The Portland daily press., 1894-05-28
THE HOME.
The Baby's Shoe.

selection of shoes for the baby's foot.
1t is all well enough to clothe the tender
little extremities in dainty wooden socks
and in shoes with soft kid soles while
the child is yet in arms and does not
stand up on them. 1t seems to the soft
hearted nurse and mother as if nothing
harsher should ever touch the little rose
petal-like feet, and they cry out in hor-
ror at the shoe with the stiff sole. Yet
the moment that the child has to rest
his weight upon his feet, if the foot is
covered at all, it should be with some
thing that can support it and shall not
warp it, and that shoe must have stiff
sole, with no added height whatever for
the heel-a child should never wear a
raised heel at all; it should be worn
by no one till the foot is full grown, &C
cording to Harper's Bazar
The soft kid sole that seems so appro-
pirate to the delicate little foot is too
yielding. AS soft as the foot itself. it
pulls up at the tip, and tilts the grow
ing toe upward, and presses more or less
painfully upon the tops of the little
thin easily impressed nails which it
meets. AS much danger, too, lies in a
stocking that is too tight; that being as
bad as an ill-fitting shoe, arresting de-
velopment, making corns and causing
| 1ngrowing nails, even a hole in the stock
ing sometimes doing that.
A stocking should fit even more care
fully than the shoe, allowing every move
ment of the foot free play; it cannot be
too smooth and line in manufacture, and
It should have as few seams as posi- BILE.
Moreover, its color should be considered,
as there are quite injurious dyes, caus-
ing bad eruptive troubles, and even
blood poisoning, especially in the shades
or green. A large shoe is as apt to
creaIe corns on the foot by rubbing as
small one is by COMPRISING. and stock
Ing is as powerful in this regard as eth
er.
A shoe should always be trife too
long for the wearer, be it child or grown
person, as, owing to the shape that has
been deemed proper among us, there
must be little room allowed for expan-
sion somewhere, and it is more graceful
and le IS noticeable in the length at the
toe than elsewhere. 1t is exactly where
| the action of the foot demands the most
room for play that we usually see the
shoe abbreviated in the effort to make
| and keep it narrow across the ball OF
| the foot.
When one takes bold step, springs
from carriage, runs up or down stairs.
| it is there that the weight and force
are thrown, and it is there then that
absolute freedom is required and seldom
had, SO that the lower joint of the big
toe IS thrown out and deformed irrevo-
cably early in life. Especially is this
| breadth of sole across the ball of the
| foot necessary in children's shoes, as
their bones are still soft and their mus
cles tender, and they are liable to suffer
Chinese sort of compression that
takes away great deal of the fexibility
and strength which depend upon a devel-
opment the bones can never have if
| crowded together. When it is remem-
cred that the feet have an immediate
nervous influence upon the spine, and
that injuries to them are capable of
working havoc IL the nervous health,
it will be seen how important it is that
they should be started upon their growth
in the right way.
Cleaning Cotton Fabrics.
French sateens will clean beautifully
by putting them in lather of luke
warm soapsuds in which there has been
a cup of salt dissolved; rinse in water
also having salt in it.; dip in very thin
starch and roll up in clean sheet; in
two hours iron on the wrong side. Re-
move coffee stains from white dress
with the yolk of an egg mixed with 20
drops of glycerine wash off with warm
water and iron on the wrong side. A
tablespoonful of sal soda in gallon of
cold rinsing water will brighten blue and
purple lawns, while teacup of vinegar
to gallon OF water will improve green
and pink shades. If the color has been
taken, out of linen waist by careless
washing it is claimed that it may be
restored by dipping the article in a solu-
tion of one part of acetic acid to 10 parts
of water. Remove scorch stains from.
our summer muslins by soaking the
cloth i'll luke-warm water, squeezing
lemon juice over it and sprinkling q
little salt also on the stain; then blea Oh
in the sun. Clean black and navy blue
| lawns and batistes by washing in hot
suds containing a cup of salt, rinse in
| very blue water and dry in the shade;
then dip in very blue and thin starch,
| and when nearly dry, iron with moder-
| ately warm iron on the wrong side.
| When you have cleaned all of the mater
| ials on hand the most diff cult part of
your undertaking will have been over
| come, and you will not find it very
difficult matter TO make your old clothes
| appear new. Your nice ginghams and
percales should be washed in moderately
warm water, having salt in it to "set'
| the colors. Dry them in the shade and
| use very thin, warm-not cold--starch: :
| iron on the wrong side with mediumly
| warm iron. Do not soak them over
| night. ladies Home Journal.
Tansy for Ants
| A sure remedy for these summer pests
| is here outlined. Big, fat, black ants,
| and little, lean. scurrying red ants have
| put in their early appearance at ou1
house for the past few summers, taking
possession of every pantry and cellar
shelf where food is kept and persistently
| remaining until frost comes. l have
| tried washing the shelves in alum water.
| and circling the sugar bucket and cake
! box with chalk marks, thick and broad.
to strand the foraging, and sifted spone-
es full of sugar, and when filled with
victims, have plunged them into hot wa
ter. I have put sulphur bags and borax
Jumps and cedar chips and tarred paper
strips in my cupboards and ice chest.
Il