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DDETROIT, DECEMBER 15, 1885.

THE HOUSEEJIOLDmaSupplemémt.

 

 

 

A THOUGHT FOR CHRISTMAS.

 

While we receive and to our dear ones give
These tokens, that of true affection show
Such ample view, what happiness to know

That in each tree bestows] there must live

A manifest of more than mortal joy;

A revelation of those ties which bind
Us soul to son], and make all human kind

Partakers in a love without alloy.

But this divinely orde red tenderness
Is not complete unless its cheer extends

With single purpose to relieve distress,
Wherever want has made a neee of friends;

And keeps us walking in the perfect way

or him whose birth we celebrate this day.

 

THE BLESSING OF WORK.

Bays George Eliot: “ What sort of a
heaven can there be for souls pauperized
by inaction?" '

Without attempting to look into the
future we may ask: What sort of a pres—
ent is there for those who recognize no
responsibility in life? Yet it seems to
me that there are a very great many wo-
men in the world whose sole aim is so to
manage that they may live without labor
or responsibility, or who, if they must
work, give unwilling and half~hearted
service, and who would welcome any cir-
cumstance which would give them noth-
ing to do, and all day to do it in. A
human being blessed with the normal
mental and physical endowments which
of right belong to him, should ﬁnd pleas
ure as well as proﬁt in occupation. To
ﬁnd out the one thing which one can do
better than any other, and do it with one’s
whole mind and strength, ought to be a
source of pure and constant enjoyment.
Inactivity is certainly not the condition
to which we were appointed. Nothing
in Nature is inactive; however slow her
processes act-ion is eVer present; even a
glacier moves. Yet everywhere we ﬁnd
“souls pauperiZed by inaction," as our
good philosopher has it. And it seems to
me as if we might ﬁnd the most of such
stunted growth in the fashionable board—
ing-houses of thetown. I wonder, some-
times, how these women who have no duty
more pressing than Combing a lap-dog, no
task more engrossing than embroidering
sofa cushions, count time. Do the hours
ever hang heavy on their hands? Do
“ the styles ” ever pail upon them, or the
incoming or outgoing of the neighbor
across the way fail to interest? I have
heard women say that they could get as
tired doing fancy work as more earnest
lanor; it is possible, then, that theseii’le
. ones may sometimes enjoy the repose
. which follows fatigue, yet is the sleep as

satisfying as that earned by work result-
ing in actual happiness or beneﬁt to an-
other? Since Heaven is for all sorts and
conditions, will there, I wonder, be some
place ﬁlled up with a full line of worsteds
and supplied with new patterns, where
these can study the latest fashions in
fancy work?

It is expected of every young man that
he will enter some business. He succeeds,
and the world respects him according to
his pride and ambition in it. The young
man who has no work of any kind, how-
ever wealthy he is, seems matter out of
place. He is out of place; he should be
among the workers, an atom in the force
that moves the world. But who expects
a woman to do anything unless she is
absolutely compelled to work? Indeed I
have heard it made a reproach to a wo-
man that she worked when she might
have lived in idleness, thereby taking the
bread from another’s mouth, who migh:
have ﬁlled her place and who had need
of git. Young women who have come to
me for work have apologized for asking
forit, and been at pains to explain the
temporary strait which prompted the re-
quest, as if ashamed that they could not
be supported in absolute idleness! This
is taking an altogether wrong view. It
is a relic of mediteval days, when a wo-
man was either a beast of burden, or set
upon a pedestal to he worshiped as a
being half divine, whose only use in life
was to be beautiful and beautifully
dressed. We have taken long steps for—
ward since then, yet after all. the chains
of the old ideas still hamper us. We
need to get new ideas of the nobility of
work, added respect for it, and those who
do it. Some day, though none of us may
see it, it will be the idle woman who has
no duties nor responsibil-ties, no achieve
ments nor creations, who will be pitted
and half despised; and the self-supporting
woman, with her mind ﬁxed upon a
deﬁnite aim, working not grudgingly nor
of necessity, but because of her own self-
respect, because of her liking for labor
for the reward it brings, will be the
envied among women. '

And when the working woman takes
her approuriate place, and is recogniZed
as working not by suﬁerance but. by
right, we shall see aproportionate de—
crease in crime. Women will no longer
drift into downward paths from sheer
inactivity and indolence, from want of
employment for the energies of mind and
hand, nor sell their virtue for the sake of

 

cause.they dare not work. and because it
is easier to give up than struggle.

BEATRIX.
a“ _
CHRISTMAS GAMES AND CAN-
DIES.

 

Most family gatherings at the holidays
are brightened by the presence of the
children, whose delight over their new
toys and the dainties of the table is so
unfeigned as to be a constant pleasure to
the elders, who have lived through the
callow days of taffy and toys, yet love to
see the gladness of the season reﬂected
from their children’s and grandchildren’s
eyes. For their amusement digniﬁed
aunts and uncles unbend, and even the
grandparents must not disdain to join in
the youngsters’games and grow young
again. The Christmas games are remem-
bered the year round, especially if the
wonderful Christmas tree, which blos-
soms and fruits in mid-winter, is a fea—
ture of the entertainment. And the won-
der and amaze of the very young, the wee
ones whose years can be counted upon the
ﬁngers of one hand, often repays the el—
ders whose hard work has wrought the
magic, and all the other pleasures are
cumulative.

A tree can be dressed at comparatively
small cost at home; the wax candles being
the principal money expense. Festoons
of strung popcorn, rosy checked apples
suspended by threads ,from the boughs,
small cornucopias and baskets and pails
of candies and a few stars and circles of
gilt and colored paper, quite transform
the modest evergreen into aholiday affair.
Several of the apples may be converted
into gilded spheres by the convenient
gold paint, making them like the golden
apple which Paris threw, since all the
children will covet them.

When a tree is voted “ too much trou—
ble," a Christmas table, on which the gifts
are piled, is next best. A large earthen
dish, or the humble choppinglbowl ﬁlled
with small evergreen boughs, with the
autumnal sporls of dried leaves and
grasses and ferns, is a pretty centre piece
round which to group the presents, or
even a blossoming plant gives an air of
gracious festivity to the occasion.

For amusements, the youngsters will be
delighted with a “bran pie,"a big dish
—-the half bushel measure will do nicely
-—ﬁlled with hran in which many tiny
gifts. sugar plums, Brazil nuts gilded,
small clusters of raisins, oranges, each

 

being supported in shameful idleness be-

 

wrapped in paper, small toys that can be

  

  


  
  
 

  
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
 
  
  
  
   
   
   
 
 
   
 
   
   
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
   
  
 
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

2

tied up in small space. are hidden. A
large spoon is provided, and Santa Claus’
pie is served, each one taking a spoonful.
Whatever bundle the spoon touches be—
longs to the one that is holding it, and
great is the mirth of the unfolding. An-
other game that pleases the children im-
mensely is the Christmas bag. Make a
bag of not too strong paper, ﬁll with sugar
plums, blindfold each child in turn,
and after turning round once or twice,
to bewilder any possibly calculating brain,
allow them three trials to strike the bag
with a small stick and break it so the can-
dies will roll out. When the bag is at
last broken all are allowed to scramble
for the bonbons.

Much amusement is also derived from

a “lucky box,” which is similar to the
bran pie, without the litter of the bran.
Small gifts are wrapped to look as nearly
alike as possible, deposited in the'box
and then it is passed around, each taking
a package. If the gifts are humorous,
much fun is the result. The one who
quotes “Precious goods come in small
parcels,” and so chooses a tiny bundle,
may be rewarded by apeanut or stick of
gum, the invisible hairpins maybe the
share of the curly-headed boy, and the
staid grandfather get the jumping-jack.
All these small matters please the child-
ren, and perhaps some older ones, grown
blase and world—weary, may be beguiled
into an unwonted frolic, even if followed
by a sigh at the thought that the “day of
small things” has passed forever—for
them.
In October, 1884, the HOUSEHOLD con-
tained some excellent recipes for home—
made candies, pure and healthful, which
can be eaten vsith comparative impunity.
Our old subscribers have only to consult
their ﬁles to ﬁnd these recipes, while for
the beneﬁt of our new readers,
we give directions for a paste
or dough, which forms the founda‘
tion of many candies known as the con—
fectioners’ choicest: Break the white of
one egg into a glass; carefully note its
bulk, turn out into a dish, and measure
' the same bulk of water; put this with the
white of the egg, and add two teaspoon—
fuls of lemon or vanilla extract. Beat
thoroughly, then stir in two pounds of
confectioners’ sugar, which sells at twelve
or ﬁfteen cents per pound. This makes
a candy of the consistency of dough,
which can be rolled out on aclean mould.
ing board. Figs and dates are cut and
mixed with a part, hickory and walnut
meats, Brazil nuts and almonds, rolled in
it, and then in granulated sugar; little
balls are dropped in melted chocolate for
chocolate creams; other balls conceal rai-
sins, while if a small portion is taken be-
fore stirred very thick with sugar, and
mixed well with dessicated cocoanut, a
very nice candy is made. M. I. G., of
Battle Creek, once gave us a recipe for
“Lightning Taffy,” made as follows: To
one pound of granulated sugar add a tea-
spoonful of cream tartar, and just enough
water to keep it from burning. Boil
ﬁfteen minutes, and pull till white.
‘Sour drops” are made by boiling the

THE HOUSEHOLD.

1t will dissolve; test by dropping a little
on a buttered plate till it will harden.
With these recipes for pure candies. there
is no need of feeding the children on terra
alba and glucose, disguised by fruit
sirups made from old cheese rinds and the

like.

THE COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSE.

The account of what one woman did.

as given in the last HOUSEHOLD, was of

great interest to me, as it is a subject that

has lain very near my heart for many a

year. This illustrates the fact that in

many cases one person with tact and

energy can inspire many others to work
for and achieve great ends for general
good. It is no small thing to overcome
old and ﬁxed habits, and the habit of
carelessness in regard to school buildings
and grounds is an old and well seated
one, although in many localities there
are evidences of an awakening, shown in
improvements in buildings if not in
surroundings. This encourages us to hope
that all necessary modern improvements
may not stop short of the district schools,
and that ways will be devised to warm
feet as well as headswhen pupils are
seated, and supply fresh and pure air;
while seats shall be furnished that will
not induce weariness and spinal curva-
ture; and books, maps and charts strew
the desks and tables bountifully. With
such a well appointed place to learn,
learning will come easily, and then, if
when out of school hours there is an—
other channel for thought supplied in the
cultivation and habits of plants and
ﬂowers, and an encouragement to love
the beautiful in nature, and achieve as
well as admire, it w0uld be a source of
improvement and pleasure. Botany is
becoming amore important study, and
its ﬁrst lessons would be only a delight—
ful recreation when illustrated soreadily.
I have often thought when passing school
houses with low walls and unattractive
surroundings, how easily all might be
remedied, and longed to have a hand in
the accomplishment of something to
please the eyes and refresh the spirits of
children, when they leave the usually
cheerless school room. Cares and re-
verses come soon enough with maturity,
let childhood and youth as far as possible
be bright, and in the future apleasant
memory to cheer when darker days may
come. It is almost pitiful to see children
sent from home, with its cool nooks
under shady trees, and woods inviting
rambles in the long pleasant days, with
freedom to romp and enjoy surrounding
beauties without, pleasant rooms and
home comforts within, to pass the days in
cheerless, empty rooms, with nothing
more pleasing to their eyes than a black
board with relics of the last recitation to
relieve its blackness. At recess they
must step out into a bare, shadeless yard,
With no attractive features about it, nor
material for amusement, except to wear
still deeper the footprints of little feet in
the barren soil: Along the sides of the
road or fences near by can be seen apart-
ments laid out, the only material to carry

 

 

nice of a lemon with as much sugar as

 

chance pieces of board which make their

“playhouse.” It looks “too poor” for

the children of wealthy and prosperous

Michigan, and all might be so easily and

pleasantly remedied. Now that women

are allowed a voice in school matters, I

have no doubt the day is beginning to

dawn when the district school house,

without and within, will be a model of

beauty and healthful arrangements,

while the grounds will be well laid out
and embellished with ﬂowers and trees,
with contrivances for the amusement of
the infants we are in the habit of send-
ing with older ones; let them enjoy it
without overburdening the teacher. It
is a matter that has been too long neglect-
ed, but when once there is an awakening
there will be a general readjustment of
things.

There are thousands of benevolent
schemes to resist wrong and accomplish
good, but it is a good idea to begin with
the children, and by example as well as
precept cultivate a just and generous
spirit toward humanity in general, and
not be niggardly because others are to be
beneﬁtted. Whoever does their part in
promoting the comfort and intellectual
growth of children, is taking a long step
heavenward. MRS. M. A. FULLER.

FENTON.
—————————¢09————-

RENOVATING OLD CLOTHES.

 

Black silk can be made to look almost

as good as new by sponging on the right

side with weak tea or coffee, and pressing

on the same side with a piece of ﬂannel
between the silk and the iron. If the
silk is badly wrinkled sponge with weak
gum-arabic water on the wrong side and
iron between two woolen cloths.

The following mixture is highly re-
commended as an excellent preparation
for sponging woolen clothes to clean
them: Two ounces of white castile
soap, cut in small bits and dissolved in one
quart of warm water. After the soap is
dissolved, add four ounces of ammonia,
four ounces: of alcohol, two ounces of
ether, one ounce of glycerine and three

quarts of soft water. Mix and bottle,
using rubber or glass stoppers for the
bottles. To use, pour a quantity of the
ﬂuid into an earthen dish. lay the goods
on the ironing table, on a' piece of rubber
cloth, and sponge with the mixture, wet-
ting thoroughly, and always drawing
the sponge in the same direction. When
the goods is nearly dry, press with a hot
iron under a piece of white cloth if the
goods is light colored, or under black, if
the goods is dark. Remove the rubber
cloth before pressing, and be sure there
are no creases in the ironing blanket, as
every one will leave a streak in the
goods.

Rusty black goods can be best restored
by sponging with strong ammonia water,
or, what 13 better, a mixture of equal
parts of ammonia and alcohol.

Grease spots can be taken from goods
of any color by covering the spots with
pipe clay. Powder the clay and moisten
with water to the consistency of thick
cream; spread on the spot and let dry.

 

 

 

 

out the plan-being the little pebbles and

Leave on several hours and then remove

 

 

 

 


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THE HOUSEHOLD 3

 

 

with the blunt edge of a knife, and dust
with a soft brush. To remove paint, ap-
ply turpentine till the paint is soft, then
sponge repeatedly with alcohol. Oil, wax,
and resinous substances may be removed
in this way. Spots made by rust on
woolens may sometimes be removed by
citric acid, but before applying test on a
bit of the material, as the acid some-
times changes the color of the goods.
Rinse rusty black lace in a teacupful
of soft water to which one tablespoonful
each of borax and alcohol have been
added. When the lace is partly dry, dip

in water in which an old black kid glove‘

has been borled, pull out the edges, pin
on a sheet of blotting paper and dry
under a heavy weight.

-—--—90§-——‘

BEGINNING TOO YOUNG.

 

A. L. L. gave us some solid truths in
her letter last week condemning the cus-
tom of “keeping company” which still
obtains in many communities, and is
characterized by a “protracted meeting,”
an economical consumption of kerosene,

and
“ Two forms with but one rocking-chair,
Two hearts that beat as one.”

I believe with her, that the custom is
one far “ more honored in the breach
than the observance ” and that the liber-
ties possible and permitted during the
“ settings up ” pave the way for the down-
fall of many an innocent girl who would
otherwise have remained virtuous. In-
nocence is weak before the specious ad—
vances of an unprincipled person who
cloaks ulterior purposes under pretense
of love and honorable intent, and is thus
able to waken love, or that imp of mis-
chief, In fatuation, that so often mas—
.querades with Cupid’s wings and quiver.

I think the parents of these precocious
misses might emulate to advantage the
example of a gentleman of my acquaint
ance who, when his pretty fourteen year
old daughter was called upon one Sunday
evening by a callow youth of her own
age, himself kept company with the pair,
and at half-past nine said “Well, Charley,
it is getting late, and time boys and girls
were abed; you’ve had some nuts and
cider and I guess you better be getting
toward home.” It is hardly necessary to
say this youth’s experience effectually de-
terred any further attempts on the part
of the lad or any of his companions at
“keeping company” in that direction;
yet the girl escaped the fate the gossips
predicted and married before many who
had “kept company ” with half the
young men of the vicinity. To prove,
however, how ﬁrm a hold this fashion of
getting acquainted with a possible ﬁance
has upon the minds of the rising genera-
tion, I have only to quote the following
paragraph in a late issue of one of our
State exchanges:

“A young lady not many miles from
here. took poison on account of her
father’s objecting to her sitting up with
a certain young man, but by the timely
aid of a physician came out all right, after
lying in spasms all night.”

This is what interference with the time-
honored customs of our forefathers leads
to. Death, rather than the tyranny

 

which interdicts “ sparking Sunday
nights!”

Yet I do not wonder we have children
keeping company, and marrying, and
getting divorced too—as witness acase in
our own State where a boy of nineteen
and a girl of seventeen ﬁgure in the
divorce courts—when I see how it is
taught them from the cradle up. If you
see three or four happy youngsters at
play together, there is always some fool
woman at hand to talk to them about
“little sweethearts” and “little beaux,”
to pair them off at the children’s parties,
and teach them to choose each other in
their games, when they ought to play to—
gether as innocent of difference of sex as
little pigs or kittens. But their little pre-
ferences are commented upon; they are
encouraged to talk of each other and
their likes, and worst of all they are
teased and joked about such things till it
is no wonder the little heads are full of
nonsense about “beaux” and “sweet-
hearts” when they ought not to know the
meaning of the words. Thus prepared, is
it any wonder that they begin to ﬂirt be-
fore they are out of knickerbockers and
short dresses, and are “ engaged” before
they have seen a baker’s dozen of birth—
days? It would be a greater wonder if
they did not, since there is no truer say-
ing than that homely adage: “As the
old ones crow the young ones learn.”
Why, I walked down the street this fall
behind two girls not over ten years of
age, who were discussing a party they
had attended the night before; they
criticised the dresses and refreshments in
a chorus of “ did you ever’s!” and ﬁnally
one began to narrate her exploits as a
belle: “And do you know, Ijust thought
I’d show Fred —. and so I ﬂirted With
Charlie —— till Fred was that jealous!—
he was just perfectly wild, and I pre-
tended not to see him at all and let
Charlie take me to supper!” “ What fun
you must have had!” said Missy No.2.
It’s quite enough to make one wonder
“ what on earth we’re coming to.”

Youth has its own peculiar charm in
its freshness, innocence, spontaneity and
naivete; it has neither wit, wisdom, ease
of manner nor fullness of experience, for
these come with the years, which rob us
of youthful charms but compensate us
by these more enduring ones. But these
youthful attractions are very quickly
lost in this playing at love-making, these
mimic passions and shallow emotions,
"idle, wavering heart blaze ” which
means nothing, yet consumes the bloom
of innocence. The miss who begins her
career in society by having beaux at
thirteen is an “ old girl” before she
should really have been “ out ” at all. At
a time where she should be studying to
ﬁll her mind with useful knowledge, her
alleged brain is busy with the boys. and
her tongue eternally prattling about
them.

It is no recommendation to a young
man to ﬁnd that a girl who attracts him
by herpretty face or engaging manner,
has “kept company " with three or four
before his advent. A rosebud in all its
dewy beauty, worn by one a brief space

 

and then handed to another, crushed
here and crumpled there, is quickly
tossed aside for an humbler blossom just
plucked from its stem. So the young
man when he wants a wife turns from the
girls who have been caressed by half a
dozen of his comrades, and selects some
modest daisy or violet in the garden of
girls. However blase he may be him-
self, no matter if he has himself “kept
company ” with a score of girls, when he
comes to marry, he looks ﬁrst for fresh-
ness and innocence.

And so, girls, if for no better reason
than that it is policy, do not hold yourself
too cheaply. That which seems beyond
our reach and costs us some effort to
obtain, is valued far more highly than
that which is ﬂung at our feet to take or
leave as we choose. Let it be known
that you belong to the “Early Closing
League,” and the young men will respect
you all the more. And as far as the
mothers are concerned, if a young man
came courting my pretty daughterI am
quite sure I should be anxious to become
acquainted with him myself, to see if in
my estimation he was a ﬁt person for a
son-in-law. I should not let her “keep
company” with him, and expect my op-
position to marriage, later, would result
in anything but an elopement; I certainly
should not wish to be obliged to say. as
didapoor woman whose daughter and
her two babies had ﬂed to her for shelter
from a brutal, intemperate husband:
“She kept company with him for
six months, but I never saw Mm but
twice till the day they were married!"

Idon’t know of any better comment on
the usual custom of having every mem-
ber of the family have pressing business
somewhere else the moment a young man
is seen tying his horse at the front gate.
BEATRIX.
-———-¢o

THANKSGIVING IN DIXIE.

A great many years ago, when I was a
little girl, my father was driving with me
along acountry road on summer after-
noon when we met a boy on horseback.
I exclaimed: “ Oh, father, see his foot!"
I have never forgotten his rebuke, which
included one of Benjamin Franklin’s
maxims of good manners, that we should
always be blind to the defects of others.
That great philosopher has laid down a
number of rules, which, observed, make
up the sum of that politeness some one
else likens to an air bag, which contains
nothing but eases our jolts wonderfully.

It does seem that one has a delusive
itch for slander to pass ill-natured reﬂec-
tions upon a strange community by whom
he or she has been treated with benevo—
lent kindness. '

I am trying hard to like this “ land of
cotton, down where the niggers grow
ten feet;” that is if they are not rickety
headed, or humpbacked, or handy-legged,
or by some disaster stopped growing in
the sixth year.

I thipk I have never received such
courtesy anywhere as I have from the
menI have met in Memphis. I am al‘
most ready to forgive a man his mouthful
of tobacco when he holds his hat under
his arm as he addresses me. When the

 

 


 

‘:;___n -_... -V.-_. 1,...“

4: THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

grocer apologized for the awkwardness of
his clerk by saying, “ He not know much;
he just from Cincinnati,” I was a little
crestfallen. Perhaps we Northerners,
with our brusque self— assurance, might
absorb some of the Southern urbanity to
advantage. N ot but that I shall forever
cling most fondly to the customs of my
own native State. I shall never learn to
respect the aristocratic shrinkage from
answering one’s own door bell, nor come
to revue the struggle made to preserve a
fragment of what the ancestors have
been. I shall never love the sight of
abale of cotton surmounted by anegro
driver. better than a load of corn on its
way to market driven by the whistling
farmer who has planted, plowed and
gathered it with his own hands. The
cotton and the colored man remind me
painfully of the' sad lot of a fellow crea-
ture born to no inheritance but slavery,
whose shackles are not yet shaken off.
Though the white people are now in self-
protection offering means of education
and improvement to these unfortunate
beings, whose numbers are in excess in
Southern cities. the present generation
wiil have passed away ere a white man
can till his own ﬁelds without feeling de-
graded, or the poorest family dispense
with a colored servant and not feel dis-
graced, or something akin.

Thus we "poor white trash ” come
down here and criticize, and heal the
wounds of separation from home and
friends with the tinkle of the Southern
guinea as it drops into our yawning pock-
ets.

The ladies with their plump forms,
gentle manners, and delicate hands,might
excite envy were it not for the glimpses
of their helplessness in the days of advers-
ity which have over taken so many. One
woman said to me: “ With our money all
gone, we can do nothing but keep board-
ers.” With my hair-splitting ideas of
housekeeping. I mentally remarked:
"And what a failure!" At that time I
was paying $8 per week (summer terms)
for board and a room, Where I felt each
time I entered it as though I must buy a
broom. We are housekeeping now in
two rooms on less money. When Vashti
arrived she was reading David “ Copper-
ﬁeld,” and exclaimed on entering the
apartments I had provided: “Why,we can’t
sling a cat here. But then we don’t want
to sling a cat. We never do slinga car.”
We bought our furniture on the install—
ment plan,and agreed to never again buy
a single article we could possibly get,
along Without. One has only to try, to
learn how genteelly and yet economically
one can live in a trunk, when under orders
subject to change without notice.

This is Thanksgiving Day, and is being
more generally observed here than ever
before. To me a free day is ever welcome.
Not having been able to get a winter
bonnet up to this time, this morning I
brought out the velvet from last winter,
which was originally a wedding vest, and
before dinner my poor little gray braid was
buried in a pal] of black scraps with a
saucy wing threatening to ﬂy away With
it. ,We wished as we sat down to our

 

dinner, that every woman and child in
the land had as many human comforts,
with the additional glorious privilege of
being independent through honest labor.

The sun is shining in at our window,
warm and mellow as a September day;
the old earth looks glad. Let us give

thanks. Dumnnmv.
Mnxrnrs, Tenn.
——-——§O.-—-——-

SPOONS.

 

It is the human kind that I mean: the
extremely devoted pair that we meet at
various times and seasons and in different
places. They may be of all sizes or pattern
of decoration, but male and female they
are ever. They may be very young, very
old, or a combination of the two, but
they are always encountered in pairs.

I once met a couple of these spoons
traveling. We were thrown in company
for several days. The female spoon was *
aﬁne, bright girl of sixteen, lively and
pretty, rather petite, with ahigh-stepping
gait that gave a curious swinging, up and
down bob to her head and shoulders as
she walked. Her mate was a tall, Shang-
hai-built youth, a few years older. Every
little while you would encounter them
packed away in some nook, playing some
game, or reading from the same book, or
lost to the presence of others, dreamily
leaning affectionately to each other. The
miss’s mother was their bete noir, always
on the lookout for them if missing; her
authority extended no further than to an--
noy and unsettle them. and soon the
maiden's high-stepping form would be
seen leading the way to some other p01nt;
her faithful swain following slowly, his
head towering away up high, while prob-
ably the mother, with a clouded brow,
wOuld soon pass in swift pursuit.

I guess they had a good time, but could

they have heard the comments their silly

conduct called out, their cheeks would,
have been aﬂame, unless terribly brazen—
ed.

Something may be forgiven an old
man, nearly in his dotage, who, over—
joyed by the possession of a young wife,
shows his triumph by a public devotion,
innocent though foolish. He has a legal
right to be silly, and no one is compro—
mised.

But the habit some young people have
at public or private parties of sauntering
off in pairs, Seeking secluded corners, or
nooks where a dim light shines dreamily,
there to loll in each other’s arms, whis—
pering sweet words to cars in close prox-
imity, is an exhibition of extreme bad
taste, and oughtto be earnestly condemn
ed.

Such thoughtlessness, to call it by a
mild name, on the part of agirl, is to
give rise to the gravest doubts of her
good character, cloud her reputation,
and giVe color to vilest insinuations
against her fair fame.

Let young girls distrust those young
men who are so ready to be demonstra—
tive. Let them keep their person sacred.
Suffer no caresses nor liberties.

The young lady, who, while lively and
sociable, is yet guarded and self-reliant,

 

is the one that wins the respect and es—-
teem of all, even those who are ready to
be one of a pair of spoons with some soft-
headed girl.

Wherever you go you will be likely to
see specimens of this genus, but if you
listen to the outspoken opinions of level-
headed people who witness their exhibi-
tions you will become disgusted with the
whole business. Don’t be spooney.

A. L. L.
[nausmm

.——_«._____

BABIES’ S HOES .

 

I am about to put short clothes on my
ﬁrst baby, and would like some help
about dressing her feet. Had thought of
crocheting the little shoes, but would like
to know what color of wool would be
most suitable, also about the color of the
stockings. W. M. F.

Many mothers crochet or knit little
shoes for the babies. but an active, ener-
getic baby, just the right size to creep,
can keep not only the mother, but also
her "sisters and her cousins and her
aunts” busy, and not half try. The
shoes are usually knitted of red, pink or
blue yarn, the more delicate colors being
preferred. The color of the stockings is
less important than their length, which
should be sufﬁcient to allow them to be
fastened with safety pins to the baby’s
diaper. Pink, blue and red are the usual
colors, though we have seen quite small
babies wearing black stockings, in def-
erence, we suppose, to that edict of
fashion which decrees black hosiery as
de rigour for all sorts and conditions of

femininity.
—————«o————

AN inquiry about babies’ cloaks will be

answered next week.
_____....____..

WHEN a wash boiler begins to rust and
is still too good to cast aside, make a good
sized bag of strong muslin or old bed
ticking, put the clothes to be boiled into
it, and so save them from rust.

___.__.__...__—.

Contributed Recipes.

 

TAPIOCA CREAM —Wash four tablespoonfuls
of tapioca and soak over night in one cup of
cold water. In the morning cook in a double
boiler with one quart of mill; till it is clear;
then add the yolks of four eggs beaten with
one cup of sugar and a Sultspoouiul of salt.
Stir constantly till it thickens like soft custard;
ﬂavor with lemon and serve perfectly cold.

CRANBERRY PUDDING.— One and a half cups
of sour milk; one tiaaSpoonful soda; one cup
sugar; saltspoonful salt; three cups ﬂour. Stir
Well together and add two cups of raw cran-
berries. Pour in a buttered tin and steam
one and a half hours. Sauce: Yolks of two
eggs; one cup sugar; half cup butter; juice of
one lemon, or a tablespoonful of vinegar; one
tablespoonful of cornstarch, stirred smooth in 7
a little cold water. Beat the butter and sugar,
add the eggs and cornstarch, and stir into it
three gills of boiling water. Cook till it
thickens sufﬁciently for the table.

MRS. T. J. K.

 

SUGAR Commas—Three eggs; one and a
half cups white sugar; one cup butter, and
one teaspoonful soda, dissolved in three table-
spoonfuls of sweet milk; ﬁve cups of ﬂour.
These cookies will keep six weeks.

BOANIE 800 FLAN‘D.

 

 

