LESSON II: CARE OF CUPBOARDS AND UTENSILS

SUBJECT-MATTER

It is of the utmost importance that cupboards and other places where food is stored should be kept free from dirt and sc.r.a.ps of food. Ants, c.o.c.kroaches, mice, and other pests infest dirty places where food is kept, and render a house unfit for human habitation. It requires constant care and watchfulness on the part of the housewife to keep the cupboards clean. She must look over the shelves daily, wiping them off whenever they need it, and giving them a thorough cleaning at least once a week.

The housekeeper should know how to care for the various utensils used and understand the simplest and best methods of keeping them clean.

Utensils should never be put in the cupboards until perfectly clean and dry. Particular attention should be paid to the care of milk vessels.

Pans, pails, pitchers, or bottles in which milk has been kept, should be rinsed in cold water, washed in strong, clean soap-suds, rinsed in clean, boiling water, and dried in the sun. If utensils have become discoloured or badly coated, they should be specially scoured. If something has been burned in a kettle, the kettle should be cleaned by filling with cold water, adding washing-soda, and boiling briskly for half an hour; after that a slight sc.r.a.ping ought to remove the burned portion. If the kettle is not yet clean, the process should be repeated.

If a kettle has been used directly over a wood fire and becomes blackened with soot, it should be rubbed off with a newspaper and then with an old cloth. Kettles should be dried well before being put away.

With proper care they seldom become rusty. If an iron kettle has rusted, it should be rubbed with kerosene and ashes, then washed in strong, hot, soda-water, rinsed in clear hot water, and dried on the stove. If a kettle is very rusty, it should be covered thoroughly with some sort of grease, sprinkled with lime, and left overnight. In the morning it should be washed out with hot soda-water and rinsed in clear, hot water.

A new kettle is generally rusty, and should be greased thoroughly inside and out and allowed to stand for two days; then washed in hot soda-water.

Bath-brick should be used for scouring iron utensils and steel knives and forks. If iron pots and frying-pans are scrubbed with a piece of bath-brick each time they are used and then washed in hot soap-suds, they can be kept in good condition. Tinware and steel knives and forks may be cleaned by scouring with ashes, but only fine ashes should be used on tinware. The brown stains on granite utensils should be scoured off; and this ware should be carefully handled, in order to avoid chipping. Coffee-pots and tea-pots should be cleaned daily, the grounds removed, and the interior of the pots washed out thoroughly. The tea-kettle should be washed and dried overnight and left uncovered to air.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

If school lunches are served or cooking lessons are given at the school, it will be well to use this lesson to get the cupboards in readiness. If it is impossible to do this at school, arrange to have such a lesson in one of the homes outside of school hours. Be sure that the housekeeper is in sympathy with the work and is willing to co-operate.

METHOD OF WORK

a.s.sign each pupil a task in the cleaning, the scouring of the dishes, and the arrangement of the cupboard. Set a definite amount to be done and carry out the plans, leaving a clean and neatly arranged cupboard at the end of the lesson.

LESSON III: CARE OF FOODS

SUBJECT-MATTER

Several important points must be borne in mind if foods are to be kept in a good condition. Most foods change easily. Vegetables and fruits lose water, wilt, and become unfit to eat. Flour and corn-meal become mouldy. Potatoes decay and sprout. Some foods, such as milk, turn sour.

Eggs become tainted, and fat grows rancid. With proper care in handling, storing, and keeping, this spoiling can be prevented.

The spoiling of foods is due to the presence of micro-organisms; and if foods are fresh and sound and kept cool and clean in every way, they will not spoil readily, because such conditions are unfavourable to the development of the micro-organisms. On the other hand, if foods are roughly handled and bruised, decomposition will take place readily, for micro-organisms develop in the bruised portions. Care must, therefore, be taken to select foods wisely, handle them carefully, wash them if they are not already clean, put them in clean receptacles, and keep them in a clean, cool place. All pots, pans, and dishes in which foods are kept or cooked should be thoroughly cleansed and rinsed well, so that no fragments stick to them which may decay and cause possible infection to the next food that is put in. Every part of the kitchen and store-rooms should be kept clean, dry, and well aired. Light is the best germicide and purifier known.

Covered receptacles should be secured for all foods. Those that are mouse-proof and insect-proof are essential to a well-kept pantry. All bottles and cans should be neatly labelled and so arranged that each one can be conveniently reached. The outside of the bottle or case should always be wiped off after it has been opened and food has been removed from it. The shelves on which the cases are kept should be wiped off every day. If supplies of fruit or vegetables are kept on hand, they should be looked over frequently, and whatever shows even the slightest suggestion of spoiling should be removed. Bread should be kept in a covered tin box, and the box should be washed out once or twice a week and frequently scalded and aired.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

If cooking lessons are to be given, it will be well to take this lesson on the care of foods in connection with the first cooking lesson, and to make it a means of arranging for the materials that are to be kept on hand and of determining how everything is to be handled.

METHOD OF WORK

Devote a large part of the lesson to a discussion of the necessity for care in the handling, storing, and keeping of foods. If facilities permit, devote a few minutes to the putting away of foods that are to be used in the next cooking lesson or in the school lunch, discussing the reasons for such care.

LESSON IV: DISPOSAL OF WASTE

SUBJECT-MATTER

If the daily disposal of waste is attended to, there will be no undesirable acc.u.mulation of garbage. Sc.r.a.ps of food that cannot be utilized for the table should be fed to the pigs or the chickens and should not be allowed to stand and gather flies. A covered pail or pan should be used for holding the garbage, until final disposal is made of it. Those portions that are badly spoiled and will be of no value in feeding the stock should be burned at once. Waste vegetable substances, if suitable, should be fed to the stock, and if not, should be buried in a thin layer on the ground at some distance from the house, so that they may enrich the soil.

Old papers that are badly soiled should be burned, but all others should be kept for use in cleaning the stove, starting the fires, etc. Empty cans should be well washed and buried, so that they will not prove a breeding-place for flies. It is well to pierce them through the bottom immediately after opening them, so that they will not hold water.

Dish-water should be emptied at some distance from the house, unless there is a drain nearby. All receptacles that hold water should be carefully emptied, and all depressions in the soil should be filled, in order to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. All waste water should be used on the garden.

_Protection of the water supply._--Only the water from deep wells should be used for drinking purposes, because all surface water and water in shallow wells becomes dangerous through seepage from compost, pig-pens, privies, and other places where decayed organic matter may acc.u.mulate.

In order that the water may be kept clean, the well must be supplied with a tight-fitting top which need not be opened and a metal pump to bring up the water. A well platform that allows the water spilled on it to run back into the well is unsafe, for any filth carried on the platform in any way will be washed directly into it. Rats, mice, and other animals get into the well if the top is not tight, and these, in addition to being unpleasant, are liable to introduce disease germs.

_Simple disinfectants._--Sunshine and fresh air are nature's disinfectants and should be freely admitted to every part of the house.

Windows should be left open whenever possible. The windows in the sleeping rooms should always be opened at night. The interior of the house should be kept perfectly dry. Decay does not easily take place in dry places. A damp cellar should be drained, and the grounds around the house should not be allowed to drain into the cellar. Coa.r.s.e coal ashes should be used to fill in around the house, on the walks, etc., to help in securing thorough drainage. Wood ashes may be used as a simple disinfectant to cover decayed organic matter. Whitewash is a good disinfectant and should be frequently used both inside and outside the house and on all out-buildings. Kerosene and creosote also make good disinfectants.

_Care of out-of-door closets._--The privy should be so arranged that it may be cleaned often and all excreta disposed of in a safe way. The building should be so well constructed that there will be no cracks for the admission of flies. In a poorly constructed building, old paper can be pasted over the cracks, to make the structure fly-proof. Dry earth, street dust, or lime should be frequently sprinkled over the excreta, and the seat should be closed, to prevent the entrance of flies or mosquitoes. The seat should be washed frequently, and both the seat and the floor scrubbed at least once a week.

PRELIMINARY PLAN

It will be well to teach this lesson at a time when improvements are necessary in the care of the school-house. The discussions in regard to out-of-door closets will, of course, be taken when the girls are alone with the teacher.

METHOD OF WORK

Discuss the disposal of waste, the care of garbage, etc., in the home and the school. Talk over the care of waste from the school lunch and discuss methods of keeping the school in a sanitary condition. Follow this by a general cleaning of the school-house.

LESSON V: MAKING SOAP

SUBJECT-MATTER

_Home-Made Hard Soap_

6 lb. fat 1 can lye 1 pt. cold water 1 tbsp. borax

Melt the fat slowly. Mix the lye and water in a bowl or kettle (do not use a tin pan), stirring with a stick until the potash dissolves. Add the borax and allow the mixture to cool. Cool the fat and, when it is lukewarm, add the lye, pouring it in a thin stream and stirring constantly. Stir with a smooth stick until about as thick as honey, and continue stirring for ten minutes. Pour the mixture into a box and allow it to harden. Cut into pieces the desired size and leave in a cool, dry place for ten days, to ripen before using.

When making the soap, be careful not to spill potash or lye on the hands, as it makes a bad burn. If the hands are burned, rub them with grease at once. Do not wet them.

PRELIMINARY PLAN