Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1893 — Linen in Winter. [ARTICLE]

Linen in Winter.

It is a great mistake to allow linen to fieeze on the line in winter. Even at some sacrifice in purity of color linen goods should be dried in the house. This is the advice given by all dealers in linens who understand the subject. The reason is a simple one: When the goods are frozen the liber is strained to some extent, and every fold or crease in the linen strains it still more, and in a short time cracks appear where there wero folds. No linen is proof against this strain. The host way of washing large pieces of linen, like lablecloths, is to soap the soiled places after first removing all stains that you believe will not come out with washing. Different stains require to bo treated differently, and every housekeeper has her own rules. The majority of stains that will not wash out should be treated before the cloth is wet. Alter wic stained places are attended to. and special places are soaped, pu* the cloths to soak over night in cold water. In the morning wring them out into warm water, rub them on the rubbing-hoard, and put them into a boiler of cold water, in which a teaspoonful of kerosene is dissolved to every gallon of water. Let the cloths boil; remove them irom the lire as soon as they boil up well, and put them into clear, cold water. Ilinse them from this water into another, and then Into a third, and, if the clothes are to he blued, put them finally through a bluing water. No table linen should be blued every time it is washed. If the cloths are blued for two weeks and bluing is omitted for two weeks, each set of cloths used alternate weeks is blue once a month, or every alternate time it is washed. By this means soiled spots and stains cannot be covered up by bluing, as they frequently are by careless laundresses. The best bluing is old-fashioned indigo. This may still be purchased at large drug stores, but is seldom sold at groceries. There is one kind of bluing against which every one should be warned. This is Prussian blue, though it is never or seldom st Id by that name. It is a compound of iron, and will, in process of time, produce iron rust spots. Test the bluing you use by making a solution of a little in water and add a piece of washing soda to it. If it turns a dull reddish color it is Prussian blue, and must not be used. —New York Tribune.