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DETROIT, OCTOBER 26., 1886.

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

THE WIFE. ‘

 

care not a whit what your life-work may be.
Not half of the pleasure of earth will you see,
Unless you are blessed with a good, prudent wife
And rosy-checked children to brighten your life.

Your servants may keep e‘en your slightest com-
mand.

Your wishes be granted. though humble or grand

But if in your home there is no loving wife——

No child to caress—there‘s a blank in your life.

Your fame as a writer may ring round the earth.

Your wisdom and virtue be praised at each hearth

And all may honor and love you through life:

But still you‘ll miss something unless you‘ve a
wife.

The earth you may girdle with rails for your cars

And work shops erect till they're thick as the
stars.

And millions of wealth you may mine from the
earth:

But more than all this is a lovim.r wit’e worth.

No one but a niggardly muff of a man.

A life for self only would lazily plan.

Whoever deserves the rich bounty of earth.
Would share with a partnerthejoys of his hearth

Whatever you do, take. a sensible wife.
To share in the_sunshine or shadow of life.
And then don‘t neglect her. but act like a man.
And you will be happy if any one can.
-—.l{. A. 011931.01],
-———«‘__.

CARE OF‘ TABLE LINEN.

 

It is one of the instincts of a good house-
keeper to desire and take pride in a plenti—
ful supply of table-linen. The linen closet
in an old English country house, is the
pleasure of both mistress and housekeeper,
and the stores of fine damask, fragrant
with lavender and rose-leaves, would de-
light and astonish our American women,
many of whom find it possible to “get
along” with the requisite number of every
day tablecloths and napkins, and acouple of
“extra fine” for company days. Our
grandmothers took much more pride and
interest in such things than do their deo
generate daughters, and no young Woman
was thought prepared for marriage till she
had provided a liberal supply of linen for
her housekeeping, and more often than
otherwise her own hands prepared the flax
and wove the fabric. I have a table-cloth
now which was part of my grandmother’s
trousseau; and which came from Scotland in
1808; it is marked With her initials in old-
fashioned cross-stitch. I often wish Iknew
more of her history, and though I can per-
haps guess with what trepidation she
crossed the ocean to this new world, so
different from that she had hitherto known,
would like to know the story of her girl-
hood, and how the liquid Italian name of
Beatrice came to be prefixed to the far less

 

mellifluous “ Dempster"
her Welsh origin.

But I was not intending to inflict my
speculations about a grandmother long
since dust and ashes, upon a helpless audi-
ence. Girls now-days spend their energy
and money upon their dresses. and if the
parlors are prettily furnished, the shelves
of the linen closet may be as bare as a
mountain-top for all they care. I think
one of the most pathetic scenes in "The
Mill on the Floss,” one truest to the
nature of such a woman as “Mrs. Tulliver,”
is that in which she is pictured in the store-
room. previous to'the family council over
her husband’s misfortunes, with one of her
linen chests open before her, her silver and
china, too precious to see daylight often,
unwrapped and laid tut around her, and
her tears falling in a copious shower
upon one of her best table—cloths which she
held in her ample lap. “ And they’re all to
be sold, and go into strange people’s houses.
and perhaps be cut with the knives, and
wore out before I’m dear,” she says, as
she gazes with wet eyes upon her house-
hold treasures. The modern woman has
her Limoges and “old blue,” the woman
of a past century had her silver tea-pot and
table linen for her Lares and Penates,‘

Table-linen, say the authorities on
laundry topics, should be washed by itself;
all stains should be removed by hot water
before being put to soak. To do this most
easily. lay the spot over a large bowl and

which betrayed

turn a stream of boiling water from the

tearkettle directly upon it. The spot that
this process will not remove, unless it is
ink or wine, must stay there. Ink-stains
are most readily removed by soaking while
fresh in sweet milk. If soaked over night,
all that is needful is to rub the pieces
through the hands, pass them through the
wringer and let them scald in the boiler
while the other clothes are being prepared
for it, then into the rinsing and bluing
waters, though Why a blue tint should be
preferred to spotless white or to the corn
of age, is a conundrum I am not prepared
to answer. Let the bluing be very spar-
ingly used, if used at all; it is "only a
notion” that clothes look better when
blued.

I much prefer unstarched cloths and
napkins: I do not' like a table that seems
unapproachable by reason of the stiff linen
which repels my advances; ‘nor a napkin
which resembles a shingle in flexibility
and ability to stay where it is put without
being nailed there. But a very old and
worn cloth may have a little body given it
in its last days by a very slight starching.

    

This should be done after the pieces hrs
been through the bluing water. and the
starch should be quite thin, or the linen will.
be too “starchy." A quarter of a pound of-
good starch will make two quarts of liquid
starch; apart of this may be diluted fully
one-half for a very venerable table clotl's.
To make linen glossy, pour a pint of boiling.
water on two ounces of gum arable. let
stand over night, strain through tine
muslin, and put into a bottle. A table
spoonful of this in the starch gives a new
appearance to the goods.

There is a little art to be exercised in
handling the table-cloths. especially long
heavy ones, when they are being hung on
the line. Pull them straight and even. first.
then hang upon a firm line. never allowing

any part- to come over a knot an the
line. or a post, as this makes a. pro—
jection which will not iron out without

a. gbod deal of trouble. To be whipped, on-
the line by the wind. injures linen more

than wear. Take them from the line while

damp, and shake and pull then; straight

again; do not throw them. in a heap into a

basket or on atable, but fold evenly. sprinkle *
a trifle more if necessary, and roll in a.
damp towel. Linen should be ironed singly.
to bring out the pattern-well; then fold..-
lengthwise and iron with. the selvedge'
toward you. If linen is ironed. while quite
damp, until perly‘hctlydvry, no starch is nec-

essary; the goods Will have a pliable stiff-

ness very different from that which starch

gives. Have the irons hot, and the board

covered with several thicknesses of flannel

laid perfectly smooth under the ironing

cloth, otherwise there'will be streaks in the

linen. Remember, though, that your irons

should never be heated red hot, for if they

are, they lose the capacity to retain heat,

and also their smoothness. For ordinary

roughness, to remove starch, etc. rub the

irons on coarse salt on a bit of brown paper,

and then rub them with a little beeswax

tied in a bit of cloth. Have two holders;

it will rest anti cool your hand to change.

A piece of old boot top covered with stout

jeans or drilling makes a good holder.

Save the ravelings when hemming your
table-cloths to darn them w1th; or. better,
buy a spool of fine linen floss. A break. if
carefully darned in its infancy. can be en-
tirely concealed

Monograms and fancy initials. though
very pretty when well designed. are no=
longer in the fashion, "the present mode
being a fac simile of the owner’s signature.
Write the name plainly upon a bit. of
paper, then trace it upon the linen. as to

 

attempt to write upon the uneven goods

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
  

t

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l

 


 

2

    

    

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

would make the lines stiff and awkward.
Then trace the lines with marking cotton
and sew over this in what is called “cord—
ing” stitch, which is simply sewing the
thread over and over. Such a signature,
worked in colored cotton. looks its best
when traced diagonally across the corner of
the napkin ready folded for the table. The
initial letters may he in different colors
from the remainder of" the signature.
BEATRIX.

,.- .____... .————-
o. \

THE. HUSBAND’S HOME DUTY.

 

After reading a "llint to Mankind,” by
Luna. m. Redford. I thought perhaps some
of the gentlemen of the HOL\'ElIOLl) would
like to learn how to have cheerful wives. I
have real somewhere. " Better than gold to
a man is a cheerful wife." But I would
like to ml; if you think the husband tries
as hard to maintain the cheerful disposition
as he does to hoard up his riches? Ah, I
fear not. for how many times think you
during the year. or even in a month, does
he come home cross and fretful, finding
fault with everything. No matter 110w hard

she has tried in his absence to make things .

pleasant for him on his return, he meets her
with a cross look. finds fault with the
children. curses the. dog and kicks the cat,
by way of letting the family know that he
is "mi of sorts,” as he terms it, and things
have “got to stand around.”

Such a man is an ornament to any home,
I hope that none of our HOUSEHOLD band
have such husbands, but you have all with-
out doubt seen just such men, whose wives
must endure their fractious tempers. I
tell you a man must do his part toward
making the wife cheerful and the home
happy. it is easy enough for a man to
marry a happy woman, but the bride ex-
pectant, when she thought how happy she
would be. never contemplated the picture
of a husband coming home cross as a bear
and going to bed without speaking to her.
But in a few days this man begins to feel
ashamed of his bad behavior, and on re-
turning from town brings her a sixpenny

- calico apron or a set of jelly tins, as a sort of
peace offering. He is the same man whose
“ ha, ha," reaches from one end 'of the
street to the other; one would naturally say,
“ What a jolly good soul he is, to be sure.”
But his laughter is only a hollow mockery.
In my experience with human nature, the
man who is so very nice away from home
is just the one to look out for at home. He
is generally the one who fails to hold out
good weight. for the place to measure a.
man isat his own fireside. The man who
spreads his laughter through his life is the
one who is needed: he comes into his own
home like a flood of sunshine, and the
neighborhood, even, is better by his having
lived in it.

1 thinl: that men as a rule do not over-
exert themselves to secure their wives’
happiness. They know that it requires
a constant and great effort to accumulate
property and to be secure in its possession
in the midst of constant commercial
changes. The cheerfulness, the happy
hopeful character which every woman dis-
plays at the beginning of marriage, is
notso easily lost as a fortune; they think it
requires but a small share of attention.

But it does require attention, just the same;
and those who forget this will find that it is
possible to lose a treasure as precious as a
woman’s cheerfulness—yes, a woman’s
love. But I would add, to keep the balance
even, it should be said that the wife must
do her part to have a cheerful husband.
When each seeks to confer happness on
the other, then home becomes a forctaste of
heaven, as every home should be. Make
some sacrifice every day for each other, if
you would have a quiet, pleasant thought
at night, and then the good angel will have
something to record to your credit for that
day. OLD HUNDRED.
..____..._.___
_ A GAME FOR THE CHILDREN.

 

The long winter evenings are enjoyable
and profitable to young and old, if only well
employed. There is no surer way of keep-
ing children safe at home than making the
evenings at home pleasant. Games, inter-
esting books, puzzles, all adjuncts to home
pleasures, should be brought into requisition.
Then there are other games, “proverbs,”
“buried cities.” “quizzes ” on books just
read, conundrums, which amuse a group of
young people very charmingly. A game of
this kind which is quite new is played in
this fashion: Each in turn asks a question,
as “I planted a letter and what came up?”
to which the others guess the answer. There
would be little merit in guessing “ tea,” or
“pea” as an answer. “I planted a color
and what came up?” would provoke the an-
swer “Lavender.” “A bird in tatters ” if
planted might produce a “ ragged robin,”
—the name of a flower; a “ parting re—
quest” might bring a “forget-me—no .”
What question would you ask to have the
answer “a dandy-lion?” Why, you'would
“ plant Oscar Wilde.” Ingenuity is re-
quired, and thoughtfulness, for the questions
and answers require considerable thought

9 .
sometimes.

A ROSE WITH THORNS.

 

If I were not the matter-of—fact, business,
plain pink and white Rose that I am, I
might stop and argue with our melancholy
young man who is skulking about the
HOUSEHOLD woodshed, only daring to
peep in now and then, for fear of the girls.
Perhaps Imight even invite him to Brier
Creek, and convince him the truth of what
I said, but no! business is too pressing.
I want to give some uses for the useless:

A braided straw cuff, such as gentlemen
wear to protect the sleeve, gilded and
decorated with a ribbon bow and hung by
ribbons makes a very pretty whisk-broom
holder. Baking—powder cans, if bright in-
side, are nice for jelly. Tie cotton over
the top for cover. The “ silk” of common
milkweed can be made into lovely placques
and holiday cards. The fluffy ends are
tied together so as to form a pompon, the
seed ends being outward. Leave the seeds
on the outside row and tip them with
gilt. Save your old “bonanzas.” When
you build a new house, that old bureau
will be just what you want. Have the

carpenter set it in the wall, under the
chimney, or in the cellar-way, lip-stairs, or
in your closet.

You don’t know how handy

 

 
 

chairs re-bottomed with perforated board
very cheaply, and they are just the thing
for the kitchen, and the children’s rooms.
I am a teacher, and find that a great
many children consider their parents devoid
of brains and wanting in intelligence. Oh,
parents, this ought not to be! Get Barnes’
Health Primer, (published by A. G. Barnes
& 00., Chicago,) cost 20 cents; and the
Child’s Book of Nature, published by Har-
per Bros., N. Y., cost 31; do as the teacher
does, prepare your lesson first and see what
delightful evenings you will spend and how
your children will learn to turn to you
when they are in doubt for themselves, and
not say as children say to me every day,
“0! ma don’t know, she never knows.”
Some one please do try it and tell us the
result.

Young—Man—Afraid—of—the—Girls, please
turn the pancakes while the rest of the
HOUSEHOLD eat their breakfast.

WILD ROSE.
BBIER CREEK.
—-————.oO—————-
FALL WORK AMONG THE FLOW—

ERS.

 

It is now time to lift dahlias, gladiolus,
etc. There are so many lost by decay that
perhaps a hint on the subject will not be
amiss. If they are taken up while the
weather is mild they can be spread in the
garden on boards and remain a few days; if
the nights are cold, cover enough to prevent
injury. When gladiolus bulbs are dry
remove the tops, leaving an inch or two,
put in paper bags, and hang in the cellar or
spread in shallow boxes. Care should be
taken with dahlias not to break the stems
next the tubers, as around them the most of
the sprouts start. Lift carefully instead of
pulling them from the ground, and after
they have . been dried as recommended
above, cut away the stalks within eight or
ten inches of the tubers and store in any
frost-proof place, where they will be as
free as possible from mould. They do
well packed in sand if it is well dried; but
whatever method is tried they require at-
tention, and if any are decayed they should
be removed. - g ‘

The weather is so fine and dahlias at this
season bloom . so well we defer lifting
usually as long as possible, and if a sudden
freeze should surprise the unwary the
tubers can be put under shelter a few days
before storing for winter. Tuberoses and
tigridias must have warm dry quarters, and
their removal from the garden be not too
long delayed. Cannas and caladiums‘can
be treated as dahlias. There seems to be
only a few who raise caladiums and
tritomas. We have them and find they are
quite attractive to visitors, especially the
tritoma with its fiery Spikes of flowers.

There has been such a long season of
drouth, causing a suspension of growth of
flowers and fear of destruction to our
gardens, that now when everything is
fresh and gay it seems a trial to part with
it all. The planting of bulbs for spring
and potting for winter, and all the nec-
essary preparations for another year en-
gage the mind in hopeful, trusting employ-
ment. and teach the repining heart a
lesson of resignation to .N’ature’ 3 changes.

 

You can have your bottomless

they are.

I attended Milford fair and secured my

  


  

THE HOUSEHOLD. .3)

 

full share of blue tickets, and also enjoyed
much kindness and attention from officers
and assistants. I missed meeting many
friends I had hoped to see at Fenton fair by
being too ill to attend after placing my
flowers for exhibition.

MRS. M. A. FI'LLEII.

__...__.__
WINTER CLOAKS.

anrox.

 

1 have made a tour of inspection among
our leading dry goods houses, looking over
dreSs—goods, cloaks and bonnets “ for the
benefit of my constituents.” Our beautiful
autumnal weather has made trade in these
goods very slow. and merchants are in no
hurry about bringing them forward. For
winter cloaks there are two distinctive
styles. the very long and the very short.
.The long cloaks are of cloth, and nearly all
have the sling sleeves now so popular on
mantles. These sleeves are quite graceful
and pretty, but a pattern is indispensable.
It takes from 4% to 4% yards of goods, 52
inches wide, to make these long garments,
which entirely conceal the dress except a
narrow margin at the bottom. Velvet and
astrachan are used for trimmings. New-
markets will be worn this year, but are not
so new and stylish as the long cloaks de-
scribed. Materials are English home-spun
cloths, diagonals. and very fine mixed checks.

But nearly everyone will admire most the
coats and mantles, which are short enough
to display a pretty dress. At one of our
large importing houses we were shown man-
tles in seal plush, having short backs, sling
sleeves and long fronts, edged with plush
ball trimming, and lined with quilted satin,
which would cost about 70 bushels of wheat
at present prices. Another of the same style,
fur bordered, was ticketed at $45. The
same style in frise velvet, which is a woolen
goods somewhat resembling uncut velvet, in
brocade patterns, with fur borders, ranged
from $20 to $35. It is a peculiarity of the
cloak business that no matter how little
goods it takes to make a wrap the price
never shrinks in proportion to the size of
the garment. Perhaps as good value for the
money as we saw anywhere was a frise vel-
vet visite at $20; this had small sleeves, not
of the new sling shape, long fronts, a short
back and fairly good satin lining, and was
trimmed with a band of fur bordered with
tails. Collars of fur are not worn this year;
a band of the fur encircles the neck and may
or may not trim the front.

But the prettiest wear for young ladies
and misses, especially those who have toler-
ably pretty figiu'es, are the jackets so popular
this fall. and which in heavier goods will be
worn all winter. Boucle cloth and astra-
chan are favorite materials, though there
are smooth finished cloths and those checked
and striped with heavier threads. The as—
trachan ranges in price from $4 to $7 and
$9 per yard, but is very wide. Some of the
handsome cloths just described are $5 to $7
per yard. But it does not pay to get cheap
cloth for a cloak. One of our city girls, who
gives her whole soul to her spring and fall
outfits for a couple of weeks semi-annually
and then dismisses the subject of clothes
from her mind entirely, is having made a
street suit of brown serge, which will have a

deep with brown astrachan, long back
drapery, an apron overskirt looped high
on the hip at the left. with a
rever of astrachan, wide at the belt
and narrowing to a point at the bottom.
The side front looks as if it had been turned
back to show the astrachan facing. There
are cuffs and a deep collar of astrachan 011
the basque—a collar somewhat resembling
in shape the old-fashionwl muffler; the high
standing collar of astrachan has attached to
it a deep-pointed collar or cape which fits
the shoulders exactly and is fastened in
front with a clasp. With this she will wear
a double—breasted jacket of astrachan. and a
brown felt hat with its upturned brim faced
with astrachan; shaded orange wings and
brown picot—edged velvet ribbon trim the
hat, and all the girls say it is “just too per-
fectly sweet for anything.”

With these jackets will be worn long boas
wound about the neck, with muffs of the
same fur. I picked up one of the latter in a
fur store the other day and was informed
muffs are to be worn larger this winter-
Other ladies will add to their jackets a band
of fur which will extend round the neck,
down one front, and end in a point at the
waist line; the sleeves will be edged with
fur, and a muff to match transforms the fall
jacket into a winter coat.

Mink is coming into fashion again; one of
the prettiest seal plush mantles at Buhl’s
had a full border of “prime” mink, and
mink muffs, collars and boas are fairly nu-
merous in fur stores.

Many ladies who possess handsome fur-
lined circulars are reserving them for car-
riage wear, or use in the severest weather,
and are having mantles made like their
dresses, which are warmly wadded, often
with an interlining of Chamois, which they
will wear except on those days when the
mercury crawls down the tube of the ther-
mometer and curls up in the bulb. The
ining of such a wrap is not the task it was
before the lining, of satin or satteen, could
be bought, ready quilted, by the yard, for
seventy-five cents to two dollars, according
to quality. These wraps are trimmed with
fur or feather trimming.

The present seems the “ go-as—you-please”
era in Fashion, as a walk down the avenue
one of these lovely afternoons will convince
the most sceptical. What infinite genius
our milliners must have! for of the hundreds
of bonnets one sees on such a promenade no
two are alike, or trimmed alike, and rarely
one sees the same bird or wing twice. So
with dresses and wraps, an infinite variety,
infinitely diversified. So the outfit is be-
coming. harmonious as a whole, and well—
fitting. one is well dressed in anything.
Some ladies manage to give that indefinable
something we call “ style” to even the
plainest materials by the manner in which
they adjust them. while others look dowdy
in the richest fabrics. One thing is certain,
I never saw the time when one could dress
so well and so tastefully, if they but know
how, on so little money. BEATRIX.

~——-—«.——__...

AN INQUIRY RENEWED.—Can no one
tell me how to make potato yeast? Long
live the HOUSEHOLD; and many blessings
rest on its Editor. Bass. [Thanka Bess,
but the blessing the HOUSEHOLD Editor is
most in need of at the moment is more let-

 

perfectly plain skim; bordered eight inches

HOUSEWORK FOR GIRLS.

 

I have been thinking seriously for many
amonth on the subject of teaching young
girls to do housework, as continually recom-
mended in the newspapers. To thoroughly
learn housekeeping in all its trying details
would engage the time and energies of any
young person to the exclusion of most
other studies; at least preclude the possibility
of doing them justice. Which is more essen~
tial! The majority of girls are receiving
an education with the view to its use as a
means of livelihood when completed or to
fallback upon in the future if necessary.
and very few will choose housework as a
trade. For although it may not detract from
one’s own self-respect to do kitchen work.
it cannot be denied that it rather sinks one
in the social scale, and gives the least
chance for refinement or mental culture. It
is not a well paid business. as there are so
many cheap hands to work at it. It is
such cheap help, whose ways of doing
work, no doubt by their inefficiency, are the
cause of so much writing on the subject.
I believe in a thorough and practical
knowledge of all or any business I assume.
and if I were to choose that for a business
would hope to be paid for my services in
proportion to my abilities. which I certainly
should not be at present rates. Hence I
conclude that housework is not a paying
occupation, and is not far from degrading,
giving the least show for mental culture or
recreation; and that it is consequently an
undesirable vocation. There are very few
of us girls who could not cook a plain,
healthful meal, and all the details recom-
mended for our practice and study would
only interfere with our chosen business. I
hOpe to hear some candid opinions on this
subject, as I am one of the girls.

HONOR GLINT.
“OF-—
LIFE IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN.

 

We began our experiment by taking up
homestead land on pine plains. The soil is
sand and gravel. principally gravel, with a
good growth of herd grass, huckleberry
bushes, sweet fern and wild strawberry
vines.

We have proved that beans, rye and
buckwheat do well with one plowing; and
wheat, corn, potatoes and all kinds of
garden stuff flourish after the ground has
been enriched. We have no trouble in
having ripe tomatoes by the middle of
July. Clover is easily grown. We have
three varieties of corn which will ripen
when planted by the middle of May. The
most this soil needs is thorough cultivation.
We know we can succeed better on gravel
plains than 011 hardwood timber lands.

We live nearabeautiful lake, on which
we spend some very pleasant hours. One
point on the lake shore is called “Stony
Bluff.” It isa bank composed of layers
of limestone, rising perpendicularly thirty
or forty feet from the water; some of the
stones are covered with moss, and a few
small trees are working hard to get their
heads to the top. Near “ Stony Bluff ” are
an Indian graveyard and orchard. The
graveyard is grown up to brush, but stil
shows some of the graves, with a picket

 

ters for the little paper.]

driven at one end. When it was first

   
  
 
 
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
   
   
   
   
   
  
 
   
 
 
 
  
  
      
  
    
   
   
  
   
   
  
    
    
  
  
   
  
  
    
    
 
  
 
   
   
   
      
   
  
  
  
 
 
    
  
  
  
  
   
    
  
   
   
    
   
    
 
  
   
   
    
  
  
    

  
 
 
 
 

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W
”‘1—

 


 

 

4:

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

 

found, about fifteen years ago, it was fenced
with pickets driven in the ground. The
orchard occupies about five acres. on which
the Indians planted wild plum and apple
trees, which bear fruit every year. There
are large Norway, white pine, spruce and
balsam trees scattered over the place; the
limbs have grown like shelves from the
ground up. The present owner of the land
has put improvements on it. There have

been no Indians here for years.

SPINSTER HOMESTEADER.
Pnnsqvn lam»; Couxrr.

W

SCRAPS.

 

I LONG ago “gave up the job” of revo-
lutionizing the world and making it run
accordingto my notions. I claim for myself
a liberty of opinion which 1 am willing to
grant to others, no matter how much in
errorl believe them tobe. Butthere are some
of humanity’s mistakes which I regret, be-
cause of their unfortunate consequences to
others,——helpless ones who must- submit to
the treatment they receive because they
are too weak to resent it. Therefore, when
a puty—faced, heavy-eyed baby munching
a piece of cocoanut cake attracted my atten-
tion in the street-car the other day, I felt
far more inclined to forgive the little fellow
the erratic “ grab ” with a sticky fist at the
bright flower I wore, which left a trail of
cake crumbs over my Sunday—go-to-meeting
silk, than the mother the ignorance which
put such unsuitable food into the hands of
so young a child. I know another mother,
whose baby, not quite a year old, is per-
mitted to eat peanuts. Naturally, the little
one suffers from fevers, “worms,” dis
orders of the bowels, yet, when I remarked
that peanuts were so indigestible that
really I did not dare eat them myself, and
suggested they could hardly be fit food
for so young a child, she replied, “ Oh, they
never seem to hint her, she eats almost
everything.” So she does, and suffers for
it too, while the doctor, who is " so good in
children’s illnesses,” is growing rich off
the ignorance of just such foolish mothers.
But how can 1 help it?

 

OLD SCHOOL-TEACHER thinks I am too
free with my advice to destroy what seems
to have no further purpose in being. Pos-
sibly I am. I think it tends to increase
one’s iconoclastic instincts to live in two
rooms and a closet. The accumulations
mustbedisposed of in some way; one cannot
afford house room for a lot of old duds be-
cause they may be wanted as a theatrical
wardrobe some day. I read not long since
of a woman who had saved all the old shoes
her children ever wore. She had them in
boxes and bags, where they moulded and
mildewed in quiet. I knew another who
had a mania for saving old hats. Whether
she expected to come to poverty some day
and relied upon this forsaken gear to drive
the wolf away, I don’t know. A tidy
housekeeper I wot of is in a chronic state
of having moths in her carpets; I find the
reason of her inability to get rid of them
inthe closets full of old clothing, cast off
suits, etc, in the house. I do not advise
the destruction of things that are good for
anything, nor those that are still intact,

generally the more immediate use we make

of such things, if there is any further use

in them, the better. But I stick to my

cremation notions, and I really don’t know

but my fondness for purification by fire will

lead me to direct “my body to be burned ”

at death. A coal fire, I assure Old School

Teacher, will destroy every vestige of old

hoopskirts, etc.

SHALL the wife be conversant with the
details of her husband’s business?” Take
out the phrase relating to “the details,”

andI would say yes, unqualifiedly. But that

clause seems to imply a wider and more,
comprehensive acquaintance than most
women can maintain, in addition to their
own housekeeping and family cares. Does

it not? I believe a wife should know her
husband’s exact financial position, his
debts, his means to satisfy them, the out-
come of his ventures. his speculations—be-
fore he goes into them: some men who have

been taken in by Bohemian oats andbonded

wheat schemes would have been better off
had they listened to their wives—and the
results, the acreage of crops, the amount of
live stock on the farm, etc. When to such
knowledge is added a just understanding
of the expense of carrying on the business
she can determine about how the family
expenditures should be gauged, to keep the
outgoes in relative proportion to the in-
come. Such knowledge is her right, as
partner in the business; not a favor to be
granted or withheld at her husband’s
pleasure. Since economy and extravagance
are relative terms, how can he justly re-
proach her with either, if she is in ignorance
of his financial status? Is not such general
understanding of her husband’s position
and prospects as is outlined above, as much
as can be justly expected from the wife,
who is mother, nurse, and has also taken
a “master workman’s” degree in the
Order of General Housework? Yet I be—
lieve the happiest homes are those which
have a common interest; where the wife
understands her husband’s work and can
talk it over with him intelligently, and
where he is not disdainful of a proposed
change in arrangement of furniture—in a
word, where what is uppermost in the mind
of one is interesting to the other But
there’s a great difference in men—and
women as well. Some have great contempt
for “ the women folks’ ” opinions on any
subjects beyond buttons and bread, while
some wives are not content to suggest and
inspire, but would rule if they could. I
have small respect for those who disdain
knowledge of the breadwinner’s work, and
while spending the proceeds of his toil pro—
fess to know nothing of how it was
gained. I did hear once of a girl who pro
fessed not to know the limits of her
father’s farm; she "hated farming” and
married a man who "clerked” in a store
because he was “so genteel,” and if she
does,not- daily' wish she had not done it,
then I’m not BEATRIX.

,.._————’0*—--—-—'-

following:

“ No NAME ” puzzles us somewhat by the
“ Writing for the HOUSEHOLD

reminds me of a remark I once heard a
neighbor make in regard to the county fair,

to take anything to the fair unless i had
something nice. and if I had anything
real nice I would not like to take it.’ And
yet, strange to say, no one enjoyed the fair
more than she; three days were none too
much to spend on the grounds: but if the
fair should prove a failure somebody would
be to blame.”

___....___
\VlIAT has become of Mrs. it. D. P.,
Aunts Bessie, Sue, Mary, Lucy and Jamie,
and all the other aunties; and Evangeline,
Serena Stew, who ought to stir us up again,
Mertie, whom we have missed so long, our
lady of the Moonshine, from far away
Mapleton, our girls, like Temperance,
Violet, and Teeny? We remember many
others, whom we would be glad to hear
from again, and whom wehope will respond '
to this plea for “ more copy.”

__.__,..____._.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

 

A LIQUID glue that is always ready for
use can be made by filling a glass jar with
bits of broken glue and putting ova it
acetic acid. Place the jar in water over the-
fire until the glue is all dissolved and lie
process is complete.

 

“Guam: CURE" is practised in Franck
and Germany in the autumn, and is regard-
ed as a cure for many diseases due to high
feeding. The patient is given a pound of
grapes to eat the first day. This amount is
added to until the person can eat five or
six pounds a day. The other food is
gradually lessened, and the diet at last con—
sists entirely of grapes. It cures obesity
and many other complaints, and starts the
person off on a new lease of life. Fruit is
anecessity in arational diet, and of im-
mense value in dietetic medicine. I

 

——¢oo——-—--——-

Contributed Recipes.

 

CHICKEN Carissa—Boil two chickens ten-
der, remove the bones, chop fine, and season
with salt, pepper and sage. Place in adeep.
dish, moisten with the liquor they were boiled
in, press and slice when cold with a sharp
knife.

PICKLED CABBAGE—Take purple cabbage,
quarter and slice lengthwise, pack in a jar
tightly, Sprinkle salt between each layer; let
stand over night; then drain by turning the
jar bottom upwards on a board or plate; heat
good vinegar spiced with cinnamon, cloves,
ginger root and black or red pepper, pour
over scalding hot; heat the vinegar the third
time, after standing two or three days each
time. This will keep until next sheep—shear-
ing, if not used.

FRUIT Commas—One cup butter: two and'
one-half cups brown sugar: three eggs; one
cup chopped raisins; one teaspoonful soda;
two tablespoonfuls sour milk; all kinds of
spice. Mix, and cut as cookies, and bake.

BREAD Cane—After kneading your bread,
save three teacupfuls of dough; add one and
ahalf cups sugar; one cup butter: two eggs:
one cup raisins; one grated nutmeg, Work
with the hand thoroughly, put in your pan
and let stand in a warm place to rise before
baking.

SPONGE CREAM Cure—Beat two eggs in a.
coffee cup until light, and then fill the cup
with sour cream; add one cup sugar, one
teaspoonful soda, one teaspoonful cream of
tartar, one and a half cups flour, with the

 

 

but unfashionable, though I think that

  

expressing herself thus:

‘ I would not like

soda and cream of tartar sifted in. Bus.