The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-06-08
HINTS FOR AMATEURS.
Best Way to Wash Stockings. Silk and
Wool Underwear and Linens.

The first essential in washing stockings is
tepid water. Put in your stockings right
side out, rub well, turn and rub on the
wrong side. If the color is at all delicate,
rub the feet first, then the legs, so as not to
leave the latter long in the water. Rinse
thoroughly in water of the same tempera-
ture, wiring dry and hang from the tops of
the stockings that if any water Settles
leaving a slight discoloration, it will be in
the toe instead of the leg. If the colored
stockings show signs of running or fading
the color may be set with alum or salt
bearing in mind that the alum is apt to set
the dirt as we'll as the color.
Silk stockings should be washed and
rinsed in lukewarm water, and wrung be-
tween towels. S'lk underwear should be
soaked 20 minutes in warm suds and am
,nonia water allowing a tablespoonful of
ammonia to gallon of water. Rub gently
with the hands, squeezing, pressing but
never scrubbing. Do not be too lavish in
the use of soap, and never rub directly on
the garment-always use it in solution.
Rinse through two clear warm waters Of the
same temperature as the suds, adding to the
last water a trihle of ultramarine blue and
teaspocnful of gum arabic liquid. Smooth
out and hang carefully as possible, SO as to
avoid the wrinkles so hard to iron out of
Silk without injury to the fabric When
nearly dry press under muslin. "
Doiles should be washed gently in warm
suds using only the purest soap. If the
colors are inclined to run, rinse until en-
tirely clear; take out of water without
wringing, lay on a heavy cloth and lay
another over it to absorb the moisture. II
ironed while damp linen needs no starch,
just a suspicion in the last rinsing water is
all that should be used.
Shawls and other crocheted or knitted
wcols may be washed in warm suds in
which a tablespoonful of ammonia to a gal
Ion of water is used. Let the article soak
about 20 minutes, then squeeze it in the
water until clear. Rinse in clear water,
being careful that the temperature remains
the same, and do not starch too much in
ironing or pulling.
Never use smaller or lighter irons than
seven pound one, since it is a waste of
strength as you have to use your own
weight instead of the natural weight and
heat of the iron to press out the wrinkles.
-
Trihing Causes of Great Wars.
Many wars have had triling causes. A
dispatch altered in one or two points by
Bismarck brought the Franco-German
conflict. PalmerstOn said facetiOusly that
only three men in Europe ever knew what
the Schleswig- Holsten troubles which led
to two wars were about, and two of them
died before the conflicts began, while he,
the third man, had forgotten. A sighting
reference by Frederick the Great, of Prussia,
to Madame POmpadour, of France, was said
to have been one of the causes of the Seven
Years war; simetimes called the war of
the three pettcoats, from the fact that
the France of Pompadour and the Russia of
Catherine II. Joined the Austria of Maria
Theresa against Frederick.
According to John Bright, England and
her allies drifted into the crimean war
without realizing it until after they got in,
and they did not know what they were
fighting for even after they got started;
while it is certain that everything which was
supposed to have been fixed by that conflict
was disturbed afterward. The results of the
quarter of century of wars, beginning with
the commencement of the French revolution
and ending with Waterloo, pleased nobody
and settled nothing" according to Sheridan.
The average person who lived in those days
knew as little about the causer CT the
slaughter as old Kaspar did about the battle
of Blenheim when questioned by little Pc
terkin.
But the rise of the people to power in
government has had tendency to diminish
the number of wars. The example which
the United States and England set when,
during Grants first administration, they
settled the Alabama controversy claims by
arbitration, is having influence all over
the world. Africa has been peaceably di-
vided up among several nations in the past
quarter of a century. China is being parti-
toned today amng half a dozen countries
in the same amicable manner. The partl-
tioning of North America between England
and France in the Eighteenth century caus-
ed a number of wars, which, with few
short intervals, lasted about 80 years.
The Hague gathering may take a further
step toward diminishing what Erasmus
called ''the malady of princes '-Leslies
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