REAL LINEN

Though not everyone likes the “feel” of linen, most housekeepers are ambitious to include a certain amount with their other bed linens, for use in the summer or during illness, because of its non-absorbent qualities.  Sheets cost $3, $3.50, $4, $5, $6, and on up to $17, the more expensive ones being embellished with hemstitching, scallops, or lace.  Pillowcases to correspond sell at from $1.25 up.  Linen for this purpose is always bleached, the 90-inch sheeting being $1 to $3 a yard, the 45-inch pillowcasing 50 cents to $1.50 a yard, and 50-inch casing 75 cents to $2 a yard.  Inch-high monograms or letters may be embroidered in white at the middle of sheets and pillowcases, just above the hem.  When sheets wear thin down the center, tear and “turn,” whipping the selvages together and hemming the torn edges, which become the new edges of the sheet.  Old bed linen makes the finest kind of cleaning cloths, and should be folded neatly away for that purpose, sheets being reserved for the ironing board.

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT TOWELS

Towels are best purchased by the dozen, huck of Irish bleached linen being best for all-around use.  These have good absorbent qualities, plain or hemstitched hems, measure from 18 by 36 inches to 24 by 42 inches, and cost from $2.50 to $6 a dozen.  Some of these are “Old Bleach” linen, and therefore both desirable and durable.  Pass by towels with colored borders; the colored part is always cotton, and is in poor taste anyway.  Some huck towels have damask borders; other towels are of all-damask, costing from $6 to $12 a dozen, but huck is the stand-by.  Fringed towels, of course, are not to be considered for a moment.  Each member of the family should have his own individual towel, or set of towels, distinguished by some mark, particularly children, who find it hard to learn that towels are for drying, not cleansing, purposes.  Those for their use may be smaller and cheaper.  Turkish or bath towels are of either cotton or linen, the latter being more for friction purposes and costing $6 to $12 a dozen.  The cotton absorbs better and is most generally used for the bath.  Good values in towels of this kind are to be had for $2.50, $2.85, $3, and $4.50 a dozen.  Good crash face cloths cost 5 cents and even less.

Household linens must include, too, the 6 barred-linen kitchen towels at 10, 12, or 15 cents a yard, for drying silver and glass; and 6 heavier towels, either barred or crash, for china and other ware, at the same price, with 3 roller towels at 10 cents per yard; while last, but by no means least, come the dozen neatly hemmed cheesecloth dusters at 5 cents a yard, for men must work and women must sweep—­and dust!

CHAPTER VI

THE KITCHEN