Show WASHING FOR THE TABLE Safe Ways of Treating Damasks antI Embroidered Em-broidered Cloths Doilies Etc There are few branches of the laundresses laun-dresses art wherein the best result de FRUIT STAINS Look each piece over before it goes into water If stained with jelly fruit or wine wet the spots with alcohol or whisky whis-ky and wash out in clear cold water before be-fore allowing suds to touch it Soaps set I any sort of stain making it almost indel I ible to be removed only in fact by chemicals that will certainly injure the fabric MILK AND EGG SPOTS Stains of milk or soft eggs must be soaked for ten minutes in clear cold water then washed out as heat and soap both tend to fix them Indeed it is an excellent plan to Wet all your linen thoroughly with cold or barely lukewarm water and let it lie a few minutes before beginning to wash it SOAF1KG3 AfiU UUlLilMG5 Use a mild white soap or else the brown Windsor that comes in long bars Make a strong lather but do not let the soap touch the fabric save and except some particularly obstinate grease spot Delicately tinted tea cloths and those with colored borders come through the wash the brighter if a handful of salt is added to the first suds which should be barely lukewarm The second one maybe may-be many degrees hotter many in fact as the hand will bear Wash quickly through both Fold smoothly for the wringer then pop into your bag and set to boil in cold I water By the time it is boilingt whatever what-ever dirt remains will be so well dissolved as to be easily removed A ten minutes boiling will answer though twenty will not hurt Rinse first in very hot water next in that which is barely lukewarm Have your bluing water cold and be sure there are no specks of color in it Then dip your linen in very thin starch that has but a suspicion of bluing and hang where it will dry quickly if possible pos-sible in the sun See tp it that the line is clean Even if other clothes have just been removed from it it is wise to run over it with a damp white cloth and see if it leaves a mark And take especial pains to hang each piece square and true for even the cheapest damask is woven with a twill thatif allowed to dry awry will be hardly brought back to proper rectangularity HOW TO SPRINKLE RIGHT Let everything dry thoroughly and do not damp down until a little white before you are ready to iron Do not fold overnight over-night Aftera table cloth is properly wet pin one corner to your iioning table catch hold of the one diagonally across from it and stretch as far as you can without straining the fabric Do the same with the other two corners Then fold it lengthwise exactly in the middle and right side out and roll smooth and tight Let it lie for twenty minutes HOW TO IRON EMBROIDERED CLOTHS For very rich damask or embroidered cloths put an extra blanket on the ironing iron-ing table under its muslin cover Lay embroidered part smoothly over Jt right side down and press with a heavy iron just below scorohing heat With a scallop or leafpointed edge take especial pains in getting each point in shape to not stretch the margin or li ave its as to stand in puckers When itus S almost dry II cr J > < < I If > c and very smooth turn and iron on the right ide Using very light irons on the worked partand heavy polishing ones on the plain ground First to last keep warp and woof exactly ex-actly square Embroidery of all sorts has a tendency to draw up when damp and that is the reason why it should be pressed first stretching the fabric well with the left hand before the iron When the right side is properly pressed and polished fold it lengthwise along the middle Then begin at one end and lay about six inches lightly over do not fold it down but roll it over and over till all the length is coiled Many housekeepers house-keepers have small wooden rollers around which their finer clotbs go into the linen closet IRONING A DAMASK CLOTH For a fine damask cloth set your clothes basket on the floor opposite where you stand so as to hold the extra length of your doubled cloth when one end is spread smooth upon the table Now go over the cloth twice or thrice with a heavy hot iron changing it as soon as it has sensibly cooled Iron always exactly ex-actly with the thread whether going up and down or across Iron both sides thoroughly going over and over till the pattern shows plain on a glossy white I surface Then double a selvage over to touch the center crease iron the wrong side which will come uppermost also the wrong side left bare Now turn the cloth once and fold down the other selvage at the same time ironing iron-ing the wrong side of the first fold This leaves your cloth at full length and a quarter of its width If not thoroughly dry hang upon the horse for an hour or two then either fold or roll to such compass com-pass as your linen closet requires NAPKINS Give each napkin the same diagonal stretching then iron in the same fashion I folding and ironing each crease sharply I Fancy folds fan plaits cornerwise creaslngs are clean out of fashion except for nursery napkins COLORED CLOTHS Turkey red cloths if of good quality will wash without fading but it is a wise irj t1l I = lI i I1i11i1ll1 iil ± r U 1i I 11TTj1 1I 1j 1 1111 R I IJ r i1Yti Ill Ji IPI I u IIIllIL I l I J A CORNER IN DENIMS pends more upon a feY nice small points too often wholly overlooked or disregarded disre-garded than the Vdoing up of table linen I The first point and one that cannot be too strongly insisted upon is that table linen must be washed separately Be sure that your linen goes into no vessel that is not clean and thoroughly and freshly rinsed See to it also that it is put to boil inside So bag of clean cheese cloth thereby preventing venting even the chance of iron rust or of soiling by soot ashes or scum precaution to put handful of black pepper pep-per in the first washwater for any colored col-ored napery Red cloths must not be starched For buff or cream ones use starch colored with clear black coffee Very delicate tints somewhat preserved by soaking before washing in sugar of lead water for half an hour NAPTHA CLEANSING OF DOILIES Very fine or delicate doilies are best cleaned with naphtha Lay them in a white earthen vessel and cover with the fluid agitate rapidly If all the dirt is not removed put into another an-other vessel and pour on more naphtha Thpy will of course need several days aiiiog to be rid of the smell li not too mu h soiled they may instead be pinned out on a table covered with a sheet and strewn thickly with powdered corn starch Rub it well in let it remain half an hour then brush off with a soft brush after which lay your doilies a few minutes in the sun or before the stove and shake or beat out against the hand the little starch that clings to them Embroidered bits such as tray cloths center pieces and carving cloths maj be cleaned without wear or tear by covering them with good white soap suds and setting set-ting them for two hours in sunshine after which rinse and hang to drain without ringing and iron as directed for an embroidered cloth MARTHA McCuLLocH WILLIAMS |