34r-4 
AME RICAN AORIC QLT QRIRT, 
[Septembee, 
mop wrings out on the same side where it is put in. 
As a mop is always a short cloth, it is not tiresome 
to wring it, and there is no farther need of scalding 
your hands, or ' touching one's fingers to the dirty 
mop.' An evenly-made mop should always be used. 
When the machine is not required for mop-wring- 
ing, incidental to its design, it may serve as a water- 
pail bench, cr as a truck to convey heavy things 
across a room, or to wring cloths." 
The writer further says that none of these ma- 
chines have been put in the market, but if they 
should be, they woiUd be built of different styles 
and of comely appearance, and that they could be 
furnished at about the same price as clothes wring- 
ers of the same size rollers. 
This wringer is undoubted a great convenience, 
and I do not wonder that it is highly appreciated 
by the workers who do the mopping at Oneida 
Community. But I think wringers like this will 
not soon be in great demand. They can not be 
made cheap enough to come within the reach of 
those who desire them — cult vated women who do 
their own house-work. Women who love to read, 
and who value leisure as opportunity for the exer- 
cise of aesthetic, social, or intellectual tastes, wel- 
come every thing that enables them to do their 
manual labor quickly and easily. A large propor- 
tion of the women of this class cannot afford to 
pay much for a mop-wringer. The clothes-wringer 
saves time and strength, and saves the wear and 
tear of the clothes which result from ordinary hand- 
wringing. The mop-wringer saves little besides the 
delicacy of the hands, which we cannot afford to 
pay much for, and which we can hardly save any 
how in our various daily labors as house-keepers. 
Much as we dislike to put our hands into dirty 
water, it can hardly be shirked in our daily battle 
with the powers of this world. People who can af- 
ford to buy all sorts of useful implements will hard- 
ly take the trouble to supply their hired servants 
with a mop-wringer, since they are not anxious to 
save either mops or servant's hands, and nearly all 
of their rooms are cai-peted. The average hired 
gid does not appreciate many labor-saving contri- 
vances which her mistress values highly. I have 
had more than one washer-woman at my tubs who 
thought a clothes- wringer more plague than profit, 
while I should think the labor of washing nearly 
doubled if obliged to wring the clothes by hand. 
I may he mistaken, but it has long seemed to me 
that we house-keepers should never find much ame- 
Fig. 1.— STEPS AS A CHAIE. 
lioration of our lot, (indeed it is so with all hand- 
laborers) — such amelioration as we could and ought 
to get from the application of machinery, and the 
great forces of water, steam, wind, electricity, and 
what not — until the spirit of co-operation enables 
us to "stoothe leaks "which seem inevitable , to 
our present single-handed struggles for existence. 
Many of the advantages which will result from co- 
operation fall to the lot of the existing communi- 
ties, but desirable as these advantages are, they are 
heavily over-balanced (in my opinion) by disadvan- 
tages of another kind. 
To return to the subject of mop-wringers— I saw 
one several years ago which was much praised by 
its owner — a spiral wire arrangement, screwing in- 
side a pall, price 75 cents. I had a chance to try it 
and did so, but for some reason I could not make 
it wring my mop — perhaps it was not made right. 
Women in Ti-ouscrs. 
The photograph to illustrate the mop-wringer, 
gives also a picture of a woman holding the mop 
in the machine. This photograph passed through 
editorial hands in coming to me, and called forth 
comments like these : " At all events, I am not re- 
sponsible for what Mr. R. may think, say, or do, 
when he finds you in receipt of photographs of be- 
ings in br — trou — pant— or some other kind of 
loony things, that were formerly considered as dis- 
tinctive of the male ' sect.' Oh, isn't (he — she) it a 
beauty! It almost makes me want to be a com- 
munite, and be where such can be seen every day ! " 
This kind of wit is too cheap for our friend, the 
editor, who is opposed to everything like feminine 
extravagance, and in favor of everything based on 
common sense. How would he have a woman 
dress when mopping her floor ? The woman in the 
photogi-aph wears a dress of some plain, inex- 
pensive worsted material, made with Garabaldi, or 
blouse waist, coat sleeves, and plain skirt pleated 
at the waist, and reaching but a little below the 
knee. The lower limbs are modestly clothed in 
lined trousers, made of the same fabric as the dress, 
apparently fashioned, like the trousers usually 
" distinctive of the male sect." I do not know of 
any costume more suitable for a woman when mop- 
ping floors— or hoeing potatoes either. On many a 
dewy morning this summer, have I seen my Ger- 
man neighbor hoeing potatoes in the field near me, 
with her eaUco skirt, made of the usual " woman- 
ly" length, draggled almost to her knees, weighed 
down with dew and dirt. One might suppose that 
it would be for her convenience, and comfort, and 
health, to wear short skirts and trousers, hut I am 
not sure that it would, it is so hard for most women 
to brave an adverse public opinion. It is foolish to 
scold about public opinion. If it is wrong, all you 
can do is to labor to educate it. It is not at all 
strange that we are shocked at the sight of a 
woman in trousers, all our ideas of women and an- 
gels have been, through long ages, so inseparably 
associated with long and flowing robes — though 
woman's robes do not "flow" much nowadays, 
except when they draggle a trail behind, in a man- 
ner that would shock all our ideas of decency and 
cleanliness, if we were not accustomed to it. 
J am here reminded of a late idyl, by Coventry 
Patmore, in the "Pall Mall Gazette": " The Girl 
of AH Periods." This line characterizes well a late 
fashion, and speaks of "loony things " too. " Her 
two shy knees bound in a single trotiser." But 
does it not seem a cruel and absurd way to treat any 
two knees, shy or not ? What will not women stand 
for fashion's sake ? When we have got well past 
it all, ;we, the human race), how very absurd it all 
will seem — the trails, the skeleton skirts of differ- 
ent shapes, the "single trouser," or pull-back, the 
bustles -nd panniers ! compared with any style of 
dre:s, now quite shocking to our perverted taste, 
which evenly clothes the human body without in- 
terfering with its free exercise and development. 
Until a comparatively recent period, women have 
not been clothed, but only draped— pinched and 
distorted above the waist-line, and draped below. 
It is useless to hoot at women in trousers, for all 
properly dressed women now wear trousers, as ex- 
tremely few did half a century ago. These are usu- 
ally made of white cotton cloth, and drapery is 
supposed to conceal them, but great numbers of 
w 11 dressed women now wear, in cold weather, 
warm-colored woolen trousers over their under- 
suits and beneath their skirts. So we are gradually 
getting familiar with the idea of trousers on women, 
so shocking to aU the old ideas of womanliness, 
and by and by, perhaps, we shall see that long 
skirts over the trousers, for the sake of woman's 
conventional drapery, are a luxury we can no 
longer afford — if not a nuisance we will no longer 
endure. Then if we must have drapery in motion 
in order to gratify our ideas of beauty, perhaps we 
shall put trailing drapery upon our horses — why 
not ? Or is it possible that our ideas of beauty will 
undergo a reformation ? 
Step-Laddeks in the House. — Mrs. J. W. Per- 
haps you have in mind what is called a "Library 
Step-Ladder," which you will find figured iu the 
American Agriculturist, for March, 1870. Tou are 
quite right as to the necessity for something of the 
kind that can be kept ready at hand. If a window- 
shade needs to be adjusted, a picture to be hung, or 
some similar trifle, one must either get the large steps 
from the shed, or make use of a chair or a table, or 
both, to reach the desired place. It is a bad prac- 
tice to use furniture for this purpose ; it brings a 
heavy strain on parts not intended to bear it, and 
there is danger of breaking as well as of defacing 
it. Besides, if children and help see the mother 
Fig 3 — STEPS IS tJSB. 
use furniture and— what is worse— books for pur- 
poses for which they are not intended, the example 
wUl be sure to find imitators. The Library Steps 
referred to, are kept in furnishing stores, ?nd any 
amateur carpenter can make something tnattvill 
answer the purpose. Sometimes a combination of 
a chair and steps is sold ; this is shown in figure 1, 
shut, and in figure 2, open, to use as steps. When 
closed, this makes a good chair for the front entry 
or hall, and' may be kept there or in some other 
place where it may be got at without trouble. 
Tomatoes, and How to Use Them. 
Nothing more astonishes English iravelers in 
this countiy, than our profusion of vegetables and 
their cheapness, and when they see tomatoes 
hawked about the streets by wagon loads, they find 
a wonderful contrast between the great abundance 
of these here, and their scarcity at home. More 
than that, our summers ripen the tomato to a per- 
fection which they can not equal, even under glass. 
The manner in which the tomato is treated in the 
English culinary works, would amuse an American 
housekeeper. One of the best works on eatables 
and cookery, that we know of, is English, and en- 
titled "Wholesome Fare," wherein we read of the 
tomato : " It is not common enough in England to 
be used on a large scale for soups and sauces, but 
makes a handsome side-dish to accompany various 
meats, by being boiled whole for about five minutes 
in any good stock or gravy, and served in it with- 
out losing its original foiTn." 
In whatever way tomatoes are used, they should 
be thoro^ighlyripe, otherwise they have the unpleas- 
ant odor and flavor belonging to green tomatoes,- 
and which is especially strong in the plant itself. 
Tomatoes will ripen up after picking, and it is well 
