After starching shirts, collars and cuffs, and the articles that require a deal of stiffening, pour in some hot water and starch your pillow- slips, white aprons, etc. Wring out the remainder of your clothes except the tablecloths, napkins and towels, pour your starch in the bluing water and it will give these articles just the right stiffness. IRONING AND POLISHING. Dampen the clothes the night before ironing, being careful to sprinkle them evenly. A perforated sprinkler (made like a pepper-box, only large enough to hold half a pint of water, with larger perforations and a handle), or wisp-broom, will sprinkle them more equally than with the hand. If the table is sprinkled with water the ironing sheet will not slip. A good ironing sheet has woolen next the table and cotton on top of that. An ironing board and bosom board is very necessary, if one wants to make a successful ironer, one for skirts and one for shirt- bosoms. Before commencing to iron, be sure the clothes are wet through, give them a good straightening out and commence to iron. Have the irons well cleaned, a piece of sand-paper is good to occasionally rub them upon. If rusty, beeswax and salt will make them clean and smooth as glass. Tie a lump of beeswax in a cloth and keep it for that purpose. IRONING AND POLISHING. 233 When the irons are hot, rub them first with the wax cloth, then scour with a paper or cloth sprinkled with salt. The polishing iron must be used quickly and lightly. A nickel-plated one is best, and care should be taken never to let it become too hot. For ironing, two bosom boards are required, one with several thick- nesses of cloth to iron the bosom on, and the other must be a hardwood board, planed and sand-papered as smooth as possible to polish on. You can use this without any cloth on, but it is better to have one thick- ness of cotton-cloth stretched tightly over it. Iron the body and sleeves of the shirt first, then put the bosom in shape, wring a clean cloth out of hot water and rub the bosom well with it to remove any starch that has not been rubbed in, then iron quickly with a hot smoothing iron ; lift the plaits with a case knife and iron over again ; do not iron per- fectly dry and stiff, and do not attempt to put on a polish with the smoothing iron, but quickly take out the bosom board and insert the polishing board, wring the cloth quite dry out of the hot water and rub over the bosom ; then polish with the round point of the polishing iron (which must be hot enough to scorch if you set it down flat, but of course you must not do that). You must rub backwards and forwards with the point of the iron, a small place at a time, and one will soon get so they can do up a shirt very nicely, but do not rub too hard or else you will raise blisters, and that will spoil the appearance of the shirt. The oftener you rub the bosom over with the damp cloth and polish again the better it looks. After polishing hang in the sun or near the stove to dry.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

After starching shirts, collars and cuffs, and the articles that require a deal of stiffening, pour in some hot water and starch your pillowslips, white aprons, etc. Wring out the remainder of your clothes except the tablecloths, napkins and towels, pour your starch in the bluing water and it will give these articles just the right stiffness. IRONING AND POLISHING. Dampen the clothes the night before ironing, being careful to sprinkle them evenly. A perforated sprinkler (made like a pepper-box, only large enough to hold half a pint of water, with larger perforations and a handle), or wisp-broom, will sprinkle them more equally than with the hand. If the table is sprinkled with water the ironing sheet will not slip. A good ironing sheet has woolen next the table and cotton on top of that. An ironing board and bosom board is very necessary, if one wants to make a successful ironer, one for skirts and one for shirtbosoms. Before commencing to iron, be sure the clothes are wet through, give them a good straightening out and commence to iron. Have the irons well cleaned, a piece of sand-paper is good to occasionally rub them upon. If rusty, beeswax and salt will make them clean and smooth as glass. Tie a lump of beeswax in a cloth and keep it for that purpose. IRONING AND POLISHING. 233 When the irons are hot, rub them first with the wax cloth, then scour with a paper or cloth sprinkled with salt. The polishing iron must be used quickly and lightly. A nickel-plated one is best, and care should be taken never to let it become too hot. For ironing, two bosom boards are required, one with several thicknesses of cloth to iron the bosom on, and the other must be a hardwood board, planed and sand-papered as smooth as possible to polish on. You can use this without any cloth on, but it is better to have one thickness of cotton-cloth stretched tightly over it. Iron the body and sleeves of the shirt first, then put the bosom in shape, wring a clean cloth out of hot water and rub the bosom well with it to remove any starch that has not been rubbed in, then iron quickly with a hot smoothing iron ; lift the plaits with a case knife and iron over again ; do not iron perfectly dry and stiff, and do not attempt to put on a polish with the smoothing iron, but quickly take out the bosom board and insert the polishing board, wring the cloth quite dry out of the hot water and rub over the bosom ; then polish with the round point of the polishing iron (which must be hot enough to scorch if you set it down flat, but of course you must not do that). You must rub backwards and forwards with the point of the iron, a small place at a time, and one will soon get so they can do up a shirt very nicely, but do not rub too hard or else you will raise blisters, and that will spoil the appearance of the shirt. The oftener you rub the bosom over with the damp cloth and polish again the better it looks. After polishing hang in the sun or near the stove to dry.

The household (of the Detroit free press)