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DETROIT, MAY 16, 1891.

 

 

THE HO USBHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

THE BUTTERFLY.

 

BY CLARA BELLE SOUTHWELL.

 

“ Butterﬂy, thou daring rover,
With the gold-dust on thy wing.
Which some fairy sifted over
So securely it doth cling,
Tell me, butterﬂy. the secret
Of this change that thou hast known;
From an earth-worm blindly crawling
Unto beauty thou hast grown. ”

But the butterﬂy not heeding
Any Word that I might say.

To a rose went quickly speeding,
Bright and beautiful and gay.

And I pondered o'er the mystery
Wisest men cannot unfold:

Tenant of an airy kingdom,
Gauzy wings of red and gold,

Is a child of blind brown earth-worm.
Which the bravest dread to see.
Born within a silken casket,
Builded fair and daintily.
Hark ! I hear a voice not distant
Speaking with a thrilling dart,
Or ’tis but a work of feeling
Deep within my inner heart.

" Faint not or be not a-weary,
Sad and lonely child of tears.

Tho’ all life seems dark and dreary
Lay aside those foolish fears :

May be that thy heavy sorrow
Is a silken fair cocoon,

Whence upon some glad to-morrow.
Robed anew, thou’ll grandly come."

—————.O.—-——-—-

FURNISHING A SLEEPING ROOM.

 

A correspondent asks some information
about furnishing sleeping apartments—
especially the best room. I could answer
her inquiry more satisfactorily had she
given me an inkling of the size and shape
of the room she Wants to furnish, and
what kind of a house it is in. For I am a
great believer in “the ﬁtness of things.”
The furnishings which would suit the
cottage would be out of place in a ﬁne
house, and what would be appropriate for
a pretentious modern dwe ling be incon-
gruous in an old-fashioned farm house.
Furniture should be in keeping with the
house.

We will assume the room to be fur-
nished is in a modern house, with high
ceilings, large windows, and no more
doors than are absolutely necessary. You
cannot furnish aroom prettily which is all
doors. A bedroom in the house where I
am living has ﬁve doors, and really there
does not seem to be a place for anything
else. The ﬁrst thing to do is to decide
upon the prevailing color. Let us suppose
it to be yellow—because I have just seen a
lovely apartment furnished in this color,

     

 

There is nothing that is glaringly yellow in
this room—there should not be in any
roam, whatever its 'chosen color——except
a few small things; that is, while the pre-
vailing tone is yellow, it is so treated and
harmonized that the effect is beautiful and
artistic rather than striking. The room is
ﬁnished in pine, oiled and polished. The
wall paper has a cream ground on which is
a conventional pattern in a deeper tone,
accented by gilt sparingly employed in
dots and dashes, ra'her than lines There
is no dado, but the frieze, separated from
the body of the wall by a line of gold
moulding, embodies a scroll design in
harmony with the wall pattern, on a
ground shading to the darkest tone at the
top The frieze is about eighteen inches
deep. The carpet is in soft blended shades
of yellow, toning up into almost white
and shading into faint wood browns. The
bedroom set is of birdseye maple. The
bedspread is lace over pale yellow china
silk, with shame to match; the light down
“comfort” of yellow satteen sprinkled
with shaded purple pmsies. The curtains
are white lace, tied ’with yellow ribbons.
The top of the dressing bureau is almost
too handsome to cover up, but has a
spread of yellow silk, over which is laid a
second spread of sheer bolting cloth having
a border of large pansies whose outlines
are embroidered in yellow silk in long
stitches, the edge then being cut out. (The
process of making was detailed, in other
materials, in the HOUSEHOLD last winter.)
The pincushion is of yellow silk, some-
what oblong, so that a big pansy em-
broidered on bolting cloth serves as a
cover. A big perfume bottle with cut
glass stopper hasa yellow silk petticoat and
lace overdress, so intricately ﬁxed up that
I refuse the task of describing it. Then
there is a handkerchief srchet of white
plush lined with yellow silk and tied with
yellow ribbons. A lounge upholstered in
pale shades of yellow darkening into light
brown, strewn with pillows covered with
china silk (which everybody knows can be
easily laundried) invites to an afternoon
siesta; there isa little writing-desk by the
window, in light wood—sycamore, I
think; a white rocker with a yellow
shoulder cushion and seat; and a little table,
yet to be furnished with a spread, holds a
few books and the yellow-lined basket with
thread, scissors, needles, etc., to be found
in every well regulated guest room. There
is no washstand, as there is a toilet-room
adjacent to the roomy closet, which is pro-
vided with shelves, drawers and hooks.

The appointments of this room are very
handsome, and its furniture and carpets
cost probably not less than $500 at a low
estimate. Few farmers could afford or
would care to expend so much in ﬁtting
up one room and that a bedroom. I have
described it because a room could be
furnished in cheaper materials, and be
made very pretty. If the bedroom suite is
on hand, let that give the tone to the
room. If it is of light wood, oak, pine, or
maple, yellow, pale blue or the daintiest of
pink or heliotrope could be chosenin which
to carry out the rest of the furnishings. If
the suite be walnut, or a dark wood, red,
old rose, green, or a deeper yellow, shading
into brown, could be chosen, and any one
be handled to make a lovely room. M m
people who furnish red rooms, blue rooms,
etc., sin against beauty by making the
color too pronounced or having too much
of it. Suppose we want to furnish a red
room; we choose paper of a warm grey, or
a pale tcru, with just the least bit of red
in an indistinct pattern running through it.
We paint the woodwork to harmonize.
We choose a small-ﬂ )wered carpet, its pre-
dominant tone that of the paper, but
having a little red in its design which
matches or tones with the red of the wall
paper. Nothing will sp all the room so
quickly as two or three tones of different
reds, such as‘a scarlet with any shade of
crimson, or the like. The bureau spread
may be satteen or silesia, or plain calico or
cambric if we can ﬁnd the right color, the
bolting cloth over‘spread having single
poppies worked in red for its border. Or,
if this is too much work, choose a grey or
corn felt and pink the edges of your scarf,
making it just the size of the top of the
bureau; on this arrange the pincushion,
toilet bottles and sachet, which are dressed
in red or red combined with the carer chosen
for the scarf. For the windows, curtains
of “coin spot muslin” that having thick
spots the size of a silver half dollar, are to
be preferred to cheap lace; they are simply
hemmed, or may have a four inch ruﬁie
scantily failed on. For a room which will
be used often, cover the washstand top
with white oiicloth, nailed on with tiny
tacks; on this put a spread which can be
washed without damage, and on this again
mats cro :heted of cotton yarn with a border
of red scallops, for bowl, pitcher, etc.
The “ splasher” will be etched in red; the
scrap basket have a scarf of red china silk,
or abig bow of red ribbon, to match its
red lining. When you have it all done,

 

don’t spoil it by pinning up half a peck of


2 - THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

 

advertising cards, cheap fans, tissue paper
“throws,” and kindred trash, but leave it
in its dainty plainness, a pretty symphony
in color, which will contrast favorably with
the over decorated apartments of your
friends.

If you prefer matting for your ﬂ )0!‘, you
can ﬁnd that woven in red checks or lines,
or in blue or green, to suit your room.
Under your muslin curtains you will have
the Holland shades, which should corres‘
pond with the others in the house, and you
will take pains to so place the bed that
light from the windows will not fall in the
face of the sleeper. In a red room I think
the bed looks best in plain white counter
pane and shame. The rocker, treated in a
couple of coats of white paint ﬁnished off
his layer of white enamel, will have a red
ﬂush cushion and shoulder pillow.

Billows are not as large as formerly and
sreoblong instead ofsquare. Twenty by
twentysix is a good medium size. The
most stylish pillow-slips have four inch
heme, which are hemstitched, and are
made of linen. Others are ﬁnished with
mbroidery three inches wide set without
fullness into a hem nearly as wide; lace is
similarly used sometimes. Insertions and
makings are no longer popular, but some
beautiful drawn work is occasionally seen.

The lighter the bedding the better for
both health and comfort. One wakes up
tired under heavy comforts which weigh
down the chest and limbs. Cneese cloth
comforts have lost none of theirpmularity.
When one has become soiled, it is easily
ripped apart, washed, and re made. Sat-
hen and the cheaper grades of china silk
are made up into light and pretty comforts,
but are more expensIVe; while the acme of
luxury is the down c3mforter (which a
little four year old laisie of my acquaint-
aneecails “the dump cover”) ﬁlled with
the softest and lightest of dOWn at $197
per pound. Sometimes a woman who has
little to do and can’t sleep makes her own
down, patiently cutting out the hard parts
of hens’ feathers and saving the down till
ﬁre has enough for a comfort, a pillow or
acushion. [have not seen a patchwork
quilt (except a couple lown myself) in a
tong time, but I infer they “ still live,” for
in the papers I occasionally read of women
whohave patiently killed time and sewed
together ﬁve thousand, six thousand, even
night thousand pieces of cloth. I call it a
had instance of misdirected energy, but
am willing other people should patch if
they will not require me to follow their ex-
ample. Nice wool blankets are cheap
mongh, in spite of that much abused
IcKinley Bill, so that the ﬂeeces of a
couple of sheep will buy a pair, and with
them and the light cotton c0mforts, we
can have healthful bed coverings if we
wilLtry. And as at least athird of our
ﬁne is spentin bed, we ought to try.

Eor-a spread for a little table, on which
you propose to place writing materials for
your guest’s cmvenience, and a few books
tohelp her pass away idle moments, you
an use a medium quality of linen, hem-
stitched, and having an outline design
worked in silk of the color in which you
have furnished your room. No pattern?

 

Take a prettily shaped oak or maple leaf,
and trace its outline and principal veins on
your linen, arranging a border by repeat-
ing the pattern. Ecru Bolton sheeting is
also a good material.

Harmonies, not contrasts, is the rule of
modern decorators; if contrasting colors
are employed they are studied and com-
bined with the utmost care as to effect.
Remember this in your furnishings and I
am sure the result will be pleasing.

BEATRIY.

 

A CHATTY LETTER.

 

I have been reading Mrs. Dewey’s article
on “ Man or Woman,” for the second or
third time, and while I think it all good
and true I must own I really thought Mr.
Biker only joking. it was too absurd for
anything but a burlesque. I thought per-
haps the Club had run short of a subject
for discussion, and he was like the boy
who shot at a man at quite a distance
(placing several shot in the back of his
neck) thinking to stir him up a little. But
that $8 000,000 expended for cosmetics
seems to be quite a poser. The opposite
sex seem to forget the larger amount they
spend annually and then only paint their
noses.

Dear Mrs. E iitor, how did you knowjnst
what we were thinking about—that ﬂower
bed? ButI am afraid you would plant
your ﬂower seed much too thick. Please
deﬁne the word kismet. [The idea is to
have the ﬂower bed a close mass of foliage
and bloom. The seedlings must of course
be thinned out. For such a bed it is best
to transplant from cold frame or plants
grown in the house. The soil must be
rich, and an occasional dose of liquid fer—
tilizer given. It is on this plan the beauti-
ful ﬂower beds of Belle Isle are made.
“ Kismet ” means fate.——ED J

Mac, try putting water in your soap. I
used to think no matter how strong the
lye if there was suﬂisient grease it would
be all right, but I have found by ex-
perience that it can be too strong, and will
separate as she describes.

In reading letters from the regular cor-
respondents I always imagine how they
look and picture their surroundings in my
mind; but Daffodiily’s last letter was a
puzzle. D.) tell us in what relation Vashti
and Chips stand to the household, and
what sort of a stable did Chips build.

I have heard of voting and getting mar-
ried by proxy, but never before of setting
up stoves and putting down carpets; will
A. L. L. tell us how the thing was done.
[Hired a substitute. Seef—Enj

One asks some for corns. A plaster
just large enough to cover the corn nicely,
made of tamarack pitch, is good. Leave it
on as long as it will stay, then renew. It
take the soreness out wonderfully.

What is the best known remedy for
people who have lived on a farm a term of
years, and are tired and sick of work and
are looking for ward tothe coming season’s
work with dread; who see the duties as
summed up by Mrs. Dewey, and then
wonder if they will “continue faithful to
the end.” [The best_medicine is a vaca-

 

tion, in which dull care is left behind.
Take a two weeks’ or a month’s trip to
Petoakey, Mackinac or Charlevoix, and
“loaf and invite your soul.”——ED.]

In an interesting article by Old Genome
in the FARMER of April 18th, what is the
meaning of this sentence: “ A Columbian
blowout at the great city on the mouth of
the Skunk river in 1892?”-[I‘lie World’s
Fair at Chicago—En]

As I am no friend to baking powder I
make a baking powder of my own by
sifting thoroughly one teaspoonful of soda,
one of but and two of cream of tartar,
making enough at once to ﬁll a small box.
If the cream of tartar is good and new it
will answer all purposes and lacks the
bitter taste of the average baking powder.

That cake should have been called
“Fanny’s cake” instead of “Farmers’
cake;” however there is nothing in a name;
thanks to all for kind words.

As variety is the spice of life, I will
send directions for making a doll for the
baby: Take one ball of coarse white
knitting cotton, and two yards of blue
ribbon No. 1. Wind the cotton over a
book that is eight or ten inches long, ac-
cording to the thickness of the book. Tie
one end tightly with the ribbon; make a
loop long enough to dangle it by, place a
small bow where it is tied, to answer for
front hair. Cut the threads at the other
end of the book, these form the bottom of
the dress. Tie another ribbon a short dis.
tance from the top to form the head. Take
from the back thirty-six strands of the
cotton, separate and braid in two strands
(I should divide the hair before tying on
the neck ribbon) cut off just below where
the waist would come and tie the ends
with little bows. Take thirtytwo strands
from each side, twist lightly once and cut
the desired length for arms, tie little bows
tightly on the wrist, the short ends forming
hands. Tie the ribbon about the waist
with the bow in front, and even the ends
oﬁ at the end of the dress. Eyes, nose
and mouth are worked on the face with
sewing silk twist. I have seen a doll made
like this, only less was used for arms and
hair, and small beads were sewed on for
eyes. Bass.

PLAINWELL.

 

QUEER FINDS.

 

Not long before Christmas, a woman
went out to feed her chickens. In her
pocket, loose, was a ﬁve dollar gold piece.
It had been paid her for butter and other
farm products, and it was the only money
she could command to buy presents for
the children. She pulled out her hand-
kerchief and did not see the shiner as it
fell to the ground. On going in she
thought to put it in her purse, but the
most eager searching failed to ﬁnd it, either
in her pocket or out in the chicken yard,
though she went over every square inch of
it. With a burst of tears she decided it
was gone, and the children j)ined in the
wailing chorus. A day or two before
Christmas, old Tom, a fat gobbler. had his
neck wrung, and was brought in to be
prepared for their dinner. On cutting

 

 
   

 

 

 

 

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THE HOUSEHOLD

    

 

open his gizzard something glittered, and
she joyfully pulled out the gold piece, so
the children had their presents after all.

A young girl had a gold ring with a
diamond in it; her engagement ring in fact,
on her ﬁnger. It was large and dropped
off while she was in the garden. She
could not ﬁnd it, though a vigorous search
was made. It was lost in the spring and
fell in a bed where some mignonette was
planted. A seed sprouted inside the ring,
grew and blossomed. The girl one day
picked one of the sprigs, and there was
her long lost ring, fastened to the end of
the sprig, and safely kept for her all these
months.

One summer’s nighta lady before re-
tiring determined to go down stairs and
assure herself that a certain window was
shut and fastened. As she passed through
the front hall she saw asmall object in
constant motion, trying to perch on a match
box fastened to the wall. It was a hat
that had ﬂown into the house through the
open door. Trying to get a foothold on
the box, he kept beating the matches with
his body, and this had ignited them; there
was smoke, and a small blue ﬂame just be-
ginning. She dashed the bat to the ﬂoor
and put out the ﬁre. Now if she had not
gone down just at that time the ﬂame
might have communicated to the paper
and acurtain that hung in the stairway
and much damage might have followed.
Many of these mysterious ﬁres laid to
tramps or careless servants are started in
just such strange ways.

A lady had a glass globe on a table by
the window. A sunbeam struck the glass
and was directed to so me loose papers on
the table. She fortunately came into the
room in time to save a ﬁre, but the papers
were smoking. A rag saturated with oil,
in a kitchen drawer, has caught fire and al~
most been the means of destroying the
whole house. SISTER GBACIOUS.

 

BRUE AND BRUNO AGAIN.

 

SJ many have expressed themselves as
interested in the fortunes of the 3——
family that I feel it will not be regarded as
an intrusion if I come again to give an-
other chapter in our uneventful lives. I
suppose our lives must be uneventful,
there’s nothing in them yet, thank heaven,
which goes to make the “thrilling in-
terest” of a cheap novel—no murder, abv
duction, robbery or divorce.

One lady said, quite a while ago, that it
seemed to take Bruno a long time to get
married. Perhaps so. Perhaps too, if he
had been her only brother and his mar-
riage meant the breaking up of the ties
of a lifetime, she would have felt, as I
did, that for all I knew it so long before,
it was yet “ awfully sudden ” at the
climax. But he was safely married last
January, and the happy pair have settled

friends of bride and groom. But did you
ever know a wedding where somebody did
not get mad because she was not invited
or was not treated just right or something?
[never did; and I am happy to say this
was not an exception. If everybody had
been suited, I should have been certain
there was a great mistake somewhere.
Clara’s mother’s second cousin’s dau ghter
was so angry at getting announcement
cards instead of an invitation to the wed-
ding that she jerked past Clara at church
the ﬁrst Sunday, and wouldn’t speak or
look at her or any of the family. Why
can’t people have some sense and realize
there are limits to one’s ability to enter-
tain, if there are none to the inclination!
The line had to be drawn somewhere and
it was drawn at third cousins. I was glad
“the relations” rallied most strongly on
Clara’s side; they could mt say there was
sucha number of Bruno’s folks that no
one else could be invited.

Clara had everything about the wedding
just as she wanted it. She said she’d got
to promise to obey and she meant to have
her own way up to the last minute. As
for Bruno, he’d been glad enough to have
escaped it all by talking Clara in his
buggy to the minister’s and getting the
knot tied in presence of only the requisite
number of witnesses. But Clara wouldn’t
have it that way. They were married in
the evening, and took the late train for a
little trip, just a short one—a farmer‘s
“ chores” can’t be p)stp med even for so
important a step as matrimony; nothing
but the quit claim deed issued by Death
will release him from their demands.

Clara’s dress was gray, a color which is
very becoming to her, as she always has
a pretty rose tint in her cheek; she had a
gray velvet toque with silver ornaments,
and silver pins in her bonny brown hair.
She looked very sweet and kissable, as
sweet as the bunch of Lt France roses she
carried and which came from a Detroit
ﬂorist. Poor Bruno rebelled alike at a
dress suit and decollete vest, and a Prince
Albert, and had a black suit made “ cut
away,” I think they call it, and a plain
lawn tie. I don’t know whether it was
“ correct” or not. but he looked very nice,
I thought. But I don’t see what makes a
man get his hair cut on the eve of every
important occasion. The barber gave
Bruno a “ﬁghting cut,” whereas if he’d
.had it done a week before, he would have
looked much better. When it was time,
one of Clara’s friends sat down at the
organ and played the wedding march—-or
as much of it as the keyboard would per-
mit. Bruno and his special chum, who
had the honor of being “ best man,” came
from their dressing room up-stairs into
the parlor; then there was an awful
pause, during which Bruno got a celestial
pink, waiting for the rest. Clara’s two
bridesmaids came ﬁrst from the down

down as if they had been married four h‘stairs bedroom where they had dressed,

years instead of four months.

It was a rather pretty home wedding—-
at Clara's of course. Their house is quite
large, so they could invite a company of
about sixty persons, the nearest relatives

then Clara on her father’s arm. The old
gentleman rebelled at having to take this
part, and said he “ wasn’t in it,” but
Clara managed him and he walked out,
looking very red and uncomfortable, and

 

on both sides, and the most intimate

out of step with the music. Everybody

rose as the bridal party came in, except
three or four of those sticks who may be
safely calculated upon to do the wrong
thing every time, and in a few minutes the
mutual pledges were exchanged and I had
a new sister. I gave a thankful sigh when
the ring was safe on Clara’s ﬁnger, for I
expected Bruno would lose it or forget
which one of his numerous pockets he put
it in and have to hunt them all through,
but it was produced at the proper instant.
Then, of course, kisses and congratula-
tions.

They served a “sit down supper ”—-
coffee, biscuits, chicken salad, cold tongue,
scalloped ovsters, ice cream, cake, etc.
Too much and too many kinds, according
to my notions, which would be for delicacy
and daintiness, rather than a great variety
and profusion. People do not go to a
wedding to eat, though I must confess
there were several who seemed to have
fasted for a day or so in advance in order
to do full justice to “ Aunt Kate’s ”
cookery. And here of course was also the
disgruntled individual who was assigned a
seat at the second table and thought the
ties of consanguinitv entitled her to a
place at the ﬁrst. I wonder why it is always
women Who are the snubbed and slighmd
ones at such times? I don’t remember
ever hearing of a man who felt affronted
because he was asked to the second table—-
if he had all he wanted to eat.

Supper was hardly over before the just
married Dair had to hurry off to the
station. Just as they were going out the
door Clara thrust her bouquet into my
hands and whispered “ You next, deari"
They left in a shower of rice, with a few
old shoes for luck; and that rice was a
dead give away all through their tour.
There was ricein Bruno’s overcoat pockets,
rice in his clean pocket handkerchief, rice
rolled up in his umbrella, even rice in his
pocketbook when he opened it to buy his
tickets; in fact he said that they could be
traced all through Ohio by the rice they
left behind them.

When they returned, I had the house
decorated with evergreens ready for the
reception I had planned as a surprise. It
was a “Young Folks’ Party,” and it was
gay. Everybody seemed to have a real
good time. Our house is not large or ﬁne, .
but it is “homey,” which is I think the
reason it is so easy to entertain in it.
There’s no ﬁne furniture to damage or
rich carpets to soil, so we just go in and
have a good time. I notice that‘s what
most folks seem to like. For refresh-
ments, I had the daintiest ham sandwiches,
and ice cream and two kinds of cake.
Young people can take liberties with their
digestions; though when I come to think of
it, Idon’t believe ice cream and Delicate
cake are any worse for the stomach, at 11
p. m., than coffee, cold tongue and
pickles, which I’ve known older folks to
eat freely though they “ dassent touch”
ice cream. Clara looked as pretty as a
peach in her heliotrope cashmere with its
cream silk vest. She was real sensible
about her outﬁt‘trousseau, I suppose I
should say—she had two new dresses and a

 

pretty tea gown, and did not sew herself

  


THE HOUSEHOLD.

  

 

into strings making underwear in “ sets ”
to lie by and get yellow. Instead, she
bought table linen, bedding, and furniture
for her own room, a lovely oak suite, and
a carpet in brown and yellow which goes
beautifully with it.

She had a good many quite pretty
presents; a set of after dinner coffee spoons
from acity cousin, who I guess forgot it
isn’t the custom to dawdle over the cups at
a farmer’s table, and that the “new
tangled notion” of coffee served at the
end of a meal doesn’t please the man ac-
customed to take three cups during
his dinner; cake basket; berry dish;
cream pitcher, sugar bowl and spoon-
holder in silver; there were ﬁve Odd
teaspoons from different cities, sent
by friends; a lovely tablecloth and
napkins to match from a dear old lady,
and lots of little things. It was such a
comfort that everything was nice of its
kind, except indeed, a great sprawling

fruit stand that said “plate” all over it
and had a mock cut glass bowl, sent by

Clara’s uncle who lives in great style in a
big city (they say his wife would faint if

perature. It is a ﬁrst rate plan to have
three sets of garments for underwear, or
even four. First, you put on your heavy
woolen underwear, new, the last of No-
vember, or ﬁrst of December, when winter
is fairly upon us. When these grow too
warm in the spring, you change to those
of the previous year, which have grown
thin by wear and washing. When these
in turn become uncomfortable, you will
ﬁnd in the stores long-sleeved vests and
drawers to match of a heavy cotton weave,
and these are worn till the torrid days of
July make welcome the thin silk and lisle
sleeveless vests. From these you go, as
it grows chilly in autumn, to the long-
sleeved, the partly worn and the new again,
and manage to be comfortably clad at all
seasons. Nor is this more expensive, once
the routine is established, than having
just two grades, for hot and cold weather.
There’s only 52 weeks in the year for
either. And the transitions are so graded
there is little danger, with half care, of
catching a cold.

When you want to change, say from the
thick merino wear of winter to the half-

committed other imprudences which left
their mark on her physique. To take care
of one’s self is a duty the wife and mother,
the husband and father, owe to their
families, and the young folks to themselves

and those who shall come after them.
BEATRIX.

——‘O’-——

KETURAH RISES TO EXPLAIN.

'

 

"What has become of Keturah?” asks-
Mae, of Flint. Now what made her ask
that, I wonder! It surely was not because
Keturah was a frequent contributor or one
who wrote in a spicy manner. Well, as
Mae said, “A bad penny will return,”
and so here I am again. In answer to her
question 1 will say I’ve gone and done it,
I’ve got me a husband. I haven’t a doubt
but that some of you, in fact the most of
you, have gone through the same ceremo-
ny, “ for better or for worse,” etc., and
I fancy I can hear Brue say “ My, how
dreadfully shocking! H)w could she? I
wouldn’t.”

I have been waiting all these months for
an account Of Bruno’s wedding, and have
at last come to the conclusion that it has

she saw butter on the dinner table), and is
worth half a million. I suppose they
thought it would “impress” the country
folks by its size and showiness, but I notice
Clara had draped its aggressiveness with
a China silk scarf one of her mates gave
her. Some people have good taste, if they
haven’t money.

SO Bruno is “ Benedict the married
man!” Well, they say matrimony in a
family is as “catching” as mumps or
measles. I shouldn’t be surprised if it
proved so in this instance.

BRUNO‘S SISTER.

——-...—_

CATCHING COLD.

To “catch a cold” while changing the
clothing from the heavy wear and wraps
of winter to the lighter garments called for
by the warmth of the advancing spring
weather, is the common lot of us all.
Young people, who have not learned the
danger which lurks in colds, are prover-
bially careless in this respect, and their
imprudence often results in life-long in-
jury to health They rush in, in a per-
spiration, declaring they “cant stand it an-
other minute,” and off goes the ﬂannel
skirt, the woolen shirt, or the heavy coat,
perhaps replaced by one much lighter in
weight, oftener by none at all. And next
day they have snufﬂes and need three
pocket handkerchiefs, and the cold be-
comes catarrh, and that leads to other
troubles. perhaps to the doctor and the un-
dertaker, when a little good sense might
have prevented the cold and its attendant
train of disasters.
When you are overheated and perspir-
lng is just the very time when you should
NOT make any change in your clothing—-
unless indeed it be to but on more if you
are going into a colder atmosphere, which
is always to be avoided if possible. Do
not be in too great haste to get into thin-
ner garments. Our climate is too uncer-
tain to make such. changes because of a

worn garments of the previous year, take a
bath the night before, and give the entire
body a good brisk rubbing with a coarse
towel. You will sleep like a top, and in
the morning you need not be afraid to put
OI the lighter clothing. You’ll be “ all
right." Once made, it is not often advis-
able to change back, as must often be
done where the difference in warmth is too
great. Never take off a garment when you
feel it to be too warm, during the day.
Wait. Therein lies safety. The simple
precaution I have intimated here will save
you a perhaps dangerous cold.

Never sit in a draft. If you feel a cur-
rent Of cold air, get out of it. Stay not on
the order of your going if it strikes you on
the back of the neck or between the
shoulders, espccially. DO not ride with
your back to the wind if you can avoid it;
and if you must, put on extra wraps. The
lungs, anatomists tell us, are nearer the
back than the front of our bodies, and
hence, really, we ought to wear our lung
protectors on our backs. Some of the
worst cases of pneumonia have resulted
from being chilled by a cold wind blowing
on the back.

Health is such a priceless gift that it al-
ways saddens me to see the young people
so imprudent and careless. You see I
have learned one’s account on the bank of
Health can very easily be overdrawn.
There is no gift so greatly to be prized as
health. Wealth, education, intellect, are
gifts of Tantalus without the health which
enables us to enjoy themto the full. “ De
mornin’ glories aint lubly to a man wid
de back-ache,” said the old colored
preacher.

Many a farmer is an old man at ﬁfty, be-
cause he was reckless in his youth and
thought his health and strength would en-
dure forever. We don’t prize a thing,
really, till we learn its value by losing it.
Many a woman is old, and worn out at
forty, looking as if she were sixty, he

been postponed indeﬁnitely.

Since my ﬁrst appearance in the House:-

HOLD circle, I have had the pleasure of
meeting Beatrix Evangeline, M. E H.

and Euphe nia.
how glad I was to meet them face to face

and know them.

I will not try to tell you

0f the HOUSEHOLD what can I say, ex-

cept that it improves with age and each
number seems better than the last—probe
ably because it is fresher, and the last. As
soon as the FARMEB comes I seize the
HOUSEHOLD and read it through without
stopping once.

Several times i have had my mind made

up to write and inquire after Grandpa’s-
health and also Aunt Huldah Perkins’ and

others, and once or twice I have com-
menced a letter and then in fancy I beheld
the huge waste basket at “ye editor’s ”'
right hand, and being fearful of the ﬁnal
resting place of my letter, I forthwith de-
stroyed it.

The band has stopped playing and all
the people are at rest, and with them I will
say good night and pleasant dreams to vou
all. KETURAH.

Cass Co.
———-—-OO.—_"

“ A Reader” at Parshallville writes us:
“In the HOUSEHOLD of May 9th we saw
an item stout ants. A little tartar emetic
in sweetened water, set in places they
frequent will exterminate all kinds of ants.
This I never knew to fail.

___.__...——-—_

AN English medical journal says a
physican treated cancerous tumors with
great sucsess during a practice extending
over a period of twenty years, by the ad-
ministration of carbonate of lime obtained
from calcined oyster shells. The shells
were subjected to heat in the oven, and the
calcined white lining of the shell, reduced
to powder, taken once a day, the dose
being as much as will lie on a silver quarter.
At least this remedy can do no harm, if it

 

 

 

cause as a girl she went with wet feet, and

 

week of pleasant weather and mild tem-

    

does no good.

 

 

 

