The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-11
WASHING As A FINE ART.
Suggestions for Saving the Laundress Time
and Labor.

Suggestions for Saving the Laundress Time
and Labor.
To wash or not to wash is seldom the
question.
Civilization so emphasizes cleanliness
as to make plentiful and regular laun-
6ering imperative.
But the wisest woman Of US may well
ponder the how and wherefore of clean
clothes. Soiled garments may duly go
through the suds, the boil, the rinsing
water, and yet they may come out al
most as far from clean as they went in.
Indeed, their case is often worse.
Every skilled laundress knows that
it is much easier TO wash a garment in
the original dirt than TO make it white
and clean after it has come streaked
and grimy from the tub.
The reason is not far to seek A wise
man has defined dirt as matter out of
place" What is called dirt" upon our
clothes is varied assortment of mat
ter" spread usually on the outside
fbers 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. or
pounding.
The soilure upon body and bed linen
has always more or less of oil from the
skin. With this soap unites to form q
compound soluble in water, especially
hot water; hence the efficacy in boiling
IN soapy water.
On tho other hand, acid or milky or
pasty spots are hardened by the action
OF alkalies and heat. Often, too. they
are discolored as well. 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 darby 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 watet combines
with the alkali Of the soap, throwing
down q 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 it with lye, using
q cupful moderately strong to 4 large
tab of water. Lye from wood ashes is
best, and can be made in country kiteh-
ems, months supply at G 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 Jumps or powder. The
tiniest feck remaining undissolved may
mean disaster to the very garment you
wish most to keep whole and sound.
Dissolve an hour before use-over night
IS better and safer.
The perfect laundress is compound
of mind and muscle.
The perfect Iaundress 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 moro than lost in time
also that you can not gather clean
clothes from dirty suds, no matter how
white and strong the foam on top Of
them.
Her tub is as full OF suds as 1t 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 q sleeve, now at a
neckbaud, now CROPPING blindly for
1.-The dirty place on the sheet In
stead she folds the dirty spots outside
before water touches the garment. and
when they have been sufficiently
soaped and soused, and rubbed, she
gives the garment vigorous plunging
and treating in extenso. She keeps
her lather full strength; changes it
often.
She knows that the quicker colored
things are washed and dried the bright
err they will be.
Above all--the crown and cap sheaf
Of her practice-is her belief that thor
ough rinsing is the secret Of fresh,
clean-smelling garments.-N. y. Press