A contemporary answers this question by stating that they are cut up in small pieces, and these are put for a couple of days in chloride of sulphur, which makes the leather very hard and brittle. After this is effected, the material is washed with water, dried, ground to powder,Continue Reading

Every eating-house visitor of this city and other leading cities of the Union has doubtless noticed a small tumbler of wooden toothpicks upon the counter of the cashier, for the use of customers. These toothpicks are a good feature of the present day. The wooden toothpicks have to a considerableContinue Reading

ROSIN Soap {yellow soap}.–Fifteen per cent, of rosin can be saponified with potash or soda lye, and mixed with clear, warm tallow soap to a good purpose; more would deteriorate it, although for the cheapest grade of soaps, thirty-three per cent is often added; but such soaps remain soft andContinue Reading

These marbles were found on the grounds of my 1830's era house. photo property of a Victorian Passage.

The chief place of the manufacture of “marbles,” those little round pieces of stone which contribute so largely to the enjoyment of “Young America,” is at Oberstein, on the Nahe, in Germany, where there are large agate-mills and quarries, the refuse of which is carefully turned to good paying accountContinue Reading

THE frequent use of “oils,” “bear’s grease,” “arctusine,” “pomades,” “lustrals,” “rosemary washes,” and such like, upon the hair, is a practice not to be commended. All of these oils and greasy pomades are manufactured from lard-oil and simple lard. No “bear’s grease” is ever used. If it could be procuredContinue Reading

One of the true luxuries of the modern dinner table is the table napkin; but the difficulty with most young housekeepers is how to fold it. Numerous designs have been adopted from time to time, but the following are simple and efficient. A napkin should be laid to every plate.Continue Reading