
 

 

 

 

 

DETROIT, JUNE 2, 1885.

 

THE HOU§EHOLD===§unpplemenu

 

 

A WOMAN’S COMPLAINT.

 

I know that deep within your heart of hearts
You hold me shrined apart from common things,
And that my step, my voice, can bring to you
A gladness that no other presence brings .

And yet, dear love, through all the weary days
You never speak one word of tenderness,

Nor stroke my hair nor softly clasp my hand
Within your own in loving. mute caress.

You think, perhaps, I should be all content
To know so well the loving place I hold
. Within your life, and so you do net dream
How much I long to hear the story told.

You cannot know, when we two sit alone
And tranquil thoughts within your mind are
stirred,
My heart is crying like a tired child
For one fond look, one loving, gentle word.

It may be when your eyes look into mine
You only say, " How dear she is to me 1”

011, could I read it in your softened glance
How radiant this plain old world would be.

Perhaps, sometimes, you breathe a secret prayer
That choicest blessings unto me be given,

But if you said aloud, “ God bless thee, dear I”
Ishould not ask a greater boon from Heaven.

I weary sometimes of the rugged way,
But should you say, “ I‘hrough thee my life is
sweet,”
The dreariest desert that our path could cross
Would suddenly grow green beneath my feet.

”l‘is not the boundless waters ocean holds

That give refreshment to the thirsty ﬂowers,
But just the drops that, rising to the skies,

From thence descend in softly falling showers.

What matter that our granaries are ﬁlled,
With all the richest harvest’s go‘den stores,
if we who own them cannot enter in,
But famished stand before the close—barred
doors.

And so ’tis sad that those who should be rich
In that true love which crowns our earthly lot,
Go praying with white lips from day to day,
For love’s sweet tokens, and re ceive them not.
— The Advance.

 

 

THE BUTTER BUSINESS.

The question of the disposal of the but-
ter to be made on the farm during the
coming summer months, is already be-
ginning to perplex the minds of farmers’
wives, and the posaibility of securing a
steady market at good rates commands a
good deal of anxious thought. The
“butter substitutes” are crowding the
low grades of butter to the wall, for
many prefer the sweet, fresh “substi-
tute,” to the rancid, re-packed, over
salted butter of commission houses. It
is to the interest of every farmer’s wife
that her neighbors shall make good but
ter, for every pound of poor butter which
they put upon the market hurts the sale
of her product. It is the “shoe box”

butter of country stores that demoralizes
the city market, and the “shoe box”
stuff is the omaium gathemm of country
neighborhoods. It ought to be the am-
bition of every butter-maker to keep out
of the shoe-box. To this end there must
be excellence and uniformity of product,
There must be enough cows kept to make
it an object to give the making that at-
tention and care necessary to success.
Butter-making was the subject of so
animated a discussion in our Household
last summer. that we need not now renew
it; the great question is where and when
and how to market it.

First, if possible, secure ahome market
for your surplus. If you make small
quantities and have not good facilities
and improved appliances for manufac-
ture, it is a mistaken ambition to seek a
city market. It costs more than it comes
to. Make your market in a near-by
town, supplying hotel, boarding house or
private family. These opportunities are
generally neglected by farmers’ wives,
many thinking a far off market or the
greater demand of alarge city must be
more proﬁtable. A sale can generally be
made to private parties at a slight ad-
vance over grocers’ retail prices; or at all
events the rates at which the grocer sells
to his customers can be secured, and
these are always an advance on the prices
paid to producers; there must be “ a mar-
gin for handling.” Then too, money is
paid, which is a gain over being obliged
to “trade out” the proceeds.

If the butter made is sufﬁcient in
quantity, ﬁrst class in quality, and uni-
form in both respects, it may pay to seek
acity market. There are two ways of
doing this. One is to ship the butter to
some commission merchant, writing him
that the butter is “ gilt edge,” and is to
be sold at a certain price, “please remit
cheque promptly.” The commission man
will smile at your ignorance, sell the butter
on its merits, and the amount remitted—
minus commission—will cause the gravest
suspicions in regard to the honesty of the
consignee. The other, and the right
way, is to so into the city or town Where
you desire to market your butter, with a
sample of it, and make the best bargain
you can, personally, with commission
men or wholesale or retail grocers. You
must be able to guarantee that future
shipments shall equal, in every respect,
the quality of the sample, and you must
live up to your guarantee, if you do not,
your butter man can refuse to receive the
I goods. Commission men and grocers are

 

 

connoisseurs in butter. It is their busi—
ness to handle it, it is to their interest to
obtain as large a supply of ﬁrst class but-
ter as possible, for it is rarely that the
supply of strictly fresh “gilt edge ”' ex-
ceeds the demand. But if you contract
with them you must not expect them to
receive any excuses for “ off ” quality of
a churning, etc. “Business is business”
in butter as in other things, any deteriora-
tion in quality is quickly detected and
your customer is lost. Live up to your
agreement in all points; do not be blind to
faults in your own product, but if your
butter for any reason fails to equal your
representations, don't send it on, think-
ing the dealer will not ﬁnd it out. It
will come back on his hands if it does not
equal the guarantee he gives on the
strength of yours, and when it does so
come back he’ll “go back on you.” Re-
member that it is more to your advan-
tage to deal with a reputable, well-estab-
lished ﬁrm, who will treat you honorably,
give you just weight and make remit-
tances promptly, than with aﬁrm who
will promise to pay a cent more on a
pound and make it up three times over
by the “tricks of the trade.”

It is at once useless and inconsiderate
to call on a friend or acquaintance in
town to ﬁnd a market for you. No one
can or will take the interest in the matter
that you do yourself, and by the time you
have spent a day running round town,
you will conclude that to demand such a
day’s work from an acquaintance, or as is
sometimes done, from strangers, is a severe
test of willingness to oblige. Moreover,
with the best of intentions, another can-
not manage the business satisfactorily,
nor, what is important, guarantee the ex-
cellence and uniformity of the butter an-
other is to make. I f the securing a city
market is an object to you, it ought to be
enough of an object to be worth the per-
sonal effort of a trip to the city, and the
securing terms for yourself.

W

THE lady who desired information on
turkey raising is referred to the article
“How to Raise Turkeys,” in last week’s

FABMER. Its directions are full and ex-
plicit as may well be, and will assist the
novice to all but the wisdom to be gained
by experience.

———*..—_—

CAN none of our practical housekeepers
reply to “ Wool’s ” query on how to pre-
pare wool for quilts, in the Household for
May 5th? We hope some one will an-
swer. Now wool is so cheap, if farmers’
wives knew how to prepare wool for mail

retses it might be agood thing.

 


 

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

THE “MIND CURE.”

 

Some time ago one of the Household
contributors sent to the Household Editor
a circular containing press notices of Mrs.
Eddy’s book, “Science and Health,” and
asking attention to the new doctrines
therein enunciated. Mrs. Eddy is Presi.
dent of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College, in which she teaches “Christian
science,” and on the principles of this
science is founded the new “ metaphysi-
cal cure,” or “mind cure.” The idea is that
mind is superior to matter and that the
latter is, or may be, governed by the
former; that matter cannot of itself be-
come diseased,but only through the mind;
that medicine, being matter, can of itself
do nothing, but, since mentality is strong-
er than matter, the sick may be healed by
the inﬂuence of a strong mind, exerted to
conquer the disease. The principle of
healing being mind, the advocates of this
doctrine discard eve ry form of medication,
hygiene, dieting, bathing, manipulation,
etc., and rely entirely upon the might of
mind exerted upon the matter of our
bodies. Medicines have no eﬁect upon
the conscious mind, which is aﬁected by
matter only of its own volition. N o eﬁort
of the mind of the patient is required, the
physician does it all. This brief synopsis
of the principles of the “mind cure ” is
taken from the statement of one of its
physicians.

It has always been understood that the
mind has a great inﬂuence upon the body.
We have many striking examples of the
power of imagination upon the physical
nature. Most of us remember the story
of the criminal who died from exhaustion
because he believed the steady drip of
water from a sponge into a bucket was
the ﬂow of his life blood; and the soldier
who, stuck by a spent cannon ball,
thought his leg had been shot away and
called to his comrades to bring it with
them from the battle ﬁeld. In epidemics
of contagious diseases, many fall victims
through their terror. An Eastern fable
represents Death as assigning a certain
number of victims to Cholera. After the
plague ceased, Death reproached Cholera
with having slain ten times its allotment.
“Not I,” said Cholera, “ I only slew my
hundreds; Fear killed the rest.” There
are many instances on record where
chronic invalids, bed ridden for years,
have forgotten their ailments under the
inﬂuence of strong emotional excitement,
such as great grief, ’or joy, 'or danger, or
powerful religious enthusi .sm.

That some who consider themselves in-
valids, unable to bear their part in life,
unﬁt for exertion, are so because they think
so there is no doubt. They have allowed
the body to languish under a feeble will.
power; they have dwelt upon their “symp-
toms ” till they have produced a diseased
or weak condition of the mind, which re-
acts upon the body. We all know the ef-
fort of will required to exert one’s self af-
ter along and enfeebling illness; we all
know, too, how a courageous mind ﬁghts
death, resolved not to die, and how even
the grisly enemy of mankind seems to re-

spect an indomitable will. Nervous, hys-

terical, hypochondriacal patients, natures
absorbed in self, are most prone to be-
come victims to this mild form of mania,
and to such minds and bodies the “ meta-
physical,” or ”mind cure ” will prove
most beneﬁcial. We shall give it consid-
erable credit if it prevents or cures im
aginary illnesses.

There are a great many women practis-
ing the “ mind cnre” who never heard of
it under that name. The little woman
who rises with throbbing ,_temples and
stomach in commotion, and by her will-
power ﬁghts off the.” demon and accom-
plishes her tasks because she knows there
is no one to whom she can delegate them,
accomplishes a metaphysical victory,
though possibly she might be much puz-
zled to deﬁne the high-sounding term.
She had only to let her will surrender to
her physical ailment, only to “ giVe up "
and lay her head again upon her pillow, t >
be really sick for the day. That old New
England term, “grit,” seems to have been
synonymous with our grandmothers for
what a more ﬂorid civilization calls “meta-
physical science” applied to health. So
far as strengthening the mind to govern
the body wisely, and vanquish semi-im-
aginary ailments is concerned, we are in
hearty accord with the principles of
“Christian science.”

If the theories of the disciples of the
“metaphysical cure” could be realized
and made to work, we might dispense
with the three d’s—drugs, doctors and
disease. But unfortunately, we are made
to feel at the outset that they claim too
much. We must not attempt to make a
few general truths into a detailed science.
nor delude ourselves into believing be-
cause it can do certain things, all other
things are possible to it. One of these
“ metaphysical doctors ” professes to be-
lieve that if a dose of arsenic were taken
unconsciously, it would have no eﬁect
upon the educated mind. The statement
is explicit: “ The mind, if properly edu-
cated. could prevent any bad results."
Yet we question if even the sponsor of
Christian science would take a dose of
arsenic and trust her own or anybody’s
mentality. however “educated,” to pre-
vent the consequences. And when the
assertion is made, as by. the before-men-
tioned doctor, that when this belief be-
comes widespread, storms and other na-
tural phenomena may be controlled, this
“Christian science” becomes impious,
arrogating to itSelf powers possessed only
by the Almighty in controlling and di-
recting the ﬁxed laws which govern all the
phenomena of nature. The mode of
treatment, here, by these “mind curers,”
is to sit with the back to the patient, and
by the exercise of mental strength on part
of the physician, “take the disease " from
the suﬁerer, without manipulation or
medicine (but not Without money or with-
out price). The physician may sit in Bos-
ton and cure his patient in Detroit. But
this aspiring to cure disease when patient
and physician are half the width of a con-
tinent apart, one “sending will-power
through space like a cannon ball,” is car-
tying matters—no, mind, —~literally too

 

far. It is such extravagant and unrea-

 

sonable claims that disgust reﬂective
people with the whole scheme. Professor
Swing says: “ To call it—the mind cure
——a general practice of medicine is to at-
tempt to make a part equal the whole. *
* * In the hands of the extremists it
is made one of the delusions of the world;

but in the hands of the wise and moder:

ate it is a tonic that will' displace a vast
amount of quinine and wild cherry bit

ters. * * * Will, energy, medicine,
fasting, good air, good food, good water.
are all friends of health, but no one of
these is master of the whole ﬁeld of ail-
ment. He will act most wisely who em~
ploys all these causes at different times of
need."

Already mischief has been done by
extremists. In a children’s hospital in
St. Louis the babies were left without
care or medicine, because if God, the
grand principle of all healing, wished
them to live they would do so without
human intervention. In a suburb of Bos-
ton a physician’s certiﬁcate of cause of
death, received for record, read: “Prim.
ary cause, Bright’s disease; secondary
cause, Christian scientists.” To “think
you’re well and you are well,” the deﬁni~
tion given by a convert, will not do in
cases of actual and acute disease. Few of
us would care to attack pneumonia with
the mind cure. We ought to make the
mind govern the body and not the body
the mind, and a great “ means to the end"
is to forget self in thought for others. We
may summon our will power and mental
energy to vanquish ill health and compel
them to rouse the nerve centre; they are
potent aids to good nursing and the phar‘
macopmia; it is a duty to ourselves and our
friends to strengthen the means employed
to restore us to health, but we. must not
carry our methods to a reductio abmrdum.

BEATRIX.

—-—-—-.O.-—-—-
WEDDING ETIQUE'I‘TE.

 

For quiet home weddings the choice
of fabrics for the wedding dress is given
to the very thin organdy muslin, to be
trimmed with a very little lace. The
China silks at $1 25 per yard make very
pretty dresses for a trousseau. as they
need little trimming. A surah silk is al-
most indispensable, either for the best
dress, or if the trousseau is more full. the
traveling dress. For a traveling suit a
tailor made dress of wool goods in light
quality, of very quiet color, brown, dark
blue or grey, should be chosen. A pretty
straw hat or bonnet ﬁnishes the costume.
If the traveling dress is to be worn during
the ceremony it should be rather more
elaborately made. White stockings and
white slippers are worn with the white
bridal toilette. A very few natural ﬂow-
ers, white, are worn. The bride only
wears white gloves, the groom wears
none, even at church weddings. The
“best man” has charge of the groom’s
hat, which he holds during the ceremony,
and he sometimes holds a pair of white
gloves also, but they are not worn. At
quiet but yet very elegant church wed-
dings, only the bride and her attendants
appear without bonnets; but if a recep-
tion follows immediately, the more in-

 


 

THE HOUSEHOLD 3

 

timate friends of the parties are invited
to come to church without their bonnets,
and this is considered a great compliment,
It is apretty fashion to have two little
girls precede the bridal party up the
church aisle. They are to be dressed in
white, with blue sashes and blue shoulder
knots, and sometimes carry baskets of
ﬂowers. At a stylish wedding the mother
of the bride should wear a trained dress.
Where there are a number of brides.
maids, all wear white for summer wed-
dings, and each pair wear ribbons to
match. Thus if there are six brides-

maids. two will wear rose hued ribbons,
two blue, and two pale green. The ﬂow-
ers carried will be also “ paired;” only one
variety of blossom is used in a cluster.

_———...——-—-

FOR THE GIRLS.

 

A very pretty new lamp shade is made
of a bright handkerchief with a hole in
the middle and shirred around the top.
Tassels are hung from the four corners,
and four hang from the top over the sides.

A pretty and not expensive cover for a
library table can be made of a square of
dark blue, green or maroon felt, large
enough to hang over the edge ﬁve inches
all around. Cut the edges into teeth two
inches wide and three inches long, leav-
ing the ends straight, and pointing them
at the ends; work a daisy or star with gold
colored silk on the right side of every
other scallop, then turn the cloth and
work the same pattern on the wrong side
of the alternate ones, pinking the edge
with a single scallop pinking iron. Turn
the reversed teeth upon the right side,
fastening them down with the stitch
knoWn as crow’s foot, done in gold or
blue ﬂoss in each pinked scallop. Bind
the oﬁer teeth with silk gallon and sew a
chenille or worsted ball upon each. Fit
the cover at each corner by cutting out a
small square, or by slashing it and turn-
ing in a piece each side of the opening
and lace together with small cord.

A very tasteful ornament for the parlor
wall is a black satin banner upon which
is painted a spray of white morning
glories. The top should have a gold
twisted rod, and the bottom should be
trimmed with a row of black and gold
chenille balls. It should hang from an
old gold satin ribbon.

A very stylish epergne for holding
grapes is contrived of a wooden butter
bowl mounted on four little legs, the
whole being heavily gilded and supplied
with a gilded wicker trellis, on which the
grapes are hung with intertwined leaves
and vine.

Cushions stuffed with pine, hemlock
and spruce are now in fashion. They
make fragrant and useful ornaments for
parlors and bedrooms, and are particular
1y grateful to people suffering with lung
troubles or headache. The pine needles
are stripped from the boughs, and the
hemlock and spruce broke into small
pieces. A muslin bag, the size of the
cushion or pillow, is ﬁrst used as a cover
ing. and tuen another one of silk, satin or
plush is adde One of the prettiest of
the kind is m e of pine green satin with
a back of plush of the same shade.

 

A few drops of vasaline rubbed into the
surface of a pad composed of three or
four thicknesses of canton ﬂannel will
cleanse an old silk hat, and will also
keep a new one in good condition much
longer than can be done when a hot iron
is used. The hot iron takes the life out
of the silk, whereas the vasaline pre-
serves it.

One of the many good uses to which
rods and rings are now put is to hold a
washstand splasher, and the arrangement
is especially desirable, as it can be taken
down and put up again so easily. The
splashers are made (if a straight piece of
linen crash, raveled out on each end and
knotted to form fringe. Above the
fringe embroider in outline any pleasing
design, on opposite sides of the ends, so
that when folded the embroidery will all
be on the right side. One end is then
folded over about one-third of the length.
Work as many eyelet-holes on the upper
part of the fold as you need rings, and
fasten a small screw—hook in the bottom
of each ring on which to slip the eyelets,
and in this way hold the splasher in place.

——-——.OO———'—

HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK.

A ”Trained Nurse, ’ writing to the
Country Gentleman on caring for the
sick in country homes, speaks of the
necessity of fresh air in the sick room,
and tells us how to admit it and yet pre-
vent that bugbear to most people, a
“draft.” She says:

“In order to have the air of aroom
pure, it is not necessary to have a cur-
rent of cold air blowing directly on the
sick bed. If the windows are not arranged
to open at the top. one can easily be made
to do so by removingthe cleats that are
nailed on the window-frame to support
the upper sash. It can be kept in place
by a stick inside, one end resting on the
upper part of the lower sash and the
other against the top sash; the length of
this stick determines the width of the
opening. If a strip of stout ﬂannel is
nailed over this aperture, which should
he usually about an inch wide, there will
be a constant supp] of fresh air admitt-
ed, and no draft. he ﬂannel ought to
be four inches wide, to permit the window
to be lowered to that extent when neces-
sary. [f the temperature outside is very
low, more cold air will be let in by this

lan than can be conveniently warmed.

t is then best to have a piece of wood,
about three inches high, the exact width
of the window, and place it under the
lower sash. An open ﬁre is invaluable
as a ventilator; when there is a ﬁre-place
in the room, it should always be used. If
it is necessary to make a ﬁre in a close
stove, an iron or tin vessel, ﬁlled with
water, should be kept on the stove, and
never allowed to be less than two-thirds
full. If the disease i . infectious, a table-
spoonful of carbolic acid solution, and. a
teasp- onful of spirits of turpentine,
should be added to every quart of water.
The temperature ought not to be lower
than 68 deg, or higher than 72 deg, and
a thermometer is indispensable by which
to regulate it.

“In cases of fever, frequent baths are
ordered by the doctor to assist in cooling
the skin, and in any disease, one should
be administered from time to time for the
sake of cleanliness. The function of the
skin, in removing impurities from the
body, is most important, and. it cannot
perform its ofﬁce properly unless its
millions of pores are kept open and free
to act. When this is not done, its proper

 

 

work is thrown upon other organs, which
in sickness have enough to do to attend
to their own business. Before giving a
bath, the window should be closed and
the room made warm. Have ready a
basin of water, soap, a piece of soft cloth
and a couple of towels. Place the patient
on a double blanket, with another over
him; removing the night dress, pass the
hand under the upper blanket, bathe a
small portion of the body, and wipe dry
before proceeding farther, until the
whole has been gone over; then replace
the night dress, and remove the blankets,
taking care to keep the sick person cov-
ered. All this can be done under a
blanket without the least exposure.
Persons ill with inﬂammation of the lungs
have been bathed in this way with only
good results.”

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

 

THE best of black silk will wear shiny.
Put a thimbleful of borax into a pint of
tepid water, then sponge the shiny spots.
Dry without ironing. The shine will re-
turn, and you will have to repeat the
process. It does not hurt the silk.

 

STICKY griddle cakes are an abomina-
tion in the eyes and to the palate of the
good housekeeper. A lady says, in The
Husbandman, that clear buttermilk used
in making, is the cause of the obnoxious
stickiness. Thin with milk, and you
will escape poor cakes.

 

How the heels of the boys’ socks do
wear out, to be sure! What sighs the
big holes call forth on mending day!
There’s no patent on a home made “ heel
protector,” made of chamois skin, a bit of
soft buckskin, or even a couple of thick-
nesses of stout linen or drilling, with the
edges turned together and sewed over
and over, secured in place by a bit of
elastic tape. Cut the protector the shape
and a triﬂe larger than the heel of the
stocking; it will take much of the wear
that grinds out the heel, and save work
and hosiery.

 

THE nuns at Montreal, who do ex-
quisitely ﬁne needlework, mend ﬁne
hose after a fashion which may be new
to many of our readers: First, cut the
hole evenly, taking off all the ragged
bits and leaving the smooth sides. Now,
with ﬁne sewing silk, pick up the stitches,
or loops, at the top and bottom, to keep
them from dropping; then, with yarn the
right color, darn across one way,
not pulling the thread too tight
or leaving it slack. Now put the
needle into a loop at the upper edge,
and work a chain stitch across to
the opposite edge, taking in the cross
threads as you go, just as if you were
embroidering onafabric. This will be
rather too much work for large holes in
coarse socks, but for the silk and lisle
hose so much worn at present, will make
the dams less conspicuous.

 

FANNY FIELD cleans a carpet by the
following manner, which she details in
the Ohio Farmer: “Have the carpet
taken up, thoroughly beaten, and put
back in place. The next morning, or
some other pleasant morning, put two
tablespoonfuls of beef-gall and one table-

 


 

4:

TH‘E HOUSEHOLD.

 

spoonful of ammonia in a pail of clean,
hot water, take a clean, stiﬁ scrubbing
brush, begin at one corner of the room,
scrub a small portion, wipe dry with a
woolen cloth, and then do another por-
tion in the same way. Go over the whole
surface of the carpet in this way. Be
careful not to wet the carpet through.
If the carpet is very much soiled or large
it will take two or three pails of water to
clean it thoroughly. When done, open
the windows and do not use the room until
the carpet is thoroughly dry. It is some
work to clean carpets this way, but if the
work is properly done they will look like
new; and really there is no other ‘ best
way’ to clean a nice carpet as it should
be cleaned. The beef-gall can be obtained
of the butcher. Send a wide-mouthed
bottle to the shop and ask them to empty
several gall bladders into it. Salt it and
keep in a cool place.”

 

A comsronnnnr of the American
Agriculturz’st tells how to replace the
bottoms of old cane-seated chairs:

“Two balls of ‘wool-twine’ will be
sumcient to bottom six chairs. Cut the
old cane bottom from the frame, and clear
all the holes from bits of cane, etc.
Thread a long, stout darning- needle
with a piece of strong twine (carpet—warp
is best); knot the ends; loop this twine
around the end of apiece of the wool-
twine, ﬁve or six yards long, tie a large
knot in the end, to prevent drawin
through; begin by passing the needle up
through the back corner hole at the left.

se only opposite holes, leaving the ex—
cess of holes at the front to be ﬁlled in
crosswise from the sides, and run the
twine forward and back until all the
holes are ﬁlled; then work in the same
manner from right to left. Every
hole being ﬁlled, again work it from
front to back, and lastly, from
right to lef , weaving, as in making
cloth. Do not draw the threads ve
tight the ﬁrst time over, or it will be very
hard to weave the last two times across.
As often as you ‘ﬁnish a piece of cord,
tie another ﬁrmly to it, leaving the knot
under the frame. Finish by fastening a
piece of the wool twine around the top of
the frame, and binding at each alternate
hole by means of a piece of twine. Finally,
go 'over the work, pressing the pairs of
threads closely together, which will leave
it plaited in large and small spaces, and
greaitly add to the even appearance of the

WOT .
W
SCRAPS.

 

In making inquiries concerning former
friends and acquaintances of an old
friend whom I recently visited, I was
obliged to notice the frequent repetition
of the statement “in miserable health,”
“ just able to keep round,” “sick most of
the time.” Why is it, I have since asked
myself many times, that so many of our
farmers’ wives and daughters have such
poor health? I have been casting about
for adequate cause, in much perplexity.
Farm life, hygienists tell us, is healthful,
With its adjuncts of good food, fresh air
and out door exercise. What then can be
the reason so many engaged in it are, if
not invalids, yet far from well? I should
like to have some of our correspondents
give their views on the subject.

 

IT was Locke’s idea that the infantile
mind is like ablank, unwritten page, a

 

 

 

piece of pure white paper on which we
can trace such characters as we will_
Under this idea virtues and faults are
alike the result of training. thus placing
a fearful responsibility upon parents and
all who have to do with the child in his
earlier years, a responsibility inﬁnitely
greater than is legitimately theirs. But
Locke himself was compelled to abandon
this position as untenable, and admit
that moral qualities and mental peculiar-
ities are transmissible from parents to
children. Not more surely are family
features reproduced in baby faces than
are mental and spiritual traits and char-
acteristics in young minds. We are
forced to recognize the law of heredity,
working even to the third and fourth
generation. How often we see some
trait of character in a child which was
peculiar to a grand-parent! How we are
startled and shocked at evidence of the
perpetuation of some bad quality, some
frailty of a parent in a child! Owen
Meredith says:

“ Long ere the child had leftits mother’s knee,

The web of the man’s character is spun;

Those future paths, no living eye may see,

Ere life’s be ‘nning were by Fate begun;

And all the living do and all they be,

Proccgds from what the dead have been or

For Fate (high no ﬁnality on earth.”

W
To Clean Black Lace.

Place the lace on aclean table; have
one teaspoonful of powdered borax dis—
solved in a quart of hot water; take a soft
brush and use the borax water freely;
after all the grease spots or soiled places
have been removed use plenty of warm
water with a sponge; go all over the
places so as to rinse oﬂf all the borax
water; place the lace—while damp and
after picking out nicely—between pieces
of old black silk or cashmere and press
with a warm iron until dry: be careful not
to use a hot iron.

Black laces of all kinds may also be
cleaned by alcohol. Throw them bodily
into the liquid; churn them up and down
till they foam; if very dusty use the
second dose of alcohol; squeeze them
out, “ spat” them, pull out the edges, lay
them between brown paper, smooth and
straight; leave under a weight till dry; do
notiron.

W

“AMBER ” reports she has tried with
success a method of making 'frosting
for cake without eggs. She boiled one
cup of sugar with one-third of a cup of
sweet milk. When cool, ﬂavor with lemon
or vanilla, and spread on the cake. Do
not let it get too cool or it will harden.
It is a good plan to stir it until it is right
to spread.

w _
Useful Recipes.

A GOOD PIE Caner—Put one pound of ﬁne
ﬁour on the paste board; rub into it three-quar-
ters of a pound of good, fresh butter, until it
is entirely free from lumps. Make a hole in
the centre of the ﬂour, and put into its good
pinch of salt, one teaspoonful of lemon juice,
and the yelk of one egg. Add sufﬁcient cold
water to form the whole into a smooth, light
paste, using a knife for the purpose. Keep the
board well ﬂoured to prevent the paste from
sticking to it. When of a right consistency,

 

 

 

 

 

roll it out with two or three gentle rolls, to
the thickness of a quarter of an inch, always
being careful to turn the rough edges into the
middle while rolling.

 

SALT PORK .Farrrnas.—Slice a pound of salt
pork in pieces about a quarter of inch thick;
put three or four of the slicesinto a frying-pan
and slowly fry them until all the drippings are
extracted, for the purpose of frying the fritters;
then roll the rest of the pork in Indian meal,
and fry them in the pork drippings; in the
same pan, and at the same time, fry slices of
cold, boiled mush, and serve them on the dish
with the fried salt pork.

HARD SCAR—A correspondent asks for a
recipe for hard soap. Perhaps the following,
from the Chicago Inter-Ocean, will prove reli-
able, as it is vouched for by that paper as being
excellent: Six pounds of washing soda, three
pounds of unslacked lime; put together and
pour on four gallons of boiling water; let it
stand until clear; then drain of! and put in six
pounds of clean fat and boil until it hardens
(about two hours) over a slow ﬁre. While
boiling add two gallons of cold water which
you have poured on the alkaline mixture, let~
ting this also settle before using. Add when
there is danger of the soap’s boiling over. Try
the consistency by cooling a little, and when it
will harden readily stir in a handful of salt
and take the soap from the ﬁre; pour in deep
earthen dishes, and when it is quite hard cut
into bars and put on boards to dry. This
makes forty poands of good hard soap.

 

 

NE W AD VER TISEMENTS.

11* you WAN;
Profitable Employment

8m 11‘ ONCE TO

THEM llMB KNITTEH 00.,

For Full Information.

An ordinary operator can earn from one to three
dollars per dayzin any community in the Northern
States on our ew Lamb Knitter.

100 Varieties of Fabric on Same Hashim.

You can wholly ﬁnish twelve pairs ladies‘ full-
shaped stockings or twenty pairs socks or mittens
in a day! Skilled operators can double this to-
duction. Capacity and range of work double that
of the old Lamb knitting machine. Address

The New Lamb Knitter 00..
117 and 119 Main St., west, Jncxsox, N101,

mv

' __ \“

 

 

 

     

  

0‘

The ONLY CORSET made that can be returned by
its purchaser after three Weeks Wear. if not found
PERFECTLY SATISFACTO Y
inevery respect, and its price refundedb sel er. Jude
in a. variety of styles and prices. 801 by ﬁrst class
ealers everywhere. Beware of worthless imitations
ne ermine unlessi has Ball’s name on the box.
cﬁlcaco co SET co.. Chicago. In.

 

