Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife
John Stuart Mill · en
The kitchen should, of course, be airy and sunny. The sink should be
placed near a south window, if possible, to prevent freezing of pipes.
An iron sink is more cleanly than a wooden one, and cheaper than
porcelain and copper. It should have a platform with room for two
dishpans, and a drying shelf, raised at one end to permit drainage.
Where economy of space is essential, this shelf may be removable,
permitting the use for other things of the table beneath.
Two other tables are necessary in a proper kitchen equipment, one
covered with zinc for a work-table, set near the range, and the other
a plain table set near the dining-room, for the prepared dishes. There
should be three lights, lamps in brackets, gas-jets, or electric bulbs,
near the sink, range and food-table respectively. The refrigerator
should be put outside the kitchen, in some such place as a sheltered
part of the back piazza. Commodities such as tea and coffee, not
requiring ice, should be kept in covered jars, preferably earthen,
on a dresser or shelf, where the bread-box may also stand. There should
be a kitchen closet for the flour-barrel and sugar-box, which should be
covered for further protection from dust, flies, dampness, etc., and for
the canned goods in immediate requisition.
The stove or range should be selected with reference on the one hand to
the amount of cooking to be done for the family, and on the other to the
saving of fuel. Where there is a water supply, of course there should be
a boiler connected with the range. This should be large enough to assure
a sufficient supply of hot water for the house. There should be a shelf
near the range for such articles as the pepper-box and salt-box which
are in constant use in cooking, and hooks should be near at hand for
hanging up the poker, lid-lifter, and a coarse towel for use in taking
pans from the oven. Other shelves and hooks, of course, should be put
in for the various utensils necessary in the kitchen.
The floor of the kitchen should be covered with a good quality of
linoleum. A perforated rubber mat may be placed at the sink, although
this is not necessary. In fact, it is a better plan for the woman in the
kitchen, as indeed elsewhere, to get rubber heels for her shoes. The
Arabs have a proverb that to him who is shod it is as if the whole world
were covered with leather, and rubber heels similarly cause every floor
in the house, whether bare or carpeted, to be equally easy to the feet
of the busy housewife.
The laundry should be supplied with two tubs, an ironing-table,
an ironing-board, and a stove for the boiler and the irons. The
ironing-board should be supported upon two "horses" of the height
of the table. The table should be supplied with an iron-rest.