300 
AMEETOAISr AGBIOULTUEIST. 
[July, 
cooked, hang them up by the string for a few min¬ 
utes to allow them to drain. In cooking a “boiled 
dinner ” In the winter, a favorite dish in New Eng¬ 
land, the vegetables retain their shape better and 
are superior in every way when cooked in these 
sacks. Another article of convenience in the way 
of a sack is a clothes-pin bag, made after the style 
of a school-satchel. Make it of heavy shirting, 
with a flap to button over, so that the pins will be 
protected from dust. Make a strap of sufficient 
length to be worn over the neck, allowing the bag 
to hang down in front or on the side. Such a sack 
will be found very convenient when hanging out 
clothes, and if placed over the neck when the 
clothes are taken in, the pins can be easily cared for. 
My way to brush the dust and cob-webs from 
the ceiling, is to tie a piece of old clean cloth over 
the broom and draw it across the ceiling. It re¬ 
moves the dust much better than can be done with 
the naked broom, and without the danger of the 
ceiling being soiled. In one corner of my kitchen 
Is an old, small-sized table, with several inches of 
the legs sawed off. It is called the “children’s 
table.” It is there my little girls took their first 
lessons in kitchen work. It is very useful in 
teaching them to do such work as ironing, wash¬ 
ing dishes, etc. I find it convenient also for my 
use, where I can do a great deal of work sitting 
down, that would have to be performed while 
standing if a higher table was used. Where a 
person is afflicted and not able to remain long on 
the feet, much of the work can be performed while 
sitting, if such a table is used. Nellie Bukns. 
A Combination Closet. 
B. E. REXFOBD. 
I was much pleased with an arrangement seen 
at a friend’s, consisting of a closet or cupboard 
built into the partition between the kitchen and 
dining-room. The closet, a, a, projected about 
eightinches into each room. The leaves, c, c, opened 
to form a sort of table for receiving dishes, food, 
etc., and left a large opening, e, for the passage of 
food, dishes, etc., between the two rooms. Below 
the projection into each room was ten or twelve 
inches, and this space was filled with drawers, d, d, 
which could be pulled out into either room. They 
were used for table-linen, napkins, doyles, etc. 
The upper closet or-cupboard contained shelves, 
with glass fronts for china, glass, and silverware. 
There were four or five of them, each about eigh¬ 
teen inches wide, and three and a half feet long, 
affording shelves enough for an ordinary family. 
The washed dishes could be set in from the 
kitchen side, and taken out for the table from the 
dining-room side, thus saving time and many extra 
steps. Two slides at each end, when drawn out, 
support the turned down leaves. When these 
leaves were closed, the closet occupied but little 
space, and had the appearance of a book-case. The 
one described had ground glass in the lower half 
of the sash doors. In front of the upper shelves 
on the dining-room side the upper half had clear 
glass; the glass doors on the kitchen side being 
lined with red, the silver and glassware showed to 
good effect against this background. The china, 
etc., occupied the lower shelves. The closet could 
not have been expensive, and the lady of the 
house assured me it was wonderfully convenient, 
and a great economizer of her time and work. 
The Housekeeper who is a Philosopher. 
AMELIA H. BOT.srOED. 
Reasoning upon the really essential material 
needs of her family, she rediiees the number to 
three, shelter, food and clothing, and first provides 
for these in the best possible way. If able to se¬ 
lect her home she chooses one warm in winter, 
cool in summer, convenient in arrangement and 
especially one in a healthful locality. She will care 
more about good drainage and proper ventilation 
than for Queen Anne piazzas and ribbon flower 
beds. She will not desire a house too large for her 
family, considering that the more room, the more 
work; and if dependent on her own skill and 
strength to keep the home in order, she will eschew 
elaborate furnishings and delicate and fading colors 
in hangings and carpets. She will buy substantial 
furniture to avoid frequent renewals and constant 
repairs, and that as light as its purpose admits to 
save strain in lifting and handling. She will re¬ 
member the labor of dusting, and the fading effect 
of sunshine when tempted to buy fancy carved 
work and delicately tinted upholstery. There will 
be system in her management, with a careful sub¬ 
ordination of routine to the comfort and happiness 
of the family. She will not follow a set of I'ulcs rigid¬ 
ly, but adapt them to the variations of climate and 
the reasonable desires of the household.—Under¬ 
standing that the object of eating is to nourish the 
body, and not merely to gratify appetite, she will 
study what articles contain the most nutriment in 
the most easily digested form : and with due regard 
to the season will not furnish heating food in sum¬ 
mer or a too restricted diet in winter. Her meals 
will be provided regularly, at proper intervals, to 
allow the digestive organs suitable periods of rest, 
and the food will be well cooked and abundant. 
She will not load her table with indigestible dain¬ 
ties though all her neighbors may ; and will waste 
little time and strength in making cake and pies. 
She will not be ashamed to have it known that 
breakfast lacks coffee and doughnuts, that dinner 
is served without pie, and supper without cake ; 
that her children have a simple repast of bread and 
milk, or of bread and butter and fruit, or of baked 
potatoes with milk, convinced that such a meal is 
better in every way than one more elaborate, one 
taxing her time and strength to prepare and result¬ 
ing in across, sickly family. She will not be famed 
for her cakes at church socials, nor importuned for 
fancy recipes ; on the contrary, the neighbors will 
probably pity her husband because his wife isn’t a 
“ good cook.” But the babies will be rosy and 
happy, and the mother will have time for a daily 
walk, or even to sit down and read by daylight! 
She will, of course, provide suitable clothing for 
the family; and on this point will decide that 
health and comfort are to be secured at any sacri¬ 
fice. Each member of the household must be clad 
with reference to changing seasons. Thin stock¬ 
ings will not accompany heavy cloaks, or exposed 
throats go with velvet drapery. Every garment 
will fit loosely enough to insure ease, but be fin¬ 
ished in a workmanlike way ; the material will be 
durable and pretty, without being at all striking. 
As the “ philosopher” would avoid wasting time 
and labor on what would soon be worn out, or dis¬ 
carded as unfashionable, she will avoid the whim of 
an hour and the extreme of fashion. She will not 
sanction large expenditure for dress or trimming 
so elaborate as to require much time and patience. 
She will consider that to devote the entire energies 
of a human mind to the subject of dress is a thing 
that is certainly unworthy of any true woman. 
In brief, the philosophic house-keeper has cour¬ 
age equal to her convictions. All, doubtless, 
would admit that the larger portion of woman’s 
work is not absolutely necessary ; but only a phi¬ 
losopher will be able to forever forego the eommon 
ambition of “ having things like other people.” 
Convenient Coal Box. 
Make the box of any size and form, to contain 
the coal to be kept, and to fit the place it is to oc¬ 
cupy in the wood-shed, cellar or elsewhere, by 
nailing boards around four corner pieces of scant¬ 
ling, strong enough to bear the weight. Set the 
bottom to slant towards the front to throw the coal 
to the opening, which is closedby a board sliding up 
and down behind two halved strips, nailed on each 
CONVENIENT COAL BOX. 
side of the aperture. The corner pieces project 
as legs, leaving the front bottom of the box high 
enough to easily set a coal-scuttle under it. 
Waste from Well and Cistern Pumps, 
The drip, and the waste water when several pail¬ 
fuls are taken out to get down to cool fluid, should 
never be left to form .a “mud puddle” which is 
unsightly; and the impure water is likely to run 
back into the well or cistern. Ten minutes’ work 
will nail together a couple of boards in the form of 
a V of any needed length, which set at a slight in¬ 
cline will carryall the surplus water away. It is 
perhaps better to set a low box eighteen to twenty- 
four inches square directly below the end of the 
spout to place the pail into, and run the V-shaped 
trough from the outer side of this. Better still is a 
square underground brick drain, or a tile one, or 
one made by nailing four narrow boards together ; 
the last-named is less durable, but will suffice for 
two or three years. Keep it dry around the well. 
The Eves. —For any serious trouble with the 
eyes, of course a surgeon or occulist should be 
consulted. Those who read much should be very 
careful as to the light, which should come from 
above and over the left shoulder. Gas often flickers 
and is unsteady, and is much inferior as a light to 
read by, to a good kerosene lamp. Many with weak 
eyes have found great benefit from giving them a 
cold bath the first thing in the morning and the 
last thing at night. Hold the face in a basin of 
cold water a few minutes, remove the face from 
the water with the eyes shut and afterwards gently 
dry them with a soft towel without irritation. 
