1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
27 
Condensed  or  Intensive 
Housekeeping. 
TWO  years  ago  a  change  in  my  hus¬ 
band’s  business  necessitated  the 
selling  of  our  home,  and  we  decided  to 
wait  a  while  to  find  the  right  place,  and 
to  build  our  own  house.  This  set  me  to 
work  planning  a  house  ;  from  that  I 
began  planning  dwellings,  large  and 
small,  for  families  with  and  without 
servants,  but  it  never  occurred  to  me  to 
offer  my  plans  to  others. 
The  plan,  Fig.  12,  then,  is  not  intended 
as  an  improvement  on  that  of  S.  A.  Little, 
but  is  simply  apropos  to  the  question  of 
economy  in  housekeeping  always  perti¬ 
nent  to  discussion ;  and  I  have  labeled 
it  ‘  ‘  Condensed  or  Intensive  Housekeep¬ 
ing.” 
The  front,  east  and  west  rooms  are  fur¬ 
nished  as  bed  rooms,  each  having  large 
double  windows  in  front,  and  each  being 
fitted  with  a  chimney  closet.  The  mid¬ 
dle  room,  or  hall,  having  a  fire-place,  will 
be  found  very  convenient  if  fitted  up  as  a 
sitting  room  :  indeed,  I  know  of  one  little 
house  that  has  this  room  fitted  up  as  the 
parlor.  The  upper  halves  of  the  hall  doors 
are  to  be  glazed  with  door  plates.  The 
long  galleries  on  the  south  front,  east 
and  west  serve  as  defenses  against  both 
heat  and  cold. 
The  dining  room  and  kitchen,  the  vade 
mccum  of  the  busy  housewife  who  does 
her  own  work,  are  in  this  little  house 
practically  in  one,  and  in  winter  the 
space  serves  for  the  living  room  as  well. 
In  the  alcove,  at  the  end  of  which  is  a 
large  double  window,  or  bay,  if  pre¬ 
ferred,  is  the  stove,  the  pipe  to  run  up 
straight  to  a  flue  above.  The  pantry  on 
the  left  is  fitted  with  shelves  ;  the  lowest, 
being  broad,  has  hinged  to  it  a  molding 
board  to  be  raised  and  secured  by  a  long 
leaf  bolt  underneath  ;  this  broad  shelf  is 
reserved  for  all  the  accessories  to  bread 
and  cake  making,  a  drugget  being  laid 
underneath  to  protect  the  floor.  In  here, 
where  are  to  be  found  all  the  materials, 
the  compounding  is  to  be  done.  On  the 
opposite  side  of  the  alcove  all  the  cooking 
utensils  are  to  be  kept.  It  is  fitted  with 
shelves  and  a  small  cupboard  for  the 
table  ware  in  every-day  use  ;  and  here  all 
the  “cleaning  up”  is  done  at  the  sink 
fitted  to  the  outer  wall.  The  pantry  and 
cleaning  room  can  both  be  fitted  with 
small  hinged,  single-sash  windows.  The 
wood  room,  opening  on  to  the  platform 
extending  over  the  cistern,  has  in  it  a 
long  “water  shelf  ”  for  the  tank  or  buck¬ 
ets.  Just  outside  the  wood  room  is  a  table 
for  washing  and  preparing-  fruits  and 
vegetables  for  cooking. 
In  the  milk  room  are  shelves  and  a 
water  box  for  cooling  milk,  having  an 
opening  for  a  slanted  trough  to  pass  into 
it  from  the  wood  room  to  pour  in  the 
fresh  water,  and  a  cane  faucet  and  cork 
stopper  for  letting  off  the  water  from  the 
end  at  the  outer  wall. 
The  dining  room  doors  have  the  upper 
halves  glazed  in  lieu  of  windows.  The  fur¬ 
nishing’s  consist  of  an  extension  dining 
table,  which  serves  in  the  evening  for  a 
reading-  table  also,  a  sofa-lounge  in  one 
corner,  book  shelves  fitted  to  another, 
side-board  in  one,  writing  desk  on  one  side 
of  the  fire-place  and  china  closet  built 
into  the  other  side. 
In  our  climate,  by  protecting  carefully 
with  paper  at  night,  flowers  may  be  kept 
in  the  kitchen  window,  a  thing  of  joy  and 
beauty  all  winter,  and  with  a  parlor  top 
cooking  stove,  the  room  well  furnished 
will  present"  a  handsome  appearance. 
The  stove  alone  will  supply  sufficient 
warmth  for  many  of  our  mild  days, 
though  it  is  unwise  to  sacrifice  health  to 
When  Baby  was  sick,  we  gave  her  Castoria, 
When  she  was  a  Child,  she  cried  for  Castoria, 
When  she  became  Miss,  she  clung  to  Castoria, 
When  she  had  Children,  she  gave  them  Castoria 
economy,  so-called,  and  omit  the  open 
fire-place. 
The  little  bath  room  contains  a  small 
stove  and  all  the  bathing  accessories, 
with  lines  for  towels,  a  cistern  being  at 
the  door. 
Of  course  this  little  home  may  possess 
imperfections,  but  observe  that  it  is  all 
on  one  floor  :  as  the  front  of  the  house  is 
in  order  and  closed,  all  the  appliances  for 
work,  rest  and  recreation  are  to  be  found 
practically  in  the  same  room.  And  by 
opening  up  all  the  avenues  of  ventilation 
after  cooking  each  meal,  the  room  is 
freshened  and  any  lingering  odors  from 
the  cooking  dispelled.  These  odors,  by 
the  way,  can  be  almost  entirely  suppress¬ 
ed  by  cooking  in  tightly  closed  vessels, 
and  cooking  slowly,  precluding  the  pos¬ 
sibility  of  even  scorching  in  frying.  This 
preserves  the  aromatic  juices  of  both 
meats  and  vegetables.  And  then  again 
thei-e  are  no  meats  or  vegetables  that 
need  rapid  boiling,  steaming  and  scent¬ 
ing  a  house  with  a  suffocating  conglom¬ 
eration  of  cooking  dishes.  s.  A.  N. 
Cakes,  Cookies  and  Dusters. 
“A.  M.  R.”  kindly  sends  the  recipes 
for  which  a  request  was  made  in  a  late 
issue  : 
Molasses  Cake. — One  cupful  of  good 
molasses,  one-half  cupful  of  rich,  sour 
cream,  one-half  cupful  of  buttermilk, 
three  cupfuls  of  sifted  flour,  one  teaspoon¬ 
ful  of  soda  dissolved  in  a  tablespoonful 
of  vinegar,  one  teaspoonful  of  vanilla. 
Good  sweet  lard  the  size  of  an  egg  can  be 
used  in  the  place  of  cream  ;  in  that  case 
one  cupful  of  buttermilk  is  required. 
This  is  also  nice  baked  in  layers  with 
cream  filling,  one-half  cupful  of  milk 
thickened  with  a  little  corn  starch,  sweet¬ 
ened  and  flavored  to  taste. 
Molasses  Fruit  Cake  is  made  as  above 
with  one  coffeecupful  of  sweet  dried  ap¬ 
ples  soaked  an  hour ;  drain  and  cut  in 
small  pieces ;  boil  in  one  cupful  of  mo¬ 
lasses  until  they  begin  to  stiffen;  cool, 
dredge  with  flour  and  mix  lightly  in  the 
cake. 
“  C.  R.  D.”  gives  the  results  of  several 
experiments  in  the  practical  work  of  mak¬ 
ing  feather  dusters  at  home  : 
‘  ‘  Several  years  ago  we  dressed  a  couple 
of  dozen  turkeys,  and  the  feathers 
were  all  thrown  into  barrels,  big  and  lit¬ 
tle  together.  After  a  little  we  grasped 
the  idea  that  the  large  feathers  might 
be  utilized  for  dusting  purposes.  Roth  tail 
and  wings  may  be  used,  but  they  should 
not  be  mixed.  We  like  the  tail  feathers 
best  for  dusters,  but  the  wing  feathers 
can  be  put  together  in  good  shape  and 
used  as  wings.  We  experimented  on 
them,  at  first  tying  them  together  with 
strong  twine,  winding  in  and  out  and 
around  the  quills  until  we  thought 
we  had  them  solid,  but  found  on  using 
them,  that  now  and  then  a  feather 
came  out,  which  soon  made  them  useless. 
Then  we  threaded  two  large  needles  with 
double-linen  thread  and  strung  the  feath¬ 
ers,  putting  one  needle  through  the  quill 
within  one-fourth  inch  of  the  bottom,  the 
other  almost  up  to  the  shaft.  When  the 
bunch  was  large  enough  to  handle  easily, 
we  rolled  them  together,  and  sewed 
through  and  through  in  every  direction. 
In  order  to  make  them  more  secure  from 
possibility  of  stitches  being  cut,  we  took  a 
piece  of  bright  cloth,  (cretonne  preferred, 
it  being  heavy)  large  enough  to  cover  the 
quills,  sewed  on  tightly,  and  finished  with 
a  loop  of  the  same  to  hang  by.  We  pro¬ 
pose  trying  a  short  wooden  handle  hav¬ 
ing  one  end  whittled  down  to  fit  the 
hand,  the  other  bored  out  to  fit  the  quill 
end  of  the  duster  ;  the  quills  to  be  dipped 
in  melted  glue  and  pressed  in  while  warm. 
We  sometimes  keep  a  liquid  glue  for 
such  uses,  made  by  dissolving  the  gum 
from  cherry  trees  in  alcohol.  Let  it  stand 
a  few  days,  shaking  frequently,  and  it  is 
handy  for  pasting  on  labels,  or  for  other 
household  needs  in  this  line. 
We  have  several  of  the  dusters  doing 
good  service  yet,  and  gave  some  to  our 
friends,  to  one  of  whom  the  readers  of 
The  R.  N.-Y.  are  indebted  for  this  com¬ 
munication,  for  after  using  hers  some 
time  she  said  :  “  Why  don’t  you  tell  The 
Rural,  how  to  make  them  ?  I  like  mine 
better  than  the  sale  dusters.” 
“  Aunt  Rachel”  vouches  for  the  follow¬ 
ing  recipes  as  excellent. 
Soft  Gingerbread. — One  scant  cupful 
of  molasses,  one  large  tablespoonful  of 
butter,  one-third  cupful  of  water,  one 
tablespoonful  of  saleratus,  two  table¬ 
spoonfuls  of  vinegar,  two  full  cups  of 
flour. 
Cookies. — Four  cupfuls  of  flour,  one 
cupful  of  butter,  one  and  a  half  cupful 
of  sugar,  two  eggs,  one-half  cupful  of 
milk,  one-half  teaspoonful  of  soda. 
“Subscriber”  says  that  this  recipe 
never  fails  if  directions  are  carefully  fol¬ 
lowed. 
Layer  Cake. — 1>6  cupful  of  light 
brown  sugar,  one-third  cupful  of  butter, 
one  cupful  of  sour  cream,  two  cupfuls  of 
flour,  one  teaspoonful  of  soda,  two  tea¬ 
spoonfuls  of  cream-of-tartar,  two  eggs. 
Beat  sugar  and  butter  to  a  cream  and  add 
the  sour  cream  ;  then  sift  cream-of-tartar 
and  soda  with  flour  and  add  it,  putting 
the  eggs  in  last. 
A  Cause  of  Discontent. 
TO  discover  after  marriage  and  moth¬ 
erhood  that  one  has  no  genius  for 
the  individual  family,  no  love  for  chil¬ 
dren,  no  ability  to  teach  and  amuse,  is  to 
come  upon  the  saddest  fact  that  a  woman 
can  be  called  upon  to  face,  says  Eleanor 
Kirk  in  the  Christian  Union.  To  add  to 
this  that  one  has  a  talent  for  public 
speaking,  for  the  management  of  large 
organizations,  or  for  the  more  artistic 
careers,  is  to  add  fuel  to  the  fire  of  home 
discontent.  To  say  that  every  woman 
should  know  before  marriage  whether 
the  life  of  the  wife,  mother,  nurse,  and 
general  domestic  utility  would  be  agree¬ 
able  to  her  is  to  make  a  very  superficial 
statement.  Most  women  are  wives  before 
they  have  arrived  at  any  sort  of  intimate 
acquaintance  with  themselves  It  is  the 
fashion  to  marry,  and  it  is  quite  impossi¬ 
ble  for  the  young  girl  who  has  had  no 
especial  instruction  from  her  mother  to 
even  dimly  imagine  the  future  and  so  her 
awakening  to  the  exactions  of  her  envi¬ 
ronment  is  tragic  beyond  expression. 
Rut  once  a  mother,  she  is  held  as  firmly 
by  the  responsibilities  of  her  position  as 
if  she  were  the  most  contented  and  use¬ 
ful  of  women.  That  she  was  married 
young,  or  that  she  didn’t  realize,  counts 
for  nothing.  She  has  children,  and  nei¬ 
ther  her  aversion  to  domestic  details  nor 
her  talent  for  pursuits  outside  of  the 
home  can  excuse  her.  Education  will 
one  day  make  it  impossible  for  such 
blunders  to  occur,  but  it  is  the  critical 
and  awful  Now  that  we  have  to  deal 
with. 
lx  writing  to  advertisers  please  always  mention 
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TUTT’S 
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