104, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
the reading lesson to drawing out their ideas of the 
little they read, and to conservation suggested by 
the reading. But he believed that children so 
taught became in the end far better readers, be¬ 
cause more appreciative, than those drilled mostly 
on rules of articulation, emphasis, etc. Miss Pea¬ 
body wrote thus of it in her “Record ” : “ It will 
probably, however, be difficult to find children who 
know so well how to use a book, when they are 
eight years old, as those who have been taught on 
his method, which never allows a single step to be 
taken, in any stage of the process, without a deal 
of thinking on the part of the child. Perhaps a gen¬ 
eral adoption of Mr. Alcott’s ideas on this subject 
would lead to some check upon the habits of su¬ 
perficial reading, which do so much to counter¬ 
balance all the advantages arising from our pro¬ 
fusion of books.” 
Mr. Alcott thought that every book read should 
be an event to the child ; and all his plans of teach¬ 
ing kept steadily in view the object of making 
books “live, breathe, and speak;” and he con¬ 
sidered the “ glib ” reading in some schools an 
actual hindrance to his purpose. When a child 
brings home from the Sunday School two or three 
little goodish books, which it devours on Sunday 
afternoon and evening, then reads the books taken 
out by its brothers and sisters, then borrows its 
playmates’ library books, and reads them, and fills 
up the remaining leisure week-day hours with news¬ 
paper stories—is each book read likely to be “ an 
event in its life?” It might go farther, and fare 
worse, for Sunday-school books, while sometimes 
trashy, are never immoral, and some of them would 
have an excellent effect, if there were not so many 
of them following in such rapid succession. 
Mr. Alcott thought that the best reading which 
children could do for themselves, in the early 
stages of their education, could not supersede the 
necessity of reading aloud to them, so that they 
might early be put in possession of the thoughts of 
genius, and be made to sympathize in the feelings 
inspired by their master works, and also have their 
tastes formed on their highest model. He was al - 
ways on the search for books which he would like 
to read to his school, but though children’s books 
were plenty, he could find few that answered his 
purpose. He read aloud mostly from the Bible, 
Pilgrim’s Progress, Spencer’s Fairy Queens, Krum- 
macher’s Parables, “ The Story without an End,” 
and Miss Edgeworth’s Stories. 
My own children, like most others I suppose, are 
very glad to have mamma read to them, and I am 
sorry when my days are so crowded with tasks that 
there is little or no opportunity for this. I have 
just finished the last chapters of “Hiawatha,” and 
even the little girl of five enjoyed the daily por¬ 
tions, and derived some benefit no doubt, though 
she usually ran for a volume of the “Nursery,” 
when 1 laid down Longfellow’s poems, and asked 
me to read something now for herand baby. “ Hi¬ 
awatha” followed naturally after “Good Old 
Times, or Grandfather’s Struggle for a Home¬ 
stead,” an excellent story of the early Indian wars, 
which suited our necessities well after the “ Peter 
and Polly” Centennial story of the Revolution, 
which in turn followed delightfully the completion 
of Higginson’s “Young Folk’s History of the 
United States.” But what we most need, perhaps, 
is not entertaining reading, or that which simply 
serves to inform the mind, but books which will 
have the effect of noble, well-bred companions up¬ 
on our children. We can not choose their com¬ 
panions, as a general thing, but we ought to do our 
best to choose their books judiciously. In this re¬ 
spect there is a decided advantage in postponing 
the teaching of reading, until children are at least 
six years of age, provided they can have employ¬ 
ment adapted to their stage of progress, and pro¬ 
vided some one can attend to their questions, and 
read with them. 
Plated Knives. 
Here is what a reader of the American Agricultur¬ 
ist says to me, and through me to you, about labor- 
saving : “You seem interested in all means of sav¬ 
ing labor. Why don’t you mention plated knives ? 
The use of silver-plated forks is now very common, 
but these do not prevent the necessity of a daily 
use of the scouring apparatus. When I do my own 
work, the scouring business is very tedious. I 
know it does not take much time, but that is the 
trouble with most all of our work. It takes but a 
few minutes to do this and a few minutes to do 
that, and so the whole day goes, unless one looks 
sharp after all these little things. So when I had 
occasion to buy a new set of knives, I got the sil¬ 
ver-plated ones. I had no opportunity for choice, 
but got such as I could, and I don’t know whether 
these are as good as they should be for the price- 
two dollars for half a dozen—but they have done 
duty daily for more than a year, and are about as 
good as new, though usually washed by one of my 
little girls, who sometimes lets them lie wet or dirty 
much longer than I consider good for them. These 
plated knives are a great relief to to me, and a step 
in the right direction I am sure. I don’t know but 
my neighbors think me a little “ stuck up, ” for 
most of them use steel knives and forks. More 
likely they smile at what they may consider the 
incongruity of the thing, for my furniture is all 
very plain and cheap, and my dishes are old and 
“ nicked,” and not all of the same pattern, and, as 
you may suppose from these admissions, we are 
quite poor. My relatives thought me rather foolish 
to get such knives, for they thought I might have 
my little girls scour the steel knives. But the 
children are too small to wash the dishes without 
kneeling in a chair or standing on a stool, and I find 
the task of training them to do such chores a rather 
difficult one. When they tried to scour the knives 
they made some litter which I did not like to trust 
them to clear up, and altogether the knife scouring 
business was rather trying to our tempers. I know 
that trials are good for us, but I have so many that 
I do not need to go in the way of any needless 
ones. The old steel knives still do duty for cook¬ 
ing use, and for scraping sticky dishes, but I never 
scour those. If I did, of course half the advantage 
derived from using plated knives would be lost. 
Aunt T. expostulated with me. She thought I 
ought not to let my little girls grow familiar with 
the notion that they might let knives go black. I 
told her we must draw the line somewhere, and 
just where it should be was a matter of taste per¬ 
haps. I told her I had discovered that acids would 
take the black off from my frying-pan, and leave it 
like a polished knife, but when I had washed and 
wiped it as clean as I could, I was content to put it 
away without scouring, though I knew it could be 
made bright as steel. And so of my tin-ware. I 
let it go quite dim after it has become so by much 
use, contenting myself by such cleansing as soap 
and hot water can give, without the use of sands 
and polishing materials, which would restore its 
original brightness. If I can do all that, I can let 
my cooking knives go unscoured. H they were 
ever so bright when I began to stir potato warming 
in the spider with them, they would be black before 
the food was cooked, and for this reason I use my 
plated knives for peeling or stirring fruit or such 
food as acts quickly and strongly upon iron. You 
now have my “ ideas ” on the subject of plated 
knives and forks—only perhaps the most important 
idea of all is, that by saving a little time, and a lit¬ 
tle strength, and a little patience, by the substi¬ 
tution of plated for steel knives, I think 1 have 
gained a little time, and a little strength, and a lit¬ 
tle patience for the benefit of my family.” 
A Conveniently Arranged Pantry. 
BY L. D. SNOOK, TATES CO., N. Y. 
In houses of the old style there was either no 
pantry at all, the kitchen being furnished with a 
dresser and shelves, or it was merely a small closet 
to hold the articles in less common use. In modem 
houses the pantry is next in importance to the 
kitchen, and it should be so arranged as to accom¬ 
modate all the appliances used in cookery, as well as 
the china, glass-ware, cutlery, and other articles for 
the table. In arranging a plan for building, the 
pantry should receive careful consideration, as next 
in importance to the kitchen; it should be suf¬ 
ficiently roomy, open into both the dining-room and 
the kitchen, and in order to “ 6ave steps,” should be 
as convenient to the range or cooking stove, as 
circumstances will allow. The accompanying en¬ 
graving represents a portion of the interior of a 
pantry that has been found to be convenient, as it 
allows the articles in common use to be got at 
handily, while those in less frequent demand are 
kept free from dust. The window is situated near 
one corner, and the shelves are so arranged, as to 
not obstruct the light from it. The shelves, 2?, B, 
21 feet from the floor, are 2 feet or more in width, 
and project about 3 inches beyond the closets and 
drawers below ; these are used for molding and pre¬ 
paring pastry, and such other work, as may be most 
conveniently done here. The shelves at the left of 
the window are for the china and other table fur¬ 
niture in every-day use. Hooks should be placed 
upon the wall at the right of the window, for such 
articles as are required in the work done on the 
bench. The pantry is fitted up with an abundance of 
drawers and closets, of which it is hardly possible to 
have too many ; the upper closets are for the nicer 
china and glass, while the lower ones serve to hold 
pans and other cooking utensils in less frequent 
use. The drawers are for table-linen, and the many 
uses the housekeeper will find for them. If pos¬ 
sible, the window should be on the north side, but 
in any case it should have blinds for shade, and a 
wire gauze or other screen to keep out flies. 
“Eastlakh Furniture. ”—“Mrs. A. T. C.,” 
Ingham Co., Mich., sees occasional references in 
papers and magazines to“Eastlake Furniture,” 
and would like to know about it. Within a few 
years there has been a tendency to reform the style 
of house-furnishing in England, to substitute solid- 
INTERIOR OF A CONVENIENTLY ARRANGED PANTRY. 
