
 

 

 
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
 

   
 

   
  
 

 

   
  
  
  
 

 

 

DETROIT, JUNE 10, 1893.

 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD-"Supplement.

 

 

SPRING.

‘IEI SONG OF A WOMAN WHO DOES HEB OWN WORK.

Spring'
To be sure-so it its—and I’m going to sing.
Not the tunes that the regular poets rehearse
In ridiculous verse.

I've nothing of winds aromatic to say.
.‘Nor pansiee. nor tulips. nor hyacinths gay,

I live in the city.

And discover no pretty

Green leaﬂet or bud

Sticking out of the mud:
Nor do I hear warble of black bird or blue.
Yet I know it is spring just as well as you do.
Lye. i know it too well. for it‘s all spring for me.
From long before breakfast till long after tea.
,1 spring with the mats and the rugs out-of-doors;
I spring to the carpets. drag them from the ﬂoors-
I spring up step laiders and wash down the walls.
I spring to the win lows, I spring to the halls;
.1 spring to each c )rner. each closet. each nook:
Iuspring to each dust-laden picture and book;
1 sp ring to the garret. where cobwsbs abound:
.1 spring (if I may be allowed the expression) to

the cellar. half way underground;
:1 spring—but. good gracious. to tell everything
I spring at would take me the whole of the spring.
And when spring is over I feel. I declare.
As though my springs were broken beyond all
repair.

 

Spring 1

'To be sure—so it is—but let nobody bring
Any poems to me about beautiful ii )wers.

Or life-giving showers.

0r vine-covered bowers.

0r ’snnshiny hours;
For really such things seem extremely uume sning
To one on whom spring springs a lot of spring

cleaning.

 

WOM iN’S NEW DUTY.

 

The Legislature of 1893, which ad-
journed sine die May 29th, among its
closing enactments passed a bill extend.
ing municipal franchise to women. The
bill, introduced by Representative New-
:kHK, of Lake County, came up early in
the session and failed. to pass; it was res-
cued from oblivion by a vote to recon-
sider which gave it another chance;
was amended by striking out the prep-
erty qualiﬁcation and inserting an
educational one, and as amended came
up for another trial. The second venture
was more successful; the bill passed the
House by a vote of 57 to 25; in'the Senate
the vote was 18 to six, some of the
Senators “dodging the issue.”

Governor Rich has afﬁxed his ofﬁcial
autograph to it, while an association of
women interested in 1ts passage obtain-
ed the pen with which the gubernatori-
al signature was written, and embel-
lished with the customary ribbon how
it is to be preserved as a precious

' memento of the fact that “Half a loaf is
. better than no bread.”

 

 

The measure makes all women over
twenty-one who can read a clause of the
State constitution qualiﬁed to vote on
all local questions arising under town,
village and city elections, and also
school elections; it does not, however,
make women eligible to town, village
and city oﬂices, as has been asserted.
Another act must confer that right.
State and general elections only are
barred, but it is expected that having so
strong an entering wedge in the polit-
ical door the next move will pry it wide
open, and the franchise rights of man
and woman he made equal.

The educational qualiﬁcation, which
on its face savers of class legislation and
which it therefore was at ﬁrst claimed
might class the bill as uyoustitutional
should a test case come before he
Supreme Court, is apparently a perfect-
ly legitimate provision, as the constitu-
tion vests in the Legislature certain
discretionary pOWers in deciding to
whom suffrage shall extend: though one
of the most able constitutional lawyers
in this city, Mr. F. A. Baker, is re-
ported as believing it unconstitutional.

If it were thought necessary to limit
the exercise of the right in any way, it
would really seem as of the prOperty
qualiﬁcation were the right one, for
the plea that women who pay taxes
should have equal rights with male tax-
payers is an old one and appeals to our
sense of justice. For my own part, in
order to have the sensible element
among women represented by ballot,—
I. would have included a proviso that no
woman who wears, has worn, or will
wear a trained dress on the street and
let it drag, should be permitted to vote.

The friends of equal sud rage regard
the passage of this bill as a great
triumph. Its political eﬂect will be
closely and carefully studied, for that
effect cannot at present he predicted-—
hardly guessed. A great power is put
into the hands of women. many of whom
are profoundly ignorant in respect to
our laws, elections, and all public ques-
tions, and many of whom have little de-
sire for information. A great respon-
sibility, undesired by and unacceptable
to a large element, is thus thrust upon
women; a responsibility which must be
exercised wisely and judiciously to
sustain the credit and reputation of the
sex;for more will be expected of us than
of men. so much has been claimed for

l

 

 

 

woman by the advocates of her suffrage,
so many wrongs are to be righted, so
many abuses to be reformed thrcug h the
agency. The female millennium has
long been ﬁxed for the day “when
women can vote.”

For my own part, at the risk of being
considered one of the non-progressive
women whose conservatism stands in
the way of woman’s advancement, I
shall say I regret the passage of this
bill. I regret, because I ﬁrmly believe
that where you ﬁnd one woman who
wants to vote there are three who do
not. True, the aggressive minority
tells the quiescent majority that they
don’t know what is good for them, but
the most cruel people in the world are
and always have been those who think
they know better than you do what you
need! Moreover, most of us have en-
ough to do without saving our country.
Idon’t question for one moment wo-
man’s ability to judge on all public
questions quite as well as man; no “in-
feriority" as regards sex is for a moment
considered; and the oldcry, “Who’ll
mind the baby while mama is at the
polls?” is too weak and silly to be for
an instant regarded. But 1 do ques-
tion, in all sincerity, the expediency
of woman’s entering the world of politics
as a factor in its broils and strifes.
True, advocates of suffrage say she is
to reform its corruptions, and cleanse
and purify its current. I see far
more danger that she will be drawn
into its maelstrom only to become
part and parcel of the stream. I
do not know one woman who has enter-
ed the political ﬁeld who has not been
demoralized by it—and this because in-
stead of regarding her womanliness as
acrown of honor, she has striven to
discard it as a weakness and to adopt
men’s ways and methods in proof of
strength. She has copied man. not
striven to lay the foundation for a new
era. For example one has but to look
at the Kansas woman who "fought for"
the Alliance last fall.

I had a monosyllabic conversation
with a man on this subject the other
day, and as he is one who knows the ins
and cuts of political ways, I report it
for our mutual beneﬁt. I asked:

“What do you think of this women’s
suffrage bill?”

“ I don’t like it.”

“You don’t! Why not?”

 

 

x-umwmm...” ,
,- ‘ M.
,4. - . . .

,_" «4:93; 1“,. »

 

”nu—w, “a W.

.1». /~“

‘g-

ﬁwem»:

     
   
 


 

  

The Household.

 

“ Oh, it’s going to make a lot of
trouble.”

“ Trouble? Why, in what way ‘9”

”Oh, posting women in all the
schemes and dodges in politics.”

‘ “ But we’re not going to have any
‘ schemes and dodges’ when women get
into politics.”

A contemptuous ejaculation and a
very French shrug of the shoulders was
the reply to this.

“ But anyway,” said I, renewing the
assault. “ Why not do away with the
wire pulling and trickery and all. that
now disgraces the political ﬁeld, and
' let the best man win ?’ ”

“ You can’t do it. Women will sim-
ply be another element ‘in it.”’ And
that in a tone which I was forced to ac-
cept as ﬁnal, and which conveyed all
the sincerity of conviction. And I must
say I ﬁnd this view shared by every
man whose opinion I have inquired,
and borne out by the methods of women
themselves in certain elections in this
city in which they are permitted to par-
ticipate.

I would be most sincerely and hearti-
ly in favor of feminine suffrage if I be-
lieved thrOugh it the political world
could be reformed. But when I see how
good men—men esteemed honorable
and upright in private life—become
cowards, wavering vacillators. afraid to
advocate this or that measure for fear of
consequences to their own political pre-
ferment or their party afﬁliations; when
I see them discussing what is expedient,
not what is right; not even what is right
and expedient, but simply what will
hold best their own grip on ofﬁce or
emoluments, I confess I can see noth-
ing but demoralization to our sex.

Politics is an Augean stable which is
not to be cleansed by woman suffrage,
especially when exercised by a majority
unprepared if not indifferent to it.

BEATRIX.

A BUNCH OF COWSLIPS.

 

Just over yonder, down in a little
gorge, motionless waters are covered
with a golden crest. The banks of this
narrow passage rise to a height of
several feet, and looking down into its
showy magniﬁcence, the quotation—
”Flowers are God’s thoughts in bloom,”
is very wisely presented.

I stoop and gather a bunch of these
golden-crested cowsli ps, po wderin g what
thought is suggested in this lowly, but
still gorgeously decked ﬂower. Is it
humbleness? Truly it springs from a
lowly bed! and, were it trained and
moulded into perfectness by a skillful
ﬂorist, a mission were given it just as
much as to the violet or primrose.

But why so conspicuous, as it rises
from such a mass of corruption; the
stagnant, mouldering pool is its only
resting place, snakes and frogs its only
companions! Surely its work must be
an important one!

Perhaps as a simile between this ﬂow-
er and our hearts is where it can per-

form its mission; for as its showy crown
basks in the sunshine,above so much that
is corruptible. so are some hearts bask-
ing in the same genial warmth wearing
a hypocritical garment, covering up
pride, deceit and fraud beneath its cloak.

While thus soliloquizing, I heard a
rustle in the thicket; turning in the
direction of the sound, and separating
the shrubbery, I came face to face with
a little motherless girl; her garments
were tattered, her face brown, and her
hair a disheveled mass. In her arms
she crushed a bunch of cowslips. The
silence of this secluded spot, together
with the greenness and gorgeous hue,
seemed to gladden her very soul.

In this lone yet picturesque place, she
(ﬁguratively speaking) ran wild. The
birds as they poured forth their sweet
notes seemed as shy sweethearts, and
as the raindrops fell on her disordered
tresses her heart was tuned to their
soft patter.

But this little child was taken to live
in a large city, where the air was so
ﬁlled with wickedness that she could
not smile, and as time wore on she
drooped and faded, as had the cowslips
she gathered in that place so dear to her.

On her pallet, too weary and weak to
rise, a messenger of love bent over her
wasting form; she raised her eyes, and
said, "Won’t some kind angel remem-
ber to pluck acowslip and bring it to
me?” So—

They brought her a bunch of cowslips;

She took them with ﬁng rs weak.
And k seed them, and stroked them, and loved

them.
And laid them against her cheek.

“It was kind of the angels to send them;
And now I'm too tired to pray;

If God looks down at the cowslips,
He‘ll know what I want to say."

They buried them in her boson];
And when she s" all wake and rise,
Why may 11 t the ﬂowers be quickened.
And bloom in her happy skies?

The cowslips had performed their
mission, for into that lonely heart they
came as a comforter. Thus God’s
“thoughts” as He opened each petal,
showed love and gladness, which came
to this little heart needing solace and

c0mfort.
M'r. CLEMENS. LITTLE NAN.

 

ADVICE TO MARRIED PEOPLE.

 

We are again permitted to see and
enjoy the most beautiful panorama of
nature at her very loveliest. What
artist ever succeeded in painting the
lovely coloring in which Nature robes
herself at this particular time of the
year! The autumn may be gorgeous in
robes of many colors, but no such per-
fection in every particular is seen ex-
cept in spring, when everything seems
born anew, typical of the resurrection.
The farmer and his wife begin with new
hopes and expectations; every thing
looks fav )rable for a successful harvest
in the garden and the ﬁeld. Who can
help loving and enjoying the beautiful
spring time! Let us enjoy all we can to-
day; to-morrow we know not of. .

I am not in a scolding mood but there

 

are one or two things I wish to say

.55

 

the HOUSEHOLD, not only to the writers.
but to its readers. I have little sympa-
thy with the woman who is constantly
worrying about varying the bill of fare
for her table. No one can give a bill of
fare ‘that can possibly ﬁt every table.
Many do not raise everything that
might grow in a garden, and the family.
purse is not deep enough to buy every--
thing they would like. Other families
are so small that many things usually
considered necessary for an ordinary
dinner could not possibly be done justice
to, and a part of each dish would be left

to be thrown away or set asidetobe ’

warmed over, which is seldom palatable
to those whose appetite always demands
something new.

If every woman asked " What can I
cook that is good and palatable, with
the least expense of nervous energy and
least amount of time over a hot stove?”
that would be sensible. If our food was
all made of the best material of its kind
and prepared in the best manner with
plain seasoning—and the variety not so
great as to tempt the appetite beyond
the bodily needs, we would not be a race
of dyspeptics, and there would be fewer
bilious peeple and fever patients.

The other thing which makes me
tired is the anxiety displayed by some
women at house-cleaning time, as if
their husbands were Only half tamed
animals, and in danger of being fright-
ened away to some other woman’s home
if they found their accustomed ease and
convience in any way disturbed. I feel
like saying " Bah!” “0, pshaw!” any
thing that’s expressive; it isn’t half as
hard for the man as for the wife, who
has to do her usual kitchen work and
at the same time take up carpets. wash
windows and wood-work, mop ﬂoors,
beat carpets and put them down again;
and this is not more than one-half of
the work required to be gone through
in the ordinary house. The husband
helps bring in the dirt, why shouldn’t-
he help carry it out, or hire some one
to do it in his place?

Girls, when you marry begin right
with your husbands. . Let the home be
a partnership coucern, in which each is

equally responsible for its weal or woe. '

When your husband has a hard job you
can do a number of things to save him
steps; when you have a hard job like-
house cleaning exact such assistance as
you need, remembering neither should
be always the waiter to run errands or
pick up the things thrown down because
it is too much trouble to put them
where they belong. I wish every one
would heed the advice in Evangeline’s
letter, “ The Duty of Helpfulness.”
No one should feel that duty stronger
than husband and wife, one just as much
as the other. I feel sorry when I see a-
woman a slave to every whim and wish
of her husband and children; and also
when I see a man slave himself to death
that his wife and children may live with-
out work and wear ﬁne clothes.

The Legislature which has just adv

.M’Etrﬁwﬁmwaw . e... ., .1..31"'Wt t. - m, en's;- . ‘4‘ 4

\/

 

 
  

 

 

.. air—9v -

l
l
l

 
 


   

 

      

The Household‘.

   

8

 

journed has conferred upon women the
right according to law to vote. I think
the State, a part at least, gave the we-
men the right to vote on school matters
under certain provisions; now they have
municipal suffrage. Women must pre-
pare themselves to take an intelligent
position at the next election. Ibelieve
if women take the right course many
of the abuses may be reformed, and
the disreputable name attached the
voting place is already a thing of the
past; no woman need be less modest or

' less womanly going to an electiou than

in going to church. I believe the major-
ity of women will vote for principle in-
stead of party; and that women will be
far less reckless in voting large sums of
money for every thing which comes
along.

' I am not and have never been a rabid

\ woman suﬁragist, but I do think that

women who pay‘t‘axes should be allowed
to vote; and I think a good woman’s
vote will nullify a bad man’s vote. I
might say much on this subject, but we
do not want very much politics in our

little paper.
ALBION. M. E. H.

[Woman’s right to vote at school
elections has heretofore been a matter
of local option; that is, conferred or
withheld by local declsicn. The new
Legislative act extends the privilege to
all women in the State who can read.—
E11]

 

"EOHETHING GOOD TO EAT.”

 

“ A Farmer’s Wife in Trouble ” beg-
ged the HOUSEHOLD last week to assist
her to solve that problem which con-
fronts the housekeeper three times per
day—what to get for the next meal. We
must help her out, of course; that is the
mission of the HOUSEHOLD. If she

‘ only has a garden! Let us hope she

has. Then she will have lettuce, radish-
es and asparagus by this time. I confess
to a fondness for a dish of'fresh lettuce,
picked in the early morning while crisp
with dew, at breakfast, though it is
seldom served at that meal. There is a
great variety of mufﬁns, gems and cakes
which are relished at the morning meal
and very easily and quickly made after
one gets in the way of doing it. If
hurried in the preparation of breakfast,
have the gem pans greased over night
and either turn themdown in the tins
or cover with a towel; they are ready
for the batter. Recipes for these are
found in every housekeeper’s repertoire,
but sometimes are overlooked. Wheat
pancakes are always palatable at this
season, after one has had a little respite
from the buckwheat cake with its ham
and sausage gravy which is such a pro-
liﬁc cause of pimples and skin eruptions
in spring. It won d pay every perplex-
ed housekeeper to have always 1n store
oatmeal, cracked wheat, graham ﬂour
and cornmeal, thus enabling her to
vary her breakfasts in a very appetizing
fashion. Good food is always an econ-

, may; it saves strength and conserves

 

health, and instead of using so much
meat and wheat ﬂour, it is better to pro-
vide these changes.

Eggs are always at hand on the farm

*and Capable of a great variety in ways

of preparation. though most often put
on the table “plain boiled or fried.”
Poached eggs on toast was afavorite
breakfast dish of mine when I was in
the habit of getting up warm meals.
Scrambled eggs are “‘ not half bad ” and
no more trouble than to fry. Break as
many eggs as you need into a sauce-pan
in which you have melted a bit of butter,
set over a moderate ﬁre, with a fork
stir yolks and whites together and be
fore they have "set” turn into a hot
dish; they will ﬁnish cooking after
being turned out. Fried bread or French
toast is not only a relish for the break-
fast table, but also a good way to use up

stale bread. Dip the slices into hot‘

milk,then into beaten egg and fry brown
in fried meat drippings or butter, and
serve with butter or asugar syrup, as is
most agree able. If you have rough
pieces of boiled ham or even remnants
of fried ham. mince them ﬁne, reject-
ing all bits that do not chop up nicely;
add an equal quantity of-cracker crumbs,
and a little water to moisten, pepper
and salt to taste; put into abaking dish,
with the back of a spoon make hollows
or depressions on the surface, break an
egg in each hollow, and bake to a deli-
cate brown in the oven. Or, stir the
chopped ham into your pan of scrambled
eggs, and you have a good imitation of
a ham omelet.

The woman who has to prepare meals
for eight or ten men needs a good re-
serve to draw upon. She needs ﬁrst,
most and all the time, a good vegetable
and fruit garden; then, besides the
ﬂours mentioned she should have in
store with the usual salt pork and ham
of the farm cellar, cod-ﬁsh, dried beef,
maccaroni, rice, tapioca, and canned
corn. Yes, I fancy I hear a chorus of
my countrywomen saying as with one
voice: “ She ought to have, but she
doesn’t!” But her husband doesn’t get
abarn-full of hungry animals and ex-
pect to feed them without outlay, on
straw and cornstalks'. It often seems
to me that most of the economy practic-
ed on farms is exercised in the house,
and paid for in woman’s time and labor.
Everything is saved but woman’s
strength. Doing without is not econ-
omy. Better sell more wheat and meat;
better detail a man to keep the garden
growing than wear a wife out in the
trisdaily struggle from the ﬂour and
meat barrel up to a square meal.

For dinner, , there‘s meat pie, to be
framed of the remnants of yesterday’s
roast or the morning’s beefsteak. With
the gravy, the meat cut into dice, and
a generous lump of butter one has the
“ﬁlling” for a pie, the crust of which is
a biscuit dough prepared as for chicken
pie. An Irish stew will come in oc-
casionally. For this is needed two
pounds of beef—which need not be the

 

 

best cuts; simmer till tender; add salt,
pepper and one chopped onion. cook
half an hour, then add ﬁve sliced potao
toes and boil till the potatoes are done.
Thicken the gravy with ﬂour wet in.
milk and put in a generous lump of
butter. Potato stew is made in much
the same way, only using salt pork in-
stead of beef, but it is not as good as
where made of beef.

A salt cod-ﬁsh, properly prepared,
will make a good dinner. Freshen in.
tepid water over night, laying the ﬁsh

skin side up in the pan. In the morn ~-

ing scrape and clean well, then put into
a kettle and keep it where the water-
will be just at the boiling point but not
actually boil, for two hours. Take out
on a large skimmer, rem‘bve the bones.
and every bit of dark skin, and serve a
with an egg sauce made as follows: Melt
in a sauce pan 2. piece of butter the size
of an egg and stir into it two even table»
spoonfuls of sifted ﬂour. Stir till pero-
fectly smooth, then pour in slowly one
pint of milk or water, milk by prefer->7
ence. Chop ﬁne two hard boiled eggs
and stir into it. Enough of the ﬁsh
may be prepared for scalloped ﬁsh for
tea, to which the egg sauce need not be,
added. Put slayer of ﬁsh intoabako
ing dish, season With pepper. salt and
butter: then a layer of bread or cracker
crumbs, another layer of ﬁsh, etc, and
ﬁnish with the crumbs, dotting the sur-
face with bits of butter. Pour over all
a cup of sweet cream, or water may be.
used by being liberal with the butter.
{It is a little late for asparagus now but
it may be cooked in several ways. Cut
off the hard part, if there is any. If
you grow your own, by cutting when it
is just above ground, running the knife
down slantwise about three inches
under ground, you will ﬁnd it will be
tender the whole length. Cook ﬁfteen
or twenty minutes, drain off a part of.
the water if there is too much and
thicken with butter and ﬂour stirred
together, with salt to taste. The stalks
should be cut into inch lengths for this.
(Triﬂe the stalks in bundles. Cook as
above, have ready buttered toast and
dip it in the water in which the aspar-
agile-was cooked; lay the asparagus on
the toast and pour over it a cream
gravy. ""A drawn butter sauce instead

of the cream gravy makes it much rich--

er. --. " . a
[Boiled rice is often served as a vege-
table. Boil a cup of rice {let it soak an
hour if you can) in ta 0 quarts of salted
water for twenty or thirty minutes.
Pour into a Colander that it may drain,
and set at the back“ of the stove for“ ten

minutes: to be eaten w; 'tb salt, p3 pper
and butter. Take what is left over, thin ,
with milk to the consistency of buck--

wheat batter. salt a little more, stir in
ﬂour to thicken and add a beaten egg.

Bake as griddle cakes, and serve either ’

as croquettes at dinner, or with syrup
for tea. « 7— r'w 9’ lrs «ppm hm

Perhaps others can give us dishes
they have tested and liked, and which

may be new to our friend “' in trouble. " -

Such recipes will be welcome. B.

 

 

 

 

‘ n w“ ,.,_..= e» ..


  

The Household.

 

 

ONE OF THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

Woman has always been condemned
for her subservience to the mandates of
fashion, and there is nothing more in-
dicative of her emancipation from its
tyranny and her real progress in wise
ways than the failure of the autocrats of
the dressmaking parlors to force crino-
line upon us. Though the new departure
was widely heralded and the world of
fashion thus presumably prepared for
it, women simply refused to adopt it.
The crinoline-distended skirts which
were to pave\the way to the revival of
hoops have not been well received. For
some time skirts have been quite as
scant as modest would permit: having
reached a limi in that direction there
must inevitably be a reaction in the op-
posite direction. To the credit of wo-
man be it said that she seems inclined
to “draw the line” ata reasonable limit.

Many new dresses have been made
this spring with canvas facing three-
eighths of a yard deep. instead of the
half-linings of horse hair and canvas
we were threatened with. For one
dress which is observed to be heavily
stiffened, a dozen are seen that are but
moderately crinolined. S)me ladies
who had gowns made in the extreme of
the style are having them taken apart
and the heavy facings removed, while
others are having suxﬂrﬁuous fullness
cut out. The heavy skirts prove a bur-
den not to be endured with patient suf-
fering; and having known the lightness
and ease of movement made possible by
the bell skirt, we are not inclined to tire
ourselves with unnecessary and incon-
venient drapery.

Fashions are growing more conserva-
tive and more healthful as women learn
how much their enjoyment of life de-
pends upon the comfort of their cloth-
ing. We may wear things that seem
ridiculous, like the enormous sleeves
and the hats which look like job lots of
artiﬁcial flowers, but women will not
forsake skirts for trowsers masquerad-
ing as petticoats, and will conﬁne “re-
forms” to underclothing.

The new models introduced at the
Woman’s Congress at Chicago were
scanned by many curious eyes and cer-
tainly attracted much attention; they
were criticised and commented upon
and will soon be forgotten. Not one
woman in a thousand had the faintest
idea of committing herself to any such
“reform.” Woman has been associated
with skirts too long to give them up,
but she evinces a decided disposition to
so manage them that they will best serve
both her health and convenience.

Reforms cannot be forced. All change
must be gradual. Moreover, “reforms"
must commend themselves as improve-
meats—which cannot be said of the ugly
divided skirt, which even "a woman of
title could not cog}: her seano adopt, or
the plans and speciﬁcationsproposed by

‘ ,those women who ha V9 assumed the
. lane of “ National Count"il ” and W131!

5

'A

to dictate to the feminine world. The
National Council would need to be back-
ed up by the army and navy in order to
insure the adoption of the models they
propose for us. We heard much more
of the elegant and fashionable gowns
worn at the Women’s Congress than we

did of the experiments in reform. .
BEATBIX.

A HINDOO WIDOWS’ HOME.

Those who recall the visit of Pundita
Ramabai to this country several years
ago, and the attention excited by her
accounts of the condition of the women
of India, especially the child widows-
of which the Pundita was herself one,
will be interested in the following from
aspecial correspondent of the Chicago
Inter Ocean. now traveling in India:

“ A hundred miles from Bombay is
the old city of Poona, the ancient
capital of the Marathras, now the head-
quarters of the Bombay division of the
army. A few years ago the Pundita
Ramabai visited ourland all aglo'w with
her project for ameliorating the condi-
tion of the child widows of India, whose
lot is most deplorable. She told the
story of their cruel treatment to such
eﬁect that there is now in most of our
leading cities a Runabai Association,
the united efforts of which support the
home which the Pundita, herself a
high-caste Hindoo widow, has estab-
lished at Poona. Provided with a letter
of introduction from an ofﬁcer of the
Ramabai Association in Boston we visit-
ed this home. We found a roomy bung-
alow standing in a large compound
surrounded by a high stone wall, and
on entering were received by the Pun-
dita with great cordiality.

“ We were taken to the main class-
room, where about ﬁfty of these widows
were assembled whose ages varied from
9 to 20 years. most of them being child-
ren. By the cruel‘ custom of the Hin-
doos the death of their husbands, even
when they were children, would make
them despised and abused slaves in the
family of the husband but for the friend-
ly hand now held out. It was touching
to see the affection which they display-
ed toward the Pundita, and interesting
to hear them read in our tongue and
sing our home songs. The fame of this
institution has spread abroad and the
calls for help have already overtaxed
the accommodations which the present
building oﬂers. But the libe'rality of
our countryswomen has been equal to
the need and a large stone building is
in process of erection, which will great-
ly increase the capacity of the school.
It costs but 15 rupees, or $4.50 per
month, to feed and lodge one of these
child widows, and but $100 a year to
entirely support and educate one. None
who saw what we did that day will
doubt the need or question the useful-
ness of this splendid institution. It is
eminently to be commended to the.
benevolently disposed women of our
country,and we could not help a feeling
of self-congratulation that it was they
who were supporting the hands of, the
devoted Pundita.”

 

READERS of the pleasant descriptions
of California life and scenery which
have appeared in the HOUSEHOLD dur-
ing the past year over tha signature of
Hattie L. Hall, of Leslie, and those who
remember her as the “ Strong-Minded
Girl” of an earlier HOUSEHOLD epoch,

 

will be interested to learn of her mar-

riage on Tuesday, June 6th, to Mr.
Fred. F. Wheeler, a merchant and
banker of Albany, N. Y., and secretary
of the Chamber of Commerce in that
city. The wedding was a very quiet
home one, and the just united couple
left immediately for Albany, where
three beautiful children eagerly anticio
Dated the coming of a new mother.

For the HOUSEHOLD family as well
as personally the Editor extends the
warmest and most sincere congratula-
tions, with sympathy in the new life and
sweeter hepe; and earnest wishes for
happiness and prosperity, and the ful-
ﬁllment of all the bright visions that
centre about the establishment of a new
home and its responsibilities and joys. -

 

ODDS AND ENDS.

 

alt is alleged by a St Louis druggist
that. a perfect impression of ﬂower leaves
may be obtained, in all their beauty of
coloring, by laying them on paper,
covering with a bit of linen wet in spirits
of nitre, and pressing under a moderate
weight, or between the leaves of a book.
It might be worth trying.

An exchange tells how a woman who
could not afford either carpets or hard
wood ﬂoors arranged a substitute. She
selected a heavy wall paper, dark in
color, and conventional in design. She
laid the ﬂoor ﬁrst with brown .paper.
Then she put down the wall paper by
ﬁrst coating it with paste and smooth-
ing it down. When the ﬂoor was all
papered she sized and varnished it with
dark glue and common varnish, which
deepened the color. When it was dry
she scattered a few rugs about, and her
paper carpets have lasted several years.
Of cOurse much depends upon the am-
ount and character of the wear upon
such a ﬂoor covering.

People who are troubled with inﬂam-
ed or congested eyelids may be glad to
know of a very simple means of relief
used by an old engraver. He paid a
celebrated oculist ﬁfteen dollars for the
prescription, which a druggist put up
for ﬁve cents. It is simply a saturated

solution of boracic acid, prepared by
putting a heaping teaspoonful of pow-
dered borax in a tumbler-full of water;
let it dissolve, then apply to the eyes
with the ﬁngers; never use a sponge or
cloth. Let it dry on the eyes. Use it
ﬁrst before retiring and after rising or
at any other time. The borax is a mild
astringent, contracts the congested
blood vessels, and sends the blood into
its natural channels. It is perfectly
harmless.

During the warm days to come, make
a hammock cradle for the baby, and
swing it in some shady spot on the
veranda. Screw two stout books about
three feet apart into the ceiling, where
a beam runs, for safety. Hang from
each book a metal ring, then tie a heavy
cord in each end of the hammock to the
hook opposite to prevent a fall if one
book should give way. Put alight
quilt and a pillow in the hammock. .
Over the centre put a hook to hold a

“v-

draw this around the hammock and

 

large piece of mosquito net by the centre); 7 '

baby may take his nap out-doors or in. ‘f '
doors, secure from ﬂies and mosquitoes. 7 ‘

  

1...“:

..w

    

 

    
    

”MADA‘HALA-HAAAAJ“

not";

 

maul-as:

b

A‘m-‘H‘

  

