1SG6.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
105 
Home Attractions. — Tea, Coffee, Smiles 
and Baby Prattle. 
The gi-eatcst safeguard a man can possess, the 
well nig'h irresistible charm against ale-house al¬ 
lurements and other evil, is an attractive, happy 
home of his own. The ^ 
contented and loving 
wife has sundry valuable 
auxiliaries at hand, which 
judiciously employed will 
add not a little to the 
potency of her own 
smiles and cheerful tem¬ 
per. Among these we 
give good tea and coffee 
a high place. But these 
beverages must be good, 
full of aroma, and hot; not 
neeessarily strong,though 
sometimes strength is a 
very good thing. There 
is a vast deal of very 
poor tea consumed, and 
a great deal that is good 
spoiled in making; and 
if this is true of tea, it is 
ten times more of coffee, 
if indeed the decoctions 
of roasted seeds, grains, 
roots, etc., which are so 
much drank, may he 
called at all by that name 
of so aromatic memor}'. 
There is no evidence, 
so far as we can judge, 
that pure tea, or coffee 
used in moderation, pro¬ 
duces any but pleasant 
effects upon adults. They 
each contain a highly vo¬ 
latile oil, which gives the 
pleasant flavor and is dissi¬ 
pated entirely by boiling^ 
So the more cither tea or 
coffee are boiled, the 
poorer they are. The 
alkaloids, thein in tea, 
and cafeiu in coffee, are 
dissolved only by boiliug 
hot water. So the “draw¬ 
ing ” of tea for about live 
minutes for green, and 10 
minutes for black, as is 
well known, extracts 
both of the desirable in¬ 
gredients ; and the perco¬ 
lation of hot water 
through freshly burned 
and ground coffee attains 
the same result for this 
beverage. The tea must be 
good and the coffee must 
be pure, if the wife would 
be sure of spending a 
pleasant evening with her 
refreshed and rcinvigor- 
ated husband.—See in our picture, the baby boy has 
caught sight of “papa” as he is coming home 
across the fields from his day’s work,'and in his 
Joy has well nigh wrought a catastrophe. 
'fi'o ISelaisa tJic Ai'OMta of Coulee.— 
Baron Liebig gives the following simple directions : 
“The berries of coffee, once roasted, lose every 
hour somewhat of their aroma, in consequence of 
the influence of the oxygen of the air,, which, owing 
to the porosity of the roasted berries, can easily 
penetrate. This pernicious change may best be 
avoided by strewing over the berries, when the 
roasting is completed, and while the vessel in which 
it has been done is still hot, some powdered white 
or brown sugar. (Half an ounce to one pound of 
coffee is suflicient.) The sugar melts immediately, 
and by well shaking or turning the roaster quickly, 
it spreads all over the berries, and gives each one a 
flue glaze, impervious to the atmosphere. They 
have then a shining appearance, as though covered 
with a varnish, and they in consequence lose their 
smell entirely, which, however, returns in a high 
degree as soon as they are ground. After this 
“PAPA IS COMING.” 
sugar-coating, they arc to be taken quickly from 
the roaster and spread on a cold plate of iron, so 
that they may cool as soon as possible. If the 
hot berries are allowed to remain heaped together, 
they begin to sweat, and when the quantity is 
large, the heating process, by the influence of air, 
increases to such a degree that at last they take Are 
spontaneously. The roasted aud glazed berries 
should be kept in a dry place, because the covering 
of sugar attracts moisture.”—Devices have been 
patented for preserving the aroma in ground coffee. 
They depend upon mingling small quantities of 
gum or mucilage with the coffee, or pressing it 
into cakes and coating them with the same. 
Household Items for “ Mea. Folks.” 
The following hints, much needed by some men, 
aud especially by many half-grown boys, we find 
going the rounds unaccredited. The style is rather 
too much of the “slang” order, but we pass this 
by, for the sentiment. No one whom they do 
not hit, will take any offence : “ Do men folks ever 
tliink how much work they make a woman by 
going into a house with muddy boots ? It would 
take but a moment for 
them to use the scraper 
and leave outside the dirt 
which they track over 
the floor, oil-cloth and 
carpet, and which they 
leave on the stove-hearth 
or fender—all of which 
must be mopped, scraped 
and wiped off. If your 
wife, mother or sister fail 
to clean up the muss, you 
great big boy or man have 
made, what a howl you 
raise because ‘ the things 
about the house look so !’ 
Aud when you go home at 
noon or night, do you 
ever notice how you act;? 
Of course not, or you 
would not do such care' 
less tricks. You enter the 
door — w'ith a slam it 
half closes, and some wo¬ 
man must shut it after 
you. Your overcoat is 
thrown on a chair in one 
corner of the room—your 
hat sails away in another 
corner to light upon a 
stand or under it, gloves 
are thrown on a table, 
neck-w'rapper hung on 
the first handy chair, and 
down you sit in the center 
of the room where every 
one must go around you. 
After you have been tw’o 
hours in a house, the 
place resembles the 
groirnd of a cat squabble. 
Hat, boots, coat, news¬ 
papers, overcoat, gloves, 
books, jack-knife, hair 
brush, and all articles you 
may have in your hands 
are scattered as though a 
hurricane had swept 
through the room; books, 
papers, magazines, alma¬ 
nac aud memorandum 
book, arc routed from 
their place. Aud when 
you have to leave, what 
a time is there 1 No one 
knows where your things 
arc. ‘ Where is my hat ?’ 
‘Where is my overcoat?’ 
‘ Who had my gloves ?’ 
Every one in the house 
is put upon the witness 
stand, aud it is more 
trouble to get you started 
down town than to launch a steamer or to start a 
new stage coach. Then after you arc gone, the 
women must spend a quarter of a da}', more or less, 
in picking up things which you have scattered. 
The trouble is, you ‘don’t think.’ It would take but 
a moment to hang up your coat aud hat, to put 
your gloves in your coat pocket, to draw your neck- 
wrapper through the sleeve of your overcoat, aud 
to cultivate your bump of order. It takes but a 
moment to put an article in its place and then you 
know where it can be found. The woman who 
takes care of the house has enough to do, withoirt 
choriug after large boys or waiting on a lot of 
paeu all day. A woman’s work is never finished. 
