Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1909 — Household Helps. [ARTICLE]

Household Helps.

Don’t put clothes around the fire to dry, and then go to bed and leave them. A spark may easily fly but of the fire and set them alight. Never leave a wood fire unguarded. Always put a metal screen or something of that sort in front of it to prevent the sparks flying. Don’t try to make a fire in the open grate draw by holding a newspaper up in front of it. If it doesn’t set fire to the mantelpiece hangings or to your own clothes, it may fly blazing up the chimney and set that alight. If you use a gas stove never leave it with anything that might boll over cooking upon it. It is quite possible for soup or milk boiling over to put out the gas flame, and the escaping gas will gradually fill up the room. And then as soon as somebody comes in with a light —bang! Table linen should be hemmed by hand. Not only does it look better and more dainty, but there is never a strbak of dirt under the edge after being laundered, as with machine sewing. The doors and windows of a kitchen should be so arranged that there will be a current of ah :o carry oft the unavoidable odor of cooking. The walls should never be papered. Paper absorbs impurities, and therefore be comes unwholesome. Have the walls painted, so that by frequent washing they can be kept sweet and clean, a condition Impossible with paper.