Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2023

Rh Dissolve 1 oz. of oxalic acid in one pint of soft water. Rub it on the brass with a piece of flannel, and polish with another dry piece. This solution should be kept in a bottle labelled "poison," and the bottle well shaken before it is used, which should be only occasionally, for in a general way the brass should be cleaned with pulverised rottenstone, mixed into a liquid state with oil of turpentine. Rub this on with a piece of soft leather, leave for a few minutes, and then wipe it off with a soft cloth. Brass treated generally with the latter, and occasionally with the former mode of cleaning, will look most beautiful. A very good general polish for brass may be made of a ½ a lb. of rottenstone and 1 oz. of oxalic acid, with as much water as will make it into a stiff paste. Set this paste on a plate in a cool oven to dry, pound it very fine, and apply a little of the powder, moistened with sweet oil, to the brass with a piece of leather, polishing with another leather or an old silk handkerchief. This powder should also be labelled "poison."

Take sufficient flour of sulphur to give a golden tinge to about 1½ pints of water, and in this boil four or five bruised onions. Strain off the liquid when cold and with it wash with a soft brush any gilding which requires restoring, and when dry it will come out as bright as new work. Frames may also be brightened in the following manner:—Beat up the white of eggs with chloride of potass or soda, in the proportion of 3 ozs. of eggs to 1 oz. of chloride of potass or soda. Blow off as much dust as possible from the frames, and paint them over with a soft brush dipped in the mixture. They will immediately come out fresh and bright.

{{c|TO CLEAN OIL PAINTINGS Rub a freshly cut slice of potato damped in cold water over the picture. Wipe off the lather with a soft damp sponge, and then finish with luke-warm water, and dry and polish with a piece of soft silk that has been washed.

{{c|TO TAKE OUT MARKS FROM MAHOGANY}} The whitest stain left on a mahogany table by a jug of boiling water, or a very hot dish, may be removed by rubbing in oil, and afterwards pouring a little spirits of wine on the spot and rubbing dry with a soft cloth.

{{c|TO CLEAN LOOKING-GLASSES}} Remove, with a damp sponge, fly stains and other soils (the sponge may be damped with water or spirits of wine). After this dust the surface with the finest sifted whiting or powder-blue, and polish it with a silk handkerchief or soft cloth. Snuff of candle, if quite free from grease is an excellent polish for looking-glass. {{nop}}