The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
The rinsing method first described is best for silver for it should
be thoroughly rinsed in very hot water and dried with a cloth and
vigorous rubbing. Any evaporating process leaves it dull and spotted.
As one wipes it, any piece discoloured or dull should be laid aside for
special attention. Egg stains can be removed with a little salt, or
often just with rubbing them with a cloth which has been used to apply
silver polish. If one has no covered shelf or table on which the silver
can be laid as it is wiped, it is well to spread a towel to receive it.
This saves noise and scratching.
Carafes, decanters, vinegar cruets or any narrow necked articles can
be cleaned with chopped white potato, or with crushed egg shells. A
combination of crushed egg shells, ¼ cup of salt and ½ cup of vinegar
is also good for this purpose. A slim paint brush--the kind used to
paint window casings, not pictures--is excellent for washing bottles.
The brush end will do the washing and the handle end with a towel over
it will do the wiping. There are regular bottle brushes but I have
found a paint brush better than any one I have yet tried.
Steel knives, whether plated or not, need special care. They should
never, _never_ be laid in water but held in the dish washer's hands
while they are washed, then wiped perfectly dry. If they are silver
plated they are polished like the rest of the silver except that they
are wet as little as possible. If not plated they must be scoured as
often as used. This helps to keep them sharp as well as bright. Rest
the blades flat on a board when cleaning them, otherwise they may be
bent or even broken. After they have been scoured, they must be washed
with the same care as before and dried thoroughly. Avoid anything,
whether hot water or excessive friction, which greatly heats the
blades, for this breaks the handles by expanding the steel pieces which
run up into them.
Discoloured knife handles will sometimes whiten if scoured with a piece
of lemon dipped in salt and washed off quickly with hot soapsuds.
Powdered pumice also whitens them.
After the dishes are washed and wiped, all the cloths and brushes used
should be thoroughly washed in hot suds, then carefully rinsed. If they
can be hung out in the sun, that is best, but if not, they should be
hung where they will dry before they are needed again. One may not be
able to spare time to wash or even rinse the towels after every dish
washing, but they must positively be washed once a day. Sticky and
unpleasant-smelling table appointments quickly result from neglected
towels and dishcloths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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