Part 6

=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.

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.