ftenest in country houses
where wood can easily be got and stored. The town or city home may have
its open fire, however. Everyone loves an open fire; and when you plan
your own house, you must manage to get one if you can. The hearth is the
heart of the house.

Labor Saving

The housekeeper must learn how to do her work in the least possible
time; she must save steps. Look at the house that you have planned and
see whether everything you need to use is within easy reach. Look
carefully at the closets where you keep things. Are they big enough?
Are they in the right place? Suppose your water comes from a well which
is a long way from the house. What difference will it make? What would
you do about it?

The Water Supply

The water supply of every home should be carefully guarded. If the water
is defiled or contaminated by germs of typhoid fever, diphtheria, or
other diseases, whose bacteria may be carried by water, the disease may
be spread wherever the water is used.

No earth closets or human or animal waste should be in the neighborhood
of the well. Water should come from high ground and clean places with no
possibility of gathering infection on the way to the house. Great pains
should be taken to keep drinking water absolutely clean. All drinking
vessels should be washed and scalded and the rims should never be
handled.

In the country every home has a private water supply and takes pains to
guard it. In the city there is a common water supply and everyone is
responsible for keeping it pure. Where does the water come from that
supplies your city or town? How is it kept clean? Who takes care of it?

Whenever there is any question about the purity of common drinking
water, the table supply should be boiled, for safety. Boiling will
destroy any bacteria that could produce disease. This boiled water
should be used for rinsing dishes as well as for drinking.

Girl Scouts will interest themselves in municipal or neighborhood
housekeeping, for that is a responsibility which all share together.

Learning to take care of one's own home is a good beginning, if one is
to share in providing good conditions for the neighborhood.

Little Things Worth Remembering

The stove should be cleaned with crumpled newspaper whenever the kitchen
is put in order. All ashes should be neatly brushed off.

In lifting ashes from the ash pan with a shovel use a newspaper to cover
the pail into which the ashes are poured, so th