To every woman who does her own housework, “those porches” are a daily nightmare — particularly in dry, dusty weather. Mopping is wet, dirty work — hard alike on hands, clothes and temper. To avoid this vexation of spirit, try the plan given below:
Buy a yard and a quarter of colored Canton flannel, which will be enough for two covers. It comes in scarlet, old gold, navy blue, brown, and a soft mouse gray. Sew up bag shape. Make a narrow hem, an inch and a half below work two buttonholes, one on each side of the seam. Stitch an inch-wide casing on the underside, and run a red cotton tape through the buttonholes. When finished, slip the bag over a broom, draw up the tapes and tie securely. First sweep the floors well with an ordinary broom, to get off the loose dirt, then go back and forth with the covered broom — occasionally shaking it against the side of the piazza to free it from dust. In a little while it will shine almost as if it had been mopped, and is far easier and pleasanter work. In the same way, the covered broom can be utilized where hard-wood floors and rugs are used. These broom covers are also very convenient in wiping down the walls, and for this purpose the unbleached Canton flannel is preferred to the colored. A light quality is much more easily washed, therefore better. Make several, and when soiled have them washed regularly. They sell well at fairs, and are made rather prettier by the addition of a brier stitching just below the hem, in coarse turkey-red cotton. They are sometimes made in the shape of a broom, having a seam on each side. One seam is left open for six inches, hemmed with narrow hems, and a button and buttonhole placed at the top to hold it together. These covers are a great improvement on the old way of tying a duster over a broom, as the old-fashioned housekeepers did in the days “lang syne.”
2008-12-06