Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/984

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��Popular Science Monthly

��The Left-handed Woman's Home Appliances

A FRIEND who is left-handed says it is foolish, when she must do her own housework for a lifetime, to put up with the little annoyances that come from using tools and arrangements standardized for normal, right-handed housekeepers.

���The left-handed woman should have her kitchen arranged for her own convenience

She has her scissors sharpened the reverse of the usual way. The drain- board in her kitchen is at the left, instead of at the right of the sink. The shelf of her range she had transferred to the left. If she used a cabinet gas- range, with high ovens at the side of the open cooking-burners she would choose a stove with ovens at the left. In hanging up small tools near the place where they are to be used, she locates them at the left, rather than at the right side of the table or counter. The usual location of the spout or lip upon sauce- pans or skillets serves a left-handed cook well, for they are wrong for the average woman. — A. G. Vestal.

How to Make Artificial Marble

A COM POSITION closely resembling marble can be made from marble- dust and magnesite. Thoroughly mix equal parts of these ingredients while dry. Make a watery solution of magne- sium chloride, strong enough to float an egg. Add the magnesite and marble- dust mixture to the magnesium chloride solution, until a thick, creamy com- position is obtained. Pour this into molds of glass. The glass should be washed, polished, and rubbed with a cloth soaked in paraffin oil. The oil

��gives the appearance of polished marble, when the composition is hard. Twenty- four hours are required for hardening.

If a mottled or veined effect is desired, add dry mineral colors to a small amount of the mixture, and, with a spoon, deposit it in several spots. When the mixture is poured into the molds, which should be from a height of 2 ins., the colored spots will blend with the white mass, forming beautiful veins and flecks. If holes are desired, rods of wood, dipped in melted paraffin, are placed in the molds.

This composition is especially good for electrical switchboards. Clock-cases, table-tops and statuary can also be made from it. Fine sand, or even sawdust, may be substituted for marble- dust. For each pint of dampened saw- dust, it will be necessary to use a pound of magnesite. — A. H. Waychoff.

Convenient Stairway

IN a new house having three rooms and hall on the lower floor one compact stairway serves the purpose of two. A hinged door at the bottom of the kitchen branch and a sliding door at the front hall face of the small landing give privacy to either section of the stairway. Warm air is prevented from rising when bedrooms upstairs are being aired. Also the noises downstairs do not disturb anyone who may be asleep or ill up- stairs. Another feature is the hinging of the second step from the bottom of the kitchen branch making, beneath it and the third step, a storage space for cooking utensils and dish-drainer, since there is no pantry. This arrangement is a great space-saver.

���Much valuable space can be saved by this kind of stairway

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