Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-02
SOME HOUSEHOLD HINTS

| When a postage stamp will not stick
and most of those one gets Just now will
Eot-and you have no ''gum-stick-'em''
handy, moisten the flap of the envelope
you are about to seal and rub the stamp
over that. 1t usually sticks without trou-
bic if applied quickly.
Add spoonful of powdered borax TO a
bowl of starch to make the linen sitter.
Saturday morning when you make the
coffee, drop the egg shell where it will
get dry and brittle. Then when you are
| cleaning up the vinegar bottles after break
fast, crush the shells and pour them in
the cruet with a drop two Of ammonia
and warm water 1t will clean the bottles
beautifully.
If you want to make a pretty birthday
| cake for a child, select some recipe that
is not very rich and make a layer cake
For the filling make a frosting colored a
bright pink with cranberry juice. and put
a thick layer of the frosting on the top
and around the sides. You can make it
still more attractive by putting the date
and name of the child on the top layer in
white frosting. To do this, make a tiny
cone of stiff white paper, pin it and fill
with frosting; then let 1t run in a thin
stream from the small end, which you use
as kind of pen to do the writing. 1t
makes pretty spot on the birthday table
to set around the cake as many burning
wax candles as the child is years old.
If you would save yourself burned hands
and much annoyance, have plenty of hold
ers around the kitchen stoves-yes around
all the stoves in the house In the kitchen
you can make them of a double piece of
ticking, with layer or two of cotton be-
col he. al<
put loop or ring to hang up by. Three
or four will do. though more will be better,
for they are always being misplaced, and
as fast as they are soiled they should be
put in the wash; they wash easily made
that way. Holders are much nicer than US
ing the nice clean apron or the tail of the
dress to lift hot coffee pot, kettle OR fry
ing pan. For the sitting room and parlor
make the holder Of bit of thick silk and
embroider 1t If you like, making 1t orna-
mental as well useful 1t will come in
handy a dozen times a day.
If you want to make living room hab-
liable when heated by furnace or latro5e
keep large open dish of water standing
close 20 the register. Put fresh water in
the dish every day.
1t is quite an art to arrange flowers in a
fiat bowl or saucer so that they will not
tumble out. For shallow bowl, piece of
wide-meshed netting drawn tightly over
the mouth of the bowl and tied or basted
with thread below the bottom is good
preventive The flower can be stuck
through the meshes into the water. An
other plan is to have a piece of wide
meshed wire netting cut little larger than
the top of the bowl; stick the flowers
through the meshes into the water or wet
earth. For a table or stand, if the basin
for the flowers is shallow, sand or earth
filled to soaking with water is better than
water alone, for Earring the table cabinet
will not make the water slop out. You can
get the flowers with short stems much
cheaper than those with long ones, gen.
orally, and for fiat work they just as
nice. To revive wilted flowers dip the ends
of the stems in pretty hot water for a few
moments, then put in cold water. If you
will put your roses in cold room over
will thus keep much longer.
When you want to whip eggs to a froth,
put tiny pinch of salt in them. Both
should be as cold as possible, to froth We'll
AS fast you can. acquire good kitchen
utensils. Nothing SO much eXpedites work
as plenty of the proper kind of tools The
best vessels to COOK in are earthenware.
be used. So much of the tin made now
adayS is poor, and the tin cooks off in acid
fruits and ScrapeS Oil when you are STIR
ring things. Iron pots and pans will darken
almost everything that is cooked in them.
Granite warc-the best-costs great deal,
and wears out in time, but good earthen-
ware l2StS forever, unless you are careless
and break it,
To make a good bouillon. or beef tea, put
pint of cold water to each pound of beef
cut the beef in at least pound pieces-and
set the vessel on the back of the stove to
simmer for at least three hours. Then set
it over hot fire. to cook fast for half
hour. Strain it and set 1t away to cool
and settle. When cold, pour off into a
clean, bright vessel, and put in it the
beaten white and shell of one egg, one
small onion and little pieces of carrot and
turnip, with teaspoonful of burnt sugar.
Stir, settle and strain again; when ready to
serve. heat and salt it well; it takes good
deal of salt.
To test a ham that you are cooking, slip
sharp knife in along the bone. If 1t
comes out milky-looking the ham is not
done; if Clean it is.
Wrapping paper. old newspapers and the
various useless odds and ends that collect
about kitchen are an awful nuisance. II
you put them in the fire it smudges 1T out;
If you throw them in the ash barrel it
soon fills 1t up; IL you have no particular
place to put them they get around under
foot and annoy you that way. All good.
smooth brown paper should be neatly fold
ed up and laid on shelf In place set
apart for ii. 1t never comes amiss to have
1t about; you want 1t for lunches, to send
away packages to do up the laundry in;
you want 1t for dozen things. and prob
ably never have a clean piece at hand The
paper bags should be put away in the same
manner. 1t Is a small economy, but saves
a great deal of time when you want either.-
The Irvine that comes around the pack
ages should be made up in ball and kept
In tiny box basket hung high out OF
the reach Of small hands. yet handy to run
to when you want bit or cord. For the
useless odds and ends make bag out of
cheap print cretonne, or piece one out
md
be strong One as large as a common flour
sack will not be too large. Gather it at the
bottom, and fasten with bow of cambria.
and at the top make a wide hem, into
which put thick wire or small hoop.
Hang this in a corner of the kitchen out
of the way and throw into it all the bits
of paper cloth and trash of that chr
acter When the bag is full roll the con-
tents in a big newspaper and tie with
string and pile up In the coal house till
you have the ashes carted away, and then
it can be carried away without trouble or
extra cost. You can have half dozen
such bundles and not notice the room they