Part 22
Another remedy is to mix two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard with sufficient warm water to thin it, so as to make it easy to swallow. It acts as an emetic, and is good for any poison.
ANTIDOTE TO CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE.--If corrosive sublimate (one of the worst poisons) has been swallowed, immediately drink a large quantity of olive oil, even the whole contents of a flask; or more, indeed, if that is not found sufficient. This remedy, if taken in time, is always efficacious. If it cannot be _immediately_ obtained, try white of egg.
REMEDY FOR AN OVER-DOSE OF LAUDANUM.--A cup of the _strongest possible_ coffee has been known to keep the patient awake, and effect a positive cure when all other means have failed. After the fatal sleep has been thus prevented, and the patient is thoroughly roused and excited, let an emetic be administered.
MEDICATED PRUNES.--Take a quarter of an ounce of senna and manna (obtained ready mixed from the druggists’) and pour on it not quite a pint of boiling water. Cover it; set it by the fire; and let it infuse for an hour. If the vessel in which you prepare it has a spout, stop up the spout with a roll or wad of soft paper. This should always be done in making herb teas, or other decoctions; as a portion of the strength evaporates at the spout. When the infusion of senna and manna has thus stood an hour at the fire, strain it into a skillet or sauce-pan (one lined with porcelain will be best) and stir in a large wine-glass or a small teacup-full of West India molasses. Add about half a pound or more of the best prunes; putting in sufficient prunes to absorb all the liquid during the process of stewing. Then cover the vessel closely, and let it stew (stirring it up occasionally) for an hour; or till you find the stones of the prunes are all loose. If stewed too long, the prunes will taste weak and insipid. When done, put it into a dish to cool; and pick out all the stones. If properly prepared there will be no perceptible taste of the senna and manna. It may be given to children at their lunch or supper.
FINE HOARHOUND CANDY.--Take a large bunch of the herb hoarhound, as green and fresh as you can get it. Having picked it clean, and washed it, cut it up (leaves and stalks) with scissors. Scald, twice, a china tea-pot or a covered pitcher; then empty it of the hot water. Put in the hoarhound, pressing it down with your hands. The pot should be about two-thirds full of the herb. Then fill it up with boiling water; cover it closely, and wedge a small roll of paper tightly into the mouth of the spout, to prevent any of the strength escaping with the steam. Set it close to the fire to infuse, and keep it there till it begins to boil. Then immediately take it away, and strain it into another vessel. Mix with the liquid sufficient powdered loaf-sugar to make it a very thick paste. When the sugar is in, set it over the fire, and give it a boil, stirring and skimming it well. Take a shallow, square tin pan, grease it slightly with sweet oil, and put into it the candy, as soon as it is well boiled; smoothing the surface with a wet knife-blade. Sift over it some powdered sugar. Set it away to cool; and when nearly congealed, score it in squares. It is a well-known remedy for coughs and hoarseness.
If you find it too thin, you may stir in, while boiling, a spoonful of flour, of arrow-root, or of finely-powdered starch.
Another way of making this candy is, to boil the hoarhound in barely as much water as will cover it, and till all the juice is extracted. Then squeeze it through a cloth, and give the strained liquid another boil, stirring in, gradually, sugar enough to make it very thick and stiff. Afterwards sift sugar over a shallow tin pan, fill it with the paste, and leave it to congeal; scoring it in squares before it is quite hard.
Any herb-candy may be made as above.
FINE LAVENDER COMPOUND.--For this purpose, use lavender buds, gathered just before they are ready to blow. As soon as the blossom expands into a flower, a portion of its strength and fragrance immediately evaporates. This is also the case with roses; which, for rose-water, should always be gathered, not after they are blown, but when just about to open.
Having stripped the lavender buds from the stalks, measure a pint of the buds, and mix with them half an ounce of whole mace; half an ounce of whole cloves; two nutmegs broken up, but not grated; and half an ounce of powdered cochineal. Put the whole into a large glass jar, and pour in a quart of the best French brandy. Cover the jar closely; making it completely air-tight by the addition of strong paper, pasted down over the cover. Set it away, and leave the ingredients to infuse, undisturbed, for a month. Then strain it into a pitcher; and from the pitcher pour it through a funnel into bottles; corking them tightly. It is a well-known remedy for flatulence, and pains and sickness of the stomach. To use it, put some loaf-sugar into a spoon, and pour on sufficient lavender to soften the sugar; then eat it.
Instead of cochineal, you may give a fine red colour to lavender compound by tying up a quarter of an ounce of alkanet in a thin muslin bag, (seeing that the alkanet is free from dust,) and putting the bag into the jar while the other ingredients are infusing in the brandy.
BLACKBERRY SYRUP.--Take a sufficient quantity of fine, ripe, sweet blackberries. Put them into a sieve placed over a large broad pan; and with a clean potatoe-masher, (or something similar,) mash the blackberries, and press out all their juice. Or (having bruised them first) put the blackberries into a linen bag, and squeeze out all the juice into a vessel placed beneath. Measure it; and to every quart of the strained juice allow half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar; a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; the same of powdered cloves; and a large nutmeg grated. Mix the spices with the juice and sugar, and boil all together in a porcelain preserving-kettle; skimming it well. When cold, stir into each quart of the syrup half a pint of fourth-proof brandy. Then bottle it for use. This is a good family medicine; and is beneficial in complaints incident to summer. It should be administered, (at proper intervals,) from a tea-spoonful to a wine-glassful, according to the age of the patient.
RHUBARB BITTERS.--Take two ounces of rhubarb root; half an ounce of cardamom seeds; one drachm of Virginia snake-root; and half a drachm of gentian root. Put these articles into a large bottle, and pour on it a quart of good brandy.
It is excellent for children in complaints incident to summer weather.
TO PREVENT A JUG OF MOLASSES FROM RUNNING OVER.--A jug or bottle of molasses frequently causes inconvenience by working over at the top, after coming from the grocer’s, and being set in a room or closet that is warmer than the place from which it was brought. To prevent this--as soon as you receive it, pour out a portion into another vessel; for instance, into a pitcher or bowl. Then set the jug of molasses into a deep pan or basin, and leave it _uncorked_ till next day. By that time, all danger from fermentation will have subsided. Then cork it tightly, and set it away. Keep always under the bottom of the jug an old plate, or a double piece of thick paper to receive any drippings that may run down the sides. Never bring molasses to table without a plate or saucer under the vessel that contains it.
West India molasses is far more wholesome and nourishing than any other, and is decidedly the best for gingerbread, molasses-candy, indian-puddings, &c. Sugar-house molasses, if used for those articles, will render them hard and tough.
TO EXTINGUISH A COAL FIRE.--Many persons who burn anthracite coal in their chambers, have suffered great inconvenience from not knowing how to extinguish it before they go to bed. The process is very simple, and always successful. Lift off with the tongs any large coals that may lie on the top, and lay them on the iron hearth of the grate; they will make good cinders to burn next day in a close-stove or furnace. Then shut up the tongs, and with them make a hollow or deep cavity just in the centre of the fire, heaping up the coals like a hill on each side, and making the tongs go down to the bottom of the grate. If there are not many coals, you may do this with the poker. The fire will immediately begin to fade and deaden; and in less than ten minutes, it will be entirely out, without farther trouble; unless it has been very large, and then it may require a second stirring.
In the morning, let the grate be cleared _entirely_ of all the cinders and ashes, and swept out clean with a brush. Cover the bottom of the grate with a sort of flooring of small fresh coal, before you put in the kindlings; otherwise, after the kindlings (wood or charcoal) are lighted, they will burn away immediately, and fall through the bottom bars of the grate, before they have had time to ignite the coal that has been laid above them; so that the grate will have to be again cleared out, fresh kindlings brought, and the fire built up anew, before it can possibly succeed.
The above way of extinguishing a coal-fire answers equally well for a close-stove or a furnace.
The heat of a grate may be considerably diminished by standing up the blower against it; the bottom of the blower resting on the hearth. To lessen the heat of a close-stove, leave open the large door of the stove. In the same manner diminish the heat of a furnace.
LAUNDRY-WORK, NEEDLE-WORK, ETC.
SODA SOAP.--Take six pounds of the best brown soap, and cut it into pieces. Put it into a large wash-kettle, and pour on seven gallons and a half of clear soft water. Next stir in six pounds of washing-soda, (sub-carbonate,) set it over the fire, and let it boil two hours after it has come to a boil. Then strain it into stone jars; cover it, and put it away. It must be used for _white clothes only_, as it will fade coloured things. Put the clothes in soak the night before, in tubs of cold water; having first rubbed the grease spots with wet fuller’s earth, (scraped fine,) and the stains with wet cream of tartar. Allow a pound of the soda soap to a bucket of water, and put it over the fire in a wash-kettle. When the water is warm, put in as many white clothes as convenient; seeing that there is water enough to cover them well. Boil them an hour; occasionally moving them up and down with the clothes-stick. Then take them out, and finish washing them in the usual way. The soda soap will whiten them very much; but if used in a larger quantity than the above proportion, it will injure them greatly. We do not recommend any soda preparation for washing, unless it can be used under the immediate inspection of a good housekeeper; most servants and washerwomen being very apt to employ it too freely, if left to themselves.
SOFT SOAP MADE WITH POTASH.--Put twelve pounds of potash into a barrel, and then pour in water till the barrel is half full. Stir the potash several times, while it is dissolving in the water. Have ready twelve pounds of good soap-fat, and melt it over the fire in a large kettle. Then stir it, gradually, into the barrel with the dissolved potash. After standing a quarter of an hour, fill up the barrel with cold water; and stir it hard. This process will form an excellent soft soap.
COLD STARCH FOR LINEN.--Take a quarter of a pint, or as much of the best raw starch as will half fill a common-sized tumbler. Fill it nearly up with very clear cold water. Mix it well with a spoon, pressing out all the lumps, till you get it thoroughly dissolved, and very smooth. Next add a tea-spoonful of salt to prevent its sticking. Then pour it into a broad earthen pan; add, gradually, a pint of clear cold water; and stir and mix it well. Do not boil it.
The shirts having been washed and dried, dip the collars and wristbands into this starch, and then squeeze them out. Between each dipping, stir it up from the bottom with a spoon. Then sprinkle the shirts, and fold or roll them up, with the collars and wristbands folded evenly inside. They will be ready to iron in an hour.
This quantity of cold starch is amply sufficient for the collars and wristbands of half a dozen shirts. Any article of cambric muslin may be done up with cold starch made as above.
Poland starch is better than any other. It is to be had at most grocery stores.
Cold starch will not do for thin muslin, or for any thing that is to be clapped and cleared. It is very convenient for linen, &c., in summer, as it requires no boiling over the fire. Also, it goes farther than boiled starch.
TO WASH WHITE SATIN RIBBON.--Make a strong lather of clear cold water and the best white soap. Squeeze and press the ribbon through this, till it looks quite clean; but do not rub it, as that will cause it to fray. Then make a fresh lather of white soap and cold water, and squeeze the ribbon through that. Do not rinse it, as the suds remaining in the ribbon will give it the proper stiffness. Pull and stretch it evenly; and then iron it on the wrong side while it is still damp. When quite dry, roll it on a ribbon-block; wrap it closely in coarse brown paper; and put it away till you want to use it. None but plain unfigured white satin ribbon of very good quality, can be washed to advantage. The day before washing it, rub some magnesia upon any grease that may be on the ribbon, and some cream of tartar on the stains.
In winding several pieces of ribbon on the same block, always put the end of each successive piece _under_ that of the last, instead of _over_ it; and wind the whole tight and smoothly. Secure the last end with two very small minikin pins; as large pins will make conspicuous holes all through, and probably leave a brassy or greenish stain. The ribbon-block should on no account be narrower than the ribbon.
A small white silk handkerchief may be washed as above, if thick and unfigured.
TO CLEAN SILK SHAWLS OR SCARFS.--Mix together a quarter of a pound of soft soap; a tea-spoonful of brandy; and a pint of whisky or gin; stirring them hard. Spread the shawl on a clean _linen_ cloth, and with a clean sponge dipped in the mixture, go carefully over it on both sides. The shawl should be kept even, by placing weights along the edges. Dry it in the shade. Then wash (or rather squeeze it) in two or three cold waters without soap; stretch it, and hang it out again; and when almost dry, iron it.
TO CLEAN A SILK DRESS.--Rip the dress entirely apart. Take large raw potatoes, and allow a pint of cold water to each potatoe. Having pared the potatoes, grate them into the basin of water. Cover it; and let it stand three hours, or more. Then pour it carefully off, into a broad pan; leaving the sediment or coarse part of the grated potatoes at the bottom of the basin. Having spread a clean linen cloth on a large ironing table, and put some irons down to the fire, lay the silk (a breadth at a time) upon the cloth, and with a clean sponge dipped in the potatoe-water, go all over it, on the wrong side. Then hang that breadth out upon a line; stretch it evenly, and leave it to dry. Take another breadth; sponge it with the potatoe-water; hang it out; and proceed in the same manner till all the silk is done. By the time the whole has been sponged and hung out, the first breadths will in all probability be dry enough to iron. It must be ironed on the wrong side.
The sleeves must be taken out and ripped open, before sponging them. Each piece of the body must, of course, be done separately.
FRENCH METHOD OF WASHING COLOURED SILK CRAVATS, SCARFS, SHAWLS, &c.--Make a mixture of the following articles in a large flat dish. A large table-spoonful of soft soap, or of hard _brown_ soap shaved fine, (white soap will not do,) a small tea-spoonful of strained honey, and a pint of spirits of wine. Have ready a large brush (for instance a clothes-brush) made perfectly clean. Lay the silk on a board or on an ironing-table; stretching the article evenly, and securing it in its place by weights set round upon its edges. Then dip the brush into the mixture, and with it go all over the silk, lengthways of the texture; beginning at that part of the silk which is least seen when worn; and trying a little at a time till you have ascertained the effect. If you find the colour of the silk changed by the liquid, weaken it by adding a little more spirits of wine. Brocaded silks cannot be washed this way.
Having gone carefully over the whole of the article, dip it, up and down, in a bucket of clean water, but do not squeeze or wring it. Repeat this through another clean water, and then through a third. Afterwards spread it on a line to dry, but without any squeezing or wringing. Let it dry slowly. While still damp, take it down; pull it, and stretch it even; then roll or fold it up; and let it rest a few minutes. Have irons ready, and iron the silk; taking care that the iron is not so hot as to change the colour.
The above quantity of the washing-mixture is sufficient for about half a dozen silk handkerchiefs; for a silk apron; or for one shawl; or for two scarfs, if not very long. If there is fringe on the scarfs it is best to take it off and replace it with new; or else to gather the ends of the scarfs, and finish them with a tassel or ball.
Gentlemen’s silk or chaly cravats may be made to look very well washed in this manner. Ribbons also, if thick and rich. Indeed whatever is washed by this process should be of excellent quality. A dress must be previously taken apart.
This is also a good method for washing a white blond veil or scarf; using a soft sponge instead of a brush, and making the mixture with rather less soap and honey. When dry, lay the blond in smooth even folds, within a large sheet of smooth nankeen paper. Press it for a few days in a large quarto or folio book. Do not iron it.
TO MAKE THREAD LACE LOOK ALWAYS NEW.--Thread lace should never be sewed fast, or washed upon the article of which it forms the trimming. It should be merely run on, or basted with short stitches; so as to draw out the thread easily, when the lace is taken off for washing. The trouble is nothing in comparison to the advantage. In the first place, thread lace, to look well and last long, should never be touched with starch. Starching thread lace injures the texture, (causing the threads to break,) and gives it a hard, stiff appearance. If sewed fast, and washed and done up with the muslin collar or pelerine, it shrinks and thickens up among the gathers, and partakes of the starch that has been used for the muslin; and, of course, can have no resemblance to new lace that has never been washed at all. Again, it will not last half so long, as if always taken off, and done up separately from the muslin.
Every lady should have at least two lace bottles, as it is not well to wind more than three or four yards of lace upon one bottle. They should be straight black bottles of the largest size, and it is well to buy them new for the purpose; otherwise something of their former contents may come out when boiling, and injure the lace. Also there may be remains of wax, rosin, or some other cement, lingering about the place where the cork was; and this will melt in the water, and cause the lace to look streaked. The bottles being perfectly clean, (inside and out,) cover them with thick, strong, new white linen, sewed on tightly and smoothly, with coarse thread. When not in use, keep them wrapped up in clean paper.
Having taken off the lace from the article on which it was basted, begin near the bottom of the bottle; tack one end of the lace with a needle and strong thread to the linen; and wind it smoothly round with the edge downward; and all the scollops smooth, so that none may be creased or curled inward. Wind the lace on the bottle in such a manner as to leave the scolloped or pattern-edge visible all round; and finish just below the neck of the bottle. Then tack down with the needle and thread the last or terminating end of the lace. Early in the evening put the bottle with the lace into a clean _earthen_ or white-ware vessel, filled with clear cold water, and let it soak till bed-time. Then change the water, and let it soak all night.
In the morning, fill a clean porcelain kettle, or a deep earthen pipkin, with a strong suds of clear soft water and the best white soap. Into this, put the bottle with the lace on it; having tied a twine string round the neck of the bottle so as to make it fast to the handles or the rim of the vessel, that it may be kept as steady as possible while boiling. It must on no account be boiled in a tin or iron vessel, as the lace will then certainly be discoloured. Set the vessel over hot coals or in a stove; and keep it boiling regularly till the lace looks quite white. If very dirty, it will be necessary to change the water for a clean fresh suds. It may boil from an hour to an hour and a half; but take it out as soon as it looks clean and white. Then turn up the bottle to drain off the suds, and set it (without rinsing) in the sun. Keep it in the sun till the lace dries on the bottle. When _quite_ dry, take it off; stretch or pull down each scollop separately with your thumb and finger; and then wind the lace evenly and smoothly on a ribbon-block of somewhat broader width. You can get ribbon-blocks at the stores where ribbons are sold, and you will find them very useful. Wrap the block with the lace on it in soft _brown_ paper, and put it away till you want it for use. If you have no ribbon-block, fold or roll up a piece of smooth clean paper, and roll the lace round it. Never wrap any thing in printed paper.
The above method of cleaning thread lace, (without rubbing, squeezing, rinsing, starching, or ironing,) as it is the most simple and easy, is also the most certain of success. In fact we can confidently assert that there is no other so good; and we only ask a trial of its efficacy; well-assured that every lady who has once had her lace washed in this manner will continue it; as it makes it look always new. Of course, it should be done on a clear bright day, and the hotter the sun the better. If you have more than one lace bottle to boil, they may be put into a brass or bell-metal wash-kettle, (previously made very clean,) but remember that no tin or iron must be used for this purpose. If the coating or lining of an enamelled or porcelain kettle is the least cracked or scaled off, do not boil the lace in it, or it will be stained with iron mould.
Thread lace done _exactly_ according to these directions, has the look, feel, transparency, and consistence of new lace that has never been washed at all; and may easily be mistaken for it. Drying in the soap-suds gives it just the right stiffness, and it will last much longer than if washed in the old manner with squeezing, rinsing, starching, clapping, and ironing.
Before your lace is sewed on the bottle, look over it, and see if it requires any mending. There is a lace-stitch done with _very fine_ thread, that, when neatly executed, renders a mended place imperceptible. It may be learned in a few minutes by seeing it done, but cannot be described intelligibly. Those who have had no opportunity of learning this stitch may mend lace very neatly by darning it with the finest possible thread; taking care not to make the darn too thick, or close, but imitating as nearly as possible the open texture of the lace. In quilling or setting on the lace, endeavour to conceal the darns under the pleats.
Cotton lace cannot be cleaned in the foregoing manner, as it is too soft and fuzzy, and shrinks up too much. It requires squeezing, starching, clapping, and ironing.