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Household Helps

If Walls Could Say, "I'm Clean!"

WALLS The methods of cleaning paint, wallpaper, and wainscoting varied only slightly throughout the early 19th century. Between 1800 and 1840 we see a few methods spoken of throughout the various cookbooks or servants companions that were being published. One...
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Cleaning House Fronts

IN Paris, a municipal regulation requires the periodical cleaning of the house-fronts; and a due regard to the appearance of the buildings, from the street would suggest a similar practice in many cities on this side of the water....
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Spring House Cleaning

Now comes the season of general cleaning, when all the corners and closets are overturned and hidden things are brought to light. Early in the months before the moths-millers show themselves all the woolen sheets, blankets, etc., are to be...
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IMITATING Dark Woods

The appearance of walnut may be given to white woods, by painting or sponging them with a concentrated warm solution of permanganate of potassa. The effect is different on different kinds of timber, some becoming stained very rapidly, others requiring...
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To Fit a Key.

When it is not convenient to take a lock apart to fit a new key, the key blank should be smoked over a candle, inserted in the keyhole, and pressed firmly against the opposing wards of the lock. The indentations...
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Black-Walnut Polish.

TAKE asphaltum, pulverize it, place it in a jar or bottle, pour over it about twice its bulk of turpentine or benzole, put it in a warm place, and shake it from time to time. When dissolved, strain it and...
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The Art of Washing Clothes.

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 20, 1849. Messrs. EDITORS?The remarks in your excellent paper of Dec. 15th, upon washing and labor-saving soap, induce me to send for insertion the following recipe, which I have followed for a long time with complete success 1...
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Wooden Floors?How to Cleanse them.

This is a very important matter in a country like the United States, where there is so much change of domicile, and that particularly in a city like New York on the first of May. Floors dirty enough to make...
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To Clean Kid Gloves

Item for the Ladies. To clean kid gloves, have ready a little new milk in one saucer, a piece of white soap in another, and a clean cloth folded two or three times. On the cloth spread out the glove...
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How to Paper a Room.

SEVERAL lengths of paper should be laid one on another upon the floor or bench, allowing the fair edges to project over, so that the paste may not touch the figured surface. The back should then be smartly brushed over...
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TO RENOVATE TORTOISE-SHELL COMBS.

Taken from Godey's Ladies Book 1855 -When plain tortoise-shell combs are defaced, the polish may be removed by rubbing them with pulverized rotten-stone and oil. The rotten-stone should be sifted through muslin; then polish with jeweller's rouge, or with sifted...
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HAIR BRUSHES.

Taken from Godey's Ladies Book 1855 -To clean hair-brushes, put a spoonful of pearlash into a pint of boiling water, then fasten a bit of sponge to the end of a stick, dip it into the solution, and wash the...
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