Tuesday morning calls for a repetition of the former day's work, with ironing substituted for washing. There is the carrying-out of ashes and the bringing-in of coal, and the same routine during the day. On the part of the housekeeper regular sewing-work is taken up as opportunity presents, and possibly calls are made or received. Wednesday, the same. Thursday, the servant, if one is kept, is out for the afternoon. Other regular work must progress. Compromises are not thought of. Friday is general sweeping-day, in which everything is thoroughly gone over. The housekeeper must find time to go down street one or more times during the week, for the purpose of doing necessary shopping. Saturday brings its scrubbing and cleaning. During the week must come the window-washing, cleaning of silver, baking, and many things besides.
Sunday is often the hardest day of all; the children require especial care. There is church in the morning, Sunday school in the afternoon, and, in many cases, church at night. In the mean while the children are on hand all the time. Where is the man who will say that his business life is as exacting or as harassing as the work which is here outlined?
In the pages which follow it is the intention to bear the housekeeper and her requirements in mind, and to suggest what is properly due her in the way of labor-saving devices, with a view to facilitate the manifold operations of housekeeping.
MODERN CONVENIENCES.--A LITTLE HISTORY.--PLANS THAT MAKE EXTRA WORK.--MODERN CONVENIENCES ENUMERATED.
Most of the conveniences of housekeeping are modern. It is only within the past few years that the demands of the housekeeper for helps or aids in making her work easier were thought worth considering. Even now we occasionally meet men who think that anything that was good enough for their mothers is good enough for their wives. We have in mind a farmer who, during fifteen years, purchased three large farms. He buried a wife for every farm. Their death was the result of more than slavish work. The disposition which leads in this direction often continues after the time when economy does not demand close living.
The man who moves west to a new country cannot pay for many of the modern conveniences. The demand for them is not great. Such a man usually builds a house of two or three rooms. The family cook and eat in the kitchen; they sit there between meals. The other rooms are for beds. There is not a great deal of house-work to be done in a house of this kind. The trouble comes when the pioneer becomes wealthier, and builds a large house "in town" or on the farm. Possibly his wife or daughters do the work as they did in the smaller house. If not, it is done by one servant. The work in this house is a great deal harder. There is a great deal more of it than there was in the two or three room house, which was built during their earlier life. In the former house, if they had coffee, it was poured from the pot in which it was made directly into the cups which were on the table. The meat was taken from the skillet in which it was cooked and put into the plates of those who ate it. If they had pancakes, the wife would sit with her back near the stove, where she could easily reach the griddle to grease it and turn the cakes while she was eating her meal. There was no formal dessert. The pie was eaten from the same plates as the rest of the food. There were no napkins; often, no tablecloth.