The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-01
TNING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST

now II POSSIBLE; it 10 a duty TO be performed
before pleasure. Stockings and socks should
not be allowed to come into holes thin places
are easily mended. / hope may not be con-
sidered dictatorial in thus insisting upon this
very necessary observance, but | have suffered
from procrastlnation in these very matters, and
the obtaining of new articles Of any kind was,
in my early days, q matter of difficulty. The
looking out the linen on Mondays was at first
worry ing trouble to me, and trusted this mat
ter frequently to servant, till the constant dis.
putes with the laundress, and the loss OF several
articles, led me to perform this duty myself.
Every Monday morning, as soon as breakfast
was over, the servant brought the linen to the
kitchen, where she sorted 1t over in my presence,
and wrote 1t down, taking care to specify what
kind the articles were-hnen or calico. The
clean things we're then taken from the basket,
every button ard tape ted and all put upon the
clothes-horse TO air, before putting them away
in The drawers 1t took something less than
hall an hour TO do this. The remainder OF the
morning till one O'clock was spent in repairing
all fractures and other needs. l never in my
lite mended dirty linen, no matter how much 1t
was torn.
When my babes we're young, after they had
gone to bed | shook out and hung upon a
clothes-hoTse all the garments they we're to put
ON the next day, whether clean ones or other
wise; each little ones clothes by itself; and
many time have washed out their little socks
in the hand-hasln, in my own room, which saved
much accumulation OF these small affairs. My
collars and cults / washed and rOned myself,
and also many little matters OF lace and muslin
for the children. The process j adopted was a
somewhat rapid one, and involved but slight
labor. | ihlew little boraX into some cold
water, and when the former was dissolved put
in over night the articles | designed to wash.
The next morning kneaded them we'll with my
hands, wIung them out, and soaped them into
tepld water, in which also was a little boTaX,
not soda. The dirt easily came out; / rinse1
them we'll in slightly blue water, in which
some alum was dissolved to prevent accident
from fle (as alum prevents fame), and par
italy dried them; then made some thin starch,
by mixing two teaspoonstul or one of starch in
two tablespoonstul OF cold water; then poured
boiling water upon 1t, stirring it all the time,
till it as of the Consistence of welmade arrow.
ROOT While the starch was hot put in the
articles to be stflened, and let them stay in for
ten minutes, or even more, then wrung then as
dry as | could in my hand, and then each article
again in q clean cloth, thus preventing toe
starch from sticking to the iron, and rendering
the lace or collars clear instead OF muddy
looking. After squeezing them hard IN the
cloth, each article was shaken out, and lai
separately in a cloth, and folded up uGht, ready
for ironing. 1t is astonishing how much eX
pense | saved in my laundress bills, by con.
tinulng often to wash some little thing at a time
when appeared to be only washing my hands.
This little employment never made me the
less fit TO be seen; in preparing for 1t did nc
more than pin towel before me-a Jug of hot
water and white Curd soap Il never would de
strOy the color and skin of my hands by using
other EInds), and with a very little boraX,
managed to have great deal OF comfort and
clean trlles in clothes, without the machinery
by which | obtained IL belng observed.