"The higher a woman's education, the better housewife she ought to be. When Molière was so hard on learned women, he was not making fun of erudition, but of the affectation of erudition, which relegated into a corner all homely virtues." "First Aid to the Servantless," By Mrs. J. G. FRASER. CHAPTER VIII WHAT THIS CHAPTER IS ABOUT _Counting the Cost--The Cost of Service as well as of Material--Coke Furnaces--Radiators--How to Light and Stoke a Coke Furnace--Rubbish Burning--Some Figures--Two Examples of Houses in which Coke Furnaces are used--A Maisonette in which a Gas Circulator is used--Taking Advice--Gas for Water Heating and for Lighting--Gas Fires--The Gas Cooker and how to use it--The Cost of Gas Cooking--Cooking Utensils--Cleaning--Rubbish Destructors--Slot Meters--Reading the Meter._ CHAPTER VIII COAL, COKE, AND GAS: HOW TO USE THEM TO THE BEST ADVANTAGE I Of all labour-saving forces at present available, I think we must regard electricity and gas as the most important. Often, however, it is not for us to choose which we will employ. We must needs use gas if electric current is not available, and we must count the cost of both before deciding whether or no we may employ either. Counting the Cost. Counting the cost is not so simple a matter as it seems, for it does not suffice to ascertain the price of gas per 1000 feet, and of electricity per unit, and of coal and coke per ton, and of wood per 100 bundles, because you have also to ascertain what you can save in labour and in other items before you can arrive at any just conclusion. Let us suppose that you decide to build a house and warm it by hot water, to light it and to cook by gas or electricity. In that case you could save the cost of grates, chimneys, the kitchen range, fenders, fireirons, coal boxes, chimney sweeping, a considerable amount of cleaning, and the labour of the people who would be needed to handle the coal and do the cleaning. So you must consider the matter carefully, not forgetting that it is further complicated by the fact that you may find it difficult to obtain servants, and that it might pay you to use gas or electricity even though coal was cheaper, because of the scarcity and high cost of labour. You have also to consider that the cost of coal, gas, and electricity depend to some extent on the people who use them. One cook, for example, will burn nearly double the coal burned by another and obtain no better result. It is the same with gas and electric current. [Illustration: _PLATE XXXIV_ ELECTRICAL KITCHEN OF A SMALL FLAT. ALL LIFTING AND STOOPING IS AVOIDED. (The British Electric Transformer Co.)] The Coke Furnace.