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
In _dusting_, a soft but not too fine cloth should be first used. At
almost all dry-goods stores cloths are to be had with soft, tufted nap,
especially adapted for dusters; but an old towel may be kept for that
purpose, and answers very well if you cannot obtain these. Gently wipe
_up_ with the dusting-cloth whatever ashes or dust may have settled
over the mantel or furniture, but do not wipe it _off_ on to the floor
to settle again into the carpet or furniture in the room,--that would
be spending time for naught,--and as you proceed take it up into the
dust-cloth, and every little while shake it out of the window or door.
In this way go over everything _once_, that the greatest part of
the dust may be disposed of, being particular to wipe in and around
moldings, carvings, and cornices, where dust seems more inclined to
rest than on the plainer surfaces. This finished, go over all again
with an old silk handkerchief or chamois-skin, rubbing hard enough to
remove spots or finger-marks, and bring a nice clean polish on the
furniture or ornaments in the room. If you have pictures hung round the
walls, a long-handled feather-brush is quite necessary, especially if
the room is high studded, as city rooms generally are at the present
day. You cannot spare the time every morning to bring in a step-ladder
in order to dust the tops of the picture-frames or the casings and
moldings over and around doors and windows; but if left some days
untouched, the moths will soon find it out and take up their abode in
such desirable quarters. The long feather-brush will easily remove most
of the light dirt that settles in such high places, but do not use it
with a sharp, quick flourish, as whatever dust lodges so high cannot
be taken _up_ with the coarse dusting-cloth, and must, of course, if
disturbed, fall to the floor, but if brushed off rashly, will fly over
everything. For this reason the tops of pictures and doors should be
dusted first, that there may be an opportunity to remove whatever
settles unavoidably when going over other parts of the room.
Every three or four weeks the tall step-ladder is needed, and then all
these places which cannot be reached otherwise must be well cleaned
and rubbed, and the casings of windows and doors wiped clean with a
wet cloth. This work, when done, must always be _after_ the regular
sweeping-days.
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