The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

3. Waterproof Brown Harness Dressing.— Melt 1 lb. mutton fat, 5 oz. beeswax ; boil and skim. Then add 1 pint turpentine. 4. Saddlery, to clean. — Wash with soft-soap. Then apply with a sponge the following recipe; VTarm 1 seer milk, add -g chittack dilute sulphuric acid, and when cold 2 cMttdcks hydrochloric acid. Strain and bottle. The Duties of the “ Dirzie ” or Tailor. These are almost too w'ell known to I'equire description ; indeed, they are only referred to here in deference to request. The tailor’s duties, briefly, are to give his mistress eight hours at least of steady sewing work. If, as is usual, he gets a Sunday holiday, his hours should be longer, but in daily work the tailor should be in his place by eight o’clock a.m., and work till five o’clock, with a break of one hour for food g6 The Complete Indian in tlie middle of the day. In the hot weather it is better to make him work from seven o’clock till eleven^ and again from three till seven p.m. Few dirsies can be trusted to cut out w'ithout any supervision, and it is far better for the mistress either to do it herself, or to order the tailor to show her the patterns tacked on to the stuff before the fateful scissors are brought into use. In most large towns, however, dirsies are to be found who are to all intents and pur2)oses dressmakers, and excellent ones into the bargain. They have not, of course, much taste, and their original draperies are almost always woodeny ; but small dressmakers at home have the same faults. The price charged by such dirzies for making a dress varies from five to ten rupees, and as a rule they finish their dresses very neatly indeed. To ladies in out-station.s, Butterick’s, Schild’s, or Weldon’s paper jjatterns will be found invaluable ; and by giving the bust and waist measurement when ordering the pattern, there is seldom any radical alteration necessary. If, in addition, the lady is W’ise enough to have an accurately modelled dress form on which to fit the bodice, the dirzie is quite as likely to produce a good fit as the most expensive dressmaker. The difficulty about dress forms is their unwieldiness. Several kinds, however, jrack into a fairly small space, while the bazaar dress form, to be had from Butterick’s for about fourteen shillings, folds up like an umbrella, and can be altered to any size. All that is necessary to make the bodice part of this form efficient is a wadded bodice made to button over the wire frame. It then answers quite as well as many more expensive kinds, whilst it is nearly as portable as an umbrella. It is an excellent I^lan to pay five shillings at Redmayne’s, or any other good dressmaker, for a scientifically-cut bodice pattern, made to actual measurements. The dirzie should always be supplied with a locking box for his work, a sheet for spreading on the ground, an iron and an ironing board. He is supposed to supply his own scissors and thimble. Where a permanent dirzie is not kept, it is an admirable plan to have a man in regularly once a week or fortnight to do general repairs. It must not be forgotten, however, that there is an appreciable chance of infection in giving work out to be done in the bazaars, as the Housekeeper and Cook 97