Enquire Within Upon Everything Part 55

440. An Ever-dirty Hearth,

and a grate always choked with cinders and ashes, are infallible evidences of bad housekeeping.

441. Economy.

If you have a strip of land, do not throw away soapsuds. Soapsuds are good manure for bushes and young plants.

442. Washing Woollens.

Woollen clothes should be washed in very hot suds, and not rinsed.

Lukewarm water shrinks them.

443. Keeping Coffee and Tea.

Do not let coffee and tea stand in tin.

444. Freshness of Surfaces.

Scald your wooden-ware often, and keep your tin-ware dry.

445. Re-using Letters.

Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon.

446. Make Writing-Books.

If you have Children who are learning to write, buy coa.r.s.e white paper by the quant.i.ty, and make it up into writing-books. This does not cost half so much as it does to buy them ready made at the stationer's.

447. No Waste.

See that nothing is thrown away which might have served to nourish your own family or a poorer one.

448. Bread.

As far as possible, have pieces of bread eaten up before they become hard: spread those that are not eaten, and let them dry, to be pounded for puddings, or soaked for brewis.

449. Brewis.

Brewis is made of crusts and dry pieces of bread, soaked a good while in hot milk, mashed up, and eaten with salt. Above all, do not let crusts acc.u.mulate in such quant.i.ties that they cannot be used. With proper care, there is no need of losing a particle of bread.

450. Regular Mending.

All the Mending in the house should be done once a week if possible.

451. Never put out Sewing.

If it be not possible to do it in your own family, hire some one to come to the house and work with them.

452. White Spots on Furniture.

A warming-pan full of coals, or a shovel of coals, held over varnished furniture, will take out white spots. Care should be taken not to hold the pan near enough to scorch; the place to which heat has thus been applied, should be rubbed with a flannel while warm.

453. Acid Fading.

Sal-Volatile or hartshorn will restore colours taken out by acid. It may be dropped upon any garment without doing harm.

454. New Iron

should be very gradually heated at first. After it has become inured to the heat, it is not as likely to crack.

455. Before Using a Bra.s.s Kettle.

Clean a bra.s.s kettle, before using it for cooking, with salt and vinegar.

456. Shaking Carpets.

The oftener carpets are shaken the longer they wear; the dirt that collects under them grinds out the threads.

457. Saving Rags.

All linen rags should be saved, for they are useful in sickness. If they have become dirty and worn by cleaning silver, &c., wash them and sc.r.a.pe them into lint.

458. Softening Washing-Water.

If you are troubled to get soft water for Washing, fill a tub or barrel half full of wood ashes, and fill it up with water, so that you may have ley whenever you want it. A gallon of strong ley, put into a great kettle of hard water, will make it as soft as rain water. Some people use pearlash, or potash; but this costs something, and is very apt to injure the texture of the cloth.

459. Protecting Knife-Handles.