Household Hints.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXI, Issue 1063, 21 December 1894, Page 3

Household Hints.

. — « Butter and eggs for. cakes should always be beaten to a cream. Set a dish of water in the oven with | cakes when baking, and they will ! seldom scorch. A gloss can be put on glass by rubbing it quickly with newspaper ; dry or wet whiting will give it a brilliant polish. Lard, if applied Bt once, will remove discoloration after a bruise. To apply a mustard plaster so as not to blister the skin, mix the mustard with the white of an egg instead of water. The plaster will draw thoroughly without blistering the most ' delicate skin. j When the nose threatens to bleed i excessively, it can sometimes be stopped ! by putting the feet into hot water, or ! by a y Paying a mustard plaster between i the shoulders. I If flat irons are rough and smoky lay a little fine salt" pa a flat surface, and rub them well. .It will smooth them and prevent sticking. For convenience in cleaning lamp chimneys, nothing is better than a small sponge attached to the end of a stick. A very good cetntmt to fasten on lamp tops is melted alum ; use as soon as melted* and the lamp will be ready for use as soon as the cement is cold. The juice of a lemon will whiten frosting, strawberry juice will color it pink) and the grated rind of an orange, strained through a cloth, will color it yellow. The white of an egg beaten to a stifi froth and whipped up with the juice of a lemon relieves hoarseness at once; taken by th6 r feaspoo&£ul half-hourly.

,' • . • ; ' :•->■.••; 1 .Finger marks may be removed from* varnished furniture by the use of a* little sweet oil upon a soft raw. Kid shoes can be kept soft and free from cracks by rubbing them once a week with pure* glycerine or caster oil. To remove paint from windows take strong bicarbonate of soda, and dissolve it in hot water. Wash the glass, and in twenty minutes or half-an-hour rub thoroughly with a dry , cloth. . 1 Lemon will do for the yellow white sailor straw hat what shoe polish does for the worn black onr. Remove the ribbon band, and with a slice of lemon ; clean the straw thoroughly. ! Always buy soap months in advance, i as it will harden and go almost twice as far. • The labor of boot cleaning may be > greatly decrersed hy the aid of a little • glycerine. Brush the boot free .from dust, then rub the glycerine well into i the. leather with a sponge or cloth, then [ let them nearly dry and brush them with a soft brush. If the boots have 1 been blacked it will give them an excel- : lent polish, if not it well give them the ' appeal an ce of being new. They will • be found to keep their polished state for at least three or four days by simply I brushing them occasionally. It not only keeps them a good color, but I makes them soft and comfortable. No blacking is reqired. Boracic acid, or boric acid, is one of 1 the most useful preparations a household can use. It is prepared from borax, which is a biborate of soda. The ointment of boracic acid consists of one. part of acid made up with six parts of lanolin. Boric acid itself is a remarkably powerful antiseptic ', and two parts of the acid will keep 1,000 parts of milk sweet for three days. A small pinch in a pint of milk will keep it sweet for a long time, even in very hot weather. Boric acid finely powdered is a good dusting powder for infants ; applied to the feet in warm weather after washing, by dusting it into the stockings it corrects disagreeable perspi ration and chafing.