The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-10-07
IDEAS for UMn1nen

are wasting many an hour OF your exist
enee.
Housekeeping has been reduced by
some women 10 a thorough science. and,
like all matters scientifically attended to,
Ii is done we'll and quickly.
l know a woman CT this city whose ac-
count books are as clearly systenlatized
and nip in~telligently ordered as the books
of a banking company.
First in the number comes the book
of household goods which contains an
ftemized list of all articles in her pos
session. One page of this useful little
volume Is devoted to table linen; an
other eto bed linen; another to personal
apparel. Furniture claims another. Tin
ware, crockery. ~china-each is chron-
icled. Mood and coal are registered,
grocery goods. flour. dried meat, pre-
serves. -coffee-nothing goes without mem
ton.
In this way, as the lists are examined
each week. no article can be lost OF
stolen. Moreover, the condition of linen
and provisions is written down SO that
articles which are wearing out or be-
coming exhausted can be repaired at the
proper moment.
In my friends kitchen hangs a sort of
reference list. This is made of folio
sheets of bill paper. arranged in a stiff
paste-board cover with pencil attached by
a bit of cord. In this is marked off every
article purchased, whether credited or
paid for.
Besides this she has a letter hook for
holding various bills presented by butch
er, baker, and candlestick maker, from
day to day.
She makes it an ~invariable rule, she
tells me, to lave each bill, unless it be
very, very minute, receipted at once. And
she invariably demands bills for goods
purchased.
All her bills are kept one year, and if
she expects to change residence they are
preserved even longer. All women NOV
ing about should keep receipted bills.
rowed money are most important and
should be carefully kept at hand.
-
Another housekeeping book in her set
contains statistics of amounts required
of each article of food and fuel whether
purchased by day, week or month.
Again in another little volume her add
ed accounts are kept, so that the different
SARNt4SC u OaNlA 0Ait dlio SdS
are noted and their saryings accounted
for.
An important sheet which this house
keeper terms her waste list is also
strictly adhered and by consulting it any
o~ver-supply can be reduced and regulated.
1t sounds-does ii not?-like a big I'M
d~ertaking and a lot OF work. But it isn't.
The beauty of the whole system lies in
tive fart tltar rbjr 11i+rla mornau hos tpora
time TO devote TO visiting, reading
out-ef-door sports than ninety-nine in a
hundred of ordinary housekeepers.
So many of the houses built at pres
enl ere constructed with those charm
ing square halls. into which the stair
way descends full in view.
. One does not wonder at the choice.
The square hall is such a thorough inn
provement on the dark and dingy en-
frances we encountered some few years
ago. There are so many things one
can do, with the square hall. So many
different ways-all of them pretty-in
which it can BIZ treated. Many women
having o~ld-fashioned houses which admit
of 1t are now having interior readjust-
nenis. in order to provide for one of
lneSe eneeIN open space
In summer your square hall becomes
when doors are ajar, a sort of second
piazza, In winter, when furniture is add
ed and an open fire, cracking, it becomes
the cosiest of living rooms If the rouse
ave no library, bookcases are arranged
here If the music room is missing. piano
and folio racks, may occupy a corner of
the hall.
Twenty-Five dollars will furnish a mod
crate outfit for the new room. A wooden
settle n ehair or two. which should
be of polished wood. A cheap and pretty
rug-one Will be sufficient if the space
be small "A small table to hold your
lamp, books, the current magazines, etc.
A few pictures neatly framed and well
hung. add much. A potted palm gives a
pleasant dash of green for winter time.
The floor is of hard wood, highly pol
ished or of inlaid wooden tile-and rugs
one or more, according TO size of the
apartmenI-are Infinitely prettier for the
purpose than carpeting. If the floor is
worn and unattractive, japanese mating
makes a pretty carpet, with a rug spread
here and there over it's surface.
The walls may be papered or painted,
and, again, tinted plaster may be used
the ccioring matter may be mixed in
plaster before applying the two last coats
of it to the walls. The clay colors mix
well with plaster to produce the tints de-
sired. but those which are chemical will
not.
In choosing the color scheme of the
hall very much depends upon whether it
is TO be used during summer or winter
days. If for summer you will, Of course,
want a cool, inviting look-something in
whites and blues. ETC., while for winter
a rosy tone, reds, yelfows and so on.
would be more attractive. Blue and
white, yellow and white, or pink and
white produce cool effects. The color of
your wallis should, SO far as possible,
harmonic with the woodwork of the
room.
Have your chairs and tables plain. but
provide a legion Of cushions. Pretty
coverings for them can be picked up as
low as five cents ~per-yard; and the mod
ern home is never it should be
without cushions.
Quaint furniture, if you happen to pos
sess an heirloom or vols especially eff
fective. A spinning wheel, a tall clock,
old china and the like shows TO excellent
advantage.
In the October Ladies Home Journal