The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-09-17

MANAGEMENT OF THE HOUSE.
A lady writes thus about system and
savings in the Tribune and Farmer
When a woman gets married she knows
she has house TO keep and has no bus
mess To get married unless she expects
to keep house; and having once nc.
copied the position of housekccpcr, il
not fit for it, she should proceed at once
and checrfully to fit herself
You would despisc yourself, if, tossed
into a great sea, you made no struggle
for a boat, buoy, or the shore. So
when you find yourself almost over
whelmcd with worries and care, and the
steak is burning, the baby fallen out OF
bed, and your husband suddenly wants
a button scwed on-hold the babe with
one arm, lift the steak with the other,
and tell John to bring you a needle and
thread. Say no more There are times
when silence is pot only golden but
diamonds, and this is one of them.
Thoughts arc ghosts when unspOken,
and troop harmlessly about, but once
spoken they are living, senticnt beings
therefore do not speak of trouble OF
annoyance, unless speaking of it can
remedy it Very likely silence will in
twenty-four hours lay the ghost, but
once give it voice and it may live for.
ever.
Next to silence is order. If that is
heavens first law it is twofold, the
housekeeper and the cooks. "A place
for everything and everything in its
place" might well be framed and sub.
stituted for "llome, Sweet Home" over
our doors.
TO misplace a kitchen fork or spoon
may burn to cinder the most carefully
prepared dish The convenient holder
lost from its nail may burn the cake OF
ruin the pie, and iHcGnse the cook A
cook table, full of drawers, where flour,
spices, rolling-pins. and cake-cuttcrs
are kept, with bake pans hanging over
it, will save you miles of travel and
hours of time A small shelf near the
stove, kept for an extra pepper and salt
dish, has saved me fifty miles travel,
think, in ten years. Only for one
day count how many times you 60
from cook table to stove, seasoning
various dishes, and you will see what
this means.
Before putting stroke in your kitch-
en- stand by the stove Oh range as the
objective point, draw a straight line
from that to every object which is used
there, and place it as near as possible.
Keep kettles and gridirons so near that
you need but to turn TO reach them, and
always, if possible, wash them as soon
as used, because they wash easier and
il saves time.
In finding places for kitchen uten-
sils study every time to place them
where it will take the fewest steps To
reach them.
The walk. walk, walk, step, step,
step, all day of some housekcepers re.
minds us of the tread-mill work of q
horse on a .skenl To poor, dojoctod
animal looks always down, and counts
the same rounds hopclessly, intermina.
bly,.
There is no TIRE of il. If bra ins dc
not save steps in housekeeping, then
brains should 90 to the wall and ma.
chine work come in. If sane woman
will 90 twice or thrice a day down Gel.
lar and bring up five or ten potatoes at
time, instead of peck and wash
them ut once, then my talk is not for
her, for | cannot simplify housekeep.
ing
A japanned server is the keystone OF
the kitchen arch, and dumb waiter
between the cellar and the pantry or
kitchen is one of the supporting pillars;
a ventilator over the stove is another.
In the sitting-room the greatest aid
to simplify housekeeping is a work
table with folding leaves and the sides
full of small drawers, so that when the
housckecper sits down to sew she can
put her hand at once. and without aris-
ing, on crochet and knitting needles.
tapes and darning cotton, and every
possible need.
reiterate. Put all the articles OF
everyday use at the point where they
can be reached with fewest steps. Once
a year weed out the foolish knicknacks
of beads and cardboard, and the like,
which seem to accumulate like frogs OF
Egypt, over night, and drop from our
ceilings, cumber our walls, load oul
shelves, and require hours of busting.
They are delusion and Il snare, and a
caricaturc on true art at best.