Women’s  Interests  Small  and  Great. 
A  Lost  Idea.— That  beautiful  social  reformer, 
Mrs.  Jeuness  Miller,  has  stretched  out  her  hand  for 
the  betterment  of  social  life  in  the  rural  communities. 
It  is  a  duty  to  seek  society,  she  says,  and  contends 
that  in  certain  cases  failure  in  life  may  be  traced  to 
crudities  in  manner  and  dress.  The  woman  who  says 
that  she  does  not  care  for  dress  or  society,  frivolities 
or  useless  pastime,  “  stultifies  herself  with  a  crude 
kind  of  self-satisfaction  which  excludes  the  higher 
ideas  and,  however  fine  her  natural  mental  endow¬ 
ments,  at  once  proclaims  herself  ignorant  of  the  most 
powerful  laws  of  differentiation  in  the  ascending  scale 
of  complex  human  development.”  Now  this  is  really 
too  bad,  and  we  do  not  wonder  that  Mrs.  Miller’s 
sympathies  go  out  toward  these  abject  victims  of  self- 
stultiflcation. 
The  Idea  Found. — But  behind  this  mass  of  words 
an  idea  is  struggling  for  expression,  which  it  at  length 
finds  clearly,  as  follows  :  “  I  believe  that  every  com¬ 
munity  should  cultivate  social  enjoyments  modeled,  as 
far  as  possible,  upon  the  basis  of  social  life  in  the 
larger  cities— that  is,  with  scrupulous  attention  to 
evening  dress,  bright  and  attractive  however  inexpen¬ 
sive,  to  make  it  a  complete  change  from  the  ordinary 
garb  of  utility  ;  with  regard  for  refining  convention¬ 
alities,  for  ‘  company  manners  ’ — that  is,  for  ease  and 
graciousness  o £  bearing,  and  a  general  striving  to 
throw  off  crudity  and  the  unmistakable  rusticity  and 
awkwardness  which  characterize  so  many  excellent 
people  and  make  them  appear  nervous  and  at  their 
worst  in  any  social  gathering.  These  things  are 
among  the  important  trifles  of  life.” 
No  woman’s  club,  improving  the  mind,  etc.,  about 
this.  But  couldn’t  we  have  both  ?  Mrs.  Miller  well 
says  :  “  Any  one  of  our  bright  young  men  or  women 
may  be  called,  sooner  or  later,  to  take  place  among 
the  representatives  of  courts  and  social  conditions  of  a 
most  exalted  and  punctilious  formality.  Why  should 
any  one  who  can  easily  enjoy  such  advantages  at  home 
be  left  to  learn  elegance,  ease  and  social  polish 
through  embarrassment  and  failure  ?”  She  insists 
that  these  social  efforts  which  she  recommends  shall 
be  real  society,  with  guests  from  out  of  town  to  add 
zest,  if  possible  ;  “  not  a  country  break-down  or  rustic 
pow  wow.”  But  is  there  not  a  pleasanter  middle- 
ground  between  rustic  awkwardness  and  stupid  for¬ 
mality  ? 
Easy  Writing. — Once  there  was  a  girl  who  hated 
writing  “compositions”  really  worse  than  anything 
else  which  life  brought  her;  chiefly  (she  now  thinks), 
because  she  supposed  she  must  write  that  which 
no  one  else  knew.  Finally  a  teacher  wiser  than 
others,  showed  her  that  she  need  only  write  what  she 
knew,  and  especially  the  things  which  she  found  in¬ 
teresting  in  her  subject.  Continuity,  clearness,  style, 
headings,  etc.,  were  long  a  grief  to  her,  but  after  a 
while  she  found  that  having  made  headings  of  the 
points  to  be  made,  and  placed  them  in  the  best,  most 
natural  order,  her  work  was  more  than  half  done. 
She  applied  the  same  plan  to  letter  writing,  making 
little  memoranda  of  the  points  on  which  she  would 
like  to  touch,  and  soon  her  friends  began  to  tell  her 
how  much  they  enjoyed  her  splendid  letters.  Still 
further  on,  she  wondered  why  one  who  could  write 
letters  so  highly  praised  could  not  also  write  for  a 
more  extended  audience.  Pertinacious  effort  along 
this  line  made  her  a  successful  press  correspondent, 
who  to  this  day  wonders  why  teachers  formerly  used 
so  little  sense  in  teaching  composition.  It  is  better 
now'. 
In  Canada. 
ERHAPS  nothing  would  give  a  better  idea  of  the 
trade  of  these  eastern  townships  in  the  Province 
of  Quebec,  than  a  glance  at  the  freight  and  express 
depots:  there  is  one  near  us  in  a  little  village,  and  yet 
the  traffic  is  enormous.  In  the  spring,  during  the 
maple  sugar  season  hundreds  of  tons  of  syrup  are 
shipped  weekly;  the  platforms  are  sticky  all  through 
the  season  with  the  bursting  of  an  occasional  can,  or 
the  leakage  of  an  odd  barrel  once  in  a  while.  Before 
the  syrup  is  all  shipped  off,  butter  begins  to  make  its 
appearance,  and  cheese  soon  follows;  a  fresh  meat 
train  is  run  daily,  and  a  train  of  refrigerator  cars 
makes  a  daily  trip  through  here  on  its  way  to  Mon¬ 
treal.  Carloads  of  live  hogs,  cattle,  sheep  and  veal 
calves  are  shipped  every  week;  these  are  picked  up  in 
the  country  about.  The  cattle  yard  above  the  depot 
furnishes  a  scene  of  wild  excitement  every  day  or  two, 
and  one  could  soon  pick  up  a  whole  vocabulary  of  ex¬ 
pletives  of  the  choicest  kind.  This  exportation  of 
live  stock  is  continued  until  severe  cold  weather  sets 
in,  and  is  commenced  again  with  the  first  veal  calf  of 
the  season.  There  are  always  many  cords  of  bark  and 
wood  waiting  shipment,  but  this  must  soon  come  to 
an  end,  for  our  forests  are  being  cut  down  very  fast. 
Great  quantities  of  timber  simply  hewed  square,  and 
as  large  as  can  be  got  out  of  the  tree,  are  loaded  here 
for  export  to  European  countries;  cut  stone  from  the 
quarries  at  Rougemont  passes  through  here  to  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  is  exported  in  large  quantities. 
An  occasional  carload  of  poultry  in  the  fall  adds  va¬ 
riety  to  the  never-ending  loads  of  timber,  bark,  cattle 
and  stone. 
The  farmers’  maple  groves  are  the  most  profitable 
parts  of  their  farms,  for  the  syrup  can  be  readily  con¬ 
tracted  for  at  4%  and  5  cents  per  pound,  delivered  at 
the  depOt,  and  a  moderate -sized  sugar  place  will  pro¬ 
duce  a  steady  and  sure  income.  Fruit  raising  is  be¬ 
ginning  to  receive  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  many 
are  planting  extensive  orchards ;  the  experiment  sta¬ 
tions  are  doing  a  thoroughly  good  work  by  letting  the 
orchard  planters  know  what  varieties  can  be  depended 
upon  as  hardy  in  our  climate,  and  also  the  best 
methods  of  winter  protection.  They  distribute  bundles 
of  small  fruits  gratis,  to  those  who  make  application, 
and  who  are  distant  from  the  nurseries. 
Scientific  dairying  is  making  rapid  progress,  and  the 
cheese  inspectors  appointed  by  the  government  are 
doing  good  work  by  the  enforcement  of  rigid  rules  for 
greater  cleanliness,  more  care  in  furnishing  pure 
water  for  stock,  and  the  proper  aerating  of  milk. 
Altogether  this  part  of  our  country  is  very  prosperous, 
the  farmers  are  thriving  and  contented,  the  villages 
and  cities  are  growing  fast,  and  agriculture  and 
human  culture  (twin  sisters)  are  rapidly  developing. 
FLORENCE  H. 
Four  Good  Vegetable  Recipes. 
Corn  Soup. — Score  and  scrape  young  corn  from  the 
cob.  Boil  the  cobs  one-half  hour,  then  remove  them 
from  the  water  and  add  the  corn  pulp.  Thicken  with 
flour  rubbed  into  a  generous  quantity  of  butter,  and 
season  highly  with  pepper  and  salt. 
Lima-Bean  Soup. — One  quart  of  very  tender  young 
Limas,  and  half  as  much  each  of  stock  and  milk  ;  one 
tablespoonful  of  butter  rubbed  with  two  tablespoon¬ 
fuls  of  flour ;  salt,  pepper  and  the  yolks  of  two  eggs. 
Cover  the  beans  with  boiling  water,  boil  slowly  for 
half  an  hour,  drain  and  put  through  a  colander.  Heat 
the  milk  to  boiling  in  a  farina  kettle,  add  the  beans 
to  the  stock,  stir  the  thickening  into  the  boiling  milk, 
not  slacking  until  it  thickens  smoothly.  Add  this  to 
the  beans  and  stock,  let  it  boil  up,  then  stir  in  quickly 
the  beaten  egg  yolks. 
Young  Limas,  Creamed. — If  very  young  and  tender, 
add  as  much  boiling  water  as  will  nearly  evaporate 
while  cooking  ;  if  older,  cover  well  with  water,  boil 
half  an  hour  or  until  tender,  and  drain.  Add  salt, 
pepper  and  butter;  or,  if  cream  is  plenty,  use  half  a 
cupful  of  hot  cream  instead  of  butter.  Do  not  let  the 
cream  boil ;  it  will  not  be  so  good.  Those  who  like 
the  flavor  of  mint  sometimes  add  a  sprig  to  the  water, 
removing  it  when  the  beans  are  tender. 
Tomatoes  and  Corn. — Mix  equal  quantities  of  corn 
pulp  and  cut  tomatoes,  say  a  pint  of  each.  Add  boiling 
water  and  cook  slowly  for  20  minutes.  Season  with 
salt  and  pepper,  and  add  also  one  tablespoon  of  butter, 
half  as  much  of  sugar  and  the  same  of  grated  onion. 
Cook  gently  five  or  ten  minutes  longer  before  serving. 
A  Question  Worth  Study. 
THE  question  what  shall  we  eat  and  drink  is  a 
vital  one.  It  has  perplexed  the  men  and  women 
of  every  age.  The  stomach  is  a  member  which  will 
not  be  ignored.  Its  clamors  are  incessant;  they  are 
never  silenced,  only  stifled,  and  so  powerful  is  its  voice 
that  it  has  aroused  men  to  riot  and  revolt;  it  has  led 
the  van  of  half  the  mobs  in  the  world;  has  unseated 
kings  and  overthrown  dynasties.  The  failure  to  sat¬ 
isfy  it  has  driven  men  to  despair,  and  how  to  provide 
for  its  wants  is  the  vexing  question  of  half  the  world. 
But  this  theme  is  to  deal  with  the  lighter  task  of  pre¬ 
paring  the  food  for  its  use,  leaving  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  it  out  of  the  question,  and  to  discuss  the 
practicability  of  nice  cookery  for  the  farm  table. 
At  the  mere  mention  of  the  farm,  the  city  house¬ 
keeper  grows  envious,  visions  of  thick  country  cream, 
new-laid  eggs  and  golden  butter  rise  in  tantalizing 
profusion  before  her,  but  they  vanish  like  the  mirage, 
when  she  buys  the  artificial  products  of  the  market. 
Yet  with  her  lack  of  opportunity,  and  in  spite  of  the 
poor  material  with  which  she  works,  she  excels  her 
country  sister  in  manufacturing  dainty  dishes.  [We 
think  our  correspondent  is  in  error  here;  and  that  she 
does  not  know  the  farm.  Eds.]  The  reason  for  this 
is,  perhaps,  that  she  makes  a  greater  special  of  fancy 
•cookery,  and  makes  a  greater  effort  to  have  variety. 
The  secret  of  good  living  is  not  such  a  difficult  prob¬ 
lem  to  solve.  Elaborate  cooking  is  good  if  one  has  a 
gift  for  it,  and  has  the  time  to  bestow  upon  it,  but  it 
usually  takes  more  skill  and  patience  than  the  aver¬ 
age  woman  has  to  expend.  The  chief  objection  to  it 
may  be  raised  on  the  score  of  time.  In  the  shower  of 
cookery  books  which  has  fallen  in  late  years,  there  is 
many  a  recipe  under  the  head  of  fancy  cookery  which 
costs  but  a  trifle.  The  French,  proverbially  the  best 
cooks  in  the  world,  and  especially  in  this  branch,  are 
at  the  same  time  the  most  economical.  But  really 
toothsome  cooking  does  not  apply  only  to  syllabubs 
and  confections,  because  a  dish  of  Irish  potatoes,  the 
homliest  of  vegetables,  may  be  glorified  uuder  the 
hands  of  a  skillful  cook  into  a  dish  fit  to  set  before  a 
Sybarite.  Where  most  housekeepers  fail  is  in  the 
seasoning.  A  woman,  who  is  a  cook  among  a  thous¬ 
and,  was  once  described  as  having  a  “good  taste,” 
and  any  one  may  cultivate  a  good  taste.  If  this  is 
questioned,  only  glance  at  the  scores  of  epicures  who 
started  out  with  fresh,  healthy  appetites  ready  for 
anything,  and  who  have  so  pandered  to  their  appetites 
that  nothing  short  of  the  richest  dainties  satisfy  them. 
Anything  may  be  cultivated,  even  the  palate.  Nowa¬ 
days  it  is  possible  to  get  pretty  dishes  almost  as  cheap 
as  the  thick,  coarse  stone  ware,  with  which  too  many 
farm  houses  abound.  This  is  a  part  of  the  progress  of 
the  century,  and  even  nice  service  may  help  to  culti¬ 
vate  the  palate.  natalie  h.  snyder. 
In  Fly  Time. 
COUSIN  EMMA  and  I  were  washing  the  supper 
dishes  and  talking  of  various  household  matters. 
“The  flies  are  the  plague  of  my  life,”  I  said,  “  I 
hate  them  so  ;  but  I  cannot  keep  the  house  free  from 
them.” 
“  I  keep  up  an  endless  war  against  them,”  said 
Emma,  “  and  manage  to  get  along.” 
“  Do  tell  me  how  you  do  it  that  I  may  go  and  do 
likewise.” 
“  In  the  first  place,”  began  Emma,  “  I  put  the 
screens  in  early  in  the  spring.  I  have  good  screens 
in  all  the  windows  and  they  fit  the  window  frames 
tightly.  I  have  strong  springs  on  the  screen  doors. 
Then  I  try  to  keep  all  the  swill  pails  away  from  the 
back  door,  as  they  attract  flies.  But  the  pests  hang 
around  the  door  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  come 
in  ;  and  there  are  so  many  of  us  and  we  go  in  and  out 
so  much  that  a  great  many  do  gain  admittance.  But 
I  try  to  kill  a  few  every  night.” 
“  How  do  you  do  it  ?  ”  I  said.  “  I  try  to  kill  them 
with  a  folded  paper,  but  numbers  of  them  roost  on  the 
ceiling  where  I  cannot  reach  them.” 
“  I  will  show  you,”  said  Emma,  as  she  put  away  the 
last  of  the  dishes.  She  lit  a  lamp,  turning  it  down  so 
that  it  gave  very  little  light.  Then  she  put  a  little 
washing  powder  in  a  cup  and  poured  a  few  drops  of 
hot  water  on  it  to  dissolve  it,  then  filled  the  cup  within 
an  inch  of  the  top  with  cold  water.  She  then  brought 
in  a  peculiar  tool.  It  was  a  broomstick  sawed  off 
square  where  the  broom  had  been,  with  a  small-sized 
fruit  can  cut  off  so  as  to  be  three  inches  deep,  nailed 
firmly  to  it.  She  took  the  cup  of  soap  suds  and  set  it 
in  the  can  ;  then  she  raised  it  cautiously  towards  the 
ceiling  directly  under  a  fly,  and,  with  a  quick  motion, 
pressed  it  up  against  the  plastering. 
“  There,”  she  said,  triumphantly,  showing  me  the 
fly  in  the  cup,  “  he’ll  never  bother  us  while  we  eat 
our  dinner,  or  awaken  baby  by  buzzing  in  her  ears  or 
crawling  over  her  poor  little  nose.” 
“  You  have  to  be  very  careful  not  to  spill  the  water,” 
she  said,  as  she  proceeded  to  catch  more  of  the  little 
nuisances,  “  and  it  makes  your  neck  ache  at  first  look¬ 
ing  up  so  much.” 
“  What  is  the  washing  powder  for  ?  ”  I  asked. 
“  To  keep  them  from  getting  out ;  if  the  water  were 
clear,  they  would  fly  right  out,  but  its  being  slippery 
prevents  them.  Soap  is  just  as  good  as  washing  pow¬ 
der,  but  I  do  not  think  it  is  so  easy  to  use.  I  like  to 
catch  them  on  cold  mornings  when  they  are  numb  and 
do  not  fly  around  ;  but  the  noise  wakes  the  folks  and 
they  do  not  like  it,  so  I  do  it  only  when  1  want  them 
to  get  up  early.  The  light  makes  them  fly,  so  I  catch 
them  before  I  turn  it  up.” 
Emma  took  the  cup  out  and  carried  away  the  can.” 
“  But  there  must  be  some  on  the  side  walls,”  I  said. 
“  Oh,  yes  !  I  don’t  slight  them  either,”  and  Emma 
took  a  small  whisk  broom  and  attacked  those  on  the 
doors  and  walls. 
“  This  corn  whisk  is  better  than  a  folded  paper,  as 
it  does  not  soil  the  wall  and  picks  them  right  up. 
See?”  and  she  struck  at  a  fly  viciously  and  showed  it 
to  me  caught  between  the  straws.  It  was  put  in  the 
cup  with  the  others. 
“  I  must  try  your  tin  can  arrangement,”  I  said. 
SUSAN  BROWN  ROBBINS. 
