Look over your kitchen stove
and see how this happens. Take off the covers, open every door, and
examine every part.

Stoves must be carefully managed. The fires must burn readily and the
cooking must be done with the least possible amount of wood or coal.
This means a clean stove, free from ashes and with a clear draft. Wood
or coal will burn freely in the air. They will stop burning if there is
no draft.

Learn to manage your draft. Remember that stoves are made with a damper,
in order to control the current of hot air. If the oven damper is closed
this heated air _must_ pass over and around the oven before it gets to
the chimney and so heat the oven. If it is open the hot air can
immediately escape up the chimney.

When starting the fire leave the damper open. As soon as it is burning
well, close it so that the oven will be heated. Your stove should also
have a damper in the pipe, to save the heat which would otherwise run up
the chimney. If there is none, have one put in. There are also dampers
or slides in front of the stove to control the amount of air going in.

The housekeeper must learn how to manage her stove; she must get
acquainted with it, for every stove has its own way. Draw a picture or
plan of the stove that you know best. See if you can tell plainly how to
build a fire in your stove. If you use natural gas or a kerosene stove
tell how that should be managed.

_Gas and Oil Stoves._ Cooking may be done on an iron stove with either
coal or wood as fuel, or the stove may be planned for burning gas or
kerosene. The coal fire must be fed several times a day with coal and
the ashes must be removed to keep the fire burning clearly. Wood burns
out quickly and must be replaced often. Both wood and coal stoves mean
almost constant care for the housekeeper.

Gas gives less trouble. It comes in pipes from outside the house. This
means that somebody else--the gas company--provides the supply. You turn
on the gas when you want to use it and turn it off, if you are wise and
thoughtful, the moment it is not needed. The gas company measures the
amount of gas that you use by its meter, and you pay for every bit that
you burn or waste. The important thing, then, is to use as little gas as
possible in order to pay for as little as possible. You would rather pay
twenty-five cents for a thrift stamp, than for gas that had burned
simply because you had forgotten to turn it off. Be sure that gas is
turned completely of