lukewarm
put in your linen, and allow it to boil for twenty minutes. Rinse it in the usual way, and that is all which is necessary to get it clean, and to keep it in good colour. Housekeepers will find the above receipt invaluable.
...But to Appear so, what a Strain and Misery!
2737. Hard Water
When water is hard, and will not readily unite with soap, it will always be proper to boil it before use; which will be found sufficiently efficacious, if the hardness depends solely upon the impregnation of lime. Even exposure to the atmosphere will produce this effect in a great degree upon spring water so impregnated, leaving it much fitter for lavatory purposes.
In both cases the water ought to be carefully poured off from the sediment, as the neutralized lime, when freed from its extra quantity of carbonic acid, falls to the bottom by its own gravity. To economize the use of soap, put any quantity of pearlash into a large jar, covered from the dust, in a few days the alkali will become liquid, which must be diluted in double its quantity of soft water, with an equal quantity of new-slacked lime. Boil it half an hour, frequently stirring it; adding as much more hot water, and drawing off the liquor, when the residuum may be boiled afresh, and drained, until it ceases to feel acrid to the tongue.
2738. Washing Machines
Much labour in washing has been saved by the introduction of washing machines, by which the toil of washing day, formerly so severe, has been much abridged. Suitable machines for washing, wringing, and mangling may be purchased at comparatively low prices of any of the makers of what is termed "labour-saving machinery," such as Kent, Bradford, Twelvetrees, &c. Preparations for softening water, and facilitating the process, exist in the Extract of Soap, and the various washing powders now to be purchased of most grocers and oil and colourmen. Cold water soap, too, has achieved considerable popularity, for by its use a lather can be quickly produced, even in the hardest water.