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Ironing Day: Scorch

To Prevent Scorch. - Wipe the iron on a cloth wet with kerosene.

To Remove Scorch. - Linen articles and other white goods slightly scorched by hot irons may be restored, if the fibers have not been destroyed, by simply exposing them to the heat of the sun or, on dark days, to the heat from an open oven. Moisten them at intervals by sponging lightly with clear water. If the stains are deeper, rub chlorine water into the spot with a sponge or linen rag.

Or run two onions through a meat cutter, squeeze out the juice through cheese cloth, and mix with half a pint of vinegar. Heat the mixture to a boil, and add a piece of hard white soap the size of an English walnut and two or three ounces of fuller's earth. Boil five minutes, cool, and pour over the scorched linen. Let it dry on, and afterwards remove by washing. Repeat if necessary.

TO MARK AND STORE LINEN Linen Closet.-A special closet or wardrobe for linen is a great convenience. If this is not possible, and linen must be packed in chests or bureau drawers, the various articles will lie one upon another so that it is difficult to keep them in proper order.

The shelves of the linen closet should be just wide enough apart to admit of piles of a dozen articles of each sort, and just deep enough to admit one row of articles. Numerous shallow shelves relatively close together make a more convenient arrangement than deeper shelves wider apart. A little care devoted to making the shelves tight, polishing them, and coating them with enamel paint or varnish to give them a smooth and shining surface will be more than compensated for by the beautiful appearance of the snowy linen reflected upon the shelves and the ease with which they may be kept in perfect order.

Comparatively few persons can afford a surplus of fine linen, but when possible, articles should be bought in half dozen or dozen lots and used in regular rotation. All fabrics will wear better if not used continually, but allowed to rest at intervals. Place linen on the shelves in regular piles of one dozen each, and when it comes from the laundry sort it carefully and place the articles that have been just laundered at the bottom of the piles so that they will be used in regular rotation. It will assist you to do this and also to keep account of linen if the articles are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, and piled in that way.

As linen and other articles are often mislaid or stolen when sent to laundries, and sometimes taken from the line or blown away when spread on the grass to bleach, it is advisable to make an inventory of the contents of the linen closet, a copy of which may be fastened with thumb tacks to the back of the closet door, and checked up each time the laundered articles are stored away. This will also assist in the preparation of a shopping list when articles that are worn require to be replaced.

While the term "linen closet" is used (and every housewife knows the good qualities of linen and would be glad to use it exclusively for many purposes), the same remarks apply to the disposition of cotton sheets, pillowcases, etc. These, if of good quality and well laundered, present al- 1 IRONING DAY most as attractive an appearance as the linen itself, and will equally repay the same care and attention. A separate place should be set apart for those articles which have become worn past their original uses, and they should be laundered and stored in the linen closet until opportunity offers for making them up into covers for the ironing board, dishcloths, dish towels, and the many other uses mentioned elsewhere. Old linen is especially valuable for many purposes, and the discarded articles should be carefully stored in an orderly fashion instead of being thrust, as is too often the case, helter-skelter into the common ragbag.

When linen has been properly laundered, aired, and stored in the linen closet, nothing is required for the further care of articles in ordinary use except to preserve them from dampness and insects. The various essential oils and other perfume-bearing substances will assist in preserving linen from the attacks of insects. The use of thyme, mint, and lavender for this purpose by good housekeepers in colonial days and in England is proverbial. Bags containing any or all of the following may be employed for this purpose:

Spices, as powdered cloves, mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Flowers of any sort, dried and mixed with spices.

Odorous leaves, as mint, balm, southernwood, laurel, geranium, sweet marjoram, rosemary, hyssop, and origanum. Roots, as orris and angelica.

Perfumed woods, as sandalwood, rosewood, cassia, sassafras, rhodium.

Animal perfumes, as ambergris, musk, and civet.

Or essential oils extracted from any of these.