Housekeeper.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 505, 24 January 1906, Page 7

Housekeeper.

LINSEED MEAL POULTICE. SCALD a basin, put a small quantity of finely-ground linseed-meal into it, pour a little hot water on it, and stir it quickly into a thick paste; add a little more meal and a little more water and stir it again. Do not let any lumps remain in the baein. If properly made it oan be tossed like a panoake without falling to pieoes. Take as much as you require out of the basin and lay on it a piece of soft linen—let it be about a quarter of an inoh thick and sufficiently wide to cover the part inflamed. ABOUT CKIJU. If ohina is decorated with gold, it should never ba washed with soap, as it has a dulling effect, and after a time causes the gilt to rub off, Hot water does no harm; it is better soft, and, if no rain water be handy, it is an easy matter to boil it well, then reduce it to the proper temperature. The softer the drying oloth the better. Use it the moment the artioles are out of the water; to rinse in oold water is to retard the drying, besides, many cracks are due to the sudden plunge from hot to cold water. SOME USES OF KEROSENE. Many housekeepers use kerosene in washing clothes, a few tablespoonsful of oil in the boiler being a help in loosening the dirt and whitening the clothes. It is also very ussfol in oleaning the rubber rollers of the wringer and greasy galvanised ware. A rag dampened with oil is excellent for oleaning oil or gasoline stoves and the ironwork of sewing maohines. It also gives a brilliant polish to varnished furniture. If the sewing machine or kitohen olook gets sticky and gummy, oil the works well with kerosene. BURNS.

Nothing is better for burns than the white of an egg. It exoludss all air, thus easing the pain, and prevents inflammation. Several years ago one of our ohildren fell on his forehead against a very hot stove. The Bkin stuok to the stove, leaving a large, raw place, disfiguring him for life, as we supposed. ' Nothing in the house to use,' was our first thought; then an item we had read in a paper a few days before came to our mind. Thank goodness, that remedy was at hand I We quickly broke an egg and applied the white of it several times to the burn, and soon he was playing as if nothing had happened. We used the egg oooasionally for several days. The burn soon healed, leaving not the least sign of a soar. This has been used by us ever since, and we rever tire of recommending it to others. Linseed oil is the next best remedy that we know of, and one should never be without a bottle of it in the house where there are ohildren! A NURSE'S WORD TO I write to you, parents, concerning the welfare of your ohildren, But especially do I write to you, mothers, as having the greater responsibility in the bringing up of the little ones and in the moulding of their oharaoters. The message I would bring home to you, one and all, is this: Never frighten them. Do not, I beseech of you, run the risk of making idiots of them by filling their young minds with horrors. Do not attempt to frighten them into good behaviour by solemn warnings and imaginary terrors. A large proportion of mothers use these means to ooeroe their ohildren into obedienoe. They fill their infant minds with dire stories of goblin ogres, ' bogie-men, raw-head and bloodybones,' and hosts of other fiotitious and terrible oharaoters. The little ones go about expeoting to find a lurking fiend in every corner. The praotioe is not only devoid of common sense, but is absolutely injurious and dangerous. Many a child has been driven insane through intense fear.

INFLAMMATION, AND HOW TO REDUCE IT.

In inflammation, hot water will ba found generally preferably to oold, because it relieves oonstringenoy of the musoles, dissolves the formed or forming olot, and increases the flow of blood through the part. It is usually supposed that oonstringenoy and the oheok of the blood are just what are needed, because of the extra flow of blood to the part. Neither of these suppositions are oorreot. Constringency must be relieved, and there is no more blood brought to the part than usual. Swelling and pain are both caused by the obstruction of the normal flow of blood through the part; promote this flow and you oure inflammation. Everywhere and at all times pain is oaused by an -ezoessive pressure on the nerves, whioh everywhere aooompany the arteries, and this obstruction of the blood oauses the pressure. If this clodding and clogging the blood is not relieved, these olods are decomposed, and we have maturation, and unless there is sufficient vitality of the part, and foroe enough to the circulation to produce new channels for the blood by a system of anestcmosis, there will be a death and a breaking down and a maturation of the muscles and blood vessels themselves. Heat, both in inflammation and fever, is oaused by Nature's effort to remove obstructions. Therefore it is improper to speak of fever as a disease; it is only the result and symptom of disease. Open the pores of the skin by copious perspiration and yau promote the exudation of effete I matter, and do muoh to allay fever and I remove disease, By the same process in

ohronio inflammation, ague and fever, rheumatism, gout, etc., enlarge the bloodvessels and promote the passing in the oiroalation and through tbe exudating organs of noxious matter, and you oure the disease.