Soaped and boiled blankets, or woolen goods of any kind! No wonder they are brown and muddy, and as thick as a board!
Blankets that are carefully managed will not require washing often; yours have been in use so short a time they certainly could not have needed it, unless they were accidentally soiled.
“No, they looked very fresh and fair; but I had supposed blankets should be washed every fall and spring. I never asked why.”
O, no! They are always put between the sheets and bedspreads, not in contact with the body at all, and it would be long before anything but an accident or the greatest carelessness could soil them.
There are people who will lie down for a nap in the afternoon between the blankets! The housekeeper who can patiently or silently endure that must be nearer akin to the angels than we generally find them. True, no woman would be guilty of such carelessness; but ignorance is an excuse for many short-comings. But it is not this class of men that we intend to have at home in charge of household affairs when women go to Congress.
Occasionally, in a fair, clear day, and when there is a moderate wind, it is well to pin blankets on the clothes-line in the yard, that they may be well aired and freshened, and whatever dust may have settled in them be whipped out by the wind. When they really need washing, the first step is to see that there is a good quantity of boiling water ready. Next, select the largest tub and fill half full of boiling water; dissolve and stir thoroughly into it two table-spoonfuls of powdered borax and sufficient soap to make a good lather, but on no account rub soap on the blankets. Put into the tub but one blanket at a time. Shake it to and fro with the clothes-stick till perfectly wet through, then press it under the water to remain till cool enough to use your hands in it, when each part should be examined very carefully, gently rubbing or squeezing the suds through it. Hard rubbing fulls woolens. When sure that all spots or dirt are removed, wring them into a second tub of boiling water into which you have thoroughly stirred some blueing. If your first suds are strong enough, the blankets will retain sufficient soap for the rinsing water, which in woolens requires a little soap. Shake the blanket up and down in this water, with the clothes-stick, till it has flowed through every part. Then, while the water is still hot, wring it. It requires two persons to wring and shake out a bed-blanket. They should take it by the ends and snap vigorously, to remove all the water as far as possible. Then carry it to the line, throw it over, and pull it smooth, bringing the hems straight and true, and pin on to the line strongly. When half dry, turn it lengthwise on the line, and pull the selvedges together in a straight line, so that no part may draw up in cockles or full unevenly.
It is not well to wash woolens of any kind on a rainy or cloudy day; but for blankets it is ruinous. A bright sunny day with a brisk wind is very desirable, as it snaps out the water, giving it no chance to settle. When the blanket is perfectly dry, fold very evenly, but never press or iron it.
Washed in this way, although your blankets may not be quite as white as when new, the change will be hardly noticeable, and they will be soft and fleecy until worn out. A tall, large tub with a pounder or dasher on springs, fastened across the tub, like the old-fashioned pounding-barrel, or the tub and dasher of the Metropolitan Washing-Machine, is one of the most convenient and desirable tubs to wash blankets in, as the washing can be done at once without waiting for the water to cool. The pounder should be used gently, as harsh rubbing or pounding knots the fibers of woolens, but the spring dasher keeps the water filtering through every part without any hard usage.
Wash flannels in the same way, only bring them from the line while quite damp; pull out and fold evenly. If any spot has “fulled” or “cockled,” when it is a little damp you can pull it smooth. Roll up the articles tight, for a little while, until dampened all over alike, and then press them till dry, pulling the garment taut from the iron as you press.
There are many theories about washing woolen goods. Several of the “Household Guides,” of late, recommend washing in cold water. Some even advise soaking them all night, claiming that they do not felt or full any more than when washed in hot water, and are not as liable to grow yellow. But we cannot think this idea correct. Professor Youmans, in his “Book of Household Science,” describes the difference, in the structure of fiber, between woolen and cotton and linen fabrics, with a drawing of the straight, smooth form of linen or cotton filaments, and the toothed and jagged structures of woolen fabrics, and says:—