1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
65 
raie romsEiraLiiD. 
^~ (For other Household Items, see "Basket" pages.) 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Where to Pinch.— No exact line can be drawn 
between the rich and the poor. They are poor who 
are discontented. There are persons who pity me, 
I suppose, because they think I am denied so many 
things that are essential to their comfort ; while I 
consider my own lot greatly preferable to theirs, 
and really do not have to practice the self-denial 
they imagine, in doing without such things as it is 
evidently not best for me to have at present, Iu 
the mean time I rejoice over possessions and invest- 
ments which they do not envy, because they are 
unable to appreciate their value as I do. Let us 
spare our pity, then, for only those who mourn over 
what is beyond their reach, instead of enjoying the 
best they "have already. While we are contented 
with our present lot, it is entirely reasonable to be 
reaching out for the things that are beyond, trying 
steadily to better our condition. The two states of 
mind, contentment and unsatisfaction, are not in- 
compatible. 
" Can't afford it," is a frequent excuse. Neigh- 
bor A takes only the county paper this year— times 
are hard 'and he "can't afford" as many papers as 
he took last year ; but he still smokes expensive 
cigars, and, to please his palate, his wife breaks her 
back over the pastry board— for he must have a 
piece of rich pie at nearly every meal, and doesn't 
relish his coffee without a ginger-snap or dough- 
nut to eat with it. When he finds it necessary to 
economize, he begins to pinch his mind before his 
body— a small mind, of course, or this thing would 
not happen. His wife and children feel the pinch 
more than he does, and it is a real injury to them all. 
The same kind of a mistake is made by Mrs. B., 
who is a widow with 
two nice little daugh- 
ters. She earns 
enough to keep them 
all decently, but 
watches all expendi- 
tures with a jealous 
eye. She is often 
solicited to let her 
little girls join some 
class in penmanship, 
gymnastics, vocal 
music, or something 
of that kind, when 
competent instruc- 
tors make up classes 
in the little village 
where they live. She Fig. L-susfenders. 
"can't afford" anything of that kind, and her 
bright little daughters take their chance under the 
changing instruction of the ungraded district 
school. Other children try in vain to get the name 
of Lizzie B. in their club for Our Young Folks, and 
both little girls earnestly begged their mother to 
put down her name for Hearth and Home, when a 
lady who was making up a club called there the 
other day. Mrs. B. refused, but, being fond of 
reading herself, she thought to satisfy the children 
by subscribing for another paper which, she says, 
is just about as good aud a great deal cheaper. It 
costs less money, to be sure, but it is very poor 
stuff. Trashy, sensational stories make up the 
bulk of it, and it is unreliable when it professes to 
give facts and attempts to instruct. 
If Lizzie and Alice B. learn to like such literature, 
aB they probably will, the natural result will be to 
make them sentimental, extravagant young women, 
given up to novel-reading dissipation. While their 
mother " economizes " so closely in these matters 
that concern their intellectual aud moral develop- 
ment, she strains every nerve to dress her little 
girls as finely as any children with whom they 
associate. They are not piuched for ribbons, nor 
feathers, nor artificial flowers, though they often 
shiver for lack of warm undergarments in winter. 
Fig. 3.— SUSPENDERS. 
When we feel the necessity for retrenchment, 
shall we not begin to cut down our expenses at 
some point where only a personal wliim or fancy 
has led to the expenditure ? Not until our dress is 
brought dowu to the actual requirements of com- 
fort, neatness, and simple good taste ; not until our 
tables are supplied only with a wholesome variety 
of plain, nourishing food, should we think of dis- 
pensing with a good supply of the best periodical 
literature, or refuse to add to our growing library 
an occasional well-selected volume. Not until we 
have actually begun to 
pinch ourselves where 
we can feel the pinch, 
should we refuse our 
mite to those in need 
of charity. 
Clothing fob Lit- 
tle Girls. — The per- 
fect ideal has not been 
attained, but here is an 
effort toward it : 
The little girl in ques- 
tion wears a loose- 
sleeved waist, with 
drawers attached, made of her mother's old merino 
(or ribbed) wrapper. The sleeves reach to her 
wrists and the drawers to her ankles, going inside 
the warm, yarn stockings, and having a strap 
under the foot to hold them down. An inch from 
the top of the stocking, on the outside of the leg, 
is a button to which fastens an elastic strap, which 
buttons again at the waist. This strap answers the 
purpose of a garter— or answers a better purpose, 
holding the clothing in place without interfering 
with the circulation of the blood, as garters do. A 
pair of heavy red flannel drawers is worn over, 
gathered into bauds at the bottoms of the legs. 
These bands button around the leg, a little below 
the knee, and a button-hole in each band, fastened 
to the button, for the elastic on the stocking keeps 
the drawers from shoving up or down too far. The 
drawers button at the top to the waist of the un- 
der-drawers, which has a fac'mg of thick cloth to 
hold the buttons firmly. Next comes the flannel 
skirt, with its shoulder-strapped waist ; then the 
lined flannel dress, then the high, sleeved apron. 
The long legs of thick, cotton stockings of large 
size, could be made to answer well as under-draw- 
ers for a child two or three years old, cutting them 
oyer to fit the aukles, and ripping them down sev- 
eral inches at the top, where they join the waist. 
Sleeved waists of cotton flannel are worn by many 
children instead of chemises, and to these the draw- 
ers are buttoned. 
It seems quite reasonable that additional cloth- 
ing should be put upon the feet and legs when 
going out from a warm room into the cold. Arctic 
overshoes and long yarn leggings are good, but 
lono- yarn socks with thick bottoms (leather is best 
for the bottoms) are very comfortable. Old woolen 
stockings, considerably worn at the toes and heels, 
can be cut over for small children, and bottomed 
with leather or with thick cloth. If the legs are long- 
enough to come above the knees, 60 much the bet- 
ter. The knees should always he well protected 
against cold. I have seen daughters of prosperous 
people out-dooi-3 with their knees bare, when the 
mercury was below zero, this very winter ! 
A Letter Answered.— A mother writes to me 
from Missouri. She wants Miss Peahody's Kinder- 
garten Guide, but does not know where to send for 
it. Let her send $1.25 to the office of the Agricul- 
turist, and they will send her the book by mail. 
The same mother asks my opinion about allow- 
ing her eldest child, her only daughter, to play aud 
romp with her brothers. She is advised not to do 
so by older mothers. I presume these " older and 
wiser" mothers think that it is not "pretty" for 
little girls to be noisy and fond of active games. 
They think that " boys will be boys," and the best 
you can do to get rid of their noise is to keep them 
out of doors as much as possible. They have quite 
a different programme for their girls. 
I don't know as much about all this as I wish I 
did, and I am not trying to give advice now— only 
to talk the matter over a little. This Missouri sister 
wishes she could talk with me about these things. 
She can hardly desire it more earnestly than I, to 
talk with her and get her experience — the expe- 
rience of any earnest, observing mother. 
No two children are exactly alike. Some girls 
are boyish and some boys are girlish, but there is a 
general type of the boy nature and of the girl na- 
ture. As a general rule girls are more quiet than 
boys, inclining more to dolls and to domestic pur- 
suits, but the exceptions to the rule are so numer- 
ous that great liberty should be allowed. Little 
girls almost always suffer from being kept in the 
house too much. If they take injury from snt- 
door life, it is usually on account of the barbarous 
exposure to cold their limbs get, because they are 
so imperfectly clothed. There is no reason why 
girls should not be dressed as warmly and as evenly 
as boys. It seems to me a fortunate thing for both 
boys and girls when they are put together in the 
same families as brothers and sisters, and I think it 
well for them to share each other's pursuits as far 
as possible. Good manners should be taught to 
both sexes alike. Rudeness should be checked; 
the stronger should be taught to help the weaker. 
We want gentle boys as well as gentle girls, and 
hearty, active, strong-limbed, wide-awake girls are 
quite as desirable as the same kind of boys. Mod- 
esty is equally desirable in both sexes. A mother 
must keep her eyes and ears open, always ready to 
ward off impending danger from the young minds 
about her. Little girls are not in as much danger 
of corruption from the evil communications of 
their own brothers as from their brothers' play- 
fellows who have no sisters of their own. 
No ; let the little girls have a fair chance to learn 
to coast, and skate, and row a boat, and harness 
and drive a horse. Let them jump, and climb, and 
learn to hoe, and mow, and rake, aud bind, if they 
like. Aud encourage the hoys to emulate the girls 
in the arts of sewing, knitting, dish-washing, 
etc. None of these things will affect the real nature 
aud make a boy less manly or a girl less womanly. 
A Support for ftuilting-Frames. 
— ♦ — 
Here is a little contrivance which will do away 
with the usual and 
awkward way of sup- 
porting aquilting-frame 
upon the backs of 
chairs. A model was 
sent us by Mr. Edward 
Skinner, of Middle- 
town, N.T., from which 
we have had an engrav- 
ing made. The cross- 
pieces, forming the 
foot, are 18 inches 
long, and the upright 
31 inches high. A 
piece of stout wire is 
driven firmly into the 
top of the upright, 
and as it passes through 
the holes in both 
SUPPORT FOR FRAME. 
pieces of the frame, no pins are required. 
m ■ II I ' ■ 
About Suspenders. 
" W. H. B.," Oakwood, Kansas, sends a plan for 
arranging suspenders which obviates the inconve- 
nience resulting from their slipping off the shoul- 
ders when one works in his shirt-sleeves. Sewing 
the suspenders together at the point where they 
cross each other does not entirely answer the pur- 
pose. So our correspondent uses a strip of elastic, 
sewn to the two suspenders just across the shoul- 
ders, as in fig. 1. The elastic should be of good 
quality, an inch broad, and long enough to allow 
one to 6lip off the suspenders at will, but not 60 
loose as to allow them to fall from the shoulders 
without aid. Our correspondent's plan is some- 
what like that of some of the " patent braces." 
We notice that the suspenders made of late, instead 
of beino- sewed together at the crossing, are fastened 
