St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-06-28
The Household.

A professional picture-hanger gives in
an exchange a way to make nails and
screws hold firmly in the plaster Of
wall. This is to enlarge the hole made
by the screw, moisten the edge of the
plaster thoroughly with water, then fill
the space with plaster of Paris, pressing
the screw into the soft plaster. The lat
ter hardens around the screw or nail and
keeps it in place.
The thrifty housekeeper should remem-
Der that even the tough part Of the aspar-
agus stalk-that which the average cook
throws into the refuse pail-will con-
tribute something of flavor and value to
the soup-kettle.
A magazine devoted to sick-room diet
suggests a process by which the, to
many, disagreeable taste of milk after it
has been boiled may be prevented. This
is to drop small piece OF paraffine into
the milk; this melts at 70 c., and spreads
out over the surface, allowing the escape
OF all gases, but preventing the access of
air, to which the cooked taste is due. OF
course, the paraffine is as harmless on
milk as it is on jelly.
Little onions are now boiled and served
on toast after the manner of asparagus.
This affords change from the stereo-
typed way OF serving, and will usually
be found most acceptable.
series OF small Japanese pictures was
seen recently, prettily framed together in
a long. narrow frame. The mat looked
to be of mating, but a closer examina-
ton showed that it was the mating
paper much used for wall dados. This
paper can be bought by the yard at any
decorators where an extensive assort-
ment is kept. Little booklets of Japan
ese pictures are often to be had, or a
magazine article on Japan may afford a
sufficient number of illustrations to pro-
duce a set.
Keep little package OF absorbent cot
ton in one of the sideboard drawers. If
oil, milk or cream is spilled on a wooden
dress or coat, a bit of the cotton instantly
applied will remove all traces of the
stains.
1t is the suggestion of housewife that
molasses will remove the grass stains
often found on the summer clothing of
children. The molasses is rubbed on as
ifit were soap, after which the garment
is washed as usual.
Bread crumbs crushed to a coarse DOW
der are admirable to clean delicate lamp
shades, screens, pillows, fringes, scaris
and panels made of boiling cloth, and
numerous other articles whose decora-
tive Office is sadly curtailed from the deli
cacy of their materials and their hitherto
difficult cleansing. espot to be cleaned
must be spread on fiat surface and the
crumbs laid on it; then with soft, clean
cloth these are rubbed around and
around with even strokes. The crumbs
must be frequently renewed, the soiled
ones thrown away and fresh layer put
on. When the cleansing operation is
over, light shaking or brushing with
a soft, fine brush removes every vestige
OF crumb dust, and the result, even in the
most fragile and delicate OF fabrics, is
most satisfactory.
A treatment highly recommended by a
scientific magazine for poisoning from
ivy, is to wet slice of bread with water,
dust it with common washing soda, and
apply to the eruption, keeping the bread
wet from the outside. Half AN hour Of
this treatment is said to be sure cure.
/ remember a thrifty woman, in the
days when ice was more expensive than
now, who used to rattle a spoon about
in the lemonade pitcher to make her
guests believe that bits of ice were in the
beverage which was being served. She
believed in the power of other senses than
taste TO make what we eat and drink
seem palatable. 1t is this catering to
imagination that suggests using as much
glass as possible in table setting in hot
weather. Pressed glass is almost as
cheap as dirt, and some of it closely re-
sembles cut glass, if the pattern is selected
with care and the glass is washed
properly. Contrast table on which is
plenty OF glassware and bunch OF
flowers having an abundance of green
leaves, with one set with heavy white
ware and no flowers, or bunch of gaudy
blossoms without the cool green leaves.
The memory of that spoon has melted
me to many successful subterfuges in
making the house seem COOL New Eng
land Farmer.