\ 
PRIZES! PRIZES! 
HE prizes offered on page 188 have 
been awarded as follows : 
First Prize.— Mrs. E. D. Boardman, New York. 
Second Prize.—P hebe Kuder, Ohio. 
Third Prize.—L. Robbins. Massachusetts. 
Fourth Prize.—M rs. A. R. Phillips, Ohio. 
Some of the dialogues were printed 
last week, and others will follow from 
time to time. We are now ready for the 
next contest. 
$5, $3, $2 
prizes will be given for the best short 
essays on the subject given below. They 
must be mailed before June 15. They 
must be short and pointed. The prizes 
are increased to $5 for the best, 83 for 
the second best, 82 for the third best, 
and for the next best a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion to The R. N.-Y. 
Make them short—not much over 50 lines. 
Give your own experience. 
Don’t deal in theory. 
Don’t sermonize. 
Boil it down. 
fly Best Teacher. 
What school teacher did most to help 
me form helpful habits of thought, study 
and observation ? W hy was that teacher 
successful—was it because of superior 
book knowledge or strong personality ? 
Judging from my own experience, what 
sort of a teacher and what methods of 
teaching would 1 select for my own 
children could I have the choice ? 
SPRING ECONOMIES. 
SAVING STRENGTH AND APPLES. 
ASKED one of the best housekeepers 
1 ever knew, how she managed to 
get through the housecleaning season 
with so little wear and tear. 
“ Oh ! ” she answered, “ I always clean 
around the edges first, then the rest is 
easy.” 
Taking pity on my evident bewilder¬ 
ment, she explained her words. 
“ When we have a bright, sunny day, 
not too windy but with a gentle breeze 
blowing, 1 begin to clean closets. The 
clothing is all hung out on the line, and 
the bedding spread on the piazza roof. 
The necessary sweeping and scrubbing 
are soon done, but I leave the comforters 
and clothes out till late afternoon ; the 
airing freshens them so much ! Then I 
begin the sewing I find necessary—com¬ 
forters to be rebound or covered over, 
or, perhaps, sheets and pillow cases to 
be provided. I always take advantage 
of the bargain sales in early spring, to 
buy sheeting, towels, table linen, etc.” 
“ But when you take up carpets, I 
should think that the dust would sift 
into your clean closets ! ” I objected. 
“ Oh, no ! When I am ready to do the 
heavy cleaning, 1 just hang an old sheet 
over the door to guard against any such 
danger. It has usually fallen to my lot 
to clean the cellar, too, though some¬ 
times the men get at it. We usually be¬ 
gin by sorting the apples ; the children 
help, and we have a real frolic over it. 
We wipe them all, and put the sound 
ones into clean barrels. It may sound 
like lots of work, but it pays, for we 
have apples long after our neighbors’ 
barrels are empty.” 
Good Apple Desserts. 
“ We just revel in apple desserts after 
the sorting, for the specked ones must 
be used at once. I stew enough to fill 
taste of the family), half a teaspoonful 
of cinnamon or nutmeg, and a little 
more than water enough to cover the 
apples. I cook mine in my flat-bottomed 
preserving kettle. While it is coming to 
a boil, I make a crust of biscuit dough, 
roll it out so that it will nearly cover the 
apples, put it into the kettle, cover 
tightly, and let it cook until the apples 
are tender, then turn it out on a large 
platter, and eat hot with a little butter. 
“ We are fond of apple fritters, too. 
One cupful of sweet milk, two cupfuls 
of flour, one teaspoonful of baking 
powder, two eggs, one tablespoonful of 
sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix into a 
batter, beat it well and stir into it thin 
slices of good sour apples. Drop spoon¬ 
fuls into hot lard, and fry like dough¬ 
nuts. Serve with syrup. 
“ Apple snow is a dessert fit for a king. 
To make it, I grate four large apples and 
beat them up with 1% cupful of sugar. 
Beat the whites of two eggs very stiff, 
and then beat the apple and sugar into 
them. The longer it is beaten, the nicer 
it is. One may flavor it with vanilla or 
lemon if desired, but we prefer the 
apple flavor. 
“ A delicious apple pudding is made as 
follows : One pint of flour, one-half tea- 
sponful of salt, two rounded teaspoonfuls 
of baking powder, one-quarter cupful of 
melted butter, one egg, three-quarter 
cupful of sweet milk, four sour apples 
and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Sift 
flour, salt and baking powder together, 
and rub in the butter. Beat the egg, 
mix it with the milk, and beat into the 
flour. Pare, core and cut the apples into 
eighths, and lay them in parallel rows 
on top of the dough, sharp edge down. 
Sprinkle the sugar over the apples, and 
bake 30 minutes. Serve with this sauce : 
Boil two cupfuls of water and one 
cupful of sugar together five minutes ; 
add three tablespoonfuls of corn starch 
wet up with a little cold milk, and cook 
10 minutes. Just before serving, stir in 
the grated rind and juice of a lemon, 
and one tablespoonful of butter. 
“ Dozens of recipes for using apples 
may be found in the cook-books, but 
these I have given are more unusual.” 
GILLETTE M. KIRKE. 
THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING. 
RS. M. E. W. SHERWOOD says 
that the fashionable world is in 
favor of simplicity of living. In its 
rooms and table furnishings, it is going 
back to the sternly simple colonial days, 
so as to match the growing simplicity 
of the rich gowns. We, in the West, 
years ago, held up straws and saw the 
direction of the coming breeze, took 
courage and went on with the crusade 
against luxury, trying to bring to the 
front the beauty of being a philosopher, 
and living in a tub ! But it is just like 
Kansas to overdo the thing, and a lady 
who was once one of Cleveland’s wealthy, 
fashionable women, told her landlady, 
yesterday, that she had found that she 
could go two days without any food, 
and that a five-cent loaf with a glass of 
water was luxury ! A bright, young 
minister’s wife from Nebraska, said a 
few weeks ago, that for three weeks they 
had lived on one meal each day, and that 
was bread and milk ! 
Some of the clubs in New York, I no¬ 
tice, have been discussing the question 
of gross luxury, and deploring the idea 
But, seriously, if we are about to 
emerge into an era of common sense and 
good judgment, one ought to rejoice that 
she lives in this age, especially if she is 
a housewife. 
Perhaps the hard times throughout the 
country will teach us a lesson right 
along this line of thought. Those who, 
like the minister of Nebraska, live 
simply, so that they may share with 
their neighbors, learn the lesson in a 
more beautiful way than the luxury- 
pampered millionaire who must come 
down to plain living to save his life. But 
it is true that what we, to-dav, consider 
necessities of life, our grandparents con¬ 
sidered luxuries. The poorest woman of 
America, now has comforts of which 
Queen Elizabeth never dreamed. 
Yesterday, “John” said at table, 
“Somehow, Philinda, I don’t seem to 
have had much of a dinner. Plain roast, 
baked potatoes with only salad, and 
bread and butter and sauce, don’t seem 
very ‘fillin', ’” and he peered toward the 
sideboard, into the nut-dish, and turned 
an apple and an orange to see which he 
would better take or whether both were 
not his due. 
“ No ?” I said with an interrogation 
point. “ I'm writing an article on plain 
living , John.” 
He gave a groan and peeled his orange 
in silence. The roast, the sweet and the 
white potatoes were cooked in a steel 
range that always turns out food an 
epicure might enjoy. Bread, butter, 
sauce and salad each was the best of its 
kind. He had all the fruit he wanted. 
Why did John groan ? The cook is not 
at home, and did he really wish his wife 
to spend the morning making frosted 
lemon pies, a boiled dumpling such as 
his mother used to make, a little caramel 
pudding, cheese fingers, charlotte russe, 
or an apple meringue ? 
The problem of life is not only to make 
men stronger, but woman’s life easier. 
Routine work is drudgery ; unnecessary 
work is folly ; to injure the health of 
the family is sin. We cannot do this 
and that. It must be this or that. What 
shall we leave out ? Shall we begin with 
the kitchen or the library ? Each ought 
to choose as she will wish she had chosen 
when she gets to the farther end of the 
route. MRS. C. F. WILDEK. 
KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT. 
Country wife to city husband. 
Wife : “ Why can’t we have a garden, 
same as Smith’s ? We could save lots 
of money.” 
Husband : “ We can, my dear, as good 
as Smith's or anybody’s else. What shall 
I plant ? ” 
W. : “I have some small onions ; we 
could plant those and—” 
H. : “ Bring on your onions, and I’ll 
plant them.” 
W. : “ Are you sure you know how? ” 
H. : “I ain’t a fool, if I did marry 
you.” 
H. (from garden): “Onions all planted; 
what you want ? ” 
W. (from window): “Now, Hiram, 
you have gone and planted all those 
onions wrong end up.” 
(Earth flies in all directions as Hiram 
digs out the row with both hands, and 
yells angrily) : “ Well, why didn’t you 
say so before?” mrs. j. m. t. 
THE ANGELIC HUSBAND. 
There are husbands who are pretty, 
There are husbands who are witty, 
There are husbands who in public are as smiling 
as the morn; • 
There are husbands who are healthy, 
There are famous ones and wealthy, 
But the real angelic husband—well, he’s never yet 
been born. 
Some for strength of love are noted. 
Who are really so devoted 
That whene’er their wives are absent they are 
lonesome and forlorn; 
And while now and then you’ll find one 
Who’s a really good and kind one, 
Yet the real angelic husband—oh, he’s never yet 
been born. 
So the woman who is mated 
To .a man who may be rated 
As “ pretty fair ” should cherish him forever and 
a day, 
For the real angelic creature, 
Perfect, quite, in every feature. 
He has never been discovered, and he won’t be, so 
they say. 
— T. B. Aldrich in the Boston Budget. 
CARPET NOTES. 
EW YORK CITY firms have recently 
been advertising carpets at very low 
prices, and, knowing that the American 
housewife is always interested in bar¬ 
gains, I started out to see just how facts 
compared with advertisements. I learned 
at once that the low prices were only 
temporary, resulting from local compe¬ 
tition. The regular prices, however, are 
somewhat lower than a year ago, about 
10 cents per yard less. The following 
prices were given as likely to be perma¬ 
nent : Ingrain, 50 to 75 cents ; three ply, 
85 cents; body Brussels, 90 cents to 81.25; 
velvet, 85 cents to 81.25 ; moquette, 75 
cents to 81 ; Axminster, 81 to 81-75 ; 
Royal Wilton, 81.50 to 82.25. 
Ingrains are said to be cheaper because 
they are in less favor. Ingrain designs, 
however, have been improved until they 
are as artistic as other weaves, some de¬ 
signs being called Brussels patterns. 
Ingrain rugs or “ art squares,” range in 
size from 3x2 yards to 4x5 yards. In good 
quality, all wool, they sell at prices 
which make them about 75 cents per 
yard. These rugs come cheaper, accord¬ 
ing to the amount of cotton in their 
make-up. 
The borders of Brussels and velvet car¬ 
pets are the same price per yard, as the 
carpet they match, although usually only 
five-eighths yard in width. A few bor¬ 
ders are three-fourths yard wide, the 
regular Brussels width. Darker colors 
and medium-sized figures, are now the 
preferred style. The pale, delicate tints 
are pretty when new, but usage soon 
produces an indefiniteness that makes 
them look very ordinary. 
The fashion of making up carpets into 
rugs, is on the decline. Although rugs 
are still much used, carpets are now be¬ 
ing made to cover the entire floor. The 
housekeeper has probably found on trial 
that rugs do not improve the health of 
the family sufficiently to pay for the 
extra trouble of cleaning the polished 
floors. I was shown a simple device to 
prevent rugs curling up at the corners. 
Two long steels one inch wide and 10 
inches long, are sewed at each corner 
along the edges. 
American carpets are so good now that 
they are crowding the markets abroad, 
and very few carpets are imported. 
Mattings of good quality may be had 
for 30 cents per yard, or at 25 cents when 
what empty fruit cans I have, and so 
provide something for pies in that 
dreaded ‘ between time’ when rhubarb 
and fresh apples are gone, and berries 
are yet a dream of the future. Then the 
children are very fond of apple slump— 
an old-fashioned dish, but a good one. I 
use about two quarts of pared, cored and 
quartered apples, from 1>2 to 2% cup¬ 
fuls of molasses (the quantity depends 
on the tartness of the apples and the 
that having money justifies extravagant 
living. Already, the millionaires have 
begun to eat brown bread, baked beans, 
and other simple dishes that cost only 
a few cents, and can be prepared as well 
by a common servant as a French chef, 
the change brought about either by the 
discussions or on the recommendation of 
physicians to save their patients’ lives ! 
If the latter, how like Tantalus the mil¬ 
lionaires must feel. 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
Baking 
Powder 
ABSOLUTELY PURE 
