Spring Cleaning, 1895
Grandma always Marled a week ahead off the
main assault.
By BOB HINKLE
"Housekeeping, whatever may be the
opinion of the butterflies of the period,
is an accomplishment in comparison to
which, in its bearing on women's rela¬
tion to real life and the family, all others
are trivial. It ought to be absorbed in
girlhood by easy lessons taken between
algebra, music, and painting. The
reward is sure. Your husband may ad¬
mire your grace and ease in society,
your wit. your accomplishments in
music and painting, but all in perfection
will not atone for an ill-ordered kitchen,
sour bread, muddy coffee, lough meats,
unpalatable vegetables, indigestible
pastry, and the whole train of horrors
that result from bad housekeeping."
Well, now! I’m sure that when my
grandmother read that paragraph, she
nodded her head and made a vow that
her housekeeping would attain the sure
Ironing Board. “A handy board lor Ironing. Place the
clothe» basket on one chair.”
reward. She’d just bought the book, and
had inscribed her name inside the
cover, "Laura Hinkle. Arnold. NC,
May 1896." It was The New Dixie Cook
Book, published just the year before.
She had no inkling, however, of how
thrilled I would be almost ninety years
later, when I traced her handwriting.
She had died many years before I was
born, and since only a few items had
been handed down from her household,
this old book was especially meaningful
to me. I’d often wondered what her life
was like. The "Housekeeping" section
of the book provided a window for a
rare look at her lot as a turn-of-the-
century housewife.
24
"One Stout Girl"
Spring cleaning, an enduring concept
of housekeeping, was a recognized
necessity in 1895. It was a job of mam¬
moth proportions, and the household
manager was advised to devote at least
a week of preparation, and a week to
the cleaning. The book said. "You will
need the help of one stout girl at the
least, and hire her the week before, so
she can get accustomed to the house
and your way of doing work."
The preparations included making
the overdue repairs around the house,
and collecting cleaning materials such
as, "lime for whitewashing, good soap,
sawdust, carbolic acid, copperas, carpet
tacks, and spirits of ammonia." She was
to “have the boys clean the yard of the
winter rubbish and debris, as this is
more important in a sanitary point of
view than inside house cleaning." Of
course, everything that was soiled was
washed and ironed. She was to make
Washing Fluid as follows: "one pound
of sal-soda, one-half pound stone lime,
five quarts soft water; boil a short time
in a copper or brass kettle, stirring oc¬
casionally; let settle, then pour off the
clear fluid into a stone jug and cork for
use."
Then on Saturday (this was still the
week before spring cleaning) "do an ex¬
tra large baking, so you will have suf¬
ficient bread, cakes, etc. to do you most
of the next week." Sunday was a day of
rest. Then on Monday, she began the
assault.
Room By Room
The cellar was first, while everyone
was fresh and strong. A man was to
A Handy Soap Boiler. ”The Prairie Farmer Ural sug¬
gested this plan.”
clean out all surplus and move heavy
items away from the walls. After sweep¬
ing. the floor was sprinkled with cop¬
peras water (iron sulfate) to prevent
malarial exhalations. Finally, the walls
were whitewashed, and the boxes, bar¬
rels and bins moved back.
Next came the garret. With the win¬
dows open, all the papers and rags were
picked up and discarded, or sorted if
Ш
1C4U*T
Broom Holder. "A place tor everything and
everything in its place.”
they were to be kept. AH boxes, trunks,
and bundles were moved before the
overhead and floor were swept. Then
the floor was washed “just lightly, to get
up the dust." To rid the cracks of moths,
she sprinkled the floor with benzene if
all the fires in the house were out. If
fires were still going downstairs,
kerosene was used to anoint the floor.
The odor would be gone "in about two
days and so will the moths."
The bedrooms were next. The furn¬
iture was all moved to the hall, and pic¬
tures were taken down. Bedding was
aired in the sun. The carpet was folded
carefully, then taken outside and beaten
with smooth ended canes, then swept
with a new broom. The windows and
walls were washed; "Wash floor with
hot soap-suds, and rinse with strong hot
brine, or hot water with a mixture of
cayenne pepper in it to drive out mice,
rats, and other vermin." The closets got
the same treatment.
If a carpet was very dirty or had
much green color, "use fresh ox-gall in
the lukewarm water in the proportion of
a quart of gall to three quarts of water,
and rub the carpet dry" with towels.
THE STATE, MARCH 1985
