provision for proper rent of building, after paying all labor charges, after providing for interest at a low rate on the capital invested, after allowing for a sinking fund for the entire redemption of capital within the period of three years, there remains a profit which is equal to 26 per cent on all capital expenditure. Arranging the figures in a different manner, after making due allowance for depreciation of cooking devices and all plant, and considering that the capital employed is a permanent investment, the profit on such capital is about 47 per cent.

This brief summary of what has been already accomplished in co-operative cooking in London would not be complete

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without a suggestion that such a plan, and on a vast scale, should be started in America. Is there not a Boston or a New York capitalist who is ready to inaugurate a public kitchen merely as an investment? Or, better, will not one of our great American cities start public kitchens on a scale commensurate with the importance of the plan? The savings in fuel, in grains, in meat, in labor, in everything that is used in preparing food in a multitude of separate family kitchens, and in only one great city of our land, could be so great that the daylight-saving scheme, and, indeed, all other saving schemes, whatever, that have been proposed or put into operation, would dwindle into relative insignificance.

HEER, beautiful draperies at the windows mean so much in making a home attractive, both inside and out, and as curtains, like everything else, have "gone up" since the opening of the war, it befits the housewife to consider just how they may be laundered to best advantage.

Almost every woman who keeps house thinks that her own particular way of "doing up" curtains is the best, and yet an expert who makes her entire living, and a good living at that, doing fine curtains, declares that quite as often as not curtains are improperly washed, starched and dried, quite spoiling their filmy beauty.

Surrounded by about a hundred pairs of curtains she had just finished laundering, she was able to point out how some of them were a much better color than others, because they had not been grayed by previous improper methods of washing. It is her opinion, also, that properly washed and dried curtains will wear much longer than those done by less

intelligent methods, and, of course, economy in curtains, as well as foods and other furnishings, is necessary in the present crisis of affairs.

The rules laid down by this expert curtain laundress are those learned in the school of experience, and among the patrons who trust her with their draperies are those who have paid fabulous prices for rare lace which now could probably not be duplicated at all.

First of all, our expert laundress gently shakes the loose dust from the net, scrim, or lace hangings. If the fabric is at all tender, she does not take hold of a single edge, but folds the curtain four times, turning it when one side is shaken.

The next step is to fold the curtains again into a smaller but smooth surface and to lay them into a tub of perfectly clear, cold water. She emphasizes the importance of having the water cold rather than hot or lukewarm. The warm water sets the brown tint of sunburn and the dust-grey caused by atmospheric action upon the fabric and its content of starch.

If the curtains are very dusty, she changes this cold water two or three times, not rubbing the curtains, but merely beating them lightly under the water with her hands. She is careful not even to turn them unless the fabric is stout, because wet curtains are heavy and the weight is liable to tear them where they are not strong.

After this cold rinsing process has been continued until the water is clear, she makes a nice warm suds, using a pure white soap. This time she pats them, one by one, in her hands, turning them gently but never rubbing them. The first sudsing water will show much soil, and the curtains are gently squeezed but never wrung. A second clean suds is ready and the curtains are put through this, only one at a time being taken, if the draperies are fine and choice.

A perfectly clean, bright boiler, without a particle of rust upon it, is prepared with water of the same temperature as the sudsing water, and a tablespoonful of borax is added to each gallon. The curtains have now been squeezed from the second sudsing water, laid upon a clean. table, and soaped gently, paying particular attention to any darkened places. They are folded, soaped, laid into the boiler, and covered with water; a little borax is added, the boiler cover put in place, and the curtains are permitted to come to the boiling point. This is an important step in the bleaching process.

Great care must be taken now, as the cotton or linen fibre will have been greatly softened by the action of the soap and the hot water, and any attempt at haste will be disastrous. Two ways are possible to remove the curtains from the boiler without injury, one is to have laid them in a cheese-cloth hammock in the boiler and to lift the ends out now, letting the water drain through; the other way is to permit them to remain in the boiling water until it cools sufficiently to handle them gently. Never fish them. out with a stick or dipper.

warm waters, making the second cooler than the first. Have ready a pail of boiled starch, tinted with either bluing or strained coffee, according to the shade desired. It is a mistake to do curtains up with too little starch, as they do not shed the dust and soon grow very limp and soiled. They should be starched just to the degree of new curtains that have considerable body. Divide the pail of starch into as many bowls as you have curtains, for if one after another is dipped into the pail, the first will be very stiff and the last very limp. Do not attempt to finish all the curtains at once. Take them, one by one, rinse, starch and put on the frames.

Now, the preparation of the frames is exceedingly important. Before the curtains are wet at all, they should be measured and the curtain frames set to that size, or if the curtains are tender, to an inch or an inch and a half smaller each way. This prevents the need of stretching, and to stretch wet, delicate net or lace is to leave yawning holes somewhere on the surface.

If the curtains are scrim, muslin or substantial material, they may be put upon the frames, one by one, without any further ceremony, but if they are of delicate texture, the frames should first have a "backer" or foundation of cheesecloth or cotton the exact size of the curtain frame, and fastened over the pins. This backer supports the heavy, wet lace and prevents it tearing. In fact, it serves the same purpose as did the floor, when our grandmothers fastened a sheet upon the spare-room carpet and pinned down their lace curtains upon it at spring house-cleaning time.

Of course, the pins are properly spaced, and in buying frames the housewife should be particular to purchase those having aluminum or non-rustable pins. She will now set her frames in the sun, properly supported from beneath, or if of the easel type, from the back. Our expert laundress prefers those which rest

ficially. It can be done with a drop of fruit juice, or vinegar.

In quantity it is best done with rennet.

To make a very attractive' dessert one uses the pastry bag, or, faute de mieux, the paper bag.

The sweet cream cheese is mixed with pastry sugar and whipped cream. It is pressed through the pastry bag onto a dessert plate in fancy little rings.

The top of the ring is garnished with tufts of whipped cream, also from the pastry bag.

The center of the ring is filled with fruit jelly preferably red currant, or, if one wants to be perfectly "comme il faut," with red "Bar-le-Duc.”

With such cheese hot toasted Bent's crackers and saltines should be served. This makes a delightful summer dish.

To make Philadelphia cream cheese one uses both milk and cream. The curd is hard pressed, shaped into handy squares, wrapped in parchment paper and tinfoil.

Philadelphia cream cheese is a very simple preparation. Sweet cream cheese is, however, infinitely more exquisite, also more expensive.

Cream cheeses are not in any way ripened, are not salted, and are best the fresher they are.

When they ripen, they change their character entirely. Every nuance of temperature, moisture and difference of handling them produces an entirely different cheese.

K. H.