162 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
JSgjT* For other Household Items see “ Basket" pages. 
Handy Cellar Window.—Cool Room. 
Many simple contrivances, costing only a trifle, 
prove to be very useful. My north cellar window 
is of ordinary size, the frame is made so that the 
sill, top, and side casings, arc over a foot wide, as 
they project a little in the cellar. The sash is fitted 
on the inside. It has three panes of glass, and 
swings open on hinges from one side: and is se¬ 
curely fastened by a bolt at the other. Outside, a 
A CONVENIENT CELLAR WINDOW. 
very heavy wire screen is tacked at the edges of the 
casing. We thus have a cool box of the size of the 
window and a foot deep. The sides and top of this 
frame are furnished with nails and hooks. In 
summer it is a very convenient place for keeping 
fruit, vegetables, etc., over night; in spring and 
autumn it serves as a refrigerator, and in the winter 
it is fully as useful for meat and poultry, which 
keep well, hung up on the hooks. The sill is in use 
every day to cool pies, cooked fruit, or pudddings. 
Mrs. Busthand. 
[The sill may be wider and project still more 
into the cellar. While this is nearly level to furnish 
a good shelf, it should incline a little outwards to 
shed any water beating in during a driving storm. 
A loose board may be kept, to set slanting over the 
the outside during a rain or snow storm.—Ed.] 
This conversation went on while the children’s 
mother was putting up their dinners for school. I 
kept watch to see what went into their baskets. A 
little cup of stewed fruit tied over the top with 
thick white paper (it struck me that close jelly cups 
would be more convenient) and a tea spoon, went 
into each basket. This certainly was better than 
pie, as there was no objectionable pastry, and there 
was more fruit than would have been in one piece of 
pie. The best of bread—half of it very fine, sweet 
and white, the other half sweet and brown, made 
of nice Graham, and all cut thin and spread with 
nice butter. This morning there were a few slices 
of cold beef, but this is not always the case. Then 
each had a little bottle of good milk and a napkin. 
When apples are plenty one is always 
added. Sometimes they take a cup of 
cold cornmeal or Graham mush to eat 
with their milk, or cold hominy. They 
approve of this more thau of the sweet 
rice or tapioca pudding sometimes put 
in. Experience has taught them that 
it is no kindness to put any sort of 
sweet cake into their lunch baskets, and 
they feel no desire for pie though it is 
always welcome made with cream crust 
or a very moderate use of butter for 
shortening. Canned salmon, smoked 
white fish, scrambled or boiled eggs, 
sliced meat, cheese—any one of these 
adds nourishment and relish to the 
lunch, but these children never want 
pickles, probably because they do not 
use cake. Children have gained a very 
important part of their education when 
they have learned that good physi¬ 
cal health is essential for the best quality and 
quantity of brain work. Parents mourn over the slow 
progress of their children at school, yet send them 
there with such poor blood sluggishly toiling 
through their bodies that the children have not 
enough vital energy to perform the tasks required, 
and “Satan finds some mischief still for idle 
hands to do.”—Brains cannot be fed and strength¬ 
ened. by a diet made mostly of starch, grease, and 
sugar. Brain waste from brain work is restored 
by good blo.od, made of food which contains all 
the elements of the human body, and by healthy 
sleep in well-ventilated rooms. 
A Good Scrap Bag. 
Good Lunches and Good Lessons. 
BT A MINNESOTA HOUSEKEEPER. 
I heard a brother and sister talking together 
about school-mates of theirs who did not “pass ” 
the last examination, and so go into a higher class. 
“ No wonder A. did not pass,” said one. “ I could 
not study at all, if I carried such dinners as she 
does—only a little bit of it and most all cake. I 
should have a headache every day if I carried such 
lunches to school as half the children do ; and 1 
never can understand what I study when I have a 
headache.” 
“ I don’t see what their mothers think,” said the 
other. “ J. T. carries just a little slice of bread and 
butter wrapped up in a paper in his pocket and he 
always looks hungry and doesu’t grow at all. The 
L. boys learn pretty well, but how pale and stunted 
they are ! It is because they live on soda crackers 
and tea mostly. I don’t see how they can stand 
it. I shoudn’t wonder if they would break down 
before long. W. does not carry any lunch and in 
the afternoon he always has a headache. He 
doesn’t relish a meal without coffee, but he says he 
thinks it hurts him and he wishes he had never 
learned to use it. He almost always has candy in 
his pockets, and seems to be craving something all 
the time.” 
“It seems tome that the poorest and sickliest 
children and the worst scholars have the most candy 
and cake,” said the little girl. “ I believe they are 
half sick all the time, but probably they don't 
know it because they are so used to it.” 
I have found that for small rolls of stuff, a scrap 
bag with pockets,—in which scraps of lace, silk, 
embroidery, etc., etc., can be kept by themselves,— 
is a very useful and convenient article. One I 
have used a long time, is made of oil-printed calico, 
with a gray ground, and pink roses and green leaves 
in a vine over it. One yard, 10 cents, is sufficient 
for a bag. Cut two 
pieces of the cloth, each 
14 inches wide, and 18 
inches long. For the 
pockets cut 4 pieces, 
each 5 inches wide, and 
5% inches deep, rounded 
slightly at the bottom. 
Make a hem nearly an 
inch deep across the top 
of each pocket; stitch it 
twice to make a casing 
into which run an elastic 
cord, making a long knot 
in each end to keep it 
from slipping back. 
Gather the pockets a 
little at the bottom; 
turn in the edge all around, and stitch them 
on the bag. After the pockets are on, sew up 
the sides of the bag, and the bottom also so that 
the four points will meet. Hem the top of 
the bag to make a frill lj^-ineh deep ; stitch it 
twice, and run a cord in the casing made by 
doubling and twisting zephyr or “Germantown” 
or “Berlin ” wool. Small tassels made of wool the 
color of the cord may be put on each corner and 
on the bottom. L. F. B. 
A SCRAP BAG. 
Not Summer Yet. 
The bright spring days, because warmer than 
winter, delude children with the idea that summer 
has come, and this delusion often keeps the doc¬ 
tors uncommonly busy in the early spring months. 
A little more care, and exercise of common sense, 
would prevent half the cases of sickness. It pays 
to provide children with rubbers. These are not 
expensive, and with a little care I make one pair 
of small rubbers serve two children, as each in turn, 
reaches the age of two, or four, or six years. The 
larger rubbers for school children being more used, 
usually do not wear so long. 
Few parents properly teach children the use of 
head-covering. It would be a safe rule to impress 
upon them that some covering on the head should 
always be worn out of doors—when the air is cool 
or damp, as well as in the bright sunshine, at any 
season of year—in short, fix the habit of putting 
something on the head whenever they step out of 
doors. If found burdensome, on a warm day in 
the shade, it may be temporarily removed, but al¬ 
ways be near at hand; also some light coat or 
shawl for protection out of doors as the weather 
changes, while the thick outer garments worn dur¬ 
ing the severest winter weather are unsuited to 
spring months, it is most unreasonable to pass 
from the heavy wraps to none at all. I suggest 
extra flannel linings in winter cloaks, to be put in 
when the coldest weather approaches, and taken 
out when spring comes. 1 have seen the water¬ 
proof ulsters worn by school-children during spring 
and fall, and on rainy summer days, made into 
comfortable wraps for winter by basting in colored 
cotton-flannel linings. I have seen other ulsters 
of the same thin cloth worn through all seasons 
without change by school girls who cannot be ex¬ 
pected to make healthy women, having had their 
vitality so overtaxed by the effort to keep warm, 
because of insufficient clothing. 
Some warm April days tempt the inexperienced 
to take off under-flannels, but it is seldom safe in 
April to remove the winter flannels unless thinner 
ones are substituted. For the children it seems 
most seasonable, if the weather favors the change, 
to leave off the flannels on Saturday night, when 
the weekly bath is taken. But in our family the 
flannels worn during the day are always taken off 
at bed-time for an all-night airing, and the winter 
under-flannels (home made garments of wool), 
preceded in fall and followed in spring by long- 
sleeved high-neckcd garments, of unbleached cot¬ 
ton, with thinner ones for summer. We must be 
guided by the weather rather than by the calendar 
in our changes of garments ; and put on and re¬ 
sume the flannels if a cold snap comes on, even 
though it may last but a few days. If this is not 
done the needed warmth of clothing should be 
sought by putting on extra outer garments—sacks 
and skirts. 
A great proportion of our colds result from in¬ 
sufficient clothing, but many are caused by remain¬ 
ing in unheated rooms, in cool weather. If the 
bright sunshine and warm air make a fire burden¬ 
some at midday, the mornings and evenings are 
often chilly. We think it will soon be bed-time, 
and it is hardly worth while to build a fire. So we 
go to bed with cold feet and in a chilled condition, 
and are all “out of sorts” next day. F. E. R. 
A Londoner on Bread and Gems. 
One of the discomforts of a visit to England, is 
the lack of good bread. Rolls of various kinds 
and excellence may be had, but a good honest loaf, 
with the “home-made” taste, is a rarity. When 
people are conscious of their shortcomings, there 
is a chance of reform. We have hope for the 
future of London, when “ W. R.,” who lives with¬ 
in sight of Covent Garden Market, and who is a 
most intelligent gentleman, and scientist, writes us 
as follows :— 
“ I was much interested in an article in the Janu¬ 
ary American Agriculturist , by a ‘ Minnesota House¬ 
keeper,’ who seemed to have got a little nearer the 
center of the bread question than most writers on 
