A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; Or, Margaret's Saturday MorningsBenton, Caroline French
General
A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl; Or, Margaret's Saturday Mornings
Benton, Caroline French
Home economics -- Juvenile literature
"Not at all," said her aunt; "it is good for it! Get the nice white
cloth and a cake of soap,--not the sapolio, because that would scratch
it,--and roll up your sleeves. Kneel down by the tub, put in the
stopper, and draw a little warm water; wring out your cloth in it, rub
it well on the soap, and scrub off the greasy mark first, and afterward
wash the tub all over; rinse out your cloth, let out the water, and
wash the tub again and wipe it dry. Sometimes, perhaps twice a week, put
a little ammonia in the first water so that the tub will have an extra
cleaning. If ever you have a really dirty tub to scrub, take gasoline on
a flannel cloth and wash with that, and it will be like new; but tubs
which are washed out every day never need gasoline.
"If you have a tub lined with zinc remember that needs even more care
than a white one, if it is to be kept shining bright. You can scrub it
out with gasoline if it seems greasy, then with vinegar, if it is dark,
then with metal polish, and so on; zinc tubs are really difficult to
care for. A better way is to paint it all over with two coats of white
paint and when it is dry enamel it. It costs only a dollar to do it, and
it does save so much work; besides, a white tub always looks best of
all. Now we will do the wash-stand."
They took off the soap-dish and tooth-brush mug and bottles of tooth
powder, because, as the aunt explained, one must always wipe under
things, not around them. The marble slab and bowl were scrubbed and
dried, and the mugs and soap-dish washed, wiped, and replaced. After
this they cleaned the closet by pulling the handle and letting the water
run while they put in the long-handled brush of twigs and brushed out
every inch of china, even down into the pipe as far as possible.
Margaret was told that when she used ammonia in the tub she must put
some in the closet, too, and once or twice a week a little disinfectant
must be poured down to keep the pipe perfectly clean. The woodwork was
wiped off with a cloth kept for that purpose, and then they turned to
the polishing of the faucets and pipes.
This was hard, but as Margaret and her aunt both worked it made it
easier. They put some polishing paste on a flannel and rubbed and rubbed
till they could see the metal shining through the paste; then they wiped
it off with a dry cloth. "If this was all rubbed a little every single
day," said the aunt, "it would never be such hard work. I should say
that this nickel had been just a little bit neglected lately, but see
how bright we have made it! Now for the oilcloth on the floor."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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