oral 
jufenet ftelarmt Home feamjmiuaii. 
HOUSEKEEPING. 
One of the greatest difficulties in housekeeping is 
the week’s wash. All the improvements in science 
do not seem to meet the needs of the housekeeper in 
this respect. Washing-machines, notwithstanding 
their name is legion, have done very little to lighten 
the burden : the wringer, however, has done much— 
more, perhaps, than anything else—and is an invalu¬ 
able addition to the furnishing of the laundry. It 
requires vastly less labor to accomplish a large wash 
with it than without it, but it does nothing to lessen 
the labor of making the clothes clean before they 
are ready for rinsing. Any suggestions which may 
throw light on this vexed question are presumably 
welcome to all housekeepers. The latest reliable 
opinions are opposed to the time-honored custom of 
boiling the clothes. There is no necessity for boil¬ 
ing if the clothes are previously properly treated. 
Cold water should always be used to soak the clothes 
before washing. The following directions will be 
found, if carefully followed, to save work and give 
satisfactory results. 
First, for soap, use the following, which whitens 
without injury to the fabric : 
NEW JERSEY SOAP. 
Common hard brown soap, 3 lbs. ; refined borax, 
4 oz.; fine salt, 2 oz. ; soft water, 7 pints. Boil all 
together until thoroughly dissolved. When cold it 
will be a light-colored jelly. 
Make suds with this soap and cold water; put 
the clothes in them over night. In the morning wash 
once in the suds, then put them into other cold 
suds, and let them scald well, not suffering them to 
boil. Rinse well and dry in the sun and open air. 
Flannels should be sorted over, and all the spots 
rubbed with a little fine white soap, rubbing them 
slightly with the hand, never on a board. After¬ 
ward wash in tepid water and white castile soap; 
rinse in blue-water in which a little soap has been 
dissolved. They should be stretched well and snap¬ 
ped before hanging, and this should be done at once. 
COLORED CLOTHES. 
Colored woollen goods should be washed just as 
flannels. And here let it be said that almost any all- 
wool material will wash to look well, if carefully 
done, and the goods ironed, while still wet, upon the 
wrong side. If pulled so as to straighten the threads 
well before being put in the wringer, the cloth will 
be ready to iron when it comes from it. If not 
ripped the seams should be laid open and carefully 
pressed after the garment has been ironed. This 
process will renovate any good quality of cloth. 
When the material is mixed it is more difficult to 
make it look well, but it can generally be done. In 
washing black goods a little beef’s gall in the suds 
prevents the color from running, and spirits of harts¬ 
horn in the rinsing water improve the color. To 
set blue use turpentine ; for green and pink, alum. 
To take out indelible ink get from the druggist 
a little iodide of potassium in the lump. Make a 
weak solution at first, and wet the spots. If not 
efficacious after having lain in full sunshine some 
hours, make the solution a little stronger and repeat. 
No rule can be given, as the older the stain the more 
difficult of removal. To remove the stain of mildew 
tomato-juice will be found effectual, if the fabric be 
exposed to the sun while wet. It is much quicker 
than lemon juice and salt. In winter canned toma¬ 
toes may be used. 
STARCHING. 
Keep a bottle of the best white gum-arabic, dis¬ 
solved in boiling water, tightly corked and ready. 
Add a tablespoonful of the liquid to a pint of good 
clear starch, well boiled, for all goods which require 
to be stiff. When dry dip in a very thin mixture of 
cold starch, squeeze well, and roll tightly in a cloth 
for two or three hours. Iron with a very hot iron, 
sponging off any specks with a clean white cloth 
wet in clear water. 
For keeping soiled clothes a bag made with divi¬ 
sions is extremely useful. Table linen should al¬ 
ways be kept by itself and washed first, that it may 
not come in contact with soiled clothing. Soiled 
hose should be put in a bag by themselves. 
We clip the following directions from an Exchange: 
FOR WASHING SILKS, LACES, ETC., BENZINE. 
Take two wash-bowls ; put some benzine in each. 
Wash by kneading and squeezing the goods in one 
bowl and rinsing in the other. Wipe with a soft, 
dry cloth, and iron immediately with an iron not 
very hot. In washing dresses do one breadth at a 
time, as it dries quickly. All silks, except very 
dark colors, wash well; also silk laces, kid gloves, 
etc., that cannot be washed in water. Do not throw 
away what is left, but let it settle; pour off into a 
bottle to wash with again, using fresh benzine for 
rinsing. One gallon of benzine, costing thirty cents, 
is sufficient to clean two silk dresses. A piece of 
woollen cloth wet with benzine will permanently 
remove grease-spots from carpets, etc. 
Canning. —Canning fruit, which always seems so 
hard for some people, is very easy for me. Perhaps 
it is owing somewhat to the fact that, though I filled 
hut two cans previous to my marriage, I had won¬ 
derful good luck the first season, not losing a can. 
The only precaution necessary is to have the fruit 
well cooked and hot, and the cans sealed tight. To 
prevent their breaking in receiving the boiling fruit 
I turn a half-pint of lukewarm water into them, 
shake thoroughly, and pour out, repeating the pro¬ 
cess twice, with water each time warmer than the 
last. The rings should be turned tightly as possible, 
and, as the cans contract by cooling, should be 
watched and tightened several times. I find it a 
good plan to lay a piece of writing-paper, cut to fit 
the can, on the top of the fruit, and add two or three 
spoonfuls of juice afterward; when the mould forms, 
it will be over the paper, and can be easily removed; 
and, moreover, the fruit is not nearly so apt to be 
tainted with it. 
land. She says: “I shall never forget my own 
childish tears and sulks over my sewing. My mo¬ 
ther was a perfect fairy at her needle, and her rule 
was relentless. Every long stitch was picked out 
and done over again, and neither tears nor entreaties 
availed to rid me of my task till it was properly 
done; every corner of a hem turned by the thread; 
stitching measured by two threads to a stitch, felling 
of absolutely regular width, and patching done in¬ 
visibly ; while fine darning was a sort of embroidery. 
I hated it then, but I have lived to bless that mo¬ 
ther’s patient persistence ; and I am prouder to-day 
of the six patches in my small girl’s dress, which 
cannot be seen without searching, than of any other 
handiwork—except, perhaps, my bread .”—Scranton 
Weekly Republican. 
A Good Paste. —J. K. writes: I have charge of 
a circulating library of over seven thousand, and 
have great trouble in keeping the paper numbers on 
the backs of the cloth-backed books. (The leather 
bindings I have numbered in gold.) Bookbinder’s 
paste does only for a short time, but the labels after¬ 
wards get brittle and drop off. Can you give me 
information regarding a real good substitute for that 
purpose ? It will require to be adhesive and at the 
same time retain its elasticity. A. Four parts by 
weight of glue are allowed to soften in fifteen parts 
of cold water for some hours, and then moderately 
heated till the solution becomes quite clear. Sixty- 
five parts of boiling water are now added with stir¬ 
ring. In another vessel thirty parts of starch paste 
are stirred up with twenty parts of cold water, so 
that a thin, milky fluid is obtained without lumps. 
Into this the boiling glue solution is poured, with 
constant stirring, and the whole is kept at the boil¬ 
ing temperature. After cooling, a few drops of car¬ 
bolic acid are added to the paste, which must be kept 
in closed bottles to prevent evaporation of the water, 
and will, in this way, keep good for years. This 
paste is of extraordinarily adhesive power, and may 
be used for leather, paper, or cardboard with great 
success. 
Household Industry.— Rose Terry Cooke, in 
the current issue of Sunday Afternoon , preaches 
this little lay sermon on household industry that 
ought to make an impression upon every girl in the 
Leaves in Cookery. —An English writer, speak¬ 
ing of the culinary uses for leaves, says that one of 
the most useful and harmless of all leaves for flavor¬ 
ing is that of the common syringa. When cucum¬ 
bers are scarce these are a perfect substitute in 
salads where that flavor is desired. Again, the 
young leaves of the cucumber itself have a wonder¬ 
ful similarity in taste to that fruit. Carrot-tops may 
be used, and a prodigious waste is suffered in not 
using the external leaves and blanched footstalks of 
the celery plant. The young leaves of the goose¬ 
berry added to bottled fruit give a fresher flavor and 
a greener color to pies and tarts. The leaves of the 
flowering currant give a sort of intermediate flavor 
between black currants and red. Orange, citron, 
and lemon leaves impart a flavoring equal to that of 
the fruit and rind combined, and somewhat different 
from both. A few leaves added to pies, or boiled in 
the milk used to bake with rice, or formed into 
crusts or paste, impart an admirable “ bouquet.” 
An infusion can be made of either the green or dry 
leaves.— Moore’s Rural Life. 
