The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-04-01
WASHING AS A FINE ART.
Suggestions for Saving tho In undress Time
and Labor.

Il
SuGgestions for Saving tho Laundress Tim
| and Labor.
To wash or not to wash is seldom tn
question.
Civilization so emphasizes cleanliness
as to make plentiful and regular laun
dering imperative.
But the wisest woman of us may wei
ponder the how and wherefore of cleal
clothes. Soiled garments may duly g
through the suds, the boil, the rinsin,
water, and yet they may come ont al
most as far from clean as they went in
Indeed, their case is often worse.
Every skilled laundress knows tina
| it is much easier to wash garment il
the original dirt than to make it whit,
and clean after it has come strcaket
and grimy from the tub.
The reason is not far to seek. A wis,
man has defined dirt as matter out O.
place." What is called dirt upon oul
clothes is a varied assortment of mat
ter" spread usually on the outside
fibers of textile stuffs. Soap. water
| and rubbing well applied will remove
it. Ill-applied the result is to ''set the
dirt" by carrying it SO deep into the
texture as to make its removal very
much harder.
Dirt is got rid of in two ways--chem
ically and mechanically.
In the first the water dissolves It out
of the fiber; in the second the particles
are expelled by rubbing, kneading, OF
pounding.
The soilure upon body and bed linen
has always more or less of oil from the
skin. With this soap unites to form a
compound soluble in water, especially
hot water; hence the efficacy in boiling
in soapy water.
On the other hand, acid or milky or
pasty spots are hardened by the action
of alkalies and heat. Often, too, they
are discolored as we'll Therefore.
everything soiled in such manner ought
first to be well soaked in clear cold wa
ter, then rubbed through clear hot wa
ter before dropping it into suds With
out such precaution the last estate of
table linen, children's garments and
many other things is apt to be worse
than the first Fruit stains in par
ticular, readily removable after the
cold soaking, became darkly indelible
at the touch of soap.
1t is impossible to make clothes thor
oughly clean with soap and hard water,
since the lime of the water combines
with the alkali of the soap, throwing
down a hard powdery precipitate,
and setting free a greasy, gray
white mud to float on top of the
suds and smear whatever is in them.
When hard water must be used for
washing, first soften 1t with I've, using
cupful moderately strong to q large
tub of water. Lye from wood ashes is
best, and can be made in country kitch-
ems, months supply at a time and
bottled for use. Dissolved pearl ash or
even washing soda is generally used in
city kitchens Never put in soda or
pearl ash in humps or powder. The
tiniest fieck remaining undissolved NAV
mean disaster to the very garment you
wish most ito keep whole and, sound.
Dissolve an hour before use-over night
is better and safer.
The perfect laundress is a compound
of mind and muscle.
The perfect laundress can rub as
hard as fate when it is really necessary
yet in general she saves her energy
and her garments so wastefui an ex-
penditure. She knows that what is
saved in soap is more than lost in time
also that You can not gather clean
1o<l t~x.x L. L
white and strong the foam on top of
them
Her tub is as full OF suds as it will
hold without too much splashing over,
yet is not so full of garments that she
can not freely souse and lave each piece.
She knows, too, that the dryer they
are wrung the less dirt goes with them
into the boiler or the next tub.
She takes up nothing at haphazard--
Juggling now at sleeve, now at a
neckband, now cropping blindly for,
sthe dirty place on the sheet" In
stead she folds the dirty spots outside
before water touches the garment, and
when they have been sufficiently
;oaped, and soused, and fubbed, she
yives the garment a vigorous plunging !
Ind treating in extenso. She keeps
Ter lather full strength; changes it
,ften
She knows that the quicker colored
Kings are washed and dried theoright- |
r they will be.
Above all---the crown and cap sheaf |
# her PRACTICES her belief that thor
ugh rinsing is the secret of fresh,
lean-smelling garments.-N. Y. Press.
A NOVEL IDEA.
low Pennsyivanis Farmer Kept tho