Motherly talks with young housekeepers: embracing eighty-seven brief articles on topics of home interest, and about five hundred choice receipts for cooking, etc.Beecher, H. W., Mrs.
General
Motherly talks with young housekeepers: embracing eighty-seven brief articles on topics of home interest, and about five hundred choice receipts for cooking, etc.
Beecher, H. W., Mrs.
Cooking; Home economics
The hair-brush should be combed free from hair or dandruff every time
it is used, and laid by an open window till well aired and dried, if
ladies will persist in wetting the hair or brush. A brisk movement of a
dry brush through the hair will soon create a fine lustre on the hair,
whereas wetting diminishes the gloss so beautiful in well-kept hair;
but we forget that that is an old-fashioned idea. The progress of art
and elegance teaches that a wilderness of fuzzy, frizzled hair is now
the crowning beauty. Tastes differ, but no change in style or fashion
will object, we hope, to a clean, sweet brush; and to secure that it
must once a week, at least, be well washed in warm soapsuds, in which
a little soda has been dissolved. Soda is better than ammonia, as it
cleanses without stimulating the _vegetable growth_ spoken of in the
“Bazar,” to which we just referred. Comb the brush while washing, that
the suds may penetrate to the roots of the bristles, and cleanse every
part; then rinse in warm water, rub dry as you can, and put in the
window, or by the fire if the weather is damp, to dry. This care should
not be neglected by any one who makes any pretension to neatness.
The bureau drawers in this room are not in good order. You will lose
much time, and we think a good deal of self-respect, when next you need
a handkerchief or stockings, for everything here seems to have been
stirred up by a whirl-wind or a sleep-walker. It will require some
skill and more patience than you can spare to separate this wretched
tangle.
The pipes in the wash-basin and bath-room are slimy and foul,
indicative of neglect. They should be well washed every morning, and
once a week a pail of boiling suds, with a spoonful or two of soda or
potash, must be poured in, to eat away all impurities, and sweeten the
pipes. In passing, let us say this care is more especially necessary in
the kitchen sinks. They require a stronger suds, and more soda or lye,
and more attention, to eat out all the grease that will accumulate in
washing dishes.
The discoloration around the bell-pull, door-knobs, etc., shows that
a careless girl has not protected the wall or paint while cleaning
them, and the mistress has not kept her eyes open. A bit of oil-cloth,
with a hole in the center, to slip over the knobs or bell-pulls while
rubbing, would have saved this defacement of paint and paper. And the
finger-marks on the doors also tell a sad story of neglect. They need
to be washed off once a week--twice, if little fingers are about--with
a soft flannel, wrung out of hot suds.
In the sitting-room, the mantel over the grate has not been washed
every morning when the fire is lighted in the grate. It should be. See!
the gas and smoke from coal or kindlings have turned the white marble
quite yellow. Wash it in hot suds, strong with ammonia, to remove the
spots, and then use a clean brush and hot suds every morning, and you
will save much time, and be well rewarded with an unspotted mantel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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