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DETROIT, APRIL 13, 1886.

 

 

THE

JHIOIUSEHOLD=m§upplemenm

 

 

BESOL VE’
So the dead year is clasped by a dead December,
So let your dead sins with your dead days lie ;
A new life is yours and a new hope! Remember
We build our own ladders to climb to the sky.
Stand out in the sunlight of promise, forgetting
Whatever your past held of sorrow or wrong;
We waste half our strength in a useless regretting;
We sit by old tombs in the dark too long.

 

Have you missed in your aim? well, the mark is
still shining;
Did you faint in the race? well, take breath for
the next;
Did the clouds drive you back? but see yonder
their lining;
Were you tempted and fell? let it serve for atext ;
As each year hurries by let it join that procession
Of skeleton shapes that march down to the past,
While you take your place in the line of progres
sion,
With your eyes on the heavens, your face to the
blast.

I tell you the future can hold no terrors
For any sad soul while the stars revolve,
If he will but stand on the grave of his errors
And instead of regretting resolve, resolvel
It is never too late to begin rebuilding,

Though all into ruin your life seems hurled,
For look! how the light of the new year is gilding
The worn, wan face of the bruised old world.

—Ella Wheeler Wzlcooc.
“9».—

HOW SHALL WE DO 11‘?

 

“A Troubled Mother” writes us a sad
story of a wayward, headstrong daughter
who persisted in marrying an unworthy
suitor, and whose feet are already falter-
ing in the thorny way her marriage has
opened before her. From the depths of
a sorrowful heart the mother, scarcely
less unhappy than her child, and tortured
by self-accusations and doubt if she
guided her only girl aright, asks that
question, so often repeated, so near to
every mother’s heart, “ What can we do
with our girls to prevent them from
throwing themselves away upon men who
are unworthy of them? Are there any
means by which parents can control the
choice their children make?”

When we hear of a particularly unsuit-
able marriage, into which it seems almost
certain the emotion of love cannot by the
very nature of things enter or abide, we
use aword which seems to express the
mental condition of one or the other of
the contracting parties, Infatuation. Love,
they say, is blind. It is not so. The
truest love sees defects and errors, but
pardous, overlooks, and loves on. Infat-
nation is blind; it sees nothing but per-
fection in the beloved till the scales fall
from the eyes, the true character is re-
vealed, and disgust and hate follow. If
it were possible to teach our young

 

men and women to distinguish between
these two mental states, there would be, I
am sure, fewer ill—assorted marriages.

I believe that if mothers would talk
more freely to their girls about the duties
and responsibilities of marriage, put be-
fore them the plain prose of married life,
remind them that after they have won a
husband the next thing is to live with
him, that the courtship is soon over, and
only love can make the bonds bearable,—
if they would present these serious views,
not when a girl is “in love” (or thinks
she is—which usually amounts to the same
thing) and good counsel falls on unheed-
ing ears, but in discussing the unions of
others, and marriage in the abstract, it
would at least have a tendency to cause
some serious thought on a serious sub-
ject. The phrase “When I get married”
is on a girl’s lips at an early age, showing
how it is looked forward to as a natural
condition of her life. Even a child can
be taught that choosing should be the
result of thinking, and that in any plans
for happiness continuity must be consid-
ered. Too many mothers, anxious to see
their daughters “settled,” neglect to im-
press the idea of the solemnity and last—
ing nature of the tie. and let the trousseau,
the wedding, the future home, engross all
the time and thought. The young girl’s
own thought too seldom looks beyond
the honeymoon or the creature comforts
of the new home; the mother’s part is to
present the deeper, more weighty con-
siderations.

If the chosen one does not meet paren-
tal approval, often bitter opposition is the
only argument brought to bear on girlish
obstinacy. Were a daughter of mine bent
on marrying a man I did not approve, I
should truthfully but tenderly state my
reasons for disapproval, choosing some
moment when her mood seemed most
ﬁtted for tender conﬁdence, for if there
is much in knowing what to say there is
quite as much in knowing when to say it;
and giving her to understand, as indeed it
would seem every daughter should know
of her mother, that her happiness, her
lasting happiness, was the one thing
nearest my heart. If such an appeal to
reason and aﬂection failed, as indeed it
might, I should still not oppose, but do
lay. Then I should use every means in
my power, by new scenes, new friends,
new occupations, to so test her feeling
that if it were but that “idle, wavering
heart-blaze which means nothing but must
be gone over,” “ the necessary consump-
tion of young vapors which ﬂoat in the

    

 

soul, which is thereafter left purer,” it
should die for want of fuel. I have
known a little judicious and well-timed
ridicule from a person whose opinion was
prized nip a passing fancy “i’ the bud,”
but such means must be cautiously used,
during the “ premonitory stage ” or they
but intensify the growing emotion. It is
amost vital necessity to understand most
exactly the girl’s disposition, and to keep
one’s own passions and sensations under
absolute control. The mother who would
control her daughter must ﬁrst control
herself. That opposition provokes op-
position is as true as the axiom in philo-
sophy that to every action is opposed an
equal reaction. “You shall not” rouses
the thought “I will.” It is rarely the
case that real mastery of another comes
otherwise than through the affections.

I think parents should have a knowledge
of the young people of both sexes, with
whom their sons and daughters associate,
which will enable them to a certain de—
gree to prevent the formation of undesir-
able friendships. The mother who leaves
her daughters to choose their own friends
and manage their own love affairs, gen-
erally “sows the wind ” and gathers a
plentiful harvest of “whirlwind.” No-
where in the world are our girls so free,
so entirely at liberty, as in our American
society, and nowhere are divorces and ill-
assorted marriages more frequent. An
evening party looks like an orphan asy—
lum out on a lark; you see no parents. I
have known a mother who permitted her
sixteen-year-old daughter to accept the
company of a man she herself had never
seen, and who was a stranger in the neigh-
borhood, and go alone with him in a car
riage to a party in the next village. I
have no words in which to express my
thought of such terrible folly. Go with
your pretty girls, then, you fathers and
mothers, and if your presence scares away
some of the fast young men, don’t feel too
bad over it. Better a daughter unwed
than one divorce. Go with them, not to
exercise a French espionage upon them,
which they resent, but to see for yourself
the company they krep and the frierd
ships they form; not as a restraint to
their freedom, but as one who would
share in their happiness and join in their
pleasures.

In the country, where everybody knows
everybody else and all about them, char—
acters are pretty well known. Family
traits are reproduced with greater or less
ﬁdelity. “ Like father, like son,” is an
oft—quoted saying. A Turkish proverb


 

 

 

2 THE HOUSEHOLD’
says: “Choose cloth by its edge, and a SUNDRIES. leave you before she is sixteen for some

wife by her mother.” One can judge
sometimes by father and mother what the
young people will be; not invariably, for
bad men and weak ones have had noble
sons, and daughters who were a credit to
womanhood; yet by knowing the char-
acteristics of the marriageable young
people, tact and good judgment may
point a way to avoid an unhappy entan-
glement.

At no time of her life does a mother
more earnestly desire her daughter’s con-
ﬁdence than when she is chosen in mar—
riage. And if the mother would guide,
control, prevent or assist the choice, she
must have laid the foundation of her in—
ﬂuence years before. She reaps the re-
ward of years of patience and prayer in
just that period of hesitancy and indecis-
ion. “ Life’s aye been a muddle; I’m
glad to be done wi’ it,” said the old Scotch-
man as he lay a-dying. So long as water
runs and grass grows marriage will make
or mar lives, in spite of good counsel and
wise words. One of the earliest lessons
taught our children, one which should
inﬂuence all their youth, is that repent—
ance and forgiveness of sins or mistakes,
never implies remiss10n of consequences.

BEATRIX.

———-——.Q.—————

A POINT OF ETIQUETTE.

 

As the “DetroitEditor” suggests, when
the tooth-pick is used at the table the
napkin should be held before the mouth.
This is equivalent to an apology for what
other wise would be regarded a rudeness.
A person who is likely to be greatly an-
noyed by particles of food getting be-
tween the teeth while eating, is quite sure
to know it beforehand, and should have
a tooth-pick with her, or him. The teeth
should be cleaned, as the “Detroit Edit—
or” suggests, but it need not be done at
the table, or in the dining‘hall. The
better way is to use the tooth brush. It
is not unreﬁned to have tooth-picks in the
house, but they need not be on the table
or in sight. There are those whose ideas
of reﬁnement would lead them to prefer
that tootn- picks be not put on the table;
there are none whose sense of what is re-
ﬁnement requires that they shall be put
on the table. Leaving them off is the
more reﬁned way.

I do not mean to suggest that families
where tooth-picks are on the table are un-
reﬁned in the sense of being coarse or
vulgar. But the practice did not originate
in the best circles of society; nor on their
tables will you ﬁnd tooth—picks, placed
there with the expectation that at the
close of the méal, the guest who did not
take and vigorously use one would be an
odd one in the company. I quote from a
book on etiquette, published in 1882,
which professes to give the usages of “the
best American society:” “Avoid if pos-
sible picking your teeth at the table, for
however agreeable such a practice might
be to yourself, it may be offensive to
others. The habit whlch some have of
holding the hand over the mouth, does
not avoid the vulgarity of picking the
teeth at the table.” Amman.

Roman.

 

As I have read the good things in the
HOUSEHOLD the past year, “ the spirit has
moved” me several times to express my
views on the manyinteresting topics, but
Ihave found that “time and tide wait
for no man ”—or woman either—and that
“ delays are dangerous.” I would thank
the ladies who so promptly responded to
my desire for information on cheese
making. I made ten. They were pro-
nounced “ splendid ” by many, but to my
epicurean taste they were too strong.
They were very soft, and light as bread.
I think it must be the rennet that makes
cheese strong, and shall try less if I ever
make any more. I have been “ learning
to rest” during the beautiful weather just
past, cleaning house. My husband has
“ borne the burden and heat of the day,”
taking up carpets, cleaning and putting
them down, and white-washing, which
was no small item in a house of fourteen
rooms, besides halls, closets and pantry.
I have no papered walls in the house.

[like the idea of a carpet sweeper, but
for the poor mortals who think they can-
not aﬁord one, I believe my way a little
better than E. L. Nye’s, or opening the
doors to let the breeze carry out the ﬂoat-
ing dust, especially in cold weather.
Take your foot-pail, partly ﬁll it with
clean water, set in a hall or porch (as
case may be) dip your broom (a good one)
into the water, shake off all you can, and
commence sweeping. When the dust
gathers 0n the broom, dip again, always
shaking well, until your sweeping is
done. You will be surprised at the muddy
water you will have. No dust in the air,
carpet nice and bright. This will do for
all smoothfaced carpets. I never tried
it on Brussels. It is best to change the
water when it looks too muddy. Rinse
your broom when done, and place 'so the
brush will dry straight; I never have a
crooked broom. Try it, E. L., and see if
you cannot do your sweeping in less than
ﬁve or six hours. That would be too
much of a good thing for me.

I have never had any experience in
“religious lotteries, ” but object to lot-
teries of any kind. I do not want “much
for little,” or “something for nothing.”
Give us all the innocent games for the
children at home. Even that “horrid”
game of cards (euchre) is innocent until
there is harm made with it. They gamble
with other games as well as cards. We
must teach our children that gambling is
the harm, not the game. To “Faith,” in
the HOUSEHOLD of June 23d, 1 would say
that I would rather trust my son among
his college mates with the knowledge of
the game “learned to him by his mother”
than without it. I would rather my
boys would play cards at home than away
from home, in the fence corners, barns or
woods, which they are quite apt to do if
refused at home. I have known such
cases. They may go to the bad after all
our teaching and advice, but they shall
not be driven to it, nor go into it blindly

I would echo Beatrix’s advice, “ Don’t
save money for the children.” Your
daughter may follow “the fashion” and

 

 

one she likes better (or thinks she does)
and give you no thanks for all your self-
denial and economy. Mrs. W. J. G’s
is the better plan. I think boys need
something at their majority more than
girls, for some boy usually takes them by
that time. But I shall never “econo—
mize” to save my two boys something.
I shall endeavor to do my duty, give
them a good education, teach them to
help themselves and be good, honorable
men. If we can help them at their
majority we will do so. If we have any—
thing left when done with this world and
its cares, they shall have it.

As regards Bess’ conundrum, I should
consider it perfectly right and proper for
her friend to go, accompanied by her
daughters, to any proper place for ladies.
And if my husband had no misgivings in
leaving me at home while he enjoyed his
evenings away, I certainly would have
none in leaving him. When the neigh—
bors (women, of course) called for me I
should “ don hat and gloves ” and enjoy
myself too. But we don’t do that way at
“our house.” When my husband goes
to places of amusement I go too. If I
have an opportunity to go and he does
not wish to, he is perfectly willing I
should go. Isn’t that the way for hus-
band and wife to be? The pocketbook
also is a partnership concern with us.

MRS. M. C. M.
Srs'rna Lanes.

-—-———QOO——————-

TUNING THE FAMILY FIDDLE.

If the complaining cries that come from
the shadowy vales of connubial concert
up the shining heights of single selﬁsh~
ness are “for cause,” then this famous
old ﬁddle must be in sad need of a thor-
ough reﬁtting with a bow and trimmings
bearing one of U. S. patent stamps, dated
somewhere in the 9th decade of the
nineteenth century, and the keys should
be so constructed as to alternate “for
better” “for worse” through the sense
of both those who play and those who
listen, since the great majority before
marriage can conceive of but one “worse,"
and that “one”—-—a single life—while
after marriage they can conceive of but
one “ better” and that “one” the speedy
departure heavenward of the partner of
their miseries.

Now we are all familiar with the long
list of epidemic diseases that go up and
down the earth seeking whom they may
devour, whose happy hunting ground is
amongst the young and tender, but at the
same time they relish the job of bringing
a tough old stager, either male or female.
down on their marrow bones; and of all
these diseases there is not one that com—
pares in subtilty, unreasonableness and
ungovernableness with that known as
“I must and will get married, the ﬁt
comes on me now.” And any candid
metaphysician will assure us that there
would be just as much of success in an
attempt to palm Barnum’s circus off on
the public as an agricultural fair as in
trying to convince a pair of turtle doves
who are suffering from this malady that
they “must and will not get married

 


 

 

THE HOUSEHOLD 35

 

mow because their “ﬁt” will be eternal
“ﬁts ” if they do.

Some there be who never have this
malady but once, the same as they have
whooping cough or measles, and these
are not so bad to get along with because
they can be depended on as useful. help~
ful members of society ever after. But
there is another class who “catch it”
every time they are exposed, and further-
more they are always on the “look out ”
for a good chance to “expose” them—
selves; age, race, color or “previous con—
dition of servitude,” are nothing, with
them there is but one thing and that is

falling in love,” and like Madam
Patrulungo’s father, in Wilkie Collins’
“ Poor Miss Finch” they are, all the days
of their lives, aconstant source of anxiety
and worriment to their friends and rela-
tions.

But what I had in mind to write when
I took up my pen was this, (please accept
the foregoing as my introductory): I ﬁnd
and hear so many complaints made by
wives about “him.” One of the stereo—
typed ones is "He never reads aloud——
will sit and read to himself half a day or
all the evening, and never let me hear
sword of it. And he knows I never
have any time to read with all these
vehildren and all this work about me.”

This is of course wrong, but where lies
the blame? It is about equally divided
between the two. We will say for
instance the husband is reading the last
FARMER. If he is a man worth having
for a husband his ﬁrst reading therein is
the market pages, his next, the stock
notes and so on, giving his ﬁrst and best
time and attention to those things that
deal directly with his business and its
interests, both at home and abroad. But
let him begin to read aloud quotations
from the cattle, sheep and swine markets,
and ten to one if this very complaining
woman, instead of entering into the spirit
of the markets with her husband, (for I
assure you that to such a man there is a
great deal of very choice “spirit” in
these same market quotations) and talk—
ing with him pleasantly, interestedly and
intelligently about them, begins to look
sour and to say, “Oh, I don’t want to
hear those nasty old markets, and all that
stock stuff. do read something nice," and
the husband mentally curses the “ever
lasting silliness of woman,” and—reads
to himself, for the sole purpose of having
an appreciative audience. And in turn
he ﬂouts the HOUSEHOLD and whatever
else his wife may like best. And so it
goes on, great swelling discords growing
out of little beginnings like this, and
making the social atmosphere anything
but agreeable to exist in, when just a
germ of genuine kindliness, charity, self-
denial and mutual sharing of and com-

munity in interests, properly planted in
the scale of the ﬁne old family ﬁddle, and
then carefully cultured, developed and
cherished, would have made it all so
different! So different that instead of
discordant complaints domestic har—
monies—which by the way are all there
is of heaven on earth—would ﬁll the SJcial
atmosphere with wholesome delight,
and peace that is prosperity’s handmaiden.

I. L. NYE.
Hon-nt-m-Hnu.

 

BEDDING.

The most healthful bedding is that
which combines least Wight with
greatest warmth, and permits the air to
pass most freely through it. For this
reason comfortables are to be preferred to
quilts, and warm wool blankets to either.
But blankets, even “under the depress—
ing inﬂuence of tariff legislation,” and
the low price of our ﬁne Merino wcols on
the sheep’s back, are worth money.
Comfortables are much more universal
in use. The venerable relic of past ages,
which has been washed and re-covered,
and washed and covered again till it is as
impervious to air as a sheet of rubber,
should be retired on a pension. I can-
not think of any good use for it, but do
not use it on the bed. It is a false
economy, an economy which militates
against health, to use anything which
conﬁnes the impure air within the bed-
clothing. The weight, too, in proportion
to the warmth. is excessive, giving one a
feeling of being held down, which tires
and exhausts. Cotton and print are very
cheap; it is good policy to renew the
comfortables every few years. And I can
recommend those made of cheese-cloth as
being light, cheap and warm, three great
requisites. When the covering is soiled,
the comfortable can be unmade, and the
cover washed; if the cotton must be
used again it should be thoroughly aired,
but not washed, which always makes it
heavy and thick. A comfortable should
never be renewed in any other way than
by re-making. A breadth of print like
the cover, folded over and sewed on the
upper end of the comfortable, keeps it
from becoming soiled, and can easily be
removed, washed and replaced.

Comforters of cotton satteen in bright
colors are quite popular at the moment;
when new, they look like satin, and are
very pretty, and are not very expensive.
Some ladies have followed the passing
fancy of dressing the beds in colors.
bright cover, and lace pillow shams lined
with the same tint. Nothing, however,
is so daintyas snowy white, with its sug-
gestions of purity and repose. Pillow
shams have had their day, and are much
less used, but ladies who have to use a
bedroom for other than its legitimate
purpose cling to them, as imparting a
“dressed up air ” and saving a frequent
change of pillow-slips.

A pretty counterpane can be made of a
heavy material known as Bolton sheet—
ing, which is two yards w‘ide. Have an
outline pattern of ﬂowers or fancy
arabesque stamped on it, or if you have
skill, draw it with pencil. Outline the
pattern in Kensington stitch with heavy
etching cotton in a color, and trace a
vine or Greek key pattern for a border.
Edge with wide coarse lace. The same,
reduced in size, is neat and tasteful for
the baby’s crib. If desirable, shams for
the pillows can be etched in the same
fashion. A new fashion for making the
small comforts which are thrown over the
foot of the bed, for use if one is chilly
during the night, has a Turkey red cen—
tre, a yard and an eighth long, and about
80 inches wide. This is bordered by

 

strips of cretonne, a white ground with
Turkey red ﬂowers, or a red ground with
white ﬂowers, as is preferred. Next this
is apuff, four inches wide, of the plain
red, gathered to an inch wide strip of the
red. It is lined with cheese cloth. and
tied with tufts of red worsted. Some use
No. 1 ribbon for the purpose, an unnec-
essary expense, however. The comfort is
very pretty when ﬁnished.

I am a relentless foe to patch work quilts.
They have no excuse for being, un-
less the machine has done the patchwork
and the quilting. Their worth never
equals the value of the work put upon
them. I always feel like saying “ Poor
woman!” when Iread in print of 3,000 or
4,000 scraps sewed together for a quilt, as
if it were a praiseworthy achievement.
I regard it rather as an instance of badly
misdirected energy. Poor woman! With
all this glorious world about us, so much
to learn in it and of it, such treasures in
nature and in books, and this precious
legacy of Time which is slipping past us
on noiseless wings so rapidly we scarcely
realize its ﬂight, and she can ﬁnd nothing
better to do with her heritage than
sew scraps of calico together, falsely be-
lieving that in spending life’s golden
moments thus, she is doing best service
in her sphere! What a grave mistake!

BEA I‘RIX .
-——-—«9._.—

CONCORD BREAD.

 

A correspondent of the American Cul-
tivator has discovered in Concord, Mass.,
the home of the “Concord School of
Philosophy,” a new species of bread,
which is sui generis, and known only in
those precincts. It has been named
“ the philosopher’s bread, ” but the name
which clings to it most faithfully seems
to be that of its habitat. This bread is
easily made, and to those who have not
the time or strength to spend in kne ading
bread to make it tender, the new method
may prove a boon. Try it once, at least.
There are too few of our housekeepers
who are willing to try new ways. They
are too conservative; too much attached
to the old methods. There is progress
in housework, as in everything else, and
that is a foolish woman who refuses to
try, and if worthy adopt, any way, how-
ever much an innovation on the old,
which promises equally good results with
less labor. The recipe is as follows:

“Use one quart of milk; lard the size
of an egg, or, what is its equivalent in
actual measurement, a rounded table-
spoonful; two quarts of ﬂour, one of
them even, the other a heaping quart;
one-half a cake of compressed yeast; a
heaping teaspoonful of salt and an even
teaspoonful of white sugar. Dissolve
the yeast, salt and sugar in a very little
cold water, just as little as possible; scald
the lard in the milk, and when cool add
to the yeast. and stir in the ﬂour to make
a rather stiff dough, but do not knead.
Let it rise over night; in the morning,
the very ﬁrst thing. stir it down, and
when it is risen again do not knead, but
shake the ﬂour on to the board, take out
the dough and work in the hands just to
make it smooth and free from ﬂour, put
into the pans to rise again, and bake
from thirty to forty minutes. according
to the size of the loaves, having the oven
very quick when the bread is ﬁrst put in."

Our author says much depends on

  

  
  
   
  
  
   
   
    
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
   
   
 
   
  
  
    
  
  
   
   
  
 
   
 
  
    
    
    
 
 
 
     
    
 
 
  
    
  
   
   
   
   
    
  

a?“

._;..v

 
 

  
 

     


 

4

THE HOUSEHOLD.

 

having the oven right; this comes more
of experience than by rule. She says
further that when milk is used for bread
it should be boiled, not merely scalded,
then set aside to cool, and used when
lukewarm. This is to prevent souring.
Bread should be mixed in an earthen
bowl; wooden bowls are not easily kept
sweet, and tin, being a good conductor
of heat, allows the warmth to escape
from the dough, so it does not rise as
quickly. Too much shortening makes
bread heavy; a just proportion tends to
make It soft and light. Butter, if fresh
and sweet, gives the best ﬂavor, drip-
pings are the cheapest shortening, while
lard makes the whitest bread. For
baking, agood rule is to have the oven
hot enough to brown a teaspoonful of
ﬂour in ﬁve minutes. The heat should
increase during the ﬁrst ﬁfteen minutes,
remain steady for the next ﬁfteen, and
decrease slowly toward the last.
_—.‘..__—
A YOUNG LADY’S CHOICE OF
BOOKS.

I think one of the best of subjects is
now being discussed in our valuable little
paper. viz., books, and I have read with
great interest all articles on that subject.
I would advise all the young people, (and
older ones also) who like a good story, to
get Pansy’s books, for I think they are far
ahead of any others I have ever read.
Dickens’ “Child’s History of England”
is very good, but I prefer Macauley’s.
I have read only one of Dickens’ stories,
(Oliver Twist) and I did not feel repaid.
E. P. Roe’s novels, some of them, are very
good, but some savor too much of Mrs.
Holmes to suit my taste. I have read
one of Anthony Trollope’s which had at
least one charm, it was entirely different
from any other I ever read. Mrs. Wood’s
stories are quite exciting. Tourgee’s are
excellent. combining history and novel
in a very interesting manner. Cooper’s
“ Spy,” gives a very good history of 'the
revolutionary war, and the movements
of the American spy—Harvey Birch.
Among the poets Longfellow is my
favorite, and Whittier comes next, al-
though I like Will Carleton very much,
and am never weary of reading his

“Farm Ballads.” L.
Rrvns .
THE BEST WAY.

 

In doing housework, I am inclined to
believe there are as many methods as
there are housekeepers; for we all have a
way of our own, and doubtless each
thinks her way to be the best, or at least
the easiest. I think that to be a success-
ful housekeeper, four things are requisite,
namely: Order, Industry, Economy and
Neatness. Add to these a well appointed
system, and one has a pretty sure foun—
dation for a well regulated household.

I do not believe in slighting work; on
the contrary, I claim that “ what is worth
doing at all is worth doing well;” and
speaking of myself alone, I could not
“rest” or read (and no one can enjoy
reading better than I do) no matter how
well written or entertaining the book

 

might be, if I had a pile of unironed
clothes, for even if they were under a
“ weight ” they would rise up before me
and like the famous ghost, “would not
down,” but mar all my pleasure until
they were nicely ironed and put away.

Of course there are exceptions to all
things, and in sickness, or where there
are large families to do for one has to re-
sort to “ways and means” that would
not be deemed permissible under other
circumstances.

I know the housekeeper’s duties are
tiresome and often seem an endless round
of drudgery, yet “without these cares
life would not be as well for us as it is;”
there is a bright side to these every day
duties if we are only willing to look upon
it, and learn not to get discouraged, nor
fret at small things.

I think a good way is to plan and ar-
range our work so that each day of the
week has its own particular duties; then
by doing the hard, disagreeable Dortions
in the forenoon, we can have the rest of
the day for sewing, reading, or visiting,
and the evening for sweet, quiet rest, with
the consciousness of a day well spent.

L. R.

WAc OUSTA.
————-§eo————

HOME METHODS.

Ever since I read Mollie Moonshine’s
article on saving labor, and her account
of having to wait for dry wood to bake
the bread, I have been desirous of telling
how the wood—pile is managed at our
house.

First, the wood is sawed or chopped in-
to stove length in the woods, and then
left to season. Then, when good sleigh—
ing comes, or at a convenient season, the
woodshed is ﬁlled with some of the said
wood and nicely piled up. Every morn.

'ing (usually) except Sunday, my husband

splits up enough wood for the day’s use;
it only takes a few minutes every day.
Then he splits some nice dry wood very
ﬁne for kindling, which he puts in a pile
by itself; any dilapidated old rails, boards,
hencoops, &e., are split up for summer
wood; nice straight, smooth sticks of
basswood are laid aside to be shaved up
into ﬁne kindlings. I must confess that
I generally cut the kindlings myself.
After the corn is shelled, the corn cobs
are put into an empty crib, and are nice
to make a quick ﬁre in the summer, when
not much heat is required. My husband
ﬁlls the wood-boxes two or three times a
day. I never have any trouble when
baking, if I am at all thoughtful, for
there always is plenty of kindling wood
to start up the ﬁre if necessary. Of
course there are exceptions to these rules;
for instance, when husband has to hurry
off to the mill on a short winter’s day, or
to take some one to meet the train. The
water I usually carry in myself, as the
well is close by, for I like to get out-doors

all I can. LEONE.

Bra BEAVER.
———-—*OO————

BACK numbers of the HOUSEHOLD for
1886 can be supplied to those who apply
for them at once. Those who have miss-
ed any numbers should send to the
FARMER oﬁlce, giving the dates wanted-

 

MAYBELLE, of Bridgewater, desires to
express her admiration of Mrs. Chamber-
lin’s paper, read at the Webster Institute,
and says every HOUSEHOLD member should
read it at least twice. She admires
“Pearl’s ” spirit of love and self—denial
manifested toward her little one In the
saving of a small sum each week, against
her majority. “Bonnie Scotland’s"
method of helping her husband is com-
mended, and a wish expressed to hear
from her more frequently; while “Daﬁo-
dilly” is earnestly entreated to “tell us
more about the land of sunshine and
ﬂowers.”

._..._._...__.__

A GOOD paste is a great aid in hanging
wall-paper. A professional paper hanger
recommends the following recipe: Beat
four pounds of ﬂour into a stiff batter
with clear cold water. Then, having a
vessel full of boiling water at hand, and a
vessel containing the batter large enough
to contain two pailfuls, pour the
boiling water upon the batter gradu-
ally, stirring briskly all the while.
It will be observed that the batter
will swell and its white color change to a
yellowish hue. When this occurs, stop
pouring in the boiling water, and a ﬁne
smooth paste will be found suitable for
paper hanging. Do not make the paste
until you are ready to use it and keep in a
cool place so that it will not sour. This
is suﬂicient for a room which requires four
or ﬁve rolls of paper.

—.——«.———-

Contribnted Recipes.

COFFEE CAKE.-—0ne cup cold coffee; one-
cup butter; one cup molasses; one and a half
cups sugar; ﬁve cups ﬂour; one teaspoonful
soda; two teaspoonfuls cream tartar. Raisins
and spice to taste. L. R.

WAcous'rA.

FRIED Formosa—Peel and wash your
potatoes; have ready in your frying-pan some
fried meat grease, hot; slice the potatoes
thinly, sprinkle enough salt over them to sea--
son, give them a good stir with a knife and
cover. Do not let them fry too fast; stir often
from the bottom. When done they will be a
nice brown. Our family think they are “boss,”
and would eat them three times a day. Sweet
apples steamed are far better than baked.

MRS. M. C. M.
SISTER LAKES

 

CODFISH BALLs.—Bu a pound of boneless
codﬁsh, white and free rom taint. Soak it in
warm water for an hour, pick it up ﬁne and
put on the stove in cold water. When the
water is hot taste it, and if too salt, pour off
the water and put on more cold. Do not let it
boil; boiling toughens it. Press it dry, then
pick up all lumps, removing the bones. Add
an equal bulk of hot mashed potatoes, well
mashed and beaten with a fork until they are
light and creamy. Mix the ﬁsh and potatoes
thoroughly, adding a lump of butter the size
of an egg, pepper and a beaten egg. Make
into cakes with the hands. These can be made
over night and fried for breakfast in a little
hot butter. B.

 

 

FLOWER SEEDS FOR 1886

 

FRESH SEEDS TRUE T0 NAME.

ready for the. Spring Trade. Mixed packets of
Annual, Perennial. Everlasting or Herb Seeds,
10 cents, three for 25 cents. Order from list in
HOUSEHOLD of February 23rd. Six packets, ex
cept where rice is named, 25c; 13 for 50c, and 304
for $1. Col ections for beginners, 15 varie-ies for
50 cents. Send one cent stamp for price list.
RS. M. A. FULLER,
Box 297, Fenton, Mich.

 

