1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



249 



I'atrks' Department. 



THE THREE LITTLE CHAIRS. 



They sat alone by the briiiht wood flre, 

 The gray-haired d ime and the agi d sire, 



Dream ni; of days gone by; 

 The t ar-i.rops f 11 on each wrinkled cheek, 

 Tliey both hid tliou^hti that they could not 



As each heart uttered a sigh. 



For thfir sad and tearful eyes descried 

 Three little chairs p'a'^ed side by side, 



Agai'irt the fitting-room wall; 

 Old-tashioned erioui^h as theri' they stood, 

 Their sea" of flag and their frames of wood, 



With their backs so stra gtit and tall. 



Then the sire ghook bis silvery head, 

 And With trembling voice he gently said — 



"Mother, those empty chairs I 

 They bring us euch sad, sad thoughts to-night, 

 "We'll put them forever out of sight, 



In toe small dark room, up stairs." 



But she answered, "Father, no, not yet, 

 For I lock at them and I forget 



Thit the children went away. 

 The boys come back, and ourMary, too, 

 With her apron on of checkered blue. 



And sit here every day. 



Johnny still whittles a ship's tall masts, 

 And Willie his leaden bullets casts, 



While Mary her patchwoik sews; 

 At oveaiiig time three childish prayers 

 Go up to Uod from those little chairs, 



Ho softly that no one knows, 



Johnny comes back from the billow deep, 

 Willie wjkes from the battle-field sleep, 



To say a goodnight to me ; 

 Marj's a wife ani mother no more. 

 But a tired chid whose play-time is o'er. 



And comes to rest on my'knee. 



So let them stand there, though empty now. 

 And every time when a one we bow 



At the Fatber's Ihrone to pray, 

 We ll ask to meet Ihe children above. 

 In our Saviour's home of rest and love, 



Where no child goe'h aw ly " 



— Mrs. H. T. Perry in Evangelist. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 



OR, 



HOW TO IVIAKE HOIVIE PLEASANT. 



BY ANNE G. HALE. 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 

 1866, by R. P. Eaton & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the 

 District Court for the District of Massachusetts.] 



CHAPTJSR XV. 

 FOOD AND ITS PREPARA.TION, 



Time was when puddings were the first course 

 at dinner. Now they are often crowded entirely 

 from our bill of fare by the too plentiful consump- 

 tion of animal food that precedes them. But we 

 should probably gain much by a return to the old 

 fashioned routine of dietetics. Our systems are 

 burnt up, so to speak, by the excess of carbon 

 which the Immoderate use of animal food sup- 

 plies ; New Englanders, especially, sufier greatly 

 from this cause. 



In those days, too, puddings were of simpler 

 style than these that now suit our pampered ap- 

 petites. A few specimens of those primitive dishes 

 are indeed occasionally suffered to grice the fam- 

 ily boaid, but many persons, considering them 

 mean and meagre, are so careless in their prepara- 

 tion that the once really nice and palatable food 

 makes its appearance at table as a mc>s scarcely 

 fit for the fare of brutes. Take for example mush, 

 or hasty pudding, — (stirabout of the Scotch, fur- 

 mity of the English) how often is it seen no better 

 than the scalded meal of the stable and the barn- 

 yard, which one must be hungry indeed to eat. 

 This is made, as we all know, of ground grain,-— 

 Indian-corn, rye, wheat, or oats — in the simplest 

 manner, and the best to develope its nuiiitive 

 qualities. Hence it is particu larly desirable for 

 the food of children and invalids. Perhaps some 

 may consider directions for preparing this dish 

 unnecessary; but I have seen so muck waste and 

 misuse of God's good gifts through heedlessness, or 

 ignorance of little matters, that I cannot let even 

 this ABC of cookery pass without the pointer at 

 its individual proprieties. And as the worthiest 

 of college students deem hasty pudding a dainty 

 fit for festal cheer, and form clubs in its honor; 

 and as one of New England's earliest bards has 

 made hasty pudding the subject of an epic poem, 

 and immortalized his name thereby, I believe 

 most of my readers will acknowledge the impor- 

 tance of the following detailed directions : — In the 

 first place, though it is called hasty padding, it 

 cannot be hurried ; it must have a good deal of 

 time and patience to make it what it ought to be. 

 Use a deep kettle, iron or porcelain-lined. Fill 

 this with water boiling hot. Sprinkle in as much 

 salt as for making bread. Set it upon the hot 

 stove or range, or hang it over a clear fire. Mix 

 half the quantity of meal intended to be used with 

 cold water, smoothly, and thin enough to stir 

 easily with an iron or a wooden spoon. Make it 

 of the consistency of soup by pouring upon it 

 boiling water from the kettle, stirring it thor- 

 oughly the while. Then return it to the kettle. 

 Stir it till it boils furiously. Then sprinkle in a 

 small handful of meal (bolted meal or wheat flour 

 if you wish for something a touch above common), 

 and, while sprinkling, stir rapidly, from left to 

 right, ("the way the sun goes," say the old folks) ; 

 stir till the lumps are all gone; then let this boil 

 three or four minutes. Then sprinkle and stir in 

 another handful and wait for it to boil the same 

 length of time, and so continue till the mixture is 

 s-tiflf enough to bear up the spoon. It must then 

 remain, puffing and steaming, over the fire, ten 

 minutes. At the end of that time take it into a 

 deep dish and place it upon the table. Eat it 

 with a little butter and molasses, or syrup, or 

 sugar ; or with plenty of milk and berries, peaches, 

 or baked sweet apples or pears ; or substitute a 

 little cream and sugar for the milk with the fruit. 

 Cold hasty pudding, cut in slices a quarter of an 

 inch thick and fried in salt pork fat, or salted 



