Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1881 — USEFUL HINTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HINTS.

Cotton wool wet with sweet oil and laudanum relieve the ear-ache very soon. Linseed oil is the best substance to coat eggs with for the purpose of preserving them and preventing the evaporation of their watery elements. When washing fine laces, do not use starch at all; in the last water in which they are rinsed put a little fine white sugar, dissolve it thoroughly, and the result will be pleasing. N<? housekeeper should put quicksilver on her bedsteads. The mineral is absorbed by those sleeping upon them, causing paralysis and many other serious and fatal diseases. You can get a bottle or a barrel of oil off of any carpet or woolen stuff by applying dry buckwheat plentifully and faithfully. Never put water or liquid of any kind to such a grease-spot. To obtain a glossy skin : Pour up-on a pint of bran sufficient boiling water to cover it. Let it stand until cold and then bathe the face with it, only patting the skin with a soft towel to dry it. To take iron stains out of marble. An equal quantity of spirits of vitriol and lemon juioe being mixed in a bottle, shake well, wet the spots and in a few minutes rub with soft linen till they disappear. Cheap paint: Three hundred parts washed and sieved white sand, forty parts of precipitated chalk, fifty parts of rosin and four parts of linseed oil are mixed and boiled in an iron kettle and then one part of oxide of copper and one part of sulphuric acid are added. This mass is applied with an ordinary paint brush while warm. If it is too thick, it is diluted with linseed oil. This paint dries very rapidly and gets verv hard, but protects woodwork excellently. To bleach cloth : Into eight quarts of warm water put one pound of chloride of lime ; stir with a stick a few minutes, then strain through a bag of coarse muslin, working it with the hand to dissolve thoroughly. Add to this five bucketfuls of warm water, stir it well and put in the muslin. Let it remain in one hour, turning it constantly that every part may get thoroughly bleached. When taken out, wash well in two waters to remove the lime, rinse and dry. This quantity will bleach twen-ty-five yards of yard-wide muslin. The muslin will bleach evenly and quickly if it has been thoroughly wet and dried before bleaching.

One of the things “not generally known,” at least in this country, is the Parisian method of cleaning black silk; the modus operandi is very simple, and the result infinitely superior to that achieved in any other manner. The silk must be thoroughly brushed and wiped with a cloth, then laid flat on a board or table and well sponged with hot coffee, thoroughly freed from sediment by being strained through muslin. The silk is sponged on the side intended to show, it is allowed to become partially dry, then iron on the wrong side. The coffee removes every particle of grease and restores the brilliancy of the silk without imparting to it either the shiny appearance or the erackly and papery stiffness obtained by beer, or, indeed, any other liquid. The silk really appears thickened by the process, and this good effect is permanent. Our readers who will experiment on an apron or cravat will never again try any other method.