The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-30
FOR FEMININE READERS
PROPER KITCHEN SANITATION A
DIFFICULT THING TO SECURE.
New Undertaking Big a Chicago Wom-
Our SouI-Trying Relatives.

SO important has the subject Of kitchen
sanitation become that a congress is to be
called to consult as to the best methods of
securing absolute healthfulness in the do
nestle department, says a writer in the
New York Ledger.
1t seems like an absurd statement that
single dirty dish cloth may be the starting
point of an outbreak of typhoid fever, but
that this is true many a physician, if he
would express himself frankly would tes-
tify. AS a rule doctors, unless they belong
to health boards and are compelled to do
so, are very reluctant to go nosing about
peoples kitchens. Sometimes, however,
there is a very brusque old arrogant
and Self-assertive young who is desti-
tute of any regard for the feelings Of his
fellows. Woe betide the slack housekeeper
IL he finds dirty dish cloths in her kitchen.
She is scored without mercy, and her sin
is so clearly held up before her that the
memory of her lecture remains with her for
many day. 1t is not at all difficult to tell
by the state of the dishes just what is the
condition of the towels and cloths used in
their cleansing. One may detect the odor
OF dish cloth on the coffee cup of a cold
morning or taste on the fork that which
suggests urgent need of the visit of the
sanitary Inspector One of the burdens of
life to the intelligent well-to-do housekeep-
er is the tax laid upon her by the careless
habits OF Indifferent and untidy servants.
Watch as she will, question, warn, criticise,
command the moment her back is turned,
slap into the sink goes quantity of grease,
q little hot water is turned in after IL, and
because it disappears from view it is taken
Tor granted that everything is all right.
The cold pipes Jhicken the grease and UNI
less an enormous quantity OF hot water is
put in to melt it out the runway closes to
the merest thread, and sometimes shuts of
altogether. Then there is trouble; Dig
plumbers bill; everything is put IN order,
and the same performance Is repeated Ot
course, nobody ever knows why the DRAM
age is shut off. Madame has been very
careful about giving orders and the servant
vows that she has never turned anything
but water down the sink.
1t is dlSCOuragIng, this trying to keep
things in order, when all directions are g-
nored and the happygO-lucky spirit Of
singing things about prevails down
stairs.
Twice a week in cold weather, and every
day in summer, the pipes should be flushed
with potash or cOppe1as water turned down
bOiilng hot. And these must be used in
quantity, a little being but little better than
none at all, as running in small stream
1t merely cuts out a channel in the lower
side of the pipe, whence IT trlckles out ana
carries no impurity with 1t. All cloths used
about the kitchen should after every meal
be thrown into a dish of water with lit
bert. Dissolve the soda in water before put
ting in the cloths. If it is put in afterWard,
wherever it touches it may eat a hole in
the fabric. Set the dish where the water
will boil smartly for a few minutes, then
rinse out in clear water and hang the
cloths either in the. sun or where they will
dry thoroughly before they are used again.
Modern methods are likely to revolution
ize kitchen matters. The portion of the
dwelling where the food is stored and pre-
pared should be the cleanest, best equipped.
brightest, and most convenient portion of
the house. Instead of this, 1t usually occu-
pies that part of space that the builders
seem not to know how to use for any other
purpose. The pantries are put in almost
anywhere, and the cupboards, what few
there are, seem to have no reason for being.
One of the brightest women of the day
has taken up the study Of architecture. for
the sole purpose of building a kitchen. She
intends calling herself kitchen artist and
scientist.
A little time spent in looking over the
kitchens of some of the more pretcntious
dwellings would suffice to convince even the
most ignorant beholder that such a person
would find plenty of business and would
not only reap handsome reward for her
intelligent labor, but confer untold benefits
householders, who themselves have
never given the subject of kitchen SANTA
ton any attention.