Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-06-30
Home Papers.

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| didn't care. am not writing for the
wise ones who know it all. and are salts
fed with their way of doing things, but
for the young and inexperienced. If
sec "A chance to help sister over rough
place, shall 90 straight ahead and do it.
even though stir up II hornets nest a.
every step. And you must not expect me
to stop and kill every individual hornet,
and law back" whenever some one does
not happen to agree with me. Life is TO
short for an earnest woman whose sole
aim is to help her sex, to stop and fret
over triles. | shall do my work and let
it pass for what it is worth.
And now word about boiling and blu,
inc clothes. As to the boiling, it is the |
soap and hot water that does the work,
by soaping, pouring boiling water over
the clothes, and then covering the tubs to
keep the steam in, the work is done just
us thoroughly US when the clothes are
boiled two hours; and we avoid all that
sickening, soapy, steamy smell from boil
ing clothes, that is to me the most dlsa-
greeable part of the washing. l like to
have my clothes Il clear white, and for
that reason | banished bluing from the
laundry, except that we use in the starch
for calicoes, for white and lawn dresses,
and other articles when blush tint is
desired instead of clear white. | am
not always able to attend TO the washing,
and hired girls are not always to be de-
pended upon to carry out ones wishes
the best of them will sometimes put in
an extra quantity of bluing to hide the
gray look that comes from not properly
rinsing the clothes. Let me hint, ever SO
gently. that it is not lack of boiling and
bluing that turns clothes yellow in time;
it is the use of too much soda, and buing
the clothes before the soap suds is all
rinsed out of them. | know, for | have
tried both ways, and those who have not
tried my way can only guess at It, For
whitcness | will match our ordinary wear
that has not been boiled or blucd for a.
whole year, against the clothes of anybody
who washes in the old-fashioned way.
For the benefit of the sisters who seem
TO think that my clothes must be ring
streaked, striped and speckled" with dirt,
because do not rub them enough, | will
say that mems white cotton stockings are
about the only things that come from our
tubs with any streaks left in them. Did
you ever try to rub the streaks out OF d
pair of stockings so begrimed with dirt
that you couldn't tell the original color?
have rubbed the skin all off my knuck.
les in the vain endeavor to get those streaks
out, and before | would do it again |
would burn the stockings and buy II clean
pair every week. When found out that
the sun, dew and frost would do for me
what | could not do for myself, | thanked
my lucky stars and-let them do it. We
don't keep any dogs, and my rifle has
materially thinned the ranks of the canine
population in our immediate neighbour
mood, and our puss never puts her dainty
feet down in the wrong place, and the
chickens and pigs are kept where they
belong, and neat picket fence keeps
"everythng else" from running over the
clothes when we spread them on the
grass. And finally, the secret Of success
in my way of washing, lies in soapng all
the soiled places carefully, using plenty
of soft water, and that old fashioned
pestle, | don't know whether my plan
would work with hard water or not; hard
or brook water isn't fit for Christian
woman to wash with any way, and when
get time am going to talk with the men
folks about the cisterns, but just now |
must attend to that ironing.
AS Il general thing | don't believe in
washing and ironing the same day. A
woman can wash, scrub, iron, .churn and
bake in the same day, if her strength and
patience holds out, and do everything well
too; but it is not best to do too much in
one day. An ordinary washing besides
the usual homework. is about Us much as
one woman ought 10 do in one day. But
where there are children it is frequently
necessary to iron some of the clothes on
wash-day, and ii taken from the line be-
fore quite dry, they can be irened just as
nicely as when dampened and folded over
night. In order to make ironing just as
easy as possible, we have an ironing board
on which to iron skirts and dresses, little
over five feet long, two feet wide ut one
end and tapering to fifteen inches at the
other end. This is covered with in old
WOODEN blanket firmly tackled in place.
then an old cotton sheet is securely pinned
to this. Both blanket and sheet must be
put on smoothly and fastened firmly or
the whole thing will be failure. | know
of nothing more provoking than TO iron
over wrinkles and folds, and to have the
covers of the board "shuckling' up and
down. A board that is II little longer and
wider than shirt board, is q handy thing
to have about ironing shirts; and where
infants dresses are to be ironed Il small
skirt board should be provided. We have
also an old blanket and cotton sheet for
convenience in ironing on the table, six
flat irons, IL polishing iron-whch is only
an ordinary iron with all the edges round.
cd oif-two iron stands, good supply of
holders, and coarse cotton cloths to wipe
the irons on, and u large clothes frame to
air the irOned clothes on. have Il place
for all the ironing things, and | require
them to keep their places. The boards
are hung up when not in use, and the
ironing sheet and blanket arc folded, and
put with the other articles put in u drawer
kept especially for them When flat irons
get rough put some coarse salt on
, smooth surface and rub them until smooth
To remove rust and to clean the irons, tie
II piece OF becswaX in II rag, and when til,
irons are almost hot enough to use, rul
the wax over them, and then rub briskly
on coarse cotton CLOTH Irons will no
rust or get rough if properly cleane,
> after using, and kept in II dry place
Turn the clothes right side out, an,
sprinkle with clean warm water, if role,
, tightly they will dampen through much
quicker than if folded. Roll the fin,
things in towel, and put the coloret
clothes by themselves, lest the color from
dark calicoes stain the white clothes.
think calicocs and flanncls should b