The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
FOR FEMININE READERS
A vExED PROBLEM OF THE LAUN-
DRY SETTLED BY AUTHORITY.
How Shreyyd Young woman Secured
Free Advertising-HOw Last Gen.
fury Bellies Kept Their Beauty.

the good of my kind, / am quite willing to
let my kind in general profit by my good
fortune and experience, for l hardly re-
member the day when did not know how
to put fannels in order, says writer in the
New York Times. All of which may sound
superf1uous but which is to the point inso-
much as it refers to the open secret in the
matter.
Anybody can do it-only nowadays no.
body is willing to become an apprentice
Nobody is willing to practice small details
and so acquire skill, without which perfec-
ton is not attained, for the knack of do
ing things properly comes to few. Every
thing must come in easy jumps, or long
jumps, or we must arrive at results in
seven-league boots
Plant wool is a phrase to remember. A
plant garment is more comfortable than
a stiff one, and the garments that come
in contact with the skin should be plant
and most soft. For example, birds and ami
mails are Immediately covered with softest
down, hair, easily and gradually venti-
lated, cleansed and dried.
To make fannels soft they must first be
clean, and to cleanse them water should
be soft and warm enough to loosen the dirt
or oil, or perspiration or all three.
The fibers of cotton and linen and wool
differ greatly. 1t is interesting to note the
difference under microscope, but as every
laundress is not expected to be a micros-
copiSt a few practical points may be made
clear by little common sense and observa-
ton Pass hot iron over the dry surface
of cotton and linen and wool, and note the
different results. Silk and wool may be
similarly treated with similar results.
These are animal products and are closely
akin.
Under warm iron (skill and experience
must ascertain the degree of heaD wool
and silk will soften and you may stretch
it. Herein lies the secret of success. Wool
and silk should be pressed and stretched
and turned and pressed and stretched,
and turned and pressed again until it is
perfectly dry and plant and every fiber
mas telt the gentie handllng; AT lengtn the
garment may be ironed in shape, and then,
if the process has been skillfully managed,
the garment will look almost like new and
it may be worn for years and become
threadbare without thickening or shrink
ing, as l have piles of old fiannels to tes-
tify; f1annels through which you may see
like gauZe, fiannelS of pure WOOL white
wool, natural wool, silk and wool.
Right here l should like, to add a word
about garments of mixed wool and cotton
or wool and silk. The combination is un
scientific and unnecessary, if not harmful.
Being of different nature-difrerent fiber
cotton and wool are not so easily cleansed.
Their absorbing qualities are diSsmilar.
Moisture does not pass through them equal
ly and they dry unequally, so that the
skin is in danger from draughts under cot
ton clothing where it would weather
storm under wooden stuff. Sometimes after
perspiring you may observe that the side
of the garment next the skin is warm and
dry where the moisture has passed through
and the outside of the garment is damp.
Witness this in a horse blanket, and see
that the blankets for valuable horses are of
pure wool.
A whole treatise might be written on the
subject, and SO closely does it all concern
human life and comfort that it is really
str hat hos mt hon
knowledge among us. We use more cotton
than many peoples, and there is nothing
under the sun like the rush of our modern
life. Perhaps our ignorance of much house
hold skill lies in the fact that many of our
working people have no real home life, and
that those in easier circumstances either
yield to the rush or lose their ease.
The peasants in France wear wool, and
they know how to care for it., or there is a
''blanchsseuSe dordinaire" who does know
how, and who keeps the fiannels as soft as
a bslbys skin. These competent working
woi1e en- soften their water with bran. Com
mon bran with soap shaVingS are made up
into q bag and boiled in the water. Boil
ing water softens f1annels, but there is also
a cleansing and soften.ng power in the bran.
Flannels washed i'll this water at d comfort
able temperature to handle, will be clean
and soft and perfect, if properly dried and
pressed
Flannels should never be sprinkled. In
this climate they seldom are too dry to
press, but sometimes when the air is singu-
larly dry and hot, 1t may be found neces-
sary to moisten them before pressing, and
this can be done by wringing heavy towels
out of the hottest water possible to bear the
hands in and wrapping the hannels in the
hot cloths, then rolling them smooth and
close and laying in a warm place ready for
pressing. If the garment should become
too damp, the process of pressing and
stretching and turning should be equally
prolonged. Experience will determine this
1t is not long or tedious. 1t is work. as all
household comfort comes from work, but it
is not rushing work. For one who does not
really love homework it is as pleasant as
mending or darning any family work,
and, indeed, l have often done the hannels
for my little ones for love, just as l would
do a frill or flower for them, and have
taught the maid who helps about the house
and children to do them.