7She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
895 
“The  Fireless  Cooker” 
By  Carlotta  Payne 
“Well.  I  vum  !  A  (ire  loss  cooker!  Si  me 
Perkins,  have  you  gone  clean,  plum 
crazy?  Here  I  sen<l  you  to  the  city  to 
get  me  a  common,  everyday  oil  stove,  so’s 
I  won’t,  die  in  the  smoke  an’  heat  of  this 
here  kitchen,  and  you  come  lugpin’  home 
a  contraption  like  that.  Well,  you  can 
just  tote  it  hack.” 
Mrs.  Perkins  stormed  noisily  about  the 
kitchen,  her  husband  venturing  but  a 
inild  remonstrance  in  defence  of  the  de¬ 
spised  cooker. 
“Now.  don't  stand  there.”  she  com¬ 
manded.  "just  go  and  hitch  up  to  the 
democrat.  If  I  want  anything  I'd  best  go 
get  it  myself,  first  oil*.  I  might  have 
know’d  better  than  to  let  Maggie,  there, 
go  with  you,  after  that  chafing-dish  thing 
she  brought  into  the  house.” 
"Why,  mother,”  cried  Madge,  “you  are 
not  going  to  take  the  cooker  back  to  the 
store,  are  you?” 
"No.  I  hain’t  ngoin'  to  take  it  back  to 
the  store.  I  don't  want  nothin’  to  do 
with  it.  I'm  goin’  to  git  an  oil  stove 
myself.”  untying  her  apron  with  a  jerk. 
"And  you  can  use  your  smartness  in  doin’ 
up  the  work.  1  ain’t  coinin’  back  till 
supper  time.” 
She  paused  as  she  was  going  out,  to 
further  reduce  her  family  to  a  sense  of 
their  incompetence,  by  pointing  to  the  of¬ 
fending  cooker. 
"You  can  git  your  dinner  on  that she 
exclaimed,  and  slammed  the  door.  Simo 
Perkins  and  his  daughter  gazed  at  one  an¬ 
other  with  different  emotions.  Conster¬ 
nation  appeared  in  the  father’s  eyes, 
amusement  in  the  daughter’s. 
"Now.  dad.”  she  cried,  "don’t  you  mind 
one  bit.  We  know  dear  mother  well 
enough  to  let  her  alone  when  she  gets 
going.  Now,  you  leave  it  all  to  me. 
Ilurvy  and  get  Sally  hooked  up,  and  just 
as  socm  as  Ma  is  gone  we’ll  get  busy.-’ 
All  Spring  t ho  chimney  had  acted  badly 
until  it  was  impossible  to  light  a  lire 
without  filling  the  house  with  smoke. 
.Mis.  Perkins’  patience,  never  remarkable 
for  its  endurance,  was  utterly  worn  out. 
There  was  hut  one  thing  to  do — repair 
the  chimney.  But  in  the  meantime  cook¬ 
ing  had  to  he  done,  so  she  decided  on  the 
oil  stove.  Never  having  had  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  cooking  lectures  and  demon¬ 
strations.  such  as  had  been  her  daugh¬ 
ter’s  privilege  at  school,  you  can  hardly 
blame  her  for  being  disgusted  and  dis¬ 
appointed  at  so  inefficient  appearing  an 
apparatus  as  a  tireless  cooker. 
As  soon  as  the  democrat  rattled  out  of 
the  yard,  bearing  the  indignant  woman. 
Madge  and  her  father  fell  to  work  with  a 
vim.  A  lire  was  quickly  in  progress  and 
the  kitchen  soon  filled  with  smoke  and 
heat.  but  Madge  struggled  bravely 
through,  preparing  the  new  cooker  and 
the  things  to  go  into  it. 
“I'll  get  the  roast  ready,  and  the  vege¬ 
tables.  And.  dad.  be  sure  you  put  those 
heaters  on  the  front  of  the  stove.  Don’t 
fill  the  fire  so  full,  we  won’t  want  it 
long.” 
Like  two  children  father  and  daughter 
worked  together,  chuckling  now  and  then 
over  what  "mother  would  say.” 
When  all  was  done,  and  the  late  after¬ 
noon  sun  lighting  up  the  big,  comfortable 
kitchen.  Madge  looked  about  her  with 
satisfaction.  The  oilcloth  covered  floor, 
the  table  with  its  white  cloth,  and  a  big 
bowl  of  June  roses  in  the  middle,  inviting¬ 
ly  set  for  dinner;  the  newly  blackened 
range,  on  which  sat  the  chafing  dish  lamp 
with  a  tea  kettle  steaming  promisingly, 
and  the  fireless  cooker,  very  iuuocent 
and  quiet  looking,  all  combined  in  form¬ 
ing  a  very  cool,  “homey”  picture,  as 
Madge  called  it. 
About  six  o'clock  the  familiar  rattle  of 
the  light  wagon  was  heard. 
“There  comes  mother.”  cried  Madge, 
running  to  the  door.  “Well,  mother,  are 
you  pretty  tired?” 
“Oh,  yes,  I  be.  Where’s  your  pa? 
Here.  Si  me,  get  some  of  the  boys  an’  git 
this  here  stove  into  (he  house.” 
“Oh.  ye  got  it.  did  ye.  Mari’?  Well, 
now,  that’s  a  putty  good  lookin’  stove. 
S’posc  ye  know  how  to  run  it?” 
“Now,  you  just  run  along,  an’  git.  it 
into  the  house.  Of  course  I  know  how  to 
run  it,  which  is  move  than  I  could  say  for 
you  if  I’d  sent  you  to  learn  how.” 
Mrs.  Perkins,  tired,  hot,  but  thoroughly 
well  satisfied  with  herself,  climbed  out  of 
the  vehicle,  ignoring  her  husband’s  prof¬ 
fered  help,  and  entered  the  kitchen. 
Taking  off  her  bonnet  and  cape,  she  sank 
into  the  old  rocker. 
“Oh,  it’s  good  to  git  home.  I  wish  that 
there  stove  was  set  up  an’  rmmin’,  I’m 
clean  about  done  up.  I  stepped  in  at  Mis’ 
Dudley’s,  but  laud  sakes,  she  don’t  know 
how  to  make  tea.  an’  lives  out’n  the  bake 
shop,  mostly.  I'm  most  dead  for  a  cup  o’ 
tea.  Why,  wliat’s  this?” 
“Como,  mother,”  laughed  Madge,  as  she 
assisted  her  parent  to  her  feet.  “You 
come  right  along  and  sit  down  at  the 
table,  as  soon  as  you  have  washed  the 
dust  from  your  hands  and  face,  and  I’ll 
get  you  the  nicest  cup  of  tea  you  ever 
had.” 
Glancing  disdainfully  at  the  lamp  un¬ 
der  the  steaming  tea  kettle,  Mrs.  Perkins 
obeyed. 
Madge  quickly  made  the  tea,  then,  lift¬ 
ing  the  cover  of  the  tireless  cooker,  took 
out  first  the  roast  of  beef,  steaming  and 
browned  to  a  turn,  then  a  dish  of  tender 
string  beans,  and  another  of  scalloped  po¬ 
tatoes.  followed  by  a  rice  pudding  and 
baked  custard. 
Mrs.  Perkins  looked  on  in  amazement. 
"Ye  don't  mean  to  toll  me  ye  cooked  all 
them  things  in  that  there  tireless  thing, 
do  ye?” 
"Yes,  mother,  that’s  just  what  I  mean 
to  say,”  replied  Madge,  placing  a  cup  of 
delicious  tea  at  her  mother's  plate.  “Isn’t 
that  perfectly  lovely?  And  now  you  have 
the  oil  stove,  they  can  work  together,  for, 
of  course,  you  have  to  start  things  on  the 
fire,  you  know,  then  put  them  in  the 
cooker.  Well,  what  do  you  say?” 
Simo  looked  on,  enjoying  the  situation. 
"Well,  Maggie,  all  1  got  to  say  is,  it  do 
beat  all.  And  I  guess  we'll  keep  the 
cooker.”  Then,  catching  Sime's  look  of 
triumph,  she  added;  “Just  the  same  I’m 
glad  I  went  into  town  myself  an’  got  the 
hang  of  that  there  oil  stove,  ’cause  I’d 
never  trust  no  man  to  run  it.” 
Eradicating  Foul  Odor 
What  do  you  know  about  how  to  erad¬ 
icate  the  odor  that  comes  into  an  upper 
room  evidently  through  cracks  and  crev¬ 
ices  around  mop  board,  and  probably  from 
rats  that  may  have  died  between  floor  of 
upper  room  and  ceiling  of  lower?  a.  s. 
New  York. 
I  think  the  only  way  to  eradicate  this 
odor  is  to  take  up  the  floor  and  remove 
the  dead  carcasses.  If  dead  animals  the 
size  of  rats  were  allowed  to  remain  be¬ 
neath  the  floors  until  the  forms  were  en¬ 
tirely  wasted  the  disagreeable  odor  would 
last  for  months,  and  this  would  certainly 
be  a  very  unhealthfnl  condition. 
If  sure  that  the  odor  comes  from  dead 
bodies  no  deodorants  or  gaseous  disinfec¬ 
tants  would  help  the  situation.  However, 
if  the  cause  of  the  trouble  is  not  definitely 
known,  I  would  advise  that  a  gaseous  dis¬ 
infectant.  such  as  sulphur  dioxide  or  for¬ 
maldehyde,  or  a  deodorant  such  as  char¬ 
coal.  burning  coffee  or  hu ruing  tar  he 
tried  in  the  room.  If  the  odor  remains 
after  using  any  of  these,  I  think  the  only 
effective  thing  to  do  is  to  take,  up  the  floor 
and  remove  the  dead  bodies.  \  happen  to 
know  of  only  one  case  where  similar 
trouble  had  to  be  remedied  by  removing 
the  floor.  The  workman  allowed  his  sense 
of  smell  to  guide  him,  and  it  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  remove  only  a  small  part  of  the 
flooring  until  he  discovered  two  large  rat 
carcasses.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
odor  vanished  after  their  removal. 
.\f.  A  NX  A  1IAUSEB. 
Advice  for  School  Janitor 
If  that  school  janitor,  page  628.  will 
buy  a  good  hair  broom,  she  will  get  some¬ 
thing  that  will  take  the  dust  off  the  floor, 
with  a  great  deal  less  sweeping  than  the 
regular  broom.  For  oilcloth  and  bare 
floors  they  cannot  be  beaten,  but  she 
must  see  that  she  buys  one  with  plenty 
of  hair  on  each  end  so  as  to  clean  out  the 
corn  era  The  grass  ones  are  not  so  bad, 
but  they  are  not  filled  out  enough  on  the 
ends,  so  as  to  reach  corners;  otherwise 
they  arc  better  than  a  hair  broom.  I 
do  not  see  why  Americans  do  not  use 
these  brooms  more;  they  arc  far  superior 
to  the  others;  for  sidewalks  too.  How 
clean  they  sweep,  and  less  work  too. 
Over  on  the  other  side  we  use  the  broom 
that  is  used  here  for  carpets  only,  and 
of  course  that  is  all  it  is  fit  for,  for  they 
only  trail  over  the  dirt  and  give  plenty 
of  dust.  JIKS.  A.  K. 
Women  need  nerve.  They  need  nerve, 
not.  more  than  anything  else,  hut  to  en¬ 
able  them  t<»  get  everything  else.  They 
need  the  nerve  to  jolt  men.  Men  need  to 
he  jolted.  Men  forget.  Men  seldom  for¬ 
get  themselves,  but  they  sometimes  forget 
women.  Men  will  forget  women  until  the 
crack  of  doom  unless  women  jolt  them 
into  recollection.  Mrs.  Julius  Ca*s>ir,  if 
she  were  to  come  back  here,  would  be 
perfectly  familiar  with  existing  methods 
of  doing  housework.  She  could  wash  and 
iron  by  hand,  just  as  she  used  to  wash 
and  iron  by  hand  before  her  husband 
went  into  politics  and  told  her  to  hire  a 
girl.  But  if  Mr.  Julius  Csesar  wore  to 
'■oine  back  here.  In*  could  not  run  even  a 
brewer}  motor-truek  to  save  his  life. 
That  is  taken  from  an  old  article  in 
Hood  II oust  /,  / ( iiint).  Bead  it  carefully. 
This  is  the  sort  of  article  which  should 
be  read  with  some  allowance  and  judg¬ 
ment.  It  is  meant  to  make  people  think 
rather  than  to  be  taken  literally.  No 
one  advises  you  to  take  a  stick  and  jolt 
your  husband  with  it,  blit  you  may  both 
stop  and  think  it  over  and  I  hen  ask  fair¬ 
ly  if  he  has  forgotten  you.  If  he  lias 
provided  himself  with  what  lie  needs  to 
make  his  own  work  most  efficient  and  has 
not  given  you  an  equal  benefit  in  useful 
machinery  lie  has  forgotten  you  and  it  is 
high  time  he  understood  it,  and  proceed¬ 
ed  to  remember! 
The  Old-fashioned  Business  of  Sheep  Husbandry 
When  you  write  advertisers  mention 
The  Rural  New-Yorker  and  you’ll  get 
a  quick  reply  and  a  “ square  deal.”  See 
guarantee  editorial  page. 
A 
Prevent  House  Flies 
Those  carriers  of  Typhoid  and 
other  Dangerous  Diseases 
The  United  States  Depart¬ 
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No.  1 18)  recommends  Borax  as 
the  most  effective  substance 
in  preventing  the  hatching 
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The  fly  lays  its  eggs  in  gar¬ 
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20  Mule  Team  Borax 
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DIRECTIONS 
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a  fine  sieve  or  tlour  iiifter.  Apply  in 
the  same  way  ID 
ounces  of  20  Muie 
Team  Borax  to  8 
bushels  of  fresh  ma¬ 
nure  and  sprinkle 
with  2  or  3  gallons  of 
water. 
For  Sale 
by  Ail  Dealers  tj 
—Si 
Comfort  Moor  Closet 
Odorless.  Sanitary,  Germ-proof.  Can 
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SWAT  FLY  BREEDING  PRIVY 
Have  city  Cwivtnicncos.  Germ-life  lulled 
iiislimlly  by  rhemieals.  Emptied  Oneo  a 
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Afculs  n«m  t-.l  delusive  territory . 
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