A course in household arts

Part I Whitcomb & Barrows

BOSTON, I916

Preface

A Course in Household Arts was prepared in 1902 for the Boston Public Schools of Cookery, and its use in that city was continued tip to the time a revised edition of the book was contemplated.

The lessons were planned with reference to the requirements of the different grades, no less than with due regard for the wide variation in the number and length of periods devoted to the work. At the same time the material was so arranged that the essentials of the course could be covered in two years — the minimum of time recommended by the Board of Supervisors.

This purpose was accomplished by dividing the course into two parts, Series A and B, each containing material for one lesson a week for a year, and each card including a sufficient number of recipes illustrating the principles involved to admit variation to suit differing circumstances and conditions. Allowance was made for needful drill in preliminary work and for the care and storage of materials and utensils customary at the close of the year.

Designed primarily for beginners, these lessons have, through a teaching experience of several years, proved satisfactory in grammar, secondary, and higher classes. The theoretical portion was condensed, expanded, simplified, or omitted, and the order of lessons changed according to special needs.

It has seemed advisable to include in the present course only simple experiments which can be performed with utensils to be found in an ordinary school kitchen, since excellent laboratory manuals are published for students of domestic science, and opportunity for experimental work varies in different schools. Aside from these considerations, the time required for working out results by the laboratory method precludes the

iii

IV PREFACE

extensive use of this method by the average student, who, though not intending to teach the subject herself, may nevertheless desire to understand the principles underlying the methods employed in cookery and other household arts. While it is hoped, therefore, that others may find this work helpful, it is for students of this class primarily that the present work is intended. With such knowledge, it is believed that there will come an intelligent interest and a keen pleasure in the performance, raising even the homeliest task above the plane of drudgery pure and simple.

With this aim in view, and with the idea of eliminating at least a portion of the reading, and especially of the burdensome note-taking that consumes so much of the time and energy of the student, a considerable amount of material has been collated from various sources.

"In dealing with certain questions," it has been said, "authority is wont to carry more weight than pure reasoning, and quotations are frequently used when the same ideas might have been expressed with greater facility or brevity in the writer's own language." To a certain extent this opinion is concurred in, and this enlarged Course of Household Arts is sent forth, not as something wholly new and original, but "only the shifting into place of the innumerable materials made available and experimented on by others — another modification of them, like the combinations of the kaleidoscope."

The intention was to include in one volume lessons formerly given in Cards A and B, but the abundance of added material made this impracticable. It was decided, therefore, to hold to the original plan, following the fundamental work of the first year with lessons in the second year which, in A Course in Household Arts, Part II, establish new principles and also enlarge and extend the application of those already learned.

Grateful acknowledgment is here made to Miss Susannah Usher, who in the midst of a busy life kindly read the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions ; to officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, for prompt and courteous attention to requests for information, particularly to Professor Louis D. Hall, specialist in "INIarketing Live Stock

PREFACE V

and ]\Ieat" (formerly assistant professor of ''Animal Husbandry" at the University of Illinois), who, in conjunction with Good Housekeeping, permitted the reproduction of drawings of retail cuts of meat and the use of other material which appeared in that magazine : to Cornell University ; to the /\gricultural Experiment Stations of the University of Illinois and of the University of Alinnesota, for the use of illustrations of meat cuts ; and to all others who in any way aided in the preparation of this work.

Chapter I, Sweeping and Dusting i

Nature and source of dirt and dust. "Dust plants" — bacteria, yeast, and molds — what they are and what they do. Purpose of sweeping and dusting. Implements for sweeping. Method for hard and smooth floors, for carpets, rugs, stairs, etc. Collection and disposal of dirt and dust. Care of brooms, brushes, etc. How to prevent irritation to eyes, nose, and throat from dust.

Chapter II. Washing Dishes and Kitchen-Ware ... lo

Preparation. Disposal of unused food ; of garbage. Soaking dishes and washing. Order and method for china, glass, cut glass. Draining and drying. Material for towels. Cleaning tinware, agate and ironware, aluminum. Scouring knives. Silverware — tarnish, polishing, storing. Care of dishcloth, dish mop, and towels. Care of sink, boards, and table. Care of refrigerator.

Chapter III. Making and Care of the Fire .... l8

Heat. Combustion, conditions required. Fuel — coal, wood, gas, electricity. Coal range — structure, dampers or regulators, care and cleaning. To lay a fire ; to keep fire over night ; removal and storage of ashes ; cleaning of stove and flues. Gas range — selection and care of; to light top burners, oven burners ; how to prevent waste of gas ; to clean gas burners.

Chapter IV. Laying the Table and Serving .... 27

Breakfast, dinner, supper table. Serving in courses. Waiting on table — the waitress ; dress, duties, etc. Methods of service — English, Russian, Compromise.

Chapter V. Food and the Human Body 3_l

Conditions upon which welfare of the body depends. The human organism. Cells. Tissues. Organs. Function of cells. Division of labor, or "specialization." Care of body, what it means. Body compared to a machine. Needs of the living machine. Repair material and fuel. Chemical composition of the body. Comparison of chemical composition of body and of food. The foodstuffs. Functions of

vii

Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

food. Vitamines. Protein supply; danger in excess of protein. Water — proportion in human body ; importance ; effect of insufficient supply. Mineral matter ; occurrence in food. Food as fuel ; carbohydrate and fat. Protein as fuel. Reserve fuel of body. Potential or latent energy of food. Activity of food energy result of complex changes in the body. "Starchy" foods ; sugars ; cellulose. Fats and oils — source ; chemical composition ; use of ; functions in the body. Food as regulator of bodily functions. Water and mineral matter.

Chapter VI. Cooking and ^Measuring 53

Cooking — purpose, effect. Decoration or garnishing of food; flavor, seasoning. JMethods of cooking — boiling, stewing, steaming, broiling, roasting, baking, frying, braising, pot-roasting, etc. Measuring, weighing, abbreviations and equivalents. U. S. Liquid Measure, Dry Measure, and Aletric Equivalents. xA-voirdupois Weight. Wood and Coal Measure.

Chapter VII. Water in the Household 59

Water — chief sources ; ideal water ; artificial purification. Composition of pure water. Impurities, organic and inorganic. Hard, soft water ; temporary hardness, permanent hardness. Water for drinking. Contaminated water. Country wells. Sterilized water. Distilled water. Forms of water. Experiments with water ; boiling point. Freezing mixture ; application to milk sherbet, ice cream, etc.

Chapter VIII. Be\trages and Fruits 66

Water as a solvent, diluent, and carrier of flavor. Application to making of beverages. Tea — Russian, iced. Coffee — boiled, filtered, black, or after-dinner. Cocoa. Chocolate. Heating milk ; use of double boiler. Fruit — general composition ; "flavor fruits" and "food fruits." Dietetic value of fruit. Dried fruit ; uncooked fruit ; overripe, underripe fruit. Cooking of fruits, fresh and dried ; preparation and serving.

Chapter IX. Vegetables 87

General structure, composition, and nutritive value. How to select. Care in preparing. Preparation for cooking. Methods of cooking. Serving. Beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes. Experiments to extract starch. Marks of a good potato. Storing of potatoes. Recipes : potatoes — boiled, steamed, mashed, riced, baked, warmed-over, Lyonnaise, creamed, with cheese, potato cakes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS IX

Page

Vegetable Soups 107

Foundation of ; general proportion of liquid, starchy material, vegetable pulp, seasoning.

Chapter X. Starches and Sugars no

Starch — source. Chief starchy foods. Experiments with starch. Application to making cornstarch mold. Experiments with flour. Sweet sauces and thickening for sauces and gravies. White sauce — methods of combining materials for. Sago pudding, white sauce, toast, croutons, crisped crackers, hot water toast, hot milk toast, cream toast, and toast water. Comparative digestibility of bread and toast.

Cereal Foods 120

General composition. Cereal breakfast foods — varieties ; effects of cooking. Comparison of package cereals and cereals sold in bulk. Method of cooking — coarse cereals, fine-ground cereals, granulated preparations ; gruels. Corn meal — manufacture of; "water-ground" corn meal, new-process meal, Indian pudding, molded corn meal with caramel sauce. Macaroni — manufacture of ; test for good macaroni. Recipes — boiled macaroni with tomato sauce and cheese ; baked macaroni ; macaroni with bacon, with cheese. Rice — natural brown rice, polished ; composition and nutritive value ; preparation for cooking ; methods of cooking. Steamed rice ; egg sauce. Boiled rice ; use for rice water. Cream rice pudding. Sugar — source, digestibility, and nutritive value. Cooking sugar for candy — barley candy, glace nuts, fruit or nut bar, peanut candy, horehound candy, butter taffy, sirup for cornballs, cocoanut drops.

Chapter XI. Flour, Yeast, and Bread . . *. . . 141 Leavened and unleavened bread. Wheat — average composition. Spring, winter, durum wheats. Bread flour, pastry flour. Gluten — breadmaking properties of wheat. Proportion of gliadin to glutenin. Experiments to separate gluten from flour. Effect of baking upon gluten. Wheat and rye compared as to breadmaking properties. Value of gluten in breadmaking. The wheat grain — general structure. Manufacture of flour. Grades of flour — Graham, Entire wheat, Standard Patent, etc. Gluten flour — standard for. Test for quality of flour. Care of flour; storage. Yeast — source, general structure. Varieties — compressed, dry, liquid. Yeast growth — conditions for and effects of. Bread — ingredients, temperature for raising ; dough — "straight" or "offhand" method, sponge method. General proportions of flour to liquid. Kneading and raising dough.

TABLE OF CONTEXTS

Page

Baking — temperature for and effects of. Care after baking. Good bread. Some defects in bread. Recipes for bread — short process, long process, whole wheat bread, Graham bread. Nutritive value and digestibility of bread. Left-over bread — uses for. Dried bread crumbs. Scalloped dishes — apples, tomatoes, onions. Brown crust pudding with hard sauce.

Chapter XTT. Eggs and Meat 169

Eggs — structure of, composition, tests for freshness, preservation, nutritive value, albumin. Experiments. Application to making eggnog, egg lemonade, eggs soft cooked, hard cooked, poached, o.^^ vermiceUi ; custard, baked and steamed ; steamed eggs, creamy eggs, and scrambled eggs.

Meat 179

Classes ; general structure of ; muscle fibers or tubes ; connective tissue; cell substance; juice of meat. Effects of "ripening," of freezing. Fat. Flavor of meat. Extractives. Food value of. Fat, bones, trimmings — uses of. Organs used as food. Average composition of meat. Marketing. Quality in meat. Grain. Firmness. Marbling. ]\Iarks of tenderness. Color. Proportion of bone, texture and color of bone. Beef cuts — Chicago method, Boston method. Carcass beef. Sides, quarters, "straight" cuts — loins, ribs, rounds, chucks, plates, flanks, and shanks. Secondary cuts — hind shank, rump, clod, and neck. Loin cuts; tenderloin. Veal — "native" and "Western." Veal cuts — saddles, racks. Mutton and lamb — yearlings. Qualit}^ in mutton. Flavor. "Break" or lamb joint. Spring lambs. Mutton, lamb cuts ; wholesale. Method of dividing side of mutton for household use. Comparison of mutton and beef as to general composition and food value. Pork — wholesale cuts. Quality in pork, flavor, digestibility. Lard — classes and grades. Retail cuts — uses and methods of cooking. Quick-cooking meats, 221 ; moderately quick-cooking meats, 221 ; slow-cooking meats — boiling meats, 221, stewing meats, soup and broth meats, 222.

Chapter XTIL Meat, Continued 223

Cooking of meat — purpose, effects, and methods. Experiments to show effect of cold water. Application to makin;; beef tea, broths, etc. Nutritive value of meat extracts, bouillon cubes, etc., compared with homemade broths, etc. LTse of meat strained from beef tea. Care of meat from market. Experiments to show methods of retaining juice in meat. ]\Ieat cooked in hot water. How to make tough

TABLE OF CONTENTS XI

Page

meat tender. Application to cooking mutton, lamb, rolled beef. Meat gravy, mint sauce. Stewing meat — object. Suitable cuts for. Methods I, 11. Vegetables, seasoning, and dumplings for. Beef, veal, or lamb stew. Broiling meat. Experiment to show proper method. Application to broiling steak, pan-broiled chops, Hamburg steaks, making of beef juice. Reheating meat — precautions, preparation, seasoning. Minced meat on toast. French hash or cottage pie. Hash. Meat turnover. Scalloped meat, IMeat warmed in gravy. Meat pie with potato crust.

Chapter XIV. Fats and Oils 245

Fats — nature and source ; nutritive value. Butter, lard, beef suet, dripping. ]\Iutton fat — how to remove flavor and odor. Melting point of mutton fats. Clarified fat. Method I ; German Method ; Method 3. Clarified butter. Leaf lard. Beef dripping. Savory drippings.

Chapter XV. Fish . . . 250

Composition. General classification — fat and lean ; digestibility and nutritive value of. Dried, salted, smoked, pickled, canned, frozen fish. Test for freshness of. Methods of cooking. Serving. Similarity and differences between fish and meat ; structure and consequent methods of cooking. Similarity in nutritive value makes fish a "meat substitute." Fish cooked in water. Drawn butter sauce. Creamed fish. Fish hash. Scalloped fish. Fish chowder. Broiled fish and butter dressing for fish.

Chapter XVI. Milk, Milk Products, and Legumes . . . 255 Comparison between nutrients of animal and vegetable foods. Unique position of milk as food. Value of milk. Experiments to show ingredients of. Composition of. Three reasons why milk not perfect food for adults. Milk as substitute for meat. Whole milk, skimmed milk. Value of skimmed. Fat of milk or cream. Butter. Buttermilk. "Ripening" of cream. "Butter culture." The souring of milk; cause of. Curdling of milk. Rennet. Care of milk in the home. Cleaning milk utensils. Rennet custard. Whipped cream. Butter. Butter balls. Cheese— manufacture of, ripening of, nutritive value and digestibility of. Cheese as meat substitute. Care of cheese in the home. Cottage cheese i, 2, 3. Sour cream cheese. Creamed cheese on toast. Baked crackers with cheese.

Nutritive value and digestibility of. Comparison of food value of with other food materials. Fuel value. Legumin.

Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Test for good beans. Boston baked beans. Dried Lima beans i, 2. Split pea soup. Baked bean soup. Puree of Lima beans. Stuffed bean roll.

Chapter XVH. Salads 277

Preparation ; to marinate. French dressing. Cooked salad dressing. Shredded cabbage, or cole slaw. Water lily salad. Rice and tomato salad. Salmon salad with rice. Egg salad with rice. Sour cream dressing. Bacon fat dressing. German potato salad.

Chapter XVIIL Food for Invalids 282

Importance of care in preparation and serving of food for invalids. Arrangement of tray. How to serve food. Sterilization of articles used in contagious diseases. Simple, digestible foods for invalids. Irish moss blanc-mange. Irish moss lemonade. Flaxseed tea. To chip ice. Orange sunflower. Peach foam. Apple water, rhubarb water, lemonade. Cracker gruel, arrowroot gruel, and flour gruel.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

The order of lessons which follows was in general use for many years in the Boston Schools of Cookery and elsewhere:

Series A, Card i Sweeping and Dusting

2 Washing Dishes

3 Making and Care of the Fire

4 Laying the Table

6 Measuring

7 Cooking Fruits

8 Beverages : Tea, Coffee

9 Cocoa and Chocolate

11 Potatoes ; type of starchy vegetables

12 Experiments: Starch — to show characteristics

13 Application of principles to methods of making

white sauce ; toast, etc.

14 Christmas Lesson: Simple candies

15 Cornstarch Mold; molded corn meal, etc.

16 Rice — steamed, boiled, etc.

17 Macaroni, white sauce, etc.

18 Scalloped Dishes: utilization of left-over bread;

Dried Crumbs ; Brown Crust Pudding

19 Milk; Butter; Butter Balls; Junket

20 Cheese; Cottage Cheese, etc.

21 Eggs

2.2 Meat : cuts and uses

23 Meat : methods of cooking; application of prin-

ciples to extraction of juice; Beef Tea; Mutton Broth

24 Meat cooked in water: mutton, lamb, etc.

25 Warmed-over meats; general preparation;

precautions, etc.

26 Broiling

27 Stewing

28 Fish

29 Bread — short and long processes

30 \^egetable Soups

XIV SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

31 Salads

32 Food for Invalids T,T, Freezing

The arrangement of subject-matter in the present revised Course necessitated at times grouping two or more lessons into one chapter, as well as changing the relative position of certain lessons. The plan adopted may be adhered to or changed as desired by the individual teacher.

The preliminary lessons remain as in the original Course, it being understood that instruction or practice in household processes, such as dish-washing and the like, may be combined with the lessons in cooking as local conditions make convenient or desirable.

In connection with the study of Water, the principles underlying the use of freezing mixtures are applied to the preparation of frozen creams. This topic, however, as is customary in many schools, may be deferred to the closing lesson of the year.

The material given in Chapter V — Food and the Human Body — is intended for use as required, not necessarily to be given in consecutive lessons. Here, as elsewhere, the time and method of treating a topic must of necessity vary with the age, experience, and previous knowledge of the students. In general, however, it would seem that certain relations of food to the body will be more readily understood when some knowledge of combustion has been gained through study of Fire and Fuels ; also that the study of Milk as a representative or typical food will help to a clearer understanding of foodstuffs, or "food principles," as formerly termed. To this end, experiments to separate cream, curd, and whey from milk will show in a simple way the presence of the three foodstuffs — fat, protein, and water. (The remaining experiments with milk are better deferred until after the study of albumin in eggs.) Common salt will serve as an example of mineral matter, and ordinary starch and sugar of the carbohydrates.

Chapter VIII treats of Fruits, fresh and dried. Those of the former class, which are abundant in the early autumn, may be used at that season, and the dried fruits in lessons given during the winter or spring.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS XV

The same rule holds with \'egetables, using in the lessons of the fall or early winter those which are then at their best, and the commoner vegetables and dried legumes at any convenient time.

Vegetable soups may follow the regular vegetable lesson or be given later as a review of vegetable cookery and white sauce. Salads also may, if preferred, follow vegetables, or fats and oils.

Since the cookery of eggs may serve to show some of the prominent characteristics and properties of a typical protein food, the tgg lessons are given precedence on this subject. It is not supposed, however, that all the experiments in this connection, or indeed of any subject, are necessarily to be given at one time. One or more may be taken up to illustrate the principle involved in any given lesson.

The theoretical portion is very full and will supply material for reading or recitation, which may be supplemented by Bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture, or other reference material.

I would not have any one believe that the truths it is my life work to preach are doctrines likely to lead away the mind from higher thoughts. On the contrary, if I am right, they are the most necessary to clear thinking and right action. I have tried to model my daily life on the teachings of the Scripture. I nowhere find food spoken of in the Holy Book with disrespect, and the greatest miracles and most beautiful mysteries are linked with the daily necessities of food and drink. And what I have sought to impress upon you all is that dining means not only stoking the human body, but so stoking it that it shall manufacture the maximum of steam and the minimum of black smoke. And in the cookery and preparing of food there are at every time opportunities for courtesy and unselfishness to others, and the charm o.f exercising technical skill in the practice of a great art.

XVI

CHAPTER I Sweeping and Dusting

The purpose of sweeping is the removal of loose dirt.

Dirt is composed of particles of sand or earthy matter, bits of worn-out clothing, refuse of animal or plant life, etc. ; in fact, dirt may contain particles of anything, clean or the reverse, and it may be wet or dry.

Dust, on the contrary, is always dry. Dust is composed of the same substances as dirt, only dried and ground exceedingly fine. So fine and so light in weight are these particles that more or less dust is always floating in the air. The lightest footfall or the gentlest breeze will cause it to rise. Dust contains also tiny ''seeds" capable of growth.

Dirt and dust may be filthy ; they are always repulsive because they mean disorder and carelessness. When, moreover, it is realized that among the tiny "seeds" usually present in dust may be some which, as they grow, cause consumption, diphtheria, lockjaw, and other dangerous diseases, it is evident that dirt and- dust should be disposed of in such a way as to kill these "seeds."

Because these "seeds" are so extremely abundant in dust, they are sometimes called "dust plants." They are also called "germs" and "microbes." "Germ" means that from which something grows ; "microbe" means simply a "little living thing." Scientifically, these dust plants are grouped under three heads — molds, yeasts, and bacteria.

2 A COURSE I.\ llOUSKilOI.I) ARTS

Molds are the most coniinonly known of these plants because they can be seen with the naked eye. They grow and niuhiply rapidly in warm, moist places, destroying food and clothing. Mildew is one form of mold.

Yeasts are widely distributed over the surface of the earth, in the soil, the air, and the water. Yeast plants blowing round in the air are called wild yeasts to distinguish them from the cultivated yeasts used in bread-making. The fermentation or "working" of preserves and fruit juices or other sweet licjuids is caused by wild yeasts.

Bacteria (singular, bacterium), "little rods," are so named from their appearance when they are seen under a microscope. They cannot be seen with the naked eye. They are the smallest and simplest of known living things. Each bacterium is a simple cell, — that is, an exceedingly small mass of living substance inclosed in a thin cell-wall to give it shape. This living substance, or protoplasm, is soft, jelly-like, colorless, and nearly transparent.

Bacteria are the plants usually meant when germs or microbes are spoken of, because some members of this group cause certain diseases, while others cause the decay or spoiling of animal and vegetable substances. IMost bacteria, however, are harmless, many are useful, some are even necessary.

The home of many bacteria is in the upper layers of the earth, but being so small they are carried by the wind and rain and snow almost everywhere. They are found in the air, in the water, on food and clothing, in the mouth and nose, under the nails, and in other parts of the body.

Like other living things, bacteria require food and moisture. Many require w^armth, though some can grow at freezing temperature. Some need air : others do not. All multiply with marvelous rapidity under favorable conditions, one dividing

SWEEPING AND DUSTING 3

into two, two into four, four into eight, and so on. As they grow, some bacteria produce poisonous substances which frequently cause more harm than the mere presence of the bacteria themselves. Some species can divide and become full grown in half an hour or even in less time. If this rapid multiplication should continue without interruption, each bacterium, it has been computed, would produce 16,000,000 offspring in twentyfour hours. Such an extremely rapid increase as this could not occur, however, because lack of food or the accumulation of their own life wastes would soon check the growth of the bacteria or kill them. Nevertheless, their power of multiplication under even ordinary circumstances is so great that in spite of their exceedingly minute size, they accomplish marvelous results in a very short time.

Bacteria can live a long time even when deprived of food and moisture. Under these unfavorable conditions the living substance sometimes shrinks or shrivels into little hard balls, called spores. Spores are difficult to kill. Some which had been boiled in water for several hours afterwards grew when placed in favorable conditions ; others were found alive after having been dried for ten years. Not all bacteria, however, can form spores. Fortunately, none of the common disease germs do so. These, therefore, can be killed by boiling in water about half an hour.

In this connection it should be clearly understood that though bacteria are abundant in the water, in the soil, and in the air, nevertheless, the world is not filled with disease germs lying in wait to attack us ; for of the many hundreds of kinds of bacteria known to scientists, only a few kinds cause disease.

'*It is a mistake to think that every breath of air is dangerous or that all food and water contain disease germs. ... In the bodies of persons ill with germ diseases, in the houses where they live, and z^'herever the zvastes from the bodies of the sick go, there, and in most cases there only, are disease germs to be found." {Primer of Sanitation, Ritchie.)

Note. — The germs of the disease contained in the matter coughed up by consumptives, drying on sidewalks and other places, may be carried with the dust to well persons, who may thus contract the disease. This possibility emphasizes the need for burning all dirt and dust and for washing the hands before touching food, especially after handling any object that has been in contact with dirt or dust.

In general, dark, damp, dirty places are most favorable for the growth of all germs. Fresh air and sunlight are nature's great disinfectants. Nevertheless, it may also be said with Miss Talbot, in House Sanitation, that sunlight acts as a disinfectant "only when it is direct; and there are very few places in a room on which the sun shines directly, even for a few minutes. The light is chiefly diffused, and even then is still further dimmed by the shadows from furniture, curtains, and other large, dark objects. In consequence, for practical purposes of disinfection, the admission of sunlight is not to be trusted. It is not a substitute for cleanliness."

Implements for Sweeping. In getting rid of dirt, as little dust as possible should be raised ; implements best suited to this purpose should be chosen. For sweeping smooth, hard floors, whether painted, polished, or covered with oilcloth or linoleum, a long-handled bristle brush is best. For carpets, a corn broom or a carpet sweeper may be used. In either case, a small broom will be needed for cleaning corners and other places which cannot be reached with a large broom or with a carpet sweeper. A carpet sweeper raises less dust than a broom and does not wear out the carpet so quickly. A sweeper should be chosen which has some protection at the ends to prevent the furniture from being scratched. A sweeper with a removable brush is also preferable, because it can be cleaned readily. If a corn broom is used, it may be dampened

SWEEPING AXD DUSTING 5

slightly, or damp newspapers may be scattered over the carpet before sweeping to prevent the dust from rising. Best of all implements, however, is the vacuum cleaner, which removes the dirt without stirring up the dust.

Preparation of Room for Sweeping. Dust and put away small articles. Dust pictures and furniture too large to be removed, and cover with cloths kept for this purpose. Dampen shavings or torn newspapers and scatter them over the carpet. Close the doors. The windows may be opened or closed during sweeping, according to conditions. If the windows are open when a strong wind is blowing, the dust may be blown back ; if the windows on opposite sides of the room are open, a whirlwind of dust may be raised.

Note. — Never sweep or dust a room while food is being prepared or served, since the dust, as it "settles," will be deposited on the food, and the food, usually warm and moist, will furnish favorable conditions for the growth of bacteria.

Method of Sv^^eeping. Always sweep away from the walls and toward the center of the room unless there is some good reason for doing otherwise.

In brushing a smooth, hard floor, begin at one corner. Brush the dirt from the corner and along the side of the room, close to the wall and parallel with the grain of the wood : then, standing on the swept portion, push the brush before you, keeping it close to the floor to prevent dust from rising, until the middle of the room is reached. Hold the brush upright a moment before lifting it, then raise it gently from the line of dirt to avoid scattering the dirt in the air. Brush the space beside the one just cleaned, and push the dirt gently into small piles. If the dirt is collected into small piles rather than into a single large pile, less dust will be raised. When one-half the room is swept, begin at the opposite end and proceed as before until the sweeping b A COURSE IN HOUSEHOr.D ARTS