BLACK LACE—TO REVIVE
Make some black tea, about the strength usual for drinking, and strain it off the leaves. Pour enough tea into a basin to cover the material, then squeeze the lace several times, but do not rub it. Dip it frequently into the tea, which will at length assume a dirty appearance. Have ready some weak gum-water and press the lace gently through it; then clap it for a quarter of an hour; after which, pin it to a towel in any shape which you wish it to take. When nearly dry, cover it with another towel and iron it with a cool iron. The lace, if previously sound and discolored only, will, after this process, look as good as new.
LAMPS—TO TRIM
In trimming lamps, let the wick be cut evenly all round; as, if left higher in one place than it is in another, it will cause it to smoke and burn badly. The lamp should then be filled with oil from a feeder and afterward well wiped with a cloth or rag. Small sticks, covered with wash-leather pads, are the best things to use for cleaning the inside of the chimney, and a clean duster for polishing the outside. Chimneys should not be washed. The globe of a lamp should be occasionally washed in warm soap-and-water, then well rinsed in cold water, and either wiped dry or left to drain.
LEATHER—TO CLEAN
For fawn or yellow-colored leather, take a quart of skimmed milk, pour into it one ounce of sulphuric acid, and, when cold, add four ounces of hydrochloric acid, shaking the bottle gently until it ceases to emit white vapors; separate the coagulated from the liquid part, by straining through a sieve, and store it away till required. Clean the leather with a weak solution of oxalic acid, washing it off immediately, and when dry apply the composition with a sponge.
TABLE LINEN—CARE OF
Table-cloths, towels and napkins should be kept faultlessly white; table-cloths and napkins starched; if the latter are fringed, whip the fringe until straight. After using a table-cloth, lay it in the same folds; put it in a close place where dust will not reach it, and lay a heavy weight upon it.
Napkins may be used the second time, if they are so marked that each person gets the napkin previously used.
LINEN—TO GLAZE