THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 627 



things save more steps for the house keeper than most any other con- 

 venience of the kitchen and might be had in every farm home. A hot 

 water supply may be furnished by a special heating apparatus in the 

 cellar, a furnace connection or as is usual in small houses, by a boiler 

 and water front attachment for the range. 



Aside from the range a small oil stove will prove to be a convenient 

 article when only a little food is to be cooked and save unnecessary fire 

 in the range. And then comes the fireless cooker, one of the later inven- 

 tions which is proving to be a very convenient addition to the kitchen. 

 What a comfort on a hot day in summer or on Sunday when the house 

 wife may prepare the dinner in the early morning, place it in the fire- 

 less cooker and feel sure that if she goes about her other work or at- 

 tends the services at the church that when she returns, dinner will be 

 ready to place on the table. No danger of burning anything in a fireless 

 cooker. 



A kitchen cabinet of the late designs and with plenty of handily ar- 

 ranged cupboards so that various utensils needed when at work may be 

 reached with as little w^alking back and forth as possible, are a great 

 help. 



Among the many devices for convenience in the kitchen are the bread 

 and cake mixers which give ample returns on the money expended as the 

 primary expenditure is only from 60 cents to $5.00 but which when first 

 put upon the market were received with skepticism — if at all — by most 

 housekeepers. 



Nevertheless, it is a well appreciated fact that both have come to stay. 

 Why? Because they do the work more quickly, more surely and more 

 cleanly and are recommended by teachers of domestic science. 



An assortment of small utensils and devices which are inexpensive 

 but handy include the various cooking vessels of light material, the 

 double boiler, food grinder, apple corer, dish washers and drainers, scales, 

 tea and coffee percolators, wheel trays, etc. 



And the house keeper who makes a close enough study of household 

 machinery to know that new needs arise, will know that new ideas and 

 contrivances for making work easier are constantly being put on the mar- 

 ket and will be on the look out for them. 



One of the hardest tasks of the housewife in the past was the family 

 washing but which has been wonderfully lightened since the advent of 

 the gasoline engine and electricity, which are used to turn both the ma- 

 chine and wringer. I hope the time will speedily come when the old 

 back-breaking wash board and the hand power machines will be a thing 

 of the past. 



A laundry room in the basement or built conveniently near the house 

 will save all the steam and dampness as well as the dirt from the house. 

 The water may be piped to the laundry room as well as to the kitchen 

 and with stationary tubs with drain save all heavy work of carrying the 

 water. With such a laundry room, the horror of the wash day is re- 

 moved. I recently read of a clothes drainer, a simple inexpensive affair, 

 but a handy device for wash day. It consists of an oval steel frame heav- 

 ily tinned, to which a wire gird is fastened. Steel wire handles on w^hich 

 there are two hooks are hinged to the ends of the frame. Scalding of the 



