NOTE AND COMMENT. 
Should children eat at the same table and of every¬ 
thing the parents do ? Are all foods found on the 
family table, fit for young children ? Do you cook 
, special dishes for the children ? Let us hear from the 
mothers. 5 v » 
2 « 5 
Mb Ward McAllistkk has joined the anti-suffrage 
movement—his opinion having been quoted on page 
315. Sometimes we judge a man by his opinions, but 
in this case let us judge the opinion by the man. Mr. 
McAllister is the apostle of false standards ; the 
leader of New York City’s exclusive circle. His opin¬ 
ions are infallible when they comprehend matters 
within his sphere. But when American women want 
an opinion as to their rights and abilities, they will 
appeal to one who has a wider acquaintance and 
sympathy with humanity. It is best that Mr. 
McAllister should confine his literary attempts to dis¬ 
cussing the pedigrees of people and wines, when a 
gentleman should turn up the bottoms of his trousers, 
etc. g ^ g 
Gaze on this picture, then on that—farm dinner. 
The possibilities of the city man’s dinner in a restau¬ 
rant might offer food for scientific investigation, but 
if he contemplates his bill of fare in the following 
strain we doubt if his mouth waters in anticipation : 
Placid I am, content, aerene. 
I take my slab of gypsum bread, 
And chunks of oleomargarine 
Upon Its tasteless sides 1 spread. 
The egg I eat was never laid 
By any cackling, feathered hen; 
But from the Lord knows what ’tis made 
In Newark by unfeathered men. 
I wash my simple breakfast down 
With fragrant chicory so cheap; 
Or with the best black tea In town— 
Dried willow leaves—I calmly sleep. 
Who would exchange the realities of country life for 
such possibilities ?_ 
A FARM DINNER. 
A BOUNTIFUL BKPA8T FROM HOME PRODUCTIONS. 
If YOU wanted to kill the “fatted calf’ to celebrate some household 
event in your family, what sort of a meal would you prepare? In 
other words, what would be your Idea of a tlrst-class dinner which 
would satisfy your family, and come within the resources of your 
farm’s hnances? 
A Good Dinner and the Way to Cook It. 
A farmer’s dinner in early summer should be, for 
the greater part, composed of articles which are pro¬ 
duced on the farm. Meats, which seemed so neces¬ 
sary in winter, are of less account now, for the gar¬ 
den and the dairy have their “innings;” and their 
products in the hands of a cook who is in sympathy 
with this state of things, mean great variety with 
delicacy, which is not so well assured when meats and 
winter vegetables are the staples. One kind of meat 
is amply sufficient for any summer dinner. Dining in 
most farmers’ families is a far less ceremonious affair 
than among our town friends. Three courses are re¬ 
garded as all that could be expected, and two are 
oftener served, except on state occasions. There is 
an excellent reason for this, for every extra course 
means more steps for the person who waits upon the 
table, usually one of the family, and more dishes to 
wash, which is also an item of importance where 
there is all the work that can well be done. 
Here is the menu for a simple dinner which, if well 
cooked and daintily served, will satisfy the most fas¬ 
tidious, without overtaxing the cook : 
Soup—Splnacb, 
Roast Chickens, White Sauce, 
Currant Jelly. 
Bleed Potatoes, Young Beets, 
Asparagus, vrlth Cream, 
Egg Salad, 
Sago Cream, Sponge Cake, 
Coffee. 
Spinach Soup. —Pick over a peck of spinach care¬ 
fully ; wash, drain and boil in slightly salted water 
until tender. Drain off the water and rub the spin¬ 
ach through a colander. Heat a quart of creamy 
milk, add the spinach pulp, thicken with a table¬ 
spoonful of fiour rubbed smooth with a tablespoonful 
of butter, season to taste with salt and pepper, and 
when it boils it is ready to serve. Crisp butter 
crackei s may accompany this dish. 
Roast Chicken.' —Select two plump young fowls, 
and draw them without unjointing. Wash the inside of 
the fowls, rub dry with a cloth which will not deposit 
lint, and rub them with salt. Tie thin slices of salt 
pork over the legs and breasts, and put them into a 
roaster with a little water. Baste them from time to 
time with nice sweet butter melted in a little water. 
When the potatoes are cooked pass them through a 
ricer making a border of them around the meat 
platter. Place the chickens in the center and serve 
with a rich white sauce made by straining the drip¬ 
pings in the roaster and thickening with fiour stirred 
smooth with a little sweet cream. Boil until tender, 
young beets which have been carefully washed, but 
not bruised or cut. Drop them in cold water, slip off 
their jackets, slice thin and serve with a sauce made 
by thickening a cupful of hot vinegar with a teaspoon¬ 
ful of fiour rubbed into a teaspoonful of butter. Sea¬ 
son with salt and pepper. 
Asparagus With Cream. —Cut the tender stalks of 
asparagus into inch lengths and boil quickly in just 
as little water as possible. Be careful not to boil too 
long. When half done, add salt enough to season 
pleasantly. When done, not overdone, drain off the 
water and replace it with a cupful of hot, rich cream. 
Serve at once. 
Egg Salad. —Boil a dozen eggs for 20 minutes, then 
drop into cold water. Remove the shells, cut in two 
lengthwise and pile in a salad bowl with a fringe of 
crisp lettuce leaves around them. Pour this dressing 
over them, using care that it spreads evenly without 
destroying their dainty appearance : Beat the yolks of 
two eggs with a teaspoonful of sugar, half a teaspoon¬ 
ful of salt and a teaspoonful of mustard. Heat a cup¬ 
ful of vinegar with a tablespoonful of butter ; when 
it boils pour it over the egg mixture, stirring briskly 
all the time. The dressing should not be poured over 
the salad until just before it goes to the table. 
Sago Cream. —Soak half a cupful of pearl sago in 
cold water for two hours. Drain off the superfluous 
water, if any. Mix with two quarts of rich, creamy 
milk, the yolks of six eggs, and sugar to taste. Set 
the pan containing the mixture over a kettle of hot 
water, and stir frequently until the sago is clear and 
the mixture has thickened. Then stir in the whites 
which have previously been beaten very light. Play or 
to taste and set in the oven until of a golden brown. 
Sponge Cake. —Take the weight of 10 eggs in pow¬ 
dered sugar, and beat with the yolks of 12 eggs ; add 
the juice of half a lemon. Beat the whites of 12 eggs 
to a stiff froth and mix with the yolks and sugar. 
Add gradually the weight of six eggs in sifted flour, 
with the grated rind of the lemon. Bake in a quick 
oven, but not an overheated one. This cake, like all 
sponge cakes, must not be moved while baking. If it 
brown too quickly, cover with a paper. 
Serve rich cream with the coffee, and plenty of con¬ 
versation with all the meal, and the result can hardly 
fail of success. s. a. little. 
New York. 
Summer and Winter Bills of Fare. 
The ideal dinner on our farm would vary according to 
the season of the year. I have, therefore, outlined two 
dinners, one to suit the winter season, and the other, 
the summer. In winter, we might treat our friends 
to the following dishes : Roai^t turkey with dressing 
and cranberry sauce, or roast beef with brown gravy ; 
chicken pie, potatoes, turnips, canned tomatoes, celery, 
bread, butter, cucumber and onion pickles (sour), and 
peach pickles (sweet); mince and apple pie, and Eng¬ 
lish plum pudding. Beverages : Tea, coffee, or milk. 
Fruit: Apples, pears, oranges and bananas ; Catawba, 
Concord and Delaware grapes. The summer dinner 
might be roast mutton or lamb ; baked white fish, or 
cold sliced ham; new potatoes, green peas, early 
beets, asparagus; white and brown bread, butter, 
cherry pie or strawberry short-cake, strawberries and 
cream, or raspberries and cream, ice cream. Bever¬ 
ages : Iced tea, or iced milk, coffee, lemonade. 
Ohio. MRS. t. h. h. 
Making the Most of Farm Products. 
On one occasion during the summer months, we 
were to have a family dinner at the homestead. 
Mother was just recovering from a severe sickness and 
was to come downstairs for the first time on this 
eventful day. As the day approached she did consid¬ 
erable worrying about what we girls were preparing 
to have to eat. There seemed to be so little said 
about it, and so little sending to the store, that she 
greatly feared we were not preparing the general 
feast. Neither were we; for we had decided to have a 
regular “farm dinner” with as little outlay of cash as 
possible. For the necessary sugar and other minor 
ingredients necessary to prepare different dishes, we 
exchanged maple sugar with our grocer. 
When the day arrived, after arraying the table in 
our best linen, and a suitable amount of fancy doilies, 
silver and glassware, the guests were first served to 
vegetable soup. For meat, they had roast turkey and 
fricasseed chicken to choose from. The vegetables were 
all fresh from the garden—potatoes, green corn, 
cucumbers, beets and green beans. Mother gave us a 
look of amazement when she saw fresh rye bread on 
the table, but her horror was not complete till the 
plate of crisp, warm corn bread appeared. To ease 
her mind we had a plate of white bread brought, but it 
is but just to our “farm dinner” to add that not one 
mouthful of it was eaten. The fresh rye and hot corn 
bread, with plenty of fresh butter, seemed to be 
relished. 
The jellies and table sauces were all homemade, 
and principally from farm products. The dessert, 
consisting of fresh blackberries, ice cream and cake, 
completed our dinner, and the only outlay of money 
was the cost of the tea and coffee used—which was 
really too small to consider. This experimental din¬ 
ner is but a sample of what any farmer’s table can 
afford, where there is—as there always should be—a 
good garden, a good dairy, plenty of fresh eggs and 
an occasional fowl to be used on the home table. 
New York. A farmer’s daughter 
JOE’S FURTHER EXPERIENCE. 
SIDE from his brooder experience which he said 
was worth 8100, but which came near costing 
him 83,000 or 84,000, Joe has been acquiring consider¬ 
able knowledge in the poultry line this spring He 
has had a chance to buy cheap, of one of his acquaint¬ 
ances, one of the patented brooders with lamp and all 
the fixings. You see his friend doubtless did not know 
how to run it properly, aud he roasted all the chicks 
he put in it. As they were too small for broilers, 
there was no market for them, so they were a dead 
loss, and hardly a good advertisement for the brooder. 
Though he offered it for sale cheap, Jo 3 dared not 
make him an offer. Joe said that brooders might be 
a good thing if a man understood how to run them, 
and had time to sit down and keep watch of their 
temperature, but for a man who must be in the field a 
mile from home, he didn’t believe they were just the 
thing, and he was’nt really confident that he should 
understand one any better than his neighbor. To tell 
the truth, he is rather afraid of setting the buildings 
on fire, and he has reason to be ; for only a couple of 
weeks after his experience, a house near by was 
burned to the ground, while the family were at even¬ 
ing meeting. At first the report was that it caught 
from an incubator which was in the shed adjoining 
the kitchen; but later it was said that there was a 
brooder, too, and two kerosene lamps left burning in 
the house, so it could not be proved that the incubator 
was to blame. I am inclined to think that it was the 
brooder. 
Joe has been having a little incubator experience, 
too, which has not been altogether satisfactory. We 
had first-rate luck hatching chicks under hens 
early in the season. But when one of his friends 
offered to hatch chicks at four cents apiece in 
his incubator, Joe put in 90 eggs, and gave up setting 
any more hens, thinking that if two-thirds of those 
eggs hatched, he would have chicks enough. We 
tested all the eggs with his new egg tester, which 
works like a charm, and is the only successful thing 
he has made yet, and then patiently waited. When 
the incubator chicks hatched, there were only 27 out 
of the 90 eggs, and some of those were pretty feeble, 
and succumbed within 24 hours, although he took the 
best of care of them. I could see that he was some¬ 
what disappointed, although he didn’t say much. I 
tried to console him by telling him that his bill would 
not ba very heavy at four cents apiece, but he said 
that meant four cents apiece for the eggs he put in, 
and I never said another word. But a few days later, 
when Joe came in, and said that the greater part of 
his chicks appeared to be roosters, and single combed 
at that, I concluded that it must all be on account of 
the Democratic administration. alice e. pinney. 
A cream-of-tartar baking powder. 
Highest of all in leavening strength.— 
Latest U. S. Government Food Report. 
Royal Baking Powder Co., 
106 Wall St., N. Y. 
