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House Cleaning: Barrels

Barrels and baskets crated and marked "Fragile" will be handled with much more care than wooden cases, the lids of which are nailed or screwed on.

To Pack Pictures. - Pack small pictures face to face, with blankets or quilts or other folds of heavy cloth between, and lay them in bureau drawers, with thick layers of clothing above and below them.

Or place two large pictures face to face separated by a quilt, tie them with strong cord, and surround the whole with a crate of rough boards.

To Pack Mirrors. - Place two mirrors face to face, with several thicknesses of cloth between, and crate them.

To Pack Furniture. - Remove all movable parts from furniture, as the splasher racks from washstands, mirrors from bureaus, and the like. Remove the casters, tie together with stout cord those belonging to each article of furniture and attach them to some part of the article or drop them into a bureau drawer. Thus they can be found when wanted.

Pack the drawers with clothing and put small pictures, platters, and similar breakable articles between.

Surround the whole with burlap sewed together at the corners, and crate with rough boards. Wrap the legs of chairs, serving tables, etc., with manila paper, newspapers, or cloth, and wind them with a stout cord secured so that it will not slip.

To Pack Books. To pack a large quantity of books, use either a suitable number of small packing cases or barrels rather than a few large packing cases. Books are very heavy, and large packing cases are liable to burst open by their weight. Barrels are stronger, and if properly packed perhaps better than packing cases. To prepare books for packing, wrap up together, in packages of six or eight or more, those books that are most nearly of the same size. Have at least one thickness of paper between each binding and around the entire package. Tie the package together with a soft cord so that the books cannot rub against each other. To pack books in barrels, handle these packages the same as articles of china or bric-a-brac, surrounding them with excelsior, hay, straw, or other similar material, or HOUSE CLEANING with crumpled newspaper; except that not so much of the packing material need be used. The barrel may be headed up instead of covered with burlap, but care must be taken not to leave an inch of vacant space.

Mark it "Books-Keep Dry."

To pack books in small packing cases, stand the parcels on end, with the edges next to the sides of the cases and the back of the bindings pointed inward, and pack between crumpled newspapers to ease the pressure on the round part of the books, which may otherwise be pressed flat. Line the case with wrapping paper. Lay a thickness of wrapping paper over the top, and fasten on the cover with screws in preference to nails. Or, if nails are used, take care to see that they do not slip and injure the contents.

Tools.-Pack in a hand satchel hammer, screw-driver, box opener, nails, tacks, and other necessary implements for unpacking and settling your goods, together with the book containing your inventory and list of packages. Then when the goods arc unpacked, the movers can be directed to take each package to the proper room, and when any particular article is needed it can be readily located and unpacked as required.

Also, if any case is missing or injured, the exact contents will be known, and a sworn statement can be made out as the basis of a claim for damages.

To Pack for Traveling. To pack a trunk or satchel, first decide what to take with you. An old traveler describes his method of packing at short notice, without forgetting any necessary article, by saying that his method is "to commence with his feet and work up." The idea is to run over in mind the various articles of wearing apparel in that order.

Thus, enumerate shoes, stockings, underwear, outer garments, linen, neckwear, etc. Determine what particular articles and how many of each to select. Get these all together and check them up to see that nothing has been omitted. Add, of course, toilet articles, night gear, medicines, etc. Pack first the heavy things or those the last to be needed.