and hung it up, as she had the rinsing-pan.
The sink was swept up with a little wire broom, and the bits gathered on
a small iron shovel. These they put first into the wire sink-basket, and
then turned out into the bowl of garbage; they scalded the shovel and
broom, and the basket--turned upside down in the sink--till they were
all clean. A bit of washing-soda was laid over the drain-pipe, and a
quantity of very hot water was poured into the sink to flush it. The
soda melted away, and as it went down the pipe it took all the grease
with it which the water had left on the sides and in the corners of the
pipe.

A special cloth was always kept hanging up over the sink for the tables.
This Margaret wrung out, and used in wiping off all the dish-water which
lay there; she also wiped up the wood of the sink. Then the kitchen
broom was brought out and the floor nicely swept, especially under the
tables and in the corners. The damp dish-towels were scalded and hung
out in the sunshine; the chairs were set straight, the window-sills
wiped off and some flat-irons put away which had been left on the stove.

"There," said the grandmother, as they stood looking at the tidy
kitchen, "that's all there is to do, and I call it pleasant work. I like
to make things clean and sweet, and I never could see why so many women
hate to wash dishes."

"Why, grandmother," said Margaret, "I think it's just fun!"

CHAPTER V

THE CARE OF THE BEDROOMS

When it was the turn of the Pretty Aunt to give her lesson in
housekeeping, she said she should begin at daybreak, so Margaret was not
surprised to hear her knock at the door early in the morning, almost
before she was dressed.

She helped the little girl take the clothes off the bed, one at a time,
and put them on two chairs near the windows, being careful not to let
the blankets get on the floor. She beat the pillows well, and turned the
mattress up over the foot of the bed so the air could get underneath it.
The white spread she kept by itself, and had Margaret help fold it up in
its creases. "Nothing wrinkles more easily," she told Margaret, "and a
wrinkled spread spoils the look of neatness a bed ought to have when it
is made. If you have a heavy Marseilles spread, do not sleep under it;
fold it at night and put it away, and use only the blankets, because it
is not good for any one to sleep under such a weight. Now hang up your
night-dress, and put away your slippers and bath-wrappe