It is therefore most necessary to keep meat and other things perfectly wholesome, that the floors, walls, and ceilings, as well as tables, shelves, and utensils, should be kept scrupulously clean, and whitewashed with quicklime once a year, and that fresh air should be admitted night and day. 10 THE housewife's EEFEKEE RULES AND HINTS FOR THE KITCHEN " Wilful waste makes woeful want." If a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and to be " fervent in spirit " denotes the tone that should be taken by the mistress of her home. N'ecessary adjuncts are punctuality, regularity, and exactness. If the mistress is punctual herself, she will be more likely to have exactness and punctuality in the house. How often one notices in visiting one's friends that punctuality is conspicuous by its absence ! And where there is no punctuality in a house there is no order, and every one will be an hour behind time. Fixed hours for meals should be rigidly adhered to, and every mistress of a house should enforce cleanliness by surveillance in the kitchen, and insist that cleanliness should be the god of the kitchen, the sink kept free from slops and grease, and no covert places allowed where old rags, bones, etc., can lie hidden. Every morning all the taps and W.C. plugs should be allowed to run for ten minutes, and once or twice a week diluted carbolic acid or a strong solution of Scotch soda, should be poured down all sinks and drains. If the carbolic be used, the mistress should superintend that herself, to avoid any danger, and keep it locked up. This sluicing should be insisted on in every household, as keeping the kitchen sink and drains in a perfectly clean state is necessary for the health of the household. It is a very good plan to test the drains from time to time. This is very easily done, by getting from the chemist a small quantity of very strong oil of peppermint, and having shut up all the doors and windows, and poured the pepper- mint down a drain inside the house, go outside, and if you can smell the peppermint there is reason to believe the drainage is wrong, for where the smell of peppermint can penetrate, so can sewer gas. It requires a few minutes to elapse for the peppermint to come from the house. The dust -bin is another harbour for bad smells. Nothing but ashes should be thrown into it ; all other refuse should be burnt in the kitchener every night, when all cooking is finished. Disinfecting powder should be sprinkled in daily. All tubs and pails should be scalded once a week with RULES AND HINTS FOR THE KITCHEN 11 hot soda-water, and if directly after using, water is put into and left in each, they will not warp, nor crack, nor fall to pieces, which they often do when left dry. All sink brushes should be washed out with soapsuds once a week. All food must be kept covered when not in use. The insides of frying-pans should never be scraped, as any preparation fried in them afterwards is liable to catch or burn the pan. If the pan has a black inside it should be rubbed with a hard crust of bread and washed in hot water with sapolio.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

It is therefore most necessary to keep meat and other things perfectly wholesome, that the floors, walls, and ceilings, as well as tables, shelves, and utensils, should be kept scrupulously clean, and whitewashed with quicklime once a year, and that fresh air should be admitted night and day. THE housewife's REFEREE RULES AND HINTS FOR THE KITCHEN " Wilful waste makes woeful want." If a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and to be " fervent in spirit " denotes the tone that should be taken by the mistress of her home. N'ecessary adjuncts are punctuality, regularity, and exactness. If the mistress is punctual herself, she will be more likely to have exactness and punctuality in the house. How often one notices in visiting one's friends that punctuality is conspicuous by its absence ! And where there is no punctuality in a house there is no order, and every one will be an hour behind time. Fixed hours for meals should be rigidly adhered to, and every mistress of a house should enforce cleanliness by surveillance in the kitchen, and insist that cleanliness should be the god of the kitchen, the sink kept free from slops and grease, and no covert places allowed where old rags, bones, etc., can lie hidden. Every morning all the taps and W.C. plugs should be allowed to run for ten minutes, and once or twice a week diluted carbolic acid or a strong solution of Scotch soda, should be poured down all sinks and drains. If the carbolic be used, the mistress should superintend that herself, to avoid any danger, and keep it locked up. This sluicing should be insisted on in every household, as keeping the kitchen sink and drains in a perfectly clean state is necessary for the health of the household. It is a very good plan to test the drains from time to time. This is very easily done, by getting from the chemist a small quantity of very strong oil of peppermint, and having shut up all the doors and windows, and poured the peppermint down a drain inside the house, go outside, and if you can smell the peppermint there is reason to believe the drainage is wrong, for where the smell of peppermint can penetrate, so can sewer gas. It requires a few minutes to elapse for the peppermint to come from the house. The dust -bin is another harbour for bad smells. Nothing but ashes should be thrown into it ; all other refuse should be burnt in the kitchener every night, when all cooking is finished. Disinfecting powder should be sprinkled in daily. All tubs and pails should be scalded once a week with RULES AND HINTS FOR THE KITCHEN hot soda-water, and if directly after using, water is put into and left in each, they will not warp, nor crack, nor fall to pieces, which they often do when left dry. All sink brushes should be washed out with soapsuds once a week. All food must be kept covered when not in use. The insides of frying-pans should never be scraped, as any preparation fried in them afterwards is liable to catch or burn the pan. If the pan has a black inside it should be rubbed with a hard crust of bread and washed in hot water with sapolio.

The housewife's referee