\\\m.x mm“; Mm.

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DETROIT, SEPT. 26, 1891.

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

TAKES ACCOMPANYING A FLORAL GIFT.

 

Dear friend, we send you this bouquet.
An ofiering for your birthday.

In token of goodwill of ours.

So please accept these fragrant flo were.
" Good wishes" in Sweet Basil see.

In Rosemary "remember me."
Columbine mingles “hope and fear”
And Balm brings "sympathy" to cheer.
The message Star of Bethlehem bears
Is “heavenward look," above life’s cares;
While Sweet Alyssum teaches here
"Merit before beauty” will appear.
The Jessamine in this we place

As typical of "gentle grace."

The Sage will tell you naught would hurt you
So much as lack of domestic virtue.
When fragrant Mignonette you see

Of "moral worth" reminded be.

But. Oh! beware Carnations all,

"A haughty spirit before a fall."

The Chamomile we’ll not exclude
Because it teaches “fortitude;”

The Pansy asks. whate‘er thy lot,

In weal or woe, "forget me not."

Trust not to Larkspur in distress,

An emblem that of “fickleness;"

But rather yield thy hope and love

To Violet. “faithfulness” ’twill prove.
The Dahlia is a brilliant sign

Of pure affection. “ever thine.”

The Daisy whispers. “patient be.”
While Clover tells of "industry.”

An emblem of sweet peace we find

ls with the Olive branch entwined.
The Wallflower says: “A friend in need
Will always prove a friend indeed.”
Full many a fairer flower to-day

We place within this bright bouo uet:
Fuchsias, Verbenas. sweet and rare,
Phlox and Lantana claim their share.
Geraniums and Ivies. ti o.

Whisper of love and hope for you.
Accept the message of these flowers
Culled from the fragrant garden bowers;
And may the brightness they display
Add something to your bright birthday.
Then if you count the blossoms o’er
You'll find they number twenty-four;
Making but one for every year

You've spent upon this mundane sphere.
May God’s good angels hover o’er you
And brighten all the years before you;
May each recurring natal day

Find you in health and peace alway.

Bonito. EL. SEE.

—_—...———

MEN AND WOMEN.

 

I got an opinion at first hand the
other day—a plain, straightforward
statement of a business man’s views on
an oft-discussed question—viz., the
value of the average woman’s services
to her employer. Two business men,
one a fire and marine insurance un-
derwriter, the other a retired lake cap-
tain, sat behind me in the car not long
since. They were discussing various

 

topics fully, freely and loudly. The
lunderwriter chanced to mention that he
eft his business, during his absences ,
in charge of the young woman employed
in his office; and presently his inquisi-
tive friend inquired: “What do you
pay the girl in your office?” “Sixty
dollars,” he replied, “but she‘s worth
it. She learned the business with
,” mentioning a well-known firm
of underwriters, “and understands it
thoroughly. And I’m only away on
short trips and there’s not much likely
to come up she can’t manage till I get
back.” To a further remark he said:
“Well, I don’t think much of female
help, as a rule. They don’t take an in-
terest in the business, don’t you know;
all the time thinking of dress and get-
ting married and how soon they can get
off duty. ——’s got the boss girl in
his office, though. Pays her a hun-
dred a month and twenty per cent on all
the business she brings in. She knows
the ropes as well as he does. But she’s
one in a thousand. Gen’lly they’re no
good: too frivolous.” '

 

I’ve heard that song before, I said to
myself, but it is true—too true-—of most
of those who seek employment and fail
to serve their employers’ interests.
And the few who do “ take an interest”
suffer in reputation and salary through
the indifference and incompetence of
the many and must fight the unfavor-
able sentiment thus created. I find
men are willing enough to acknowledge
the value of the woman who devotes
her time, thought and energy to their
interests, rendering as faithful and
efficient service as their male employes.
And most of them will tolerate laxness,
inattention and inefficiency in women
that would not be allowed in men for a
moment, but revenge themselves by
saying contemptuously. “What more
can you expect of a woman, anyway?”
But it is agreat pity that the capable
women who “ mean business” are so
handicapped by the incompetence of
those who want more spending-money
while they arewaiting for the “not im-
possible he,” meaning to keep in plain
sight so the coming man may not over-
lookthem.

Miss Julie Ball, in her- paper read
before the Webster Farmers’ Club and
published in the HOUSEHOLD of Sept.
5th, tells the plain truth about this
question of women's labor. It is women

 

themselves, not men or wages, that are:
in fault. A woman can make herself
as much of a necessity to her employer-
as can a man, if she will be as faithful-
and as earnest; she can be even more
valuable, because she is not addicted to
those vices which often militate against.
a man’s worth.

M. E. H. seems to think it would be
better for girls not to work in offices
where their only associates are men,
and says she knows some “who would
have been better off if kept in the-
privacy of home.” No doubt. There
are girls who would have to be shut in
a convent to keep straight. But I
believe it is not the office work or as-
sociation in business with men, but the
want of moral principle and stability of
character in the individual, and that
this lack tends to downfall in society, at
home, in the ordinary environments of
ordinary life quite as much as in busi-
ness life—yes, more so; in offices there is
genuine work to be done. I cannot agree
with M. E. H. in thinking the “office-
atmosphere” more unhealthy—either
morally or physically—than the school-
room, the sewing-room or the milliner’s .
shop. I am assuming, of course, that
the employer is an ordinary male biped
with no more faults or virtues than the -
average. An immoral man should be-
avoided by all women, in all circles,
business or social; yet how often women;
receive such an one in their parlors and
accept his attentions while condemning
the girl whose necessities compel her
to seek employment of him?

I remember, when young women were
first given employment in stores, hear-
ing a few middle-aged women say they
would not like to have their husbands
employ pretty girls in their stores or
offices. And I also remember looking
at some of those middle-aged husbands _
and wondering how in heaven’s name
any w0man could be jealous of them.
Jealous, of such prosaic, stuffy, poky,.
homely, old men! Bah! w0uld a pretty
girl look twice at such antiquities? Why
there was neither youth, good-looks or
brains to attract, not the slightest in-v
ducement to sentiment. True, Queen
Titania loved Bottom, but that was
magic and two centuries ago. An ad-
Venturess dupes an old man occasionally
and he pays the price for his folly; and
sometimes a silly girl and an unprin-
cipled man create a social sensatiom.

 


 

 

2

The Household.

 
 

 

ht these things happen out of offices
hr more frequently than in them; and
the girl who is pure in heart is often
like Una among her lions, subduing
them by her own purity and womanly
dignity.

Life is hard for a great many of these
girls, let us not make it harder by sus-
pecting evil of them. Many of them—
indeed nearly all—would prefer an
easier life at home; a great number help
maintain homes and educate brothers
and sisters; others are ambitious and
having heard the “advancement of
women” sovigorously preached, step
main the only path they know. We
mustnot condemn or blame where we
cannot understand the circumstances or
the motives that impel. There are
hundreds of girls employed in offices
who are treated as respectfully as if
they were their employers’ daughters:
and where they are not treated with re-
spent it is generally because they have
not compelled it by their personal
dignity;

In “the good old days,” men expected
tn-maintain their female relatives; it
was noblésse' oblige; their own standing
and the honor of the family demanded
in. The“equal rights movement” is
responsible for the change by which a
great many. fathers and brothers expect
file‘s? daughters and sisters to sup-
port themselves in whole or part, per-
haps aid: in maintaining a home. (I
Knows rich man in this city, one who
keeps horses and carriages and a ret-
ihue of servants, yet takes $3.50 a week
for his sister’s board; she is bookkeeper
in a down-town office.) Perhaps the
time is coming when “equal rights”
will entitle every woman to earn her own
living, and, as in Egypt in Pharaoh’s
fine, she may be expected to be bread-
winner and support her husband, too.
knit-that the drift of the tide, even now?

And, musing on “the woman ques-
fion,” that curious conveyance called
“entrain of' thought,” brings to mind
the remarks of an acquaintance about
ayonnglady who has set herself earnest-
ly at work at stenography and is earn-
ing a good living. Said this woman,
whohasno duties which take her be-
yond her home: “ No girl who is ‘ all
night’ would willingly engage ina busi~
ness which must take her so much
among men, or establish an office in
such a public place as she has chosen.”
This is a hard judgment. It implies
doubt of a girl’s virtue and honor be-
cause she dares do what “ advanced
women.” are telling her is the right
filing todo—find a new field for her
work, or fill some want not satisfied.
It illustrates yet again that old- and
cruel truth that a woman’s harshest
jidge is her sister woman, for I have
yet to hear men speak of that girl
other than respectfully. The wife or
daughter safely sheltered in her hus-
hand’s or father’s house knows little of
file struggles of the less favored, nor

should she judge them as if they were . duct.

 

what she calls “unwomanly ” by choice
rather than by necessity. The little
stenographer instanced is earning large
wages, and half the reason of her suc-
cess is that she is mistress of her busi-
ness and the other half that she located
herself just where there was a demand
for exactly the work she proposed to
do. She conducts herself with perfect
propriety, and seems to regard that
very dangerous animal man simply as
a creature who wants her work and
is ready to pay for it. But certain of
her old time acquaintances do not
know her now, because, as I have said,
she cannot be “all right”——that is,
womanly, and virtuous—and place her-
self where she must be in contact With
men. And it seems to me that women
who think so meanly of men as to imply
contact with them can so demoralize a
well brought up girl ought tetbe re-
luctant to marry these awful creatures,
and should entertain suspicious rela-
tive to their fathers and brothers as
well as of the other woman. The
woman who took exceptions to the
business of this girl is a zealous “fe-
male sufiragist,” and at the first elec-
tion at which women were allowed to
vote on local issues she “worked” at
the polls all day among these ihorrid
men, encountering and appealing
familiarly to those of a far lower type
than any whom “ that girl ” would meet
in the pursuit of her business. The
critic’s zeal for prohibition has led her
among saloons and slums in “praying
bands,” in obedience to what she con-
siders duty, but her Christian charity
cannot embrace the unprotected girl
whose business relations with respect-
able men earn her her bread! What
inconsistencyll

It is true that the woman in business
must see, hear and know much that
never comes under the cognizance of
the society or domestic woman. But as
acompensation, she gets broader views,
wider intelligence, more ample --knowl-
edge of the world. I would choose for
a friend the business woman who works
among “ those horrid men ” sooner than
the domestic woman whose soul never
gets beyond the personal concerns of
her house, or the society woman whose
mind is stored with the niceties of
social etiquette and precedence, be-
cause the former would be more inter-
esting and entertaining than they. It
is undeniably true that a woman in
business, though she need not lose one
atom of her womanliness, her refine-
ment or modesty, and in reputation
may be like Caesar’s wife, is a different
sort of woman from either the society
or domestic type, and is. not to be
judged by the same social rules. She
can go, unattended, on her business,
where it would not be “ proper ” for the
society woman to go, and ought not to
be thought unwomanly in so doing.
What is thought of her and how she is
treated depends entirely upon her con-
BEATRIX.

     

 

SCREECEINGS FROM: EAGLE.

 

Once I thought I would Whittle down
a piece of dried ink to inform the read-
ers how the equator had swooped down
upon us, say about six feet above us.
One would think they were residing
pro tem in Wiltshire, Eng, sure. It
was indeed horridly torrid or tori-idly
horrid. But at last, just as we began
cutting clover for seed, we were favored
with copious rains which revived every-
body. We have gotten a new lease of
life, a new supply of ink, and I make
haste to respond to Beatrix's call.

As I look out of my window, I think
the country never so beautiful as it is
at this season of the year. Many call
it sad and argue that too much solemnl-
ty is connected with the " falling of the
leaf." The trees are fast dinning their
autumnal garb, while the earth is
profusely “blossomed out" in yellow,
blue and white, dear old golden-rod. as
usual, predominating. How I truly
sympathize with those who cannot visit
the country now, and I am equally sorry
for those whose eyesight is averse to
Dame Nature! How invigorating is a
stroll on these lovely days! One needs
only to be observant to be captivated
by the surrouding scenes. You retain
the impression when again busy in the
routine of household duties. No won-
der some speak of work as drudgery
and slavery, when they never inter-
mingle the beauties of life with its
labors. On a visit to Oakland County
I was greatly impressed by the pictur-
esque scenery; the hills and lakes were
a beautiful novelty to me. I was per-
mitted an excellent view of the country.
coming home overland with a horse
and carriage. What a grand State is
ours! I feel nearly as enthusiastic
when repeating “Michigan, my Michi-
gan” as when singing “ America.”

“Give commendation to whom it is
due.” Who says it is not deserved by
our Editress. Despite the uncomfortably
dry weather nothing similar has been
given us in the HOUSEHOLD, each
number being as fresh and newsy as
ever. I, am anxiously looking for a
solution to Priscilla’s perplexity; many
others are likewise perplexed, and a
response would be of great interest.
Then there is Theopolus, how glad I

am he went to the circus. It may
direct his mind from the “plaguey
housecleaning mania.” Wonder if he
has any attacks of it yet?

And is ————. There! Didn’t I hear
that wastebasket y-a-w-n?

EAGLE. ADA.

 

WHAT has become of Daffodilly and
her pledge to "write early and often?”
Surely that was not a “pie-crust
promise ”—made only to be broken!
And there are many others whose
“copy” the Editor would love to see
again, for the more we have of letters,
the better and brighter is our little

paper. If you know anything good or
new or helpful, don’t be selfish but
share it with others. We hope to hear
from Almena, our latest caller, again.


The Household. 3

 

DETERMINED TO WRITE .

 

Beatrix’s invitation tocome early and
ravoid the rush decided me to drOp the
idishcloth, push the jelly back on the
=stove, kick the apples to dry under
fithe table, throw my apron over
‘the peaches that stand ready for pickl-
ing, and prepare to write. ”(My better
half puffs the smoke from his mouth
and says, “Hum, you may write but
who’ll read, I’d like to know? ”) Never-
:theless Iwantto tell the young house-
ikeepers, and old housekeepers the same,
-not to stay in the house this lovely
:autumn weather. Go somewhere, go
'to every picnic, go to the fairs, to the
‘Farmers’ Club, out for a walk; go both
i‘to mill and to market. No matter if
you don’t know the senior partner
‘of the firm is going until Old Dobbin
is at the gate all harnessed ready to
start, and he comes in after his best
hat; just push back the bread that is all
ready to mix; never mind if the cream
*is ready to churn, go just the same.
If your head does ache when you get
“back and you have to hurry with your
work to catch up, the ride will brush
‘the cobwebs off your brain and keep
you from thinking your lot is worse than
any one’s else. Dear me! how that
~calf does bawl! Strange it can’t wait
peaceably a few minutes for it’s break-
5fast.

Yes, I am a farmer‘s wife, have been

for many along year. Grand Rapids
has been our market ever since the
mud was unfathomable on Canal Street
:and the Indians drank fire water on pay
[days I love every inch of the dear old
rfarm, with all its hard labor (provided
'the labor isn’t too hard). The seasons
ncome and go‘year after year, leaving
with us their experiences. Sometimes
in mid-Winter when the snow covers
~everything two or three feet deep and
we five miles from church or postoflice,
I almost envy the city people their
'chances to hear Will Carleton, Tal-
mage, and other noted men. I think
with a sigh of the thousand good en-
‘tertainments that must be missed. But
then I curl down to read the papers,
satisfied if I only keep posted. You
'know we must keep posted, and stand
-up for our rights, althoughabout every
homestead there are some things
which fall to a man’s share more con-
veniently and more becomingly than to
a woman’s. Yet we must stand up for
our rights, though the heavens should
'fall.

Oh dear, here comes my good man
:and dinner isn’t ready; the floor isn’t
swept, my hair stands every way but the
right way; that’s what comes of trying
‘to be “literary.”

Christmas is comingand what will I
send to my daughter away over the

Rocky Mountains, tomy boy in Europe,
and to my dear little grandson that is
just as far away? Then think of the
many, many others close at home I
would like to help! Do, good ladies,

 

come to the rescue; send in your pat-
terns and directions for useful things
and help your grateful and faithful

GRAND RAPIDS. AUNT POLLY.
M.—

GRAPES AS FOOD.

Here we have in a small compass, all
prepared too, a food for the hearty and
strong, as well as the invalid. Scien-
tists declare that grapes give strength,
endurance and vivacity to the well, and
restore the sick and debilitated. In
Germany there are grape cures where
the patients eat from two to ten pounds
each, daily. But the time for eating
them ought to be prolonged through
the Winter months, and a cheap, sure
way discovered to preserve them in
their fresh state. White grapes are
delicious, but still too much of a luxury
for common purses. Years ago they
were fifty cents a pound in winter, and
are now sold for fifteen or twenty. But
that is too high. They ought to be
plenty and five cents a pound. It would
pay to grow them in greenhouses in
the colder States in large quantities.
There is an old lady ninety-four years
old, able to do considerable housework
and enjoy life, who declares it is eating
grapes that has kept her in health to
that great age. Twice she has broken
her arm since she was eighty years old.
and it has healed and been serviceable
each time, showing how physically
strong she was. They say the grape
pickers through the working season al.
ways gain in flesh and strength while at
work in the vineyards. It would be a
good thing to have grapes sell for two
cents a pound. Make them as cheap as
beer, so that the poorest could supply
his table. The temperance people, in-
stead of talk, talk, talk, would do a vast
amount of good by encouraging the
raising of grapes, or starting vineyards
themselves. SISTER GRACIOUS.

. DETROIT.

-——...——
TWO SHORT MONTHS.

 

I have been to a wedding, a funeral,
stood by the death-bed of a beloved
friend. and have seen one person killed
since my short letter in July. So many
great changes in two short months—
grcat changes because they are for
time and eternity. It is well we “know
not what a day may bring forth,” if we
did our present happiness would be
greatly marred, for we are never quite
ready to say “ goodby ” to our friends
for the last time. But I have often
thought that if in regard to our own
faults and wrong-doing we could live
as though the present hour was the last,
even if we could not look through a
glass and view our lives as others see
them, there would be less vanity, fewer
wrongs unrighted, and more earnest
work through pure love (that main-
spring of all good action) and self de-
nial.

To change the subject rather sud-
denly, husband and I attended the Ex-

 

position. While there was more un-
occupied space than two years ago I
will not echo a chronic grumbler’s re-
mark and say it was “not worth going
to;” for there were many things to see
which were instructive as well as beauti-
ful, and we enjoyed it. Stayed to the
evening entertainment. the Siege of
Sebastopol. There seemed to be but
one drawback to the full enjoyment of
that, and that was alarge number of
men who indulged in their “sweet-
scented Havanas,” and seemed utterly
unconscious that it was not as enjoyable
to the ladies by their side. They
were not gentlemen if they did
wear “silk tiles.” for no gentleman
will smoke in ladies’ presence and
obliged them to breathe second-hand
smoke. If every mother would do
her best to instill this one rule of
decorum into the pliable minds of her
boys; if every girl would make
her gentleman escort understand that
she would not tolerate smoking in her
presence for a moment. and a wife (al-
thOugh that is pretty late) by little
looks and acts of displeasure make her
lord realize that even if he did indulge
she did not think it necessary to do so
to be a man, there would be much less
smoking anywhere, and certainly less
in ladies’ presence. Woman has more
in her power in this line than many
suppose. Let us treat them to more
elevating thoughts. finer sentiments,
more sublime truths as exist in nature,
and—fewer cigars. MAN DEE.

COMMERCE.
W

SOME GOOD BOOKS.

 

Priscilla asks about some new novels
that are worth reading, and may I
name a half dozen that have interested
me in the last year?

She undoubtedly knows of the charit-
able (charitable with a Revised Version
significance) movement started in Lon-
don and beginning now to take root in
New York City, whose central idea is
that of Walter Besant’s “ All Sorts and
Conditions of Men.” His "' Children of
Gibeon” treats the same subject in a
different way They are both most
readable books, ‘and if not very new,
never mind.

If she is interested in Puritan times
she may enjoy “ Dr. Le Baron and His
Daughters,” by Jane Goodwin Austin.
It would please me to have some of
the HOUSEHOLD housewives attempt to
make the wonderful combination of but-
ter and flour that Mistress Lucy Ham-
matt toasted over the coals. If I were
the “missus” of alittle darkey boy I
would try it myself.

Another book that I have recently en-
joyed is Tourgee’s “ Murvale Eastman.”
It is a pleasant story, but that is not
worth so much as the “ preach ”that is
in it. The concentration of capital,
the right of capital to control its em-
ployes body and soul, and the slavish
deference paid to wealth by Christian

 


 

4 The Household.

L

 

men. are subjects for the writer’s sharp
pen. and even if somebody calls the
plans for improvement impractical,
they are full of suggestions. I read
the other day that it “takes a thinker
to make another thinker think.”

If Priscilla likes short stories I hope
she will read Mary E. Wilkins’ two
volumes, “A Humble Romance.” and
“A New England Nun and Other
Stories.”

If you have the opportunity do not fail
to read “ Dreams,” by Olive Schreiner.
Perhaps you will not like them, but it
is said that since George Eliot’s time
no woman has written anything to equal
this little volume. ALMENA.

JACKSON.

 

INFORMATION WANTED.

As I have quite lately become inter-
ested in houseplants I would like to ask
the HOUSEHOLD readers a few questions
about them?

Is there anything that will kill the
small white worm in the earth? I have
put carbolic acid in the water with
which Iwater them, but it does not
seem to do much good. Perhaps I do
not use enough; what are the propor-
tions that should be used?

I would like to know also, if plants
are considered unhealthful in a sleep-
ing room. We have a nice large apart-
ment with cast and south windows
which I would like to use for a few
plants this winter.

What soil does Snow on the Moun-
tain need? I have a small plant and
was told to put it in clear sand, but it
did not grow at all, so I mixed in a lit-
tle richer soil and it is doing a little
better. I have a Storm King fuchsia,
slipped this spring, now about six
inches tall, with nine blossoms, besides

lots of buds; it is a beaut .
OXFORD. A NT PHILENA.

 

GLADIOLUS BULBLETS.

 

A correspondent asks if the small
bulblets attached to gladiolus bulbs
when lifted are good for anything.
Yes. Save them as you do the large
bulbs, plant them out the following
spring in rich soil: keep them free from
weeds, and they will make good growth
during the summer. In the fall take
them up again. and the following
season many of them will blossom.
They are worth saving because they
will be like the parent plant. The bulb-
lets must be kept in a dry place, neither
too warm nor too cool; they are injured
in either extreme.

w.-.

AN I‘I-GOSSIP.

 

 

I have felt for some time that I would
like to send a few words to the HOUSE-
BOLD; and after reading so many good
things from the pens of more able
minds than my own, I came to the con-
clusion that what I could say would be
of little account. But when I read the
article on “ Gossip,” Aug. 29th, I could

 

keep silent no longer. I must send a
word of cheer to the one who expressed
my views far better than I could have
done myself. I hope every person who
is inclined to indulge in such a miser-
able habit, may read and reread the
article until they have it by heart: and
then and there make a solemn vow
never again to give occasion to be
called a membe.‘ of the gossiping
society. H. A.
WAT'ROUSVILLE.

QUESTIONS wswsnnn.

 

Joyce propounds two questions. What
is a good substitute for feathers; and
what are some good ways of doing up
grapes. For pillows, curled hair is per-
haps the best, especially the white
hair, which is however almost or quite
as expensive as feathers. Excelsior is
sometimes used for the purpose. For
the hammock pillows and those piled
on lounges many substitutes are in use,
such as chopped hay and straw, pine
needles, torn paper, even rose leaves—
though of these it must require that
quantity generally spoken of as “an
awful lot." The torn paper is prepared
by cutting writing paper, such as old
letters, leaves from ledgers, etc., into
fine strips and curling them round a
blunt knife. Some kinds of love-letters
ought to make real -nice soft pillows.

Grapes are here now in immense
quantities, and it is time to be prepar-
ing them. Of grape jelly one can use an
almost unlimited quantity, as it is nice
with meats, for puddings. tarts, sauces
and in cake. The children will relish
it for their school lunches. also. And
it is very easily made. after the usual
way of jelly-making, though it sets bet-
ter and is free from those objectionable
little crystals of grape sugar when
made of grapes not fully ripe. Boil
the juice half an hour before adding the
sugar, which should be equal measure.
then boil eight minutes.

In preparing grapes for any use but
jelly and grape juice, it is necesssary to
slip off the skins, and cook the pulp
with the seeds separately. Many of the
seeds can be skimmed out as they rise
to the top in the process of cooking,
but for the best results the pulp should
be put through a coarse colander. Cook
the skins half an hour, put with the
pulp and add sugar, after weighing, at
the rate of half a pound to a pound of
grapes. Boil an hour and seal. Thir-
teen pounds of grapes and six and a
half pounds of sugar will fill six quart
cans. Spiced grapes are nice, and are
prepared as above, only adding three-
quarters of a pound of sugar to the
pound of grapes. To each quart add a
tableSpoonful of fresh ground cinnamon
and half a teaspoonful of cloves and boil
till a little, when cool, seems rather
thick. Grape jam is made in the same
way, using a pound of sugar to onset
fruit and omitting the spice. Canned
grapes make nice pies in winter.

Where grapes are plenty, one may

 

prepare a very pleasant beverage by“

boiling the fruit, straining the juice,
adding sugar to the taste—not too sweet,
perhaps a teacupful to a quart—and
after it has boiled up and been skim-
med, canning or bottling it. If bottled,
the corks must be covered with sealing
or other wax. This is a palatable. in-
vigorating, healthful drink, giving us
all the well-known healthful properties
of the grape.

We would be glad to have our cor-

respondents tell us of other and better

ways of putting up grapes.

 

MR. and Mrs. Thos. Langley, of
Birmingham, started on the 14th inst.
for a two months’ trip to California and
other points of interest on the Pacific
slope. with especial intent to see the
wonders of the Yosemite region. “ 'We
loaned the cat, gave away the pony,
shut up the house, and shall not have a
care about matters at home while we
are gone,” said A. L. L., in her hasty
farewell call bright and early Monday
morning. All her HOUSEHOLD friends
will wish her a safe and pleasant trip,
and that she will tell the stay-at-homes
all about it on her return.

 

IF you have an evaporator, pare and
slice thinly a good pumpkin, and dry it.
Keep the pieces in a paper bag. When
wanted for use, soak over night in a
bowl of warm water. In the morning
turn all into a bowl, add alittle more
water, and stew slowly. Pass through
a colander, before mixing for pies. But
after all the most genuinely “ pump-
kin ” pies in winter are those made of
the old-fashioned dried pumpkin—
stewed down till it is thick, with a cup
‘of molasses added the last half hour of
boiling, then dried on plates in the
oven or evaporator.
in sweet milk when wanted for use.

fin.-- '-

Useful Recipes.

 

Tomaro Gunman—One peck green toma-
toes; six large green peppers; six onions; one
cup of salt. Chop onions and peppers fine, .
slice the tomatoes about a quarter of an
inch thick and sprinkle the salt over all. Let
stand over night, drain, and put into a por-
celain kettle. Mix two pounds of brown
sugar; quarter pound of mustard seed; one
ounce each of ground cloves, cinnamon,
ginger, and black pepper; half an ounce of
auspice; quarter ounce each of cayenne pep‘
per and ground mustard. Stir into the to-
mgmea; cover with cider vinegar and boil.
two hours. This is very nice but very hot.
To make it less so, omit the cayenne and
mustard.

 

CBABAPPLE JELLY AND Maximum—To

eight quarts of crabs, well washed, add
three quarts of water. renewing as it boils
out so that when done you have as much as
at first. Strain, but do not squeeze. Allow-

equal measures of sugar and juice: boil 20

minutes and skim. There’s your crabapple
jelly. Put the cooked crabs through a sieve
to take out the skins and cores; allow an
equal quantity of sugar. cook fifteen minutes

and season with cinnamon, and there's your-

marmalade.

Soak over night .