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WASHING UP. 1
This is one item of all those comprised
under the. title of house work that is most
disliked by women. The fact that it comes
round with monotonous regularity three
times every day lias mueli to do with this
dislike. But even if it were a compara
tively infrequent task it would still, as
performed in many households, be an tin
pleasant one. This process, of which the
object is 'purely to cleanse the vessels in
Which we cook and eat, is associated in
our minds with greasy water and dirty
cloths. It is only by a polite fiction that
the crockery can be said to be clean, after
bans: subjected Tt- the process of being
swiHhed in water where a lather of soap
does not hide the grease, and being rubbed
. by cloths which w (--.would ranoider far too
dirty to wipe our hands with. Convention
and usage 'have made us submit to this
state of affaire. Our cleanlier descendants
will probably shudder when they read of
the disgusting manner' in which we
'cleaned' our table utensils, just as we
shudder at some of the insanitary prac
tices of our ancestors. The male amateur
who volunteers to help with the washing
'P is less inured by custom to crease than
most women, so 'on the whole his standard
of cleanliness in this respect is higher than
that of moot good housewives. He thrown
Jnto the sink water that women have been
accustomed to think good enough for the
plates 60 which food is to be served. He
asks for more hot water and more clean
cloths in a fashion wliich seems extrava
gant to many a housewife.
But in this matter the outsider is quite
right.' Mashing up is an unnecessarily
dirty as well as an unnecessarily tedious
^business. Some women, by liavinfc a plate
rack put above the sink, make an effort
to attain greater cleanliness' and comfort.
The most satisfactory system yet devised
for ordinary households is to use plenty of
soap and' hot water; to throw out the hot
Water frequently, and, as soon as the plates
are . taken out of the washing-up dish to
place them, in a large enamel biuvl under
the tap of the sink.. .This bowl should be
kept continually full' of clean water. Some
times the tap may be allowed to drip
slowly into it. After the plates have been
?well immersed for a minute or t\yo they
are put into, the rack to dry. This is a
quicker, as well as a cleanlier, method,
sincc dish cloths are to a large extent done
away with. Much nibbing of plates with
cloths of doubtful cleanliness is saved, and
much subsequent washing of greasy cloths.
Plate, racks are now often included by
builders as one of the domestic fittings;
liu't as a rule they arc badly designed, and
are therefore inadequate. An absurdly
large, provision is usually made for dishes,
of Which, t-he ordinary family uses on an
average not more than two for each meal.
.Small 'plates and saucers are usually not
provided for at all, though the method
which is so .i-atisfael,ory when applied to,
dinner plates answers just' as well with j
cheese' ' plates and saucers. In a Well
staffed English household, where the sav
ing of labor need not be considered, a
fomploto rack includes compartments for
cups. And there is no reason why every
Australian household should not be equally
well equipped in this respect, if every
housewife was provided with a large table
X-laccd beside the sink, if she used plenty
of hor. water, then plenty of cold water,
and if she had a rack for plates, saucers
and cups, washing ujj. would lose many of
?its terrors, and we sliould be happier as
well as elcancr. - , t-_ ? .
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