The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-02
NEeLEcTlNc SMALL THINGS.
The Habit of Putting or the Little House.
hold Repairs.


hold Repairs.
A great deal may be lost in the
course of q year by putting small
things off. "a stitch in time saves
nine,'' applies not only to the gown
but to every department of the house
hold. small thing awry soon puts
the whole machinery out of order. II
is distressing to note how much time
careless people lose by having their
tools out of place and hunting about
for them; by putting off till tomorrow
what should be done to-day. A syste-
matte person usually accomplishes the
same work with about half the labor
that an undisciplined worker gives to
it. Small matters in -housework are
continually getting ont of place. And
though these are trifles in themselves.
if they are not attended to at once.
they become startling in the aggre-
gate.
Every household should have small
box of tools, which some one in the
household can use with intelligence.
Such a box should contain good.
strong hammer, a gimlet, three sizes of
screw-drivers, file, one or two tack
lifters. saw, carpet-stretcher, a car
penter's rule and supply of assorted
nails and screws, of tiny tacks for
shades and of shutter tacks. if there
are shutters on the house. AS soon as
ANYTHING about the woodwork inside
the house becomes slightly out of re-
pair, it is an easy thing for nearly any
one to make it right with these tools
| A clever woman can do most of such
repairs as well as man. But if they
are allowed to GO unattended to. they
soon become subjects for an expert
artisan to handle, and thereby incur
| bill.
There are few inanimate objects that
| can give more torture to a nervous per-
son at night than an unruly window
| blind, yet if the blinds are carefully
| looked after at the semi-yearly house
! cleaning. and any catches or bolts or
| hinges that are out OF order are straight
| ened, there will be no occasion for the
| slamming blind. The hinges and iron
work of the shutters will move more
easily if they are oiled at these times
Door locks are also matters which
should be looked to carefully. to see
that the bolt works readily in the lock.
J Where lock moves stif1ly, little sew
| ing-machine oil will usually remedy the
matter. for the causemost likely is rust
! inside the lock. Furniture locks very
frequently become troublesome for this
reason. 1t is an easy matter to
remove bureau or door lock
|
has been broken. To understand
the workings of lock, remove
one that is in perfect order and exam
! inc its mechanism. A person of ordi-
nary intelligence can comprehend IL
| almost instantly, and thus be able to
remedy the defects in the lock, unless
there should he something broken.
This is rarely the case. The fault with
most imperfect locks is the result of
some piece of the mechanism slipping
out of place.
These seem trifiing matters, vet to
good housekeeper it is no trifing mat
ter to have the doors and shutters out
of order
After the fall housecleaning of each
apartment, examine the entire room to
see if there is anything out of order.
A window catch costs but few cents,
yet if it is out of place, the draft from
the unfastened window sash may cause
a great deal of discomfort Where the
sash fits the window imperfectly, as it
often does in old houses, il is certainly
desirable to use weather strips The
best of these are those which come
! -
carpenter viii readily provide. They
can be readily tackled in place, and
are infinitely better than any home
made weitiag, because they do not
prevent the window being raised or
lowered All matters about the heater
should be looked to at this season, be-
fore the very cold weather comes, and
the housekeeping days are the best for
this. 1t is an easy thing for the house
wife to take certain time for the
household mending and see that every
piece that comes from the wash is
mended and darned before it goes to
its place In the closets or bureau draw
ers or on the linen shelves Clothes
that are carefully mended in this way.
when the rents are small. last about
twice as long as those which are worn
till they can be worn no longer and
must be mended TO keep the constitu-
ent parts together. AS soon as a girl
is old enough to use needle she should
be taught to darn and mend, in order
to do her weekly mending. There are
few external things that leave so de-
grading an impress on the moral char
acter as unmended clothes.-N. Y. Trib-
une.