A Chance to Begin Again—Good Resolutions—A 
New Year’s Greeting—The Law of Compensa¬ 
tion—Some Correspondence Regarding Women’s 
Clubs, and its Results. 
With my pencil I wrote on the fair, white sheet, 
And the words were even and true and neat 
Till a neighboring hand my elbow jarred, 
And an ugly mark the fair page marred. 
But, presto ! the pencil reversed, I erased 
In a moment’s space, the offender of taste. 
I minded me then of I,lfe’s fair page 
On which we are writing from youth to age, 
And 1 thought of the eager, anxious throng ' 
.Jogging our elbows all along, 
And I said, with a sigh, “Ah me! Ah me! 
That erasers for life’s mistakes might be.” 
A CHANCE to begin again ! How many a marred and 
blotted life would be made better, if only there were 
this saving chance. Oh ! if 1 could only live my life 
over again ! Few there be who are not at some point 
constrained to breathe forth this mournful and hope¬ 
less aspiration. 
Yet, although an eraser for life’s mistakes may not 
be, and although we may not have a second trial with 
the life already lived, fair white pages are always be¬ 
fore us, and as we each open on New Year’s Day, as it 
were, a new volume of fresh pages, the opportunity is 
ours to make the future better than the past. “ For¬ 
getting the things that are behind,” said Paul. Ah ! 
this is what we need ; a capacity to so forget the things 
that are behind that they may not hinder our future 
work. 
Goon resolutions are but a target for the shafts of 
ridicule and sarcasm to onlookers. To ourselves they 
have proved so often but straws in the current of sel¬ 
fishness and wrong-doing, that we have no further 
faith in them. Let us not try to satisfy our consciences 
with New Year resolutions, but rather let us take to 
our hearts the encouragement that comes with the 
thought of a new unmarred year of possibilities before 
us, and let us do to-day some duty that has heretofore 
been ignored. To-morrow then will find us the 
stronger for a duty done, instead of the weaker for a 
resolution broken. 
Glad New Year greeting, dear friends of this depart¬ 
ment. one and all! Have we made mistakes in the 
past ? Alas, none of us but must look back upon more 
or less of them ! A little poem describing the mishaps 
endured by those who, while their steps were appar¬ 
ently advancing, turned their faces the other way, has 
for its moral: “ When you run forward, don’t look 
back.” Shall we not all,—young, middle-aged, old— 
shall we not all take courage in view of the beautiful 
possibilities of the future, and fix our thoughts, not so 
much upon the evils of the past, or upon what may 
happen to us in the future, as upon what we may do 
for the betterment of the world we live in ? 
It may be but the small world of home that may be 
influenced by our courage and effort; it may be that 
the circles of our influence shall widen and touch hun¬ 
dreds of hearts. The cumulative power of a good deed 
is something upon which we do not meditate often 
enough. It carries a train of constantly increasing 
good deeds on and on as long as time shall last. And 
although our own lives may be apparently insignifi¬ 
cant, we may touch with our little helpful act some 
life that will sway hundreds of other lives. Shall not 
then some of the credit of all the good that all these 
lives mav do be ours ? Who can think of it without a 
thrill of earnest desire to make use of all opportunities, 
and of exultation at the possibilities of a life ’? 
The law of compensation is one to which frequent 
reference is made. It is said that the beautiful girl is 
seldom intellectual; that the rich are almost sure to 
have some evil skeleton to overbalance the pleasure 
which wealth affords, etc. One of Miss Havergal’s 
beautiful strains has this: 
The easy path In the lowland hath little or grand, or new, 
But a toilsome ascent leads on to a wide and glorious view; 
Peopled and warm is the valley, lonely and chill the height: 
But the peak that is nearer the storm-cloud is nearer the stars of light. 
and again: 
For rapture of love is linked with the pain or fear of loss, 
And the hand that takes the crown must ache with many a cross; 
Yet he who hath never a conflict hath never a victor's palm, 
And only the toilers know the sweetness of rest and calm. 
The two thoughts which bring up tlxis subject at 
this time are the description of the child in the inci¬ 
dent from the Christian Union given in this issue: 
“ The child’s face bore all the refinement which comes 
from chronic invalidism;” and a sentence from a con¬ 
tributor’s letter to the leader of this department: “ I 
sometimes think about all the farmers’ wives that 
write for the papers are invalids.” 
We have some reason for thinking that our friend’s 
idea may be partially correct, and we fancy too that 
some of these may be our best helpers. Numbers of 
women, especially on the farm, where work is apt to 
press beyond a woman’s strength, have worked them¬ 
selves into invalidism, or into that state sometimes 
harder to endure, semi-invalidism. They know all 
about the work, and their minds being in a measure 
freed from the crowding thoughts and planning con¬ 
nected with the daily toil and the daily running of the 
domestic machinery, they have time for the thoughts 
which so often seek expression through the pen. 
Greater refinement and helpfulness are not seldom the 
compensation given to those who are laid aside from 
active work; and assuredly these know “ the sweet¬ 
ness of rest and calm.” 
Some time ago a friend of The It. N.-Y., a college 
graduate who expressed herself as feeling that she 
owed something outside her home life, asked if some¬ 
thing on women’s clubs would be acceptable in this 
department. We replied that if the articles could be 
made helpful to women on the farm, widely separated 
and overburdened with daily cares, we certainly 
wanted them. 
In a very pleasant letter, our correspondent replied 
to our implied doubt by saying that her experience 
with women in all grades of life had led her to the firm 
belief that it is “ the individual, rather than the life 
she leads, that makes the possibilities for a broader 
life,” and that often those who have the most weary 
routine are the very ones who most enjoy the helpful¬ 
ness of something to think of outside the monotony of 
daily toil. The essays on economy first gave our 
friend the idea of bringing this matter before readers 
of The R. N.-Y., for, as she said, the number and the 
quality showed so many bright minds, so many who 
might form centers of interest and helpfulness in their 
own neighborhoods; and her argument as to their wil¬ 
lingness was this: “ A woman with a fair training, 
who can use to the best advantage her own time and 
supplies, is always ambitious to make more of her life.” 
It did not take long to decide that here was a woman 
with both sense and experience, both of which would 
be helpful to us and to our readers, and the outcome of 
the matter is that we have now in hand an article from 
her telling what was done in a bona fide Housekeepers’ 
Club, which we hope to present in the next issue. 
Our New Year’s Dinner. 
A NEW YEAR dinner in the country ! Tempting is 
the vision memory brings. Crisp, fresh vegeta¬ 
bles, snowy potatoes, young, choice poultry are among 
the products of the farm. Let the best be served with¬ 
out stint in this season of peace and good cheer. 
Serve a little soup at the beginning of dinner. It is 
easier to serve dinner in courses even where the family 
keeps no help. While one daughter is removing plates, 
another can be dishing the meat and vegetables, and 
on this New Year Day, we will use our prettiest China 
as well as our finest table cloth and napkins. In the 
bill of fare, however, I mention only the dainties 
easily obtainable on a farm. The articles necessary 
for the dishes mentioned may nearly all be raised upon 
the home acres. 
Oysters or mock oyster soup, crackers. 
Roast turkey, cranberry jelly. 
Mashed potatoes, celery, scalloped turnip. 
Chicken pie, baked sweet potatoes. 
Cabbage salad, crisped bread, cheese. 
Plum pudding, mince pie. 
Hickory nut macaroons. 
Cake, coffee, fruit, nuts. 
As so many directions are given at this time of year 
for roast turkey, I will not here describe the process, 
but will proceed to 
Oystek Soup. —For five people, one pint of oysters, 
two tablespoonfuls of butter, three cups of milk, salt, 
and pepper to season. Bring the milk to the boiling 
point, add the oysters, butter and seasoning ; when the 
liquid boils, servd at once. 
Mock Oyster Soup. —Save the giblets of chickens, 
and turkey gizzards, livers, hearts, necks and feet. Skin 
the feet, by dipping in boiling water, when the outside 
will slip off readily. Put the giblets to boil in one 
quart of cold water, with one onion, and one carrot cut 
small. When very tender, take from the kettle, cut in 
pieces the size of a large oyster, add two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of butter, one cup of sweet cream, salt and pepper 
to season. When ready to serve, add gradually, so 
that it may not curdle, one well-beaten egg. Do not 
let the soup boil after adding the latter. Stir well, 
and serve at once. This soup is delicious. Water, 
from time to time, should be added to the giblets, so 
that there will be a quart before adding the cream. 
Scalloped Turnip. —Cut yellow turnips in half-inch 
pieces, boil and drain. Place in an earthen baking 
dish, season with dots of butter, salt and pepper, and 
cover with a thin layer of bread or cracker crumbs. 
Fill the dish in this manner, the last layer being 
crumbs. Over all pour a cup of sweet milk or cream. 
Bake until brown. Serve hot. 
Chicken Pie. —Cut chicken in neat joints, wash, and 
stew until tender. When putting on to stew, add one- 
fourth of a pound of fat salt pork. When tender, take 
from the kettle, remove the bones, chop the pork, and 
return to the kettle. Add salt, and pepper to season, 
stew half an hour; when cold pour into pie pans lined 
with crust; cover with well-perforated top crust, and 
bake until brown. 
A bowl of gravy should be reserved to serve with 
chicken pie. To this add a tablespoonful of flour, 
mixed until smooth in a little cold water, one beaten 
egg, pepper, and a tablespoonful of butter. Serve 
very hot, a spoonful over each piece of chicken pie. 
Cabbage Salad. —Shred half of a white cabbage 
fine, dress with two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, 
four of vinegar, salt, pepper, and one teaspoonful of 
made mujtard. Serve with 
Crisped Bread. —Slices of stale bread, put in the 
oven and served hot, and with cheese. 
Plum Pudding. —Two cups of bread, or cracker 
crumbs, one quart of sweet milk, one cup of sugar, one 
of molasses, one cup of citron, three of raisins, four 
eggs, one teaspoonful each of salt, cinnamon, mace, 
cloves and allspice; one cup of finely-chopped suet. 
Beat well together, steam in a well-buttered basin for 
four hours, stirring often during the first hour to pre¬ 
vent the fruit from settling. When cold, remove from 
the basin. Serve warm—not hot—with whipped cream. 
Hickory Nut Macaroons. —Two cups of hickory 
meats, rolled fine; the white of one egg beaten stiff, 
then add one cup of powdered sugar, then the nuts, 
and one tablespoonful of corn-starch. Drop in little 
mounds on buttered writing paper, and bake until 
brown. 
On your table arrange dishes of polished apples 
and pears, with clusters of grapes. Have celery, clear 
and crisp, with the leaves, in tall glasses, and a bouquet 
for the center of the table, if possible ; if not, have 
prettily arranged fruit. Make all preparations before 
the day, except roasting the turkey and heating the 
soup and vegetables, which may be prepared the day 
before, all ready for browning. 
Wisconsin. mary currier parsons. 
Prudence Primrose’s Diary. 
December 1.—Next time we have turkey I must 
remember to make a soup like that we had to-day. 
The bones, together with whatever remnants of meat 
and skin remained, were put away by themselves till 
all were collected. Early one morning these, with all 
the coarser parts of the celery cut into half-inch pieces, 
were put into an agate iron kettle with cold water 
enough to cover them. All day this stood on a back 
corner of the range, simmering, but never coming to a 
boil. At night the liquor was strained off into an 
earthen dish, and set away in the cold. The cake of 
fat was removed next day, a handful of macaroni 
broken in short bits was added to the stock and the 
soup boiled gently an hour before serving. As 
enough remained for to-day, a cupful of stewed 
tomato was added to give variety. 
I think the soup owed its excellence to the gentle 
simmering and the liberal additions of celery and 
macaroni; a chicken or turkey soup is apt to lack 
substance and flavor. The macaroni was skimmed 
from the soup before it was served, and appeared 
Beauty often depends on plumpness; so 
does comfort; so does health. If you get 
thin, there is something wrong, though 
you may feel no sign of it. 
Thinness itself is a sign; sometimes 
the first sign ; sometimes not. 
The way to get back plumpness is by 
careful i iving, which sometimes includes 
the use of Scott’s Emulsion of cod-liver 
oil. 
Let us send you—free—a little book 
which throws much light on all these 
subjects. 
Scott & Bowne, Chemists, 132 South 5th Avenue, New York. 
Your druggist keeps Scott’s Emulsion of cod-liver oil—all druggists 
everywhere do. $1 
