A Treatise on Domestic Economy Part 22

_Tar_, _Pitch_, and _Turpentine_, can be removed, by putting the spot in sweet-oil, or by spreading tallow on it, and letting it remain for twenty-four hours. Then, if the article be linen or cotton, wash it, as usual; if it be silk or worsted, rub it with ether, or spirits of wine.

_Lamp-Oil_ can be removed, from floors, carpets, and other articles, by spreading upon the stain a paste, made of fuller's earth or potter's clay, and renewing it, when dry, till the stain is removed. If gall be put into the paste, it will preserve the colors from injury. When the stain has been removed, carefully brush off the paste, with a soft brush.

_Oil-Paint_ can be removed, by rubbing it with _very pure_ spirits of turpentine. The impure spirit leaves a grease-spot. _Wax_ can be removed, by sc.r.a.ping it off, and then holding a red-hot poker near the spot. _Spermaceti_ may be removed by sc.r.a.ping it off, then putting a paper over the spot, and applying a warm iron. If this does not answer, rub on spirits of wine.

_Ink-Stains_, in carpets and woollen table-covers, can be removed, by was.h.i.+ng the spot in a liquid, composed of one teaspoonful of oxalic acid dissolved in a teacupful of warm (not hot) water, and then rinsing in cold water.

_Stains on Varnished Articles_, which are caused by cups of hot water, can be removed, by rubbing them with lamp-oil, and then with alcohol.

Ink-stains can be taken out of mahogany, by one teaspoonful of oil of vitriol mixed with one tablespoonful of water, or by oxalic acid and water. These must be brushed over quickly, and then washed off with milk.

_Modes of Cleansing Various Articles._

_Silk Handkerchiefs_ and _Ribands_ can be cleansed, by using French chalk to take out the grease, and then sponging them, on both sides, with lukewarm fair water. Stiffen them with gum Arabic, and press them between white paper, with an iron not very hot. A tablespoonful of spirits of wine to three quarts of water, improves it.

_Silk Hose_, or _Silk Gloves_, should be washed in warm suds made with white soap, and rinsed in cold water; they should then be stretched and rubbed, with a hard-rolled flannel, till they are quite dry. Ironing them, very much injures their looks. _Washleather_ articles should have the grease removed from them, by French chalk, or magnesia; they should then be washed in warm suds, and rinsed in cold water. _White Kid Gloves_ should have the grease removed from them, as above directed.

They should then be brushed, with a soft brush, and a mixture of fuller's earth and magnesia. In an hour after, rub them with flannel, dipped in bran and powdered whiting. _Colored or Hoskin's gloves_ can be cleansed, very nicely, by _pure_ spirits of turpentine, put on with a woollen cloth, and rubbed from wrist to fingers. Hang them for several days in the air, and all the unpleasant smell will be removed.

_Gentlemen's white gloves_ should be washed with a sponge, in white-soapsuds; then wiped, and dried on the hands. _Swan's-down tippets, and capes_, should be washed in white-soapsuds, squeezing, and not rubbing them; then rinse them in two waters, and shake and stretch them while drying. _Ostrich feathers_ can also be thus washed. Stiffen them, with starch, wet in cold water and not boiled. Shake them in the air, till nearly dry, then hold them before the fire, and curl them with dull scissors, giving each fibre a twitch, turning it inward, and holding it so for a moment.

_Straw and Leghorn Hats_, can be cleansed, by simply was.h.i.+ng them in white-soapsuds. Remove grease, by French chalk, and stains, by diluted oxalic acid, or cream of tartar. The oxalic acid is best, but must be instantly washed off. _To whiten them_, drive nails in a barrel, near its bottom, so that cords can be stretched across. On these cords, tie the bonnet, wet with suds, (having first removed the grease, stains, and dirt.) Then invert the barrel, over a dish of coals, on which roll brimstone is slowly burning. Put a chip under one side of the barrel, to admit the air. Continue this, till the bonnet is white; then hang it in the air, (when the weather is not damp,) till the smell is removed. Then stiffen it with a solution of isingla.s.s or gum Arabic, put on the inside, with a sponge. Press the crown, on a block, and the rest on a board, on the right side, putting muslin between the iron and straw, and pressing hard. Be careful not to make it too stiff. First, stiffen a small piece, for trial.

ON COLORING.

_Precautions and Preparations._

All the articles must be entirely free from grease or oil, and also, in most cases, from soapsuds. Make light dyes in bra.s.s, and dark ones in iron, vessels. Always wet the articles, in fair water, before dyeing.

Always carefully strain the dye. If the color be too light, dry and then dip the article again. Stir the article well in the dye, lifting it up often. Remove any previous color, by boiling in suds, or, what is better, in the soda mixture used for was.h.i.+ng.

_Pink Dye._ Buy a saucer of carmine, at an apothecary's. With it, you will find directions for its use. This is cheap, easy to use, and beautiful. _Balm blossoms_ and _Bergamot blossoms_, with a little cream of tartar in the water, make a pretty pink.

_Red Dye._ Take half a pound of wheat bran, three ounces of powdered alum, and two gallons of soft water. Boil these in a bra.s.s vessel, and add an ounce of cream of tartar, and an ounce of cochineal, tied up together in a bag. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes, then strain it, and dip the articles. Brazil wood, set with alum, makes another red dye.

_Yellow Dye._ Fustic, turmeric powder, saffron, barberry-bush, peach-leaves, or marigold flowers, make a yellow dye. Set the dye with alum, putting a piece the size of a large hazelnut to each quart of water.

_Light Blue Dye_, for silks and woollens, is made with the 'blue composition,' to be procured of the hat-makers; fifteen drops to a quart of water. Articles dipped in this, must be thoroughly rinsed. For a _dark blue_, boil four ounces of copperas in two gallons of water. Dip the articles in this, and then in a strong decoction of logwood, boiled and strained. Then wash them thoroughly in soapsuds.

_Green Dye._ First color the article yellow; and then, if it be silk or woollen, dip it in 'blue composition.' Instead of ironing, rub it with flannel, while drying.

_Salmon Color_ is made by boiling arnotto or anotta in soapsuds.

_Buff Color_ is made by putting one teacupful of potash, tied in a bag, in two gallons of hot (not boiling) water, and adding an ounce of arnotto, also in a bag, keeping it in for half an hour. First, wet the article in strong potash-water. Dry and then rinse in soapsuds. Birch bark and alum also make a buff. Black alder, set with ley, makes an orange color.

_Dove and Slate Colors_, of all shades, are made by boiling, in an iron vessel, a teacupful of black tea, with a teaspoonful of copperas. Dilute this, till you get the shade wanted. Purple sugar-paper, boiled, and set with alum, makes a similar color.

_Brown Dye._ Boil half a pound of camwood (in a bag) in two gallons of water, for fifteen minutes. Wet the articles, and boil them for a few minutes in the dye. White-walnut bark, the bark of sour sumach, or of white maple, set with alum, make a brown color.

_Black Dye._ Let one pound of chopped logwood remain all night in one gallon of vinegar. Then boil them, and put in a piece of copperas, as large as a hen's egg. Wet the articles in warm water, and put them in the dye, boiling and stirring them for fifteen minutes. Dry them, then wet them in warm water, and dip them again. Repeat the process, till the articles are black enough. Wash them in suds, and rinse them till the water comes off clear. Iron nails, boiled in vinegar, make a black dye, which is good for restoring rusty black silks.

_Olive Color._ Boil fustic and yellow-oak bark together. The more fustic, the brighter the olive; the more oak bark, the darker the shade.

Set the light shade with a few drops of oil of vitriol, and the dark shade with copperas.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ON THE CARE OF PARLORS.

In selecting the furniture of parlors, some reference should be had to correspondence of shades and colors. Curtains should be darker than the walls; and, if the walls and carpets be light, the chairs should be dark, and _vice versa_. Pictures always look best on light walls.

In selecting carpets, for rooms much used, it is poor economy to buy cheap ones. _Ingrain_ carpets, of close texture, and the _three-ply_ carpets, are best for common use. _Brussels_ carpets do not wear so long as the three-ply ones, because they cannot be turned. _Wilton_ carpets wear badly, and _Venetians_ are good only for halls and stairs.

In selecting colors, avoid those in which there are any black threads; as they are always rotten. The most tasteful carpets, are those, which are made of various shades of the same color, or of all shades of only two colors; such as brown and yellow, or blue and buff, or salmon and green, or all shades of green, or of brown. All very dark shades should be brown or green, but not black.

In laying down carpets, it is a bad practice to put straw under them, as this makes them wear out in spots. Straw matting, laid under carpets, makes them last much longer, as it is smooth and even, and the dust sifts through it. In buying carpets, always get a few yards over, to allow for waste in matching figures.

In cutting carpets, make them three or four inches shorter than the room, to allow for stretching. Begin to cut _in the middle_ of a figure, and it will usually match better. Many carpets match in two different ways, and care must be taken to get the right one. Sew a carpet on the wrong side, with double waxed thread, and with the _ball-st.i.tch_. This is done by taking a st.i.tch on the breadth next you, pointing the needle towards you; and then taking a st.i.tch on the other breadth, pointing the needle from you. Draw the thread tightly, but not so as to pucker. In fitting a breadth to the hearth, cut slits in the right place, and turn the piece under. Bind _the whole_ of the carpet, with carpet-binding, nail it with tacks, having bits of leather under the heads. To stretch the carpet, use a carpet-fork, which is a long stick, ending with notched tin, like saw-teeth. This is put in the edge of the carpet, and pushed by one person, while the nail is driven by another. Cover blocks, or bricks, with carpeting, like that of the room, and put them behind tables, doors, sofas, &c., to preserve the walls from injury, by knocking, or by the dusting-cloth.

Cheap footstools, made of a square plank, covered with tow-cloth, stuffed, and then covered with carpeting, with worsted handles, look very well. Sweep carpets as seldom as possible, as it wears them out. To shake them often, is good economy. In cleaning carpets, use damp tea leaves, or wet Indian meal, throwing it about, and rubbing it over with the broom. The latter, is very good for cleansing carpets made dingy by coal-dust. In brus.h.i.+ng carpets in ordinary use, it will be found very convenient to use a large flat dust-pan, with a perpendicular handle a yard high, put on so that the pan will stand alone. This can be carried about, and used without stooping, brus.h.i.+ng dust into it with a common broom. The pan must be very large, or it will be upset.

When carpets are taken up, they should be hung on a line, or laid on long gra.s.s, and whipped, first on one side, and then on the other, with pliant whips. If laid aside, they should be sewed up tight, in linen, having snuff or tobacco put along all the crevices where moths could enter. Shaking pepper, from a pepper-box, round the edge of the floor, under a carpet, prevents the access of moths.

Carpets can be best washed on the floor, thus: First shake them; and then, after cleaning the floor, stretch and nail them upon it. Then scrub them in cold soapsuds, having half a teacupful of ox-gall to a bucket of water. Then wash off the suds, with a cloth, in fair water.

Set open the doors and windows, for two days or more. Imperial Brussels, Venetian, ingrain, and three-ply, carpets, can be washed thus; but Wilton, and other plush-carpets, cannot. Before was.h.i.+ng them, take out grease, with a paste, made of potter's clay, ox-gall, and water.

Straw matting is best for chambers and Summer parlors. The checked, of two colors, is not so good to wear. The best, is the cheapest in the end. When washed, it should be done with salt water, wiping it dry; but frequent was.h.i.+ng injures it. Bind matting with cotton binding. Sew breadths together like carpeting. In joining the ends of pieces, ravel out a part, and tie the threads together, turning under a little of each piece, and then, laying the ends close, nail them down, with nails having kid under their heads.

In hanging pictures, put them so that the lower part shall be opposite the eye. Cleanse the gla.s.s of pictures with whiting, as water endangers the pictures. Gilt frames can be much better preserved by putting on a coat of copal varnish, which, with proper brushes, can be bought of carriage or cabinet-makers. When dry, it can be washed with fair water.

Wash the brush in spirits of turpentine.

Curtains, ottomans, and sofas covered with worsted, can be cleansed, by wheat-bran, rubbed on with flannel. Dust Venetian blinds with feather brushes. Buy light-colored ones, as the green are going out of fas.h.i.+on.

Strips of linen or cotton, on rollers and pulleys, are much in use, to shut out the sun from curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on old cotton, are good for chambers. Put them on rollers, having cords nailed to them, so that when the curtain falls, the cord will be wound up. Then, by pulling the cord, the curtain will be rolled up.

Mahogany furniture should be made in the Spring, and stand some months before it is used, or it will shrink and warp. Varnished furniture should be rubbed only with silk, except occasionally, when a little sweet-oil should be rubbed over, and wiped off carefully. For unvarnished furniture, use beeswax, a little softened with sweet-oil; rub it in with a hard brush, and polish with woollen and silk rags. Some persons rub in linseed-oil; others mix beeswax with a little spirits of turpentine and rosin, making it so that it can be put on with a sponge, and wiped off with a soft rag. Others, keep in a bottle the following mixture; two ounces of spirits of turpentine, four tablespoonfuls of sweet-oil, and one quart of milk. This is applied with a sponge, and wiped off with a linen rag.

Hearths and jambs, of brick, look best painted over with blacklead, mixed with soft-soap. Wash the bricks which are nearest the fire with redding and milk, using a painter's brush. A sheet of zinc, covering the whole hearth, is cheap, saves work, and looks very well. A tinman can fit it properly.

Stone hearths should be rubbed with a paste of powdered stone, (to be procured of the stonecutters,) and then brushed with a stiff brush.

Kitchen-hearths, of stone, are improved by rubbing in lamp-oil.

Stains can be removed from marble, by oxalic acid and water, or oil of vitriol and water, left on fifteen minutes, and then rubbed dry. Gray marble is improved by linseed-oil. Grease can be taken from marble, by ox-gall and potter's clay wet with soapsuds, (a gill of each.) It is better to add, also, a gill of spirits of turpentine. It improves the looks of marble, to cover it with this mixture, leaving it two days, and then rubbing it off.

Unless a parlor is in constant use, it is best to sweep it only once a week, and at other times use a whisk-broom and dust-pan. When a parlor with handsome furniture is to be swept, cover the sofas, centre table, piano, books, and mantelpiece, with old cottons, kept for the purpose.

Remove the rugs, and shake them, and clean the jambs, hearth, and fire-furniture. Then sweep the room, moving every article. Dust the furniture, with a dust-brush and a piece of old silk. A painter's brush should be kept, to remove dust from ledges and crevices. The dust-cloths should be often shaken and washed, or else they will soil the walls and furniture when they are used. Dust ornaments, and fine books, with feather brushes, kept for the purpose.