652 HOME AND HOUSEHOLD. 



not practise truer economy than by investing a little money in 

 that which saves them severe labor. Provide for use articles 

 that are light and easy to handle, and avoid lifting enormous 

 pots and water buckets, when lighter ones would be more suit- 

 able for a small family. Learn, early in housekeeping, to prac- 

 tise economy in strength and labor ; plan and calculate with 

 brain, husbanding strength to put into that service which shall 

 bring best results. In order to accomplish this, study conven- 

 ience and labor-saving methods in the kitchen. 



Systematize the work, having a time for everything. See that 

 the stove is thoroughly cleaned out in the morning, before a fire 

 is started, for in such trifling things are assured both a house- 

 wife's amiability, and dinner at the dinner hour ; thus preserving 

 temper, time, and the high regard of the husband, who, at this 

 auspicious season, is pliable and yielding, willing to grant any 

 reasonable request. Remember the old adage : " The way to a 

 man's heart is through his stomach." Provide the head of the 

 family with good dinners, and he will undoubtedly provide a 

 large and pleasant kitchen, and interest himself in its conven- 

 ience for work. 



Make the kitchen a bright, attractive spot, and beautify the 

 work as much as possible by considering it a valued accomplish- 

 ment to be able, by intelligent and efficient management, to con- 

 vert a kitchen into a cheerful and comfortable place to work in. 

 The ceilings and walls should be tinted, in some light and cheer- 

 ful shade ; and two or three coats of oil or paint on a good 

 kitchen floor are a saving of labor, as a weekly mopping with 

 tepid water is sufficient to keep it clean. If this room must 

 do duty as dining-room, a screen made by tacking cretonne 

 upon a light wooden frame, five feet high and six feet wide, will 

 not only temper the heat from the cook-stove, but hide the un- 

 sightly disorder that results from the process of getting dinner. 

 A square of carpet under the table, together with comfortable 

 little rugs before the ironing-table and sink, will make the kitchen 

 a really attractive place. 



Cooking is fatiguing enough at its best estate, but doubly so 

 when performed under the discouragements and inconveniences 

 that abound in so many kitchens. The needless steps that are 

 taken from pantry shelves to closet shelves, and from closet 



