Happy holidays to you and yours! Hope you have some time to spend with those you are close to and enjoy a bit of rest.

The colors of fabrics or other materials of any kind may be set by boiling the articles in the following solution: To 1 gal. of soft water add 1 oz. of ox gall. This solution should be boiling when the articles dropped into it. A chemical reaction results and the colors are set or made nonfading. The process is harmless. Colors in wood may be treated in the same manner. 1915, The Boy Mechanic.

Anybody have wallpaper in your home still? "The following mixture I have used with the best results for years. Thoroughly mix together 3 pt. of wheat flour and 1 pt. of powdered whiting, then add sufficient water to make a dough. To clean a dirty papered wall, take a piece of the dough that can be easily grasped in the hand, press it against the surface and make a long stroke downward. During the process of cleaning, keep kneading the dirt into the dough. The preparation can be mixed in any amount desired by using the proportions named." -Contributed by C. W. Bause, Jr., E. Troy, Wis.

When a stovepipe is too small for the hole in the chimney, a bushing can be made of the kind of metal tobacco boxes that are curved to fit in a pocket. Remove the tops and bottoms of the boxes and shove them in around the pipe. If such tobacco boxes are not at hand, tin cans of any kind can be used by melting off the tops and bottoms and bending the remaining cylindrical shells into proper shape. Contributed by Elmer Mc-Conaughy, Dayton, O. - The Boy Mechanic 1915