304, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
Filter for Water. 
A very readily made filter for home use may be 
made in a few minutes, with very easily procured 
materials. There is first needed a tin pail, divided 
into two parts, the upper one slipping into the 
other. The upper one contains the water to be 
filtered. Near the bottom of this is fixed a pecu¬ 
liar shaped bag, made of stout cotton cloth, doubled 
if need be, to prevent the charcoal from passing 
through with the 
water. This bag 
is very shallow at 
the top, but has 
several long pock¬ 
ets, as shown in 
the engraving. 
These are filled 
with charcoal, 
both fine and 
coarse, and the 
top of the bag is 
also covered with 
a layer about an 
inch thick. There 
is a. cover made 
to the bag, which 
stretches across 
the pail, above the 
upper . layer of 
charcoal. The hag 
A FILTER FOR WATER. 
should be fitted very tightly to the sides of the pail, 
and an elastic hoop may be used to press it against 
the sides. When water is poured into the upper 
pail, it filters through the charcoal, and is rendered 
free from mauy unseen impurities. There are many 
districts in which at this season water is scarce and 
of inferior quality. In such places no water should 
be drank, unless it is first filtered or boiled. Im¬ 
pure water is perhaps the most prolific source of 
those diseases, known as summer complaints, and 
is most dangerous when the hot weather favors 
the growth of vegetable and animal bodies, too 
minute to be seen without a microspcope. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Husbands and Housework. 
These are indeed hard times. None but those 
upon whom the woe has fallen, can appreciate the 
words “out of work.” The sight of it is enough 
THE ONEIDA vegetable washer.— (See page 303.) 
to set any one who believes in “cause and effect,” 
to thinking about the cause and the cure for misery 
of this kind. But a dissertation upon that theme 
lies outside the province of the Household columns. 
It has, however, occurred to me many times, that 
men who are out of work, are by no means justified 
in sitting idly about their premises, or lounging in 
adjacent stores and groceries, when their wives are 
overburdened with the cares and labors of the fam¬ 
ily. Every household needs two heads, the father 
and the mother, a “united head.” But when a 
father is so situated that he is unable to contribute 
to the family support, he must reflect that he be¬ 
comes a positive burden to the family, unless he 
can make himself useful to it. The class of men 
likely to get out of work, usually have hard-work¬ 
ing wives, who need holidays quite as much as their 
husbands do. Sometimes these women not only do 
the family housework and washing and child-train¬ 
ing, but also add to the family finances by sewing, 
washing, writing, or other means. And there are 
husbands of such hard-working women, who feel 
(or seem to feel) that it is only right and proper 
that they should lounge about, reading the paper, 
playing with the children, chatting with the neigh¬ 
bors, while their wives have one unceasing round 
of household labor. The fact is, they dislike “me¬ 
nial” tasks, and they forget the feelings they pro¬ 
fessed as lovers, toward the women now their 
wives, and allow those whom they once aspired to 
protect and cherish, to perform for their able- 
bodied husbands the most “menial ” services. They 
don’t think a word about it; but they ought to 
think. They fall in with the ordinary drift of 
things, and only attempt to meet the requirements 
of public opinion in the locality where they dwell. 
I remember that, when I was teaching in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Mr. Smith was laughed about because he 
wheeled the baby carriage when he went out walk¬ 
ing with his wife and child, instead of allowing his 
wife to do that part, besides taking care of her 
skirts. It would have been considered quite enough 
for him to swing his cane beside her, prepared 
most chivalrously to defend her in case of attack— 
“ sword arm free,” you know. Like the savages, 
who can not stoop to “ menial ” offices, because 
they must keep always alert and vigorous for the 
chase, some of these noble men and brethren must 
be saved from all the distracting cares and petty 
concerns of the family, that their superior powers 
may be in readiness for doing big things when the 
time for doing big things arrives. 
I believe in a division of labor; and Ido not sub¬ 
scribe to a rather common notion among some re¬ 
formers, that husbands and wives would always be 
happier if they worked side by side in the same 
field; and I sympathize somewhat with women 
who say that they shouldn’t want a husband “ al¬ 
ways round under foot! ” But I do say that a 
hard-working woman never admires her husband 
more, than when having no work to do in his own 
field, he comes cheerfully over into her field, and 
bends his stronger shoulders to help her bear her 
burdens, that she may share in his leisure. 
Don’t I know ? Didn’t I see a stalwart laddie, 
“rising of ” forty, working in his shirt sleeves and 
an apron, over my kneading-board, soon after sun¬ 
rise yesterday ? I can testify without any mental 
reservation, that the bread on our table to-day is of 
excellent quality. It is enough for one woman to 
get breakfast, skim and strain milk, put up the 
dinners for school, and dress the baby, without 
having also to knead bread, all before breakfast; 
and so it is lucky for her if the “gude mon,” off 
work for a few days, stands ready to “lend a hand.” 
Men, generally, have no idea how much they can 
do to help, if they set about it. They have an un¬ 
easy feeling sometimes, that they ought to take 
hold somewhere, hut they don’t know how to be¬ 
gin. 1 said to a man with no particular work to do, 
who sorrowfully told me of his wife’s ill-health and 
hard work, “ Of course you help her do the wash¬ 
ing.”—“Oh yes!” he answered, “I bring in the 
wood, and get all of the water for her.”—And it 
never occurred to him that Justice could ask more 
of him, that noble creature, a man! He to bend 
over the wash-tub, applying his superior mind to 
the discovery of grease spots, and his manly 
strength to the rectification of soiled garments ? 
No doubt the kind hearted fellow did sometimes 
go farther, and graciously dandle his own babe on 
his knee, when it was sufficiently amiable to please 
him, in the idea that by thus tending baby, he was 
helping his wife. He, the strong, thus choosing 
the easier work, in order to give her, the weak, a 
chance to do the harder task unhindered. This 
sort of thing is extremely common in families, and 
women who are of the angelic type, never feel 
themselves defrauded of their rights, but continue 
to smile as the law directs. Others “ fret inwardly,” 
or take refuge in sarcasms. Frankness is better. 
Say to this reasonable but thoughtless husband of 
yours, something like this: “Now just look at it. 
you and I are the heads of this family. I certainly 
am no more responsible than you are for the num¬ 
ber of mouths to feed and bodies to be clothed, or 
for the daily and yearly round of work that must be 
done here. I am willing to work as hard as you do 
for the prosperity of the family, but I think it alto¬ 
gether fair that you should work as hard as I do. 
Now, while you caD not work at your own proper 
business, (and sometimes this sort of thing goes on 
for weeks and months at a time), or get any paying 
work to do, suppose we make a division of labor 
right here in the family. You can do all the sweep¬ 
ings, you can knead the bread,”—and so on, con¬ 
sulting his tastes and the amount of “ faculty ” or 
“ knack ” which he is likely to bring into the part¬ 
nership. If your sleep is broken by care of child¬ 
ren, and if your nerves are overstrained by constant 
and conflicting cares and anxieties, your husband 
ought to know it, and give sympathy if he can not 
give help, but it is a pity if you have to tell him the 
facts and beg for aid. 
While I write, I remember that there are selfish 
wives, who would shirk all care and toil, preferring 
to live like the lilies of the field, whatever burdens 
may fall upon their husbands, and I wish to give 
no countenance to such. I do not like to think of 
marriage as a “ partnership,” but it should not fall 
behind a business union in the essentials of justice. 
Bread Making. 
For a long time nothing has been said in the 
Household-columns upon this all : important sub¬ 
ject. Yet recruits are all the time coming for¬ 
ward, who wish to be told minutely just how to 
make bread, what yeast to use, how, and when, and 
where to set the “ sponge,” or bread batter, for its 
first rising, when, and how long to knead the dough, 
when, and how to make and bake the loaves. 
It seems to the uninitiated a very formidable un¬ 
dertaking,. requiring peculiar judgment and dis¬ 
cretion ; yet it cannot be very difficult to learn, else 
how does it happen that this little girl near me, just 
past her eighth birth-day, has made ten or a dozen 
goodly batches of bread within a half year, and 
never a sour, or heavy, or tough loaf in all that she 
has made. The manipulation was all her own, but 
mother’s “judgment” was always at hand and 
freely used. The first sponge was set in a pint 
basin, but every one since has been sufficient for at 
least three common bread-tin loaves. No Kinder- 
gartening at our house has proved more enter¬ 
taining, and perhaps none more profitable than 
bread-making. At least one boy has learned the 
art as a pastime, and whatever may be his future 
lot, need never starve for good, light bread, when 
proper materials can be obtained. It is really help, 
too, for a mother, when her children, with clean 
hands and cheerful hearts, work at the bread dough, 
with a wholesome ambition to produce the sweet¬ 
est, and lightest, and finestpossible loaves of bread. 
There are many ways of making good yeast bread. 
The very best, in my opinion, is mixed with fresh, 
sweet milk. Many consider sweet skimmed milk 
with a little butter melted in it, just about as good, 
but if you add the butter, there is no economy in 
substituting skimmed milk for fresh. The far- 
famed Parker House bread is made, I am told, of 
simply yeast, flour, and water, and I am very cer¬ 
tain that delicious bread, sweet, light, and tender,, 
can be made from these three things alone, when 
they are of good quality, and carefully and skill¬ 
fully used. This care and skill any well-disposed 
child can learn, so no housekeeper must consider it 
beyond her attainments. 
Many good recipes for yeast are given in books 
and papers, and every neighborhood has house¬ 
keepers who make excellent yeast. I always use, 
of late, some form of dry yeast, such as any grocery 
store will furnish. It costs no more than home¬ 
made yeast, and saves a deal of care in either hot 
or freezing weather, requiring only a dry place for- 
storage. It is quite as good as jug yeast. 
It is usually most convenient to begin the bread- 
making, or “ set the sponge,” at night, and so get 
the baking done early the next day, but it can all 
be done in the same day, if desired, by beginning 
