1869. 



XEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



S45 



bish — broken or defaced furniture, cracked crock- 

 ery, handle-less jugs and pitchers, noseless coffee 

 pots and teapots and teakettles, leaky pails and 

 pans, machines or implements, or tools, that have 

 become rickety or rusty, or have been crowded 

 out of use by more attractive or better inventions, 

 and old-fashioned and fiided clothing, — all of 

 which when first set aside seem too good to de- 

 stroy, and which are waiting a convenient season, 

 when, by some wonderful ingenuity, they are to 

 be restored to usefulness. This they are kept for 

 in some out-of-the-way place — usually the garret 

 — and every spring need to be dusted and replaced 

 and re-arranged. Sometimes at this spring clean- 

 ing a spasm of sense leads the good housewife to 

 attack her collection with a daring hand, and 

 presto ! they are whisked into the tinman's cart or 

 an old-furniture wagon and she has ample space 

 for drying her herbs, and the children get a new 

 play-room besides ; while her pantry becomes re- 

 splendent with new pans, and her closets glitter 

 and gleam with new glass and china, gorgeous to 

 behold ; and a pretty whatnot, or chair, or table 

 gets the best place in the parlor. 



The next thing to be done is to clear the chim- 

 neys. The grimy sweeps are seldom seen out- 

 side our largest cities, so we must either burn 

 the chimneys out by rousing fires some rainy 

 day, or hire a man to go to the roof of the 

 house with a brick or a billet of heavy wood 

 attached to a strong rope, which he will lower 

 and raise through the flues till we have rea- 

 son to suppose that the soot is all scraped down 

 to the foot of each flue ; whence it must be re- 

 moved as it falls into the fireplace, or, if there is 

 no fireplace, by displacing a brick. Marble man- 

 tels should be cleaned by rubbing them briskly 

 with a woolen cloth wet with cold soft water — 

 soap yellows them. When turned yellow they 

 may sometimes be whitened by occasionally wet- 

 ting them with weak lime-water. 



The bedrooms and their furniture should then 

 be examined ; if you have the least suspicion that 

 the joints or crevices of your bedsteads are in- 

 habited, or that any blood-thirsty red-skins — not 

 to give those intruders a worse name — have taken 

 lodgings in the walls or about the floor. After a 

 thorough washing and scrubbing with soap suds, 

 give every spot that would be likely to harbor 

 them, a plenty of drink for them, by applying 

 thereto with a feather a solution of corrosive sub- 

 limate — one ounce in half a pint of New England 

 rum, prepared by a druggist. If one application 

 does not finish them, try another. If your room is 

 badly infested it may take even more ; but it is 

 sure to clear them all out if you will persevere in 

 its use during the month of June, then by keeping 

 your bedding clean and allowing a plenty of fresh 

 air through the apartment you will never again be 

 troubled with them. If the room is carpeted the 

 carpet should be removed before you begin this 

 operation. 



Taking up carpets, shaking them, and putting 

 them down are the most laborious jobs of house 

 cleaning — if you can impress a man or a large boy 

 into your service, get them to do these for you. 

 Your curtains are easily removed ; should be 

 washed, if of muslin or white cotton, and left soak- 

 ing in clear rainwater, in the sunshine, while you 

 get the room ready to put them up again. If you 

 have a grass p lat they will whiten better by spread- 

 ing them there. Carpets are generally beaten too 

 much. If you can spread them on the grass and 

 sweep them well, first on one side and then on the 

 other, a number of times, they will look better 

 and will not be so worn as by beating. A small 

 rattan cane, a cowskin whip, or a few birch or 

 willow rods are the best implements for beating 

 them with, and it is well to hang them on a line 

 or bars for this purpose. Nice carpets should only 

 be shaken lightly and then swept with a soft brush. 

 Let them be left in the open air several hours. 



While your curtains are bleaching and your car- 

 pet airing you will do your cleaning of the room. 

 Don't attempt more than one room at a time and 

 finish all the chambers before you begin with the 

 lower story. Commence your work by sweeping 

 the ceiling with a soft brush or a cloth tied over a 

 broom. Then rub the wall paper, as high as you 

 can reach with your hand, with a piece of old 

 flannel — if there are any very bad spots upon it 

 use a crust of white bread, rubbing with the inner 

 side. Make a sort of mop, by tying the flannel to 

 a pole, for cleaning the higher part of the wall. 

 After this wash the windows, cleaning the sash 

 with the soap suds before mentioned. 



Never apply soap d«irectly to paint. If it is 

 badly smoked or soiled wet your brush or cloth — 

 flannel is better than cotton — with hot suds, and 

 take upon it a very little fine sand, with which rub 

 lightly, and rinse with clean water immediately ; 

 then rub till dry with an unwet cloth. A meat 

 peg, or a strip of whalebone, is of great use to 

 clean corners and crevices and mouldings ; cover 

 it with your cloth ; you will need this in cleaning 

 the window sash. 



All wood that is varnished should be lightly 

 washed with cold weak suds, rinsed with cold 

 water, and rubbed bri.^kly with a dry flannel or 

 an old silk handkerchief. Window panes are 

 easily cleaned with the patent window polish now 

 far sale at most paint shops ; a very little of this 

 mixture rubbed over them with a damp cloth, al- 

 lowed to dry, and then removed with a dry cloth ; 

 leaves them beautifully clear and lustrous. If you 

 haven't this, wash them with suds and wipe them 

 with paper,— a few blank sheets procured at a 

 newspaper office will be enough for all the win- 

 dows of a large house. Some persons take out 

 their windows in order to wash both sides of the 

 panes. This is not necessary if you have a long 

 handled window brush, or any means of shower- 

 ing or syringing them. 



Of course all furniture that could not be re- 



