Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-05-11
SPRING TACK TICKS.
Some Valuable Pointers About HANDLING
CARPET,

bome valuable POINTERS About Handling
a Carpet.
The greatest horror of spring house
cleaning IS the carpet question. A fam
lily worth fifty or sixty million dollars
can afford to hire mob to come into the
house and wrestle with the question, but
the man who feels that he must econo-
mize somewhere after paying thirty dol
lars for box to see and hear Sara may
well tremble at the prospect before him.
There are, however, certain fundamen-
tai principles which can be followed
with the greatest benefits, and if closely
adhered to will make the affair an en-
Joyable one from start to finish.
Never attempt to pull the tacks out of
a carpet before lifting it. 1t is not only
time thrown away, but you are apt to
lnJure the fabric. Borrow a crowbar of
your neighbor and use it as pry, and
you can accomplish in five minutes what
used to be considered half days work
The first thing to be done after lifting
carpet is to look for tablespoons, pocket
knives, rattle boxes, marbles, gold pieces
and baby shoes which have worked
under it during the year. They should
be carefully placed in bushel basket,
and the basket, when full, should be
carefully set away.
In olden days it was supposed that it
took fourteen men to roll up twenty-five
yards of Brussels carpet, and get it
through the hall, dining room and kitch-
en- into the back yard. Mans inventive
genius has reduced the number to one.
Having arranged with a house mover to
be on hand at a certain hour, open the
parlor window, attach the tackles, and
as his team walks around the windlass
the carpet will gracefully move out and
take seat on the grass. By an arrange
ment of skids, tramway and rope and
tackle it can be curved around into the
back yard, ready for hanging on the line
A line for a carpet should consist of a
chain cable formerly used by a steam
boat, and warranted TO sustain 10000
pounds to the inch. When properly
strung from the house to the barn they
will carry double parlor carpet in
safety, and even a goatskin rug or two
may be added.
There are several ways of hosting a
carpet up over the cable so that it can
be beaten. A 20-horse power engine.
with proper arrangement of shafts and
pulleys, will do it, or tackle and five
yoke of oxen have been known to accom-
plish the purpose. A late spring style
| is to start a smudge in the back yard.
| turn in fire alarm, and after the crowd
| gets there call for volunteers to help ele.
vate.
When carpet is in position to be
beaten the sharp man will do some fgur
ing. BY little diplomacy an entire
athletic club can be brought up to pelt il
and jump over it and thump thunder
ont OF it. Any man with kicking mule
will lend him to you at two shillings al
hour. No tramp applying for grub car
refuse to WELD the club for half an hour
Policemen on probation. who want t
learn the use of the baton, can be steereC
around to knock the tar out of that car
pet if you manage it right. The hous,
owner who sets out TO beat his own car
pet should plan on taking at least a weel
for it. No carpet is ever in hurry l
seems to rather enjoy the novelty of tn,
occasion.
Some men are confined to precedent il
beating carpet. Because their fathe.
and grandfather used broom haudl,
they hesitate to innovate. A broom han
die is good as far as it goes. but after tn,
first hour, when the porous plaster in tn,
small of the back begins to itch, othe
weapons can be resorted to. A crowbar
clothes horse, pickax, long HANDLED
shovel, kitchen chair, section of stove
pipe, table leg or fence rail are all con
sidered legitimate implements to use il
getting the best of carpet.
There is no particular programme lai,
down for beating. You can begin OF
the east, north, south or west end, O
jump slap dab into the middle of it and
pound toward the outside. The granC
object is to make the fabric yield up it
store of dust, crumbs, buttons, bones
tinware, clothespins, hairpins, coars
combs, asphalt, brickbats and trunl
keys.-Detroit Free Press.