Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-01-20
Laundry Work in Winter.

Laundry work in winter and laundry
work in summer are two Numerically
different things. In summer clothes can
be bleached on the grass and dried in
/ the warm sunshine, and while they are
/ whittier for being frozen and thawed
there is seldom warmth enough in the
depth of winter to thaw them on the
! line, and if they are handled in the
! frozen state they are apt to crack. For
| this reason good hOusekeepers will not
allow fine table linen to be dried out of
doors in the winter, even though ii may
be slightly yellow by indoor drying.
Fine handkerchiefs are very easily torn,
and delicate underwear can be ruined
more quickly by being taken from the
lines and folded when frozen than in
any other way.
If white cotton garments are much
stained, freezing will restore them to
their proper color, and if there is time
they can be left on the lines until they
freeze hard and thaw out, provided they
are not handled In q frozen state or left
! to flap about in the wind. Loosely
woven materials, like stockinette, may
also be left outdoors on the lines until
/ they are dry enough to bring into the
house.
A large laundry is very useful place
in winter, as the clothes can be dried
there and the dangers Of freezing avoid
ed. Such a room is also very useful for
ironing in hot weather 1t should be
provided with a laundry stove and the
fire kept up until the clothes are dried.
Flannels and wooden stockinette ought
to be dried on wooden frames, which any
carpenter will make, and which will pre-
vent shrinking. This is because the ult-
mate fiber Of wool is SPIRAL the drawing
up and interlocking of the fbers being
what constitutes shrinkage. In under
wear factories the garments are always
! washed and dried on frames so that they
may be offered soft and unshrunken for
1 sale.
1t is much better and easier to scrub
soiled fannels with a small brush than it
! is to rub them clean on a board. A rather
stiff brush about four or five inches long
is the best article for this purpose. Scrub
the bands and seams of heavy wooden
shirts as we'll as those of cotton, in this
way This small brush is excellent in
washing corsets or any heavy pieces that
are difficult to rub on a board. II the
brush has a small handle the garments
may be more easily cleaned with it.
Many excellent housekeepers disagree
as to the best method of washing white
clothes. Some of them prefer to soak
their clothes over night in cold water.
Others who are equally good managers,
after examining each piece to see if there
are any stains or spots that need special
attention, plunge them into boiling hot
seapsuds and let them stand for several
!
seems to draw out the dirt quite thorough
ly, as the water itself will attest next
morning. The clothes are then lifted out
of this wafer into clean warm water, the
few soiled places that remain are rubbed
out and the clothes are put in the boiler
to come to the boiling point. If the wa
| ter is hard, a tablespoonful of washing
soda, bu no more, should be added to ev-
cry gallon of water in the boiler, the soda
being first dissolved in a little boiling wa
ter. If it is put in without melting it may
eat hole in the clothes. If the water is
soft, a little melted soap should be used
instead Of Soda and soap should be rubbed
over eacL piece as it is put III the boiler.
Very few of the best laundresses boil
their clothes longer than three minutes,
just long enough to allow them to be
| thoroughly scalded Longer boiling only
tends to make white clothes yellow. When
the clothes are taken from the boiler the
water they were boiled in should be
poured over them. and they should be
allowed to stand in it several hours or