"Oh life is a toil and love is a trouble,

And beauty will fade and riches will flee;

THE COMING OF HIS FEET.

And nothing is what I could wish it to be.

"There's too much of worriment goes to a bonnet ;

There's too much of ironing goes to a shirt; There's nothing that pays for the time you

waste on it;

There's nothing that lasts but trouble and dirt.

"In March it is mud; it's slush in November; The midsummer breezes are loaded with

dust;

In Fall the leaves litter; in muggy September The wall-paper rots and the candle-sticks

rust.

"There are worms in the cherries and slugs in the roses,

And ants in the sugar and mice in the pies; The rubbish of spiders no mortal supposes, And ravaging roaches and damaging flies:

"With grease and with grime from corner to center,

Forever at war and forever alert,

No rest for a day lest the enemy enter

I spend my whole life in a struggle with dirt.

of the noon,

In the amber glory of the day's retreat,

In the midnight, robed in darkness, or the gleaming of the moon,

I listen for the coming of His feet.

I heard His weary footsteps on the sands of Galilee,

On the temple's 'marble pavement, on the street,

Worn with weight of sorrow, faltering up the slopes of Calvery,

The sorrow of the coming of His feet. Down the minster-aisles of splendor, from betwix the cherubim.

Through the wondering throng, with motion strong and fleet,

Sounds His victory tread, approaching with a music far and dim—

The music of the coming of His feet. Sandaled not with shoon of silver, girdled not with woven gold,

Weighted not with shimmering gems and odors sweet,

But white winged and shod with glory in the Tabor-light of old

The glory of the coming of His feet.

Why blew you not the prison doors wide ope?

I'd hope.

So then your inflooence is not almighty?

Is't two to one you win in your triangle?

Mity.

I angle.

Who do you like least in this fair republic?

Wary public. They shun you then? Pray, tell me for what reason?

Treason. For coward thugs, what cure is best in use? A noose.

Tell me, should any that you know be hanged? O be hanged! -Pan, in America.

THE CHILD MUSICIAN,

He had played for His Lordship's levee,
He had played for Her Ladyship's whim,
Till the poor little head was weary,
And the poor little brain would swim.
And the face grew peaked and eerie,
And the large eyes strange and bright,
And they said-too late -"He is weary,
He shall rest for at least to-night!"
But at dawn when the birds were waking,
As they watched in the silent room,
With the sound of a strained cord breaking,
A something snapped in the gloom.
'Twas a string of his violoncello,

And they heard him stir in his bed; "Make room for a tired little fellow, Kind God!" was the last he said.

-Austin Dobson.

THE OLD HOME.

To-night

I stood, a stranger, 'mid its quiet ways,
And life seemed somewhat harder than of
yore,

A weary stretch of bare and toiling days.
'Twas weakness, just a longing once to pass
Dear heart, I vowed to see it never more,
Athwart the meads, knee-deep in clover grass.

To-night

What did they do who thy innocence implied?

Lied.

What follows when Clan leaders speak without rage?

Outrage. What note o'erswells this clanny, ghoulish groanin'? Cronin.

HIS MANHOOD.

His farm was too small, his taxes too big:
He was selfish and lazy, and cross as a pig;
His wife was too silly, his children too rude;
And just because he was uncommonly good!
He hadn't got money enough to spare;
He had nothing at all fit to eat or to wear;
He knew he was wretched as wretched could be,
There was no one so wretchedly wretched as he.

A squeak. Think you assassination's highly moral?

Immoral.

What should I do when disprove guilt I can't? Cant.

What's a good tonic for the ignorant?

Rant.

What style of eloquence best stirs a forest shindy? Windy.

HOME AND HAPPINESS.
How happy is the home
Wherein contentment dwells-
There labor's restless loom
The song of concord swells;
There comfort proud presides

O'er fortune's scanty store,
And gladness calmly glides
Unceasing through its door.
How happy is the sphere

Where love supremely reigns-
There faith forestalleth fear,
And joy precludeth pains;
There pleasures crown the day
In sweet and swift increase,
And heaven spreads o'er the way
The golden arch of peace.

-Howard N. Fuller.

VOLUME IO, No. 8.

Original in Good Housekeeping.

HOUSE HEATING, HOME LIGHTING AND COOKING. ECONOMY, CLEANLINESS, DAILY CARE, ETC.

HEATING.

ABOUT FIRE AND ITS DOMESTIC USES. HILE there has been a great deal of sentiment expressed over the "old-fashioned fire-place," with its fire-dogs, andirons, cranes, back-log, its crackling flames and glowing fire-light, it would not do to deny that the cheerful fire-place affords a fit subject for sentiment, but it is one of those things to which distance lends enchantment, viewed from a practical standpoint. The housewife of to-day would never be reconciled to discard her coal or gas range and return to cooking over an open fire. Then, with all its cheerful qualities, the fire-place would sometimes emit its smoke into the room, and in cold weather it was at a decided disadvantage compared with modern heating devices, producing cold drafts and roasting one side of the person while the other side remained painfully chilled.

When ovens were first used is uncertain. In Bible times ovens were doubtless constructed the same as they are to-day in Palestine. In conical structures made of unburned brick, grass, stubble, or any obtainable fuel is burned to heat them hot enough to bake, when the fire is withdrawn and the dough put in. The brick ovens of our grandmothers were operated on the same principle, though there was plenty of wood for fuel. Improvements in cooking and heating appliances are mainly confined to the present century. The first cooking stoves were rude and clumsy affairs, burning wood only. They proved more convenient and more economical for cooking and baking and a decided advance over previous methods, but are not to be compared with the admirable coal and wood ranges of to-day, with improved grates, ventilated ovens, hot water attachments, warming closets, broiling arrangements, devices for regulating the fire, etc., to say nothing of the elegant appearance of many modern ranges.

The introduction of coal as fuel required changes in fire-boxes and grates, and also made necessary very different management of the fire. There are even now many cooks and housewives who do not understand how to properly manage a hardcoal cooking stove or range. Most of them use double the coal necessary, and do not secure as good results as a less amount wisely used would give. A shallow, lively fire is needed to give the best results with hard coal. There should not be so deep a bed of coals that the air cannot circulate through the fire. A light bed of lively burning coal kept free of ashes underneath by a careful slicing over the grate, or a deft poking with a hooked-end poker from below up between the

WHOLE No. 125.

grate bars (shaking the grate packs the coal too closely), with an occasional addition of a thin layer, scarcely more than a sprinkling of coal on the top of the fire, will give the housewife an ideal cooking or baking heat.

Many housekeepers, especially in localities where wood has until recently been the principal fuel, have an idea that it is a troublesome matter to start a fire in a cooking stove or range with hard coal, and that it takes a long time for it to get into working condition. It is a mistake. Having dumped the grate, place some paper or shavings upon it, and then lay on dry kindlings, being careful that the pieces do not pack down close together so as to prevent air from having free circulation, not stinting too meagerly the quantity of kindlings, and cover with a layer of coal only sufficient to well conceal the kindlings. Set over the griddle holes vessels of water for cooking, open draft-slide and direct draft and light the fire. In ten or fifteen minutes close the direct draft, and directly the water will be boiling in the vessels. Do nothing more to the fire, except to close the draft-slide if desired, until the breakfast is cooked. Then add a little more coal, check the fire somewhat, unless is quite cold weather, and water will heat for dish-washing, and the fire keep all right until the work is done up. If nothing more is needed of the range until the dinner is to be cooked, add more coal and check the fire down materially. Just before the dinner is put cooking, put on a small quantity of coal, close the check-drafts, open the draft-slide and let the fire get started, after which the ashes should be carefully cleared from the grate, when the fire will go off in good shape. The correct idea is, as will be seen from what has been said, to keep a live, sharp fire for use by adding a small quantity of coal at a time, not sufficient to deaden the fire.

Concerning the manipulation of dampers and the management of stoves or ranges it should not need be said that every housekeeper ought to understand the construction of the stove and how it operates. It is a fact, however, that nearly all complaints against the operation of stoves and ranges arise from ignorance or mismanagement on the part of those who use them. A frequent complaint made against new stoves is that the oven will not bake. The stove dealer visits the house only to discover that the direct draft has not been closed. It would surprise readers of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING to know the number of such instances constantly arising in the stove trade, and they occur more often with intelligent housewives well informed in other matters, than with women of less education and advantages. Any one intelligent enough to cook or keep house ought to know that in baking the heat from the fire is made to pass over the top, down the back and under the bottom of the oven, before escaping into the smoke pipe. But the direct draft must be closed to force the heat to make this circuit.

Another thing which many housekeepers have yet to learn is that it requires a much less volume of fire to bake or roast than they suppose. The skillful cook, with a light, quick fire, used

before its force is spent, will do better work with half the fuel that is used by those who mistakenly fill the fire-box full.

The introduction of gas and gasoline stoves, in the last few years, is destined to prove an inestimable boon to housewives. While they will do everything which can be done with a coal range, often quicker and better, they are far cleaner and easier managed. In summer they afford great relief because they do not heat up the house as do coal and wood stoves. They are quickly started into full force, and are instantly turned out when not longer required. There is no bringing of coal or carrying of ashes nor any litter about their use. So convenient have they proved that in the interior and western states it is common to use gasoline or gas stoves even in winter, warming the kitchen by other means.

Speaking of gasoline stoves, there is in some sections of the country an unreasonable prejudice, arising from lack of knowledge, against them, on the supposed ground of their being dangerous. There is no occasion for this prejudice, as is proved by their very extensive use in the West. They are now so constructed that an accident in their use is well nigh impossible, and any person intelligent enough to be careful in the use of matches, in handling kerosene lamps, or in emptying ashes from a coal stove, may safely be trusted to operate a gasoline stove. Certainly they are an incalculable blessing to housekeepers where gas stoves are not used, while they are more economical than gas, and in many instances than coal stoves.

Gas stoves are being rapidly introduced, and those in a position to form a correct opinion, believe that they are to be the cooking apparatus of the future and that their adoption will become general in the near future. They are bound to be used wherever gas can be had at a moderate price, and the policy of gas companies is now to encourage the use of gas for fuel as much as possible. With the substitution of electric light for gas this policy will become strengthened, and it is not at all unlikely that companies will be formed to furnish fuel gas exclusively, which can be produced at much less cost than illuminating gas. Even at present prices for gas, the cost of running gas stoves, in the hands of careful housekeepers, is not so great as is generally supposed.

Until quite recent times the same fires, or similar ones, used for cooking were also used to warm dwellings when artificial heat was necessary. Franklin did, indeed, introduce his famous stove in the last century, and modifications of the openfire stoves are in use to-day. Box stoves for burning wood were introduced in the early part of the present century. They were simply heavy cast iron boxes with a stove-pipehole, a door and draft-hole. It was not until the introduction of coal as fuel that any important progress was made in the construction of heating stoves, and many of these heaters were more properly designated" cold stoves" than "coal stoves."

Modern methods of heating include the use of open grates, stoves, fire-place heaters, hot air furnaces, steam and hot water heaters. Of these devices the stove is the cheapest and the most economical of fuel. Of the various forms of stoves the surface-burning, base-heating construction gives the largest proportion of heat for the coal consumed. This style, commonly made with sheet iron bodies, are mostly used in the East, while base-burners are more largely used in the West. Base-burners are convenient because they require filling with coal but once a day, and are not far behind surface burners in economy of fuel. The latter have the merit that more frequent opening to put in coal, and letting the door stand ajar to check the fire materially aids in ventilating the room. Base-burners may now be had which take fresh air from out of doors, warm it and discharge it into the room, and which also have exhaust flues to take foul air from the room, thus largely overcoming the greatest objection to

close stoves. Wood-burning stoves of improved revertible flue construction, and stoves for burning soft coal with little smoke, soot or dirt, may now be had of all dealers. Surfaceburners and base-burners are now artistically ornamented, so that they are among the most attractive of house furnishings. Wood and soft coal stoves are also now made in scarcely less ornamental patterns. Stoves must, on account of their cheapness and economy, always remain the means of warming the dwellings of the mass of the people.

Houses of any pretension, no matter what other means of heating are used, are now-a-days supplied with open grates. The tile settings and mantels form an attractive feature in interior finishing. They are valuable for ventilation, and are useful for light fires, but are too wasteful to be relied upon by even wealthy people for warming their houses. At least eighty per cent of the heat from the burning fuel escapes up the chimney in this form of heating, although a much larger per cent of the heating power of coal is utilized in improved forms of open grates in which cold air from outside is admitted to the back of the grate, heated and discharged into the same room, or carried to a room above.

Fire-place heaters are a pleasant form of heating apparatus, and are so constructed as to warm the room in which they are placed, and also one or two rooms above. They are essentially a modified form of the base-burner stove, and set in the fire-place they take up little or no space in the room and their mica illumination and handsome ornamentation form an attractive feature in the house.

Next to stoves hot air furnaces are most extensively used for heating houses. In theory they are excellent devices, and when of sufficient size and properly set and piped they are effective and economical. They take the place of several stoves and confine the labor and dirt to one apparatus in the basement, and when properly managed warm the whole house evenly. A good feature of their use is that ventilation becomes a necessity to their effective operation. Fresh, cold air being warmed by contact with the heated surfaces of the furnace is conducted to rooms above. But as these rooms are already full of air provision must be made to remove a portion of it before the hot air can gain adequate access. This removal of air through flues, fire-places or open windows ventilates the rooms. Now if the furnace is so large that it does not have to be overheated to warm sufficient air to render the rooms comfortable, we have an excellent system. Large volumes of moderately heated air should be provided by the furnace system of heating, instead of a small amount of highly heated or "burned" air, as is too often the case.

In the use of stoves and furnaces, particularly the latter, it is well to provide for the evaporation of water to supply the proper degree of humidity to the air. Air at a low degree of temperature will hold only a certain amount of moisture. As it becomes heated it takes up more moisture, and if supplied in no other way it will be abstracted from the bodies of persons in the room, from the furniture, etc. This produces headache and discomfort to persons and injury to furniture. A better course than to rely entirely upon the usual water holder placed in the furnace, is to place vessels of water in the registers. Furnaces should be frequently examined in order to know that the draught is right, that all pipes are clean, that castings and fire-pot are sound and that it neither leaks gas nor takes air from the cellar instead of taking it from out-doors.

Steam heating and hot water heating apparatus are being rapidly introduced, and will soon supersede hot air furnaces in most dwellings, except those of the smaller class. They have numerous advantages in point of efficiency, ease of management, cleanliness and economy where large service is required. Their first cost is greater, but they are more satis

by a reliable manufacturer and of the size the dealer will say is necessary to heat the amount of space to be warmed, remembering that a small stove that has to be forced to do the work is sooner destroyed, needs attention oftener and will burn more coal than a stove of ample size; the quality of air warmed with the large stove will be better and in the larger stove there will be a reserve of force that can be used if necessary. The dealer in stoves is generally a better judge of the size required than the customer, as he knows what work each stove can be depended upon to do. Stoves should have all joints well fitted and packed with cement; they are set on zinc and connected with the chimney by a smoke-pipe and when properly managed are good heaters. A stove should be carefully tended, a poker used freely as often as necessary being better than to shake the grate, as when the grate is shaken the fire packs down so the draft cannot pass through easily and a large amount of coal is burned with little result. It is better to keep the drafts of a stove as nearly the same all the time as possible, allowing only for the difference in the outside temperature. Great diversity in the temperature of the stove burns out more coal and injures it as well as making it unpleasant for those in the room. The flues of a stove, smoke-pipe and chimney should be cleaned often. Hard coal stoves commonly burn either chestnut or range coal, the majority of stoves using chestnut. In select ing any hard coal care should be used to have the coal uniform in size, well screened, free from slag and as dry as possible. Where there is great difference in the size of coal it will pack down in the fire-box and will not allow the air to circulate through as freely as it should, and more coal is burned in trying to get the same amount of heat that would be obtained from a smaller amount of coal nearly uniform in size. Soft coal is used but little in private families except near the mines. Cannel coal is very nice for grate fires and is half way between soft and hard coal in the quality and price. Soft coal is very dirty to burn but cannel is not so much so. Hot air furnaces differ from stoves in many respects; one great point of difference being that a stove is set in the room to be heated and a furnace is commonly placed in the basement or cellar under the house. There are many styles and kinds of furnaces made, some with a return-flue and some with a practically straight draft, the return-flue furnace, as well as stove, being the more economical from the fact that carrying the smoke to the lower part of the stove or furnace utilizes a large percentage of the heat that would otherwise be wasted by being taken directly to the chimney. Then a return-flue furnace has usually more radiating surface than one with a straight draft. Furnaces are sometimes made all of cast iron or partly of sheet iron and partly of sheet steel, one all of cast iron being more durable, since when heated the joints all expand equally, whereas if sheet iron, or sheet steel and cast iron are used in the same furnace, the difference in the expansion and contraction of sheet and cast iron causes a strain that often loosens joints and results in serious trouble. Furnaces are set in the basement or cellar on a brick foundation, on feet or over a well; cold air is brought in from outdoors, heated by passing between the furnace and casing or jacket and is then taken through pipes into the registers and out into the room. When a furnace is set on feet, the cold air supply is simply taken from the room in which it sets. Cold air from outside is better than that from inside, when it can be used, as it is purer and better in many ways. It is better to have a large volume of warm air passing from the furnace than a small quantity of very hot air. It can be determined whether more cold air is coming in than the furnace heats, by trying some register that seems cold, and if the cold air is coming up shut off cold air box partially or make more fire, but if there is a down current through some register, it is

generally evidence that there is not cold air enough coming into the base of the furnace. If the casing of the furnace gets very hot, it will tell you that you are not giving it as much cold air as it needs, and the supply should be increased. A return or circulating cold air pipe is often taken from the coldest part of the house, usually hall, back to the base of the furnace; this draws the cold air from the house, heats and sends it back again. A pipe of this kind should never be more than one-third the capacity of all the hot air pipes used on a furnace. Where a return cold air pipe is used it is advisable to partially close the outside cold air box at night, because the furnace, burning less, requires less cold air; in the morning keep the box the same until the furnace becomes hot, when it can be opened and a good volume of cold air allowed to flow through. The management of a furnace is much like that of a stove, the manipulation of cold air being the greatest difference. Do not allow the ashes to accumulate under a grate, as there is danger of burning it out. Unless a good air space is left between the grate and ashes there is danger of the fire in the fire-pot and under the grate igniting, and a few minutes is all that will be necessary to destroy the grate. Never shake a grate; use a poker freely and only the dead coal need be removed, when if shaken much, live coal would be lost, the fire banked down and the air kept from passing through freely. Ashes should be removed at least once in twenty-four hours. Never stir the top of any hard coal fire, as it deadens it. Coal should be put in the furnace before the fire gets very low, putting on enough at a time to carry the fire through to such time as is convenient to attend to it again. You will have better results from your furnace if you will allow your fire to run low enough so that when you wish to close your furnace at night you will have space in your firepot for a good supply of coal to be put on, say one-third or one-half the capacity of the fire-pot, and this will allow you to keep a good fire during the night and still have a good fire in the morning. There is much comfort and economy in keeping a house of an even temperature.

The coal used in furnaces varies from range to large egg, according to the size and kind of furnace, more small egg being used than any other size. It is even more necessary that furnace coal should be of uniform size than that stove coal should be. The proper amount of fuel to be used in a furnace is governed by the size and exposure of the house, the size and construction of the furnace and the care given the same. Where one will burn five tons of coal, another, in the same house and with the same furnace, may burn ten, the difference being generally caused by carelessness in attendance. The servant who attends to a furnace often knows but little about it and the mistress less.

Furnaces are made to burn wood, but are not commonly used in cities. In setting a furnace, care should be used to have all the joints well packed with a cement that will not burn out, as some cement used, in a short time, turns to dust and no longer hinders gas and dust from escaping. The size of furnace required to heat a house depends upon the size, location and exposure of the house, climate and the placing of the furnace. The furnace dealer is the best judge of the size and his experience will tell him how large an amount of cold air will be necessary to obtain the best results. If a responsible dealer will put the furnace in and guarantee its heating, there will seldom be any trouble with it. The upper rooms of a house are heated by pipes usually passing between walls made of tin, double one inside another and braced with air space between the two pipes. These are generally put in a house while building, but if not, can be placed in many old houses between the walls without disfiguring them. Some old houses will not admit of this, and then they are placed in a room or closet and encased and decorated to match the