66 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Febboaky, 
which was built iu the old style, and without any 
reference to economy of labor, or value of time. 
In that, the pantry was in one corner of the room 
aud the sink and pump in the opposite corner, with 
the stove half-way between ; every stick of wood 
had to be. brought up half a dozen stairs, and when 
the table was set there was no part of the room 
where one who was sewing or reading could be out 
of the way. I like the finish of the wood work, too ; 
it is chestnut cut on the place, rubbed with oil and 
varnished. The grain is handsome, does not show 
dirt, and can be easily cleaned. The hard-finished 
walls are painted of a light chestnut color and var- 
nished, so that I shall never need to whitewash 
them, but only to wipe them down in spring and 
fall with a wet cloth. 
Just outside of the kitchen, iu the wood-house, is 
a large cauldron set iu masonry, where I cau have 
my washing done, aud where a large quantity of 
water can be heated for butchering, aud other farm 
purposes. Only last night Edward was talking 
with me about a girl, and said I should have one if 
I wanted. I told him he had prevented the neces- 
sity of any such help by his plan for the kitchen. 
"What do I want of a Biddy, when, in an hour after 
each meal, my work is all done up, and the kitchen 
is as quiet aud neat as a parlor ? 
Dec. 38. — I picked up a volume of Stall's Journal 
of Health last evening, and was so deeply impressed 
by a well-writteu article which it contains on the 
subject of ventilation that I have determined to 
make a change in one feature of my household 
economy. Mother used to have us make up our 
beds the first thing iu the morning, but I am satis- 
fied that if I want to keep my bedding, which is 
now very nice and new, perfectly sweet aud whole- 
some, I must air it every day. So this morning, 
notwithstanding the cold, while Edward was light- 
ing the fire, I opened the window, which, fortu- 
nately, has a southern exposure, laid the blankets 
aud pillows where the air and the sun will fall upon 
them, and there I mean to let them stay until I 
have done all my other work. 
Dee. 30. — My washerwoman has just gone. This 
is Monday, and I always did like the plan of having 
the washing and irouiug done up iu the early part 
of the week. She has been at work all day, con- 
sumed a good deal of wood, aud now her last clothes 
are frozen on the line, where they must stay all 
night. If she had had two hours of midday sun 
upou them, they would have been dry. There must 
be some improvement on this. I will talk to Edward 
about it, whether it is not best to buy a wringer, 
aud perhaps a Doty washer, so she can do the wash- 
ing in the forenoou, and part of the ironing at least 
in the afternoon. I have heard that washerwomen 
t generally like these inventions. Very well ; 
I'll learn to use them" and do the washing myself; 
or, what may be better still, I will pay her a whole 
day's wag^s for half a day's work. I am sure that 
poor wornen\mght not to be made to suffer for want 
of employment by the multiplication of labor- 
saving machines. 
Mem. — Find out about the different kinds of soap ; 
which is the best, and what soaps are injurious to 
fabrics. I presume I can learn something on the 
subject by looking over Edward's Agriculturists. 
Jan. 28. — The weather has moderated very much, 
and I asked Edward if the hams did not require 
attention. He thought they did, and I went to my 
cook-book for instructions. This is the first time 
I ever had anything to do with the curing of hams. 
Following a suggestion I found in Mrs. Child's 
"Frugal Housewife," I rubbed over them a mix- 
ture of saltpetre and molasses, using an ounce 
of saltpetre and a quart of molasses to eight hams. 
Jan. 80. — I have just been looking over Edward's 
wardrobe to see if I canuot fix him- up a suit of 
plain but warm clothing that he can wear in the 
woods, so as to save the business suit he bought 
last fall. I find I can get him out a good substan- 
tial vest, buttoning up to the chiu, from the skirts 
of an old pilot-cloth coat that he has worn thread- 
bare and thrown aside. He was talking yesterday 
about a new every-day vest, and this will surprise 
him. 1 can get a pattern by ripping up an old vest, 
and the coat linings will do for the back of the 
vest ; and as to how to make it, Mrs. Wilson will tell 
me, aud I will go over aud see her about it as soon 
as Edward goes away after diuner. 
ILesiwsi from 
JoEII-Ilill. 
PRIZE ESSAY BY MBS. MCLELLAN, OF OHIO. 
January, 1867. — A shade of sadness steals over 
me, as for the first time I write the new year. How 
many memories gather around the past, tender and 
sad as well as joyous. How many questionings 
and anxieties about the future. But. when shall I 
leani that truest happiness is found in the right im- 
provement of the present. " In the morning sow 
thy seed, aud in the evening withhold not thy hand." 
Hannah has gone home for a few weeks. She 
needs some time for fitting up her wardrobe, as 
well as a change from the unceasing treadmill of 
housework. I can spare her better now than at 
any other time, but must be busy to accomplish all 
I have in hand. 
I have become so interested in making little 
frames for pictures. I make them of pasteboard, 
of any shape I fancy, and cover them with cones, 
acorns, seeds aud shells, putting them on with glue, 
and finishing with a coat of varnish. Some choice 
engraving or photograph cau iu this way be provided 
with a pretty frauie at trifling expense. My husband 
said to a young friend to-day, that I had got so 
taken up with fancy work, he supposed I should 
want to do nothing else now! I knew he didn't 
mean it, by the roguish twinkle of his eye. Besides 
he is just as much interested as I, giving me a hint 
here and there about the frames, and insisting upon 
varnishing them, though I really wanted to do it 
myself. I intend next to make some lamp brackets, 
like one described so pleasantly in the August 
AgriciMuri.it last year. — I know I should like them, 
for hav'nt I so often had to run up-stairs and hold 
the lamp for Nellie, while she dressed her hair? 
I had poor bread to-day. I have no patience with 
myself when that happens. The provoking part of 
it i% that I can always tell exactly what was the 
trouble, when too late to remedy it. To-day I let 
it rise too long. A neighbor came iu for a little 
while. Being without help, I should have asked 
her to sit a few minutes in the kitchen, while I 
molded it; but I foolishly waited until she went 
away. If bread rises uutil it passes from the 
saccharine to the vinous fermentation, it is past help. 
It has lost its wholesome aud nutritious quality. 
No art cau restore it. Bread must not be neglected 
or forgotten. It must have a chief place in the 
mind uutil safely out of the oven. Two things are 
absolutely essential to good bread — flour No. 1 and 
light sweet yeast. With these no housekeeper 
should be satisfied with bread of only medium 
quality. It is far better, aftd- testing a rule aud 
fiudiug it good, to abide by it than to experiment 
with new recipes. Here, literally, " practice makes 
perfect," This is my recipe : Boil twelve peeled 
potatoes, aud mash them well. Add a quart of the 
water they were boiled iu, while hot, aud a cup of 
sugar. Wheu cool, add a quart of cold water, and 
a half pint of fresh yeast. Let it stand in a warm 
place twelve hours, after that shut it up tightly, and 
keep it in a cool place. It will rise quickly and 
make delightful bread. 
I called round upon my young friend Lizzie Mason 
to-day. Her mother was a dear mate of mine in 
our girlhood days. I should love Lizzie for her 
mother's sake, but I love her for her own as well. 
It more than repays me for any little advice or en- 
couragement I may give her, to enjoy the freshness 
and heartiness of her first year at housekeeping, 
and to have a good laugh over some of her failures 
aud mishaps. They carry me back to days of 
"auld lang syne." No medicine is so good for a 
care worn housekeeper as a merry laugh. But to- 
day Lizzie wore a troubled brow. Baby was fret- 
ful, aud such piles of work stared her iu the face, 
while really she could do none of it. Mr. Mason 
and baby both needed warmer clothing at once, and 
the housework was getting sadly behind. "Why, 
Lizzie," I said, " what a heavy burden you are carry- 
ing about. Do throw it off at once. The wrinkles 
are ou your face already!" "That is just what 
Henry told me at dinner," she replied. "He said 
he would rather hire all the sewing done than have 
me so troubled about it. But you know he is just 
beginning for himself, aud I want to help him all I 
can. It seems shiftless for me to hire sewing with 
only my little family to care for." Well, Lizzie, I 
used to say just the same, but I look at it different- 
ly now. Young wives aud mothers are too proud, 
and too ambitious. They want to do every thing 
themselves, and be esteemed model housekeepers, 
when in fact they are not yet through with the 
alphabet. Toil are not strong. Tour little one is 
worrisome. The care of that as well as of your 
house is new care. You make hardworlc of it. By 
degrees you will get along easier. Tou will learn 
where to take the advantage of your work, and how 
to favor yourself some, while at the same time you 
will accomplish more. It is auew thing for you to 
have the long night of refreshing sleep, parcelled 
up into naps so broken and unquiet, that the morn- 
ing finds you even more weary than bed-time. It 
is just here that so many young wives break down ; 
aud becoming discouraged at the prospect before 
them, iudulge in a complaining spirit, and an in- 
efficiency, fatal alike to their own happiness, and to 
all with whom they are associated. Settle some 
points in your miud, the sooner the better. First, 
take proper care of your.own health. This is the 
greatest kindness to your husband in a pecuniary 
as well as domestic sense. Tou cannot violate 
nature's laws with impunity. Exercise in the fresh 
air everyday; if nothing more than a brisk walk 
ou your piazza, throwiug } T our arms backward and 
forward, receiving into the lungs that which shall 
change the torpid and impure blood to a life giv- 
ing current, imparting energy and strength to the 
system. Take good care of your child. Make it 
comfortable and happy as far as in your power. 
Prepare wholesome and nutritious 1 food for your 
table. If Mr. Mason provides abuudant material, 
he has a right to expect that on your part it shall 
be turned to good account. Next in order is sew- 
ing. Have one or two garments ready, and sew 
when you can. Don't think of others, uutil these 
are done. Select that which is most difficult and 
irksome, aud hire some one to do it for you. Tou 
will not, by and by, with half a dozen little ones 
around you, carry such a load as you are sinking 
under to-day. I think my long lecture did her 
good, for she told me iu parting that she should not 
forget it, though the "half dozen little ones " she 
should banish from her memory, with the piles of 
sewing I had said must have such a fate. From 
the brow of the hill, as I looked back, I saw her on 
the porch, going through with such evolutions and 
attitudes, that a stranger would at once have pro- 
nounced her crazy ! 
February. — "A place for every thing, and every 
thing in its place." How iuvaluable this rule to 
the housekeeper. For every article iu common use 
about a house, a place should be assigned, and each 
member of the family distinctly understand it 
must be fouud there. Any one in the dark should 
be able to put bauds upou it. How much time 
and patience is thus saved. Hannah, though a good 
girl in many respects, cannot have the bump of 
order well developed, at least, if there is any truth 
iu phrenology. How annoying to be questioned as 
to the whereabouts of missing articles, and then 
find them iu some out of the way place, where she 
has carelessly left them. To-day, after she had 
commenced washing, the floor was covered with 
water. I found she had left the tubs in the wood- 
shed all the week, instead of taking them to their 
true place in the cellar. Then she had a long hunt 
for the indigo bag. Had I not taken it from the 
pantry ? She was so sure she put it there last 
Monday. She would have been just as sure the 
tubs were in the cellar before commencing washing. 
Finality on BEats. — The only effectual 
remedy is cement ou the bottom and sides of the 
cellar. They cannot get through this, aud so can- 
not find entcrance to the house. Now is a good 
time to invest iu sand, water and lime. 
