The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-08-24
THEHoME
A Furniture Polish.

model furniture reviver. 1t is what pro-
fesslonals rely on; as rule, they use no
other, The woodwork should be first care
fully wiped off with dry, soft cloth,
and the dust thoroughly removed from
corners and carvings. The best article
to accomplish this is largo paint brush,
usually called q painters buster. The
other may then re applied with smaller
brush, wiped off with soft cloth and
rubbing thoroughly dry. 1t will be found
that dents and scratches lose their promi-
method be pursued regularly there will
| be no ditfic ulty experienced in having
furniture retain a fresh appearance.
| Care of Sponges.
There are few things that are SO care
| lessly handled and which give SO little
satisfaction, for this reason, as bathing
sponge A large sponge is always some
what expensive item, and when it be-
comes odorous as it sometimes does after
little use, one hesitates to throw it
away at once, expecting to restore it,
This is very difficult matter to accom-
plish; repeated scaldings will often fail
to make sponge sweet and soft, as it
was originally The best way to do is to
take care of it at first. If the sponge is
freed from soapsuds and hung where it
will get dry each time after it is used, it
will not become sour. In order to do
after using it, and rinse it in cold water.
Squeeze it as dry as you can with the
hands, but do not wiring it, as that would
break the fbres. 1t is a good thing to
| dry sponges in summer in the bright
sunshine. In winter they must be dried
| by artificial heat, and for this reason
special care must be taken to rinse them
clean after using them.
1t is q great mistake to shut sponge
up in close box, even though it may
be one of solid silver. A sponge shut up
in this way with the least dampness is
sure to acquire an impure odor in time.
The best place to keep a sponge is on
hanging earthern tray, or in an open bas-
ket of wire, near the bath tub, where it
can dry and is always convenient. There
is a great difference in the quality of
sponges. A good bathing sponge has
rather coarse pores, but it is soft and
strong in texture. The most expensive
sponges, however, are the tiny ones,
which have the very finest holes and a
silken texture. They are used for wash
ing little children and by surgeons. 1t is
always better to purchase sponge of a
wholesale dealer, who handles them from
the original package as they come to
Market OR from a trustworthy druggist
| The sponges that are sold by sidewalk
vendors and are very white and clean
looking are said to be often the refuse
sponges thrown away by hospitals, and
afterward collected, cleaned and bleached
by acid by the Italians, who usually vend
them. A sponge that has been bleached
| is brownish yellow or a light yellow ill
color. New York Tribune.
House Nerves.
Energetic, care-free individuals laugh
at the suggestion of such an ailment as
house nerves. and say it is only imagin-
airy. But thousands of women, says the
New York Press, will testify otherwise.
|
their time indoors frequently become
morbid, brooding and irritable. The
failure of any member of the family to
reach home at the usual time brings forth
gloomy forebodings of disaster. The
absence of any one at night causes floor
walking and tears, even though such
person be of mature years, sound health
and abundant ability to care for himself.
A projected journey is overcast by recitals
of horrible accidents. Meals are unsatis-
factory, clothes never fit, NO one sympa-
thizes or condoles with the sufferer.
| The reasons of house nerves are legion.
Introspection is one. Let woman sit
at home day after day, week in and week
out, and analysis of everything and per-
son within her ken naturally follows, her
self included. A woman who studies her
self, her wants and desires, her ailments
and loneliness is on fair road to an
asylum did she but know it.
! Some women it is true, are tied down
| by children and household cares to a
ceaseless indoor life, but they are not
generally the ones who succumb to house
nerves one reason being that, forced out
of contact with others they yearn always
for the privilege of mingling in some sort
of society, embracing every chance thrown
in their way toward that end. But the
woman who stays at home because she
might get sick by venturing out in the
cold or because her neighbor can entertain
better than she can or dress better, or
perhaps the habit has become fixed by
degrees to that extent that it is like
parting with tooth to get ont OF the
routine-this is the woman who broods
and fancies and cries over mental pictures
of catastrophes that never happen and
meets troubles which never come ANY
parent who owns a highly imaginative
child owes it to society at large to throw
| it in with healthy, merry companions
who always effect cure, for mirth is in
fictitious. But if the unhappy owner is
repressed and kept indoors, some family
in the future will feel the effects.
The cure is simple, but few follow it.