Notes  of  the  Day. 
TIIE  contributor  of  the  pretty  conceit  about  the 
growing  of  the  corn,  sends  it  arranged  for  a 
kindergarten  exercise.  Probably  few  of  our  readers 
are  kindergarten  workers,  but  the  exercise  can  be  so 
very  readily  adapted  to  any  public  school  exhibition, 
that  we  give  it  exactly  as  sent.  We  hope  it  may 
help  to  add  interest  to  the  “last  day”  for  some  of 
our  district  school  teachers  and  pupils. 
*  *  * 
As  young  girls  thread  the  mazes  of  their  teens,  two 
“  events  ”  interesting  and  important,  are  always  just 
ahead,  or  in  the  dim  distance  :  first,  graduation  :  then 
— perhaps  some  day — marriage.  Naturally,  on  these 
two  occasions,  when,  if  ever,  a  woman  is  really  of  im¬ 
portance,  she  wants  to  look  as  fair  as  youth  and  pretty 
costuming  can  make  her.  The  careful  and  becoming 
arrangement  of  the  hair  is  one  of  the  greatest  possible 
aids  in  this  line,  but  the  gown  is  ever  the  great  object 
of  interest  to  its  charming  possessor. 
The  daintiness  and  extreme  beauty  of  the  new  cot¬ 
ton  weaves  lead  naturally  to  their  being  made  up  in 
styles  to  be  worn  on  smart  occasions ;  and  they  are 
being  chosen  even  for  evening  wear  with  elaborate  trim¬ 
mings.  Certainly  that  which  is  fine  enough  for  even¬ 
ing  wear  is  suitable  for  commencement  gowning.  So 
it  comes  about  that  the  gown  this  year  need  not  be 
that  terror  to  a  scanty  purse  that  it  has  so  often  been  ; 
neither  need  the  doleful  possessor  of  such  a  purse  feel 
that  her  cheap  gown  is  not  as  suitable  or  as  smart  as 
the  more  expensive  one  of  her  richer  mate.  Ribbons 
as  decorations  are  used,  if  it  were  possible,  more  than 
ever  before.  Choux,  shoulder-knots,  suspenders, 
sashes,  ruffles,  collarettes  and  floating  streamers  all 
testify  to  the  popularity  of  ribbons.  One  pretty  sash 
of  four-inch  ribbon  is  tied  at  the  back  in  one  long  loop, 
with  one  end  10  or  12  inches  long,  and  one  falling  low 
on  the  skirt. 
A  very  pretty  model  in  palest  pink  figured  muslin 
has  a  round  waist  with  hieh  sleeves,  with  dainty 
shoulder  knots,  or  else  with  suspenders  of  2-inch 
pink  ribbon  crossed  in  the  back  and  passing  over  the 
shoulders  straight  to  the  waist  in  front,  the  ends 
being  hidden  under  a  sash  as  described  above.  The 
skirt  is  simply  trimmed  at  the  foot  with  three  gathered 
rows  of  moir6  ribbon  to  match  that  on  the  waist. 
A  more  elaborate  gown  has  the  front  of  the  skirt  in 
two  wide  ruffles,  embroidered  or  otherwise,  the  lower 
headed  by  a  full  puff.  The  upper  part  of  the  sleeves 
is  straight  and  full,  but  a  puff  confines  all  the  fullness 
by  means  of  two  sliirrings  just  above  the  elbow.  Two 
others  form  a  narrow  puff  at  the  head  of  the  deep  cuff, 
while  a  third  puff  edges  the  cuff.  The  waist  may  be 
any  form  of  surplice,  or  more  simply  gathered. 
The  long  streamers  are  better  suited  to  the  taller 
girl,  and  to  those  gowns  with  a  bit  of  a  train,  which, 
truth  to  tell,  most  of  them  have.  Crepe  cloth,  veiling, 
China  silk,  and  chiffons  may  make  the  graduation 
gown,  if  these  are  preferred  to  the  simpler  muslin. 
The  latter,  however,  is  quite  a  favorite  material. 
Magnifying  tlie  Cook’s  Office. 
AS  a  farm  cook,  I  insist  upon  having  a  good  garden, 
containing  a  variety  of  vegetables  and  small 
fruits.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  majority  of  our 
farmers  raise  only  the  most  common  vegetables,  for 
we  have  found  it  quite  unsafe  to  send  new  hands  into 
our  garden.  After  destroying  some  of  the  choice 
plants  as  weeds,  unless  some  one  is  there  to  rescue 
them  they  will  apologetically  declare  that  they  had 
never  seen  half  the  stuff  before. 
A  cook  is  dependent  upon  her  provider  for  the 
“  where-with-all  ”  to  produce  a  varied  bill  of  fare. 
She  can  not  make  everything  out  of  nothing  ;  but 
without  doubt  she  might  frequently  do  much  better 
than  she  does.  Often  things  are  endured,  which  might 
be  cured,  and  monotony  on  the  table  is  one  of  them. 
There  are  many  simple  ways  of  cooking  the  common 
vegetables,  so  that  one  may  never  tire  of  them.  For 
instance,  chopped  turnip  served  with  vinegar  sauce  is 
quite  different  from  the  same  with  a  cream  sauce. 
Apples  may  be  not  only  stewed  but  baked,  fried  and 
coddled.  Sliced  sweet  apples  are  much  better  than 
raisins  in  an  Indian  pudding,  and  sliced  sour  apples 
and  bread  make  an  excellent  pudding. 
Many  practical,  easy  recipes  give  good  results,  with 
no  more  expense;  and  if  they  should  require  more 
time,  which  is  doubtful.  I  am  sure  the  increased  appe¬ 
tite  will  give  added  strength  to  do  the  extra  work. 
“  Man  wants  but  little  here  below,  nor  wants  that 
little  long  ”  was  not  spoken  of  the  farmer  boj7's  appe¬ 
tite.  He  can  and  will  eat  anything  and  everything  ; 
but  do  not  tell  me  he  does  not  appreciate  a  dainty  meal, 
for  I  have  too  often  seen  the  appreciation  shine  out  of 
his  hungry  eyes.  It  may  not  be  as  necessary  to  him 
as  it  is  to  his  delicate  sister  and  tired  mother,  but  it  is 
just  as  grateful. 
But  there  is  much  more  to  be  gained  than  a  mere 
pleasing  of  the  taste  and  increase  of  the  appetite. 
Joseph  Parker  has  said  that  it  is  impossible  to  esti¬ 
mate  properly  the  immense  influence  which  is  exerted 
upon  a  household  by  the  atmosphere  of  the  family 
table  ;  and  that  pleasant  surprises  in  the  way  of  pre¬ 
paring  favorite  dishes,  and  good  taste  in  arranging  all 
the  appointments  of  the  table  and  dining-room  rise 
above  a  mere  ministering  to  the  animal  existence  and 
affect  the  finer  issues  of  life.  It  is  certainly  an  en¬ 
couraging  thought  that  the  effect  of  a  daintily  pre¬ 
pared  meal  goes  beyond  the  time  required  for  its 
digestion,  assimilation,  etc.,  that  it  may  exert  an  un¬ 
ending  influence  on  the  life. 
There  is  danger  in  routine  and  monotony.  It  is 
dwarfing  to  the  mind,  and  has  destroyed  it  many 
times.  Why  is  this  ?  One  can  endure  the  irksome 
sameness  of  washing  the  same  dishes  three  times  a 
day,  making  the  same  beds  and  sweeping  the  same 
floors  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year,  if  with  these 
tiresome  duties  is  sandwiched  something  which  gives 
diversity  and  requires  the  use  of  the  mental  faculties. 
And  what  better  intermixture  can  we  recommend  to 
the  woman  who  must  cook  than  dainty  and  varied 
cookery  ? 
The  secret  of  good  cooking  is  close  attention  and 
good  judgment.  No  matter  what  the  recipe,  every 
dish  must  be  mixed  with  a  little  bit  of  brains.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  note  that  the  supply  of  brains  is  inexhausti 
ble  ;  for,  like  the  widow’s  oil  and  meal,  they  increase 
with  the  using.  Our  capabilities  are  enlarged  by  the 
effort  we  make  for  improvement  in  any  line,  and  the 
progressive  cook  is  apt  to  be  the  one  who  finds  time 
and  talent  for  some  work  outside  of  the  ordinary  hum¬ 
drum  of  life. 
The  many  excellent  recipes  given  in  The  R.  N.-Y. 
week  by  week,  we  preserve  by  sewing  each  year’s 
papers  into  a  book.  Kept  in  this  way  the  papers  make 
valuable  books  of  reference  on  all  farm  topics.  It  is 
well  to  make  note  of  any  recipe  one  may  wish  to  try, 
giving  year  and  page  so  that  it  may  be  readily  found 
when  wanted.  When  tested  and  found  to  be  good,  it 
may  be  copied  into  the  cook-book  for  handy'  use. 
Nothing  will  give  a  young  girl  more  interest  in  cook¬ 
ing  than  to  be  allowed  to  prepare  some  new  dish.  I 
know  this  from  experience.  My  mother  wisely  gave 
her  daughters  permission  to  use  new  recipes  at  any 
time,  unless  cooking  for  company,  and  we  have  made 
good  use  of  the  liberty.  We  have  had  an  interest  in 
cooking  that  we  would  not  have  had  if  we  had  been 
confined  to  a  few  old  tried  but  “tired”  recipes. 
To  those  who  are  afraid  of  failure,  and  of  consequent 
waste,  I  will  say  that  I  have  had  no  failure  to  record 
in  this  line,  and  that  is  more  than  I  can  say  where  T 
have  carelessly  used  old  recipes. 
We  should  not  study  for  variety  and  daintiness 
alone,  we  should  make  a  thorough  study  of  hygienic 
cooking,  for  much  of  our  happiness  depends  upon  it. 
Health  and  happiness  should  be  twins.  “  Good  diges¬ 
tion  waits  on  appetite  and  health  on  both  therefore 
let  us  magnify  our  office  as  cook,  kmei.ine  jerauud. 
Food  Value  of  the  Legumes  and  Ways 
of  Cooking  Them. 
IT  seems  singular,  considering  their  food  value  and 
the  great  variety  of  ways  in  which  they  can  be 
cooked,  that  the  legumes  are  not  more  in  favor  as 
articles  of  diet.  True,  beans  are  used  more  or  less, 
dried  as  well  as  fresh,  but  peas  are  seldom  seen  on  the 
table  except  in  the  summer,  while  lentils  are  scarcely 
known.  Yet  dried  peas,  beans  and  lentils  are  as  rich  in 
nutriment  as  the  grains,  ranging  from  85  to  87  per 
cent,  in  contrast  with  lean  beef  which  contains  only 
26  per  cent  of  nutriment.  Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that 
as  a  matter  of  economy,  their  use  should  be  general 
among  those  whose  slender  purses  demand  care  in  the 
expenditure  of  every  penny  which  goes  for  family 
supplies.  A  pound  of  beans  will  cost  scarcely  half 
what  must  be  paid  for  a  pound  of  beefsteak,  and  yet  as 
a  nutrient  it  is  worth  three  times  as  much.  Cracked 
wheat,  oat-meal  and  other  grains  bear  about  the  same 
ratio  of  value  in  proportion  to  their  cost  as  compared 
with  a  good  quality  of  meat,  as  do  the  legumes. 
The  legumes  are  counted  rather  difficult  of  diges¬ 
tion,  but  this  is  due  fully  as  much  to  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  generally  cooked  as  to  anything  else. 
Beans,  for  example,  are  usually  cooked  with  a  large 
piece  of  salted  fat  pork,  and  the  starchy  and  protoid 
elements  are  by  this  means  so  coated  with  oil  as  to 
render  them  practically  inaccessible  to  the  action  of 
the  gastric  juice.  Butter  is  a  better  seasoning  than 
pork,  although  it  is  open  to  the  same  objection  as  pork 
grease,  in  that  it  is  a  free  fat.  The  best  seasoning  of 
all  for  peas,  beans  or  lentils,  is  sweet  cream,  which 
should  not  be  cooked  in,  but  added  shortly  before  they 
are  ready  for  the  table.  The  fat  in  cream  is  in  the 
form  of  an  emulsion,  which  mixes  as  freely  with  the 
gastric  juice  as  with  water.  Salt  may  be  added  to 
taste.  Another  reason  why  the  legumes  are  hard  to 
digest  is  that  the  outer  coating  or  skin  is  composed 
largely  of  tough  cellulose  or  woody  tissue  which  is 
innutritious  and  indigestible.  If  soaked  for  some 
hours,  these  hulls  can  be  removed  by  being  passed 
through  a  sieve  or  a  fine  colander  afterwards. 
Mrs.  E.  E.  Kellogg,  of  the  Battle  Creek  Sanitarium, 
has  been  teaching  scientific  hygienic  cookery  for  a 
number  of  years,  to  the  Training  School  for  nurses 
and  the  students  in  the  Health  and  Temperance  course 
in  connection  with  that  institution  and  also  occa¬ 
sionally  at  summer  resorts  like  Bay  View,  Mich.  In 
closing  I  can  probably  do  no  better  than  to  quote  a  few 
recipes  and  directions  from  my  notes  of  one  of  her  lec¬ 
tures  before  the  Health  and  Temperance  class : 
Mashed  Beans. — Soak  a  quart  of  dried  beans  over¬ 
night.  The  next  morning,  parboil  them  until  the 
skins  are  broken,  when  with  the  fingers  the  hulls  can 
be  nearly  all  rubbed  off.  If  this  is  not  done,  pass  them 
through  a  colander  or  vegetable  press  after  thoroughly 
cooking.  Cook  slowly  until  perfectly  tender,  letting 
them  simmer  at  the  last  so  as  to  be  quite  dry.  Mash 
as  indicated  above  ;  add  half  a  cup  of  nice  cream  and 
a  little  salt  and  place  in  the  oven  in  a  shallow  pan  to 
brown.  Served  in  this  way,  they  are  delicious.  Dried 
peas,  either  split  or  green,  are  excellent  similarly  pre¬ 
pared.  The  green  ones  are  to  be  preferred.  Lentils 
may  be  cooked  the  same  way. 
Cream  Pea  Soup. — Soak  three-fourths  of  a  pint  of 
dried  peas  overnight.  Cook  in  the  morning  until  ten¬ 
der  and  then  rub  through  a  colander.  Cook  a  pint 
and  a  half  of  sliced  raw  potatoes  until  tender  and  rub 
them  through  a  colander.  Put  the  two  together  and 
add  enough  milk  or  water  (milk  preferred)  to  make 
3%  pints  in  all.  Mix  thoroughly  and  bring  to  the 
boiling  point.  Season  with  a  few  sticks  of  celery  which 
may  be  lifted  out  with  a  fork  when  the  soup  is  done, 
or  celery  salt  may  be  used  instead.  When  ready  to 
serve,  add  half  a  cup  of  whipped  cream.  Serve  with 
crisp  crackers  or  bits  of  dry  toast.  The  reason  why 
potatoes  are  used  in  making  these  soups  is  that  the 
legumes  contain  an  excess  of  the  albuminous  elements 
in  which  the  potatoes  are  deficient,  while  the  potatoes 
contain  a  great  amount  of  starch.  The  flavor  is  also 
more  delicate  than  that  of  either  alone.  Bean  and 
lentil  soups  may  be  made  the  same  way.  These  veg¬ 
etable  soups  are  specially  to  be  commended  for  their 
palatability,  nutritive  value  and  digestibility. 
Pea  and  Tomato  Sour. — Cook  one  pint  of  dried 
peas  (which  have  been  soaked  overnight),  in  a  quart 
of  water  until  tender.  Rub  through  a  colander.  Add 
to  this  one  cupful  of  mashed  potatoes,  either  cold  or 
fresh,  and  one  pint  of  boiling  water;  also  two  cupfuls 
of  stewed  and  strained  tomatoes,  a  little  salt  and  one 
cup  of  cream,  Helen  l.  manning. 
A  Home  Well  Won. 
AM  a  teacher  by  profession,  and  have,  from  choice, 
always  taught  in  country  schools.  During  1881- 
82,  my  husband  was  an  invalid  from  cerebrospinal 
meningitis,  and  was  unable  to  earn  any  flung  toward 
the  support  of  the  family.  I  taught  10 months  each 
year  and  received  $30  per  month,  making  a  total  of 
$315  per  year.  We  rented  at  $50  per  year  a  house, 
garden  and  small  plot  of  land  for  raising  potatoes. 
Doctors  disagree.  They  have  to.  There 
are  differences  of  opinion  among  the  best; 
there  will  be  so  long  as  knowledge  is  in¬ 
complete. 
But  there  is  one  subject  on  which  all 
physicians  are  completely  in  accord,  and 
that  is  the  value  of  cod-liver  oil  in  con¬ 
sumption  and  scrofula,  and  many  other 
conditions  in  which  the  loss  of  fat  is  in¬ 
volved.  And  cod-liver  oil  has  its  greatest 
usefulness  in  Scott’s  Emulsion. 
There  is  an  interesting  book  on  the 
subject ;  sent  free. 
Scott  &  Bowne,  Chemists,  132  South  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  keeps  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do  $1 
