12 
Edited by Aunt Martha. 
-: 0 :- 
All communications for this department 
should be addreseed “ Household Helps f 
care of Seed- Time and Harvest, La Plume, 
Pa. 
The lady readers of Seed-Time and Har 
vest, young or old, are respectfully and 
earnestly invited to contribute to this de¬ 
partment, anything and everything per¬ 
taining to household work, experience, 
inquiries, suggestions, cooking recipes, 
clothing, health—not forgetting home 
adornments—in short, anything belonging 
to home and domestic duties or cares. 
Short, practical articles are solicited, as 
our space is limited and we must condense, 
making every communication so good, so 
instructive, that it can not be left out. 
Give us seasonable things—don’t tell us 
how to can peaches ,and strawberries in 
December, but if you can, be a little in ad¬ 
vance of the season, in order that the sisters 
may have time to try your methods and be 
able to “hold fast that which is good.” 
If we try, we can both impart and re¬ 
ceive instruction, as no one housekeeper 
knows more than all others, and often the 
experience of the most humble is of great 
benefit even to the wisest. 
Who will be first to encourage the heart 
of “Aunt Martha,” and aid in making our 
pages a valuable acquisition to the columns 
of Seed-Time and Harvest ? 
Aunt Martha. 
Since writing the above, a letter of ap¬ 
proval comes to cheer us from one signing 
herself “Aunt Hannah,” which, we hope, 
is the forerunner of many others, and, 
which we gladly welcome, with many 
thanks for proffered help. 
Have any of the ladies ever utilized any 
®f the bright colored “bed-ticking” now 
in use ? 
An inexpensive, but quite pretty table 
scarf can be made, by taking for the center 
Jjrown, or maroon canton flannel, and for 
the ends the bed-ticking, worked in bright 
colors with Germantown wool or ciewel. 
Work any variety of fancy stitches, such as 
cross-stitch, double and single, the same in 
feather stitch, in each stripe of the “tick¬ 
ing.” The length must depend on the size 
of the table on which it is to be used. When 
neatly made and lined with maroon cam¬ 
bric, trimmed with simple fringe, it is 
almost as handsome as some of the turkish 
table covers. 
A nice chair seat could be made in the 
same way. 
To a neat housewife, boots and shoes, 
lying promiscuouly about, are an annoy¬ 
ance, and a convenient stout shoe bag is a 
comfort. 
Make it of bed-ticking, which now comes 
in such bright, fancy colors, it is so much 
more firm and serviceable than linen or 
cretonne. 
Take a little more than a yard of the 
ticking, and two pieces of worsted braid* 
Cut the back piece twenty inches deep, and 
twenty-two inches long; the pockets, nine 
inches deep. Use for each set the width of 
one bredth, and the piece that comes off 
from the back. Bind these pocket strips at 
the top, then divide them into four or five 
parts, according to the number and size of 
the pockets wanted. Lay a box-plait in 
each, and baste them lengthwise, first, 
to the lower part of the divided back— 
and the upper set about an inch above it. 
Stitch a braid between the plaits, or stitch 
twice without it. Lay a double braid across 
the lower edge of the upper pockets and 
stitch it on. Bind the outer edge with 
braid and sew on loops to hang It up by, 
and it is ready for use. 
Save Your Steps! 
If you are going into the kitchen, down,, 
cellar, or up stairs, on an errand, see if 
there is not something that you want to 
take along. There is just as much tact in. 
doing housework with the least labor,, as in 
anything else. 
Table Talk. 
Every member of a family can do some¬ 
thing to add to social life at the table. If 
