Part 9

=Birds=: Mocking-birds, cardinals, bullfinches and orioles, all of which it is wicked to keep in cages, need very roomy cages, perches with the bark on, much clean sandy earth on the floors, clean grain, green stuff, ripe fruit, and insects, besides the egg-and-potato mixture which is their mainstay. Tie heads of wheat, oats, or millet to the bars, hang lettuce and peppergrass there, also chickweed in season. Put ripe berries on clean twigs and suspend; force bits of apple and peach between wires close to the perches. Have a swing, a roomy bath, with the usual feed and water cups. Change the water daily, twice in summer. Put one drop of carbolic acid in the bath for insect prevention. Boil eggs twenty minutes, crush the yolk while hot with a freshly boiled Irish potato, season with the least grain of salt and a very little red pepper, and put into the cup. Keep the cage very clean, scald it every three months. Hang it outside in pleasant weather, but never so the sun at midday will strike full on the birds.

Give flies, crickets, earth worms, grasshoppers, but not hairy caterpillars, spiders, nor wasps. Mockers sing almost the night through in spring. To silence them cover the cage with something thick, set where it is very dark, then uncover.

=Canaries=: A long body and thick smooth plumage are marks of a good canary. Males only sing. Coat color varies. German canaries show many shades of yellow besides mottled tints. Yellow-red Norwich birds owe their giddy coats to red pepper in the food. Unless it is given liberally at moulting-time their fine feathers come back dull and pale. Birds are in full song at a year old. Younger, they have rarely been well taught. The range of life is seven to twenty years; the last is possible only with exceptional birds and still more exceptional care.

Teach canaries to deserve the freedom of the room. It helps in many ways. Leave the cage door open; do not coax him out nor force him in except as a last resort. Rather let hunger take him back. He will learn quickly and enjoy flying about.

A metal cage with a movable floor is the one to choose. Wood invites vermin and harbors it distressingly. Hang where it is neither hot nor cold, away from draughts, but with air plenty. Feed regularly, but do not overfeed. Hemp seed are so fattening they must be given sparingly. The regular bird seed sold in packages is excellent if fresh. A dull appearance is against it; canary seed when not stale is shiny. Empty and fill the seed cup daily, clean the floor, and put down fresh gravel, red and white. Keep cuttlefish bone suspended in the cage, and put in daily some fresh bit of green. Lettuce will answer, but chickweed and peppergrass are better. A pod of Cayenne pepper is good in sharp weather. So is a little hard-boiled egg, lightly dusted with red pepper, or bread crumbs squeezed out of milk and similarly dusted. A droopy bird showing signs of diarrhea should have black-pepper tea to drink, else a strip of fat pork rolled in ground pepper hung where it can be pecked.

Fill the bath every morning. If a bird picks himself after bathing put a few drops of rose water or cologne in the bath. Bare spots from the picking should be rubbed very lightly with sulphur and butter, putting also a little under the wings and back of the neck. Ragged plumage may mean a hardened oil gland. It lies just at the root of the tail and furnishes oil for the coat. Look at it, blowing aside covering feathers. If swollen and inflamed, drop on warm, weak suds from a medicine dropper, dry very gently, and apply a little vaseline. Repeat daily until the gland frees itself of the cake.

Trim nails discreetly, holding to the light so as to miss the tiny vein in them. If cut, hold the bleeding foot a minute in tepid water, dry, and touch the cut with vaseline.

If breeding, separate the pair when brooding begins. Afterward let both feed the young. Provide soft food twice a day—bread crumbs soaked in milk, scraped apple, mashed hard-boiled egg yolk, in addition to seed and bird manna. As soon as it is safe move the whole family into a fresh, clean cage, and scald and fumigate the other. Mites, the bane of canaries, multiply amazingly. They would be invisible but for their blood color. Feeding by day, they quit their prey at night. Throw a sheet of Canton flannel over cages suspected, remove it quickly by lamplight, and plunge in boiling water. Mites will show on it after death. If they are plenty, shift to a clean cage at once and repeat the cloth treatment until all are destroyed. Infested cages should be, after scalding, drenched with gasolene and aired for a week. Scalding with bichloride is also effectual; it must be followed by a scalding in clear, boiling water and a fortnight of airing.

=Parrots=: If the parrot is for company get a gray African—they make the best talkers and are best tempered. For decoration get the scarlet-crested white fellows, or the yellow and green, or blue and scarlet and yellow. Treatment of either is the same; feed fruit, nuts, grain, a little meat, insects, bread, especially cornbread, and cereals cooked stiff. Parrots learn quickly to eat and drink with their owners. Coffee in moderation is good for them, but they must have water besides. Some thrive better for drinking milk; indeed, the creatures are almost uncannily human in many things. Let them bathe at discretion, provide also a dust bath. Have a roomy cage, a tall, branchy perch, and a hoop swing. Never tease nor tantalize; parrots are cross enough without; also jealous. Do not leave free in the room with a small child. Their beaks are cruelly sharp. Lacking insects, give small lumps of raw mutton fat. Keep everything about them very clean.

XII

IN EMERGENCIES

=Chimney Blazes=: Smother blazing chimneys by throwing salt, damp if possible, on the fire, and setting something flat against the chimney breast.

=Blazing Fat=: Throw on salt, sand, or ashes; water makes the flame fiercer. Prevent draughts if possible; keep doors and windows shut tight. Turn out oil or gas flames underneath, and keep everything inflammable away from the blaze.

=Gas Leaks=: Open doors and windows, let accumulations blow out, then hunt for the broken pipe—not with a lamp or candle—and clap on it when found either a blanket of putty or flour dough wet very stiff. Tie in place with broad tape, then wrap with a cloth so as to withstand pressure. But first of all call for the repair man. With a leak undiscoverable, shut off from the rest of the house and leave windows wide open.

=Asphyxiation=: Whether from gas or drowning, lay flat, the head a little higher; permit no crowding; resort to artificial respiration—lifting the arms and pressing on the chest systematically, holding the tongue out all the while; rub with alcohol, especially feet and hands; keep in air, and work gently but quickly. In cases of drowning, empty lungs of water first thing by laying face down over a bench or barrel and working the arms.

=Fainting=: Lay flat, the head lower than the body, loosen clothes, especially about the neck, dash cold water gently in the face, hold ammonia under nostrils, rub wrists and temples with camphor or cologne water, and if the faint persists put mustard at the back of the neck and to the soles of the feet. Insensibility from shock or falling needs slightly different treatment. It may mean concussion; hence, let the head be highest and apply vigorous friction along the spine as well as to the extremities. Stimulate as soon as swallowing is possible, and move with caution.

=Burns=: Anything which excludes air without tainting the wound or irritating it further helps a bad burn. Carron oil—a creamy mixture of lime water and sweet oil—applied with a feather, then covered with cotton, either batting or absorbent, gives a measure of relief and is also healing. Soft old linen coated with fresh egg-white laid on and allowed to dry soothes pain. Even a covering with dry flour, if nothing else is handy, is better than leaving the burn bare. But if at all serious, or even is shallow and wide spread, call a doctor instantly, meantime keeping up heart action with stimulants in small doses often repeated.

=Breaks and Dislocations=: Lay a broken bone straight in a natural position upon a stout cardboard splint shaped to the limb and covered with cotton batting. Bandage limb and splint firmly together, working toward the trunk and keeping the bandage smooth but not too tight. Wet with arnica. This keeps down pain and inflammation, making the surgeon’s work when he arrives easier for himself and his patient. Reduce dislocations as quickly as possible by stretching the hurt joint steadily and letting another person manipulate the hurt. Often the bone head will snap back in place at a touch; it remains then only to keep it in place. An hour’s delay would mean swelling to render the replacing much harder. Wrist and elbow joints in particular are kittle cattle if left to swell. First aid to them means many times preserving use and saving from lifelong disfigurement. But this first aid by no means suffices to make surgical care unnecessary.

=Sprains and Strains=: Bandage tight, wet the bandages with cold water, and hold in an easy position. A sprained or strained ankle may be almost cured by plunging it into running water and keeping it there some time. Lift out occasionally, then replunge. Strains require rest and bandages. Wet the bandages with arnica. If there is muscle shrinkage later, rub morning and night with chloroform liniment after bathing with hot water and wiping dry.

=Chloroform Poisoning=: Keep in motion in open air, dose with aromatic spirits of ammonia well diluted, and hold it undiluted to nostrils. Apply electricity to spine; this if conscious. If fallen into a stupor put ice to spine and top of head, hot water to feet, give hard friction with alcohol, or camphor on legs and arms. Use artificial respiration and stimulate gently. Friction or a mustard plaster over the heart is helpful. Let nothing bind or constrict anywhere, and do not cease your efforts at the first signs of lessening stupor.

=Narcotic Poisoning=: For laudanum, morphine, or opium the treatment is the same. First a strong emetic—mustard and water as thick as pea soup is among the best. Follow it with black coffee as strong as possible. Give all the patient can be made to swallow at short intervals, keep him walking briskly, stripped to the waist, dash ice water on the spine, and tie ice to the back of the neck. Flagellate lightly on shoulders; the tingles help to rouse. Hold aromatic ammonia to his nose every half minute. If the coffee nauseates, give clear hot water after to make vomiting easy, then after ten minutes more coffee not quite so strong. Permit no stop for several hours; if excretories act properly the danger will then have been past. Electricity is useful, but not indispensable. In desperate cases use every means at hand.

=Acid Poisoning=: Emollients are the antidotes for acids; emetics wrench and tear seared stomach tissues. No matter what the acid—sulphuric, carbolic, nitric, or oxalic—give something soft and smooth—raw eggs, cream, starch wet as thick as cream, melted lard or butter, olive oil, or even flour and water, followed after a few minutes with magnesia stirred thick in tepid water. Let the patient rest easily, hold ammonia to the nostrils, and put hot-water bags to the feet. Aim to keep up vitality under the shock to vital tissues. In such cases a minute means often the difference between life and death.

=Iodine Poison=: Use emollients—the very best is thick cooked starch; it has a specific power to neutralize the drug. Olive oil is next best; it protects the coating of the stomach. But use anything above named rather than nothing. To let a case of poison go by default is against reason and humanity.

=Arsenic=: Arsenic in all its forms is best fought with raw eggs, especially the whites, and sweet milk or cream. Give a strong emetic afterward, then, when it has acted, more eggs or milk. This should suffice unless the poison has been freely absorbed.

=Ptomaine Poisoning=: Give an active emetic, followed by a cathartic; keep the patient warm, stimulate with brandy—a teaspoonful every hour; put mustard to wrists, ankles, back of neck, and pit of stomach—this particularly if there is severe pain, cramps, or continued retching. Pains in the head indicate the need of an ice cap.

=Mercury Poisoning=: Bichloride needs as antidote raw eggs and cream, or oil, with the same external treatment as for ptomaines. Strong emetics are inadvisable, but if the stomach frees itself naturally of the emollients much poison will come with them. Replace them in smaller quantities, but give nothing else until the doctor comes.

=Bites and Stings=: Stings from wasps, bees, and ants need treatment with fruit acids—bathe in vinegar or apply a slice of raw apple or peach or a crushed grape. Instant sucking removes part of the poison and relieves the pain to a degree. Always suck bites, as of spiders, unless there are abrasions of tongue and lips. After sucking bathe freely with fresh peroxide of hydrogen, boracic acid, or sugar-of-lead water. A leaf of green plantain, well bruised, bound on a bite or sting when nothing else is at hand keeps down inflammation and mitigates pain. In case of stings make sure the sting proper has not been left in the wound, since its presence might induce blood poisoning.

INDEX

ACID POISONING, 197.

Adaptation of old garments, 108.

Antidotes, 196-198.

Antique furniture, care of, 66; restoring, 62-65.

Ants, how to get rid of, 177.

Aprons, laundry, 11.

Arsenic, antidote for, 198.

Asphalt spots, 122.

Asphyxiation, 193.

BANDAGES, 21-22.

Basting clothes, 101.

Bed bugs, to prevent, 170.

Bed clothes, mending, 85.

Beef, how to choose, 134.

Bichloride of mercury, 165.

Birds, care of, 185.

Bisulphide of lime, 166.

Bites and stings, 199.

Blanket box, 175.

Blazing fat, how to put out, 192.

Bleaching, 2-3.

Blood, to stanch, 22-23.

Bluestone, 164.

Books, mending, 80.

Borax, 163.

Bordeaux mixture, 165.

Buckwheat flour, 131.

Burlaps, 34.

Burns, 194.

Butter, how to choose, 133.

Brass, care of, 67, 126.

Breaks and dislocations, 194.

Bric-à-brac, mending, 79.

Brick dust, 46.

Bronze, care of, 126.

Brooms, 42.

Broom bags, 42.

Brushes, 42, 46.

CAKE, how to keep, 143.

Calcimine, 39, 50.

Canaries, care of, 186.

Canning, 139.

Carpets, cleaning, 29-30; mending, 90.

Cats, care of, 183.

Cavies, care of, 184.

Ceilings, 30, 38-39.

Cement, 53-54.

Charcoal, 163.

Cheese, how to choose and keep, 134.

Chimney blazes, how to put out, 192.

China, mending, 75; washing, 56.

Chloride-of-lime water, 55.

Chloroform poisoning, 196.

Cleaning floors and rugs, 28-30.

Cloth, washing, 105.

Clothes drainer, 45.

Coarse mending, 84.

Coffee, how to choose and keep, 132.

Collars, how to do up, 5-7.

Contagion, 19-20.

Copper, care of, 126.

Copperas, 163.

Copperas water, 55.

Cornmeal, 130.

Cottons, testing, 97.

Cracks, filling, 27.

Cretonne, 34.

Cuffs, how to do up, 5-7.

Curtains, how to do up, 8-9.

Cutting out clothes, 99.

Cuttings, to start plant, 158.

DARNING, 81, 88.

Disinfection, 20.

Disinfectants, 55, 163-178.

Dogs, care of, 179.

Dust cloths, 43.

Dust swabs, 43.

Dyeing, 103.

EARTH WORMS, 157.

Eggs, how to test, 144.

Emergencies, what to do in, 192-199.

Enameled iron, 71.

FAINTING, 193.

Ferns, 151.

Fertilizers, 153.

Fillers for new wood, 47.

Fleas, how to prevent, 170.

Flies, how to prevent, 168.

Floors, 24-30.

Floor pad, 41.

Flour, how to test, 129.

Flowers, how to keep and arrange cut flowers, 159.

Foot pad, 41.

French polish, 49.

Frocks, how to wash, 4.

Fruit, dried, 142.

Fruit stains, 119.

Fruit storage, 139.

Furniture, mending, 74; polish, 49.

Furs, mending, 88; cleaning, 93.

GARDEN PESTS, 166.

Gas leak, 192.

Gasolene-cleaning, 104.

Gelatine spots, 119.

Gilt, to clean, 128; frames, 69; furniture, 68.

Glass, annealing, 61; mending, 79; preserving in, 138; washing, 58-61.

Glazing, 37.

Gloves, care of, 92.

Glue, 50.

Grass stains, what to do for, 123.

Grease spots, what to do for, 113.

Grits, how to test, 131.

Gum arabic, 52.

HARES, how to keep, 184.

Hominy, how to test, 131.

ICE, to keep in sickroom, 18.

Ice-cream spots, 119.

Ink stains, 121.

Insects, 154, 163-178.

Insecticides, 154, 163-178.

Iodine poison, 197.

Iron, rust, 123; care of, 125.

Irons, 13.

Ironstone, 58.

Ironing-boards, 43.

Ironing-tables, 11.

JAVELLE WATER, 54.

KEROSENE EMULSION, 165.

Knee pad, 41.

Knives and forks, how to clean, 61.

LACE AND EMBROIDERY, how to wash, 10; how to mend, 87; how to freshen, 105.

Lamps and candlesticks, mending, 80.

Lard, how to test, 133.

Larkspur, 167.

Laundry cabinet, 45.

Lead swab, 45.

Lime water, 54.

Linen, testing, 97.

MAHOGANY STAIN, 48.

Majolica, how to wash, 58.

Materials, appliquéd, 102.

Matted floors, 29.

Matting, mending, 90.

Meat, how to keep fresh. 138.

Melons, keeping, 143.

Mending, 74-91.

Mercury poisoning, 198.

Mildew, 123.

Millinery, 109.

Mission furniture, care of, 68.

Mordants, 3-4.

Mosquitoes, 168.

Moths, 172.

Mucilage, 52.

Mustard plasters, 21.

Mutton and lamb, 135.

NARCOTIC POISONING, 196.

Nursing, clothes for, 23.

OAK FURNITURE, care of, 68.

Oak stains, 48.

Oatmeal, 131.

Oil stains, 47.

Old garments, ways to use, 108.

Ornaments for millinery, 112.

Oxalic acid, 55.

PADS, 41.

Paint, to remove, 26, 118.

Palms, how to care for, 151.

Pantries, outdoor, 141.

Paper dough, 53.

Papering, 31-32, 38.

Parrots, care of, 190.

Paste for paper-hanging, 52.

Perspiration marks, 124.

Pets, care of, 179-191.

Pewter, how to clean, 127.

Piano polish, 49.

Pine needles, 46.

Plants, care of, 148; for window boxes, 150.

Plaster, 53.

Poisons, 196-198.

Polish, 49.

Porch furniture, 71.

Pork, how to choose, 136.

Pots, 145.

Potting, 146.

Poultices, 21.

Poultry, 137; how to keep, 138.

Precautions, 72.

Pressing, 101.

Ptomaine poisoning, 198.

Putty, 54.

QUICKLIME, 163.

ROACHES, how to get rid of, 158, 176.

Road stains, 115.

Roses, 151.

Rugs, cleaning, 30; mending, 90.

Rust, 123.

SALT FISH, how to keep, 138.

Salt meats, how to choose, 136.

Sand, 53.

Saving pieces of material, 107.

Sawdust, 46.

Scrubbing, 24.

Shellac, 25.

Shirts, how to do up, 5-6.

Sickbed, 15.

Sickroom, care of, 13-23.

Silk, testing, 95; washing, 105.

Silk wall covering, 34.

Silver tarnish, 127.

Size, glue and vegetable, 50.

Smoke stains, 124.

Soap, 1-2.

Soil for house plants, 145.

Spots, how to get rid of, 113-119.

Sprains and strains, 195.

Sprinklers, 44.

Stains, oil, 47; mahogany, 48; walnut, 48; oak, 48; road, 115; fruit, 119; wine, 120; ink, 121; grass, 123; smoke, 124.

Staining floors, 24-25.

Starches, 7-8.

TABLE LINEN, how to wash, 4-5.

Tar spots, 122.

Tea, how to choose, 132.

Tile floors, how to clean, 29.

Tool box, 44.

Trimmings, care of, 106.

UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE, care of, 69.

VARNISH, to remove, 26; spots, 118.

Vegetable storage, 139.

Velvet, freshening, 107.

Vitriol, white, 164.

WALLS, 30-36.

Wall mop, 46.

Wall paper, 31-33.

Walnut stain, 48.

Washing, 1-12.

Washing, china and glass, 56-61; knives and forks, 61.

Washing fluids, 2.

Washing-soda, 163.

Water, to soften, 1.

Water bugs, 176.

Water wagon, 42.

Wax, dancing, 49.

Wax board, 45.

Wax finish, 48.

Wax spots, 124.

Waxing floors, 25.

Whitewash, 39, 51.

Whitewashed walls, 36.

Wicker furniture, care of, 70.

Windows, 30, 37.

Window boxes, 146, 149.

Wine stains, 120.

Woolens, how to wash, 9.

Woolens, testing, 96.

THE END

● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Some chapter headings had the word CHAPTER before the roman numeral, some didn’t. ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text that was bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).