The Colfax chronicle., 1904-04-16
KILLING HOUSEHOLD TASKS.
Energy Spent by Farmers' Wives That
Night Be Saved by Proper
Provisions.

Although the United States is pre-.
eminently the paradise of labor saving
devices for women, Rev. E. p. Pressey.
of Massachusetts,. is of the opinion that
not nearly enough has been done In the
way of easing domestic conditions for
them. AS an illustration Of what can
and should be done. says the New York
Tribune, he hopes to establish model
farmhouse with labor saving devices for
the prevention of whathe terms moth
ercide."
Mr.. Pressey considers that the farm
house kitchen has not improved In con-
venience for SO years, and that the fact
that some things are done as they must
have been done at the first advent of the
race, at loss of from so to 500 per cent.
of energy in fruitless and uninteresting
drudgery. is largely accountable for the
number of country women in the insane
asylums.
ut is easy to draw mechanical exam
pies of waste of mother" says Mr.. Pres
sey. writing to the Woman's Journal
Of his project, land, strange to say, al
most as easy to point out the mechan-
ical corrections of it. For example, how
many farmhouse kitchens have a pump
on one side, or even in the yard, and q
cooking stove in recess corner, and
how often mother either lifts her pots
and kettles over the intervening space
and back, or, worse, transfers water by
the two quart or even quart dipperful.
Five hundred per cent waste of me-
chanfcal energy, to say the least, when
running water and a faucet handily
placed. with a slight hose attachment,
are always attainable in time on the
poorest farm.
Take another even less excusable
example Of even greater and more no
>ticeable waste and more palpable drudg-
ery-the dishwashing and dishwiping.
In a large family literally hours of the
day are consumed In a back-breaking
process that legitimately should take
only few minutes at the most, say. for
a family of Is. There are devices, very
simple and inexpensive, for not mere
ly cleaning dishes. but even sterilizing
them. so thorough and efficient are they.
"In the average kitchen, but-for the
presence Of cook stove and things get
ting ready to eat, the room might as
we'll be a shed or parlor, for all its be-
ing built for dispatch Of business.
Parings and waste are brought in to
necessitate constant sweeping, and other
litter, and especially wood. is toted
across to misplaced woodbox with an
Ill devised approach through the kitch-
en-, and almost generally even thrown
by careless boys against plaster ceiled
and papered wall as the box overflows;
whereas, no wood should enter the
kitchen except through a trap from the
woodshed into closed box
TOO frequently cupboards are mis-
placed, i'll planned and remote. Only
rarely are tools and utensils arranged
about the table or workbench for the
swift convenience of the hand, but are
hung on nails and hooks, with the main
idea Of getting them out of the way of
other things. or. stupidity of stupidities!
when washed, heaped together on a
clean shelf in the back of the pantry,
whittier mother hastens so times day
to select her tool as need arises 20 feet
away by the sink. stove or kitchen table.
Again and again things that belong on
open shelves at the stove or sink are put
behind awkward swing doors.
Practically nothing has been made
In the farmhouse of the simple device
OF stone weight elevators, and mothers
back breaks in the Juggling of boxes and
pals and baskets up and down, from
cellar to garrett"