VOL. LX.
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 20, 1905.
NO. 20
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WHAT  IS MEANT BY   "A GOOD HOUSEKEEPER."
Sbe is  a True Home-Maker.
1st Promium.—To be a good housekeeper, iu every sense of the word, should be
tlire liighest ambition of a woman iu the
home. But everyone knows, who has
had any experience, that being a good
housekeeper   means   a   great  ileal. Iu
the first placo she should be clean, neat
asid   "orderly. Everything "about   thru
house should have its place, and be kept
in its place as nearly as possible. Then,
when a certain article is needed, there
will be no weary search from cellar to
garret for it. A good housekeeper will
plan her work systematically. A little
time taken to plan things will save many
steps and perhaps many hours ofl useless
labor. If   there   are   children   in   the
household, old enough to do some share
of the work, sho will assign certain portions to oach one to perform, seeing that
it is done carefully and well, thereby
teaching them something every child
ought to know, ami making her own burden lighter. If she has a servant or
servants working iu her, she will be kind
and just to them, and iu turn expect good,
orderly work, allowing no slovenly work
te pass. Better do a little but do it
well.
A good housekeeper must be a good
cook. Whether  she  has  it  to  do  her
self or .not, she should know when it is
well done. Not  only  should  she know
how to prepare foods so they are palatable, but she should kuow the food value
of each article, which are the most nourishing, and what foods to combine to
make the most wholesome diet. She
should study the needs of her individual
family and give them tha foods they
need and like, for a home cannot be
happy where the cook gives its members
food that causes indigestion aud dys-
l>epsia.
The good housekeeper is always an eco-
nomical one. She should personally
supervise all the expenditures incidental
to  housekeeping. In  buying  the   food,
the most wholesome ami nourishing will be
bought and there will Ibe no waste. If
she can sew, (and every housekeeper
should be able to do plain sewing at
least), she can make so many little articles to beautify tho home at very slight
expense, and they brighten anrl freshen
a   room  so  much. Beauty   should   be
combined with usefulness, and so make
the home attractive as well as comfortable. If it is possible, the furniture
and the pictures on the walls ought to he
rearranged once or twice a year, say at
house-cleaning time. Perliaps the man
ot tho house may grumble a little, if he
goes to bed in the dark and starts to get
into the bureau drawer instead of into the
bed, but he'll soon learn the way to bed.
Often tho housekeepers has but littler a-
riety in her life, and if her house is rearranged it will give her a new impetus to
keep her home bright and cheerful.
To be a good housekeeper does not
mean that she must stay at home from
one year's end to the other, and toil at
her tasks without end; in fact sometimes should mean just Iho reverse. She
ought to mingle enough among other people s<s that outside of her own home she
will have her circle of friends that she
can invite to her home to make tilings
more sociable.        She will get new ideas
away from home, aud the change for a
little while will iuvigorate her mind and
body aud make her a better housekeeper,
for none of us housekeepers can stand
just the same grind all the time aud be
good housekeepers.
Last, but by no means least, the housekeeper, be she mother, wife, sister or
daughter, should be a true home-maker.
It is true .that home-making is somewhat
of a co-operative business, but, after all,
Iby far the larger share of it develops upon tho woman of the house. A boarding-house may be kept immaculately clean
and orderly, and the economy may be perfect, yet it would never lie a home. So
tho truo housekeeper, or home-maker,
supplies the atmosphere that makes a
house a home. Evory on-e knows the
quality when he sees it, but it is hard to
explain. But home should be so bright
and so pleasant that the members of the
household should instinctively turn to it
for their l>est and happiest times. It
should not be made uncomfortably tidy
or cloau, so that the family will bo afraid
to walk, or stand, or sit, or lie down, for
fear they will "muss" things. No room
should bo too good for the home folks
to use if they so desire. Do not follow
the man of the house aronnd with a broom
and duster, or make him walk over newspapers to keep the carpet clean, if you
wish him to enjoy home. Always try
to lie bright and cheerful, having plenty
of good, wholesome laughter and fun,
and then- the children and men of the
house will rise up and call the housekeeper "blessed." J. E. II.
Hamilton Co.
She Enjoys Household Duties.
2d Premium.—An ancient philosopher,
as recorded in Proverbs, 31st chapter,
says of a good housekeeper: "She look-
eth well to the ways of her household and
cartheth not of the bread of idleness."
Has one in all the decades since expressed
it more forcibly? The woman who dores
not look well to tho details ot! all her
household, within and without, all that
pertains to its keeping as far as it is
necessary or possible for her to do, is
never a good housekeeper. Somewhere
or somehow she will come short of deserving the name in all that it implies. The
woman who "cateth of the broad of idleness' can never hope in- any way to beaT
the honor of the name. To be a good
housekeeper means constant diligence,
thrift, tact, judgment, industry, an eye
to business, order to high degree, and,
last but not least, a love for household
duties and, while strength lasts, a desire
to do and do well all that her hand finds
to do.
Where tlie good housekeeper places her
hand, order comes out of chaos. Though
her home be but a one roomed cottage,
its Irelongings of the poorest and fewest,
yet her presence will show in its cleaidy
neatness; and though the daily fare be
of the simplest, yet will it Ibe cooked and
served in such a way as to tempt even
the jaded appetite.
To give all the details that go to show
a home ruled by a good housekeeper
would be too exhaustive. AVe all know
such homes by sight, sense and touch,
when we stay in them a short time, therefore need no particular explanation. But
what is the particular sign, the test of
a goorl housekeeper? One person to
whom it was put, answered: "To be a
good cook." This was but part of the
answer. To be a good housekeeper implies to be a good cook, but to be a good
cook docs not necessarily imply a know
ledge of good housekeeping. We have
al' road Uncle Tom's Cabin, and we know
how badly St. Claire's house was managed, and how he had a notaible cook, one
who kopt her tobacco snuggled in the
drawer with the spices, etc., etc., and
yet the delicious api>etizing meals, great
and small, this old cook could order out
of all that muss and dirt!
The signs of a goorl housekeeper are
to be fouml from the attic to the cellar,
from front gate anrl often beyond to—well,
buck   tr>  tha  stables  and  garden. She
doos not keep the front of tlie house
tasty ami clean aud the back part a waste
patch for grease, dirt and disorder. Iu
fact it is the neat, clean orderly kitchen,
collar, spring house and back porches and
windows that you notice first. You expect some order iu front, but the extreme
order back gives you the clue to the housekeeping ability of the mistress of that
house.
To be a good housekeeper means, especially if the house be large, and the
family oven but moderately so, plenty of
hard worl;, or at least, tiresome work.
And yet it is work lhat the. good housekeeper rejoices in doing though she may
uot    own     to    it. The     good    house
keeper, as we know her, must be an expert cook, laundress, chemist, .baker,
nurse, seamstress.
Nevertheless, it should not moan endless toil, and it really does not mean it.
A good housekeeper orders her work in-
such a way that it goes on like clockwork. It is all done in time, and in
the  right  time. In  this  way  she ac
complishes much.
The best housekeeper that it was ever
my lot to know, one who kept a large
house, raised a family, and cooked for
several men, and who must keop a hired
girl, found time for much reading, sewing, fancy work, nearly every church servile in hor own church, and those in otlier
churches, besides social gatherings. She
was  notable. Order,  and  the  knowing
how to do all household work neatly and
quickly, seemed a gift to her from the
generations   back. She   trained   every
girl who worked for her, to do work iu
the way sho did it, which they appreciated because she was kind and considerate, careful of thoir health, mindful of pleasure and rest for them. A\-
tliougli sho has gone to rest years ago,
the way she did work is still the rule in
other homos, because it is yot the best,
neatest and easiest way.
Hush Co. I. M. S.
prepares palatable food and suitable
clothing, with the least expenditure of
time and strength, aud saves the best of
herself for hor family, is the ideal home-
maker. She must be able to adjust the
balance between tho income and the ex-
pi uses, must decide what work she may
hire done, and what garments buy ready
made. Sho must at all times exercise
judgment in planning, and teach "her
head to save hor heels" in executing, so
that she may give at least a little time
evory day to rest, and to tlie. enjoyment
of leisure with family and friends.
In short she should be such a housekeeper, in hor day rand generation, as
Isi'muol's mother desired for him in his.
Then will her childron rise up and call
hor   blessed,   hor   husband   also.
Jefferson Co. M. G.
She Saves Her  Time and Strength.
3d Premium.—The term "a good housekeeper" is too often applied to the woman who wages relentless war upon dust
and, dirt; who spends all her energy and
strength (and thereby makes life a burden to herself and her family) keeping
everything  spotless.
Or to the woman who thinks her reputation depends upon long rows of pies,
beautifully iced cakes, and jars of jam
and preserves, and her social standing,
upon the numlier of tucks and rufiles, on
her children's clothing. To be sure these
things, tho tidy house, good cooking ami
the care of tlie family wardrobe, are included in and go toward making good
housekeeping. But will perfection in
any one of them, or in all of them combined, insure a happy home? Not necessarily.
Housekeeping in the true sense of tho
word—ideal housekeeping—is home-making.
The woman who keeps  a tidy  house,
No. -181, May 27.—Give experience witli
incubators and brooders.
June 4S2, June 15.—Show tlie difference
as money producers between pure bred
or high  grade live stock  and the scrub.
No. 481!, June 10.—Tell how to apportion the farm work so tho boys will take
an interest in it.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the best, seeond and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent diroct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us one week before date of publication.
C. M. B. Tipton Co., asks if alkali clover maybe threshed before putting it up for
hay. lie has several acres. lias any
loader tried it? It seems that it ought be
dono, but with  some damage to the hay.
NOT  WHEAT ALONE.
Manitoba and the Territories of western Canada have become famous for their
produotion of abundant yields
of the best quality of hard spring wheat,
and it is doubtless that fame that is causing so many thousands of our best American farmers to emigrate to Manitoba,
Assiniboia, Alberta and Saskatchewan
each year.
But the claims of western Canada to
be a great agricultural country are based
on other forms of agricultural activity, as
well as ou wheat raising. Oats, barley
ami roots are groat crops. For the last
six >oars tin; Canadian Territories have
averaged **1\_ bushols of oats to the acre,
and Manitoba's average is about the
same for twenty years, though in some
years the average has gone to almost 50
bushels.
Cattle raising iu western Canada, although at present very successful, is ouly
in its infancy. Western Canada, chiefly
in western Assiniboia and Alberta, has the
host natural grass ranges in America.
Unlike the ranges in the United States,
Ihe Canadian ranges have not been over.-
pastured and there is still room for hundreds of thousands of cattle on the wild
grass pastures.
The stock-raisers of western Canada
deserve praise for their consistent endeavors to breed a high grade of cattle.
The result is, that the farm as well as the
range cattlo of western Canada will probably average higher than in fhe Western
States. The range cattle run out the year
round, and the winter losses generally
run below seven per cent. It is a surprising statement to make, but it is a fact,
that the largest individual pure bred stock
sale on the American continent is that of
the Territorial Cattle Breeders' Association, held at Calgary, Alberta.