Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-01-25
SOME USEFUL SCRAPS.

SOME USEFUL SCRAPS.
Ii IL said that mother nature turns all
the odds and ends 10 her great home
keeping apartments to some good 40
count. Nothing 10 wasted.
Under mother natures supervision all
over her domain are house mothers who
pattern more or less after her. do my
self little, and have been the gamer.
My New England mother taught me to
be saving. The girl whose mother has
not so taught her has been denied the bet
ter part OF her education.
One day visited the home Of poor,
charity-attended woman who finds It
difficult to feed and clothe her children,
even with the help OF others who have
had better teachings In the little things.
All around the steps outside Of the door
were buttons In the dirt, and pins, as II
these had been swept out with the spi-
ders and litter OF the kitchen. By the
side OF the house was once-on-a-time
cane bottom chair. The cane was falling
through the frame In tattered, stiff,
drspery. The children were hammering
away at some tacks and pieces Of single
on the sloping cellar doors: while, two
feet from them were cracked and broken
dishes, and rags, and bent stove pipe.
The wire screens of the windows were
ripped from their moorings, and the
door hung by one hinge.
Inside, things were no better. need
not draw the picture for 1t Is familiar TO
all who visit the home Of the average
poor. 1t seems as II poverty and shift
lessness 90 hand In hand, lettering along
city slums, and tagging In country lanes.
Ii Is all because the poor, who live In
this way, have never been taught to
save the scraps, nor to put to good ac-
count seconds and minutes Of time,
which, combined with the scraps, would
make orderly and comfortable many a
squslid home.
A secondhand button or pin IL rs
good as new; the broken cane bottom Of
chair may be cut out, and a piece Of
carpet substituted with the tscks which
the children were wasting. Broken dishes
msy be mended, as will be seen, and
rags washed clean are very useful In =
poor home, or any other home. Mouse
holes or wide cracks In the floor may be
pieced over with bits OF tin cut neatly,
while there IL no excuse for torn screens.
have found box Of plaster Of Paris
whose lid, shutting tightly, keeps out
the damp, very useful. Wherever there
Ia break in the plastering Of the house,
this white powder, wet 10 a thick cream
(only just enough for present use as II
hsrdens quickly makes an otherwise
a -.
With thin knife blade the mixture u
packed into the break or the naughty
nail holes" and smoothed over, wetiing
the knife at the last stroke, and one Il
surprised al the result. IL the walls are
old or gray stir dust OF fine ashes or
charcoal into the paste, and there Is no
staring white spot 10 tell tales.
| Ny especial treasure In the scrap
drawer Is broken roll Of picture wire,
the silver-white, twisted wire cord. i,
cost but trifle but brings me splendid
returns. There Is usually some left over
when the pictures are hung. II IL orna'
corrode with time and use. II feel the
handle OF pretty pitcher crate with
that peculiar rasp so familiar TO the
housekeeper, warning her OF the inev
table moment when the pitcher and IL:
handle must part company, know tina,
| have a remedy at hand better than any
''chins cement" In the land. Especially
Ia this remedy valuable In case OF {
breaking heirloom or old piece valued
for the sake Of friendship or associa.
ton.
take good length Of the pictur,
cord, and wind II about the handle criss'
cross In pretty way, and then once OF
twice about the base OF the article, when
10, there are both beauty and safety
One has no fear In lifting II, though Il
be full OF cream or tes, for Judging from
my experience, that particular chinI
receptacle will outwesr two new ones
Tea pots, crooks, any dish with firm
base may be so mended, though one
must use pinchers 10 twist the knot, q.
the fingers alone fail TO pull the wir,
tightly enough.
This picture wire IL q splendid thlns
10 repair those rattan chairs, or tn,
wicker work OF any sort, which we al
love TO have In our psrlors and bed
rooms. am so partial to the use OF tn,
wire as preventive" that almost I'm
mediately wire new chair. Back auc
forth, in and out Of the meshes, pull
the silver cord, always using the pinch
ers; across the back where the greatest
strain will come, sometimes In two row,
OF silver. and twist the knot on the bsci
side, nipping the ends short with scis
sors.
Take wooden chopping bowl Of tn,
oblong pattern; by and by there Is sure
TO be tiny crack In one end, the fore
runner OF "split" following the line OF
the wood grain. "A stitch In time saves
nine" though that rhyme deserves no as
ISOLATION with good ones. The idea Is al
right. Across the ends Of the choppins
bowl, fast In two grooves which hsv,
been niched with pocket knife, Il
wound the picture wire, securely twist
ed and knotted with the fingers. LIE,
wetting and drying come TO that chop
ping bowl In its inevitable future, nc
extremes Of either condition can succeed
in breaking the wood apart when once
the scrap Of wire has joined the whole.
Take basket, 4 fsvorite one for pic
nicking, the edge Is broken bit-only q
bit, but one knows how soon the whole
strong margin will untwist and rave
until there Is no border, and the baske,
IL useless. Wind the edge securely and
artistically with the picture wire and the
basket Is both saved und beautified. II
the cord goes time or two around the
handle, II will not suffer either In gooG
looks or usefulness.
have even wired glass fruit Jar In
canning time, which had cracked but
not come apart, by the same simple de.
vice. The wire being so tightly pulled
and fastened by the pinchers the jar was
even more secure than before.
My little daughter, peeping over nv
shoulder as love to have her, suggest:
that have said enough about picture
cord and thinks had better change the
subject. So l viii skip from wire to ad.
hesive plaster.
During the year there are tumblers
and goblets which somehow meet with
sad accidents. This Ia common In those
happy households where the boys do
some Of the dish washing. We don't
call it washing dishes at our house, but q
branch Of domestic science. That IL, we
call ii that when we think Of 1t.
Well, as said, the glasses get broken
not smashed all to fragments, but Just
cracked, or three cornered pieces broken
out Of the edge. Now these glasses are
never thrown away. We have learned
| some things OF surgeon. who happens