The household (of the Detroit free press)

Or this : When ready to iron wet the linen in thin cold starch and roll up for a little while ; then unfold and rub the linen with a wet cloth to clear it of any bits of starch on the surface. Do not have the linen very damp, as the iron is more apt to stick. Iron on an ironing-board, first going over the linen with a common iron, then take the bosomboard to polish on. This board should be of hard wood, covered with two thicknesses of cotton cloth. Dissolve one teaspoonful of white gum arabic in half a cup of water— it must be free from color and sediment ; if too thick it will stick. A polishing iron is indispensable. Wet a little piece of old linen with the gum water — not dripping wet — and rub quickly over a part of the linen and pass the polishing iron directly over it, so that it will not blister ; then take the round end of the iron and polish with all your muscles. Continue to wet with arabic and polish over and over again until satisfied with the work. Set the bosom board to dry after ironing each bosom. Bosoms starched in this way will not break. The polishing-iron must be as hot as it can be and not scorch. Wash the irons after using, and polish them with fine bath brick dust on brown paper, and wax them with white wax while using. Sandpaper is the best polisher for smoothing-irons. It removes all roughness and starch. If linen is slightly scorched in ironing, laying it in the sun awhile will take out the discolored spots. If badly scorched, peel and slice two onions; extract the juice by pounding and squeezing ; cut up half an ounce of fine white soap and add to the juice ; two ounces of fuller's earth and half a pint of vinegar ; boil all together ; when cool spread over the scorched linen and let it dry on it ; then wash and boil out the linen and the spots will disappear, unless burned so badly as to break the threads. Do not iron a red tablecloth at all ; wash it carefully in warm suds (not hot), rinse well, and when ready to hang on the line take great pains to pull it so that it will keep the proper shape. It will retain its color much longer than if ironed. Never iron a calico dress on the right side; if ironed smoothly on the wrong side there will be no danger of white spots and gloss, which give a new dress " done up " for the first time, the appearance of a time-worn garment. But remember that the principal part of glossing lies in the manner of ironing and kind of irons used. Round-heeled irons give the best polish, and the hotter the better. Invert irons, as the heel must be used, otherwise there will be no more than a high domestic polish. Covering for bosom board should be, first one thickness of cloth, then a doubled piece of common muslin, each drawn as tightly as possible, which will give an even and hard surface. Iron collars and cuffs on wrong side; turn and with wet rag very slightly dampen : with heel of hot iron give sharp, quick rubs across narrow part to even starch ; then, if iron is round-heeled, rub straight from end to end ; if iron is flat-heeled, give the heel of iron a twisting motion; dampen slightly as required to heighten gloss. WASHING FINE THINGS.