Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife Part 14

LAMPS--TO TRIM

In tr.i.m.m.i.n.g lamps, let the wick be cut evenly all round; as, if left higher in one place than it is in another, it will cause it to smoke and burn badly. The lamp should then be filled with oil from a feeder and afterward well wiped with a cloth or rag. Small sticks, covered with wash-leather pads, are the best things to use for cleaning the inside of the chimney, and a clean duster for polis.h.i.+ng the outside. Chimneys should not be washed. The globe of a lamp should be occasionally washed in warm soap-and-water, then well rinsed in cold water, and either wiped dry or left to drain.

LEATHER--TO CLEAN

For fawn or yellow-colored leather, take a quart of skimmed milk, pour into it one ounce of sulphuric acid, and, when cold, add four ounces of hydrochloric acid, shaking the bottle gently until it ceases to emit white vapors; separate the coagulated from the liquid part, by straining through a sieve, and store it away till required. Clean the leather with a weak solution of oxalic acid, was.h.i.+ng it off immediately, and when dry apply the composition with a sponge.

TABLE LINEN--CARE OF

Table-cloths, towels and napkins should be kept faultlessly white; table-cloths and napkins starched; if the latter are fringed, whip the fringe until straight. After using a table-cloth, lay it in the same folds; put it in a close place where dust will not reach it, and lay a heavy weight upon it.

Napkins may be used the second time, if they are so marked that each person gets the napkin previously used.

LINEN--TO GLAZE

The gloss, or enamel, as it is sometimes called, is produced mainly by friction with a warm iron, and may be put on linen by almost any person.

The linen to be glazed receives as much strong starch as it is possible to charge it with, then it is dried. To each pound of starch a piece of sperm or white wax, about the size of a walnut, is usually added. When ready to be ironed, the linen is laid upon the table and moistened very lightly on the surface with a clean wet cloth. It is then ironed in the usual way with a flatiron, and is ready for the glossing operation. For this purpose a peculiar heavy flatiron, rounded at the bottom, as bright as a mirror, is used. It is pressed firmly upon the linen and rubbed with much force, and this frictional action puts on the gloss. "Elbow grease" is the princ.i.p.al secret connected with the art of glossing linen.

MACKINTOSH--TO REPAIR

Shred finely some pure india-rubber, and dissolve it in naphtha to the consistency of a stiff paste. Apply the cement to each side of the part to be joined, and leave a cold iron upon it until dry.

LINEN--TO REMOVE IRON MOULD FROM

Oxalic acid and hot water will remove iron-mould; so also will common sorrel, bruised in a mortar and rubbed on the spots. In both cases the linen should be well washed after the remedy has been applied, either in clear water or a strong solution of cream of tartar and water. Repeat if necessary, and dry in the sun.

MAHOGANY--TO TAKE OUT MARKS FROM

The whitest stain, left on a mahogany table by a jug of boiling water, or a very hot dish, may be removed by rubbing in oil, and afterward pouring a little spirits of wine on the spot and rubbing with a soft cloth.

MARBLE--TO CLEAN

Wash with soda, water, and beef-gall. Or mix together one part blue-stone, three parts whiting, one part soda, and three parts soft soap; boil together ten minutes; stir constantly. Spread this over the marble; let it lie half an hour; wash it off with soap-suds; wipe dry with flannel. Repeat if necessary. Stains that cannot be removed in any other way may be tried with oxalic acid water; but this should be used carefully, and not allowed to remain long at a time.

MATTING--TO WASH

Use salt in the water, and wipe dry.

MILDEW--TO REMOVE

When the clothes are washed and ready to boil, pin jimson weed leaves upon the place. Put a handful of the leaves on the bottom of the kettle; lay the stained part next to them. Green tomatoes and salt, sour b.u.t.termilk, lemon juice, soap and chalk, are all good; expose to the sun.

Another way: Two ounces of chloride of lime; pour on it a quarter of boiling water; add three quarts of cold water. Steep the cloth in it twelve hours.

MIRRORS--TO CLEAN

Remove, with a damp sponge, fly stains and other soils (the sponge may be clamped with water or spirits of wine). After this dust the surface with the finest sifted whiting or powder-blue, and polish it with a silk handkerchief or soft cloth. Snuff of candle, if quite free from grease, is an excellent polish for the looking-gla.s.s.

MOTHS--TO PREVENT THEM GETTING INTO CARPETS, ETC.

Strew camphor under a carpet; pack with woolen goods. If moths are in a carpet, lay over it a cotton or linen cloth, and iron with a hot iron.

Oil all cracks in storerooms, closets, safes, with turpentine, or a mixture of alcohol and corrosive sublimate; this drives off vermin.

Place pieces of camphor, cedar-wood, Russia leather, tobacco-leaves, boy-myrtle, or anything else strongly aromatic, in the drawers or boxes where furs or other things to be preserved from moths are kept, and they will never take harm.

OIL-CLOTH OR LINOLEUM--TO WASH

Take equal parts of skimmed milk and water; wipe dry; never use soap.

Varnish oil-cloths once a year. After being varnished, they should be perfectly dry before being used.

PAINT--TO CLEAN

Dirty paint should never be wiped with a cloth, but the dust should be loosened with a pair of bellows, and then removed with a dusting-brush.

If very dirty, wash the paint lightly with a sponge or soft flannel dipped in weak soda-and-water, or in pearl-ash and water. The sponge or flannel must be used nearly dry, and the portion of paint gone over must immediately be rinsed with a flannel and clean water; both soda and pearl-ash, if suffered to remain on, will injure the paint. The operation of was.h.i.+ng should, therefore, be done as quickly as possible, and two persons should be employed; one to follow and dry the paint with soft rags, as soon as the other has scoured off the dirt and washed away the soda. No scrubbing-brush should ever be used on paint.

PAINT--TO DISPERSE THE SMELL OF

Place some sulphuric acid in a basin of water and let it stand in the room where the paint is. Change the water daily.

PAINT--TO REMOVE FROM CLOTHING

Rub immediately with a rough rag wetted with turpentine.

OIL PAINTINGS--TO CLEAN

Rub a freshly cut slice of potato damped in cold water over the picture.

Wipe off the lather with a soft, damp sponge, and then finish with luke-warm water, and dry, and polish with a piece of soft silk that has been washed.

PAPER HANGING--TO MAKE PASTE FOR

Mix flour and water to the consistency of cream, and boil. A few cloves added in the boiling will prevent the paste going sour.

PEARS--TO KEEP FOR WINTER USE

Lay the pears on a shelf in a dry, cool place. Set them stems up and so far apart that they do not touch one another. Allow the air to move freely in the room in which they lie. Layers of paper or of straw make a soft bed, but the less the pear touches the shelf or resting-place the better for its keeping.

PICTURE FRAMES--TO KEEP FLIES FROM

Brush them over with water in which onions have been boiled.

GILT PICTURE FRAMES--TO BRIGHTEN

Take sufficient sulphur to give a golden tinge to about one and one-half pints of water, and in this boil four or five bruised onions. Strain off the liquid when cold, and with it wash with a soft brush any gilding which requires restoring, and when dry it will come out as bright as new work. Frames may also be brightened in the following manner: Beat up the white of eggs with soda, in the proportion of three ounces of eggs to one ounce of soda. Blow off as much dust as possible from the frames, and paint them over with a soft brush dipped in the mixture. They will immediately come out fresh and bright.

RATS--TO DESTROY

Set traps and put a few drops of rhodium inside; they are fond of it.

Cats are, however, the most reliable rat-traps. There is no difficulty in poisoning rats, but they often die in the walls, and create a dreadful odor, hard to get rid of. When poisoning is attempted, remove or cover all water vessels, even the well or cistern.