The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-29
CIRCLE OF THE HOME.
An Easy Solution Of the Servant
Girl Problem.
THE SPRING HOUSEKEEPING.
How % Clean Musty Floors-New ideas
In Patchwork--A Novel Un-
brslla stand.

brella Stand.
ssWhen I want rest Of body hire . ser
want; when want rest of mind dis
charge her." systematically remarked
young housekeeper, and she probably
voiced the sentiment of hundreds Of 9TH
ers. Rest Of mind as well as rest Of body
is essential in warm weather, and If ser
wants only aggravate one and mitigate the
other their value cannot be great. Every
good housekeeper enjoys directing her
household, and if she has . method about
her work she can do this without great
mental effort, even though servants are
untrustworthy and unreliable. The COM
mon fault is that too much ID expected
from the servants for very small re-
muneration. Eyes, we have good, trusty
servants; those who will run the house
thoroughly and satisfactorily, but they
cost money. They demand extra pay for
their work, and very few are willing to pay
them" The manager of an employment
bureau spoke thus. and corroborated his
statements by showing q list of well-paid
servants which had been in families for
years. He went on further to explain
be resolved to this: If people will pay
trusty servants, but if they pay for cheap
articles they get them.
Young housekeepers especially need
good "hired help" and they are generally
the ones to get the poorest. To save dol
lar week they employ inferior servants,
and the waste which results from this bar
81 To- he ollo
q week saved. Everything is performed in
a careless, ignorant, slipshod way, and it
tires mind and body in looking after the
servants. The best servants even at adj
vanced rates are the cheapest in
the end. Every employment bu-
reau has q certain number of tried
and trustworthy ones on their lists,
which are warranted to give satisfaction
enough. When it is brought out and the
is: what, give that for one servantl
Won't they come for anything less?"
There are plenty of others that will come
for less, but in the end they will be found
dear, at any price. The art of handling
servants cannot be mastered until the art
of employing and selecting good ones has
been appreciated and understood.
Musty floors should be cleaned by max
Ing strong hot solution Of chloride of
lime, and scrubbing it into the rioor with
a broom, after having made the door as
clean as soapsuds and scruhhing-brush
will make it. If the first application does
not suffice make another. 1t may be
desirable toe stain the floors for the
summer, and this is one of the coolest
and most economical ways of prepar-
ing. them for summer. They may be
stained after the housekeeping. and the
carpets can be slowed away until fall when
they will be ready for relaying The dust
and dirt of summer can then be swept out
easily, and one good housekeeping will
suffice for the year. A few rugs are all that
can be needed for summer use, and when
displayed on q clean stained floor they
give cool, refreshing appearance that car
pet fails to afford. They are swept much
easier than the heavily carpeted doors,
and they show dust much less conspicu-
ously. If the carpets are used in the
winter lay papers under them to preserve
the wax hnish Of the stcined and vanished
doors.
New ideas in patchwork for those who
are tired of crazy work are desired and in
great demand by those who still wish to
fashion pillows, cushions, quilts and other
fancy articles from the stray bits of silk
and velvet which accumulate in the house.
The designs for such articles can easily be
made after some conventional pattern and
worked so carefully that all Of the small
pieces will answer the purpose. Mark the
design out first, forming squares, angles
and curves to suit the pattern, which may
be of any simple design. Look over the col
lection ofsmall pieces of velvet and silk and
separate the dark and light colors; work
the dark squares in the center, alternating
star or shield is formed. Then work
squares or half squares Of the light ma
tSrial, watered silk and velvet, and bril-
liantly lowered br0cade around the de-
sign as light background. Finally. make
border Of some bright cloth, and q con-
ventional figure is formed out of the
or cushion cover. and If it is desired for
quilt. four or eight of these squares may
be made and sewed together. Such de-
sign has the beauties and advantages of
crazy work and Of carefully designed con-
ventional patterns.
A novel umbrella-stand can be made Of
an old umbrella which has seen its best
days of services. ALI that is needed is
that the stick and framework of the UNI
brella be strong and unbroken. Remove
the old cover and slightly open the Frame
work. Make block of wood about the
size OF an ordinary base of an umbrella
stand and insert the ferrule in the top Of
It. Then cover the framework with
strong oiicloth, forming sort of open bag,
large at the top and small at the bottom.
This should be covered with thick silver
paper, pasted neatly on the oilcloth so as
to form huge cornucopia. The edges
should be bound with braid or bordering
OF some fancy cloth, over which quilting
Of ribbon may be placed if desired. The
block of wood should be stained or covered
with bronze enamel to give 1t unique ap-
pearancs. The handle Of the umbrella. If
q fancy one, will not need any decoration
of this nature. but huge silk ribbons should
be tied at top and bottom of the stick.
the extreme, and is just the thing for the
summer cottage to stand in the ball