Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-20
WOMAN AND HOME.
ONE OF TIE MOST IMPORTANT
APARTMENTS IN THE HOUSE.

Care of the Cook Stoye-The Wise Host
ess-Emerson and His Children-Poison
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Dress-Labor
Saving Hints-Items.
One of the most important apartments in
the house is the cellar, and withal one that
often receives insufficient attention. "Out Of
sight out Of mind, is exemphfied here, and
the result may frequently be traced in the
impaired health of those who live above the
underground lumber room
Old packing boxes, newspapers, broken
utensils, rotting fruit and vegetables, and i'll
some cases such garbage as potato parings,
lemon and orange skins, bones, etc, that
should Of right be consigned to the swill pail,
ore suffered to accumulate from one months
end to the other. The unwholesorne and I'M
pleasant odor that rises like a cloud when
ever the cellar door is opened is hastily at
tribnted TO the mustiness popularity supposed
to DE an inseparable adjunct TO the under
ground regions Slight but persistent I'M
healthiness in the family is disregarded, and
a sharp attack of diphtheria or typhoid fever
is perhaps needed TO arouse the household to
the danger in which they dwell.
The cellar is more readily kept clean if it is
cut up into several small rooms, instead Of
being left in one great, undivided chamber.
Where it is not thus arranged it should at
least be partitioned Off on one side by bins to
hold the various stores, in place Of letting
them lie in heaps in corners. When bins are
OUT of the question, barrels or large packing
boxes form tolerable substitutes. The coal is
usually kept in the vaults provided for that
purpose.
1t is q great aid in the endeavor TO obtain
proper neatness in the cellar if the room is
well lighted and ventilated. The windows
may be kept shut in the daytime, but should
always be left open at night TO allow the
fresh air to enter, except when the weather
is so cold that there is danger of freezing the
supplies of food kept there Even then the
sashes should be Enclosed night and morning
long enough to permit sluice of air TO gain
admittance. By carefully following this plan
much of the musty and earthly odor common
to cellars may be banished. Wire netting
should be nailed over the outside of the win
dows in a way that may exclude the flies
without hindering the opening of the sash.
There should be a spring attached to the door
that will prevent its being left jar and free
passage to flies furnished by careless servants.
If there are no separate vaults provided for
the coal, and it must be kept in the common
cellar, large bins for this are Indispensable.
The coal should never be dumped into one
corner of the cellar, whence its grimy dust
viii be tracked to the upper floor by every
one coming up from below. Nor should the
wood large and small, be thrown into an in
discriminate stack, but neatly piled, the
kindling in one place, the logs intended for
the open fires in another, and chips, sawdust,
and Shavings swept together and emptied
into a basket or box. Vegetables, above all,
should never be heaped on the floor. They
TO: more easily there, besides being unsightly,
and invariably leaving dirt for some one to
sweep up. Barrels or boxes may hold them,
Us well as apples or pears Both vegetables
ami fruit should be picked over often, and the
rotten ones thrown away. The good ones
will keep twice as long if this is done. The
work NAV seem tedious, but it is almost essen
tial, especially toward spring, when vege-
tables begin to decay rapidly. Health de-
mands this as well as economy. Many a case
of spring illness has been traced 20 harmless
looking barrel in the cellar, where disease
germs are fostered in a mass of putrid vege-
table matter.
The idea that the cellar is an omnium gath
erurn for useless articles OF all sorts should be
diligently ccrnbated Whatever is not worth
keeping in the certain hope Of putting to
service at some future time should be thrown
AWAY without hesitation. The cellar cannot
look neat with heap of lumber and old iron
disfcuring it. Broken packing cases and
stayeless barrels may be sent here TO be split
up and converted into kindlings as speedily
as possible, while any boxes that may possibly
be put TO use are much better kept in the attic
out of the damp.
A cellar floor should always be laid in ce-
ment. An earth flooring holds the dampneSS
and is. moreover, very hard TO keep clean.
The cement can be swept, and even scrubbed,
without trouble The walls and ceilings
should be whitewashed, not only to make the
room lighter, but as a means of diSinfectioH.
The whitewashing should be repeated at least
once a year. The floor should receive its
weekly brushing with the rest of the house,
and at the same time the cobwebs should bs
dislodged and all collections of rubbish re-
moved.
The cellar must be supplied with shelves.
Swing shelves are preferable to those set in
the wall. as there is less danger with the
former of rats and mice having a chance 10
attack the provisions. One shelf should be
kept for the milk, and wiped clean every day
after the cream is SKINNED. Deposits OF
sour milk are always unsavory.- The meats,
vegetables, cakes, etc, stored on the other
shelves should always be protected by covers
of wire netting With all the care one may
take a fly or two viii sometimes succeed in
effecting an entrance, and the mischief they
can d. even in short time renders the precau-
ton worth while. A piece Of gauze or mus
quito netting stretched over each pan Of milk
may also save fry from involuntary suicide
and the milk from waste. Poultry and meat
that are hung up for day or two should be
incased in stout brown paper, or, better still,
unb,eached muslin. All shelves should be
scrubbed OF every week with a mixture OF
washing soda and water, then wipe dry.
Ii is "a great convenience to the housewife
II she can have closet partitioned of and
well stocked with shelves, where she can keep
her pickles, preserves, jellieS and jams. Up
stairs cupboards are seldom cool enough. ex-
cept when they are in so exposed z position
that there is risk of their contents freezing in
the bitterest winter weather. Here. too, can
be placed the choice fruit, the box Of oranges
or lemons, the barrel of pineapples and other
delicacies, that keep better in q cold place
than in an ordinary pantry. The serni-gloom
nlso helps preserve canned goods.
Drain pipes frequently traverse the cellar,
md are likely. from the obscurity of the
place, to receive less attention than is their
due They should often be examined for
leaks. and any such promptly checked. II
there are open drains, they should be washed
down with strong solution Of copperas and
water. Should the odor from the drains re-
fuse to yield TO this and 10 chloride Of lime