18(57.J 
AMKRT'OA'N •A'G-RTOUtTURIST. 
'-.W- other UoutehoUt Itenvi, tee " Ihuket" paget.) 
The Housekeeping: “ Prize Articles.” 
W'- are in trout.Io about tliese, as the reader will 
s-ee.-Kv. iy other department of human lat)or has 
‘ n f, t ( 1_\ w ritten about, in books and periodicals ; 
a (-W reeipe eook lx.oks, and occasional newspai)er 
items, eintuaee most that has been printed about 
Household i~ork and curest. After a dozen years 
of oft-repeated invitations, we be-^n to fear our 
K"ud -Marthas either could not doit, or that they 
" *«/./ not be induced to pen down their own expe- 
ri ne. s for tlie benefit of others. So, in November, 
We tlirew out a p.«.-.itive ehallentte in the form of a 
fireentiaek, hoping somebody would accciit 
tl.e t* inter. \\ ell, it has been ilone, 
and by nearly four-score of our 
f.iir reader-—and to our utterover- 
whelment I Sei'euty-sir fair compet¬ 
itor- I and from alnn -t every State 
in the I'nion, we are told, though 
"e ari in utter ienonmee of the 
name or n -idence of .any one of 
th- writers, and have our curio^ity 
tantalized to the hitjhe-st pitch, for 
one of the Publishers took the Es- 
p ly- in (diap.:e a.s they came in, 
num’i -red them in the order of re¬ 
ception, jui'.ately recorded the ad- 
dr - - of tiie writers, and only hand¬ 
ed t':i; K-'ays themselves to us 
K li' >rs ; “the natdielor” included). 
W ■ look o\er the beautifully writ- 
t 'll Uiauuscripts, omtafieranother, 
and Wonder e/fo wrote this one and 
til.it one, out the only res])onse is 
“ No. !,’• •* No. r, ” “ No. 11,” ” No. 
hV,.” - No. ;u,” •* No. 4 ;:,” *• No. 50,” 
” N I. 71,” a.- the ea-e may be. M’e 
b( o -Mr. t’ha-e to just tell US who 
wi'de ihlt very beautiful one. But 
he Lin-wers ‘’No; d.cide upon 
tl.e mertU of the Ks-ay.s themselves, 
ai.d not of the writer. They are 
al -upii'i'.-d to bt! written by mar- 
ri il hot’.-ekeepers” — whiidi of 
eour-■ we ! especially “the Bach¬ 
elor.” i don’t like to believe. As 
Wo look on this vast collection of 
more than two thoii.-and i).a"’cs of 
m.iiiusc! ipt, and think of the labor 
and toil and time and thomfht, 
th- y h -ve eo-t, we Would nifret 
h.ivi i..r thrown out the (hallenift?, 
w re w ■ not tire that irieat •teueral 
tfood wiil i-ome of ii. Our own 
appr'sitition of the iimouut of 
thoiioiit, skill, and leilienee, and 
theile”Tee of (iome-tie ttileiit to be 
found ainore/ Ilousekeitpers, is 
preally hiphtened, and we shall 
strive aintw to .secure a hitrher aji- " 
j)i < c iation on the part of others. We are carefully 
cousiderinp how this ma.ss of information can be 
turned to pood account for others, .and in -some de- 
pnte to the benelil of, at least, a part of the writers. 
But what about the .selection of the Prize Essay ? 
Of course, we men-folks car. not do that. Mell, 
Dec. 1-t the.HC numbered Es.says were handed over 
to a Committee of intelli.'cnt llousekceiiers, in 
poo<l repute for their practical .acquaintance with 
every day work. They have been busy readinp for 
nearly two week-! and have only pot to No. O.). 
They'rcad each E-say carefully throuph, make notes 
iij)on it, and mark it ’ “B" or “C.” lliey 
report tliat ni-arly one-third are marked “ .V,” and 
that to iro o\'er ami o.’er these, and reduce the 
clioiee to one, will rc<|uir(! the work and considera¬ 
tion of many days, if not weeks, yet. It is there¬ 
fore impo--ihle to announce the award, this month, 
fir he^in the jiublication of the Prize .Article, 01 
article- if more than one is .selected.—bile wait¬ 
in'/, we will pive a few extracts, taken at random, 
from some of the Essays. As so small a jiortion of 
each IS taken, these extracts will not .at all .affect 
the value of any one for future use in this paiier 
or elsewhere. The numbers merely indicate the 
order m which the Essays came in. AVe have not 
the shphtest idea of the name of any writer.-Eos.] 
^ from Prize Ksnays. 
■H.]-“.,..We had always two wells, one 
lu the yard, the other in the cellar, and used either at 
p easurc. It was long after the house was rebuilt, that 
came in the shape of a pump. 
I he relief from carrying water up stairs is very .^reat 
e are not a demonstrative family, hut we felt thal our 
water-pail had fallen in more pleasant places, if we did 
not tell of it. From an over-sight at the flrst, in the loca¬ 
tion of our kitchen, we had compelled upon ourselves 
.30 travel in the fifteen years, for the one item of 
w ater. AV ithout a cent more e.xpense at flrst, we min-ht 
have so arranged that we could have pumped water and 
poured it into the kettle on the stove, the dish-pan in the 
sink iK'iieath, or the hand-basin in an adjoining sink, 
[Copyright Secured.] 
A STUDY IX PIIA^SIOGNOMY. 
Our Artist li.as been .amu.-iiip himself, as cllildren sometimes do, by “making up faces,” 
and has succeeded so well, we think our reiulers will be pleased to examine liis produc¬ 
tion. An iiitcrcstinp part of the performance is, that one feature is in many instances, 
made to do double duty, presentinp the singular fact of several persons liavinp but one 
nose, one pair of eyes, etc., amonp them. The picture was intended for the Boys and 
Girls’ Deiiartment, but other matters fully occupied that space, and probably their 
mothers will not object to a little “spice” in their own part of the p.aper. 
withont taking a single step .Our table arrangements 
are equally incomplete. A dish-closet adjoining the dish- 
sink, and in convenient proximity to the table, would 
leave the circuit from closet to table, from table to sink, 
and from sink to closet again, a matter of less steps in a 
week than we now find necessary for one meal. As it is, 
we traverse an average of IfiO feet in simply bringing the 
dishes for each meal. Returning them to their places in¬ 
volves a distance of 240 inore. This foots up in the little 
annual journey to our commissary, 103 miles! Counting 
our fifteen years’ blunder, it amounts to IjiWS miles ! and 
this not for the meals onl}’—the 720 miles for water, and 
l..N)8 for dishes, giving a total of *1,278 miles ! and the 
time, absorbed in this long pedestrian journey might have 
been aftsolute leisnre, and the work have been as well jicr- 
formed. A review of all our mistakes might not prove in¬ 
teresting. AVe made a dozen or so, each having an unfor¬ 
tunate effect on our domestic enjoyment....” [IIow many 
thousands of families are doing the s.ame to-day?—Eix] 
[PnoM No. 3.]—“_R is the little things of this life 
that annoy a body ; my annoyance is (I’m ashamed to con¬ 
fess,) no larger than the ‘ swill pail’ It is a ‘ necessary nui¬ 
sance,’ always needed, yet always in the way—an unsight¬ 
ly object to man or woman-kind. John acted in this, as 
in every thing else, very cl»ver with me. He built a box 
• M on iMhor lunge, ,,, 
the wood-house, just by the kitchen door .. .John brou'dit 
i”. 1 
corn It. My way IS this: I have it cut into pieces of 
five or S1.X pounds, and rub each piece with sugar two 
pounds will do for 100 lbs. of meat; then pack tightly in 
the barrel; take sufflcient rain water to corn well To 
every 100 lbs. of meat, take 10 pounds salt, 4 ounces salt¬ 
petre, and 2 gallons molasses; put these in about half the 
water, and heat until the scum rises, skim, stirring mean¬ 
while to dissolve the ingredients, then mix with the 
rest of the water, and when cold, pour over the beef 
Ihis IS the base of an Eastern ‘Boiled Dinner.’....’’ 
[From No. 15.]—“... .A house in the country is not a 
Imtse merely, ‘ to keep and to dress.’ It is a garden, a farm 
-a little realm complete in itsclf-aiid a woman’s presence 
8 ould be felt throughout—especially in the arrano-lno- 
and ornamenting the grounds adjoining the house, should 
her taste be apparent. And flrst of all, 
it is desirable to produce a hai'monious 
effect, so that regarding the home from 
without or from within, each object 
shall appear to be a part of a beautiful 
whole. Then, be the design simple or 
elaborate, it matters not, provided the 
home be an exponent of the owner’s 
tastes and means... .AVe chose our 
home because of its proximity to Insti¬ 
tutions we love, and not, as may fairly 
be presumed, for the beauty of its lo¬ 
cation.—AVe built our houie in an open 
field, on a rise of ground made by grad¬ 
ing, but which now often elicits the 
remark, ‘How fortunate you were in 
finding such a pretty building spot,’— 
the observer little dreaming that our 
collar bottom is a part of the original 
surface. There being no previous im¬ 
provements to modify our plans, we 
gave the public road a wfcle berth, and 
immediately set about shutting it from 
view, by setting forest trees along onr 
whole front, and on either side of the 
carriage way. An amusing conversa¬ 
tion occurred between the original 
owner of our fields, and my husband, 
Mr. Max, while thus engaged. To give 
the story point, it must be premised 
that this stickler for ‘ fruit,’ had scarce¬ 
ly managed in the course of twenty 
years to cover his house lot with enough 
trees to supply his family with apples. 
-‘ See here, neighbor,’ said he, 
‘ AVhat kind o’ fruit do you expect them 
are trees to bear.’-‘ They would have 
borne dollars for you, had you set them 
here twenty years since,’ was the rather 
tart reply, for the bare and desolate ap¬ 
pearance of our fields was a serious 
drawback to our happiness that flrst 
year. AVell! the trees have already 
borne—not dollars nor apples—but the 
pleasant assurance to us, that our home 
is growing in beauty every year. Next, 
grass was desirable, thick, soft and vel¬ 
vety. Thanks to our peculiar soil, we 
soon had this to our likin"; and it is 
not weedy and rough, if it is sometimes 
kigh enough for meadow. A few ever- 
- ^ gi'eens scattered here and there was 
all we attempted further, that spring, for showy par¬ 
terres and graveled walks were not to be thought of. 
Trees will grow while we arc at work or asleep, or enjoy¬ 
ing our noonday rest. Many hardy climbers, roses, and 
ornamental shrubs, will do the same, and thank us for 
the privilege. AVe will put out a few of these each spring 
and autumn—no more than we can take good care of— 
and in time we shall be satisfied... .Such was our conclu¬ 
sion, and steadily we have worked upon it. ^ The care of 
the grounds has been our recreation.... Our winter sitting- 
room opens to the south; the smoothly shorn lawn, and 
a variety of shapeful evergreens arc in view from here, so 
that no sense of desolation mars the prospect. The 
rooms that open to the north and east, are our principal 
summer resort. Opposite these I grow my showy annuals 
and bed my petted exotics. The breath of the Sweet 
Briar Lilac, Missouri Currant, and innumerable roses in 
their season, floats in at our open window. There are al¬ 
ways flowers for as many bouquets as I like, from early 
spriim until the Chrysanthemums are frozen, and yet we 
spend” but very little time among them ? How can we 
when we do not have it to spend?....” 
[From No. 49.]—“ ... - I a™ Wly convlneed that there 
arc not only many men of many minds, but many women 
