rolled crumbs and melted butter ; bake until brown 
 in a quick oven. 
 
 LOBSTER A LA NEWBURG. 
 
 Extract the meat from one freshly boiled lobster; cut it into one-inch pieces 
 and place it in a saucepan or chafing dish, wfth one heaping tablespoon of butter; 
 season with one-half saltspoon of salt and one-(|uarter saltspoon of cayenne 
 pepper; cook for five minutes; then add one wineglass of sherry or Madeira 
 wine ; cook three minutes longer ; add two yolks of eggs that have been beaten 
 up with one-half teacup of rich cream ; shuffle gently until the mixture thickens ; 
 serve verv hot. 
 
 REFORAI CLUB CURRY. 
 
 Slice two medium-sized onions and fry them in one heaping tablespoon of 
 butter; when brown add one pint of cold meat, chicken, or salmon, cut into 
 pieces the size of a walnut ; cover with half a tablespoon of curry powder ; add 
 one-half teaspoon of salt, one teacup of stock; stew gently two hours, if meat 
 is used, one and one-half hours for chicken, and three-quarters of an hour for 
 salmon. Just before serving add the juice of one-half a lemon. 
 
 EGGS WITH ONIONS. 
 
 Slice three large Bermuda onions and one-half a green pepper into small 
 pieces; fry them in melted butter until the onions have browned. Season with 
 salt and pepper ; add two beaten eggs ; scramble them and pour the mixture 
 on slices of toasted bread. If desired, they may be further garnished with 
 slices of bacon. 
 
 WELSH RABBIT. 
 
 Cut one pound of full cream American cheese into small pieces. Melt a 
 piece of butter the size of a walnut in the chafing dish ; add the cheese, and 
 stir until it, too, has melted. Lower the light beneath the chafing dish about 
 one-half; add one tablespoon of dry English mustard, two dashes of cayenne 
 pepper, and one well-beaten egg, and continue stirring until the mixture is 
 creamy, but do not let it boil ; then add half a glass of stale ale or beer, and 
 one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce; stir until the ale stops foaming. Serve 
 on slices of toasted bread. 
 
 Another Way of Serving — After the rabbit has been poured upon the toasted 
 bread, place the platter containing it in the broiler of the gas range and let it 
 stay until the top of the cheese has browned delicately. This much improves 
 the appearance of the rabbit. 
 
 CAMEMBERT CHEESE TOAST. 
 Spread the necessary number of slices of toasted bread with ripe Camem- 
 bert cheese; dust the top with paprika (lightly or generously, as taste may 
 dictate) ; place in the broiler of the gas range until the top of the cheese has 
 browned. 
 
82 Home Making 
 
 EGGS L'AURORE. 
 
 Melt one heaping tablespoon of butter in a saucepan; add one tablespoon 
 of flour and stir until smooth ; add one cup of rich cream : beat thoroughly ; 
 then add one cup of full cream American cheese that has been cut into small 
 pieces, as if for a rabbit. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In a greased 
 baking dish break as many eggs as will be required, allowing one or two eggs 
 for each person. Be careful to keep the yolks whole, and add a dusting of 
 salt to each egg. Pour carefully over the eggs the cheese mi.xture, and bake in 
 a quick oven until the top has browned. 
 
 CHILI COLOROW (Mexican RECIPE). 
 
 To one quart of boiled tomatoes add one finely chopped onion, two table- 
 spoons of granulated sugar, one tablespoon of prepared ground Spanish pepper, 
 and one saltspoon of salt. Stew slowly twenty minutes. If too dry, add a 
 little water. 
 
 CHACHAU. 
 
 Boil enough rice to make one pint when soft; mix with it one-half can 
 
 of tomatoes; dice two slices of salt pork; fry them three minutes in the 
 
 frying pan ; add the rice and tomatoes, with one tablespoon of minced red 
 
 pepper, and simmer until the pork is done. Season to taste with salt and 
 pepper. 
 
 SCOTCH WOODCOCK. 
 
 Scrarnble the necessary number of eggs ; season with butter, pepper, salt, 
 and paprika; serve on slices of toasted bread that have already been spread 
 generously with anchovy or bloater paste. 
 
 UTILIZING LEFT-OVERS 
 
 CHICKEN CROQUETTES. 
 Chop one small onion fine, fry in one tablespoon of butter, add one-half 
 tablespoon of flour, stir one minute ; add the chopped chicken meat, enough 
 ijroth to moisten, and season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir 
 this mixture two minutes, then remove from the fire ; add the beaten yolk of 
 one or two eggs, according to the quantity of chicken; mix thoroughly; add 
 a few chopped button mushrooms; roll in breadcrumbs and beaten egg, and 
 fry until brown. 
 
 BEEF CROQUETTES. 
 
 Chop enough lean roast beef fine to make two cupfuls. Blend one table- 
 spoon of butter and two tablespoons of flour in a saucepan ; add two teacups 
 of milk to which a pinch of baking soda has been added. When smooth and 
 beginning to thicken, add the meat; season with salt, pepper, paprika, and 
 white pepper. Make a batter, using one cup of flour, one beaten egg, one cup 
 of milk, and one teaspoon of baking powder. _ Mix the' meat with the batter, 
 add one tablespoon of minced parsley ; drop into deep fat ; fry until browa. 
 
 LAMB SAVORY. 
 
 Chop enough lean cold Iamb to fill one cup. Melt one tablespoon of butter 
 in a frying pan; add one-half teaspoonful of dry mustard and one-half tablespoon 
 of flour; mi.x thoroughly, and add one-half cup of soup stock and three 
 tablespoons of cream. Let boil up and cook for five minutes ; then add the 
 chopped meat and one hard-boiled egg, the yolk being mashed smooth and 
 the whites cut into small pieces. Season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika, 
 and Worcestershire. Serve on slices of buttered toast. 
 
 BROILED BEEF. 
 Cut cold rare roast beef in thick slices ; season with salt, pepper, and 
 onion juice; brush them with the white of egg; roll in breadcrumbs, and broil 
 until brown. Serve with horseradish sauce ; beat four tablespoons of cream 
 stiff and blend with it two tablespoons of horseradish already mixed with one 
 tablespoon of vinegar ; season with salt and pepper. 
 
 BEEF POTPIE. 
 Cut cold roast beef in small pieces and put it in the frying pan with one 
 sliced onion, two strips of fat bacon cut into small pieces, two potatoes cut into 
 dice, a cofTee cup of soup stock or meat gravy, and seasoning to taste. Cook 
 slowly until the potatoes are tender ; then put in a baking dish, cover with 
 biscuit crust, and bake until the crust is done. If desired, the sauce may be 
 thickened by the addition of a little flour and water before it is placed in the 
 baking dish. 
 
Cooking for Small Families 83 
 
 BAKED HASH. 
 
 Run the cold beef, either from steak or roast, through the meat chopper ; 
 mix with it an equal quantity of mashed potato; add one sliced onion; season 
 with butter, salt, and pepper to taste ; add milk or cream to thin ; place the 
 mixture in a baking dish ; pour three tablespoons of tomato catsup over it ; 
 cover the top with bread crumbs; brown in a quick oven. 
 
 OXFORD JOHN MUTTOX (OLD EXGLISH RECIPE). 
 
 Melt one tablespoon of butter in a stewpan : add one cup of cold mutton 
 cut in small, thin pieces; season to taste with salt, pepper, thyme, and mace, 
 one small chopped onion, and one tablespoon minced parsley. ' Fry until Ijoth 
 meat and onion have browned; then cover with the left-over gravy; thicken 
 with one tablespoon of butter that has been mixed with one tablespoon of 
 flour; add one tablespoon of red currant jelly; cook for five minutes longer. 
 
 MOCK VEXISON. 
 
 Fry one chopped onion in one tablespoon of butter; when slightly browned 
 add one tablespoon of white wine vinegar, one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 
 one tablespoon red currant jelly, one teacup of water, and salt and pepper to 
 taste. Place thinly cut slices of cold mutton in this sauce; cook slowly for ten 
 minutes, and serve. 
 
 STEWED VEAL. 
 
 Make a rich white sauce, using one cupful of good milk or cream, thickening 
 it with one tablespoon of flour mixed with two tablespoons of butter. When the 
 blend is perfect, place the thinly cut slices of cold veal in the sauce, adding six 
 or eight sliced button mushrooms and one heaping tablespoon of minced parsley. 
 Simmer until the meat has heated through. 
 
 SAUTE OF DUCK. 
 
 Put one-half cup of left-over duck gravy in a saucepan with two table- 
 spoons of red currant jelly, two tablespoons of tomato catsup, three tablespoons 
 of chopped olives, one tablespoon of butter with which one level teaspoon of 
 cornstarch has been blended. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika. 
 When the sauce begins to thicken add the leftover meat and cook slowly for 
 five minutes. 
 
 BAKED EGGS. 
 
 Drop one or three eggs in a small baking dish: season with butter, pepper, 
 and salt ; cover the top with grated cheese, and bake in the oven until browned. 
 
 FRUIT SHORTCAKE. 
 
 Sift two cups of flour with one and one-half teaspoons of baking powder; 
 add one-half tablespoon of lard, and enough sweet milk to make a dough. Bake 
 in a cake until the crust has browned nicely ; then split it through the centre, 
 spread each piece generously with butter, and serve, one on top of the other, 
 with the well-sweetened fresh fruit — strawberries, blackberries, peaches, or other 
 fruit — piled upon each. 
 
 DRINKS 
 
 COFFEE. 
 
 To make "a good cup of coffee" it is first necessary to purchase good coffee, 
 and in this respect the best is not too good. The best results are usually 
 obtained by using a mixture of Mocha and Java, but Mocha is generally used 
 alone when ''after-dinner coffee" is to be made in a percolator. 
 
 After-Dinner Coffee. — To make coffee by percolation, fill the upper recep- 
 tacle of the French coffee pot with Mocha coffee, finely ground, and fill the 
 lower compartment with water. Light the lamp, and as the water heats the 
 steam that is generated will rise to the upper receptacle. When it condenses, 
 as it soon will, it returns, carrying with it all the flavors and aromas of the 
 coff'ee. 
 
 After-dinner coffee may be made in an ordinary coffee pot. LTse finely 
 ground coffee in proportions of two tablespoons of coffee to each cup of water. 
 If the pot has a strainer, or upper part, place the coft'ee in this section and 
 pour the freshly boiling water over it two or three times. Then set the pot 
 
84 
 
 Home Making 
 
 vyhere it will remain at the boiling point, without hoilinp; rapidly, until the 
 liquid has attained sufficient strength. Always serve after-dinner coffee in small 
 cups, and without sugar or cream, unless they are requested. 
 
 Breakfast Coltee. — Grind the coffee fine, without pulverizing it, using two 
 tablespoons of cottee to three cups of water. Add the water cold, and let it 
 come to a boil, but when it has boiled for two minutes remove it a little further 
 from the fire that it may stand for two minutes longer without boiling. Then 
 add half a cup of cold water to settle it and let it stand three or four minutes 
 before serving. 
 
 Turkij-h ColTce.— If Turkish coffee is used, pulverize the ben lis and allow 
 three heaping teaspoons and tlie same i|uantity of granulated sugar to each half 
 pint of boiling water, mixing the coffee and sugar thoroughly before pouring the 
 water over them. Let the mi.xture boil up three times, removing the pot each 
 time that the boiling may not continue more than a moment. Serve without 
 straining. 
 
 TEA. 
 
 Tea should be made in an earthen pot, if possible. See that the water is 
 freshly boiling; scald the pot just before it is used; put in the tea leaves in 
 proportions of two teaspoons of tea to each pint of water and pour the boiling 
 water over it. Set the pot where the- tea can keep hot without boiling, and let 
 it stand for fully five minutes, or longer, if a stronger beverage is desired. 
 
 CHOCOLATE. 
 
 Put two squares Ctwo ounces) of unsweetened chocolate in the top of a 
 double boiler with four tables])oons of cold water and four teaspoons of sugar. 
 When the chocolate has melted, add three cups of milk, little by little, and cook 
 to a boiling point. Then beat the mixture until it is quite foamy, sweetening to 
 taste, and adding a little vanilla extract, if desired. In serving it, the appearance 
 of the beverage is made more attractive if a little whipped cream is placed on 
 top of each cup. 
 
 COCOA. 
 
 Place two tablespoons of cocoa in a saucepan, with two teaspoons of sugar, 
 and add one-half cup of boiling water and cook until the cocoa has melted, 
 stirring almost constantly. Add one and one-half cups of boiling water and two 
 cups of boiling milk; cook live minutes: sweeten to taste; serve with cream. 
 
 COCOA FROM SHELLS^ 
 
 Soak three-quarters of a teacup of cocoa shells in one pint of cold water 
 about eight hours ; then boil them steadily, in the same water, for one hour. 
 In serving, mix with boiling milk and sweeten to taste. 
 
 LEMONADE. 
 
 Take the rind of two lemons and the juice of three lemons; one-half pound 
 of loaf sugar, and one quart of boiling water. Rub some of the lumps of sugar 
 over two of the lemons until they have extracted all the oil from the skin : then 
 put them with the remainder of the sugar into saucepan, add the lemon juice, 
 from which all seeds have been removed, and pour in a quart of boiling w-ater. 
 Keep over the fire for two or three minutes, without boiling, and when the 
 sugar has entirely dissolved strain through muslin and cool. If desired, the 
 white of one egg may be beaten up with each quart of lemonade. It is an 
 improvement. 
 
 QUICK LEMONADE. 
 
 Allow the juice of one lemon and two tablespoons of sugar to each half pint 
 of water, or more sugar may be added as desired. Ice thoroughly. Some per- 
 sons add a little raspberry syrup, claret, or port wine to lemonade. 
 
 ORANGEADE. 
 
 Rub the oil from four oranges upon loaf sugar and extract the juice from 
 eight oranges. Place the skins in half a pint of water, pressing them firmly to 
 extract further juice and oil. Mix this water with the sugar and orange juice, 
 and if not sour enough add lemon iuice to taste. The iiroper proportions of 
 sugar is about one-half pound to each (|uart of orangeade. 
 
Cooking for Small Families 8$ 
 
 PRESERVING AND PICKLING 
 
 TO CAX I'KUIT. 
 
 Fill jars witli fiuit that has been proi)cily waslud and peeled, and set them 
 on a rack in a sleanur ov other large pan, surrounding tlieni with warm water 
 up to within a few inches fiom the top of tlic jais. Cover, hut do not screw 
 down the covers, and cook for lifteen minutes after the boiling i>oint has been 
 reached. Then remove the covers from the jars one at a time; till them with 
 boiling syrup; cover, and when the jars have coolctl sufficiently seal as lightly 
 as possible. 
 
 Fruit selected for canning should be almost but not quite ripe, and the 
 utensils used should be of the newest and best types. Glass jars with glass 
 tops and patent fasteners should be secured, and care should be taken to see 
 that new bands are provided for each jar, and absolute cleanliness must be ob- 
 served' in every detail of the work. The jars, tops, rubber bands, etc., shoidd 
 be sterilized before they are used, and every effort should be made to keep the 
 fruit covered, either with the glass tops or with pieces of glass, while cooling. 
 
 The Syrups— For sweet fruits, like cherries, pears, peaches, strawberries, 
 sweet plums, blackberries, etc., use one pound of sugar to each quart of water. 
 
 For currants, sour cherries, crabapples, plums, etc., use one pound of sugar 
 to each one and one-half pints of water. 
 
 Bring the syrup to the boiling point ; then cook from fifteen to twenty 
 minutes, without stirring. When finally sealed keep all jars of fruit in a dark, 
 cool place. 
 
 TO MAKE JELLIES. 
 
 From large fruit, like apple, peach, quince, etc.— Slice the well-washed fruit 
 without peeling it, except in the case of peaches, which should be peeled. Put 
 it in a preserving kettle, witli enough water to almost cover the fruit. Simmer 
 imtil it becomes tender and t! j juice flows freely; then remove from the fire, 
 crush in a vegetable press, and (Irip through a iiannel bag, but do not try to 
 force the jviice by scjueezing the bag, as this will result in cloudy jelly. When 
 all the juice has been extracted, measure it, and to each pint allow one pound 
 of granulated sugar, but do not add the sugar at this time. Instead, heat the 
 sugar separately, return the juice to the preserving kettle, bring it to a boil 
 quickly, and cook for twenty minutes; then skim; add the sugar; bring to a 
 boil once more, and cook rapidly for two minutes. Fill the jelly glasses at once, 
 holding a silver spoon in eacli as it is filled to prevent cracking. Cover securely 
 when cold. 
 
 From small fruit, like grapes, cherries, currants, etc. — Wash and pick over 
 the fruit carefully. If currants are used and a light-colored jelly is desired, 
 remove all stems. Put in a preserving kettle in the bottom of which a plate 
 has been placed to prevent the possiblity of the fruit "catching." Crush the 
 fiuit with a wooden masher to liberate the juices, and when the juices flow 
 freely, squeeze through a press and strain through flannel. Then proceed as 
 W'ith large fruits. 
 
 To Cover Jelly — There are three common methods of covering jelly tum- 
 blers: (i> Dip a piece of paper in alcohol; place it on top of the tumbler as 
 soon as the jelly is cold; put on the tin cover and force it down firmly, (j) 
 Cut a piece of paper large enough to allow it to overlap the top of the tumbler 
 at least one-half an inch on all sides; dip the paper in slightly beaten white of 
 egg; cover the glass as soon as the jelly cools and press down the paper until 
 it adheres firmly. (3) When the jelly has become cold, cover the top with 
 melted paraffine wax to a thickness of one-third of an itich. 
 
 TO MAKE JAM. 
 
 From Large Fruit — Peel and stone, or core, the fruit ; put it in a preserving 
 kettle, and heat very slowly to the boiling point; then boil forty-five minutes; 
 add the sugar — allow three-quarters of a pound of granulated sugar to each 
 pound of fruit, weighed before cooking — and cook five minutes lariger. Seal, 
 while still very hot, in jars or glasses. 
 
 From Small Fruit — Stem, hull, or stone the fruit ; put it over the fire in a 
 preserving kettle; bring to a boil slowly; then cook for one hour, stirring frequently 
 to prevent sticking or burning. Add the sugar — allowing tliree-quarters of a pound 
 of fruit ; boil twenty minutes, and seal in jars while hot. 
 
 PICKLED PEACHES. 
 
 Put two quarts of cider vinegar in a preserving kettle with seven pounds 
 of sugar and two tablespoons each of ground cloves and cinnamon tied in a 
 
86 Home Making 
 
 muslin bag. When it conies to a boil add seven pounds of washed but unpeeled 
 peaches and cook until the fruit is tender. When done, stick tlie peaches with 
 whole cloves, put them in the bottom of an earthen crock, and cover them with 
 the hot syrup. 
 
 SPICED GRAPES. 
 
 Pulp seven pounds of Concord grapes ; cook the pulp and skins until soft ; 
 put them through a fine sieve ; then add four and one-half pounds of granulated 
 sugar, one pint of cider vinegar, two level tablespoons of ground cinnamon, and 
 two level tablespoons of ground cloves. Bring to a boil; then cook slowly for 
 one and one-half hours. Put in an earthen crock when cool. 
 
 If currants are to be spiced, use five pounds of sugar instead of four and one- 
 half pounds. 
 
 SUPERIOR CHOW-CHOW. 
 
 Cut si.x large onions, one head of cabbage, two quarts of green tomatoes, 
 one dozen medium-sized cucumbers, and six green peppers into small pieces; 
 add two quarts of whole button onions; pack them down in one pint of salt 
 to stay all night. In the morning strain off the water. In the preserving 
 kettle put one gallon of cider vinegar, add one-half pint of freshly grated horse- 
 radish, one-quarter pnund of mustard seed, two ounces of celery seed, one- 
 half teacup of ground black pepper, and two pounds of brown sugar. Bring 
 the mi.xture to a boil, and while li^t pour it over the vegetables. Strain off the 
 liquid, reheat it, and pour it back again for three mornings. The third morn- 
 ing mix with the strained liquor one large bux of English mustard (25-cent size), 
 with one-quarter pint of pure olive oil, and boil all together fir twenty minutes. 
 Pour over the chow-chow again, and keep in an earthen crock. It will remain 
 good for months and makes a splendid relish. 
 
 RAW PICKLED PEPPERS. 
 
 Cut the raw green peppers in quarters or eighths, remove the seeds and 
 white pith and pack solidly in jars, jilake a liquid by mi.xing vinegar and water 
 with sugar and salt in proportion of one tablespoon of salt and two tablespoons 
 of sugar to two-thirds of a quart of vinegar and one-third of a quart of water. 
 Pour this, without heating it, into the jars until they overflow; then seal tightly. 
 This makes an easily made, inexpensive, and excellent pickle. 
 
 PROBLEMS OF THE HOME 
 
 THE YOUNG MOTHER 
 
 DID you ever think that the main prop of a baby's health is 
 good nerves? A normal baby, so long as its nerves are 
 not taxed, is a healthy little animal, and nobody hears a 
 kitten making night vocal wailing for its unattainable. This is the 
 secret of the success of most old grandmothers who are good nurses 
 — they know that in nine cases out of ten there is no reason to worry. 
 This being so, the young mother should attend to her own health 
 before any possible other thing except the baby, and it is the 
 shortest way of looking after the baby. She should be out of doors, 
 in the sunshine, among pleasant surroundings as much as she can, 
 and keep the baby where it will get all the fresh air there is to be 
 had. In brief, both baby and mother should for the time live as 
 close to primitive conditions as possible. 
 
 Housekeeping will not interfere unless it is allowed to in the 
 majority of cases. If necessary, simplify the housekeeping to the 
 barest necessaries. Any average man would rather have a contented 
 wife and a happy, healthy baby without frills on either, and also 
 frillless housekeeping than perfect meals and service at the price 
 
Problems of the Home 87 
 
 of nerves. And the housekeeping of any woman with a young baby 
 who undertakes to do all the things she did before the baby arrived 
 will be very far from perfect. 
 
 The baby ought to sleep' about eighteen hours a day for the 
 first few months, and it ought to sleep all it feels disposed to for 
 the first few years. Some children need more sleep than others. 
 They will show you this, unassisted, if they are let alone. 
 
 The rule most often and disastrously broken in the life of a 
 young baby is "Don't let the baby rule you." This is not sayin^^ 
 that the habits of the family should not be thoroughly adjusted to 
 the baby and his health and content made the prime consideration 
 — but don't let him know it. It is all right to cuddle him now and 
 then and rock him to sleep now and then, but don't let him demand 
 it. If the mother is unfortunate enough not to have a home of her 
 own, she should not worry too much about the baby's crying dis-. 
 turbing other people. He is bound to cry enough for that anyhow 
 if he is a normal child. They can learn to sleep through his occa- 
 sional howls easier than he will unlearn the habit of crying whenever 
 he takes it into his little head that he wants attention. In the end 
 he will cry much less often than if too much pains are taken to 
 arrest his first whimper. If he learns that mother will take him up 
 and pet him when she finds him laughing and happy, he will be a 
 more comfortable baby to live with, and his digestion will be better 
 than if he can only get anything by screaming for it. 
 
 The preparation of the baby's milk and the baby's bath ought 
 to be according to the formula prescribed by the doctor, and not 
 one iota of that formula should be changed. The doctor has studied 
 more babies than any ordinary woman ever sees unless she is a 
 trained nurse. 
 
 Some people try to keep the baby's milk warm to save heating 
 it during the night, and then wonder what is the matter with his 
 digestion. When a 25-cent alcohol stove will heat the milk in so 
 little lime you have to watch it to keep it from boiling, it seems as 
 if aiiy sensible person would use one. The selection of a cow, if 
 one is fortunate enough to live where one can select, is of some 
 importance. The cow should of course be in perfect condition, and 
 milk experts say that a Holstein is better than any other breed. 
 With proper care, however, any ordinary pure milk will give perfect 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Some people let the baby go on sucking at an empty bottle 
 indefinitely, "because he will howl if we take it away." He will 
 howl worse when his little interior begins to be incommoded with 
 that superfluous air. The practice of giving a baby "something to 
 suck" is pernicious from any point of view. It is dirty, it is un- 
 wholesome, and it spoils the shape of .he. baby's mouth. 
 
88 Home Making 
 
 Babies need a drink of water now and then just as much as 
 grown people,- and they can very early be taught to take a spoonful 
 of water from a spoon. Often a baby cries in hot weather because 
 it is thirsty, but feeding time is not yet, and the conscientious mother 
 feels that she must not anticipate the time, while the unconscien- 
 tious one does it anyhow. The infant escapes the tortures of thirst 
 only to run the risk of indigestion, when a little water would have 
 disposed of the whole difficulty. How would any of us like to be 
 obliged to do without water between meals in summer, or in sum- 
 mer-heated rooms? 
 
 When a baby frets and whimpers a little at night, sometimes 
 all it wants is to be turned over or moved a little. If that will 
 secure peace there is no use in petting and talking or taking the 
 baby up and getting it thoroughly awake. How many times do we 
 ourselves wake up feeling a trifle uncomfortable, turn over to the 
 other side, stretch a little, and go to sleep again? And the baby 
 cannot turn over. It hasn't learned how. 
 
 Another thing prolific of' discomfort is too heavy coverings. 
 The best way is to put the baby to sleep in a fairly warm room 
 that is also well ventilated, without much covering, and what there 
 is ought to be very light. When it gets old enough to kick oiif 
 the covers a roomy sleeping-bag pinned with safety pins to a warm 
 jacket to allow all the ordinai'y kicking any ordinary child wants to 
 do, and open windows besides. Incidentally the baby will not be 
 nearly as susceptible to cold. A perfectly healthy baby, in fact, can 
 sleep close to an open window in winter in all kinds of weather, as 
 one New York baby did in an apartment just off the North River. 
 Indian children don't die of cold. Of course, every bit of covering, 
 sleeping bag, jackets and blankets, should be washable, and well 
 washed often. 
 
 There is one "never" attached to a baby's training besides the 
 all-important "Never let anything about the baby remain for two 
 minutes after you find it out." It is "Never walk with the baby to 
 put him to sleep." It does not put him to sleep, in the first place, 
 any more than being rocked or gently trotted on the knees. It is 
 an acquired habit, and once learned it is as persistent and as terrify- 
 ing as the habit of biting one's nails, 
 
 THE SOCIAL SIDE 
 
 THE question of stationery is far more important to a woman 
 who entertains than it is to a business man — and the choice 
 of stationery is a matter which up-to-date business men con- 
 sider serious. Stationery reveals personal taste to those who are 
 
Problems of the Home 89 
 
 the merest acquaintances, and perfect good form in these details 
 may result in the most valuable friendships. 
 
 The newest visiting cards for women are little heavier than 
 writing paper, and engraved in block type. They have good sense 
 in their favor because they take up little room and are pleasant to 
 handle, and one can carry enough for all possible purposes with- 
 out cramming the card case. 
 
 The English script is used for invitations for coming-out recep- 
 tions or "at homes." The name of the mother, or hostess, of course, 
 appears first, and if there is a sister already out her name may take 
 the next place, followed by that of the debutante on the third line. 
 The usual form of at home cards omits the name of the host, but 
 it is not at all bad form to include it. 
 
 For mnsicales, hunt breakfasts, and the like colonial text is 
 used. Like the colonial script, it is dignified and graceful. The 
 colonial script is used for wedding invitations. 
 
 It is well to have a quantity of cards printed in either shaded 
 colonial or shaded English text, for "general utility cards," bridge 
 parlies, luncheons, and such occasions call for these. The name 
 of the hostess is on the top line, and blanks arc left to be filled in. 
 
 For place cards for luncheons, dinners, and card parties to 
 which men are invited, use cards not more than three and a quarter 
 by two and a quarter inches, of thick, dead white Bristol board 
 with gilded, bevelled edges and rounded corners. At the centre of 
 the top the crest, or coat of arms, if the family has one, may be 
 embossed in white. For women's luncheons or card parties one may 
 use a plain white card with an embossed long monogram at the left, 
 in gold or in colors. 
 
 In choosing writing paper, white, cream, or very pale gray are 
 always in good taste; pale blue or pale mauve is admissible also. 
 It should be of good quality, medium thickness, and slightly rough. 
 The square envelope is always in good taste, and just now the 
 wallet shape is in vogue. If the address is on the envelope (a sen- 
 sible fashion), it should be stamped across the flap, without using 
 the name. In this way one's letters come back, if they are mis- 
 directed, most quicklj", and do not have to be opened and read at 
 the post-office to discover the address of the sender. Some people 
 use their crest on. note paper and envelope and others on the en- 
 velope only, but a woman's stationery should be without a crest. 
 The stamping ink may be black or any other color, but the color 
 scheme should never be in the least "loud." Gold-brown on cream, 
 violet on mauve-tinted paper, deep blue on pale blue, black on white, 
 brown on gray, are all in good taste, but the printing should, of 
 course, be done from one's own die, never from set-up type. 
 
90 Home Making 
 
 Initials in a medallion at the top of the writing paper for per- 
 sonal correspondence are very pretty. For business correspondence, 
 or any note of invitation to a country house, the address, stamped 
 in the upper right-hand corner of tlie paper, may have the name of 
 the house, the nearest railway station, and the telephone number, 
 or the station may be omitted. 
 
 Sealing letters wiih wax is a pretty refinement never out of 
 place, and one should practise doing it neatly. Some women need 
 to take lessons in writing. The chirography should be clear, whether 
 it is characteristic or not, and there has really never been anything 
 prettier, for a woman's letters, than the slender Italian hand that 
 was taught in old-fashioned boarding schools. 
 
 There are all sorts of little individual touches which a woman 
 may give to her stationery, but they should harmonize. One woman 
 who is very fond of violets and violet shades uses very pale mauve 
 paper lettered with violet, mauve wax, and the very faintest perfume 
 — there is nothing more vulgar than strongly perfumed note paper. 
 Another woman never spoils the color scheme of her delicate gray 
 envelope by putting on it anything but a harmonious stamp. She 
 uses two green one-cent stamps, or, if double postage is required, 
 the four-cent old gold stamp. 
 
 English women are accomplished in writing notes. They always 
 have a little desk well furnished with paper, envelopes, blotters, 
 wax, tapers, scales, and all kinds of stamps. One American woman 
 furnished her simple mahogany desk in a scheme of rose, ecru, and 
 green. She bought a portfolio, stamp box, string box with tiny 
 scissors, pin box, and envelope rack done in pale buff wood with 
 borders of tiny roses. She had a blotter made in the same style, 
 with roses on the corners, and blotting paper of cream. She pro- 
 vided the desk further with a silver candlestick and old-rose candles, 
 a silver match-safe stand, rose-colored wax, and green string in the 
 string box. It was extremely pretty in the rose-chintz-furnished 
 bedroom where it stood. 
 
 The third person note is an English fashion, and also a fashion 
 of civilized society the world over. Invitations are issued in the 
 third person to all large afternoon or evening gatherings, weddings, 
 and formal dinner parties. An invitation in the third person should 
 be replied to in the same way, thus: 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Raynham have much pleasure in accepting the 
 invitation of Mr. and Mrs. DoUiver to be present at their daughter's 
 wedding on Wednesday, October 21." 
 
 In writing a note of refusal, the reason should be given as briefly 
 as possible. "A previous engagement" is a sufScient reason, but it 
 is more graceful to say "owing to their having promised to join a 
 party at the theatre on the evening in question," or, "owing to pre- 
 
Problems of the Home gi ■ 
 
 vious acceptance of an invitation to dinner," or whatever it is. 
 There has never been a rule for general good form better framed 
 than the one we teach children: "Politeness is to do and say the 
 kindest thing in the kindest way." People who arc chilly and awk- 
 ward because they think it is dignified simply make themselves 
 ridiculous. 
 
 Notes of acceptance or refusal in the first person should be 
 written in reply to any invitation written thus, and they are in good 
 taste on any ordinary occasion. The third-person letter is merely 
 a convenience and a formality for occasions where hundreds of 
 invitations are sent. 
 
 Two rules to be engraved in one's memory are: 
 
 Always answer notes and letters promptly. 
 Never break an engagement positively made. 
 
 One need not, in these days, make a fetich of being absolutely 
 punctual, but one should never be conspicuously late. People who 
 put their hostesses to all sorts of anxiety by never coming till half 
 an hour after the time set advertise themselves as egotists. 
 
 One point which needs more emphasis than it generally gets is 
 that overformality is worse than a dignified informality in our ordi- 
 nary social life. It is absurd to use, in a small community where 
 people know each other, the formal manners appropriate to a court 
 or to a societ)' where every woman who entertains has so many 
 guests she cannot remember their names or faces. Many social 
 forms have been devised merely as part of the machinery for such 
 social life, short cuts to keep it from becoming ultra burdensome. 
 But the very people who are most at home in the formal social life 
 of London, Paris, or any other metropolis would never think of 
 carrying their formality into a smaller circle. They would adjust 
 their forms of invitation and of entertaining to the demands of such 
 a circle, just as they adjust them to the demands of a court. They 
 would be simple where simplicity is possible, just as they are courtly 
 and formal in a society where organization, method, formality, are 
 absolutely necessary to avoid confusion. 
 
 The average American woman, if she uses quiet, well-made 
 stationery of graceful design and writes her notes and her letters 
 in a style of kindly and unassuming dignity, and makes her dinners 
 appetizing, simple, dainty in every appointment, quietly served, who 
 never attempts anything she cannot carry out easily, will be doing 
 exactly what the grande dame would do in her place. She need 
 not have many courses, but the cold food should be ice cold and 
 the hot dishes hot; she need not have costly flowers, but they must 
 be in harmony with the general color scheme; she may have home- 
 made place cards or none at all, but her silver must be bright, her 
 
92 Home AIaking 
 
 glassware clear and shining, and her napery perfectly laundered. 
 More than one clever, observant woman has won for herself a cer- 
 tain prestige by dinners, where these simple rules were observed and 
 congenial people carefully chosen. The keynote of all real social life 
 is genuine love of society. Falsity is always bad taste. One should 
 attempt no more than one can do without a flurry, and suit the 
 conversation and the menu to what people really like — nut what 
 they might like if they were in an imagined "society." 
 
 THE WOMAN AND HER APPEARANCE 
 
 If more women would begin to be beautiful from the inside 
 instead of the outside we should have more lovely women in the 
 world. There is no woman who has not possibilities in the way of 
 looks. She may not be a possible beauty, but she can be picturesque, 
 she may be graceful, she may have an interesting face, she may 
 know how to dress. She should know what she can do, and do it. 
 A clever social leader said: "Any young thing cared for and at ease 
 is pretty." There never was a truer saying. And one may ])ut with 
 it, "Any woman who has interest in life, and is well cared fur and 
 at ease, is worth looking at." 
 
 There is no beauty without good digestion. No woman should 
 eat, drink, or wear anything that will interfere with that. Style for 
 a few years will not make up for spotted, wrinkled cheeks, dull eyes, 
 and nerves all the last part of one's life. We all know pretty well, 
 by the time wc are twenty, what will agree with us and what will 
 not, and we should so arrange our diet as to suit our digestion. 
 
 Most women do not eat enough fresh fruits and salads. Pars- 
 ley, onions, and lettuce are all good for the complexion, and they 
 are also good to eat. When a woman wakes up in the morning thirsty 
 for an orange, she had better eat one at once, and keep on doing it 
 morning after morning until the dark brown tasle in the mouth 
 disappears. If oranges are inaccessible, apple sauce, or any tart 
 fruit, is good, and even stewed dried apples or apricots will help 
 supply the need of tart fruit. 
 
 An excellent habit to form, from the beauty point of view, is 
 that of eating bread without butter. Try it first with some of the 
 delicious crusty breads, French or Italian, or with brown bread, 
 and butter will come to seem a superfluity. Salad oil is a better 
 form in which to take the oil which the system needs. Greasy meats 
 should never be eaten without some vinegary accompaniment — apple 
 sauce with pork, pickles with pork and beans — and it is better not 
 to eat such meats unless one is taking plenty of open-air exercise. 
 
 Camomile tea is an old-fashioned specific for the complexion. 
 
Problems of the Home 93 
 
 and if one can learn to like it, a cup of it hot just before going to 
 bed is worth trying. 
 
 Good digestion not only makes a good complexion, but it gives 
 one strength for a graceful carriage. If women knew how to stand 
 and walk they would not only improve their looks, but save their 
 strength. This matter ought to be attended to, if possible, during 
 the years when a girl is growing up. Never let a growing girl carry 
 a bundle of books or a heavy package day after day, to and from 
 school. If .she must study at home it would be cheaper to buy a 
 few extra schoolbooks than to develop a one-sided figure which 
 will make it necessary for every skirt she wears, all her life, to be 
 specially fitted. Set the girls to carrying books and bundles on their 
 heads and using Indian clubs. Let them hop, skip, and run as much 
 as they like. The tomboy will, other things being equal, make the 
 more graceful woriian. 
 
 There is one simple exercise which, faithfully persisted in, will 
 be worth a whole gymnasium full of appliances. It is this: Stand 
 with heels together, hands on hips, rise on the toes slowly and 
 slowly descend, and keep this up until the muscles of the calf begin 
 to ache. At night try it again, and do it every night and morning 
 till you can do it two hundred times without stopping. This exer- 
 cise causes all the muscles of the body to settle into their proper 
 place, and gives one the ideal carriage. .What is more, any one 
 accustomed to this exercise will be able to stand all day with less 
 fatigue tlian is possible in any other way. Ijecausc the weight is 
 thrown on the l)a'Is of the feet when one stands right, and this 
 heel-and-toe movement results in right standing and strengthens 
 the proper muscles. It throws the chest forward and the neck and 
 shoulders back, and makes the waist smaller. It prevents that ugly 
 forward curve below the waist which is not only the bane of a 
 woman's figure, but, if one walks along in that position, results in 
 backaches. 
 
 Another result of this exercise is ease in climbing stairs. The 
 average woman goes upstairs with the muscles of her back, when 
 she should not use a muscle above the knee. The foot, not the 
 leg, should make the motion in going upstairs. The rise of an ordi- 
 nary stair is no greater than the bend of the foot in rising on the 
 toes. Going upstairs properly is good gymnastic exercise. Does 
 one suppose that in the great English count rj- houses where one 
 of the prettiest pictures of a house party is the procession of grace- 
 ful women going upstairs with their candles, they go up those stairs 
 with the knee action of a horse in a treadmill? A woman is not a 
 horse or a cow, and she should carefully avoid looking like either. 
 
 The woman who sits as one would sit in a straight-back chair 
 has mastered another rule for the figure. Unfortunately many of 
 
94 Home Making 
 
 the chairs in which women have to sit were made for men, and the 
 seat is so long that a woman of ordinary height cannot lean back 
 gracefully, while the chair is just high enough to prevent her get- 
 ting her feet fairly on the floor. In the home a woman should 
 always have a chair low enough for her, that suits her, and she 
 should sit in it. If she must sit in a chair that is too high, let her 
 have a hassock at her feet. No woman can be graceful if she has 
 a continual backache. 
 
 Another little trick of living which tends to beauty is the habit 
 of lying down instead of sitting down to rest. A woman who wishes 
 to be graceful cannot do better than imitate a cat. Pussy really 
 enjoys resting. She relaxes every muscle and curls and uncurls 
 her paws with real delight in relaxed muscular motion. Ten min- 
 utes of rest in this fashion is worth half an hour sitting in a chair 
 "keyed up." The woman who cares for her appearance should 
 learn to enjoy life — especially the simplest things, a flower, a sun- 
 shiny window, a brisk walk, a cup of hot soup. 
 
 THE CARE OF THE SICK 
 
 There are a few points on the care of the sick on which every 
 woman should be informed, and some remedies about which every- 
 body should know. 
 
 Hot water is a remedy which should be always accessible. No 
 housekeeper should be without a small alcohol stove with a tea 
 kettle that will heat a pint of water. Hot water bottles and clothes 
 wrung out of hot water will relieve so many different kinds of acute 
 pain that one can hardly go amiss in trying it. Another good 
 emergency article is a sandbag — two of them are better — loosely 
 filled with sand, and made of strong linen, with a washable flannel 
 cover to tie on. One sandbag can heat on steam pipes, or in a mod- 
 erate oven, while the other is in use, and they do not spring aleak 
 as a hot water bottle may; or, if they do, the sand stays inside the 
 outer covering and does not soak the- bedclothes. 
 
 TREATING A COLD. 
 
 Hot lemonade, with or witliout a little whiskey in it. drunk at night, the 
 patient carefully covered up afterward, will cure a cold if it is taken at tlie start, 
 especially if the breakfast next morning consists of oranges or orange juice, brown 
 bread, cereal, soft boiled eggs, and such easily digested things. A cold is nine 
 times out of ten an accumulation of waste which the body cannot get rid of by 
 the regular channels. A good sweat, hot baths, laxative medicines, and something 
 to stimulate the liver will help dispose of this waste before the effort to get rid 
 of it has weakened the whole system and prepared the way for pneumonia, or 
 something of that sort. Plenty of fresh air, plenty of warm covers, and a clean 
 room also help. 
 
 TONSILITIS. 
 
 Tonsilitis, one of the most obstinate nuisances that afflict human nature, will 
 yield to diet quicker than to medicine. The patient should not be "fed up." 
 Milk — vichy and milk, if you can get it — should be the sole diet, and not too 
 
Problems of the Home 95 
 
 much of that. A few bottles of vichy in a safe place are worth their weight in 
 silver when needed. 
 
 Tf one is recovering from tonsilitis or any other disease, which involves night 
 sweats, sage tea is a good specific, and sage is a good thing to have in the house, 
 anyway. 
 
 THE MEDICINE CLOSET. 
 
 For medicines one should have a special closet with a lock to it, and on one 
 side every kind of stuff that is in the least poisonous should be safely put away. 
 A good plan is to use square or hexagonal bottles for all such medicines, then 
 thc-y will be separate from the others even in the dark. Quinine, castor oil, calomel, 
 borax, rhubarb, seidlitz powders, should be there. The best plan is to have your 
 doctor make out a list of all the medicines you can safely use and are likely to 
 need, and have the directions, and the d'ise, of course, clearly written on the 
 bottle. It is not wise to keep half-used prescriptions without the advice of a* 
 doctor. Sometimes chemicals change with time. 
 
 In this same medicine closet should be court plaster, antiseptic cotton, anti- 
 septic tablets, prepared sealed bandages of different widths, and all the old linen 
 and cotton strips ynu would be likely to need suddenly, washed clean, of course, 
 and rolled up closely and packed in so that they will not be dusty. The best 
 plan is to keep them in a glass fruit jar with a tight cover. If after putting 
 them in the jar you fill it with absorbent cotton, and set the jar on a trivet in a 
 kettle of cold water and let it come to a boil, and boil it steadily for three hours, 
 then take it out, screw on the top, and set it away, you will have all your 
 bandages sterilized. 
 
 FOR A CUT. 
 
 For a cut finger, wash the wound very clean, soak it in water with antiseptic 
 tablets in it, put a little pad of absorbent cotton that has been sterilized over it, 
 put a cotton wrapping round the finger, and either bandage it well or cover with 
 a finger stall; then hold the hand, fingers up, and soak the whole in siiirits of 
 turpentine, letting it stay so fur fifteen minutes. In two or three days it will 
 generally be all right without any additional attention, and a little care in such 
 matters sometimes saves a long and painful inflammation. 
 
 If the cut is a bad one and bleeds freely, take a strip of court plaster big 
 enough to cuver it with an inch on each side. Fold it and cut little slits across 
 the folded edge and open it; cut half the strips loose on one side of the line, 
 the other half at the other, making two strips with saw-tooth edges. Put these 
 strips each side of the cut with the toothed edges facing each other, and when 
 the strips have dried a little, lap one tuoth over the other so as to draw the cut 
 together. This may save having stitches taken, which, especially to a child, is a 
 painful and rather terrifying operation. 
 
 IN CASES OF FAINTING. 
 
 If a person has fainted, loosen all the clothes, especially about the neck, as 
 soon as you have laid the jierson flat on the floor. Cold water in the face, 
 ammonia under the nose, and, if necessary, mustard on the back of the neck, 
 are all time-honored and proper remedies. Windows should be open and every- 
 body kept back so as not to crowd. If the insensibility is the result of a fall, 
 rub the hands and feet and spine vigorously and keep the patient lying down 
 w-ith the head a little higher than the feet. 
 
 THE SEVERED ARTERY. 
 
 Almost everybody with any common sense knows what to do if there is a 
 •severfd artery, but fortunately such accidents are not common. The blood comes 
 in jets, even if the wound is small, and is bright red. Tie something (two hand- 
 kerchiefs will do) tight around the limb between the wound and the body, put 
 a short stick or anything like it through the knot, twist it round and round as 
 tight as you can, and keep it there till the surgeon comes. The knot should be 
 as nearly as you can guess over the injured artery. Cut veins should be treated 
 in the same way, but with the knot below the wound; the blood is dark crimson. 
 
 POISONS AND EMETICS. 
 
 Oil, raw eggs, sweet milk, and flour and water are antidotes to the acid 
 poisons— carbolic, nitric, sulphuric, or oxalic acid. Carbolic acid especially is a 
 favorite of suicides, thouuh it has well been said that if they knew anything 
 about its effects they would never try it, for it is a terribly painful poison and 
 by no means sure death. Emetics should not be given in case of these poisons, 
 but melted lard and raw eggs cannot possibly do any harm, \vhatever is the matter. 
 
 Morphine and the narcotic poisons should be treated with an emetic at once 
 — mustard thickly mixed in warm water will do — and then strong coffee, a half 
 cupful every ten minutes, should be given and the patient kept moving. Ice on 
 the back of the neck and splashes of cold watfer in the face will aid in this. 
 
g6 Home ]\Iaking 
 
 Emetics must be given for ptomaine poisoning, and the patient should be 
 stimulated and kept warm. Mustard cin stomach, wrists, ankles, and the back ot 
 the neck will help. Here is the usefulness of hot water bottles, sandbags, and 
 the like. 
 
 Arsenic and its relatives rc(|uire an emetic, and immediately after two or 
 thice raw eggs and a glass of sweet milk. 
 
 FOR NOSE BLEED. 
 
 For nose bleed put ice to the back of the neck, make the patient keep both 
 arms over his head for ten minutes, and ping the nostrils with absorbent cotton 
 wet in weak carbolic acid. Hold the head straight up and do not let him bend over. 
 
 DISINFECTANTS. 
 
 If one is keeping house in the country miles from a drug store one should 
 be provided with good disinfectants in case of contagious illness. Any doctor 
 will give a list of these and their uses. In town, however, the fewer poisonous 
 things one has about the better, and, if need, such fluids can always be got at 
 the drug store on the corner. 
 
 IN TIME OF ILLNESS 
 
 The general rules in illness are simple. If the patient is chilled, 
 keep him as warm as possible with hot water bottles and warm but 
 light coverings, applying the heat wherever the chilL seems to be. 
 If the head is hot, ice on the head and a hot water bottle or hot 
 brick at the feet will sometimes draw the blood from the head, espe- 
 cially if some hot drink like hot milk or soup is given at the same 
 time, to give the stomach something to work on. In cases of head- 
 ache and delirium caused by bad circulation this treatment will often 
 keep the patient quiet and avert the use of drugs. If there is a 
 burning, hot, dry, feverish condition, give all the water the patient 
 will drink, ice-packs on the head, and keep the room cool, with 
 plenty of fresh air. A thorough sweat will sometimes avert a serious 
 illness. The patient should be wrapped in a thick blanket and sit in 
 a cane-seated chair, under the seat of which is a kettle of boiling 
 water, kept hot, if possible, by hot bricks underneath. A one-burner 
 gas stove will sometimes answer; the main point is that sweat should 
 be induced somehow and the patient kept closely covered. Plenty 
 of hot drink should be given — weak tea, hot lemonade, or hot water 
 — and when the skin once begins to throw off water in the form of 
 sweat, the poison that is causing the trouble may come with it. 
 This is one form of treatment that almost any old nurse under- 
 stands. The housekeeper in the country who is doubtful about 
 methods may safely follow the advice of the next-door neighbor. 
 
 Isaac Coldmann Co., Nkw York 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
 OCT n \9n 
 
OCT 'V t9!f 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 355 037 
 
 O'Neill Standard 
 Furniture 
 
 "The Lifetime Furniture"