Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1893 — AROUND THE HOUSE. [ARTICLE]

AROUND THE HOUSE.

To Get Rid of Rats and Mich. —The best way to get rid of rats and mice is not to poison them, but to make them thoroughly tired of the locality and so induce them to leave. They are generally too smart to eat poison, even wnen it is prepared for their benefit in the most seductive fashion, but they are not so particular about tartar emetic. When a little of this is mixed with any favorite food they will eat as greedily as though the physic were not there, but in two or three hours there will be the most discouraged lot of rats about the place that anybody ever saw. The tartar will not kill them, it qnly makes them deadly sick. If you pnt your car to their holes you can hear them trying to vomit; sometimes they will crawl out and walk about like a seasick man, so ill that they do not seem to care what becomes oi them. But it disgusts them with the whole vicinity, nnd as soon as they are able to travel they march off and you sec them no more. How to Cake Fon Pictures. —ln cleaning house one of the principal cares should De the pictures. It is too often overlooked or left to the care of the servants, when the mistress should give it her personal attention. Each picture as it is taken down should be carefully dusted and the cord or wire wiped. Then lay it on a table, wash the glass and polish it until It is perfectly cleaT. Wipe the fromo with a soft cloth wet in warm water and rub off all flyspocks and other dirt. If the picture is framed with a glass, paste paper smoothly all over tho back to keep dust from sifting through Hie cracks. Frames of polished wodd, oak,: walnut, or in fact anything but gilt, will be greatly improved by rubbing them with a solution three parts linseed oil and one part turpentine. Apply with a woolen cloth and rub with a dry woolen cloth until perfectly dry. Bofoce hanging the pictures fasten a large clean cloth over the brush end of the broom, and wipe the walls all over. If the walls ore papered, and the paper is torn, or defaced, cover such places with scraps of the paper, matching If possible, to the figures. If you have no pieces of the paper, a Japanese scroll or a cheap placque, or even a bunch of dry grasses tied with a nioe bow of ribbon, will cover the place and add beauty to the room. Ono lady covered pieces of paste board with colored satin and fastened the bunches of grass to them and they were very ornamontal. Pictures should never be hung too high. You often see a choice little painting hung so high that you would have to mount a choir to see what the subject is. Always hang thorn so that they can be easily seen by a person of medium height. It is considered to be in better taste to use two nails instead of ono, it gives a more symmetrical effect, and indeed, it is worth considering as a matter of safety. Be very careful to haDg pictures in the proper light. If they are to be seen in a strong light do not put them in an obscure corner, and if painted in bright colors, do not plaoe wnere the sunshine will fall on them.