I8G7.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
413 
Ml KOT§IE»m 
(3&~ -For o£/ier Household Items, see "Basket " pages.) 
Household Ornaments. 
Fig'. 1 shows a very neat card basket made of pa- 
per. The material is cut iu pieces from half an 
inch to au inch square, according to the size of the 
basket wanted. Each piece is made into a double 
roll, as shown at .1, the paper being kept rolled by 
applying a little gum arabie. The rolls are then 
1. — PAPER CARD BASKET. 
gummed together by their sides, and set up end- 
wise for the bottom of the basket. The sides are 
built up in the same manner, laying one roll upon 
another. By using paper of several colors, a pleas- 
ing variety of figures maybe wrought intothesides. 
Fig. 3 represents the manner of covering a box 
with mosaic of colored straw. The straws are first 
dyed of various bright hues, then carefully split 
MOSAIC BOX COVER. 
and pressed flat. A plain wooden box may be 
marked with any patterns to please the fancy ; the 
straws arc then cut of suitable lengths and gummed 
on. This is very neat work for young people on 
winter evenings. Many pleasing articles for sale 
at Ladies' Fairs may be easily made in this way. 
Leaves from the Diary of a Young House- 
keeper.— No. XL 
I'RIZE ESSAY BY MRS. LAURA E. LYMAN, STAMFORD, CT. 
November 2d. — At intervals for two weeks past I 
have been learning to work my Wheeler & Wilson. 
My excellent neighbor has one of the same patent, 
and whenever I have been puzzled, has helped me 
out of my difficulties. I have already made Ed- 
ward two shirts, and yesterday I cut out for him a 
pair of pantaloons which are now nearly done. In 
half an hour I stitched up seams that would have 
occupied me with hand sewing nearly half a day; 
the making of clothes after they are cut out and 
tilted is reduced to almost nothing, and the relief 
of mind it gives to know that in a short time a big 
piece of work cau be accomplished even better than 
by the old slow mode of stitching by hand, is im- 
mense. I can appreciate the remark of a recent 
writer, who says : "If a man has but three acres of 
laud, he had better sell one and buy a sewiug ma- 
chine." In a family of children it is quite indis- 
pensable. Slavery to the needle need no longer be 
the sad lot of woman, and many a wife and mother 
can devote the time thus saved her by the ingenuity 
of this wonderful invention, to the improvement of 
her own mind, and the minds of her children, and to 
the cultivation of soeiil and domestic enjoyments. 
How many families seem to live only to work, work, 
work! It is true that Adam was commanded to 
earn his living by labor, and that lot is upon most 
of ns, but who believes that when Adam came in 
from his daily toil he did not enjoy the society of 
" the fairest of her daughters, Eve," and try to re- 
produce in some faint degree the happiness of their 
lost Eden ; that he did not play with his twin boys, 
Cain and Abel, and tell them wonderful tales of 
the beauty of Nature, before thorns and. tin He 
marred its perfection ? Every wife and mother 
should strive to make home a happy place, sunny, 
cheerful, attractive ; and the numerous labor-sav- 
ing inventions of these modern times afford her 
far more leisure than she formerly enjoyed, which 
she ought to devote to that very sacred object, 
family happiness. 
I never made a pair of pantaloons before, but Ed- 
ward got the pattern of a tailor, and with his best 
pair as a model, and the advice of my neighbor, 
I had but little difficulty. The best way to cut them 
out is to fold the cloth double, if there is no nap to 
it, as is the case with the Harris goods which I am 
making up, and after having the patterns ironed out 
smoothly, pin them all down upon the cloth before 
using the shears at all. In this way one can cut to 
the best advantage, and save the residue in as large 
pieces as possible ; they are useful not only for 
mending, but for slippers, caps, and gaiters. Moth- 
er made all the boys' caps from pieces saved in this 
way. Pockets are put in first, then the "dress" 
of the pants finished, then the seams stitched up 
and pressed, then the waistbands put on, aud last 
and most difficult of all, the part around the foot 
lined and hemmed. I find that pressing a long 
time makes a great difference in the " finish " they 
have. A " goose " would no doubt be the best thing 
to press with, but a heavy flat-iron answers very 
well, if it is used long enough. 
November Wth. — There is au old-fashioned fire- 
place in the sitting room, and Edward says we shall 
have the luxury this winter of sitting before an 
open hickory fire. So I have got down an old pair 
of brass andirons that were stowed away in the attic 
wheu Edward bought the place, aud Sue has rub- 
bed them up with silver soap until they shine like 
gold. " The wrist is parted from the hand," prob- 
ably, that polished them last, aud they are most 
refreshingly old style in their appearance, so sug- 
gestive of big log fires, of glowing warmth and 
radiant cheer in the happy olden time, before 
Franklin ever thought of stoves. These last are a 
wonderful convenience and great economizers of 
fuel, and must continue to be iu universal demand, 
but they are very dull as companions, aud hopeless- 
ly black and uninteresting, while the open fire is a 
fountain of light, and warmth, and cheerfulness, to 
all in the house. Oue of our neighbors has thirty 
cords of wood cut and rotting on the ground, yet 
he and his family sit all the loug winter evenings 
around a great, ugly, black, iron box, filled with 
burning coal Surely they cannot know what fire- 
side enjoyment is ! A recent writer inquires in a 
very happy article about home happiuess, " who 
ever heard of men fighting for a stove or a big- 
black hole where heat comes up into the room?" 
The thrilling appeal of Bozzaris to his Greeks, 
" Fight for your altars and your fires," loses its 
force iu these days of modern improvement. 
Many, I know, must economize and cannot afford 
au open fire, but those who prefer to go without 
some other article of luxury and indulge iu this, 
will find health of body and mind much promoted, 
and their home enjoyment vastly increased. 
We shall use our sitting room this winter much 
more than we did last. It seems better to us, upon 
talking the matter over, to use our house more ; 
we have a very pleasant sitting room, and why 
should we stay all day and all the evening iu the 
same room? The custom is a very prevalent one 
when a family occupy an ample house, to keep 
all the rooms shut up and use only an ell, per- 
haps, or some snug room in the rear of the house, 
when the general comfort and health of the family 
would be much increased if they permitted them- 
selves to expatiate in an ampler space, and allowed 
the hospitable firelight, to gleam through the front 
windows not too closely curtained. 
November S5(7i.— In the midst of preparations for 
Thanksgiving, which is to-morrow, Edward pur- 
chased a beers heart and a large hock, and I have 
made up mince meat enough to last until spring. 
Reserving what I wish for immediate use, the rest 
is packed down iu a large jar, and covered over the 
top with molasses, to exclude the air. and put away 
down cellar. 
Wo have been fattening a turkey fir two weeks 
to grace the occasion. Sue is picking him now, I 
have directed her to save the quills carefully, for I 
vastly prefer a good turkey quill to all the steel 
pens, aud eveu to Morton's celebrated gold ones. 
Some skill is required in making a good quill pen, 
but one soon learns. 
We shall have a chicken pie for dinner, among 
other thing's, and I shall try and make it digestible 
as well as palatable. Rich pastry is always dys- 
peptic, and I shall use as little lard as possible in 
my crust, aud yet have it tender aud flaky. We 
shall certainly feel more thankful with stomachs 
filled with food that they can digest, aud which is 
adapted to our bodily wants, than when they are 
overloaded with a rich and indigestible mass, pleas- 
ant in themouth, perhaps, but ruinous to digestion. 
Edward bottled some cider two months ago, and 
we shall indulge iu a glass of our own manufacture. 
The grapes we preserved with so much care repay 
all our trouble, aud some* f the clusters are almost 
as beautiful and fresh as when they were taken from 
the vine. This evening, Edward will carry to our 
excellent pastor a basketful of good things — a 
chicken, some grapes, a glass of currant jelly, a 
couple of mince pies, aud a dozen eggs. He min- 
isters to us so graciously iu spiritual things that it 
is a delight to send him these tokens of our appre- 
ciation of his labors. Sue will take a basket of 
"goodies "home to her mother and the children, to 
make Thanksgiving a happy time for them. Some 
day I may be poor and uuable to give, but while I 
have the power I will enjoy the luxury of benefi- 
cence. 
November SOIh. — It is now a year since we com- 
menced housekeeping, and I have this morning 
beeu looking back over twelve mouths of busy, 
industrious, aud successful life. Though I can see 
points iu which my housekeeping can be improved, 
and in which I am determined it shall be, I cannot 
regard my first year's experience at all iu the light 
of a failure. My success, such as it is, and certain- 
ly I have some very tangible proofs of it, is attrib- 
utable to three causes. 
First: I am underuuspcakable obligations to my 
excellent mother for having drilled her daughters, 
almost from the cradle, in habits of ecouomy, neat- 
ness, and dispatch. Her instructions were as in- 
cessant as they were valuable. For iustance, if we 
went down cellar for anything, as butter, she 
would remind us to think if there were not some- 
thing else we needed to bring up at the same time, 
so as to save steps. When we took off our bon- 
nets and cloaks, she insisted upon our putting 
them at once in place ; when breakfast was over 
she gave us half au hour as the time iu which the 
dishes were to be washed, wiped, the kuives 
scoured, and everything put away in good style; 
and all the time we were at work, the principles 
that should guide us in matters of economy aud 
thrift were constantly reiterated in such homely, 
but valuable proverbs as 
" Once well done is twice done." 
"A place for everything, and everything in itsplace" 
" A time for everything, and everything in its lime." 
" Waste comes to want." 
" h',,/, ,, thing and in seven years it will come in use." 
•'An;/ slut can clean, but it takes •• neat woman t.i 
keep clean."- t 
Second : No young housekeeper was ever tiis- 
tained in all her plans and wishes by a husband 
more thoughtful, more provident, or more apt in 
all matters about the house, than I have been. Ed- 
ward's philosophy on this subject, is, 1 think, cmi- 
ncntly sound. He says that the policy of good farm- 
ing and bad housekeeping is one that is tight at the 
bung and leaks at the tap, and that he has seen 
farmers' wives that could " throw out with a spoon 
as fast, as the man could throw in with a shovel." 
Thinking thus, he is just as ready to assist mc to 
make good butter a* he is to cut clover hay for the 
cows in winter; for he says if is better to gain 
five cents a pound on aceounl of superior quality 
of the article scut to market, than to have auothcr 
cow and make more, but poorer, butter. 
Third: I believe I am au enthusiast iu house 
keeping. I love it. The mental exercise of keep- 
|ne ill the inte.r?sts of mv household, in my mine 1 
