36 The Bulletin. 



above are two much longer doors, opening into a number of shelves, where 

 I keep various things, dishes for taking up meals, tea, coffee, spices, starch, 

 soap, and a great many other things, so that I don't have anything hanging 

 on the walls except dish pans; everything is away from dust and flies. Just 

 to the left of this and right up against it is a rather large table on castors 

 that I can move into the middle of the room or before the door to work when 

 it is hot. This table also contains a large drawer for kitchen towels. There 

 is also the meal chest, containing three apartments, each having a separate 

 lid. It stands just 31 inches high. I had it made to suit my height for 

 kneading bread. The chest itself is 15 inches above the floor, the end pieces 

 being cut out of broad plank and shaped to serve as legs. 



Then the fireless cooker, last but by no means the least, is a luxury. After 

 using one we don't want to do without it; it is so helpful, convenient, and 

 such a comfort. When you want to go to church or anywhere in the morn- 

 ing, just put your dinner in the cooker and there is no danger of its burning, 

 no fires to keep up, and when you get home you have a hot dinner ready to 

 serve. I don't think there is any other way of cooking meats to make them 

 eo good. Your roast beef, mutton chops, broiled chicken or anything else is 

 better cooked in the fireless cooker than in any other way. 



A sink in the kitchen saves so many steps even if there is no running 

 water in the house; it will save time and opening doors when it is cold. 

 There are many other little conveniences and ways of making work easier 

 that every woman might have if she would study her situation and make the 

 most of her opportunities. She should be an equal partner with her hus- 

 band in sharing things, good or bad, and if they are able to have improve- 

 ments on the farm they ought to have them in the house too. 



Another important thing my long experience as a mother and housekeeper 

 has taught me is the need of being ready for any emergency. Keep all kinds 

 of medicines and remedies on hand and learn how to use them. We can 

 train ourselves to be dependent or independent as we will. I have raised 

 eight children and Providence has been kind, but if I should tell you how 

 few calls we have had for a doctor you would not believe that I am as great 

 a friend to them as I am. We have called a physician to visit our children 

 in only three cases. We have never lost one, and they are all strong and well 

 now. Of course they have had many little accidents. The worst was with 

 our second son. He was working in the blacksmith shop and had a piece of 

 red-hot iron in the tongs, and when he struck it with the hammer it flew out 

 of the tongs and struck him on the eye, cutting through the lid, and made a 

 slight cut on the ball one-half inch long, not quite reaching the sight. He 

 came to the house with his dirty hand over it and said, "Mother, I have 

 ruined my eye." I looked at it and it did look like it might be ruined sure 

 enough, with the blood running down on his cheek through the smut and 

 dirt off of his hand. But I ran to one of my emergency bottles and got a 

 tablet of bichloride of mercury and put one quart of warm water on it in a 

 basin. Then I got a large clean cloth and swabbed his eye and face off, and 

 for fear I had not gotten it entirely clean I made another solution exactly 

 like the flrst and went over it again. Next I got a bottle of borax water that 

 I kept for burns and sore throats and wet a good big piece of absorbent cot- 

 ton and put it on his eye and bound it up. Then I went to the telephone and 

 called the doctor, and as he had just had a call above our home he said he 

 would be along in a little while and bring me a dressing. When I told him 

 what I had done for it, he said I did not need anything else, but I used the 

 borated vaseline that he brought and in one week the eye was ready for the 

 bandage to be taken off, and it never did inflame one particle. The time to 

 save trouble is in the beginning. Always disinfect a hurt, even a small one, 

 right at first. I like to keep a little bag of sterile cloths for binding up 

 wounds, and this is the way I sterilize them. Put one bichloride tablet in 

 one quart of water in a porcelain vessel and then put the cloths in it and boil 

 them. Then dry in the sun and wrap them up carefully in another cloth 

 and they are ready for use. When your little boy sticks a rusty nail in his 



