The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-02-16
KEROSENE OIL AND ITS. USES.

OF all the useful things that were dis.
covered, do not think q more useful one
exists than kerosene oil. No household
now can get along without it in some
way or another. What would We coun-
try people do for lights without ita How
did PEOPLE ever manage to see how to sew
or read by candle light, even the best of
candles2 When l recollect the talIow
candles of my childhood, wonder how
it was possible that I ever studied at all
at night. Now, we have become 30 &C.
customed to the soft, pleasant light Of
kerosene that we hardly ever recollect,
even that we have not bad it always. l
suppose its usefulness as light must rank
first, but am sure all ladies who ever
have their own cooking to do and have
one OF these treasures, an "eil cooking
stove," will put its usefulness as ''fuel"
second on the list. ! know I will, for it
has saved me trouble and patience many
and many day. am never satisfied
now to be without a cask of oil in nv
store-room or some out house that fire
never goes into.
Every one who keeps poultry and has
ever tried it, can testify to its usefulness
as vermin exterminator, on the fowls
as vel! as on the roost poles, or wherever
they may appear. always rub the least
little bit on the little chicks heads before
put them out in the coop with the
mother hen, and also rub it pretty freely
under her wings and on her breast and
around her neck, SO that the vermln are
destroyed before they get strong hold.
Kerosene oil is most excellent to apply
to bedsteads or any wood work where the
hated bedbug appears, and even the most
careful housekeepers can not always pre-
vent their coming, but if kerosene oil is
used quite early in the spring and several
times during this season, am sure there
will be no further trouble during the
year.
Kerosene oil is most useful for laun-
drying purpose. 1t is excellent to clean
off the iron with, by pouring some
on paper or rag and rubbing the iron
on it hot several times and then wiping
it on clean rag or paper The iron then
runs smoothly over the piece to be ironed
If you put about teaspoonful to pint
Of starch while hot and stir it around in
it thoroughly, this. too, will keep the iron
from sticking on starched things.
1t is useful in so many ways for clean
ing purposes that hardly know where
to begin. 1t cleans tin beautifully. Have
you not often noticed how clean and new
An oil can will look when you wipe it off
with paper or an old cloth2 This first
called my attention to the facts of its be.
ing nice to clean tin with. l find also, if
polish off my looking glass and win
dows with it in summer that the flies keep
away longer time than when polished
simply with paper or cloth. 1t cleans off
furniture nicely, too, aud you can keep
your dining table, of walnut or mahogany,
looking nicely more easily with this than
other things. Rubbing the furniture over
lightly answers just as we'll as if you rub
bed it hard.
1fyou wish oiled floors you can keep
them looking nicely with far less expense
and trouble, by useing kerosene oil, than
in any other way know of.
As simple remedy it is invaluable. 1t
is most excellent for burns, strains, and
rheumatism. My father often suffers
with pains in his wrists and ankles from
cold, and kerosene oil always proves to
be . ''friend indeed" to him.
Whenever any of the animals on the
place get sprain or strain of any joint,
the kerosene oil can is called for and the
place we'll rubbed with it, and l have
rarely, if ever, known it to fail in giving
speedy relief.
1t is the best thing to clean a paint
brush l have ever seen used, mean
paint used for woodwork. When have
finished using my brush, just put the
brush down in can or cup of kerosene
oil and the paint can soon be washed out
easily with soap and water, and will be
as soft as when new. l have cleaned
brushes in this way that have become
like boards from being put away un-
cleaned. 1t will clean off paint from
windows nicely when nothing else will.
When the sashes are painted (unless by
skilled workman) getting paint on the
glass seems unavoidable, but this you
can quickly remove with little oil.
l have only mentioned some of the
domestic and ordinary uses of kerosene
oil, but there are many, many other things
that it is used for, too numerous to men.
ton. But even if it could be used in no
other way than as light and fuel, it
would still take rank among the first in
point of general usefulness Home and
Farm.
HOW DOGS TALK.
A dogs "goOd morning. is somethi ing