An Old Book on Housekeeping by Gladys Walkden

In 1934 was published the twenty-third edition of Mrs E W Kirk's Tried Favourites Cookery Book with Household Hints and Useful Information. This popular book had already sold, in its earlier editions, 646,000 copies. It was priced at 2s 6d, 3s 6d and 4s 0d, according to the type of binding.

There is no doubt however that by 1934 the revolution in housework brought about by the use of electricity in private houses was well under way and the section of the book on housekeeping was already to a large extent out-of-date. Mrs Kirk was still writing for the people who had kitchen ranges, flat irons and paraffin lamps. She was writing too, before the days of the National Health Service, when a housewife needed to know a good deal about the treatment of common ailments and injuries and the book includes advice on these matters. However, the book gives a very vivid picture of a housewife's life before the advent of electricity, modern detergents, materials, fabrics and fashions and before the National Health Service and it reminds us of the great changes that have come about in housekeeping since the early days of the present century.

The reader gains the impression that a housewife spent most of her life cooking, cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, washing, repairing, economising and contriving. One is constantly reminded of the difference that has been made to a woman's work by new inventions and new materials. In those days, for instance, the kitchen table had a wooden surface and had to be scrubbed and kept white - no wiping over with a damp cloth. To clean a marble washstand involved taking as Mrs Kirk says - "1 oz of washing soda, 1 of powdered pumice-stone and 1 of powdered chalk. Pound together and then pass through a sieve ...". Spilt candle-grease and oil, ink stains, blacklead stains, soot stains - all these are mentioned and all make work and take time to deal with. Even knives soon stained and had to be cleaned. The coming of the carpet-sweeper must have saved hours of work for the woman who had previously had to sweep the carpets with a hand- brush. Kitchen floors would be of tiles or stone flags and needed scrubbing.

There were no supermarkets then, with shelves stocked with cleaning agents for every conceivable job about the house. Not only does Mrs Kirk clean and polish, she makes her own cleaning agents and her own polishes. Indeed, she gives three recipes for home-made soap alone. She must have been extremely frugal and economical: she throws nothing away and she wastes nothing. Everything can be made use of and she uses everything she has to hand. But what a lot she has to hand! Here are some of the commodities she mentions; in two or three pages of household hints:-

Now we know what was stored in the big, roomy kitchen cupboards that old houses had! I'm sure that Mrs Kirk would have all these things neatly labelled and be able to put her hand on any one of them at a moment's notice.

As well as these things however she used quantities of salt, vinegar, turpentine and lemons. She must have used dozens of lemons; indeed she gives a method of storing them, in "small sand". They were used, among other things, for falling hair and dandruff, for bee-stings, to relieve headache and soothe corns and bunions, for coughs and colds and for all stomach ailments. They also remove ink stains from carpets and clean brass.

Vinegar is used in many different ways. Here is one of them: Cure for corns: Soak some young ivy leaves, say a dozen, in vinegar for three days, paint the solution on with a camel’s hair brush, then tie one of the leaves on the corn with thread. Change each night and morning and in a few days the corn can be taken out without any pain. After the corn has been taken out, continue the leaves for a day or two, in order to remove any little hardness that may remain.

When Jack and Jill fell down the hill, Jack had the misfortune to break his crown, which had to be treated with vinegar and brown paper. Here is Mrs Kirk on the subject: “An application of brown paper steeped in vinegar is an old-fashioned remedy for a cold on the chest, a sore throat, or a bruise. It owes its efficacy to the heat-retaining properties of the paper". She likes brown paper. She stitches it inside thin coats to make them warner and she says, rather severely "If the poor only knew this, they would stitch strong sheets of thick paper to the back of old quilts and thus render their families more comfortable because better protected from the bitter weather".

Turpentine is "excellent and soothing applied to scalds and cuts. It will take ink-stains out of muslin when added to soap and also helps to whiten clothes if added to them when boiling. Moths will not come near clothes sprinkled with turpentine, they seem to hate its odour. An excellent floor polish is made out of ¼ lb bees' wax, shaved and put in jelly-can and covered with turpentine".

Salt, too, has endless uses, from putting out a chimney fire to easing rheumatism, bronchitis and indigestion.

The instructions given for cleaning the kitchen grate occupy a whole page of fine print. There were also the fire-irons and fender to keep clean and polished and free from rust. The kitchen fire was the very centre of a housewife's activities. It was the only means of cooking and of heating the water. Around the kitchen fire would stand the clothes-horses, draped with clothes on wet washing days. It was essential that the range be kept working efficiently, with the flues regularly swept.

The use of oil lamps too must have made constant work. They must be cleaned daily and every now and then be given what she calls "a thorough cleansing". The old oil must be emptied out - but not thrown away, of course. It is put in a bottle and can be used, as she says – “In the stable or coach-house or elsewhere". This "thorough cleansing" also takes a whole page to describe. Mrs Kirk uses men's old soft felt hats to make lampwicks. They are cut into strips, soaked in vinegar and dried before use.

She does not throw away old waterproofs either. She cuts out the sleeves, sews pockets, cuts the neck magyar style and worn back to front they make "capital overalls for washing day".

Washing day! What a strenuous and exhausting day it must have been. The equipment needed would include tubs for soaking and washing, a posser, rubbing board, boiler and wringer. And here again, what a difference has been brought about by modern fabrics and modern fashions. Mrs Kirk gives instructions for washing woollen undergarments, red flannel, laces and fine muslins, holland dresses, sashes and ribbons - and stockings. Here are her instructions for washing stockings:-

"Shake well: soak in lukewarm water and soap jelly for 1/2 hour to remove the dust. This makes them require much less rubbing. It is a good plan to cover over, rub with old blanket to keep in heat and prevent shrinking. Place next in lukewarm water and soap jelly and soap will be required to rub on the dirty parts. Take the side part of the foot and lay it over the hand and rub with soap. Stockings nearly always dirty, so require to be rubbed. Now, put hand inside and rub soles same way and lastly wash leg by squeezing. Turn stocking out for second washing, by squeezing only, and put through wringer, toe first. Rinse in two lukewarm waters, putting through wringer each time. Put four times through wringer and shake well and hang up by toes".

If washing one stocking entailed so much work, how did she get through the rest of the wash?

It need hardly be mentioned that Mrs Kirk made her own washing-blue ("3d Chinese Blue, 1d Oxalic acid"). She has a long section about starching, which must have been an art in itself. People were still wearing starched collars and cuffs, for instance, which had to be brought to a fine gloss. She tells us how. And when all the washing, blueing, starching and drying were done, the ironing began, with flat irons, heated at the fire. "Never let your iron get red-hot or let it hang about on range. Spoils temper and they will never afterwards retain heat so well." She also gives instructions for using a goffering iron.

When she turned her hand to sick-nursing, Mrs Kirk had home-made remedies for various complaints. She seemed to have great faith on poultices. They were made of bran, bread, carrots, charcoal, mustard and linseed, onions, porridge, and potatoes and they were used for a variety of ailments. Coughs and colds are always with use, in this climate of ours, but Mrs Kirk makes such frequent mention of them, that perhaps they were even more prevalent than they are today. Certainly there was more real poverty then and many people would not have warm clothing or nourishing food. Houses were not as efficiently heated or insulated against the cold, as they are today. Perhaps the cold weather was more keenly felt.

Hot weather too brought its problems. Food had to be kept fresh and wholesome without the aid of refrigerators. Mrs Kirk knows how to do this. She also has a method of testing water to see if it is fit to drink, as there was not always a piped water supply.

Another battle that a housewife evidently had to fight was against household pests such as cockroaches, moths, bugs, fleas, mice and rats. All these are mentioned in the book, with methods of dealing with them. Modern hygiene and sanitation, organised waste-disposal methods and the official policy of pest-control have certainly improved this state of affairs for the modern housewife.

In those days of open fires and paraffin lamps, the risk of fire must have always been present. Mrs Kirk tells us how to render clothes uninflammable, how to put out chimney fires and burning oil, and she even had her own home-made fire extinguisher - ten pounds of salt and five pounds of sal ammoniac. She also has a neat contrivance for the children's bedroom: "Keep one or two strong sacks, about 3 1/2 ft in depth and 1 1/2 ft in diameter, held open at top by thick wooden hoop and having a very long strong rope attached. In case of fire, children may be let down safely". She has several remedies for burns and scalds, one of which is treacle. If the burn is on one of the extremities, plunge it into sufficient treacle to cover it. One wonders what a modern doctor would think of this treatment!

Talking of children, I gather that Mrs Kirk did not spoil her own. The list of foods they were not allowed to have was long. "Specially objectionable", as she puts it, were raw tomatoes and cucumbers and cabbage was nearly as bad. "Give plenty of good home-made jam and syrup", she says, but adds - "No food between meals. If a child says he is hungry, give a piece of dry bread and he won't eat too much and spoil his next meal".

The reader of this book is left with an impression that a housewife of Mrs Kirk's calibre, in those far-off days, possessed not only skill and knowledge, but a considerable degree of resource- fulness, organising ability and foresight. It is very clear that every job of work about the house took longer to do and demanded greater physical energy than is the case today. She can have had little time or energy for interests outside her home. The world has become very much wider for present-day women.