101.3. 
House-Cleaning Time. 
Part I. 
J UST when Dame Nature wakes up 
from her long sleep refreshed and 
invigorated, thrilling us with her sweet 
mysteries and delicious scents, comes the 
imperative call of household duties with 
“efTective emphasis” to set our house to 
rights. Every woman loves to have her 
home dainty, fresh and neat for the Sum¬ 
mer, and to do this efficiently she should 
not start her house-cleaning too early. In 
some country towns housewives still vie 
with one another in house-cleaning time, 
just as they did in grandmother’s time on 
wash-days. But the wise woman of to¬ 
day does not begin her house renovating 
in February, to be able to glory over the 
backwardness of her neighbors. She 
waits until a few delicious Spring rains 
have softened and warmed the atmos¬ 
phere and started the green grass, and 
opened the early fruit blossoms. 
April is the ideal month for airing bed¬ 
ding. washing curtains, and bleaching 
things. This will not apply, of course, to 
the city flat dwellers; green grass and 
blossom-perfumed air means nothing to 
her who must depend on the vacuum 
cleaner, or send her rugs and draperies 
away to the public cleaners, and trail her 
bedding out of windows or carry them 
to the house-top. only to bring them back 
permeated with smoke-laden air. 
The attic is the best place to begin the 
Spring cleaning. Here dust as well as 
rubbish is bound to collect. Look over 
boxes, trunks and bureau drawers con¬ 
taining clothing, etc. Do not allow cast¬ 
off wearing apparel to accumulate until 
it is a task to look after them. Now is 
the time to weed, sort out, and give 
away, in order to make room for the next 
supply that is sure to follow each sea¬ 
son's house-cleaning. Don’t sell to the 
junkman anything that will serve some, 
needy one, and there are always those 
in every neighborhood who will be glad to 
have them, though they may be a bit 
worn and out of date. 
Moth-eaten articles should be burned, 
and the trunk or box that contained them 
carefully cleaned and treated to prevent 
farther trouble in this direction. When 
repacking clothing add plenty of fresh 
camphor-balls between layers and folds. 
Wipe off tops, ns well as inside of boxes 
and trunks with a cloth wrung out of 
camphor water. Sort and look over 
papers and magazines. Pack the useless 
ones into barrels or boxes ready to be 
sold or burned, and file those you wish 
saved carefully on shelves, each year’s 
copies by themselves, so that they can 
be easily referred to if desired. 
Do not attempt to clean the attic 
floor all at once; push boxes, trunks and 
heavy pieces of furniture out from the 
wall, one side at a time, sweep and clean 
that portion of the floor and wall back of 
them thoroughly, then replace the articles 
before attacking the next. Pack every 
thing away completely and systematical¬ 
ly. It’s a splendid idea to label boxes and 
trunks containing the things you are 
likely to need during the year, and have 
these nearest at hand. Wash the 
windows, and keep them open several 
days after cleaning, that every crack and 
crevice of the room may be well aired 
and dried. With your attic clean, sweet¬ 
smelling and orderly you can go about 
the rest of the house-cleaning with a 
lightened heart. 
When cleaning the bedrooms don’t at¬ 
tempt more than one at a time. Clean out 
bureau drawers and closets first. Choose 
a sunshiny day to air the bedding and 
draperies, and get them out as early in 
the day as possible, and leave them out 
as long as the sun shines and the air 
is dry. Ilang blankets and comforts on 
the line, and spread an old sheet or 
blanket on the grass for the bolster and 
pillows; beat these thoroughly, then 
brush well with a stiff whisk-broom, 
especially the seams and corners. If pos¬ 
sible bring the mattress out of doors also, 
and beat and brush in the same manner, 
if there is not enough grass space, or the 
mattress is too heavy to bring down 
stairs, there may be an available piazza 
roof that it can be laid out on, in either 
case be sure to spread something beneath 
it. Turn over pillows and mattress once 
or twice that both sides may be well 
aired. Rub all soiled spots with a cloth 
wrung out of hot soda water, and if there 
is the least danger of marauders brush 
corners, tufts, and seams with a strong 
TH: 
ku;;a : 
solution of corrosive sublimate; this 
should be applied to the ends of the 
springs and joinings of the bed also, or 
any spot where insect life is likely to 
breed. 
The adoption of hardwood or painted 
floors, and the use of rugs instead of 
carpets, have helped to lighten the bur¬ 
dens of house-cleaning wonderfully, but 
there are still many houses, especially 
in the country, where a floor covering 
of some kind is absolutely necessary. 
Whether a carpet or matting is to be 
taken up or not it should be first thor¬ 
oughly swept. Sawdust is an excellent 
dust catcher. Sprinkle the floor thickly 
and evenly with it, slightly dampened, 
then sweep it up with a stiff clean broom 
wet in hot water, rinsing the broom from 
time to time as it becomes dirty, in clear 
water. After the sawdust has been taken 
lip, go over the floor again with a soft 
broom until every particle of dust is re¬ 
moved. or no more can be brought up 
with the broom. If the carpet is not to 
come up, wipe it off carefully with a 
cloth wrung out of ammonia water—two 
tablespoonfuls to two quarts # of water. 
Should the floor covering be matting, dis¬ 
solve a cup of salt in about eight quarts 
of tepid water and use this to clean it 
with, then rinse with clear water. Some 
prefer to use a weak solution of borax 
and water instead of the salt for light 
mattings. Never saturate any part of 
either carpet or matting with a dripping 
cloth, wring it out as dry as possible, 
and go over the floor quickly and evenly, 
a small space at a time, changing the 
water and rinsing the cloth as they be¬ 
come soiled and discolored. 
Hardwood or painted floors should not 
be mopped, but wiped with the floor¬ 
cloth. For stained or painted floors use 
a little borax soap in the water with a 
little ammonia added. Clean only a small 
portion of the floor at a time and wipe 
this as dry as possible. When the floor 
is thoroughly dry rub with a woollen 
cloth moistened with kerosene. Water 
should not be used on waxed or oiled 
floors. Sweep them well with the floor¬ 
brush, then go over them with a dust- 
mop, or a piece of coarse cloth pinned 
over the broom; the fuzzy side of cot- 
ton-flannel, or an old bath towel, makes 
an excellent floor-mop of this kind. 
Waxed or oiled floors should be treated 
twice a year with either an application 
of wax or oil as the case may be. 
ROSA .MON P LAMPMA N. 
X cW-VUK KER 
ing them in place. Some prefer the oil¬ 
cloth on this side, also. Or, but one 
covering of oilcloth may be used, tacked 
neatly on the back of the screen so that 
the glazed side is to the front. 
A neat and inconspicuous screen is 
made by painting the frame to match the 
woodwork of the room. Place oilcloth on 
the back, glazed side out. This leaves 
the cloth side of the material toward 
the front of the screen as a foundation 
upon whfrh to paste paper to match 
that on the walls of the room. When a 
kitchen can be conveniently arranged 
with stove, sink and serving table 
grouped close together, the screen can 
be used most successfully, making it pos¬ 
sible to have the double-purpose kitchen 
as orderly and attractive at meal time 
as an extra room could be. To a woman 
inclined to orderliness, the sitting down 
to meals in a disorderly room in which 
she has worked all day, is a waste of 
nerve-force. A folding screen offers a 
cheap and efficient method of reserving 
this precious nerve-energy. 
AJ.ICE MARGARET ASHTON. 
■Ill 
The Kitchen Screen. 
F OR various reasons many farm wom¬ 
en serve the meals in the kitchen. 
Some do (his because there is no other 
place provided; others, among them my¬ 
self. because the dining room is un¬ 
fortunately placed and because it is al¬ 
ways a comfort to have a room neat and 
orderly for that purpose when guests ar¬ 
rive unexpectedly. There is always oue 
serious objection to this plan no matter 
how many advantages it may present; 
it is difficult to have a meal in a room in 
which a meal has just been prepared and 
cooked look presentable when the family 
sits down at the table. Unless more 
time than can be devoted by the average 
country housewife to the getting of a 
meal, especially the midday dinner, is 
given to the serving, the stove and serv¬ 
ing table are liable to have a most un¬ 
attractive a ppea ranee. 
My simple and inexpensive remedy for 
this difficulty is a folding screen. The 
frame should be plain and finished, if 
possible, like the kitchen trim. Since it 
is of the simplest construction there is 
usually a handy man who can make it 
very cheaply. It may consist of three or 
four panels according to the size of the 
space to be concealed. We like our four- 
panel screen. It is a little heavier to 
lift, but it is capable of covering a multi¬ 
tude of “short comings” when occasion' 
requires. When so large a screen is not 
required all the panels need not be ex¬ 
tended. 
The kitchen screen ought to be covered 
with some easily cleaned material. We 
covered ours on the back with table oil¬ 
cloth, which is -easy to wipe off if any¬ 
thing spatters from the stove. On the 
“dining-room” side it has curtains of 
green and white cotton crepe suspended 
on the extension rods sold for sash cur¬ 
tains. This added somewhat to the origi- 
nal cost, but we like the curtains and 
find this a most convenient way of hold- 
I 
Potato Recipes. 
Potatoes With Sour Cream.—Slice 
down some cold boiled potatoes and fry 
in hot fat with salt, pepper and one me¬ 
dium sized onion (for an average dish) 
finely minced. Just as they begin to 
color drain off some of the fat and pour 
in half a pint of sour cream, dust with 
minced parsley, and when thoroughly hot 
serve with fried croutons. 
Potatoes an (Iratin.—Peel and cut into 
dice half a dozen potatoes, crisp in cold 
water, then drain, and boil until tender. 
Drain the water off, put the potatoes in 
a baker, season with pepper and salt, stir 
a tablespoonful of butter through the 
pieces, pour over them half a cup of 
milk, cover the top with grated cheese, 
bake quickly and serve hot. 
Potato Chowder.—Wash and pare four 
large potatoes. Cut them into small dice. 
Chop fine one-quarter of a pound of ham 
and one good-sized onion. Slowly fry 
the ham and onion together until a light 
brown, then in a saucepan put alternate 
layers of the ham and diced potato, sea¬ 
soning well with salt and pepper. Add 
one tablespoonful of finely chopped pars¬ 
ley and one pint of boiling water, cover 
and simmer slowly until the potatoes are 
tender, which will take about twenty 
minutes. In a second saucepan thicken 
two cupfuls of milk with one tablespoon¬ 
ful of butter, and one tablespoon of flour, 
simmer for a moment, add it to the chow¬ 
der and let cook for two minutes longer. 
German Sour Potatoes.—Boil four 
good-sized potatoes. When done and cold, 
skin and cut into cubes. Place these in 
a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. 
Now mix in another bowl half a pint of 
sweet oil and four tablespoonfuls of good 
cider vinegar, one good-sized onion,, grat¬ 
ed fine and sprigs of parsley finely 
chopped. Mix these together well and 
pour over the potatoes. Now place the 
empty bowl on top of the full one and 
shake up and down until well mixed. 
Garnish the dish with lemon slices, cut 
in halves. 
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