Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21
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" patton, a nllllOD American W.
men are today face to face with
the semi-annual problem of clean
Ing house. And as many more men, with
feelings of dismay, pure and unadulterated'
unsoftened by any prospect of pleasure
whatever. are casting about for some valid
excuse to leave home until the ordeal is
over. Yet oddly enough, the most tremen-
dous house-cleanings in the world are done
by men without the aid or consent of a sin
gle woman. And this is on board the great
ocean liners.
Superintendents of large institutions,
such as hospitals. asylums or hotels, turn
helplessly to their matrons or housekeepers
when the semi-annual cleaning days roll
round but on board an ocean greyhound.
which shelters loo souls, the, captain
faces house-cleaning twice month as
calmly az his boat faces the mighty roller
IN md-ocean.
Listen, oh, ye housewives. threatened with
nervous prostration at thought of cleaning
your six-room fiat. or your ten-room sub
urban cottage. Read, oh, we husbands,
covering a the approach of painter paper
hanger and general cleaner. This is how
man conducts his house-cleaninS cam
paign:
At II O'Clock Wednesday morning, Fen
Tuary l, the S. s. Deutschland ran her
icicle-hung brow into the Hamburg Ameri-
can docks OF New ! Ork nafDOf. Al LOU
O'Clock the last of her steerage passengers
had been discharged At o'clock small
boy, with a very large gong, tumtummlnS
madly, raced from end to end of the ship.
From cabin and hold, from stokers' room
to hurricane deck. men heard the sound
and flung down whatever they were doing.
In less than ten minutes the great life
boats had been swung out over the water
and back again. The first step in the house
cleaning had been taken. Two minutes
later the first officer stepped to the cap
tain the bridge. saluted, and reported
that the boats were in good condition, and
each man had responded promptly to the
signals The captain nodded his head, the
first officer shouted an indistinguishdble
order through a megaphone and the men
sped down companiOnways. House-clean-
Ing had begun in earnest.
And here are a few of the figures which
this tremendous undertaking involved:
Twenty-Five thousand pieces of linen to
be sorted counted, sacked shipped 10 the
laundry, returned, recounted and stored.
Fifteen thousand pieces of silverware to
be counted, sorted and polished.
Twenty-Five thousand pieces of glass
ware, and double that number of dishes and
cooking utensils to pass through the hands
of washers and polishers.
Three bundled and ninety state rooms TO
be cleaned in every nook and Granny.
Thirty-two bath rooms, ditto.
A dining room with capacity of 467 per-
sons. and another accommodating 800, to
be cleaned and polished, from mahogany
tables TO bullying portfolios.
\ ladies' parlor as large as four ordinary
drawing rooms, all in white and gold, to
be polished to dazzling brilliancy.
A solid mile of decks to be stoned to
sparkling whiteness.
Another mile of rugs and carpets to be
beaten.
Hundreds upon hundreds of mattresses to
he air hon ND
Details too numerous for capitulauon to
be watched with jealous care.
1t would take a week. month, exclaims
the distracted housewife who has just
heard that the paperhangers cannot come
for another week. But that iS on land.
Your sea-going man brooks no delay. So
II happened that at noon on Saturday, Feb
ruary 4, the S. S. Deutschland was pro-
nounced fit, and was thrown open for in
spection. Quarters for LOGO had been house,
cleaned in exactly thrirty-three hours, or
three working days.
"Organization-that's the secret re-
marked Capt. Kaempff, the man held d.
roctly responsible by the company for every
detail of his ship. "A place for each of
our 500 workers, and each worker in his
place. Very simple, you see. The man who
cleans brass does not interfere with the
man who beats rugs. One polishes brass
for thirty-three hours and the other beats
rugs and mattresses for the same length of
time. Each is a single cog or screw In a
wGll-oiled machine"
Organization! Splendid idea, but how can
a woman organize with only a faithful
Mary" who insists upon resting between
rug or curtain shaking to chat with
Maggie" over the fence? Or, how &C
cCmplish miracles with a handy man who
tries to beat carpets and mend furniture
for three distracted housewives at once?
Still. these tips from the housekeeping
process aboard ship may help the humblest
hat-dweller or the most patient of suburb
antics.
1t is generally supposed that directly a