991 
Solving Problem of Cellar 
Stairs 
Every housekeeper has experienced the 
weariness of several tripe daily up and 
down the cellar stairs with arms full of 
supplies for the family meals. This is a 
waste of time and strength, and time and 
strength are valuable to every home¬ 
maker ; they mean greater ease in doing 
housework and more opportunity for the 
children’s story hour, or a much desired 
bit of recreation for the mother. A 
dumbwaiter is one of the best and easiest 
ways of solving the problem of the cellar 
stairs, for a dumbwaiter is not difficult 
to construct, _ and it is inexpensive. A 
dumbwaiter is composed of two main 
parts, a four-sided, nearly square shaft, 
and a boxlike waiter with the side of 
the box open next to front of the shaft. 
This waiter runs up and down the shaft 
by means of pulleys and ropes. 
The best location for the dumbwaiter is 
in a corner, as near as possible to your 
work table, but even if there is absolutely 
no place for it in the kitchen, have a 
dumbwaiter built in your pantry, the 
washroom or the woodshed, if they are 
over the cellar. A small stand with cas¬ 
tors fitted in the legs will enable you to 
wheel the supplies to and from the waiter 
with ease. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Letters of an Indiana 
Farmer 
One and one-fourth-inch boards are ex¬ 
cellent for constructing the shaft, which 
should reach from the cellar bottom to a 
point in the kitchen where you may re¬ 
move the. supplies from the waiter with¬ 
out stooiung. To this add 4 or 5 in. more 
of length, to allow for placing the pulleys. 
The width of the shaft sides will depend 
upon the size of the waiter used. Usu¬ 
ally there should be a space of 3 in. be¬ 
tween the shaft and the waiter on the 
two sides on which the pulley ropes op¬ 
erate, a space of iy 2 in. between the 
shaft and the back of the waiter, and a 
space of Yz to % in. between the front of 
the shaft and the front of the waiter. 
The waiter itself should be of a size 
which conforms to your needs. I have 
known successful waiters which were only 
large enough to carry utensils the size of 
a dinner plate, but this was in cases 
where space was very limited. A waiter 
3 or 3y 2 ft. long, with sides which are 20 
in. wide, is a convenient size for most 
housewives. There needs to be a shelf in 
the center of the waiter, and this may be 
made removable by placing it on cleats 
whose front ends are % in. higher than 
the body of the cleats. Other pairs of 
similar cleats should be nailed to the 
dumbwaiter sides at varying intervals, to 
enable one to slip in extra shelves when 
needed. If all shelves and the bottom of 
the waiter are covered with oilcloth or 
linoleum the waiter will be easy to keep 
clean. Tin or zinc on these shelves will 
cause the supplies to slide about too much 
when the waiter is raised or lowered. 
Four pulleys attached to the top section 
of the shaft will insure a steady-moving 
waiter, though only two pulleys may be 
used. If you decide for four pulleys, at¬ 
tach them over the waiter a little in from 
its back and front, but if you decide to 
use two pulleys, they should come exactly 
over the middle of the sides. Stay the 
pulley x-opes, preferably with large, solid 
knots, and pass them through holes in 
the waiter top directly over the pulleys, 
using one rope to each pulley. Attach 
weights to the free ends of the rope. 
Iron sash-weights, which you may pur¬ 
chase in weights of from 3 to 13 lbs. at 
about 5c per lb., are excellent for this 
purpose. You will find it wise to buy 
various weights and attach strong hooks 
at the free end« of the ropes so that the 
weights may be changed when there is a 
decided variation in the loads you wish 
to raise and lower. The hooks must of 
course be deep so the weights will not slip 
off. Hooks must be provided at the top 
of the shaft to catch into the waiter top 
and prevent it from descending before the 
supplies are quite removed. 
There are many advantages and few 
disadvantages about a dumbwaiter. Be 
sure your dumbwaiter is well built in 
every respect, but if it catches on its way 
to the kitchen, by no means allow your¬ 
self to stick your head under it in the 
shaft, or you may come as near getting 
your head severed from your shoulders 
as I did when one caught because of a 
frayed rope, which speedily came in two, 
and let the waiter down. If you have 
children in the house who are specially 
fond of bannisters and hatchway doors, 
it will be wise to put locks on the waiter 
doors so they may be sure to be closed 
when you are absent. 
You may carry canned or fresh fruit 
and vegetables, left-over food, hampers of 
clothing, scuttles of coal and many other 
things on the dumbwaiter. If >ou will 
plan carefully you may in one two 
trips carry all that will be needed for the 
day from the cellar, for it is not neces¬ 
sary to remove all the supplies from the 
waiter shelves at one time. If in Sum¬ 
mer a screened door is used at the lower 
end of the shaft the dumbwaiter may be 
used as a cooler. Sometimes it is wise 
to extend the shaft straight through to 
the second story so that the waiter may 
be used to carry fresh clothes, linen, etc., 
invalids’ trays, magazines you wish to 
store away, and numberless other articles 
which houseeleaning time will especially 
suggest. KLSIE A. WILLCOX. 
IIow we women do love to advise the 
beginning housekeeper! I should hate to 
make a selection of necessities, having in¬ 
herited most of my equipment. It’s a 
funny thing about necessities, anyway; 
my old roommate and I kept house for 
seven months without a dustpan! (But 
not without a broom.) And she made her 
coffee in a saucepan or a little pail, 
whichever happened to be handy. But 
we had steam heat, gas, electricity, ice— 
which are not necessities, either, since I 
thrive without any of them now ; but I do 
have a dustpan and a percolator. 
This wave of advice reminds me of an 
article on the same subject that I read 
years ago, in a paper of still earlier date, 
one of those preserved up-attic; and I am 
almost sure it was a R. N.-Y. Only a 
few items in it come to mind : “Quantity 
is better than quality in lamps, towels 
and dishes.” She was writing from the 
farm standpoint, and urging possession 
of dishes and chairs enough for the har¬ 
vest season. And surely those who select 
dishes by half dozens do not plan to cook 
for thrashers. 
About furniture this early writer said: 
“Plain woods are pretty, paint looks 
cheap.” How fashions change! She 
would have abandoned the idea of painted 
furniture even looking cheap if she had 
priced the modern painted sets. Of course 
they do not need to be so dear. Some of 
them are done on mahogany, I have read, 
which is foolishness. But the best makers 
now sell unfinished pieces, and it doesn’t 
take talent, only care and patience, to “do 
it ourselves.” 
I can’t understand why people do not 
like aluminum, but I know a good many 
such. I seldom buy anything else, as old 
utensils wear out, but aluminum and oven 
glass. Exceptions. to this rule are the 
kitchen wash basin, which, used with 
soapy, or any alkaline wator, is in a con¬ 
stant state of disgrace; and the teakettle, 
which is perhaps more durable, and cer¬ 
tainly cheaper, made of nickeled copper. 
One item I would add to those already 
mentioned for the beginner’s kitchen; if 
she cannot have a real washing machine, 
a suction washer, that we familiarly call 
a “chomper,” costs little and saves a lot 
of rubbing. 
r l he matter of paint is much in my 
mind this year, since the kitchen-dining 
room is having an overhauling. In the 
first place, the range is going away. It 
is a good range for cooking, but no prop¬ 
er heating stove for a big northeast room. 
A baseburner will reign in its stead, 
maintaining, I hope, a steady fire from 
October till April. A three-burner oil 
stove, with big and little ovens, to use as 
needed, and the fireless cooker, should 
give cooking room enough ; it’s all in get¬ 
ting used to it. 
The plaster in that room is rather 
rough and scaly, and the time has not 
come to tear it all off and begin over. 
Cold-water paint, put on two years ago, 
has stayed on much better than white¬ 
wash. Walls and ceilings are light yel¬ 
low, woodwork cream ; curtains red and 
white checked cotton toweling. That was 
as far as decoration went, while so much 
of the room was kitchen. Now with the 
range gone, and the woodbox on the back 
Porch for fireplace supplies, there will be 
chance for a little blossoming; and the 
color? Chinese red! I am not the twin 
sister of the man who liked “any color so 
it’s red.” I have no yearnings for a red 
rug or red wallpaper. But the decorators 
have been educating me. The very au¬ 
dacity of this pure, unshaded red is 
charming, in broken doses. The adver¬ 
tising pages of many magazines show fur¬ 
niture so enameled, even a tall secretary. 
That seems rather too much. The inside 
of an open cupboard for dishes; tin trays 
to set against the wall, on shelves; a 
bowl or basket for the center of the table; 
I think those will furnish enongh of the 
color. Incidentally, a most satisfactory 
b.etween-meal cloth for constant use is 
made of natural burlap, a little smoother 
and firmer than the fertilizer sacks, per¬ 
haps, but burlap just the same. It comes 
a yard wide, costs about 35 cents, and 
takes hemstitching and cross-stitch nicely. 
The gay parrots that I once meant to 
paint on my table I finally worked in 
cross-stitch on the. cover. I think the 
burlap will wash, with the care one would 
give any way to the embroidery. Parrots 
also figqre in the Japanese design on a 
lacquered tray ; and if time, energy and 
inclination are ever jointly favorable, I 
should like to paint them on a large three- 
panel screen. E . M . c. 
Sea Captain’s Catsup 
This well-tested recipe came originally 
from Mrs. Nichols of Maine, wife of an 
old sea captain: One-half peck ripe to¬ 
matoes cut up, two tablespoons each of 
salt and pepper, one-half tablespoon each 
of ground mustard, allspice and cloves, 
and one pint of good cider vinegar. Cook 
until tomatoes are very soft, then put 
through sieve. . Set back on stove and 
cook till it thickens. Put into closely 
corked bottles, and when cool seal with 
paraffin This is a dark-colored catsup 
ot fine flavor and good keeping qualities. 
No Odor—No Wicks 
No Noise—No Smoke 
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254 W. 34 Si. Bet. 7th and 8th Av«. N. Y. C. 
