p. 13 | The Bath-Room

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 25, 1912

The Bath-Room

CARE of the bath-room is one of the most important details in housekeeping, and if left to the control of the average servant will be neglected. While once a week is sufficient for its thorough cleaning, every part of the bath-room should be cleaned every morning, to insure perfect safety from disease germs. Aside from the convenience of good drainage, the health of the family demands that all waste-pipes be kept as clean as possible.

A zinc-lined bath-tub should be kept scrupulously clean, as the zinc absorbs impurities; and if the zinc has become dark from careless washing, it may be brightened by rubbing with a mixture of fine, sifted ashes and petroleum, but the drain should be stopped before cleaning the metal.

Brighten nickel bath-room fixtures with whiting moistened with ammonia, and polish with a piece of dry flannel. Copper faucets and the like may be cleaned with diluted oxalic acid. Brass which has suffered from neglect may be cleaned with oxalic acid, while rotten-stone made into a paste with kerosene is all that is required for polishing brass that simply needs brightening.

The nickel and brass fixtures in the bath-room may be kept bright, and will not require to be polished so often, if they are washed every morning with a strong pearline suds, and then rubbed dry with a soft flannel cloth. The bowl and tub may be kept beautifully white and clean by washing with hot suds every two or three days, adding now and then a little ammonia or soda to the suds.

Keep a bottle of ammonia in the bath-room, and let it be used freely around the drain-pipes. This will help to carry off any collection that may interfere with the perfect drainage, and the bath-room will never be the starting-point of disease if the waste-pipes are kept perfectly clean.

—Selected.