1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



297 



labics* Separtment. 



From the Home Journal, 

 GOD'S ALMONER. 



A maiden fair once said lo me, 

 Sarprieed at my too b Id advance, 



"\ou need the grace tf God I eee — 

 You false knight wiih the bro£en lance; 



Man'd own desL-rts have never won 



A woman's worthiest benison," 



Alas, too true, my heart replies. 

 But this* great iru h sends back to her: 



In this snd world no man denies 

 Tliat woman is Goa's almoner. 



And het'b the mission high to till — 



To grant h.s grace almost at will. 



Gne-^alf the Christian world to-day 

 "Will bow at sacred Mary's throne, 



While all the other half will pray 

 Each to a JIary of his own — 



Nor prav in vain, fjr God will be 



Within His highest myttery. 



He lives and move? in noble hearts, 

 His srac3 abounds in womin's breast, 



An I h?r warm lave His love ImpartJ 

 To all whom it hath truly blesecd : 



How many a fiend the world hath known, 



Who, truly loved, a saint had grown. 



Come, then, Grand Almoner of Him 

 Who made the heart and knows its need : 



Come, sacro 1 woman 1 8 Tanhim 

 And a:)gels h^ar for what I plead, 



Ard they wiil hoi 1 their sister true 

 Or false by what I gain from you. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 



OR, 



HOW TO ]\IAKE HOME 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,! 



CHAPTER XV.— CoNCLrDED. 



Food and its Preparation, — [Continued.] 

 Since the introduction of tartaric acid — cream 

 tartar — ^^into cookery, to assist the fermentation of 

 dough, the heavy paste puddings for fruit, apple- 

 dumplings included, have greatly improved. 



The best way of maliing this style of pudding 

 is to prepare a paste according to the rule given 

 for making cream-tartar biscuit in Chapter XIV. 

 Roll this into an oblong form and spread into a 

 deep dish or bowl which has been buttered, — there 

 should be sufficient paste hanging over the edge 

 of the dish or bowl to cover the top. Fill in the 

 fruit in layers an inch thick, between which scatter 

 a little ground cinnamon or grated nutmeg, then 

 sugar, a cupful will be needed for cut rhubarb, 

 peeled and sliced raw apple, gooseberries or cur- 

 rants ; other berries, cherries, peaches and pears 

 require less sugar. Fresh or canned fruit is best 

 for these puddings ; but dried apples, peaches and 



berries, are quite nice if well swollen before they 

 are used. All tilling but apples will need flour 

 shaken upon it, enough to cover it like a coat of 

 thin frosting; this is for thickening to the syrup. 

 Then wet the edges of the paste wiih cold water 

 and flour them so that they wiil adhere closely; 

 fold them in ; press them tightly together in the 

 centre. 



Have ready a bag of thick crash, like that for 

 holding the ashes for ?amp, mentioned in a for- 

 mer portion of this chapter (except that the cor- 

 ners are made round by stitching the seam in 

 curved lines.) Wet this bag, turn it wrong side 

 out, shake flour upon It from the dredging-box, 

 and then turn it again. Fold back the top half the 

 length of the bag and fit the bottom into a large 

 bowl. Invert this over your pudding in the other 

 bowl or dish, and carefully tip the pudding into it. 

 Wind the string around the bag (leaving an inch 

 and a half of space to allow for swelling of the 

 paste) an^ tie it as tight as possible — lest it should 

 get water-soaked. Place a saucer in the bottom of 

 the dinner boiler, which should be half full of 

 boiling water and plunge in your pudding. 



Never put a pudding of any sort into water that 

 does not boil — it is the very way to make it heavy. 

 For the same reason nothing but boiling water 

 should be used to supply the loss by evaporation. 

 This must be poured in every half hour. See, too, 

 that the fire is hot enough to keep the pudding 

 boiling continually till it is done. An hour and a 

 half is needed to boil a pudding made of a quart. • 

 of fruit. If made in the form of a roll, with the 

 paste spread long and narrow, and folded over and 

 between the layers of fruit, and placed in a long 

 bag, one hour will cook it. 



For apple dumplings : take a piece of this paste 

 about as large as an egg, roll to a round shape six 

 inches in diameter, place in it the four quarters of 

 an apple, a teaspoonful-of sugar and a very little 

 spice ; close the paste tightly ; and tie a dumpling 

 thus made in a small napkin that has been wet and 

 floured, or take a large pudding-cloth — thick white 

 drilling or crash — and tie one in the centre and one 

 in each corner. Use the same precaution for 

 catching and burning at the bottom of the boiler, 

 and fill in boiling water as for a pudding. Three 

 quarters of an hour will cook these. 



Paste puddings are better boiled in a tin mould, 

 — best steamed, the same dish in which they are 

 formed being set in the steamer at the top of the 

 boiler; or the fruit may be placed in a dish with 

 sugar and spice, the paste over the top only, and 

 the dish set on the back part of the stove with a 

 tin pan inverted over it and thus cooked by its 

 own steam ; half an hour will suflSce to cook it 

 thus. 



A nice paste for puddings may be made by mash- 

 ing and rolling boiled potatoes upon the moulding- 

 board till free from lumps. Mix with six potatoes 

 half a cupful of cold water in which is dissolved 

 half a teaspoonful of salt. Stir it all together; 



