CHAPTER XXIII
MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE AND RECIPES.
=How to keep cool in Hot Weather.=—Sit in a room covered with matting or without any carpet, and keep the floor wet with pure water and a watering-pot. In hot nights, place a double wet sheet on the bed and a woolen blanket over it, and it will cool the bed which is heated through the day, and does not cool as fast as the evening air. A hot bed is often the cause of sleeplessness. Wear wristlets and anklets of wet flannel. Shut all doors and windows early in the morning to keep in cool air, and let in air only through windows that are on the shady side of the house. If chambers open upon the hot roofs of piazzas or porticoes, cover them with clean straw or hay, and wet them with a watering-pot. In all these cases, the heat is taken from the air and from all surrounding things by the absorption of heat as the water changes to vapor.
=Indelible Ink.=—Put six cents’ worth of lunar caustic in a small phial, and fill with rain-water. To prepare the cloth, put a great-spoonful of gum-arabic into a larger bottle, with a drachm of salt of tartar, fill with water, and, when dissolved, wet the cloth, and press it smooth with a warm (not hot) iron. Put the articles, when marked, in the sun.
=To preserve Eggs.=—Pack eggs in a jar small end downward, and then pour in a mixture of four quarts of slacked lime, two table-spoonfuls of cream tartar, and two of salt. This will cover about nine dozen for several months.
=To prevent Earthen, Glass, and Iron Ware from being easily broken.=—Put them in cold water, and heat till boiling, and cool gradually.
=A good Cement for broken Earthen and Glass.=—Mix Russian isinglass in white brandy, forming a thick jelly when cool. Strain and cork. When using it, rub it on the broken edges, and hold them together three or four minutes.
=To keep Knives from Rust and other Injury.=—Rub bright, and wrap in thick brown paper. Never let knife-handles lie in water, and do not let their blades stay in _very hot_ water, as the heat expands the iron, and makes handles crack.
=To cleanse or renovate Furniture.=—White spots on furniture remove by camphene, or sometimes by oil or spirits of turpentine. Remove mortarspots with warm vinegar, and paint-spots with camphene or burning-fluid. Powdered pumice-stone is better than sand to clean paint. To polish _unvarnished_ furniture, rub on two ounces of bees-wax, half an ounce of alconet root, melted together, and, when cooled, two ounces of spirits of wine, and half a pint of spirits of turpentine.
=To clean Silver.=—Wet whiting with liquid hartshorn, and this will remove black spots. Or boil half an ounce of pulverized hartshorn in a pint of water, and pour it into rags, dry them, and use to cleanse silver. Polish with wash-leather.
=To cleanse Wall-Paper.=—Wipe with a clean pillow-case on a broom, and brush gently. Rub bad spots with soft bread-crumbs gently.
=To Purify a Well.=—Get out the water, and then put in three or four quarts of quick-lime. Any well long unused should be thus cleansed.
=How to treat Roses and other Plants.=—Water them daily with water steeped in wood-ashes. To destroy slugs, scatter ashes over the plant at night before the dew falls, or before a coming shower. Water all plants with washing-day suds, and it makes them flourish. Scatter salt in gravel-walks to get out grass and weeds. Use old brine for this purpose. Use sawdust to manure plants; also wood-ashes; even that used to make lye is good.
=Easy Way to keep Grapes.=—When not dead ripe, have them free from dampness, take out the decayed, and wrap each bunch in cotton, putting only two layers in a box. Keep in a dry, cool room, where they will not freeze.
=Snow for Eggs.=—Two table-spoonfuls of snow strewed in quickly, and baked immediately, is equal to one egg in puddings or pan-cakes.
=Paper to keep Preserves.=—Soft paper dipped in the white of an egg is the best cover for jellies and pickles. Turn it over the rim.
=To make Butter cool in hot Weather.=—Set it on a bit of brick, cover with a flower-pot, and wrap a wet cloth around the pot. The evaporation cools it as well as ice.
=To stop Cracks in Iron.=—Mix ashes and common salt and a little water, and fill the cracks.
=To stop Creaking Hinges.=—Put on oil.
=To stop Creaking Doors and make Drawers slide easily=.—Rub on hard soap.
=To renovate Black Silk.=—Wash in cold tea or coffee, with a little sugar in them. Put in a little ink if very rusty. Drain and do not wring, and iron on the wrong side.
=Another Way to clean Kid Gloves.=—Rub them lightly with benzine, and, as they dry, with pearl-powder. Expose to the air to remove the smell.
=To remove Grease-Spots.=—Put an ounce of powdered borax to a quart of boiling water. Wash with this, and keep it corked for further use.
=To get rid of Rats and Mice.=—A cat is the best remedy. Another is to half fill a tub with water, and sprinkle oats and meal on the top. For a while they will be deceived, jump in, and be drowned or caught.
ODDS AND ENDS.
There are certain _odds and ends_ where every housekeeper will gain much by having a _regular time_ to attend them. Let this time be the last Saturday forenoon in every month, or any other time more agreeable; but let there be a _regular fixed time_ once a month in which the housekeeper will attend to the following things:
First. Go around to every room, drawer, and closet in the house, and see what is out of order, and what needs to be done, and make arrangements as to time and manner of doing it.
Second. Examine the store-closet, and see if there is a proper supply of all articles needed there.
Third. Go to the cellar, and see if the salted provision, vegetables, pickles, vinegar, and all other articles stored in the cellar are in proper order, and examine all the preserves and jellies.
Fourth. Examine the trunk or closet of family linen, and see what needs to be repaired and renewed.
Fifth. See if there is a supply of dish-towels, dish-cloths, bags, holders, floor-cloths, dust-cloths, wrapping-paper, twine, lamp-wicks, and all other articles needed in kitchen work.
Sixth. Count over the spoons, knives, and forks, and examine all the various household utensils, to see what need replacing, and what should be repaired.
Seventh. Have in a box a hammer, tacks, pincers, gimlets, nails, screws, screw-driver, small saw, and two sizes of chisels for emergencies when no regular workman is at hand. Also be prepared to set glass. Every lady should be able in emergency to do such jobs herself.
A housekeeper who will have _a regular time_ for attending to these particulars will find her whole family machinery moving easily and well; but one who does not will constantly be finding something out of joint, and an unquiet, secret apprehension of duties left undone or forgotten, which no other method will so effectually remove.
A housekeeper will often be much annoyed by the accumulation of articles not immediately needed, that must be saved for future use. The following method, adopted by a thrifty housekeeper, may be imitated with advantage. She bought some cheap calico, and made bags of various sizes, and wrote the following labels with indelible ink on a bit of broad tape, and sewed them on one side of the bags: _Old Linens, Old Cottons, Old black Silks, Old colored Silks, Old Stockings, Old colored Woolens, Old Flannels, New Linen, New Cotton, New Woolens, New Silks, Pieces of Dresses, Pieces of Boys' Clothes_, etc. These bags were hung around a closet, and filled with the above articles, and then it was known where to look for each, and where to put each when not in use.
Another excellent plan, for the table, is for a housekeeper once a month to make out a _bill of fare_ for the four weeks to come. To do this, let her look over this book, and find out what kind of dishes the season of the year and her own stores will enable her to provide, and then make out a list of the dishes she will provide through the month, so as to have an agreeable variety for breakfast, dinners, and suppers. Some systematic arrangement of this kind at regular periods will secure great comfort and enjoyment to a family, and prevent that monotonous round so common in many families.
PART SECOND.