4:04 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[NoVEMBEn, 
Tin would rather have been excused from telling 
liis previous cogitations; but Fanny "insistfd.'^ 
"Pour me a cup, then, and if you are ■willing to 
risk a spoiled supper, you shall know." 
"What is the mystery?" said Fanny, as she 
passed the fragrant cup of tea to her husband. 
" No mystery at all. I was only drawing a com- 
parison, as I sat by the kitchen fire, between Tom 
Hughes' home, manner of living, in fact house- 
keeping arrangements generally, and our own." 
"And toho is 'above half right? ' " asked Fanny 
quickly — " surely not Tom and Clara — everything 
at loose ends— perfect carelessness, not to call it 
slackness, stamped on everything, out of doors and 
in. Such a yard and garden ! Sweet flowers, to 
be sure, hut overrun with weeds — walks neglected 
— borders broken, or altogether lost; and inside, 
oh! dear, I could never describe it ! " 
"I know! I know! But comfort is what I was 
looking at, Fanny, comforil" And Mr. Marvin 
laughed in spite of himself, at Fanny's blank look. 
"More confusion than comfort, I should say!" 
"Well, it's all as one feels about it. Too much 
precision is apt to be chilling ; " and visions of 
linen-cased chairs and ottomans, gauze-covered 
pictures, and darkened windows in his own perfect- 
ly kept parlors, would rise up in contrast with the 
pleasant freedom of his friends' less pretentious 
and more commonly used rooms. 
" Oh, you got wet to-night, and because I didn't 
rush, as Clara would have done, and hurry you into 
the parlor, wet boots, dripping coat, umbrella and 
all, to ruin the carpet and marble hearth, you sat 
and had all these fancies over the kitchen fire." 
"Fanny!" and Mr. Marvin's voice assumed a 
harsher tone than usual, "you would know my 
thoughts — a man isn't responsible to his wife for 
having them, I take it ; so don't be offended if I 
reveided them at your own rei^uest. I believe I 
love neatness and order .as well as any man, but I 
do not love to be cramped and hampered at every 
turn, afraid to step here, or sit there. A little 
J more use and a little less ceremonj', a little more 
' wear and tear, and a little less formality, wouldn't 
it seem more homelike, F.auny ? " 
"This 'letting down' of things I never could 
bear," was the quick reply. " Now tell me, candid- 
ly, Edward, would you be willing I should let Alice 
and Arthur bring their blocks and dominoes into 
the parlor, to build forts and railroads with, on the 
carpet, or let Susie have her dolls .and tea-set there ; 
or thump over the piano-keys with her merciless, 
fat fingers for the sake of a perfect jargon of noise, 
instead of keeping them in the nursery, and allow- 
ing them only to come in the parlor when properly 
dressed .and at suitable times ? " 
" Candidl}-, yes ; I would really like it! Dear 
little things, let them be happy in every room and 
any room, and not h,ave a parlor seem to them, as 
Sunday used to seem to me. I should not give 
them an inkstand, uncorked, to play with, nor al- 
low rude games, nor have them make the piano a 
' stamping ground ; ' but anything short of this, 
which could afford pleasure, let them enjoy." 
"And what a beautiful noise there would be 
when the door-bell should ring— bustling about 
putting back chairs from Arthur's train of cars, 
and stopping to shake him into quiet because he 
cried that his tiuiu was ruined, picking up this, and 
fitraigbtening out that, until you meet your friend 
with a face flushed to fever heat, and a hearty wish 
that parlors might never be nurseries." 
Edward laughed; and Fanny, unappeased,went on 
"And would you have the blinds open all day. 
and the sunshine in, spoiling everything ? ' 
"Rather brightening and sweetening everything." 
" And the covers off the furniture, and all worn 
and threadbare in a mouth ! Only yesterday Clara 
was darning a place in her sofa, where copper toes 
and high heels no doubt often came down with suf- 
ficient force to please the greatest advocate of fi'ee- 
dom and unrestrained use ! And then you would 
like such a garden as Tom's ! Faded pea-vines, 
clinging to the dead brush, and Dahlias blooming 
from out the tangled mass. Roses and Spearmint, 
Asters and Asparagus growing in lover-like prox- 
imity — while the walks are gracefully arched with 
strong weeds, lacing themselves across the way in 
a very free and easy manner ! " 
Mr. Marvin laughed again in spite of himself, as 
he thought of his own carefully kept yard and gar- 
den, where one weed would be plucked up as an 
intruder, where not a dock or dandelion, or pre- 
suming plantain had for years dared to lift their 
heads, and where every walk was as preeiselj- 
straight (since Fanny had been the mistress, at 
le.ast) as the line that divided the glossy tresses of 
his wife's hair. On the whole, he had grown very 
fond of order; but there were times when his soul 
felt trammeled, and in his rebellion he felt disposed 
to knock around, overset, and break up stiffness 
out doors and in, with a vengeance ! 
" No ! Fanny, I would never have broken bor- 
ders and weed arches, nor sofas turned into a play- 
ground; but I would have less fear of a little use, 
and more open, sunny, genial freedom. I would 
rather bequeath to my great-grand-ehildren worn 
furniture, threadbare carpets, and tarnished silver, 
than portraits wrinkled into railroad-maps, from 
care-lines made by the constant strain to keep these 
things fresh, whole, and bright. There are always 
extremes in everything. I would have only a 
pleasant mean. If I had but one room below and 
one above, with a four feet wide yard in front, I 
would not, like poor Sam Wilt, h.ave melon rinds 
and refuse .apples, broken glass and bits of earthen- 
ware, occupying half the space, and broken chairs 
■and useless traps filling every inch within. No, I 
would show that a little room could be made com- 
fortable, and .at all hazards homelike." 
" Well, you are '.above half right,' " said the will- 
ful little Fanny, "and you'll sec if I don't prove it!" 
And sure enough Mr. Marvin found, in less than 
a week, a sun-lighted parlor, with uncased furni- 
ture ; and actually heard from its cheerful recesses 
the merry voices of children who are ever the first 
to appreciate the blessedness of a true home. Fan- 
ny had "a mind of her own," but she was proud 
to yield gracefully when convinced that her hus- 
band was " above half right." 
Original Contributions to the American Agriculturist, 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
• - ■ 
Moravian Recipes.— [Rev. E. E. Reinkle, 
Pastor of the Moravian Church at Olney, 111., writes a 
very pleasant letter on the Agriculturist and its work, 
which it would be gratifying (o print, had we room for 
one in a thousand of such agreeable epistles. Wishing 
to m:ike a return for good received, and contribute what 
he nan to the general good, he sentis a variety of well 
tiied recipes, in use mainly if not only in Moravian com- 
munities. We shall print them as we h;tve room from 
lime to time. First we select the following four:] 
Excellent Stoclc Y^east (which will keep 
six months, if hung up in a b;ig in the air :). In M pint 
water, boil for 5 minutes a liandful. (about a gill.) of good 
hops. Strain this still boiling hot over a pint of flour 
into wliich there has just been grated a raw potato the 
size of an egg. After standing until just lukewarm, stir 
into it a leacupful of good yeast or of dissolved leaven 
kept over from the last baking, or of " rivels " dissolved 
by soaking in cold water. Allow it lo rise twit^e, slii- 
ring it down each time. This will leqnire 2 lo 3 hours. 
Now take flour, or better, equal parts of corn meal and 
flour, and with the hands rub in enough lo work the 
whole mixture into quite dry fragments. (These are 
known in old fashioned cookery as " rivels.-') Spread 
these bits, or rivels, thinly on cloths laid on Irays or 
boards, and leave them to dry — occasionally turning them 
over with the hands. These dry much sooner than yeast 
cakes, and are less apt lo sour. In baking bread, use a 
small teacupful of the rivels to eadi 4 quarts of flour. 
Xo make Yeast at I^irst (without stock 
of any kind to start with). Take 1 tablespoonful of mo- 
lasses— ihin, raw New Orleans molasses is best— 1 table- 
spoonful of flour, and 1 tablespoonful of water. Mix and 
allow it lo stand a day or more in a warm place, near 
but not on the stove, until it ferments. Then use this 
witii the hop water flour, and potato dissolved, as above, 
for "Stock Yeast," and go on and make up the rivels 
with flour and meal as there described. You will there- 
after have some yeast, or rivels, to start with. This 
recipe will be invaluable where no yeast of any kind 
can be had to begin with. 
<irOod Home-ntade Bread — (Note all 
the particulars). Take 4 quarts of good flour. Scald 
one teacupful of it with boiling water, and then mix 
with it a teacupful of the *' rivels," or slock yeast, above 
described, and previously dissolved in cidd water. When 
cool ad I a pint more of the flour and a little lukewarm 
water to make a baiter or " sponge." When this Is well 
leavened (in about 2 hours), add the rest of the flour, 
and 2 henping tablespoonfuls of salt, and lukewarm wa- 
ter enough to form the dough. Knead thoroughly, 10 to 
15 minutes, according to the strength applied, and allow 
it to stand about 2 hours, or until " light." Make into 4 
loaves, merely rounding without kneading the dongli. 
Put the loaves into tin pans, or st'aw baskets, and lei 
them rise again about 1 hour to recover any s^hrinking 
in handling ; tlien bake in a moderately heated oveu so 
as not to scorch the top.— To lest a hot oven, throw in a 
little flour, an-.l if loo hot it will scorch the flour to a 
crisp immediately. The teacupful of scalded flour, put 
at fiist with the rivels or yeast, makes the crust both soft 
and tenacious — To Keep Bread w-ell where there 
is no cellar, wrap it in a clean lowell as soon as cooleJ, 
and put it in a tin box, or in a large covered tin pan ; or, 
better still in the top of a refrigerator if you have one... 
For Bread in Winter, proceed as above, but in- 
stead of rivels, use a teacupful of sponge from the last 
baking, kept covered during the interval ; and in scalding 
the first teacupful of flour, use water in which a pinch 
of hops (with 3 fingers) has first been boiled. This will 
make the lea\'en very active. 
Fine ** Christmas Cakes."— [Good for 
" Thanksgiving," and all other times.] Will keep for 
months in winter, and for weeks in summer if put in a 
tightly coverel tin pan as soon as cold : Take 1 quart 
molasses (good, thick, dark syru[). New Oileans molasses 
will not answer at alii, 1 lb brown sugar, 'j lb. lard, >, 
lb. butter, and dissolve all together on a stove, stirring 
well.— We always add exactly. 2 grated nutmegs, 1 oz. 
ground cloves, 1 o'mce ground cinnamon (thin bark), and 
i4 ounce mace, stirring all well together. Some add a 
little ginger, allspice, or orange peel, or use less of the 
other spices named. Stir in well, flour until the dough is 
stiff. Now let it slanl over night at least. Keeping 4 or 
5 days if not convenient to bake all at once, will not in- 
jure, but rather improve it. Roll about 'a inch thick, and 
cut out into any shapes desired, with a tumbler, cake 
jagger, or fancy tin moulds. Grease the baking tins well. 
Sno^v in Fritters — "^Vliy?— Make a 
rather thick baiter of flour, miik. and a little salt. Add 
for each pint of milk used, a teacupful of newly fallen 
snow, and at once drop the batter into fat previnnsly made 
hot. Eat with sugar, flavored with lemon juice. [These 
directions have come so often, and from so many differ- 
ent sources, that there seems to be something in them, 
though one would suppose the pure snow coiiM be no 
better than an equivalentof water. Probably the air car 
ried in by the porous snow and distributed all through the 
cold baiter by stirring, is retained sufEciently to produce 
lightness, as the hot fat instantly crupts over the outside. 
This looks plausible, and the recipe can be easily tried 
when the snow comes. Success will depend upon having 
the fat ready hot. and cooking before millions of little 
air bubbles can unite and escape. 
XUanl£s;:^iTing* Pudding:. — Take 2yc 
quarts of milk, 4 crackers, 4 eggs. \C lb. butter, 4 table, 
spoonfuls of su^ar, IX leaoupfulsof raisins, and spice 
to the taste. Bake 1 'a hours with a moderate fire.— 
Mrs. £. H, Randall^ Worcester, Ma^s. 
ITIolasses Cake — Sort Oing^crCake. 
—Molasses Cake : .'j cup cream, Ja cup sour milk, I 
cup molasses, 1 teaspoon saleraius. 1 tablespoon ginger, 
or other flavoring, a little salt and flour to make tlie whole 
rather soft. It is liglit and good. Soft Ginger Cake: 
1 cup sweet milk, 1 cup molasses, 1 tablesnoon buiter or 
melted lard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon soda, 2 teaspoon- 
fuls cream of tartar, flavor with ginger or any other 
spice. — Mrs. M. Ingalls, Muscatine, Iowa. 
The Cheap Cake Frosting;, to be 
made with corn starch thickened with pulverized sugar, 
which came recommended by a subscriber, and is pub- 
lished in some othei' journals, vi e have tried and it did not 
work well. It would not thicken up enough. 
l>rop Cakes. — 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup but- 
ter, 2 cups sugar, 4 beaten fggs, X teaspnonful soda, 
spice to taste, and flour enough to make it stiff enough 
to drop from the spoon.— .Vr5. Samuel P. May. 
Bread Oriddle Cakes — (Good way to 
use stale bread :). Crumb the bread and add sour milk 
enoueh to soften it. and let it stand over night. Then 
mash fine with a spoon, add a beaten egg and a teaspnon- 
ful of soda for each quart, with flour enough to make the 
batter considerable thicker than for common griddle 
cakes. As fast as baked, put on a plate over a basin of 
hot water, covering them closely with a large bowl or 
other dish. This keeps thera warm and moist.— il/jranrfa. 
