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HINTS AND AIDS FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 
It is a tar easier matter to write upon the subjects 
of housekeeping than it is to, in an easy and quiet 
way, perform the labors of a household. By means 
of the pen, however, many valuable hints and aids 
may be given to housekeepers, which, if properly used, 
will lighten their labors and lessen their cares. As 
good housekeeping is a matter of the utmost import¬ 
ance in every community and to all classes, so a good 
housekeeper is a person to be loved by the household 
and respected by all. The weather is growing cold, and 
soon much care will be necessary to preserve fruit 
and all things from freezing. As apples are not keep¬ 
ing well, many are canning them for use for the spring 
and summer months. The cans that are emptied in 
the latter part of the autumn and early part of winter 
can be filled with well-cooked apples and set away for 
use when needed. For this purpose the Spitzenbergens 
are excellent, as they are spicy and retain a beautiful 
color. The large pound-sweet apple is a most excel¬ 
lent apple to use to can, cookiug it with sugar, the 
same as citron. The quarters will be whole if they 
are cooked slowly and not stirred. Put a little lemon 
in and it is a nice sauce. 
At places where I have called, during the fall, I 
have found the ladies engaged in preparing rags for 
carpets. These carpets are warm, neat, heavy, and 
usually wear well. 
The following is a cheap way of coloring cottons a 
beautiful blue, yellow, orange, and green : 
To color blue, take one ounce of prussiate of potash, 
2 ounces of copperas, one tablespoonful of oil of vitriol. 
Boil the copperas in iron ; put in the cloth when it is 
hot. After emptying the copperas, put in the prussiate 
of potash and the oil of vitriol, and water enough to 
wet the rags well. Let it heat, and then put in the 
copperas rags, after rinsing them. After coloring, 
rinse well in clear water. 
Yellow. —For five pounds of cotton, dissolve three- 
quarters of a pound of sugar of lead in a small quan¬ 
tity of hot water, and pour into cold water. Dissolve 
(after pulverizing) six ounces of bichromate of potash 
in cold water. Dip your rags first in the lead water, 
drain some, dip in the potash; dip into each several 
times. Color in tin or wood, and rinse well in cold 
water. 
Orange. —Dip yellow rags in boiling lime-water. 
Green.— Dip blue rags in the lead and potash, as 
for yellow. Color the yellow and orange first, as the 
blue will color the dye. If you wish the rags shaded, 
dip some more than others, or some a lighter blue than 
others. Rinse in cold water. The rags will all take 
a better color if they are wet in warm water before 
putting into either of the dyes. The oil of vitriol will 
burn whatever it touches before it is diluted. A few 
drops in .a little water will take off all the stains from 
the dyes on the hands; then wash the hands in vine¬ 
gar, and that will kill the life of the vitriol. The 
above recipes are all bright colors, and when made up 
in a carpet, make a nice, bright and cheerful-looking 
carpet for any room which it may be put into. 
During the long winter months, when people are com¬ 
pelled to remain in-doors, one often gets tired of the sur¬ 
roundings, or weary of looking at the same arrange¬ 
ment of surroundings. This tiresomeness can often be 
relieved by changing the places or arrangement of the 
pictures and furniture. Beautiful vases and winter 
bouquets of natural flowers often cost nothing but 
the time taken to gather, and all these help to re¬ 
lieve this weariness, especially in the rooms of aged 
people and invalids. Beautiful and bright-colored 
table and stand covers, chair cushions, etc., all help to 
make rooms look cheerful and pleasant. A very 
pretty stand cover is made in this way: Take a piece 
| of bleached cotton and take any color of worsted braid 
you may prefer, haste it on in stripes; also, if you 
may wish, take strips of bright-colored flannel and 
^ cross-stitch it on, or feather-stitch it on with any color 
of worsted to harmonize, say scarlet with green or 
j black, or blue with orange. The one I saw had sev¬ 
eral different colors of flannel and braid, the edge 
fringed with the different colors to match the centre. 
Very beautiful and serviceable rugs may be made iu 
the following way: An old sack of some grocer, then 
gather up all the scraps and bits of worsted and flannel 
and tear or cut into desirable lengths, thread them into 
a large darning-needle, and draw them through the 
cloth, taking only a few threads of the coarse cloth, in 
Such a way as to leave both ends of the scraps on one 
side of it. The scraps should be drawn so closely 
together as to stand straight up, and also to cover the 
canvas, which must first be hound or hemmed. These 
can be drawn in so as to form diamonds, squares, or 
flowers. These being made of bright colors, the 
spaces about them are filled with more sombre colors. 
As I have told how to make rugs, carpets, and stand 
cloths, I will now tell you how to make a very pretty 
lamp-mat. On a ground ten inches square, work any 
pretty pattern which will go round a space large 
enough to let a lamp stand, then take two strips of the 
canvas one and a half inches wide, and work in the 
centre a very narrow vine. Fringe out each side to 
the embroidery, then sew on to the*mat in a loose 
twist; then work on each side of this twist a very 
small edge, and fringe out the edge of the mat. The 
mat is then lined with cardboard and silk, or anything 
you may prefer, and finish off each edge with bows of 
satin ribbon in each corner. 
Becipe to Preserve White Flowers. —Let the flowers 
he freshly plucked, and of those kinds which have firm 
texture, of pure white, or at least very delicate tints. 
If the collection is to he preserved without separating 
the parts, the green leaves must be removed, as they 
require different treatment. This done, take fine par¬ 
affine, that is of the very best quality, melt in a clean 
new tin vessel placed in a pan of boiling water, which 
must be kept constantly hot around it, so as to keep 
the paraffine in a liquid state. In this thin and trans¬ 
parent liquid mass, dip the blossoms, or, if found more 
convenient, brush each one quickly with a soft camel’s- 
hair brush, of small size, so as to give them a smooth, 
thin coat that will cover each part of every petal, and 
this will form a casing round them that will entirely 
exclude the air and prevent their withering. The per¬ 
fect transparency of this material renders this coating 
entirely invisible, so the flowers' present that natural 
appearance which constitutes the charm of this work. 
Green leaves must be colored with green paint, in 
powder, tied in a muslin bag and melted in it. Other 
flowers may he done in the same way, by coloring the 
paraffine with paints, in powder agreeing in color to 
the flowers. Great care is necessary in having the 
paraffine perfectly liquified yet not so hot that it will 
cook the flowers, for in this case they will turn brown 
and decay. 
How to Water Hanging-Baskets. —Set in the middle 
of the basket, or suspend over it, a deep vase or broken 
goblet, which should be kept full of water. In the 
water place one end of cotton worsted cords, drop the 
other end of them on different parts of the top of the 
basket. The cords will cause a constant flow of 
water, the number of which may he increased or dimin¬ 
ished according as more or less water is needed. The 
vase must, of course, be fastened so it will not tip and 
spill the water. It may also he filled with Wandering 
Jew, or anything that will grow in water. 
To Bevive Faded Black Clothes. —Boil three ounces 
of logwood iu a quart of vinegar, and when the color 
is extracted, drop iu a piece of carbonate of iron the size 
of a large chestnut. Let it boil five minutes. Have 
the article to be dyed sponged with soap and hot water, 
laying them on the table and sponge them all over with 
it, taking care to keep them smooth, and brush down¬ 
ward. When completely wet with the dye, dissolve a 
teaspoonful of salaratus in a teacup of warm water, 
and sponge over with this, which sets the color so 
nothing rubs off. They must not be wrung or 
wrinkled, but carefully hung up to drain. The 
brownest cloth may be made a perfect black in this 
simple manner. So many people have faded garments 
that this recipe may be of service in restoring them to 
a lively color. 
Excellent Wliiteivash. — As housecleaning approaches 
so often to the busy housekeeper, it may not be amiss 
to say a few words in regard to whitewashing. There 
are many recipes published, and many no doubt are 
good, but I believe the following to be the best : Take 
sixteen pounds of the best Paris white, half a pound of 
white transparent glue ; prepare as follows : The glue 
is covered at night with cold water, and in the morning 
is carefully heated, without scorching, until dissolved. 
The Paris white is stirred in with hot water, to give 
the proper consistency for applying to walls. Except 
on very dark and smoky walls, a single coat is suffi¬ 
cient. 
An Excellent Spruce Yelloiv Flour Paint. —One 
quart of water, four ounces of glue, three pounds of 
spruce yellow ; dissolve the glue by putting the water 
cold upon the glue the night before, then heat in the 
morning, being careful not to scorch it ; paint while 
hot ; add more water if too thick ; dry three hours, 
then oil ; use in twenty-four hours. 
To Make Furniture of Spruce Boughs. — Take spruce 
boughs that are fresh and new grown, cut them the 
desired length, lay them upon the warm stove for a few 
minutes, when the green will all drop off; then form 
them into any shape you vsush, fastening them in place 
with pins ; whole chamber sets (toy of course), can be 
made of these ; also picture frames, brackets, etc. 
Toilet Stand. —A handsome combination stand for 
toilet table or bureau, is made of four cornucopias of 
white glazed cardboard. Ornament each with spatter 
work, cut two lids of cardb oard to fit the top of two of 
these, spatter, bind with narrow scarlet ribbon, and 
fasten on with a tiny scarlet bow at the top. Make a 
pincushion to fit one, and cover the top with scarlet 
silk, embroidered with a tiny spray in white silk. 
Make a hairpin cushion of the remaining one, and 
cover with white net, darned with scarlet silk or 
worsted. Make a pocket of wdiite silk, and fasten in 
one with a lid for jewelry, and a movable lining of 
white paper in the other for combings. Make a base 
of wood of suitable size and shape, polished, and given 
two coats of white paint. Fasten an upright in the 
centre an inch taller than the length of your cornu¬ 
copias. Paint it also, and fasten the four cornucopias 
around this, letting the points rest on the base. Quill 
narrow ribbon around the tops of each, and finish with 
a tiny how at each top and bottom point. A larger 
how must be fastened with a silver tack on top of the 
upright. 
