DETROIT, FEB. 11, 1898. THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement. RAPID TRANSIT. - The first train leaves at six p. m. For the land where the poppy bloWs: The mother dear is the engineer. And the passenger laughs and crows. The palace car is the mother’s arms. The whistle. a low, sweet strain: The passenger winks and node and blinks And goes to 51930 in the train. At eight p. m. the next train starts To the poppy land afar, The summons clear falls on the car, “All aboard for the sleeping car." But what is the fare to peppy land? I hepe it is not too dear, The fare is this. a hug and a kiss, And it's paid to the engineer. So I ask of Him who children took On His knee in kindness great. "Take charge. I pray, of the train each dim, That leaves at six and eigh ” “Keep watch of the passengers. thus I pray. For to me they are very dear. And special ward. 0 gracious Lord. . O'er the gentle engineer.” —:dgar Wade Abbott. LITERATURE IN DISTRICT SGEOOLS. Every district school teacher having the i_ telligence and purity of his ad- ministratibh at heart,- is at once sensi- ble of the possible power to this end of proper literature, and y of the utter dearth of literature of the required class, both in the homes and in the school of , his district. Therefore, if he be at all spirited in the matter, he sets about an efiort to form a club among his pupils for some one of the many excellent youths’ and children’s papers or maga- zines now published at a price that brings the very best within the reach, I had almost said of the very poorest. and I will say no less, for there is no family in any country place of which I am informed, so poor that they would not be richer in more ways than one at the end of a year ‘by having at its outset paid $1.75 for a year’s nfimber of the Youth’s CompaniOn, and what is thus true of this is equally true of several others. But what success has our philanthropic teacher? Two, three, four or five subscribers at the outside, and they invariably from the families best supplied with Wholesome literature. The excuses made are flimsy and pitiful- enough, and no amount of presenting the, question in its true light will in- duce these close-fisted brain starvers, a dollar in any such “nonsense for their young ones.” It is all they “can do to get school books for ’em. Let ’em study and learn the books they’ve got!” And the teacher is disheartened and discouraged that they who should care most, really care not at all for that cul- ture and mind growth so necessary, but which is not attainable through the unaided channel of mere text books, as commonly handled in common schools, or indeed in any school. But he reflects, “Unless I can in a measure at least lowerthis mountain and raise up this valley, my work will bein a great measure a failure.” And so‘ out of his own resources and by dint of manipulations worthy of a political wire-puller he secures a showing of good literature to place in the hands and before the minds of his pupils. But all this should be changed. Our State apnortions a library fund, very unjustly, too, inasmuch as only those districts having an enrollment of 200 pupils or over are entitled to a share of it. Now, this is radically wrong, and runs counter to the spirit and temper of our institutions. The child whose name stands enrolled in the district where just as much entitled to, and generally much more in need of, his share of this library fund than the child who is “one” of the 200 or over, from the very fact that the latter may readily have access to other libraries and to various the isolated child knows nothing of. this "war cry” and demand their rights, purposes. offence. thing real, earnest, honest, true, funny witty, wise, historical, biographical body-breaking mind orampers, toinvest only a half dozen pupils are found is. means of general information which It is high time that districts take up and when once they are obtained let it be made a crime punishable by heavy fine for any officer or set of officers to use this money for any other than library Also let the buying of any but wholesome literature be a finable Let a large percentage of the wishy-washy trash that goes to make up the average Sunday school library be tabooed. Give the children some- travels, books of nature, oh, there is a world of healthful literature calculated to develop by .well directed gy muastics ,the‘meutal muscle and nerve fibre of the growing mind, and there is a strong effort on foot to‘secure for‘th‘e children in the common schools their share of it, whether the natural guardians and prey tectors see the need of these things or not. Let some live, intelligent, go- ahead woman in every school district in our fair State set the library ball rolling in behalf of her own school and neighborhood. The Y. P. R. C form a goon nucleus for a library, and may be purchased for $3.75, eight volumes that children, young and old, literally devour, and grow mentally and morally healthier and stronger every day. E. L. NYE. THAT SCHOOL PROBLEM. As E. C. has Opened anew subject, 31 will just make a few remarks before it is dropped. It seems to me there is a great deal of truth in her argument. although I know all teachers do not think as she does for in my family of. brothers and sisters there are six teach- ers and I have heard nearly all express their opinions upon the subject, and. they are very different from hers. They say parents do not visit the schools as much as they ought, and that if they would visit more and take more interest in them and the progress of their child- ers to take more interest. 7 The first term our little boy went is school his teacher came home with hm one night, from school.stayed all night, and went to school with him next day. As she took her leave she urged me to come to school some day; said she al- ways liked to have the parents visit her sshool; it seemed as if they cared some- thing about how the school was con- ducted, and did not think it was just a place to send the children to get rid of them for the day. So I went one morn- ing and stayed all day. She seemed. pleased to have me come and I enjoyed the visit, and thought that schools had improved very much since I went to school some eighteen or twenty years before. Now here is a question: Did she ask me to come because she wished . it, or did she act a part, and much pre- , fer I had stayed at home? I declare I almost wish I had not gone now sinhe E. C. has let us “in it.” That same teacher has given up teaching and has gone to Chicago to take a full course in nursing and caring for sick people, per- haps she was driven (by visitors) from the school‘room; she was a good ran it would be an incentive to temh- . a?" .. w.-.» “name-‘4 _ new”; . .. _ “I, . i; l . _ l, 4 ‘5. I" 2 The Household. and liked teaching, but nurses can tell visitors that their patients are not well enough to admit them and no one would take ofiense. But I really do think that visitors in the school-room break the usual order of the school, as the dull ones are embarrassed,the restless made more restless, and the curious are more so than common and are reprimanded by the teacher, so perhaps the bright ones only are not disturbed. A. G. S. is to be pitied, but still her trouble is as nothing compared to Mrs. A. Do’s; that is to be taken to heart. indeed. At the same time it would be harder for A. G. S. to care for her hus- band’s brother, for there is not the ten- der feeling for him there is for a little helpless child, especially her own. She should be so thankful that her own dear ones are not thus afi‘licted and try to bear it with a patient Spirit, for “It ye have done it unto the least of these ye have done it unto me.” To be thought to be perfectly I appy and contented in my home has helped me to stand this cold weather in our little, cold house; and try to stow away the foot wear—a half dozen pairs to each one of a family of five. If we were to put up shelves to set them on it would make our dwelling look like a boot and shoe store. But I try to be contented while waiting ior the new house. Do any of the HOUSEHOLDERS try sprinkling light snow on the carpets, sweeping it around and taking up be- fore it melts? I think it a nice way to take up the dust and brighten the car- pet. BUSY BEE. Has'rmes. THEOPOLUS AND HIS TRIALS. The thermometer at our house—on the outside—has been way down below zero and southwest breezes blew but brought no balm, for still the question as to who or which shall build the morn— ing fires remains unsettled, butI feel so grateful to those members of the HOUSEHOLD who have taken a right View (my view) of this question. Little Nan, especially, receives my intensest gratitude for saying right out “Let the husband build them if he wants to." That’ll do. A. L. L. started on the right track when she followed Scripture and asked her husband for information regarding certain domestic questions andpro blems, but switched into the wrong track, when she ceased to advise with him and offered such woefully unsafe advice as “Let the wtfe decide who shall build the fires.” T’wont do—like "Samantha,” I dasn’t. Bess is right in advising “Let the husband lie in bed and sleep. instead of growling around the kitchen.” Yes, the morning is such a good time to sleep (while the breakfast is cooking) and the growling can be done later on. There are several other questions that are bothering me some, viz.: “Is it right for the wife to rouse her hus- band from his evening reverie, and make ‘swifts’ of him when she wants to wind askein of yarn to complete her fascinator?” And while holding the yarn on my aching arms I thought of the days agone, when my “fascinator” wore curls (instead of awad) and was no “yarn afiair” either, but the question Wlll present itself,—at times—(tire build- ing times), Have I really, after all, been “wooled” by my fascinator? (Oh dear! how I do dread those fires—-—before they‘re built). But wife says I make good swifts— slow swifts—and the next thing I expect she’ll be using me for tongs to fix the fire with, and between the fear of this and the dread of building the morning fires, I’m suffering ever so much. Another thing: How long ought it to take to iron a dress—just an every day blue dress? You see, I asked wife to take a ride in the cutter with me. She said "Yes, just as soon as I finish iron- ing this dress.” So of course I waited, and she “went for” that dress with four flat-irons, and punched it, pulled it, spatter! it, ironed it, lengthwise, cross- wise, cornerwise, and all ways. I surely began to fear that she would iron it always. And I saw, while waiting, why “woman’s work is never done.” And now about buttons: When I was a boy, the buttons were always put on my shirt in a nice, straight row, down the front side. In a few years fashion said the buttons must be put up and down the back, and I learned to’go around there to button up the garment. I’d just got used to that arrangement so I could button my shirt without spoil- ing my countenance, when fashion took another flop, and the buttons came up on the shoulder,almost necessitating my getting “up on my ear” when those button are to be placed, and now my wife has got a new kink on the buttoning business. If I break my back button- ing my shirt,who’ll be to blame? That’s what I want to know! One more: The present style adopt- ed by the ladies of “doing” their “back hair”-—-it grieves me sore—in a little wad without beauty or adornment; no- thing but hair, and, in many cases,very little of that, right on the back end of the head and it looks so lonely and friendless. Can’t a style he adopted that may justly lay claim to somewhat of fitness rather than a claim to “fits” or fashion? THEOPOLUS. A BL ACKBIRD PIE. There is always a call for anything new and novel that will draw a crowd and charm the silver out of close-but- toned pockets in aid of charity or church work. The Boston Globe recently de- scribed a rather taking departure trom old lines in this direction, framed on one of Mother Goose’s melodies. First four or five large “pies” were prepared, made in large tin dish «pans with brown paper “crust.” The inside of the pies was filled with trifling gifts nicely wrapped in tinted tissue paper and tied with baby riobon,leaving oneach along end to pass through the brown paper crust. “Four and twenty blackbirds" were four and twenty little girls dressed in black paper muslin Mother Hubbards with big sashes of coarse black tarleton caught up like wings to the shoulders, long black stockings, and black caps with a tiny‘ twist of red. These “black- birds” sold “a piece of pie” for twenty- five cents. When all were sold the pur- chasers gathered round the pie and each secured a ribbon end. The children, joining hands around the pie and its buyers, marched singing "Sing a song 0’ Sixpence Pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie.” and all the rest of it, and at the words “nipped off her nose” the paper top was broken open and the gifts drawn out by the ribbons. The entertainment was very successful. SARATOGA CHIPS. Everybody has heard of Saratoga chips and almost everybody has tried the hard,dry, tasteless, salty things, and like olives, made believe very hard at being fond of them. The keeper ot a fashionable resort at Saratoga, N. Y., originated them and it became “the proper thing” to eat and praise. They are manufactured by the barrel, and sold at a low price, but if you wish to make your own, the New York flrz‘bmw tells how to do it. A quantity can be made and kept on hand for use: Cut the potatoes first in the thinnest possible slices with a vegetable slicer and soak for at least six hours to draw the starch out of them. These two things are essential to success. When you are ready to fry them, drain them out of the water and use a cloth to ab- sorb all moisture. Have a large pot of fat—at least three quarts—over the fire, heated very hot. It must be hotter for this purpose than for any other frying done by the cook, unless it be for potato croquettes. Do not attempt to fry more than a pint of sliced potatoes at once. If more are put in they cool the fat too much to cook them properly. The kettle containing the fat should be rath- er deep, otherwise it is liable to boil over when the potatoes are first put in. There is at that time a violent ebullition in the fat, caused by the moisture in the potatoes. The moment this boiling ceases, in about two minutes, lift the kettle on top of the stove, where it is not so hot, and let the potatoes fry for five or six minutes longer. They should be crisp and a yellowish white, but not brown. Drain them out of the fat as soon as they are done, on to brown paper, to absorb all grease. Dredge them with salt, and serve them On a hot platter . gm.»- .m-m—-——.-. . . an”... mam The Household. 8 SOME PEOULIAR CALIFORNIAN PRO- DUCTIONS. It is a year ago to-day, Jan 27th..since I first came into the beautiful City of the Angels. We never visit a place but once, because our consciousness of it is us ver twice alike. I have tried to see and feel again as I did when I first knew the lovely days of January in this summer land, but they are always as a dream picture. The deep, pure sky and the brilliant sunshine have never seemed as marvellous; the roses and purple heliotrope have never touched me as they did a year ago to-day when a friend gathered me a bouquet of them on the lawn. And I do not wish it. I rejoice in the infinity of life. I love the earth-beauty here better to-day than .a year ago, because I have lived here and know it is the common, every day blessing and bounty of nature. It is the peaceful way between extremes. In the east it is bitterly cold, many are suffering from cold and hunger. Here none freeze or starve. In looking over a letter written here ayear ago, I find this statement of a fact surprising to me then: “Roses are in bloom—great rose-trees here big around as a broom-stick and bigger!” I have since ceased to wonder at rose- trees ten inches in diameter, and have often. seen them climbing over the porches of the houses, sometimes even on the roof to the chimney. Why should they not be large when every day in the year is a growing day? As many as three hundred varieties are found in a single garden where the owner loves and cultivates the rose. Some varieties are not fragrant. but none is sweeter than the California rose. A French perfumer has tested these roses and found that they contain twenty per cent. more of the volatile oil than those of the French rose-gar- dens. This means in time a new indus- try for California. English violets grew profusely here. It is now decreed that no flowers may be worn but violets. Often on the street cars a lady wearing a bunch of these radiates the sweet odor like a sphere of bloom. The ideal becomes the real here. What could be more delightful than in mid-winter to sit upon the sunny porch, looking afar over heavenly hills and valleys, breath- ing the perfumed air wafted off a bank of violets,and dreaming the heart away into the distant mOuntain-zone and wondrous tinted cloud-world? It is not vain to dream, for I "Dreams are but the light of clearer skies Too dazzling for our naked eyes, And when we catch their flashlng beams We turn aside and call them dreams. 0h! trust me. every thought that yet In greatness rose or sorrow set. That time to ripenlng glory nurst Was called an ‘idle dream’ at first." Ameng local afiairs one has to in- vestigate the tamale. Early in my stay here a friend spoke of them as some- thing peculiar in the eatable line and that he liked them. One sees every evening the carts on the streets, “Mex- ican and Texas Tamales.” One evening I was out so late the dining-room at the hotel was closed on my return. I concluded that must be the occasion for the tamale, went down, and finding one of the carts near asked the man if I could carry away one of those things he had for sale. “Yes.” he said, and flopped up a cover and fish- ed out a queer-looking,steaming article, rolled it in paper and with it I proceed- ed to the hotel to unravel the tamale. It was rather a suspicious-looking bundle,hot,soft, and wet. I commenced by untying the strings of corn-husks around the ends; three little bundles were done up in husks separately, then all three together in an outer husk covering. Unrolling all the husks, the substance of the tamale is reached, a layer of corn-meal containing within it some bashed beef all warm with pepper. “Quite an institution” for five cents,the boys say. To be more dignified, the tamale is multum in parvo. I have not learned how generally they are eaten, have often seen people buy and eat them on the spot. I used to like one occasional- ly and ate without much inquiry into the manner or place of their make-up, till one evening at a church fair, I saw a glaring board saying, “Drake’s Tamales the Cleanest in Town.” Fatal announce- ment! That advertisement was match- ed by another firm which said, “We sell at a little lower price a little better article than any other house in the city.” The sagacity of advertisers! They say that California has the big- gest liars and the smallest matches in the United States. I want to speak of the latter; to the former I could not do justice. On my first arrival here, one day I found in my room a bunch of the tiniest possible matches. I thought I must have met the “boarding-house” match, and wondered if Puck had pic- tured the felicities of its delicate com— position. It is bound up almost insepar- ably with a good many other minute fellow-matches, as though there were in the grain of the wood a strong bond of affection rendering isolation painful. Having broken off one, it is so trail in its aloneness. so delicate and uncertain is its individual capacity you have an uneasy feeling of having sundered a needful tie. and that the prOper thing to have done was to ignite the whole bunch. This however suggests itself as being extravagant, but I don’t know, ——I counted nine extinct and decapitated bodies that first morning as the result of lighting the grate! That number of eastern matches would have given out perceptible heat in this climate, but after the wholesale burning of nine of these I could still see my breath in the room. I have since come to prefer the “Chinese matches” as they are called; and natives of the west are unwilling to be cumbered with so much wood and so little match as eastern matches contain. I recall once reading an estimate of the immense forests which are being con- sumed in matches, so this minimum of material is wise economy of our wood‘ land. HATTIE L. HALL. Los ANGELES. LIES, AND LIES . This world is not nearly as bad a world as many of the people who live in it would have us think. In fact, the more I know of it, and the better I be« come acquainted with the people in it— good-hearted souls some of them are—- the more I think the place is as good as the most of the inhabitants. The only bad things abOut the world are the things that the people in it do. If the people were only as good as the world itself, we would never need to look for a better place. One of the worst things in it is the unkindness that the people do each other in some ways. Un- kind words and looks are unpardonable. but it seems to me that even worse than these, because more hypocritical and secret, not allowing open encounter, is the unkindness done by talking against the absent. No one will do it but a coward, who is ashamed or afraid to say to a person’s face what he de~ lights in saying behind his back. More than half the smaller trials of life have this very source. No vice or failing or shortcoming, whether real or imaginary, escapes the back-biter’s terrible tongue, though he ought to know, and he is often glad in the know- ledge, that the person attacked will hear of his unkind words. He has often an accomplice who feels it to be his very solemn and not-to-be-neglected duty to inform the person of the back~ biter‘s every word. Talking to others against people is the way some have of “getting even” for some real or fancied injury. The speeches of the back-biter are not all false. Oh dear, no! There is more often than not just truth enough in them to prevent a flat denial. “A lie that is wholly a lie may be met and fought with outright. . But a lie that is half the truth is a harder matter to fight." If one would tell a lie made entirely out of whole cloth, it might be denied and silenced at once, but one of those horrible black lies wrapped up in a garment of truth will not admit of a denial without an explanation, which at the best is exceedingly tiresome to both speaker and listener. Again, the back-biter may not tell lies at all, and still be more unkind and just as wicked as in the other way. He may ask questions, throw out hints, or smile a meaning smile in just the right place, and really tell nothing untrue, but succeed in leaving an untruthful impression upon the mind of his listener. These finer difierences between lies and lies are too often conscience-silen- cers for those who refuse to recognize a lie with a new gown on. There is one thing - that some of the . .m.vzl-fl~;.‘i"‘rfiong¢~r.r