1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
355 
steamed Indian Pnddins:. — Mix 1 
pint of buttermilk, 1 c<;2f, 1 teaspoonful saleratus, 
1 of salt, and Indian meal enough to make a stiff 
batter. Steam for an hour and a half and serve 
hot with butter and molasses, sweetened cream, or 
other sance as may be desired. 
Xo Remove I>inie Spots from Cloth. 
— First use a stiff, dry brush to remove any adher- 
ing lime, then rub the spots with a cloth wet in 
cold vinegar and dry the garment. 
Xo Prevent Stoves Knstins. — Oil 
them with sweet oil. This does not make a bad 
smell when the stoves are heated again. They 
should be very clean when the oil is applied. 
Co.al-scuttles may be oiled with boiled linseed oil. 
Xo Keep Burnislied or Polished 
Shovels, Tonos, Pokeks, etc., prom Rustlng. — 
A friend practises packing such things in a box, of 
convenient form, and covering them with quick- 
lime, leaving room for the lime to swell in slack- 
ing, as it gradually absorbs water from the air. 
I^otes on Cretting- Tire. 
Who first discovered fire and its uses ? No man knows. 
It may have been first seen bursting from a volcano ; or 
lightning may liave strucli and fired a tree ; quite likely 
the latter was the case, as it is the most common way in 
which fire is produced without the help of man. In some 
way it became known to our ancestors very early in the 
history of the world. We can imagine the wonder and 
consternation with wliich tliey for the first time saw this 
elementdevouring the solid wood, and by its strange pow- 
er compelling them to keep at a respectful distance. 
But they soon learned to make it one of the most useful 
servants, and it has played a most important part in the 
progress and history of all nations. In these days of 
friction matches, we know btit liltle of the trouble ovir 
ancestors had to keep their fire, or to produce it when 
extinguished. Within the recollection of many of our 
readers, it used to be one of the regular household duties 
to see that a stick of hard wood partly burned, was safely 
covered witti ashes at night to keep it for starling with 
the next morning. When by neglect or accident the fire 
went out. a iiiece of steel made for the purpose was 
struck wiih a flint, and the sparks from the small bits of 
steel ignited, were caught upon tinder, or partly burned 
cotton rags, and tlius laboriously and gradually the fire 
was again lighted. If there were no flint or steel, then 
one must go to the nearest neighbor for fire — no small 
task on a cold winter morning in a sparsely settled place. 
Tlie ancients understood tlie art of kindling fire from the 
sun by means of concave mirrors, the bright surfaces of 
which collected many of the rays in a small spot called 
a focus, llierehy producing intense heat. The burn- 
ing glass, acting on the same principle, has long been 
known, and is now a convenience for travelers. Among 
uncivilized nations, it is stilt the practice to procure fire 
by rubbing two sticks together. A gentleman who has 
often seen the Indians do this, says they use a piece of 
hard wood about a foot long, having several holes in the 
side, with a small opening inclining downward from each 
hole. TIds stick is laid upon the ground and held firmly 
with the feet. A small stick of soft wood, with the end 
rounded to fit the hole in the other piece, is taken be- 
tween the hands, its end introduced into one of the holes, 
and then it is rapidly twirled back and forth. This pro- 
duces much lieat and at the same time rubs off small 
particles fiom tlie soft stick, which become partly charred, 
and fall from the hole down through the small opening 
on to a dry leaf placed there to receive them. Quite a 
little pile of these bits collect upon the leaf before one 
ignites, and falling upon the others sets fire to them. 
The Indian gathers the whole together in a few leaves, 
swings them around, and soon has a roaring flame. 
This i^ hard work and requires much practice to succeed; 
our informant often tried, but was never able to protluce 
a spark. It would require too much space to speak In 
this article of the invention of matches and the improve- 
ments made in them, and we reserve It for a future time. 
A Boy in a Predicament. 
A lady reader of the American Agriculturist relates the 
following incident which occurred to her uncle when a 
boy. His father kept geese, and for the accommodation 
of such as wanted to raise families, he built a low house 
or coop, into which a goose could comfortably enter and 
occupy her nest. On one occasion a motherly goose had 
been sitting several days on a nestful of eggs, when little 
Joshua, then about five years old, wanted very much to 
know what progress she was making. Accordingly he 
lay down before the entrance, and began to introduce his 
head, but Madam Goose indignant at this intrusion into her 
private room, made a snap at him. and caught him by the 
nose I Joshua screamed and struggled, but the old goose 
held on, and the gander who was not far off, hearing his 
mate's voice, came flying to the rescue, and mounting 
on Joslma's back, began giving him an unmerciful drub- 
bing with both wings. The noise brought Joshua's 
mother to the scene of conflict, and she pulled him away, 
but the goose held on so tightly that when released, his 
nose was completely skirmed. After he was grown, 
Joshua used to relate this story to show that it is safest 
for one to keep his nose out of other people's business. 
A Proper ]VInsical Instrument. 
A certain Presbyterian clergj'man In Scotland, many 
years ago, was very fond of music, and frequently amused 
himself with playing on his violincello, on which he was 
a fine performer. Some staid members of his parish 
were shocked to hear of what they thought such profane 
recreation, and appointed a committee to visit and talk 
with him on the subject. The committee called, and 
their spokesman after some hesitation, stated what they 
had heard, that he played on the fiddle, and asked if it 
were true. *'Certainly," replied the minister, "I have what 
you call a fiddle, which I will show you," and bringing 
it out he tuned it and at once commenced playing. He 
went through several favorite national aiis, struck off 
into lively reels and jigs and brought out such sprightly 
music, that even the committee could scarcely keep their 
feet still under them. The interview closed without 
much further being said on the evil of music ; they were 
nearly converted to the minister's faith, that there is a 
time for such enjoyment. Returning to the meeting 
which had appointed them, the spokesman, who himself 
had not been opposed to the music, but had gone to please 
the people, reported as follows : "Sure friends ye ha'e 
nae occasion to fash yere selves abune the Dominie's fid- 
dle, for its nae a wee ungodly fiddle, but an unco great 
gospel fiddle .'" with which diplomatic report the people 
were entirely satisfied, and the minister was left to enjoy 
music without any further molestation. 
President Lincoln's Sympatliy. 
The following incident related in an exchange paper, 
well illustrates our late Presitlent's natural kindness of 
heart. A woman in a faded shawl and hood, somewhat 
advanced in life, was admitted in her turn to the Presi- 
dent. Her husband and three sons, alt sne had in the world, 
enlisted. Her husband had been killed, and she had 
come to ask the President to release to her the oldest 
son. Being satisfied of the truthfulness of her story he 
replied, " Certainly, if her prop was taken away she was 
justly entitled to one of her boys." He immediately 
wrote an order for the discharge of the young man. The 
poor woman thanked him very gratefully, and wen 
away. On reaching the army she found tliat this son had 
been in a recent engagement, was wounded, and taken 
to a hospital. Slie found the hospital, but the boy was 
dead, or died while she was there. The surgeon in 
charge made a memorandum of the facts upon the back 
of the President's order, and, almost broken-hearted, the 
poor woman found her way again into his presence. He 
was much affected by her appearance and story, and 
said, '* I know what you wish me to do now, and I shall 
do it without your asking. I shall release to you your 
second son.'" Upon this he took up his pen and com- 
menced writing the order. While he was writing, the 
poor woman stood by his side, the tears running down 
her face, and passed her hand softly over his head, strok- 
ing his rough hair, as I have seen a fond mother do to a 
son. By the time he had finished writing, his own heart 
and eyes were full. He handed her the paper. " Now," 
said he, " you have one and I one of the other two left ; 
that is no more than riglit." She took the paper, and rev- 
erently placing her hand again upon his head, the tears 
still upon her cheeks, said, " The Lord bless you, Mr. 
President. May you live a thousand years, and may you 
always be the head of this great nation !" 
Tlie Hurt Chicken. 
A lady subscriber to the American AgriculturistwrMez ; 
*' We have an old hen whose name is ' Pat.' She is not 
a Hibernian, for eight years ago she was one of a large 
brood of chickens' In our own yard. I was ill at the 
time, and when the chicken was half grown, she persist- 
ed in coming to the outside door of my room, and seat- 
ing herself gravely upon the door sill. She had a singu- 
lar resemblance to a Partridge, and we gave her that 
name — now, it is plain ' Pat.' 
" This morning one of the boys came in with one of 
Pat's chickens in his hands. ' See here Mother, this poor 
little chicken has Its leg broken.' Some one else sug- 
gested that it was the work of 'Old Gol>bler'— he had 
been trying to frighten Pat out of her senses early this 
morning, and had actually dragged his wings over the 
poor old mother hen. The kitten lay asleep in the rock- 
ing chair, and the children put the iame chicken in its 
soft warm fur, where it remained quite contented a short 
time. Soon, however, it began to scream, and I advised 
the boys to go out and kilt it. ' / can't do it,' replied the 
eldest— and as he never refuses to do as he is requested. 
I did not insist. I turned to his brother, saying. ' You 
had better go with it I guess.' It went against hi m but he 
bravely took the liltle tiling and went out and put it out 
of its pain— came back with tears in his eyes, and sat 
down and wept. I am sure you agree with me. Mr. Ed- 
itor, that those tears were an honor to him. and not— as 
some boys of eleven would have thought— a sign of ^ 
weak, unmanly spirit. Our dear, departed President, 
could never have been — I am sure— a cruel, selfish boy ; 
had he been this, he could not have exhihit-ed such sor- 
row and compassion over the sins and suffering of even 
his enemies, and never would a vast Nation so have 
mourned his loss." 
Ans^vers to Problems and Puzzles. 
The following are answers to the puzzles, etc., in the 
July number, page 2'IZ, No. 161. Curious Ninnbers. — 
FIVE ; take away the three letters. F, I, E, and V or 
five remains. — 2d. SIX; take away S, and IX, or nine 
remaiss ; take away S, I, and X or ten remains . . . No. 
162. Illustrated Rebus. — Lettuce awl key pup in d pen 
dents day in on r of ti ees on s over throw ; or Let us all 
keep up Independence day in honor of treason's over- 
throw... No. 163. Cotiundrum.—A. General Grant o. 
America No. 164. Word Rebus. — Wood ewe bee re 
specked ed dew ewer whole dew tea; or Would you be 
respected, do your whole duty ...No. 165. Illustrated 
Rebus. — Awl on R tooth e boys in blue hoof aut and one 
in f reed u ms caws ; or, All honor to the boys in blue, 
who fought and won in freedom's cause ...No. 106. Con- 
undrum. — The Black Warrior ...No. 167. Puzzling Sen- 
tences. — 1st. A Chinese found a charm under a chaff cov- 
ering. 2d. You try to tease In vain ; I am too used to it. 
No. 168. Clock Problem.— iS 96-1-13 minutes past eight 
o'clock The following have sent in correct answers 
up to July 8ih. P. L. Vancel, 156 ; " Compo," 158 ; Sol- 
omon C. Minor, 156, 159; Ctarkson Jolmslon. 159- J. T. 
Avery, 161. 162, 165; H. Besthesto. 161 ; Geo. R. Clark, 
162, 165; George E. Pomeroy, Jr., 162, 165: Richard H. 
Bosworth, 165 ; R. G. Weeks, 165 ; W. C. Stone, 163, 165. 
New Puzzles to l>e Ans^vered. 
No. 169. Prolific TVord.— From the letters of what sin- 
gle word can the following sentence be made ? " Ned 
and I ran in a barn and a bear ran near a drain, and 
I bade Ned ride"? 
-f=¥- 
No. 170. Illustrated Rebus.— Good advice for the times. 
I No. 171. Wire PiizzU.— This 
four 
together 
g, and 
a ring slipped on as represent- 
ed. The puzzle is to get the ring off without breaking 
or separating the wires. It will be good amusement for 
a leisure hour to make and then solve the puzzle. 
O puzzle is made of three or : 
pieces of wire linked toge 
as shown in the engraving. 
OLD 100 
JERUSALEM 
^^thE PresidentC 
No. 172. Illustrated Rtius.— Especially for the bovs. 
No. 173. CAnradf.— Contributed by Jas. E. Wildey, 
Lake Co., 111. I am composed of 24 lellei s. My 23, 4. 
19, 17, 7, 11, was a mythological deity. My 7, 3, 12, 20, 5, 
17, 14, was a learned Frenchman. My 1, 17, 5, 20. 18, 24, 
Is always in a city. My 2, 6, 14, 21, 15. II. 13, is an inhab- 
itant of the sea. My 2, 12, 5, 5, 6, 14, is a tool much used 
in carpentry. My 7, 15. 9, 6, abounds in the Southern 
swamp, lands. My 13, 7, 22, 23, 19, 5, 22, 18, 18, 23. are 
very useful to farmers. My 9. 12, 14, 4, 16, 9, 4, 23, Is 
a city of South America. My \% hole is what every farm- 
er will find it very pleasant and profitable to have. 
