MY EXPERIENCE WITH HOUSEHOLD DYES 
After considerable experience, I have found that 
Leamon’s Aniline Dyes are better and will do more 
than they profess. One can color anything with 
them, and the work is nothing; and there is no elabor¬ 
ate preparation to be made for using them, as they 
are very simple. I have replenished my wardrobe 
with them by simply coloring over old dresses and 
making combination suits; and when one lives in the 
country it is worth a good deal to be able to get just 
the right shades for a dress, by a little labor. 
With the black dyes one can brighten up their old 
black alpacas, merinos, silks, or laces, or color over 
any other color, making a spendid black; renew their 
old black kids or make black the soiled ones of other 
colors; sponge their cloaks and coats with a little of 
the dye, to look like new; and even dye their own hair 
switches, frizzes, etc. This dye makes the cheapest and 
bestblackinkonecan get. The violet dye makes splen¬ 
did ink, and costs comparatively nothing. The same 
might be said of almost if not quite all the colors. 
And these inks can be used with a brash for coloring 
cards, mottoes, etc. Mottoes colored in this way are as 
handsome as worsted ones, and not nearly the work 
to make. By using one-half the water a good stencil 
ink is obtained; and by the addition of a little glyc¬ 
erine and sugar one can obtain a superior copying 
ink. The inks are made by using for one package of 
dye two quarts (for scarlet only one)of boiling water, 
in which has been dissolved one ounce of gum Arabic, 
for all but black; and there are full directions for 
making that with each package, which will make 
two gallons of nice black ink. 
The violet dye will color over rusty or dingy black, 
making seal brown, which fact alone would render it 
invaluable. I colored some old but good black 
ribbon in that way, and renewed some faded brown 
of a lighter shade with brown dye; and this will save 
having new ribbon for a hat, and no one will know, 
unless I tell them. 
The blue dye makes the cheapest as well as the best 
laundry blue one can get. 
I have used all the colors successfully, both in 
coloring over other colors and with white. One can 
have stockings to match one’s dress with ten minutes’ 
work, which is a satisfaction to poor women. I have 
colored and renewed with these dyes a lot of old 
ribbons, ties, pieces of silk and velvet—getting on the 
lighter ones lovely shades of lavender, fawn, salmon, 
pink, blue, etc.; and on the darker, rich, clear tints, as 
blue, cardinal, scarlet, old gold, bronze, and a num 
ber for which I have no name, but they are beautiful. 
I colored au old drab ostrich tip a handsome brown, 
and after curling it looked as well as one costing a 
dollar. I have also colored hens’ feathers and quills, 
both for wings and flowers; and find that for the 
latter purpose they are unsurpassed, giving as they 
do so many shades of the same color. I might say 
the same of them for coloring rags for carpets, rugs, 
and patch-work quilts. 
I prepared a number of colors in small vials as for 
ink, and with a soft brush use them as paint for 
decorating wood and paper articles, as boxes, baskets 
wall-pockets, etc. A still better way for this purpose 
is to prepare them, as for leather, with alcohol and 
shellac. There is another way these dyes can be used 
to decorate wood; and that is spatter or splash work. 
The effect when the colors are well chosen is rich in 
the extreme. To do this, put a little of the required 
dye in a saucer, reduce to the desired shade by the 
addition of boiling water, then, having prepared your 
board (or whatever you wish to decorate) by secur¬ 
ing the patterns so the dye cannot get under them, 
dip a small brush (tooth-brush) in the dye, shake out 
all you can, then hold a small but stiff stick over the 
work, and draw the brush quickly across, repeating 
until the right effect is obtained. I have a paper- 
holder, the front of which I made in this way, by 
taking a perfectly smooth pine board, pinning a paper 
the size of a small chromo (a bird on a branch) in the 
center, a wreath of tiny autumn leaves around that, 
a small bunch of leaves in each corner, and splashing 
with brown. Then I removed the leaves and paper, 
veined the leaves by dotting with a pen dipped in 
brown dye, pasted the chromo in the center, varnished 
and finished by putting in ends and a back, and it is 
very much admired by all who see it. 
I have made lovely table and stand-spreads by 
using unbleached muslin, cutting my patterns from 
paper and pasting in place with very thin boiled 
starch and a hot iron (they will adhere nicely, but 
are readily peeled off when the work is done), then 
splashing all over lightly with brown, then in the 
center quite thickly with crimson, shading out 
toward the edge, then the edge with violet, shading in 
toward the center. They are rich, soft, and elegant. 
I have just completed a cover for a chair-cushion 
which I made by first splashing all over with green, 
then pinning a cluster of small leaves and ferns in 
the center, with sprays of vines around it, and splash¬ 
ing again with brown. It looks like moss, and no one 
would dream it was unbleached cotton, and only cost 
ten cents, dye included. Lambrequins for windows, 
brackets, etc. can be made in the same way; while 
beautiful bedspreads, curtains, toilet sets, “splash¬ 
ers,” etc. can be made by using ten-cent bleached or 
unbleached muslin and splashing with only one color — 
as pink, blue, scarlet, green, etc. 
I color splints for fancy baskets, frames, etc. by 
simply putting in a hot bath of the color wanted, 
and moving about till they take the right shade, which 
they do readily. Easter eggs are made resplendent 
either by applying the color, prepared as for dry 
leather, with a brush in figures, flowers, etc., or by 
immersing in a hot bath. The eggs must first be boiled 
hard, of course. Leather can be colored any shade 
by washing, stretching, pinning on a board, and 
applying the color with a sponge; or, if it is not desir¬ 
able to wet the leather, put enough of the desired 
color in alcohol, in whichhas been dissolved bleached 
shellac in the proportion of an ounce of shellac to a 
pint of alcohol, and apply to the dry leather. Paper 
boxes, etc. can be ornamented in this way, and old 
book-bindings made to look like new. A good imita¬ 
tion of Russia leather is obtained by combining Ma¬ 
genta and brown in equal quantities. 
These dyes will color quills, scales, shells, wood, 
straw, rice, feathers, everlasting flowers, moss, etc., 
etc., by simply immersing in a hot bath of the desired 
shade. In fact, there is nothing where color or shad¬ 
ing is required in fancy work that they will not do. 
And there is certainly no domestic purpose where 
any dye is required for which Leamon’s will not 
give full an<k ample satisfaction 
There are two points which I have not dwelt upon, 
that would recommend them to all, if they were only 
ordinary in other respects. The first is their sim¬ 
plicity and the ease with which they are used; all that 
is needed in most cases being a tin or earthen dish, 
boiling water, and two sticks with which to stir and lift 
the goods, which take the color so readily that the 
process doesn’t have time to become tedious. It is 
rather a pleasure to use them, the result is always so 
good; and if the dyes have been dissolved in large 
bottles, one can color a ribbon, a feather, a pair of 
stockings, or anything that may present itself, at a 
moment’s notice, with no preparation save to cleanse 
the article and boil the water. And only just enough 
of the dye need be used to give the right shade; which 
leads me to the-second point, which is economy. From 
the fact that for the same money one can get more 
dye than of any other kind, and in using it is almost 
all taken from the water, leaving it nearly colorless, 
any one can see that Leamon’s are the cheapest dyes 
And still another point presents itself, and that is 
the diversity of hues and shades; for from the twelve 
packages which make up the different colors every 
conceivable hue can he obtained, and each in its way 
perfect. 
Therefore, if I were asked why 1 considered 
Leamon’s dyes superior to any others, I should say: 
They are cheaper; they are more durable; they are 
more easily and quickly used; they give a greater num¬ 
ber of beautiful colors and shades; they can be ap¬ 
plied to vastly more uses, and for either domestic 
purposes or for fancy work are indispensable. 
Grace Gilbert. 
TO WASH GREASY WOOL. 
Dissolve a large tablespoonful of borax in a pint 
of boiling water. Mix one-quarter of it in the water 
in which the wool is to be washed. Put in one piece 
of goods at a time, using soap, if m eded; and if 
necessary add more of the borax water. Wash well 
and rinse in cold water, or in water only slightly 
warmed. Shake well and hang where the goods will 
dry quickly. For twenty-six years I have used for 
washing my white flannels water about as hot as 
would be used for cotton clothing. My flannels are 
beautifully soft, as well as white. 1 never have any 
shrink. 
For washing goods that fade, use crude ammonia 
instead of soap. Soiled neckties may be made to look 
like new by taking 0 "e-balf a teaspoonful of spirits 
of hartshorn to a teacup of water; wash well; and if 
very much soiled, put through a second water, with 
less ammonia in. Lay it on a clean white cloth, and 
gently wipe with another until nearly dry. Then 
lay a cloth over it, and smooth with an iron not very 
hot. If the color fades, it will all come back to its 
original hue. Use no soap and do not rinse. Just 
think how many pretty girls who have to practice 
economy will bless you for this recipe.— Exchange. 
A CLEAN FLOOR. 
The other day I went to see my friend, Mrs. Cook. 
She had just finished mopping her kitchen-floor. I 
noticed it looked very nice, and asked how she kept 
it so well. “ Why,” she said, “ don’t you know I oil 
it about every six months? That is what makes it so 
easy to keep clean.” “Oil!” I said. “How do you do 
that?” So then she told me, as follows: “I take a 
quantity of the cheapest and least offensive oil (lin¬ 
seed) I can secure, and apply smoothly, so that it will 
strike equally all over and yet not stand in spots on 
the surface. 1 do this at night, after the evening’s 
work is done, and fix the place ready for use again 
next morning. Of course, it would not injure the 
oiled surface itself to track upon it at once; but grease 
is liable to be tracked from it, at first, to adjacent 
parts of the house. A neat coat of oil, applied once in 
six months, or even once a year, sometimes is sufficient 
to keep a floor in perfect order. One may in this way 
prepare to great advantage the floors of kitchens, 
pantries, summer dining-rooms, porticoes, closets, 
bath-rooms, and laborers’ bedrooms.”— Household. 
INFORMATION WANTED. 
A receipt for making nice light home-made graham 
bread? 
How to prepare and bake a dish of turbot d la 
creme ? 
How to prepare and lard sweet-breads? 
How long will an iced pound cake keep good? 
How can stains from perspiration be removed from 
scarlet merino stockings and underclothing, without 
injuring the color or the garments? 
How to starch and iron collars and cuffs, so they 
will not blister? 
