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IDE'I'ROI'I', AUGUST 18, 1888.

 

_' THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

WHICH SHALL 11’ BE /

 

[The following be tutiful home-circle poem is
founded upon an incid‘ It, where a rich neigh-
nor offers to make a poor family comfortable
and provide forthe child, if one of the seven
were given to him.]

“ Which shall it be? Which shall it be?"
.I looked atJohn—John looked at me.

(Dear, patient J nhn. who loves me yet

As well as though my locks were jet.)
And when I' found that I must speak,

My voice seemed strangely low and weak.

“ Tell me again what Rorert said;

' And then I, listening, bent my head.
This is his Letter

“ l will give
.A house and land while you shall live,
1!. in return, from out your seven.
One child to me for aye be g ven.“

I looked at John‘s old garments worn;
i thought of all that John had borne
0f roverty and work and care,
Which 1. though wil ing, could no: share:
0! seven hungry mouths to feed.
of sevenflittle children‘s needs,
And flan of this.

" (‘ome John. said 1,
"Well (moose among them as they lie.
Asleep " So, waiting ha‘ d-in hand.
Dear John and l surveyed our band.
First to the cradle lightly stepped
Where Lillian. the baby, slept;
Her damp curls lay like gold alight,
A glory ’gainst the pillow white.
Softly her father stooped to lay
His rough'hand down in a loving way.
When dream or whisper made her stir,
And huskily he. said, “ Not her.”

We s'oopei beside the trundle-bed.
And one long ray of lamp-light shed
Athwartr the boy'sh faces there,
In sleep so pitiful and fair.
I saw on Jamie’s rough, red cheek
A tear undried'; ere John could speak.
“ He‘s but a baby. too." said I.
And kissed him as we hurried by.

~i
Pale. patient Rabbit's angel-face
Still in his sleep bore sufl‘ering's trace.
“ No, for a thousand crowns, not him."
He whispered. while our eyes were dim.
i’oor Dick i ‘sad Dick! our wayward son,
’l‘urbulenr reckless, idle one—
f'on‘ld he be spared? “ Nay, He who gave
Bids or befriend him to the grave:
Only a. mother‘s heart can be
Patient enough for such as be:
And so," said John. “ I would not dare
To send- nim from he: bedside prayer.”

Then stole we softly up above,
And knelt by Mary. child of love.
“ Perhaps for htr ‘twould better be,"
I said to .lohn. Quite Qilently
Helifted up a curl, that lay
Across her cheek in wilful way,
And shook his head. “ Nay love. not thee “
The while my heart beat audibly.
Only one more, our oldest lad, .
Trusty and tru hf a], good and glad—
So lxke his father.‘.‘ “ No, John, no:
' I cannot, will‘not let him go

And so we wrate, in courteous way,

We could not give one child away:
And afterwards toil lighter seemed. .
Thinking of that of which we dreamed:

Happy, in truth, that not one face

We missed from is accustomed place;
Thankful to work tor all the seven,
Trusting them to 0m in heaven.

—-—-——.w___

LIFE IN THE LONE STAR STATE.

I have had the pleasure this summer of
meetinga lady wholives on a Texan ranche,
where she is employed in teaching, and
spends her vacations at the north. From
her I have learned many interesting things
relative to life in Texas, a few of which I
propose to recount for the benefit of those
who may be as ignorant as I confess myself
to have been about this far ofi State, which
has an area greater than that of the New
England States and New York, Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey, is practically out of
debt, and has thirty millions of public
lands yet to dispose of.

The houses are built with wide. verandas.
where the residents spend most of their
time, except during the heat of the day.
Doors and windows are kept wide open to
permit'the free ingress and egress of air,
and this lady complained of feeling stifled
in northern houses, with their screen doors
and windows which keep out so much
oxygen. Tarantulas—a species of spider,
very venomous and whose bite is often
fatal— aliound, and no one dares put on a
gamient, get into bed, or stop on the floor
with bare feet without a careful examina-
tion. Fleas are one of the great pests, not
to begot rid of. The “cowboys” are not
so black as they are painted; when they are
engaged in their business of herding cattle
they are as peaceable and well disposed as
any of the residents. It is only after they
are paid off and flock to San Antonio to
spend their earnings and get intoxicated
that they become dangerous citizens. Feuds
are common. and a Texan feud somewhat
resembles an ltalian vendetta; no person
concerned is safe so long as it lasts.
Evening gatherings in the country are
therefore infrequent: the ranches by their
great size are widely separated, and (‘Vrl‘y
man'-prefers the safe shelter of his own
dwelling.

Corn and cotton are the chief creps in the
portion of which San Antonio is the com—
mercial centre. Corn is not a sure crop.
but the ranchers generally manage to grow
enough for their own use. A weevil which
attacks the grain in the crib prevents a sur—

 

plus from being kept from one year to an-

other. The cotton is the “ money crop.”
The principal wood is the mesquite—pro—
nounced mes-keet—a species of acacia. A
full grown tree resembles an old peach tree;
the foliage is finely divided, and so scanty
that it attords very little shade. The large
edible pods containing beans which are the
fruit of this tree are used as a substitute for
corn for cattle-feeding. When the weather
is very dry the corn is a failure, but the
mesquite yields a generous crop of beans;
when the season is rainy and corn flourishes
the mesquite blooms but does not set much
fruit. It is therefore a wise provision of
nature that between the corn and the mes-
quite the farmer somehow “ pulls through.”

While the ludians ranged over the vast:
plains of western Texas, they burned off
the surface every year. thus keeping down
all growth except that of herbaceous plants.
Since the Indians have been driven back,
the annual growth has not been burned oh“,
and the country is being overgrown with
mesquite so that now it is necessary to
clear up the land by “ brushing it” before it
can be plowed and planted. It is related
that a man who made a contract to supply a
fort with wood, when there was not a sap-
ling growing for miles around, furnished
mesquite roots which he dug out of the
ground, and which were as large round as a
man’s arm. Fire cut down the sprouts
which started up every year; the roots had
not died but had gone on increasing in size.

The flora of Texas is particularly large
and profuse. The indigo weed grows wild;
it is described as a plant about two feet
high, having light, pea-green foliage and
long spikes of papilionaceous flowers of a
pale yellow hue. Several varieties of luplne
grow in great luxuriance; an artist painting
aTexas prairie Would need to spot it- here
and there with vivid blue to represent the.
great patches of this plant. Indian pink, a
variety of which grows wild with us, is there a
much larger and more showy flower, being of
a most brilliant scarlet. There is also a bulb
which bears a white lily—like flower locally
known as “squills,” but which does not
come under the botanic description of the
well kno :vn plant used in medicine.

L‘ttlc fruit is raised, though two cropS‘ of.
certain kinds of vegetables are grown. The
“ northers”—cnlr_i drying winds which
sweep over the. S;ate—~are fatal to the fruit
industry. Figs are raised in some sections,
though the. crop is uncertain; peach trees
will flourish for two or three seasons, then
succumb to a norther or a drouth, and
when the dead trees are removed it is useless
to p!ant others in their places: their growth

 

seems to hive extracted something from the

    

    


~ -~—— _— .-n.-...-..., .H, . -.. “m marm-

 

2 THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

soil which is necessary to their existence
and without which they cannot thrive.

In the country about San Antonio, where
land can be irrigated, crops are sure and
excellent; in other localities the dry weather
may prove fatal to all the farmer’s hopes.
Yet the rainfall is increasing, as the land
cowes under cultivation. Many small farm-
ers, who took up tracts of 100 and 160 acres,
which they enclosed and cultivated, pastur-
ing the cattle, which were their principal
source of revenue, upon the public domain,
have been forced to sell out through the
purchase of these pasture lands by capital-
ists and large ranche owners, who enclosed
them and cut off the pasturage. Most of
them were compelled to sell out for what
these large owners would pay; some aban-
doned their holdings in disgust and des-
pondency. Bna'rmx.

__-‘..—_

HOUSE-PLANTS .

 

Are you going to have house-plants this
winter? If so, it is high time you were
thinking about it, and making preparations.
For no HOUSEHOLD reader will. I trust, be
so unwise as to wait until after the first
frost, and then go into her garden with
knife and trowel to take up and pot the
straggling, over-grown plants that have
bloomed all summer, lopping off a few
branches here and there and crowding the
coarse roots into a five-inch not, expecting
them to go on blossoming all winter. Such
people never have “ luck” with plants.

The young, thrifty plants which start out
by the side of old ones, should be selected,
and, after cutting off any blossom buds
which may have formed. potted in good
rich earth, kept out of the sunshine till
well established, then grown on slowly till
time to take them indoors. Keep the buds
picked off, if you want flowers in winter.
Agreat many people do not remove their
plants into the groundin summer, but keep
them growing on a stand on the piazza, and
repot them in the fall, early, that they may
get well established before going into winter
quarters. Plants in pots are often Sunk in
the ground and allowed to bloom freely in
summer, then set in the cellar till spring;
the fuchsia responds to this treatment very
kindly.

Don’t try to have too many plants.
Don’t accept slips of everything till your
collection resembles that of Tennyson’s
“withered misses” who showed their
callers

“ 3 * slips of all that grows
From England to Van Dieman’s."

Better have even one thrifty, luxuriant,
healthy plant, which looks as if it enjoyed
life. than a dozen starveling specimens
without a baker’s‘dozen of leaves apiece.
Don’t fill up the one sunny window, and
shutout the life-giving sunlight from the
human plants in your family, and don’t try
to grow tender stove plants in the heat and
dust of an ordinary living room. Rose and
zonal geraninms, begonias, coleii, fuchsias,
ivies, a few such common plants, will
thrive and give satisfaction under condi-
tions in which choicer ones would merely
exist. Roses are not desirable for home
culture if bloom is wanted; they require con-
ditions of heat and moisture which few can
secure and are in addition specially subject

 

to the attacks of aphis, as is also the helio-
trope.

For potting plants. a mixture of good
garden soil, a well rotted compost or rage
table mould from the woods, and sharp
sand is most desirable. Secure good
drainage by putting scraps of broken pots
or crockery in the bottom of each pot. The
earth from fence corners, under a sod, is
usually quite rich and fertile. If you are
afraid there are worms in the earth you
have secured, fill the pots the day'before you
wish to use them, and pour boiling water
into them. This will kill all insect life.

If you want flowers, do not use too large
pots; a great many plants blocm much
more profusely when their roots are crowd-
ed; some will not blossom at all or in but a
uiggard fashion until they are what is
called “root bound.” They make growth
luxuriantly, but give no flowers. A six-
inch pot is plenty large enough for a large
lusty geranium. L. C.

Dnrnor'r .
-——-—ooo—-———

COMMON SCHOOL MATTERS.

 

“ Behold how great a matter a little fire
kindleth.” When J annette wrote her
article, I wonder if she meant to stir up the
female members of the Hoosrmon n, in
hope they would become so excited in de-
bate that they would prove the truth of her
assertions!

0f woman in politics I am not going to
say anything, as I believe Jannette is right
and also wrong, but I have not the time to
explain wherein. for I wish to say a word in
regard to the privilege of attending school
meetings and voting.

Yes, the ballot is given women at school
meetings, but how many use their power?
Perhaps they think this a very insignificant
favor the " lords of creation ” have be-
stowed upon the weaker sex, bnt I think we
better use the privileges we have and show
ourselves capable and worthy before asking
for more. If women would attend school-
meetings and take a more active interest in
matters pertaining to our common schools
they might find them a power for good of
which they might be proud.

A year ago I asked a neighbor of mine if
she would attend the school-meeting with
me. as there were some matters I would have
liked to have brought before the meeting
that I knew the men would not think of, as
they were out of their ordinary course of
business, yet were of importance to the dis-
trict. She very disdainfully replied, “ Not
much will I go; I will let the men take care
of their own business.” The words and
manner were like a hot wind and I—wilted.
If all women feel like this it will be of. little
use for me to urge attendance at school
meetings, or even a common interest in
school matters. _

It has been my privilege to do some extra
work in school matters the past spring,- and
1 find a lack, not of thorough interest and
honest work among teachers, but of interest
and hearty support and appreciation among
the patrons of the schools. It must be a
lack of interest when school houses are suf-
fered to become weather-beaten and dilap—
idated until they are not fit for habitations,
and yet the children are sent there year
after year, at an age when surroundings

.___— , ,____,._,' .__...._

 

should have much to do with formation or ‘

character.
If there is a bleak place in the district it

is good enough for a school house, and ac- '
'cordingly one is built, and too often left

without protection'or ornamentation of any
kind. Think you we would leave our homes

thus?
Our dwellings, barns, sheds and pig-pen 3.

bristle with lightning rods to protect build—
ings and occupants. Are the majority of
school houses with the precious lives therein
a great part of the time, thus protected?‘
Would we leave our homes without a single
tree or shrub to beautify the grounds?
Would we leave our living rooms curtainless
or with dirty rags at the windows, and
think our surroundings pleasant, or expect
our boys and girls to be smart, contented
and happy? How often are the walls in our
country school houses kalsominedor white-
washed, to say nothing of papering; and how
often is the stove-pipecleaned out to pre-
vent the house from being a smokehouse, or
how often is the stove blacked so the chil-
dren will not get the impression iron is red?‘

Perhaps you may think I am overdrawlng
the picture and am referring to past ages.
I wish there were no such school houses or
surroundings, but look about you and see if
you cannot find some. If you do not find
all the deficiencies in your own district, l5
am quite sure you ,will find some, and if
you would attend school meetings and if
nothing more call attention of husbands
and brothers to many of these minor mat-
ters, 1 think in a few years there would be
a. decided improvement in the appearance
of school property. Were not I occupying
too’much space I would like to tell you
about our cosy school room, and how the
children’s interest was awakened to make it
so, until a visiting teacher made the re-
mark to the teacher, who was teaching (not
wielding the rod): “ You only need some:
rugs scattered over the floor to make it
complete.” The house is low, old-fashioned
and old, but has been kept in repair, and the
interior makes one forget the external ap-
pearance. Yet there are deficiencies of
which I have spoken. The country will
soon hold its school meetings: I” wish that
every one would attend, and find out if any
any improvements are needed. if so, do not
hesitate to tax yourself in order that they
may be made.

Self-imposed taxes should not be con»
sidered burdensome, and every person in
the country should feel that our common
schools are of personal interest.

In another article I may write of text '

books and classification of pupils as I find
them, and then of the teachers and their
work. OLD SCHOOL Talisman.

Tlcmlsnn.

POPPY says: Tell Mrs. H. S. B. to put
the vinegar on the pickles, hot, three morn.
ings in succession, using the same vinegar.
Then throw it away and put the pickles
into fresh vinegar, cold, unless she wishes
to Spice them. Then the sugar and spice
should be boiled with the vinegar and
poured over the pickles while hot- Large
cucumbers, picked before they begin toturn

yellow or their seeds harden, pared. and cut
into quarters, make nice pickles in this
way, and are less trouble than to, pick so
many little ones.

 


 

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD. 3

THE OLD QUESTION.

Evangeline, in her article on ” Kitchen
Culture,” propounds that old, old conun-
drum: “What is the reason that house-
work is shunned, looked upon as degrad-
ing, is in fact the last thing a girl will resort
to for a living?”

The answer lies neither in the work nor
the wages, but almost altogether in the mat-
ter of social position. I am sure that the
clause most quoted from our famous
Declaration of Independence is that which
declares “all men are born free and equal.”
That means they are equal in the ,eye of the
law, that Justice must be impartial, but is
more often taken to mean that one man is the
peer of another in all things, which he isn’t,
byagood deal. There are lines of social
demarkation in every land; there always
will be. In America these lines are less
rigidly marked than in certain foreign
countries, where it is difficult for a man or
woman to rise out of the class in which
they were born. except by phenomenal
force of intellect or genius: but even here
an aristocracy of wealth and family and
official place is drawing its fine not of ex-
clusiveness tighter and tighter, and exclud-
ing more and more of “ grosser clay ”—that
solid substantial middle class that has
neither the enervating luxuries of the rich
nor the vices and ignorance of the poor. I
do not agree with Griselda in thinking the
aristocracy of family and position is dying
out or being replaced by that of money. I
hear the questions “Who was her father?”
“ What relatives has she?” far too often;
and Inotice too how eagerly every person
connected with one who has won renown
or become noted in any way, advertises that
relationship. Everybody is engaged in the
struggle for personal aggrandizement.

We never shall have different conditions
regarding housework, so long as it is tacitly
considered at the very foot of the ladder.
These gradations of “respectability” in
labor are very amusing, pitifully so some-
times. Tize sewing-girl looks down upon
the domestic; the saleswoman uptilts her
pretty nose at both; the stenographer feels
her position lifts her a notch above all three,
and so it goes. And what does it all
amount to!. In the light of real, true,
earnest living all these petty distinctions
among those who all alike serve others,
sink into nothingness, and we recognize
that the only real kinship is appreciation
of kindred qualities. But our opinions do
not alter existing conditions; we must take
the world as we find it.

Sometimes we are inclined to grumble
because parents in humbler circumstances
educate their children out of their position
in life, we think, bringing them up with

ideas beyond their station. But it is in the -

more humble classes that social caste means
most. You should have heard the super-
cilious air with which my washwoman, who
does washing at home, once spoke of a neigh-
bor who went out to wash by the day! And
when such people slave by night and day to
bring up their girls to what they think a
more exalted station, better positions,
broader lives, are they not doing in their
way—which is sometimes I admit a mis-
taken way—exactly what parents in other

 

spheres of action are doing, trying to give
the children more advantages and fit them
for better paid work than they themselves
could receive in youth? And is not their
ambition commendable?

Evangeline’s query is answered by a
“ Down East” young woman in this
fashion:

“I think that one reason young women
choose trades instead of domestic Service as
their means of livelihood is because they all
look forward to marriage as the chief end
and aim ih life, and they have an idea that
it they become servants they lose all chance
of future happiness. This is particularly
the case in New York State. If a respect-
able man in the country marries somebody’s
‘ hired girl,’ no matter how well- mannered
she may be, it will take some lime to
satisfy the neighbors that she is as good as
they are, and they are not quite prepared to
receive her in their midst, although in the
course of time her position among them is
generally established.”

There you have the “social position”
again.

It is a singular fact that though a man
may rise from the humblest to the highest
place, and the fact be everywhere told to his
credit, indeed to his honor, if a woman ever
comes from slow place in the same way,
the fact is remembered as an implied re-
proach. The taint of the dishwater seems
to “ linger there still.” And the meanest,
most ignoble thing of all is that it is her
sister women who thus by their sneers
and sarcasms keep alive her humiliation.
They make it a humiliation to her, though
she herself may not feel it such. Men
never think of casting it up against her;
rather I think they honor her more for the
energy and ambition she has displayed. This
feeling was well illustrated somewhat less
than a year ago, on the occasion of Presi-
dent Cleveland’s proposed visit to St. Paul
A reception was to be arranged in honor of
the distinguished guests, Mrs. Cleveland
being in the party. The gentlemen who
made out the list of ladies who were to
“receive.” included one, wife of an ex-
senator, beautiful, intelligent, accomplished,
but who had been a dressmaker before her
marriage. When the other women on the
list heard this, they held an in dignation
meeting and notified the committee that if
“ the dressmaker ” was to be invited, they
would have nothing to do with the enter-
tainment. And so the whole scheme fell
through. Nothing was alleged against
virtue or character, the whole charge was
that she had supported herself by the labOr
of her hands in her youth. And the best
part of the whole story is that when this
lady’s husband was in Congress, Mrs.
Cleveland had been a frequent visitor at
their house and had on one occasion with
her husband spent a Sunday at their summer
cottage.

Now you know very well that every school
boy is taught that he may possibly, if he
masters the multiplication table and don’t
go fishing on Sunlay, get to be governor of
the State or president of the nation. 80 too
why should not the washerwoman’s or the
“scrub-lady’s” daughter become his wrie
and share the dignity of his position?
How important then, that about her early
life should linger no odor of soapsuds, no
memories of the kitchen. True, she may
never reach this exaltation, but at least she

 

fin

will have the blessed assurance that if fate
had called her there, she would have been

qualified for the place.
BE ATRIK.

OUR BOYS AND GIRLS.

Are.- we doing right? is a question each.
parent must ask in the training and ‘educa4
tion of our boys and girls, and in case of. -
failure, is the fault more in the parent than
in the chill? I am notaconvert to the
theory that love alone should be the only
guide to govern and rule our children, for
when once we give way that they know bet.
ter than ourselves, we have lost that con-
trolling power that we can never regain.-
In our own time perhaps we have strugw
gled with poverl y, endured hardships that
built us up to bear the buffets of life and made
men and women of us. Naturally we desire
that our children shall haveabetter time.
I believe that 1 have seen this pampering
sentiment of love, and “ higher” education
lead too much to a desire to get a living
without work, or a tendency to look down
on farm work as degrading. Work is not
drudgery only as we make it such, and there
is more true love shown in teaching our
boys and girls to do any work, and take
pleasure in doing it well. With all our
machinery the cradle and the scythe must cut
the corners, and we cannot all ride a plow.
The girls I will not say much about.
“Evangeline” gave them a training, butI
have seen girls well “brought up” with
higher education on the brain, that I
thought would never make a poor fellow a
good housekeeper. We cannot live on love
alone, and when the wants of the body are
denied, there is a “jar,” or link dropped
out of the chain that once bound two hearts

in one. ANTI-OVER.
Pnara wnLL.

————ooo—————

A READER, of Parshallville, asks how to
can green corn properly, so that it will keep.
The process at the canning factories is to
cut the corn from the cob, press into the can
all it will hold, put on the cover, and place
the cans in water which is gradually heated
to the boiling point, and cook a length of
time depending upon the size of the cans.
This process has been successfully imitated
by certain of our readers, who have filled
the cans with the cut corn, pressing it in
until the milk ran over, screwing on the
covers not quite tight, placing the cans on

‘slats in the wash boiler, and when done,

which will be in perhaps three hours, screw-
ing the tops tightly to place. Others have
failed, declaring they performed every part
of the process exactly according to direc-
tions. The reason of the failure was pro-
bably the insufficient cooking of the corn in
the cen‘ re of the can. To can corn by the
use of tartaric acid, which is regarded as a
safe method though not giving the best re-
sults, the following formula is as good as
any: Dissolve 1% ounces of tartaric acid
in onechalf pint of water. Cut the corn
from the cob, let it come to the boiling
point, so all of it will be thoroughly scalded,
and allow one tablespoonful of the acid
solution to each pint of corn. When de-
sired to use it, neutralize the acid by using
one teaspoonful of soda to three pints of
corn.

Q

 


 

4: THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

FOR THE GIRLS.

A correspondent of Women’s Work tells
the girls some of her secrets, as follows:
“You can have a pretty gilded rocker at
anexpense of twenty-live cents, and you
need not trouble to sandpaper and scrape
' the paint off; either. Tour some varnish
into an old teacup, adding a little turpen-
tine. spread a couple of newspapers on the
kitchen table, and give part of the chair a
thin coat of varnish. In a few minutes,
when the varnish is " tacky.” not dry, put
on the bronze, and with a bit of chamois
rolled up in a ball, rub lightly back and
forth till evenly covered.

“In a few hours put on another coat of
varnish and bronze, and then the third one,
then it will not rub oil.”

A home made screen can be manufactured
with alittle work and small expense, and is
useful in the kitchen to keep the heat of
the tire from the worker. and in many other
placeein the house: Fasten two clothes-
racks together with hinges: cover the panels
thus made with common cotton cloth. cut as
wide as the panels. tack firmly at the bot—
to:;..; then stretch tightly over the frame and
fasten securely at. the bottom on the other
side: also fasten the cloth firmly to the sides.
New till the whole with a thin coat of glue
size. this causes the cotton to shrink and
make».- toe trame work very solid, also giv-
ing a nice surtace to work upon. (h over
the frame. with black Shellac and rub to a
soft surlaee with emery cloth. You can
then decorate in any way preferred. Pretty
wall paper. used for dado and frieze. with a
plain space between. which may be covered
with olive, dark red. sage green, or any
color of paper preferred. .3. pretty ceiling
paper watt. gilt stars is not bad.

Birth bark pictures are very pretty for
home decoration. Take a nice smooth
sheetot bark any size desired. and fasten
firmly with mucilage to a piece ot thin card-
board: decorate with the hmsh or arrange
pressed autumn leaves and terns upon it in
any way desired. Pretty tramos for pic-
tures of this kind are made by cutting from
thin, unp‘zaned boards pieces the size de-
sired, and gluetogetner. At each corner,
or. it the frames are large. at equal dis-
tances apart, arrange groups of tiny acorns
in their cups and glue firmly to the frames,
and gild the whole. The unplaned wood
when gilded gives the appearance of rough
gilt. lCornncopi‘as made ot‘ bark bound
with rinnon decorated with autumn leaves
and ferns and filled with dried grasses are
rather pretty. Place at the points pretty
bows of riohon, to the ends of which at-
tach tinv gilded acorns in their cups. An-
(other pretty receptacle for dried grassesis a
round pox any depth and width desired,
:ci‘ivereri with bark, ornamented in front a
little above haif way with a lumen of pine
or hemmk burrs giued on lirmly. varnished
or blunt—d. or both. At the bottom of the
hunch L: fastened a hmul satin ribbon bow,
from Lee ends of which fall small burrs.
The bottom and top are finished by broad
hands of ribbon. The. width of. the ribbon
depends upon the size of the box. A pretty
ornament for the front ot this box instead
of the burrs is a small bunch of dried
grasses tied with a bow of ribbon. The

 

burrs at the ends of the ribbon may be
fastened by small brass-headed tacks.
These are only a few of the things for
which birch bark can be used, and as it
serves the purpose of perforated cardboard,
the making of one article will suggest the
making of another.

 

4w—

CUCUMBER PICKLES.

 

 

A. D. Grover, of Ann Arbor, desires to
know how to put up cucumbers in salt
brine, and also in liquor. making what is
known as “ whiskey pickles.”

For the small quantity usually put up for
home consumption, as good a way as any is
to wash the cucumbers and pack them in
alternate layers with plenty of salt which
soon forms a brine, which preserves them
until needed, when they are freshened by
several days’ soaking in water changed
daily, and put into vinegar. When large
quantities are pu“ up, they are thrown—
atter being washed—intoa weak brine in
which they remain two or three days, then
put into a barrel or cask and covered with
strong brine. They should be covered with
acloth weighted to keep them under the
bflne

We have no directions for putting up
cucumbers in liquor. nor are we able to
obtain any. The “ whiskey pickles” of
commerce. are, we think, put down in brine
at first. and after tresheniug, put into white
wine vinegar. which gives the sharp tang.
A recipe which we find in an exchange is
as follows: " Take one quart of good
alcohol to four quarts of water; put the on-
cumbers in fresh from the vines, after
wiping them with a wet cloth, or washing
and draining them. Keep in a warm place
until tit for the table; then keep in a cellar
or other cool place.”

If any of our readers can furnish other in-
formation, Mr. Grover will be glad to re-

ceive it.
————¢~————-

COOKING POTATOES.

Our potato crap was brought into the
cellar last night, and as quite the largest
share of them are about the size of marbles.
the'question before the house now is, how
are they to be disposed of?

As I understand the bulk of the crop
throughout the State is in much the same
condition, perhaps a few ideas exchanged
on the methods of preparing them for the
table mieht be mutually beneficial.

The very smallest are the best eating it
nicely cooked and served hot; that is nec-
essary to any potato to have it in its prime.
When I have enough time at my disposal to
do so, 1 sort out the little ones and till a
large dinner pot. boil quickly, pour off the
water and allow the potatoes to cool, then
take off their jackets, as grandma would say,
and set them in the refrigerator or a cool
place. it will be but little trouble. to put a
quantity in the spider, with sulli 3ient butter
or pork drippings and salt to season. and
fried brown, they are really delicious. I
have known of several families who bought
small potatoes on account of the difference
in price between them and large ones, and
used them principally in that way.

The next larger grade can be washed
clean and baked in a quick oven. 1t wlil

 

take but afew minutes to bake them, and
they should be sent to the table direct from
the oven; but of all things a gritty baked
potato is—well, bad enough, so be sure they
are above reproach.

Last spring when we had potatoes
through all the grades of good. bad and in-
dilferent, the ladies of our Farmers’ Club
took up the subject and we received some
good ideas. One member said she could
make soggy potatoes really palatable by
boiling quickly and removing from the fire
just as soon as they were done, then pour
oil the water and mash well with plenty of
seasoning. The point was to not allow
them to cook a moment after they were
tender, to absorb water.

Another member gave directions for
baking, which I have tried and found very
nice. Pare large potatoes, cut in quarters
or eighths, fill a pie tin or dripping pan,
sprinkle with pepper, salt and bits of but-
ter or drippings and bake quickly. This
makes a nice supper dish.

When potatoes are scarce I mix small
pieces of moist bread with warmed over
potatoes, let them brown, and it is not bad
at all.

After a season of substitutes for potatoes
in the shape of pancakes, johnny cake,
fried bread, gems and what not, we are
ready to receive with gratitude and make
allowance for the genuine article even if
they are SMALL Porarons.

Gnass LAKE.

.__..__...__.
Useful Recrpes.

Sam: Macxsnnn worn Can-AM Sauna—Wash
and soak a‘ mackerel over night. In the
morning put into a baking dish and pour
over one pint of milk. Bake twenty minutes.
Remove: strain the milk: melt one table-
spoonful butter, add one tablespoonful flour
and pour on the hot milk; add one saltspoon—
ful pepper and pour over the mackerel.

 

Smwnn Touarons.—Pour boiling water
over the tomatoes and then remove the skins.
Cut the tomatoes into pieces. rejecting any
hard or green parts; put them in a porce-
lain-lined or granite pan; add one slice of
onion and simmer gently for thirty minutes.
stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
When done add three ounces of butter to
every quart of tomatoes: season with salt and
pepper to taste. Do not add flour or bread.
as they destroy the flavor and color. The
gentle cooking in an uncovered vessel will
evaporate the liquid until the tomatoes will
be the proper consistency without thicken-
ing. Violent heat destroys the delicious flavor
of this half fruit, half vegetable, so when you
cook them be most careful to use only mod-
erate heat.

PEAR MARMALADE —Weigh, pare. halve,
and core as many ripe mellow peers as you
desire to use. Put them into a preserving
pan. cover them with water, and simmer gen-
tly until they are tender. Lift them out of the
water and boil the liquid for an hour with the
skins and cores of the pears. Strain it.
Make a syrup of it by by boiling a pound and
a half of sugar for every two pounds or fruit.
Let this syrup boil until it will stiffen when a.
small quantity is poured upon a plate. Stir
the pears into the syrup and boil all together
for a few minutes. Turn the marmalade in-
to jars, cover in the usual way and store in a
cool, dry place. This is an English reclpe.