The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-03

and pastry are made and ironing Is done.
Experts who wish to increase the eff
cheney of the domestic worker have made
computations on the subject and now offer
figures for the guidance of those who
have kitchens to furnish. The height of
the working surface for a woman feet
and inches tall should be thirty inches.
Ii she is an inch taller or an inch shorter
than this the table should be raised or
lowered half an inch. For each inch
added to or subtracted from the height
of the woman half an inch should be put
on the table or taken from it.
The same rule applies to the sink. There
is no reason why woman should have
to stoop over her dishpan any more than
she should over her ironing board. She
should have such articles brought to the
suitable height for her special needs.
Unfortunately she will have to look to
this herself unless she is lucky enough
to be married to man who will interest
himself in increasing her ability to work
easily Most architects do not take these
matters into consideration any more
than they do the other conveniences of
woman in her domestic duties. Not I'M
til recent years was there a man archi-
tect who thought seriously of putting the
sink so that there should good light on
1t, in planning for space for kitchen
table near the stove, in managing so that
the woman should not have to travel too
many steps between the pantry and the
mixing table. Apparently the necessity
for these details did not appeal to them
any more than the need for abundant
closet room in other parts of the house as
well as the kitchen.
Here is a field for the woman architect.
Soon may she come!
There is place for women planners in
more directions than in building houses
and flats. Only the other day came up
against a condition of inefficency in a
house furnishing establishment
l had gone with girl friend who was
furnishing her home and was on the
search for kitchen table which would
meet her desires. She was a competent
young woman who knew her own mind,
and she had figured out the exact height
that table should be. But she couldn't
find it. Instead, she discovered that there
is standardized height for kitchen ta-
bles. If the woman is too tall or too
short for the established dimensions, so
much the worse for her. She can bend
down or stretch up, but she cannot find
table to meet her inches.
My young friend is a girl OF resource
fulness. and she instantly devised meth
cd for meeting the emergency. "I shall
have casters put on the table," she said.
" Then l can wheel it easily from one
part of the kitchen to the other and save
myself carrying dishes back and forth.
and when I have the casters attached
shall have blocks fastened to the legs of
the table to bring it to the proper height"
This was an eXpedient that had not
occurred to me. although had thought
that a short woman could have the legs
of the table cut off. 1 commend it to
other women Of llore than usua height,
The sink canLot be treated IN this
manner but the dish pan can be put
upon an ordinary sink stand or trivet
and thus brought to the level at which
it is easier to wash dishes than when
you must stoop to conquer " them.
Let me return for a mo- ent to the
question of the table with casters on
the legs. I am interested to know IL
any other women have tried it and
found comfort with It. It is hardly
probable that they have all waited until