If you have a brass tea kettle it is all the rage now to bring it in to the table while you make the afternoon tea, and it must be polished so that it shines like gold. Buy five cents' worth of oxalic acid, put it in an ordinary wine bottle, and fill up with cold water; when dis- solved, rub the kettle with a cloth dipped in the solution. Elbow- grease is the only other necessity, and if plenty of it is used, the result will be wonderful. The kettle must be perfectly cold while cleaning. An objection to this method of scouring is that if the oxalic acid is brought into immediate contact with the hands and nails, it produces an injurious effect on them, which is certainly undesirable. Care should therefore be taken that the scouring cloth be large enough to prevent such results. A preparation, that requires a little more labor but is equally efficacious, consists of a teaspoonful of salt dissolved in vinegar and applied in the same way as the other. Do not leave it where little fingers can get it, for the preparation (the acid) is rank poison. Tar may be instantaneously removed from the hand and fingers by 560 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. rubbing with the outside of fresh lemon or orange peel, and wiping dry immediately after. To restore old ivory to its original color without danger of crack- ing it is to cover it with glass and expose it to the rays of the sun. Hartshorn is one of the best possible ingredients for plate-powder in daily use. It leaves on the silver a deep, dark polish, and is less hurtful than any other article. To wash plate carefully is first to remove all the grease from it, and this can be done with the use of warm water and soap. The water should be as nearly hot as the hand can bear it. Then mix as much hartshorn-powder as will be required into a thick paste with cold water. Smear this lightly over the plate with a piece of soft rag, and leave it for some little time to dry. When perfectly dry, brush it off quite clean with a soft plate- brush, and polish the plate with a dry leather. If the plate be very dirty or much tarnished, spirits of wine will be found to answer bet- ter than the water for mixing the paste. For plate rags nothing is better than the tops of old cotton stock- ings, and these should be boiled in a mixture of new milk and harts- horn-powder for about five minutes, rinsing them as soon as they are taken out for a moment in cold water, and dry them before the fire. With these rags rub the plate briskly as soon as it has been well washed and dried after daily use. A most beautiful, deep polish will be produced, and the plate will require nothing more than merely to be dusted with a leather or dry, soft cloth before it is again put upon the table. In cleaning decanters, roll up in small pieces some soft brown or blotting-paper; wet them, and soap them well. Put them into the decanters about one-quarter full of warm water; shake them well for a few minutes, then rinse with clear, cold water; wipe the outsides with a nice dry cloth, put the decanters to drain, and when diy, they will be almost as bright as new ones. Broken glass may be repaired by joming the pieces very neatly together with a cement made as follows : Dissolve an ounce of gum- mastic in a quantity of highly rectified spirits of wine; then soften an MISCELLANEOUS HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. 56 1

AI-modernized reading of the original text

If you have a brass tea kettle it is all the rage now to bring it in to the table while you make the afternoon tea, and it must be polished so that it shines like gold. Buy five cents' worth of oxalic acid, put it in an ordinary wine bottle, and fill up with cold water; when dissolved, rub the kettle with a cloth dipped in the solution. Elbowgrease is the only other necessity, and if plenty of it is used, the result will be wonderful. The kettle must be perfectly cold while cleaning. An objection to this method of scouring is that if the oxalic acid is brought into immediate contact with the hands and nails, it produces an injurious effect on them, which is certainly undesirable. Care should therefore be taken that the scouring cloth be large enough to prevent such results. A preparation, that requires a little more labor but is equally efficacious, consists of a teaspoonful of salt dissolved in vinegar and applied in the same way as the other. Do not leave it where little fingers can get it, for the preparation (the acid) is rank poison. Tar may be instantaneously removed from the hand and fingers by 560 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. rubbing with the outside of fresh lemon or orange peel, and wiping dry immediately after. To restore old ivory to its original color without danger of cracking it is to cover it with glass and expose it to the rays of the sun. Hartshorn is one of the best possible ingredients for plate-powder in daily use. It leaves on the silver a deep, dark polish, and is less hurtful than any other article. To wash plate carefully is first to remove all the grease from it, and this can be done with the use of warm water and soap. The water should be as nearly hot as the hand can bear it. Then mix as much hartshorn-powder as will be required into a thick paste with cold water. Smear this lightly over the plate with a piece of soft rag, and leave it for some little time to dry. When perfectly dry, brush it off quite clean with a soft platebrush, and polish the plate with a dry leather. If the plate be very dirty or much tarnished, spirits of wine will be found to answer better than the water for mixing the paste. For plate rags nothing is better than the tops of old cotton stockings, and these should be boiled in a mixture of new milk and hartshorn-powder for about five minutes, rinsing them as soon as they are taken out for a moment in cold water, and dry them before the fire. With these rags rub the plate briskly as soon as it has been well washed and dried after daily use. A most beautiful, deep polish will be produced, and the plate will require nothing more than merely to be dusted with a leather or dry, soft cloth before it is again put upon the table. In cleaning decanters, roll up in small pieces some soft brown or blotting-paper; wet them, and soap them well. Put them into the decanters about one-quarter full of warm water; shake them well for a few minutes, then rinse with clear, cold water; wipe the outsides with a nice dry cloth, put the decanters to drain, and when diy, they will be almost as bright as new ones. Broken glass may be repaired by joining the pieces very neatly together with a cement made as follows : Dissolve an ounce of gummastic in a quantity of highly rectified spirits of wine; then soften an

The hearthstone; or, Life at home