Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/215

  wash in warm water, dry in the hot sun, and rub with wash leather. To polish shells that have not much natural polish, rub with tripoli powder and turpentine, then with tripoli powder alone, and lastly with a little sweet oil.

Another way. —First clean off all extraneous substances that adhere to the shells with a penknife, then scrub with a hard nail brush and soap and water. Now make a solution of muriatic acid (if the shells to be treated are very delicate, do not make it too strong) and with an old shaving brush pass it quickly all over the shell, and at once plunge into cold water. Try to do the whole shell at once, as if you have to go over some parts again you may damage those already done. To prevent this you can cover the parts done with warm beeswax while doing the others, but it is a lot of extra trouble. Any small holes made by sea worms can be filled in with plaster of Paris and coloured to look like the shell. When the whole is done, dry well and rub with Florence oil and polish with flannel. Do not let the acid touch your fingers, as it burns severely.

Papering. —I have often wondered that more people do not paper their bush homes, as there is no doubt a pretty paper greatly adds to the beauty of a room. The pictures out of illustrated papers can be made to look very well in a room if they are all cut so as to fit together. They require to be as nearly the same size as possible. I saw a room done very nicely with all the pictures of scenes in the Soudan war. Each one was cut and trimmed to fit the next; not a scrap of margin was left, each picture being pasted close to its neighbour. When all were arranged, and the whole room covered, they were varnished, and the effect produced was capital. For a drawingroom or bedroom I think nothing is so nice as cretonne or chintz; both are to be bought so cheaply nowadays that it makes very little difference in the cost when furnishing. I once saw a slab hut in the bush lined throughout with cretonne; it was fastened down with brass headed tacks, rows of them placed close together round the doors and windows. The effect was better than paper. The large bush fireplaces look the better in summer for being draped with cretonne on each side. Some ladies close them in altogether with a screen on which are pasted Christmas cards or pictures of some kind. In warm weather one is glad of all the ventilation one can get, so we do not close up our fireplaces. If draped on each side like a window with long curtains, and a small box ottoman stood just between a large fireplace, looks very well. One can always stand flowers in the fireplace, or a pot-plant. A very pretty way is to tack two cardboard doors, one on each side. You can have them ornamented with splash work or a drawing; anything, in fact. Let them be wider than the place, so that when they close there is an open space above and below, and they form a bow into the room, and are tied together with a bright ribbon.

A Pocket for Newspapers. —This is made with two pieces of stiff card- board — the lid and bottom of a shirt box answers very nicely — both must be covered; the inside one, which is nailed flat against the wall, need only have a plain linen covering; but the outside one can be ornamented in any way you fancy — of worked ticking, canvas work, &c., &c. Cover both boards in much the same way as you would a book, leaving about a finger length's space for the back or hinge. Fasten the plainer board to the wall with tacks at each of the four corners, then tack or else securely sew two lengths (about a finger in each) of elastic to the two top corners, and to the corresponding corners of the out- side board. Thus you have a pocket which resembles a partly open book attached to your wall; into this news- papers or music can be put, and it can be closed with a button and elastic, or