186 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
we had then ! I made such a " fuss ". that a mason 
appeared, who, by making a jog in the parlor, built 
up a little chimney to receive at once the abbrevi- 
ated pipes. I imagine that some one else was quite 
as disgusted as I with the former process. That 
might have helped tomake'my 6tirringword3 more 
weighty, and to bring about so happy a result. 
Now aud then when, ou a freezing day, I go up to 
the chambers and see the cold black stoves stand- 
ing like grim sentinels to keep all comfort at bay, 
I almost think the softened air of the twisting 
pipes would be a luxury, but I am not the one to 
say so. No, no ; not I ! by no manner of means. 
When through with stoves, we had a talk about 
house cleaning. Lizzie appealed to my experience 
here. Docile and diligent pupil as she is, I am 
proud in any respect to be her teacher. She little 
knows in how many sweet and gentle ways she is 
mine. But X discoursed something in this wise. 
Some of my neighbors are through with house 
cleaning. But health is too precious to he risked 
in empty rooms, with open windows, until the 
weather is mild enough to do so without chill. It 
is not a pleasant "job," hut with a little pains- 
taking, and a hearty effort to keep. good natured, it 
need only produce a healthful breeze in the atmos- 
phere at home. I think we housekeepers are too 
apt to assume that the male portion of the house- 
hold are now only incumbrances, to be treated with 
cold dinners and got out of the way with all possi- 
ble dispatch. By far the easier way to accomplish 
house cleaning is to take one or two rooms at a 
time, and " get them to rights " before disturbing 
others. But if, perchance, the good mau of the 
house, truly reading the sigus of the times, in the 
kindness of his heart should bring to the rescue a 
couple of stout Irishmen, to take down stoves, and 
shake carpets, then all hands to the work, in double 
quick time. He must be allowed to fret a little at 
the general discomfort, and the impossibility of 
finding any thing he wants. But use some "policy" 
here. Show him the heap of dust taken from un- 
der the sitting-room carpet, aud the moths that 
have made their nest under another in a dark cor- 
ner of the bedroom, and ask him if it will not be 
healthier aud better for the children to have this all 
removed before the warm days of summer are here. 
To your great delight he will very likely propose a 
fresh coat of paint for a room looking rather the 
worse for wear, or bring home a wall paper embel- 
lished with a dainty vine of violets and rosebuds, 
while just in his rear you will catch the glimpse of a 
man armed with brushes and pails, who receives 
some very decided orders to give the whole house 
a. thorough going over, with some white prepara- 
tion in the aforesaid pails. Don't forget just here 
to thank him for his thonghtfulness, while you say 
it is exactly what you wanted to have done, and 
take some pains to have a warm dinner ready, 
which, though spread in the kitchen, shall be eaten 
with good relish, and enlivened with cheerful con- 
versation, into which the subject of the work on 
hand had better not be introduced. It would not 
be strange if, just "to be even" with you, he 
should then suggest, (as this is by no means the la- 
bor oT a day,) that to-morrow you give him a cold 
luneh for dinner, and never mind about him, if you 
only won't get sick, before this hubbub is over. 
We spent part of to-day in the woods, and came 
home with Georgy's hat wreathed with flowers, 
though his chubby hands made some displacement 
of their artistic arrangement. Lizzie is so busy 
preparing for a visit to her old home she hardly 
allows herself time for recreation. It may be well 
to tell her that sad story of my past history. 
A Coffee Roaster. 
.1. in Fig. 1, is a cylinder of sheet iron, (Russia is 
the best) S or 9 inches in diameter, and 6 inches 
deep, wired at each end. About an inch from the 
lower end there is securely fastened a bottom of 
wire-cloth, about 7x7 mesh, or such as is used for 
market wheat screens in fan-mills. The wire bot- 
tom is represented by the dotted line B. Just be- 
neath the wire bottom there is a cross piece C, riv- 
eted to support the wire and make a bearing for 
the end of the rod F, to which is attached the 
stirrer J, The upper end of the rod F, is supported 
by a cross piece similar to (7, but which is fastened by 
lu^s rivetted to the sides, that it may be removable. 
Fig. 1. — COFFEE BOASTER. 
The cover _D, is of tin, to reflect the heat, and is 
divided in the center, one part overlapping the 
other, in order that one part of the cover may be 
lifted off easily to observe the process of roasting. 
Figure 2 shows the under side of the apparatus. 
In roasting, the apparatus is placed on top the 
stove, over a pretty hot fire, leaving half the cover 
off at first that the 
moisture may escape, 
then close tightly, aud 
continue stirring until 
done, which will usual- 
ly he found to be the 
case when the coffee 
begins to pop, some- 
It will 
be of great 
to add a 
small bit of butter, say 
as large as a filbert, 
Fig. 2. -bottom of eoastek. about the time the cof- 
fee begins to change color. Coffee can be brown- 
ed in this way in from ten to twelve minutes and 
as evenly done as in the best of roasters. Since we 
used it we have not had burnt coffee in the house. 
Independence of Servants. 
— • — 
We have received an essay of thirteen pages in a 
beautiful hand writing, and'happily expressed, con- 
taining the fair writer's experience with servants. 
Her afflictions and inflictions from this source are 
so much matters of course iu housekeeping that 
we should not add much to the knowledge of our 
readers by publishing them. Paul's description of 
his perils by sea and land is not more graphic than 
the experience of many of our housekeepers in this 
line. They are not limited to " three shipwrecks " 
or to " a night and a day in the deep." Wrecks of 
stoves, chairs, tables, crockery, and hardware lie 
all along their household voyaging, thicker than 
stranded ships on Hatteras or Absecom, aud the 
better part of their time they are not only in the 
deep, but in "hot water." There are good ser- 
vants no doubt, models of neatness, faithfulness, 
patience, skill and industry, but they are about as 
scarce as Solomon's virtuous womau. Who can 
find tbem ? They are advertised, we know, of every 
nationality, and every variety of capacity, but house- 
keepers suspect, after a few trials, that the keepers 
of Intelligence offices use a more than poetic li- 
cense. A normal school for the training of ser- 
vants is one of the great wants of the age. We 
shall get along to that some time in the millennium 
probably, but in the meantime what are we to do ? 
Some are ready to declare their independence, and 
where that is feasible we like the plan. 
A Southern lady of true grit writes us : " I am 
so much interested in the Essays on Housekeeping 
that I almost envy Mrs. Lyman her conveniences. 
We Southern ladies know nothing of such things, 
and if we buy any of the labor-saving machines 
they are almost useless to us. I bought a stove 
and paid $35 for it, antl in three years it was burned 
up, and since then I have gone back to the fireplace. 
Our servants never take care of any thing, and it 
is fret and worry all the time with them. I have 
resolved to learn all I can from the Agriculturist 
about the labor-saving machines, and I think a few 
more of those admirable essays will put me on the 
right track, and you will have occasion to hear ot 
my experience, for I am resolved to do my work 
myself, rather than wear out my patience and tem- 
per with servants, [who neglect and waste every 
thing committed to their care." This lady's expe- 
rience is probably confined to servants, trained 
under the old regime. The training of free labor 
is a long step upward, and that stove would have 
lasted in any northern home at least a dozen years, 
and by that time there would have been a new pat- 
tern of stove, so much improved that we could 
afford to sell the old one for old iron. But with the 
average grade of service that we get under free la- 
bor, there are a multitude of families where the 
housekeeper would do quite as well without ser- 
vants as with them, if she could have suitable con- 
veniences like our prize essay kitchen and its ap- 
purtenances. It is far within bounds to say that 
a kitchen may be so arranged as to save one half 
the necessary work of cooking and washing. It is 
much cheaper in the end, to bring water iuto the 
house by pipes where you want to use it, and to 
carry it off in the same way, than to furnish mus- 
cle to bring and empty every pailfull as it is needed. 
Pumps, lead pipe, tanks and reservoirs are much 
cheaper than labor. Then there is a great saving 
in a cook stove or range with its assortment of 
cooking utensils. Another saving is in a good wash- 
ing machine and wringer, and another still in the 
new patent dish washer. Fitted out with these ap- 
pliances, a woman iu good health and without 
small children, can often do her own work with 
less worry without a servant than with one. 
But, then, she must not have too high a standard 
of housekeeping, or too many claims of society 
upon her. The meals must necessarily be served 
in the kitchen, and she must spend the most of her 
time there. There can not be much time left for 
company, or for reading, or for the accomplish- 
ments of life. It can not be denied that servants 
are a necessary accompaniment of the most desira- 
ble style of living. A woman of cultivation and 
refinement can not do justice to her children, to 
her social position, and to her own self-culture and 
at the 6ame time drudge in the kitchen. Servants 
are a necessity, if one has the means of supporting 
them. Our essayists offer many valuable hints 
upon their training and treatment. 
Graham Pudding.— Mrs. "N. E. B."— 
Stir Graham flour gradually iuto boiling water with 
a little salt, and make about as thick as hasty pud- 
ding, or mush, and free from lumps. Eat with tol- 
erably rich milk and sugar, and with the addition 
of canned peaches or other preserved fruits. If 
there be any of the pudding left over it may be cut 
in slices and fried in lard or dripping, and is very 
good. We have been having the above pudding for 
breakfast daily for years, and our "boys" are not 
willing to do without it. It is good for the teeth. 
Rhubarb Pudding.- One cup sour milk, 
one teaspoonful soda, make a stiff batter with flour, 
and add some cropped stalks of pie plant. Boil in 
cloths and serve with cream and sugar for dinner. 
Corn Starch PoddSH!!-.— One quart 
boiling milk, three spoonfuls com starch, mixed 
with a little cold milk, sweeten and flavor with 
lemon it' liked. Pour it into the boiling milk, stir 
well for two or three minutes. Pour into moulds. 
When cool, turn out and surround with large ripe 
strawberries to be eaten with cream and sugar. The 
above always presents a beautiful appearance. 
Potato Yeast.— Boil one pint of hops iu 
two quarts of water, strain the water from the 
hops, grate five good sized potatoes, put in a kettle, 
add one cup of sugar, one tablespoonfull of salt, 
one of ginger, boil ten minutes, add more water if 
too thick. Strain through a colander, cool, add yeast 
to rise, bottle. It will keep a number of weeks. 
