Part 6 (1/2)

”I think,” said the Pretty Aunt one day, ”we must be coming to the end of the Sat.u.r.day morning lessons. We have had the kitchen and dining-room, the bedrooms, halls, and parlors, the bathroom, cellar, attic, and vestibule. I really can't think of anything else to teach Margaret about the care of the house.”

”Why,” exclaimed the Other Aunt, ”I can! I can think of five or six things you have not said a word about; all important ones, too!”

”How nice!” laughed the Pretty Aunt, ”because now you can give the lesson!”

Margaret had felt disappointed when she thought the lessons were over, for she liked to learn something new each week; so when she was told to put on a clean ap.r.o.n and be ready in half a minute, she ran off in a hurry.

Her aunt was in the upper hall when she appeared, with the door of the linen closet open, and she told Margaret they would begin here.

”This little room is the one good housekeepers are especially fond of,”

she began. ”Clean, white linen, polished and beautiful, is a joy to look at and handle, and every woman is proud if she has a quant.i.ty, all nicely kept. Let us begin with the shelves, taking them in order, and see what is on each.”

The top one held blankets, each pair folded together smoothly and pinned up in a clean, strong piece of white cotton cloth, and labelled. The first label read, ”Guest-room blankets,” and when they were opened there lay a fresh, soft, fleecy pair, with a lovely border of pale pink, and edges of broad pink ribbon.

”This is your mother's very best pair of blankets,” began her aunt.

”They are cut in two and bound alike at each end, you see; they have never been washed or cleaned yet, so they are still very white and soft.

By and by they will begin to look a little soiled, and then they will be cleaned perhaps, once or twice, and presently they will be washed, and they will not be nearly as nice as they are now, though well-washed blankets should still be fleecy and white.”

”'Soft, warm water, with suds of white soap,'” murmured Margaret, reviewing her laundry lesson; ”'rub with your hands, rinse in the same sort of water as you used in was.h.i.+ng, with a little borax or ammonia, and they will look like new.'”

”Splendid!” said her aunt. ”I see you can wash blankets to perfection.

But even so, some day there will be new ones for the guest-room, and these will be on one of the family beds. The next two or three bundles, you see, are clean, washed blankets, in pairs, laid away till they are needed. All blankets have to be put on the line in the suns.h.i.+ne frequently whether they are washed or not, or they may be eaten by moths.

”Here are a few clean comfortables next, on this second shelf, done up like the blankets. These have to be washed, too, and are more difficult to manage than blankets, because they are so heavy; they have to be aired often to keep them sweet, for the cotton holds odors easily. Then come the white spreads, the heavy Ma.r.s.eilles in one pile, the lighter ones in another, and the single ones and double ones kept separate.

”The third shelf holds towels, you see. This pile is for the best ones; notice how beautifully they are ironed and folded, and how the embroidered initials stand out. The ordinary bedroom towels come next; see how many your mother has, and how each kind is by itself: the hemst.i.tched ones in one pile, the plain huckaback in another; those with colored borders in this one, and the bath towels in that. Any one could come in and get a towel in the dark, sure of taking just the right one.

You must remember always to keep your own towels just this way; too many people mix them in in any careless fas.h.i.+on, and do not take the trouble to have them arranged neatly, but it's the best way to do.

”The sheets and pillow-cases are in these deep drawers. This top one has the double sheets and the best linen ones; notice how they lie in piles, each kind by itself, just like the towels. They are all marked on the narrow edge, and so they can be recognized at a glance; the large sheets have your mother's full name. In this next drawer are the single bed sheets, marked with her first initials, and her last name. The servants'

sheets have only her three initials. You see how easy it is to tell which is which. The pillow-cases are marked in the same way, and put in piles. You must be sure when you have a was.h.i.+ng to put away that you do not put the clean things on top of each pile, and then take them off again to use at once; put things on top and take them off the bottom of the pile, so they will all be used in turn. Now for the table-linen.”

This was in another drawer, and Margaret exclaimed when she saw how beautiful it was. The cloths were like satin, the napkins which matched lay in dozens by them; the every-day cloths and napkins were by themselves, and the small lunch-cloths had a pile of their own. The doilies were in a smaller drawer, all in piles, too, and the pretty centrepieces were fastened around stiff paper made into rolls.

”If you ever have lovely table-linen you will want to keep it nicely,”

said the aunt. ”I think it is high time you had some, too. I believe in the old German custom of making a linen-chest for each girl; so learn your lesson well, and when your birthday comes who knows what you'll get? Perhaps a lunch-cloth or some embroidered napkins!”

”I'd like some towels, too,” Margaret said, soberly. ”I guess I'd like to have some linen every birthday.”

”Very well, I'll remember,” said her aunt as they closed the drawers.

”And when you really begin to fill your chest I will make you some pretty bags of lavender to lay among your sheets and pillow-cases to make them smell sweet. We will go down-stairs now.”

The pantry shelves were looked over next; in the china-closet in the dining-room everything was in order; the dishes neatly arranged on white paper, with pretty scalloped flouncings hanging over the front. The plates were piled in sets, the platters were together, the gla.s.ses and small dishes on the sides of the closet where the shelves were short.

There was really nothing to be done here, so they went into the kitchen.

The pantry where the pots and pans stood had rather dingy papers, and they decided to have a good cleaning. They took everything off and washed the shelves with warm water and borax and wiped them dry, and put on fresh papers. The tins and dishes which were seldom used, were then arranged on the highest shelf, and those which were used every day were put lower down. The little things, such as the skimmer, the small sieve, the egg-beater, and the spoons, were hung on nails driven into the edge of the shelf which was over the baking-table in the kitchen, where stood also the cups, bowls, and plates used in cooking, within easy reach.