Home Makers' Conference. 333 



this cupboard between the cross piece and floor. The sleeve and ironing 

 boards have removable shaped covers fastened imderneath with tapes. 

 The sleeve board is very useful not only for ironing sleeves, but also 

 for the narrow parts of waists, jackets, and children's clothes. 



On the same side of the room as the ironing board cupboard, is the 

 bench for the tubs. If this bench is suited to the height of the woman 

 who is to work on it, there need be no back bending work. The bench 

 in this room is 22 inches high. Most women would probably need it 

 higher than this. A support for the wringer between the tubs is made 

 of a cross piece between two uprights. This is high enough to allow the 

 tubs to be pushed under the wringer and thus save water from dripping 

 over the floor when wrung from the clothes. The wringer thus serves 

 for two tubs and may be changed so as to wring from either. 



The old order of housework was to wash on Monday, iron on Tues- 

 day, bake on Wednesday, etc. "Would it not be easier to get the clothes 

 mended, sorted, stains removed and clothes put to soak on Monday? 

 Then on Tuesday, the washing wall be easier than if crowded into Mon- 

 day. All rents, except those in the stockings, should be mended before 

 washing as the processes of washing, and drying in the breeze frays the 

 edges so that they are much harder to mend. Stains should be removed 

 before washing as the alkali of the soap often sets the stains so that it 

 is almost impossible to remove them. The body linen, soiled towels and 

 clothes should be put to soak, the soiled portions being rubbed with 

 soap, then rolled within the garment. This prevents the dirt from 

 spreading. The handkerchiefs, by themselves, should be put to soaK 

 in a solution of boric acid in a separate basin or pail and on Tues- 

 day washed and boiled about twenty minutes before being put with the 

 other clothing. This is done to thoroughly disinfect the handkerchiefs. 

 The cleaner white clothes and linen may be washed without previous 

 soaking. The soiled colored clothes of fast colors may be soaked in warm 

 water without soap or other alkali. 



On Tuesday morning, the soaked clothes will be removed from the 

 tubs and the clean white clothes washed through warm suds in the ma- 

 chine, then put into warm water in the boiler. The wringer on the 

 machine saves moving the one betw^een the tubs over to the machine. 

 The nearness of the machine to the boiler saves steps. 



The copper-bottomed boiler has a galvanized wire drainer with 

 wooden handles. This is placed in the boiler before putting in the 

 clothes. Before lifting the clothes from the boiler, the drainer is 

 rested on the sides of the boiler so that the water drains out of the 

 clothes. They are then lifted over to the tub, where they are rinsed 

 in plenty of clear warm water and wrung into the bluing water. A clean 



