There are two good reasons for spreading out a clean towel on which to lay your silver as you dry it. One is that the silver does not get scratched, and the other is that it enables you to handle it in a noiseless manner.
There is a good reason for washing dishes of one kind together, aside from the question of cracking and chipping. When they are washed and dried they are ready to put away without further sorting.
Silver trays used at each meal should be washed after each meal, just as regularly as a bread plate or a crumb tray. Sometimes crumbs fall on a tray, sometimes a drop from
a sauce boat. These you can see; but, unless you think about it, you will not realize that you cannot serve a meal without leaving finger marks and dull spots on the edge of a tray.
Watch the inside of your pitchers. Sediment from boiling water or stains from chocolate may be easily removed the first day; after that twice the time, at least, will be needed to efface them. If clear water or hot soapsuds will not do it, use a little sapolio.
When your dishes and silver all are finished, cleanse your steel knives. Never let the handles touch the water. Hold in your left hand and wash the blades with your right. After they are washed scour the blades with bath brick or on an emery board. Let the blade rest flat upon your board; this prevents bending and loosening the handle.
There is a knife cleaner which many ladies would like to have used for their knives, if they knew that it would be properly used. It is a disk with emery pads on a wheel, and has
spaces for both small knives and carvers. If the knives are put in as they should be, a few turns of the wheel will polish and sharpen them at the same time. If carelessly put in, both knives and machine can be spoiled in one using. But this machine is costly, and you will need to prove yourself an expert before adding it to the pantry furnishings.