The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
Mirrors should not be wet. Fly-specks and finger-marks can be removed
with a damp cloth or alcohol, and the mirror polished with whiting and
chamois.
Pictures, also, should not be wet. The frames and backs may be brushed
and wiped, and the glass cleaned with a damp cloth or with a little
alcohol.
_Brass._--Brasses, such as andirons, lamps, jardinières, candlesticks,
sconces and the like must be divided into two classes for cleaning.
Those things which are lacquered must only be washed and then polished
with flannel or chamois. Any sort of cleaning other than this will
soon remove the lacquer entirely. Unlacquered brass may be polished as
energetically and severely as any substance in the house.
Wood ashes are a good brass polish, especially pine ashes.
The bath-brick with which people clean knives will also clean brass.
An old coloured woman, who lived with me once, polished the andirons
with salt and vinegar.
These things are not as quick or as easy to use as many patent brass
cleaners which one can buy nowadays. It is just as well, however, to
know what one could do if separated from modern conveniences.
_Tiles._--Glazed tiles may be wiped with a cloth wrung out of warm
soapsuds, but water should not be put directly upon them. It tends to
soften the cement in which they are laid. Unglazed tiles are restored
to colour and cleanliness by a rubbing with linseed oil.
_Lamps._--Lamps used every night need care every day. They should be
kept full of oil for two reasons. One is, that if we then happen to use
them for an unusually long time they will not burn out; the other, is,
that if a lamp is full of oil no space is left for vapours rising from
the oil, which otherwise may become compressed in the bowl and ignite
when a match is applied to the wick. If there is a little screw-topped
opening in the lamp where it can be filled without unscrewing the
burner, use that opening for filling it. The burner should not be
unscrewed unless it must be. Great care should be taken not to fill
lamps too full; the level of the oil should be just below the lower
side of the little opening, otherwise the oil will ooze out on the lamp
and catch dust and give off a disagreeable odour.
It is better to _rub_ off the hard burned crust of a wick than to cut
it off. This leaves the wick more even and wastes it less. When it
has been rubbed smooth and soft, see that it turns up and down easily
and, if a round wick, that it is even. A flat wick should be slightly
rounded, the middle being the highest point, like this diacritic ˘,
not this ̑ one. To be perfectly sure, light the lamp for a moment,
put on the chimney, and if the flame is not the right shape alter the
wick. When this is finished, wipe the burner inside and out, above and
below, as carefully as possible. An old water-colour brush is good for
cleaning intricate burners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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