IRONING AND POLISHING

Dampen the clothes the night before ironing, being careful to sprinkle them evenly. A perforated sprinkler (made like a pepper-box, only large enough to hold half a pint of water, with larger perforations and a handle), or wisp-broom, will sprinkle them more equally than with the hand. If the table is sprinkled with water the ironing sheet will not slip. A good ironing sheet has woolen next the table and cotton on top of that. An ironing board and bosom board is very necessary, if one wants to make a successful ironer, one for skirts and one for shirt- bosoms.

Before commencing to iron, be sure the clothes are wet through, give them a good straightening out and commence to iron. Have the irons well cleaned, a piece of sand-paper is good to occasionally rub them lipon. If rusty, beeswax and salt will make them clean and smooth as glass. Tie a lump of beeswax in a cloth and keep it for that purpose.

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When the irons are hot, rub them first with the wax cloth, then scour with a paper or cloth sprinkled with salt.

The polishing iron must be used quickly and lightly. A nickel-plated one is best, and care should be taken never to let it become too hot.

For ironing, two bosom boards are required, one with several thick- nesses of cloth to iron the bosom on, and the other must be a hardwood board, planed and sand-papered as smooth as possible to polish on. You can use this without any cloth on, but it is better to have one thick- ness of cotton-cloth stretched tightly over it. Iron the body and sleeves of the shirt first, then put the bosom in shape, wring a clean cloth out of hot water and rub the bosom well with it to remove any starch that has not been rubbed in, then iron quickly with a hot smoothing iron ; lift the plaits with a case knife and iron over again ; do not iron per- fectly dry and stiff, and do not attempt to put on a polish with the smoothing iron, but quickly take out the bosom board and insert the polishing board, wring the cloth quite dry out of the hot water and rub over the bosom ; then polish with the round point of the polishing iron (which must be hot enough to scorch if you set it down flat, but of course you must not do that). You must rub backwards and forwards with the point of the iron, a small place at a time, and one will soon get so they can do up a shirt very nicely, but do not rub too hard or else you will raise blisters, and that will spoil the appearance of the shirt. The oftener you rub the bosom over with the damp cloth and polish again the better it looks. After polishing hang in the sun or near the stove to dry.

Or this : When ready to iron wet the linen in thin cold starch and roll up for a little while ; then unfold and rub the linen with a wet cloth to clear it of any bits of starch on the surface. Do not have the linen very damp, as the iron is more apt to stick. Iron on an ironing-board, first going over the linen with a common iron, then take the bosom- board to polish on. This board should be of hard wood, covered with two thicknesses of cotton cloth. Dissolve one teaspoonful of white gum arable in half a cup of water — it must be free from color and sediment ; if too thick it will stick. A polishing iron is indispensable. Wet a little piece of old linen with the gum water — not dripping wet — and rub quickly over a part of the linen and pass the polishing iron directly over it, so that it will not blister ; then take the round end of the iron and polish with all your muscles. Continue to wet with arable and polish over and over again until satisfied with the work. Set the bosom board to dry after ironing each bosom. Bosoms starched in this way will not break. The polishing-iron must be as hot as it can be and not scorch. Wash the irons after using, and polish them with fine bath brick dust on brown paper, and wax them with white wax while using. Sand- paper is the best polisher for smoothing-irons. It removes all rough- ness and starch.

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If linen is slightly scorched in ironing, laying it in the sun awhile will take out the discolored spots. If badly scorched, peel and slice two onions ; extract the juice by pounding and squeezing ; cut up half an ounce of fine white soap and add to the juice ; two ounces of fuller's earth and half a pint of vinegar ; boil all together ; when cool spread over the scorched linen and let it dry on it ; then wash and boil out the linen and the spots will disappear, unless burned so badly as to break the threads.

Do not iron a red tablecloth at all ; wash it carefully in warm suds (not hot), rinse well, and when ready to hang on the line take great pains to pull it so that it will keep the proper shape. It will retain its color much longer than if ironed.

Never iron a calico dress on the right side ; if ironed smoothly on the wrong side there will be no danger of white spots and gloss, which give a new dress " done up " for the first time, the appearance of a time-worn garment.

But remember that the principal part of glossing lies in the manner of ironing and kind of irons used. Round-heeled irons give the best pol- ish, and the hotter the better. Invert irons, as the heel must be used, otherwise there will be no more than a high domestic polish. Covering for bosom board should be, first one thickness of cloth, then a doubled piece of common muslin, each drawn as tightly as possible, which will give an even and hard surface. Iron collars and cuffs on wrong side ; turn and with wet rag very slightly dampen : with heel of hot iron give sharp, quick rubs across narrow part to even starch ; then, if iron is round-heeled, rub straight from end to end ; if iron is flat-heeled, give the heel of iron a twisting motion; dampen slightly as required to heighten gloss.

WASHING FINE THINGS,

Eor Ordinary Muslin Collars and cuffs, tuckers, dress handker- chiefs, gentlemen's white neckties, and other things which are not much soiled, proceed as follows : Put them in soak over night ; in the morn- ing wash them well with hot soap and water, rinse in cold water, slightly blued, dry them and dip once more in cold water, wringing them well. This makes them clear yet stiff. Fold them evenly, put them in a towel and iron them. Babies' dresses, etc., which are more soiled, can be treated much in the same way, with the addition of a Uttle borax in the water to loosen the dirt, and they must be boiled afterwards.

Lace and Muslin Caps and other articles which are much worn sometimes become very dirty. In this case they should be put in a basin with shredded .soap, and well covered with water and allowed to stand from twenty to thirty minutes in a moderate oven. A plate should be laid ov^er the basin to keep in the steam. After this, they will require a great deal of rinsing to get rid of the dirt, and sometimes it may be

WASHING FINE THINGS. 235

necessary to put them in a pan full of cold water, and leave it on the fire till the water simmers.

Muslin Curtains should be first soaked in cold water. In washing it is belter to squeeze them with the hand rather than to rub them ; they should be rinsed in blue water, starched and dried. Many people pin them out carefully on a sheet stretched on the floor, and do not iron them ; or they may be stretched out on a frame.

For Making Thin Muslin Clear, it will be found an excellent plan to beat up to a froth the lather in which it is to be washed, merely squeezing and pressing it with the hand, and not rubbing it ; then, when quite dry, having passed it through the starch, mixed with gum arable water, dry it once more ; dip it into clear water, and clap it well with 1 he hands to clear it until it is dry. If this be carefully done, the mus- lin will look equal to new, the gum arable giving it a bright, clear appearance.

To Prepare Gum Water for mixing with starch, pour one pint of boiling water on two ounces of gum arable, cover it, and let it stand twelve hours ; pour it from the dregs and bottle for use. This will be found useful for sprinkling washing dresses which have to be ironed only in course of wearing, and not washed.

When muslin dresses are trimmed with plaitings, a piece of flannel is laid between the skirt and the flounce, so that they do not stick together in ironing.

Shawls attd Large Pieces must be pinned out straight and square on a sheet. This must be carefully done, and each strand of the fringe should be passed through the hand, straightened and pulled out care- fully. If they are required slightly stiffened, dip them in one pint and a half of warm water in which one tablespoonful of gum arable has been dissolved ; but they should not be made too stiff. Scarfs and other small articles in Shetland wool may be dried by holding before the fire, pulling and shaking them out all the time.

To Wash White Merino, alpaca, etc., if soap is used, the ordinary plan above described for ordinaiy woolen goods is pursued. The quicker the operation is carried out the less danger will there be of the stuff becoming yellow. Bran is often used for this class of goods instead of soap, a lather being made of one pound of bran, tied up in muslin, boiled in two gallons of water, blue being added to the rinsing water. Another plan is to grate three large potatoes in one pint of water, and let it stand some hours ; then pour off the clear liquid and sponge the material well with it, subsequently dipping it in fresh water. When these white materials are ironed, and not mangled, it must always be with muslin between, and they should be rolled in a cloth.

With Regard to Woolen Things, the chief difference in the mode of washing is that no blue is employed, and it is more than ever impera-

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tive that no soap be rubbed on them. They must be carefully dried in the shade ; very delicate colors in the dark. The chief cause of colors running is that the things are allowed to lie about damp, and are not dried quickly enough. The usual method of setting colors is to put a handful of salt in the tub of rinsing water, or a tablespoonful of ox-gall stirred in the lather, or a tablespoonful of vinegar in the rinsing water will have the same effect. White and colored flannels must on nO' account be washed together. Woolen dresses, and also curtains, must be taken from the gathers before washing,