1014. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKEB 
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The Summer Boarder 
II One of Them Talks 
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F IRST REQUISITES— On the com¬ 
fort of the Summer boarder under 
your roof depends his return another 
year, and the only satisfactory way to 
carry on the business is to have the same 
people year after year. The standard of 
living everywhere has improved, and j>eo- 
ple ask more than they used to, but on 
the other hand they are willing to pay 
better prices than they did a few years 
ago. A houseful of boarders in the busi¬ 
est season of the year involves a lot of 
hard work, but the material rewards are 
very considerable, and unlike many other 
ways of earning money, all the effort is 
on familiar lines. Three things are es¬ 
sential, good and abundant food, a clean 
and comfortable house and considerate 
treatment. And few country places have 
such advantages of scenery, tonic atmos¬ 
phere, or facilities for amusement that 
people will overlook the lack of any one of 
these essentials. 
The Table. —The table in many coun¬ 
try boarding houses suffers from the 
ambition of the hostess. People do not 
expect the variety of a restaurant, or 
even of a large city boarding house. In 
their own houses, well-to-do city people 
live simply, but everything served is the 
best of its kind. Such people, and they 
are the sort whom you wish to attract, 
will never miss layer cakes and pies from 
your menu, and they are satisfied with a 
breakfast of eggs and fruit. Rut they do 
expect good coffee, cream and butter that 
is above reproach. If the economic con¬ 
ditions of your house are such that every 
egg and every quart of milk has a mar¬ 
ketable value, do not take boarders, but 
look about for some other way to earn 
money. If you do make the venture, im¬ 
press upon your soul the fact that gener¬ 
osity pays, “is profitable for the life that 
now is.” For breakfast, which need not 
vary from day to day, have fruit, a choice 
of cooked or uncooked cereal, either muf¬ 
fins or toast, and be prepared to cook 
eggs for each person as they are wanted. 
Have your fruit chilled, your coffee 
poured off from the grounds and kept boil¬ 
ing hot, and make up your mind to the 
necessity of plenty of cream for the cof¬ 
fee, and if not cream at least rich milk 
for the cereal. 
Catering Suggestions. —It is often 
difficult to get good meat in the country, 
but the larger cuts are sure to be better 
than steak. If you have six boarders, you 
should be able to have a roast three 
times a week, one dinner of lamb chops, 
cut thick and broiled, another of corned 
beef or ham, fish on Friday and chickens 
on Sunday. Let two of the roasts be 
beef, the other lamb, or have one each 
of beef, lamb and veal, but avoid pork 
as you would sin. A boiled dinner of 
a big piece of lean beef, with the vege¬ 
tables cooked by themselves, is liked 
by a great many people, who would not 
touch it if meat and vegetables were 
cooked together. If you find any one per¬ 
son has a prejudice against it, it is easy 
to provide something else for him. Roast 
veal should also have an alternative. You 
cannot have fresh vegetables in too great 
quantity, two sorts besides potatoes are 
enough for one dinner, with perhaps cu¬ 
cumbers or raw tomatoes. Better save 
salads for supper. The saving of time in 
a Summer of baking the potatoes for din¬ 
ner is very considerable. For dessert 
ring the changes on half a dozen cold 
puddings, apple pudding, bread pudding 
with fruit and fruit shortcakes. If pos¬ 
sible have fresh fruit on the table, and 
a cup of tea should always be available 
with the dessert. 
Dinner And Supper. —With the din¬ 
ners, variety from day to day is an im¬ 
portant point. If you have roast beef 
on Monday one week carry it over till 
Wednesday the next, and have different 
vegetables with it. Do not give your 
boarders an opportunity to know what 
they are going to have for dinner before 
they enter the dining room. One reason 
living at restaurants is so popular is that 
people get tired of the deadly monotony 
of home and boarding house tables. Sup¬ 
pers should be dainty, but also substan¬ 
tial. Sliced cold meat, or simple hot 
dishes, meat heated in a brown sauce, 
creamed fish, spaghetti with cheese, or 
bacon and eggs, should be accompanied 
by some sort of a salad, fried or creamed 
potatoes. Warm bread is by no means es¬ 
sential, but always provide two kinds, 
brown, whole wheat or graham, as well 
as white. Add berries or stewed fruit, 
fresh, plain cake, or hot gingerbread, 
with the choice of tea, cocoa, or milk, 
and your guests will have nothing to 
complain of. 
Serving The Meals. —As to the hours 
at which meals are served, something de¬ 
pends upon the habits of your guests. 
Eight is a safe hour for breakfast and 
one for dinner. The six o’clock supper, 
which is the rule in country places, is 
often felt to be a great inconvenience by 
guests off for long walks or drives, or intent 
on enjoying daylight as long as possible. 
Seven o’clock in the early part of the 
Summer and half past six after the mid¬ 
dle of August will be acceptable to most 
people. The goodness of the table de¬ 
pends very much on the goodness of the 
supplies. It pays in every way to buy 
groceries in the city, in sufficiently large 
quantities to secure free delivery, at least 
things like coffee, tea, cocoa and cereals. 
Lay in, also, a good brand of olive oil, 
in gallon cans, whether your own family 
uses it or not, and always have it on 
the table at dinner and supper. 
Comforts And Conveniences. —In 
the matter of comfort, no one item counts 
for more than the thorough screening of 
the house. If you cannot afford movable 
screens, tack wire netting over the out¬ 
side of the window frames, their entire 
length. Black mosquito netting, plain, 
not cross-barred, will answer perfectly 
well for the upper floors. Indeed this 
arrangement is much better for the bed¬ 
rooms, as it enables people to have their 
windows lowered from the top, and guests 
are often irresponsible about screens. 
And the very first thing to do in the 
morning is to throw open all the windows 
on the lower floor, even if they must be 
closed later. Little conveniences in the 
bedrooms, abundant hooks for clothing, 
upholstered boxes under the windows in 
which all sorts of odds and ends can be 
tucked away, a shelf covered with gray 
blotting paper and bracketed below a 
window for writing, weights to hold doors 
open and wedges to tighten rattling win¬ 
dows, are trifles in themselves, and cost 
little, but mean much to guests. 
Bathing and Lighting. —The aver¬ 
age country house has no bathroom, and 
some arrangement must be made for a 
supply of hot water, night and morning. 
This can be done by having a round tin 
wash boiler of the largest size, fitted with 
a cover, standing upon a single burner 
oil stove. On a shelf above it keep a 
row of the three-quart stoneware jugs 
sold for 10 cents each, one for each 
boarder. Light the stove an hour before 
bedtime and the first thing in the morn¬ 
ing and there will be an ample supply for 
everyone. Another difficulty is lighting 
the bedrooms. Provide for this purpose 
the sort of lamp which is set inside a 
cylinder of tin, with a handle at the side. 
These are admirable for the people who 
want to read in bed, and are not expen¬ 
sive. 
Business Management. —Considera¬ 
tion involves a good many things which 
are perfectly obvious, like charging a fair 
price and living up to all one’s agree¬ 
ments. Something less obvious is an air 
of cheerful serenity on the part of the 
hostess. z\. willingness to go beyond the 
strict letter of the law is always appre¬ 
ciated. Meeting your guests on their ar¬ 
rival and getting them to the house as 
quickly as possible creates a favorable im¬ 
pression which is an auspicious begin¬ 
ning. People who have wandered around 
a strange town at twilight, hunting for 
a conveyance, and have reached their 
destination only in time to sit down'to a 
cold and belated supper, are quite likely 
not to return. The old family ideal of 
the boarding house has disappeared. The 
more nearly impersonal you make your 
relations with your gue ts, the more like¬ 
ly you are to succeed. It is best to have 
the meals of your own family at a dif¬ 
ferent hour, and to ask one of the guests 
to preside at their table. Above all things 
do not allow your children to inflict 
themselves upon your imnrtes. For one 
who enjoys juvenile society half a dozen 
will be bored by it. The question in¬ 
volved is not a social one. You and yours 
may be the equals of your boarders in 
education, in culture, in refinement, but 
it is no more material to them than it is 
to me to know that the clerk of whom I 
buy four yards of blue charmeuse shares 
my interest in old china. Our relation 
is purely a business one, and it is yours 
with your guest. 
ELEANOR ALISON CUMMINS. 
The City Boarder Saves Labor 
U M RS - ^ARE,” remarked the city 
1V1 boarder casually, “why do you 
keep the coal in the cellar?” 
Of course, it was a direct, pertinent 
question and Mrs. Ware eyed the young 
man intently. “Where else could I store 
it?” she returned. Her manner was con¬ 
fusing, but not to a young man with a 
purpose in view. 
“I can prove there is a more conven¬ 
ient place,” he said, encouraged by her 
twinkling eyes. 
“Where?” 
“Outside the kitchen door, I-” 
“And have it covered with snow in 
Winter and soppiu’ wet from Spring 
rains or burnt to a crisp by the Summer 
sun, eh?” 
The young man laughed. “No, I’d 
build a coal bin outside the kitchen and 
get the coal inside the room.” 
Mrs. Ware glared: her hands akimbo 
on her hips. “Well!” 
“I’ll build it,” he ventured. “It will 
overcome unnecessary labor and be a con¬ 
venient requirement. 
“I doubt it!” 
“How many tons of coal do you gen¬ 
erally buy at one time?” he asked, pois¬ 
ing a pencil above a writing pad. 
“Six !” 
He figured a few seconds and paused 
apparently delighted. “Then you’ll re 
quire a box six feet long, six wide and 
GM> feet high.” 
“How do you know that?” 
Ilis manner and tone both were assur¬ 
ing. “Because there are GO cubic feet in 
a ton of coal and you must divide 39 into 
the number of cubic feet in a bin to get 
the number of tons it will hold. Thus: 
6x6x614 equal 234 cubic feet and divided 
by 39 equals six tons.” 
“How will the coal run out of a square 
box?” 
“Believe me, Mrs. Ware, I’ll overcome 
every difficulty. First, I’ll build the floor 
on a post foundation two feet above the 
ground. Wood can be stored under that. 
The floor will slant toward the house at 
an angle of 60 degrees. Then I’ll cut a 
hole through the wall 12 inches high and 
eight wide for the coal to run through. 
I’ll line that hole with planed boards. 
Then, I’ll built sides slanting from the 
sidewall to the back edge of the floor and 
make it 6% feet high. Put on the back 
and top, which will have a trap door to 
shoot in the coal. The inside of the coal 
bin will be 122 cubic feet and hold three 
ton. The difference in 234 and 122 feet 
is due to the triangles cut out by the 
slant of the floor and sides.” 
Mrs. Ware smiled her appreciation. 
“And how do I get my coal out of the 
bin ?” 
“On the inside of the room. I’ll make a 
sliding door to lift and drop with a lever. 
Put the coal hod under the shute, lift 
the lever and presto! The hod is filled 
with no labor to speak of and little in¬ 
convenience.” A. L. roat. 
Mrs. Swiftly —“I wish Johnny would 
hurry. I sent him to the village 
for some Fels-Naptha Soap be¬ 
cause I used the last for my wash 
this morning. I can’t get along 
without it. I use it for every¬ 
thing. Johnny came home at 
noon and said to me: ‘Say, Ma, 
I got a hundred in two studies 
this morning,’ and when I asked 
what, he said: ‘40 for ’rithmetic 
and 60 for geography.’ Isn’t he 
a case?” 
Anty Drudge— ‘He’s cute, all right. 
But why don’t you buy Fels-Nap¬ 
tha by the box or carton—then 
you’ll always have it on hand.” 
If you have 
Fels-Naptha on 
hand,you’re ready 
for any kind , of 
work—washing, 
housecleaning, 
dishwashing. 
There is nothing 
better than Fels- 
Naptha for wash¬ 
ing flannels or 
woolens. It leaves 
them soft, white 
and woolly. And 
it’s fine for colored 
clothes, too, either 
wool or gingham. 
Use it the right 
way, in cool or 
lukewarm water. 
Full directions are on the Red and 
Green Wrapper. 
Fels & Co., Philadelphia. 
FELS-NAPTHA 
