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MINTWOOITS CONVERSAZIONE. 
Infant's Boot—Crochet. 
Materials for a pair: — Beven-eighth 
ounce white, and a few skeins colored Berlin 
wool; bone crochet-hook No. 13 (bell gauge.) 
Make a chain of twenty-six stitches. Work 
on one side only. The first and second rows 
are in double stitch, always working through 
both the threads of the stitches of the pre¬ 
ceding row; third row likewise in double, 
but working alternately once in the nearest 
two threads of the stitches in the preceding 
row, and once in the middle in the following 
stitch of the first row, so that a little kind 
of double - thread strap is formed 
upon the stitch lying over it in the 
preceding row. Repeat alternately 
the second and third rows, revers¬ 
ing the strap stitches, as shown in 
the proper size in Figure 3. 
When eight pattern stripes are 
worked, leave the last fourteen 
stitches of the preceding row for 
the leg, and work two pattern 
stripes (four rows) and decrease 
one stitch in the second aud fourth 
rows on the same side (that of the 
front opening ; for this the stitcli is 
passed over. 
After this, work another piece in 
exactly the opposite direction, for 
the side, back and leg of Ihe boot. 
For this, you must begin with the 
short rows, and work towards the 
back. Then join both parts in work¬ 
ing the instep—that is, crochet over 
both parts together five more pat¬ 
tern stripes, and decrease one stitch 
in the middle of each row. The 
sole is worked in double stitches, 
forwards and backwards, always 
working in the whole stitch. For 
this, white wool is taken. Begin at 
the point with nine stitches, which, 
by increasing at both the outer edges, are, in 
the next five rows, increased to thirteen; 
work in these seven more rows, and in the 
next five rows decrease to eight stitches; 
then five rows, without increasing or de¬ 
creasing. Now increase two stitches, work 
five rows, and then finish the sole with three 
more rows, decreasing in the first and last. 
Crochet round the under edge of the boot 
one row of double, and one strap row, (botli 
with colored wool;) then sew on the solo. 
Crochet a row of double, with colored wool, 
(deep red) round the upper edge and front 
opening. A rod scallop row inside, falling 
back upon the boot, closes it. This is worked 
separately, In the following manner:—* four 
chain In the second of tliese; one double in 
the first of these; one treble. Repeat from 
* until the scallop line Is long enough. Sew 
on this trimming, first fit its straight edge, 
and then fasten eacii separate scallop by a 
raised little knot of filoselle. 
Put a woolen cord of crochet over the 
opening, with tassels at the ends, and cover 
the opening from the inside with a separate¬ 
ly worked tongue, sewn on underneath. This 
is worked with white wool, in rows running 
crosswise; one row is knitted, and one ported, 
so that the side which appears like a plain 
stocking is uppermost. A row of double 
crochet of red wool finishes the upper edge 
of this part. 
Boy's Dress. 
Material, dark blue cloth, braided with 
black or white braid. There are two lap¬ 
pets from the belt at the back to match 
those at each side. The back of the waist 
and the skirt are laid in flat kilt plaits, fas¬ 
tened down nearly the entire length to keep 
them in place. Blue, brown or black vel¬ 
veteen. 
Dress Hleeve. 
This style can be made in any plain goods, 
with piping and bow of satin, gros-grain 
silk or velvet. The frill at the wrist is 
a fine plaiting of white organdy, edged with 
valencienne. 
“Wash Stand Cornice.” 
“ Daisy ” whites, “ Please tell me through 
the Rural New-Yorker if ‘ Whittemore’s 
Washstand Cornice’ is really beautiful. I 
liked the look of it on paper and wauted it 
for my new home, but some one told me I 
would regret it if I sent.” The cornice you 
refer to i9 not only very neat aud attractive 
in its appearance, but combines use and 
beauty in a way to make it desirable for new 
houses and old ones. I do not think you 
would regret sending for it. I was informed 
at Lord & Taylor’s that the demand for 
them at that establishment is very great aud 
constantly increasing— tide advertisement, 
matters of Etiquette. 
A “ School Girl" writes:—“ 1st. Is it im¬ 
proper to speak to gentlemen schoolmates 
without an introduction, when you know 
who they are, aud know that they know who 
you are?” [No.] 
“ 3d. Is it proper to ask a gentleman to 
come in and sit a while when he has accom¬ 
panied you home from an evening's enter¬ 
tainment?” [Bee reply to “ Ignorance” in 
Rural of Nov. 30th. If the hour is late, 
however, it furnishes good reason for not ex¬ 
tending such an invitation. It is a mere 
matter of etiquette, however, as gentlemen 
are rarely supposed to aggravate the lateness 
of the hour by accepting.] 
“ 3d, and hist. Should you thank a gen¬ 
tleman for his company after attending a 
lecture or entertainment of any kind with 
him?” [Most certainly. An expression of 
thanks or appreciation, for favors or enjoy¬ 
ments received, is always right and proper.] 
Economy. —The sample you inclose is ve¬ 
lours. If of gray, trim it with folds of the 
same, piped with black. If of black, trim 
with the same, and wear with lavender rib¬ 
bons at the throat and in head adornment. 
“ Do children and women wear stockings to 
match their dresses ?" Some do, and some 
do not; it is a matter of taste. Women 
beings, after arriving at the age of teens, 
possess conscience, intelligence and judg¬ 
ment enough to decide, in a general way, 
Fig. 1.—Infant’s Boot Crochet. 
generally prefer white stockings, although 
very handsome ones in colors are in the 
shops. For boys, the plaid or striped stock¬ 
ings are particularly pretty with the short 
pants. 
Girin lu Public Ball-Rooms. 
I never should have ventured to enter 
Upon such debatable ground, if I had not 
been appealed to by Ritual “mothers” to 
do so. Of the propriety of dancing, I have 
nothing to offer. It is only when girls fre¬ 
quent public places, dancing until late at 
night, or until early in the morning, and 
Fig. 2 — Crochet. 
that, too, with promiscuous persons, that I 
venture to put in a plea against it, and beg 
the Rural reading girls to look well at the 
matter in this time of Lightened social fes¬ 
tivities. If what the bed society decrees is 
considered of any importance, here it, is; a 
public ball-room is no place for a true lady ; 
the elite at select gatherings rarely remain to 
dance after midnight; waltzes (round dances) 
are not indulged In. 
Any amusement or recreation, carried to 
excess, is pernicious in its effect or result. 
Whatever tends to nobly develop the social 
Boy’s Dress. 
elements of individuals should be culti¬ 
vated. Whatever girls can do or enjoy in a 
social way, that contributes to tbeir awn hap¬ 
piness, and that of others, leaving them 
morally and spiritually better, instead of the 
reverse, that they should do. I believe in 
cultivating an early habit of self-reliance and 
self-judgment in matters pertaining to one’s 
self. So, too, I believe that most human 
Dress St.eewe. 
what does them harm or good, if they will 
cultivate thorough introspection; think, feel, 
analyze experiences aud weigh results. So, 
if the Rural daughters will deal with them- 
selves honestly, they can decide for themselves, 
better than I or any oilier person can for 
them, whether the moral atmosphere of ball¬ 
rooms or similar places of amusement, lends 
to their sweetest, purest and best develop¬ 
ment. 
Be >toine- lijctlr. 
m ~ ' ' ‘ 
MEASLY SWINE, 
In the Rural New-Yorker of Decem¬ 
ber 17th, II. Hunter Spindle makes in¬ 
quiries about measles in swine, giving a 
description of a hog raised upon Ins father’s 
farm. From his statements, I have no doubt 
it was the disease known as measles among 
swine. This disease has occasionally been 
found among hogs in this section, but. lias 
not been very prevalent. Some years ago a 
farmer in an adjoining town slaughtered four 
large hogs; upon removing their intestines, 
all were found to be measly. Of course, he 
could not sell them, and did not dare to salt 
the pork for family use. Bo, to make the 
most of them, the fatty portions were tried 
out into lard, which was put into nice fir¬ 
kins and sent to Boston, and sold at the then 
highest price of good lard. The other por¬ 
tions were boiled in ley, the fat of which was 
used for soap grease. 
Mr. S. says the hog ‘‘upon being opened, 
all the fluid in every part was intermingled 
with numberless little sacs containing watery 
matter, in the water of which was a small 
white, solid ball about the size of bird shot.” 
These pustules, or tumors are usually found 
more largely in the throat aud in the lean 
meat of the shoulders. In had eases they 
are found in the lean portions in every part 
of the hog. As far as my observations ex¬ 
tend, in bad cases the shoulders appear to 
be much enlarged, in contrast with the hind 
part of the animal. 
Some persons say that, the measles do not 
injure the meat for family use. It may be 
so, but I would sooner dine on well pre¬ 
served rattlesnakes than on measly pork, or 
that affected with triehinia*. 
The smoking of measly pork will not 
probably kill the measles or trichiniie ; but 
if thoroughly boiled or fried, it would seem 
as if it must give these parishes their quietus. 
I have seen measly pork fried, and it kept 
up, while over the fire, a continual snapping, 
similar to that of popping corn. 
In a lecture by Prof. Sm on os of England, 
at the weekly meeting of the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society, In April, 1804, on the natural 
history of parasites affecting the internal 
parts of the bodies of animals, he tells us 
how the tape-worm is introduced into the 
intestines of man—viz.: by his eating measly 
pork. After describing several kinds of para¬ 
sites, he said: —“ Next came, the Uydatis guI~ 
lulosai, so called, because it lays in the cellu¬ 
lar tissues, which collected the muscles to¬ 
gether in different parts of the body. It 
was this Uydatis which produced that pecu¬ 
liar condition in the flesh of the pig which 
was known as ‘ measly flesh,’ an affection to 
which not only the attention of naturalists, 
physiologists and pathologists, but the gov¬ 
ernment, was called during the Crimean 
war, because it was found that large quanti¬ 
ties of measly pork were being exported to 
supply our troops, Ibe use of which must 
have resulted in producing tajje-'Worms tit the 
intestines of those who ate it " 
The foregoing seems to be a roundabout 
way of rearing tape-worms, but, doubtless, it 
is the method nature takes to propagate this 
loathsome parasite. Those who read this 
paper, and believe Prof. 3. is correct in bis 
views, will probably abstain from eating 
-measly pork in any form and under all cir¬ 
cumstances, if they are aware of the diseased 
state of the pork&r when slaughtered. 
A few years a.»o Josh Billings published 
an essay on swine, saying:—“Hogs never 
have any disease but the measles, and they 
never have that hut once; once seems to 
satisfy them.” Josn is behind the times if 
he has not yet learned that besides the 
measles, the hog is subject to the Western 
Cholera and Trickiniue, either of which is 
as bad for them, if not worse, than the 
measles. Levi Bartlett. 
Warner, N. H. 
0nustix (Earnamp. 
DOMESTIC CHIT-CHAT. 
A Home-Made Screen. 
In these days of kerosene there is great 
danger of injuring the eyes by neglecting to 
use a shade. No one should sit. by a kero¬ 
sene light, or, indeed, any other, without 
some protection for the eyes. A piece of 
brown paper pinned about, the chimney is 
better than nothing, though it will soon 
scorch, if the blaze is very high. A good 
shade, made of tin, with lids, to be raised or 
lowered at pleasure, can be obtained for 
twenty-five cents. We have used one of 
these for some months, and find it good and 
durable. Very pretty shades may be cut 
from brjstol board, in various patterns, but 
the board should he that prepared for the 
purpose, having a layer of black paper be¬ 
tween the white, in order to prevent the 
light from shining through. If the pattern 
is very open, thin silk paper should he pasted 
on Ihe inside of the shade. The different 
parts of the shade are sometimes fastened 
together with narrow taste, which gives it a 
neat finish. Porcelain shadow give a soft, 
agreeable light, and make the room pleas¬ 
anter than do the tin. It is better for the 
eyes, if one does not care to read or work, to 
sit entirely away from the light. 
Last winter I made a screen, which has 
been very useful when I did not care to see. 
I found two large picture frames, and fas¬ 
tened them together at the sides by means 
of some small hinges, so that niy frame, fix¬ 
ed in this manner, would stand up some¬ 
thing like the old-fashioned clothes bars; 
then I cut some paper cambric the size of 
A LAMP shade. 
my frames, and upon one side of each piece 
I pasted small pictures; they look best to lie 
uniform, and some attention should be paid 
to the order and shape. Mine are small 
colored oil lithographs—views on the Hud¬ 
son. I pasted the edge of the cambric on 
the frames, varnished the whole, inside and 
out, witli white varnish, which does not in¬ 
jure the pictures in the least, and my screen 
was completed. We have used it almost 
every evening since, aud find it very agree¬ 
able. It. can he placed about the lamp so 
as to shade nearly the whole room, or any 
part of it. Of course, the screen does not. 
take the place of a shade, as it does not 
throw the light down, but I think it is quite 
as convenient. It may be used, also, ns a 
fire screen, provided the frames are large 
enough.—A. Zalia. 
A very convenient ami pretty lampshade 
may be made like the accompanying illus¬ 
tration. A perpendicular standard, with a 
cross bar near the top, forms the framework. 
The banner or screen, is attached to the 
cross piece, and may he made us elaborately 
as one wishes. Some dark, thick cloth 
should always be placed between the two 
1 outside covers. The side not exposed to the 
lamp may he of embroidered canvas or silk, 
bound with cord and ornamented with pen¬ 
dants. 
L T i>fermented Bread. 
Beechwood sends us her recipe, which 
she asserts “ is an improvement” on the one 
given la the Rural New-Yorker of No¬ 
vember 6th. Hear her:—“Take the iron 
bread pans now in use, and which can be 
obtained at almost any hardware store; or 
if not obtainable, common patty tins will 
do; saturate a clean cloth with oil or butter, 
witli which mb the iron or tins, and set 
them on the stone to heat; then take sweet 
skim milk (not more than twenty-four hours 
old) warmed to the temperature of new 
milk, or warm water, with two spoonfuls of 
cream to one pint of water, and stir in fine 
flour until you have a batter, a very little 
thicker than for griddle cakes; or if un¬ 
bolted flour (which is much better) is used, 
until it will heap up slightly on the spoon ; 
heat your dishes so that they will siss when 
the batter is put in, and have your oven 
well heated until the cakes are puffed up 
and lightiy browned. Then close the draft 
and hake slowly for fifteen or twenty min¬ 
utes, and you will have' unfermented bread’ 
that Is free from salts and acids, and that is 
good enough for a king.” 
Wheat Floor Cracker*. 
Ingredients: — One quart of flour, four 
ounces of butler or lard, half a teaspoon of 
soda, the same of salt, sweet milk. Rub the 
butter thoroughly into the flour and salt; 
dissolve the soda in the milk, and enough 
more to take up the flour, which should ho 
made into ft very stiff dough; the more the 
dougli is pounded or kneaded the bettor the 
crackers; roll out to the desired thickness— 
half an incli—and bake quickly. 
Remember the Value of Apples, 
that they can he dried, canned, preserved, 
stewed, baked, boiled, made into puddings— 
vide the recipe given in Rural New- 
Yorker page 63, Jam 33, 1870—fried, piecl, 
etc. Boiled apples, with the sweetening 
added early enough to boil through, are de¬ 
licious, and it is surprising they are not 
oftener thus prepared. Plenty of apples 
well cooked, and properly eaten if uncooked, 
keeps the doctor away. 
To Color Scarlet with Cochineal. 
Anna Hayward asks “ how to color 
scarlet with cochineal, so that it will not 
fade. Have used alum and cream of tartar, 
and got nothing but a pink color, which 
would wash out.” Try thisPound two 
ounces of cochineal fine, and pour oil water 
sufficient to wet two pounds of cloth ; let it 
boil up in brass or tin ; then add four ounces 
of muriate of tin and one of cream of tartar. 
Dip the goods in a solution of alkaline or 
metallic salt; then transfer to the dye, in 
which allow them to remain some time. A 
permanent color is the result. 
Buy l>y the Box or Barrel. 
People who study economy, and manage 
well, buy their groceries at wholesale. 
Sugar by the barrel; tea, raisins, starch by 
the box; coffee iu a considerable quantity, 
as it improves by age. Tea should be kept 
well from the air. 
To Clean Zinc and Copper. 
Scour zinc with sand and buttermilk; 
copper, with buttermilk aud salt—hot. 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
Tomato Finn. 
The Scientific American says:—The fol¬ 
lowing recipe for making tomato tigs is said 
to be excellent:—Collect a lot of ripe toma¬ 
toes about one inch in diameter, skin, and 
stew them in the usual manner; when done, 
lay them on dishes, flatten them slightly, and 
spread over them a light layer of pulverized 
white or best brown sugar; expose them to 
a summer’s sun, or place them iu a drying 
house ; when as dry as fresh figs, pack in old 
fig or small boxes, with sugar between each 
layer. If properly managed, the difference 
cannot he detected from the veritable article. 
How co C!cim Kid Glove*. 
The Peoples’ Journal saysTo clean kid 
gloves, have ready a little new milk in one 
saucer, a piece of white soap in another, and 
a clean cloth folded two or three times. On 
the cloth spread out the* glove smooth and 
neat. Take a piece of flannel, dip it in the 
milk, then rub off a good quantity of soap on 
the wetted flannel, aud commence to rub the 
glove toward the fingers, holding it firmly 
with the left hand. Continue this process 
until the glove, if white, looks of a dingy 
yellow, though clean; if colored, till it looks 
dry aud spoiled. Lay it to dry, and the opera¬ 
tor will soon be gratified to see that the old 
glove looks nearly new. It will he soft, 
glossy, smooth, and elastic. 
Curing Meat. 
The Germantown Telegraph says:—“ To 
one gallon of water add one and a-hnlf 
pounds of salt, half a pound of sugar, half 
an ounce of saltpeter, half an ounce of pot¬ 
ash. In this ratio the pickle to lie increased 
to any quantity desired. Let these be boiled 
together until all the dirt from the sugar 
rises to the top and is skimmed off. Then 
throw it into a tub to cool, and when cold 
pour It over your beef or pork, to remain 
the usual time, gay four or five weeks. The 
meat must be well covered with pickle, aud 
should not he put down for at least two 
days after killing, during which time it 
should be lightly sprinkled with powdered 
saltpeter, which removes nil the surface 
blood, etc., leaving the meat fresh rih! clean. 
Borne omit boiling the pickle, and find it to 
answer well; though the operation of boil¬ 
ing purifies the pickle by throwing off the 
dirt always to be found in salt and sugar. If 
this recipe is properly tried it will never be 
abandoned. There is none that surpass it, 
if so good.” 
■ -»■»» - -- 
How 1 Cook Pickled Com. 
I noticed an inquiry iu the Rural New'- 
Yorker asking how 1 cooked my pickled 
corn. I soak it over night In water; turn 
that off soon in the morning, put on fresh, 
and let it stand till I want to put on dinner. 
Then I boil in one water, and pour off and 
cook just as I would if fresh from the stalk. 
—A Western Housekeeper. 
