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|| Home Management 
Plan It Out Now 
[I ::: WHAT :: WOMEN :: CAN :: DO ::: J[ 
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U'T'HAT PANTRY OF MANDY’S” 
i- interested me exceedingly, it was 
so true to life, and illustrated so well the 
usual actions of the - average farmer. 
There is no class of women who can help 
their husbands so much in their work as 
farmer’s wives. The men do not seem to 
realize that it is to their interest from a 
practical standpoint, if no other, to keep 
their women folks in good health and a 
happy frame of mind. This they could do 
by giving her all the conveniences in the 
house that are possible for them to get, 
and by doing the hard work in the kitchen 
garden, for plenty of fresh vegetables are 
as good an investment as a farmer can 
make from the standpoint of health and 
grocery bills. Now, when “Mandy” 
wanted the “tiny box of a kitchen bed¬ 
room” turned into a pantry and the 
shelves taken out of the much larger pan¬ 
try and turned into a bedroom Ephraim 
had so much outside work he could not 
possibly take the time to fix it, even in 
Winter. And think of the amount of 
work it took that long 10 years before 
the new house was built to keep that pan¬ 
try clean, and the number of steps it took 
to go 'way across the sitting-room each 
time. Yet we see that the new pantry 
was built according to Mandy’s idea be¬ 
cause it did not suit Ephraim, he could 
drop his regular work and fix the pantry 
the way it should be (according to his 
idea 1. 
Max’s axd Woman’s Work. —How 
much better it would have been for all 
concerned if Mainly had at first insisted 
on having things fixed so as to save her 
health and strength. But when I say 
“insist,” I do not mean to nag and nag 
until you get what you want, but simply 
set about doing things yourself and let 
some of the “women’s work” go while 
you are doing the man’s work. If a man 
had to make his dinner and supper from 
milk, bread and butter and cheese or ap¬ 
ples (cold things that don’t have to be 
prepared) because you were fixing the 
pantry, or kitchen shelves, etc., I do not 
think you would have to work the second 
day at the man’s work. However, some 
men are very stubborn, and it might take 
two or three lessons to bring them 
around, and in the end it works for the 
good of both husband and wife, for there 
is not the man living who will not re¬ 
spect and love his wife more if she makes 
him respect her rights and feelings, pro¬ 
vided it is not done in a nagging way, 
and also provided she does her part as 
the wife and homemaker. 
Starting Afresh. —And right now is 
the time for each farmer’s wife to turn 
over another page and start anew, in¬ 
stead of on January first, as is so much 
the custom in theory, whether or no in 
fact. For now is the time to plan your 
next year’s work and provide accordingly. 
First and foremost to consider is what 
improvements can be made in the house 
to facilitate work and save steps. Have 
you a pulley line extending from just out¬ 
side your kitchen door, which saves many 
steps, besides saving your shoes and skirts 
from getting wet with the dew in Sum¬ 
mer or the snow in Winter? Even if you 
have not running water, have you a sink 
with drain in it and a large drainboard 
on the left and one-half as large on the 
right? This should be large enough to 
accommodate all the soiled dishes from a 
meal, the pots and pans being placed on 
the right hand side. 
A Handy Sink. —Let me tell you about 
the one I had, for it was the most con¬ 
venient one I ever saw, and every house¬ 
keeper who saw it said the same thing. 
My kitchen was 13 feet 6 inches on one 
side. In the corner farthest from the 
dining room was my kitchen cabinet, the 
lower part of which held cake tins, bread 
tins, muffin pans, etc., and on the right 
side of this was an aluminum covered 
drop table, which came in front of a win¬ 
dow. Right next to this I had my drain- 
boards and sink. The first drainboard 
was made of heavy boards with two wood¬ 
en legs, and with a front edge four inches 
1 i~li. Most of the ready-made drain- 
boards either have no edge or only one 
about an inch or two high; consequently 
one cannot pile many dishes or things up 
on them without their tumbling off. This 
was made about four feet long by 21 
inches wide, and was covered with zinc, 
which lapped over the edge of the sink. 
The entire wall back of drain-boards and 
sink was covered with zinc, and where 
the two edges of the drainboard and wall 
met the zinc was soldered, so that there 
was not a crack anywhere that a drop of 
water could get to make things unsani¬ 
tary. The sink was a gray agateware 
one, as these are easier to clean, I think, 
than any other kind. It was 20x30 
inches, which is large enough to set an 
ordinary-sized dishpan right into. At the 
right of the sink was another drainboard 
made the same as the one on the left, only 
it was just about half the size. 
Nearby Conveniences. —There was a 
small window right above the sink, so 
that there was plenty of light in the 
daytime, and at night there was one light 
right over the sink. In the right-hand 
corner above the sink was a small shelf 
which held a bottle of ammonia, box of 
borax and a box of soap powder. Hang¬ 
ing up above the sink I had two agate¬ 
ware soap dishes (which I have had for 
11 years) one for soap, the other for sa- 
polio; and a wire basket in which I kept 
a large and small scrubbing brush for 
cleaning vegetables, etc., and a wire dish¬ 
cloth. My dishmop I always hang out¬ 
side the kitchen door in the fresh air, as 
well as the dishcloth. The drainboard was 
made slightly higher at the end away 
from the sink, so that all water would 
drain away. When washing dishes I had 
a pan of hot water in which I rinsed tum¬ 
blers and cups before putting them to 
drain, but the different plates I piled up 
against a cup or bowl and poured boil¬ 
ing water over them. I usually let the 
dishes drain until I made the beds or did 
some baking, or whatever was next on the 
schedule, and by that time they would 
all be dry and ready to put away. 
Other Helps.—I always put kettles 
to soak in cold water the minute food was 
taken from them, so that by the time a 
meal was eaten and the other dishes 
washed (lie kettles were easily washed, 
NEW-YORKER 
too. If greasy things had been cooked a 
little soap powder put into the water and 
the kettle placed on the back of the stove 
made everything all right, and outside of 
a place where there is a regular dish¬ 
washing machine I will venture to say 
you could not find a place where the 
dishes were so quickly and easily 
washed. When washing vegetables, can¬ 
ning fruit, etc., the drainboard and sink 
together made it very much easier, and 
the only other table I needed was a small 
zinc-covered one right near the stove, 
which made it very handy in dishing up 
a meal. 
The Kitchen Safe. —Another thing 
that saves a great many steps is what is 
known as a “kitchen safe,” which is real¬ 
ly a wooden cupboard with fine window 
screening set into the sides and door, and 
is meant to keep food in when it is cool 
enough to do without ice, or to keep 
things in in the cellar that do not need a 
refrigerator in the Summer. These to 
buy cost from four dollars up, but it 
would be a simple matter to make one 
from a box which could be procured at a 
dry goods house for 10 cents, and the 
shelves could be made from a smaller box 
if no other lumber was available. The 
one important thing is that it should 
have short legs of some sort and then if 
these are set in little dishes of kerosene 
no ants or bugs of any kind will be able 
to crawl up into the safe. In the Spring 
and Fall if this safe is put on the back 
porch or shed, or anywhere near the 
kitchen where it is cool—only, of course, 
it must be protected from any dust—it 
will save a great many steps where 
things usually have been kept down cel¬ 
lar. 
Planning For Boarders. —In plan¬ 
ning for next Summer’s work, are you 
going to take boarders? Well, then, in¬ 
stead of giving them so much meat 
bought at the butcher’s, raise more chick¬ 
ens, so that you can have it several times 
a week instead of once or twice, as they 
do at most country boarding houses. Or 
even if you are not taking boarders can’t 
your butcher pay a fair price for them, 
and wouldn’t you like the little extra 
money from them? If so, get your houses 
ready now, and fence in the orchard for 
them to run in, or a large run with 
plenty of shade, for they won’t do well in 
a small, hot yard. The houses will only 
need to be very simple if they are not to 
be used in Winter, but have them water¬ 
proof and so they can be easily cleaned. 
Also, if you have not had a good kitchen 
garden now is the time to plan for one. 
Have th« ground plowed up. the stones 
October .31, 
picked out etc. Have you currants, 
plums, gooseberries, raspberries, black¬ 
berries, grapes, peaches, pears, cherries 
and all kinds of apples? If not, plant 
some either this Fall or in the Spring. 
Just a few of each will mean so much in 
enjoyment and health as well as saving 
in money, particularly if you take board¬ 
ers. 
Home Sewing. —In planning the sew¬ 
ing, if you have a large family and house 
to take care of without help let some of 
the things go that you have been accus¬ 
tomed to doing, as, for instance, sewing 
rags for carpets, quilting, hemming b? 
hand dish towels, ordinary napkins and 
tablecloths, and instead take the time you 
would have taken for those things in rest¬ 
ing or recreation in the fresh air. You 
can buy nice big quilts that are very 
warm for two dollars apiece, and it will 
be easy enough to earn that two dollars 
by raising more chickens or garden stuff, 
for that is a much healthier way, as it 
keeps you out of doors. The trouble with 
most women on farms is they don’t get 
fresh air enough. Of course, I know it is 
considered much nicer to have all your 
linen hemmed by hand, but when you con¬ 
sider how much time is saved by using 
the machine, and how much better il 
would be in the end for the women to 
take that difference in time to rest or for 
outdoor work it is only using common 
sense to do the latter. And last, but no, 
least, try to plan a little vacation for 
yourself this Winter. Now I can well 
imagine the number of women who have 
large families to take care of thinking 
they cannot possibly take any vacation, 
but the old saying is, “Where there is a 
will there is a way.” If it is no more 
than one afternoon a week for a few 
weeks. Borrow a book or buy a maga¬ 
zine to read—something that will inter¬ 
est you so much that you will be taken 
mentally right out of your present sur¬ 
roundings, and bundle yourself up well 
and sit outdoors in a sheltered corner 
somewhere in the sun. You will be sur¬ 
prised how much good this will do the 
tired nerves. Of course, if you can make 
a visit to someone and have a complete 
change of scene the better it would be. 
But you will say, “How will my family 
get along?” How would they get along if 
you were taken seriously ill? If they 
could manage then they can manage now 
so as to save a possible sick spell. f. b. 
New Uses for Bi-Carbonate of Soda. 
III EE a great many of your readers 
may be familiar with these uses for 
soda. I am sure there are a great many 
more to whom they will be new, and it 
has helped me so much that I would 
like to pass the idea along. 
If spread around where there are black 
ants (or any other kind of ants I should 
judge) it will not only kill them but drive 
the others away. 
For anyone who is troubled with rheu¬ 
matism—which is caused by uric acid in 
the blood, the doctors say—one-third of 
a teaspoonful taken three times a day, 
in half a glass of water, about an hour 
after meals is preferred. That is to 
say if they are feeling twinges of rheuma¬ 
tism, or if they have gas on the stom¬ 
ach after eating, or a sour stomach, the 
soda will be a great relief and very help¬ 
ful. The best part of it is that if any¬ 
one has any of the above mentioned 
things the matter he could not possibly be 
hurt by the soda even if he took a much 
larger dose (so my doctor told me). It 
has certainly helped me wonderfully, and 
is a thing that most people always have 
in the house. 
Stout nervous people who perspire ex¬ 
cessively under the arms, and where it 
has a very disagreeable odor, can do 
away with this odor by bathing under 
the arms with a strong solution of soda 
water. I have tried a good many things, 
but none of them seemed to be effective 
While speaking of perspiration I will 
tell you about another discovery of mine, 
which will be very helpful to anyone who 
perspires excessively. Try reversing the 
position of your shields when sewing them 
into your dress. That is, put the pointed 
parts, which usually go to the back and 
the front, along the arm and down toward 
the waistline and you will find that you 
do not need as large a shield—which of 
course will effect a saving when buying 
shields, and the shield you do buy will 
be in the place it is most needed. 
MRS. FLORENCE BELLE. 
CO-OPERATION IN THE POTATO FIELD. 
