SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
109 
Linoleum or oilcloth may be used to cover an old door. 
If the floor is rough it should be made even by planing 
before the linoleum is put down, and the cracks should be 
filled. If you can’t get linoleum you can paint your floor 
with a hard floor paint. Be sure to get a paint that dries 
hard. The linoleum should be frequently washed with 
warm water and soap and then rinsed carefully before 
it is dried. 
The Kitchen Stove. The chief business of the kitchen 
stove is to provide heat for cooking. It must hold a fire, 
and so must be made of something which will not burn. 
Stoves are usually made of iron. Fire will not burn 
without air, so a place must be arranged to let air into 
the stove, and just enough to make the fire burn clearly 
and furnish the right amount of heat. That is what the 
front dampers or slides are for. The fuel, wood or 
coal, is held in the fire-box. The heated air makes the 
top of the stove hot for frying, broiling or boiling, and 
the oven hot for baking. 
The smoke and gases from the fire must not come out 
into the room to blind our eyes or suffocate us ; the 
chimney is built to take care of the smoke and gases, and 
there must be a way for them to get into the chimney ; 
the stove pipe is for this. But the game you have to 
play with your stove is to let the smoke and gases run 
up chimney, but to save all the heat you can for the 
work to be done. So your stove is supplied with dampers. 
When the fire is new, and there is much smoke or gas, 
you open the damper into the stove pipe, and in the 
stove pipe. Try to get a picture of the way the heated 
air goes from the fire-box up into the chimney. We call 
this direct draft. Of course a great deal of heat runs 
away through the chimney, and so your fuel is wasted. 
Now if you want to save heat, and particularly if you 
want to bake, and must have a hot oven, you will close the 
