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
237. _Another way to clean Kid Gloves._--First see that your hands
are clean; then put on the gloves and wash them, as though you were
washing your hands, in a basin of turpentine. Burning fluid will do
equally well. Then hang them up in a warm place, or where there is a
good current of air, which will carry off all smell of turpentine.
This method was brought from Paris, and thousands of dollars have
been made by it. The spirits of hartshorn may be substituted for the
turpentine.
238. _Washing Gloves._--If the gloves are so much soiled as to
require washing, the best application is a strong lather made of
curd soap with new milk; or water will do. A very small quantity of
liquid will suffice. Before wetting the glove, run a strong thread
through the opposite sides, close to the wrist binding. Leave it
about a quarter of a yard long, and make a large knot at each end.
This is to form a loop or handle by which to hang up the glove to
dry, and hold it open. Having prepared the lather, put one glove on
the hand, and apply the lather by means of a shaving brush or a piece
of fine flannel, carrying the strokes downwards--that is, from the
wrist or arm to the tips of the fingers. Continue this process till
the dirt disappears, though the glove appears of a dingy, ill-looking
color. Then take a clean soft towel, and dab it till the soap is
removed. Take off the glove, blow into it to open all the fingers,
and, by means of the aforesaid loop, hang it to dry in a shady but
airy place. The loop should be fixed to two pegs, or by two pegs or
strings, fastened to a line in such a manner as to keep the sides of
the glove apart while drying. When dry, they will have regained their
original color, and be smooth, glossy, soft, and shapable. Or, the
gloves when cleaned as above, may be laid to dry on several folds of
clean linen above and below. Limerick gloves should be washed clean
with a strong lather of soap and water, applied with a brush as
above. The lather must not be warmer than new milk. When dry from the
lather, apply a solution of saffron, stronger or weaker, according
to the color desired. A very small quantity of saffron will suffice.
Pour boiling water to it, and let it steep at least twelve hours
before using. Those who are frequently cleaning this kind of gloves,
may steep a drachm of saffron in half-a-pint of boiling water, and
when cold, put the whole into a bottle, without straining. Cork it
close, and it will keep a long time for use as required.
239. _To clean Straw Bonnets._--Put a chafing-dish, with some lighted
charcoal, into a close room or large box; then strew on the coals an
ounce or two of powdered brimstone, and let the bonnets hang in the
room or box for some hours, when they remain to be blocked.