February , 1859. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
57 
WASHING DISHES. 
I think it would puzzle some radies very much to tell 
their girls how to wash dishes properly. This is work 
which little girls can learn to do quite easily, and if you 
will remember my way of doing it, I am sure you will 
never be ashamed to have your dishes come on the table. 
I used always lo have two dish-pans, one to wash and one 
to rinse in. First I would make a strong suds, in the 
washing pan, and partly fill the other with clean hot water. 
Then, the dishes which are not greasy, such as the oread 
and cake plates, cups and saucers, &c., should be put into 
the suds, and each washed with a clean cloth—not some 
old rag, all worn out and “ linty,” but a neat coarse cloth 
nicely hemmed. A short stick with a piece of new 
linen cloth tied on the end of it, like a small mop, is a 
very nice thing to wash deep dishes or those that have 
many “creases ” and “ dents” in them, such as fancy 
glass preserve dishes. 
As fast as the dishes are taken from the suds'they should 
be put into the rinsing pan, before the suds can dry on ; 
and then they should be placed on something to drain. An 
old tea-board is very good for this purpose. A shelf over 
the sink, made slanting to carry the water into the sink, is 
better still. After the nicer dishes are washed, more hot 
suds should be put into the first pan. and the greasy dishes 
washed with a different dish cloth, for it is not neat to 
use the same one for all kinds of dishes. I’ve seen cloths 
in some kitchens that looked as if they were used to keep 
dirt off from every thing in the house. 
After the greasy dishes are w ashed, the knives and forks 
have their turn- But don’t put the handles into the hot 
w ater ; it will make them warp and separate from the 
blades; I’ve seen many a good set spoiled in this way. 
The pots and kettles come last, and the dish cloth ought 
never to go into these ; a separate cloth should be kept 
on purpose, and when they are washed, set them by the fire 
to dry, to keep them from rusting. 
While you are washing your dishes, your sister may be 
wiping them, after they have been well drained. This 
can be done much more quickly and nicely with two 
towels, taking one in each hand, for then you need not 
leave any finger marks on the dishes, but make them shine 
all over, as bright as your eyes—and they will, if the 
work is well done. 
Always be careful in washing glass vessels, not to put 
them into very hot water at first, as they may be cracked 
by it. The rinsing water may be made hotter than the 
first water, as dishes bear heat better if it be not applied 
too suddenly. 
The sink should be thoroughly washed out after finish 
ing with the dishes. If you wash it once or twice a week 
with strong ley made from wood ashes, it will take out 
the grease and prevent the unpleasant smell that a neg¬ 
lected sink always has. 
Do you think you can remember all this ? You must 
try, for when I come to take tea w ith you I shall pul on 
my best spectacles, and see if you have heeded w hat I 
have told you. You may go and play now'. Good after¬ 
noon. 
The Editor witli his Young- Readers. 
Well, young friends, here we are again—come to a 
resting place in our journey through the year, where w e 
may sit down and have an evening’s chat. Lets call the 
roll and see if all have arrived safely at the Station. 
“John 1” “ Here sir 1”—“James 1” “ Here “ William 1” 
“ Here —“ Mary 1” “ Here “ Jane 1” “ Here !”— 
'• Ellen 1” “ Here 1”— Hold on ; we can't call the w hole 
roll, it’s too long. Let’s "count noses ” as they say, and 
see how many are here. “ One, two, three_one hun¬ 
dred_two-hundred_five-hundred.. .one-thousand... 
ten-thousand fifty-thousand — a hundred thousand... 
two-hundred thousand”_Stop, stop— Two hundred 
thousand boys and girls in our company ! How can that 
be 1 You havecounted some of themtwice, have younot? 
Let us see. We shall print of this number just about 
fifty-thousand copies—perhaps a few thousand more. Let 
us try Colburn’s Mental Arithmetic—one of the best school 
books ever published, by the way, because it taught boys 
and girls to carry their slates and pencils in their heads.— 
Well 50.000 copies go to 50.000 families. In these families 
there is an average of about four boys and girls who can 
read. (Fanny Fern says a house is not well furnished 
until there are six or eight little ones in it-she said nine 
or ten we think, but we have forgotten). In some house¬ 
holds there are less than four, and in some none : but in 
others there are more than four, and to make up any de¬ 
ficiency we will count in those w here the paper is loaned, 
and allow also for the groat number of papers which are 
constantly read by two or more families. So our company 
of little folks must number at least 4 times 50.000, or 200.000! 
Don’t you feel a great deal larger w hen you think what 
an immense company you help makeup. We begin to 
feel—to feel—to feel—well we weie going to say scared, 
when we look at you all, in imagination, and see so many 
pairs of bright eyes all turned towards us; but it is not 
exactly scared we are. In short we don’t know exactly 
how we do feel. We once stood up to talk to 2,000 chil¬ 
dren, and it was about the most pleasing sight we ever 
saw, and we never felt better in our life- that’s just about 
how we feel now. 
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 
we wished you all last month. Did you have them 1 
We believe you all “ wished us the same,” and the wish 
was granted, for we did have “the same ’’—specially the 
“ merry Christmas.” That gathering of children we told 
you about last month, turned out to be the best thing of 
the kind we ever did see. This page is not iarge enough 
to tell you all the nice things done and said—of the splen¬ 
did table lo?ded with such lots ofthings ; of the Christmas 
trees reaching to the ceiling and their branches bending 
under the knick-knacks hung on them—and of the sur¬ 
prise presents we got that day and now preserve as me¬ 
mentoes. Our head has been so full of the subject ever 
since that we could hardly keep from letting a little out. 
But we’ll not give you a “ report."—Imagine the whole 
affair got up in a way to please you most, and you will 
hit it—for the children who were there all said it was as 
good as it could be, and “children are all alike” you know. 
TRAPPING BIRDS. 
Being very busy, we commissioned an artist to get up 
for us a picture for the little folks, to go on this page—one 
to suit himself, but appropriate to the season—and the 
engraving given above is what he brought us at the last 
moment. As a picture it is beautiful. See how natural 
every thing is brought out by means of little points and 
lines left upon the block. You can even see the snow on 
the tree. But we confess we don’t like the subject of the 
picture. We don’t like the looks of those boys trying to 
catch the innocent little snow birds. If the birds knew, 
wouldn’t they be off? One little fellow, not quite under 
the trap, seems to be a little suspicious of danger. He is 
peering about to see if any harm is near. Don’t you hope 
he’ll fly away and scare the rest too ? Do you quite like 
the appearance of the boy who holds the string, and is no 
doubt the head of the party? With his coat off, his trow- 
sers tucked into his boots, and his hat set on one side, we 
think there is a “ don’t care ” look about him that is not 
very promising. “ Don’t care ” is a bad beginning for 
any boy to make. Ifthe truth could be known, perhaps 
we should find him one who has left his threshing in the 
barn, the roof of which you can just see over the fence in 
the background, and taking the grain screen, lie has 
coaxed the other boys who should be at school, to go out 
with him to trap the snow-birds. A boy that would trap 
such innocent little fellows, that do no harm and lhat are 
useless when caught, would he likely to do such tricks. 
Some one should sing to him that sweet little song 
“ Chick-a-dee-dee,”—written by our “ Uncle Frank,”—to 
soften his hard nature a little. 
“the best GtnL.” 
In our school last Sabbath, there was one vacant seat. 
It was that of little Mary, who was with us on Christmas 
Day—so joyful, so happy. Alas! she is with ns no more. 
Scarcely had the New-Year dawned, ere Death came and 
plucked away one of our loveliest flowers. How often w e 
think of Death as the keeper of a garden, w ho goes around 
continually among the flower beds, sometimes to dig up 
weeds, and cut out full grown stalks that have served the 
purpose of their existence; and at others to gather a bo- 
qnet of flowers foi his master. Mark how he chooses the 
loveliest, sweete st blossoms, until he has his hands full of 
them. So Death will go around among our company 
many times this year and pick one here and another there¬ 
in all a great number. If he take you, my child, will it be 
as a useless or noxious weed, ora flower fragrantin good 
deeds ? How is it? Sometimes we think of Death as a 
reaper who cuts down the tall ripening grain, but wdiose 
scythe also clips off the heads of the flowers that grow 
among it. Here is the way the poet Longfellow has ex¬ 
pressed it ; 
“ There is a reaper w hose name is Death, 
And, with his sickle keen, 
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath 
And the flowers that grow between 
In another verse it is said ; 
“ But not in cruelty, not in wrath, 
The reaper came that day- 
An angel visited the green earth, 
And took the flowers away'.” 
Are not those beautiful thoughts? But we commenced 
to give you an item about our departed Mary, which was 
related last Sabbath by her former teacher in the public 
school. It was this : A few weeks ago a gentleman visit¬ 
ed the school, and while there he took out a 
curiosity from his pocket and showed it to the 
scholars. “ Now,” said he, “if I knew who was 
the best girl in the school I would call her here to 
examine this particularly. If the school can decide 
w ho is Ihe best girl I will call her.” This he said 
ns an introduction to a speech, not thinking the 
scholars would agree among themselves. But he 
had hardly slated the proposition when the whole 
school called out “Mary A.!” Was not that a real 
honor? By her goodness alone—for she was a 
meek unobtrusive child—she drew forth the unan¬ 
imous approval of the whole of the little world 
around her. This incident teaches at least one 
important lesson, viz., that all persons, young as 
well as old, really admire genuine goodness of 
heart in others, no matter how bad they may be 
themselves, and when their sentiments come out 
spontaneously, as on the occasion referred to, they 
approve the right. Remember, then, that however 
much others may pretend to praise your unworthv 
acts, and cry “bravo!” when you stubbornly dis- 
- obey commands or show forth a wrong spirit, or 
jeeringly taunt you for doing rightly, yet these 
same persons in their hearts really respect and 
love truth and uprightness. Their pretended ap¬ 
probation of wrong doing is merely the offspring 
of a wish that others may sink as low as them¬ 
selves. Strive then to do right under all ciro.um- 
tanc.es, for then you will not only secure the real 
approbation of all who know you, and also have the 
approval of your own hearts, but more than all this, 
you will be honored by that Good Being who made and 
w ho sustains you. 
THE ECLIPSE THIS MONTH. 
Every boy and girl of you must remember to go to bed 
very early on Tuseday, the 16th day of February, for you 
will want to be up bright and early on the morning of the 
17th to see the grand sight of a total eclipse of the moon. 
The eclipse will not be seen at the same o’clock, 
everywhere, for when it begins it will be not quite 
three o’clock, in the morning out in Iowa, while it 
will be 7 minutes past 3 at Chicago, Ill., and plaoies 
north and south of there ; 20 minutes past 3 at Cincinna¬ 
ti, O., Macon, Geo., etc. ; and about 40 minutes past 3 at 
Pittsburg, Pa., Charleston, S. C.,etc.; about 4 o’clock at 
New-York, Philadelphia, etc. ; and 13 to 18 minutes past 
4 in Boston, Augusta, Me., etc. 
The eclipse will be total (the moon all dark) in 57 min¬ 
utes after it begins, and remain so for 98 minutes, and 
afterwards be partially eclipsed for 57 minutes longer, or 
in all 212 minutes (3 hours and 32 minutes). Those living 
furthest West will have the advantage, as the eclipse 
begins so early there, that they can see the whole of it, 
for their part of the earth will not be turned round to the 
sun in time to bring daylight before the eclipse will all 
be over. 
The moon will be in the West of course, because it 
must be on the opposite side from the sun which will 
then be about to rise in the East. You know that an 
eclipse of the moon is caused by the earth getting be¬ 
tween the sun and moon, and shutting the light ofthesun 
off; that is, the moon gets in the earth’s great shadow. 
(An eclipse of the sun is caused by the moon getting on the 
same side of us, that is the moon gets between us and the 
sun and hides from us a part and sometimes the whole of 
the light of the sun.) 
The moon does not send out light itself, but only shines 
when the sun’s light falls on it and is reflected or thrown 
