Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-03-25
COUNTRY HOMES.
H0w Hard-Worked Housekeeper9 Ca
Avoid Much Drudgery.

Avoid Much Drudgery.
Mrs. Kidgie, teacher of household
economy in Kansas Agricultural Col
lege, says: A large proportion of the
womenin country homes, where house
work is hardest, work at great disad-
vantage. The disadvantage comes to
the worker in the kitchen-first
through not having house built to
work in, and. second, through not hav-
ing the many small conveniences to
work with that are to be found in our
ordinary furnishing stores of to-day.
In building house, the usual way on
the farm, is to block out plan, then
put it into the hands of the carpenter,
and they really do the arranging OF
| much of the inside of the house. Now.
since woman is to have the most OF
the living in these rooms, why doesn't
she do the planning? 1t seems reason
able that she should at least decide upon
her kitchen, with its pantry, its cub
boards, closets, drawers and sink-put-
ting things in just as she individually
wants them. She may tuck in a few
large closets. also, where men might,
as rule, think there were none need
ed. Twenty years ago Kansas car
penter was utterly astOnished when q
woman, who was having house built,
insisted on two closets for the second
floor, where there were three rooms.
Two closets were almost unheard of
then in Kansas farmhouse.
If the good work needed in the
building of the house be neglected, a
little money spent in the way of buy
ing conveniences for doing work will
often save itself over and over again
in wages for help. and, mayhap, in
doctors bills as well. The washing
machines and wringers take away half
the horrors of Monday, and nickel
plated irons, with wooden handles.
help Tuesday to dispose of the ironing
with amazing rapidity. The carpet
sweeper is a true missionary to tired
muscles, for it often saves them from
destruction. Even the egg-beater, a
good coffee-mill, sharp knives, light
kettles (the new granite ware is so
much easier to lift than the old iron
pots), plenty of pans and basins, all
go to make up comfortable days for a
woman by giving her chance to do
her work rapidly and well.
Many cooks keep their flour in very
inconvenient receptacles. A -four
chest, which the young ladies of the
kitchen laboratory have found very con-
venient, is easily made at home by any
man if he can handle tools even only
indifferently. 1t consists of flour box
on one side. with a divided box on the
other for Graham and corn-meal.
A molding board slides over both, and
small boxes on each side contain spices,
flavoring extracts, soda, baking pow
der, and, indeed, all the small necessa-
ries for cooking. Nails on the side
hold the stirring spoons; and, in truth,
all the articles wanted when one must
do cooking are found right here. We
often take our large cake bowl to this
flour chest, and, scarcely stepping
away, have cake or biscuits ready for
the oven.
OF course, every woman III having
made any thing of that kind would
have her individual ideas worked out.
No stranger would want one exactly
llhC OulSs uo WV hhNC
them precisely the same. Many prefer
the fitting flour boxes, where the chest
full springs out or in at the touch of
finger. There are two of these in our
kitchen laboratory, but the girls seem to
prefer the larger one, where every
thing is within reach. Now, these are
simply examples. Every woman who
keeps house, doing her own work, can,
if she choose, have many inexpensive
helps that will do much toward pre-
serving the health and strength. l hold
it every wOman's duty to SO measure |
her work that she can do each days
share without overtaxing her strength,
that she has no right to draw upon;
and when she does Over-use the amount |
given her for her one days work, she |
draws upon the future, making herself
liable to the heaviest kind of usury |
when she is called to pay her debts
The InduStridliSt.