New-York tribune., 1909-10-20
THE DEADLY ICFROY
h'ch Women Rarely KnOsu Hon
Food Is Kept, Saus a Natron

- t'sll IT HsFvey W. Wiley referred "a hcus..
~ .ss FseshtY as LHcretia Borstas, no doubt S,
ts1csa rev OF the ears for which they vsrs
H'shaed. and Of those who did read his rs,,,-s
pfooabiy few would have pleaded zriItv, - - -
NlaQeh recently who carries out in her ov-7 bo,,
Az Ins Gn-to-date IDEAS On housekeeping sIss<e
- S4t she eentlnued. would the woman OF xsaItb
HHaS4Ae that she could be IN any vav eon~sr,as
with the facts mentioned. She paws tbs Stzsss+
wages 20 hsr eook her sculleFy maid has solsnsss
references and her waitress is a treasure W.
should she suspect any OF these functionsries A.
deallng out poison to the fan-ily9 IF ber rbN5
should fall i'll she would rack hsr hra,n s, 49,.
cause and neither she nor. probably the doetsr
would ever think Of the icehox The last plaes VS.
tied win be blamed
What goes on below stairs is seldom loosss Inn,
oy the mistress Of a fashionable house. she Is
proud OF the wonderful porcelain lined ieahox
Whleh mas been built into her kitchen. but rarely
does she more than glance into it on har occasional
VISITS 10 the basement region The cook ehesEily
replies IN the affirmative TO the question DO Won
keep your teebox clean" and there the matter
drops.
Yet IL is moral certainty that the icsbox Is
not emptied Of All its contents tvies week and
scrubbed out; neither the racks well dried bs-
fore being put back 1t is safe TO assume f,lrths--
more, that meat is received which is not absoluelY
fresh, for there is pact between the butcher and
the cook and that that meat Is put in the lee box
tamtihs the air, which Is in turn absorbed BY ths
mllk' IL IS quite possible, too, that ice chsppsd
for the table has been taken from a mart of ths
oieek where meat has laid. and rinsfng in water By
no means eradieates what it has absorbed.
Even II there are separate iceboxes for fresh
meat, vegetables and milk, as there ought to be-
with separate repository, accessible only to tina
waitress, for table ice, they may not be used ac-
eordins to the purpose for which they we're intend
ed Milk is put sooner or later in the hanGisst
place by even the most faithful servant, and from
milk that has absorbed germs or decav con-.
many us IN the nursery. Many time is the nailk-
man changed on this account, while the tToubls iz
aetually caused by the placing of the Gpen bottles
IN IuHEaposttton with Wand not strictly fresh
Ihese are only fraction Of the abuses that 40
on IN the best run houses unsuspeeted by the nais
tress. And a well paid housekeeper does not better
conditions in the least, for heusekeepers though
more intelligent than cooks, are no more thersusb
Ihey dislike to do any work that they can svade
and to order the ieebox Systematically ovsrhaued
and cleaned twice a week would mean that they
would have TO stand by and see II done
Even when the facts are known the avsrags
mistress refuses to believe in their seriousness
she has never bothered about her icebox and moth
ing has ever happened to her, she asserts. If shs
tried however, she might recall an instance OF an
aiiing child or adults sudden and uneomfoFtabis
Indigestion which a neglected ieebeK might have
explained"