1905.] THE RESERVE POWER IN HOUSEKEEPING. IO7 



If you will look on the programme you will see that the first 

 thing this morning is " The Reserve Power in Housekeeping." 

 We have a lady here who, I think, will be able to interest us all 

 in this subject. I have the pleasure of introducing Miss 

 Martha Van Rensselaer of Cornell University. 



RESERVE POWER IN HOUSEKEEPING. 

 By Miss Martha Van Rensselaer, 



Of Cornell University. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : I am really glad to see so many 

 gentlemen in the audience, although it is not generally supposed 

 that they are interested in housekeeping — though they cer- 

 tainly are three times a day, and the women certainly are 

 interested in having them take up the subject as a study, 

 because they have an idea that if men built the kitchens, if the 

 men worked in the kitchens, if the men stood at kitchen sinks, 

 if the men stood over the stove, if the men threw out the dish 

 water, and the men traveled up and down the cellar stairs, that 

 the cellar stairs would be easier, that kitchen stoves would be 

 higher, that the kitchen sinks would be suited to the height of 

 the individual, that gas jets would be hung within reach of the 

 people who have to light them, that steps would be taken out 

 from between kitchen and dining-room, that refrigerators 

 would be within easy reach, that ice would be upon the farm, 

 that the water would be brought into the house as well as into 

 the barn, and, in short, that the same economy of labor would 

 be studied in the household that is now studied in other lines 

 of work in which men are engaged. For that reason we do not 

 regret that the men are here this morning to hear a simple talk 

 upon " Reserve Power in Housekeeping," for the men do 

 build the houses, the men do plan the kitchens to some extent, 

 and it is a very fortunate thing when a man says to his wife, 

 " I want to know where to put this kitchen sink." It is a very 

 fortunate thing that he consults his wife in regard to the plans 

 of the house, because she is the one who does the work, and 

 because she seems to have an intuitive knowledge of how these 

 things ought to be. I was not saying — I would not have you 

 misunderstand me — I was not saying that I thought the men 

 ought to work at the kitchen sink; I was not saying that I 



