TO MARK AND STORE LINEN Linen Closet.—A special closet or wardrobe for linen is a great con venience. 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 compen sated for by the beautiful appear ance of the snowy linen reflected upon the shelves and the ease with which they may be kept in perfect order.
Comparatively few persons can af ford 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 al lowed to rest at intervals.
Place linen on the shelves in regu lar 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 bot tom of the piles so that they will be used in regular rotation. It will as sist 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, pil lowcases, etc. These, if of good qual
ity and well laundered, present al most as attractive an appearance as the linen itself, and will equally re pay 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 men tioned elsewhere. Old linen is es pecially 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 com mon ragbag.
When linen has been properly laun dered, aired, and stored in the linen closet, nothing is required for the fur ther care of articles in ordinary use except to preserve them from damp ness and insects. The various essen tial 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 pro verbial. 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, south ernwood, laurel, geranium, sweet mar joram, rosemary, hyssop, and orig anum.
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.
To Store Linens.—If linen articles are not in constant use they should be wrapped in brown, blue, or other dark-colored paper, as the bleaching powder and other forms of chlorine used in bleaching white and light-col ored papers have a tendency to turn linen articles yellow, and so does ex posure to air and sunlight.