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TJic Country Gciiilavoman 



be tied. Every angle, the favourite nook of 

 the house spider, should be cleared, as well 

 as the panels and ledges of doors. In sweep- 

 ing the mouldings of the ceiling cornices, 

 great care must be taken not to break them, 

 they being made of plaster, and consequently 

 brittle. 



Partial washing of spots and stains on oil 

 paint may prevent the necessity of more 

 frequent general scourings. Every week the 

 housemaid should examine the paint, and 

 remove with a flannel and soap and water 

 any spots upon it, finger marks, &c., within 

 her reach ; having wiped them away with the 

 flannel, taking care to wipe those parts dry, 

 so as not to leave it visible where the cleaning 

 has been done. 



In washing or scouring paint little soap 

 should be used, the alkali of the soap having 

 a tendency to injure oil paint. But water 

 alone is not sufficient. After scouring with 

 the brush and soap, plenty of water should 

 be used to wash off what remains of the soap; 

 otherwise, if left on the paint, it will cause its 

 decay. 



Oak wainscot should, when necessary, be 

 washed only with a sponge and warm water ; 

 after which it should be rubbed with a brush, 

 like mahogany. 



Stairs in towns are frequently painted in 

 oil either white or of stone colour. The parts 

 which are not covered with carpet should be 

 washed weekly with wann water and two 

 sponges ; one to wash, the other to dry, the 

 stairs with : by using sponges the edges of 

 the stair carpet are not so likely to be injured, 

 as by a brush or scouring flannel. Painted 

 stairs look clean and neat while the paint 

 remains on them ; but the paint requires to 

 be renewed almost every second year. 



When walls are painted in distemper, they 

 will not bear the application of water, and 

 therefore admit of no cleaning except that of 

 sweeping down gently from them all the dust 

 that may adhere to them. 



Paper-hangings of walls also admit of very 

 little cleaning except that of sweeping them 

 down ^vith the hair broom, covered with a 

 clean linen duster. Stains by smoke may 

 sometimes be cleaned by rubbing them with 



the crumb of a loaf Grease can scarcely, by 

 any means, be removed from paper hangings. 

 ^Vhenever a room is fresh papered it is 

 desirable to reserve small pieces of it, that 

 repairs may be made in the case of any part 

 being torn off or injured. 



III. CLEANING MARBLE AND STONE WORK. 



Marble floors, chimney pieces, and hearths, 

 are simply washed with a flannel or sponge 

 and soap and water, and wiped dry with linen 

 cloths. If stained either with oil, wine, or 

 discoloured with smoke, other means must 

 be employed to clean them. 



Oil or other grease dropped on marble or 

 stone may be removed by laying on the stains 

 a mixture of strong soap lees with fullers' 

 earth and pipe-clay well dried, and powdered. 

 When laid thickly on, a flat iron, made 

 tolerably warm, must be put on and suffered 

 to remain until the mixture is dried. And if 

 on washing the part the stain be not eradi- 

 cated, the mixture and iron must be applied 

 either once or twice more. 



Stone floors and stone stairs are sometimes 

 scrubbed with sand and water, sometimes 

 with the hearth-stone, or with pipe-clay pre- 

 pared after the following receipt. 



Boil half a pint of size with the same 

 quantity of whiting and pipe-clay in two 

 quarts of water; the stones must be first 

 washed clean with water, and this mixture 

 afterwards laid smoothly on them with a 

 flannel ; when dry they must be rubbed with 

 a dry cloth or flannel. 



Stone floored kitchens and offices, stone 

 hearths, stone steps, and balconies, are usually 

 washed with a flannel and water, and, while 

 wet, scrubbed with the hearth-stone. 



Steps at the entrance of houses are washed 

 and whitened every day in town, in the 

 country scarcely more than once a week ; 

 stone kitchens twice a week, balconies only 

 once. 



In the areas of town houses, together with 

 the offices opening into them, cleanliness is 

 as requisite to the comfort, and perhaps 

 health, of a family, as in the interior of a 

 house. 



The dust-hole, often opening into one of 



