Our Deportment Part 49

TO EXTRACT PAINT FROM GARMENTS.

Saturate the spot with spirits of turpentine, let it remain a number of hours, then rub it between the hands; it will crumble away without injury either to the texture or color of any kind of woolen, cotton or silk goods.

TO CLEAN SILKS AND RIBBONS.

Take equal quant.i.ties of soft lye-soap, alcohol or gin, and mola.s.ses.

Put the silk on a clean table without creasing; rub on the mixture with a flannel cloth. Rinse the silk well in cold, clear water, and hang it up to dry without wringing. Iron it before it gets dry, on the wrong side. Silks and ribbons treated in this way will look very nicely.

Camphene will extract grease and clean ribbons without changing the color of most things. They should be dried in the open air and ironed when pretty dry.

The water in which pared potatoes have been boiled is very good to wash black silks in; it stiffens and makes them glossy and black.

Soap-suds answer very well. They should be washed in two suds and not rinsed in clean water.

REMEDY FOR BURNT KID OR LEATHER SHOES.

If a lady has had the misfortune to put her shoes or slippers too near the stove, and thus had them burned, she can make them nearly as good as ever by spreading soft-soap upon them while they are still hot, and then, when they are cold, was.h.i.+ng it off. It softens the leather and prevents it drawing up.

REMEDY FOR CORNS.

Soak the feet for half an hour two or three nights successively in a pretty strong solution of common soda. The alkali dissolves the indurated cuticle and the corn comes away, leaving a little cavity which, however, soon fills up.

Corns between the toes are generally more painful than others, and are frequently so situated as to be almost inaccessible to the usual remedies. They may be cured by wetting them several times a day with spirits of ammonia.

INFLAMED EYELIDS.

Take a slice of stale bread, cut as thin as possible, toast both sides well, but do not burn it; when cold soak it in cold water, then put it between a piece of old linen and apply, changing when it gets warm.

TO MAKE COLD CREAM.

Melt in a jar two ounces of white wax, half an ounce of spermaceti, and mix with a pint of sweet oil. Add perfume to suit.

Melt together an ounce of white wax, half an ounce of spermaceti, and mix with a pint of oil of sweet almonds and half a pint of rose-water.

Beat to a paste.

TO MAKE ROSE-WATER.

Take half an ounce of powdered white sugar and two drams of magnesia.

With these mix twelve drops of ottar of roses. Add a quart of water, two ounces of alcohol, mix in a gradual manner, and filter through blotting paper.

HOW TO WASH LACES.

Take a quart bottle and cover it over with the leg of a soft, firm stocking, sew it tightly above and below. Then wind the collar or lace smoothly around the covered bottle; take a fine needle and thread and sew very carefully around the outer edge of the collar or lace, catching every loop fast to the stocking. Then shake the bottle up and down in a pailful of warm soap-suds, occasionally rubbing the soiled places with a soft sponge. It must be rinsed well after the same manner in clean water. When the lace is clean, apply a very weak solution of gum arabic and stand the bottle in the suns.h.i.+ne to dry. Take off the lace very carefully when perfectly dry. Instead of ironing, lay it between the white leaves of a heavy book; or, if you are in a hurry, iron on flannel between a few thicknesses of fine muslin. Done up in this way, lace collars will wear longer, stay clean longer, and have a rich, new, lacy look that they will not have otherwise.

HOW TO DARKEN FADED FALSE HAIR.

The switches, curls and frizzes which fas.h.i.+on demands should be worn, will fade in course of time; and though they matched the natural hair perfectly at first, they will finally present a lighter tint. If the hair is brown this can be remedied. Obtain a yard of dark brown calico.

Boil it until the color has well come out into the water. Then into this water dip the hair, and take it out and dry it. Repeat the operation until it shall be of the required depth of shade.

PUTTING AWAY FURS FOR THE SUMMER.

When you are ready to put away furs and woolens, and want to guard against the depredations of moths, pack them securely in paper flour sacks and tie them up well. This is better than camphor or tobacco or snuff scattered among them in chests and drawers. Before putting your m.u.f.fs away for the summer, twirl them by the cord at the ends, so that every hair will straighten. Put them in their boxes and paste a strip of paper where the lid fits on.

TO KEEP THE HAIR IN CURL.

To keep the hair in curl take a few quince-seed, boil them in water, and add perfumery if you like; wet the hair with this and it will keep in curl longer than from the use of any other preparation. It is also good to keep the hair in place on the forehead on going out in the wind.

PROTECTION AGAINST MOTHS.

Dissolve two ounces of camphor in half a pint each of alcohol and spirits of turpentine; keep in a stone bottle and shake before using.

Dip blotting paper in the liquid, and place in the box with the articles to be preserved.

TO TAKE MILDEW OUT OF LINEN.

Wet the linen in soft water, rub it well with white soap, then sc.r.a.pe some fine chalk to powder, and rub it well into the linen; lay it out on the gra.s.s in the suns.h.i.+ne, watching to keep it damp with soft water.

Repeat the process the next day, and in a few hours the mildew will entirely disappear.

CURE FOR IN-GROWING NAILS ON TOES.

Take a little tallow and put it into a spoon, and heat it over a lamp until it becomes very hot; then pour it on the sore or granulation. The effect will be almost magical. The pain and tenderness will at once be relieved. The operation causes very little pain if the tallow is perfectly heated. Perhaps a repet.i.tion may be necessary in some cases.

TO REMOVE GREASE-SPOTS FROM WOOLEN CLOTH.

Take one quart of spirits of wine or alcohol, twelve drops of winter green, one gill of beef-gall and six cents' worth of lavendar. A little alkanet to color if you wish. Mix.

TO CLEAN WOOLEN CLOTH.

Take equal parts of spirits hartshorn and ether. Ox-gall mixed with it makes it better.

TO TAKE INK-SPOTS FROM LINEN.