HARPER’S
HOUSEHOLD HANDBOOK
I
WASH-DAY WISDOM, NURSING, AND SICKROOM
Water: Soften hard water with either washing-soda or lye, taking care not to use too much. Turbid or milky water can be cleared to a degree with alum. Dissolve a tablespoonful in a pint of boiling water, and add a cupful to a tub. Ill-smelling water should be dashed with clear lime water—using likewise a cupful to the tub. A teaspoonful of carbolic acid to the tubful is also advisable with wash water under suspicion.
Soap: Save money and strength by getting soap in boxfuls, piling it cobhouse fashion on a dry shelf in the air. Borax soaps chap the hands least. Naphtha soaps do the best work with cold water. Cheap yellow soaps, having much resin in them, answer very well if the clothes are well rinsed. Any sort of soap is best made into a jelly. Shave a bar, cover with boiling water, and simmer until soft. If there are very dirty things to wash, add a teaspoonful of borax in powder, and as much washing-soda to the cake of soap. This is for rubbing on dirty spots. Other things had better be washed in suds, made by putting a handful of jelly in a tub of water.
Washing Fluids: Use for boys’ clothes, working-men’s shirts, and overalls turpentine, kerosene, and lime water, equal quantities, shaken well together. Wet thoroughly, let stand an hour, then wash in warm suds. Turpentine and spirits of ammonia, half and half, shaken hard together, will make easier the cleansing of colored woolens.
Bleaching: Clothes that are yellow from lying should be wet in boiling water dashed with oxalic acid (see section Renovators), putting two tablespoonfuls to the gallon. Wring out, dry in sunshine, and wash as usual. To bleach faded things white, as prints, lawns or linens, wash very clean, using extra-strong suds, then boil in a solution of cream of tartar, a heaping tablespoonful to the gallon. Boil half an hour; lift up; if not white, boil as long again. Keep the boiler filled and the garments well under water. Rinse in two waters after boiling, and dry in sunlight before ironing.
Temperature: Keep the water temperature reasonably even throughout a wash—violent alternations “full” every sort of fabric more or less. Very fine flannels washed in cold water throughout with naphtha suds—soap must never touch them—and dried quickly, hardly shrink at all. Flannels generally are best washed in blood-warm suds, with rinse water the least bit hotter. Yet the beginning of wash-day wisdom is to wet everything thoroughly with cold water before washing. Also put clothes to boil in cold water.
Mordants: Set colors before washing new garments. Most of the aniline colors require acid—either alum water or vinegar. Put four ounces of alum to a large tub of water, or add to it a pint of strong vinegar. Soak things for ten minutes, then wash. Set madder colors with sugar of lead, putting an ounce to a gallon of hot water. Soak twenty minutes. Soak blacks, black and whites, and grays in strong salt water, but only a few minutes. Buff, tan, and gray linens keep fresh longer if well wet before washing with strong black-pepper tea.
Wash Frocks: Put no soap on wash frocks—suds suffice after spots have been removed (see section Spots and Stains). With delicate colors use bran water instead of suds. Tie wheat bran loosely in thin cloth, and rub the clothes with it. Use lukewarm water, and work quickly. Rinse instantly and hang to dry in shade, but opened out so the drying will be quick. Hang carefully—pulling while wet ruins lines, besides weakening the fabric—especially if it is starched.