To Clean a Floor by Mrs. D. A. Fitch

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 9, 1915

To Clean a Floor

By Mrs. D. A. Fitch

MRS. D. A. FITCH

“Ever learning” should be the watchword of every housekeeper; “ever teaching” the motto of every mother. Success in both will be attained in various ways and by different means, as circumstances and conditions may indicate. Even though some mistakes are made, resulting in inconvenience and loss of material, it is far better to permit children to do, and thus encourage them to learn. If we make right use of our failures, we learn more by them than by our successes.

In my young girlhood I one day asked to be allowed to mop the kitchen floor. Having no instruction in detail, I tried to do as I had seen my mother do. When the floor was about dry, I said, “Isn’t my floor nice and clean?” Imagine my dampened ardor when mother responded, “It is a more even color, but no cleaner.” Her reply may not have been the wisest, but rest assured it was the means of my learning that plenty of water and a corresponding amount of strength are needed really to improve the appearance of a floor.

To wet a floor and then partially dry it, is not sufficient. Painted floors seldom need soap, and are better without it. As a rule, floors of the natural color are whiter if no alkali is used. As before stated, sufficient water should be used, and plenty of strength put to the scrubbing. The floor should be wiped as dry as possible. A floor so cleaned need not be scrubbed so often, so there is really no loss of time or effort in doing the work well.

Any broom, cloth, or mop should be thoroughly cleaned before put away to dry. This will insure good results next time.

Santurce, Porto Rico.