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Indian meal has proved of good effect
ELLA W., Lincoln, Neb.
XVIII. To Paper Walls.
Mrs. Annie R. White, for many years literary and household editor of the Western Rural, discourses as follows about the way to paper rooms: Don't try to paper with a carpet down. Make paste, cut bordering and the paper the day before. If the wall has been whitewashed, it must be washed in vinegar to neutralize the alkali in the lime. If papered before, and you wish the paper removed, sop with water and it will peel off. If convenient, provide a long board, wide as the paper, though a table or two will do. The paper must be measured, placed right side down on the board; then with a brush proceed to lay on the paste, not too thickly, but over every part, and be careful that the edges receive their share. When completed, double within three inches of the top, the paste sides being together; carry to the wall, mount your chair, and stick your three inches of pasted paper on the wall at the top. That holds it; now strip down the other end, and see that it fits just right; if not, peel down, make right, then press to the wall from the center right and left. Leave no air under, or when warm it will expand, bursting the paper.
Of course the paper must be matched; it will not do to measure by lines unless the walls are perfectly plumb. Small figures make less waste, and make a small room look larger. Stripes make a low room look higher, and if there are no figures between, or in the stripe to match, there is no waste, and no trouble in putting on If a narrow border is the style, let it be bright, if the paper be neutral; but if that be bright, the border had better be dark and neutral. If the paste be made too thick, the paper will be apt to crack and peel off; if too thin, it will saturate the paper too quickly, and make it tender in putting it on. A counter-duster (Brussels brush) is nice to brush the paper to the wall. White clean cloths will do, but it will not do to rub the paper with this; being damp, the paint or color rubs off the paper. The tables must be dried each time after pasting, for the same reason. Paste under paper must not freeze, nor be dried too quickly. If whitewashing is done after papering, tack double strips of newspaper wider than the border all around the room, to prevent its soiling the paper,