The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-03-11
Washing Day.
Eugene Field

There has been feeling that Mon
day, being the day good housekeepers
reserve for washing, must be "blue
Monday" with steamy house, sloppy
floors, cold dinners and general dis
comfort. When it is such it speaks ill
for the executive ability of the house
mother. There is nothing about wash
ing in itself to make it dreaded. On
the contrary, there is real pleasure to
be found in warm water and suds, and
one can carry the symbolic side of the
cleansing as far as she chooses. There
are few household duties utterly with
out poetry if one chooses to find it, and
it is better than drudgery to seek.
The way to make work poetry in
stead of drudg cry is to know how to
do it to the best advantage, and if one
has this knowledge on washing day the
soiled linen becomes white and the
house is in order before noon. System
is needed for this as for all other kinds
of domestic labor. Brains help more
than muscle.
All clothes should be sorted-tl,e
very dirty in one pile, and so on. Per-
sonal linen should be kept by itself.
dlC WHICu
simplify work wonderfully, so that
washing for family of nine can be done
in three hours; but for those who have
none, this is an easy way, which has
been tested and proved good.
1t is not we'll to leave clothes soaking
long time in the same water, but
soaking does take out great deal of
the dit. If at night the clothes are put
to soak after all the dirtiest spots have
been rubbed with soap, and spoonful
of kerosene allowed to a pailful of
water, then this water let off and the
tub filed with clean water before one
goes to bed, by morning the water,
| kerosene and soap will have done the
most part of the washing. In the
morning the clothes should be wrung
from the tub, the soiled parts rubbed
again with soap, and put on to boil.
They should be put into cold water
with spoonful of kerosene for the
boiler full of water, and boil only five
minutes. Too long boiling sets the
dirt. In the first boiler put table linen,
in the second the bedding, in the third
the underwear, and in the last all the
busters, cleaning cloths, etc. There
will be no need of more rubbing, for
boiling and sunlight will of themselves
without further aid whiten anything.
Rinsing is the secret of keeping
clothes free from sreaks. Three rims
ings are better than two. Wiring from
one to the other, being sure that every
part of the garment receives its share
of the water. In the last rinsing water
put the bluing, but do not sprinkle it
loosely into the tub. First mix it with
water in bowl then turn it into the
tub, stirring it all about, and do this
before anything except water is put
into the tub. In this water the clothes
will be free from spots of blue and will
look like new cloth. Colored clothes
are washed in the same way, emitting
soaking and boiling.
Flannels will never shrink nor full
up if washed and rinsed in water of the
same temperature through all the
changes, and dried without exposure
to great heat or cold. In washing fan.
nels the soap should be dissolved in the
water, never rubbed on the garments.
Borax added 10 the water helps the
cleansing process.
Starching for large articles is best
done with boiled starch, and by follow
ing the directions which are on every
box there will be no trouble with starch
sticking to the irons. For colored
clothes the starch should be colored
with bluing if the garments are blue or
black, with weak coffee If they are
brown. Clothes must be thoroughly
dried before sprinkling if they are to
receive the full benefit of the starch.
No articles embroidered with silks
should be put to soak. They should be
washed, rinsed and dried out of the
sun, as quickly as possible, and should
not be part of the family wash.
All stained clothes must be treated
by themselves before being added to
the tubs contents. Bloodstains must
and scalded with hot, and they will dis
appear. Machine oil will yield to soap
and cold water if nothing else has been
used on it. For berry tea and grass stains
pour literally boiling water upon them
and let them stand in the water The
water must boil, or it will be useless to
try it. Ink stains, even old ones, may
be removed by washing them in hot
mutton tallow, then pouring boiling
water upon them. Several treatments
are sometimes necessary, but this is a
sure cure. Paint finds its antidote in
kerosene, which will wash out without
leaving a stain on cotton dress. Mil
dew is the hardest of all things TO re-
move. A paste of soft soap and starch
spread over it, and the garment laid out
in the sun is the best for it.
Colored clothes should be hung in
the shade to dry and taken in as soon
as possible, as light fades them.
Stained or gray-white clothes will