Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — AROUND THE HOUSE. [ARTICLE]

AROUND THE HOUSE.

There is nothing which proves such an economizer of strength and time in the cleaning of windows as the use of alcohol instead of water. It cleanses with magic rapidity, and is not an extravagant substitute as a prudent person is able to wash a greal many windows with a small bottle of alcohol. , Ammonia is one of the most useful drugs in the household. It is most effective as an agent in dissolving dirt and grease. In cleaning of any kind it should be used in about the proportion of a tablcspoonful to a quart of water. It makes the water softer than rain water, and it is especially refreshing in the bath. Nothing will clean lamps, lamp chimneys, looking glasses and window panes like ammonia. In using it on colored cloth, first test it on a sample to see that it does not spot. When a stain is produced by lemon juice or any other acid, nothing is so effectual as ammonia in neutralizing and thus removing it. A few drops to a pint of water sprinkled on the roots of house plants will produce an abundant growth. Stains on marble can be removed by rubbing them well with a tooth brush dipped in powdered chalk and ammonia. The steam radiator pipes are now a feature of many winter houses, and with their garish gilding are a blot of ugliness in a handsome parlor. One of the best ways of concealing these pipes, without reducing their usefulness, is to place a pretty ornamental screen around them, leaving plenty of room on all sides, to allow the heat to radiate through the room. Some clever women arrange a series of shelves or a single shelf to project just over the radiator, from the bottom of which they hang; curtains of soft Oriental silks. There is a suggestion in this drapery, however, quite similar to the piano legs in petticoats, and the ornamental screen seems to be a far more sensible and artistic way of "dealing with this problem in decoration. Beautiful Japanese screens may now be had at a very low price in the city shops, for fashionable people have lately turned their attention to rococo French screens, gilded and hung with brocade, and to the massive ones which come from Vienna, for dining-rooms and libraries, and are covered with gilded and painted leather in renaissance designs. D