1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
225 
TOE MOilEMlLIQl 
V (For othtr Household Items, see "Basket" pages.) 
How we Bake our Bread. 
All civilized peoples use the flour of some kind 
of groin mixed with water, fermented, and baked 
must go to some of the country towns of New 
England or to the wooded parts of the West, where 
the open wood-fire has uot been replaced by the 
stove. Here we have a primitive but most useful 
utensil, variously known as bake-pan, bake- 
kettle, or skillet, which is the brainier of the 
French. It is a shallow iron kettle upon legs, with 
a cover which has a turncd-up rim around it. This, 
containing the bread, is placed over live coals 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITII ROCHESTER. 
Rewards and Punishments. — It would be far 
too much to expect average children to do right 
simply fur the sake of well-doing. Their best en- 
deavors are generally prompted by the hope (often 
unconscious) of some reward. The wise parent 
into bread. It is only the savage that plants a tree 
aud grows his bread iu the form of bread-fruit. A 
history of bread from the earliest times aud in all 
countries would be a most interesting one. Iu 
our country, we understand by bread, wheu men- 
tioned without any qualifying word, the flour of 
wheat made light by yeast or leaven, and baked. 
There are localities where 
abominations made with 
soda and saleratus are made 
to do service instead of 
bread ; but as intelligence 
and a better knowledge of 
the laws of health make 
their way, these unsavory, 
unsightly, and malodorous 
compounds disappear. The 
introduction of ranges and 
stoves have made the bak- 
ing for the most part pretty 
much the 6ame thing nil 
over the country. Still, 
there are 6ome places where 
stoves are not known, and 
where the primitive modes 
of our ancestors are still 
followed. One of our ar- 
tists, some months ago, 
made an extended sketching 
tour, and among other 
things his pencil jotted 
down were several domestic 
scenes which illustrated 
what seemed to him odd 
ways of baking. Our 
Household Department is 
so limited as to space, that 
we seldom find room for 
pictures other than the 
simplest illustrations ; so, 
by the way of variety, we 
give engravings from three 
of the sketches referred to, 
as they may have the interest of novelty to at 
least some of our younger housekeepers. The 
sketch for figure 1 was taken in one of the 
southernmost States, where the bread is baked 
before the fire by the aid of a tin reflector. To 
see a kitchen scene like that iu figure 2 one 
drawn out upon the hearth, more live coals are 
placed upon the lid, and in skillful hands the bak- 
ing, not only of bread, but of other things, is done 
to perfection. Figure 3 gives the detached oven 
that is a more common adjunct to the farm-house 
iu the Middle States than elsewhere. A large 
stone, brick, or iu some places even clay oven is 
3.— IDE DETACHED OVEN. 
put up handy to the kitchen, and is capacious 
enough to hold the week's baking. The heat- 
ing of the oven, the sweepiugout of the coals, the 
putting in of the bread, pies, cake, aud other mat- 
ters, and the " drawing " at the proper time, call for 
a skill that can only be acquired by long practice. 
gives this reward — just a smile ef pleasure, or a 
kiss, or a cordial " thank you "—when well-doing 
takes the form of a personal favor. "That is 
right, dear," is easily said when a child has made 
an effort to do well, and it helps the little one a 
great deal. 
" A child ought not to be praised for simply do- 
ing right," says one. 
Then do not blame it 
for doing wrong. But praise 
is uot what we are talking 
about, if by praise you mean 
anything like flattery. We 
only call things by their 
right names if we say " that 
is right" when a deed is 
right; and there is uo flat- 
tery in letting a child see 
that we arc pleased with it 
when it has merited our 
pleasure. All this is simple 
encouragement, and the 
world would get on poorly 
without it. We grown-up 
people can not thrive with- 
out encouragement of some 
kind. Most of us are toil- 
ing for rewards — one for 
fame, one for wealth, one 
for social position, one for 
the love of his fellows — 
each according to our tasle. 
Or, if deprived of hope, we 
are perhaps whipped to our 
tasks by fear of punish- 
ment, fear of disgrace, fear 
of poverty, fear of social 
ostracism, fear of alienat- 
ing our friends. Duty is 
the sole mistress of some, 
but she also governs by 
hope and fear, high or low, 
according to the degree of 
culture, through the conscience. The very few 
who seem to do what is right spontaneously are 
rare among our growing boys and girls, and we 
must expect to bring them to their daily tasks by 
seme motive stimulated. 
It is uot well to offer children cash payment very 
