1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
53i 
What  Open  Eyes  See. 
On  Ice. — A  sea  of  ice  is  the  latest  de¬ 
vice  in  dinner  table  decoration,  says  the 
Housekeepers’  Weekly.  Luckily,  it  is 
quite  an  economic  suggestion,  as  all  one 
needs  is  a  zinc  or  tin  tray  of  proportion¬ 
ate  size  to  the  latter  and  about  five 
inches  in  depth.  The  water  is  frozen  in 
this  shallow  receptable,  which  is  placed 
in  the  center  of  the  table  aud  banked 
with  moss  dotted  with  tiny  flowers ;  in 
the  center  is  placed  a  china  swan 
freighted  with  flowers,  or  a  birch  bark 
canoe  is  frozen  in  the  icy  sea  and  loaded 
with  choice  bon-bons. 
Three  Recipes:  Syrup.  —  Dark 
brown  sugar  slowly  dissolved  in  a  little 
water  on  the  stove  is  almost  equal  to 
maple  syrup. 
Panada. — Put  soda  crackers  in  a  dish 
with  a  few  raisins,  a  little  butter  and 
sugar,  cover  with  cold  water,  place  a  lid 
over  the  dish  and  set  in  the  oven  till  hot 
through. 
Lemon  Extract. — Peel  off  the  yel¬ 
low  skin  of  a  lemon,  rejecting  every  par¬ 
ticle  of  the  white,  cover  with  alcohol. 
Will  some  one  kindly  send  a  recipe  for 
vanilla  extract,  that  has  been  successfully 
tried?  A.  m.  r. 
Home-made  Bed  Cushion. — In  the 
case  of  bed  sores,  there  is  nothing  that 
can  really  fill  the  place  of  the  circular— 
or  annular — rubber  air  cushion.  But 
these  are  always  high-priced,  and  a 
friend  of  the  Stockman  furnishes  direc¬ 
tions  for  making  a  cheap  substitute  of 
much  value.  “  Take  old  fine  muslin,  cut 
out  by  a  large  pan  so  as  to  have  it  round, 
cut  two  of  these  ;  now  take  a  saucer  and 
cut  a  hole  about  the  size  of  the  saucer  or 
smaller  if  the  sore  is  small.  Sew  inside 
circle  and  a  short  distance  outside  seam, 
as  you  cannot  stuff  if  all  sewed  at  once. 
Stuff  with  feathers  or  cotton  until  you  are 
all  around  the  circle.  Dust  the  sore  with 
bismuth  powder,  place  the  sore  in  the 
center  of  the  cushion,  and  you  will  soon 
hear  the  patient  say,  ‘what  a  wonderful 
relief’.  ” 
Needs  of  the  Young  Housekeeper. 
— Looking  out  for  these,  Harper’s  Bazar 
says  that  fresh  meat  that  is  to  be  boiled 
should  be  dropped  immediately  into 
water  that  is  at  boiling  heat. 
To  clean  a  calf’s  head  and  feet  wash 
them  clean,  and  sprinkle  some  powdered 
rosin  equally  over  all  the  hairs,  then  dip 
them  in  boiling  water,  and  take  them 
out  immediately.  The  rosin  will  dry 
directly,  and  they  may  be  scraped  clean 
with  ease. 
A  dredging-box  of  browned  flour  should 
always  be  on  hand  in  a  kitchen  for  the 
thickening  of  gravies.  To  make  good 
gravy  for  roast  meat  take  the  juice  that 
has  dripped  into  the  pan  where  the  meat 
lay,  thicken  it  with  a  little  of  this  brown 
flour  previously  made  into  a  paste  with 
cold  water,  and  before  sending  to  table 
skim  off  every  drop  of  oil  that  rises  to 
the  surface.  It  is  the  rarest  thing  to  see 
well-made  gravy  that  is  not  greasy. 
Fans  to  Catch  Summer  Breezes. — 
“Inexpressibly  tiring  is  that  class  of 
people  who  fan  at  white  heat,”  says  one, 
and  contends  that  the  fan  should  never, 
through  its  ungraceful  use,  be  intruded 
upon  public  notice.  An  even,  easy, 
rhythmic  swing,  practical,  yet  not  intru¬ 
sive,  nor  annoying  to  one’s  neighbor  is 
the  acme  of  fan  tactics  in  real  use.  Wo¬ 
men  love  fans,  and  nothing  is  quite  so 
entrancing  as  those  lovely  creations  in 
filmy  lace  or  fluffy  feathers,  with  deli¬ 
cate  ivory  sticks.  But  evening  fans  now 
are  much  of  gauze,  and  the  real  standard 
fans  for  daytime  use  are  the  evolved 
varieties  of  palm  leaf,  or  the  paper  fans. 
When  Baby  was  sick,  we  gave  her  Castorla, 
When  she  was  a  Child,  she  cried  for  Castorla, 
When  Bhe  became  Miss,  she  clung  to  Castorla, 
When  she  had  Children,  she  gave  them  Castorla 
The  distinctive  feature  of  the  fan  of  the 
season  is  the  perfume  gained  from  its 
scented  receptacle  in  the  boudoir,  and 
wafted  wide  at  every  movement  of  the 
wearer’s  supple  wrist.  The  fan  without 
perfume  is  far  out  of  date.  The  sou¬ 
venir,  autograph  and  reminiscence  fan  is 
a  re-turned  fad  of  the  summer  girl. 
The  Modified  Skirt. — The  “Cor¬ 
net  ”  skirt,  which  is  trying  to  displace 
the  popular  “  umbrella  ”  skirt,  has  some 
advantages  which  the  latter  has  not.  To 
be  sure,  it  needs  wide  goods,  but  it  has 
but  two  seams,  and  really  takes  a  small 
amount  of  cloth.  The  front  breadth  is 
very  slightly  sloped  at  the  sides,  and  has 
three  darts  at  each  side  of  the  top.  The 
back  consists  of  a  square  set  corner- 
wise,  the  upper  corner  cut  off  slightly, 
the  lower  rounded  widely  to  form  the 
sweep  of  the  slight  train.  The  side  seams 
give  places  for  placket-hole  and  pocket ; 
the  top  is  gathered.  Below  the  gathers 
the  fullness  is  laid  in  a  double  box- 
plait,  which  falls  partially  over  the 
seams.  Crinoline  lining  and  an  interlin¬ 
ing  of  wadding,  aid  in  holding  it  in  the 
desired  flaring  shape.  This  is  an  August 
pattern. 
A  Surprise. — A  few  days  since,  the 
economical  woman  received  a  great 
shock.  She  has  always  felt  obliged  by 
the  pressure  of  circumstance  to  regale  her 
family  with  the  cheapest  of  meats.  A 
neighboi  recommended  the  plate  piece  of 
corned  beef,  as  being  the  best  flavored 
cheap  piece  of  meat  in  the  carcass;  it  was 
considered  a  real  piece  cle  resistance.  But 
a  chance  provision  of  the  highly  ex¬ 
travagant  porter-house  steak  followed 
immediately  after  one  of  the  cheap 
corned  beef.  Meats  are  always  high 
where  the  economical  woman  is  forced 
to  do  her  marketing.  The  aforesaid  ex¬ 
travagance  weighed  heavily  on  her  mind, 
and  led  her  to  figure  the  difference  of  ex¬ 
pense  in  the  two  meats  named.  To  her 
intense  surprise,  the  eight-cent  corned 
beef  cost  four  cents  a  meal  per  member, 
besides  necessitating  the  six  hours’  use 
of  the  kerosene  stove.  The  high-priced 
steak  cost  five  cents  a  meal,  per  member. 
“  Cheap”  meats  are  no  longer  her  exclus¬ 
ive  reliance. 
Heart  Rest  in  the  Home. — “Hap¬ 
pily  for  me,”  says  the  housekeeper  at 
Heart-Rest  House,  “  whatever  I  do  it  is 
well  received,  everybody  is  so  consider¬ 
ate.  The  young  folks  are  always  coming 
asking  me  to  do  something  for  them.  Of 
course  it  makes  me  happy  to  have  them 
come  aad  say  so  sweetly,  ‘  now  if  you  do 
it,  it  will  just  suit  us.’  This  is  a  bit  of  a 
blessed  little  sermon  in  Good  Housekeep¬ 
ing  : 
Telltales. — Of  course  you  don’t  like 
them  !  Who  does  ?  And  yet  we  make 
telltales  of  our  most  intimate  compan¬ 
ions. 
“  Why-e-e,”  says  Bright  Eyes,  while 
the  rest  look  their  surprise. 
There  are  several  telltales  this  very 
minute,  Bright  Eyes,  at  the  ends  of  your 
fingers.  Hold  out  your  hands,  my  dear, 
nails  upward.  See  ? 
Bright  Eyes  laughs  and  blushes,  fum¬ 
bles  in  her  pocket  for  a  penknife,  and 
presently  slips  away  to  the  bath  room. 
Ernestine  draws  her  feet  up  under  her 
skirts. 
No  use,  Ernestine  ;  the  ragged  ends  of 
shoe  thread  where  the  buttons  ought  to 
be  are  your  telltales,  though  you  do  put 
them  out  of  sight  so  cleverly. 
Letty,  there — 
But  Letty  is  already  gathering  up  from 
the  window  sill  the  cores  of  the  apples 
that  she  ate  an  hour  ago. 
“  My  turn,”  says  Midget,  with  a  satis¬ 
fied  glance  at  her  clean  finger  nails  and 
her  complete  set  of  shoe  buttons. 
Go  to  the  mirror,  Midget,  and  take  a 
look  inside  your  mouth ;  there  you  will 
find  the  telltales  that  say,  “Midget 
neglects  her  tooth  powder,  and  Midget 
forgets  to  use  her  dental  floss.” 
“Oh,  dear!”  says  Midget.  “I  do  be¬ 
lieve  my  telltales  are  the  very  worstest.'” 
No  doubt  of  it,  my  dear  ;  for  buttonless 
shoes  and  untidy  nails  and  a  cluttered 
room  can  be  much  sooner  remedied  than 
neglected  teeth. 
Kitchen  Conservatism. — Frederic 
Sanborn  says  that  there  is  nothing  so 
stable  as  a  thing  feminine,  be  it  good  or 
bad,  fine  or  foolish.  And  out  of  this  con¬ 
servatism  one  can  make  arguments  for 
women’s  suffrage — or  against  it.  But  of 
its  existence  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The 
cuisine  feels  it  most  and  suffers  most. 
The  innovations  and  improvements  in 
cookery  make  their  way  against  feminine 
obstruction  or  apathy.  The  last  strong¬ 
hold  that  science  has  to  carry  is  that  of 
root-fast  feminine  conservatism — a  gra¬ 
cious  thing,  indeed,  conserving  like  amber 
old,  dear  faiths  and  loves  and  manners, 
but  as  well  the  fly  and  the  straw. 
Science  scatters  electric  stars  in  the 
coryphee’s  hair ;  but  the  scullion  will 
have  none  of  it  in  the  scullery.  Men  have 
set  it  to  spin  and  weave,  and  chop  and 
gather,  and  busied  it  in  traffic  ;  it  toils 
in  the  stable,  in  the  office  ;  but  in  the 
kitchen  it  is  a  shy,  unwelcome  thing. 
Cork  Toys. — Rose  Seelye  Miller  tells 
in  the  Housekeepers’  Weekly,  of  some 
interesting  home-made  toys.  The  cork 
tumbler  or  acrobat  is  a  well-known  toy, 
and  can  be  easily  constructed.  Make  a 
puppet  as  well  as  you  can,  using  cork  cut 
into  suitable  shape.  One  might  be  carved 
(?)  from  a  very  large  cork,  or  made  from 
smaller  ones,  fastening  the  head  to  the 
body  by  means  of  a  pin  pointed  at  both 
ends  The  legs  can  be  fastened  on  in 
the  same  way.  Glue  a  piece  of  lead  to 
each  foot,  then  no  matter  how  the  pup¬ 
pet  is  thrown,  it  will  always  keep  upon 
its  feet.  A  car  could  be  constructed  on 
the  same  principle.  Little  ducks  and 
geese  can  be  cut  from  corks ;  perhaps  a 
few  tiny  feathers  might  be  glued  on  for 
wings  and  tail.  These  will  float  in  water. 
Any  of  these  cork  toys  would  amuse  a 
child  not  over-stocked  with  playthings. 
Sliced  pictures  can  be  made  from  almost 
any  large  picture.  Paste  the  picture  on 
heavy  paste-board,  and  let  it  dry  thor¬ 
oughly  and  without  warping.  Cut  it  into 
whatever  shapes  or  sizes  you  may  desire. 
Put  the  pieces  in  a  neat  box  or  envelope, 
and  give  it  to  Tommy  or  Jenny.  They 
will  spend  many  hours  pleasantly  fitting 
the  pieces  together,  until  the  whole  pic¬ 
ture  is  complete.  These  pictures  teach 
the  little  ones  to  observe  closely,  and 
perhaps  even  a  better  lesson — patience. 
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