Care of Clothing.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 262, 7 February 1881, Page 2

Care of Clothing.

The care of clothing, to be easy, must be habitual. The hardest part is informing the habit, and this cannot tod early in life be formed. Most children love to make mud pies and play in the dirt generally, and give little heed to keeping themselves clean. This is all well enough at times, and they should be indulged in their mud pies provided they are dressed for the work. But it is “ poor folksy” in the last degree to allow a child to play in the dirt with nice clothes on, or to permit a young person to dress inappropriately while at work. It is ' vastly easier to change a good coat for a poor one than to restore to its pristine condition a soiled coat. It is vastly easier to put on a pair of overalls than it is to sponge thoroughly a pair of pantaloons. But the worst of it is that those who neglect to change the coat and to pnt on the overall neglect also the sponging and cleansing processes, and let dust gather and spots remain. A clothes brush, a wisp broom, a bottle of ammonia, a sponge, a hand brush, a cake of erasive soap, a vial of alcohol, should form part of the furnishings of every toilet. : After all dust has been removed from clothing, spots may be taken put of black cloth with the hand brush dipped in a mixture of equal parts of ammonia, alcohol, and water. This will brighten as well as cleanse. Benzine is useful in removing grease spots. Spots of grease may be removed from colored silks by putting on them raw starch made into a paste with water. Dust is best removed from silk by a soft flannel, from velvet with a brush made specially for the purpose. If hats and bonnets when taken from the head are brushed and put away in boxes and covered up, instead of being laid down anywhere, they will last fresh a long time. Shawls and all articles that may be folded should be folded when taken from the person in their original creases and laid away. Cloaks should be hung up in place, gloves pulled out lengthwise, wrapped in tissue paper, and laid away, laces smoothed out nicely and folded, if requisite, so that they will come out of the box new and fresh when needed again, A strip of old black broadcloth, four or five inches wide, rolled up tightly and sewed to keep the roll in place, is better than a sponge or a cloth for cleansing black and darkcolored clothes. Whatever lint comes from it in, rubbing is black and does not show. When black clothes are washed, as they may often be previous to making over, fresh, clean water should be used, and they should be pressed" on the wrong side before being quite dry. If washed in water previously used for white clothing, they will be covered with lint. In securing clothing against moths, if linen is, used for wrappings, no moth will molest. Paper bags are equally good if they are perfectly tight, and so are trunks and boxes closed so tightly that no crevice is left open for the entrance of the moth or fly. As the moth loves darkness, it t fjirill, not molest even furs hung up in light rooms open to air and sunshine.