187 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



will vanish as if by magic if api^Ued with the 

 softest cloth. 



Those troubled with ants in their pantries 

 may rid themselves of the torments bj- get- 

 tin;:; a dime's worth of corrosive sublimate 

 and put in a common spice bottle with alco- 

 hol to dissolve it, and fill the cracks along the 

 wall of each shelf, and wherever the vermin 

 may gain a foothold. It saves the necessity 

 of plates of water for sugar-bowl and such 

 things and only needs renewing once a year. 



Santa Cbuz, July, 1875. 



Taking It Coolly. 



Mrs. Kate Hnnnibee says: One of the 

 most disagreeable companions on a hot 

 summer's day is a hot stove, and yet how 

 many women who i-ead the article feel 

 compelled to spend many hour.s out of 

 every twenty-four with this black, fiery 

 kitchen partner. Is there no escape ? 

 Suppose the kitchen door ojiens on an 

 anii>le porch, witli a roof over it, and a 

 honeysuckle in front of it, or a grape- 

 vine, or a hop-vine, or morning-glories, 

 or flowering beans clamberiug.up a trellis 

 and shutting out the ardent rays of the 

 Buu. What a nice place that would be 

 for carrying on the various activities of a 

 Bummer's morning. One could wash 

 there, spread the ironing table beneath 

 the growing grapes, set the dinner table 

 there, shell peas, stone cherries, and do a 

 thousand other things in the open air 

 ■while keeping an eye on all that goes on 

 in the kitchen. If there is but a step 

 from the house to the ground, two or 

 three larger trees justat the door are bet- 

 ter even than a porch. We lived in such 

 a kitchen once, and spent all the pleasant 

 summer days in the open air. The cradle 

 had a little awning over it, there was no 

 clatter of shoes on the grassy sod beneath 

 no slops on the floor, no furnace heats, 

 nothing but rural peace and quiet shade. 



It does not occur to a great many 

 women that there is any better or easier 

 way of doing than the one to which they 

 have become accustomed. The tendency 

 of housework is to settle into a fixed rou- 

 tine and wear deep ruts, to go out of 

 which is no easy matter. But it is not a 

 bad plan to start inquiries in every de- 

 partment of domestic industry, and try 

 experiments until one finds out the easi- 

 est way of accomplishing the matter in 

 band. In the winter, of course, the 

 nearer the ironing and baking table is to 

 the stove the fewer steps will be required, 

 but this is not the first consideration in 

 Summer, and if one will have a high 

 chair to sit in while ironing or baking on 

 a low table, the distance from the stove 

 ■will not amount to much. Beside, chil- 

 dren of five and six years old can be 

 taught to take steps. 



Tliere is another matter not very well 

 wnderstood by American cooks. We use 

 entire too much fuel; we cook by too hot 

 a fire, we eat too much hot food, wo boil 

 our soups and vegetables furiously, when 

 all we want is to raise tlie temperature of 

 the liquid in question to 212°, which can 

 be done with a moderate fire and no in- 

 considerable saving of stove-lining, coal, 

 and i)hysical discomfort. It is calculated 

 that one-third of the power generated in 

 any machine is consumed in overcoming 

 tlie friction, and one great problem with 

 machinists is to reduce the friction to its 

 minimum. Lot ns apply this problem to 

 housekeeping, and begin by studying all 

 the ways in which we can keep cool. — Jf. 

 Y. Tribniie. 



PnoFiT OF Marbyino.— Here is what an 

 old Kentucky farmer says about his wife; 



I have been married twenty-two years. 

 The first four years before I was married 

 I began farming with two hundred and 

 fifty acres, in Blue Grass region, Ken- 

 tucky. I handled cattle, hogs, sheep and 

 horses — principally the flr^t too named— 

 and lived, I thought, tolerably economic- 

 ally; spent none of my money for tobacco 

 in any way; neither betting a cent or dis- 

 sipating in any way, and yet at the end of 

 four years I had little or no money. I 

 then married a young lady of eighteen 

 years of age — who had never done any 

 housework or work of any kind except to 

 make a portion of her own clothes. She 

 had never made a shirt, drawers, pants or 

 waistcoat, or even sewed a stitch on a coat, 

 and yet before we had been married a 

 year she had made for me every one of 

 the articles of clothing named, and knit 

 numbers of pairs of socks for me — yes, 

 and mended divers articlss for me, not 

 excepting an old hat or two. She had 

 also made butter, sold eggs, chickens, and 

 other fowl-i,and vegetables to the amount 

 of near six hundred dollars in cash, at the 

 end of the year, whereas, during the four 

 years thiit I was single, I had never sold 

 five cents' worth — besides making me 

 purely happy and contented with my 

 home. And so far as to making of money, 

 we have made money clear of expenses 

 ever since we have undertaken the farm, 

 and she has made three hundred and fifty 

 to five hundsed dollars every year except 

 one, during the time, selling butter, eggs, 

 and marketing of different kinds. My 

 yearly expenses of fine clothing, etc., 

 before I was married were more than my 

 yearly expenses were after I was married 

 combined with the expense of my wife 

 and chiklreB; and our farm has increased 

 from two hundred acres; and I believe 

 that if I had not married, it never would 

 have increased but little if any; and I 

 have never been absent from home six 

 nights, when my wife was at home, since 

 we were married, and her cheeks kiss as 

 sweetly to me as they did the morning 

 after I was married. 



Engaging Manners. — There area thou- 

 sand pretty engaging little ways, which 

 every person may put on without running 

 the risk of being deemed either affected 

 or foppish. Ths sweet smile, the quiet, 

 cordial bow, the earnest movement in ad- 

 dressing a friend, or more especially a 

 stranger, whom one may recommend to 

 our good regards, the enquiring glance, 

 the graceful attention which is so 

 captivating when u.sed with self-posses- 

 sion — these will insure us the good re- 

 gards of even a churl. Above all there 

 is a certain softness of manner which 

 should be cultivated, and whicli in either 

 man or woman, adds a charm that almost 

 entirely compensates for lack of beauty. 

 The voice can be modulated so as to in- 

 tonate that it will speak directly to the 

 heart, and from that elicit an answer; .and 

 politeness may be made essential to our 

 nature. Neither is time thrown away in 

 attending to such things, insignificant as 

 they may seem to those who engage in 

 weightier matters. 



Very True. — Some one has well said 

 that " jtarents who spend money ju- 

 diciously to imjirove tho house and 

 grounds about it, are paying their child- 

 ren a premium to stay at homo and enjoy 

 it; but when they spend money unneces- 

 sarily on fine clothing and jewelry for 

 their (children, they are paj'iug them a 

 premium to spend thf^ir time away from 

 home — that is, in places where they can 

 display auch ornaments." 



A Happy Home. — In a happy homo 

 there will V>e no fault-finding, over-bear- 

 ing spirit; there will be no peevishness or 

 fretfuluess. Unkindness will not dwell 

 in the heart or be found on the tongue. 

 Oh, the tears, the sighs, the .wasting of 

 life and health and strength, and of all 

 that is most to be desired iu a happy 

 home, occasioned merely by unkind 

 words! A celebrated writer remarks to 

 this effect, namely, that fretting and scold- 

 ing seem like tearing the flesh from the 

 bones, and that we have no more right to 

 be guilty of this sin than we have to curse 

 and swear, and steal. In a perfectly 

 happy home all selfishness will be re- 

 moved. Its members will not seek first 

 to please themselve, but will seek to 

 please each other. Cheerfulness is an- 

 other ingredient in a happy home. How 

 much does a sweet smile, emanating from 

 a heart fraught with love and kindness, 

 contribute to make home happy. At 

 evening, how soothing is that sweet 

 cheerfulness that is borne on the coun- 

 tenance of a wife and mother! How do 

 parent .and child, the brother and sister, 

 the mistress and servant dwell with de- 

 light upon those cheerful looks, those 

 confiding smiles that beam from the eye 

 and burst from the inmost soul of those 

 who are dear and near! How it hastens 

 the return of the father, lightens the 

 cares of the mother, renders it more easy 

 for youth to resist temptation, and drawn 

 by the chords of aftection, how it induces 

 them with lowly hearts to return to the 

 yaternal roof. Seek then to make home 

 happy. — Ex. 



Show and Parade. — We find the fol- 

 lowing floating among our exchanges, and 

 it strikes us as being worthy of being 

 read and pondered by all: 



The world is crazy for show. There ia 



not one, perhaps, in a thousand, who 



dares fall back on his real, simple self for 



power to get through the world and exact 



enjoyment as he goes along. There ia no 



end to the aping, the mimicry, the false, 



airs, the superficial airs. It requires rare 



courage, we admit, to live up to one's 



enlightened convictions in these days. 



unless you consent in the general cheat, 



there is no room for you among the great 



mob of pretenders. If a man desires to 



live within his means, and is resolute not 



to appeaa more than he really is, let him 



be a])plauded. There is something fresh 



and invigorating in such an example, and 



we should honor and uphold such a man 



or woman with all the energy in our 



l^ower. 



« » > 



Despondency. ^What is the cause of 

 spondency ? What is the meaning of it ? 

 The cause is a we ik mind, aud the mean- 

 ing is sin. Nature never intended that 

 one of her creatures sliould be the victim 

 of a desire to feel and look the thunder- 

 cloud. Never despond, for one of the 

 first entrances of vice to the heart is made 

 through the instrumentality of despon- 

 dency. Although we cannot expect all 

 our days and hours to be gilded as sun- 

 shine, we must not, for mere momentary 

 griefs, sujipose that they are to be en- 

 shrouded in tho mists of misery, or 

 clouded by tho opacity of sorrow and mis- 

 fortune. 



A Jlilaneso lady, after long study and toil, 

 has invented a process to spin the goasiinier 

 threads from cold cocoons, which atfords con- 

 siderable advantages on the old method of 

 nsing lu'iited water, viz. : less space, no coal, 

 less trouble for the spinner, aud greater 

 strength in the silk obtained. 



