The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-30
HOME AFFAIRS.
The Proper Method of Taking Care
of Furs and WooIens.

The packing away of furs and woolens
for the summer comes next in the cur
| riculum Of housewifery after spring
housekeeping. The practical housewife
knows that it is not best to do this too
soon because Of the biting days that come
now and again throughout the month of
April and sometimes even in the early
| days of May, but later than that it is
unwise TO have fiannels. furs any of
the woods in common use about the
house hanging in closets. on racks or in
any of the places where they are ordi-
narily kept in winter.
If the housewife is a good hygienist
she has great deal of wool in her do
| main, because she knows better than
tongue can tell how necessary all-wool
garments are TO the preservation Of
health in cold weather She religiously
superintends the making, washing and
mending Of these garments in all sizes.
from those worn by paterfamilias to the
miniature ones affected by the baby, and
when the time of wear comes TO put
them away she neatly darns even the
very tiniest holes, folds the garments
smoothly and envelopes them entirely in
cotton cloth which she snugly ties with
strlng. Ihese tidy rolls or bundles are
then laid In a trunk or chest, which is
carefully closed away from dust Two
or three times during the summer the
woods are taken out and hung out in
the air, after which they are careful
ly returned to their cotton wrappings
again.
This is the modern method Of putting
away flannel The moth never troubles
cotton, and the old notion of saturating
all woolens with the disagreeable odor
Of camphor is entirely exploded. That
OdOr, by the way, is very difficult to Grad
N i=
effaced, the result being obnoxious in
the extreme-to some persons absolutely
intolerable. 1t is surprising how long a
time 1t has taken for housewives to evolve
this fact out Of the mental rubbish they
have always cherished about the neceSSi-
ty for the use of camphor. but those who
have proceeded on the new plan could not
be induced to change back to the old. All
woods must, of course. be perfectly clean
when they are put away. and it is an i'll
wind which hurries housewife so that
she cannot find time to mend her fiannels
before packing them away for the sum-
mer.
light, airy store room is much to be
desired in any house. as the packing away
of boxes and trunks filled with wearing
apparel in dark closets is unhandy as
we'll as unhealthy. A true housewife
prizes her clothes store room just as she
does her china closet, and keeps it in
equally as good order The floor should
De washed frequently. ana aust S0OulQ
not be allowed to collect on doors and
windows.
Many women imagine that they are
not sufficiently wise to take care of their
own furs in summer frequently sending
them to furriers, who charge almost as
much for keeping them through the
heated term as the furs are worth. This
is all folly, as by giving little attention
to detail one can preserve her own furs
perfectly throughout the summer with
out going to the expense Of employing
anybody to do it for them or to the in
convenience Of sending them away.
a furrier told me just how he pre-
served furs in hot weather. He said
that anybody else could do it just as
we'll as a furrier if they would only get
two slender canes and beat a light tat
too on the furs until every particle of
dust is removed. The next step, he said,
was to air the furs well, but never in
the sunshine, and then to wrap them
closely in linen or cotton cloth and in
close them tightly in a box or trunk. In
very hot weather they should be beaten
and aired once a week. In moderately
warm weather once a fortnight is suffi-
cient-Jenness Miller Magazine