The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-02-13
How to Clean House,

in the attic which is the storcroom for
oaston things of the year in clothing and
furniture, In the course of six months
an awful lot of rubbish accumulates there,
and at housekeeping is good time to get
rid of It, In house where there arc chill
dron there is always considerable castoff
clothing to look over. Some of it will do
very nicely to cut over for younger chill
dron and that should be brushed and
aired, then folded away in box kept for
that purpose. The garments that are out
grown and cannot be remodeled should be
put in another box, ready to bestow on
some worthy person less fortunate than
yourself.
Do not hoard up old garments against
possible need next year" If you do not
see possible chance of making use of
them in the next six months, put them in
the poorbox. They will bring you
richer blessing there. Examine the broken
furniture that has been slowed away. If
it can be mended, have it done at once, be-
fore knocking about has destroyed the
usefulness of piece TO which you are at
tached. If you find that it is too worn and
shabby for your own house, perhaps you
know some deserving person who is in
genious enough to fix it up and would be
very glad to do so for the gift of it, Other
wise throw it into the kindling wood
heap. There Ism + a particle of sense in
cluttering up house with lot of useless
old rubbish. Unless you are sure that
dilapidatud furniture can be fixed up IL Is
bad Judgment to send it to the attic any
how.
Look over the old papers and magazines
and make package of those you do not
intend to have bound to send to the hos
pital or some institution, where a bit of
reading material is a perfect boon. After
sorting over and putting away all the
trash in the attic you have heap of litter
that it is useless to try to put away
Dump it on the ash heap OF bride your
scrubwoman to relieve you of it. Then
sweep and dust and mop out the attic all
ready to receive the stores that will come
up from the lower part of the house. 1t
will probably take you whole day to go
over the attic properly. If you discover
any signs of that terror Of the housewife
-bedbugs-make war on them at once
A machine oil can of gasoline is good
companion in such an emergency. Use
1t freely on infected spots. 1t will kill
eggs and insects instantly and evaporates
almost as soon as applied. Do not have a
lighted lamp or gas around when you use
1t, though, nor for some time after, I'M
less you have raised the windows and
aired the attic.
If you have found moths, take all the
infected clothes out into the sunshine
Beat and shake them well, then brush and
If practicable dampen and run a hot iron
over them Moths are the meanest pests
that ever got into a house. They do more
damage in day than can be repaired in
a year, and there is absolutely no way
known yet, except vigilance, that will
keep them out of wooden clothing and
furs After you have everything cleaned
and sweet smelling in the attic, get pint
of sulphur and put in an old iron kettle
and set 1T over an oil stove or charcoal fire
in the attic. Close the windows and doors
and let it burn itself out.
Then you may be reasonably sure that
there are no microbes or bacilli lurking
around to descend upon and destroy the
family. Be sure to remove all clothing
that sulphur will be apt to dscolor. 1t
will injure nothing else. After cleaning
the attic go through every closet in the
house next and give each the same treat
ment. Then 1 begin on the house proper
In cleaning the other rooms of the house
/ seldom attempt more than two at once
/ select one room on the floor to be clean
ed-thaU | want for q workroom-and
have the carpets taken up and the furni-
ture covered Into this room | have all
the pictures, bric-a-bra and furniture car
ried and piled up out of harms way Tho
carpets from the two rooms are carried
out to be shaken and busted and then |
have the dusty floors sprinkled with bits
of torn paper that have been dampened
When swept, no dust is raised to penetrate
other portions of the house The walls
are swept down with a broom, over which
a flannel cloth is pinned, and an applica
ton of elbow grease.
If there are grease spots, take them
out with an application of pipe clay made
into paste and applied damp. The grease
is generally extracted by the time the clay
is dry. Where there are smoke stains
from gas or from the register l have the
places rubbed with rag and corn or oat
meal. This will not remove the smoke
stains always, but will as a general thing.
l have taken such stains off with rag sat
urated with gasoline, but that has to be
done very carefully, or you will smear the
paper. After the walls are cleaned the
woodwork should be washed with ammo
mia water, or borax If you like. use borax
for everything because / like its action
better. If you have soap used, see that it
is not I've soap, because that will take the
life out of the paint and make it Look
dead 1t will soon wear off, too, after be-
ing washed with strong soap
Then have the floor secured with good
strong lye water unless 1t Is stained or
oiled; then Of course you will have it wipcd
up with hot water only, as anything else
would extract both color and Oil If you
have feared that there might be moths in
the edges of the room, the hot water
should be used freely and then train of
gasoline put around all the cracks. AS
soon as the floor is dry have the carpets
put down.
While the carpets are being put down
you can be cleaning the pictures. Re
move the backs and wash the glass and
dust the picture, then clean the frame
carefully and hang as soon as the carpets
are down. Dust and rub up the chairs,
using some good furniture polish if neces-
sary, or if there are no scars IA rubbing
with Kerosene rag AN after polish
with a flannel cloth viii benefit almost all
kinds of who'd CIpuu thp hp1stond and