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DETRO‘IT, MARCH 31. 1888.

 
THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 
THE TEA PARTY.

 
am not with you, sisters, in your talk;
I sit not in your fancied judgment-seat;
pilot thus the sages in their council walk,
Not in this wise the calm great spirits meet,

My life has striven for broader scope than yours;
The daring of its failure and its fact

Have taught how deadly diﬁicult it is

To suit the high endeavor with an act.

I do not reel my satire by the yard,

To ﬂout the fronts of honorable men;

Nor, with poor cunning, underprize the h art
Whose impulse is not open to my ken.

Ah! sisters, but your forward speech comes well
To help the woman‘s standard, new unfurled;
In carpet council )9 may win the day;

But keep your limits—do not rule the world.

What strife sho. ld come, what discord rule the
times,

Could but your pettish will assert its wayl

No lenthened wars of reason, but a rage,

Shown and repented twenty times a day.

Ye’re all my hetters-one in beauty more.
And one in sharpness of the wit and tongue,
And one in trim deco ous piety,

And one with arts and grace» ever young.

But well I thank my father’s sober house
Where shallow judgment had no leave to be,
And hurrying years, that, stripping much beside,
Tamed as they ﬂed, and left me charity.
-Julia Ward Howe.
———«..____.

CARE OF THE HANDS

 
I have been reading some very instruc-
tive articles on this subject. and knowing
that all the members and readers of the
HOUSEHOLD have hands, and presuming
that all feel anxious to have them look and
feel as well as possible, under the circum-
stances, I will try and mix what I have read
with what I know about the matter, and it
may prove a little help to many. There is
no article about the house that is in daily
use but will get out of order, and will look
the worse for wear, unless taken good care
of. Of course everything sees its “best
days” and will wear out in time, in spite of
allwe cm do, and it would be a hard mat-
ter to ﬁnd anything that has less care and
less rest than the busy housewife’s hands.
It is useless to enumerate the thousand and
one things they do from sunrise to sunset;
it would be far easier to enumerate the
the things they have not done. Every
woman needs a pair of gloves—men’s
gloves—kid or dogskin, lined, they
should be two sizes too large for her, so as
to slip on easily. Keep them in a conven-
ient place. When you put wood into the
stove, when sweeping, put them on; you
will be surprised to see how short a time it
willbewhen they show signs of “giving
out,” and you will also see at a glance that

 
it is far better economy to wear out two
dollars’ worth of gloves than your hands.
When the hands become dirty and sticky
from your work wash, them and dry thor-
oughly; leaving the hands half washed and
half dried will make them rough and red.
Then too, be particular about the kind of
soap used. 1 like the castile soap as well as
any. Pear’s soap is highly. recommended;
there is also the honey and glycerine and
bay rum soap; and one should not use too

_ much; unleSs the hands are greasy none is

required. Too hot water will stiffen the
joints and make the skin rough, and too
cold water will chap them; try to strike the
happy medium.

A nail brush is one of the necessaries;
this will keep the nails free from dirt, the
littie skin at the root of the nail is inclined
to grow up on the nail unless watched. Hot
water will make the nails brittle, and they
will invariably break off, way down into the
quick, making ill-looking ﬁnger ends. If
the brush will not prevent the skin from
growing on the nail, take the towel and
press it away while the hands are wet.‘ In
paring vegetables and fruit, most women
curl the foreﬁnger around the knife, and a
long callus is the result. Keep the fore-
ﬁnger straight on the knife blade and pare.
It will be slow at ﬁrst, but as you become
accustomed to it you will be quite satisﬁed,
I feel sure. Lemon juice and glycerine
mixed in equal quantities will whiten and
soften the hands; rub it on when you are
ready for bed. Melt two ounces of white
wax and one ounce of spermaceti ointment;
one dessert spoon of honey and two_ of
glycerine, add olive oil to make a mixture
as thick as cream; perfume. While it is
hot dip a pair of light kid gloves, several
sizes too large, turned wrong side out, into
it until they are thoroughly soaked; when
dry turn them, put them on when ready for
bed and wear them all night; the result will
be very pleasing.

, There should be at the root of the nail a
crescent shape or “half moon ” that is pure
white; the end of the nail should be trimmed
or rounded in just such shape. The nails
can be polished with a bit of chamois skin
with vasaline or pink powder. Never cut
the nails down into the quick; leave a line
of the clear nail. Keep it free from any
deposit. Woolen gloves or mittens will
sometimes prove very injurious to the hands;
better put kid or silk next the skin and
woolen over. Many use rubber gloves for
coarse work; they have long Wrists that come
nearly to the elbow. Never be so foolish as
to mind what others say about being afraid
of your hands. There is nofalse pride in

, . ‘, ﬁn.“ 1.“,

 
wanting your hands to look well. When
you sit down to sew or do a little fancy
work, the sensation is all but pleasant to
have the hands so rough that silk or worsted
will stick to them. We will not say a word
about the color, they. may be brown or
white, but let us have them smooth and
soft. The beauty of hands is not so much
in shape or texture as in the work they do.
Beautiful hands are not always the dimpled,
soft, white, idle hands, useless only to show
off the sparkling rings or ﬁnger the piano
or harp.

“ Beautiful hands are those that do
The work of the noble, good and true,
Willing to work the whole day through."

BATTLE me. BVANGELI'NI .
-—-—-¢oo-——.

SCRAP BOOKS.

 
[Read at a meeting of Paw Paw Grange by In.
Jenny G. Averill.]

Our worthy lecturer, “she who must be
obeyed,” has given me permission to re-
write an old paper, because I have no time
to construct a new one. Some of those
present have therefore seen this pet hobby
of mine out for an airing once before. Upon
the others, especially the ladies, I take this
opportunity to urge the advisability, the
pleasure, the necessity almost, of making
scrap books.

I suppose there must have been a time far
back in my early life, when I neither wrote
letters nor collected scraps, but about as
long ago as I can remember my neat and
thrifty mother was wont to denounce my
crude efforts as wasteful and mussy, while
my wise and indulgent father declared my
taste commendable, and insisted that my
stationery bills be allowed and my dabs of
paste tolerated. So I kept on.

We all take plenty of papers—papers
which are all that can be desired in the
matter of excellence. We have also, most
of us, read so many of them and their kin
that our memories resemble a sieve more
than any other useful article. We seldom
take up a paper without ﬁnding something
so interesting, so useful, so beautiful or so
amusing that it seems a shame to consign it
to the oblivion of forgetfulness, and we
mentally resolve to keep an eye on that
particular piece against a time of need, and
issue strict orders against the destruction of
any of those papers.

By and by, the occasion comes. We just
remember that somewhere, sometime, we
saw just the thing, and it’s‘ in the house too.
Let us see; was it in the MICHIGAN Funk
or the Prairie Farmer, or the Rural New
Yorker, or the Agriculturt‘st, or Grange
paper, or N: Y. Tribune, and wasit inlay

 
2

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 
or August that we observed it? We have
onlyto carefully scan the ﬁles of all these
papers for six months back, or such a matter,
and we will be almost sure to ﬁnd it.

This is so convenient when one never
has ﬁve minutes in this world which she has
not abundant use for, and suppose it’s an
antidote for poisons, or a remedy for burns
and scalds, or a sure cure for colic in a
horse, or a recipe for something nice which
we want to cook for dinner that very day,
how much good is it likely to do us!

Now Ido not claim even yet to be the
best authority on scrap books, but I have
not doted on them and experimented with
them from childhood for nothing, and l have
always had to hurry.

As 1 read I have the scissors handy and
make sure of what 1 want as soon as all are
done with it (and sometimes before, I’ve
heard it hinted). On a tolerably high shelf
in the pantry—some other shelf will do—I
have a row of pasteboard boxes, properly
labelled, one for each book. I throw the
scraps into these and they are safe and
easily found.

On some stormy winter day 1 make a
dish of printer’s paste, (not the ﬂour starch
so often used), heat ﬂatirons to iron thor~
oughly dry and smooth each leaf as it is
ﬁlled; and taking one book at a time empty
the box belonging to it and transfer its con-
tents to a safe, durable, get-at-able place.

I would like a great many scrap books,
but lack of time and means constrains me
to tie myself down to seven,'that are ab-
solutely indispensable. Of course one is
the children’s picture book, and this in
some families needs to be varied and ex-
tended from the baby’s cambric leaved, dog-
cared, limp affair, ﬁlled with crude and high
colored artistic efforts, to the beautifully
bound book of Christmas and birthday cards,
plenty good enough to be coveted and en-
joyed by the young lady of the family, or
her mother even. Those unlucky ones who
are not direct owners of children, can ﬁnd
all the more time to make for nephews,
nieces, Sunday school scholars, little
neighbors, or to send to missionaries or
hospitals.

Few of us can carry a long list of cooking
recipes in our heads as our mothers and
grandmothers did; or get up wonderful
and complete results by using “judgment ”
as they used to tell us so often to do, so a
cook book must surely be made. For this
astrong blank book is needed; I like one
about seven by nine inches, and three-
fourths of an inch thick. It is not too
large to be handy and will hold consider-
able.

Don’t mix things. Allot spaces to bread,
cake, pies and puddings, meats, fruits,
fancy and sick room cooking; have as many
more divisions as you like. Do not write or
paste in one single recipe until you have
proven it, and do not adopt too many for
any one thing.

The next two are my luxuries; one is a
sort of illustrated, lazy woman’s diary, in-
deﬁnitely extended, and I do not make
many additions lately, though I might with
proﬁt. This requires a blank book too. It
is for saving cheap and handy little
souvenirs of travel, entertainment, friend-
ship, etc. I have rewards of merit and

cards that I thought marvels of beauty
thirty years ago; and all the programmes of
our society, and commencement meetings at
school which would have been lost years
ago but for that hook.‘ When traveling I
preserved the railroad and steamboat tickets,
with the printed list of stopping places on
their backs, bills, bills of fare at hotels,
business cards and letter heads that in-
terested me, wood cuts, lithographs or un-
mounted photographs of places of note that
I visited or passed near. These, when
pasted in with marginal notes as to com-
panions, experiences, opinions and dates,
are pleasant to look at and think about
years afterward. ,

The other book was given me by adear
friend for the purpose, and was devoted
solely to the printed writings of my oldest
sister. 1 prized it. highly when I made it,
perhaps you can guess its value now when
it can receive no more entries. It is the
only record of her work, as she never cared
to preserve her own articles, and the collec-
tion which I used laughingly to tell her
would sometime be published as the “ early
efforts of a now famous author.” will be
kept for her sons. Nearly all of us have
either relatives or friends who sometimes
write for publication, and nothing interests
us so much as an article whose author we
know. Who knows how soon these stray
leaves may become invaluable to us, as we
lose the friend who wrote them? '

The ﬁfth book is purely literary. People
with time and taste can make this the most
attractive of the list, but as usual 1 have felt
obliged to look to the usefulness of mine.
Everything and everybody aspires to be. or
to learn to be, literary now a-days. You
and your friends and neighbors are con-
stantly importuned to write, or if you will
not do that, to select and read something
appropriate at the grange, at farmers’ clubs,
at reading circles and lyceums. Then the
children are coming up and they must speak
at school and at church socials, at temper-
ance and Sunday school and missionary
meetings, and certainly at Christmas and
Easter. The busy and overworked mother
is usually requested to select their pieces
and train them—no slight task if one must
institute a hunt on each occasion, but not
so hard if we sow as we go, for sooner or
later we are sure to ﬁnd words which will
honor any purpose, however lofty.

The sixth is a sort of general purpose
book, and is the most useful of all, unless 1
except the cook book. ’Ihere is a depart-
ment for games and amusements, for fancy
work, for ﬂowers, house-plants and ﬂoral
decorations, for household conveniences,
with drawings of all sorts of things, from
a mouse trap and high-toned pork barrel
cover, to a greenhouse and aquarium.

There is a medical department not in-
tended to supersede the family physician,
but a sort of “before the doctor comes”
affair. This is a long list of poisons and
their antidotes; how to restore a person
from drowning, or sun or lightning strokes;
remedies for croup er colds, burns, scalds or
bruises; what to do for wounds, or cuts, or
snake bites. Every family is liable to
emergencies where a little handy informa-
tion is most thankfully received.

 
The most extensive department in the

 
book is that of “domestic economy,” and
it treats of almost anything, from the mak-
ing of soft soap, rag carpets and maple
sugar, to the dressing of a wee baby and the
making of its clothes.

The seventh and last book exists for me,
so tar, only in the box, but 1 am merely
waiting to get hold of a good, large, strong
bookto lay out a great deal of strength on
it, and it will be called “ farm and garden.”
The material will be abundant and will need
careful culling. The index will be the
greatest trouble, but by giving to each
variety of grain, fruit, or vegetable that I

expect to cultivate, a division; also one to
each kind of stock, then by subdividing

these last into others with such headings as
“different breeds and their characteris——
tics,” “ feeding,” “ training,” “fatten-
ing,” etc., 1 think the matter could be so‘
arranged that the owner of the book at least,
could ﬁnd it with tolerable ease.

In conclusion, let me remark that if any
of you know of a strongly bound old ac-
count book that is of no use to its owner, I
know who will try to launch it upon a new
career of usefulness if she is only given a.
chance.

._._—m———-—-

HINTS FOR BEGINNERS.

 
In starting a bed for a few of the most
satisfactory ﬂowers, as soon as practic-
able in spring after the soil is well settled,
select a spot that will receive the sunlight
and air as much as possible, where water-
will not settle, and far enough from trees
to escape the greed of their roots, that would
rob the soil of moisture and fertility. If on
a farm, have some of the rich rotted manure,
black and ﬁne, put on the beds, and it pos-
sible some of the surface soil found near old
stumps in the woods under the leaves. This.
is a grand ingredient to use for ﬂowers, and
if the boys only realized its value the
woods would be bare of leaves, they are so
v aluable for bedding for stock and then the
compost heap, and the soil would be cleared
of all decayed leaves and wood, which
makes what we call vegetable mold. the
the richest food for all plants.

Have the bed spaded and forked over,
and raked until perfectly ﬁne and free
from lumps and stones; and shape into any
form that suits the fancy. When ready to
sow the seed press the soil down ﬁrmly with
a board to prevent the seedfrom washing in
too deep, then sow the border with sweet
alyssum, which is the most lasting border
plant to be had. A few seeds of lobelia
will be found to give a ﬁne contrast with
its constant bloom in blue, and its style is
just right for the purpose. The center of
the bed might hold a few snapdragons and
calendulas and poppies, any one of these if
the ﬂowers are cut often will bloom all the
warm days through. Verbenas and phlox
Drummondii will do for each end anda
bunch of good pinks on the sides. Now
this bed would cost but atriﬂe for seeds,
and when made and started the worst is
done, and a source of enjoyment provided
for every day; like kissing the baby it is so
comforting, just the pure little pleasures
women enjoy most. Pinks will bloom in
perfect fullness and then go to seed if not
gathered; if thus neglected, cut down, as


QPer'ny—yr-uwv

DmQFi-mvi

55'

THE.

HOUSEHOLD. 3

 
soon as the tops look dead, within two or
three inches of the ground, and they will
start up and be in full bloom in a short
time.

Everybody has a kitchen window to drape
or shade, and some of the richness from the
barnyard and rotted chip dirt is just suitable
for morning glories. Do 1 0t string them up
on the windows, but improvise a trellis, set
it two or three feet away from the windows
and at the foot sow the seed. A few plant,
of petunia will do well; and a box or a hill
of sweet mignonette will give fragrance until
frost. I never wonder at the partiality the
French show for this, their “ darling ” as it
is termed; it has its own peculiar odor that
nearly every one loves. I would ﬁnd a
place, if ever so close quarters, for a few
nasturtiums, climbing or dwarf; and in a
sheltered spot or north side of the house or

fence, abed of pansies to visit with, and to

laugh me out of weariness and depression.

Here in Michigan we have various kinds
of soil, even on one farm; as for instance,
on ours is a Spot of clay suitable for brick-
making, and on another part sand to use
with it. When giving directions to be—
ginners I perhaps should have said if the
soil is light sand a mixture of coal ashes
with the fertilizers is advisable; audif heavy
clay, some clean sand from the border of a
lake or river, which is usually handy, will
render the soil porous or substantial as nec-
essary. '

The ﬂowers named will require no extra
care in starting, except the verbenas. Sow
the seed in the open ground when the soil
is warm; if not warm after the bed is ready
delay sowing a short time. Verbena seed
may be sown in acigar box; put a piece of
wet ﬂannel over the top and keep moist un-
til it is up, then remove the cloth and put a
pane of glass over the box until real leaves
appear; then transplant into a larger box or
pan until strong enough for the bed, watch
carefully and give air judiciously, or they
will be drawn and spoiled. ,

A ﬁne show of dahlias from seed may be
secured the same way. and it is a very in-

teresting way to raise them, as we never

know what bright and new variety may be
produced. 1f any new beginners require
further adviCe I am ready to furnish it. In-
sects may steal into the garden, or drouth
patch the plants, but I am an old soldier in

ﬂower-raising and ready to help in any.

dilemma.
anx. MBA). M. A. FULLER.
—-———-‘o>——-——-.—
BALANCING.

 
As usual, our HOUSEHOLD sisters are eh-
tirely unanimous. Every one who Speaks
on the subject concedes “that dishcloth”
ﬁrst place and full prizes. I beg to assure
the lady who deprecates my rising wrath,
that I see no cause of offence in her desire
to secure her property from my usage. The
proprietor of an article surely has the right
to say who may or may not use the same.
Again, I ﬁnd sufﬁcient exercise with my
own to prevent any great desire to appro-
priate that of another. The lady assumes
that the varied uses to which the much
abused article was said to be put, cul-
minated in my kitchen, and a young miss
writing a letter to me soon after the article

 
appeared seemed to have had fears of the
same, as she pathetically inquired: “Who
is it that uses a dishcloth so? We never
do so with ours.”

I never like to have strange hands med-
dle with mine. My ideal is made of butch-
ers’ linen, with drawn work across each end
and trimmed with torchon lace; my dish-
wiping towels of ﬁne damask with knotted
fringe. My actual dishcloth is usurlly a
remnant of a {yell used dim-towel of
“crashed ” texture.

I have been credited with rinsing my
dishes in three waters, and ironing dish-
towels on both sides, and now with a
credit that may be fairly set down as the
other extreme, I feel like striking a
balance sheet, and in ahappy mood dis-
miss the subject.

Evangeline has been to the front, in sea—
son and out with her instructive, entertain-
ing letters, and the motion of Anti-Over,
that words of appreciation should be spoken,
I most cordially second. I have had a
daughter recently married, and Evange-
line’s letters to Hetty have been read I hope
with proﬁt by another. It is a good idea
to seek to ﬁnd the best we can in a person,
book, or in fact in whatever we may come in
contact with; giving praise, agreement or
support as may seem proper, leaving dispar-
agement, fault-ﬁnding or condemnation for
their appropriate time or circumstance; but
relegating them to the background, or as
politicians say, “to back seats.”

It is easy to choose from Evangeline’s
formulae without taking all she may name.
I would enjoy eating at a table so well
spread, even if I thought it too great an
effort to prepare the food. One could well
afford to turn back a ﬁle of papers to ﬁnd
some of her recipes. While a few have
been ﬁnding out the extravagance of a meal
named, others have been trying some of
the dishes, and smacking their lips over the
result. How 1 sympathized with her
hearty laugh over certain criticisms! If all
could do so instead of feeling chagrined
and mortiﬁed! It is well to see ourselves
as others see us, even if it is a caricature
instead of a portrait. Long live Evange-
line and her ready pen! A. L. L.

ING LESIDE.
--—-—.+.-—-—

KIT SEEN C OMFORTS.

 
I hardly think I could tell what is my
greatest comfort in my tidy little kitchen,
but believe I should miss most of all my
range, especially if I had to go back to the
old “elevated oven ” stoves which came
near making an angel of my mother before
her time. My range is set up high enough
so that I do not have to break my back
bending over it, and the reservoir or tank is
ﬁlled from the faucet at the sink by means
of a short length of rubber hose connecting
the two, saving all the lifting and carrying
of water, also a good many steps. One of
the things I particularly like about my stove
is the grating on the bottom of the oven,
which can be drawn out, a pie, tin of cookies,
bread, or meat set on it and pushed back
into the oven. We all know how like the
breath ef a ﬁery Moloch is the blast of air
we get on opening the door of a hot oven;
this contrivance allows us to keep ata re-
spectful distance and avoid it in large

 
a

measure. A custard pie, ﬁlled with that
lavish generosity which ought to characterize
that kind of pie, is no longer a dread;partly
ﬁll your pie, put it on the grating, ﬁll it up
full, and with steady hand. push the grate
back into the oven; when it is baked, pull
out the grate. and “take it up tenderly."
It saves one’s ﬁngers many a burn, too.

1 always keep a Whetstone handy, and do
not propose to struggle with dull knives.
Keep one on purpose for bread. and allow
no other to be used for that purpose if you
wish to keep them sharp. I use an old case
knife, the blade broken half off and ground
smooth, and well sharpened. to pare veget-
ables and fruit; andI do not disd aid to wind
a bit of rag round my ﬁnger and the knife
to spare my hands, when I sit down to do
that work. Handy tools to work with are
just as necessary in the kitchen as out of
doors. 1 also keep a board, ﬁfteen inches
long and about ten inches wide, with a hole
in one end to hang it up by, especially to
out bread on.

Another of my comforts is plenty of
aprons, which I make of men’s shirting at a
shillinga yard; and long enough and wide
enough to protect my dress entirely. They
have bibs, which are supported by a strap
which goes round the neck. I do not quite
like that strap, as it works up round my
neck sometimes, but dislike to pin them up
on a good dress. With such an apron, and
my sleeve- protectors—which are straight
full sleeves gathered to an elastic band at
the wrist. and coming above the elbow, with
an elastic alto run in at the top—I can get
tea in a silk dress without doing it the least
damage, making biscuit or broiling a beef-
steak, for it is all nonsense to think that
one must roll her sleeves above her elbews
and cover herself with ﬂour and grease to
get a meal.

A pressboard is another thing I ﬁnd very
handy. When her children were naughty
my great-aunt Sally used to say, looking
very ﬁerce the while, “ Where’s my press-
board?” I do not use mine in the “family
spankins’,” but for a good many things
outside its legitimate sphere.

If there is anything I hate, it is worn out
ﬁnery in the kitchen. I would rather put
an old silk or wool dress in the rag-bag, out-
and-out, than switch it round the kitchen
in the attempt to get a little more wear out
of it. It wears my self-respect more than I
save in clothing. My work dresses have
plain round skirts and blouse waists, and I
prefer ten cent. or shilling satteens to ging-
ham or calico. I wear a corset with these
waists, and steels in my fancy ticking pet-
ticoat, so that I am not ashamed to go to
the door in my working dress; especially as
I class slippers with worn-out ﬁnery and al'
ways wear shoes to work in.

1 have used the patent potato mas her one
of the ladies mentioned, and as I suppose
this is a “ free parliament ” will say right
out that I do not like it. The potato gets
cold while it is being put through the
squeezing process, and after it is “ squoze ”
it must be stirred to add salt and cream or
butter, and is then no better than if it had
been mashed, nor one bit lighter—if as
light—as if it had been mashed and beaten
with a fork. , L. 0.

Damon.

 
4:

THE HOUSEHOLD.

  
THE HIRED GIRL QUESTION.

 
I read with a good deal of interest, Auro-
ra’s article on “ The Hired Girl ” in the
HOUSEHOLD of March 17th, with the more
interest perhaps because 1 had already
read Mrs. Croly’s letter, to wh ch she al-
ludes. I think Aurora makes a mistake at
theoutset in thinking Mrs. Croly means by
working women, that class of workers we
call “hired girls,” or domestic servants.
To my mind, and also in the estimation of
several of my friends whose opinions I have
asked, Mrs. Croly means saleswomen. seam-
stresses, type-writers, stenographers, ac-
countants, etc., girls who have had oppor-
tunities for education and accomplishments.
Those are classed, in the social world, as
working-women who earn money in any of
these occupations, even artists who design
and execute come under this social head if
they sell their wares. Among this class it
would be easy enough in a city or town to
form such a society as Mrs. Croly suggests
and Aurora approves: they have the talents
and education to do it. I presume Aurora
sees the hired girl from a rural standpoint,
as she says “the mistress of the country
home has for her maid her neighbor * * *
who moves in the same circle with her sons
and daughters.” One may be able to plan
some improvement with and for her help
under such circumstances, but 1 would like
any one inclined in wax sentimental over a
hired girl’s woes, to have a little experience
with the procession of incapables that
marches through the townswoman’s kitchen
in ayear, and see where she would begin
and how carry out her missionary work. I
think a few ﬁne theories would need to take
a back seat. .There is precious little
“pinioned dove” about any of them, and
their ” work-worn, faded clothes” are apt
to be on Sundays or their afternoons out,
quite as ﬁne and more showy than those of
the mistress. “The Master ” may ﬁnd
“His own” in the kitchen, but the mis-
tress will be much more likely to ﬁnd her
out or gossiping in the back yard with the
grocer’s boy. I do not know much about
country life, but would like to ask what
farmer would feel called upon to harness his
horses after a hard day’s work in the ﬁeld,
or turn out at noon, to take the hired girl to
town that she might attend the meetings of
her club. Generally he considers it a hard-
ship to take her home for a few hours’ visit,
or to church on a Sunday when he has
nothing else to do.

It is high time, I think, that this servant
girl question was put on a practical, com-
monsense foundation, and a good deal of
sentimental nonsense done away with. It
is senseless to insist the mistress and the
average hired girl are on an equality either
in social position, reﬁnement or education;
they can be equal in morality, but not much
else. (I am Speaking of the hired girl who
is not her mistress’ neighbor, but cometh up
like a bad weed from an intelligence ofﬁce;
that is the class of girls people in town
know most about.) The matter wants to be
put simply on a business basis, so much
work for so much pay, and fair, honorable
treatment of each other. The woman who
hasever tried to teach her girl to do her
work as she wants it done, ﬁnds her con-

 
tract calls for enough without adding a
literary discipline as well. Few are amen-
able to such training; they come into our
kitchens with their characters and habits
formed: nine-tenths would sneer openly at
any interference with what they consider,
and justly, their personal liberty; they stay
with us a few months and then we may
begin the struggle again with a newcomer.
I should like to have Aurora undertake
the elevation of a specimen that ornamented
my kitchen a few weeks the past winter.
To approach her was like coming up against
a cross-cut saw; she was all sharp points.
My husband suggested that cross-cut saws
could be ﬁled, but I preferred having her
ﬁle out of the house. I never yet found a
girl in that position whom I considered was
my equal. Even if I had, I do not see that
it makes any difference in our relations. [
pay her wages for her work, not for her
companionship, nor for the purpose of in-
structiug her; and consider my obligation at
an end if I treat her kindly and courteously
and pay her promptly. I do not see that I
am under the slightest obligation to under-
take her education. I do not consider her
my “ slave;” that is all twaddle, for a girl,
whether American or of other nationality,
will walk right out of your kitchen without
a day’s notice if she thinks she is at all
“ put upon ;” she knows her iull value and
that she is “ mistress of the situation.”
In fact, [may say conﬁdentially and co n-
ﬁdently, that there are more cases where the
mistress is “the slave ” of the girl than the
reverse; she patiently endures an incredible
amount of waste, neglect and impertinence,
because she knows if she protests her three—
dollar-a-week domestic assistant will take
herself and her ﬂounces and her plush coat
across the street toher neighbor’s, who would
be glad enough to put up with these triﬂing
idiosyncrasies. You may put it down as
an axiom that you cannot beneﬁt a class of
people who are already satisﬁed with them-
selves and conﬁdent that they hold the

balance of power.

ONE OF THE MISTRESSES.
Jacxsox.
—-.OO-——-

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

 
OLD canton, ﬂannel is a good material
for wiping gilt or bronze pictureframes.

 
You can do your own pinking, await
you have no iron, in the following manner:
Make a few scallops with a thimble and
pencil on a piece of stiff cardboard, and
cut them out cleanly and carefully. With
a piece of tailor’s chalk, or a white lead
pencil, draw the scallops on the cloth by
tracing around the cardboard forms; then
take a small and very sharply-pointed pair
of scissors and cut little tiny points around
each scallop. '

 
A COMMON carelessness, especially with
mothers who have occasion to rise suddenly
in the night to attend to the children, is to
step on the ﬂoor with bare feet. A pair of
warm slippers, loose enough to slip on
before the feet touch the ﬂoor and as easily
kicked oii, is an indispensable part of night
attire.

 
IT is very convenient to have a holder al-
ways at hand. Make a couple of good sized

   
ones and to one corner attach tapes long
enough to allow the holder to be used in any
way necessary. Fasten the other ends of
the tapes by a safety pin to the apron band
at the side, or sew them there permanently,
which ensures their being washed when the
apron is washed. '

 
WAIT till your layers of cake are per-
fectly cold before you spread them with
jelly or custard or cream. Then the ﬁlling
will not soak through and make the cake
soggy.

 
——«o—-——
Usei‘ul Recipes.

 
SALMON Sanka—Take a can of salmon,
pick it ﬁne, mix it with the white part of a
bunch of celery cut in dice—there should be
half the bulk of ﬁsh in celery-two cold
boiled potatoes, and one cold boiled beet,
sliced. For dressing, put a cupful of vinegar
over the ﬁre, with a tablespoonful of butter.
one of sugar, and a little salt and pepper; stir
a teaspoonful of ﬂour into a. little cold water
with a scant half teaspoonrul of mustard, add
to the boiling vinegar, stir for a minute, and
pour very slowly over one beaten egg, heat-
ing with a fork while doing so, then turn over
the salad.

Ion-CREAM Carina—One cup sugar; half cup
butter; half cup sweet milk; two cups flour:
whites Of three eggs well beaten; one tea
spoonful vanilla. Bake in three layers
Cream: Yolks of three eggs, one cup sugar:
one teaspoonful vanilla. Beat till of the con-
sistency of cream. Put between the two
layers, and on tOp as frosting, and set it in a
warm oven long enough to set a little; it will
harden when cold.

Oman Snoarcm.—-Make the cake as for
strawberry or other fruit shortcake, baking 1‘
in two layers. Chop oranges ﬁne after re-
mOving the seeds and tough white skin, put a
thick layer between the cakes, sprinkle plen-
tifuily with powdered sugar and serve with

cream, or with whipped cream. This is de-

licious at this season of the year, when fresh
fruits are so acceptable to our jaded palates

____4..___
TWO-LINE THOUGHTS.

The short ball chains have completely
superceded the long watch chains. Many
ladies who have the long chains have had
short lengths taken out, an ornament added
at the end, and thus are “in the fashion ” .
at slight expense. The piece taken out of
the chain can be put in again when the
style goes out,‘ and no damage done.

A pretty way to ﬁnish a dress sleeve is
to cut it two inches longer than is; necessary
at the wrist, face the extra length with silk
or velvet, and turn it back for a cuff.

Round, oval and square brooches are
coming in style again, and the bar pin is
going out of fashion.

What you might call “ a real pretty brace-
let” consists of a line of garnets set in a
narrow gold band; the stones were graduat-
ed in size, the largest being about the size
of a. small kernel of pepper. It was marked
34 50.

Now that bustles are diminishing in size
at fashionable headquarters. some young
women seem to have doubled the periphery
of their dress improvers. While the steels
in skirts are still used, they are smaller
than heretofore and serve to modestly

 
tend the back drapery.