The English Housekeeper: Or, Manual of Domestic Management / Containing advice on the conduct of household affairs and practical instructions concerning the store-room, the pantry, the larder, the kitchen, the cellar, the dairy; the whole being intended for the use of young ladies who undertake the superintendence of their own housekeeping

by Anne Cobbett

A store-room of this description is not adapted for keeping fruit; it would be too warm, besides that the fruit might prove injurious to other stores, from the smell which it occasions. There are various methods of keeping apples through the winter; but scarcely any other will be found to succeed so well as that of making layers of fruit, and layers of perfectly fresh and dry straw, in hampers, boxes, or the corner of a dry room. The apples should be examined every now and then, the specked ones taken away for use, the others wiped, and covered up again. In hard frosts, windows that have no shutters could be covered with rugs, old carpet, or mats, and something of the same kind spread over the apples. When we were in America, we were surprised to find that our neighbours took so little care to preserve their apples, during the three months of unremitting hard frost, which occur in their winter season. They merely laid their apples on the floor of a spare room, sometimes of the barn, or of an outhouse, each sort by itself, and then covered them with a linen sheet. The people told us that their apples never became frozen, and attributed this to the dryness of the atmosphere. Apples and pears may also be preserved in the following way. Gather them on a dry day: wipe, and roll them, singly, in very soft paper, then pack them in jars, each containing about a gallon. Put a cover on the jar, and cement it closely, so as to keep out the air; and place the jar in a dry cellar. When a jar is opened, the fruit will eat the better for being taken out of the paper, and exposed to the air of a warm room for two or three days. Large baking pears may be suspended by their stalks on lines, placed across near the ceiling of a room. There are many ways of preserving grapes; but the best way is, to gather them with about five or six inches of the branch to each bunch, to seal the end with common sealing wax, and hang them to lines in a dry room. Examine them frequently, and cut out the mouldy berries. Nuts of all kinds may be preserved in jars, the covers cemented, the jars in a dry cellar.

In this short sketch of what a store-room ought to be, even in the plainest houses in the country, many things requisite to the fitting up of a complete one are omitted. But one thing more necessary to be observed than any other, must not be omitted; which is, that it must be always in order, and everything kept in its proper place, or the main object in having it will be defeated. A store-room out of order can be compared to nothing but a drawer in a state of confusion. A lady once dressing in haste, to keep an appointment for which she was already too late, needed the assistance of all about her, to aid in her search for different articles necessary to complete her toilet. I sought a pair of gloves, and discovered many single ones of various sorts and colours, but no two to form a perfect match. And with this ill success must have ended my labours, if the drawer had not been regularly put to rights: and by the time that scarfs were folded, ribands rolled, collars smoothed, and scissors disentangled from sewing silk, half a dozen gloves were paired.

The saving of time occasioned by observing order, and the waste of time occasioned by want of order, are incalculable. A general putting to rights, every now and then, does not answer the purpose, because, in that case, it is sure to happen that some things will find new places; and persons coming in a hurry be unable to find them. The mistress of a house, when she sends her servant or a child to a store-room, should be able to say precisely where what she wants may be found. Negligence, and its companion disorder, are the two demons of housekeeping. Once admit them, and, like the moth, they gradually but completely destroy.

CHAPTER III.

THE PANTRY.

What is commonly called the Butler's Pantry, does not of necessity imply the presence of a butler; nor does it require to be spacious, when the china and glass not in daily use are kept in the store-room. Where women servants only are kept, the care of the pantry belongs either to the parlourmaid or the housemaid, and the same servant usually performs the office of laying the cloth, and waiting at table: which is always done better by women than by men servants, except it be the higher order of men servants, those who are in the daily practice of it, and whose occupation is in the house. The same hands which, in the morning, rubbed down the horses, swept the stable, cleaned the harness, and blackened the shoes, seem unfit to be employed in placing dishes on the dining-table, folding up napkins, and handling tea-things. It is almost impossible that occupations so widely differing should be equally well suited to one and the same person. The employing of men servants in work which properly belongs to women is highly objectionable; and nothing renders travelling in the South of France and Italy so disagreeable as being waited on by men, acting as housemaids and chambermaids. If, indeed, men were employed to scrub the floor, wash the stone halls, and clean the dirty doorsteps in London, the lives of many female servants might be saved. But the more delicate occupations, such as wiping glasses, trimming candles, and waiting in the parlour, seem more suitable for women.

Some women servants, it is true, never learn to wait at table well; but, then, others are very expert at it. Short people are generally the most nimble, but it is desirable that the servant who waits at table be tall, for the convenience of setting on and taking off dishes; and it requires long arms to carry heavy mahogany trays. Practice is as necessary to good waiting as it is in any of the higher domestic occupations. The mistress, therefore, should require the same particularity in preparing the table, arranging the sideboard, and waiting at dinner, when her family dines alone, as she requires when there are visitors; because, in the latter case, an increase in number gives sufficient additional trouble to a servant, without her being thrown into confusion by having to do what she may have forgotten, from being out of practice.

There is one item of expenditure in housekeeping which should not be too narrowly restricted, and that is the washing of table-cloths and napkins. The fineness is not so much a matter of consideration with me: neither should I desire a clean table-cloth every day, merely for the sake of the change; but, if at all soiled, I would rather not see it on the table again. It is a very neat practice to spread a napkin on the centre of the table, large or small according to the size of the latter, and to remove it with the meat. In Italy this napkin is clean every day, and I have seen it folded in a three-cornered shape, and then crimped at the edges with the thumb and finger, which, when the napkin was spread out, gave it a pretty appearance. It is also a neat practice to place the dessert on the table cloth, and a convenient one too, where there are few servants, because the cloth saves the table; and rubbing spots out of dining tables, day after day, seems waste of labour. But the cloth must be preserved from gravy spots, or it will disgrace the dessert. A baize between two cloths is sometimes used, and this, being rolled up with the upper cloth and removed with the dinner, leaves the under cloth for the dessert. A table cloth once folded may be laid over the one which is spread, and then removed with the dinner. A table cloth press is a convenience.

The fitting up of the pantry must, in a great measure, be regulated by the style of the establishment, but, in any case, there should be a dresser, furnished with drawers, one for table cloths, napkins and mats (unless all these be kept in sideboard drawers); another for tea cloths, glass cloths, dusters, &c. &c., and another drawer lined with baize, for the plate which is in use. Plate-leathers, flannels and brushes, kept in a bag; and the cloths and brushes used in cleaning furniture, in another bag, to preserve them from dust. A small sink, with the water laid on, indispensable. There should also be a horse, or lines, for drying tea and glass cloths upon.

China and glass, whether plain or of the finest kind, require to be kept equally clean; and the servant whose business this is ought to have soft cloths for the purpose. China should be washed in warm water, with a piece of flannel, and wiped with a clean and soft cloth, or it will look dull. Glass washed in cold water, drained nearly dry, and then wiped; if the cloth be not clean and dry, the glasses will not look clear. For cut glass a brush, because a cloth will not reach into the crevices to polish it; and dull looking salts, or other cut glass, spoil the appearance of a table. Wash lamps and lustres with soap and cold water. When looking glasses are become tarnished and dull, thump them over with a linen bag containing powdered blue, and wipe it off with a soft cloth.