The  Summer  Stove  for  Farms. 
OTHING  in  the  economy  of  the  household  is  of 
greater  importance  than  the  stove.  Two  cook 
stoves  are  needed  in  every  house,  one  each  for  winter 
and  summer.  That  used  in  our  house  for  warm 
weather  burns  gasoline,  and  for  this  part  of  the  coun¬ 
try  'I  know  of  nothing  better.  After  using  one  for 
four  years  there  is  not  the  least  hesitation  on  my  part 
in  recommending  it  to  a  farmer’s  wife  to  do  all  her 
summer  work.  These  stoves  do  not  heat  the  house 
nearly  so  much  ;  there  is  no  wood,  coal  or  ashes  to 
look  after  ;  no  stove  to  blacken  and  no  ever-present 
worry  about  the  fire  going  out. 
The  greatest  objection  to  them — their  blackening 
the  ceiling — is  now  removed  by  the  new  patent  self- 
generators.  Even  with  the  old  kind,  one  does  not 
notice  the  offensive  odor  when  the  windows  and  doors 
are  open.  Many  would  smile  when  you  talk  of  odor 
and  blackened  walls  when  they  think  of  the  constant 
tears  their  bodies  weep  over  the  large  wrood  or  coal 
stoves  in  hot  weather. 
Ironing. — The  ironing  is  not  so  dreaded.  On  a  warm 
day  it  cannot  be  a  pleasant  task  to  stand  over  steam¬ 
ing  clothes  and  a  hot  iron  ;  but  there  is  no  great  dis¬ 
comfort  from  the  heat  of  the  fire.  I  prefer  to  place 
the  irons  directly  over  the  blaze  with  no  flame  spreader, 
inverting  a  skillet  over  them.  The  flame  may  be 
turned  quite  low  and  with  three  irons  and  one  flame 
you  will  be  kept  busy.  Much  more  fire  is  required  if 
nothing  is  placed  over  the  flats.  The  irons  with  the 
patent  wooden  handles  can  be  heated  and  covered 
much  more  easily  than  those  with  fixed  handles. 
Toast. — Many  women  complain  that  they  cannot 
toast  bread  with  these  stoves.  It  is  very  easily  and 
quickly  done  by  making  the  oven  hot  and  placing  the 
slices  on  the  grate  nearest  the  flame.  They  must  be 
watched  closely  and  turned  when  one  side  is  brown. 
The  new  patent  toasters  work  to  perfection. 
Grates. — Bread,  cake,  pie  and  pudding,  and,  in 
fact,  most  other  things  are  baked  much  more  evenly 
on  the  upper  grate.  The  one  nearest  the  flame  is  the 
same  as  the  top  grate  in  the  cook  stove,  things  placed 
on  it  are  apt  to  burn  on  the  bottom  while  the  top  is 
not  browned,  if  the  upper  grate  is  full.  When  both 
were  full,  my  success  with  the  baking  was  poor.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  place  in  my  oven  where  the  baking 
proved  so  satisfactory  as  on  the  grates  in  the  places  on 
which  they  wTere  placed  when  the  stove  was  bought; 
and  all  the  supports  for  the  grates  w'ere  tried  many 
times. 
Slow  Boiling. — It  is  a  necessity  for  the  perfect 
cooking  of  many  things  to  have  a  slow  fire.  Turning 
the  flame  low  and  using  the  flame  spreader  will  give 
this.  A  slower  one  can  be  obtained  by  turning  down 
the  blaze  and  placing  a  stove  lid  over  the  flame,  and 
the  things  to  be  cooked  on  top  of  it.  This  method  was 
used  particularly  for  corn-meal  mush. 
Steam-Cookers.  —  The  two-or-tliree-story  steam- 
cookers  do  not  seem  practical  to  me.  If  the  meat  is 
in  the  water  furnishing  the  steam,  it  must,  to  that 
end,  boil  too  rapidly  for  the  best  cooking  of  the  meat. 
In  some  it  is  cooked  by  steam  and  this  objection  can¬ 
not  be  urged.  Still,  all  of  us  know  that  a  kettle  of 
water  devoted  to  a  steamer  of  potatoes  alone  will  have 
to  work  to  cook  them  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  and 
if  meat,  pudding,  and  another  vegetable  be  added 
without  the  power  to  increase  the  amount  of  steam, 
the  time  must  be  lengthened  as  the  quantity  of  food  to 
be  cooked  increases.  The  economy  then,  is  nothing 
in  gasoline  as  it  costs  as  much  to  run  one  burner  four 
hours  as  two  two  hours.  It  is  not  safe  to  go  and  leave 
the  cooker  to  care  for  itself,  as  the  water  needs  re¬ 
plenishing  so  often. 
Useful  Utensils  — The  three-cornered  tin  dishes 
have  proved  very  satisfactory  to  me.  They  are  made 
so  that  all  three  can  be  used  over  a  flame  at  one  time. 
Each  holds  about  two  quarts.  Four  for  one  flame  are 
also  on  sale.  One  should  be  careful  to  purchase  those 
made  from  good,  heavy  tin.  Rather  order  them  made 
and  pay  the  extra  price,  as  they  will  last  enough 
longer  to  compensate  for  the  extra  expense.  A  flat- 
bottomed  iron  kettle  of  large  size  is  also  most  useful. 
An  iron  spider  gives  much  better  satisfaction  than  a 
granite  or  sheet-iron  one. 
Expense. — The  expense  of  gasoline  is  not  so  great 
as  one  might  think.  For  1891,  $3  worth  at  the  retail 
price  of  five  cents  per  gallon,  and  $10.50  at  wholesale 
rates  did  all  the  stove  work  on  a  farm  of  250  acres, 
with  an  average  family  of  four.  The  stove  was 
run  from  the  time  in  the  spring  when  the  hard  coal 
cook  stove  would  be  uncomfortable  and  in  the  fall 
till  the  heat  from  the  ordinary  stove  was  acceptable. 
In  1890  when  half  the  oil  was  bought  at  retail,  the 
cost  for  the  year  was  $15.25.  We  have  considered  it 
quite  as  cheap  as  wood  at  $4.50  per  cord,  and  the  cost 
of  splitting  and  piling  is  to  be  added  to  that. 
Danger. — Poor  gasoline  is  dear  at  any  price.  The 
danger  in  using  it  is  very  much  greater.  There  is  no 
disputing  the  fact  that  its  use  is  much  more  dangerous, 
unless  one  is  very  careful,  than  that  of  kerosene.  It 
ignites  at  74  degrees  and  evaporates  at  a  much  lower 
temperature.  The  gas  is  heavier  than  air  and  it  is  not 
safe  to  keep  the  supply  tank  in  the  cellar.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  prevent  evaporation,  and  many 
accidents  have  been  caused  by  setting  a  lamp  or 
throwing  a  lighted  match  on  the  cellar  floor.  Many 
insurance  companies  refuse  to  give  a  policy  on  a  build¬ 
ing  in  which  a  supply  tank  is  kept.  The  merchants  in 
our  village  are  obliged  to  keep  their  supplies  in  build¬ 
ings  separated  from  their  stores. 
If  you  enter  the  room  in  the  dark  and  judge  by 
the  smell  that  something  is  wrong  with  the  stove, 
don’t  light  a  lamp  or  match  to  see  until  you  have 
opened  windows  and  doors  and  blown  the  escaped  gas 
out-of-doors. 
Hints. — Gasoline  is  not  to  be  excelled  for  cleaning 
the  stove.  It  cuts  the  grease  and  soot  quickly.  A 
plain  stove  with  no  fancy  ornamentation  is  by  far  the 
best.  A  sheet-iron  oven  is  a  better  baker  than  a  tin 
One.  MRS.  «J.  N.  MUNCEY. 
A  Word  of  Warning. 
I  WAS  much  interested  in  the  articles  by  the  prize 
winners.  I  have  been  told  that  the  merit  of  an 
article  is  often  proved  by  criticism,  for,  unless  an  arti¬ 
cle  attracts  attention  enough  to  invite  criticism,  it  does 
not  rise  above  the  ordinary.  The  prize  articles  on 
teaching  were  bright  and  sparkling  with  good  sense 
and  fun.  The  average  teacher  finds  plenty  of  fun 
cropping  out  as  she  goes  along  to  keep  her  in  good 
spirits,  if  she  will  take  it  in.  I  find  that  unless  we  do 
take  in  fun  with  our  work,  the  burden  lies  very  heavy 
at  times ;  though  no  heavier  than  when  we  spend  the 
time  given  us  vainly  searching  for  the  pleasures  of 
life;  for  the  all-wise  Father  distributes  the  pleasant 
things  of  life  among  the  work  and  cares,  so  that  he 
who  shuns  the  work  loses  all  the  joy  of  living,  and  at 
the  end  of  his  life  finds  that  he  has  spent  his  time  in 
vain. 
As  I  read  the  article  referred  to,  I  frequently  said, 
“  that  is  so,”  especially  in  regard  to  the  abuse  of  the 
English  language.  Not  that  I  have  not  abused  it  all 
my  life  myself,  but  I  am  just  waking  (as  it  were)  to 
the  fact,  and  am  trying  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf.  I  am 
growing  very  conscientious  about  it  ;  and  wrhen  the 
familiar  “ain’t,”  etc.,  slip  unconsciously  from  my 
tongue,  I  feel  as  if  I  had  committed  a  crime  for  which 
no  amount  of  caution  would  atone.  And  I  listen  with 
a  feeling  of  envy  to  the  quiet,  self-possessed  person, 
who,  with  no  affectation,  always  expresses  his  or  her 
thoughts  in  pure  English,  undefiled  by  provincial  con¬ 
tractions  or  local  expressions,  to  which  we  become  so 
accustomed  that  we  accept  them  as  proper  things  to 
say.  We  need  not  err  as  far  in  the  other  direction, 
and  bring  ourselves  into  ridicule  by  using  too  liberal 
a  supply  of  long  words,  for  there  is  a  middle  ground 
between  the  two  extremes ;  and  that  is,  having  a 
knowledge  of  words  sufficient  to  enable  us  always  to 
use  the  right  word  in  the  right  place,  to  use  the  simple 
little  words  are  not,  am  not,  do  not  and  have  not,  in¬ 
stead  of  the  contractions.  It  may  take  us  a  lifetime 
to  learn,  but  it  is  worth  the  trouble,  and  we  involun¬ 
tarily  help  others  by  speaking  correctly,  as  there  is  no 
bad  habit  so  easy  to  follow  as  careless  use  of  the 
King’s  English. 
Now  for  the  criticism  :  that  sentence  or  paragraph 
in  regard  to  foreign  children  grated  on  my  sense  of 
justice.  Our  American  children  are  not  angels  as  Miss 
Jones  insinuated,  and,  9  times  out  of  10,  the  teachers 
experience  the  most  trouble  from  American  boys  or 
girls  who  have  been  born  with  such  a  spirit  of  inde¬ 
pendence  and  breathed  in  the  liberty-tainted  air  until 
they  think  it  a  disgrace  to  yield  to  the  school  teacher’s 
control,  or,  in  fact,  the  control  of  any  one.  They  will 
do  well  to  turn  to  the  well-mannered  French  children, 
however  poor,  to  whom  politeness  is  seemingly  the 
first  law  ;  and  the  merry,  mischief-loving  Irish  boy, 
whose  heart  is  easily  won  by  a  little  blarney  so  that 
he  is  good  to  lead  ;  and  the  quiet,  good-natured  Ger¬ 
man  children  will  not  morally  injure  our  delicate 
girls  or  rough,  sturdy  boys,  but  will  broaden  their 
minds  and  give  them  some  idea  of  what  a  wide  wrorld 
we  live  in.  Remember  that  the  votes  of  these  foreign 
children  will  count  as  much  in  a  few  years  as  the  vote 
of  the  most  American  of  Americans,  and  all  should  see 
to  it  that  before  these  children  are  old  enough  to  cast 
those  votes,  they  should  be  as  thoroughly  Americanized 
as  possible.  They  will  breathe  in  enough  of  that  for¬ 
eign  influence  at  home,  if  care  is  not  taken,  to  destroy 
the  liberty  of  thought  and  government,  for  which  our 
forefathers  fought  so  bravely.  A  woman  does  not 
need  to  vote  when  she  has  the  privilege  of  using  her 
influence  at  home  and  in  the  schools,  to  the  extent 
that  she  does  to-day.  If  she  uses  that  influence  for 
good,  she  may  bring  about  the  millennium  soon.  Yet 
there  is  one  great  evil  existing  to-day  which  is  liable 
to  destroy  all  prospects  of  ever  reaching  that  period, 
and  that  is  the  law  which  allows  foreign-born  citizens 
a  voice  in  making  our  laws  before  they  have  barely 
had  time  to  learn  to  speak  our  language  or  to  learn 
our  ways,  to  say  nothing  of  understanding  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  American  government. 
When  we  go  into  foreign  countries  do  we  help  them 
make  laws  ?  Certainly  not ;  no  matter  how  arbitrary 
the  goverment,  we  must  abide  by  it.  Neither  should 
we  feel  that  we  understood  the  customs,  manners  or 
dispositions  of  the  people  sufficiently  well  to  be  able 
to  do  so  intelligently.  Although  I  am  aware  that  this 
remark  may  elicit  disapproval  from  many,  I  say  that 
no  person  born  on  foreign  soil  of  foreign  parents 
should  have  a  voice  in  making  our  laws  The  children 
of  foreign  parents  who  are  born  in  America  should 
have  all  the  privileges  accorded  to  Americans;  although 
there  is  liable  to  be  enough  of  foreign  influence  in 
their  homes  to  conteract  the  teachings  received  in  our 
public  schools.  Twenty-one  years  are  none  too  many 
to  learn  enough  of  American  ways  to  entitle  them  to 
a  place  in  the  political  world.  It  is  sufficient  for  the 
foreign  born  and  educated  parents  to  speak  through 
their  children,  and  I  repeat  most  emphatically  that  no 
such  persons  can  ever  become  thorough  American 
citizens,  nor  should  they  be  accepted  as  such  by  an 
intelligent  people.  Alice  e.  pinney. 
But  Wliat  Can  Be  Done  ? 
HAVE  long  been  an  interested  reader  of  The  Rural, 
especially  of  the  women’s  letters.  Here  is  a  true  tale: 
A  German  farmer  who  has  a  ranch  near  San  An¬ 
tonio,  Tex.,  is  worth  $40,000.  He  has  been  married  10 
years.  Lately  he  had  his  wife  arrested  on  the  plea  of 
insanity  and  brought  before  the  court  in  San  Antonio. 
The  poor  woman  told,  in  broken  English,  with  the 
tears  streaming  down  the  deep  lines  of  care  in  her 
face,  how  she  had  lived  with  her  husband  on  the  ranch 
for  10  years,  and  had  attended  to  all  her  household 
duties,  borne  her  husband  five  children,  and  milked  40 
cows  every  morning  and  night,  without  any  sympathy, 
encouragement  or  assistance  ;  and  that  now  she  had 
broken  down  and  was  no  longer  able  to  bear  the  bur¬ 
den  her  husband  expected  of  her.  The  man  was 
obliged  to  admit  that  she  had  milked  40  cows  nearly 
all  the  time,  but  it  was  not  always  40;  sometimes 
only  32  or  33  !  When  questioned  as  to  why  he  thought 
her  insane,  he  answered  sullenly  that  she  refused  to 
shake  hands  with  her  brother-in-law.  (If  her  brother- 
in-law  is  such  a  brute  as  her  husband,  ’tis  no  wonder 
she  would  not  shake  hands  with  him.) 
I  do  hope  that  henceforth,  as  long  as  he  lives,  that 
man  himself  will  have  to  milk  those  40  cows.  I  should 
think  she  would  never  milk  another  for  him,  if  only 
to  let  him  know  beyond  a  doubt  that  she  is  quite  sane  ! 
I  cannot  but  despise  her  for  a  poor  mean-spirited 
creature.  I  believe  God  intended  woman  to  be  free 
and  equal  to  man.  A  woman  has  no  right  to  throw 
away  her  beauty,  health  and  happiness  for  the  sake  of 
any  man.  She  promises  to  be  a  help-meet  for  him  ; 
but  there  is  nothing  written  in  the  marriage  service 
about  being  a  slave  !  She  promises  to  obey  him  ?  Yes, 
when  he  is  right ;  but  her  first  duty  is  to  obey  God, 
and  He  says  “  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder  !  ”  Yet  how 
many  women  do  murder  their  health,  their  every  hope, 
their  whole  life’s  happiness,  at  the  will  of  some  mean- 
natured  man  ?  Oh,  how  false  were  the  words  once 
spoken  by  the  lover  who  promised  “  to  love,  to  keep, 
to  cherish  until  death  us  do  part,”  and  after  10  years 
of  crushed  hopes,  and  bitter  tears  and  sorrows  and 
pains,  such  as  the  girl  never  dreamed  of,  all  light  and 
joy  gone  out  of  her  life  forever,  there  comes  forth  that 
most  pitifully  mean  object  on  earth — the  household 
drudge  !  MARY. 
*  *  * 
Which  Is  Right? — While  the  world  stands,  no 
doubt,  the  pessimist  and  the  optimist  will  struggle  to 
convince  us  :  the  one  that  the  world  is  going  “straight 
to  the  dogs;”  the  other  that  “this  world  is  quite  a  pleas¬ 
ant  world.”  We  are  all  pessimists  or  optimists,  in  a 
degree.  One  friend  pleads  for  the  mothers  on  the 
farm,  believing  their  lot  almost  unbearable  ;  another 
shows  that  their  lot  is  glorious  if  they  will  but  make  it 
so.  Another,  born  amid  country  scenes  and  condemned 
to  city  life,  pines  for  the  delights  of  country  life,  while 
another  sees  but  the  dark  side,  and  almost  wishes  she 
had  never  been  born,  if  she  must  be  on  the  farm. 
