Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2012

1808 washing in lukewarm water with a dry cloth, and pressing the spot between two folds of clean linen. Essence of lemon will remove grease, but will make a spot itself in a few days.

Mix ½ a pint of gin, ½ a lb. of honey, ½ lb. of soft soap, ⅓ of a pint of water together; then lay each breadth of silk upon a clean kitchen-table or dresser, and scrub it well on the soiled side with the mixture. Have ready three vessels of cold water; take each piece of silk at two corners, and dip it up and down in each vessel, but do not wring it and take care that each breadth has one vessel of quite clean water for the last dip. Hang it up dripping for a minute or two, then dab it in a cloth and iron it quickly with a very hot iron.

Cover the feathers with a paste made of pipe-clay and water, rubbing them one way only. When quite dry, shake off all the powder and curl with a knife. Grebe feathers may be washed with white soap in soft water.

Hold the velvet, pile downwards, over boiling water, in which two pennyworth of stone ammonia is dissolved, double the velvet (pile inwards) and fold it lightly together.

Place a little water in a tea-kettle and let it boil until there is plenty of steam from the spout; then, holding the crape with both hands, pass it to and fro several times through the steam, and it will be clean and look nearly equal to new.

Rub immediately with a rough rag wetted with spirits of turpentine.

Black crape when wetted by rain is almost certain to spot. When this is the case, lay the crape whether a veil or piece of trimming on a table, and place a piece of old black silk underneath the stains; then dip a soft camel-hair brush in black ink, and carefully paint the stains over with it: gently wipe off with a piece of silk the superabundant ink, and the stains will disappear as the places dry.

Make some black tea about the strength usual for drinking and strain it off the leaves. Pour enough tea into a basin to cover the material; let it stand ten or twelve hours, then squeeze the lace several times, but do not rub it. Dip it frequently into the tea, which will at length