Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife Part 15

RIBBONS--TO WASH

If there are grease spots, rub the yolk of an egg upon them, on the wrong side; let it dry. Lay it upon a clean cloth, and wash upon each side with a sponge; press on the wrong side. If very much soiled, wash in bran-water; add to the water in which it is rinsed a little muriate of tin to set red, oil of vitriol for green, blue, maroon, and bright yellow.

RUST--TO PRESERVE FROM

Make a strong paste of fresh lime and water, and with a fine brush smear it as thickly as possible over all the polished surface requiring preservation. By this simple means, all the grates and fire-irons in an empty house may be kept for months free from harm, without further care or attention.

RUST--TO REMOVE FROM POLISHED STEEL

Rub the spots with soft animal fat; lay the articles by; wrap in thick paper two days; clean off the grease with flannel; rub the spots well with fine rotten-stone and sweet oil; polish with powdered emery and soft leather, or with magnesia or fine chalk.

RUST--TO REMOVE FROM IRON UTENSILS

Rub sweet oil upon them. Let it remain two days; cover with finely-powdered lime; rub this off with leather in a few hours. Repeat if necessary.

To prevent their rusting when not in use: Mix half a pound of lime with a quart of warm water; add sweet oil until it looks like cream. Rub the article with this; when dry, wrap in paper or put over another coat. See also IRONS.

RUST AND INK STAINS--TO REMOVE

Put half an ounce of oxalic acid in a pint of water. Dip the stain in the water, and apply the acid as often as necessary. Wash very soon, in half an hour at least, or the cloth will be injured by the acid.

Preserve in bottle marked "Poison." This also cleans bra.s.s beautifully.

RUSTED SCREWS--TO LOOSEN

[Transcriber's Note: Above t.i.tle is as-presented in the original.]

Boil scorched articles in milk and turpentine, half a pound of soap, half a gallon of milk. Lay in the sun.

RUSTED SCREWS--TO LOOSEN

Pour a small quant.i.ty of paraffin round the top of the screw. When sufficient time has been allowed for the oil to sink in, the screw can be easily removed.

SEALING-WAX FOR BOTTLES, JARS, ETC.

Three-fourths rosin, one-fourth beeswax; melt. Or use half a pound of rosin, the same quant.i.ty of red sealing-wax, and a half an ounce of beeswax; melt, and as it froths up, stir it with a tallow candle. Use new corks; trim (after driving them in securely) even with the bottle, and dip the necks in this cement.

SHIRTS--TO IRON

Use for ironing shirts a bosom-board, made of seasoned wood a foot wide, one and a half long, and an inch thick; cover it well by tacking over very tight two or three folds of flannel, according to the thickness of the flannel. Cover it lastly with Canton flannel; this must be drawn over very tight, and tacked well to prevent folds when in use. Make slips of fine white cotton cloth; put a clean one on every week. A shirt-board must be made in the same way for ironing dresses; five feet long, tapering from two feet at one end to a foot and a half at the other, the large end should be round. A clean slip should be upon it whenever used. A similar but smaller board should be kept for ironing gentlemen's summer pants. Keep fluting and crimping irons, a small iron for ruffles, and a polishing-iron.

RUSSET SHOES--TO POLISH

Remove stains with lemon juice, and polish with beeswax dissolved in turpentine.

SHOES--TO PREVENT FROM CRACKING

Saturate a piece of flannel in boiled linseed oil and rub it well over the soles and round the edges of the shoes, then stand them, soles upward, to dry.

SILK--TO RENOVATE

Sponge faded silks with warm water and soap; then rub them with a dry cloth on a flat board; afterward iron them on the inside with a smoothing-iron. Old black silks may be improved by sponging with spirits. In this case, the ironing may be done on the right side, thin paper being spread over to prevent glazing.

SILK AND SATIN--TO CLEAN

Pin the breadths on a soft blanket; then take some stale breadcrumbs, and mix with them a little powder-blue. Rub this thoroughly and carefully over the whole surface with the hand or a piece of clean linen; shake it off and wipe with soft cloths. Satin may be brushed the way of the nap with a clean, soft, hair-brush.

SILK--TO TAKE STAINS FROM

Mix two ounces of essence of lemon and one ounce of turpentine. Grease and other spots in silks are to be rubbed gently with a linen rag dipped in this mixture.

SILKS--TO WASH

For a dress to be washed, the seams of a skirt do not require to be ripped apart, though it must be removed from the band at the waist, and the lining taken from the bottom. Tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs or drapings, where there are deep folds, the bottom of which is very difficult to reach, should be undone, so as to remain flat. A black silk dress, without being previously washed, may be refreshed by being soaked during twenty-four hours in soft, clear water, clearness in the water being indispensable.

If dirty the black dress may be previously washed. When very old and rusty, a pint of alcohol should be mixed with each gallon of water. This addition is an improvement under any circ.u.mstances, whether the silk be previously washed or not. After soaking, the dress should be hung up to drain dry without being wrung. The mode of washing silks is this: The article should be laid upon a clean, smooth table. A flannel just wetted with lukewarm water should be well soaped, and the surface of the silk rubbed one way with it, care being taken that this rubbing is quite even. When the dirt has disappeared, the soap must be washed off with a sponge and plenty of cold water, of which the sponge must be made to imbibe as much as possible. As soon as one side is finished, the other must be washed precisely in the same manner. Let it be understood that not more of either surface must be done at a time than can be spread perfectly flat upon the table, and the hand can conveniently reach; likewise the soap must be quite sponged off one portion before the soaped flannel is applied to another portion. Silks, when washed, should always be dried in the shade, on a linen horse, and alone. If black or dark blue, they will be improved if they are placed on a table when dry, and well sponged with alcohol.

SILVER--TO POLISH

Boil soft rags for five minutes (nothing is better for the purpose than the tops of old cotton stockings) in a mixture of new milk and ammonia.

As soon as they are taken out, wring them for a moment in cold water, and dry before the fire. With these rags rub the silver briskly as soon as it has been well washed and dried after daily use. A most beautiful deep polish will be produced, and the silver will require nothing more than merely to be dusted with a leather or a dry, soft cloth before it is again put on the table.

SILVER--TO CLEAN

Wash in hot soap suds (use the silver soap if convenient); then clean with a paste of whiting and water, or whiting and alcohol. Polish with buckskin. If silver was always washed in hot suds, rinsed well, and wiped dry, it would seldom need anything else.

SILVER--TO REMOVE STAINS FROM

Steep the silver in lye four hours; then cover thick with whiting wet with vinegar; let this dry; rub with dry whiting; and polish with dry wheat bran. Egg-stains may be removed from silver by rubbing with table salt.

SOAK CLOTHES FOR WASHING--TO

Take a gallon of water, one pound of sal soda, and one pound of soap; boil one hour, then add one tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine. Put the clothes to soak over night; next morning soap them well with the mixture. Boil well one hour; rinse in three waters; add a little bluing to the last water.

SOFT SOAP--TO MAKE

The ashes should be of hardwood (hickory is best), and kept dry. When put in the hopper, mix a bushel of unslacked lime with ten bushels of ashes; put in a layer of ashes; then one slight sprinkling of lime; wet each layer with water (rain water is best). A layer of straw should be put upon the bottom of the hopper before the ashes are put in. An opening in the side or bottom for the lye to drip through, and a trough or vessel under to receive the lye. When the lye is strong enough to bear up an egg, so as to show the size of a dime above the surface, it is ready for making soap; until it is, pour it back into the hopper, and let it drip through again. Add water to the ashes in such quant.i.ties as may be needed. Have the vessel very clean in which the soap is to be made. Rub the pot over with corn meal after washing it, and if it is at all discolored, rub it over with more until the vessel is perfectly clean. Melt three pounds of clean grease; add to it a gallon of weak lye, a piece of alum the size of a walnut. Let this stew until well mixed. If strong lye is put to the grease, at first it will not mix well with the grease. In an hour add three gallons of strong hot lye; boil briskly, and stir frequently; stir one way. After it has boiled several hours, cool a spoonful upon a plate; if it does not jelly, add a little water; if this causes it to jelly, then add water to the kettle. Stir quickly while the water is poured in until it ropes on the stick. As to the quant.i.ty of water required to make it jelly, judgment must be used; the quant.i.ty will depend upon circ.u.mstances. It will be well to take some in a bowl, and notice what proportion of water is used to produce this effect.

To harden it: Add a quart of salt to this quant.i.ty of soap; let it boil quick ten minutes; let it cool. Next day cut it out. This is now ready for washing purposes.

BROWN TAR SOAP--TO MAKE

Take eight gallons of soft soap, two quarts of salt, and one pound of rosin, pulverized; mix, and boil half an hour. Turn it in a tub to cool.

SOAP-POTASH--TO MAKE

Six pounds of potash, five pounds of grease, and a quarter of a pound of powdered rosin; mix all well in a pot, and, when warm, pour on ten gallons of boiling water. Boil until thick enough.

SOAP FOR CLEANING SILVER, ETC.--TO MAKE

One bar of turpentine soap, three table-spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, half a tumbler of water. Let it boil ten minutes. Add six tablespoonfuls of ammonia. Make a suds of this, and wash silver with it.