The ABC of Housekeeping, Or, Mistress and Maid (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ...should have a little coarse salt with which to take egg stains. from silver, and a cake or box of good silver polish in case some of the pieces look less brilliant than they should. A chamois-skin to give a final polish is also a desideratum. If silver has been laid away and become dull so that a general scouring is demanded, it is well for the housekeeper to have one of the patented devices by which silver can be cleansed by an immersion in a bath of soda and salt contained in an aluminum pan. Again, there are several good articles of this kind for sale at reasonable prices. The daily equipment for dish-washing should consist of two dish-pans for the housekeeper who does not possess a butler s-pantry sink with running water. In one of these pans the silver and china should be rinsed free of all grease before they are put into the clean hot suds of the other pan. The glasses should be washed in the clear water before soap has been added; next come the silver pieces, and these, like the glasses, should be wiped dry as soon as they are taken out. The ideal method is to dry the china in the same way, but if it is perfectly clean when taken from the suds, the pieces ranged in a rack and boiling water poured over them, they will usually dry evenly and show no marks or streaks. This method undoubtedly saves much time and bother. A dish-mop is better for use in washing dishes than a dish-cloth, since it keeps the hands from the hot water, but should be scalded after each service and boiled once a day. The towels should be washed and boiled with equal regularity. VI HYGIENE AND PLUMBING OME of the apparently minor details of housekeeping really possess more importance than those which seem to bulk larger. Consider drains, for instance. In..