Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1997

Rh lamps, more care will be required, and soft flannel and oil only used, to prevent the removal of the bronze or enamel. Brass-work or any metal work not lacquered may be cleaned with a little oil and rottenstone made into a paste, or with fine emery-powder and oil mixed in the same manner. A small portion of sal-ammoniac, beat into a fine powder and moistened with soft water, rubbed over brass ornaments, and heated over a charcoal fire, and rubbed dry with bran or whitening, will give to brasswork the brilliancy of gold. In trimming lamps, let the wick be cut evenly all round; as, if left higher in one place than it is in another, it will cause it to smoke and burn badly. The lamp should then be filled with oil from a feeder and afterwards well wiped with a cloth or rag. Small sticks, covered with wash-leather pads, are the best things to use for cleaning the inside of the chimney, and a clean duster for polishing the outside. Chimneys should not be washed. The globe of a moderator lamp should be occasionally washed in warm soap-and-water, then well rinsed in cold water, and either wiped dry or left to drain. Where candle-lamps are used, take out the springs occasionally and free them well from the grease that adheres to them.

Pour a little salad oil round the stopper, and place the bottle near the fire, then tap the stopper with a wooden instrument. The heat will cause the oil to work round the stopper, and it should be easily removed.

Pour a small quantity of paraffin round the top of the screw. When sufficient time has been allowed for the oil to sink in, the screw can be easily removed.

Great care is required in washing glasses. Two perfectly clean bowls are necessary: one for moderately hot and another for cold water. Wash the glasses well in the first, rinse them in the second, and turn them down on a linen cloth folded 2 or 3 times, to drain for a few minutes. When sufficiently drained, wipe with a cloth and polish with a finer one, doing so tenderly and carefully.

Decanters and water-jugs require very tender treatment in cleaning. Fill about two-thirds with hot but not boiling water, and put in a few pieces of well-soaped brown paper: leave them thus for 2 or 3 hours; then shake the water up and down in the decanters; empty this out, rinse them well with clean cold water, and put them in a rack to drain. When dry, polish them outside and inside, as far as possible, with a fine cloth. To remove the crust of port or other wines, add a little muriatic acid to the water and let it remain for some time. Fine pieces of coal placed in a decanter with warm water, and shaken for some time, will also remove stains.