Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1879 — HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.

Painted Pails.—Avoid using pails that have been painted on the inside; they are dangerous. Water that has stood in such a vessel for a few hours is capable of poisoning all who partake of it. Bird Cages.—lt is not safe to keep birds in painted wire cages, especially in warm weather. The paint softens in the heated atmosphere, and the birds are apt to nibble it, and to become poisoned thereby. Unpainted brass cages are the best for keeping birds. House Plants.—Mix a few tablespoonfuls of charcoal with the earth in your flower-pots, and you will be surprised at the invigorating effect upon the choice and delicate plants. The color of the flowers is greatly increased in richness by the use of charcoal. To Prevent Rust.— To . preserve bright grates or fire-irons from rust, make a strong paste of fresh lime and water, and, with a fine brush, smear itas thickly as possible over all the polished surface requiring preservation. By this simple means all the grates and fire-irons in an empty house may be kept for months free from harm without further care or attention. Sunny Rooms.—Light is one of the most active agencies in enlivening and beautifying home. We all know the value of sunlight as a health-giving agent to the physical constitution, and it is not less so to our moral and spiritual nature. Take the airiest, choicest and sunniest room in the house for the living room. Dark rooms bring depression of spirits and chill the energies, but a light room is good cheer. Personal Cleanliness.—We may as certainly gauge the mortality of a country by the condition of the women and children, by the beauty or disorder of the homes, and the respect or disdain for personal cleanliness and adornment, as we may learn by the existence of railroads, or the frequency of telegraphs, where a country stands in relation to advanced civilization. Suggestions About Sewing.—Here are a few that may be useful to young seamstresses: Should you have a rent in a dress to repair use ravelings of the same material; they are easily to be obtained from the top of the skirt, if you have no pieces; but genfenilly some are left by the dressmaker, and should be kept for such accidents. In making a shirt, the sleeves should be put in before the collar is put on. The space into which the sleeves is gathered at the arm hole should be exactly the same as the length of. the waist-band round. The length of the shoulder is sometimes one-eighth yard and sometimes one-eighth and a nail, as may best fit the wearer. Your pattern will guide you to this, as also with regard to your shirtfronlj. Button holes require great skill in making. Bars of thread should be first formed around the hole and neatly overcast, just the depth Of the edge. They should be neatly overcast about three or four threads deep, broad work in them looking very coarse, and clumsy. In working button holes, take care to throw the thread forward before catching up the loop on the needle. Gather

-with strong thread, waxed with white -wax. If you can make a shirt well, you can easily manufacture all female undergarments; you will require only patterns for cutting out. Longcloth and linen should be scalded before you work on them, in order to render them soft enough for the needle to pass through easily; but should you be unable, from haste or other circumstances, to have this done, take a cake of soap, and rub it on the part you are going to sew or hem; you will find your needle will then slip along with the greatest ease, and will run no risk of breaking it Young ladies who have the care of their own linen, and perhaps have their own allowance for dress, should take a few hours on a fixed day, weekly, to look over their clothes and do any small repairs that may be wanted. They will find the truth of this wise old adage, “A stitch in time saves nine,” and will make their linen last as long again as it would otherwise do. In washing new embroidery, after it is cut out, pour boiling water upon it, let it stand from twenty minutes to half an hour, rub lightly with the hands, dry, and press on the wrong side. This takes out the stiffening so that the machine doep not cut it. To remove grease which has come off the sewing-machine from new fabrics, before washing them rub the spots thoroughly with hard soap, dip in cold water and rub again. If not removed, apply more soap and repeat the opera-, tion.