Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts
John Stuart Mill · en
If paper is to be used, the wall must be washed with clean water, as
above explained; and while wet, the old color must be scraped off
with a knife, or a smooth-edged steel scraper of any sort. It will
be best to wet a yard or two at a time, and then scrape. Next, wash
the wall all over with size, made with an ounce of glue to a gallon
of water; and when this is dry, the wall is ready for the paper.
This must be cut into lengths according to the different parts of
the room; one edge of the plain strip must be cut off close to the
pattern, and the other left half an inch wide. If the paper is thick,
it should lie a minute or two after it is pasted; but if thin, the
sooner it is on the wall, the better. Begin by placing the close-cut
edge of the paper at one side of the window, stick it securely to
meet the ceiling, let it hang straight, and then press it down
lightly and regularly with a clean cloth. The close-cut edge of the
next length will cover the half-inch left on the first one, and so
make a neat join; and in this way you may go all round the room, and
finish at the other side of the window.
22. _Damp Walls._--Damp may be prevented from exuding from walls
by first drying them thoroughly, and then covering them with the
following mixture: In a quart of linseed oil, boil three ounces of
litharge, and four ounces of resin. Apply this in successive coats,
and it will form a hard varnish on the wall after the fifth coating.
23. _To clean Moreen Curtains._--Having removed the dust and clinging
dirt as much as possible with a brush, lay the curtain on a large
table, sprinkle on it a little bran, and rub it round with a piece of
clean flannel; when the bran and flannel become soiled, use fresh,
and continue rubbing till the moreen looks bright, which it will do
in a short time.
24. _To clean Calico Furniture._--Shake off the loose dust; then
lightly brush with a small, long-haired furniture-brush; after which
wipe it closely with clean flannels, and rub it with dry bread.
If properly done, the curtains will look nearly as well as at first;
and, if the color be not light, they will not require washing for
years.
Fold in large parcels, and put carefully by.
While the furniture remains up, it should be preserved from the sun
and air as much as possible, which injure delicate colors; and the
dust may be blown off with bellows.
By the above mode curtains may be kept clean, even to use with the
linings newly dipped.
25. _Making Beds._--Close or press bedsteads are ill adapted for
young persons or invalids; when their use is unavoidable, the
bed-clothes should be displaced every morning, and left for a short
time before they are shut up.
The windows of bed-rooms should be kept open for some hours every
day, to carry off the effluvia from the bed-clothes; the bed should
also be shaken up, and the clothes spread about, in which state the
longer they remain, the better.