How to Sweep a Carpeted Room

Jane learns the correct way to sweep clean the carpet of a room…

A day or two after Jane’s mistress taught her how to light a fire and clean grate she was surprised by hearing extraordinary noises and knockings rang the bell to ask Jane if she could what caused them. Jane said she did know of any noises, and her mistress sent her to the outer doors, to see if any one knocking there, and into all the rooms try to find out what it could be. But Jane could find out nothing, and was sure she not know what caused the noises.

“What were you doing Jane,” said her mistress ,”when I rang the bell ?”

“ Please ma’am,” said Jane, “ I sweeping the best parlour and Oh! perhaps it was the knocking I made there you heard.”

“But what were you knocking there Jane.”

“Oh nothing in particular, madam, only I was sweeping.”

With this Jane’s mistress rose to accompany her to the scene of sweeping, and pretty scene of confusion was there.  Jane had set about her business in right earnest, and meant to sweep the room thoroughly; for which purpose, as if to make sure moving everything; she had carried was at this end of the room right across to the other; the footstools she had upside down, and had piled chairs upon tables, and some on one another, and whole room was in a cloud of dust.

“ Oh Jane,” said her mistress, ”this never do! I approve of your wish to all over the floor; but by this manner doing it, we should never have a clean room, and the furniture of it would be sadly injured. You should very carefully two or three things at a time, just so from their places as is necessary to give room to sweep where they stood; and having swept put them back again; but be very careful not to knock one bit of furniture against another; and pray do not pile things one upon another; you can do so without more or less injuring something; and I hope next time you sweep I shall hear no noise. Knocking and sweeping are two very different things. But, now show me where you were knocking when I rang the bell?”

Jane showed her mistress, and she in return showed Jane some very ugly bruises, which she had made on the wainscoting of the room by knocking the woodwork of the brush against it.

“ I hope Jane,” said she,” that you will not think, as some girls seem to do, that what does not tumble to pieces at the moment, before your eyes, is not at all injured by any treatment you may give it. You have injured the wainscotting here, and I fear you have also bruised and scratched the furniture, by moving it about as you have done. But now let me see how you use your brush.”

Jane began to sweep, and up rose little from the floor to the ceiling. Jane her brush very much as playful little dogs may sometimes be seen to use hind feet, as if, for want of something to do, they were trying how much of road they could kick up into the air. But as Jane’s mistress had no wish to see carpet tossed up in atoms, she quickly her hand.

She kindly took the brush from her, and her how to draw it along in a light quick manner, taking as long a straight as her arm would allow, and then lightly raising the brush from the dirt which had been drawn together.

“Your mode, Jane,” her mistress said, “of scratching the brush on the carpet in a number of short strokes and giving a jerk each stroke, as you do, instead clearing the room of dust, merely removes what is in it from the floor to the ceiling, leaving it to settle again, on the ledges, or furniture, or floor ,and so making work. And, what is worse, it creates dust, by scratching the wool from the surface of the carpet,  by which means a good carpet will in a very short time have all its swept away. If there should be an end of cotton or wool, or a bit of paper, that brush will not easily remove, pick it up your fingers, and never give a needless of the brush, as it helps to wear the away.”

~The young housekeeper as daughter, wife, and mother 1869

September 20, 2011 | | Comments Closed

Autumn Leaves

A Vintage pastime was to preserve autumn leaves and use them in various decorations around the home.

Preserving Autumn Leaves Autumn leaves are used in various methods the most popular being perhaps to dry them flatly and carefully and take great care to preserve their stalks. When thoroughly dry they are varnished with Canada balsam varnish which gives them a pretty gloss and also acts as a preservative to them from all insects and moths.After this they are carefully laid aside for the decoration of the winter dinner table and may be most safely preserved in a tin box with a well fitting cover.

Grasses added to them are very effective and when dry they may be dyed at home with Judson’s dyes. They may be also frosted when dry by dipping each stalk into a solution of alum and leaving them to dry upright. With the glasses and leaves may be used the dried everlasting flowers and the prepared moss however no little taste is needed in their arrangement to avoid the least heaviness of effect.

Grass vases and stands are the most effective for their arrangement as the transparency of these increases the wished for lightness and grace.

Another way of using the dried leaves is for the ornamentation of tables blotting books or boxes. Old cigar boxes when painted black are very favorite articles for decoration but now we know the value of varnished unpainted wood. Many people will prefer the effect of the cigar boxes unpainted with the unvarnished leaves gummed on and the box and leaves varnished afterward. If however a black ground be especially desired use Brunswick black to stain the wood or Brunswick black and turpentine mixed to make a rich looking brown grounding. Then gum on the leaves in a central group being careful to cut away with a sharp pair of scissors all the under parts of the leaves which will be hidden by others above as too many thicknesses of leaf will make an uneven surface and give an ugly appearance to the work when finished.

~The hearthstone: or, Life at home

September 12, 2011 | | Comments Closed

A Dainty Mending Outift

Put together a vintage style sewing kit to catch and fasion emergency.

Are you supplied, by the way, with a mending outfit? Every seamstress needs a work-bag, well fitted with the things she is likely to use.

Just the other day I saw a tiny sewing kit, which was the cutest thing imaginable! It was made of pink silk belting, held in shape by satin-covered cardboard sides. It was three inches long by two inches wide, just the dimensions of its little embroidery scissors, and less than one inch high, exactly the height, in fact, of its small aluminum thimble. But the finest thing about it was that it contained a complete mending outfit. There was a double fold of fine white flannel, an inch by an inch and a half, on one side of which were assorted needles, and on the other side a dozen small safety-pins. A tiny silk button-bag, an inch and a half square, held a few pearl buttons of different sizes and a dozen assorted hooks and eyes, both black and white.

Attached to one corner with a few strong stitches was a tiny emery. Loose in the bottom were six tiny cards, half an inch square, each wrapped with a few yards of thread (coarse and fine black and white cotton, black silk and black darning cotton). There was also a bodkin, a darning-needle, a roll of, perhaps, half a yard of narrow tape, and a ball of wax. Several large safety-pins completed the equipment.

This little sewing kit was carried by one of my friends on all her travels, because it could be slipped into even the smallest hand-bag. It provided always for the button suddenly missing from glove or underwear, the rip or rent in a garment, the mysterious hole in a stocking. If you should care to make one for yourself, I will tell you how to do it, but it would make a lovely present for you to give to mother or sister or your dearest friend.

First lay your small embroidery scissors on a piece of paper and mark off their length.   Then cut an oblong from the paper half an inch longer than the scissors and three-quarters of an inch wide, and round off the corners. This is your pattern, and by it you must cut four pieces of cardboard just the same size. Cover each piece smoothly on one side with plain silk, catching the edges down with crisscross stitches. Now place the uncovered sides of two pieces together and overcast them neatly. Do the same with the other two pieces and your two sides are finished.
A piece of silk belting of the same shade is needed for the body of the case. It must, of course, be a trifle wider than the handle of your scissors, for you do not want them to fit too snugly. Take one of the silk-covered sides in your hands, and fit the belting around the edge as shown in the illustration. Overhand from one side around both ends, leaving an opening at the top, along the edge, but allow the belting to lap about an inch to cover the opening. Hem the raw ends. Then whip neatly to the other cardboard side in the same way. The end of belting is left loose to lay over the opening when you are through. Lastly, fasten a piece of baby ribbon twelve inches long to the loose end of the belting, so that you can tie the case up.

Have I made all this clear? For example: if it takes nine inches to go around the side pieces nd lap, and jour scissors are one inch and three-quarters wide through the handles, then the belting, or other heavy ribbon, must be two inches wide and nine inches long.

~ Sewing for little girls by Foster, Olive Hyde

 

August 29, 2011 | | Comments Closed

August Amusements and Entertainments

Children need play. Young people need entertainment. Old people need
recreation. Everybody needs it. They can work better and longer for having
relaxed a little. Play gives rest from toil and aptitude for labor. It re-creates,
strengthens and puts joy into life.

~Pleasant Hours of Amusements and Entertainment

August’s high temperatures mean lots of indoor time avoiding the heat. Plan some old time fun for the children in your circle.

A SILENCE PARTY

” There was silence deep as death ; and the boldest held their breath for a time.”

Instead of the expected merrily uttered ” good evening,’ the hostess surprised her invited guests
by placing her finger on her lips and bidding them ” hush,” points to a sign on the wall __” Be
quiet, don’t wake the babies.” Each is presented with a dainty card, decorated and having some
appropriate motto such as ” Put a seal upon thy lips,” ” Speech is silver, silence, golden.”

Each is also furnished with a pad of paper and a nicely sharpened pencil. The hostess introduces those
who are not acquainted, by writing on a pad the usual form of introduction, and then begins a
written conversation. Of course any one can write to any one else in the room, simply passing
the pad to the one he wishes to converse with. On the wall of the room are signs __ ” Be Quiet”
” Don’t Talk,” “Keep Still,” etc.

At the end of an hour or so the hostess removes the restriction, and all talk freely. Games, re-
freshments, etc., follow, and the rested tongues will be found to be active enough.

~ Eureka Entertainments, 1894

 


Games for a Child’s Evening Party

BREAD AND BUTTER

Elect a small article, as a thimble, that can be easily hidden. All players except one close their eyes and hide
their faces in their hands. The person holding’ the article then hides it in some convenient spot in the room.
After it is secreted he calls, ”Bread and butter; please, my lady, come to supper.” At this all eyes are opened
and the search begins. A (clue) is given by announcing that the supper is warm, cold, or hot, according
to the proximity of the searcher to the spot where the article is hidden. Once found, the person who has been successful in the search is allowed to hide it again; and so the game continues.

~Pleasant Hours of Amusement and Entertainment, 1902

August 1, 2011 | | Comments Closed

Step-by-Step Vintage Laundry Lesson

This lesson will represent the morning after the clothes have been soaked overnight.

First, wring out the clothes. Wash the tubs and fill nearly full of, hot water. Fill the boiler half full of cold water and add enough dissolved soap to make a light suds. Put a coarse, clean cloth in bottom of the boiler, to prevent scorching of clothes. You are now ready to wash [...]
In clothes, as in dishes, the cleanest are washed first.

  • Table and Bed Linen.
  • Put these in one tub of hot water; use soap freely. As each piece is washed wring it with the hands and drop it in the next tub of water. When all of this first lot are in the second tub, wash again with soap, as before; as each piece is washed and wrung from this tub, drop it in the boiler of cold water. When the boiler is full light the fire, if it is a gas stove; pull it over the hot fire, if it is a coal stove. Press the clothes down with a wooden stick, which is also necessary to turn the clothes and take them from the boiler.
  • While the first tubful of clothes is scalding in the boiler, rub out the second tubful of underclothes, which are the next cleanest, in the same manner.
  • When the second lot is ready for the boiler, the first should have finished boiling and be ready to take out. Put these in a tub of clear water.
  • Wash the third lot, which will be the very soiled clothes and towels, while the second lot is in the boiler.
  • Take the second lot from the boiling water and put them in the tub with first clothes, and then put third washing in the boiler.
  • It is now time to rinse the first and second clothes. First, wash out and thoroughly clean the tubs that have been used in washing, as they are to be used for the rinsing. Fill both tubs with clear hot water; rinse and wring from one tub into the other, then wring out into bluing water. The last boiler of clothes should be rinsed in the same way and blued. As the clothes are wrung out from the bluing water separate those that require starching.

Bluing Water.
Use clean cold water, and have the bluing ball tied in a cloth, to prevent specks coming on the clothes. Never allow the clothes to stand in this water, as they will become streaked, and never, for the same reason, allow them to rest on the bottom of the tub.
Hanging.
Be sure the lines are clean and tight. Every time they are used they must be wiped with a clean, damp cloth. See that the clothes pins are clean and not broken. Hang clothes of a kind together, and hang white clothes in the sunlight, if possible. All articles should be hung on the wrong side. Hang the sheets out first, as they take the longest time to dry.    In hanging fine pieces, and the underclothes, be careful that the clothes pins do not tear the garments.

A second course in homemaking, with two hundred inexpensive cooking receipts by Kittredge, Mabel Hyde, 1867-1955

July 20, 2011 | | Tags: , | Comments Closed
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