The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-02-25
The Laundering of Linens.

Many a young housekeeper who has
started her career as house manager witt
goodly supply of table linens, which
she was assured possessed excellent
wearing qualities, has been keenly dis
appointed to find that after comparative
Ily short wear her linens have begun to
look shabby or some have even come to
the point where they are about ready
to break into holes.
II her linens were really good grade
and hand bleached, it is probable that
the cause of this early decay in them
is due in large part to carelessness in
the laundering Both the mangle of
the public steam laundry and the clothes
wringer operation in ones own kitchen,
may work serious destruction upon lin.
ems if they are carelessly used.
In every city there are some laundries
known for their painstaking work, but
other laundries, with less careful work
ing staff, cannot always be depended up
on to launder linens satisfactory. Ii
your good tablecloths or napkins are put
into the mangie with garments having
buttons on them and the mangle is
roughly worked, holes may easily enough
be made in the linen by the friction OF
the buttons.
If the maid in the kitchen tightens
the ringer too sharply when ringing the
clothes, in order to save herself time
or work by quicker drying, this may
bring so severe pressure upon the folds
o linen that though the threads will not
break at once, they will be weakened,
and any subsequent strain will cause
them to fall apart. The same thing hap
pens when cloths and napkins are ironed
by hand with very heavy pressure or
with very heavy irons. They show
wear first at the creases, where these are
made in the same place week after week.
Linens to be kept snowy white must
be washed with good soap. Mild, rather
than strong soaps should be used, as the
strong soaps are liable to weaken the
gum of the flax fibre, which renders the
threads strong. If the soap is allowed
20 remain in the fibre and not properly
'insed, linens quickly become dingy look
ng. Every bit of the soap should be
rinsed out of the linen.
Most people prefer to use their table |
loths, where these are of firm quality |
# linen, without any starch being used |
u doing them up, but when the linens
,ecome old and less firm, it is some
INES desirable to give them little
tifiing. Starch, however, is not salts
actory for this. Instead, use weak
olution of gum arabic. A good rule for
his is to dissolve an ounce of gum in
cup of warm water. One tablespoon
I this solution to quart of water
makes good bath for well-worn linen.
Embroidered linen should be washed
4 luke warm water, then passed through
cold bath, wrung out in cloth and
he embroidery carefully stretched by
and. Then iron the piece while still
'et, using a piece of muslin or cambria
etween the linen and the fiat iron nm ?
] the embroidery is nearly dry. Then
,move the muslin and finish ironing
it'll the iron next the linen until the
is fully dried.
One of the aids in the preservation
linen is the silence cloth or table mat !
;ed under it. The original use of this
as to preserve the table, but it also
lips keep the cloth from wearing by
ftening the sharp edges of the table.
The silence cloth must be made long
ough so that its edges will fall over
e table; if made of the exact size of
e table it viii shrink after once being
so as to be quite too small.
The silence cloth is probably greater