Women Make the Homes Make the 
Woman And The Home. 
ECONOMY AS SHE IS PRACTICED AT LARGE. 
OR the text this week we have selected from the econ¬ 
omy articles, notes from widely separated States, that 
all parts of the country may have a hearing. We have a pri¬ 
vate quarrel with the great State of Maine because she ig¬ 
nored our competition, and sent us no help. If it were fair 
to judge by the representation for different localities, we 
would have to say that the Middle States and those of the 
Middle West contain the greatest number of economical 
housewives. 
The articles given are condensed to some extent, for 
economly in repetition. Necessarily there was much of 
this. Nearly every one, for instance, spoke of saving trips 
to the cellar. We shall have a word about this later. Next 
week, or the week after, we hope to give the ideas of the 
old ladies and the girls. 
* * * 
HOW THEY WRESTLE WITH THE PROBLEM 
“DOWN SOUTH.” 
UR family consists of husband, our five children, all 
under ten years of age, and myself. Many times 
it is impossible to get any one to do regular housework, or 
to take care of the children, but we can always employ 
colored women or girls for a few weeks at a time. So, 
every spring and fall I get the clothing for the family all 
cut out, and hire a white woman for 50 cents a day and 
board to come and help me sew, while the colored help 
take care of the house and the children. 
The sewing for the season finished, I can devote all my 
time to other duties. By encouraging our two oldest 
children to take a pride in “ helping mother,” I get them 
to do many things for me. Every morning they assist 
the next two younger in getting dressed After each 
meal the oldest brings me a large tin bucket (which he 
can handle better than a dish-pan) of hot water. This I 
place in baby’s high chair and wash dishes, handing them 
to the children to be wiped on soft towels made of flour 
sacks. 
The table is then arranged for the next meal, and a 
cover made of turkey-red calico spread over it. This saves 
much carrying to and fro of dishes. While I think there 
is nothing like spotless white for the table, I use my nicest 
linen only for special occasions, and for ordinary use have 
turkey-red table-cloths and napkins, for it is too much 
work to keep the white ones spotless where there are so 
many children. I have recently bought a lot of white 
crocheted bed spreads at 50 cents apiece, which I would 
not exchange for expensive Marseilles ones for common 
use. They are soft and ligh t, and so easy to wash. They 
were rather small, but I made them right by stitching a 
narrow piece of cloth all around them, to tuck under when 
in use. 
I always put away my shebts and pillow-cases when they 
are considerably worn, and use only the new ones regu¬ 
larly so as to have an abundance in case of sickness. Bath 
towels I make of the coarse cotton sacks in which salt 
comes. They are just rough enough to bring a pleasant 
glow to the skin. 
I find it economical to use the best materials for our 
clothing, omitting as much as possible useless ornamenta¬ 
tion, which is soon out of style. The children are always 
well provided with stout gingham aprons to protect their 
clothes. 
To begin the day’s work early so as to feel I have plenty 
of time to do it in, greatly diminishes the worry with me. 
I have a slate, with pencil, hanging in a convenient place, 
on one side of which are written the days of the week. 
Opposite each day I write all I wish to do therein, outside 
of the regular work. On the other side I write whatever 
we need as it occurs to me. Living as we do some dis 
tance from market, this saves annoyance, as I am then 
sure that nothing needed will be forgotten when the trip 
to town is made. 
In cooking I try to make the most of what we raise on 
the farm. I make porridge of the different cereals for 
breakfast, to be eaten with milk, and concoct desserts 
whose principal Ingredients are eggs and milk. I do not 
think I could furnish my family more healthful food. 
Sour buttermilk, to be used with soda, far surpasses all 
the baking powders for making hot cakes, biscuits, etc. 
Puddings made of pieces of stale bread and biscuit, with 
milk, eggs, sugar, fruit and grated nutmeg, added, are 
much relished by us. I use as a substitute for citron 
water-melon rind peeled and preserved in sugar. I try to 
keep everything I use in cooking near my table in the 
cook-room. BUSY MOT1IKR. 
Georgia._ 
PENNSYLVANIA’S ECONOMIC CREED. 
O tell how I economize is almost putting the family 
skeleton on exhibition, at least it is a common say¬ 
ing in our household that poverty would be a specter if it 
were not for mother’s economy. Many other homely vir¬ 
tues are born of necessity, but this outweighs them all. 
In the list of economies the most difficult is placed first. 
To economize time I observe one general principle : Make 
the head save the foot. The first application of this rule is 
in planning work. To-day my campaign for to-morrow is 
mapped out, and probably before retiring some of the out¬ 
posts are taken, as, for example, the sponge is set for 
bread, apples are dressed for pies, or the bric-a-brac is 
covered for the morrow’s sweeping. But I never sleep on 
my arms. A number of children call me mother, and our 
united efforts are usually enough to carry on the work of 
the home. 
As economy in steps is the biggest aid to economy in 
time (my time), my little company is breakfasted and 
ready for morning drill early. Healthy children must be 
active and their surplus energy may as well turn a 
wheel as a handspring; so when they start for their work 
in the schoolroom I turn to find mine well begun. Porches 
and steps are cleaned, vegetables have been brought to the 
kitchen for dinner, the dining-room is in order and the 
sleeping rooms are ready for the final throwing on of the 
bed covers. Having now my own steps only to direct, I turn 
them to preparing the meals of the day; for supper is 
planned and most of the dishes prepared while getting 
dinner. Housework is a series of round trips, and I never 
go to the garden, cellar or pantry laden, to return empty. 
A cargo both ways pays in saving time and steps. 
But to economize in friction, “aye, there’s the rub !” 
Household machinery is complicated at best. It is wheels 
within wheels, and in my household they are not motion¬ 
less. To reduce the friction I follow the general law of 
physics. By lessening the resistance and giving plenty of 
play to the works, friction is lessened enough so that 
the family in general is kept in good temper. When we 
invite guests it is to entertain them in our own style, not 
in theirs; and in all r,he social duties of life we keep 
up appearances only in proportion to the foundation we 
build on. 
As money is included in these economies, it is supposed 
that rural housewives have some; and, thanks to agricul¬ 
tural papers and societies, a part of their circulating 
medium at present can be put in purses instead of crates 
and baskets. In laying out money, whether to serve 
actual needs or mere wishes, I buy the best in the market 
to suit the purpose, from Johnnie’s suit to my Sunday 
gown; from kitchen utensils to parlor furnishings; from 
tidies to doormats; and especially the best books and 
papers. This does not mean the most expensive, but 
simply the best in quality. 
Economy in material is a rill inflowing to the family 
treasury and woe befalls the house that has no such 
feeder. A character in our neighborhood when I was a 
child, was old Aunt Keziah. Children loved to visit her, 
for she treated them with respect and apples; but if an 
apple-core or paring went into the stove, her invariable 
comment was: “There’s no pigs or chickens in the 
stove.” What was jest then, became earnest later, when 
my substance and my pigs and chickens were In question. 
Beginning in the kitchen I see that vegetable waste and 
wash-suds pass out for feed and fertilizer. Stale bread 
works into meat dressings, and bits of sauce season 
lunches. The custard left from dinner with the cake left 
from supper makes a pudding for to-morrow’s dinner, 
etc., etc. But gathering up the fragments of food is not 
as pleasing as economy in clothing. When I see a new 
garment rising from the ruins of an old one or make from 
left-over trimmings a seasonable hat or wall panel, my 
bump of originality or creativeness naturally gets a little 
pat. “ Waste not, want not.” 4. FARMER’S WIFE. 
Pennsylvania. 
MICHIGAN TAKES TIME BY THE FORELOCK. 
SEE the field is again thrown open, not for a potato 
contest this time, but for something we must dig out 
of our brains, and I. for one, fear that much hoeing will be 
necessary, tor in this direction mine have lain dormant 
since the old time of school-day essays. Time is what we 
seem to have the least of these short days, and I find it is 
only by rising early that we are able to take it by the fore¬ 
lock (as I have often heard my mother say). In the first 
place, our family consists of five members, including my 
help, a little girl of thirteen, who attends school and 
assists about the house nights and mornings. 
For nearly all of my cooking I use the deep stewpans 
with long handles. I keep one for coffee and two for 
vegetables. In this way I can prepare coffee in 10 min¬ 
utes and cook potatoes in 20 minutes. The utensils cost 
but 20 cents each, and will last a year or longer, thus doing 
away with all heavy ironware about the stove. 
Saving steps is done chiefly by uniting dining-room and 
kitchen in one for the winter, thus saving an exra fire. I 
always keep my table set and well covered when not in 
use, which I think saves almost half of the work. About 
the middle of the week, when the table-cloth becomes 
somewhat soiled—especially where the boys rest their coat 
sleeves or mark the pathway to the meat platter by occa¬ 
sional drops therefrom—I cover these soiled places with 
small tea towels kept for the purpose, and thus keep 
tidy throughout the week. I do think it’s one’s duty 
to economize in washing, whether one does it herself or 
not, especially in cold weather, and to this end I depend a 
great deal on gray flannel. I see I have made no mention 
of my second help, “ which is most constant,” and that is 
a wee girlie not quite eighteen months old. Her every-day 
dresses and skirts are of gray flannel. Her best winter 
dresses are of light-weight wool goods, cream colored, made 
quite prettily. When soiled, they have only to be washed 
and ironed. I do not keep any starched clothes on her 
during the winter except an occasional white skirt. In the 
fall I always intend to make unbleached muslin sheets and 
pillow cases enough to change with blankets, as they will 
stand the winter’s freezing and whipping without being 
injured, and by spring will be nicely bleached. When 
Santa Claus suggested a pair of blankets for Christmas I 
said: “ All right ; only they must be gray,” and they do 
not go into the wash every week, but get an occasional 
shaking and airing in the wind, which I think answers the 
purpose every other week. 
I do not suppose I am called a capital housekeeper, nor 
do I care to be, Jf to attain that title I must drudge and 
dig from morning until night; I believe there are higher 
attainments than these that we may aspire to while on 
our way and about our work. Let the outside world think 
as it may, for as mothers it is our sacred duty to see that 
our homes are made pleasant and attractive, and I intend 
to find time to practice our home music as I always have. 
Husband and I enjoy singing as well as we ever did, and I 
think that unless children hear singing in the home and 
take part in it, they will never take to it'readily. I also 
find time to paint now and then a plaque and embroider 
some, after the week’s mending and darning is done, and 
find some time to read besides. I think this will be suf¬ 
ficient to start one fire with, so will close, hoping to hear 
from the sisters of the good old Rural. I say old, because 
it has been a member of my father’s family almost as long 
as I can remember. FRANCES M. 
TENETS OF A CANADIAN HOMEMAKER. 
* * r pHAT which is worth doing at all is worth doing 
JL well.” First, we must have as far as possible 
the conveniences to work with ; these save both strength 
and time. Then we need a system and a thorough knowl¬ 
edge of how the work should be done, so that we may the 
better direct our servants, or be able to take up the 
broken link caused by their unlooked-for desertion. 
Our time since Christmas has been occupied by mending 
and making; during the fall house-cleaning two attic 
closets were set apart, one for receiving the clothes that 
were wearable, the other for clothes t hat needed mending 
or making over. Thus we saved time and money by hav¬ 
ing a knowledge of what our store contained; and we make 
no mistake in buying material for a garment which might 
have been made from a half worn dress which out of sight 
was out of mind. 
I have replenished the bed and table linen, storing all 
unfit for wear in the medicine closet ready for a quick call 
in case of accident. When spring returns we are ready to 
don our summer harness, having a goodly supply of aprons 
and working dresses ready and all necessary clothing in 
order for a year. To one servant whom I hire by the year, 
I have given sufficient time to sew for herself while I am 
not so busy; finally, we will gather all the odds and ends 
of woolen and cloth into a quilt and hook small pieces 
into a rug ; the result of all this will be an easy, dustless 
house cleaning. 
In our residence, built last year, we have hard-wood 
floors with rugs instead of carpets, so that by keeping our 
closets clear of unused clothing, and with no heavy car¬ 
pets to take up, I can greet our spring cleaning with real 
pleasure. During the rainy days of April I will have time 
for making a piece of the newest needle work, and to 
make rugs and cushions for places which I see will be 
made brighter by their presence. I will have also that 
which is so dear to every woman’s heart; “something 
new ” to put up after house cleaning. 
If a wooden field rake, minus the handle, be painted and 
hung at a convenient height in the side hall, little coats 
will not be thrown around. Hang it low and see how many 
steps it will save. A wooden tube a few inches square, 
made smooth, and passing from the attic to the basement, 
with an opening on each floor, is a convenient device for 
passing soiled clothing to the laundry below; thus the 
washing could be started at any time at a minute’s notice. 
“Take care of the pennies and the dollars will care for 
themselves.” Carry this motto with you to the kitchen; 
“eternal vigilance” will be the price, yet here is the step¬ 
ping stone to many a fortune. 
Every housewife knows or can learn ways for con¬ 
verting cold meats or vegetables into very palatable soups 
and salads; a common custard poured over any bits of 
cake and baked, makes an appetizing dish for tea; a plain 
cake batter consisting of two eggs, a cup of sour cream, a 
cup of sugar, one half teaspoonful of soda, with sufficient 
(Continued on next page.) 
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