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Classic
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page 358
afterward washing off with clear water, and it will always look bright and new.
Cut a very ripe tomato and rub over a kitchen table to remove grease. The juice
will also remove stains from and whiten the hands. A piece of sponge fastened on
the end of a stick or wire is the best thing with which to clean lamp chimneys.
If you use oil, buy the best kerosene. To test it, place a small quantity in a
tea-cup, and if it does not easily ignite when brought into contact with a
lighted taper or match, it is good; poor oil will ignite instantly. Keep oil in
a ten-gallon can with a faucet at the lower part, so as to draw off into a
smaller can or lamp-filler; set the large can in a cool dark place; keep all the
articles used for cleaning, filling, and trimming lamps by themselves. For these
purposes provide an old waiter (to hold the things), a lamp-filler, pair of
scissors or a lamp-trimmer, box of wicks, soap, washing soda, and several soft
cloths and towels, also a wire hairpin with which to keep open the vent in the
burner. When lamps need an extra cleaning, add one table-spoon soda to a quart
of water, being careful that none of the bronze or gilding comes in contact with
the soda. When the wick becomes too short to carry up the kerosene, and if you
have not time to put in a new wick, a piece of cotton rag pinned on below will
prove a good feeder. If a hole is broken in a glass chimney, paste on a piece of
paper and it will answer its purpose until you get a new chimney. When the
burners of lamps become gummy and prevent the wicks moving freely, boil them up
in suds over the fire a short time, and they will become entirely clean and work
well. Lamps may become incrusted inside with settlings from the oil, and
ordinary washing will not remove it. Take soap-suds and fill the lamp about
one-third full, then put in a little sharp sand, and shake vigorously. A few
minutes will remove every particle of settlings. Always fill the lamps every day
and in the day-time; never fill a lamp after dark near a lighted lamp; never
light an almost empty lamp, as the empty space is nearly always filled with a
very explosive gas. In putting out a lamp, turn the flame down low, and wave a
fan, book, or paper across the top of the chimney. Blowing down a chimney is
very dangerous when a lamp is nearly empty and turned up high. Never start a
fire with the oil.
Fill new tin pans with boiling water (having a little soda in it), let stand on
a warm part of the range for a while, wash in strong soap-suds, rinse, and dry
well. Scouring tins very often with whiting or ashes wears them out; if properly
taken care of, washed in suds and thoroughly dried, they will not need scouring.
Boil ashes or a bunch of hay or grass in a new iron pot before cooking in it;
scour well with soap and sand, then fill with clean water, and boil one or two
hours. Knives for the table should never be used to cook with; those for the
former purpose may be a cheap plated set for every-day use, and should be kept
by themselves, and never allowed to be used in the kitchen.
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