The household oracle : a popular referee on subjects of household enquiry : including: - house building, buying and renting; house furnishing and decoration; housekeeping and domestic cookery; plain and fancy needlework; home farming, gardening, medicine; law; an epitome of the history of the world and the growth of the human family; the formation of our mother tongue and the rules of English grammar; a dictionary of religions; stepping stones of English history and a sketch of the English constitution setting forth the rights, privileges and duties of the English householder parochial, municipal, imperial; the story of the calendar, standards of weights and measures; arithmetical tables and tables of interest and a ready reckoner; household amusements, games, chess, cards and other indoor games, dancing, swimming, etiquette, ... / edited by Alfred H. Miles ; assisted by a staff of specialists.

Date:
[1897?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The household oracle : a popular referee on subjects of household enquiry : including: - house building, buying and renting; house furnishing and decoration; housekeeping and domestic cookery; plain and fancy needlework; home farming, gardening, medicine; law; an epitome of the history of the world and the growth of the human family; the formation of our mother tongue and the rules of English grammar; a dictionary of religions; stepping stones of English history and a sketch of the English constitution setting forth the rights, privileges and duties of the English householder parochial, municipal, imperial; the story of the calendar, standards of weights and measures; arithmetical tables and tables of interest and a ready reckoner; household amusements, games, chess, cards and other indoor games, dancing, swimming, etiquette, ... / edited by Alfred H. Miles ; assisted by a staff of specialists. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    SPRING CLEANING. stowaways in the uppermost region of the house must have an airing, and an ex- amination thorough enough to prove that moths have not commenced ruinous ravages must be made in the old chests, trunks, and boxes which hold extra bedding and clothes. The Bedrooms.—Everything should be removed from the bedrooms which have been in constant use during the winter. The closets should be cleaned first, and, if possible, the day before the room, or it might even be done several days before. All the clothes should be removed from the closet, and Inmg out in the air and sun and left there all day ; the boxes, etc., removed from the shelves, and looked over, and all the odds and ends—which will accumulate because one does not quite like to throw them away —relentlessly disposed of. If the wall's are of hard finish they should be washed over with tepid water. If they are pa- pered they can be rubbed over with a drv' cloth and cleaned with stale bread. If the shelves and floors are washed witli clear lime-water they will remain delight- fully white and pure aU the summer. A closet floor should never be carpeted. If the floor is old, oilcloth of a light colour may be put over it; and if the closet is a very large one which is made to answer partly for a dressing-room, a rug may be added. Cleaning Glass, etc.—The glass over pictures should be cleaned with dry whiting and a woollen cloth. Carved brackets or shelves should have the dust removed from them with a soft brush, and afterwards be well rubbed with a little linseed oil and a woollen cloth. The mirror should be rubbed over with whiting. The mattresses and bedding should be put out where they can have the benefit of air and sun. The carpet is taken up after all the furniture is removed, and put out on the grass to be cleaned. The floors are then swept, and the walls wiped off with a small bag of wheat bran. The windows should be washed with cold water, in which soda has been put. The soda will remove all spots and stains from the gla,ss, and keep it from having a smoky look. Soap should never be used on glass. Clean brass knobs and rods with rotten-stone and sweet oil; or, if the brass is badly tarnished, rub it with a cotton rag, dipped in a solution of oxalic acid; wash off the acid, and pohsh with whiting. Moths in carpets-—The floor should be mopped over with hot water and soap, or with clean lime-water. After it is dry, and before the carpet is put down, wash it round for a distance of six or eight inches from the walls, with a mixture of equal parts of tur- pentine and camphor, to destroy and keep away the motlis. If matting is to take the place of the carpet, the latter should be folded up, and sheets of blotting paper wet with the mixture of turpentine and camphor laid between the folds. If it is then put in a large store box which has been papered over on the inside, and a newspaper with turpentine and camphor placed over the top, it will be secure from moths. After the carpet or matting is put down there is nothing left to do but bring bade and arrange the furniture and various trifles, which, as they are all cleaned and dusted, rubbed up and polished, will, talce but a little while. It is a good plan, if it can be arranged, to let the mattresses and pil- lows have a few days’ sunning. A hair mattress should be thoroughly dusted off with a whisk broom, then gone over again with the whisk broom dampened. The pillows should be washed off witli a brush dipped in hot water. A feather bed can be treated in the same manner. If the tick needs washing, scrub it with warm soap-suds, rinse well with clear water, and dry in the sun. It is well to be sure that the pillows and bed are perfectly dry before putting tliem in use again. Whitewash.—If the ceilings are to be whitewashed, it should be done while the carpets are up and the curtains down. The Reception Rooms.—After the upper stories have been finished, the lower floor comes in for its share of attentions. The same plan—one or two rooms at a time, and each article cleaned as it is taken from its place—should be