Household work; or, The duties of female servants : practically and economically illustrated, through the respective grades of maid-of-all-work, house and parlour-maid, and laundry-maid: with many valuable recipes for facilitating labour in every department; prepared for the use of the National and Industrial Schools of the Holy Trinity, at Finchley.

Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Household work; or, The duties of female servants : practically and economically illustrated, through the respective grades of maid-of-all-work, house and parlour-maid, and laundry-maid: with many valuable recipes for facilitating labour in every department; prepared for the use of the National and Industrial Schools of the Holy Trinity, at Finchley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    Bright Bars, what do you do to prevent the flame from touching the bars P A. I put the wood as far back in the stove as I can. Q. In case the bright bars should get black by the fire, do you know how to remove the black, and restore the polish, without much time or trouble ? A. Yes, ma’am; I get a pound of soft soap, and boil it slowly in two quai’ts of water till reduced to one. It will then be a jelly, of which I take three or four spoonfuls, and mix with some emery. With this mix- ture, on a piece of woollen cloth (the cloth that gentle- men’s coats are made of is the best), I mb the bars well; and, when the dirt is entirely removed, I wipe them clean, polish them with a piece of the finest glass paper (not sand paper, which is too coarse), and then mb them with soft leather and rotten-stone. Q. As some stoves have two sets of moveable bars, one set black, to be used in winter, the other set of bright polished steel, to be used in summer, how do you preserve the steel set from rust, when they are laid by ? A. I melt some fresh mutton suet, and, while quite hot, 1 rub it well over the hars; and then, with unslaked lime, powdered, and tied up in a piece of muslin, I dust the bars well, wrap them in baize, and put them away in a dry place. Bright fire-irons, of any description, smeared with hot melted mutton, may be kept secure . from rust for many months. It may be as well, how- ever, to examine them occasionally. Q. If your fender be of cast-iron, how do you keep it t in order ? A. By polishing with black-lead, in the same manner as the stove. ; Q.. If japanned, or bronzed? A. Then it need only be dusted, unless it should have - been made very dirty ; in which case it may be slightly - washed, and wiped dry with a piece of soft clean rag. ,, Q. Well, having thoroughly cleaned and polished your stove, what more have you to do ? A. Only to fetch a pail of water, a flannel, and a dry r cloth and to wash the hearth.