We have been advocating that men should try their 
hands in the domestic field, and it is very gratifying 
to hear from those who have invaded (?) the domestic 
realm. The Chief Cook cordially extends an invita¬ 
tion to any masculine mind to offer suggestions on 
household matters. Especially do we desire to hear 
from those who can give a practical experience in 
some line, whether he be a hero of the tubs, or the 
planner of a pie. « , , 
« € « 
□ A UNIQUE feature of woman in politics was illus¬ 
trated recently in a Western State. The enterprising 
lady was a candidate for the nomination of Superin¬ 
tendent of Schools. The other two candidates were 
gentlemen, and her chance for success, seemingly, was 
small. She disposed of one of the candidates, as the 
paper states “ by making herself solid ” with the 
Young Men’s League of the party, although we are 
not to understand from the phrase, that she employed 
the methods of the ordinary politician. She then de¬ 
manded of the other candidate that he surrender. He 
agreed on condition that, if elected, she would appoint 
him her deputy, and marry him. The arrangement 
was concluded on those terms, and the gentleman 
agreed to stump the State for her. As he is a power¬ 
ful speaker, the lady’s chances seem bright. Surely 
the opponents of woman’s suffrage will admire such 
thoroughly feminine tactics. How much better for 
the community, to have political differences pleasantly 
settled by a wedding, rather than a libel suit, as so 
frequently happens when the contestants are men. 
? § § 
Housekeeping may be a delightful pursuit, when it 
is engaged in as a sort of pastime. To many, it is a 
drudgery. What are the conditions which transform 
a pleasant occupation into drudgery ? Worry and 
overwork are the principal causes. We think our 
lives are narrow, and we fret at our lot. None of us 
needs to live in a house without windows. When our 
work confines us within four walls, it is our own fault 
if we do not look outside at the green fields, and blue 
skies. The narrowness is in our own souls, when we 
look at the work of our hands, and think that our life 
does not extend beyond that. Overwork is a sin 
against one’s own body and soul. There are people 
enough in the world to do all the work, and yet leave 
time enough that each one may have leisure. But 
many art idle and others overworked. Stop doing 
more than your share of work and take your share of 
rest, and the idle ones and the surplus work will com¬ 
bine sooner or later ; never mind when, so long as you 
are doing your duty and not preventing others from 
doing theirs. _ 
GRANDMA PEARSON'S WAY OF WASHING. 
GOOD deal has been said in The Rurau lately, 
about the best way of doing the family wash¬ 
ing ; but none of them has hit upon my way yet,” 
said Grandma Pearson, as she pressed between her 
thumb and finger the worn place in the stocking she 
had been darning. “ You know,” she continued, “that 
the old song says, ‘ The best of all ways to lengthen 
our day, is to steal a few hours from the night, my 
dear.’ That is all very well, but it has been my ex¬ 
perience that a few hours stolen from the morning 
are a wonderful help on wash day. As has been stated 
by others, wash day is a terror, because there are so 
many things to be done at once, especially if there are 
small children in the family, who must be attended to 
at the proper time, and there is no one but mother to 
do everything. It is no wonder she becomes nervous, 
irritable, and grows to dread washing until it becomes 
a mental as well as physical strain upon her. I know 
whereof I speak, because I have passed through it,” 
said Grandma Pearson, with a sort of far-away look as 
if she were again enacting the busy days of earlier 
years. “ No, I do not count myself a specially strong 
person, and yet 1 managed to do the family washing 
with only an occasional exception, when it was done 
by a washerwoman. And so I say that doing the wash¬ 
ing need not break down the health, if it is well man¬ 
aged, even if one has no washing machine, and there 
is no man available to do all the tub lifting, emptying 
water, etc. The old adage which says, ‘ Wherever 
there’s a will, there’s a way,’ has been modernized to 
‘ Wherever there’s a will, there’s a woman.' Now, if a 
wom'in wishes to manage her washing, and be master 
of the situation, the first thing she must do is to have 
will enough, that is, be woman enough, to have things 
conveniently arranged for work. She need not run 
wild about all the modern improvements she would 
have, and dream in a Utopian way of how she would 
do, if she could control circumstances. But, accepting 
the limitations of her surroundings, she can set about 
removing the most grievous hindrances, and work 
towards a higher standard of doing even the every-day 
work. 
“The first essential, according to my mind, is a good 
large cistern; the cistern pump must be in the 
kitchen, and there must be a sink with a drain pipe to 
carry away the waste water. This obviates any carry¬ 
ing of water. It is like living 100 years behind the 
times, to put up with the old way of running out-of- 
doors for every bucket of rain water. Things are not 
done in this old-fashioned way in the field nowadays. 
You never see a man with a sickle—nor the old horse¬ 
power thrashing machine; men find that it is more 
satisfactory to have machinery than muscle to do their 
work. Why not in the house, as well ? Women 
should study the subject of plumbing and understand 
just what ought to be done, then have it done. Thej 
can well afford to do without a new bonnet for two or 
three seasons, and make the old dress do double, 
treble duty. Nor is it wise to save and save to no pur¬ 
pose on their own account. I say to every woman, do 
not pride yourself upon what you have been able to 
save by denying yourself this or that pleasure ; but, 
take pleasure in what you have accomplished by self- 
denial and good management. Rejoice in the progress 
made, so that life means more than being alive, and 
able to drudge. 
“ No, there wasn’t any cistern here when we first 
bought the place, but I soon had things as I wanted 
them, and that is the reason I could do my work, and 
washing, and everything that was done. When the 
children were little, I got up at four o’clock in the 
morning and had the bulk of the washing done be¬ 
fore breakfast. It is surprising how much easier it is 
to do the washing when there are no distracting out¬ 
side infiuences. I made the fire and general prepara¬ 
tions for washing, and while the water was heating, 
I toasted myself a slice of bread, boiled or poached an 
egg, and made a cup of ‘ French ’ coffee. This I en¬ 
joyed, even if I had to eat it alone, and it took only 
a few minutes to prepare it. 
“ Of course I began in the old way—wash through 
two suds, then boil, etc.—but I soon, very soon, found 
that I could make the clothes wash themselves. I 
have tried, in my time, a good many washing fiuids, 
and various brands of soap—borax, ammonia, kero¬ 
sene, etc.—but have come to the conclusion that there 
is nothing quite so good for cleansing clothes, as plen¬ 
ty of any kind of good soap and gasoline. One must 
never bring the gasoline close to a fiame or pour it 
into boiling water. About half a teacupful of gaso¬ 
line to a boiler of clothes. I cut the soap into small 
pieces, put it into a kettle, cover with water, and set 
on the stove to melt. This I afterwards pour into the 
boiler, which is half full or more, of rain water. 
“ I put the gasoline into a tub, perhaps a third or 
more full of luke-warm water, into which I put the 
soiled clothes ; after they are thoroughly saturated, I 
put them into the boiler and let them boil 15 or 20 
minutes, stirring them every few minutes. It is much 
easier than rubbing on the old washboard, or work¬ 
ing a machine. I welcome anything which threatens 
the extinction of the old-fashioned washboard, the 
‘ wash through two suds,’ etc., method; and washing 
fluids are working along this line. 
“I use now, with great satisfaction, a fluid pre¬ 
pared from one pound of Babbit’s potash, dissolved in 
one-half gallon of water, to which is added one ounce 
each of muriate of ammonia and salts of tartar. It 
must be kept in glass ; a half cup to a boiler of clothes 
is sufficient. I do not think of using a washboard at 
all—I rub wristbands, collars, etc., with my hands if 
they are not perfectly clean, but just a trifle of rub¬ 
bing is sufficient. I have found that it is much easier 
to do large washings which are made up of clothes not 
so badly soiled, than to do a email washing when the 
clothes are very much soiled, so I advocate a free use 
of clean towels, and more frequent changing of cloth¬ 
ing. It seems as though it were making more work 
for the poor housewife, but it is really an advantage 
to her. This way does not 
need to make extra iron¬ 
ing. It is surprising how 
many things may be put 
away, fresh from the line, 
if neatly folded at once. 
“ After the clothes are 
boiled, I lift them from the 
boiler to a tub of rain 
water, slightly blue, rinse 
them as thoroughly as pos¬ 
sible, and wring them from 
this water into the rins3 
and blue water proper. 
After they are rinsed and wrung, they are ready for 
the line, except those which need starching. Of course, 
one must have a wringer. I have one which is wringer 
and washbench combined. There is no screwing and 
unscrewing the wringer to the tub, but it is arranged 
so that I can wring from either tub, by simply chang¬ 
ing the water slide from one side of the wringer to the 
other. 
“ Instead of finding it wearing, I have found it in¬ 
vigorating to g et up early—especially in the summer 
or early spring. I do not suppose that I could get up 
so early every morning, but once a week never caused 
nervous exhaustion. I came to enjoy Monday morn¬ 
ing, because I felt that I deserved some recreation 
after the washing was finished, and I always had a 
good book on hand which I enjoyed reading and which 
I read, even if there was mending or some other work 
waiting to be done. I just had a good time, after my 
work was done—a sort of a holiday for two hours, on 
washday ! 
“ I have felt as if I would like to act as missionary 
to some of my neighbors, who still plod along in the 
old way, taking the best part of the day to do their 
washing, and they are so tired when night comes. I 
wish some woman would take courage and try my 
way, by beginning at four o’clock in the morning, and 
then make the clothes wash themselves.” 
MRS. W. A. KELLERMAN. 
THE POSSIBILITIES IN A FARM HOME. 
HE lot of the farmer’s wife is often looked upon 
as one of hardships and self-sacrifices; and 
this it may be, if she fails to know how, or does not 
make any effort to have things other than bare and 
uncomfortable, or has no one who is interested in her 
welfare and happiness. But, given a good farm and 
a little taste, skill and love for the work, and that farm 
may become a delightful home, even though wealth 
never comes near to bless or mar. 
The reader may, perhaps, have read the story of the 
family who wished to sell their farm 1 They employed 
an agent to look over the place, and write a fine de¬ 
scription of it to be printed. A friend met the man 
soon after, and inquired if they had sold their farm. 
He said, “ No.” After they had read the description 
which the agent had written, and found what an at¬ 
tractive, valuable and delightful place it was, they 
concluded that if it was so desirable, they would bet¬ 
ter keep it. Many of us are just as absard. We sigh 
for the may-bes and the^ might-have-beens, and do not 
stop to count the blessings, pleasures and luxuries of 
the present. For fear of joining that numerous class 
myself, and also in the hope of preventing some tired 
one from joining them, I will count up some of my 
luxuries, though they may be only such as may easily 
be enjoyed on almost any farm in this climate. 
While talking with a lady in the city one day, whose 
home I had never seen, I mentioned my rose bed 
which had given me such a wealth of blooms the past 
season. She remarked how lovely it must be, but 
that she had no room for roses, and such a tiny home. 
Why, it seems as if I could not breathe where there 
was no room for roses. My rose bed, which represents 
a very small investment of capital and room, but a 
larger investment of time and care, has been a great 
and increasing pleasure to me; for my roses bloom 
early in June, and there is no day after then till severe 
frosts come, that I cannot have a rose for the picking, 
and sometimes a great many of them. 
Over the hills just back of the barn, where the land 
gently slopes to the west, springs flow out all along 
the slope, and a graceful steel tower bears the wheel 
of the windmill. The overflow of springs and wells is 
run into a small basin forming a fine fish pond, which 
is not only plentifully stocked with carp, but bears on 
its bosom the largest and finest pond lilies that I have 
ever seen. Looking westward from the top of the 
hill, they shine like stars, in the morning sunshine. 
I know that some of my city friends would be glad to 
pick even one, and would not ask to have an armful. 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
AB^LUTEEV PURE 
