In towns and cities, women held to a rigid weekly routine, and tried to keep their homes in 'white glove' condition, which could be extemely demanding, unless you were able to afford domestic help.
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, included instructions on sweeping the floor: "Always when you sweep a room, throw a little wet sand all over it, and that will gather up all the slew and dust, prevent it from rising, clean the boards, and save the bedding, pictures, and all other furniture from dust and dirt".
The Frugal Housewife - suggested that you should only shake brooms and dusting rags out the back windows and gave this advice for your carpets: "To clean carpets; wash, dry and chop potatoes, spread them on one side of the room, sweep across the carpet." and to clean hearths: "To clean free-stone hearths: keep them stain-free and dark by rubbing with lamp-oil once in a while, this does very well in a large, dirty family (oh my!); for the hearth looks very clean, and is not liable to show grease or spots"
From the 1901 The New Household Manual, R.Morrow, Saint John NB.
HOUSE CLEANING PERPLEXITIES SOLVED - "The confusion usually attending house-cleaning arises, nearly always from lack of system. No preparations have been made for when the dreaded day arrives. All the rooms are thrown into disorder, and when night comes the mistress and maid are in any but amiable temper, and no perceptible progress has been made in the work. Do not begin cleaning the rooms until the season for heating them is past, on account of the dust created by furnace or stoves." Mr. Morrow then goes on to describe this seasonal housecleaning, that should take place over a period of two weeks, even suggesting what you should wear. "Dress yourself in a neat calico or cambric dress, the skirt short enough to clear the 'floor, a linen collar fastened at the throat with a simple pin or bright ribbon; arrange your hair nicely under a sweeping cap, put on a long full apron, and you are prepared to work. And by simply removing the apron you may receive with perfect ease any person who may chance to call ".
He also thought it advisable to take a brief rest before eating dinner, and suggested "oatmeal porridge made with water was especially good for mothers upon whose nervous forces too great a demand had been made".
Of course sometimes making the bed, meant literally 'making the bed', especially for farm wives. Feathers first had to be dried, often in the oven after bread-making; and then spread over the attic floor. The woman would first cover her head with a veil and then whip the feathers with a small stick to tamp them down.
Aside from odours, beds were usually damp and though this would be a concern for the woman's family, it became an urgency when expecting house guests. The Housekeeper's Receipt Book suggested placing a goblet between the sheets immediately after removing the warming pan. "After a few minutes if drops of wet adhere to the inside of the glass, it is a certain sign of a damp bed. But if only a slight steam appears, all is safe; otherwise take off the sheets, and sleep in the blankets". Later a mirror would be used to perform this test. Guest rooms were then made more inviting by leaving some albums, scrapbooks or engravings beside the bed.
To take care of other smells in the room, a pomander made from an apple or orange stuck with cloves, or; perfume or sweet bags filled with herbs and spices would do the trick. If the odour still persisted, it could be, according to the infamous Dr. Chase; for this reason: "The bedroom odour, noticeable in three out of every five bedrooms in the land, is mostly derived from the urine that is allowed to stand uncovered, or in but partly closed receptacles, 12 out of each 24 hours, in these rooms. The extent to which this source of mischief in bedrooms is overlooked by people otherwise highly particular in their house-keeping is indicated by the number of delicately shaped, finely decorated and coverless pieces of pottery sold to well-to-do-people for use in their bedroom"."
From the Housekeeper's Receipt Book: TO DESTROY PUTRID EFFLUVIA - "Mix a spoonful of salt with a little powdered manganese in a glass cup, pour on the mixture at different times a spoonful of strong vitriolic acid, and the vapour arising from it will destroy the putrid effluvia " This mixture could be on a hot shovel and the housewife would then run through the house spreading the vapours.
To preserve their life, brooms were dipped in hot suds once a week and a new broom always had a few straws removed for cake-testing. New earthenware was strengthened by placing in cold water, bringing to a boil and then cooling. The Frugal Housewife suggested: "A handful of rye, or wheat bran in while it is boiling will preserve the glazing so that it will not be destroyed by salt or acid".
Fine furniture was always highly polished and white marks were removed by holding a shovel of hot coals over the spot. Wax or lamp oil stains on the floors were also removed with hot coals, but black walnut was rubbed with butter-milk to restore it's glow.
The annual cleaning of oil paintings was done by dissolving a little common salt in stale urine and rubbing the pictures with it until they were clean. They were then rinsed with clear water and carefully fine polished with a clean cloth. Other pictures would be cleaned with a mixture of whisky and water.
The better china, glassware and silver would be washed right at the dining-room table, with small bowls of water; but crockery was done at the kitchen sink. The 1849 Treatise on Domestic Economy, offered this: "No item of domestic labour is so frequently done in a negligent manner as this. A full supply of conveniences will do much toward a remedy of this evil. A swab made of strips of linen tied to a stick, is useful to wash nice dishes. Two or three towels and three dish-clothes should be used, two large tin tubs painted on the outside should be provided; one for washing, and one for rinsing, also, a large old waiter (this was the term used for a tray. Hopefully no one advertised in the employment section for 'a fat old waiter'), on which to drain the dishes, a soap-dish, with hard soap, and a fork with which to use it should also be furnished".
DEATH IN A KITCHEN DISHCLOTH - "If they are black and stiff and smell like a barnyard, it is enough; throw them in the fire, and henceforth and forever wash your dishes with cloths that are white, cloths you can see through, and see if you ever have that disease again. There are sometimes other causes, but I have smelled a whole house full of typhoid fever in one 'dishrag'. Therefore I say to every housekeeper, keep your dishcloths clean. You may only brush and comb your head on Sundays, you need not wear a collar unless you go from home -but you must wash your dishcloths!" (The American Frugal Housewife 1838)
