On the Care of Parlours and Chambers.
In sweeping the nicest parlours, it is common to cover the tables, books, sofas and chimney ornaments with old sheets. Then cleanse the fireplace and hearth and jambs. Then sweep the carpet. It saves a carpet very much to have a very large flat tin dust pan, with a handle a yard long, fixed straight up, so it will stand alone. This can be moved about without stooping, and much of the dirt swept into it with the broom, instead of sweeping all across the carpet. This saves much dust as well as wearing of the carpet.
After the dust settles, dust the articles with old silk handkerchiefs and feather brushes. Use a painter’s brush for dusting ledges. Shake and wash your dust cloths often, or they get filled with dust and soil the walls and furniture.
In dusting, be careful not to rub your
duster against the wall. Set all the furniture straight and in regular order—never leave the chairs standing awry, as if dancing a jig with each other. Make them square with the wall. When doing chamber work, observe the following directions about making a bed.
To make a bed.
Open the windows, lay off the bed covering on two chairs at the foot, and let the bed air some time before making it. When ready to make it, shake the feathers from each corner into the middle, then take up the middle part and shake it well, then push about the feathers and turn the bed over. Then push the feathers so as to make the head a little higher than the foot, and the sides as high as the middle part. Then put on the bolster, and then the undersheet so that the marking shall be at the head, and the right side of the sheet upward, tucking in all around. Then place the pillows so that the open ends shall be at the sides of the bed. Then spread on the upper sheet so that the marking shall be at the head, and the right side
downward. This arrangement of the sheets is designed to prevent the part where the feet lie from being turned so as to come to the face, and to prevent also the parts soiled by the body from touching the bed tick and blankets. Then put on the other covering, tucking in all except the outside one. Then smooth the cover and draw the hand along the side of the pillows, to make an even indentation. When the pillow cases are smooth and clean, hem over the upper sheet, and put them on the outside.
Sweep clean under beds, and remove all articles that can be moved, so as to sweep behind them. Wash the bowl and pitcher and tumbler on the wash stand every day. Once a week, scald all the vessels used in a chamber. Dust the doors, ledges, window sashes, and every article of furniture.