The Washington herald., 1917-06-21
HOUSEWIVES DAILY
ECONOMY CALENDAR
SPEAKING OF BUSTERS.
By FRANCES MARSHALL.

have an idea that II asked a
hundred housewives to describe their
Ideal OF paradise ninety-nine of that
hundred would stipulate that that
blessed land should have no dust.
Surely there could have been no dust
in the Garden of Eden. Ewes state
of happiness could never have been
perfect If she had to go about busting
at that early date in human history.
It really would be rather interesting
to know just when in the history of
human civilization busting came into
existence. / wonder whether the faith
full, hard-working Indian squaws ever
busted in the good old days before
white man intruded. Surely she did
some cleaning; she even occasionally
washed clothes by the side of some
rippling brook. But probably she
never busted, because dust, as we
know 1t, Is a product of civilization.
1t is the result of streets and roads
and houses and carpets and rugs and
furniture. Dust in the wild takes
care of itself. The sands of the des-
ert are blown about and lodge on the
tree leaves and trunks, but the eve
ming dews and the periodic rains
carry them off and no one wields q
duster.
But since we do have busters let's
have them in the most useful form.
Let's have them so made that they
actually take up the dust and don't
simply scatter it. Let's, therefore,
Danish the old-fashioned feather dust
! er that simply scattered dust from
one place to another. To quote an
authority on household cleanliness a
! duster should be "nonscratching, nom
limiting and clean" Think that over
when you go to select your next dust
er. II there is anything in your rag
| bag that comes up to that require
ment it will answer the purpose and a
duster that does not come up to that
standard will not be a good duster
even if you paid rs cents for it.
Never use a soiled duster. For this
reason you should have a generous
supply of cloth especially set aside
for the work of busting and they
should go to the wash as regularly
as your handkerchiefs.
Dustless busters are excellent and
they may be made at home. What
Is still better. they may be rendered
''dustless" at so small a cost that
they too may be washed regularly and
just made dustless again in short or
der. There is no reason why they
should be black-as are those we buy
ready made. However, too old stock
ings, sewed together and trimmed off,
make very good dustless busters. They
! should first be washed well. Then
mix together a pan Of boiling water
with three drops of linseed oil. Agi-
tate the mixture well and drop in your
| cloth and when it is thoroughly
soaked wiring it out Just as hot as you
can and just as dry as you can. The
dustless duster Is ready to be used
Immediately. Needless to say IL Ia
hard to wiring anything out of boiling
hot water. But here is a trick that /
once learned from a doctor who had
great faith in the efficacy Of hydrothe
rapeutics-that is, in plain English,
| hot water treatment. This doctor
showed me that II you first folded q
towel or cloth and twisted It as one
would in wringing and then laid It in
the boiling ater, all except small ends,
you could wiring It out very well from
the very hot water merely by giyins
an extra twist to the ends. This is q
good thing to know in using hot water
in the home, and especially good when
using the linseed oil dustless mixture.
Copyright, lsr.)