X82 



ROME AND FLOWERS 



"I put all dishes away from the break- 

 fast table, but after dinner leav* the table 

 set until after breakfast again — clearing it 

 away but once a day. I wash my dishes 

 and scald them, then turn them down in a 

 dish drainer with a clean cotton flour sack 

 folded on the bottom. I use flour sacks for 

 dish towels — using as many as I want — 

 then putting them in the clothes basket until 

 Monday, and give them a thorough washing 

 with the rest of my clothes." 



"We always have dry wood. My husband 

 thinks dry wood is money out at interest. 

 If you want a good fire you can surely have 

 it, and if you do not need very much fire, 

 one stick with the stove shut up good will 

 burn a long time. In summer I burn oil. 

 This saves many steps." 



Look for the Beautiful. — (Mrs. E. Louis 

 Lampson, Gilbert, Wisconsin.) "It is a de- 

 plorable fact that the majority of the women 

 who live in the country look upon their 

 lives as drudgery and their surroundings 

 as commonplace. In many cases this may 

 be true, but they should realize that we do 

 not have to visit Yellowstone Park or the 

 Alps to see picturesque and romantic scen- 

 ery, and that we have the advantage of our 

 city sisters in attaining the life beautiful. 

 Although the latter have many privileges 

 of which we are deprived, the city with its 

 splendid architecture and electric lights is 

 but man-made, while the country with its 

 wooded hills and beautiful moonlight is 

 God's own handiwork. 



"Some time ago I visited a lady whose 

 husband is a homesteader. Her house, small 

 but comfortable, was situated upon a hill, 

 and under the trees at the foot ran a little 

 brooklet with a tiny bridge across it, and 

 tangles of ferns, wild lily-of-the-valley and 

 sweet woodruff growing on each side. An 

 ideal spot for the artist either with brush 

 or camera! Yet I doubt that she knew the 

 names of the flowers and grasses, or that 

 more than one kind of fern grew there. At 

 the home of another homesteader the ^lady 

 knew the haunts of the arbutus, and took 

 me to see her spring with maidenhair grow- 

 ing all about it. Which one, think you, gets 

 the most of the beautiful out of life?" 



"As I am a farmer's wife, would like 

 to read the best methods of doing our work. 

 No one but a farmer's wife could write a 

 practical lesson, because the writer must 



know the lack of conveniences in the aver- 

 age home of a farmer. Housework in a vil- 

 lage or city is as different as the sun and 

 moon. The practical application of the best 

 methods of making the hard work and 

 monotony of rural life easier is what we 

 need." 



"One fall I took a light stick, painted it, 

 and screwed in half a dozen brass hooks, 

 and put it up behind the stove. Then I 

 sewed on brass rings to the top of the mit- 

 tens of the family. I didn't have to pick up 

 mittens every time I swept under the stove 

 that winter. The mittens were in plain 

 sight, always dry and warm, and the men 

 always hung them up themselves. I believe 

 the secret of getting the men folks to take 

 care of their outer garments when they come 

 in is partly in furnishing a handy place for 

 everything, and then keeping other things 

 off those hooks. The same is true of the 

 little ones, or at least of mine." 



"When my wife washes the silver she 

 places it in very hot rinsing water. Then 

 after plunging her hands in cold water she 

 quickly grasps it in one hand and swings it 

 violently about three seconds and drops 

 it onto the tablecloth perfectly dry. This 

 avoids wiping, and,, if done quickly, it does 

 not scald her hands at all. The dishes are 

 washed, set upon edge in a wire drainer, 

 and boiling water poured over them. The 

 drainer is then set back on the shelf and 

 the dishes are dry almost immediately. This 

 does away largely with the wiping towel." 



"Let me illustrate by one morning's work. 

 After breakfast dishes are washed and in 

 their proper places, I make a layer cake, 

 using an agate dish. After the cake I make 

 the fllling in the same dish without washing. 

 After that is set away I mix a small batch of 

 cookies. Next comes mixing pumpkin, pre- 

 viously cooked, for pies. Now, when I am 

 all through, I have one agate dish, one cup. 

 one spoon, one knife to wash and put away, 

 when in many cases, personally known, 

 there would be a pile of dishes accumulated 

 from using a separate dish for every article 

 made, trotting here and there to get things 

 together, then to put away, not leaving time 

 to clean them up before dinner, and when 

 that is over what a discouraging mess! In 

 my case you will observe that each article 

 in succession partook of the same ingredi- 

 ents as its predecessor. I would not mix 

 bread or biscuit after pie or cake," 



