Uses to Which Paper May Be Put.
By Anna Barrows
PAPER, being nearly air tight, will exclude cold, and should be used more than it now is. Builders place paper between the boards and clapboards of a house, and we should do well to follow their example in smaller matters. Farmers have found that the extra warmth secured by tacking several thicknesses of newspapers around the inside of hen-houses, etc., has saved extra food. A layer of paper under a carpet is preferable to straw, which is sometimes used; and if the paper made for this purpose cannot be obtained, several layers of newspaper will do nearly as well. Papers spread between bed coverings will take the place of extra blankets. A folded paper is an excellent lung protector; one over the chest and another around the shoulders, under the outside garment, would often save a cold and perhaps pneumonia. Dissolved in flour paste, newspapers make a useful filling for cracks in floors and elsewhere. Scraps of paper, wet and scattered over the floor when sweeping, will save the dust in the room as well as brighten the carpet. Bits of paper, with soap suds, are effectual in cleaning bottles, and are easily removed with the water. Greasy dishes and kettles, if first rubbed with paper, wash much easier; the paper absorbs the grease, and is all the better for kindling the fire. A grease spot can often be taken out of a carpet or garment by placing two or three layers of paper over it, then put a warm iron on the paper. The heat softens the grease, and the paper absorbs it; and by changing paper and iron occasionally, all the grease will disappear. Soft newspaper or tissue paper is preferable to cloth for cleaning lamp chimneys, windows, mirrors, etc., as it leaves no lint; also for knives, spoons, and tinware after scouring; and a stove will not need blacking so often if now and then rubbed with paper. Paper in bread and cake tins protects the loaf from burning, and insures its safe removal from the tin; by this help a tin with holes in it may be used. Laid over a loaf of cake in the oven, paper is also a protection; but unless it is warmed first, the cake may settle. Cut in strips and curled with the scissors, writing paper makes a good filling for pillows for hammocks, or the large pillows sometimes used to show off the elaborate "shams." Postal cards and thin pasteboard can be cut in strips for lamplighters; newspapers for the same use are cut in strips and rolled.—Anna Barrows, in Good Housekeeping.