
 

 

 

 

 

DETROIT, NOV. 23. 1889.

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

TIRESOME A GENTS.

 

'For agents it wasn’t an extra day,
‘ Only iorty had come and gone away,
-But the farmer‘s wife was short of br. ath,
And the farmer was nearly talked to death;
Agents fcr fences, churns, and trees,
Agents for books, windmills and bees,
Agents for plows and rollers for clods,
Agents for spectacles, grlndstones and churns,
Agents for soap av-d receipts for burns.
But the last had gone, and the day was late,
When 10, another one stops at the gate.
And craves the boon of staying the night.
The farmer asks with his teeth shut tight.
“Are you an agent?” “Well, on my word,
I am an agent of the Lord 2"
“ Well then, come in; but. if you've on hand
Any new process or short out plans,
While yau‘re welcome here to-night to rest,
~Let me say at the start that I don’t invest.”

n-«w—

CONVERSATION.

To master the art of conversation, and
be able to talk interestingly to people of
all ranks of life, a very rare and wonderful
gift is required. I do not know that 1 can
deﬁne it better than by calling it a subtle
sympathetic and instantaneous cemprehen-
sion of the person to be addressed, which
recognizes by a mysterious second sight or
divination, his station in society, his men-
tal calibre, and the topics likely to be in-
teresting. I have known a few people who
possessed this rare gift to a greater or less
extent, and never yet have found one who,
though conscious of its possession, could
tell in what the peculiar “faculty” lay.
All of them possessed that greatlyto-be-
envied power of drawing out the bé'st
thought of the person addressed; whether
they also possessed the ability to absorb
these thoughts and give them forth again
clad in more attractive guise, as did
Madame de Stael, I will not say. It was
to this power of drawing out the opinions
of others and making eloquent phrase to ﬁt
them that the eminent conversationalist
owed the reputation which she enjoys even
to this day, of being the most fascinating
talker of whom we have record. Her
natural gift was augmented by study and
thought. She also possessed the dramatic
power necessary to tell a story effectively.
Being a quiet sort of a woman myself, I
have always believed the Madame to have
been greatly overrated. Think of one
woman’s monopolizing the conversation
-during the whole of a formal dinner-party,
or inﬂicting a monologue nine miles long
upon her companions during a drive!
What were the feelings of other women in
=their enforced dumbness? Conversation

 

means an exchange of sentiments and
opinions; that is not conversation where
one individual does all the talking.

To tell the truth, there is very little real
conversation, in the Madame de Stael
fashion, in modern society. There is
plenty of badinage, of gay permﬁage, ver-
bal shuttlecocks tossed here and there. I
am inclined to think that in conversation,
as in love-making, “two's company and
three’s a crowd.” When you sit down
quietly with some friend—just you two
and the world shut out—you are at no loss
for subjects to talk about. There is the
bond of sympathetic attraction and mutual
conﬁdence and faith, and you talk of what
is uppermost in your mind.

“But,” I fancy I. hear Jannette say
complainingly, “ this does not help me to
talk to those whomI meet casually and
must entertain.”

Charles Lamb calls silence “eldest of
things.” I do not understand why, with
such a venerable exemplar, we must needs
talk so much. Yet it seems an unwritten
but unyielding social rule that we must
talk continuously, whether we have any-
thing to say or not, when we are in presence
of others; it seems to be thought nncivil
and unkind not to keep saying something.
Yet, if we think of it amoment, we see
we like best those people in whose presence
we can speak or be silent, as we please. I
often notice the difference between men
and women on the street in this respect.
Two men will walk a mile in silence, or
exchanging a few desultory phrases. I
never yet have walked a block behind two
silent women. I meet daily, two women
on their way to work; they are always
twittering away like the English sparrows
around the puddles—and to about as much
purpose. The truth is we talk too much
and do not think enough; and a large part
of the nervous exhaustion which accom-
panies the entertaining of company is due
to the exertion we make to constantly be
saying something.

Lord Bacon said “ Talking makes a
ready man; readinga full man, and writing
an exact one.” To be a good talker one
must have a quick wit and a good memory.
There is nothing more exasperating than
to think of the apropos remark or the witty
retort we might have made, aswe are going
down the steps after dinner. I do not
think it is the quantity or quality of what
we read that helps us talk so much, as the
retaining in mind the main points and
having them ready for use when needed.
Nor is it necessary to read all the new

 

books to keep an courant with contempo-
raneous literature. A good review, care-
fully read, will in ﬁfteen minutes give us a
good idea—if we are willing to take it
secondhand—of the motive and merit of
almost any book. It is.in this way many
“ keep up with the times.” A friend who
is a very busy woman keeps herself
” posted,” as she expresses it, through the
book reviews in the Sunday edition of the
New York Sun. She reads and thinks and
works, and when occasion offers can talk
very amusingly and entertainingly. There
are many people who think a person
priggish if she talks of books or what she
has read. With such people, one must
come down to ahousekeeping level, and
be interested in a new way to pickle pork,
if need be. And there are women with no
more character than a jelly-ﬁsh, whose talk
is the “ damnable iteration” of which
Shakespeare tells us, and who insist on
leaving nothing to the imagination or come
prehension; these must be talked to accord-
ing to their folly.

We must have self-conﬁdence and self-
possession in order to talk well, and
practice gives us both. We must have the
conﬁdence that is born of knowledge of
our topic, and a command of language
which enables us to present it attractively,
and these also come by practice. And
then we must adjust our conversation to
the level of the individual with whom we
talk—that is, select the theme likely to
prove interesting, and “here’s the rub!”
Here is where tact and the “ subtle divina-
tion " which I have mentioned are our aids.
These are gifts, but a ready mind, quick

to seize an opportunity, often stands in lieu
of them.

M. E. H. advises, as an easy way out of

the dilemma, judiciously assisting the
people we meet to mount their hobbies
and accompanying them on a conversa-
tional steeple-chase. But the person with
a hobby has a set of opinions made up be-
forehand, like the’spare bed, and too often
compels facts to ﬁt his theories to be a re-
liable teacher. I always give such people
ample range. I am willing to die, but I
don’t want to be talked to death.
BEATRIX.

HENRY STEWART says corn meal and
cotton seed meal make hard, yellow, rich
ﬂavored butter; peas make yellow, rich and
soft butter, and buckwheat bran, linseed
oil meal, oats and bran and middlings,
light colored, poorer ﬂavored, crumbly
butter. Therefore if your butter does not
suit you as to quality, ﬁnd out what the
man of the house is using as food for the
cows.

 


 

 

 

i3

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

LOVE AND MARRIAGE.

 

In a former contribution to the HOUSE-
HOLD I gave a few ideas on the various
motives governing marriages, let us now
consider how a home which has been
created through that chie‘. of all motives—
love—can be made happy, and so main-
tained.

It is said of one of the popes that while
a cardinal he had his. table, as a mark of
humility, always covered with a net to
remind him of his lowly birth as a ﬁsher-
man's son, but after his elevation to the
papal tiara he removed the net. exclaim-
ing “It is no longer necessary to use it,
for I have caught my ﬁsh.” The careless-
ness with which some wedded persons
triﬂe with the arts which originally made
them attractive in each other’s eyes is
simply putting away the net “ for I have
caught my ﬁsh.” The wives of the HOUSE -
HOLD can readily remember how very
careful they were before marriage not to
let their lovers see a curl out of place, or
even the “bangs” or “scolding locks ”
not properly combed into subjection, while
not for worlds would they have been
caught in desiwbz'lle. Why not pay your
husband the compl'ment of being as
anxious to please him as when he was your
lover?

Need I caution that care should be taken
to prevent excess in evidence of attention
and affection? My own observation teaches
me that such excess is probable—in fact
quite possible, for I lived in a family a
short time ago where the affection of both
husband and wife, although the union had
been consummated a number of years pre-
viously, had assumed an inordinate and
idolatrous character which became a source
of annoyance to me and was certainly in-
tolerable to strangers.

The sunshine of a happy home is good
temper, which can not be cultivated to
excess nor prized too highly. Fretfulness,
peevishness. bitterness, sullenness and
anger should be avoided as so many hiss-
ing snakes, and driven from every house-
hold which hopes to be happy. Self-re—
straint and mutual forbearance are, ab-
solutely necessary when a couple are
tempted to give way to ill-feeling; and,
above all, a determination should be cul-
tivated that both parties should never lose
their temper at the same time; or in other
words, when one brings ﬁre the other
should be ready with a supply of water.
They should treat each other’s feelings
with lenity and learn to be, as occasion de-
mands, deaf, dumb and blind—especially
dumb. Not sullenly but serenely dumb.
Not silent from moodishness and passion,
but silent from reason and aﬁection. A
diversity of opinion or taste may give a
relish to married life, but considerable
wisdom will necessarily have to be exer-
cised to prevent such diversities from caus-
ing nagging, irritation or possibly a down-
right quarrel. A certain Methodist clergy-
man, who has oﬁiciated at numerous wed-
dings, is always careful to whisper in the
bride’s ear, as his parting counsel, “Be
sure never to have the last word,” but
such good advice might have been sup

 

plemented by counseling the husband
“ Never to have the ﬁrst one.”

Where two independent wills are united
some arrangement is necessary to provide
for the settlement of practical questions
on which a diﬂerence of opinion exists, and
just here is where the great question of
obedience arises. But should the home be
presided over by the angel of Love, trouble
on this score will be readily and easily sur-
mounted. ‘ A kind husband will be 10th to
strain his authority as the “lord of crea-
tion ” on all trivial points, while a wise
wife will command respect by her prompt
and loving desire to meet and anticipate
her husband‘s wishes. So great is the
effect of wifely obedience th it it is now
recognised as an indisputed fact that the
wife who gives her husband his own way
the ﬁrst year after marriage will have her
own ever after. .

Married life is not always a state of un-
broken tranquility, but, exposed to agita-
tion as it is, it is quite essential that hus-
band and wife should possess qualities
ﬁtting them to be really helpmates to each
other. In how many homes, during sick-
ness or adversity do we ﬁnd the wife
falling far short of what should be her true
character, thus, unconsciously ’ perhaps,
evidencing the truth of the Latin maxim
“Love freezes without a supply of bread
and wine,” or its parallel, “ When want
comes in at the door, love ﬁles out at the
window.”

The union that has been founded on
selﬁshness may be said to ﬁnd the seeds of
dissolution in the very ceremony that has
brought the two together, but do you re-
call the words and conditions: “ In sick-
ness and in health, in poverty and in
wealth?” With a determination to make
the best possible showing under any or all
of these conditions there will spring up a
fountain of love whose waters will go on
deepening and widening until the earthly
scene has terminated. I have heard men
explain the hideous disparities in marriage,
by quietly receiving it as an ordination of-
Providence that it should be so, in order
that, by an amalgamation of the rich and
the poor, the tall and the short, the good
and the had, an average might be sus-
tained, but I do not believe a word of it.
I believe that marriage was instituted to
produce the highest degree of happiness,
and that Providence has nothing at all to
do with the fearful disorders and imper-
f ections of the marriage relation; which are
really instigated wholly by prejudices, pas-
sions and weaknesses of men and women.
There is no anguish that will surpass that
inﬂicted by severe disparities in married
life. An accident, or an overpowering
vanity, a whim or a fancy is allowed to
set the seal of life. When a man buys a
house he takes counsel, and when he buys
a horse or adds a cow to his herd, he asks
a friend’s advice, but in that great affair ot
life, which makes the life of life, he seeks
no oracle. I recall a case in point. An
acquaintance was very much incensed
over an accidental termination of his ﬁrst
suit, and while in a revengeful mood al-

lowed himself to be led into a hasty mar-
riage which he has never ceased to regret,

 

thus suffering himself to be the sport and!
victim of spitefulness. How much of his:
misery could have been obviated had he-
sought a woman who would have been the .
friend of his maturity, who could have-
sounded the depth of his affections, given
impulse to his highest aspirations, been his -
counselor in perplexilies, and then stood
behind him with the gentleness and self-
renunciation of a loving wife! As it is, his.
conscience ls ever reiterating to him his
rash marriage vows. It is always sur-
prising, but none the less a comfortable
fact in human life that no sooner does an
event become inevitable than all the hopes-
and projects that hung upon its decisions
are subdued to acquiescence. A sailor'
will go calmly down in the ship from which
there is no deliverance, a criminal will ac-
cept the rope he cannot avoid, and millions
“die w1th resignation” when death be-
comes certain; and to resignation to death
in life in the indissoluble compact of mar—
riage. the inevitable is the great argument.

But this is a theme upon which one-
.might dwell for hours, and fearing that‘
Beatrix may condemn me for having ever-
done the matter by exceeding the limits of
her request for “something more on the‘
same subject,” I drop the question here-
until some other opportunity arises in “ an
aching void in the HOUSEHOLD.”

Danton. OUTIS.

SUNDRY MATTERS.

I was glad to see in the last HOUSEHOLD-
some hints for Christmas. I think they
are none too early, so i will add my mite.
For a pair of mittens for a gentleman get.
two skeins of Spanish knitting yarn and
knit with two balls as our grandmothers,
knit the striped mittens, only have them
both of one color. I prefer black. By a
little patience and care you can soon learn
to knit these if you can knit any kind of
mittens. Twenty-eight stitches on a needle-
are enough for a common size; knit a good
long wrist and you need not be ashamed to-
present them to any one. I knit them of
ﬁner yarn in this way for myself; they are
so nice and warm.

I was glad too, to know how Ella R.
Wood entertains her morning callers. That
is just my way, and I think much more
sensible than to put oif your work till they
are gone. I wish every one knew how
handy it is to have soft and hard water
come into the house. It costs so little
when you are building to arrange for it,
especially if you already have a windmill.
Our well water tank has a division through
the center, one side is for drinking water,
the other for setting the milk cans in. Try
it if you want a good and cheap creamery.

If our friend who asked how to remove.-
stains from tablecloths, will ﬁrst wash
them, then put them, together with any
other pieces she may have that are stained
or yellow, in a jar—turn a plate over with
a weight on to keep them down—then
cover with sour milk and let stand a week,
turn once or twice and the next washday .
rinse till the milk is all out, wash, and she.

will ﬁnd them white as snow. I think this.
will remove everything but iron rust. ..
" ' MRS. HOMER.


THE HOUSEHOLD.

ABOUT THE BABIES.

Daisy wants some one to tell her why her
baby does not sleep more. I do not think
it is the fault of the whole milk, but if
blame is to be laid upon the diet, certainly
the beef and chicken should bear it.
“ Milk for babes, strong meat for men”
is as true of diet as of doctrine, and the
practice of giving solid food to children
before they have teeth to properly masti-
cate it, or the stomach is prepared to digest
it, is productive of numberless infantile
ills. Without knowing more of the tem-
perament of Daisy’s baby and its condition,
I should hesitate to assign acause for its
wakefulness, but I would give no solid
food to a nine-months’ old child under any
circumstances whatever. " But," says
some tender-hearted mother, “the baby
wants what it sees the rest of us eat, and
cries for it.” But baby will cry for the
lamp, for the looking-glass, the ﬁre, the
mouse-trap, the scissors; we do not give it
these harmful things, but if we should it
would try them by the baby’s infallible
test, the mouth, which forms a very im-
portant factor in his self-acquired educa-
tion. He reaches his little hands for many
things—it is his way of learning. How
does he knowa potato is more edible than
the dish till he is taught the difference?

I have seen a baby sucking a pickle-end
—and pulling a wry face over it, too,
and the unthoughtful woman who gave it
wondered why he should have such dread-
ful attacks of colic. And I have seen meat
chewed in the mother’s mouth put into the
baby’s—received, I am glad to say, with a
little protest of disapproval—the baby only
just able to sit alone. Think of that
mouthful of indigestible food saturated
with saliva from a mouth ﬁlled with decay-
ing teeth, tartar-covered, perhaps foul with
the emanations from adisordered stomach,
introduced into a sensitive stomach not yet
prepared by nature to digest it!

Our cemeteries are ﬁlled with little
graves. At Woodmere i chanced one day
upon a spot where a sunny slope was
literally covered with the low green
hillocks, rank on rank, marked with rude
crosses or white wooden slabs, some with
the little chair or the rocking-horse or the
doll which was the child’s cherished pos-
session laid upon them. And I remembered
that from July 9th to July 16th of the cur-
rent year, 150 children under ﬁve years of
age died in this city of cholera infantum,
a disease superinduced by improper or
vitiated food.

I do not believe in these “ infant’s foods.”
Good wholesome cow’s milk is much better.
The patent foods lack some element of
nutrition supplied by milk. The babies
Dill told us about died of what the doctor
called marasmus, which is a wasting away,
usually due to lack of assimilation of food.
The child should have the milk from one
cow; and the cow should be healthy and
well fed on good hay and grain, or grass,
with pure water. Perfect cleanliness
about all the utensils used in feeding the
baby is also an important requisite.

Some children are more restless and
sleep less than others. I would advise

Winn-nu mew-m _-r. r. _

 

Daisy to see that the conditions are favor-
able for slumber, the room darkened, the
air pure, the clothing loose and comfort-
able,’ the child not covered too warmly;
then if not inclined to sleep, and still ap-
parently healthy, I should not worry about
it. I should avoid all excitement prior to
the usual time for a nap. Coming into the
city on the train not long since, I noticed a
six or eight months’ old babe, in charge of
its mother and some relative. The child
was bright, excitable, full of play, and the
trio had a great romp in which the little
fellow was tossed and teased and tickled
till it was easy to see he was becoming
hysterical. Every time he had showed a
disposition torelax in the play, he had been
stirred up again, until at last the reaction
came and he cried as hard as he had played.
He was thoroughly tired out and exhaust-
ed. Such treatment of achild is worse
than injudicious, it is cruel and heartless;
none the less so because it is due to ignor-
ance on the part of parents. Never play
with a child until he is tired out. When
you are wearied by excitement or unusual
exercise you are nervous and irritable in
consequence. So is the baby.

And do not, as you value the future
health and strength of your children, im-
pair their digestive powers and lay the
foundation for chronic stomach troubles
in the cradle. “Paste this in your hat:”
No solid food until baby has teeth to chew
it. BEATRIX.

 

AN INQUIRY ANSWERED. ' 7

 

Mrs. H., of Northville, wishes to be told
through the HOUSEHOLD what will destroy
the little brown ﬂy that infests her house-
plants, and which she thinks is the cause
of the small white worms in the earth in
the pots. The ﬂy is probably the winged
form of the aphis which is so destructive
to houseplants in a warm atmosphere, and
the best remedy is smoking the plants.
This is done best by putting them in a box
or barrel, or if only a few are to be smoked
cover them With newspapers to conﬁne
the smoke, and put a few moist tobacco
stems on live coals, letting the plants stand
in the smoke till it has nearly disappeared.
Then give the plants a good syringing to
knock off the half dead insects. A single
plant may be covered with a paper bag or
a newspaper funnel and smoke from a pipe
blown under it. The syringing is avery
important part of the plan, as otherwise
many of the half-dead insects will revive.
To keep them free from the insect, take
them to the kitchen on wash-day and give
them a good showering or syringing; and
keep your room at as low a temperature as
is consistent with comfort. For the little
white worms put atablespoonf‘ul of lime
water into the water given them. Do this
once, unlessthey are very bad; if necessary,
repeat after a week.

The calla should have “ rested ” during
the summer, that is, should have stood in
the shade without water for a month or six
weeks. Then water sparingly until growth
begins, repot, give water more abundantly
and it will bloom during winter. Too
mu ch water will produce luxuriant leaves

 

8

and no ﬂowers; let them have enough, and-~-
not too much, and the bloom will follow.
Use tepid water for watering and shower-
ing. 8.

A VARIETY OF THINGS.

I must introduce myself this morning
for the ﬁrst time to the ladies of the-
HOUSEHOLD. I’ve never had my say
before, and we have taken the Fm.
many years. I enjoy very much reading
the little paper, and sometimes wonder
who is Beatrix or Simon’s Wife, or Em.
gcline. I am a stranger to all but Evange-
line. Well, I hesitated about a subject but
ﬁnally thought I would choose the one-
named above. I’m a great talker and have-

'got many things to say, but Idon’t want

to be tiresome. First I want to say a word
about an old subject. Some will say
“ Why not try something new and not rake-
up an old subject?”

About mother love: If we love our
husbands, though we love them ever so
much, in time perhaps we may ﬁnd a sub—
stitute, though may be a poorer one; but if
we lose a child, and others no doubt are
as unfortunate as myself and have but one,
nothing can ever take its place. The dark
cloud that settles over the home to crush
our hearts, never seems to be entirely
lifted again. The picture of my mother’s»
death bed comes to me as I write. That,
if nothing else, would prove to me how
true my assertions are when I say there is-
and can be no love, unless Omnipotent,
like a mother’s love. How she took me in.
her arms, although grown to womanhood,..
and wept over me and told me how she
loved me, and also how she hated to leave-
me; called me every dear name and clung
to me, and prayed over me, and then come
mended me to Him, who at the Resurrec-
tion would let us meet again! What a
scene! and every day there are others like it!

What supreme joy ﬁrst comestoevery
mother’s heart! Then as the years drift
by, anxiety about the child comes, and all
the while how sad a love! If you. love
them this stanza explains it all:

“ Sad shift of love, the loving heart.

On whim its aching head was thrown,
Gave up the weary head to rest.
But kept the aching for its own.”

I am a farmer’s wife and think our class
of people earn all they get. I like a large
farm and good stock of all kinds, and think
the best pay the best. We do not keep
much stock, but what we have is the-
thoroughbred. Chickens pay well, but
few know how to make them pay. Turkeys-
do not pay, they eat too much. Eggs-
should be packed (in salt is. my way) after
the middle of August and kept for the
winter market.

Much has been said on the butter ques-
tion. I churn often, use a barrel churn,
wash well in cold water while in the churn,
work little, use good family salt, and have
kept butter a year and a half, good.

One of our merzhants’ wives said to me
not long ago, “I pity a farmer’s wife,
there is so much drudgery in the house.”
Now we all know a farmer’s wife must
be a good manager to make farming pay;
then two-thirds of the men don’t think

 


 

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

what a woman does amounts to anything,
, or that she needs anything, yet are ever re-
marking how well dressed some other
woman is, though his own wife who has
shared the burden and heat of the day
has not a decent dress to wear, and his
"stinginess often makes thieves of his wife
and children.

Don’t be fussy, and do so much needless
work that you can never ﬁnd a minute to
read or ride, or enjoy a great many things
God gave to enjoy. And above all else,
don't let us be too worldly, but forget self,
and as Thanksgiving is so near remember
some one poorer than ourselves.

I do not iron common sheets or bed
spreads, and do not think any one would
notice but that I take great pains with
them. Nor do I pare apples for sauce or
pies or mince meat, and think it much
nicer and saves time.

When I fry cakes I put a tablespoonful
of vinegar in the kettle with the lard, and
nogrease will fry into them. There are a
great many things I would like to say to
you, but if I am welcome will come again.
BATTLE CREEK. MR3. VARIE l‘Y.

———..~——_.

FOR CHRISTMAS .

 

Cushions of various sizes and materials
have now so many uses that we can hardly
go amiss in making one for a friend’s
Christmas. Make a square cushion cover-
ed with brilliant red satteen and ﬁlled
with curled hair. For this crochet or knit
a cover in macreme twine or the softer
\cord that comes in balls, choosing a soft
grey or tan color; one side is left open and
tied with ribbons, so the cushion may be
removed and the cover washed whenever
necessary. This is one the “men folks”
will appreciate, as no “ Don’ts” go to its
use.
A beautiful pillow for a lounge may be

made of plush, ornamented with arabesque
designs also in plush. The pattern for the
designs is drawn on- tissue paper, which is
gummed. on the back of the various colors
of plush to be used; the patterns are then
cut out, basted lightly on the groundwork,
and sewed down with fine sewing silk.
The paper on the back prevents raveling,
and the stitches are entirely concealed by
the long nap of the plush.

A set of table mats is an appropriate gift
to a housekeeper. For the largest one,
make in soiid crochet a plain oblong piece,
four inches wide and eight or nine inches
.‘Ilong. Then make enough crocheted
~wheels to border it, sewing them ﬁrmly to-
~ gather and to it; around this crochet three

orfour rows plain, and ﬁnish with a shell

border, which must be made to lie per-

fectly ﬂat. For the vege‘able dishes make

three smaller mats, with square or oblong
~ centres,‘ according to the shape of the

dishes}. starch slightly, and they will look
very nice.

A table centre is another nice gift for a
Shousekeeping friend. They are of linen,
apowdered all over with stemless ﬂowers,
as buttercups or daisies worked with yel-

choose a ﬂat edge of Cluny or antique lace
with mitred corners. ~

Napkins for the dishes in which boiled
eggs, baked potatoes, tea biscuit, or corn
on the car, are served, are squares of linen
with narrow hems or fringed edges, with
the four corners folded over envelope
fashion. These corners are appropriately
decorated either with outline designs or
mottos.

Shopping bags of plush or satin. are
much carried, being such convenient re-
ceptacles for the little packages and the box
of bonbons with which Madame provides
herself while down town. They are quite
sizable, lined with surah and furnished
with ribbon drawing-strings. One I saw
the other day was of black satin lined with
pale lilac surah. The lower half of the
bag was powdered with knots of black jet
beads, three to a knot, set on diamond
fashion. Abag which would be found
very useful to those who must drive to
town is like a long purse with two rings of
brass or nickel in the middle. A broad
band of ribbon half a yard long should be
sewed to the rings, and forms a loop by
which the bag can be secured to the
corner of the carriage. It should be a yard
and a quarter long and from fourteen to
eighteen inches wide, and may be made of
as rich or as simple materials as one pleases.
A long opening is left—purse fashion—in
the middle, through which to slip the par
cels. One end of the bag should be drawn
up under a tassel, the other left square and
ﬁnished with fringe or small fancy tassels.

A pretty tidy of linen scrim is a yard
and three-eighths long. One end is ﬁnished
with a band of drawn-work, a hem-stitched
hem and a row of wheels crocheted out of
linen thread, with fringe tied in the lower
halves. The other has a V—shaped point
of wheels sewed together, the scrim being
cut away to allow its insertion; the lower
row of wheels borders the entire width of
that end, and fringe of the thread is tied
in the lower part of the wheels.

Any size or style of basket, ﬂat, deep,
square or round, fer almost any purpose,
can be made by crocheting macreme cord
or seine twine in the desired shape, draw-
ing it over a box, pail, pan, bowl, etc., to
shape it, and rubbing” it over with stiff
starch. Let this dry, then paint—while
still on the form, and then varnish. Rib-
bons can be run in spaces crocheted for
the purpose, and the little baskets made
very dainty and fanciful.

The “saddle-bag” chair cushions to
throw over the top ofa chair, now have
one half made with a pocket. The cushion
which comes on the back of the chair is
made thin and ﬂat, and a pocket of the
same size formed by folding an extra
length of the goods over one side. This
forms a pocket in which Madame may de-
posit her fancy work, her book, her bon-
boniere, or her handkerchief, or may, if

literary in taste, keep blank book and
pencil for use while reading.

 

VASELINE is highly recommended as a
dressing for shoes; and is said to soften the

 

low silk in close Kensington stitch; have an
inch wide hemstitched hem, and if you

leather better than any other application.
Apply with a cloth, rubbing it in well.

COMMENTS.

May one nearly sixty years of age come
and try to say something? I have had the
HOUSEHOLD from the beginning, and now it
is as welcome as ever. Of all the “ weeks”
written I like Keturah’s the best. I think
a plain meal well cooked better than such a
variety. Evangeline’s “ week ” made me
tired to read it. I thought how could she
cook so much. Those cookies! Why will
women bend over the kneading board and
heat themselves over the cookstove, to
make them to put on the table three times
a day, to be eaten by the children between
meals, when for their health a piece of
bread would be better. _

I think if Simon had thrown away his
pipe and given his wife the money he spent
for tobacco to be used in the family, her
“week” would not have been quite so
cloudy.

I neither like an nilcloth nor adirty table-
cloth, so place under each man’s plate a
towel three-fourths of ayard long, letting it
fall a little over the table, and when dirty
change for clean ones. M.

Y PSILANTI.
———....___

DAISY’S BABY .

 

Daisy’s appeal excites my sympathy, and
my conscience will not let me keep silent.
The diet of aninemonths-old infant should
consist of milk, (whole milk if it agrees),
and some of the grains. No meat should
be allowed until two and a half or three
years old, or until the grinders have made
their appearance, that it may be well mas-
ticated, for the delicate organs of digestion
should not be overtaxed with unmasticated
food. The Sanitarium Health Food Com-
pany, of Battle Creek, manufactures a food
expressly for infants, which would no
doubt give satisfaction. It may be used
with or without milk, and can safely be
relied upon as the sole nourishment of the
child if necessary.

The diet is undoubtedly the cause of
baby’s wakefulness. Re .rulate the diet as
to quality, quantity and time. Bathe regu-
larly, and I think you will be rewarded
with longer naps. MRS. G. C. B.

-———-.OO-———-—
Contributed Recipes.

RAISED CAKE—TWO cups sugar; two cups
bread dough; three-fourths cup butter; one
cup raisins; one 883: half teaspoonful soda;
nutmeg: cinnamon. Add more ﬂour if the
dough is too thin.

LEMON Prim—One lemon; one cup sugar:
three eggs: one cup water: half tablespoonful
cornstarch: one tablespooni'ul ﬂour. Cook
Over a kettle. Bake crust separate. Frost
with the whites of the eggs. HANNAH.

 

Srrcnn Momssns Chara—One cup sugar;
half cup butter. stir welltogether: three eggs:

one cup 1110138568; one cup sour cream: one -

teaspoontul soda: one teaspooni’ul cloves;
nutmeg and cinnamon; two and ahalf cups

ﬂour. AUNT MAGGIE.
—-——...—-—_

A CORRESPONDENT wishes Mrs. Fuller,
or some one. else, would tell her whether
soot from chimneys where coal is the only
fuel used, is as beneﬁcial as a fertilizer to

 

A

houseplants as that from wood.

     

 

~M4a-nak‘vv-v-wr . .- .

  
   
  
  

  
  
   
   

