Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-26
H O U S EHOLD HINTS

Home starchers often fall to get the
starched things stir enough. A woman
who knows, says that wine glass full Of
strong borax water in each pint of starch
will remedy the difficulty.
Palms, India rubber plants and all foliage
pets need a bath every little while, just the
same as human beings. Once a week Is
and plenty Of lukewarm water, with
soft and tender touch, will do the business.
Shabby black belts. shopping bags and
such things can be made to renew their
youth by giving them coat of shoe var
nish. Two coats will answer still better.
Don't teach the lisping child slang ex-
pressions, or permit others to teach them
to it. nor to be impairment to its elders.
| Those things sound very cute when the
child is learning to talk, but when it gets
a little older, it is called pert, and will soon
be said to be impudent.
Wash the dishcloths! Careless house
keepers have no idea Of the death and de-
struction that turks in an old dishcloth.
Any old thing will do for dishcloth, in the
opinion of far too many, and when 1t gets
too black TO use any longer, a new rag Is
substituted, and the old one thrown on the
ash heap to rot. The dishcloth will sour
in half an hour these blistering days, II 1t
is not washed with soap and rinsed and
hung in the sun to dry. All the washing
will not sweeten 1t, unless 1t is put where
1t will dry. 1t is simply awful to sit down
to table where the dishes smell sour, but
you often do. in nice houses, too, where
you would expect to find everything inn
maculate.
If you can stand acids try q lemonade
made pretty sour, for your morning appe-
tiZer. 1t sometimes works wonders in
clearing the system of its bilious symptoms.
Sometime, perhaps. we will learn that the
stomach is the seat of most Of the ills
that flesh is heir If the digestion ia
good the tone of the whole system remains
normal, but the instant the digestion Is
Impaired everything goes wrong. There
are more drugs sold to sweeten the stom-
ach and promote digestion than all the
others put together. The sensible thing to
do would be to eat in moderation the rich
viands put before us. and the instant that
we find certain things do not agree with
us to give them up rather than go on eat
ing them and taking doses of drugs to cor
rect the trouble.
If you will insist on spelling fresh fruit
by putting it into pies do make the pies
fit to eat while you are about it. The wo-
man who Skimps her shortening in pie
crust dough is guilty of crime. 1t is only
fit for food when 1t is puffy and crisp. Use
fruit unsparingly, and let its juice be juice
and not water. Most fruit needs as much
as Its bulk in sugar when made into a
pie. Flour the upper side of the bottom
crust, sprinkle flour pretty thick over the
fruit before putting on the top, and flour
the under side of the top. Bake the pie
In an evenly hot oven till it is golden
brown. white pie is an offense against
good taste. An undone pie Is simply hor-
rible, SO be sure that your oven bal.es
well in the bottom. Made after this fash
ion, there is not much danger of the juices
all boiling out while the pie is baking.
For the sting Of insect, dampen the
the spot. Baking soda dampened and put
on like plaster is good, and camphor is
sometimes efficacious.
Never put damp clothes into the soiled
linen hamper. They take on musty odor,
and if the weather is at all warm, they
sour, and will mildew everything the
dampnesS touches.
A fruitful source of disease is found in
old rags. One of the strong arguments that
MIR. Dingley used against imported ''shod-
dy,' which is 'chawed' rags was the fact
that this shoddy was made of rags gath
cred from everywhere, that they were not
cleaned, and that they carried unmention-
able diseases with them. 1t is well enough
to save the rags, but wash them and boil
them before you put them in the rag poke.
Then you will be sure that no scarlet fever
or smallpox will ever come out of your rag
bag.
Seems to me the servants of the present
day are dreadfully incompetent" sighed a
woman the other day, and one who, though
a grandmother, couldn't show one of her
maids how to make bed properly. my
mothers servants knew how to do every
thing. Mine can't boil water without burn
ing 1t, 1t seems to me-" The woman's
mother was capable Yankee, who could
roll up her sleeves and do a wash, make
pies, embroider an altar cloth, or milk a
cow. Her mother taught her that it was
disgrace not to know how to do everything
about house and farm. After marriage
she never had to put her knowledge to USE
excep. to teach her servants She taught
lust set. for thew tam
remained with her till she died. Incom-
petent servants are the reflex, in too many
instances, of incompetent mistresses. That
man or woman never lived who would not
be lax in the performance of duties IL the
head seemed Indifferent, or ignorant of
how service should be rendered. or did not
know how to correct shortcomings When
servants find that the women thew work
for are ignorant, they soon become Slip
shod and Indifferent about their work, be-
cause the mistress cannot show them how
to do things differently.
To clean fine imitation laces, partly fill a
large-mouthed bottle with hot water. and
put to each pint teaspoonful of powdered
borax, shave up a tablespoonful of white
soap and melt 1t over the fire, and pour in
to the bottle. Into this drop the lace. put
on the top and shake the bottle vigorously
Let it stand for awhile and shake again
Pour out half the water, pour in enough to
fill the bottle two-thirds full and shake
again. Empty all the water, just draining
from the lace, and fill two-thrds full of
lukewarm water and borax in old proper
ton. Lastly, rinse in clear warm water
slightly blued if you like, spat the lace
between clean folds of muslin or a linen
towel, then spread on a clean sheet, and
smooth every thread and loop. When al
most dry. fold and place under a heavy
weight. 1t will be smooth when dry, and
will not need to be ironed, and will be as
fresh as new. Never rub, and do not wiring.
The very best way to wash fine lawns or
organizes is to make big pailful of flour
starch in the usual way Perhaps recipe
will be welcome. Have boiling at least two
gallons of water. Take half pint of sifted
flour and stir in a pint of cold water, with
a big tablespoonful of table salt. Mix till
it Is smooth. Stir 1t into the boiling water
and cook for five minutes. 1t should be
about thick as good cream, and If it
isn't, stir up more flour. Strain it twice
for it must be as smooth as satin. Pour
into tub, and when at blood heat put
your lawn in and souse 1t around for three
minutes, squeezing it in your hands, and
rubbing the worst soled spots gently. Then
pour in a quart or two of warm water, put
in the wash board. and rub the dress gen.