XXI.BLEACHING, STARCHING, AND REMOVING STAINS.
AYOUNG housekeeper writes us: “Without the least knowledge of domestic concerns, I passed from the school-room into the position of a farmer’s wife. Together with other things of which I am ignorant, I need some minute directions for starching, ironing, removing stains, etc. Any hints on these points would be very acceptable to me, and I doubt not to many others. I can now succeed very well in managing the cooking and butter-making, but am sorely tried about my washing and ironing sometimes. With cooking and butter-making, my sewing and babies, I have enough to do, and feel like evading the care or oversight of the washing and ironing, but cannot. There are so many kinds of stains,—fruit, tea, and grass stains. Then if the girl succeeds in doing the washing pretty well, she makes such work with the starching, andsmutsthe clothes so badly in ironing, that I am much troubled. Whether not particular enough in cooking or straining the starch, I don’t know.”
We judge from this letter that our friend is obliged to depend on “hired help” for her washing and ironing. We think we can show her how to succeed as well in this department as she seems to have done in cooking and butter-making; but whether she can manage to secure the observance of our directions by the girl in the laundry, is another and very doubtful question. One of the hardest of the housekeeper’s trials with the servants of the present day is their unwillingness to receive any directions or counsels about the mode of doing their work; yet they seem utterly without any capacity to plan or arrange their labor for themselves, sothat it may be performed in the best and easiest manner. They will be an hour in doing that which with a little forethought or method could have been done in one third of the time, and in no one item of household labor do they manifest their total want of system so strikingly as in the laundry; yet they will not be taught a more excellent way.
With regard to stains, which are a grief of heart to all good housekeepers, it is much surer and less troublesome to remove them when fresh; and the eye of the mistress must watch over this, or they will be left to dry, and most likely be overlooked when the washing is done.
Most, if not all,fruitstains can be taken out if stretched over a dish or pail, andboilingwater slowly poured over them. If the stains have not been allowed to dry long, this will speedily remove them. But if they have, unfortunately, been put into the wash, the soapsuds will “set” the stains, and then, when discovered, they should be dipped in “Javelle water” or “bleaching fluid.” They should remain in this but a few moments, then be well rubbed and put at once into the boiler, and, as a general thing, when the article is taken from the boiler to rinse, the stain will have disappeared. If the stains from tea or grass are fresh, “Javelle water,” or a little ammonia, will easily remove them; but in either case, if done before the regular washing, the article should be well washed and spread on the grass to bleach and dry. Stains that have been long dried, or washed and boiled in before they were noticed, are much more difficult to remove. Ink stains can be taken out of linen as follows:—
Wash the spot in salt and water as soon after the ink is on as you can, taking care that it is not put into suds before it has been well washed in the salt and water, and then sponged with lemon-juice, else the soap will instantly “set”the color, making it almost impossible ever to remove the ink.
When ink is spilled on the carpet or on woolen goods, if attended to instantly after the accident, it can be taken out entirely by sweet milk. First, wipe off carefully all that can be soaked up by a handful of cotton batting. Then have a dish of sweet milk ready, and dipping the clean cotton batting in it, wash the spot, changing the batting for a clean piece as soon as it gets black with the ink; and also get clean milk, when the first becomes discolored. Continue this till the ink no longer shows; then take a pad of hot suds and a clean cloth, and wash as far as the milk has wet; rinse with clean warm water, and rub dry with a clean cloth. We have never known this to fail.
Ink spots, paint, or grease can be removed from clothing by mixing four table-spoonfuls of spirits of hartshorn, the same quantity of alcohol, and one table-spoonful of table salt. Mix it well and apply with a sponge or brush. Wash off with clear alcohol.
To remove ink stains from colored articles, drop hot tallow on the spot; then soak and rub it with boiling milk. This will be found effectual. Of course, the tallow and milk must be afterward washed off, either with soapsuds or alcohol, else a grease spot will be left.
Your oil-cloth should never be scrubbed with a brush, and on no account use soapsuds or hot water. It has a bad effect on the paint, and the cloth will not last as long. After sweeping, wash with soft flannel and lukewarm or cold water. Let the oil-cloth get thoroughly dry; then prepare a small bit of bees-wax, softened with a little turpentine, and rub the cloth well with this preparation, using for that purpose a soft furniture polishing-brush. This need not be done every week, but whenever the oil-cloth grows dingy. Cared for in this way, it will last twice as long aswith the ordinary scrubbing, and always look fresh and new.
A less troublesome way, but not quite so effective, is to wash the oil-cloth, after sweeping and washing with flannel and warm water, with sweet skim-milk, and then rub very dry with a clean dry cloth. Wipe straight one way of the cloth, not round and round, as that will give a cloudy, unpleasant look to the cloth.
When clothes have become yellow or of a bad color from poor washing or from lying unused some time, it is well to take them, after boiling, from the first suds and spread on the grass to bleach, while another boilerful is being washed. When the second is put on to boil, take up those that have been bleaching on the grass and rinse faithfully through two generous rinsing waters; the last water to be blued. Then pass through the wringer, starching such as need it in hot starch, unless you prefer to wait till you fold them, and hang up to dry. Then take the second lot from the boiler, and leave on the grass to bleach, while you get the coarser articles washed and on to boil. This done, take up the second, rinse and hang out, and so on till all the white clothes are on the line.
Most servants object to the bleaching, and they wash all the white clothes and leave them wrung out in piles in the baskets till all are washed, before they hang up anything. This is poor work. The clothes become yellow and streaked by lying in coils as they come from the wringer, and under such management it is impossible to make them look clear and white. The sooner they are on the line after passing through the last rinsing, the clearer the clothes will be, and if well snapped as they are hung up, and pulled straight and evenly on the line, one finds compensation for the little extra trouble—and it is very little—in the greater ease with which they can be folded and ironed.
It is well to bleach clothes while washing, all through the pleasant weeks of spring, summer, and fall, as it can be so much better done than in winter. One hour on the clean grass before rinsing is long enough. It is not well to leave clothes out overnight when it can be helped, as they are liable to be trampled over by cats and dogs during the night, or be spotted by the drip of the dew or fogs from the trees or vines.
Forblueingthere is nothing better than the “Nuremberg Ultramarine Blue,” which comes in pretty little balls about the size of a small cherry, at from fifty to seventy-five cents a box. One box with care, in a medium-sized family, will last several months. The balls must be tied into a blueing-bag, and used like common blueing.
A large fire-proof earthen saucepan or one of the yellow-ware pipkins is better than tin or iron to make starch in; but if these are not to be found, a tin kettle will do very well, if kept bright and clean, and never used for any other purpose. When cooking it should be carefully attended to, and then there is no danger of its scorching.
Two even teaspoonfuls of starch for each shirt, a salt-spoonful of salt, a piece of sperm or white wax as large as a pea, or, if these are not to be had, that much lard or butter, is a good rule. Use enough cold water to wet the starch, so that it can be stirred free from lumps and beaten perfectly smooth, then pour on boiling water. It is not easy to give the quantity of water to this amount of starch, as the tastes vary in regard to the stiffness of collars and bosoms. The starch must be stirred often, and boil slowly from fifteen to twenty minutes. Skim and strain while hot into a large wooden bowl or earthen dish; keep a bag for straining starch, which should never be used for anything else; but it is safe to keep close watch, or towels, napkins, etc., will be used for this purpose instead of the bag. It is not long since we foundone recommended as asplendidlaundress straining starch through ashirt-sleeve, which was tied about the wrist with a fine handkerchief. A good starch-bag was hanging not six feet off. “Never mind, my lady, I’ll wash it all out.”
If you prefer to starch after the clothes are dried, wet the bosoms, collars, and wristbands in hot water, wring very dry, and starch while the cloth is yet warm. Rub the starch in faithfully, wring in a dry towel to remove all starch that may adhere to the outside, spread the garments out evenly, rub with a dry cloth, roll up tightly, and let them remain two or three hours before ironing.
In cold weather it is safe to dampen and fold clothes at night, and then it is desirable to have the starched clothes ironed first. In warm weather starched clothes should never be dampened or folded till morning, as there is danger of the starch becoming sour and mildewing; and unless there is a cool, airy room to leave them in, it is not safe to sprinkle and fold anything, for they may mildew in a warm room in a night.
If any article needs mending, it is well to do it before ironing. When ironed, fold and press each article neatly, and hang evenly on the clothes-bars, leaving them there till perfectly dry. Fold shirts so that the bosoms will not be bent in the drawer. Collars should be kept in round boxes. Ladies’ undergarments should be folded so as to bring the sleeves and necks outside. It is no more trouble, and it certainly is pleasant to have a drawer look neat and attractive when one opens it. It is what a good old grandmother used to callsort o’ restful to look at. Skirts should be made not much stiffer than new cotton. The noise of a very stiff skirt when one is walking is not the pleasantest music. They should be either hung up in a deep wardrobe or folded together lightly and laid on a broad shelf.