472 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[December, 
piece, or in two pieces, as preferred. For young 
children it is often more convenient to have the 
lower garments made separate from the upper, and 
buttoned to them. But the whole garment is 
easiest made and managed for most children, much 
Fig. 1.—INTERIOR OF MENNONITE EITCHEN. 
Sunny Rooms. 
I told a neighbor, lately, that the chief objection 
I had to a house under consideration as our future 
residence, was that I feared the sun would not 
shine into the rooms enough to suit me. She 
laughed as though that was a new 
idea to her, and quite whimsical. 
The blinds on the house were not 
objectionable, as I should leave 
them wide open, except on rare 
occasions. But the wide verandas 
on the east and south sides, would 
totally exclude the friendly sun¬ 
beams from the common sitting 
room. Even in summer I should 
not like that, as there are many 
cool days when sunshine is far bet¬ 
ter than a fire. My neighbor said 
that it always made her feel ner¬ 
vous to have the sun shine directly 
into her rooms. Now sunshine is 
oue of the best remedies for ner¬ 
vousness, but I understood my 
neighbor to mean that the prying 
sunshine searching out every speck 
of dust and tiny cobweb before 
concealed by habitual shade, made 
her feel uneasy. Moreover, the 
colors of the carpet must be pre¬ 
served, and sunshine fades them. 
And so my neighbor pays the 
doctor for her medicine instead of 
pancakes of this kind, but when not too expensive, 
they add greatly to their delicacy and goodness.— 
Two, three, or four eggs, as you can spare them. 
like the long night-drawers. The legs should gore 
down to the ankles inside the stockings by both 
an inner and outer seam. The one on the inside 
of the leg should be left open a few inches to lap 
over smoothly under the stocking. It should al¬ 
ways reach down inside the shoe-top. After this 
garment has been put on the child, there comes 
next a stout waist with buttons around the bottom, 
to which are attached the dress-drawers (whether 
of white cotton or of colored flannel) and the petti¬ 
coat. The latter may be basted strongly to the 
waist for the reason, if both are colored, seldom 
needing washing. To the side buttons of this 
waist (under the arms) are buttoned the stocking 
supporters or garters, either those patented and 
bought at the shops, or home-made garters—strips 
of elastic tape with button holes in the wide cloth 
binding at each end. One end of this garter but¬ 
tons at the waist, the other fastens on a button 
upon the side of the stocking outside the leg. Then 
comes the dress. If all button behind, you can 
dress and undress the child very quickly after the 
shoes and stockings are taken oil. Unbutton all of 
the garments behind, and slip them all off together, 
and replace the set of day garments by a warm 
well-aired night-gown. We mostly use soft thick 
factory cloth (or unbleached muslin), and I suppose 
other poor folks do the same, but flannel for win¬ 
ter is to be preferred, especially for little ones apt 
to get uncovered in bed. During the night the set 
of day garments may be placed so as to be well 
aired in the inside, without separating them, and 
in the morning the child can slip them on all to¬ 
gether with ease. Perhaps 1 have told all this be¬ 
taking it as a free gift from Heaven in the bright 
sunshine and pure air—for 1 think she dreads air 
as much as sunshine, except when she goes out 
doors occasionally to get them. I like a broad 
piazza or generous porch¬ 
es about my house, but I 
want my windows free 
from even too much cur¬ 
tain. Unless in hot 
weather, when almost 
anything ails you, and you 
feel disinclined to out 
door exercise, the best 
thing you can do is to sit 
down in the broad smile 
of a sunny window and 
let the sunbeams put new 
life into you. If your 
feet are cold, the sun will 
warm them more thor¬ 
oughly aud permanently 
than a fire, especially if 
you take off your shoes 
and put your feet on a 
stool or chair in the full 
sunshine. For neuralgia 
I know nothing better, in connection with fasting 
How the Mennonites Warm their Houses 
and Cook with Straw as Fuel. 
TheEuropean Mennonites, whose religion prohibits 
bearing arms, have within a few years come to this 
country in large numbers, and have formed already 
prosperous colonies in Kansas and other Western 
States. In their new homes they follow their former 
pursuit—farming, and many of them brought witli 
them the implements they formerly used, affairs so 
quaint and cumbersome, that they appear more like 
a collection of antiquities than articles for real use. 
Besides their farm implements, they brought over 
their household effects, conspicuous among which 
are a large clock to bang upon the wall, and a huge, 
curiously ornamented chest to hold the household 
treasures; these are to he seen in almost every 
Mennonitc home. Though they could not well 
bring tlieir enormous stoves to their new homes, 
they have brought their domestic customs with 
them, and the house in Wisconsin and Kansas is 
heated, and tlieir meals are cooked in the same 
manner that they were in the old home in Russia 
and Prussia. Mr. H. Worrall, of Shawnee Co., Kns., 
sends us several remarkably neat sketches of Men- 
nonite interiors, made with special reference to 
their methods of warming and cooking by the use 
of such an unusual fuel as straw. A portion of 
his sketches have been engraved and are given 
here. He also furnishes the following description : 
“ •' The Americans burn money, we burn straw,’ 
Fig. 2.—PLAN OF MENNON1TE HOUSE. — (A, Chimney ; B, Cooking: C, Washing Ranges.) 
fore, but I see more and more how little is known 
or thought by mothers, about the healthful dress¬ 
ing of children in cold weather, and I hardly think 
I need apologize for returning to the subject. 
from one or two meals, than to lie in the full sun¬ 
shine, all but the top of your head, which may be 
protected; cover up warm if the room is cold, but let 
everything about your body be loose and well aired. 
Bread Pancakes. 
For those who have milk, a convenient way to 
use up old bread is, to make it into pancakes. 
This is a good way to 
use sour bread also, as a 
trifle more soda than the 
sour milk requires to 
neutralize it will sweeten 
the sour bread too. Soak 
the bread crumbs, (a 
quart or less) for a few 
hours in as little sweet 
milk as will answer. 
Then mash them with a 
four tiued fork, or other¬ 
wise reduce them to an 
even consistency. Add a 
teacupful of sour milk, a 
half teaspoonful of soda 
dissolved in tepid water, 
and flour enough to make 
a batter just right to bake the cakes light without 
being too thick and hard. Try a little on your hot 
buttered griddle if you are in doubt about it. Eggs 
are not necessary to make light good wholesome 
Fig. 3.— SECTION OF MENNONITE HOUSE. 
A, Fire Place ; IS. C, Ovens; D, Door for Firm"; E, E , Flues in Stove. 
says the Mennonite settler ; how they manage to 
keep warm in winter, and to cook the year round 
with no other fuel but loose straw, is a mystery to 
the average American. The Mennonite immigrant, 
when choosing a locality, is quite unconcerned at 
the total absence of timber, and will settle many 
miles from wood or coal, with indifference as to the 
fuel question, in localities where an American 
would never think of making a farm. He sees fuel 
for the first year in the miles of grass about him, the 
second and succeeding years he will have the straw 
from his crops, and straw stacks are his favorite 
substitute for the wood-pile and the coal-bin. 
“ We first saw straw in use for fuel at the house 
of a Russian Mennonite bishop in the colony in 
McPherson Co., Kansas. Dinner for four of us was 
to be prepared. A vigorous young Mennonite giri 
vanished with a bushel basket, and returned with it 
full of loose straw, then placing her kettles, etc., 
on the top of the cook range, fig. 1, opened the fire- 
door, and thrust in two large handfuls of straw, 
touched the match, closed the door, and the kettle 
commenced singing almost immediately ; in about 
two minutes the door was again opened, and two 
more handfuls of straw were thrust in and the 
door closed. Our dinner consisted of ham, eggs, 
potatoes, Russian waffles, and excellent coffee, all 
cooked in less time than an ordinary stove could 
have been made ‘hot for biscuits.’ The fire was 
‘ dead out ’ before the dinner was half consumed. 
