TOOLS FOR HOUSEKEEPING 
By Elizabeth Atwood 
Recipes and photographs by Mary H. Northend 
| 1 IS strange how many very good house- 
keepers are careless about the “‘tools’’ of 
their routine work, both in regard to the 
completeness of equipment and in the care 
of them. If, for comparison, you take a 
a peep into a carpenter’s chest of tools you 
will find everything there bright and shining. Do you sup- 
pose the carpenter would go to work with a rusty saw, the 
teeth needing setting and sharpening? Do you think he 
would try to use a plane that was not sharp? In short, be- 
fore he begins a job he takes care that the contents of his 
tool-chest are in good order. Is his work any more im- 
portant than the daily work carried on in any kitchen? I 
am sure it is not; but the carpenter realizes that in order to 
do a good job with profit to himself he must have his tools 
in such shape that he can go about his work with them 
quickly and surely. 
It is the old story—almost any thing will do, as long as 
it holds together, is allowed to serve in the average kitchen, 
or in connection with the care of the house. This, however, 
is far from being true econ- 
omy. Just because a maid is 
paid to do the work, it is 
often assumed by the inex- 
perienced or _ thoughtless 
housewife that she can take 
extra time to rub the lint off 
from each tumbler that ac- 
cumulates by reason of the 
old worn cloth given her to 
do service as a towel. It may 
be true that the maid is 
expected to do what is placed 
before her to do, but she 
should have things in such 
shape that her work may be 
facilitated, not retarded. If 
this were realized more fully 
by all housewives, there 
would be less criticism of the 
time it takes Molly to do her 
work. I do not advocate a myriad of fancy tools in a kitchen. 
All too often superfluous devices are mere hindrances to the 
worker. 
The simple furnishings—the really needful—should be 
of the best, and should be kept in perfect order. And maids 
are not the only ones who are careless in matters of this sort. 
A can of sal-soda should be on every sink shelf, for as a 
cleanser of tins and all utensils it is hardly to be surpassed. 
ORANGE BOATs: 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
CES) ees ay 
HELPS TO THE 
HOUSEWIFE 
TABLE AND HOUSEHOLD SUGGESTIONS OF INTER- 
EST TO EVERY HOUSEKEEPER AND HOUSEWIFE 
Peel sweet oranges and halve. Ice each section 
with white frosting, and when set adorn each half with a citron sail. 
The result is attractive little boats 
April, 1912 
After boiling in this solution of soda, the sticky masses that 
have been burned in the bottom of dishes becomes disinte- 
grated. ‘Then the stain may easily be removed by using 
Dutch cleanser or any gritty cleaner. In this way all cook- 
ing dishes, with their pretty white linings, may be kept 
looking like new. Did it ever occur to you how much was 
left sticking to the linings of cooking utensils before the 
advent of white-lined kitchen ware, which shows every spot 
immediately ? 
Brushes are a boon in a kitchen, yet you would be sur- 
prised to find them missing where you would surely expect 
to find them. ‘The long-handled brush for cleaning milk- 
bottles and narrow-necked pitchers; a brush for washing 
vegetables; a brush for washing iron skillets and tins, with 
a handle to it; a brush for brushing out fringes of doilies, 
etc.—these may be found in the five-and-ten-cent stores. So 
cost is not the reason for their absence. It is just plain lack 
of thought and care; and yet their use facilitates the work 
in a surprising way. 
Then the dish-towels and the dishcloths. What a mess 
and mass of raggedness in this connection is to be found in 
many kitchens? Rags which have outlived all chance of 
usefulness as dish-wipers are relegated to do duty as dish- 
cloths, all strings and lint though they are. I have seen 
them, so I know whereof I 
speak. These same pieces 
of cloth taken and folded to- 
gether, and a few rows of 
machine stitching put through 
them, would be changed from 
useless, troublesome rags to 
good dishcloths. 
The same thing may be 
done in making good floor- 
cloths. Many thin pieces of 
cloth, very absorbent, are of 
no use whatever for the hard 
wear a floorcloth gets, if left 
open in the original shape. 
But take and fold in the 
straggling ends and _ stitch 
back and forth several times, 
and presto! the unusable is 
converted into the best kind 
of a floor cloth. Just a little 
thought, just a little care, and a maid’s work is made just 
a little pleasanter. , 
The practice of using up the old tablecloths in the shape 
of dish-towels is a so-called economy practiced by many 
housekeepers, that to my mind is no economy at all, but a 
waste, while at the same time it adds work to the one who 
presides in the kitchen. The good housekeeper carefully 
hems her dish-towels before they go to the kitchen; others 
