Mother's Remedies by Thomas Jefferson Ritter (positive books to read txt) 📕

because I can now easily avoid having these unsightly marks. I merely cut the soap into small pieces, and tie them in a salt bag I keep for the purpose. With this treatment the soap dissolves just as quickly but does not come into direct contact with the clothes. [870 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

121. Cleaning Stoves.—Before blacking my stove I rub soap on my hands, as if washing them, letting the soap dry on. When washing my hands after the work is done, the blacking and the soap come off together easily, leaving no stain on the hands.

122. Left-Over Peaches.—If there are not peaches enough left from an opened can to go around, mix them with orange pulp and a little sliced banana and the family will find them improved.

123. Substitute for Cream in Coffee.—For a substitute for cream in coffee put a pint of fresh milk into a double boiler and let it come to a boil, stirring often. Beat the yolk of one egg very light and pour it into the boiling milk and mix well.

124. Cooking cauliflower.—Soak cauliflower an hour before cooking. Put into boiling water to which a tablespoonful of salt is added. Boil from twenty to thirty minutes according to size of the head.

125. Uses for Child's Broom.—A child's broom should find place in the bath room. It can be kept in the clothes hamper, and will be useful in sweeping under the bath-tub.

126. Dish Cloths.—Dish cloths are often neglected. They should be kept scrupulously clean, and in order that they may be so they should be washed out carefully with soap, and well rinsed each time they have been used. After this has been done they may be hung in the air to dry. Some people, however, like to have a stone jar containing a solution of soda by the sink and to keep the dish cloths in it when not in use.

127. Watch for the wishes of the customers and not the hands of the clock, and some day you will have your boss's job.

128. We judge our neighbor as queer and eccentric, but with the same measure comes back his judgment of us.

129. Uses for Men's Worn Out Collars.—Men's collars when worn out, can be opened and bound together as a memorandum book which can be laundered each Monday.

130. Broiling Meat.—A little salt thrown on the coal flame will clear it for broiling meat.

131. Combinations of Cherries and Pineapple.—A combination of cherries and pineapple makes a most-delicious pie.

132. Crepe Paper for Dish Closet.—A pretty effect for the dish closet may be found in crepe paper. Some prefer white, but a tint harmonizing well with the china is pretty too. Have it to fall about three inches below the edge of the shelves and ruffle the edge of the paper by stretching it lightly between forefinger and thumb.

133. Boiling Rice.—One cook always puts a very little lemon juice in the water in which she boils the rice. She claims that it keeps the rice white and the grams whole and separate. It may be worth trying.

134. To Remove Grease from Silk.—Grease may be removed from silk and woolen clothes by the use of magnesia. Scrape a quantity upon the spot, cover with a brown paper and place a hot flat-iron over it. The heat of the iron acts upon the magnesia and when the iron and the paper are removed and the magnesia brushed off the spot will have disappeared.

[MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES 871]

135. Hemstitching.—When hemstitching wears out, take serpentine braid and stitch it across twice on the sewing machine. This makes the hem look neat and last a long time.

136. Moths.—When moths get into dresser drawers, sweep them clean, expose the wood to the sunlight and with an atomizer spray turpentine where the pests are liable to be. A lighted match or sulphur candle will kill them.

137. To Remove Putty.—To remove putty, rub a red hot poker over it, and cut off the putty with a steel knife.

138. New Method for Sprinkling Clothes.—Turn the nozzle of the hose to a fine spray and sprinkle the clothes while they are on the line; a very quick and good method. All plain pieces may then be rolled up and laid in the basket as they are taken down, while starched articles need but a little further hand sprinkling on portions not exposed.

139. To Open Packages of Breakfast Food.—To open packages of breakfast food and keep boxes in a dust proof condition until empty, make an opening in the side of box close to top by forcing a tablespoon through cardboard and turn flap downwards. The flap will fit back snugly in place each time package is used.

140. Preparing Oranges for the Table.—In preparing oranges for the table take a sharp knife, cut the skin straight around, insert the handle of a spoon turned over flat to fit the orange and loosen shell by forcing spoon to within one-half inch of the end, around one side, then the other, after which cut the orange through the center, making two parts. Then turn the skin back in cup form, making a pretty decoration for the table and serving as handles. Always serve in halves.

141. To Make a Muddy Skirt Wash Easily.—To make a muddy skirt wash easily and look white, take sour milk and dilute with water; soak the skirt in it over night, then wash in the usual way; the skirt washes easier and looks white.

142. To Make Stained Water Bottles Clean.—To make stained water bottles clean and bright, put in salt and pour on vinegar, let stand a few minutes then shake. Rinse in clear water.

143. Sanitary Window Screen.—Try tacking cheese cloth on the pantry window screen frame. This admits air that is sifted free from smoke and soot, before it comes into the pantry.

144. Cheerfulness at Meals.—Cheer during the meals will do away with the need of digestive tablets. Make it a rule to come to the table smiling, and continue to smile, though the food does not suit you and everyone else is down on their luck. Your smile will prove contagious.

[872 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

145. Uses for Stale Bread.—Take stale biscuits and grind them with a food chopper; toast in oven to a delicate brown. Serve with plenty of sugar and cream. Makes fine breakfast food and saves the stale bread.

146. Washing Lemons.—Always wash lemons before grating them, not only to remove any foreign matter sticking to them, but in order to remove the tiny insect eggs so often seen on them in the disguise of black specks. They may be kept fresh indefinitely, if wiped perfectly dry and placed in a sealed top glass jar.

147. To Give Vinegar a Nice Flavor.—A small button of garlic in a quart of vinegar will give it a mysterious delicious flavor, and it will immensely improve salads or anything in which it is used.

148. If Mice are Gnawing Holes.—If mice are gnawing holes in the house, rub common laundry soap around the gnawed places, and you may depend on it they will cease labor in that district.

149. To Teach Darning.—If young girls are taught to darn on canvas, the method of weaving the stitches is easily explained and put into practise.

150. Bed Sheeting.—Sheeting should never be cut, but should be torn into lengths, usually two and a half yards for medium beds.

151. Browning Potatoes.—For some kinds of frying the griddle is better and has a less tendency to grease than the frying pan. Among the other things potato cakes browned on a hot greased griddle are especially crisp and delicious.

152. To Keep Bread from Souring.—You will find that light bread will not sour so quickly in summer if it is not covered when taken from the oven. This steam is unnatural and should be allowed to escape or it soaks into the bread, making it clammy and more liable to sour. Let the bread cool gradually then put a clean cloth in a large stone jar, place the bread in and cover with the cloth, before covering with the stone, or wooden lid. This keeps bread fresh and moist from one bake day to another.

153. Never Pour Scalding Water into Milk Vessels.—Never pour scalding water into milk vessels; it cooks the milk on the sides and bottom of the vessels making it more difficult to clean such articles. Rinse them first with cold water. This same rule applies to cleansing of catsup bottles.

154. The Water Pipes in the Kitchen.—The water pipes in the kitchen will not be so unattractive, if painted the color of the kitchen woodwork.

155. To Brush Fringe of a Doilie.—Do not use a comb for the fringe of doilies as it pulls out the fringe, but brush it with a nail brush.

156. Wash Suits.—Large buttons should be removed from wash suits before they are sent to the laundry.

[MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES 873]

157. Sewing Machine Conveniences.—Always leave a piece of cloth under the presser foot of the sewing machine. This will save wear on the machine. Also it will absorb any drop of oil which might gather and spoil the first piece of fabric stitched, and will keep the needle from becoming blunted.

158. To Make a Ruffle Easily.—To make a ruffle easily, just above depth of the ruffle make a quarter inch tuck. Insert edge of ruffle under tuck, flatten down tuck over the ruffle edge and stitch on edge of tuck. If the ruffle is desired on very bottom of garment, make a quarter of an inch of tuck, leaving about half of an inch of goods underneath. Baste and stitch wrong side of ruffle to wrong side of half-inch piece, about quarter of an inch from edge. Turn back, making edge come under tuck. Flatten tuck and stitch on the edge. This will save all the trouble of bias bands, so dreaded by the dress-maker.

159. Greasing Cake Tins.—In making a cake, grease the tin with sweet lard rather than butter and sift a little dry flour over it.

160. Making Children's Petticoats.—When making children's petticoats gather the skirt to waistband before hemming the backs and then turn in with the hem, and when band gets too small and narrow across the back, all you have to do is rip out the hem and face back, and the gathers are already there properly placed; and no ripping skirt from band to adjust fullness is necessary.

161. After Cake is Removed from Oven.—A cake which has been removed from the oven should be placed on a wire stand on the stove and the steam allowed to thoroughly escape from it so as to obviate any chances of it becoming heavy.

162. When the Top Cannot be Removed from Fruit Cans.—When the top cannot be removed from a fruit can, if the lid is carefully pried at one point, so the gum can be caught, the rubber can easily be removed. It is not difficult to pull the band from beneath the metal cap.

163. Darning.—When darning must be done in the evening it is more easily done if a light colored darning ball be used.

164. In Pressing a Plaited Skirt.—In pressing a plaited skirt one will gain time and have more satisfactory results if the plaits are basted before the pressing is done. Clean the skirt and brush it on the inside. Next baste the seams, cover with a damp cloth and press on the right side with a medium warm iron. Dampen the cloth, when necessary and press until the cloth is dry.

165. Stitching Down a Seam.—After stitching down a seam, press with a hot iron, and if no seamboard is at hand, it is useful to know that a rolling pin, wrapped in a clean cloth, will answer this purpose equally as well.

166. The Color Meat Should be.—Meat should be red with the fat a clear white. The fat besides being white should be firm, and suety, and never moist. Good meat has very little smell. Bad meat shrinks considerably in boiling. Meat which is fresh and good does not loose an ounce of weight, but swells rather, when it is being boiled.

[874 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

167. Buying a New Oil Cloth.—When you are ready to buy a new oil cloth for your kitchen table, take your old one and cut it up for aprons. Have it cover the whole front of your skirt, and make a large bib on it, and you will find, when you are through doing a washing, that you will be as dry as you were before you began.