203 MORE POT-POURRI 



rubbish, frills and valances, draperies and bows, and all 

 the terrible devices of the modern upholsterer. They 

 all mean dust and dirt in a very short time, especially in 

 London, and a labour to keep clean which, in fact, no 

 one carries out, and which is only very temporarily 

 rectified by the spring cleaning once a year. I have a 

 French domestic book which I think fascinating and 

 instructive, just because it is French, and much less 

 showy and more primitive than English books of the 

 same kind. It is in two volumes, is called ' Maison 

 Rustique des Dames,' and is by Madame Millet Robinet. 

 It has had an immense sale in France, and all the little 

 details of household life seem more dignified and less 

 tiresome when read in excellent French. 



I will translate one receipt for the destruction of flies 

 that seems to me good, and I wish I had known of it 

 when travelling abroad in hot weather and staying in 

 small hotels : ' Half fill a tumbler with soapy water. 

 Cut a slice of bread half an inch thick ; cover the under 

 side with honey, sugar, jam anything that attracts 

 flies. Cut a small hole in the middle, larger at the top 

 than the bottom ; fix the piece of bread in the top of the 

 tumbler. The flies crawl in after the sweet jam, and 

 are quietly suffocated.' The book abounds in useful 

 hints of all kinds. 



In my youth, tea -leaves were always used for sweep- 

 ing carpets. Then came the idea that they stained and 

 injured the colour of light carpets. This is to be recti- 

 fied by rinsing the tea -leaves well in cold water and 

 wringing them out before they are used. There is no 

 magic in the tea it is the damp substance of the leaves 

 that gathers the dust. There is an excellent thing now 

 sold, called 'carpet soap,' which really revives the 

 colour of dirty rugs and carpets. To sweep without 

 using something moist merely diffuses dirt. Covering a 



