Little things about the House

Southern Cross, Volume 19, Issue 24, 23 September 1911, Page 2

Little things about the House

Silk should never be ironed on the right side, as it will be shiny where the iron has touched it. # * * If vinegar is added to the water in .which green vegetables are soaked previous to boiling, every insect will be driven to the surface, and can be easily washed away. * * * Mirrors should be washed and dried and then rubbed over with spirits of wine, and highly polished with tissue papers * * * A brush dipped in paraffin will arrest w 7 ormholes in furniture, and the holes should be filled up with paraffin wax. * * •)fr Methylated, spirits will cleanr spectacles and make them beautifully clear. Rub them with a clean cloth dipped in the spirit, dry them, then polish with a clean chamois leather.- •* * * To fill cracks in walls mix plaster of Paris with vinegar instead of wa-' ter : it will not set for about 15 minutes, and can be nicely smoothed over before it is hard. * * * Leather which has become shabby and stained, masy be improved by rubbing it with equal parts of boiled linseed oil, and vinegar, using the mixture sparingly. Afterwards the leather should be polished with an old silk handkerchiefs # •* J * A little orris root tied in a muslin bag and placed in the water in which handkerchiefs are boiled, will give them a faint and delicious scent of violets when ironed. * * * When starched clothes are wanted in a hurry, a tablsespoonful of borax should be added to the starch before pouring on the boiling water. This will save the necessity of drying them first. They will iron nice and stiff, and have a good polish ; also the iron will not stick to the cloth«Sij * * # It is not generally known that cream of tartar will whiten clothes which have become yellow. After the clothes have been washed,, allow them to steep all night in water to which cream of tartar has been mixed in the proportion of ong teaspoonful to a quart of water.