us.

 

“with

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

    
   
 
   
     
   

v

y \

\‘.~

\ ‘ WWV

._/
'—

 

40,” /

 

s\\ \\j
3‘16“;-
v?

or" ”fly

«4656 2

     

. xv
’..//,//z/ 1/,

 

 

. DETROIT, MAY 26, 1888.

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

A WOMAN'S COMPLAINT.
-v——-

I know that deep within your heart of hearts
You hold me shrined apart from common
things,
And that my step, my voice, can bring to you
A gladness that no other presence brings.

And yet. dear love, through all the weary days
You never spe ik one word of tenderness,

Nor stroke my hair, nor softly clasp my hand
Within your own in loving, mute caress.

You think, perhaps, I should be all content
To know so Well the loving place I hold

Within your life, and so you do not dream
How much I long to hear the story told.

You can not know, when we two sit alone.
And tranquil thoughts within your mind are
stirred,
11y heart is crying like a tired child
For one fond look, one gentle, loving word.

It may be when your eyes look into mine
You only say, “ How dear she is to me 1“

0h, could I read it in your softened glance,
How radiant this plain old world would be!

Perhaps, sometimes, you breathe a secret prayer
That choicest blessings unto me be given;

limit you said aloud, “ God bless thee. dear!"
I should not ask a greater boon from heaven.

I weary sometimes of the rugged way;
But should you say, “ Through thee my life is
sweet,”
The dreariest desert that our path could cross
Would suddenly grow green beneath my feet-

’Tis not the boundless waters ocean holds
That give refreshment to the thirty flowers,
But just the drops that, rising to the skies,
From thence descend in softly falling show-
ers.

What matter that our granaries are filled
With all the richest harvest‘s golden stores,
If we who own them can not enter in,
But famished stand below the close-barred
doors?

And so ‘tis sad that those who should be rich
In that true love which crowns our earthly lot,
Go praying with white lips from day to day
For love’s sweet tokens, and receive them not.
-le Advance.

______...____

THE STRUGGLE OF LIFE.

 

Somebody has said that a large propor-
tion of the mistakes, errors, and even the
sins of the world, are due to false relations
in life, rather than to inherent depravity.
Certainly a great share of the misery in the
world can be traced to the struggle between
what is, and what should be.

To harmonize soul and surroundings is
the problem which we must all solve if we
would impress upon our environments ‘the
stamp of our own natures, as we advance in
mental and spiritual growth; but as to every
action there is ever opposed an equal reac-
tion, so every such effort is combated by the
reaction of circumstances upon the spirit,

 

keeping down and blotting out. This is
the real struggle of life, this fight- of what
we are with what we would be. To some
of us it is a blind, half-conscious struggle,
a futile rebellion against something—we
hardly know what—in our lives that we
would change it‘ we could; others accept
with resignation and bear with pathetic
patience; while others grow desperate and
strike blindly at what they call Fate and
Circumstance, passionately longing for a
harmony which alone can bring them peace
and tranquility. These, like George Eliot’s
“Armgart,”
“ Cannot bear to think what life would be,
With high hopes shrunk to endurance,
stunted aims,
A self sunk dowu to look with level eyes
011 low achievements.’

And yet it is these “low achievements”
which go a long way toward the comfort of
even the most discontented. Suffering and
sacrifice are not normal conditions of our
lives, happiness is simply the secret of
bringing outer life into accord with inner
thought, it may mean little, it may mean
much, but is really only the lasting har-
mony between our inclinations and our
objects, without which our lives are discord-
ant, incomplete failures.

lt has been often asked whether in the
Hereafter we shall not find ourselves able
to do the things we long to do here and can-
not. Of this we only know that
“Far out of sight, While sorrows still enfold us,

Lies the fair country where our hearts abide;
And of its bliss is naught more wondrous told

us
Than these few words,—‘We shall be sat-
isfied.’ "

Few of us. though conscious of our own
unsatisfied longings, are aware of the wide-
spread unrest which comes of inability to
bring our two natures into harmonious
sympathy, to adopt our personality to the
lives 'we must lead. There is an “irre-
pressible conflict” to be fought by the
woman of intellect and education who
assumes the responsibilities of marriage,
with the housekeeping and homekeeping
duties which accompany it. None can ap-
preciate more keenly all the charms and
graces of domestic life, in which means are
steadfastly kept out of sight, and results
alone observable, but none are more im-
patient of the “belittling cares” which
bend the back, roughen the fingers, and try
the soul. A well regulated home is not
gained without constant care and supervis-
ion on the part of its mistress; its manifold
’duties absorb her, and she endures a spiritual
semi-starvation in giving up herself to the
material necessities which are, after all,
essential to the completeness of the nobler
growth. Shall she devote herself to the

domestic, and sink below the level of her
former life, the state which won to her side
he whom she is bound to regard before all
others, even herself? 01' shall she wax
mentally strong at the expense of tum
duties which fall to her share as wife and
housekeeper? “ The level we strike in the
soul that touches us most nearlv, is almost
sure to be the high water mark of our
own,” and if the wife is to go hand in hand
with the husband, she must be sure that the
flood tide of her intellectual life reaches up
and mingles with his. Doubly blessed
among women is she who can feed both
body and brain, who can manage to supply
material needs, and yet never lose sight of
her ideal, far, far above her present level
though it be.

Nature never gives to a living thing
Capacities not practically meant for its
benefit and use, and there is an everlasting
obligation upon us to realize all we can out
of our lives; and the opportunities of which
life is full, which we fail to reach through
self denial and sacrifice, are the ones which
wait for us, or to which our lives tend,
“almost without our own volition. The life
that misses its chances through indulgence
or selfishness or which ignores its respon-
sibilities, cannot be ahappy one, for it is
imperative to keep in view the truth that no
end that is shut in self can bring content to
a human soul. Paradoxical as it may seem,
we must find our greatest happiness in re-
nouncing it for the happiness of another.
To a soul at war with itself, an un selfish
love is the only hope. BEATRIX.

——¢oo-——

PERSONAL BEAUTY.
O

 

Our queen B— asks me to write that
chapter mentioned in a former paper, on the
care a woman should take of her beauty.
My idea was the cultivation of her beauty,
to make herself more beautiful as the years
go by. Young people do not see much
beauty in old age. They have yet to learn
that it is possible to be beautful at fifty, and
later.

Several times within the last two months
l have met these words: “ The most beauti-
ful thing God ever made was woman.”
Thinking of this I often amuse myself when
in a crowd, studying the plainest faces to
find the beauty in them. Let some one they
love say or do something that pleases them
very much, how the eyes will brighten and
smile, in fact every feature of the face is
perfectly transfigured. Many people who
are the reverse of beautiful to us at first,
when we become acquainted with them we

 

pronounce this one charming, that one so

 
   
 


7. .

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

good, another one so very interesting, and
so on through the catalogue.

Now what makes this one interesting
the other one charming etc? People are
interesting and charming as they have in—
telligence and politeness, accompanied with
tact. Tact is necessary in all departments
and places of life, and we succeed according
as we have much or little of that valuable
acquisition; these things can be acquired by
earnest, thoughtful study.

1 tell my young lady friends that to grow
beautiful as they grow old, they must culti-
vate and entertain only pure, beautiful
thoughts; the mind, stored with good and
pure knowledge, will refine the features,
and show as plainly through the face as the
wares of the merchant through the shop
windows. This refining of the features is
much more easily and perfectly done in
youth than in later years; it is much harder
to eradicate coarseness from mind and
manners, if they have been indulged until
the years of maturity.

Every woman should take care of her
health for looks’ sake, as well as comfort.
To be handsome or healthy she must keep
her skin clean, and for beauty soft, and
protect it from sun. wind and dust as much
as possible, by gloves on the hands and sun-
bonnet on the head. While doing her work
the snnbonnet is much to be prefered to a
sweeping cap or sun-hat; as it protects the
neck and ears besides being a better pro-
tection to the face, and is just as useful in
winter as summer. The neck should be
carefully cared for, nothing harsh or rough
should be allowed to touch the skin of the
neck, irritation of the skin makes it grow
thick and rough. and in time brown; a
beautiful neck is just as desirable as beau-
tiful hands. After the skin is thoroughly
spoiled 1 think nothing can undo the mis-
chief; here, mothers, be wise for your
daughters.

Those who have a greasy skin will find a
little ammonia in the wash water is better
than soap, and before the skin is dry (not
moist but soft) rub over with a little
powder, magnesia or prepared chalk is good,
then wipe ofi with a dry towel. Ammonia
is also good for washing the arm-pits or
feet, it will destroy odor more effectually
than soap. For those whose skin chaps or
burns, when ready to retire, wash the face
and into the wet hand turn a few drops of
glycerine and rub the face thoroughly.
Those with good skin need no cosmetic
but clean soft water.

A free use of lemons in the spring is very
beneficial to the complexion; they act on
the liver, and so carry off impurities. Per-
haps it would be in order here to say to
those whose complexion is very sensitive to
the state of the liver, I know of nothing as
good as extract of dandelion. Get four
ounces at the druggist’s, have them put in
one teaspotmful of Wintergreen essence, take
one teaspoonful three times a day before
eating; the last thing at night and the first
in the morning drink a glass of lemonade,
use one half of a lemon for one glass; while
using these remedies eat light, especially
uppers. I think it is the quantity more
than the quality of food that causes liver
baubles and dyspepsia. These conditions

of the ”stem injure the complexron. We

must keep the complexion clear for beauty’s
sake.

The mouth beyond all the other features
combined expresses the character of
its owner—how needful then to cultivate
the character we wish to be thought to
possess. Keep the teeth clean, the more
uneven or imperfect the nicer the care to
be given them; keep the lips closed. If the
voice is harsh or coarse or shrill, go away
by yourself and practice tones until you
can strike one that is pleasant, then adopt
it; use it until it is yours without care or
thought.

The hair must have good care. Study the
face the hair is to adorn and arrange it as is
most becoming to that face; one style of
dressing the hair is not becoming to all
faces.

0f the care of the hands I will say but
little. First keep the hands as clean and
soft as the nature of the work performed by
them will admit, this can be done much
more easily than some think. Before re-
tiring wash the hands with soap and soft
water, wipe just so they will not drip, turn
four or five drops of glycerineinto one hand,
then rub the hands thoroughly all over, par-
ticularly the finger nails; put on an old pair
of kid gloves; in the morning they will
please you, you will feel fully paid for the
trouble. Many people use glycerine on the
dry skin and are disappointed in its effects.
To get the best effect the skin needs to be
clean and soft with moisture, but remember
such hands tan in the sun and wind easier
than if left dry and tough.

Put on an old pair of gloves to bring in
wood and water, or perform any out of
door work; with the ends of the fingers cut
off one can work as dexterously as with

. bare hands. Pray do not bite the nails nor

trim them down to the quick with the
scissors; it spoils the shape of the ends of
the fingers, and destroys an ornamental ap-
pendage, a little of white beyond the pink
adds much to the beauty of the band; do not
use the hands so hard as to weaken the
joints, for rheumatism is sure to take up its
abode there and enlarge and twist them out
of symmetry. ,

Keep the feet dressed cleanly and whole;
leave thin soles and high heels (if you must
have them) for dress up. Tight boots with
high heels make come and bunions; pain-
ful feet cause an ungracetul gait. To make
a beautiful appearance on the street or
crossing a parlor, or kitchen, it is essential
that a woman have a graceful gait or walk.
Many women have a very uncouth move-
ment when walking; I say to myself if
they could only “see themselves as others
see them.” In cultivating beauty do not
forget to cultivate a graceful movement.

There is one thing more that needs care
and thought, it is the garments worn. The
old adage “ fine feathers make fine birds ”
is largely true. A well dressed woman is a
good looking one; the most expensively
dressed is not always the best dressed. To
be well dressed the principal feature) are
fit, design and harmony; a suit of twenty-
cent broadhead goods, perfect fitting and
artistic in design, is so much more genteel
looking than a cashmere put together by a
large share of home talent. Many women

 

can make a calico or gingham so it looks

neat and genteel. Do not dress without
the corset; have it as loose as you like but
have it on, and also a small bustle with your
calico dress. Every woman should care to
look as well as she can before those she
loves best and who love her best. A little
extra trouble will be amply repaid in the
pride the son shows when his mother is
seen coming, or the husband shows in pre-
senting his wife to an old acquaintance who
just stopped as he was passing. Same say,
“ I do not care how I look when about my
work.” I notice they are just as ready to
run it they hear a knock, or make excuses,
as they were to assert they did not care.

All of us no doubt have been told by our
mothers, “in the years that are gone by,”
“She handsome is who handsome does.”
Let us‘ cultivate a fine mind and love to our
neighbor, and an unselfish spirit in the
family circle. Thomas a Kempis says:
“ Know that the love of thyself doth hurt
thee more than anything in the world;” also,
“If we seek our own pleasure we shall
never be quiet or free from care; in every—
thing something will be wanting; in every
place there will be something that will cross
thee.” Let us remember that time is not
lost spent in making ourselves beautiful in
mind, manners and person.

ALBION. .M. E. HENRY.

—————§».—__

OUR DEAD.

 

“ Peacefully lay them down to rest,
Pile the turf lightly, over their breast;
Flowers of the wildwood. your odors shed;
Over the holy, beautiful dead;
Peacefully sleep, peacefully sleep,
Sleep till that morning, peacefully sleep.”

In a measure we are all independent
people; that is, we can believe what we
please, we can accept a theory or reject it.
While fashion and custom are criterions
for nearly everything, we are not obliged to
follow them any farther than we choose—
there is no compulsion about the matter.
Good sense and judgment will help us care
for our dead, as they enable us to care for
our living. City customs and country cus-
toms are vastly different; while in the for-
mer place one’s next door neighbor might
sicken, die and be made ready for burial
and no one know it until the hearse drove
up for the body—invitations be issued
for the funeral, etc—in the country this
would be considered a strange procedure-
I should think I lived among heathen if
one of my dear ones was sick, died, and was
buried and no one darkened the door. I
should be in favor of home missionaries right
off. I should not like strangers to come
out of curiosity, or to make remarks, but I
should like to feel that in the length and
breadth of the community in which 1 had
always lived some one thought enough of
me and mine to come, in this the time of
my afliiction. If there is ever a time when
we wish companionship, ever a time when
sympathy is as grateful and helpful as dew
to the thirsty plant, the gentle shower to
dying vegetation, it is when we see the tie
severed that binds us to loved ones. Every-
thing seems drifting away from us, and God
and heaven a great way off. That, that is
tnearest us, we are most apt to cling to. Itis
no time for idle words, or for bewailings and
moaningi. I have felt the most sympathy
from people who never spoke a word to me,

9.
..

 

 
   

 

..u4man.md . , ..

_\“",,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    


 

 

 

 

  

TI—IE HOUSEHOLD.

     

3

‘

 

but their silence and presence were most
helpful.

As far as I am concerned I am not in
favor of remarks and opinions expressed at
this time, or any other in fact. If I can go
to a friend’s house when they are in trouble
and distress and be of assistance, I will go.
I never improve that oppportunity to ex-
plore cupboards and bedrooms for the pur-
pose of satisfying my curiosity in regard to
housekeeping qualities, and then pass my
opinion through the neighborhood. This
shows a mean, low nature; and I should be
sorry to think that such a woman existed,
much less be that personage myself.

In regard to wearing black and draping
Acrape over, everything, that is a matter of
choice. I have read that Mrs. Henry Ward
Beecher wore her usual clothing, and that
roses were tied on the door knob instead of
craps. Why is not this a better custom?
Why should we throw a gloom over every-
body with our black garments; the clothing
is no symbol of the feeling. If l were
black I would keep out of ball rooms and
festive gatherings. I have seen widows
resplendent in jet and crape, bombazine and
heavy lustreless silk, with watches and mink
furs covered with crape, the gayest of the
gay; certainly their dress did not express
their feelings. Widowers with broad craps
bands on their hats, and a melancholy
droop of the eyelids—enough to be inter-
esting, mind—but taking enough interest in
things earthly to be mentally speculating
whioh of their lady acquaintances would
make the best housekeeper and mother
to their babes. There is an eternal

- fitness to everything, but‘things work at
cross-proposes sometimes. The besu way
in this earthly race is to join in the “ free
for all” class, then we can do as we see
best, we can go fast or slow or just jog
along; nothing much is expected of us, and
we can astonish others with our “ gait.” I
sincerely wish there was more charity in
the human heart; more of the Golden Rule
in our every day lives; more of the natural
and less of the artificial about us. If a
feeling of thankfulness fills our hearts
when some friend leaves us for that long
rest, if We feel that the grave bridges
over a great chasm in our lives, blots out a
great mistake, why add one more sin to
our already over-burdened soul by shed-
ding a hypocritical tear or by appeals for
sympathy? There is One who looks upon
the heart. We can deceive the public but
our God knows us as we are. Let our lives
show how we feel. Don’t wear a garb that
strangers will know you have met with
affliction, but your Heavenly Father knows
is deceiving—within the fairest rose there
sometimes 'lies concealed an ugly worm.

BATTLE CREEK. EVANGELINE.
—————.w—_

CARE OF DAHLIAS AND ROSES.

Every year with my orders for dahlias,
comes the question, “ How shall I save my
dahlia tubers?” ,Much depends upon the
condition they are in when lifted in autumn,
as some seasons a drouth retards growth,
and when rains begin later a more vigorous
growth follows, so when frosts put a veto
on further proceedings the tubers are in an
unripe condition, and unless managed care-

    

 

fully are pretty sure to decay; whereas a
steadily continued growth produces sound,
well ripened roots. After the frost has
seared the foliage and blooming ceased,
lift the tubers and leave them on the ground,
covering when the nights are very cold.
Turn them over, letting all the moisture
possible evaporate; always handling care—
fully, as all bulbs, corms and tubers should
be treated; and cut away the tops, leaving
eight or ten inches of stalk to each. Two
or four of these clumps may be tied to-
gether and hung in the cellar. Every
variety should be labeled, as it is well to
know each particular color for convenience
in arranging them when planting in spring.

There are some who object to placing tea,
roses in the cellar for winter, but after
blooming all through the mild and warm
months, it is the better way. Give no
water unless the bark shrivels and then
sparingly; re-pot in good fibrous soil when
wanted for blooming again, and give at
each monthly renewal of bloom libations
of liquid fertilizers. Roses quickly appro-
pricte a generous quantity of nourishment
and repay us well for extras in their bill of
fare. Always cut back the blossom stem,
as soon as the flower fades, down to the
bud below; and spray the plants often, as
the red spider is apt to molest them. All
other enemies of the rose are readily de-
stroyed with pyrethrum or white hellebore.
In a moderately warm room and moist at—
mosphere there is little trouble in having
roses through the winter; but with hot, dry
and dusty quarters it is next to impossible.

Cactus plants must rest Just after their
blossoming season has closed. Some are
for winter exhibition, others for spring and
summer, and are treated accordingly.

In reply to the question whether tulips
and gladiolus can be raised from seed I
would say that they can. and new varieties
are thus secured. The small corms that
grow so plentfully beneath the gladiolus
will produce only duplicates of the old ones,
but the seeds from the flower pods are likely
to bring us something new; and the same
is true of the bulblets of tulips and the seed
from the flowers.

No fuchsia has ever excelled the Speciosa
for winter blooming. I think much de-
pends on the management of geraniums
for success in producing flowers from them,
but the varieties offered as winter bloomers
by Vick and other “ old reliables” in
floriculture will undoubtedly prove true.

MRS. M. A. FULLER.
FENTON.
-—o‘o¢—-——-—

A PROTEST.

 

I have read with interest the different
opinions of Evangeline’s “Talks,” and
have wondered why one view of the case
has not been touched upon. Some have
said that a girl should devote years to learn-
ing to keep house, others that a few months
are sufiicient, but all have seemed to agree
that it is the common fate of woman to
manage a household. No one has sug-
gested that she need never learn. And yet
why should she? ‘No man is expected to
have knowledge of every branch of industry.
Why should every woman learn to be a
housekeeper any more than every man to be
a farmer? Few would care to employ a

 

doctor who was at the same time a lawyer.
In fact, it is generally conceded that a man
who has a smattering of knowledge con-
cerning many things, is skillful at none of
them. Yet a'. woman is put down as a dis-
grace to her sex if she cannot make goozl
bread, although she may be capable of doing
many things at which the good bread-
maker would fail ignominiously.

So much is written about daughters who
allow their mothers to work in the kitchen
while they spend their time in frivolous
pursurts—higher mathematics and music for
instance. But did any one ever notice that
these critics are always outsiders who can-
not passibly know the real facts of the case?
The girl may be working quite as hard, and
even harder, as if she helped her mother
wash, iron and bake. By the mathematical
problems and similar tasks she may fit her
self for a position commanding a high
salary, and can hire a girl who will help her
mother more than she herself could possibly
have done, even if she had devoted her
whole time to the study of cakes and pies.
Not that one occupation is more honorable
than the other. Only there is plenty of
room in the world for all professions, and it
is a conundrum why a woman should be ex-
pected to mix up housekeeping with every-
thing else which she undertakes.

Poar HURON. E. C .
——-——o»———

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDEN TS.

A “Constant Reader” writes to know
what she shall buy instead of carpet for her
dining-room floor, the carpet being out of
reach at present. Chinese matting, yard
wide, at 45, 50 and 55 cents per yard,
would answer nicely and be cool and dainty-
looking, better than the painted floor she
has considered a dernier resort. It is
more appropriate for bedrooms, but, except
it might get worn by the pushing back of
chairs from the table, would do well in a
dining-room. Or the floor might be painted
around the margin, and an art square spread
in the centre. What’s an art square?
Something to protect the carpet, a sub-
stantial sort of crumbcloth, two ply ingrain,
woven in one piece with border and centre,
and in two colors, as green and brown,
garnet and old gold, etc. Price, from $7.50,
the cheapest, to $12, according to size, the
rates being one dollar per square yard. J ,
H. Black & 00., Woodward Ave., keep a
good line of both mattings and art squares.

“ Nelly Bly ” would reconstruct her
black silk in the Empire style described in
these columns a couple of weeks ago, if she '
knew the price of the lace to be used. The
figured piece net begins at $1 50 and ranges
on to $5; it is 1% to two yards wide. The
lace fiouncings have a scalloped edge and
would not need the ribbon decoration des-
cribed; they are 42 inches wide, and worth
$3 50 to $10; $3 50 would purchase a suf-
ficiently excellent quality. In buying any
such goods, it is best to choose amedium
grade, not the cheapest, nor yet the very
finest. These lace dresses are very stylish
and handsome, and universally becoming.

“What is the difference between French
and American satteen?” asks a reader, who
says she has only seen the latter quality.
Well, you ought just to see the two together!

 


 

4:

 

THE HOUSEHOLD.

  

 

 

The American is much coarser, heavier,
more sleazy, and the dyes are not fast. We
see them marked eight and a half cents in
great piles at the merchants’ doors, from
that price up to ten cents and a shilling, the
latter really the only grade worth buying.
The French satteens are imported, it is
alleged: they have a fine, close twill, even,
silky in appearance, often being mistaken
for summer silks, yard wide and fast in
dyes. Thirty-live cents buys the very best;
there is also a grade that sells at 25 cents
which is pretty good.

“ What sort of gloves are to be worn with
silk and lace dresses; and are mitts fash-
ionable.” Buy the fine silk gloves to wear
with such costumes; they are quite ex-
pensive, beiug worth from $1 to $1.25 per
pair, and are not very durab‘e; they will
not endure hard wear. Mitts are less popu-
lar, though still carried in stock by our
merchants.

Black hosiery holds its own, though ladies
do not hesitate to purchase and wear more
delicate shades, especially during hot
weather; when the black stockings will
crock, despite the asseverations of the sales-
men. The black goods are now almost
universally woven With the bottoms white
to obviate cracking.

——«.__.__

“PUT ON MORE COAL."

The doctors are finding out a great many
things nowdays, concerning the effects of
externals and surroundings upon the physi-
cal condition and well-being of humanity.
It has been a popular fallacy that a warm
house must be unhealthy, and that perfect
hygiene demands cool rooms, and a low
temperature. The apostles of latter day
knowledge tell us, however, that our
houses ought to be warm enough so that
there is no sensation of chill. Warm rooms
are essential to health and beauty. Cold
rooms send the blood inward, leaving the
* skin blue and pinched. The extra clothing
worn to keep up the beat of the blood is
injurious, dragging down' the body with
undue weight, and exhausting vitality. '

It is a mistaken economy to scrimp in fuel
and keep everybody uncomfortable: more-
over, the changes in temperature bring on
rheumatism, neuralgia and kindred diseases.
The constant heat should be sufficient to
keep the blood warm at its normal tem-
perature. Think how many colds are due
to going into an unwarmed parlor to en-
tertain chance callers, because the sitting
room was a little out of order, or the parlor
is better furnished! The guest, in her out
door wrappings, is fairly comfortable; at
least she is not shivering like the poor
victim who vainly tries to be cordial with
her weth chattering and the life blood
turning to seeming ice in her veins. Better
“put your pride in your pocket” and the
company in an untidy room than thus in-
terfere with the circulation of the vital fluid.

The cold weather of the present month
should be a lesson to those who clean house
early not to banish stoves in April. In our
uncertain climate. fires are an absolute

necessity until the middle of May, often
till the first of June. It is imprudent, arash
invitation to colds and all their conse.

settled warm weather. Nor is it beat to
take down the “good friend,” the coal
stove, and replace it by the less reliable
wood stove, until that time. A wood fire
blazes up and goes out unless tended; a
coal fire can be kept low and furnish a
steady heat. A grate in a house is a com-
fort, but not to be depended on to warm a
room on a cold day; it takes the chill off
the air and brightens and dispels the
dampness and chill of a rainy day in sum-
mer. Where there are no grates, a wood
stove ought to be left up during the sum-
mer, especially where there are babies or
young children, and old people, and a fire
built in damp weather todry the air and
promote its circulation.

“ Heat is life; cold is death,” says an old
saw. Remember this, and keep your rooms
comfortable. Do not, above all things,
attempt to “harden ” delicate children by
exposing them to cold, or insisting they
shall sleep in cold rooms. If the air is very
chill, the little ones are apt to sleep with
the bedclothing drawn over their heads, a
most unhealthful, debilitating practice, but
one which shows their instinctive protest
against the conditions you enforce upon
them. L. c.

DETROIT. ,

ABOUT CAKE-MAKING.

“ Dorothy,” in the Country Gentleman,
says: .

“ There are various light cakes, made
with soda or baking powder, which when
eaten quite fresh have a very pleasant text-
ure, and combine with jelly, chocolate,
cocoanut, made cream or fruit, to form a
toothsome compound, preferred by some to
the standard fine cakes of the pastry cook.
But these finer cakes have the merit of
keeping much better, so that there is both
economy and convenience in making them
where a fine cake is required, though the
amount actually consumed is small; beside,
to the cultivated and exacting palate. these
are the cakes demanded as strictly first-
class. .

“Fine cakes are cheaper, and one may
almost say better, on the farm than any-
where else, because butter and eggs,
abundant in quantity and above suspicion
in quality, are the first essentials. In all
cakes approaching pound cake in texture
(and pound cake is one of. the good old
standard kinds which will never go out of
fashion), there are two important rules to
be observed: One is that the paste or bat-
ter must be made quite stiff—much stiffer
than the light soda cakes, in which the pro-
portion of butter is small, and the other is
that great care must be exercised in baking.
A slow oven spoils a plain cake; a quick
oven spoils a rich cake. A rich cake re-
quires to be baked slowly and for along
time, and it is usually best to cover the pan
with a piece of card-beard for a part of. the
time. 'When taken from the even it should
be set down gently, and left to cool in the
pan in which it was baked. ‘

“The objectionable ‘ strong ’ flavor some-
times noticed in pound cake is invariably
from an inferior quality of butter or stale
eggs being used, or else from carelessness in
regard to the pan in which it is baked, whizh

sweet fat or oil, and lined with paper. The-
best butter is quite as essential for making
pound cake as for eating on fresh biscuit.

More than that, it must be like the real gilt-
edged article in being lightly salted. Salt
butter should be washed freely in cold wa-
ter to free it from the excess of salt.”

M.—
HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

 

AN exchange says: After being caught
in a rain or snowstorm with a. felt hat and
it is wet, on coming inside do not put it to
dry without brushing. With the brush
begin at the rim and go round and round,

always the one way, brushing very hard,

until the crown is reached, brushing this in
the same way until you finish in the centre
the top of the crown; then put it away to
dry, and when wanted it will look almost
as good as new. Never put a felt hat away

while wet without brushing, or it will be
spotted when dry. Men’s stifl hats may be
kept looking nice if treated in this way
after being out in a storm.

 

HOMEMADE Brussels rugs, manufvctured
out of old carpets or remnants of new from
the carpet stores, will sometimes curl on the
floor, and refuse to lie smooth. To remedy
this it is necessary to shrink them. Tack
them firmly to a bare floor, face down, anl
sponge the wrong side with water. They
will dry over night, and when dry will stay
where they are put.

-——-—-oo+——-—-
Useful Recipes.

 

BAKED PIE-PLANr.-—Remove the thin skin 1
cut in inch lengths, put into a granite or

earthen pudding dish, add a generous quan-

tity of sugar and bake slowly till clear. Stir-

once carefully that all may eook alike.

 

STRAWBERRY Pusssuvss.-—Take perfectly
r'pe, sound, solid berries picked on a. dry day,
assort them, taking only the largest to pre-
serve. Allow pound for pound of sugar and
fruit. Put the berries and sugar together in .
layers in a large earthe: dish and let stand
over night. Next day put the whole, very
gently, into a preserving pan and bring
slowly to a boil. Shake the pan
slightly from time to time, and pass
a wooden spoon round about the outer edge,
to prevent the fruit sticking or burning, but
do not stir the berries. Remove any scum
that may rise to the surface. and continue to
boil, very gently, for twenty minutes. Pour

them about two-thirds full, return the juice

on a cool plate, then fill up the cans and seal.
————-QOO——--

THE new “Jewel” sewing-machine fur-
nished by the FABMER has the “ high arm ”
which so many ladies prefer, and is in all
respects a first class machine, which will do
all grades or work, from heavy cloth to fine
cambric. It is handsomely finished, with
folding leaf, or table, and six drawers. A
full set of attachments is furnished with it,
quilter, binder, etc., and also attachments
by which a raffle may be sewed to a band
and the band edgestitched at one opera-
tion, and also a raffle sewed to a band, the
band edgestitched and a piping put in.
Every machine is guaranteed to be as rep-
resented. A “Jewei ” machine maybe seen

 

 

seqenoes, to take down the stoves before

must always be well greased with perfectly

 

at the FABMEB ofiice.

  

 

of! the juice, put the berriesinto cans, filling "

to the pan and boil slowly till a little will jelly .-