Part 4

================+============+=====+=====+====+======++========= |Total No. | Plus| | | || Jan. 1, 1908. |last count | new |Grand|Worn| || |Dec. 1, 1907|stock|Total|out |Stolen||Net Total ----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++--------- Sheets | 800 | 50 | 850 | 25 | || 825 Slips | | | | | || Spreads | | | | | || Face-Towels | | | | | || Bath-Towels | | | | | || Table-Cloths | | | | | || Napkins | | | | | || Side-Towels | | | | | || Tray-Towels | | | | | || Tops | | | | | || Kitchen-Towels | | | | | || Glass-Towels | | | | | || Roller-Towels | | | | | || Bar-Towels | | | | | || Wash-room Towels| | | | | || ----------------+------------+-----+-----+----+------++---------

Paradise, indeed, to the housekeeper, is the hotel that has its reserve-linen closet, where, in case of accident in the laundry, she may find linen to put the rooms in order. On the other hand, how very discouraging it is where there is only one set of linen for the beds and the maids must wait until the linen is back from the laundry before they can put the rooms in order. In such hotels, the housekeeper spends much of her time running to and from the laundry.

When a new linen-woman is installed in the linen-room, the housekeeper should write out all the details of the duties required of her, regardless of any previous experience she may claim to have had.

CARE OF TABLE-LINEN.

A table-cloth should be long enough to hang over the table, at least eighteen inches on all sides. Pattern cloths are prettier than the piece-linen. They are more expensive, but it pays to buy the best for hotel use. Linen, to have sufficient body to wear well, should have a certain weight to the square inch. Table-linen should weigh at least four and one-half ounces to the square yard. All pattern-cloths have the napkins to match. The napkins and table-cloths should have a tiny, narrow hem. They are best hemmed by hand, but this can not be thought of for hotels.

It takes the same amount of money to purchase the unbleached linen as it does to buy the bleached. The Irish bleached linen is of a more snowy whiteness than that of Germany. This is owing to the climate of Ireland, which is particularly adapted by sunshine and rain for natural bleaching.

_Table-Linen Most Important._

The table-linen is more important than the bed-linen, and should receive the first consideration in the laundry.

It should be carefully counted and sorted by the linen-woman at night, after dinner, and should be ready for the laundryman who must rise very early in the morning in order to have the table-linen ready for the laundry-maids that come on duty at seven o'clock.

A table-cloth should be folded lengthwise twice, then doubled, putting both ends together, then folded, and it will be ready for the shelf. Napkins should be put through the mangle three times and left without folding, so the linen-woman can easily sort them.

_Removing Stains._

Fruit-stains in linen may be removed by pouring boiling water through the stained spot. Lemon juice and salt will remove iron-rust.

Tea, coffee, chocolate, and fruit-stains should be removed as soon as possible by pouring boiling water over them. After fruit-stains have been washed a few times in soapsuds, they become as firmly fixed in the linen as though they were dyed there, and can only be removed by a bleaching process. A good bleach can be made by taking one pint of boiling water to one teaspoonful of oxalic acid and one teaspoonful of ammonia. One teacupful of ammonia to a wash will keep the table-linen white.

The care of the table-linen is a very important feature of the housekeeper's work. In many hotels, the housekeeper is required to purchase the linen. Fashion changes in table-linen as in other things. A careful study of facts and figures has proved that, in proportion to the population, the United States of America consumes more linen than any other country in the world. It is not, however, a leader in the production of flax. Russia takes the lead in this industry. The United States grows flax for the seed and not for the fibre; hence very little weaving is done in this country.

_Kinds of Linen._

Linen has a variety of names, as Holland, damask, et cetera. Damask linen was first made in Damascus--the oldest city in the world--and was figured in fruit and flowers. A long time ago linen made in Scotland was sent to Germany to be bleached; hence the name Holland.

The old-time way of bleaching was long and expensive, sometimes taking an entire summer. After it was bleached by a natural process of open air, dew, and sunshine, it was then treated with an alkaline, and then buttermilk. It was left lying on the grass for a month, and sprinkled frequently with water and sometimes sour milk.

At the present time, linen can be bleached in two weeks. The cost of bleaching is much less and linen fabric is one-half cheaper than formerly. The chemicals used in the modern process of bleaching greatly injures the fibre, and linen is not so durable as it was under the old-fashioned way of bleaching.

_How to Test Linen._

The housekeeper in selecting linen at the counter may test the linen by ravelling out some of the threads. The threads that form the woof as well as the warp should be strong, and long thread linen. Never buy linen that is stiff and glossy, as it will be thin after it is laundered. Linen should be substantial, but pliant when crushed in the hand. Never buy a table-cloth that is part linen and part cotton, as the shrinkage of linen and cotton fibre varies greatly, which causes the threads to break, and the table-cloth will soon be full of holes.

LAUNDRY WORK.

"Order is Heaven's first law," sang the poet, and to keep order in a hotel seems not such an Herculean task. System makes work easy, and the superintendent of the laundry must insist on the work being systematically performed.

Soap and water are the most important materials used in the laundry work. To do good work with little or no damage to the linen, soft water and good soap are absolutely necessary. In many parts of the United States, the water is permanently hard, and is a perplexing question to laundry workers. The first thing to do is to soften the water. It can not be made soft by boiling, and must be treated with chemicals which must be used before the soap is added. When soap is used in hard water before it has been softened, the soap unites with the minerals in the water, and clings to the linen like a greasy scum. Borax is the best softening agent for hard water.

To soften water with borax, use one tablespoonful to each gallon of water. A tablespoonful of ammonia and one tablespoonful of turpentine to each washing will keep clothes white. Hard water may be softened with potash or sal soda, which is much cheaper than borax and ammonia, but potash and sal soda are both corrosive and very injurious to the linen. Great care must be used in softening water with these alkalines. If they are not thoroughly dissolved before using in the washer, little particles are apt to escape the solvent action of the water and stick to the linen and form brown spots which soon become holes.

_Good Soap a Necessity._

Soap is the next cleaning agent to be considered. You can not have pretty, white linen without good soap. A good soft soap for use in hotel laundries can be made from the refuse fat from the kitchen. This soap will effect the cleaning of the hotel bed and table-linen, but for bundle-washing, flannels, and prints, a milder soap is generally used. A very good soap for washing flannels and prints may be made from the pieces of soap that are collected from the rooms.

How linen is laundered and to be able to give a scientific reason for each step are the very first things a housekeeper should learn. No housekeeper is worthy of the title if she is unskilled in laundry tactics. Yet how few housekeepers there are that could give even a recipe for making bleach, to say nothing of the most effective way to use it so as to cause the least injury to the fabric? Few housekeepers know little or anything of the benefits of the scientific researches that have been made to render laundering easy.

The linen must be carefully sorted and counted in the linen-room by the linen-woman. In hotels where the houseman gathers the linen from the different floors and carries it direct to the laundry, the laundryman has been known to dump it in the washer without sorting it. This is the source of many a lost pillow, blanket, nightshirt, and even pocketbooks and jewelry. Guests often put their valuables under the pillow or in the pillowslip and forget them. These valuables sometimes escape the chambermaid's eyes in her haste to strip the beds. Sometimes a new waiter in the dining-room will use a napkin to wipe his tray; these greatly soiled napkins should be rinsed out before they are put in the washer.

_Why the Hotel Laundry Work is Discolored._

Is it any wonder that the sheets and table-linen soon get that brown color? All the soft water in the kingdom will not bring about the desired results if the linen is not carefully sorted. The napkins should be put in one pile, those that are badly soiled with mustard or gravy in another pile, and the table-cloths in another. Napkins and table-cloths that are stained with tea, coffee, chocolate, or fruit, should be laid aside and boiling water should be poured through the stains before they come in contact with soap, as the soap will help to set the stains permanently.

The laundryman should rise early and have the first washing from the extractor before the laundrygirls make their appearance, which is usually at seven o 'clock.

The table-linen should receive the first attention. It is the least soiled, the most expensive, and it may be needed before the bed-linen. The napkins and table-cloths should not remain long after they are shaken out. They will have a finer gloss if they are mangled immediately after being taken from the extractor.

One reason that linen gets that dirty brown color is because it has not been properly rinsed before adding the blueing. The soap should be thoroughly rinsed from the linen before the blueing is put in the washer. How many hotel laundries send the linen to the linen-room damp and steaming and smelling of soap? Is it any wonder that the linen is soon full of holes and worn out?

Two tablespoonfuls of kerosene in a washing will greatly aid in cleansing, though more soap must be used in this case.

In many laundries, there is not sufficient help. There should be at least two girls employed to shake out and two at the mangles, in a 200-room house. Where there is bundle-washing it will require even more help than this.

The kitchen-linen should be washed by hand on the board and not put in the washer.

The housekeeper should be allowed plenty of help to properly do the work.

_Bleaching Linens._

When clothes have become yellow by the use of impure water or any other cause, the snowy whiteness must be restored by a bleaching process. Chloride of lime and oxalic acid are powerful agents, and, if not quickly removed from the fabric, they will corrode and do much injury to the linen. Turpentine has some power as a bleacher as also has borax. Blueing will aid in keeping the clothes white, but do not use too much. There are a variety of blueings to be had. The indigo blue is the best.

Starch will greatly aid in keeping clothes clean. It is made mostly from rice, wheat, corn, or potatoes. Only a little starch should be used with delicate fabrics. They should be no stiffer than when they are new. The starch should be completely dissolved in cold water before adding the boiling water. Stir the starch constantly while the boiling water is being poured in. A few things may be put in to give a gloss, and to make the iron run smooth; among them are paraffine, lard, kerosene, and gum arabic.

_How to Iron._

Before commencing to iron, have ready a bowl of water and a cloth for smoothing wrinkles and rubbing away any soot or spots that may get on the garment. Have a piece of paraffine tied in a cloth to rub over the iron, and a knife for scraping any starch from the iron that may stick to it in the process of ironing.

Put much weight on the iron and do not raise it from the garment but move it quickly over the surface. When a wrinkle is made, dampen it again with a wet cloth and smooth again with the iron. Always iron in a good light so that scorching may be avoided. A garment should be ironed quickly; otherwise it will dry out and much time will be wasted in going over it with the damp cloth and changing the irons.

In ironing a white duck skirt, stretch it in shape quickly while it is damp and iron it into shape, else it will be long here and short there. When ironing a ruffled skirt, always iron the bottom ruffle first and turn it back while ironing the others. Iron around hooks and eyes and not over them. Never iron a crease in a garment unless it is necessary. A crease will mar the effect of the garment and also cause the threads to break sooner, thereby making holes.

_Recipe for Making Bleach._

An inexpensive recipe for making a good bleach to be used every day will be found in the following:

Fill a clean barrel half full of boiling water and put into it ten pounds of chloride of lime and stir until well dissolved. Dissolve ten pounds of caustic soda in boiling water and stir in the barrel. Fill the barrel with boiling water and stir. Let it settle and skim the little white particles from the surface, as these are what rot the clothes. Use one gallon of the bleach in a washing.

Although laundering is one of the last kinds of work to receive the benefits of scientific research, much effort has recently been made to present easy and effective ways of laundering. The "how" and "why" has been learned. It is no difficulty for the housekeeper to hire a laundryman and to install him in his work with the words: "This is the laundry; you will meet with many difficulties in your line, but you must work out your own salvation."

_How Curtains are Washed and Mended._

Take down the lace curtains that you are going to wash and shake them well so as to get all of the dust from them. Put them in cold water to soak. Then wash by hand in warm suds, to which has been added one teaspoonful of ammonia. Do not rub them, squeeze dry and rinse through two waters. Do not blue them. If they are of an ecru shade, put a little coffee in the water and they will look like new. Starch and stretch loosely on the curtain frames while they are wet. The holes can be drawn together while on the bars so they will never be noticed after they are dry, and it is a far better way to mend curtains than darning them on the machine after they have dried. Cream-colored curtains may be washed in the same way. Colored madras and silk curtains can be cleansed in gasoline. Great care must be taken, as gasoline is explosive. The curtains should be taken to the bathroom, and the door should be bolted and kept bolted until the curtains are cleaned and the gasoline is washed down the sewer. The curtains are then taken to the roof and aired for half a day.

Embroidered and lace-trimmed pieces should be taken from the line while only half dry and immediately ironed, to secure the best result. To raise the embroidery, iron on the wrong side over several layers of flannel covered with a sheet of old linen.

Never iron lace with the point of the iron, if you would have it look like new. Pull and pat it into place, picking out the loops with a hairpin, or with a pointless darning-needle or bodkin. Dampen it with a wet cloth and press with the reverse iron, using its "heel" only.

When ironing circular centerpieces and table-cloths, see that the iron moves with the straight grain of the cloth. If this method is followed, the circular edge will take its true line. Guard against ironing on the bias or on a curve, lest the linen stretch hopelessly out of shape. Never fold a piece of this character after ironing it.

THE HOUSEKEEPER'S RULES.

If the management does not provide the housekeeper with rules, she is safe in formulating the following:

1. Maids must report for duty at 7:00 a.m.

2. Maids must lock all doors when leaving rooms.

3. No maid is allowed to transfer chairs or furniture from one room to another by order of the guests, unless they have an order from the office.

4. Maids must report at once any articles which are misplaced or taken from the rooms.

5. Keep all soiled linen in closets.

6. Maids must not leave any article of soiled linen lying in the halls.

7. Maids must not leave their brooms, feather dusters, dust-cloths, or sweepers, in the halls at any time during the day.

8. Any article found in the rooms must be brought to the linen-room, with the number of the room and date when found.

9. All keys found left in rooms and doors must be sent to the office.

10. When a tray of dishes is left in a room, the maid must ring for a bell-boy and have him notify the headwaiter or report it to the housekeeper who will telephone the headwaiter.

11. All ink, paper, and pens left in the rooms must be put in the wire ink and stationery-receiver.

12. The watch-girls must report at 6 p.m. and remain until 10 p.m. or later, if required.

13. All torn blankets and spreads must be brought to the linen-room for repairs.

14. Maids must not receive men friends in their rooms.

15. The housekeeper will relieve the linen-woman while she goes to her meals.

_Sunday._

1. Maids must report at 8 a.m. and remain until 1 p.m.

2. Watch-girls must report for duty at 1 p.m. and remain until 9 p.m.

All of these rules can not be, at all times, strictly enforced by the housekeeper. She will make such modifications as are made necessary by circumstances. But rules she must have, and she must insist on their being observed.

THE PARLOR MAID.

Excepting the linen-room position, that of parlor maid is the most desirable situation that the hotel housekeeper can offer a girl. The wages are usually better than those of a chambermaid, and her work is not near so laborious. At all times, the parlor-maid is neatly dressed, suave, serene, and courteous. A quiet and unobtrusive manner is absolutely essential. She needs to take many steps during the day, and thus youth and a slender figure are the first qualities in one who wishes to make a success of the position. She meets people of wealth and refinement and the ultra fastidious, hence her position is a responsible one and requires a dignified appearance and demeanor. She must have self-respect and must claim the respect of others. None of the moralities must be omitted nor must she forget the daily bath, clean underwear, and clean hosiery every day. The morning is the time for the parlor-maid to do the cleaning, and she should wear about her work a washable dress of percale or dimity, with a white apron. In the afternoon and evening, this should be exchanged for a black skirt, white waist, and white apron.

_Where Work Is Diversified._

She is expected to render quite diversified services. Her duties vary with the mode of life of those by whom she is employed. She will scarcely be called on to do all the work that is herein enumerated; but the success of any hotel employe is largely due to the number of things he or she is able to do well. A parlor-maid may raise her occupation to a level with that of millinery or dress-making. There is room at the top of the ladder for the expert parlor-maid just the same as there is for any other person in any other calling.

In the small hotels, the parlor-maid usually cares for the proprietor's private apartments. In addition to these, a suite next to the parlor may be given her to keep in order. She can easily look after these rooms where she has only one parlor. The cleaning of the ladies' toilet-room and reception-hall and the ladies' entrance-stairs usually falls to the parlor-maid. She must look after the writing-rooms, do the high dusting, clean the tiles, clean the mirrors, polish the brass trays, clean the cuspidors, wash the lace curtains, and sweep and dust. In washing windows and mirrors, she should use warm water to which a little ammonia has been added. She should not use soap, as the grease in the soap makes the polishing difficult. Wipe with a dry cotton cloth and polish with a chamois skin.

_Keeping Parlor in Order._

As the parlor must always be in readiness for the reception of guests, it is thoroughly cleaned early in the morning. Once a week is often enough for a thorough cleaning. Monday is the best day for it. The furniture is moved into the hallway or into one corner of the parlor, the parlor is swept and dusted and every article replaced before breakfast. On week days, the corners are dug out with a whisk-broom and the dirt taken up with the sweeper. The parlor is dusted frequently and the cuspidors washed at least four times a day. She should wash the cuspidors inside and out, using soap and water; then wipe with a dry cloth. Leave a little clean water in the cuspidors, as this will make the vessels easier to clean next time.

_Cleaning Brass Trays._

If the brass trays under the cuspidors are very badly stained, the stains may be easily removed with a solution of vinegar and salt, to which has been added a little flour. Have the mixture boiling hot; rub the tray with the mixture with a flannel cloth, then wash the tray with hot water and wipe dry with a cloth. After this, it may be polished with a good mineral paste or some of the special preparations made for the purpose, using a flannel cloth for polishing.

The high dusting is done with a long handled broom. Tie a bag made of cotton flannel over the broom and brush the walls downward. Brush the dust off the cornice and over the doors and windows. Then, using a clean cheesecloth duster, go over the doors, window sills, mantles, and furniture, changing the soiled dust-cloth frequently for a clean one. The housekeeper must see that the parlor-maid is supplied with plenty of clean dust-cloths.

_The Maid's Many Duties._

If the fireplace is finished with tile, the parlor-maid should wash these with soap and water. She should polish the brass and replace it. The curtains and silk draperies should be taken down and hung in the open air and brushed with a whisk-broom. The rugs should be rolled up and the houseman should take them to a flat roof where they should be laid flat and swept. They should not be whipped or beaten, as "whipping" will ruin an expensive rug. When sweeping the stairs of the ladies' entrance, the parlor-maid should use the whisk-broom and dust-pan. The ladies' toilet-room requires some care to keep it always neat and clean. After sweeping the floor and dusting the doors, the bowls should be washed inside and out with the toilet-brush and a disinfectant put in. The stationary wash-basins should be scrubbed with sapolio and the faucets polished. There should be kept always on hand clean towels and soap, a comb and brush, a box of face-powder--the English prepared chalk is the best for toilet-rooms. The public baths on the parlor floor come under the parlor-maid's charge. She should keep the tubs and the floor clean, and see that soap and towels are supplied.