1866 Report of Faumeks' Institutes 



cated as a useful and necessary piece of kitchen furniture, but 

 until you have tried setting aside a new scrap basket for 

 the purpose of crisping your lettuce, you will not have realized 

 its full usefulness. It makes us so far independent of a refrig- 

 erator, for after the lettuce is sprinkled with fresh cool water in 

 the basket and set in the cellar, the basket reeds hold just enough 

 moisture to put the lettuce into excellent condition. A fireless 

 cooker is no less useful for canning fruits than for cooking cereals 

 or raising bread. The list of means for making our work easier 

 might be multiplied indefinitely if we are only on the lookout 

 for them. 



The question arises, what is the possession of labor-saving de- 

 vices and our knowledge of their use going to do for us ? One 

 man has said: '' If the time gained by labor-saving devices is to 

 be spent by women in still multiplying the same round of duties, 

 in spending more hours doing more of the same kind of work, 

 then the labor-saving devices had better be at the bottom of the 

 sea." Their real object is to enable the housewife, by shortening 

 her working day, to give her family and community, not the dregs 

 of an over-weary body and brain, but the hopeful, inspiring in- 

 fluence on which the uplift of every home and community de- 

 pends. Relief from a part of the manual drudgery of house- 

 keeping sets her free to taste the joys of her profession, home- 

 making. 



