FoodNet

The housekeeper's companion

1883

Page 144

Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Dip the flannel in the water and squeeze it nearly dry; then rub it down in the whiting, and take up as much as will adhere to it. Rub the paint gently with it and it will clean it per- fectly. Next lightly wash the part done with clean water, and dry with the chamois leather. The paint will look as well as if it were just done, and the most delicate colors will be unin- jured. It is a better mode than the old one of .soap and water, and it is also quicker about. Window-cleaning should be done by men, if the windows are high up. No woman should be allowed to run the risk of breaking her neck from a height, nor to stand where she is indelicately exposed to observation, but she ought to clean the inside of the windows with the footman or hired cleaner. Plate-glass is best cleaned with wet whiting, which is after- wards washed off, and the glass is rubbed with a chamois leather. If paint-clashes have been left on the panes of glass by the painter, fi can be removed by washing the glass with soda and water, whi^k will quite clear it from them. 14 210 HOUSEHOLD. Board Cleaning. — Boards should never be rubbed across, but up and down the boards. After being well scrubbed with soap, hot water and a brush, they should be washed over again with clean water and soft cloth, and then well dried by- hard rubbing. To extract oil from boards (it is frequently upset on them by careless painters), make a lye of pearl-ashes and rain water; add to it unslacked lime as much as the water will absorb; stir well together; let it settle, and bottle for use. Dilute it with rain-water when required, and wash the greasy spots quickly with it. Do not let it remain wet, for fear of discoloring the boards. Boards may be whitened by scrub- bing them with soft water, sand, and slacked lime. This will also destroy insects. How to Clean Carpets. — Carpets should be swept the way of the pile, with wet tea-leaves, to prevent the dust from flying over the curtains and furniture. A short-handled soft brush should be used for valuable carpets, and the servant must sweep it with care once a week. Once a year carpets should be well shaken. Bedroom carpets should be wiped over, especially under the bed, with a damp cloth every day, or at least three times a week. The house-wife who has her carpets wiped with a damp cloth daily (if mud be on them, the spots must first be brushed off), will find that it is only necessary to sweep them once a week, and that they will last for years longer than if they were swept daily. Of course the cloth must not be wet, only damp enough to pick up flue and dust. But, however it is cleaned, be sure that it is done often and effectually, for the sake of health. Polished floors, well varnished, with a mere strip of carpet by the side of the bed (in bedrooms), is better and healthier than our present carpeted rooms.