THE COLUMBIAN HOUSEKEEPERS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
HE “Columbian Housekeepers’ Association”— 
organized in Chicago over a year ago, with a 
membership of 30 which has now increased to 225— 
has for its object the study of the economic value of 
foods and fuel, sanitary laws relating to plumbing, 
drainage, pure water and good light in the home. It 
is hoped that by meetmg for lectures and discussion 
and by the use of the Emergency Bureau organized in 
connection with it, real good may result to every 
member. 
This Emergency Bureau should have more than the 
passing notice I have space for, since it is designed for 
the aid of both classes, employer and employed; but 
any one interested in it may gain fuller knowledge by 
conmunicat'ng with Mrs. Harge’s Emergency Bureau, 
87 Washington Street, Chicago. It is hoped that many 
outside Chicago may join, and form branch associa¬ 
tions, so that the club may become permanent. Mem¬ 
bership fees are $1, and papers and full reports are 
sent to those outside who can not attend. 
To the members of the association the services of 
the Emergency Bureau are free, others must pay a fee 
of 25 cents. It aims to supply temporary help of all 
kinds, sewers, menders, caterers, nurses, stenog¬ 
raphers and music teachers who work for the daj T , 
returning to their homes in the evening; and for all of 
these it holds itself responsible .as to efficiency and 
moral character, taking a real and vital interest in 
their well-being and happiness. Thus any one want¬ 
ing work can go there sure of a kindly welcome and 
helpful treatment. More and more are people begin¬ 
ning to realize that respect centers in the individual, 
not in his work. To this end housekeepers are trying 
to elevate housework so that it may be on a level with 
clerical and shop work ; and thus enable young 
women to consider only their tastes and efficiency in 
choosing a vocation. 
The Emergency Bureau also offers its aid to dis¬ 
tressed homekeepers, in connection with household 
service ; and the housekeepers of the association de¬ 
sire in connection with the office to furnish a ladies’ 
lunch and receiving room, where ladies, weary from 
shopping, may meet their friends and rest; but this 
project may or may not be carried out. 
They desire, as a thing of vast importance, to estab¬ 
lish a school of applied household science where girls 
can be taught, and a diploma from which will be 
equivalent to the best reference possible. Miss Salmon 
has already given six lectures before the club, one of 
which, “ Domestic Service in Germany,” 1 heard. 
It seems that there no girl can obtain a place with¬ 
out her book, wherein are set down her age, name, 
the name of the last employer and her reasons for leav¬ 
ing. This is signed by the latter. After entering ser¬ 
vice for any set time, if she is discharged before it ex¬ 
pires, her employer must pay her board and wages 
until the end of her term ; if she leaves his employ, 
a policeman may bring her back. There are servant 
girls’ cafes and girls’ newspapers. The mistress sub¬ 
scribes for the paper and presents it to the servant. 
And many gifts are given on holidays and birthdays. 
Although there is no laundry work, the German 
maid has many little duties unheard of in America, 
and when not busy about the house, makes yards and 
yards of lace for her mistress to lay away. “But 
what will all this knowledge do for American house¬ 
wives ?” you will ask. My reply must be that when 
we know the methods of other nations, if we find their 
ways superior, we hope to incoiporate them into our 
own. After the lecture or paper there is discussion at 
all meetings, aad sometimes some new food or process 
of cooking is shown. 
Once we had the Edward Atkinson Aladdin oven 
placed on one side of the president’s desk. It was just 
a big round burner lamp (the Pittsburg) heating an 
ordinary-sized oven, the whole stand being metallic, 
and the oven itself surrounded by wood fiber. When 
the meeting adjourned we were invited to taste and 
see. There were brown and white bread, meat and 
potatoes (the meat the toughest, cheapest she could 
buy, so the chief cook said, but it was perfectly deli¬ 
cious). Baked beans, pie, cake, pudding, macaroni 
and cheese, also came out of that magic receptacle at 
once, and we found all excellent. 
As readers of Thk R. N.-Y. are doubtless aware, the 
process is simply slow cooking with mild heat (I even 
put my hand into the oven and it was not burned), 
some of the articles tested having been cooking for six 
hours. The food is put in according to the time each 
article needs, and then the lamp is turned up, when 
the cook is free to read or sleep till dinner is ready. 
We would have cried, “ The age of miracles is past,” 
had we not had the evidence of three of our senses, 
feeling, tasting, seeing ; no refutation was possible. 
And I think most of us went home with the wish to 
change our ranges for the Aladdin, and our kitchens 
into conservatories ; for that is another beauty—there 
is no odor whatever from the oven, and it takes such 
small space that a corner in a dining-room will do 
One must add that it will not cook things demanding 
quick heat, and, of course, a poor workman might set 
it smoking, for the lamp is only kerosene; but with 
intelligent skill, it is perfection It now costs from 
$7 to $30 complete. a. d. w. 
A FANCY BOTH USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL. 
HE pretty bag here pictured is generally made to 
serve the purpose of concealing the dusting 
cloth, but is here recommended for the purpose of re¬ 
ceiving soiled handkerchiefs, collars and cuffs. It must 
be admitted that a dusting cloth, however disguised, 
is out of place in the parlor ; the bag is much more 
appropriate in the bed-room, where it will prove itself 
a great convenience beside the bureau, in the capacity 
above mentioned. According to the sum one feels dis¬ 
posed to expend on such an article, it is made either 
of satin or French sateen. The former may be pur¬ 
chased as low as 35 to 50 cents, and the latter for 30 
to 35 cents a yard. This seems about the same price, 
but it must be remembered sateen is 36 inches wide, 
while satin, cheaper grades, is but 18 inches in width. 
Consequently the same quantity will make two bags 
of the sateen and but one of the satin. 
The bag as illustrated is of gold-brown satin, 18 
inches wide, 1 % yard long, and turned up at one end 
to a depth of 12 inches, to form a pocket. It is lined 
with yellow, and each end decorated with appliqu6 
crescents of yellow chamois, and large cross stitches 
in yellow embroidery silk. 
This decoration is put on in imitation of a deep band, 
defined by large scallops, represented by several rows 
of chain stitching in yellow. The lower band has a 
center-piece of circular chamois from which radiate 
close, long, yellow silk stitches. Each end is finished 
with a three-inch fringe of chamois. The three-inch 
strip of chamois is first sewed on and then slashed into 
fringe. A piece of chamois large enough for crescents 
and fringe may be had for a dime, at the utmost 15 
cents. 
For the stitching, gold thread may be used instead 
of embroidery silk. As tinsel and glitter are at present 
so much in vogue in this line, it will no doubt be gen¬ 
erally preferred. It costs but a trifle more than the 
silk, but is somewhat difficult to use. In either case 
the crescents are best buttonholed with silk. 
1 he most artistic effect is produced by painting the 
crescents, lines and stitches with metal paints in 
bronze, copper and gold. This may be beautifully 
done by even the most inexperienced. Stiff paper 
crescents serve as a pattern to be outlined with a soft 
pencil, and painted with a camel’s hair brush. The 
stitch designs are lined with a fine brush. If metal 
paints are used, the ends are finished with gold fringe 
instead of chamois. 
Metal paints are on the market in several forms, 
already prepared, in the form of a powder to be mixed 
with a liquid as used, and for paper decoration there 
are water metal paints, to be used with water the 
same as water colors. 
For painting on satin, use the dry powder, mixed 
with oil and megilp, which entirely prevents the run¬ 
ning of oil. These detailed suggestions may be wel¬ 
come because Dame Fashion has given such promi¬ 
nence to brilliant metal effects in every decorative 
field. ANNA HINRICHS. 
SOME WAYS OF LIVING. 
ARY WAGER FISHER, on page 9, gives us a 
pretty picture of rural life and a tidy farm 
house; but she objects to elegant furniture, etc., in 
it. Now in my mind the farmer and his family have a 
right to the very best in the land. We have the 
cleanest surroundings if we choose to keep them so. 
We have all our long, quiet evenings and more Sunday 
time to enjoy our home in, to say nothing of eating in 
our own dining-room three times a day. 
Brussels carpets, upholstered furniture, etc., would 
be just as nice in my home as in that of my city sister ; 
but I simply don’t want them ; they harbor dust and 
breed disease—unless one wears out a great deal of 
valuable muscle in beating and dusting them. I have 
rugs as pretty as any one need ask for, but not a 
carpet in my house. This is a particularly fitting 
arrangement in this region because the sand blows in 
so that I sweep up a dustpanful from the dining-room 
floor on a windy day. 
Speaking of Mrs White’s report of work done: It 
isn’t such an enormous amount of work for a well, 
evenly balanced woman to do. It did not require 
more strength or application and was not half as 
wearing on the nerves as the round of society, church 
and home duties preferred by many a city or town 
woman. 
One great trouble with men—and women too—is 
this desire to do as little work as possible. They 
might better be active in some useful way than to be 
active about frivolous things, or idle ; for the very idle 
are soon active in mischief. There’s work for all in 
this world, and he or she who does not work is not 
only committing suicide in every sense, but also tear¬ 
ing down the good others are doing, But there are 
many kinds of work, and she does not do all the 
worthy deeds who cooks and sews ; “they also serve 
who only stand and wait,” provided this is their 
utmost. 
I get so much good out of every page of The Rural 
that I don’t like that little statement in some of its 
columns that for one cent I can send my paper to some 
one else. I am so selfish that 1 want to keep all—I 
re-read them sometimes, but when I see that hint, I 
feel compelled to roll up some of them and send them 
along to some one else. One way by which we have 
plenty of reading matter is by a series of sendings- 
on—a plan carried out by several members of our 
family. 
For instance, being a Chicago family, we don’t like 
to give up our city papers, so a sister always mails her 
Sunday paper. This reaches us some time during the 
week, is opened on the next Sunday morning and is 
just as fresh in Texas as if dated a week later. Vick’s 
Monthly I remail to a cousin in Dakota, also the Home 
Magazine; and my Chautauqua books and magazines 
are mailed as soon as I have read them to a friend in 
Duluth. Meanwhile the North American Review, 
Scribner, Review of Reviews, Puck, Life, and some¬ 
times the Century come from other sources, and after 
being read by some of our neighbors as well as by our. 
selves, are sent along to some one else. 
In my Christmas box from home came all the num¬ 
bers of last year’s Harper’s Magazine—and in my box 
to Dakota went all last year’s Scribners. Thus we try 
to keep the good things at work. It takes a little 
postage, but not a large amount and none of us could 
have so many periodicals—some of us would have al¬ 
most none at all, if we did not use this plan. It is one 
way to “ lend a hand.” 
This not being a 200-word affair, I do not expect to 
see it in The Rural, but one gets to feel well ac¬ 
quainted with one’s editor and the pen runs easily 
when started. mrs. e. e. s 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Casiona 
When she was a Child, she cried lor Castona. 
When she became MIbs, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla. 
