The Care of Rooms : Part 4

American Woman's Home
by Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe

(Page 34 of 43)

In a closet should be kept, arranged in order, the following articles: the dust-pan, dust-brush and dusting-cloths, old flannel and cotton for scouring and rubbing, large sponges for washing windows and looking-glasses, a long brush for cobwebs and another for washing the outside of windows, whisk-brooms, common brooms, a coat-broom or brush, a whitewash-brush, a stove-brush, shoe-brushes and blacking, articles for cleaning tin and silver, leather for cleaning metals, bottles containing stain-mixtures and other articles used in cleansing.

Care of the Cellar

A cellar should often be whitewashed, to keep it sweet. It should have a drain to keep it perfectly dry, as standing water in a cellar is a sure cause of disease in a family. It is very dangerous to leave decayed vegetables in a cellar. Many a fever has been caused by the poisonous miasma therefore generated. The following articles are desirable in a cellar: a safe, or movable closet, with sides of wire or perforated tin, in which cold meats, cream and other articles should be kept; (if ants be troublesome, set the legs in tin cups of water;) a refrigerator, or a large wooden-box, on feet, with a lining of tin or zinc and a space between the tin and wood filled with powdered charcoal, having at the bottom a place for ice, a drain to carry off the water and also movable shelves and partitions. In this, articles are kept cool. It should be cleaned once a week. Filtering jars to purify water should also be kept in the cellar. Fish and cabbages in a cellar are apt to scent a house and give a bad taste to other articles.

Storeroom

Every house needs a storeroom, in which to keep tea, coffee, sugar, rice, candles, etc. It should be furnished with jars, having labels, a large spoon, a fork, sugar and flour-scoops, a towel and a dish-cloth.

Modes of Destroying Insects and Vermin

Bed-bugs should be kept away, by filling every chink in the bedstead with putty and if it be old, painting it over. Of all the mixtures for killing them, corrosive sublimate and alcohol is the surest. This is a strong poison.

Cockroaches may be destroyed by pouring boiling water into their haunts, or setting a mixture of arsenic mixed with Indian meal and molasses where they are found. Chloride of lime and sweetened water will also poison them.

Fleas. - If a dog be infected with these insects, put him in a tub of warm soapsuds and they will rise to the surface. Take them off and burn them. Strong perfumes about the person diminish their attacks. When caught between the fingers, plunge them in water, or they will escape.

Crickets. - Scalding and sprinkling Scotch snuff about the haunts of these insects, are remedies for the annoyance caused by them.

Flies can be killed in great quantities, by placing about the house vessels filled with sweetened water and cobalt. Six cents' worth of cobalt is enough for a pint of water. It is very poisonous.

Mosquitoes. - Close nets around a bed are the only sure protection at night against these insects. Spirits of Hartshorne is the best antidote for their bite. Salt and water is good.

Red or Black Ants may be driven away by scalding their haunts and putting Scotch snuff wherever they go for food. Set the legs of closets and safes in pans of water and they can not get at them.

Moths. - Airing clothes does not destroy moths, but laying them in a hot sun does. If articles be tightly sewed up in linen when laid away and fine tobacco put about them, it is a sure protection. This should be done in April.

Rats and Mice. - A good cat is the best remedy for these annoyances. Equal quantities of hemlock and old cheese will poison them; but this renders the house liable to the inconvenience of a bad smell. This evil, however, may be lessened, by placing a dish containing oil of vitriol poured on saltpeter where the smell is most annoying. Chloride of lime and water is also good.

In using any of the above-mentioned poisons, great care should be taken to guard against their getting into any article of food or any utensil or vessel used for cooking or keeping food, or where children can get at them.

About the Author

Catharine Esther Beecher (1800 - 1878) was a noted educator, renowned for her forthright opinions on women's education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of a kindergarten into children's education.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) was a white American abolitionist and novelist, whose Uncle Tom's Cabin attacked the cruelty of slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential, even in Britain.