Pther Ways to Use Soap
“Mother,” said Jimmy, “help! My class is to find out all the ways they can in which soap is used, besides washing fine clothing. Please help me think of some.”
“Wait until we are at the supper table, Jim,” said mother, “and we’ll all help. We started a game like that the first night we talked about soap, don’t you remember?”
“Sure enough,” said Jimmy. “Shaking soap and soap in tooth paste.”
“And washing my dog with soap,” chimed in Sue.
At the supper table, mother said:
“Let’s all look around this room, and select the things which may be cleaned with soap and water.”
“Dishes.” This from Sue.
“Woodwork,” was father’s thought.
“Floor.”
“Rug.”
“Pictures.”
“Curtains.” That was mother.
“Electric light fixtures,” said Jimmy.
“Everything you have named can be washed with soap,” said mother. “How about other rooms; can we add anything?”
“Ice box in the kitchen,” said father.
“Stove, pots, and pans.” Mother’s voice.
“Linoleum on the floor,” from Jimmy.
“Tiles in the bathroom, the bathtub, and the kitchen sink,” said Sue, again showing that she was a thinker.
“Seems to me,” said Jimmy, “that I might take a walk through this house and put down about everything I see.”
“Just about,” said mother. “Soap and water are good for almost everything, if used in the right way.”
“I guess I can make out a good long list, all right,” said Jimmy.
“I know some uses for soap that you’d never think of,” father began. “Today I was having a hard time making some screws go into hard wood. I rubbed some soap on them, and they went in easily enough.”
“Oh, I learned long ago to soap things that stick and squeak, like doors and bureau drawers,” said mother.
“I saw a man spraying trees in the park last week,” said father, “and I asked him what he was using for the spray. He said it was kerosene oil made into an emulsion with soap. So there’s another use.”
“The funniest use I’ve heard about,” said mother, “was when a woman I know in the country took a prize on some white chickens because she had washed them so clean in soap and water that they looked better than any other chickens at the fair.”
Miss Dean was very busy.
She was trying to write on the board fast enough to put down about a hundred uses for soaps, which came popping out at her from every desk in the room.
“Enough, enough!” she cried, waving her arm to get the kinks out of it. “Let’s look at these before we think of another use.
“We’ll not talk much about mild soaps now, for we found their greatest use last time. Look at these other soaps, and back to the board. For what would you use this group of laundry soaps?”
“Might they be used for some of the laundry, such as sheets, and heavy cotton clothes?” asked Grace.
“Yes,” said Miss Dean. “In every home there are the coarser kinds of laundry work for which these might be used. If you lived on a farm and had very dirty cotton garments to wash, you would be glad of the aid of these stronger soaps.”
”Which soaps would aid in softening hard water?”
“These with washing soda or trisodium phosphate,” said Mary.
“Such soaps may be much needed in some parts of the country,” said Miss Dean. “However, most people think it is best to soften the water first with as little soda as possible; then put the soap in.
“For what special use would you choose these cleansers which do not make suds?”
“Window washing,” said Mary, promptly.
“Then mirrors, and picture glass,” said Jane.
”And perhaps the ice box,” said Jimmy.
“Milk bottles, and milk cans in dairies,” said Peter, “and softening hard water.”
“All right,” said Miss Dean. “Suppose your table linen or your handkerchief became stained or yellow, which might help out?”
”A bleaching soap,” said Gertrude.
“Which should we use on linoleum?” asked George.
“I’m glad you asked that question, George. It is an important one. Linoleum is made of linseed oil (which comes from flax or linen seeds), usually mixed with ground cork. Strong alkalies take out oil or grease from clothing, so what might they do to linoleum? What kind of soap should be used to wash it?”
”A mild soap,” said George.
“How about painted or varnished surfaces, which also have oil in their paint or varnish?” asked Miss Dean.
“They would need mild soaps also,” said George.
“Unpainted floors can be scrubbed with the stronger soaps,” said Miss Dean.
“We have found out, I think,” Miss Dean said, “that there is a use in the home for more than one kind of soap. We have learned to tell the differences in soaps, and what soaps are best to choose for our finer clothing. There is a great deal more we might learn about washing many special things in our homes, polishing metals, cleaning tiles, and much besides. But we may not have time, this term.”
“I should like really to wash a sweater,” said Jane, “to be sure I know how.”
“And I should like to know more about washing colored things,” said Mary. “Mother says she’d be glad to have me help her wash my best summer dresses.”
“I think I know about washing silk stockings, but I am not sure about scarfs and ribbons,” said Grace.
“Why not do this,” said Miss Dean, “be sure you know just how you should wash these things, then really do them at home, and bring in the result for the class to see?”
“We might start another exhibit in that way. Let’s all do it,” said several children.
“Speaking about exhibits, what can we do now to round out our soap exhibit?” asked Miss Dean.
“We might finish our soap list by writing opposite the name of each soap some of the uses for it,” said Peter.
“That is a good thought, Peter. Suppose you all think whether you have any suggestions for making our exhibit as helpful and as attractive as possible, and we will spend our next industrial science period in completing it.”
How are you getting on with your own exhibit?
Have you learned the names of many different soaps?
Have you watched the advertisements in the cars and cut them from magazines?
Do you look around you for new kinds of soaps, when you go into stores?
In how many special ways do you, yourself, use soap at home?
Maybe the boys and girls in Miss Dean’s class do not know this - that the skin of our hands and face may tell us whether a soap is strong or mild. If a soap makes our hands feel rough by taking the oil out of the skin, it is probably not a good soap to use for silk and wool. Will you remember that when you wash your silk stockings and sweaters?”
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