To Pack Books.—To pack a large quantity of books, use either a suita ble 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. Bar rels are stronger, and if properly packed perhaps better than packing cases. To prepare books for pack ing, 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 bar rels, handle these packages the same as articles of china or bric-a-brac, surrounding them with excelsior, hay, straw, or other similar material, or with crumpled newspaper; except that not so much of the packing ma terial 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 im plements for unpacking and settling your goods, together with the book containing your inventory and list of packages. Then when the goods are unpacked, the movers can be di rected to take each package to the proper room, and when any particu lar article is needed it can be readily located and unpacked as required. Also, if any case is missing or in jured, 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 parking 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 par ticular 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. Fold each garment and lay it smoothly in the trunk. Do not at tempt to roll garments into tight bundles in order to economize space. Folded articles laid flat will pack more tightly.
While packing, press down the con' tents occasionally to see that there are no lumps or other inequalities.
To Pack Men's Coats.—Spread out the coat on a flat surface with the outside up. Fold the sleeves back at the elbows and draw them straight down at the sides. Turn back the front laps of the coat over the sleeves, pull the collar out straight, take up the coat at the sleeve holes, and fold it wrong side out length wise. Thus the front flaps will be folded twice in.
To Pack a Plaited Skirt.—Pin each plait in its place at the bottom of the skirt. Lay the skirt on a flat surface and fold to just fit the lar gest part of the trunk or suit case. In other words, fold as little as pos sible.
To Pack Summer Gowns.—Remove the arm shields and fold the skirt in as few folds as possible. Fold the waist in the same fashion as a man's coat, stuff the sleeves and bust with tissue paper, put paper under ruffles, and surround the whole with tissue paper. But do not use white tissue for this purpose, as it is bleached with chloride of lime, which tends to turn white goods yellow. The blue tissue is therefore to be preferred.
Or put waists on coat hangers and stuff the sleeves and bust with tis sue, or lay them flat in the tray or top of the trunk. When thus packed, they will neither lose shape nor wrinkle.
To Pack Hats.—Pin hats to the lids of hat boxes to prevent their moving around. Or improvise a hat box by laying the hat on the bottom of the trunk or tray, and cutting a strip of cardboard as high as the highest point of the trimming. Pin this together at the ends, thus in closing the hat, and lay a piece of cardboard across the top. Surround this with other articles packed firmly to keep them from shifting, and the hat will receive no harm.
Miscellaneous Objects.—Pack bot tles inside of shoes. Pack a chafing dish in the middle of the trunk and fill up with small articles. Lay pic tures in the middle tray between folded garments and fill the tray with clean starched clothes. Put summer gowns or evening gowns at the top of the tray, which should not be packed quite full. Pack in the bottom of the trunk a child's toy washboard. You can then do up for yourself small pieces at hotels and summer resorts where laundry charges are high.