*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65120 ***

                         Useful Household Books

THE COOK BOOK OF LEFT-OVERS By Helen Carroll Clarke, former instructor
    in cookery in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and Phoebe Deyo Rulon,
    former instructor in invalid cookery and dietetics in Bellevue
    Hospital, New York City. Illustrated with Photographs. 16mo, Special
    Waterproof Cloth, Uniform with “The Expert Waitress,” $1.00 net.

SIMPLE ITALIAN COOKERY By Antonia Isola. A collection of recipes showing
    how to cook macaroni, rice, soups, meats, vegetables, sweets, etc.
    16mo, Cloth, 50 cents net.

HYGIENE FOR MOTHER AND CHILD By Francis H. MacCarthy, M.D., Attending
    Physician to the Out-Patient Department for Children, Massachusetts
    Homoeopathic Hospital. A manual for mothers and nurses. Post 8vo,
    Cloth, $1.25 net.

THE BABY: HIS CARE AND TRAINING By Marianna Wheeler. (New and Revised
    Edition.) Everything mother should know regarding the food,
    clothing, and bringing-up of the baby. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth,
    $1.00 net.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL USAGES It covers the entire field of what to do and
    what not to do in social affairs. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth,
    $1.25.

                               ----------

                HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK


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                               _HARPER’S
                               HOUSEHOLD
                               HANDBOOK_


                          A GUIDE TO EASY WAYS
                         OF DOING WOMAN’S WORK




[Illustration]




                      HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
                          NEW YORK AND LONDON
                                MCMXIII


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                 COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY HARPER & BROTHERS
                                 ──────
                PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                         PUBLISHED MARCH, 1913




                                  B-N


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                                CONTENTS


              CHAP.                                  PAGE

                 I. WASH-DAY WISDOM, NURSING, AND       1
                    SICKROOM

                II. INSIDE A ROOM                      24

               III. EQUIPMENT AND RENOVATORS           41

                IV. CHINA, GLASS, AND FURNITURE        56

                 V. MAKING WHOLE                       74

                VI. MAKING AND MAKING OVER             95

               VII. REMEDYING SPOTS, STAINS, AND      113
                    TARNISH

              VIII. FOOD: CHOOSING AND KEEPING        129

                IX. HOUSE PLANTS, WINDOW BOXES,       145
                    CUT FLOWERS

                 X. DISINFECTANTS, INSECTS,           163
                    INSECTICIDES

                XI. CARE OF PETS                      179

               XII. IN EMERGENCIES                    192

                    INDEX                             201


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                                HARPER’S
                           HOUSEHOLD HANDBOOK




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                                HARPER’S
                           HOUSEHOLD HANDBOOK




                                   I

                 WASH-DAY WISDOM, NURSING, AND SICKROOM


=Water=: Soften hard water with either washing-soda or lye, taking care
not to use too much. Turbid or milky water can be cleared to a degree
with alum. Dissolve a tablespoonful in a pint of boiling water, and add
a cupful to a tub. Ill-smelling water should be dashed with clear lime
water—using likewise a cupful to the tub. A teaspoonful of carbolic acid
to the tubful is also advisable with wash water under suspicion.

=Soap=: Save money and strength by getting soap in boxfuls, piling it
cobhouse fashion on a dry shelf in the air. Borax soaps chap the hands
least. Naphtha soaps do the best work with cold water. Cheap yellow
soaps, having much resin in them, answer very well if the clothes are
well rinsed. Any sort of soap is best made into a jelly. Shave a bar,
cover with boiling water, and simmer until soft. If there are very dirty
things to wash, add a teaspoonful of borax in powder, and as much
washing-soda to the cake of soap. This is for rubbing on dirty spots.
Other things had better be washed in suds, made by putting a handful of
jelly in a tub of water.

=Washing Fluids=: Use for boys’ clothes, working-men’s shirts, and
overalls turpentine, kerosene, and lime water, equal quantities, shaken
well together. Wet thoroughly, let stand an hour, then wash in warm
suds. Turpentine and spirits of ammonia, half and half, shaken hard
together, will make easier the cleansing of colored woolens.

=Bleaching=: Clothes that are yellow from lying should be wet in boiling
water dashed with oxalic acid (see section Renovators), putting two
tablespoonfuls to the gallon. Wring out, dry in sunshine, and wash as
usual. To bleach faded things white, as prints, lawns or linens, wash
very clean, using extra-strong suds, then boil in a solution of cream of
tartar, a heaping tablespoonful to the gallon. Boil half an hour; lift
up; if not white, boil as long again. Keep the boiler filled and the
garments well under water. Rinse in two waters after boiling, and dry in
sunlight before ironing.

=Temperature=: Keep the water temperature reasonably even throughout a
wash—violent alternations “full” every sort of fabric more or less. Very
fine flannels washed in cold water throughout with naphtha suds—soap
must never touch them—and dried quickly, hardly shrink at all. Flannels
generally are best washed in blood-warm suds, with rinse water the least
bit hotter. Yet the beginning of wash-day wisdom is to wet everything
thoroughly with cold water before washing. Also put clothes to boil in
cold water.

=Mordants=: Set colors before washing new garments. Most of the aniline
colors require acid—either alum water or vinegar. Put four ounces of
alum to a large tub of water, or add to it a pint of strong vinegar.
Soak things for ten minutes, then wash. Set madder colors with sugar of
lead, putting an ounce to a gallon of hot water. Soak twenty minutes.
Soak blacks, black and whites, and grays in strong salt water, but only
a few minutes. Buff, tan, and gray linens keep fresh longer if well wet
before washing with strong black-pepper tea.

=Wash Frocks=: Put no soap on wash frocks—suds suffice after spots have
been removed (see section Spots and Stains). With delicate colors use
bran water instead of suds. Tie wheat bran loosely in thin cloth, and
rub the clothes with it. Use lukewarm water, and work quickly. Rinse
instantly and hang to dry in shade, but opened out so the drying will be
quick. Hang carefully—pulling while wet ruins lines, besides weakening
the fabric—especially if it is starched.

=Table Linen=: Wash in suds, first removing stains and grease (see
section Spots and Stains). Boil only occasionally. Wash first. Never
starch. Hang out very straight, warp threads across the line. Take down
when barely damp, fold, keeping threads true, roll smoothly, iron dry,
first on the wrong side, then on the right. Use irons below scorching
heat. In ironing napkins do not pinch the folds with the iron—also iron
them first the warp way. Instead of folding table cloths roll them after
ironing upon heavy cardboard mailing-tubes that have been covered with
white stuff and furnished with wash ribbons at the ends for tying. Tie
napkins by sixes with ribbons matching those of the table cloths.

=Doing Up Shirts, Cuffs, and Collars=: Soak in blood-warm water until
starched parts are soft, wash clean, shake out, pull all double surfaces
straight, pat bosom, collars, and cuffs so the various plies will lie
together, hang to dry, straight. When bone-dry fold the bosom lengthwise
down the middle, dip in hot starch reinforced with gum water, rub the
starch well into the cloth, wring, hang straight, slip a hand underneath
the bosom and wipe over with a damp, clean cloth, then pat well
together, pin-pricking any blisters. Starch collars and cuffs the same.
Let dry, then spread sheets flat, sprinkle lightly, fold tails upward,
sprinkle again, then, beginning at the neck band, roll up tight and
smooth and let stand an hour.

Fold lengthwise down the middle of the back, iron body, back, and front;
iron sleeves from the sloped seam back; press wrist bands first upon
wrong side, then on right. Do the same with the yoke and neck
band—fasten it, put in bosom board, spread bosom smooth upon it, keeping
threads exactly square. Wet lightly with starch water; wipe over with a
damp cloth. Have an iron just below scorching heat, begin work in the
middle, at the bottom, hold the bosom taut with the left hand and iron
toward the neck. Go all over; if any smears come wipe off with tepid
water. Do the same for wrinkles or warped spots. Hold hard along the
edges—the stitching draws. Polish with a special polishing-iron, a
little cooler than the others.

Iron collars and cuffs upon the wrong side until half dry. Press hard
over the right side and polish. Curl collars around the iron as it
moves. Finish the band before ironing the outside. With cuffs the main
thing is to prevent blisters and wry corners—do that by ironing the
edges first and holding them taut.

=Clear Starching:= For fine lawns and laces. Dip in gum water (see
section Renovators) a cupful to a quart of boiling water, squeeze
without wringing, and hang smoothly to dry. Take down when barely damp,
roll tight and smoothly, loosen a smallish space, and pat between the
hands until dry. Sprinkle lightly—with an atomizer if possible—and iron
on the wrong side with moderate heat. Laces need not be ironed—in fact,
should not be.

=Starches:= A heaped tablespoonful of raw starch to a gallon of water
makes rather stiff starch—if wanted very stiff use a teaspoonful
additional. Bring the water to a bubbling boil in rather a wide kettle,
wet the starch smooth, and thicker than cream, in cold water; take the
boiling water from fire and stir the wetted starch into it. Stir hard—it
will form no lumps, hence need no straining. A little lard put in while
hot and stirred well makes things iron smoother. For starching tinted
things—as écru linens or brown or buff lawns—color the water with clear
coffee or hay tea before putting in the starch. Use the black starch
sold in the shops for mourning prints, or any black-grounded ones. Never
dip a blueing-rag in starch of any sort. Make blue-water as deep as
possible, strain, and add to the hot starch. Even with liquid blue it is
well to strain—specks of blueing, once dry, are hard to get out.

=Curtains:= Dip cream net or madras in hay tea or weak coffee water,
after rinsing—this keeps the color. Make the tea by boiling a handful of
bright hay in two gallons of water for twenty minutes. Strain, and add a
pinch of alum in powder. Most curtains should not be starched. Many are
better not ironed. Real lace curtains should be dried on sheets spread
on the floor, every point pinned smooth. Or they can be clapped dry as
though clear-starched. So can net ones. Frame drying is quickest and
easiest, therefore to be chosen for all but the finest sorts. Very
stretchy net should be dried on sheets, lying lightly crumpled. A very
little gum in the rinse water gives it more body. This applies also to
madras. Iron madras on the wrong side, taking pains not to warp or
stretch it. Tucks in curtains, or anywhere, need to be held taut before
the iron. Sewing of any kind puckers for wetting. Put the least bit of
starch in muslin ruffles to be fluted. Hold insertions the same as
tucks. Iron cretonne on the wrong side, when it is barely damp. Chintz
is exceptional in requiring a thin starch and in looking best when
ironed on its face.

=Knitted Woolens:= Knitted things like scarfs, sacks, sweaters, capes
must be washed quickly in white soapsuds, lukewarm, else in cold naphtha
suds, rinsed, blued if white, and dried in a crumpled heap in the sun.
Hanging ruins them. Very fluffy things had better be dry-cleaned or
washed in gasolene. Do this also with knitted silk hoods and neck
scarfs.

=Lace and Embroidery:= If very much soiled put in a glass or earthen
vessel, cover with white soapsuds, and set all day in full sunshine.
Rinse in cold water, press lace smooth between the hands, and wind it
while damp about a glass jar covered with old linen. Let dry, but do not
iron. Iron embroidery on the wrong side, upon its special padded board
(see section Equipment). Made-up lace, as fichus, collars, and so on,
must be spread smoothly upon a hard cushion, pinned, and dried in air.
Things lightly soiled can be dry-cleaned by lying buried a week in corn
starch mixed equally with calcined magnesia. Shake out, brush gently,
and press under light weight. Moderate soiling is best remedied with
gasolene, changing it as it grows dirty. Hang several days in air, under
a thin cover—this takes away scent and prevents collecting dust. Silk
embroidery on all grounds demands gasolene-cleaning. Spots must be taken
out (see section Spots and Stains) before cleaning. Press very lightly
on the wrong side. Treat wool embroidery the same way. Embroidered
cushion covers must be taken off, well brushed and shaken, also turned
inside out before cleaning. But clean them right side out.

=Laundry Aprons:= Make laundry aprons of strong stuff, but sleazy—crash,
denim, or colored linen. Cut kimona shape, with roomy sleeves, and to
slip on over the head. Set a deep pocket on each side, within handy
reach. Set a smaller pocket across the front just below the waist. Carry
clothes pins in the big pockets, safety pins, a handkerchief, and
wiping-rags in the other. Make wide enough for free motion, but not
enough to sag under foot when the wearer stoops. Let come almost to the
instep.

=Ironing-tables:= Make board or table suit your height, so you need
neither stoop at the work nor hunch your shoulders. Set a table too low
upon bricks or blocks—if it is too high, have something stable to stand
on. Make tight-fitting covers for the table of unbleached muslin, sewed
double at one end, to be slipped over the table edge, and with the other
end long enough to lap over and safety-pin firmly in place. Have a
double blanket under the cover, laid very smooth.

In using a board, set it high or low, as your height requires.

=As to Soaking:= Long soaking of clothes is undesirable—it loosens dirt
but passes it throughout the fabric. An hour is sufficient. Cover things
that must stand overnight with cold water rather than hot. Nursery wash
in need of soaking must be kept to itself. So should things from a
sickroom that are badly fouled.

=As to Boiling:= Boiling is not absolutely essential to clean clothes,
still a means of grace toward them. Have separate boiling-bags for table
linen, for handkerchiefs, for fine things like caps and collars. In
boilers the best is the costliest—namely, copper. Next ranks the
cheapest—a deep iron pot. Copper-bottomed tin answers with good usage.
Iron pots will crack if allowed to get very hot before water is put in.
Any boiler should have at least an inch of water in it before going over
the fire. Likewise it must be kept clean, dry, and wash-worthy by
constant vigilance for holes and cracks.

=Irons:= Test by pressing your cheek against the face—if rough, reject.
Five to six pounds is a good weight. Half a dozen will be none too many.
Keep clean and dry. Beware of setting them face down upon live coals or
red-hot iron—heat pits them microscopically, but enough to make them
stick. Polishing-irons are somewhat lighter and rather different in
shape. Have an asbestos pad or wire trivet to set irons on. Have several
holders, if you lack a patent handle, and shift as they grow hot.

=A Sickroom:= Disfurnish of every unessential. Leave nothing that can be
knocked off or over, or that clatters or rattles. Remove rugs from a
bare floor, but keep a small one handy for the patient’s feet. Cover a
carpet with a smooth sheet of something washable. In case of contagion
take away draperies and pictures. Have the bedstead light and
firm-standing, not too low, single or of three-quarter size. Set it so
there is free passage all round it, but not so light glares into sick
eyes. Place the head at least six inches from the wall, and set beside
it a small solid table. A couch or single bed, a spacious dresser, a
bigger table, and at most three chairs are complete equipment. Give up
the dresser to the patient’s clothes, bed clothes, towels, table covers,
and so forth. Have three changes of clothes, a dressing-gown, a light
shawl, slippers, many clean handkerchiefs. A dressing-room attached is a
godsend—next to it a bathroom easily reached. Lacking either, a
washstand fully furnished is necessary, also an alcohol or oil stove for
hot water.

Toilet ware of white enamel is lighter and safer than china. Have in
addition a foot tub and a deep covered bucket. Soaps, powder, scents at
discretion—insist, though, upon clean wash clothes, a good sponge, also
bottles of grain alcohol, aromatic ammonia, lavender water, and camphor.
Insist also upon a demi-john of disinfectant solution—chloride-of-lime
for ordinary illness, bichloride of mercury in cases of contagion (see
section Disinfectants).

=A Sickbed:= Should have a good spring and a light, elastic mattress.
Lay upon the mattress a pad of cotton tacked between cheesecloth, and
change it daily. The mattress should have a white cover. Over the pad
stretch smooth a sheet big enough to tuck in all round and be fastened
underneath with safety pins. Pin the upper sheet only across the bottom,
and lay a fold three inches wide in it there, to save cramping the toes.
Do the same with the blankets. They should be light, not heavy. Down or
puffy cotton comforts should supply extra warmth at need. Lay blankets
so the upper edge will come a foot below the headboard. The sheet must
be turned over them half a foot at least and be met by an outer spread
light and smooth. Have a bolster rather hard, and three pillows of
varying softness. Change slips daily. Change sheets likewise, save in
desperate cases where the patient cannot bear moving. Space permitting,
such cases should have two beds, fitted alike. Shifting can be done by
setting them together and easing the sufferer on the fresh couch.

=Heat and Ventilation:= Open fires help mightily toward keeping a
sickroom fresh. Burn wood that does not snap nor give out any pungent
smell. Coal should be free-burning. Put it in small paper bags—thus it
can be laid in the grate without noise or dust. Dampen ashes before
removing, and keep hearth and fixtures clean by a daily washing. Keep
the heat steady—the temperature that is ordered. Where there is distress
of breathing, keep a clean kettle simmering on the fire, the spout
turned outward—vapor softens air. Furnace heat coming through a floor
register should be softened by setting on the register a small pan of
water. With a wall register, fasten in front of it a big sponge, and wet
it every hour or so. Radiators should have water on top, in something
wide and shallow.

If windows must be opened at top, set an extra shade at the bottom with
a hook to hold it in the middle of the upper casing. Roll up the top
shade, lower the sash sufficiently, then raise the lower shade till the
edge is level with the edge of the sash. Thus air has free ingress
without rattling the upper shade. A window which must be raised ought to
have a light board pivoted into the casing, so it can be turned outward
at need, letting in air but preventing draughts. With a board a foot
wide raise the window about ten inches. One window open at top, another
at bottom will be far more effectual than a single window spread wide.
Note what is outside; if at any time smoke or the smell of food comes
in, shut the window. Allow no odors in a sickroom—neither fruit,
flowers, spiced food, nor scented visitors. This in severe cases; mild
ones and convalescence demand no such rigors.

=Care and Keeping:= Keep floors clean by wiping with cloths wrung out of
hot water barely dashed with carbolic acid. The smell passes quickly—and
is wholesome. Take off dust with damp cloths—litter must be prevented.
Keep a waste basket handy, also a bigger basket for soiled things. Have
them removed at once. Put half a cup of disinfectant in any vessel
before using it, adding enough to cover discharges as soon as it has
been used. Remove as quickly as possible. Do not keep such things in a
closet. Rather ambush them behind a light screen set across a corner.

Have a table outside to receive trays, cups, glasses, uneaten food. Let
nothing stand inside the room. The bigger table is for medicines, clean
spoons and glasses, alcohol stove, and a supply of ice. Gas light fouls
air so quickly, avoid it if possible. Electric light has the drawback of
being hard to graduate. Oil lamps require the nicest care. Candles are
better. Beware of lighting or extinguishing either inside the room.
Strike no matches there if possible to avoid it. Even in lighting a
fire, do it from a candle lighted outside. Keep filled candlesticks on
the outer table with matches in plenty, and extinguishers handy. Take
lamps there to put them out.

=Ice=: A nursery refrigerator is well worth its cost. Since it is not
always to be had, here is a good substitute. Set a high wire trivet
inside a deep agate pan, lay a lump of ice on it, then turn over it a
clean flower pot. Plug the hole in the flower pot, and cover thickly
with a folded blanket if in haste. Time permitting, make a cozy of
cheesecloth thickly padded with cotton batting and big enough to come to
the table outside the pan. Empty the pan several times a day. With an
awl and a toy hammer slivers of ice can be broken as needed.

=Contagion=: Filth diseases—diphtheria, typhoid, etc.—spread through
effluvia. Discharges of all sorts should be deluged with bichloride (see
section Disinfectants). Even bath water needs a dose of it before
emptying it. All manner of soiled things—towels, sheets, clothes—must be
sunk in a tub of it as soon as taken off, and soaked several hours
before washing. They need to be well boiled and dried in wind and sun.
Eruptive ails—measles, smallpox, scarlet fever—have two periods of
danger—in the fever stage before eruption, and when peeling. Measles and
smallpox are most dangerous in fever; scarlet fever at the beginning of
convalescence. Rub a patient in that stage well over with vaseline at
least twice a day, bathing afterward with warm suds and putting on fresh
clothes. Change bed linen the same; disinfect with extra thoroughness.
Put bichloride in the water that wets the floor cloths, and be sure no
dust is allowed to blow outside the room.

=Disinfection=: Wet everything well with bichloride solution, remove
furniture, burn mattress and comforts, boil and sun blankets. Scrape
walls and ceiling, wash well with bichloride, wash floor and woodwork
likewise, then scour with carbolic soapsuds. Fill cracks of all sorts
with fresh putty, shut doors and windows tight, and paste strips of
paper around them. Take off closet doors, but leave inside. Tack a strip
of tin on the door of egress so it will lie flat against the casing. Put
three bricks in the middle of the floor, set an iron skillet on them,
put into it a pound of flowers of sulphur, wet it with alcohol, stick in
a short length of fuse, light it, go out quickly, close the door for a
minute, look in—if the sulphur is burning, all is well. Shut the door
and leave undisturbed for twenty-four hours. Sulphur fumes make an end
of germs. They also bleach out colors of all sort.

=Poultices, Hot Cloths, Mustard Plasters=: Keep in stock bags of old
linen or muslin, with drawstrings at top, for poultices. Fill them three
parts, draw up, and flatten. If they must be hot, have three, keeping
two in a steamer, with the water underneath barely simmering. Keep
cloths likewise steam-heated, take out with a fork, wrap in a thick
towel, and apply over thin flannel to prevent scalding. Wet mustard
poultices with white of egg to prevent blistering. If severe burning is
needed, wet with pepper vinegar. Make soft and lay thin net or muslin
over the face of the poultice. For a slow, gentle burning mix the dry
mustard one-half with flour.

=A Bandage Jar=: Tear old linen into strips two to four inches wide, lap
ends two inches, and sew together. Make many lengths—half a yard to
five. Pull away ravelings, roll smoothly, and fasten. Put a few clean
pebbles in the bottom of a glass jar, lay paper over them, pack in
rolled bandages till half full, then fill with absorbent cotton, and
stand on a plate in a kettle of cold water, which is set over the fire.
The water ought to reach the neck of the jar and be kept at a
temperature of a hundred and eighty degrees for three hours or more.
Take from fire then, screw on jar top, let cool in water, wipe, and set
away.

Finger stalls in variety, with narrow tapes for tying, thus sterilized,
are a help to mothers. Teach children to suck wounds or bites or stings
instantly—it abates pain and takes out dirt and poison. Wash the hurt
clean, unless a blood clot has formed—it is nature’s own remedy, respect
it. Put on a stall, hold the hurt finger up, and pour upon it either
arnica, witch hazel, or turpentine. Draw the edges of a cut together,
clap on adhesive plaster, and hold until the plaster sets.

=Stanching Blood=: Blood spurting in bright-red jets means a severed
artery—and great danger. A steady, dark-red stream means a cut vein. For
either, knot two handkerchiefs hard together, trace the course of the
blood vessel, put the biggest knot over it, thrust in a stick, and twist
until the knot presses deep into the flesh. In case of an artery, put
the knot between the hurt and the trunk. For a vein set it between the
wound and the extremities. Work fast—a minute may mean life or death.

=Clothes for Nursing=: Wear nothing that cannot be washed; this is the
first commandment. Wear nothing that rattles, rustles, or clings; this
is the second, even greater. Light colors are refreshing to sick eyes,
violent figures distressing. Have sleeves that can be pushed easily
above the elbow, self collars, and trim fastenings. A single pin may
scratch your patient. Eschew hard, starchy edges even on an apron. Wear
a cap—a sweeping-cap is excellent—and change it daily. A long kimono
apron slipping on over the head is useful for such work as bathing,
giving alcohol spongings, or massage. One-piece frocks are imperative.
The simpler and easier the better all round.


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                                   II

                             INSIDE A ROOM


=As to Floors—Scrubbing=: Sweep clean, take out grease spots and smudges
(see section Spots and Stains). Have a light knee pad, clean brush, a
bucket of warm water with a clean, soft cloth in it, and plenty of
either sand soap or a good soap powder at hand. Scrub well with a wet
brush, putting soap or powder before it. Do not slop—too much water
swells boards and warps them. Scrub a strip, rinse with a cloth
moderately wet, then wipe with the cloth wrung as dry as possible.
Wiping thus quickly takes up the wet dirt clean. Work from each side
toward the center, finishing at the door. Never use a wiping-cloth after
it sheds lint.

=Staining=: Sweep twice—the last time with a damp cloth pinned over your
broom. Give new boards a coat of filler (see section Renovators). Let it
dry, sandpaper rough spots, then give one or two coats of oil stain,
using a soft brush and working with the grain of the wood. Keep both
filler and stain well stirred while applying, otherwise neither filling
nor color will be even. Finish with shellac.

=Shellac Floors=: Sweep, dust with a cloth-wrapped broom, moving it the
way of the grain. Fill any cracks or crevices; then give a coat of
filler, and when it is full dry two coats of shellac. Let the first coat
dry for twenty-four hours before adding the second.

=Waxing Hardwood Floors=: Sweep and dust, rub rough spots with
sandpaper, take out spots or smears—if faded spaces are left, rub them
with sandpaper till a new surface appears, or touch with stain, and let
dry. Go over in long strips, working from opposite sides with whatever
wax you like, then rub until hot with a wooden floor pad (see section
Equipment). A coat of very thin shellac makes cleaning easier, but does
not rub to so handsome a surface. Put on the shellac after the wax has
stood a day.

=Removing Stain or Varnish=: Use very strong lye, either from wood ashes
or commercial potash, with a lump of washing-soda in it. Grease the
hands well, so the caustic liquor may not eat them. Apply with a big
sponge or coarse soft cloth, following with a damp cloth wrung hard out
of warm water.

=Removing Paint=: Metallic paint whose bases are white lead, zinc white,
and oxides of chromium, iron, and copper mixed in oil hardens to a very
adherent surface, hence differs from water colors, and has to be either
burned off with a special torch or planed off. Both processes demand
skilled workmen. It is better to bring old paint to a taking surface by
wetting it first very well with turpentine, then, after an hour, going
over it with wood alcohol and a thick, crumpled cloth. Follow the
alcohol by washing with lye or strong soda water. Let dry, sandpaper
rough places, then put on new paint—which it will be the part of wisdom
to have at least as dark as the old.

=Filling Cracks:= Cracks large or small must be filled before either
painting or staining, knotholes likewise. If a crack can be seen through
either, fit into it a sliver of wood before filling, or drive in fine
brads, leaving the heads projecting across the opening. Bend the heads
below floor level, and set the brads alternately, several inches apart.
Make putty or paper dough (see section Renovators). Fill small to medium
cracks with putty mixed soft enough to squeeze through a paper tube.
Make the tube by rolling cornerwise a square of tough waterproof paper,
fastening it, and snipping off the pointed end a very little. Use the
same as a pastry bag. Else roll lumps of putty between the palms to form
rather fat worms, lay the worms end to end along the crack, press them
down with a putty knife, or any blunt, broad-bladed one, making the
surface smooth and level. If the putty is very soft, sift a little dry
whiting upon it and press it lightly. Put in paper dough with a knife or
a blunt chisel or screw-driver; smooth the surface by laying on a board
and beating it with a hammer. If the dough smears under the hammering,
scrape away before it hardens. Plug knotholes with the dough, then drive
brads through it, bend down the heads, and put a thin layer over them.

=Cleaning Waxed Hardwood:= Dust daily with a soft old silk duster, sweep
with a soft broom in a clean bag once a week, following by hard rubbing
with the weighted brush. Every three months go over with a flannel wet
in turpentine, working very quickly, and following with a very little
boiled linseed oil, applied with a clean, hot cloth. Once a year—not
oftener—wash clean with weak warm borax soapsuds, wetting only a yard or
so at a time and wiping dry immediately. Wax or oil afresh after the
washing, and rub till very hot with a clean pad.

=Cleaning Stained Floors:= Wipe over hard and quickly with soft cloths
wrung very dry out of hot borax soapsuds. Wipe dry and rub with a
flannel slightly moistened with crude kerosene. Beware of using too
much—it will streak the stain.

=Tile Floors:= Tile, the same as brick, stone, and mosaic floors, should
be washed in warm soapsuds, taking pains not to slop, rinsed well, and
rubbed dry with a thick cloth fastened firmly over a flat mop. Be sure
no water is left standing—it will destroy the setting.

=A Matted Floor:= Sweep twice, the last time with a bagged broom. Then
wipe quickly with salt water, and as quickly rinse with fresh. Both
waters should be tepid. If there is grime, use borax water instead of
salt. A yearly wiping with fresh, sweet milk, followed by a tepid
rinsing, makes matting last longer by keeping the straw pliant. Rinsing
is, however, imperative; without it the milk draws a pest of flies.

=Carpeted Floors:= Damp with a fine sprinkler before using a sweeper, or
dip the broom tip in warm water and shake very dry. Then wipe with a
thick towel pinned tight over a stubby broom, washing it out if it gets
very dirty. A little borax dissolved in the sprinkling-water brightens
the carpet. So does fine, dry snow sprinkled on and swept off so quickly
it has not time to melt. But the best thing to renew color and freshness
is clarified ox gall dissolved in blood-warm water. Wash the carpet with
it, after sweeping as clean as possible, using the solution the same as
suds and taking pains against slopping.

=Rugs=: When possible, sun rugs before sweeping, beating, or
vacuum-cleaning them. Spread smooth and wipe over with warm, weak borax
soapsuds, followed by a tepid rinsing. Go over both sides, and let dry
well before putting down. Half yearly wipe them over either with the
ox-gall solution or fresh sweet milk. Rinse after either, but wait an
hour to do it. The animal matter makes the wool more alive. Beware of
stretching rugs cornerwise. Hang them always with the warp threads
across the line or the pole.

=Walls, Windows, Ceilings—Walls=: The first thing is to make them sound
and firm. Fill breaks great or small with plaster (see section
Renovators). Fasten loose trim neatly in place, spread tarpaulin or
paper well over the floor, then with a broom or long-handled stiff brush
go over everything—walls, ceiling, woodwork, and molding. Painted walls
must be washed clean before repainting. Whitewashed ones need to have as
much as possible of the old whitewash swept off. Old paper must be
sprayed with boiling water, let stand till soft, then scraped off. Paper
will not stick to either hard-finished or whitewashed surfaces unless
they are washed over with strong vinegar or strong alum water, and let
dry, then sized either with glue or vegetable size (see section
Renovators). Put windows in repair before touching the walls, and, of
course, freshen the ceilings. Remove all the litter before beginning on
the walls—the less dust there is under your new coverings, the longer
they stay fresh.

=Wall Hangings=: Paper-hanging is so simple and easy it needs few
directions. Strike a plumb line before beginning it. Suspend a compact
weight by a chalked cord from the ceiling to the floor, hold it taut
there, pull out the cord and let it strike back on the wall. With a
beginning absolutely perpendicular you can make your figures run
straight. Have the paper trimmed in the shop, cutting the left-hand
selvage. Measure in generous lengths, taking care, if there are figures,
that they match exactly. Lay the lengths, face down, a dozen or so
together, flat upon a table or scaffold, and cover thickly on the wrong
side with paper-hanger’s paste (see section Renovators). Beware of
pasting too many at once—lying makes paper tender. Fold back each length
on itself, pasted sides together. Open up as you apply to the wall, with
the edge true with the plumb line. Smooth the middle first, taking care
to leave no blisters, then work toward the edges, using a soft, clean
cloth in each hand. Put on three or four lengths, then trim along the
baseboard. With a border, the top is not a matter of concern, but with a
molding finish it must be extra neat and firm in place. Make door and
window casing serve as their own patterns, by pressing wet paper around
them on the wall. If a corner out of plumb starts your paper askew,
strike a new plumb line beyond it, about half a foot, split a length of
paper, trimming it so the figures shall fit those in the length already
on the corner, lap it from the plumb line over the skewed length, then
go on keeping the seams straight.

=Choice of Paper=: Here dogmatism is worse than idle. But, in a general
way, remember blue in all its tones, blue-gray, and granite-gray are
cool, that yellow warms a north light and goes beautifully with oak
finish, that red should be eschewed except for rooms used mostly by
artificial light and furnished in very dark wood, that green in all save
most vivid shades is restful, that soft wood-browns are excellent indeed
to soften a glaring light, that white-enameled papers, with the faintest
relief of gilt in the picture moldings, make the finest possible
backgrounds for old prints and etchings, and, most important, that only
plain papers will bear having pictures hung upon them, unless indeed the
pattern is so soft as to be indistinguishable. Bedroom papers ought to
be light and cheerful, but not staring. A plain ground with a border,
deep or shallow, makes a wall that does war with furnishings. A painted
wall with a cut-out border matching the ground tone is a very excellent
choice for bedrooms. It gives the color value of paper, and is more
sanitary and more secure against invasion.

=Burlaps, Cretonne, Linen, and Silk=: All are easily and quickly applied
to walls, but the fitting which goes before may be a bit bothersome.
Strike a plumb line same as for paper. Measure lengths, cutting so as to
match figures. Aim to have the cutting, top and bottom, strike exactly
in the middle of the pattern—this obviates any waste. Allow an inch for
turning under top and bottom, unless the finish is to be molding—for
that tack single. Have your gimp on reels so it will not snarl, and
provide a great plenty of tacks. Sew lengths together on the machine,
using flax thread, but not too coarse, a moderately long stitch and
tension that does not draw. Take pains to match figures and fit the
lengths to the wall as several are sewn together. This is trouble that
may save worse, as a boggle discovered quickly is half remedied. Burlaps
can be pasted on, the same as paper. Other things must be tacked on, and
the edges covered with molding or narrow gimp matching their colors.
Tack loosely at first, holding the cloth smooth but taking care not to
stretch it. The threads in it must run true. At inequalities of wall, as
in corners, take a tuck on the wrong side, press it flat, and put a line
of fine tacks in the seam. Use barely enough tacks in the wall cover to
hold it firmly in place—those in the gimp, which must be set evenly and
not too far apart, will secure it. Burlap, even when pasted, looks
better with a line of brass tacks at top and bottom. Cloth is a fine
wall covering for halls, parlors, dining-rooms, even living-rooms, if
they are never slept in. But in bedrooms, no matter how careful the
housekeeping, it is not desirable.

=Painted Walls=: To paint a clean wall requires nothing beyond a brush,
a step ladder, a can of ready-mixed paint, and a right good will. Stir
the paint well before taking out any, and keep it stirred well to the
end. Otherwise your wall will be like Joseph’s coat of many colors—earth
paints have a trick of settling, no matter what they are mixed in. Begin
at the top, use steady strokes of the brush, join them well, and rub
back and forth to an even, smooth surface. Paint as far as you can reach
handily, then step down a rung, paint below, and repeat. A new wall will
take two coats; one already painted, unless very much defaced, needs but
one. The paint can be varnished after it is dry; but the self-finish is
pleasanter. Calcimine is put on exactly the same as paint, but the first
coat must be very thin, the second thicker than cream, and the color if
any, stirred well through the last coat. Remember, with either paint or
calcimine, the dry wall will show much lighter than the paint in the
pot.

=Whitewashed Walls=: Brush off loose particles, wash grimy spots clean,
take out grease spots (see section Spots and Stains), have your
whitewash ready, keep it hot, do the work, if possible, in dry, sunny
weather, hot or cold, and provide several brushes—long-handled, short,
and medium. Have a bucket of water to stand them in when not in use. In
whitewashing above your head, wear glasses and stand upon something
stable. Wear also a light hat with a narrow brim, and loose, soft,
wash-leather gloves. Save strain by having the whitewash pot of handy
size, refilling from the main supply at need. Use either milk whitewash
or indoor whitewash (see section Renovators). Wood takes up less
whitewash than other things—two-thirds as much as plaster, half as much
as brick or stone. Whitewash well dashed with carbolic acid is the best
and most sanitary finish for the inside of cellars, stables, and
outhouses generally.

=Window Glazing=: Take out sash, break away panes, and remove old putty.
If there are whole panes guiltless of putty, take them out carefully and
scrape the sash clean, the same as with a broken pane. Lay the sash face
down, and fit in new panes. Set a tiny tack on each of the four sides so
as to hold the panes. Then put in glazier’s points—to be had at any
shop. Small tacks will serve instead. Press in the points, letting them
lie flat on the glass. Then lay a worm of putty over glass and points,
and smooth it in place with a blunt knife. Dip the knife now and then in
cold water—and keep it wiped clean of adherent putty. Smear the glass as
little as possible, and wipe away smears as quickly as made. Let lie
until the putty hardens a trifle. Paint it as soon as it is firm.
Otherwise it will weather and crumble. Indeed, it is the part of wisdom
to paint putty over once a year.

=Ceilings=: Papering a ceiling it not easy, still not impossible to
amateurs. It demands a tall stable scaffold almost the length of the
room—boxes set upon an extension table will answer very well. Cut
lengths of paper, matching the figures, paste, fold, and apply quickly.
Begin work in the middle of the ceiling—thus it is easier to keep the
seams true. Fasten an end lightly to the ceiling, then press lightly
along the middle till you come to the other end. Sight, and if this
first length is bias or crooked, loosen it and put it on straight. Press
on very hard and be sure there are no blisters. Small blisters can be
pin-pricked and patted down, but big ones require to have the paper
lifted bodily, the air pressed out, then the paper patted back. Ceiling
paper ought to have very small figures and delicate tones, much lighter
than those of the walls.

Fabrics of any sort are best applied to ceilings in separate lengths and
the joins covered with heavy moldings put on with brass-headed nails.
This gives much the effect of a beamed ceiling at lower cost. A ceiling
that crumbles badly should have strips of smooth deal nailed fast to it
at even distances. The fabric can then be tacked to these with no fear
of falling.

If a ceiling is too high, never put anything striped on the wall. A
heavy border apparently lowers a ceiling—all the more if it is put on
several inches below the ceiling proper, and the wall space finished to
match overhead.

=Calcimine and Whitewash=: Both are applied the same way—with soft,
broad brushes slapped back and forth until no grain shows. The surface
must be clean and free of loose particles. Wash off old calcimine with
strong soda water and let dry before applying fresh. Put on three coats,
the same as for walls. The prepared cakes are cheap and handy, but there
is more certainty and more satisfaction in home-mixing (see section
Renovators).


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                                  III

                        EQUIPMENT AND RENOVATORS


=Equipment=: These things will make house-work easier by saving strength
and temper. Being neither costly nor cumbersome, the simplest home may
well find room for them or such part of them as it needs.

=A Knee Pad=: Make of stout cloth twenty inches by twelve, stuff two
inches thick, tack in lines to hold flat, and sew oilcloth upon the
under side.

=A Foot Pad=: Make two feet square, stuff an inch and a half thick, and
tack flat. Stand on it when ironing, washing, or preparing food. It
saves strength and prevents cold feet.

=A Floor Pad=: For rubbing waxed hardwood or stained floors. Get a block
of wood, brick-shaped, hollow the upper edges on both sides so it can be
grasped, put a strap across, then cover the lower face with many
thicknesses of flannel and chamois skin. Alternate them and have leather
outside. Keep dry and away from dust.

=A Water Wagon=: Screw castors to the corners of a board a foot square.
A pail set on it can be pushed about much easier than lifted.

=Broom Bags=: Have a set of six—two each of crash, Turkish toweling, and
outing flannel. Keep clean, and be sure the drawing-tapes are not left
knotted or broken.

=Brooms=: Have at least two brooms—one stiff, one pliant. Choose fine
straw of a greenish cast rather than yellow. Eschew painted handles;
sandpaper is the remedy for rough places. Put a screw eye in the tip of
the handles and hang the brooms from hooks. Wash before hanging up.

=Floor Brushes=: A weighted brush needs to be kept dry and clean and so
set that the bristles do not crush. Choose it light rather than heavy.
See that the handle is set at the angle to suit your height and that the
bristles are of the very best quality.

=Dust Cloths=: Make of many sorts and sizes, from a foot square to half
a yard. Cheesecloth, flannel, old silk, and crash—all answer well.
Overcast edges loosely instead of hemming. Keep clean and dry in a box
or drawer.

=Dust Swabs=: Tie a handful of cotton, excelsior, or even crumpled paper
inside a soft cloth and about the end of a light rod. Use to dust walls,
floors, and ceilings, changing the cloth as it gets dirty. Sprinkling
the cloth with alcohol, turpentine, or gasolene makes it more effective
where the dust is grimy.

=A Silk Duster=: Crumple soft old silk into a big floppy rosette and
fasten to a rod. Use upon pictures and picture moldings, also on waxed
floors newly polished.

=Ironing-boards=: Shape the blanket, sew up, and fit smoothly, letting
the small end of the board project bare an inch or two. Draw taut over
the wide end and sew with flax thread. Make shaped covers of unbleached
cotton, open at the small end, rounded to fit the other and hemmed. Draw
on a cover and pin tight at the broad end. Let the seams come along the
edge of the board. Change covers after use. Have a smaller board,
similarly covered, to use when sitting down—it is laid on the knees.
Have also a covered bosom board if shirts are home-ironed, and a smooth
straight board of handy size, covered with two thicknesses of flannel
and one of clean cotton, for ironing embroidery or anything raised.

=Sprinklers=: Keep a tin sprinkler with a fine rose for dampening clean
clothes or sprinkling floors or carpets. If ammonia or alcohol is put
into the sprinkling-water, rinse the sprinkler well before putting it
away.

=A Tool Box=: Fill cracks with putty to keep out dampness, hinge on a
cover, and furnish with a padlock. Keep in it a sharp fine saw, a
hatchet, tack hammer, brace and assorted bits, chisel, monkey wrench,
screw-driver, and gimlets. Also assorted brads, tacks, wire nails, screw
hooks, screw eyes, and picture wire. A putty knife is useful. A T-square
and foot rule are indispensable. Keep the box stationary, and insist
that whatever is taken from it shall be put back in good condition.

=A Wax Board=: Cover a small clean board with flannel, sewing it firmly,
rub the flannel well over with softened—not melted—paraffine, and keep
for smoothing irons.

=A Laundry Cabinet=: Have a laundry cabinet if it is no more than starch
boxes set one on the other. Keep in it starch, soap, blueing, Javelle
water for stains, soap powder, washing-soda, irons and holders, the wax
board, and sandpaper, which is sovereign for roughened irons. Keep also
a filled pin cushion and a bundle of clean rags. Close with a roller
shade instead of door or curtain.

=A Clothes Drainer=: Tack coarse burlap over a big wooden hoop so
loosely it sags smartly. Nail stout legs to the hoop, spreading them so
a tub can be set underneath. Drop clothes sopping wet from the rinse
into the hoop, and save time, strength, and wear.

=A Lead Swab=: For use on marble, brick, or stone—especially good for
removing smoke and rust stains. Sew a pound of buckshot rather tightly
inside stout canvas, tie the canvas in chamois skin, and change the
leather as it grows soiled.

=Sawdust=: Get a peck of clean non-resinous sawdust, sift, and sun or
oven-dry. Keep dry. Use on floors, also for drying and polishing
intricate surfaces. Heat for use, but do not scorch.

=Pine Needles=: Clean pine needles, if available, should be kept for
polishing floors, either hardwood or stained. Heat very slightly and
strew them in front of the weighted brush or broom.

=Brick Dust=: Beat a soft brick to powder, sift it and keep dry. Use
with a chamois dipped in oil, else upon the cut surface of a raw potato.
Especially useful for spots on steel or for polishing pewter and copper.

=A Wall Mop=: Cut washed cheesecloth into even strips, tack as many as
can be firmly fastened to the end of a light rod, and shake free of
lint. Clean by dipping up and down in soapsuds or gasolene after use.

=Care of Brushes=: All manner of brushes, especially floor and vegetable
ones, should be washed clean, scalded by dipping to the back, no deeper,
in boiling water, then dried, brush down, in open air, and kept dry.
Whisk brooms should hang the same as full-grown ones, likewise hearth
brooms. Stand clothes and hair brushes bristles down—this so they may
not collect dust. The safest wash for them is gasolene, letting it come
only to the back, not over it. Hot borax soapsuds, likewise used, clean
without loosening the bristles.

=Renovators—Filler for New Wood=: Sift twice together half a pint of
powdered corn starch and as much whiting. Stir gradually into a half
gallon of raw linseed oil mixed with the same quantity of turpentine.
Take care there are no lumps and keep well stirred while putting on.

=Oil Stains=: Use the same mixture of oil and turpentine. For cherry put
into the gallon an ounce of Indian red, stir well through, test, if too
pale add more color. If too deep, add oil and turpentine. Work with the
wood grain in putting on any sort of stain.

=Mahogany Stain=: Four parts Indian red, three parts burnt sienna. Mix
dry and stir evenly through the oil and turpentine. Use half sienna for
a dull tone. To make stains dry quickly add a pint more turpentine and
half a pint less oil.

=Walnut Stain=: Use burnt umber, an ounce to the gallon. A little dry
ocher mixed with the umber gives a livelier tone. Red or yellow, or
both, can be put in, but must be very well mixed.

=Oak Stain=: Raw umber is the basis of oak stain; proportion and mix
like the others. Antique oak requires burnt sienna mixed well with a
very little lampblack, also to have two parts of turpentine to one of
oil. Apply it with a sponge or swab of cotton waste and rub into the
grain lines, leaving the spaces between bare.

=Wax Finish for Stained or Hardwood=: Melt over boiling water half a
pound of yellow beeswax with half a pint of sweet oil. Beat hard a
minute, take from fire, add half a cup of turpentine, and beat until
nearly cold. Keep covered in glass or earthenware. Apply soft, but not
liquid, with a clean flannel, and polish by rubbing until hot.

=Dancing-wax=: Used on Colonial ballrooms. Melt together over boiling
water a pound of yellow beeswax and half a pint of filtered neat’s-foot
oil. Add resin the size of a walnut melted in half a cup of new unsalted
butter. Beat well, take from fire, stir in a cup of turpentine, and keep
covered. Apply soft, and polish with hard rubbing.

=Furniture Polish No. 1=: Equal parts of sweet oil, choloroform, and
alcohol shaken hard together, rubbed on quickly, then polished by
rubbing until hot.

=Piano Polish=: Shake hard together equal parts of sweet oil,
turpentine, and vinegar. Add a very little naphtha, apply with silk or
flannel, and rub hard afterward.

=French Polish=: For dark wood, especially old mahogany. Melt together
over hot water ten parts pale resin, ten parts palm oil. Mix, take from
fire, add eighty parts benzine, one part essence peppermint, and half a
part essence of verbena. Keep sealed in glass, away from heat. Use away
from light or fire. Apply with soft old silk, and polish by rubbing with
very soft silk or flannel.

=The Glue Pot=: Melt glue only as required. Cover dry glue with cold
water after breaking up well, put salt water in the bath outside, bring
to a boil, then simmer until the glue ropes a little. Thin with hot
vinegar. To mend things white or light-colored, melt the clearest glue
in a china cup inside a saucepan, and thin after melting with gin
instead of vinegar.

=To Make Glue Size=: Melt a pound of glue, thin with a quart of hot
vinegar, then stir well through two to five gallons hot water, according
to the strength required.

=Vegetable Size=: Tie a gallon of wheat bran or cornmeal bran loosely in
net or cheesecloth; boil for five hours in five gallons of water,
filling up as it boils away. Add a lump of alum after the bran bag is
removed. Apply hot to walls or wood.

=Calcimine=: Stir sifted whiting into strong glue size until it is
thicker than cream. Clear with a little blueing. Thin at need with
boiling water. Tint with earth colors in powder. Red and yellow ocher
mixed give a pinkish-cream tint; yellow alone true cream. Indian red
makes pink; by adding burnt sienna the color is pinkish fawn. Yellow
ocher with burnt umber gives various shades of brown. Always mix colors
rather pale at first, try out on a board, then add what is lacking.

=Whitewashes=: Either glue or vegetable size may be the foundation. Add
a big lump of salt to five gallons of size, stir well, and pour boiling
hot upon half a peck of unslaked lime. Clear with Prussian blue and
apply very hot. For sanitary carbolic whitewash use vegetable size,
dissolving in five gallons, boiling hot, two ounces of carbolic
crystals. Then pour upon the lime and mix well. Two ounces of
copperas—green vitriol—dissolved instead of the carbolic acid gives a
faint-yellow tinge and is a good prophylactic. To kill vermin, as in
poultry houses, nest boxes, and so on, mix through a pail of hot wash
five grains of corrosive sublimate dissolved in a pint of water; put on
as a first coat, and after a while give a second coat of plain
whitewash.

=Milk Whitewash=: Stir into a gallon of sweet milk enough unslaked lime
in fine powder to make it thicker than cream. Add a teacup of
turpentine, stir well, and put on at once with a paint brush. This
sticks to smooth wood nearly the same as paint, and can be colored with
earth paints almost any shade.

=Paste for Paper-hanging=: Wet up smooth in cold water two
tablespoonfuls of flour and stir it into a gallon of water on the
bubbling boil. Stir hard to prevent lumps, add a small spoonful of
tallow, cook for several minutes, then add an ounce of alum dissolved in
half a pint of boiling water. Take from fire and add ten drops oil of
cloves.

=White Mucilage=: For mending books and making scrap books. Cover clean
gum tragacanth with cold water, let stand till dissolved, then add oil
of cloves to keep from molding. Keep in a glass jar tightly closed. This
leaves no mark.

=Gum Arabic=: For clear starching and shirt bosoms. Get four ounces of
dry gum, pick over carefully, throwing out dark pieces and blowing away
dust. Pour upon it a pint of boiling water, let stand till dissolved,
filter, and bottle. A tablespoonful added to a quart of starch gives a
high gloss. Two spoonfuls in a quart of tepid water will stiffen fine
lawn or muslin sufficiently and restore the new look.

=Paper Dough=: Crumple newspaper very soft, tear to bits, dampen, pound,
and knead well, then wet with strong glue size and knead to a dough. For
wall breaks, rat holes, filling yawning cracks, or rounding corners, mix
in plaster of Paris at the moment of application and pound in place
before the plaster sets. Mix only what can be used at once.

=White Cement=: Mix sifted whiting to a soft dough with white of egg,
for filling small holes in white walls or cracks in ceilings. Press in
with a blunt knife and smooth the surface with the blade dipped in cold
water.

=Sand and Plaster=: Sift together fine sand and plaster, wet with hot
water, and use to fill bigger breaks in a wall. Wet only a little at a
time and work quickly. Lay a board over the mortar as soon as in place,
and beat with a hammer to smooth.

=Putty=: Sift two pounds of whiting into a bowl, make a hole in the
middle, and wet with raw linseed oil, soft or stiff according to your
requirements. Knead the same as dough. To keep, pack down in glass and
pour a little oil over the top. Should be always on hand, as it is about
the most useful of the renovators.

=Cement for Glass=: Cover isinglass with gin in a glass jar, set in
sunshine until dissolved, then filter. It should be as clear as water.
For mending colored glass rub down a trifle of oil color in a spoonful
of the cement.

=Sugar Cement=: Cook to candy height the purest loaf sugar. Apply hot to
heated edges.

=Lime Water=: Pour a gallon of boiling water upon a lump of quicklime
the size of two fists. Stir hard, let settle, pour off the clear water,
bottle, and keep corked tight.

=Javelle Water=: A bleach so effectual it must not touch colors.
Dissolve half a pound of washing-soda in a pint of boiling water, and
add it to a quart of boiling water in which a quarter pound of chloride
of lime has been dissolved. Stir, let settle, pour off clear, bottle,
cork, and keep dark.

=Chloride-of-lime Water=: Pour a gallon of boiling water upon a pound of
dry chloride. Stir well, let settle, pour off clear, bottle, and keep
well corked, dark, and cool. Dissolve in wood or earthenware—metal
corrodes.

=Oxalic Acid=: Put four ounces of crystals with half a pint cold water
into a quart bottle, shake hard and often till the crystals dissolve.
This makes a saturated solution. If ragged crystals remain, add a gill
more cold water. Keep plainly labeled “Poison.” Take care not to let it
touch a scratch or fresh cut on the hands, also to keep it away from
children.

=Copperas Water=: Dissolve a heaping tablespoonful of copperas in a
gallon of boiling water. Pour through drains, sinks, or into gutters.
Sprinkle bad-smelling places plentifully with it and spray it over
green-scummed pools. It is an ideal disinfectant—cheap, odorless, and
effectual, withal safe.


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                                   IV

                      CHINA, GLASS, AND FURNITURE


=Washing Fine China=: Never soak fine china, never wash it with
scouring-soap, soap powder, nor yellow-resin soap. Unless very greasy
clean with borax water. Wipe and scrape off as much soil as possible
before washing. Have the water pleasantly warm—boiling water is ruinous.
Rinse water should be a trifle hotter than the suds. Except in
emergencies, never put on any sort of soap. Put only a few pieces at a
time into the suds, wash, rinse, and stand to drain. Have a thick cloth
on the draining-board—with very thin ware have another thick cloth over
the pan bottom. Change suds as they grow dirty. Add hot water from time
to time. Even temperature is the thing. Wipe with soft clean towels
after draining well, but before the ware is dry. Wash things in sets; as
dried lay a paper napkin between, and set away the pile upon something
soft. Squares of Turkish toweling are excellent.

Use a soft thick brush for relief or incised decorations or lace edges.
Dip it lightly in powdered borax or white soapsuds and rub steadily but
not too hard. Set things which have held milk, creams, thick soups,
sauces, or gelatine compounds in clear warm water for three minutes, and
rub away as much of what sticks to them as possible before putting them
into the suds. Soap combined with milk or gelatine makes the water
slimy, the ware sticky. Boiling water sets either milk or gelatine. If
possible, rinse and wash things soiled with them as soon as empty. In
wiping do not rub gilt borders—rather pat them dry.

Burnish half yearly with a swab of sifted whiting tied in soft silk.
Intricate gilding may have the whiting sifted on while damp and brushed
off after drying. In storing keep sets and sizes together. Set things so
they will not jostle nor clatter nor tip. Stand platters on edge in a
special grooved shelf, the biggest at the back. If piled, put something
between, less to save breakage than to prevent a possible chipping of
glaze. Things bought in cases should be stored in them, the cases set in
drawers or on low shelves. High setting invites dropping and ruinous
breakage.

=Ironstone and Majolica=: Wash in warm (not hot) suds, with a clean soft
cloth, rinse in hotter water, and wipe almost immediately. Beware of
chipping, beware also of cracking glaze by setting in heat or boiling
water. Such ware is porous enough to take up grease and other things.
Cracked or chipped dishes should not be used except to hold things like
raw fruit, bread, sandwiches, or dry stores.

=Gilt and Cut Glass=: Remove cream or jelly with a quick rinse, wash in
suds or borax water, a little more than blood-warm, using a clean soft
brush on the cuttings. Have a cloth on the pan bottom if the cutting is
deep, the article of good size. Use white soap—resin soaps get into fine
lines and stay there. Pass from suds into a hotter rinse water, turn
over and about, lift, turn upside down, then plunge into another water a
very little hotter. If the ware is very white, the third water should
have salt in it—a tablespoonful to the gallon. With glass less white,
put blueing in the third water, turn about, and set upside down upon a
thick cloth for three minutes, then put in a box and sift over hot fine
sawdust—“jeweler’s sawdust” if possible, else dust with fine whiting,
set in a warm (not hot) place and leave till dry. Brush off sawdust or
whiting with a stiff brush, polish lightly with soft old silk, and store
when fully cool.

Glass with silver inlay or incrustation must be rubbed after washing
with a chamois skin dipped in whiting. Clean decanters and claret jugs
by putting inside either a few buckshot and shaking them about in a
cupful of tepid water dashed with ammonia, or else lightly folded
squares of stiff brown paper with barely enough ammonia water to
moisten. These remove wine incrustations. If the stains are obstinate,
fill the decanter with tepid water, add a pinch of borax, and let it
stand. Tiny pills of whiting wet up with alcohol and ammonia, dried,
dropped inside, and shaken about, then dissolved out with tepid water,
leave the insides clear and bright. So do crushed egg shells.

Wash gilt and Bohemian glass—indeed, any fancy glass—with a very soft
brush and tepid white suds, rinse in hotter water, drain almost dry,
then polish with absorbent cotton dipped lightly in powdered whiting.
Iridescent and bubble glass should not be wiped. Drain instead, and
polish when ready to use with a wisp of cotton. Cameo glass, or any with
patterns in relief, must be washed with a stiff brush, in weak suds,
rinsed thoroughly, and dried in gentle, steady heat rather than wiped.

=Pressed Glass=: Wash and rinse in water the same temperature, drain,
but not too long, and wipe. Beware of linty towels. Be sure to run cloth
or mop inside water glasses, otherwise they become dull quickly. Wash
pitchers the same way; water leaves sediment—accumulations of it are
hard to remove. Imitation cuttings must be brushed—they had better be
eschewed. Plain, clear surfaces are much handsomer. Bowls set one in the
other should have paper between. Load no glass thing heavily—the rumble
or jar of a passing wagon may cause breakage if you do.

=Annealing Glass=: Annealing lessens sensibly the risk of breakage. Pack
the glass snugly in a boiler, fill with cold water, bring to a boil,
keep simmering three to four hours, then throw over a thick cloth and
let cool very slowly. Remove only when fully cold. Especially useful for
thin tumblers, lamp chimneys, and finger bowls. Put a board or a handful
of clean sticks in the bottom of the boiler, so the heat shall not break
things set lowest.

=Knives and Forks=: Have a pitcher just tall enough to hold knives, up
to the handle. Do not quite fill it with very hot borax suds, stand
knives in it, and leave till other things are out of the way, then wash
blades, wipe off handles, rinse very quickly in clear tepid water, wipe
dry, polish with a clean chamois, and hold with a clean cloth in putting
away. This to save finger marks which grow often to stains or tarnishes
upon knives seldom used. All-silver knives can be treated the same as
other silver or plated things—still pitcher-washing is as good for them
as any other. Ivory handles or pearl ones, or those of stag-horn or
composition, all are injured by either soaking or very hot water.
Carving-sets are frequently defaced hopelessly by rubbing the handles
with scouring-soap. Instead use only lather, washing it off instantly.
If suspicious of grease in the seam, wrap a fine-pointed skewer in thin
cloth and run all around, pressing hard. Wipe knife handles very dry,
else lay them for ten minutes in gentle heat to expel possible moisture
around the rivets.

=Restoring Antique Furniture=: Take out grease or ink spots (see section
Spots and Stains), then go over with a turpentine cloth sopping wet, rub
and rub and rub. Follow with an alcohol cloth and more rubbing, then a
wash in strong hot suds, followed by rubbing dry. Now take stock of the
surface. If there are dents, raise them by laying on very wet
blotting-paper and drying it with a blazing-hot iron. Repeat if
necessary—steam does the work. Sandpaper away scratches, or rub them
with emery and a little oil, or scrape with broken glass. Go over again
with turpentine to remove the last traces of varnish or grime. Then
sandpaper to a new surface, and either oil, varnish, or give a wax
finish (see section Renovators).

Before resurfacing drive up loose dowels, wedging them tight, glue
afresh rickety joins, strengthening them further with slender brads
driven in from the under side. Glue broken bits in place—if they are
missing, make the break smooth and fit into it a new piece. Cut the old
wood, slanting outward—thus it is possible to drive very short brads
from underneath. A vise helps greatly in such repairs—the harder held
the pieces, the firmer and less visible the join. After it is dry,
sandpaper; if the new wood fails to match the old, stain and rub down
before waxing or polishing. Tiny gaps can be filled with putty mixed
with dry color approaching that of the wood. This will take either oil
stain or a wax finish.

Tighten rickety drawers so they slide easily. Remedy bad feet by
chiseling out shattered wood and putting in plugs of sound wood to hold
the castors. Glue in the new plugs, also nail them fast. Grease the
points of nails to save splitting the old wood. Set them invisibly and
drive gently, but see that they go fully home. Remove glass or brass
mounting while resurfacing. Clean and brighten them (see section Brass)
before replacing. Tighten metal linings about keyholes with putty, put
on inside. All padding, upholstery, or baize tops must, of course, be
taken wholly away. Save them, no matter how ragged, as patterns for new
stuff.

Refinish and repair frames thus stripped before recovering. Very
handsome things had better be put in professional hands unless you have
practised upon plainer ones. It is a waste of strength and material to
put handsome new covers over musty padding or to botch and pucker
hopelessly through inexperience. In the courage of her economies a
clever woman learns quickly the knack of upholstery. Minute directions
are impossible—each sofa or couch or easy chair is so much a law unto
itself. In a general way, have all necessary things handy—as covering
muslin, webbing, springs, tacks, twine, upholsterer’s needles, moss or
curled hair, brads in variety, sharp shears, and stout pliers for
dragging through reluctant needles. Press out old covers and use as
patterns for the new. Model your work as nearly as possible on what you
took away. Remember always before fastening on covers to mark the middle
of them and set it accurately to the middle of the frame, tacking it
thence both ways. Pad arms and backs first, then basket-weave webbing
across the bottom, drawing it very taut, put on springs, fasten them
with twine to the webbing, lay thin cloth over, put a thick layer of
stuffing upon it, then fit the muslin cover and tack smoothly to the
frame. Tuft or leave plain according to style and period. Cut the
ornamental covering very accurately, sew together, following the
original, fit smooth, and cover the edges with gimp. With figured
material, cut so the boldest figure shall appear in the middle of back
and seat or equidistant from ends of the panels of long sofas. Practise
upon something cheap—here as everywhere else experience is the best
teacher.

=Care of Antiques=: Old mahogany, rose-wood, ebony, cherry, or walnut
differ little in their requirements. Each and several, they film over.
To brighten, wash in warm (not hot) naphtha soapsuds, wetting only a
little space at a time, wiping it quickly with a cloth wrung from clear
hot water, and as quickly rubbing dry. Washing complete, rub hard with
old silk or flannel, then apply either French polish, piano polish, or
wax finish (see section Renovators). Put this on with a soft cloth and
rub in until the surface burns your hand. Washing is necessary about
half yearly, except in rooms where there is a great deal of gas or
candlelight and much greasy vapor. Dinner tables in steady use ought to
be washed and polished monthly. Rub deep carvings with chamois over the
point of a blunt skewer, changing its place every little while.

=Brass Bedsteads=: Respect their lacquer. Keep water far from them,
likewise alcohol, gasolene, or naphtha. Smears may be wiped off with
cloths slightly damp, followed by wiping with one dry and soft. Wipe
dust away with softened cheesecloth, remove finger marks by gentle
rubbing with crumpled soft silk or old flannel. Have a thick soft brush
to take dust from carving or curled rails. Wipe off grease with soft
flannel and polish the spot with a very little sifted chalk or whiting
on a clean cloth. Tarnish is a proof that lacquer has been destroyed—the
remedy is relacquering, but mitigate until that is possible by oxalic
acid or vinegar and salt (see section Renovators).

Brass trimmings upon enamel bedsteads, cribs, etc., need the same care.
So do brass frames, trays, etc. Elaborate chasings can be brightened
without injury by coating thickly with powdered starch, letting it stand
a day, then brushing it away.

=Mission Furniture and Fumed Oak=: Dust real mission pieces with a soft
damp cloth followed by a dry one barely sprinkled with turpentine. Use
any good leather dressing on seats and backs. Neat’s-foot oil and
beeswax, equal quantities, melted over hot water with twice their bulk
of turpentine, is a good thing, and safe. Apply soft but not liquid, put
on barely enough to rub over the leather, and rub until absorbed. For
fumed and Flemish oak use a soft, thick dust brush, followed by a thick
cloth slightly dampened. If greasy or grimy, wash very quickly in hot
naphtha soapsuds, wipe dry, and rub until hot. Once a year rub very
lightly over with sweet oil, turpentine, and alcohol, equal parts,
shaken well together. Varnished pieces can have thin white varnish
instead of alcohol. Put on with flannel and rub till hot.

=Gilt Furniture=: Dust well, and either sift on whiting, let stand an
hour, and brush off or cover a little at a time with whiting and
alcohol, as thick as cream, let stand three minutes, wipe with a damp
cloth, and rub dry with old silk or flannel. Take away specks of whiting
or tarnish with a swab of chalk tied in silk and wet with alcohol. Cork
sawdust tied tight in chamois makes a good burnisher if high polish is
desired. Garlands, bow knots, and traceries need to be rubbed out with a
blunt skewer inside a clean leather and polished the same way, using
silk or flannel in place of leather.

=Gilt Frames=: Cover with the cream of whiting and alcohol after wiping
and brushing away all possible dust. Remove and polish as above
directed. Repair breaks and chippings with plaster wet with white of
egg, and paint with the finest gold paint, then burnish. Take off fly
specks with a cloth dipped in alcohol, and rub away any obstinate dark
specks or remnant of whiting with the same cloth.

=Upholstered Furniture=: Cover the stuffings with a bath towel, whip
lightly, shaking the towel whenever it shows dust, then brush evenly
with a soft bristle brush, wipe out the tuftings with a swab of cotton
tied in silk on the point of a blunt skewer. Wipe quickly all over with
a flannel wrung dry out of hot water, following with a cloth wet in
alcohol. Change or wash the cloths as they grow dirty, especially upon
delicate colors. Neither cloths nor swabs must be wet enough to leave
marks. Alcohol, properly used, will leave no trace upon anything. Wash
the wood in white soapsuds, about blood-warm, wipe dry, and rub with a
flannel sprinkled with kerosene. This for ordinary wood; very fine
things, and especially inlaid ones, had better have sweet oil and
turpentine on the polishing-cloth, and not too much.

Upholstery can be dry-cleaned with starch and whiting sifted together
and applied thickly all over it. Let stand a day, in sunshine if
possible, then brush off, going over and over. If there are grimy
spaces, wet them with alcohol before putting on the powder. Brush hard,
and if flecks remain take them off with a cloth wet in alcohol.

=Wicker Furniture=: Scrub raw wicker with a stiff brush and white
soapsuds, rinse, dry quickly, then brush over with turpentine, sweet
oil, and alcohol, equal parts, mixed, then one-fifth their bulk of thin
varnish added. Coat well. When dry, rub over with a thick soft cloth.

Dust gilt or enameled wicker very clean, wash quickly in weak tepid
suds, wipe, and sift on whiting and corn starch, let stand half an hour,
and brush off. Dry-cleaning alone suffices for things not much soiled.
Instead of sifting, the starch and chalk or whiting may be tied tight in
coarse net and used as a swab. Take out spots and stains (see section
Spots and Stains) before cleaning.

=Porch Furniture=: Porch furniture, whether rattan, rustic, or bamboo,
needs only to be dusted, well and quickly, washed in tepid suds, dried,
and rubbed liberally all over with crude kerosene and creosoted
turpentine (see section Renovators). Dry in air, but away from sun; do
the work, however, if possible, upon a dry, sunny day.

=Enameled Iron=: Resurface things as they chip (see section Making
Whole). Wash clean in tepid suds after dusting, wipe dry, then rub over
lightly with sweet oil and alcohol, equal parts, with a teaspoonful of
thin varnish added to the pint and well shaken.

=Sundry Preventions=: Crumple tissue paper thickly over upholstered
furniture before putting on covers—it saves from wear, dust, and fading.
Newspapers pasted into big sheets and spread over floor, bed, dresser,
and couch in spare rooms likewise catch dust and stop light. They can be
gathered up in a few minutes; take care, though, to lift edges first and
shake dust inward, then fold. Where sunshine falls upon matting a double
thickness of paper saves fading. Narrow lengths either to hang or pin
about draperies will keep the draperies fresh. Paper is as nearly
impervious to dust as almost anything known. Paper bags tied over gas
globes, brass door knobs, and candlesticks prevent both dust and
tarnish. Also there is no better summer ambush for articles of “bigotry
and virtue” than a thick swathing of tissue paper inside a paper bag.
Newspaper has further the merit of discouraging moths—they hate
printers’ ink the same as other plunderers. Shut down windows upon
newspaper, letting it fall well over the inner sill, and there will be
no fading of paint there nor cakings of dust.

Glue rounds of felt to the feet of all things not furnished with castors
if you would save polished floors from marking. A brad or two, driven
upward, the heads well sunk, will add stability. Old soft hats will
furnish the rounds. Instead, you may use a contrivance now in market,
which is practically the same thing, also cheap and convenient.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   V

                              MAKING WHOLE


=Rickety Furniture=: Scrape or file away old glue from loosened joins,
cover with fresh glue very hot (see section Renovators). Tie fast
together or put in a vise, protecting the jaws of it with thick paper,
and let stand two days. Reinforce then underneath with iron—a light
angle iron for corners, strap iron with holes punched along each edge
for straight breaks. Small light metal hinges often answer admirably.
Screw everything firmly in place, then scrape away oozing of glue
outside, sandpaper, and refinish.

A jagged break needs glue extra thick and hot. Brush it well into broken
fibers, both ends, press them together, fasten firmly, let harden,
scrape away oozings, and screw on strap iron with holes an inch apart in
the edges. Put it inside or underneath, and if it shows, as on chair or
table legs, paint to match the wood, and varnish when dry.

Fine brads, driven in alternately, slantwise, on the under side, will
hold cracks fast, but not so fast as strap iron. Hinges set in an angle
need a little wood gouged away so they may lie flat against the wood.
Fill gaps in a splintered surface with putty colored to match.

=Glass and China=: No cement ever made at home or commercially will bear
long soaking in hot water or suds. Hard usage is also impossible.
Notwithstanding, mending is well worth while, wherefore save the pieces,
and especially save tiny splinters. Otherwise your mending will be vain.
Twice a year have a mending-day, saving up breakage against it. Work at
a steady table set in good light but not glaring. Have a white table
cover, a bowl of hot water, a cup of alcohol, plenty of clean rags,
several camel’s-hair brushes of varying size, a tumbler of water to hold
them when not in use, plenty of twine, tying-tape, new rubber bands in
variety, a pair of swinging weights, and on the floor, out of the way, a
box half full of damp earth or sand. You need in addition squares of
deal or cardboard for setting out of the way mended things. Also a pound
of putty mixed stiff and, if mending ornaments, gold paint and colors in
powder.

With a simple clean fracture, as across a platter, wash edges very
clean, using a brush and suds, rinse in hot water, then coat thickly
with pure white lead rubbed thicker than cream in raw linseed oil. Set
the larger fragment, break up, perpendicularly in the box of sand. It
must stand plumb. Fit the other piece to it, and hang evenly across it
the swinging weights, which are but a strip of strong cloth doubled up
into pockets at each end and filled with buckshot or pebbles, which must
balance accurately. Their use is to make the join firm and fine—in fact,
barely visible. Leave standing several days, then file or sandpaper off
surplus lead. Lead-mending is the most durable of all.

Mend thin china with white of egg and quicklime. Beat the egg stiff,
coat clean edges thickly with it, dust with powdered unslaked lime,
press hard together at once, and fasten firmly. The lime sets as in
mortar. Sandpaper the break after a week. This is a good cement for
opaque glass as well.

Hollow things, as cups, bowls, etc., should be set over crumpled paper
upon a round of cloth, with a drawstring in the edge just big enough to
cover them halfway. Draw up the string very carefully after mending, and
fasten. The secret of good mending is to have things held fast.

Rubber bands help mightily. String half a dozen strong ones on a tape
and tie about the neck or base of anything so rounding strings slip.
Join the broken part, then put another tape through the bands, and lift
it steadily until you can fasten it about the neck or over the top. The
bands must be the same size, and draw equally. After tying the tapes set
a weight on top of the broken thing. Loop rubber bands around broken-off
handles, set them in place, then string a tape through the bands, draw
them together, and pass the tape twice around the body of the vessel.

Build up shattered things bit by bit about cores of putty covered with
wax paper. This if shape admits taking out the putty. Narrow-mouthed
things had better have cores of absorbent cotton wound with wax paper.
It can be picked out bit by bit, using a hook. Putty likewise can be dug
or rasped out, but not so easily. Things very badly broken need to be
mended in sections, joining scraps and fitting in splinters. Fill
cavities outside and in with either soft putty or plaster mixed with
white of egg. A backing of putty inside seams makes them secure. Keep
clean fingers while mending. Also keep broken bits clean. If a mend
fails, soak off cement and begin over. White lead must be taken off with
turpentine. But failure with it is rare.

If a handle-break goes through in a vase or ewer fit inside the hole a
lump of putty, then cement edges, and press together, holding something
against the putty and spreading it all over the break. Hard, it makes an
indestructible join. Water will not affect it; still, such a vessel had
better be kept for show.

=Glass=: Mend glass as directed for china, but use white cement, gum
arabic, or sugar syrup (see section Renovators). Press breaks hard
together and fasten firmly. If it is possible to expel every bit of air,
the break will be scarcely visible. For colored glass rub dry color
smooth in a little white cement and apply with a very fine brush. Repair
breaks in gilt glass, after mending, with gold paint. Do the same for
gilt china, and touch up with matching colors any flaws in the pattern.

=Mending Bric-à-brac=: Mend broken ivory with a few drops of fish glue
such as shoe-makers use. Press very hard together, wipe off oozings
clean, fasten, wrap in cotton, then in paper, put in a vise and screw
firmly but not too hard. Metal ornaments can be either soldered or
repaired with sealing-wax and resin, melted together over boiling water
and applied very hot. Join broken bisque and clay figures with white of
egg and powdered unslaked lime unless it is possible to get from a
potter a little regular luting. Mend torn or loosened leather with fish
glue, and put under heavy weight.

=Mending Books=: Take out of the covers, press square and solid, then
paste over the back a strip of stout thin muslin, letting the edges
project unpasted an inch either side. Dry under pressure, so the muslin
will be fully rounded. Turn back the loose muslin accurately along the
edge, paste it plentifully on the outer sides, then lay on the cover,
press firmly in place, and dry under weight. When dry, paste in new fly
leaves double fold. Paste the outer one to the cover, the inner one only
lightly to the book. Removing old fly leaves spotted or defaced makes a
better job of it.

=Mending Lamps and Candlesticks=: Fasten loose lamp collars with white
of egg and plaster; make as thick as putty and use quickly. Solder
broken metal parts. Dust with powdered resin, lay on the stick of
solder, and apply the hot iron. Tinkering thus needs only a little
knack. It enables you to stop leaks in zinc or tin—as pipes, shields,
and so on. Cooking-vessels are quite another story.

=Mending Rubber=: This is a parlous business at best, still can be done.
Get the best rubber cement, have the break very clean, apply, and let
harden for a day at least. Breaks in hose, tubes, and so on had better
be cloth-covered—after mending, of course. Indeed, the life of such
things is trebled by covering them neatly before they break. Cut strips
of cloth wide enough to go round, allow half an inch for turned edges,
fold down, and whip together around the hose or tube. A big pipe can
have a cover of canvas stitched up. Covering protects the surface and
takes up a large part of the water strain. Fill breaks in rubber
footgear with rubber cement, let harden, then put inside over the break
a piece of strong, thin cloth, shaped to fit and coated upon one side
with fish glue. The glue goes next the rubber; after it has hardened it
takes the strain.

=Darning=: Darning is an art, so much so one may well say there are torn
things not worth a darn. If they are woolen things, mend with rubber
tissue, smoothing the tear with a warm iron, then laying on the tissue
and fixing it with a hotter one. Press again on the right side, and clip
close any loose fibers.

=Linen, Silk, and Stuff=: Lay under the break stiff paper spread with
net matching in color, press with a warm iron, baste before lifting
lightly, take up and baste again about the edges. Match thread to
fabric; use a fine needle, go back and forth with very short running
stitches, catching the net below, but taking only as deep hold in the
outside as will make a firm mend. Beware puckers. When finished, cut
away surplus net and press on the wrong side, then under a cloth on the
right. If a tiny hole is to be filled in, tack it smooth over stiff
paper, then with ravelings of the stuff or thread exactly matching go
over the warp way, setting thread for thread, barely catching at the
ends, then weave in cross threads, same as the original fabric, and
press. Or the hole can be cut to a tiny square after basting on paper
and a matched square inserted and darned in all round. This had better
have net under it so the join may not pull apart.

Machine-darn table linen as soon as it shows threadbare spots, putting
them in an embroidery hoop and stitching back and forth the way of the
missing threads. White net underneath strengthens, but with napkins and
tea cloths it is better left off. A cloth broken along the middle fold
can be darned thus over net. But it is easier and better to split it
evenly, hem the split edges, and trim them with lace, then join the
selvages with a row of coarse insertion, herringboned in with coarse
linen thread.

=Darning Stockings=: Children’s stockings last much longer for ripping
to the calf when new and machine-darning inside them, over the knees,
sound old tops. Sew up loosely. Darn strong net or thin stockinet
loosely inside heels and toes; when the stockings come in holes, rip out
this first application, cover your darning-egg with fresh net, set the
hole over it, taking care not to stretch it, whip down all round
loosely, then darn as usual, running threads through the net and cutting
away surplusage when finished.

Silk stockings should always be darned on net, matching colors of net
and darning-floss. Tack lace insets or embroidery smooth upon white
stiff paper and fill in breaks with lace stitches or new embroidery.
Mend a running break—colloquially, a ladder—by catching the errant
stitch, sewing it fast, then filling the raveled space with very fine
herringbone. Fill holes in the instep, or heel, above slipper height,
with loose buttonhole stitches in matching silk, going across and back,
catching each stitch after the first row in the top of the one below it.
Make neither tight nor slack. Infinite patience and a very fine crochet
hook enable one to fill such breaks with real stocking-weaving. Ravel
the break to a line, take up the stitches on a very fine thread, then
fasten on silk and draw up in loops, keeping them on the needle. Fasten
to the side and work back, drawing a new stitch through each one already
on the needle. Repeat till the hole is full, then draw stitches through
those in the upper edge, which has been likewise raveled straight. Only
very costly stockings are worth such pains.

=Coarse Mending=: Boys and men wear holes at knees, elbows, and on
seats. Rip seams, cut the holes square, match new squares, and stitch,
press, and sew up. Seat holes need not be cut clear across-only as far
as the break. Cut corners diagonally the depth of a seam, but not too
deep. Lacking cloth for such repairs, take note when clothes show
threadbare in such spots, lay other cloth under, and machine-darn
thickly with matching thread, fine rather than coarse. Such prevention
often outlasts the patch cure besides being more presentable.

=Mending Bed Clothes=: Fine threadbare blankets are worth darning. Wash
well and darn with soft wool, using a large-eyed needle. Avoid
puckering. Darn warp way first, then go across. Cut ragged edges smooth,
and overcast loosely with colored wool rather than bind. Darn tears on
net, using silk or flax, rather fine. Beware making mends hard and
lumpy. Comforts should be untacked, the stuffing, whether cotton, wool,
or down, aired and washed at need, the outsides made into rags, and new
covers provided for the padding. Cheesecloth unbleached lasts and
launders well. Make pocket covers of it, half a yard deep, for the tops
of comforts breaking there and nowhere else.

Old muslin rarely pays for mending more elaborate than running together
slits. Wide sheets can have the thin centers torn out, the selvages
joined, and raw edges hemmed, thus turning them into single-bed size.
Handsome linen sheets, when they break along the hem-stitching, should
be cut there, hemmed neatly each side, and joined with strong narrow
linen insertion, or beading, or linen braid crocheted in a straight line
down either side. Embroidered pillow and bolster cases, when the body
wears, should have the embroidery cut off and joined thus with insertion
or crochet work to new bodies—it will last as long. Handsome monograms
and _motifs_ should be transferred from old linen to new. Cut out,
neatly baste on new stuff, and sew down all round with fine needle,
thread, and stitches. If there are holes in the pattern, pierce them and
sew over well, using slightly coarser thread. Press before sewing, and
be careful not to draw the work.

=Mending Lace=: Transfer figures from heavy laces, such as hand-run
Spanish, to new net grounds, first cleaning them carefully, and dipping,
if rusty, in stale beer or water in which a raw Irish potato has been
grated. Drain without squeezing, press while damp, then cut out and
arrange upon the new ground, which has been stretched smooth over paper.

Point lace, being needle-made, can be needle-mended as good as new. Tack
smooth upon waxed linen or stiff paper, study the breaks, and fill them
with the same stitch, using the same thread. If the ground is badly
broken, expedite work by laying under a bit of fine net, matching the
mesh, and sewing the figures to it. Lace stitches can be learned from
any book on needlework, and are none of them difficult. Irish crochet
wears out all over commonly—tears or breaks, though, can be filled with
a crochet hook, matching stitch and thread.

Mend lace curtains by laying new net under breaks and either sewing
figures to it or, in case of tender old fabrics, wetting with starch and
pressing with a hot iron. The starch mend will last as long as the
curtain. Tiny tears can be thus starch-mended to advantage at any stage.

=Furniture=: Threadbare coverings, as damask, brocatelle, and tapestry,
require deft darning with a fine needle—several fine needles, indeed,
and matched silks. Follow the pattern as nearly as possible in putting
in stitches. Put worn hangings into an embroidery frame and work boldly
in coarse silks or wool, keeping to the color scheme and using as far as
possible the woven pattern, but making the new figures hide blemishes.
Remove linings before embroidering, press on the wrong side, and, if too
limp, stiffen slightly with gum water (see section Renovators).

=Fur Sewing and Mending=: Fur sewing takes courage as much as skill. All
fur is mended before making up. Art lies in cutting patches accurately
and setting them in so the fur lies with that around it. To fill in a
moth-eaten spot rip out linings and enough seams to let the fur lie
flat, then chalk-mark the smallest space that will remove the moth
patch. Cut through along the mark with a sharp-pointed knife, then lay
the hole upon the patch fur and shift until it matches in color and
growth. Mark all round, take off the garment, cut the patch with your
sharp knife just outside the marking. Fit into the hole, tack lightly in
four places, turn, sew the cut edges together, taking stitches close and
barely deep enough to hold. Turn every little while, smooth seam, and
look for puckers; if any rip, sew over. Sewing done, press seam hard
with the thimble on something flat, then turn and press on right side
with the end of the thumb. Manipulate until the skin edges lie one
against the other. Fur garments can be remodeled at home with just such
sewing. Shape, piece, or mend, sew together, and reline. Very tiny bits
can be used many ways, wherefore save them religiously. Tails that have
been partly moth-eaten or lost hair should have the bare lengths cut
out, the remnants neatly joined. Long furs, such as marten, mink, skunk,
and fox, are not easier than seal, beaver, and so on, but less apt to
show bungling work. Astrakan is so soft and crinkly it sews almost like
cloth.

=Carpets, Matting, and Rugs=: Make carpets as clean as possible before
mending. Darn with wool and upholsterer’s needles as they lie on the
floor, matching thread to pattern, unless the pattern is worn away. Cut
bad spots square, or to straight edges, snip corners, turn under edges,
fit in a square, turn down its edges, trimming at corners to avoid
lumps, safety-pin at each corner, turn over and whip turned edges fast,
then cover with damp cloth and press. Shift stair carpets often enough
to get equal wear all over. Have an extra step length and turn it under
at top or bottom to make shifting easy.

Dyeing helps a faded carpet mightily. Put it down clean with thick paper
under, wipe over with clarified ox gall in tepid water, then with clear
water, wringing the cloth dry, then paint with a thick soft brush dipped
lightly in hot dye. Use the color predominant in the room, no matter
about the pattern. Rub the dye in well, but do not slop nor sop it.
Treat fine matting, especially in rug form, the same way. Figures will
show through, but not unpleasantly. Even a grass rug takes color
readily. Hang smooth and wet thoroughly, let stand to set, then wash
with weak suds. Dye on both sides. Carpets and mattings must be dyed on
one side only and washed lightly, after the color sets, with suds, then
wiped over with either vinegar and water or weak alum water.

Rug-mending needs a volume; here it gets only a paragraph. For breaks,
tears, moth-eaten or worn spots lay smooth upon something soft and
sleazy—wool crash is excellent, so is basket-woven serge. Flannel will
answer; at a pinch so will burlap. Fasten so thread runs true with those
of the rug. If the original fabric shows appreciably, darn it down on
the patch, matching the darning-wool to the colors. If there is a
yawning hole, put the wool double in a very big needle, stick through
from the top, bring up again in almost the same place. Tie to the end
above, stick back, stick up again, repeat, varying thread, until the
whole space is covered with woolly loops. Cut them through, then trim
smooth with very sharp shears, comb with a coarse comb, and trim again.
Moth-eaten moquette carpet can be treated the same way, using as many
needles as there are colors in the pattern.

=Care of Gloves=: Pull off gloves over the hand, not by tugging at
finger tips; this is the first commandment. The second is, Never crumple
them. Let lie open from the hand until dry, then smooth, wrap in tissue
paper, and put away. Sew fastenings the minute they show loose. Mend at
the first ripped stitch. Glove powder shaken inside before putting away
after wearing keeps them fresher. Either patch holes in thumb and
fingers with very thin kid, else cut off the worn sections almost to the
palm, shape new sections from old kid, sew on, then sew in. Color gray
spots on the fingers of black kid gloves with a few drops of ink rubbed
well through other drops of sweet oil. In cleaning with gasolene put on
gloves, fasten smooth, and begin work at the top of the wrist—there will
be circles otherwise, especially in long gloves. Wash as though washing
hands, using a very soft cloth or wisp of cotton. Change gasolene as
soon as dirty. Rub afterward well with starch and whiting, powdered.

=Cleaning Furs=: Brush well, comb twice—against grain and with it—wipe
over with soft flannel, then with a wisp of cotton tied in old silk and
dipped lightly in gasolene or benzine or ether. Ether is best for white
furs. Work quickly, changing the cloth if it grows dirty. Comb up again,
and sift over hot cornmeal or sifted sawdust, rub it well through the
fur, up, down, crosswise, shake out, and hang to air. White furs after
shaking out should be covered thick with starch and whiting in fine
powder, mixed with enough powder blue to clear. Let lie several days,
then shake out, brush hard, and wipe over very quickly with a soft damp
cloth. Dry-clean light and fancy linings by gentle, steady rubbing with
a swab of starch and whiting tied in soft silk or cheesecloth. Put a few
drops of ether or gasolene on soiled spots, rub hard with the swab, then
with a clean cloth, dipped in powdered chalk.

Furs worn in dusty wind or a foul atmosphere need to be well combed,
brushed against the grain, and aired quickly. Dry wet furs in air, but
away from heat. Stretch and knead them several times while drying to
keep the skin pliable. Shake hard at first, hang smooth, and let drain.
Unless very wet, only dampness will reach the skin if they are so
treated. Snow shaken off before melting is a help rather than a hurt.
Indeed, a good way to clean fur rugs is to drag them, hair down, over
dry snow. Clean on the floor by sprinkling thickly with hot meal or
sawdust, rubbing in well and brushing out, then combing.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   VI

                         MAKING AND MAKING OVER


Wherewithal to make of is the first requisite. Here follow some simple
tests easily applicable and well worth while. Use upon samples, and buy
accordingly. Things over-cheap, it may be said in passing, carry their
condemnation in their price. Buying them is extravagance, since they
cost as much in time, trouble, and often in money for making up as sound
stuffs and make no adequate return in wear.

=Silk=: Test silk three ways—by tearing, scraping with the thumb nail,
and burning. Try to tear a raw edge across the filling. If it is easily
done the filling is either artificial or so loaded it will give no wear.
Weak warp is even worse—with warp and filling both easily rent, the
stuff is wholly bad. Pull out a few threads both ways and test their
strength separately. Easy breaking means that they are loaded with
earthy or metal salts to give weight and firmness without wear. Scrape
the surface diagonally with the thumb nail. If threads slip under the
scraping, let that particular silk alone. Rub well between the
fingers—pure silk feels smooth and soft; that which is loaded, crisp,
even harsh. Some silks have the face pure, the back loaded—wherefore
test both sides. End by burning a bit. Real silk does not burn readily,
and leaves a black ash. Weighted or loaded silk flashes up, burns
swiftly, and leaves behind a dull-red ash.

=Woolens=: Test by raveling out and burning. Untwist a raveled
thread—fibers of even, moderate length show pure wool. If there are a
few fibers with clots all along them the cloth is most shoddy—that is to
say, old wool ground up and mixed before spinning with a little new.
After-treatment makes it look well, but there is mighty little wear.
Snap a raveling between the hands—the harder the breaking the better the
goods. Soak a few threads in a little alcohol. This to test the color. A
tinge in the alcohol is to be expected, but if it becomes deep-colored,
and especially if it becomes muddy, the dyeing is bad. Cotton mixture
before spinning betrays itself in burning. Light a few threads or a
snippet—the smell will tell the truth.

=Linen=: Test linen in much the same fashion: ravel, untwist a thread,
and draw gently till resolved into original fibers. Cotton will show
soft, even a little fuzzy, in spite of mercerizing. Linen is woven from
flax fibers, which are always straight and thready, no matter how fine.
Burning gives out the smell of cotton where there is an appreciable
mixture. Test for fading by wetting in white soapsuds and drying in
sunshine or in front of a fire.

=Cottons=: Prints, muslin, lawns, sheeting, and so on, should be torn
across and lengthwise to test strength, nail-scraped, and rubbed betwixt
the fingers to discover if they are dressed too much, and dried in
sunshine for fading. Use will soften the fastest colors. In buying for
children get extra stuff and send it to wash each time with the frocks,
so when needed for re-making there shall be no glaring contrast.

=Forethought:= Begin before the beginning if you would sew easily. Set a
machine, well cleaned and oiled, where the light will fall over the
operator’s shoulder. For dressmaking, cover the floor with a sheet of
unbleached muslin tacked down smooth. Have a form for fitting, a tall
mirror, a table, with drop leaves if possible, and two bentwood chairs,
with a low rocker for basting and pressing in. At the right hand of it
hang on the wall a thin board with wire nails driven from the back in
treble row. Upon one row stick basting-spools, upon others spools of
silk, cotton, and twist. Upon a shorter upper row put cheap thimbles.
Have screw hooks at bottom for hanging shears, small scissors, tape
measure, pencil, and needle book. A screw eye in each upper corner of
the board slipped over nails or screw-hooks will hold it fast.

Hang a similar board on the wall back of the machine, and furnish the
nails in it with spools of thread—all sorts the machine may require. Put
a hook at bottom for special machine scissors, and hang upon another
hook a small, flat, open pocket to hold wisps of absorbent cotton for
wiping off oil, a tiny bottle of alcohol for removing spots of it, and a
couple of finger stalls and two short bandages to save pricked fingers
from making blood spots. A starch bag, very porous, for covering such
spots instantly, is also advisable with fine light-colored work.

Tack against the wall over the table a square of denim holding three
long pockets, set crosswise, for patterns. Keep patterns folded flat,
not rolled. Press smooth before using, and let lie till cool, so they
will not curl. Hang a small well-filled pincushion below the pattern
pockets, also leaves of flannel filled with basting-needles. Set close
by a firm-standing waste basket with a wide mouth. Throw into it all
useless clippings as fast as made.

=Cutting Out:= Spread plain-surfaced things, as silk, linen, serge, and
lighter woolens, double upon the table, which must be at full length.
Lay on patterns, having regard to warp and woof threads. Let warp run up
and down, woof around. In cutting a bodice the woof threads should make
a sort of belt. Thus they pull true, and the seams are an easy bias. Lay
on the whole pattern as nearly as space allows, and study economy of
material in arranging the pieces, but not at the cost of getting threads
wrong. Cut with sharp shears, taking care to allow for seams when
requisite. Lay off pieces as cut out, but keep the cloth steady by means
of light weights. Patterns are best pinned in place, but with long
lines, as skirts or draperies, books laid on as weights are better,
besides being easier.

Things with a nap, as broadcloth and corduroy, must not be cut with
cloth double from each end. If the goods is double-fold, cutting double
is desirable. Otherwise cut so the nap runs the same in each piece. This
also applies in case of figured stuffs with a decided up and down. To
make a waist or coat pattern smaller lay a crosswise plait from armhole
to edge, and cross it with a lengthwise one of equal width. Enlarge a
pattern by cutting it across instead of plaiting it and pasting in
strips of paper. Alter skirt lengths usually at the bottom; either fold
up or allow extra. If too wide, fold down along each edge to keep
proportions.

=Basting:= Baste shoulder seams with the upper half of the fronts
stretched tight, the back held a little full. Pressing heals the
puckers, which give the smooth fit over the hollow of the shoulder not
otherwise attainable. Use fine firm thread for basting, with a
large-eyed needle. Take medium running stitches in seams to be fitted;
with edges to be held for sewing together make the stitches very long,
and set them so far back the stitching will not catch them.

=Pressing:= Have a small board covered with flannel, then with muslin,
for pressing. An alcohol stove for heating irons saves time and trouble.
Keep it with the iron inside a handy box, upon which it can be set when
lighted. Do not damp woolen things before pressing. Moisten silk very
slightly, linen rather more, and cotton, as in linings, most of all.
Press rounding seams, such as armholes and rolling collars, over the end
of the board. Press sleeve seams with the small end of the board inside.
Sew up and press outer sleeve seams before sewing inner ones. Do the
same with very tiny trousers. Where pressing must be done on the right
side cover with a thin cloth very slightly dampened.

=Things Applied:= Lace, insertion, _motifs_, and so on, need to be set
on the cloth and sewed firmly in place, then to have the cloth cut out
underneath. Turn cut edges back and stitch or sew again. Ribbon
trimmings, unless gathered, are best put on by hand, with very long
stitches on the wrong side, very short ones on top. Bands or borders
applied as hems should be sewed on to the edge, turned over it, not flat
with it, then basted down and stitched at the upper edges. Hold true in
sewing on—a pucker or stretching ruins the fit. Miter corners very
neatly, and stitch upon the wrong side. In putting in a fold or piping
baste with the double edge even with the edge of the garment, or the
band, then turn over and baste before stitching. Hold lace a little full
on rounding edges so it shall not hoop nor draw.

Make fancy yokes, put on the collar, then arrange smoothly on the form,
put over the bodice, fit together, and set a thick row of pins where
they are to join. If the bodice edge is finished, pin together—if it is
to be sewn in, leave it free. An overlapping yoke had better have the
bodice cut almost full height, and the surplus cut away after the yoke
is put on.

=Making Over:= Begin making over by refurbishing—cleaning, dyeing,
pressing, turning. Rip, pick out stitches, take out spots, and brush.

=Dyeing:= Dyeing is easy. Use cotton or woolen dyes according to need.
But first wash stuffs very clean. Discharge color by soaking several
hours in suds, or cream-of-tartar solution, boiling half an hour in
clear water, and dye while still hot. Have a roomy dye pot, drop into it
all parts of a garment at once to make the new color uniform. Have the
stuff loosely crumpled, stir down instantly with a clean wooden stick.
Lift after a minute to air, stir down again, and finish according to
directions. Each dye has its own special limitations. Knitted woolens,
as sweaters, caps, and so on, must not be soaked nor boiled, only washed
quickly, covered with clear hot water, let stand a minute, then squeezed
out and put into the pot. Silk should not be washed unless very dirty;
clean with gasolene instead, but wet with clear hot water before dyeing.
If it loses body after washing, dip into stale beer or weak gum water
(see section Renovators) or else stiffen with weak sugar water, and iron
while damp. A black kid glove cut up and boiled in a gallon of water
till reduced one-half makes a good stiffener for black silk, also for
mixtures of silk and wool. This, whether they are dyed or merely washed.
So does stale beer.

Tack lace to strips of cloth before dyeing and leave on them till washed
and pressed. Dyed net had better be partly dried in crumpled heaps after
washing, then stiffened and pressed.

=Gasolene-cleaning=: Take out spots (see section Spots), then plunge in
a clean vessel, pour on gasolene to cover, wash quickly, laving rather
than rubbing or wringing. Change to clean gasolene, wash again, then
hang to air at least ten hours. This must be done away from fire or
light. Press on the wrong side, and roll around a rod or mailing-tube
instead of folding.

=Washing Silk and Cloth=: Tack, matching pieces together, right sides
in, wash double in warm white soapsuds, rinse twice, keeping temperature
even, and hang to dry without wringing. Take down when damp, and iron
double, going first over one side, then the other. Stiffen by wiping
over ahead of the iron with stale beer, glove liquor, or cold coffee or
weak tea, for silk; with very thin starch or gum water for woolens. Roll
after pressing. Iron cloth the way of the nap, not across it. Figured
silk and brocade should be ironed on a soft board.

=Freshening Lace=: A bath in stale beer with draining afterward freshens
rusty black lace, also stiffens it. It must be pressed when barely damp.
Clean cream and light laces in gasolene, using a very little white soap
if they are much soiled. Hang to air smooth—pressing hurts the look.
Lying in powdered starch and magnesia for a week will often freshen
laces. Mend them before cleaning (see section Making Whole). Shake free
of powder—dust and grime will go with it—and smooth by laying back and
forth between the leaves of a big book and putting on weight.

=Trimmings=: Clean ribbons, braids, galloons, and fringes in a bath of
gasolene, changing at need, hang smooth to air, then press under
weights, else roll inside a damp cloth for an hour, then press on the
wrong side with a warm (not hot) iron. Wind braid about spools or tubes,
and leave a day and night. Comb out fringes and wind around cardboard.
In dyeing fringe fold compactly and sew inside a thin bag, then dye as
usual. The bag prevents the fringe proper from matting.

=As to Turning=: Things worn threadbare had better be turned, either
with or without dyeing. Darn the threadbare spots, loosely and sparsely,
press—on the right side, of course. Press all over, then take stock of
needs and materials. Make the most of every clothes opportunity.

=Freshening Velvet=: Raise the pile of crushed velvet by stretching over
a wet cloth laid on the face of a very hot iron and brushing hard while
the steam rises. This answers for spots and streaks—with a crushed
surface or one so faded dyeing will help it, make into panne velvet by
pressing on the right side while damp, laying the pile all one way.
Velveteen and cotton-backed velvet dye poorly. Brush well, tack on a
board, and paint with hot dye, using a soft brush. Let stand in air to
set, then wash with a cloth and soapsuds, followed by rinsing. Press on
the right side while still damp. This gives a surface passable for
school hats or caps, or yokes and cuffs on made-over frocks.

=Save the Pieces=: In cutting down men’s clothes use the worn parts to
interline smaller new garments. Use the very best for the outside, even
though it necessitates piecing. Match threads and figures exactly, sew
fast, and press hard, then piecing hardly shows. Do it before cutting
out. With sleazy stuff whip over edges before sewing together. Avoid
putting pieced seams where there will be constant pressure.

=Adaptation=: A jacket or coat worn along seams may be made to serve
beautifully for a much smaller person by simply ripping all seams,
trimming, and sewing again. Lengthen skirts outgrown by insets of
embroidery or contrasting color. Make the waist to match, either with an
inset or a deep girdle. Aim to make all changes so they shall look
voluntary, not makeshift. In handing down outgrown garments be merciful
enough to change them so the new possessor shall not be taunted for
wearing. This is not hard; a new yoke, belt, and cuffs will transfigure
a garment, to say nothing of the magic wrought by dyeing. Cut, fit, and
finish madeovers quite as carefully as new things. Change trimmings—for
moral and esthetic effect. Make several dyeings—it is piteous to see a
whole family touched up with navy blue or wine-red or pink. Dyes are so
cheap, dyeing so easy, give yourself the satisfaction of variety. If
combining materials, dye them one after the other, the heaviest first.
It is likely to be deepest. Use the lighter tint according to quantity
and taste for foundation or accessories. Remember two good garments, or
even one, will do more good than several skimped and spoiled.

=Millinery=: Steam hats of fancy braid soft, unpick, steam again, sew
while soft, shape, and wire. To change color, paint over with dye, let
dry thoroughly, then wipe over with a cloth wet in alcohol to remove
surplus color. Or wash quickly with white soapsuds, drying in sunlight;
or wipe over with alum water. None of these are necessary if the color
does not rub off. Or veil with net, chiffon, lace, or grenadine. Cord
the brim edge with silk or velvet, and shir the thin stuff inside. Shape
by bending while still damp. Trim according to taste and fashion. Hats
of beaver can be steamed a very little, then pressed over an improvised
block—a fruit jar inverted, a crock, a tin pan, or bucket. Cover with a
damp cloth while pressing. Begin on something of little value, learning
by experience. Hats of velvet or silk or lace must be unpicked,
freshened, and made up anew, using new shapes. Lingerie hats require
simply washing and reshaping over clean frames with fresh or freshened
ribbons.

Restore ribbon and velvet as already directed. To improve crushed and
faded flowers touch the backs of the petals thickly with gum arabic (see
section Renovators), let dry, then dip in gasolene, lave quickly, and
pass on into more gasolene which has had a tube of oil color dissolved
in it. Work quickly, moving the flower sprays about so they shall not be
blotched nor streaked. Lay on soft paper to dry in airy shade. Big
flowers—roses, orchids, poppies—had better be separated before dyeing,
then remounted. Touching up the hearts with oil color rubbed smooth in a
little poppy oil, using a camel’s-hair brush, is a further improvement.

Stiff fancy feathers can be dyed, not by dipping, but painting with hot
dye, and taking off the surplus by brushing hard when dry with corn
starch and prepared chalk in fine powder. Touch mounting very
lightly—they are founded on glue. If ill-colored, conceal them with
_choux_ of ribbon or velvet or a made ornament.

Fine feathers should go to professionals—at least, until their owners
learn to color cheap ones. Draggled soft feathers may be colored with
gasolene and tube paint, shaking hard while they dry so there shall be
no clotting. Strip off when dry, and tie the flues into pompons about
lengths of stiff wire with loops in the end. Wind the wire with silk
thread or cover with a spiral of tissue paper. Two or three shades of
the same color tied thus make a handsome ornament for any school hat.

Clean white and light plumes by sprinkling very lightly with gasolene,
then burying a week in corn starch and magnesia. Shake out the powder,
beat the plumes steadily but gently against the palm, then comb very
gently with a coarse clean comb, and hold in the steam of a kettle.
Curl, if you like, by drawing the flues, a few at a time, over the edge
of a blunt knife, taking care to draw so steadily there is no breaking.

=Ornaments=: Mark what you wish—buckle, butterfly, star, crescent,
dagger, or quill—accurately upon rather fine buckram, sew fine wire over
the outlines, then cut out neatly. Cover with silk or velvet. Make a
butterfly body of velvet very slightly padded with wings of silk. Sew
firm, turning stuff well over edges, then sew on beads, any sort you
like. Make them imitate butterfly markings, cover a quill as though
flues, fill star surfaces completely, but simply edge crescents and
buckles. After edging put inside bigger beads, of contrasting color. The
beading done, cover the whole under side neatly with soft thin silk or
net. Quills need a stout center wire. Crystal, with a tip of gold beads
or silver and bronze or jet with silver and rhinestones, deftly managed
make effective ornaments.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                  VII

                  REMEDYING SPOTS, STAINS, AND TARNISH


=Grease Spots in Wood=: Scour unpainted wood with clean sand after
pouring strong lye upon the grease spot. If it is very obstinate, cover
with a paste of prepared chalk, corn starch, and whiting wet with
ammonia, let stand two days, and scour. Grease stays on varnished
surfaces; wash it off with warm borax soapsuds and follow, after wiping
dry, by a hard rubbing with alcohol and turpentine mixed. Machine oil
must be taken out with either gasolene or alcohol, then scoured with
cold suds—heat sets it.

Dust greasy walls thickly with powdered chalk or whiting, brush off
after a day, and repeat. For a small but staring spot lay chalk thickly
between net, hold it flat against the spot, with a very hot iron over
it. Commonly this will take up the grease. Chalk or whiting wet with
alcohol to a thin paste and left to dry on grease spots, then gently
brushed off, will remove grease. But with paper badly spotted it is best
to take it off and put on a fresh length.

Machine oil on garments old or new must be taken out with gasolene, else
washed in white soap and cold water. If spots are black as well as
greasy, lay them face down upon a thick cloth and pour alcohol or
gasolene through, not rubbing the spot proper, but sawing it back and
forth against the cloth underneath—thus the black is not imbedded in the
fabric. Lay thin things spotted face down and dab hard repeatedly with a
swab of cotton tied in net and wet with gasolene. Move the spots to
clean surfaces, and swab till clean. Lay silk and gauze, especially
delicately colored ones, over a layer of calcined magnesia mixed with
corn starch, and pour through either grain alcohol or chloroform. Wet
very lightly a ring around the spot of unspotted fabric and work from it
inward to the spot. This to save annoying circles.

Take grease out of woolens with a flood of gasolene, changing it as it
grows dirty. If caked dirt shows afterward, wash with naphtha soap,
applying lather to the spot, holding a very hot iron a little way from
it for a minute, then washing off with hot water. Instead of the iron
you may hold the spot to the spout of a boiling kettle, letting the
steam penetrate it. Greasy coat collars and heavy garments blotched with
spilled food demand washing in suds besides the washing in gasolene.

For a greasy carpet mix whiting and cornmeal, make hot, sift on thickly,
cover with gasolene, and rub hard and quickly until the gasolene
evaporates, then sweep very clean and wipe with a damp cloth. If
gasolene involves fire risks, leave the powder standing for several
days, sweep off, and repeat if the grease is not all gone.

Axle-grease spots or any other partly resinous must be softened with
oil, then taken out with gasolene or turpentine. Washing, even boiling,
sets them. It is the same with linseed-oil spots. Take them out with
turpentine followed by gasolene.

=Road Stains=, whether from mud, asphalt, tar, oil dirt, or oil proper,
are as easy to get as they are hard to get rid of. Let mud cakes and
flakes severely alone until dry—wiping while wet smears them and gives a
firmer hold on the fabric underneath. A soft semi-fluid mud, if it can
be dipped almost instantly in clear water, laved without touching, then
have water poured through from the back, will be apt not to leave a
mark—so wash whenever such washing is possible. Where it is impossible,
hold the stained surface mud side down until dry, then rub and brush
well before attempting to get rid of the mark. Stiff mud left to dry
undisturbed will come away leaving but a faint mark. If it is clay mud,
pour boiling water through it from the wrong side in a steady stream for
at least a minute. Wet as small a space as possible, stretch it smooth,
let dry, brush or rub with coarse velvet, cover with a cream of French
chalk, starch, and alcohol, let dry, and brush off; commonly the stain
goes with it. This for silk or wool. Wash fabrics need only to be well
laundered after the boiling-water treatment.

Grimy mud needs to be well wet with kerosene, let stand an hour, then
cleaned with either alcohol or gasolene. Gasolene or benzine will also
take out spots of tar and asphalt, but they come away quicker and
cleaner if first wet with turpentine, then greased on both sides with
soft lard, and let stand a while. Dip in the gasolene, soiled side out,
and change the gasolene as soon as it looks dark. Bold big stains may
demand three changes. After the stain is out spread the fabric smooth
and wipe all round the gasolened space with a cloth dipped in more
gasolene to prevent circles. Soften oil marks or those from oily dirt by
wetting thoroughly with kerosene, washing out later in gasolene as
directed for tar. Very fine things can be cleaned with ether or alcohol
instead of gasolene, pouring through the spot and rubbing with a wisp of
cotton.

Take grease from paper, as books or prints, by laying on thickly
powdered borax and calcined magnesia, and keeping warm for several days.
Shut books tight upon the powder and put under moderate weight. Or iron
over the powder with a very hot iron, shake off, apply fresh, and tie or
put under weight. A tender old print, much soiled, should be pasted on a
thin cloth and cleaned with a damp, soapy cloth, then, after drying,
covered both sides with chalk, left several days, then shaken out and
ironed on the wrong side, with the right against a soft clean cloth.
Mitigate grease on leather bindings with the chalk pad and hot iron—it
is rarely wholly removable. Plain calf admits of gasolene, but for
anything else dry-cleaning alone is safe.

=Paint and Varnish=: Soak hardened metallic paint in turpentine till
softened, then remove with gasolene, alcohol, or chloroform. Chloroform
is the thing for fine fabrics of delicate colors. Use alcohol on white
stuff, swabbing with an upward motion. Varnish requires little beyond
the turpentine treatment. Earth paints and calcimine demand washing in
soapsuds to get rid of the color. Remove paint from floors or windows
with strong hot soda water or else a cloth well wet in turpentine.
Gasolene will likewise remove it, but is more apt to smear. Plate glass
or fine mirrors should be polished with whiting and alcohol after the
spots have been removed. Wet to a cream, rub on, let stand awhile, then
rub off with clean cloths.

=Ice-cream and Gelatine=: Such spots must be soaked in clear cold water
for at least an hour. If on garments that forbid soaking, lay the spot
upon a folded damp cloth, put another over it, and press with moderate
weight for an hour. Then wipe off on both sides with borax water, weak
and cold, followed by several rinsings in clear cold water. Shift the
spot to a clean place now and then. When clean pin it smooth between
thick clothes and press dry with a moderate iron. Wash fabrics, of
course, can be laundered after soaking.

=Fruit Stains=: Soak fresh fruit stains half an hour in cold water, then
pour boiling water through them and dry quickly. If they have been set
by soap and boiling, touch them with Javelle water (see section
Renovators), washing it out quickly. Use only on white things—it takes
out color as well as stains. Some stains on colored things can be taken
out harmlessly by covering with salt and vinegar and leaving two hours
in the sun. Tomato juice and salt in sunshine is another
prescription—with a bright tin underneath. An apple cut in half and laid
under a set stain in sunshine is likewise effectual. Take care, though,
to wash the material well in cold water so there may not be a fresh
apple stain.

Ammonia removes acid discolorations; it also mitigates perspiration
marks. Use the spirits, and follow with alcohol and water, dabbed on
lightly.

=Wine Stains=: Wet wine stains with alcohol or whisky and soak an hour
in cold water, else pour boiling water through them with the fabric held
taut, and dry before laundering. This for table linen. Stained silk or
cloth must be dabbed many times with tepid water, pressing with dry
cloths between dabbings. Do not make wet enough to leave circles. Shake
finely powdered chalk on thickly when the dabbing is done, let it lie
for a day, then brush off, and if a mark remains dab with alcohol and
water, blood warm, or hold the stain with the wrong side next a steaming
spout, wiping it off well as soon as it is damp.

=Ink Stains=: If ink is spilled on a carpet, take up every bit possible
with warm, damp cloths, letting them lie to absorb it. Follow with
cloths wet in cold, sweet milk, rubbing and dabbing vigorously. Wash
afterward with clear hot water, then sift on, while damp, cornmeal or
dry sawdust and let stand a day, brush off, and wipe the spot over with
alcohol. Lacking cloths, crumpled paper, newspaper, or blotting-paper
can be used to take up the ink. Never wipe it, and take up about the
edges first, to save spreading.

Take stains from wood with oxalic-acid solution (see section
Renovators). Reduce one-half with boiling water, wet the stain, wipe off
with clear, hot water; if stain remains, repeat the acid. Use the acid
on white things ink-stained, wetting them first with boiling water and
holding the stain in steam or close to a very hot iron for a minute or
two after dipping in the acid. Wash out the acid with clear water, as
hot as can be borne.

Take ink stains from paper by laying it on a thick cloth, putting on a
drop or two of acid, covering with another cloth, and pressing with a
hot iron. Remove to a clean, wet cloth, cover, and press again.

Oxalic acid must not be used full strength on silk or woolens. Weaken
two-thirds with boiling water, and pour boiling water through the stain
after wetting with the acid. Test the color; if the acid destroys it,
try either covering the stain with a paste of French chalk and alcohol,
letting dry and brushing off, or dropping blazing tallow through from
the wrong side, and later removing it with gasolene or chloroform, the
same as an ordinary grease mark. The tallow must be left on several days
so it may combine with the ink.

=Tar and Asphalt=: Rub tar spots with soft grease, let lie, and remove
with gasolene or by washing in hot suds. Asphalt should be well wet with
kerosene, left to stand, then washed out in turpentine or alcohol. Soap
sets it hopelessly if applied at first.

=Grass Stains=: Rub molasses well into the stains, let lie overnight,
then wash out with tepid water, repeating if the stain still shows. If a
brown mark is left, wet with weak chloride of lime water (see section
Renovators) and hang in hot sunshine or close to a fire.

=Iron Rust=: Take out with oxalic acid the same as ink stains. Else
cover thickly with salt after wetting in boiling water, lay in sunshine
over bright tin, and squeeze on lemon juice or that of a ripe tomato.
Wash out in hot water, repeating if necessary.

=Mildew=: Wet with boiling water, wring dry, then dip in sour milk, lay
in sun, and cover thickly with salt. Or beat a raw, ripe apple to a
pulp, mix with salt liberally, and spread on the spots in the sun. Salt
and lemon, salt and tomato, or oxalic acid will likewise remove mildew.
The advantage of fruit processes is that they do no harm to the fabric,
which the oxalic acid weakens somewhat, no matter how carefully used.
Very fine and choice mildewed fabrics should be covered with a paste of
sifted starch and laid on the grass in sunshine. Wash off paste and
repeat till mildew disappears.

=Wax Spots=: Soften, dip in warm oil, let lie an hour, keeping warm,
wash in turpentine, then in alcohol or gasolene.

=Perspiration Marks=: Try dry-cleaning, sifting upon them over and over
and over corn starch, magnesia, and French chalk. Rub lightly after each
sifting. If the mark remains, try ether. Make a swab of soft white silk
filled with the powder, pour on the ether a little at a time, and dab
the swab. Put a drop or so of ammonia spirit upon the swab—not enough to
change colors. If ether fails, deluge with chloroform, rubbing inward
hard until it evaporates. Such marks are the problem of amateur
cleaning—the hardest of all to remove.

=Smoke Stains=: Shave half a bar of soap into a cup of boiling water,
dissolve, add a cup of turpentine, a cup of kerosene, and a half cup of
ammonia spirit. Mix, and cover close. Spread on the stain, let stand
five minutes, then rub hard with the lead swab (see section Equipment)
and wash off with hot water and a thick cloth. If the stain is on
plaster, as around a grate, use a brush instead of the swab, which is,
for stone, brick, or marble, a sovereign thing.

=Care of Iron=: Rust is the bane of iron; grease, its salvation. Coat
anything not in use well with hot tallow, and shake over it, still hot,
either fine sifted wood ashes or powdered unslaked lime. Wrap in clean
newspaper and keep dry. When wanted, brush hard with a stiff brush;
there will be a beautiful surface. Anything pitted with rust may as well
be thrown away. A merely rusty surface must be greased with clear fat,
left standing two days, wiped, washed in clear, very hot water, and
greased again. Three greasings should bring it into condition for
polishing. Wipe dry, coat with oil, shake on lime, and brush off after
twenty-four hours. Any alkali without grease predisposes iron to rust.
Eschew soap and soda in cleaning it. Use gasolene or turpentine or even
kerosene. A cloth wet in either will take off smut. Polish with crumpled
newspaper and a handful of hot sawdust.

=Brass and Copper=: Remove tarnish from brass and copper with salt and
strong vinegar or oxalic acid (see section Renovators). Rub hard till
bright all over, wash in clear, very hot water, then while still hot
polish with a clean chamois skin dipped in sweet oil, and a pinch of
either whiting or very fine sand. Rub quickly, wipe with soft paper,
heat moderately, and set away. This gives the mellow old look. Copper
cooking-vessels must be scoured inside and out, first with the salt and
vinegar, then with soap and sand. A greasy cloth rubbed over the outside
protects them without being dangerous. If stains are deep enough to
demand oxalic acid, be sure to wash afterward with boiling water and
borax.

=Bronze=: Wash bronze with a soft brush in hot, weak borax water, dry
quickly, keep warm, and rub all over with a clean cloth wet in
turpentine with the barest suspicion of wax. It must not coat the metal,
hardly even film it. Make bone-dry before setting away.

=Pewter=: Remove spots with a swab of whiting lightly dipped in oil.
Wash in weak suds, rinse well with boiling water, dry, and polish with
hot sand and a stiff brush.

=Silver Tarnish=: Tarnish, like a bad habit, must be checked in the
beginning. Prevention is better than cure. Keep big things, when not in
use, well wrapped in wax paper with blue paper outside that, and
absorbent cotton added. Put inside canton-flannel bags, tie tight, and
keep dark and dry. Watch all things not thus ambushed closely. Remove
spots as soon as visible, either with salt and whiting wet with borax
water or ammonia and French chalk. Rub hard and quickly, wash off, wipe
dry, and polish with dry whiting or plate powder, or what you will.
Treat egg-stained spoons with wet salt. Fortnightly at least wash every
bit of silver in sight in warm borax soapsuds, rinse in boiling water,
dry with clean towels, and rub lightly with sifted whiting. Cover
chasings and engraving with wet whiting, let dry, and brush it off. For
things in high relief fold chamois skin over the point of a blunt
skewer—thus you can rub the deeps. Count at each washing and keep sets
together. Upon a damp cleaning day lay a trayful of small things in a
half-warm oven, letting them stay till hot and dry.

Clean toilet silver with oxalic acid of one-third strength, taking care
to touch with it nothing but the metal. Wipe with a cloth wrung very dry
out of hot water, and polish with a chamois dipped in alcohol and
whiting. Wrap a cloth about the bristles in cleaning brush backs, and
wipe with old silk after the polishing.

=Things Gilded=: Wipe dust carefully from anything gilded with a soft
silk cloth, then polish with a clean chamois sprinkled lightly with
alcohol and dipped in thrice-sifted whiting. Rub steadily but not hard.
Blow dust from deep carvings with a hand bellows unless a vacuum cleaner
is in use.


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                              CHAPTER VIII

                       FOOD: CHOOSING AND KEEPING


=Flour=: Perfect flour has a slight yellow tinge and a faint, pleasant
smell, especially after wetting. Dazzling whiteness indicates bleaching;
a gray tinge or minute black specks, showing only under the microscope,
grinding from spoiled grain. Test by gripping a handful—if it remains
the shape of the hand and shows the lines of the palm, buy it. Gluten is
a most desirable element. Test for it by wetting a pinch to a stiff
dough, and washing the starch out of it in cold water. The greater and
tougher the stringy residue the greater the gluten content. Wet another
pinch very soft, take it betwixt thumb and finger, and try to spin a
thread. If it spins, all well; if it does not, but makes only blobs on
the finger tips, there is likely to have been corn ground with the
wheat. Another test for corn admixture is to dry a pinch, but not scorch
it, and rub between the finger tips. Pure wheat flour will not feel
gritty, but corn, no matter how finely ground, remains a little rough.

Set flour barrels a little above the floor, and do not use the same one
continuously. Any wooden container may become a harbor for insects. A
japanned tin can, emptied and aired monthly, is best for keeping flour,
meal, or oatmeal in bulk. All should be kept where it is dry, airy, and
free of smells, as all take up taints very readily.

=Cornmeal=: Fresh water-ground cornmeal has a pleasant smell, and runs
through the fingers without caking or clotting. A musty odor shows it is
too old. Meal from white flint corn is much the most desirable. Sift it
at need—the bran helps to keep it. Cornmeal kiln-dried and bolted, as it
has to be for the grocers to save it from spoiling, is, in a sort a
libel on the real thing. In it there is not much choice save between
fine and coarse grinding. Fine-ground makes clammy bread, hence is to be
avoided. But even kiln-drying should not quite take away the original
fragrance. Perfect meal shows under the microscope round white grains
like fairy hail.

=Oatmeal=: Beware that which has much grain dust between the grains.
Examine carefully a double handful before buying in quantity; if you
find even one trace of weevil, reject it. Weevil and sundry
mites—_Acari_ in scientific parlance—are the bane of grain foods if they
are kept over long. Hence the caution of keeping them in bright metal
away from dampness and molds.

=Buckwheat Flour=: Fresh buckwheat flour is of a slightly tawny cast and
a lively velvet feel. Mustiness means age—at first there is hardly any
smell. Clotting or caking indicates dampness either of grain or storage,
hence a product below grade.

=Grits and Hominy=: Judge by the absence of grain dust and the even
grinding; grains the same size approximately cook evenly. Examine a
sprinkle through a magnifying-glass, and if there are signs of weevil or
mites do not buy at any price. A pocket magnifier is cheap and handy,
also it may save you many times its cost in a single month.

=Coffee=: Green coffee beans break with a clean fracture, and if the
break is ragged or spongy there has been mold or heating. Roasted beans
should show one-half very dark brown, the other half black but not
scorched. Crack between the teeth; you can taste scorching. Fresh-ground
coffee is stronger and more flavorous than that ground in bulk. Also
there is less chance of adulteration. To test for adulteration, stir a
pinch of ground coffee into a glass of cold water. Pure coffee settles
to the bottom, leaving hardly a trace of color. Chicory will rise to the
top, also making a kind of scum. Adulteration with roasted grain or
bread or the artificial beans will color the water more or less deeply.
Keep coffee in bright tin or glass, tightly closed, away from light,
where it is dry and cool.

=Tea=: Tea is largely a matter of taste and brands, also prices. Very
cheap tea is undesirable, being commonly adulterated with spent tea
leaves. Tests vary as much as brands. A safe and easy one is to infuse a
pinch of tea one minute in boiling water, pour off one-half, and let the
other half stand, keeping at almost boiling heat for ten minutes. Pour
off and compare in smell and taste with the first. Artificial color, if
present, will show as dregs in the long steeping and reveal itself
further in a faint metallic taste. Various copper salts are the
commonest coloring matters, and, though the quantities are too small to
be immediately dangerous, constant use may develop stomach trouble. Tea
is best kept air-tight, dark, dry, and warm.

=Butter=: Beware butter too yellow, especially if winter-packed. Butter
colors are harmless in the main, but some constitutions are intolerant
of them. Look for firm texture slightly grained and a lively, agreeable
smell. A sour smell and white specks show something to let alone. Keep
tightly covered, dark, and cool, away from any possibility of taints.

=Lard=: If you do not know, experimentally, good fresh lard, get leaf
fat, try it out, taking care not to scorch it, and use the product as a
standard. Lard must be firm, but not hard, even-textured throughout, and
with almost no smell. Your nose, if permitted, will tell you if it is
either scorched or rancid—the two unpardonable faults. From grain-fed
pork it is clear white, with now and then a faint cream tinge. Keep in
glass or bright tin, tightly closed, where it is cool and dark.

=Cheese=: As to choice of cheese one cannot dogmatize; so much depends
on individual palates. Get the best you can afford of your chosen sort.
Good cheese cuts grainy rather than waxy—it is not too greasy,
reasonably solid, and free, of course, of mites or weevil. Cut a section
from a whole cheese, then butter well the cut surfaces, cover with wax
paper, and keep dark, dry, and cool. Wrap the cut-out section in wax
paper likewise, and keep in a covered crock for daily use. Keep fancy,
strong-smelling cheeses well wrapped in tinfoil, then in wax paper, and
laid inside a covered crock, set in a cool place.

=Beef=: Prime beef comes only from well-fatted animals, neither too
young nor too old. Fat and suet are white, inclining faintly to cream;
lean a dark, healthy red, which becomes brighter by hanging. Very yellow
fat and scarlet lean indicate a condition below first class. The meat
should not cut dry when raw, but neither should liquid follow the
cleaver.

=Mutton and Lamb=: The fat over the ribs is the best index of quality;
if it is half an inch or more, the animal was thriving. The fat should
be white with hardly a trace of yellow, the lean a fine purply red, not
too deep. Follow your nose in buying all manner of butcher’s stuff,
remembering cooking will never work the miracle of making sound the
unsound. Good spring lamb has very white fat, with lean inclining to
pinkish red. If the rib fat covers the whole surface, all is well. The
caul fat should be in lumps as big as the finger end. A strong sheepy
smell of either lamb or mutton shows animals badly dressed, or, in case
of mutton, too old. Press a bare finger hard upon the outer surface; if
the meat feels grainy there has probably been treatment with some
preservative.

=Pork=: Clear white fat and lean of a lively pink-red show perfect pork.
It cannot well be too fat, yet if there are lumps or inflamed spots in
the kidney fat, let it alone. Press hard on the skin; it should be
elastic, and be sure there is only a fleshy smell. Sniff the big
joints—spoiling begins there. Sniff sausage likewise, and reject if too
highly seasoned. The seasoning may disguise less pleasant smells. It
should be red and white speckled, the color predominant; five pounds of
lean to three of fat is the best proportion.

=Salt Meats=: Streaky bacon should have white fat and dark-red
lean—yellow fat is undesirable. It must smell lightly of smoke and have
also a tang of salt. Salt pork must be very white and firm, the lean of
it showing a dull-pale red. Hams must have white fat, thick and firm,
and lean of a rich, clear red just the least inclined to purple. Look
close around the bone; if the fat there is white and firm the ham is all
right. It must, of course, have been well smoked. But too thick smoke,
shown by a black-brown color, is undesirable. Corned beef should be
clear red, firm, and clean-smelling. Dried beef should have a firm, dark
outside and be a dark, clear red within. If it shaves to slivers partly
transparent, it is very nearly perfect.

=Poultry=: All poultry save capons can be too fat. But it had better be
too fat than too lean. Choose light-colored fat and firm pinky-white
flesh. See that combs are fresh-colored, leg joints flexible, and skin
soft. Much hard, deep-yellow fat indicates age. Milk-fed poultry, so
called, is mainly so called—it may have got milk, but much else went
with it. With ducks and geese, pull open the eyelids; if the eyes are
filmed the birds are likely to have been killed too long. Freezing
injures the quality of poultry. Dry-picked poultry is much more
desirable than that which is scalded. To test for age look at the
legs—scaliness is a sure mark of age. Press hard upon the breast bone;
in a young fowl it bends a little, in an old one it is rigid.

=Keeping Fresh Meat and Poultry=: Never put meat or poultry in contact
with ice, neither lay them flat in dish or pan. Put a rack under the
meat, then set the pan in the refrigerator, first wiping the meat with a
damp (not wet) cloth. This until cooking-time. Things to be kept several
days should be well wiped, laid on waterproof paper, have lumps of
charcoal put round and about, then wrapped, tied, put in cheesecloth
bags, and hung where it is cool and airy. Lacking such hanging space,
lay them on racks close to ice.

=Salt Fish=: Keep salt fish, whether dry or in brine, well away from all
else. A good place for them is a big box with a tight cover, the cracks
filled inside with putty and covered outside with paper. Put a shelf
across for boxes and cartons; stand kits on the floor. Hinge on the top
as a door, and fasten with hook and staple. Set the box on short legs,
else put bricks under the corners.

=Things in Glass=: Glass jars, whether of preserves, fruit, or
vegetables, had better be wrapped in paper, held on by a rubber band,
and set so as not to touch. They should be kept where it is dark, dry,
clean, and cool, on slat shelves or plank ones bored full of half-inch
holes. Light, through its weird actinic rays, plays hob with flavors,
and may even induce worse things. Yet jellies set in full sunlight for,
say, ten days gain a richer texture and keep better ever after.

=Fruit and Vegetable Storage=: With a cool, dry, airy cellar have
movable bins of slats with firm, low legs, whitewashed yearly inside and
out. Store in them apples, potatoes, sweet and Irish, turnips, carrots,
beets, what not. Lay grapes, choosing perfect bunches only, upon
swinging slat shelves and cover with cheese cloth. In a temperature
around forty degrees there will be no rotting nor drying up, provided
only sound things have been brought in.

=Canning Things=: The secret of success in canning things is perfect
sterilization. Do the work if possible in bright, windy weather, out
doors if you can; if not, in a kitchen very clean and well aired. Bring
into it no specked or rotten things—decay is a ferment the same as
yeast, and spores of it spread through the air. It is better to prepare
things outside. Drop apples, pears, or peaches in water as pared or
hulled, and keep them covered until ready to cook. Have two kettles of
syrup, one bubbling, the other barely simmering. Have a boiler of
boiling water for the jars. Empty a jar just at the moment of using,
fill it running over with boiling-hot fruit and seal instantly. The
simmering-kettle is for filling up the other. Keep the bubbling-kettle
filled with syrup to capacity, drop in barely fruit enough to fill a
jar, cook for five minutes, then seal. A few cloves and a blade of mace
in the top of each can improve flavor. Use at least half weight of sugar
to fruit—three-fifths is better. Invert after sealing and screw tops
harder when cool. If a can leaks, empty it, reheat, fill, and seal
securely. Set hot jars away from draughts until cool. Remember, though,
the fruit which comes out of your cans will be just as good and no
better than what went into them. Therefore spend your time and strength
only on good fruit, ripe, but not over-ripe.

=Outdoor Pantries=: Save in the very hottest weather edibles, cooked or
raw, keep better in fresh air than in a refrigerator. An outdoor pantry
can be set on a back porch or on legs in a shady yard, or even made fast
to the wall. A goods box, whitewashed, set firmly about waist high,
furnished with shelves inside and a door of screen wire, will hold meat,
milk, cakes, pies, bread, surplus fruit, raw or cooked, and keep them to
the queen’s taste. Have clean bags with drawstrings to slip over dishes
of meat, as hams, roasts, a fowl in wait for Sunday dinner. Lay raw meat
upon lumps of charcoal, put other lumps over it, and wrap tight in clean
cloth, then lay upon a rack or slat shelf. Put milk in a bright tin
bucket with a tight cover, stand it in a pan, put in half inch of water,
then wrap the milk bucket with a thick cloth, letting it touch the
water. It will keep damp and, by evaporation, cool the milk.

Where ice is hard to get have holes made with a post-hole digger, a foot
across and four feet deep. Fit stout wooden tops to them big enough to
lap an inch all round. Put a handle on firmly and screw a stout hook in
the middle underneath. Suspend things from this hook by a cord or light
chain, as a bucket of milk, or butter, a bottle of wine, water, or grape
juice, or a bag of fruit. Fresh meat even can be kept several days, of
course wrapping it well before hanging it. Rain ruins this form of cold
storage, but for camps, summer bungalows, and so on it is a very present
help.

A greater one is a dry well either rock-walled or planked up. Have it
seven to eight feet deep, wide enough for a ladder, and set shelves
around the edge. Or it may be simply dug, covered, and things let down
into it at the end of strings. An abandoned well or cistern comes in
handy for such use. If deep and dry, whole carcasses as of lambs, sheep,
pigs, or deer can be hung and kept safe.

=Dried Fruit=: Keep sun-dried fruit in a warm, airy place, sunning it
often. Look it over for worms, throw out infested bits, scald the
residue one minute in full boiling water, spread thin, and dry in the
oven. In a long damp spell bring dried fruit into the kitchen and hang
where heat will strike it, but away from steam. All this applies equally
to sun-dried vegetables, such as corn, okra, and green peas, likewise to
beans and peas full grown.

=Keeping Rich Cake=: Plum cake, spice cake, or iced pound cake keep a
long time treated thus: Pour a teaspoonful of brandy upon the under
side, let it soak in, then wrap the whole loaf in a clean cloth and
sprinkle with brandy. Put into an earthen crock with a tight cover, lay
a fresh apple on top, and keep shut. Once a week set the crock upon a
cooling range until warm through, removing the apple while warming. Put
in a fresh apple every fortnight, and renew the brandy treatment at the
same time. Plum cake almost demands this keeping, being better for a
year of it. Other cakes should not be kept over six months.

=Keeping Melons for Christmas=: Plant melons so they will ripen a little
before frost. Build a rail pen, floor it two feet above ground, and lay
on the floor a foot of corn stalks well packed. Stand other stalks about
the edge, then fill in a foot of fresh corn husks. Bed in these the
melons, cut each with a short length of vine, and the vine ends dipped
in melted paraffine. Wrap the melons in tissue paper, take care not to
let them touch nor lie too close to the stalk wall. Cover with another
foot of husks, packed down firmly, but not rammed. Over these put more
corn stalks, filling the pen with them. Lay on a slanted roof of boards,
weighting them in place.

=Fresh Eggs=: A strictly fresh egg has a tiny air space at either end
betwixt shell and lining. Lying makes the air bubbles rise and join. A
fresh egg sinks in water end down, one less fresh commonly lies on its
side. Break an egg, empty the shell, look in the ends; if the spaces are
lacking it is not fresh. Or boil hard—a fresh yolk will have white
evenly all round. After some days the yolk will be near the shell or
pressing against it.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   IX

                HOUSE PLANTS, WINDOW BOXES, CUT FLOWERS


=Soil=: Soil for pots and boxes must be very rich and light. Mix it of
one-half well-rotted animal manure, one-quarter leaf mold or rotted
sods, and one-quarter good loam. If the loam is heavy clay make it
one-half clean sand. Heap and keep under cover, away from sun-baking and
the leaching of rain. Sift for use. Sprinkle now and again to keep it
moist.

=Pots=: Use clean pots and sound. Break up cracked ones for drainage.
Wash pots as soon as empty, stack, and stand in air. Wash again before
using, dry, then wipe over outside with a cloth wet in copperas water.
This to prevent the annoying green scum. Repeat the wiping over with
copperas water about once a month. Keep pot surfaces clean—their dull
red, so kept, is more artistic than any jardinière. Further, it makes
for plant health—a clean pot admits air to the roots.

=Window Boxes=: Window boxes must be well drained. If set outside it is
imperative that they be made fast. Lacking regular window guards, use
hooks and staples. Paint wooden boxes dull green outside and white
inside. Choose tile ones to harmonize with walls and windows. Have
uniform boxes for a row of windows—this applies equally to boxes proper
and what grows in them. Indoor boxes should have zinc trays fitted to
them, with strips laid across to insure drainage.

=Potting=: Pots must be proportioned to their contents. A hyacinth bulb
will thrive in a four-inch pot. A clump of three will grow in a six-inch
one; it should be shallow. A shallow eight-inch pot will hold a dozen
tulips or Roman hyacinths or two dozen crocuses. Broad pots, rather
shallow, are best for all manner of bulbs save the tall-growing lilies,
such as the Amaryllis family, Auratum, and Easter lilies. Plant rooted
cuttings in two-inch pots, shifting them as they grow. Over-potting is a
drawback, especially with flowering things. Do not shift until the pot
is filled with roots—test for that by turning out—and shift to the next
size. Seasonal bulbs rarely require shifting, but those kept year in and
out must be separated from their offsets and given fresh earth. In
shifting put an inch of broken pot in first, arranging a big bit over
the hole, fill in a little earth, then set the plant upon it; the ball
at its root should come within an inch of the top. Hold it plumb and
fill in sifted earth about it, shaking the pot gently after each
handful. Shake hard when the pot is full; fill in chinks around the edge
and put a little fresh earth on top, then water freely but without
splashing. Let it drain and set in place. Always have something
underneath to catch the drip. Glazed ware is better than the clay
saucers—they make damp spots.

Plant bulbs their own depth in earth except the finer lilies. Set them
only a little way in earth. It is safer to make a little hole in the
earth, put in a handful of clean sand, and bed the bulb in the sand.
Keep very wet—sand will not rot the bulb surface. Fill up with soil an
inch higher, but keep it away from the bulb with a sand blanket, and put
a very thin layer of sand on top. Plant ordinary bulbs in succession
from September to December, keep damp and dark for some weeks to insure
root growth, then bring to light, water, and fertilize, turning every
three days to make symmetrical.

=Plant Choice=: No plant will live long without light—few will thrive
without more or less sunlight. The green-and-white Aspidastra is the
hardiest in this respect. Plants used for interior decoration must be
often shifted, set in light, fertilized, and bathed till thrifty, while
others in good condition take their places. Weekly changes will maintain
a proper effect. Palms and ferns are most satisfactory for such uses;
flowering things get ragged very quickly. Begonias carefully tended and
not allowed to dry out nor get hot make a brave showing. So do
wax-leafed woody things—dwarf orange and lemon trees, rubber trees,
dwarf evergreens and box trees.

=Plants for a North Light=: Fuschia stands pre-eminent, next to that
thrifty ferns, ivy of both sorts, dwarf evergreens, spiderwort,
moneywort, and trailing box vine. An hour or two of sunlight will
suffice for all these, other conditions to their mind; also, in their
season, for pansies, violets, and the dwarf Japanese morning glories so
wonderful in color and texture.

=Filling Window Boxes=: Make fast, put a layer of broken pot over the
bottom, upon that a very thin layer of excelsior. Cover two inches deep
with fine earth, then arrange roots of your trailers along the outer
edge and bank up with more earth. Next put in the plants, crowding them
rather thickly, pack earth around and about them, water freely, make
sure all plants stand straight, then shower plentifully, using a fine
sprinkler. Water every day—twice daily in very hot weather—shower every
other day, and fertilize once a week. This if the plants thrive. If they
turn a sickly yellow, starve a bit, after watering plentifully with
water a little too hot to bear your hand in.

=Choice of Window Plants=: Flowering geraniums deserve first place for a
season’s bloom. White and pink ones smothered in green look better
against a red brick wall than scarlet or crimson. But scarlet and white,
or scarlet and crimson with feathery green, such as asparagus sprengeri,
are beautiful against white walls, brown or buff ones, or any sort of
stone. Pansies with alyssum edges are lovely while they last. Choose
them for early spring, putting in geraniums or primroses later. Potted
bulbs show beautifully in window boxes with edges of trailing green.
Rose geraniums in window boxes help to drive away flies. Piazza boxes in
midsummer have nothing more effective than the savage splendors of
gladioli. Plant in double row, starting the bulbs in pots and setting
out when a foot high. Nasturtiums also make a splendid show. So do all
the tribe of begonia, provided the sun is not too hot. Morning and
evening rays suit them.

=Palms and Ferns=: Small thrifty plants need to be shifted yearly. After
they reach a good size do not shift, fertilize instead. Keep pot
surfaces clean, set at least a foot above the floor, water plentifully
and regularly, but do not let it stand at the roots. Sprinkle or wipe
with a damp cloth weekly, and monthly give a plunge bath in your own
bath water. Let stand till barely tepid, then tie a cloth over the
earth, and lay your plant on its side in the tub. Splash and scrub well,
set upright, drain off water, and shower well with clear, clean water.
Bathing thus is the best insurance of health and a protection against
the depredations of every sort of pest.

=Roses and Woody Things in General=: Only a very few roses are adapted
to house culture unless there is a greenhouse for their refreshing. The
catalogues name them. Get vigorous year-old plants and bake the earth
for planting them at least an hour in a moderate oven. This to insure
against the beetle which lives in earth and has no other cure than
prevention. Make the earth very fine, sift it lightly through the roots,
water well, put on more earth, wet it, fill up the pot, drench, drain,
and set in light, but away from sunlight, for several days. Pinch off
any flower buds, also new ones appearing before the rose is well
established. After thrifty growth sets in let bloom, but not overbloom.
Pinch off all but the most promising buds. Water with tepid suds weekly.
In between give liquid manure. Make it strong—roses are gross feeders.
Bathe often, keep warm and in light, turning every other day. The
many-flowered roses sold around the holidays are good for nothing but to
be set out in the border after their bloom is past.

Fuchsias, azaleas, lemon verbenas, the spireas, and genesta require much
the same care. Fuchsias, as has been said, do not demand full sun. Also
they like a moderate temperature. The others thrive in heat and light.
So do camellias and gardenias. These, however, are apt to disappoint
anybody without a genius for growing things. Rubber trees too big for
the plunge bath must have their leaves well wiped with white soapsuds,
then with clear water. Tall palms demand the same care. All plants need
a moist atmosphere, so keep water on radiators and wet sponges over
registers. This is as good for people as for plants.

=Fertilizers and Fertilizing=: Liquid manure is an ideal fertilizer so
far as concerns the plants themselves. It has the drawback of a bad
odor. To use it set the plants outdoors, give in sufficient quantity,
let soak in, then water well with warm water and leave to air some
hours. To make, put well-rotted manure in something tight, pour boiling
water upon it, stir well, and let stand. Stir again before dipping
out—it should be as thick as cream. After using it on window boxes close
the windows until the smell is gone. Things too big to move can be
fertilized and the windows left open, closing doors—so fertilize in mild
weather. The odor will pass in two hours if the tepid watering has been
thorough.

Many good commercial fertilizers are almost or quite odorless—ammoniated
bone meal, for example. There is also a fertilizer in lozenge form which
is scentless and wonderfully effective. Dissolve a lozenge in boiling
water, let stand all night, then stir well and apply. Give a teacup—the
same as of liquid manure—to a ten-inch pot, a tablespoonful to a
four-inch one, and half that to a thumb pot. A quart will be none too
much for a three-foot window box filled with soft-stemmed plants. They
demand more than woody plants. Over-fertilizing is bad—it turns leaves
yellow and scants bloom. Plants suffer indigestion the same as people.
The remedy for it is to set them in a sink or on a grating and pour hot
(not boiling) water through the pot until it runs out clear.

=Insects and Insecticides=: Insects are the pest of house plants. The
worst of them are plant lice, mealy bugs, white and black flies, red
spider, and the various scales. All are fought with pretty much the same
weapons—namely, soap and water, smoke, and eternal vigilance.
Greenhouses and hothouses are almost universally infested. Hence every
new plant must be suspected. Do not set it among other plants clean and
thrifty for at least a fortnight, and then only after a thorough bath. A
plant badly infested had better be thrown away, and quickly. Flies white
and black are hardest to fight; they fly away at a touch on the pot. Set
the infested plant apart, with a stick standing higher than itself fast
in earth, throw a thin cloth over, letting it reach the ground all
around, then slip under it a lighted smudge, and set over cloth and
plant either a box or a barrel, with paper pasted over the cracks. Let
stand two hours, then plunge in a tepid bath, keeping on the cloth until
well under water. This to hold in any flies left living. Splash well,
drain, and while damp dust with either insect powder or finely crumbled
tobacco, putting it on both sides of the leaves.

For plant lice spray thickly with strong tobacco water, leave an hour,
then bathe, and dust with more tobacco. A little flowers of sulphur
mixed in makes the treatment more effectual. Bathe in suds (carbolic
soap, if possible) next day, and follow with a clear tepid shower.

Red spider is invisible until it appears as red blotches upon foliage.
Water, and still more water, combined with smoking cures it. Shower
infested plants heavily every day for a fortnight, smoke with tobacco
twice a week, and keep well dusted with either tobacco or pyrethrum
powder. Mealy bugs, which are white and woolly, as big as grains of
wheat, should have a sulphur dusting after smoking and bathing. All the
big scales, which are never very numerous unless plants are fatally
neglected, should be hand-picked, then the plant well washed with
whale-oil soapsuds dashed with carbolic acid. San José scale, which is
almost invisible but feels like fine rough sand upon the under sides of
leaves and over stalks, is so deadly and difficult any plant found
infested should be burned at once, the pot broken, and the earth soaked
with boiling water. Cures for it there are, but too difficult for
amateurs, withal somewhat dangerous.

Buy tobacco dust, make tobacco water. Pour a gallon of boiling water
upon a pound of tobacco stems, let stand a day, keeping warm, strain and
use. Cut the spent stems fine and mix through potting soil. Enough
tobacco water to color it mixed in makes a plunge bath more effective
against insects. Make smudges thus: put a few slivers of wood or half a
dozen matches crossed in a small flat tin, cover with either pyrethrum
powder, tobacco dust, cut up stalks, unspent, or flowers of sulphur
mixed with fine damp sawdust. Light, see that there is not too much
blaze, and set beneath plants. Do not make smudges big enough to give
out scalding heat; better two or three small ones if heavy smoke is
required.

Red rust and brown scale, the special enemies of palms, need to be
washed off with strong carbolic soapsuds and a soft brush before bathing
and smoking.

=Earth Worms=: Lime water is the remedy for earth worms. Stick holes in
the earth quite to the bottom, then pour on clear lime water (see
section Renovators) till it stands on top. The worms will crawl up to
escape it. Lime water is also good to sweeten sour earth. Give a half
cup after the hot-water treatment. Dig up the earth in pots so as to
keep a light, clean surface. Green scum, while not dangerous, does not
make for plant health.

=For Roaches=, dip cut potatoes in arsenic mixed with sugar and lay cut
side down on the pots and about them. Gather up every morning, dropping
instantly into a vessel of boiling water—this to destroy such insects as
remain alive. But never put out poison if there are children in the
house.

=Cuttings=: Cuttings root best in clean sand, kept very wet and warm and
under glass. Make the cuttings of new wood, neither soft nor fully ripe.
Cut with at least two eyes—three are better—slant cuts, and set in sand
slantwise, with one eye above the surface. Shift as soon as growth
begins fully to thumb-pots, and keep the pots plunged in another box of
sand. Make geranium cuttings, whether scented or flowering, of healthy
stalks full of sap and vigor. June is the best time to make cuttings of
lemon verbena, fuchsia, heliotrope, and roses. Tips of strong shoots
from either fuchsia or heliotrope will root then almost for the chance.
Chrysanthemums from cuttings of the flower stalk give much finer bloom
than those from old roots.

Leaf cuttings are interesting. Tuberous begonias root thus readily.
Roses are more difficult. Peg down the leaf on wet sand under glass,
make tiny cuts in it, and keep very wet in sunshine. Roots will strike
from the cuts after they have calloused.

Summing up, the needs of a house plant are the same as those of a human
being—air, light, food, water, cleanliness, and love.

=Cut Flowers=: Cut flowers early in the morning, stand loosely upright
in clean water away from light until they can be arranged. In hot
weather sprinkle lightly if arranging must wait, and cover with a light
cloth. Florist blossoms must be kept cool and damp; stand the holder in
the bathtub, draw three inches of cold water, and spread something over
them.

In arranging do not mix nor crowd. Tulips with only their own stalks and
leaves are wonderfully decorative, but a single other bloom makes them
blotchy. No green save the featheriest asparagus fern should ever go
with flowers which have handsome foliage. Lay fern fronds upon the cloth
rather than disfigure with them a centerpiece of roses. Tall, stiff
stems, as jonquils, narcissi, and lilies, absolutely require tall,
slender holders. So do long-stemmed roses, especially the cloth-yard
American Beauties. It is vandalism to put anything with them. Carnations
bear massing, but the vase should have space about it. Lilies lose
immeasurably by crowding. A single handsome tall stalk gives
distinction, where three or four imperfect ones huddled would be
commonplace.

Half a dozen roses with fine foliage will make a handsome centerpiece
thus: put into a low, flat bowl, rather flaring, a woven-wire cake rack
nearly the same size. Cut stalks, if long, to six inches. Use the
cut-off stems to mat through the woven wire. Cover well with cold water,
then arrange the flowers so each will show for itself, thrusting the
stems between the wires at the proper angle. A wreath of asparagus fern
laid on the cloth outside adds much more to the effect than if the green
were twined among the flowers. Lacking a cake rack, flatten a big potato
after peeling it, make holes in the upper surface with a wire nail, and
anchor the stems in them.

Hanging-holders for trailers should have something inside—wet sand or
wire net—to hold their contents stable. If a tall flower pot is set in a
niche or corner, arrange a light to fall directly on it, as a fairy lamp
or tall candle set upon a bracket. Beware of having too many flowers,
and particularly too many sorts. Even blossoms can swear at each
other—decoratively.

=Keeping Cut Flowers Fresh=: Flowers sent long distances need special
care. Stick the stalks of roses in sections of potato, else seal by
dipping in melted paraffine, then roll each separately in wax paper so
it forms a tube. Lay the tubes together in a stanch box, cut holes in
either end after it is wrapped and tied. The roses should be between bud
and half blow. Chrysanthemums can be sent the same way by either mail or
express. So can camellias and gardenias, but they change color so
quickly after opening they are hardly worth the trouble.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   X

                  DISINFECTANTS, INSECTS, INSECTICIDES


=Quicklime=: Put big lumps in broad earthen platters, set on floors of
cellars, outhouses, or barns, and slack with copperas water.

=Charcoal=: Lay lumps in vegetable bins or on cellar shelves. Hang other
lumps in bags of coarse net on cellar and pantry walls. Heat every month
or so to maintain absorbent power.

=Borax=: Sprinkle powdered borax freely over smelly places—under sinks,
around plumbing, over pantry shelves, and on floors where cans are set.
It is so safe, so wholesome, even spilling it is worth while.

=Washing-soda=: Dissolve a pound in a pint of boiling water and flush
sink pipes, refrigerator drains, and set tubs with it.

=Copperas= (green vitriol, otherwise sulphate of iron): Dissolve a pound
in a gallon of water; it will take several hours. Dilute one-half with
boiling water and flush water closets, bath pipes, set bowls, and so
forth. Sprinkle thus diluted over smelly earth, as in chicken runs,
kennel floors, stall floors, and where garbage stands. Use liberally on
garbage, in earth closets, or privies, also on standing water infested
with green scum. A gallon added to a pot of whitewash gives a yellow
tinge and makes the wash more sanitary.

=Bluestone=: Bluestone, sulphate of copper, must be dissolved in the
same proportions. It is a germicide more than disinfectant, especially
valuable where there have been sick animals. Dilute with four times its
bulk of boiling water or mix through hot whitewash. It is staple against
seed infection, as smuts and molds. The most part of garden seed sprout
and grow better for wetting with the dilute solution and drying before
planting.

=White Vitriol=: Sulphate of zinc, a powerful astringent germicide,
needs care in handling. Dissolve it, four ounces to the half gallon of
water, strain, and put into clean bottles. Keep dark, corked tightly.
Use to clean and disinfect sores from frost bite or indolent ulcers.
Dilute with five times as much tepid rain water. Use on the combs of
poultry when raw from frost, also for scaly leg and the ail known as
“bumble-foot.”

=Bichloride of Mercury=: The king among disinfectants, also one of the
deadliest among poisons. Dissolve in boiling rain water, four ounces to
the gallon. Let stand; it dissolves slowly. Keep in glass, tightly
corked, plainly labeled “poison.” Dilute one-half for use in the sick
room. But put on full strength when fighting bed bugs.

=Bordeaux Mixture=: Staple for spraying against molds, etc. One pound
blue vitriol dissolved in five gallons rain water and added to one pound
powdered unslaked lime mixed to a cream with rain water. Stir well, and
strain before spraying. Dilute one-half to three-fourths; if too strong
it scorches vegetation.

=Kerosene Emulsion=: Stir hard together in an earthen vessel a quart of
buttermilk and half a gallon kerosene. Stir with wood until thick and
buttery. Use full strength to paint tree trunks and hard branches in
winter, but dilute at least ten times for use on green things. Mix with
warm water, twenty parts to one for spraying against plant lice. For
fighting red spider stir a little sulphur into the emulsion before
diluting. Spray late—as near night as possible.

=Bisulphide of Lime=: Sure death to either animal or plant lice. Mix in
equal quantity flowers of sulphur and powdered quicklime, cover two
inches with boiling water, boil five hours, filling up and adding more
water till there is three times the original quantity. Dilute the
result, a brown smelly liquid, one hundred times for use either as wash
or spray.

=Against Garden Pests=: Mix any arsenical powder—London purple,
Scheele’s green, or Paris green—with its own bulk of flour and twice its
bulk of slaked lime, and dust upon plants while damp. Good for potato
beetles, squash bugs, flea bugs, grasshoppers, cut worms, and cabbage
worms. Use in a powder gun or tie in a thin bag, fasten it to a long
pole and shake so as to coat plants evenly.

=Larkspur=: Larkspur destroys lice and mites. Sow rather thick, cut when
beginning to flower, dry in shade. Strip leaves and buds when full dry,
powder, and keep in glass. Save stems and coarse stalks to make tea.
Infuse for twelve hours, then boil for two, strain, and reduce by
boiling another hour. Use in suds a cup to the quart, or in whitewash a
pint to the gallon. Make an ointment by either stewing tender tips in
lard or fresh butter in a water bath until the grease is well colored or
by putting with it the infusion at full strength and stewing out the
water. Stir in a little flowers of sulphur, a teaspoonful to the pint,
for use on cattle or horses. Grease back of the ears, under the throat,
and along the backbone. Grease poultry under the wings, around the neck,
and on top of the head. Blow larkspur powder into the hair of dogs and
cats after bathing them.

=For Flies and Mosquitoes=: Stop the beginnings. Burn or bury garbage.
Spray all possible fly beds well with copperas water daily. Be prodigal
of whitewash wherever it will stick. Flush drains well with boiling soda
water and use copperas water or carbolic suds to spray earth on which
waste water discharges. Keep manure piles covered with fresh earth, also
wet daily with copperas water. Set fly traps outdoors wherever the pests
congregate. Fill a tumbler two-thirds with suds and lay a cardboard over
with a hole in the middle. Smear syrup on the underside for bait. Empty
twice a day, burning the drowned flies. Boil together two ounces ground
black pepper, four ounces sugar, and a cup of sweet milk, set the syrup
shallowly in plates—the flies will do the rest. The mixture kills them,
but is harmless to anything else. Oil of lavender sprayed will drive out
flies temporarily. So will rose geranium bruised to smell strongly.
Screen every opening with wire gauze or cheesecloth, make cheesecloth
covers, rounds with wire in the hems, to protect hot food, be diligent
with fly paddles, and avoid slopping, also throwing out slops on the
ground.

Mosquitoes, say the wise men, are a local issue, bred in standing water.
Wherefore leave no water standing, not even a rusty canful. Cover rain
barrels with screen wire, pour crude kerosene upon ponds and pools.
Begin early, before buds swell. Keep it up until frost. Examine cellars,
especially barn cellars. Mosquitoes winter in them. Kill all such
lingerers with thick smoke—tobacco smoke or from pyrethrum powder or by
touching off a little gunpowder on a plate. Concussion makes the
mosquitoes drop; sweep up and burn. Concerted action is imperative. If
no man liveth or dieth unto himself, how much less so any man’s crop of
mosquitoes! Screens and smoke from punk sticks, pyrethrum, and dry
pennyroyal are the best weapons against attack. Oil of pennyroyal
likewise helps. Smear lightly on forehead, hands, and arms before going
to sleep. Wilting leaves of the stately castor bean, also tender
branches, hung about will drive out mosquitoes.

Fleas harbor in light litter—hay, straw, leaves, most of all shed hair.
Flea-bearing animals have each their own species, which fight to the
death. There are also sand fleas. Fight with fire, smoke, water, oil of
pennyroyal, and fresh black-walnut leaves. Sprinkle kerosene on the
litter suspected; sweep up and burn. Oil sand beds likewise, else drench
with copperas water. Wet manure heaps with bichloride solution or
bisulphide of mercury. Gather walnut leaves in armfuls and crowd them
into places unsafe for oil or fire, as under piazzas, bungalow floors,
or low sheds. Put them also about rooms where fleas abound, tied in
thick bunches, and laid under beds or in closets. Gasolene where safe is
a mighty help. Paint floors and baseboard with it, in default of
bichloride solution. Painting with turpentine is also fairly effective.
Success is impossible, however, unless the flea-fighting extends to
animals as well.

=Bed Bugs=: Bed bugs demand eternal vigilance, especially in apartments.
Make bedrooms and closets as nearly as possible bug proof by washing,
after cleaning thoroughly, with bichloride solution, then filling every
crack, cranny, and crevice with soft putty. Lay a thin rope of putty
along the baseboard on the floor and crowd down upon it quarter-round
molding cut to fit. Nail fast, and paint to match the baseboard. This is
an effectual seal for dividing wall on a common floor. Set collars of
the stiffest putty around steam pipes where they go in and out. Renew
them as often as they crack and crumble, but do not trust to them
entirely. Examine everything monthly—bed, furnishings, chairs, boxes,
the backs of pictures, books, and stacked papers. Paper in mass is a
favorite lurking place. Have white slips for mattresses; remove, turn,
examine seams, and wet corners with bichloride. Paint the mattress over
lightly with bichloride; it neither stains nor smells. Wipe the bedstead
and springs with a cloth wet in it, and drench crannies unwipable. Wipe
the backs of pictures and of dressers, in fact, any sheltered and static
space. Wipe the floor with bichloride, if bare, and wax or oil
afterward. Sprinkle a carpet or rugs well with bichloride, then sweep
with a broom dipped in very hot water. Empty closets, wipe over, examine
all accumulations of paper, boxes, etc. A bug overlooked will in a
month’s space infest a whole house. Couches of rattan, wicker, or
upholstered are strongholds of the blood-suckers. Set in air and drench
with benzine or gasolene, leave standing a day, and drench again,
shaking, brushing, and beating between drenchings.

Wicker clothes hampers and baskets, also baby carriages, are other
strongholds. Scald hampers and baskets with boiling-hot soda water, then
paint over with turpentine and a little sweet oil. Use gasolene on the
carriages, applying with a thick brush rather than drenching. Repeat
twice in succession, wash everything washable, and sun for a week.

=Moths=: Moths in upholstered things must be got rid of the same as bed
bugs (see preceding paragraph). Clean rugs thoroughly, spray on both
sides with gasolene or strong black-pepper tea, sun well, then roll up
between newspapers, tie fast, wrap spirally with stiff paper, fold ends
neatly, slip over them paper bags fitting accurately, paste down edges,
paste a strip of paper over the edge of the wrapping. Clean heavy coats
with gasolene or benzine, crowd newspaper into the sleeves, crumple more
newspaper thickly over the hanger, fasten the coat, slip over it a bag
of pasted newspapers, pass the hanger hook up through it, crumple the
paper tight around the shank and tie, then fold over the bottom of the
paper several times, and fasten with stout wire clips. Moth balls may be
slipped in coat pockets, but will hardly be needed if they are hung in a
light place.

Store and protect tailor suits much the same. After cleaning fold the
skirt belt in six and fasten with a big safety pin to lower bend of the
hanger shank, then slip on its newspaper bag and fasten. Put on the
coat, then over all a bigger newspaper bag. Put inside wisps of cotton
tied up in net, and wet with oil of cedar. One-piece cloth frocks should
be hung the same as long coats, but have the skirts folded upward over a
roll of newspapers about midway and pinned or basted to the waist. Store
fur coats the same way after cleaning and sunning for several days. Put
mothaline bags outside over those of newspaper and sachets of sandalwood
in the sleeves. If moths have touched them before storing, lay them for
several days on a slat tray in a trunk with a big sponge saturated in
gasolene below. Keep the trunk outside and shut tight; gasolene vapor
ought to kill the moth eggs. Clean small furs as muffs, tippets, cuffs,
sun, sew up tight in old linen, sprinkle well with black-pepper tea,
then wrap in newspaper, wipe out their boxes with a cloth dipped in
gasolene, put in the wrapped furs, wrap boxes, and slip in paper bags,
then fold and paste together the bag ends. If no moth nor egg was inside
none will come out.

Fine things, such as camel’s-hair shawls, moth-infested should be
brushed and sunned, then wrapped in clean linen, over that thick wet
towels, over that paper, and laid in a hot oven until the paper
scorches. This is equal to superheated steam for moth and egg
destruction, but does no harm to the finest fabric. Sew up in linen and
store same as small furs. Steam is also sovereign for moths in carpets
where it is unsafe to use gasolene or benzine. Cover the infected spots
with thick wet towels, letting them lie a good bit over and iron first
around the edges, then all over with blazing-hot irons, changing them as
they cease to hiss. Repeat at weekly intervals for a month. After
ironing go along the edges, wetting the carpet well with bichloride
solution. A carpet to be stored should be sprayed with gasolene after
cleaning, then folded over double newspapers, and sprayed at each
doubling over with black-pepper tea. A long, narrow bag of moth balls in
the deepest fold adds something to insect insurance. Store in light and
off the floor. A discarded bed spring is fine to lay such things on.
Stand rolled rugs on end if not too long, and a little apart.

=A Blanket Box=: Make blankets clean and whole, fold in three,
lengthwise, roll up over a core of moth balls, sew in old linen, and
pack. Fill all crevices in a big packing-case with putty or plaster wet
with egg, paper with plain manila paper, let dry, then paint the paper
with oil of cedar. Give two coats. Put over the bottom a sachet of cedar
twigs or shavings laid on wadding and tacked between cheesecloth. Pack
blankets and woolens on this, tucking smaller cedar sachets into
crevices, also moth balls tied in cheesecloth. Put in white things
first, lay paper over them, then pack colored ones. Cover with another
cedar sachet, tuck paper snugly over it, then shut—the top must be
hinged on—and paste paper over the edges. As long as it is unbroken the
contents are safe.

Where storage space is lacking use a box couch, making sure with
bichloride and gasolene that neither moth nor bed bug lurks inside. Use
oil of lavender and pine twigs rather than cedar, omit the sealing with
paper, but examine now and then; if you discover the enemy do not halt
until he is forever and completely yours.

=Roaches and Water Bugs=: Powdered borax mixed with sugar kills them.
Set it about in saucers, sprinkle under pipes and on sills, also on the
bottom of closets and drawers. Lay clean paper over it. Once a month
remove paper, wipe wood, sprinkle again after drying, and put on fresh
paper. Burn every dead insect. In cellars or greenhouses mix a little
Paris green with the powder, dip into it cut potatoes, and lay them cut
side down, in the way of roaches. Gather up each morning, drop in water
as gathered, and replace at evening with freshly loaded potatoes. Pour
turpentine around water pipes and those for steam heat. Paint the pipes
with turpentine, doing it when they are cool. Paint kitchen floors and
baseboards after scouring with bichloride of mercury; beware, though,
using it higher. Keep borax and sugar on pantry shelves under paper.
Paint with turpentine at housecleaning. Fill cracks, crevices, and
knotholes with putty. Do the same with tops and rims of set tubs,
renewing it as it breaks.

=Ants=: Ants, black or red, hate the smell of camphor. Make rings of it
around dishes of food and pour it into crevices suspected as ant roads.
If they climb by a post or pillar put a tarred bandage around it. Find
the nest if possible and destroy it with boiling water or gasolene or
kerosene with a little camphor added. Beware of gasolene if the nest is
close to any building. Boiling soda water is safe anywhere except about
plants. There use strong carbolic soapsuds, blood-warm, with an
after-sprinkle of camphor. Gum camphor tied in net and hung in closets
or pantries helps to drive ants away.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   XI

                              CARE OF PETS


=Dogs=: Choose your dog, unless he chooses himself by adopting you, with
regard for environment. Big dogs require space—big rooms and grounds
outside. Small ones are “in drawing” with apartments or modest houses.
Breed is a matter of chance or choice. Toy terriers, toy Pomeranians,
spaniels, and pugs fit into restricted menages. St. Bernards, collies,
greyhounds, wolf hounds, and hunting-dogs in general are miserable in
confinement, also miserably out of place.

Teach him obedience first of all, keep him clean and comfortable, never
forget him, feed regularly, give constant access to clean water, and
always sufficient exercise. Otherwise don’t keep him; neglect is a
refinement of cruelty.

Vary the feeding. Dog biscuit day in and out destroys appetite and
thrift. Shift every other day to table scraps, oatmeal porridge,
cornmeal mush cooked with broth, or raw meat and bones. Give milk almost
every day—not too much. Be sparing of the raw meat; a zest suffices.
Tiny house dogs ought to have light breakfasts, with a hearty dinner
around two o’clock, and nothing more. Dogs running out need much more
food, otherwise they get into mischief. A hearty breakfast and dinner
with milk and mush at sundown is not too much. Feed all that will be
eaten clean; if food is left, diminish the quantity. Leave nothing but
bones where a dog may come back to it. Gnawing solid bones helps
strength and spirit. Small bones of game or fowl must be given with
discretion; they are crunched and swallowed so greedily the sharp ends
may do harm if the stomach is too full of them.

A flea-bearing dog is intolerable. Wash in larkspur water (see section
Insecticides) or carbolic soapsuds, and comb while in the bath with a
fine-tooth comb. Drain off water and fleas, rinse tub, rinse dog well,
dry with coarse soft towels, keep muzzled until fully dry, and away from
draughts. When fully dry, part hair and blow in behind the ears and
along the spine flowers of sulphur mixed with larkspur powder or
pyrethrum powder.

For skin troubles, mange especially, bathe well in hot sulphur soapsuds,
rinse dry, and rub well into the affected spots unsalted butter washed
clean of milk and made yellow with flowers of sulphur. If the trouble
persists and the dog is valuable, consult a vet; the dog, perhaps, needs
constitutional treatment.

Kennels and doghouses must be clean and dry, baskets and bedding kept
clean and free of vermin. Whitewash kennels and doghouses often, putting
larkspur infusion or carbolic acid in the whitewash, else mixing in
flowers of sulphur. Scald baskets, dry, and paint with turpentine and
sweet oil. Lay bedding outside and drench with gasolene. Burn it if
mange appears, else it will reinfect the animal. Do not let dogs sleep
haphazard anywhere they can. Give them comfortable beds, indoors or out.

A dog running free at exercise needs no clothes. On leash, with his
keeper merely walking or sauntering, a warm blanket, or, better, a
sweater, is essential in cold weather. Keep dogs outdoors as much as
possible in hot weather, but do not let them run too much. Provide
shade, especially for guard dogs. Teach all dogs, and especially guard
dogs, to refuse food from strangers. This is impossible with a hungry
dog. Full feeding guards against foraging at large, the thing which
gives poisoners the best opportunity.

Dogs perspire only through the tongue, hence the panting after exertion.
Let them drink all they will, but have the water clean. Milk is food,
not drink. Do not imagine it takes the place of water. Water, free and
clean, is held the best preventive of rabies. In case rabies is
suspected isolate safely, and observe for at least a week.
Pseudo-rabies, induced by fear, kills many more people than the real
thing. An ailing dog, or one tired, thirsty, or lost, will snap at
almost anything in his way. Do not on that account condemn him untried
to death. Rest, food, and drink, in confinement, will discover his true
condition. If madness is proved, kill, quickly and mercifully, burn or
bury, disinfect every space he has touched with bichloride of mercury,
burn movable boards, litter, ropes, etc. Grass or earth upon which
saliva has dropped had better be drenched with kerosene and set on fire.

=Cats=: Cats likewise suffer rabies; in case of it use the same
measures. Cats of fancy breeds are more decorative than plain tabbys,
but also more delicate and much less intelligent, withal lacking in
affection, and of no use save to look fine.

White cats, especially those with blue eyes, are more savage, less
affectionate, and much harder house-broken than black, gray, or
tortoise-shell ones. Often the white fellows are deaf. Each and several,
cats run wild for reasonable opportunity, yet they bear housing and
confinement admirably. They need raw meat, but not too much; a bit of
liver or a fish head every other day suffices. Alternately give bones,
with the milk and crumbled bread, which is the mainstay of their diet.
Give also at night a saucer of pure milk. Water and catnip, green or
dry, should be always accessible. Do not overfeed; cats are dainty
gluttons if permitted. Keep them thriving, but not fat—fat and
indigestion are the roots of disease.

Rid of fleas as directed for dogs. After drying, confine for some time,
first giving a saucer of milk with a teaspoonful of whisky or brandy in
it. For skin troubles grease all over with the sulphur and butter,
confine so as to keep from getting dirty, and wash well after
twenty-four hours in hot suds, rinsing well and drying with soft towels.
Repeat at intervals as long as needed. Feed on bread and milk, be lavish
of catnip, burn infected bedding, wash and fumigate baskets, or treat
with bichloride of mercury (see section Disinfectants).

=Belgian Hares and Cavies=: Both are vegetable feeders. They will live
in small quarters, but do better in bigger ones. Keep the quarters clean
and sanitary with whitewash and disinfectants. If very small, have
floors of loose boards which can be taken up and scalded. Feed three
times a day with grain, roots, and green stuff. Be liberal of the green
stuff. With a grass run the beasts will supply most of it themselves.
Scatter the food, and give only as much as will be eaten clean. Suckling
mothers need extra feeds, five a day instead of three.

Dust weekly with sifted ashes, corn starch in powder, and flowers of
sulphur. Use in dry weather, putting on at night. Have hutches big
enough to prevent crowding. Beware letting your pets overrun the space
at command.

=Birds=: Mocking-birds, cardinals, bullfinches and orioles, all of which
it is wicked to keep in cages, need very roomy cages, perches with the
bark on, much clean sandy earth on the floors, clean grain, green stuff,
ripe fruit, and insects, besides the egg-and-potato mixture which is
their mainstay. Tie heads of wheat, oats, or millet to the bars, hang
lettuce and peppergrass there, also chickweed in season. Put ripe
berries on clean twigs and suspend; force bits of apple and peach
between wires close to the perches. Have a swing, a roomy bath, with the
usual feed and water cups. Change the water daily, twice in summer. Put
one drop of carbolic acid in the bath for insect prevention. Boil eggs
twenty minutes, crush the yolk while hot with a freshly boiled Irish
potato, season with the least grain of salt and a very little red
pepper, and put into the cup. Keep the cage very clean, scald it every
three months. Hang it outside in pleasant weather, but never so the sun
at midday will strike full on the birds.

Give flies, crickets, earth worms, grasshoppers, but not hairy
caterpillars, spiders, nor wasps. Mockers sing almost the night through
in spring. To silence them cover the cage with something thick, set
where it is very dark, then uncover.

=Canaries=: A long body and thick smooth plumage are marks of a good
canary. Males only sing. Coat color varies. German canaries show many
shades of yellow besides mottled tints. Yellow-red Norwich birds owe
their giddy coats to red pepper in the food. Unless it is given
liberally at moulting-time their fine feathers come back dull and pale.
Birds are in full song at a year old. Younger, they have rarely been
well taught. The range of life is seven to twenty years; the last is
possible only with exceptional birds and still more exceptional care.

Teach canaries to deserve the freedom of the room. It helps in many
ways. Leave the cage door open; do not coax him out nor force him in
except as a last resort. Rather let hunger take him back. He will learn
quickly and enjoy flying about.

A metal cage with a movable floor is the one to choose. Wood invites
vermin and harbors it distressingly. Hang where it is neither hot nor
cold, away from draughts, but with air plenty. Feed regularly, but do
not overfeed. Hemp seed are so fattening they must be given sparingly.
The regular bird seed sold in packages is excellent if fresh. A dull
appearance is against it; canary seed when not stale is shiny. Empty and
fill the seed cup daily, clean the floor, and put down fresh gravel, red
and white. Keep cuttlefish bone suspended in the cage, and put in daily
some fresh bit of green. Lettuce will answer, but chickweed and
peppergrass are better. A pod of Cayenne pepper is good in sharp
weather. So is a little hard-boiled egg, lightly dusted with red pepper,
or bread crumbs squeezed out of milk and similarly dusted. A droopy bird
showing signs of diarrhea should have black-pepper tea to drink, else a
strip of fat pork rolled in ground pepper hung where it can be pecked.

Fill the bath every morning. If a bird picks himself after bathing put a
few drops of rose water or cologne in the bath. Bare spots from the
picking should be rubbed very lightly with sulphur and butter, putting
also a little under the wings and back of the neck. Ragged plumage may
mean a hardened oil gland. It lies just at the root of the tail and
furnishes oil for the coat. Look at it, blowing aside covering feathers.
If swollen and inflamed, drop on warm, weak suds from a medicine
dropper, dry very gently, and apply a little vaseline. Repeat daily
until the gland frees itself of the cake.

Trim nails discreetly, holding to the light so as to miss the tiny vein
in them. If cut, hold the bleeding foot a minute in tepid water, dry,
and touch the cut with vaseline.

If breeding, separate the pair when brooding begins. Afterward let both
feed the young. Provide soft food twice a day—bread crumbs soaked in
milk, scraped apple, mashed hard-boiled egg yolk, in addition to seed
and bird manna. As soon as it is safe move the whole family into a
fresh, clean cage, and scald and fumigate the other. Mites, the bane of
canaries, multiply amazingly. They would be invisible but for their
blood color. Feeding by day, they quit their prey at night. Throw a
sheet of Canton flannel over cages suspected, remove it quickly by
lamplight, and plunge in boiling water. Mites will show on it after
death. If they are plenty, shift to a clean cage at once and repeat the
cloth treatment until all are destroyed. Infested cages should be, after
scalding, drenched with gasolene and aired for a week. Scalding with
bichloride is also effectual; it must be followed by a scalding in
clear, boiling water and a fortnight of airing.

=Parrots=: If the parrot is for company get a gray African—they make the
best talkers and are best tempered. For decoration get the
scarlet-crested white fellows, or the yellow and green, or blue and
scarlet and yellow. Treatment of either is the same; feed fruit, nuts,
grain, a little meat, insects, bread, especially cornbread, and cereals
cooked stiff. Parrots learn quickly to eat and drink with their owners.
Coffee in moderation is good for them, but they must have water besides.
Some thrive better for drinking milk; indeed, the creatures are almost
uncannily human in many things. Let them bathe at discretion, provide
also a dust bath. Have a roomy cage, a tall, branchy perch, and a hoop
swing. Never tease nor tantalize; parrots are cross enough without; also
jealous. Do not leave free in the room with a small child. Their beaks
are cruelly sharp. Lacking insects, give small lumps of raw mutton fat.
Keep everything about them very clean.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                  XII

                             IN EMERGENCIES


=Chimney Blazes=: Smother blazing chimneys by throwing salt, damp if
possible, on the fire, and setting something flat against the chimney
breast.

=Blazing Fat=: Throw on salt, sand, or ashes; water makes the flame
fiercer. Prevent draughts if possible; keep doors and windows shut
tight. Turn out oil or gas flames underneath, and keep everything
inflammable away from the blaze.

=Gas Leaks=: Open doors and windows, let accumulations blow out, then
hunt for the broken pipe—not with a lamp or candle—and clap on it when
found either a blanket of putty or flour dough wet very stiff. Tie in
place with broad tape, then wrap with a cloth so as to withstand
pressure. But first of all call for the repair man. With a leak
undiscoverable, shut off from the rest of the house and leave windows
wide open.

=Asphyxiation=: Whether from gas or drowning, lay flat, the head a
little higher; permit no crowding; resort to artificial
respiration—lifting the arms and pressing on the chest systematically,
holding the tongue out all the while; rub with alcohol, especially feet
and hands; keep in air, and work gently but quickly. In cases of
drowning, empty lungs of water first thing by laying face down over a
bench or barrel and working the arms.

=Fainting=: Lay flat, the head lower than the body, loosen clothes,
especially about the neck, dash cold water gently in the face, hold
ammonia under nostrils, rub wrists and temples with camphor or cologne
water, and if the faint persists put mustard at the back of the neck and
to the soles of the feet. Insensibility from shock or falling needs
slightly different treatment. It may mean concussion; hence, let the
head be highest and apply vigorous friction along the spine as well as
to the extremities. Stimulate as soon as swallowing is possible, and
move with caution.

=Burns=: Anything which excludes air without tainting the wound or
irritating it further helps a bad burn. Carron oil—a creamy mixture of
lime water and sweet oil—applied with a feather, then covered with
cotton, either batting or absorbent, gives a measure of relief and is
also healing. Soft old linen coated with fresh egg-white laid on and
allowed to dry soothes pain. Even a covering with dry flour, if nothing
else is handy, is better than leaving the burn bare. But if at all
serious, or even is shallow and wide spread, call a doctor instantly,
meantime keeping up heart action with stimulants in small doses often
repeated.

=Breaks and Dislocations=: Lay a broken bone straight in a natural
position upon a stout cardboard splint shaped to the limb and covered
with cotton batting. Bandage limb and splint firmly together, working
toward the trunk and keeping the bandage smooth but not too tight. Wet
with arnica. This keeps down pain and inflammation, making the surgeon’s
work when he arrives easier for himself and his patient. Reduce
dislocations as quickly as possible by stretching the hurt joint
steadily and letting another person manipulate the hurt. Often the bone
head will snap back in place at a touch; it remains then only to keep it
in place. An hour’s delay would mean swelling to render the replacing
much harder. Wrist and elbow joints in particular are kittle cattle if
left to swell. First aid to them means many times preserving use and
saving from lifelong disfigurement. But this first aid by no means
suffices to make surgical care unnecessary.

=Sprains and Strains=: Bandage tight, wet the bandages with cold water,
and hold in an easy position. A sprained or strained ankle may be almost
cured by plunging it into running water and keeping it there some time.
Lift out occasionally, then replunge. Strains require rest and bandages.
Wet the bandages with arnica. If there is muscle shrinkage later, rub
morning and night with chloroform liniment after bathing with hot water
and wiping dry.

=Chloroform Poisoning=: Keep in motion in open air, dose with aromatic
spirits of ammonia well diluted, and hold it undiluted to nostrils.
Apply electricity to spine; this if conscious. If fallen into a stupor
put ice to spine and top of head, hot water to feet, give hard friction
with alcohol, or camphor on legs and arms. Use artificial respiration
and stimulate gently. Friction or a mustard plaster over the heart is
helpful. Let nothing bind or constrict anywhere, and do not cease your
efforts at the first signs of lessening stupor.

=Narcotic Poisoning=: For laudanum, morphine, or opium the treatment is
the same. First a strong emetic—mustard and water as thick as pea soup
is among the best. Follow it with black coffee as strong as possible.
Give all the patient can be made to swallow at short intervals, keep him
walking briskly, stripped to the waist, dash ice water on the spine, and
tie ice to the back of the neck. Flagellate lightly on shoulders; the
tingles help to rouse. Hold aromatic ammonia to his nose every half
minute. If the coffee nauseates, give clear hot water after to make
vomiting easy, then after ten minutes more coffee not quite so strong.
Permit no stop for several hours; if excretories act properly the danger
will then have been past. Electricity is useful, but not indispensable.
In desperate cases use every means at hand.

=Acid Poisoning=: Emollients are the antidotes for acids; emetics wrench
and tear seared stomach tissues. No matter what the acid—sulphuric,
carbolic, nitric, or oxalic—give something soft and smooth—raw eggs,
cream, starch wet as thick as cream, melted lard or butter, olive oil,
or even flour and water, followed after a few minutes with magnesia
stirred thick in tepid water. Let the patient rest easily, hold ammonia
to the nostrils, and put hot-water bags to the feet. Aim to keep up
vitality under the shock to vital tissues. In such cases a minute means
often the difference between life and death.

=Iodine Poison=: Use emollients—the very best is thick cooked starch; it
has a specific power to neutralize the drug. Olive oil is next best; it
protects the coating of the stomach. But use anything above named rather
than nothing. To let a case of poison go by default is against reason
and humanity.

=Arsenic=: Arsenic in all its forms is best fought with raw eggs,
especially the whites, and sweet milk or cream. Give a strong emetic
afterward, then, when it has acted, more eggs or milk. This should
suffice unless the poison has been freely absorbed.

=Ptomaine Poisoning=: Give an active emetic, followed by a cathartic;
keep the patient warm, stimulate with brandy—a teaspoonful every hour;
put mustard to wrists, ankles, back of neck, and pit of stomach—this
particularly if there is severe pain, cramps, or continued retching.
Pains in the head indicate the need of an ice cap.

=Mercury Poisoning=: Bichloride needs as antidote raw eggs and cream, or
oil, with the same external treatment as for ptomaines. Strong emetics
are inadvisable, but if the stomach frees itself naturally of the
emollients much poison will come with them. Replace them in smaller
quantities, but give nothing else until the doctor comes.

=Bites and Stings=: Stings from wasps, bees, and ants need treatment
with fruit acids—bathe in vinegar or apply a slice of raw apple or peach
or a crushed grape. Instant sucking removes part of the poison and
relieves the pain to a degree. Always suck bites, as of spiders, unless
there are abrasions of tongue and lips. After sucking bathe freely with
fresh peroxide of hydrogen, boracic acid, or sugar-of-lead water. A leaf
of green plantain, well bruised, bound on a bite or sting when nothing
else is at hand keeps down inflammation and mitigates pain. In case of
stings make sure the sting proper has not been left in the wound, since
its presence might induce blood poisoning.


------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                 INDEX


 ACID POISONING, 197.

 Adaptation of old garments, 108.

 Antidotes, 196-198.

 Antique furniture, care of, 66;
   restoring, 62-65.

 Ants, how to get rid of, 177.

 Aprons, laundry, 11.

 Arsenic, antidote for, 198.

 Asphalt spots, 122.

 Asphyxiation, 193.


 BANDAGES, 21-22.

 Basting clothes, 101.

 Bed bugs, to prevent, 170.

 Bed clothes, mending, 85.

 Beef, how to choose, 134.

 Bichloride of mercury, 165.

 Birds, care of, 185.

 Bisulphide of lime, 166.

 Bites and stings, 199.

 Blanket box, 175.

 Blazing fat, how to put out, 192.

 Bleaching, 2-3.

 Blood, to stanch, 22-23.

 Bluestone, 164.

 Books, mending, 80.

 Borax, 163.

 Bordeaux mixture, 165.

 Buckwheat flour, 131.

 Burlaps, 34.

 Burns, 194.

 Butter, how to choose, 133.

 Brass, care of, 67, 126.

 Breaks and dislocations, 194.

 Bric-à-brac, mending, 79.

 Brick dust, 46.

 Bronze, care of, 126.

 Brooms, 42.

 Broom bags, 42.

 Brushes, 42, 46.


 CAKE, how to keep, 143.

 Calcimine, 39, 50.

 Canaries, care of, 186.

 Canning, 139.

 Carpets, cleaning, 29-30;
   mending, 90.

 Cats, care of, 183.

 Cavies, care of, 184.

 Ceilings, 30, 38-39.

 Cement, 53-54.

 Charcoal, 163.

 Cheese, how to choose and keep, 134.

 Chimney blazes, how to put out, 192.

 China, mending, 75;
   washing, 56.

 Chloride-of-lime water, 55.

 Chloroform poisoning, 196.

 Cleaning floors and rugs, 28-30.

 Cloth, washing, 105.

 Clothes drainer, 45.

 Coarse mending, 84.

 Coffee, how to choose and keep, 132.

 Collars, how to do up, 5-7.

 Contagion, 19-20.

 Copper, care of, 126.

 Copperas, 163.

 Copperas water, 55.

 Cornmeal, 130.

 Cottons, testing, 97.

 Cracks, filling, 27.

 Cretonne, 34.

 Cuffs, how to do up, 5-7.

 Curtains, how to do up, 8-9.

 Cutting out clothes, 99.

 Cuttings, to start plant, 158.


 DARNING, 81, 88.

 Disinfection, 20.

 Disinfectants, 55, 163-178.

 Dogs, care of, 179.

 Dust cloths, 43.

 Dust swabs, 43.

 Dyeing, 103.


 EARTH WORMS, 157.

 Eggs, how to test, 144.

 Emergencies, what to do in, 192-199.

 Enameled iron, 71.


 FAINTING, 193.

 Ferns, 151.

 Fertilizers, 153.

 Fillers for new wood, 47.

 Fleas, how to prevent, 170.

 Flies, how to prevent, 168.

 Floors, 24-30.

 Floor pad, 41.

 Flour, how to test, 129.

 Flowers, how to keep and arrange cut flowers, 159.

 Foot pad, 41.

 French polish, 49.

 Frocks, how to wash, 4.

 Fruit, dried, 142.

 Fruit stains, 119.

 Fruit storage, 139.

 Furniture, mending, 74;
   polish, 49.

 Furs, mending, 88;
   cleaning, 93.


 GARDEN PESTS, 166.

 Gas leak, 192.

 Gasolene-cleaning, 104.

 Gelatine spots, 119.

 Gilt, to clean, 128;
   frames, 69;
   furniture, 68.

 Glass, annealing, 61;
   mending, 79;
   preserving in, 138;
   washing, 58-61.

 Glazing, 37.

 Gloves, care of, 92.

 Glue, 50.

 Grass stains, what to do for, 123.

 Grease spots, what to do for, 113.

 Grits, how to test, 131.

 Gum arabic, 52.


 HARES, how to keep, 184.

 Hominy, how to test, 131.


 ICE, to keep in sickroom, 18.

 Ice-cream spots, 119.

 Ink stains, 121.

 Insects, 154, 163-178.

 Insecticides, 154, 163-178.

 Iodine poison, 197.

 Iron, rust, 123;
   care of, 125.

 Irons, 13.

 Ironstone, 58.

 Ironing-boards, 43.

 Ironing-tables, 11.


 JAVELLE WATER, 54.


 KEROSENE EMULSION, 165.

 Knee pad, 41.

 Knives and forks, how to clean, 61.


 LACE AND EMBROIDERY, how to wash, 10;
   how to mend, 87;
   how to freshen, 105.

 Lamps and candlesticks, mending, 80.

 Lard, how to test, 133.

 Larkspur, 167.

 Laundry cabinet, 45.

 Lead swab, 45.

 Lime water, 54.

 Linen, testing, 97.


 MAHOGANY STAIN, 48.

 Majolica, how to wash, 58.

 Materials, appliquéd, 102.

 Matted floors, 29.

 Matting, mending, 90.

 Meat, how to keep fresh. 138.

 Melons, keeping, 143.

 Mending, 74-91.

 Mercury poisoning, 198.

 Mildew, 123.

 Millinery, 109.

 Mission furniture, care of, 68.

 Mordants, 3-4.

 Mosquitoes, 168.

 Moths, 172.

 Mucilage, 52.

 Mustard plasters, 21.

 Mutton and lamb, 135.


 NARCOTIC POISONING, 196.

 Nursing, clothes for, 23.


 OAK FURNITURE, care of, 68.

 Oak stains, 48.

 Oatmeal, 131.

 Oil stains, 47.

 Old garments, ways to use, 108.

 Ornaments for millinery, 112.

 Oxalic acid, 55.


 PADS, 41.

 Paint, to remove, 26, 118.

 Palms, how to care for, 151.

 Pantries, outdoor, 141.

 Paper dough, 53.

 Papering, 31-32, 38.

 Parrots, care of, 190.

 Paste for paper-hanging, 52.

 Perspiration marks, 124.

 Pets, care of, 179-191.

 Pewter, how to clean, 127.

 Piano polish, 49.

 Pine needles, 46.

 Plants, care of, 148;
   for window boxes, 150.

 Plaster, 53.

 Poisons, 196-198.

 Polish, 49.

 Porch furniture, 71.

 Pork, how to choose, 136.

 Pots, 145.

 Potting, 146.

 Poultices, 21.

 Poultry, 137;
   how to keep, 138.

 Precautions, 72.

 Pressing, 101.

 Ptomaine poisoning, 198.

 Putty, 54.


 QUICKLIME, 163.


 ROACHES, how to get rid of, 158, 176.

 Road stains, 115.

 Roses, 151.

 Rugs, cleaning, 30;
   mending, 90.

 Rust, 123.


 SALT FISH, how to keep, 138.

 Salt meats, how to choose, 136.

 Sand, 53.

 Saving pieces of material, 107.

 Sawdust, 46.

 Scrubbing, 24.

 Shellac, 25.

 Shirts, how to do up, 5-6.

 Sickbed, 15.

 Sickroom, care of, 13-23.

 Silk, testing, 95;
   washing, 105.

 Silk wall covering, 34.

 Silver tarnish, 127.

 Size, glue and vegetable, 50.

 Smoke stains, 124.

 Soap, 1-2.

 Soil for house plants, 145.

 Spots, how to get rid of, 113-119.

 Sprains and strains, 195.

 Sprinklers, 44.

 Stains, oil, 47;
   mahogany, 48;
   walnut, 48;
   oak, 48;
   road, 115;
   fruit, 119;
   wine, 120;
   ink, 121;
   grass, 123;
   smoke, 124.

 Staining floors, 24-25.

 Starches, 7-8.


 TABLE LINEN, how to wash, 4-5.

 Tar spots, 122.

 Tea, how to choose, 132.

 Tile floors, how to clean, 29.

 Tool box, 44.

 Trimmings, care of, 106.


 UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE, care of, 69.


 VARNISH, to remove, 26;
   spots, 118.

 Vegetable storage, 139.

 Velvet, freshening, 107.

 Vitriol, white, 164.


 WALLS, 30-36.

 Wall mop, 46.

 Wall paper, 31-33.

 Walnut stain, 48.

 Washing, 1-12.

 Washing, china and glass, 56-61;
   knives and forks, 61.

 Washing fluids, 2.

 Washing-soda, 163.

 Water, to soften, 1.

 Water bugs, 176.

 Water wagon, 42.

 Wax, dancing, 49.

 Wax board, 45.

 Wax finish, 48.

 Wax spots, 124.

 Waxing floors, 25.

 Whitewash, 39, 51.

 Whitewashed walls, 36.

 Wicker furniture, care of, 70.

 Windows, 30, 37.

 Window boxes, 146, 149.

 Wine stains, 120.

 Woolens, how to wash, 9.

 Woolens, testing, 96.


                                THE END


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 ● Transcriber’s Notes:
    ○ Some chapter headings had the word CHAPTER before the roman
      numeral, some didn’t.
    ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
    ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
    ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
      when a predominant form was found in this book.
    ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);
      text that was bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65120 ***