144 
1' H 1-0 RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 
i .mm.......iiiiiiiiiinHiiiiimiiiiiimiiiiiiiimiiimimmiiiiitiummiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiitii| § 
New Year’s Household Resolutions 
What New Convenience This Year ? 
= t,iii ll i,iiiiiittuiiiiiimititiitiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiitiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiMimiiiiimiiimmnmiimiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimMmimiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiii.. § 
... 
WHAT WE NEED. 
This is a good time for farm women 
to plan household improvements for the 
year. What would you like to have in 
the house to save steps or back? What 
ratify on have if you work for it? Here 
are a few things which other women are 
planning for. 
Gasoline Iron, Cleaner, Bread Mixer. 
VERY housewife and home worker 
owes herself something new in the 
way of a labor saver at least once every 
year and as many more times ns finan- 
cinl conditions or ingenuity will allow. 
1 have turned over no new leaf for the 
new year, but I have finally resolved 
there are three, possibly four things, I 
shall have during this year (1925). One 
of the most tiresome jobs in my weekly 
housework is ironing. I mean to have 
a gasoline iron. For the city woman 
the gas or electric iron may be more 
desirable, but I cannot use either of 
these. I have studied circulars and vis¬ 
ited where such an iron had been in 
use for more than a year. Some may 
say they are dangerous, but I know they 
are no more so than anything else in 
the hands of a careful person. I have 
found out from observation that there 
are two kinds of gasoline irons, the one 
I want and the one I don’t want. The 
iron I think the best is pointed at both 
ends, so that the tank may be in the 
rear and not be so much in the way as 
to keep one from seeing where the iron 
is going on the material. The tlarne 
must be regulated by a set screw and 
not by a key. for I am very sure one of 
the kiddies would -borrow the key occa¬ 
sionally or it would be mislaid at the 
very moment it was needed most. I 
have found that such an iron can be 
bought with a cast iron guarantee for 
from $.‘2 to $3.50. They are worth every 
cent of it. The iron maintains an even 
heat, uses much less fuel than will be 
consumed in any kind of a stove. V ith 
such an iron one can choose the coolest 
place in Summer with no time wasted 
going back and forth for hot irons. 
The second article is a vacuum sweep¬ 
er. They cost about $8.50 and certainly 
save their cost in saving so much wear 
and tear on the good wife’s nerves. Just 
an occasional use will keep the room in 
a clean condition and free from surplus 
dust. The third labor saver will be a 
bread mixer. I have watched my neigh¬ 
bor use one of these, and know how 
much time she saves in her bread-making 
with this article, and her bread is just 
as good as mine—though of course T 
will not admit that it is any better. The 
fourth possible article will not come un¬ 
der the head of a labor saving device, 
but I believe it will bring my little fam¬ 
ily and me lots of good times, and pay 
us for every economy we practice in or¬ 
der to obtain the—piano. Some day 
later I may be able to tell just why I 
consider this article as necessary as any 
labor saving device. K. c. WIVEL. 
Ohio. 
Cabinet Cover; Storm Door. 
ROUT the next convenience added to 
my kitchen will be a zinc cover on 
my kitchen cabinet. The maple top shows 
every stain, and requires so much scrub¬ 
bing to keep it clean that I have nearly 
always kept it covered with white oil¬ 
cloth, but with a good zinc cover care¬ 
fully fitted on I can set hot dishes on it 
without fear of harm. Tt is very easily 
kept clean, and altogether a far more 
satisfactory top than either wood or oil¬ 
cloth. If I can find a self-heating flat 
iron that always works well I shall cer¬ 
tainly own one, but at present I don't 
know what to buy. My neighbors have 
tried a good many different kinds and, so 
far as I know, none seem to work very 
satisfactorily. I wondered if it might 
not be one of the late inventions not yet 
quite perfected? I know it isn’t very 
new. but the fact remains that in our 
section it doesn’t prove very satisfac¬ 
tory, though I hope to find a kind that 
will. This would certainly be a wonder¬ 
ful labor-saver in hot weather, though it 
doesn’t appeal to us much now with the 
thermometer playing around the zero 
mark and the wind howling like a West- 
tern hurricane. 
Just at present we are getting so 
much solid comfort out of my new storm 
door that I am going to tell the other 
It. N.-Y. women about it. My house is 
an old one and, as is the case with most 
old houses, the wind blows into about a 
million different cracks and crevices. My 
front kitchen door was perfectly capable 
of admitting any amount of wind and, in 
a driving storm from the west, lots of 
snow, despite the fact that the old door 
itself was replaced last year by a good 
new one with a glass window. The storm 
still came in around it till we got a door 
made of inch boards, carefully fitted, and 
lined with heavy roofing paper. This is 
enough larger than the opening and fits 
closely enough so that no snow comes in 
and very little wind, and ordinary work 
in my kitchen is about a hundred degrees 
more comfortable than formerly. My 
neighbor has a set of storm windows which 
make the rooms infinitely more comfort¬ 
able in Winter, besides reducing the quan¬ 
tity of fuel required very materially. We 
hope by another Winter to add a good 
storm window outside of every badly ex¬ 
posed window in the house: then with one 
more storm door, we shall do very nicely 
in cold windy weather. 
MBS. E. M. ANDERSON. 
Mental Troubles; Paraffin. 
O NE resolution for New Year which I 
am placing near the top of my list, 
is this—not. to neglect my correspondence 
during the coming year. It is so easy to 
read and enjoy' the letters •from our 
friends and lay them aside to be at¬ 
tended to later. The time passes rapidly 
on the farm, especially in warm weather, 
and sometimes months go by, and the 
letter remains unanswered. This, I am 
going to try to avoid doing if possible. 
So my New Year resolution reads about 
like -this: "I resolve to try to answer 
the friendly letters of my friends within 
a month of tin' receipt of each letter.” 
Another hope, rather than resolution, is 
to cultivate an easy attitude of mind to¬ 
ward the many annoying interruptions 
of my working plans. Probably every 
housekeeper has a more or less flexible 
schedule of work from week 4 o week, by 
which she tries to guide herself, and is 
annoyed in proportion to the inflexibility 
of this schedule by the many breaks and 
changes that the demands of the chil¬ 
dren and the men folks necessitate all 
the year round, or the canning in Sum¬ 
mer, the bad weather in Winter and 
dozens of little things familiar to every 
home worker. These things annoy in 
just the amount that one lets them. I 
shall have a schedule, but it will be 
flexible, so flexible as to appear to be 
non-existent. If my talkative neighbor 
comes in at half past nine on sweeping 
day, and stays till noon, I shall try to 
enjoy her jolly conversation and forget 
the dust upstairs. Then when she is 
gone and dinner out of the way. I shall 
turn in on those rooms like a whirlwind 
and do them in half the time I usually 
take, and my faithful family will not 
hint that they are not done as well as 
usual. Meantime, carrying out my reso¬ 
lution, my mind is kept serene, and I 
have not tired myself out with fretting. 
I have learned, by sad experience, that 
mental stress (worrying), will wear one’s 
strength down more than days of hard 
physical labor. Hence my resolution to 
“take things easy”—to say “I don’t 
mind,” and mean it. 
A practical help that my sister taught 
me recently, is to use paraffin in the 
wash boiler with the clothes. Her method 
is as follows, and I have used it for 
several months now, with a great saving 
to my back: The clothes are put to soak 
over night, soiled places well soaped 
with a good laundry soap. In the morn¬ 
ing half fill the boiler with water, cut 
in a half cake of paraffin (about three- 
quarters of a cup when shaved up) and 
half a cake of soap. This solution must 
boil and be well stirred with a stick. 
Meantime wring out the white clothes 
from the water in which they soaked, and 
place in the boiling water. Fill full, 
cover, and let boil 20 minutes. Mean¬ 
time soak the colored clothes, rubbing 
the dirtiest places to loosen the dirt, but 
not rubbing clean, soap liberally. After 
the white ones are removed, add more 
water if necessary and another half cup 
of paraffin chips. When these are dis¬ 
solved. put in the colored pieces and let 
boil as before. Rinse in two clear 
waters and blue as usual. A dirty pair 
of overalls put in this solution only need 
rinsing, when I used to spend 15 minutes 
rubbing, also hand towels, and heavy 
dirty underwear. 
MRS. LIDA OSIiORXE KNAPP. 
Household Wants Planned. 
IIILE we wait for a flush closet, 
the out-house must be moved from 
its position offensively near the Summer 
kitchen. It is to be launched on a stone- 
boat and landed some -10 feet away, there 
to be covered with scarlet runners. For 
a movable receptacle underneath, half 
of an oil barrel is to be used and the 
ample use of earth will permit bacteria 
to tear down the excrement. There is 
small doubt that much of Winter con¬ 
stipation is due to cold outhouses, ac¬ 
cordingly, in Winter ours will be moved 
back to the Summer kitchen and between 
eight and nine (or seven and eight a. m.), 
an oil heater will be burned therein and 
regular habits installed. We shall screen 
both kitchen porches with black mosquito 
netting if wire screening is too expensive; 
paint the kitchen walls and put glass 
in the door by the stove. 
ANNETTE C. DIMOCK. 
Fitting up the Pantry. 
IIIS house was built about 100 years 
ago, so of course is just a great 
lumber pile. I have been planning to 
make a regular raid on the old pantry 
ever since we came here, and now the 
change is well under way. We tore out 
the ancient unsanitary wooden sink, the 
12 great pantry shelves, and have had 
the whole interior ceiled with three-inch 
spruce ceiling. A new hardwood floor 
lies over the old one that was worn al¬ 
most through in places. I am going to 
stain the ceiling so as to darken it 
slightly and then varnish it. The floor 
will be finished like any hard-wood floor. 
All that I think I shall need in that 
pantry will be a modern sink, a kitchen 
cabinet and two good-sizpd cupboards. 
Then I think I shall have a fine little 
workshop. Think of a woman with a 
big family to take care of trying to take 
care of 12 pantry shelves besides. Only 
those who have it to do know what work 
it is. If you can induce the farm women 
to give up their old pantry shelves you 
will cut the hours right out of their 
work. This is what I’m going to do 
with those shelves. They are pine, 
smooth, perfect lumber, and darkened by 
their great age to a beautiful brown. 
We will have them planed and then we 
shall turn a few of them into a library 
table, and an old-fashioned settee for one 
of the three great stone fireplaces we 
have unbricked as well as unboarded. 
The designs of those pieces will be very 
simple, and I think there will be no 
trouble about making them at home. I 
am not sure about just how to finish 
them, whether simply oiling and polish¬ 
ing will do on that pine or not. If the 
other farm women, owning old houses, 
have not set their hearts on furniture 
made from their pantry shelves, as I 
have, they could sell them and their price 
might go a long way toward a kitchen 
cabinet. I have not tried to find out the 
value of those shelves of mine, but the 
carpenter told me the other day that 
they were certainly valuable lumber. 
MRS. B. o. 
A New Storm Door. —We have a door 
on the west side of the bouse where all 
the hard winds hit. and the cold always 
came in around it dreadfully, as the door 
does not fit very close in casing. Every 
Winter, when the snow would come and 
the wind would howl around, driving 
the snow through every possible crack, 
we would fill the crack around the door 
with strips of cloth nailed to the casing. 
There was no good place for a storm door 
as usually built, but this Winter I de¬ 
cided that I would try a new kind of 
storm door, so I had the screen door left 
on, and then, when the cold winds com¬ 
menced to blow. I took a strip of the 
heavy corrugated paper that comes for 
carpet lining, and cut a piece the size of 
th<> screen door. I turned the edges in 
all around so to make them stronger, and 
tacked it securely on the outside of the 
screen door over the wire. The screen 
door is larger than the door casing, and 
shuts against it when the door is closed 
and hooked. The heavy paper keeps out 
all the wind, and when not wanted closed 
is opened back against the side of the 
house, and no one would notice the paper 
on the door, as it is dark gray in color, 
and when the screen door is fastened 
back the paper is next the house behind 
the wire screen. When old Mr. West 
Wind commences to howl and drive the 
cold in around the door I just close and 
hook the screen door, and Air. Wind can’t 
get in. CORA HAMILTON. 
Height of Table. —Here is a good 
suggestion from the Wisconsin Univer¬ 
sity : 
“A woman -1 feet 10 inches in height 
will find 33*4 inches a satisfactory work¬ 
ing surface height for kitchen tables, etc., 
says a correspondence study instructor in 
home economics of the University of Wis¬ 
consin Extension Diivision. Above this, an 
addition of half an inch in table height 
for each inch of increase in human stature 
will usually be about right. Low sinks, 
tables, ironing boards, etc., are respons¬ 
ible for many tired, aching backs. By a 
little thought in purchasing, these pieces 
of furniture may be of such a height that 
an upright position may be maintained 
while the housekeeper is working at them. 
In any case it is well by some means to 
ad pt all kitchen furniture to the height 
of the user. Tables that are too low 
can be raised an inch or more by castors. 
Failing that it will be well worth the 
money to lengthen the table legs. The 
sink can lie raised by lengthening the 
waste pipe and raising the faucets. But 
a simple and effective device is to raise 
the dish pan by setting it on an inverted 
pan.” 
Easy Asparagus Fanning. —I canned 
a few cans of asparagus last year as an 
experiment in the following manner: 
While preparing asparagus for supper I 
filled three quart cans with asparagus, 
salted as for table use. and filled them 
with water. Into the large cooking kettle 
I placed a cloth, on this the jars of aspar¬ 
agus with rubber and top in place. Then 
1 filled kettle with water and put on-the 
stove on top of tin* soapst lie for cooker. 
When the water in the kettle began to 
boil I placed the kettle on the soapstone 
in the cooker, after having clamped the 
tops on the cans of asparagus, and left 
in the cooker till morning. Then I re¬ 
moved, wrapped in paper and put ami'\ 
and a few days ago I opened one can. It 
had kept perfectly. I used cans with 
glass tops which clamp tight, as it is 
more easily sealed than Mason jars. 
Illinois. mrs. F. ii. Mc::^r. 
