American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian HomesStowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian Homes
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Home economics
The inside of lamps and oil-cans should be cleansed with soda dissolved
in water. Be careful to drain them well, and not to let any gilding
or bronze be injured by the soda coming in contact with it. Put one
table-spoonful of soda to one quart of water. Take the lamp to pieces
and clean it as often as necessary. Wipe the chimney at least once a
day, and wash it whenever mere wiping fails to cleanse it. Some persons,
owing to the dirty state of their chimneys, lose half the light which
is produced. Keep dry fingers in trimming lamps. Renew the wicks before
they get too short. They should never be allowed to burn shorter than
an inch and a half.
In regard to _shades_, which are always well to use, on lamps or
gas, those made of glass or porcelain are now so cheap that we can
recommend them as the best without any reservation. Plain shades,
making the light soft and even, do not injure the eyes. Lamps should
be lighted with a strip of folded or rolled paper, of which a quantity
should be kept on the mantelpiece. Weak eyes should always be especially
shaded from the lights. Small screens, made for the purpose, should
be kept at hand. A person with weak eyes can use them safely much
longer when they are protected from the glare of the light. Fill the
entry-lamp every day, and cleanse and fill night-lanterns twice a week,
if used often. A good night-lamp is made with a small one-wicked lamp
and a roll of tin to set over it. Have some holes made in the bottom
of this cover, and it can then be used to heat articles. Very cheap
floating tapers can he bought to burn in a teacup of oil through the
night.
TO MAKE CANDLES.
The nicest candles are those run in moulds. For this purpose, melt
together one quarter of a pound of white wax, one quarter of an ounce
of camphor, two ounces of alum, and ten ounces of suet or mutton-tallow.
Soak the wicks in lime-water and saltpetre, and when dry, fix them in
the moulds and pour in the melted tallow. Let them remain one night
to cool; then warm them a little to loosen them, draw them out, and
when they are hard, put them in a box in a dry and cool place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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