Ink Stains--Soak in sour milk. If a dark stain remains, rinse in a weak solution of chloride of lime.
Blood Stains--Soak in cold salt water then wash in warm water with plenty of soap, afterward boil.
Gra.s.s Stains--Saturate the spot thoroughly with kerosene, then put them in the washtub.
Iodine Stains--Wash with alcohol, then rinse in soapy water.
Hot Tea and Coffee Stains--Soak the stained fabric in cold water; wring; spread out and pour a few drops of glycerine on each spot. Let it stand several hours; then wash with cold water and soap.
Iron Rust--Soap the stain thoroughly with lemon juice; sprinkle with salt and bleach for several hours in the sun.
Grease Spots--Hot water and soap generally remove these. If fixed by long standing, use ether, chloroform or naptha. All three of these must be used away from fire or artificial light.
Mildew--Soak in a weak solution of chloride of lime for several hours.
Rinse in cold water.
Sewing Machine Oil Stains--Rub with lard. Let stand for several hours, then wash with cold water and soap.
Scorch Stains--Wet the scorched place, rub with soap and bleach in the sun.
Fruit Stains--Stretch the fabric containing the stain over the mouth of a basin and pour boiling water on the stain. In cold weather fruit spots can frequently be removed by hanging the stained garments out of doors over night. If the stain has been fixed by time soak the article in a weak solution of oxalic acid or hold the spot over the fumes of sulphur.
Here is an excellent cleansing fluid that will leave no rings or water lines: One pint of benzine, an ounce of ether and an ounce of chloroform. Shake well before using and keep tightly corked. An absorbent pad (white blotting paper or thick towel) should be placed beneath the material. Apply cleanser with a soft linen cloth and rub stain lightly until it disappears. Beware of fire.
Cover the gra.s.s stains with common black mola.s.ses--the thickest you can get--and rub it in with the finger until the fabric is saturated. Leave it on for a day and wash out with clear water. A homely but an effectual process.
For a rust stain, wet the spot and cover with oxalic acid, rub it in well, and then wash off with clean, tepid water.
Soak the white articles in sour milk or in b.u.t.termilk all night. Rinse in the morning and sun all day, wetting hourly with cream of tartar water. Rinse again in the evening and repeat the soaking. If one trial does not wholly remove the mildew, repeat the process.
REVIVING BLACK DRESSES.--Wash black cashmere, mohair, voile or other black dress goods, in soap suds until clean, then rinse well. Put bluing into water enough to cover the cloth well until it looks almost black. Put in the cloth and rinse it about in the water, then be sure it is all under water and leave it over night. Lift from this bluing water directly to the line without wringing and let hang until almost dry, then press on the wrong side on an entirely smooth ironing sheet.
TO LAUNDER A BLACK COTTON DRESS.--Black and white or all black muslin dresses seldom look well when they come from the laundry and black cotton does not appear to make a good "tub" dress. But if the following method is tried it will give the cotton a clear look and stiffness like new. Mix one half cup of flour with cold water to make smooth, then turn on two quarts of boiling water and cook five minutes. Add this starch, to enough warm water to wash the dress or waist in and wash the garment without using a particle of soap. Rinse in two waters and hang to dry. Just before ironing sprinkle on the wrong side.
REMEDY FOR PALLOR.--An excellent lotion in case of pallor is made from one tablespoon of tincture of benzoin and three ounces of rose water.
EGGS PRESERVED IN WATER GLa.s.s.--(Silicate of Sodine.) By this method eggs may be kept fresh for eight months if rules are carefully followed. Boil a quant.i.ty of water and allow it to cool. Use one gallon of water and one quart of water gla.s.s and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Use a glazed stone jar and deposit the eggs into the solution and see that the eggs are covered to the depth of at least an inch. The jar must be covered and stored in a cold place. The eggs must be perfectly fresh and best results are obtained if they are put in the solution as gathered from the nests each day. The sh.e.l.ls must also be perfectly clean.--Mrs. Harry Hansen.
WASHING FLUID.--This fluid is guaranteed not to injure or take the color out of any fabric and may be used in soaking white clothes, prints and flannels. It is made and used as follows: Heat one gallon of water. Add one can Lewis lye, ten cents worth of crystal ammonia and ten cents worth of salts of tartar. Have water hot but not boiling and cork solution in a gallon jug. A teacupful to three or four pails of hot water is the amount needed in soaking soiled clothes.--Mrs. Harry Hansen.
Home Remedies for Simple Ailments
LINSEED POULTICE.--Four ounces linseed meal and ten ounces of boiling water. Mix gradually. Dip spoon in boiling water when you spread this mixture on the poultice cloth. Bind on inflamed parts.
MUSTARD POULTICE.--Two ounces of dry mustard mixed with the whites of two eggs to a paste. Spread on a cloth in a thick paste and apply while it is fresh and wet.
COLDS.--For a cold in the head just appearing inhale spirits of camphor. Put one or two drops of camphor on a small lump of sugar, dissolve in a wine gla.s.s of water, (one gill) and take a teaspoonful every half hour. Take a good cathartic or drink four or five gla.s.ses of hot water at bed time and in half an hour follow with four more gla.s.ses of hot water. Gargle sore throat with warm water and alcohol or warm water and salt using one level teaspoon of salt to a pint of water. If cold has made the throat or lungs sore, dip a cloth in cold water, wring dry and spread it on throat or chest. Cover with three thicknesses of dry flannel and bind it on securely. Take a hot foot bath and go to bed. This treatment should cure your cold. If is doesn"t it will be a wise thing to call a physician in the morning before alarming symptoms are developed. Bathe frequently, drink plenty of water and keep the bowels in regular action and prevent colds.
TO REDUCE SWELLINGS.--Tincture of arnica or witch hazel applied to a b.u.mp on the head or a bruise where the skin is not broken brings relief from pain and often prevents inflammation and bad swellings.
CUTS AND SCRATCHES.--Apply peroxide to cuts, scratches and all bruises where the skin is broken. This remedy often serves as a preventative to blood poisoning.
WHEN A b.u.t.tON IS SWALLOWED.--Children sometimes swallow b.u.t.tons, fruit stones, thimbles and pennies. When the mother is sure that the child has swallowed a foreign substance the child should be encouraged and even compelled to eat plentifully of mashed potatoes, thick mush and coa.r.s.e bread. Then follow with syrup of rhubarb or castor oil. Do not give the cathartic immediately on finding out the accident but make sure that much bulky food is taken. Give a child slippery elm to chew when it swallows a penny or b.u.t.ton or hard object. This forms a slippery coating on the surface of the penny in the stomach which aids it in pa.s.sing easily through the intestine and prevents its lodging there and was the remedy applied by a physician when called.--Mrs.
Whitehead.
CRAMPS IN THE LEG.--Sleep with hot water bag at the feet. A garter tied tightly around the leg often effects a cure. Quick, hard rubbing is best in sudden, painful attacks. Often it is essential to walk about the room to bring the circulation of blood to the feet again.
INSECT BITES.--A teaspoonful of tincture of wild rosemary to a gla.s.s of water. Apply this lotion frequently to the inflamed parts.
GOOD LINIMENT.--One ounce of camphor, four ounces olive oil. Dissolve the gum in the oil and add one quarter of an ounce of chloroform. Shake well and apply to affected parts. This is for external use only.
CURE FOR HICCOUGHS.--Lump of sugar saturated with vinegar will usually cure hiccoughs in a child. Drink of water often brings immediate relief. In prolonged cases of hiccoughing, weak, hot coffee with cream and sugar given at frequent intervals has cured the patient.
NOSE BLEED.--Snuff powdered alum up the nose. This alum is also good for checking hemorrhage, sometimes caused by extracting teeth. Fill the cavity with the alum. Apply cold salt water to bleeding nose if you haven"t alum.
CORNS.--Bind bread soaked in vinegar on the corns day and night and they will come out by the roots.
WARTS.--p.r.i.c.k with a needle (sterilized by boiling in clear water for ten minutes) until the wart bleeds then apply soda.
BUNIONS.--Pulverize salt petre and sweet oil mixed well and applied to the sore joints often brings relief. Bunions are usually caused by wearing shoes too short.
SUMMER COMPLAINT OR DIARRHOEA.--In early stages unless alarming symptoms appear, give the child or patient a generous dose of castor oil and keep patient on a light diet for a day or two or refrain from eating at all for twelve hours. If pa.s.sages are green and full of mucous membrane call a physician immediately as delay may be fatal.
Whites of two eggs mixed with a little water sipped frequently is often healing also to stomach and bowels.
GOOD WAY TO GIVE CASTOR OIL.--Put a tablespoon of orange juice into a small tumbler, pour in the required amount of oil, and more orange juice on top. The oil forms a ball in the middle of the juice and is swallowed without coming in contact with the tongue. Wine may be used instead of orange juice.
BURNS.--Grated raw peeled potatoes spread on bandages and bound on a badly burned arm, shoulder and hand brought immediate relief to one of my children once when I was on a farm and could not get a doctor. I kept the bandages moist by binding fresh new, wet ones over the old ones until pain ceased but did not remove the dressing at all until wound was healed. It healed perfectly without leaving any scar. Do not know the merits of this remedy from a physician"s standpoint but it was used successfully in a bad hotel fire in a village where no physicians resided and the patients all recovered from severe burns and there were no scars left on their bodies.--Mrs. Whitehead.
LOCK UP POISONS.--All poisons should be labeled and kept in a compartment by themselves. Such household remedies as laudenum, chloroform, a.r.s.enic, aconite belladona, cough medicine, carbolic acid, headache pellets or powders, linaments, opiates, fly poison, etc., should be kept in a locked box or in a covered can labeled "poison"
placed out of the reach of children. They should always be kept separate from all other medicine. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Many deaths are caused by carelessness in placing poisonous remedies within the reach of children. Unless poison can be kept in a safe place, it is wiser always to throw it in the fire or to bury it--and buy a new supply when needed than to run the risk of poisoning a member of the family. Always look at the label on a bottle before taking any medicine.
TOOTH ACHE.--Chloroform and clove oil applied with a piece of absorbent cotton to the cavity of an aching tooth brings immediate relief.
CROUP.--Lard or goose grease and turpentine applied freely to the throat and chest. Hot steam inhaled from a sponge dipped in boiling water makes breathing easier. In serious cases an antiseptic should be given to produce vomiting immediately until the physician arrives. Give castor oil to a child showing symptoms of a croupy cough.