way in which this should be done there are various opinions, most
methods in use by experienced laundresses being reliable. Each,
however, usually has her favorite method of procedure which it is
perhaps as well to allow her to follow. Pity 'tis, 'tis true, that
many housekeepers are so ignorant of how the wash-day programme should
really be conducted that they are incapable of directing the
incompetent laundress. The mistress of the house needs also to be
mistress of the laundry, guiding operations there as elsewhere, seeing
to it that body and table linens are not washed together, flannels
boiled, clothing rotted by overindulgence in sal soda, nor any other
crimes committed against law and order in the laundry.



WASHING POWDERS AND SOAP

If bleaches of any kind are to be used--washing powders, sal soda,
borax, and the like--it must be in either the soaking water or the
boiler, and _very_ sparingly. Indeed, the use of bleaches at any time
is a custom more honored in the breach than the observance. Though
there is no hard-and-fast rule as to the order of precedence, it is
well to wash the woolens first, after shaking them free from lint and
dust. Prepare two tubs of lukewarm suds, the second very light, adding
a little borax dissolved in boiling water to each. Never apply soap
directly to the flannel, nor rub on a board, which mats the wool, but
rub with the hands, squeezing and dipping up and down in the first
water till clean, rinse in the second water, which should be of about
the same temperature as the first, put through the wringer, shake well,
pull into shape, and hang in the shade to dry.