tllKTS AND HELPS. 508 



Jet Black Varnish. — To make a jet black varnish that can be nsed for 

 furniture or for small wood-handles, that will make them smooth aud shin- 

 ing and hard and aoUd, so that they will not get dim by handling or lose 

 their gloss, take of asphaltum, three ounces; boiled oil, lour quarts; burnt 

 umber, eight ounces, and enough oil of turpentine to thin. The three first 

 must be mixed by the aid of heat, and the turpentine gradually added (out 

 of doors and away from fire) before the mixture has cooled. The work 

 (dry) is given several coats, each l>eing hardened in a japanners oven. The 

 last coat may be rubbed down, first with tripoli applied on a soft cloth, then 

 with a few drops of oil. 



How to Fit Keys Into IjocIu. — Wlien it is not convenient to take locks 

 apart in the event of keys being lost, stolen, or missing, when you wish to 

 fit a new key, take a lighted match or candle and smoke the new key in the 

 flame, introduce it carefully into the keyhole, pix-ss it firmly against the op- 

 posing wards of the lock, withdraw it, and the indentations in the smoked 

 part of the key will show you exactly where to file. 



To Clean Kid Gloves. — To clean kid glovca, have ready a little new 

 milk in one saucer, and a piece of brown soap in another, and a clean cloth 

 or towel, folded three or four times. On the cloth spread out the gloves 

 smooth aqd neat. Take a piece of iSanncl, dip it in the milk, then rub oflf a 

 good quantity of soap to the wetted flannel, and commence to rub the glove 

 toward the fingers, holding it firmly with the left hand. Continue the pro- 

 cess until the glove, if white, looks of a dingy yellow, though clean; if col- 

 ored, until it looks dark aud spoiled. Lay it to dry, and the operator will 

 soon be gratified to see that the old glove looka nearly new. It will be sofl, 

 ghissy, smooth and elastic. 



Remedy Tor Fiiex. — An Irish clergyman, Rev. George Meares Drought, 

 l)elieve8 that he has discovered a remedy against the plague of flies— and a 

 very simple and pleasant one— namely: a window-garden of geraniums and 

 calceolarias. He says that he had for a long time been congratulating him- 

 self on his exemption from the plague of flies from which his neighlxirs suf- 

 fered, when, at length, in preparing for removal, he sent away his windo<v- 

 box of geraniums and calceolarias to his new residence. Immediately, his 

 room was as full of flies as that of any of his neighbors, and so he found out 

 that it was his window-garden which saved him. 



A Cement Withstanding Heat and Moistnre. — Pure white lead, or 

 zinc-white, ground in oil, and used very thick, is an excellent cement for 

 mending broken crockeryware; but it takes a very long time to harden. It 

 is well to put the mended object in some store-room, and not to lo<ik after it 

 for several weeks, or even months. It will then be found so firmly united 

 that, if ever again broken, it wUl not part on the line of the former fracture. 



To Clean Hair Brashes and Combs. — Dissolve a piece of soda in some 

 hot water, allowing a piece the size of a walnut to a quart of water. Put the 

 water into a basin, and after combing out the hair from the brushes, dip 

 them, bristles downward, into the water and out again, keeping the backs 

 and handles as free from the water as possible. Repeat this until the bris- 

 tles look clean, then rinse the brushes in a Uttle cold water; shake them well, 

 and wipe the handles aud backs with a towel, but not the bristles, and set the 

 brushes to dry in the sun or near the fire, but take care not to put them too 

 close to it Wiping the bristles of a brush makes them soft, as does soap. 



