1864 Report of Farmers' Institutes 



posed of that which hid under beds and 1)iireaiis when we thoii2:ht 

 we had captured it in " that painful process of house-cleaning 

 associated by men with loose tacks, strong language and colds in 

 the head." We think we have destroyed every particle of dust, 

 only to discover a week later that the rooms are again dusty. But 

 supposing that the vacuum cleaner which would do away with 

 this is at present entirely beyond our means, do we therefore 

 need to settle back and say that we are forever doomed to the corn 

 broom and dust-pan ? Can we not get much needed help from 

 some of the smaller vacuum cleaners, or a vacumn sweeper or, 

 failing even that, from a long-handled dust-pan, which would 

 make it unnecessary to stoop over? Again, is the threshing ma- 

 chine any easier to acquire than some of the pieces of laundry 

 machinery which would make " blue Mondav " onlv half blue ? 

 And is not a neighborhood laundry, where such machinery could 

 be used by diifcrent families in the neighborhood, in turn, some- 

 thing which could be carried out if we were all determined on it ? 



But while waiting for the big helps, let us not scorn the lesser 

 ones in laundry work as in cleaning. The washing machine has 

 made its way more successfully than most of our labor-saving 

 devices, but how often do we see the mangle, either heated or un- 

 heated, or the alcohol, or gasoline flat iron where the electric iron 

 is impossible ? How many people make an improvised mangle out 

 of their clothes wringer ? 



With the necessary mechanical turn of mind we can take our 

 equipment just as it stands and make it more useful than it ever 

 has been. The woman who discovered that a wire hairpin would 

 make just as good a cherry stoner as any yon can l)uy for ten or 

 twenty-five cents, had the necessary imagination to make the most 

 of any utensil at her connnand. Snch a woman W(»idd not hesi- 

 tate, either, to press into service whatever would be of use, whether 

 it was originally intended for the kitchen or not. For instance, 

 she might go to the owner of a boat and ask him how hv man- 

 aged to get his decks so white and clean, adding: "I can't get 

 my kitchen floor to look like that unless 1 get down on my hands 

 and knees. Do yon get down on your hands and knees to scrub 

 your decks? " And lie says '' No," very emphatically, ami shows 

 her a deck brush — a scrubbing brush with a long handle, which 



