114 
AALERIOAA AGRICULTURIST. 
TEE M(D)lIJ§ElE[(D)LDo 
33L?” For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
A Spoon-Case. 
Silverware is an article of table use that is 
not only expensive, but is easily injured by 
scratching, tarnishing, etc., and the spoons in 
particular should receive better care at the 
hands of the house-keeper than is generally 
given them. This is easily done by the use 
of a spoon-case, or holder, similar to the one 
6hown in the engraving. It is simply a box, 
k, 2 l /i inches high, and of a length and width 
sufficient to place six teaspoons crosswise at 
one end, and three tablespoons lengthwise at 
the opposite end. The bottom may be tilled 
half an inch in depth with wheat bran or 
sawdust, over which is fitted a piece of flan¬ 
nel, and upon this the spoons may be firmly 
pressed,- to make a permanent indentation in 
the bran and cloth. Pieces of flannel, a, b, 
and h, are seemed with glue or tacks to each 
end of the case. One of these pieces is spread 
over the spoons as soon as a course is laid; 
another is then added and a second piece of 
flannel placed over it. A hinged cover, e, 
may be attached to either end. A handle, p, 
is secured at the center. This is a very sim¬ 
ple arrangement, and by the use of different 
colored flannels, and by the painting or paper¬ 
ing of the box, a very neat and attractive re- | 
ceptacle is obtained for an expensive portion j 
of table furniture. L. D. S. 
Over-work Among Women. 
In about nine cases out of every ten, the 
woman who is in poor health attributes hex- 
sufferings to over-woi-k. Many times this is 
a valid excuse, but frequently it is not the 
real cause of the ill-health. Lookers-on can¬ 
not always understand the situation, and the 
comparisons made between one woman’s 
work and another’s are often incorrectly 
drawn. Molly sometimes suffers from over¬ 
work, but she avers that no part of the work 
to be done for her household is really beyond 
her strength. She says that as regular house 
maid she could do all of the so-called house¬ 
work and the plain sewing which she now 
does, and maintain her health. But to do 
these things well would leave no time for 
the “nothings,” and evei-y mother whose 
heart is in that work knows that it takes a 
good deal of time. I believe, and here is one 
more chance to bear witness to this truth, 
that the mother-work should have the first 
chance. A woman whose ideals are low can 
sometimes carry on all of these departments 
successfully (in her own opinion), and in that 
case her health is not likely to suffer from 
too much work. It is the worry, the sense 
of incompleteness or of falling short in 
what is required of one, more than all the 
fatigue of her work, that wears Molly out. 
It is well to know how to do every thing 
in the best way possible, but when a woman 
finds that she cannot do everything that it 
seems to be her duty to do in the best man¬ 
ner possible, she had better stop and consider 
what are the most essential things to be done, 
and study the easiest ways of getting along 
without positive neglect. Wholesome food 
the family must have, but most of the fancy 
cooking is done in vain as respects health 
and strength. This same fancy cooking 
(which includes cake and pie—these being 
quite unnecessary articles of diet, doing 
more harm than good in most cases) is one 
of the chief causes of ill-health among 
women. Nearly all of these invalids are 
more or less dyspeptic. I have watched this 
a good deal among my neighbors in different 
places. Few of them give the right name to 
then- disease, and I think the doctors are 
sometimes careful not to tell them the whole 
tnith, but those who make any perma¬ 
nent improvement under medical treatment 
usually make some change in their habits 
of diet. One woman told me, during an 
hour’s visit, these two facts, which did not 
seem to have any connection in her own 
mind : 1. “I used to be a great sufferer fi-om 
sick headache, but I seldom have it in late 
years.” 2. “ No, I rarely eat a crambof cake 
now, no matter how much I make ; I haven’t 
cai’ed for it a few years back, though I once 
was very fond of nice cake.” Another, in 
pi-aising her doctor’s success in the treat¬ 
ment of her nerves, after detailing the med¬ 
icines and the rest and rides prescribed, re¬ 
marked incidentally that the doctor told her 
to eat rather lightly of plain, nourishing 
food, and to give up her tea and coffee if 
she could. Many years ago I heard a physi¬ 
cian of fine education and large experience 
l-idiculing the idea that pi-evailed among 
women that their sickness came generally 
fi-om over-work. “ They over-work then- 
jaws,” said he, “munching confectionary, 
and eating all sorts of xxnwholesome food, 
and they often eat too much anyhow for per¬ 
sons who exercise so little.” At the time I 
thought this criticism too severe, but I have 
often since seen cases to whom it applied. 
Another way in which women are over¬ 
worked by their own fault—a sin of ignor¬ 
ance fi-equently—is in the use of foolish 
clothing. We are all more or less in bondage 
here, for woman’s dress is radically wrong. 
It is a weight and a hindrance evex-ywhere. 
Clothing devised to sxxit the needs of the 
human body would be much more easily 
made and taken cax-e of, and it woxxld give a 
woman freer movement, greater ease and 
comfort about her work and play, and woxxld 
be an aid to good health rather than, as now, 
a drag upon her strength. But a genuide 
reform cannot be made by any one woman, 
for it awaits the development of public opin¬ 
ion. But cannot we all lend a hand here, and 
say on all proper occasions, that woman’s 
dress is absurd, and inconvenient, and xxn- 
heaithfxxl, and that we wish for something 
better? Most of us can put less work and 
care upon our trimmings, and none of us 
need wear a trained skirt, or one that touches 
the floor. We may all wear loose and warm 
clothing, and bear the weight upon our 
shoulders rather than over the hips. Various 
female weaknesses are supposed to be caused 
by active labor, by much standing upon the 
feet, by much climbing of stairs in the pur- I 
suit of one’s daily industry. They may be I 
|_Ma i:ch, 
aggravated by these causes after they have 
been once induced, but I have serious doubts 
whether these weaknesses ai-e often really 
attributable to the causes above named. Cor¬ 
sets and heavy skirts are the real offenders. 
It is usually the case that the same work 
might have been done—the standing and the 
climbing—had the muscles of the body, both 
external and internal, been left fi-ee and xxn- 
weighted by the clothing. How many feath¬ 
ers’ weight are added to her burden of toil 
and worry by a woman’s long skirts, as she 
goes about her work in-doors and out, up¬ 
stairs and down, around the kitchen fire, or 
cleaning the floors in an xxnsuitable dress ? 
It is not the hardness of the work, or the 
difficxxlty of the tasks taken in detail, that 
tires out the women as a general thing, if we 
except the family washings, which usually 
require a good deal of strength. But these 
tasks crowd upon each other, and become 
complicated and worrisome when the care of 
children interferes with them. These are 
genuine cases of over-work, where the labor is 
too hard and too steady for the stength of the 
worker; but cai-e and worry are harder to 
bear than physical toil, and social burdens do 
their part to over-tax the vital powers. F. R. 
Making the Table Attractive. 
-O- 
In matters of the table, the question how 
far the eye shall be gi-atified as well as the 
palate, must be decided by the circumstances 
of each house-keeper. We cannot expect the 
A LEAP OF THE FERN-LEAVED PARSLE1'. 
farmer’s wife who, with several children to 
care for, has to provide the three meals a 
day for her husband and several hired men, 
to look much after the ornamentation of the 
table. If she can provide a fairly clean table¬ 
cloth, and tolerably bright knives, foi-ks, and 
spoons, she does well. Indeed, these are the 
very foundation of all table adornment, for 
where these are wanting all ornamentation 
