p. 13 | About the House

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Nov 7, 1907

About the House

To keep the kitchen sink in order is one of the first duties of a housekeeper. Constant attention is necessary to prevent that porcelain or lead receptacle from becoming clogged and blackened with grease. Close to the sink should always be chlorid of lime or washing soda—we recommend both, to be used alternately. Scald the sink every other day by letting the hot water run for five or ten minutes, when it is at its hottest, over a few lumps of washing soda placed on the grating. Twice a week in hot weather use unslaked lime instead of the soda. At night a handful of borax thrown on the grating will keep away the visiting croton bugs.

These useful suggestions concerning the care of the refrigerator come from Marion Harland’s pen:—

In our germ-mad generation, it is surprising that, in the howl against cold storage foods, so little has been made of the peril to health offered by unclean refrigerators. The confined air is of itself unwholesome, imparting a “close taste” to butter and meats, easily recognized, yet rarely analyzed. The chill of the ice arrests decay, but it does not prevent the growth of mold.

Did you ever look at a section of mold through a microscope? You would see a pretty forest or jungle of divers colors. Like non-edible toadstools, it is fair to see, and, like them, it is poisonous to the human stomach. If the sink be a faithful witness to the housewifery of owner or caretaker, the refrigerator is a yet more correct reporter. It should be absolutely odorless.

Fragrant fruits must never be set in the same compartment with other foods. If milk and butter are kept in the refrigerator, give them a shelf to themselves, and unless the butter be perfectly fresh, it should be kept away from the milk.

In summer the shelves should be cleared daily, and the contents sorted under the eye of the mistress. The corners must be scrubbed faithfully with a cloth wrung out in boiling water and baking-soda, that nothing may accumulate there. Then the doors must be left open until the shelves are entirely dry. To shut up humidity in the chilled interior is to make a damp cave of it.—Selected.