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HOME CONVENIENCES. 
KITCHENS. 
Out of the large number of housekeepers—I mean 
those who really do their own housekeeping, and not 
those who have an upper servant for that purpose— 
but few are the delighted possessors of a kitchen that 
realizes their wishes; a kitchen that is so large that 
extra work does not make it inconveniently small, and 
so small that cleaning it is not the bugbear of the 
vrhole week. 
City houses, from those ot moderate expense up, 
generally have excellent kitchens, finished with hard 
woods, all conveniences of faucets, sinks, ranges, and 
other desiderata. 
Farmhouse kitchens are always supposed to be 
vast rooms that will permit an unlimited number of 
u hands” to diue therein, and still room for the neces¬ 
sary work of preparing the meals, cleaning the “ milk 
dishes,” and all the hard work that is incumbent on 
the occupier of a farmhouse and farm kitchen. 
Bu t it is to neither of these varieties that this sketch 
is addressed. No; it is to the large number of wives 
and mothers who live in villages and small cities that 
have not outgrown and outworn the houses that were 
built when the places wore in their youth. A large 
proportion of these housekeepers live in ten to twenty 
year old houses that the head of the family has had 
a chance to buy much cheaper than they could possi¬ 
bly hope to build as good a one, and though the hall 
be narrow, the upper rooms with a sloping ceiling that 
barely permits one to stand erect, the spare bedroom 
opening from the parlor, the dining-room small and 
dingy, and last, though first to the doer of her own 
housework, the kitchen, an abominably inconvenient 
little hole, the family move in and are thankful that, 
come what will, at least they have a home. 
The whole family help to settle the house. Kate 
brightens up her own chamber with all sorts of cro¬ 
cheted and embroidered fancy things, because her par¬ 
ticular girl friends iviil run up there to talk over the 
last dance or discuss dresses for the next one. She 
and the others feel an interest in parlor and dining¬ 
room, and while brother John is making brackets or a 
box for a window-garden, Kate is collecting slips from 
her floral friends, from which her imagination pictures 
untold wealth of clambering vines and fragrant 
flowers. 
But at the kitchen door they all stop. All, did I 
say ? There is one who feels that even that room 
might be brightened and still be in harmony with its 
purpose, so that the six to ten hours daily that she 
passes there—a large share of her lifetime—might not 
be spent in discomfort and vexation. Perhaps she has 
a husband who is handy with hammer and saw, and 
who is willing to try his skill at whatever will cheer 
and lighten the household labors. It is of this busy 
housekeeper and her impromptu carpenter that I will 
tell the story of the kitchen that I once saw—first, 
as the family were moving in, and then after they had 
tried to make it both pleasant and convenient. The 
room was small, with one window—the wood-work 
had been painted a very dark shade, which was badly 
worn ; the whitewashed walls were dark with smoke, 
and badly bruised and crumbling; the floor was of 
soft wood, in which were sink-grease and stains, never 
to be eradicated, and in a jog, at one side of the room, 
stood a rough wooden sink with j umps for well and 
soft water. 
This was the room from which the quick eye and 
willing hand finally evolved a kitchen that was of 
necessity small, but bright, convenient and thoroughly 
homelike. 
Of all the little improvements I could not find room 
to describe even in the whole of our prized Cabinet, 
but I will try to give a few hints from which any one 
can work out their own ideas, for who wishes even a 
kitchen an exact copy of some other one. The rough 
sink was replaced with a neat frame of narrow matched 
boards, enclosing a handy closet for iron ware, and 
on this was put an iron sink, which has no crevices for 
grease and dirt to hide in, and back of which was fas¬ 
tened to the wall a wide one-inch board with the upper 
edge beveled. 
This closet only partially filled the jog before allu¬ 
ded to, and as there was no convenient place for a 
wood-box elsewhere, the closet was apparently con¬ 
tinued to the end of it, and formed a capital corner in 
which to store one or two days' stock of fire wood. 
From the baseboard up to the height of the closet, 
the wall was covered with thick boards to protect the 
plastering, and the wide board previously alluded to 
as back of the sink, was also carried around the back 
and side of the wood-box, so that the two formed a 
continuous whole. At the back of the box two thick 
cleats were nailed, one on each side, and a board 
sawed to just the right length for a shelf (which was 
only laid on, so it could be easily removed whenever 
one wished the whole of the top open), and so furn¬ 
ished a nice place for the two water-pails, where they 
would not be rotted by the water constantly in the 
sink from the dripping of the pumps or emptying o 
the hand-basin. 
Back of the stove and above the sink, at convenient 
height, were put up nicely planed strips on which, 
after painting, were sere wed japanned hooks for the 
numberless cloths and towels that are in constant 
requisition in a kitchen. A neat little shelf was put 
up, in a conspicuous place, on which to stand the 
clock, and to my mind there is no more necessary piece 
of kitchen furniture. After these preliminaries all the 
wood-work was painted a light tint of ochre, which is 
a much stronger color than the drabs and browns of 
common use, and unlike them looks clean when it is 
clean. The ceiling was then whitened, and after care¬ 
fully washing the side walls with glue-water, the in 
numerable breaks were smoothly pasted over with old 
cotton cloth, and a neat cheap paper of a medium 
shade of brown put on. The floor was treated to 
three coats of a dark paint, each coat being mixed 
entirely with oil, put on thin, and allowed time to 
thoroughly dry. 
Back of the kitchen table were tacked up two large 
sheets of manilla paper that could be easily replaced 
when soiled, and a couple of braided rag-mats were on 
the floor where wintry weather would make them very 
acceptable to cold feet. 
The room, as metamorphosed, looked really inviting, 
and the patient Marthas of that household need never 
fear to take a morning caller in the kitchen while they 
finish kneading bread or watching the baking of a 
cake. 
It is pleasant, and it is capable of standing hard 
usage, and best of all, carpentering, painting, paper¬ 
ing and all were the handiwork of the dwellers there- 
in, and, being well done, will last for many years. 
Let us, my sisters, take an example from this, and 
in the settling of a bouse save enough from the furn¬ 
ishing of the front room that the kitchen may be made 
cheerful, and the work that we do therein be raised 
above the level of drudgery. Chloe. 
A contributor to the Cabinet would be informed 
how to furnish the “ spare chamber,” with only white¬ 
washed walls, a black walnut bedstead, two chairs, a 
basin, a pitcher, no washstand, no carpet, and only a 
few dimes in our pockets. For years the washstand 
in my own room has been a sewing machine crate, 
curtained and covered with old white muslin, which 
serves every purpose of a washstand, and a peep be¬ 
hind the curtain reveals a most cosy boot closet, with 
shelf above for rubbers, etc. I could not recommend 
an elaborate oramental washstand, the materials for 
which would cost as much as the price of a plain 
stand at the furniture dealers. 
Next, I would make a dressing-table by taking a 
barrel, preparing it with waste papers on the inside, 
so as to exclude insects, as this is to be a receptacle in 
summer for winter bedding and clothing, and visa 
versa. Then have a board cover, either semicircular 
or straight, extending two or three inches over the 
barrel. Perhaps you may find among your treasures 
some old thin white muslin which will be pretty over 
colored cambric, for curtains and cover. 
Then, if the room is large, a box also covered and 
curtained with something bright, may serve to contain 
necessary articles in place of a bureau. A shoe-bag 
inside the closet or bedroom door, with several pockets 
for shoes and stockings, is also a convenience. 
Next, the bed should bo neat and inviting. If you 
have a feather bed, be sure the tick is clean. It may 
I bo washed by emptying out the feathers. The feathers 
also, if old, can be washed and much improved if you 
have a vacant room for drying them. If you have no 
feather bed, corn husks make a very good mattrass. 
The pillows should be large, and in the event of your 
not having feathers, finely shred corn husks or chaff 
make a passable pillow. In summer I cannot do 
without my chaff pillow, as feathers cause the head 
to perspire. Make a comforter or two of the best 
parts of old sheets ; make them a pure white and tie 
with scarlet or blue worsted. The skirts of worn 
light colored dresses make good comforters for those 
who are a little dainty about their bedding, and will 
wear for many years if carefully used, without looking 
soiled. A white spread is indispensable, though it be 
only plain cotton cloth, knotted with eandlewicking in 
simple designs. 
Then with regard to the “ home-made sofa.” I will 
describe a couch made entirely by a delicate woman 
with only a saw, hatchet and hammer. It was made 
and proportioned exactly like those at the furniture 
dealers. Slats runuing across, forming an elevation 
for the head; over these a tick was nailed, which, 
when stuffed with prairie hay, gave the desired form. 
The whole covered with some nice rep goods and fin¬ 
ished with furniture gimp and fancy-headed nails. 
The crown of an old straw hat can be made to form 
a basket, with a braid or two of straw for the handle, 
and another turned outward for the bottom. This, 
filled with sprigs of evergreen, autumn leaves and dry 
flowers, will be very pretty tacked against your white¬ 
washed walls. I make box frames for anything I wish 
to frame in a deep frame. For a small frame take a 
letter paper box that is lined with white paper. Cut 
the bottom of the box diagonally, from corner to cor¬ 
ner, and turn the points outward. Place a picture 
mat over this, then a pane of glass the size of the mat, 
and bind with a strip of black cambric, using good 
glue. Then arrange your flowers, or whatever you 
wish to frame, in the corner of the box, put on the 
cover, and your picture is framed. Aunt Mary. 
