A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; Or, Margaret's Saturday MorningsBenton, Caroline French
General
A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; Or, Margaret's Saturday Mornings
Benton, Caroline French
Home economics -- Juvenile literature
Her room was put in beautiful order, to her closet and shoe-bag, and she
even stopped to put a clean cover on the bureau and dust nicely, to show
she had not forgotten a single thing. The halls and parlors had to be
thoroughly dusted now, but as none of them needed sweeping it did not
take very long, and there was still time to go to market. She got out
her jacket and hat, took her pencil, account-book, and kitchen pad, and
went out to see what was in the refrigerator. Here she had to stop, for
Bridget had gone away in such a hurry she had quite forgotten to wash
this out and arrange it properly, so on went the gingham apron again,
and out came all the things from the box. She gave it a good scrubbing
with warm water and borax, and put in a fresh dish of charcoal before
she put back the ice and dishes of food. Then she got her pad again, and
with her mother's help, planned the meals and wrote down what she must
buy.
The walk to the grocery and meat market was pleasant, and Margaret quite
enjoyed ordering the vegetables, chops, fruit, and fish, which were
needed, and watched to see if she was getting fresh things and good
measure, and wrote down the prices as though she had been an old
housekeeper instead of a new one.
When she got back again she found there was an hour until lunch, and she
at once wiped off the shelves in the pantry and put fresh papers on them
and arranged the tins in a more orderly way than she found them. By the
time she had finished her Pretty Aunt came out to help get luncheon, and
together they laid the table and got the meal. She put on her
waiting-apron again, when it was ready, but this time she sat down with
the family because her mother said she must surely be tired.
Her grandmother insisted on helping with the dishes, and watched with
pride when afterwards Margaret poured boiling water down the sink after
laying a bit of washing-soda over the drain, and scrubbed off all her
tables until they shone, and blacked her range until it was like a
mirror. "You surely are going to make a wonderful housekeeper!" she
said.
Margaret laughed as she took off her apron. "But I just _love_ to do
things, grandmother," she replied, as she went up-stairs.
Bridget always found that she had an hour or two to rest in the
afternoon after her work was done, and so did the little girl, but after
she had taken a walk and read in a new book for a time, she suddenly
remembered that the silver needed cleaning, and she might surprise the
family at dinner with it all polished. She got it out and rubbed it
well, delighted to see how quickly it grew bright. As she finished her
mother came into the kitchen with her Other Aunt, and said they meant to
help get the dinner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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