[December, 
4 : 54 = 
amekioan 
agkiculttjrist. 
for some hours, as it is an 
rrecoverable 
should be persevered in 
erroneous opinion that persons are _ 
because life does not soon appear persons havin 
been re-tored after persevering for many horns. 
SuTioi -A^•oid rough usage, and do not allow 
the b^d^to'remain on the back unless the tongue 
is secured Under no circumstances hold the body 
by the feet. On no account place it in a warm 
bath unless under medical direction, and even then it 
should only be employed as a momentary excitant. 
Extracts from Miss Collins’ Prize Essay. 
We housekeepers know that this is^ really the 
busiest season of the year, but the work is so agree¬ 
able and is interspers¬ 
ed with so much that 
is delightfully myste¬ 
rious, we never think 
of its being work at 
all, and only regret we 
have not each two 
pairs of hands, that 
we might accomplish 
more. Christmas is 
so near, and then— 
well—Charlie is com¬ 
ing home from Chica¬ 
go, and Willie from 
New York. They will 
come so late, we must 
have the tree all trim- 
^ med, the presents 
hung, and the candles 
ready to be lighted be- 
TKEE Li&HTED WITH fore they arrive. What 
a pity we cannot have 
gas out here in the country, and so have a Christ¬ 
mas tree drop-light, like the one cousin Tom has 
in Liverpool! The most vivid imagination could 
scarcely convert our little candles and lamps (I 
beg their pardon for mentioning 
it. May their shadows never be 
less,) into the fifty bright jets 
which illuminated their tree ; or 
transform Jennie’s doll, which 
will hover with outstretched arms 
over our tree, suspended from 
the ceiling by a string around her 
waist—a contrivance of Ralph’s— 
into the silver Christ-child nest¬ 
ling in the upper branches, “all I'io- 2. — drop. 
radiant with light as with a flood of glory,” as Tom 
described it in his letter to Ralph. Father says if 
the Petroleum Oil Gas 
Co. gets to work, and 
does as well as he 
thinks it will, we shall 
have our house lighted 
with the gas before an- 
otherChristmas. I don’t 
suppose father would 
get us a drop with fifty 
lights, but one with six 
Fig. 3. DROP OPENED. or eight, as in figures 1 
and 2, would be very nice among our candles and 
lamps. Yes, eight, opened to the best advantage, 
as shown in figure 1, would quite set off a tree. 
Our new stove came to-day. It is an Empire 
Gas Burner, just like the one we have in the sitting- 
room, only this has a door in front. Ralph always 
makes such an ado about putting in the coal, be¬ 
cause he has to lift off the urn from the top of the 
stove, and get some one to hold up the inside lid, 
while he empties the scuttle. This lid is opened 
by means of a 
damper just out¬ 
side, which is al- 
w.ays hot. I have 
burned my fingers 
many a time, and 
my handkerchiefs Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 
too, and scorched my dress into the bargrin, hold¬ 
ing the damper for Ralph. It would stay open 
Itself when we first bought the stove a year or two 
Fig. 6. 
Fig. 7. 
a-o but will not now. I will ravel Jennie’s old 
black worsted hood, and knit some holders dia¬ 
mond-shaped or octagonal in form, 
(figs. 4 and 5,) and embroider a 
wreath or cluster of flowers in the 
middle on canvas, (fig. 6); then 
pull out the canvas threads,crochet 
a bright border and line them with 
old silk. No ; it will be better to 
let Jennie make them, and then 
put them on the tree for mother. She was just 
telling me she had finished stitching the straw¬ 
berry seeds into the emeries, and want¬ 
ed another job. She made most of the 
emeries. I cut out the strong cotton 
bags, and let her sew them up over a 
similarly shaped woolen sack filled with 
emery. She madd the red silk sacks, and fast¬ 
ened them on, ready for the green leaves and the 
cord. She stitched in the seeds with 
yellow saddler’s sillc. I think they are 
very pretty, and she is delighted with 
them. (See figures 7, 8, 9, and 10.) 
Mother has been making a jar of mince 
meat to-day for the winter. Father said 
he would remain at home this morning 
and chop mince meat, if Ralph preferred to go for 
the drain tiles, and so they are progressing famous¬ 
ly. Sister Kate, who is somewhat of an invalid, 
stoned the raisins, and chopped half of them, and 
washed the currants. Mother cooked the meat yes¬ 
terday. She is very particular to have it 
put into boiling water, and to keep it 
boiling briskly all the time, in order to 
preserve all the juices in the meat. Mother 
thinks the jar will last all winter. We 
chop the apples, a few at a time, as we w;ant to 
make the pies, and mix well together 
with cold water or clean snow. Ralph 
says he believes every one in the house 
had a hand in the mince meat except Jen¬ 
nie and grand-father; but Katie says 
grand-father did most of her chopping 
for her, and she is sure Jennie had a hand 
in the raisins pretty often. Mother uses Fig. 10. 
considerable snow and ice water in cooking, al¬ 
ways wetting the pie-crust with one or the other. 
Leaves from the Diary of a Youn^ House¬ 
keeper.—No. XII. 
PRIZE ES3AT BY MRS. LAURA E. LYMAN, STAMFORD, CT. 
December 10th .—We have had a busy week of it, 
but our butchering is done, the pork salted down, 
some of it packed in snow to be eaten fresh, the 
lard put down, and sausage meat prepared. We do 
not either of us believe much in the use of pork, 
but where the animals are young, and killed soon 
after they attain their growth, we think they are 
less injurious than when they are allowed to live a 
year in a low condition, and then suddenly fattened 
for slaughter. Edward has been very careful of 
their food, that it be wholesome and well cooked, 
and has not permitted them to root in the ground, 
believing that the disease which has injured the 
pork market so seriously is aggravated by their 
eating earth-worms, of which they are very fond. 
In rendering the lard, which was a matter that I 
considered strictly in my department, I was very 
careful to keep the fire at all times moderate, so as 
to entirely prevent that scorching which so much 
damages the flavor of this important ingredient in 
cookery, and the most scrupulous cleanliness was 
observed in every part of the process. When the 
lard was partly cool, I dipped it into large earthen 
j.ars or crocks, holding about four gallons, and set 
it away in the pantry, carefully covered. It is as 
white as snow and cuts like butter. Edward 
chopped my sausage meat and I put it into little 
bags made of old clean domestic, which I rolled 
until they were round, and then dipped them in hot 
lard and set them into a firkin. These bags or rolls 
are five inches in diameter, and ten or twelve in 
length. I added some flour to the meat when I 
spiced and salted it, so that I can cut these rolls 
into slices and fry them without their breaking into 
pieces. Mother tried putting sausage meat into 
skins and making it into cakes, but at last settled 
down upon this mode as at once the least trouble¬ 
some and the most satisfactory of all. If during 
the January thaw they should become mouldy 
and threaten to spoil, I have but to put them into 
a baking-pan and scald them thoroughly. I spiced 
them with sage, summer savory, a little thyme and 
black pepper. As a breakfast dish they are very 
convenient, and quickly prepared for the table. 
The pigs’ heads and feet I made into head-cheese. 
After scalding and scraping them carefully, I put 
them all into a large pot, salted them, and let them 
boil until they fell all to pieces. When partly cool 
I picked the whole mass over carefully, excluding 
the bones and everything unpalatable, and then 
added pepper, sage, summer savory and vinegar, 
until it was quite sour, and put it away to cool. 
Cut in slices it makes a very good dish for supper 
or lunch, and is a pleasant change from dried beef 
and cold tongue. The longer I keep house the 
more I am impressed with the desirableness of 
abridging, as fur as possible, the daily task of pre¬ 
paring meals. This I am doing by baking in large 
quantities, now it is cold weather, enough bread 
at a time to last a week, and pies and cakes for two 
or three. I try to have something always i-eady for 
breakfast, so that meal can be prepared in tiie 
shortest time possible, and while Sue is getting it 
ready I make any preparations that may be neces¬ 
sary for dinner, a tapioca pudding, perhaps, so that 
Sue can do all the rest and leave me undisturbed 
to work on my maehine. This I find is a great 
saving of time, and by being beforehand with my 
cooking, I do not find it burdensome, and my 
meals are always ready in season. The best avay 
of keeping bread is to put it when cool from bak¬ 
ing into a tin box or trunk with a tight cover, and 
set it in the cellar or in a cool closet. The bread 
box should be frequently scalded and kept perfect¬ 
ly sweet. Bread in this way may be made to last a 
week without injury to its flavor. When it becomes 
a little stale I toast it, and with butter melted in 
warm milk and poured over it, it is very palatable, 
and a quick breakfast dish. 
December 15<A.—My husband returned from town 
the other day, where he had been avith a load of 
produce, and brought home among other things a 
dozen yards of heavy gray flannel to be made up 
into underclothing. He is a great believer in flan¬ 
nel, particularly for farm laborera, to be avorn next 
the skin at all seasons of the year. When he was 
in the army, (for he served a year under Banks in 
the Southwest,) he avore it constantly, and attrib¬ 
utes his unbroken health in a great degree to that 
precaution. Since his return he has kept up the 
excellent practice, and has persuaded me to adopt 
it also, and I have nearer suffered so little from 
colds as so far during this season. During these 
long winter evenings Edward has been reading 
aloud, and among other valuable practical sugges¬ 
tions we have both been very much impressed by 
an article on “ The Health of Farmers and Farmers’ 
Wives,” printed in the Patent Office Reports for 
1863. How much good Congress could do if it 
would take this excellent article and print it in a 
pamphlet form for general distribution ! It would 
do so much more good than the electioneering 
documents which are so profusely scattered at the 
n.ational expense. It seems to me that any well-in¬ 
formed person after reading this piece would adopt 
flannel as the material to be worn next the skin for 
the rest of his life. The remarks of the author, too, 
about the discomfort and the danger to health that 
attend the usual manner of washing, particularly in 
winter, made such an impression upon Edward’s 
mind that he determined immediately to investigate 
the claims of the different washing machines. When 
we were at the fair we saw a number and observed 
their operation. It seemed to us that the princi¬ 
ple upon which Doty’s washer proceeds is the best; 
his patent does not attempt what nearly all the 
others do, to rub the clothes between fluted sur¬ 
faces of wood, which must wear them more or less. 
I told Edward I liked the Doty washer, and he 
purchased one. We are delighted avith it, and 
wonder how we ever got along without it. 
