13 
OOBE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
THE HOME ATMOSPHERE. 
It seems to me, dear Mr. Editor, to be the 
wisest kind of domestic economy to have a 
healthful home atmosphere—in every sense 
of the word ! I mean a pure atmosphere 
( morally, and one that shall always allcct 
those who gather about the home hearth, 
healthfully, physically. I went yesterday 
into my good neighbor’s kitchen. Every 
door and window was closed tight. A roar¬ 
ing lire was in the stove; pots, kettles, stew- 
pans, frying-pans, Ac., were steaming, siz¬ 
zling, burning, dirty dish water emitting its 
vapor, and the atmosphere of the room was 
thick and suffocating with unpleasant odors. 
Ja.vk, the daughter, was flitting hither and 
thither in a state of bewilderment, appar¬ 
ently, her hair in a towzle, as if she had not 
had time to comb it since she got out of bed; 
indeed, the whole room looked much as if it 
had just tumbled out, of some elevated place 
and come down “ ker smash,” as my girl 
sometimes says when she smashes a lot of 
china for me. 
When T looked into that kitchen I was not 
astonished to hear Jane say that she would 
never he a farmer’s wife if stie had to die an 
old maid. The atmosphere was enough to 
convert a saint into a profane sinner. Dis¬ 
order, want of system In doing house-work, 
want of cleanliness, want of taste, want of 
delicacy, all help to manufacture sinners. 
It alienates both boys and girls from home. 
They are too glad to get away from such a 
home. They ought to be. It is one of the 
redeeming traits of their characters that 
they will recede from such disorder and con 
fusion. There is no economy in such dis¬ 
order and nastiness ! 1 never saw the Rural 
Nevv-T ohker, nor any other decent paper, 
in such a home—no, house. 1 am not, there¬ 
fore, writing for regular lieRAt, readers; but 
I should like it if the uuinber of the Rural ’ 
in which you print this could be loaned to 
and read by Borne of the families who live in 
such an atmosphere us I Buffered in a few 
moments, yesterday, at my neighbor’s. 
Esther Allen. 
-- 
A FEW THINGS I HAVE LEARNED BY 
EXPERIENCE. 
Paste for Scrap-Book.—I had a heautiful 
scrap-book presented to me some time since, ' 
and I intended to 1111 it with engravings, I 
began to paste them in with a paste made of 
flour and water cooked, but they warped and 
wrinkled in a very unpleasant, manner. A 
lady told mo to make the paste of starch. 
This I tried, and it proved very satisfactory. 
To Keep Gum Arabic.— I always keep 
gum arabic prepared, and used to find it 
soured sometimes in hot weather; but I now 
dissolve it in as little cold rain water as pos¬ 
sible, then add alcohol. This preserves it. , 
To Prevent Hair Coming Out.—Many peo- f 
pie arc troubled with their hair coming out. £ 
I know a number of persons who have used > 
castor oil, cut with alcohol and perfumed, i 
and think it an excellent preventive, i 
To Polish Silver.—A good way to polish 1 
silver is to nib with wet. whiting, let it dry 1 
with some of it on them, then rub again. 1 
When the articles are of an intricate pat- p 
tern, the whiting is not easily removed, and ‘ 
it is better to use aqua ammonia, rubbing 
with a soft rag. ’ s 
Carpets Having ConsulerUc Pile should 1 
never bo swept with a broom. If a sweeping ' 
machine is not available, the dirt should be ( 
picked up or brushed up with a soft brush, 
or the carpet taken up and shaken. 1 
Washing Hag Carpels. — A rag carpet [ 
should not be washed as long as it can be ' 
avoided. It soils much easier after being 
once washed, besides fading. If there are C 
grease spots, a -little hard soap rubbed on, 
then wushecl off with hot water and well • 
rinsed, is a good way to remove them ; or ' 
some aqua ammonia is equally as good. 
Mrs. Lobrktta E. Knapp Turner. 
three days, they will sour, whon, add a little 
saleratus for sweetening before baking. 
Don’t be discouraged if not at first satisfac¬ 
tory, as it will take fully a week to allow* the 
hop yeast flavor to disappear from the batter. 
Care should be taken that the batter is 
) thin. Thick batter wall not make good 
l cakes, and they should go directly from the 
) griddle to the table without covering. The 
best cakes cun be ruined by steaming after 
baking.—A. N. C., Melville, Allegany Co., 
New York. 
At the request of one of the readers of the 
Rural for a recipe for making- buckwheat 
cakes, I will send one. which I know to be 
good. To make good buckwheat cakes, , 
tiike sour milk or buttermilk — the last 
named is best—and to one pint of milk tako 
a tcaspoonful of soda; salt to taste; stir in 
enough buckwheat flour to make a batter; 
bake at once. This recipe will hardly fail to 
give satisfaction if fairly tried.— Virginia. 
Good Buckwheat Cakes. —In your Rural 
NKW-YoRKKRof Nov. 15, “AYoung House¬ 
keeper” asks how to moke good buckwheat 
calces. 1 will give you my recipe, which I 
have used twenty years, and can say to her, 
and all others, “ Try it.” Tako one bowl of 
dry, wheat bread, cover with boiling water; 
let stand until soaked soft; then mash fine, 
and add 1'4 bowls of buckwheat flour, a 
little salt and one-half cup or cake of yeast. 
This is mixed the evening before vising, and 
kept warm; in the morning add one small 
tcaspoonful of soda, dissolved in enough hot 
water to make the cakes thin enough. Tin's 
will insure you cakes light, sweet, brown 
and tender, without sweet milk or butter- 
| milk, and much better. Again I say, “ Try 
1 it.”— M. A. L. 
Vanilla Beans are rubbed by the natives 
of South America and Mexico with eajou 
oil to make the surface smooth and soft. 
The opinion has been advanced that the 
eases of poisoning from the use of vanilla 
ice are duo to this oil, which is often contaru- 
■i mi led with a substance which acts like cau- 
tliarides. Others suppose the poisoning re¬ 
sults from small crystals of benzoic add 
found in the outer skin of the vanilla bean. 
Horseradish in Pickle. —Horseradish grat¬ 
ed and mixed with pickle will prevent mold 
forming on the tops of jars. Leaves of 1 
horseradish laid over the top will answer the i 
same purpose. It is said that this pungent. 1 
root, if grated and mixed with cider, and 
eaten with the food, will both prevent and i 
cure paralysis. 
i)!)§iemc Jnformatum. ■ 
GOOD HEALTH. 
DOMESTIC BREVITIES. 
Buckwheat Cakrs.—We have been reading 
the request of that young housekeeper, who 
wants to know how to make the best buck¬ 
wheat cakes in the world. We don’t know 
ourselves how the thing is done; but our 
wife does. We are sure of it. This is the 
way our wife says the cakes are made ; 
Three parts buckwheat flour, one part corn 
meal, one cup of hop yeast; stir with wa¬ 
ter, thick, over night; in morning make 
quite thin, not omitting salt. After two or 
“ I am delighted to leam that there is one 
American girl who professes to have good 
health,” said I, upon hearing a young lady 
say she was always well, and had not had 
what some people call a fit, of sickness since 
she.could remember. She was not coarse 
and brawny, but fair, slender and graceful, 
with a soft, clear complexfon, that needed 
none of the “bloom of youth” in vogue 
with pale, sallow invalids. I could scarcely 
repress further expression of my admiration 
for one who had not only the good sense to 
be perfectly healthy, but the courage to say 
so, for there is no disguising the fact that it 
is considered ** stylish ” to be delicate. 
A mother lady, who heard the conversation, 
seemed almost shocked at such a confession, 
and exclaimed, “Why! is it possible? I 
would not have thought you so healthy; you 
do not look strong.” 
“ Perhaps not,” was the reply, “but I am, 
nevertheless, and I do so pity those who are 
always afflicted with head-aches, dyspepsia 
and nerves.” 
I detected in her tone a slight flavor of 
contempt for the devotees of pills and pow¬ 
ders. She evidently regarded sickness as too 
expensive a luxury—expensive, not merely 
in the item of doctors’ bills, but in the loss 
of pleasure in a life which is given us, not 
to endure but to enjoy. The other lady who 
had her own share of “ nerves ” and similar 
affections, evidently looked upon herself as 
being made of finer clay, and consequently 
more liable to injury. But most of us know 
that, with good care, fine china will last as 
long and do as good service as common 
earthen ware. 
I could not refrain from telling them the 
story—a fact, by the way—of the delicate 
invalid who, after a few weeks sojourn at a 
water cure, was asked by one of her friends 
if her health was improved. “ Oh! yes,” she 
replied, “very much, I am quite as well 
now as it is polite or fashionable for a per¬ 
son to be.” 
She was a trifle more feeble as.to her men¬ 
ial attainments, perhaps, than some genteel 
. invalids are, but the sentiment, either ex- 
, pressed or understood, is the samo among 
them all. 
j I am aware that it is very difficult, with 
[ the present habits of society, to keep in 
i sound health. Yet with the exercise of a 
i little self-denial and independence, and some 
. attention to the most simple rules of hygiene, 
there would be a vast diminution of “ feeble” 
persons, and the practice of physicians would 
bo far less lucrative. No disrespect to that 
very useful beingj the doctor, but ho must 
not be offended if we call him a necessary 
evil, and heartily wish he could find noth¬ 
ing to do. 
Now I rlo not propose to enter into an ex¬ 
tensive treatise upon hygiene, and give min¬ 
ute directions for preserving the health. If 
people would practice what they alYcady 
know of it, there would be comparatively 
little need of further instruction. Those 
who have disease fastened upon their sys¬ 
tems might check its ravages, while those 
who aro comparatively well might escape 
most of those aggravating little ailments 
which so often render life a burden, to say 
nothing of the diseases which, slowly, per¬ 
haps, but almost surely follow. It may re¬ 
quire. a little self-denial to pass without 
tasting at least, a part of the rich, unwhole¬ 
some dishes at. a friend’s table; but the re¬ 
sult, will be infinitely tuoro satisfactory, more 
of a, luxury, than the brief gratification of 
the appetite. And those who enjoy a coal 
fire these winter days, would find, if they 
would try it, that a brisk walk in the open 
air would warm them far more than hover¬ 
ing about a stove, and when they begin to 
l'cel dull and their heads ache, if they could 
persuade themselves that they would not 
freeze or have an ague chill if they were to 
open a door or window long enough to reno¬ 
vate the air of the room, there would be a 
sensible diminution of coughs and colds, if 
not fewer oases of consumption. If farmers’ 
wives, and all those who do their own house¬ 
work, could bo persuaded to rest a little, 
both before and after a meal, they would 
find themselves able to do more with less 
fatigue. 1 suppose there aro but few who 
have not heard or read that it is injurious to 
eat a hearty meal while the body is in a 
state of fatigue, or to take any active exer¬ 
cise for a abort time after eating. Yet how 
few pay any regard to it. I know they have 
to work; but many times they might rest 
while the dinner is cooking, and the labor of 
putting it on the table would not exhaust 
them. Many of us would not be so over¬ 
worked were wo not. anxious to keep pace 
with our neighbors in extra and compara¬ 
tively unnecessary branches of housekeep¬ 
ing. Now 1 am as fond of keeping things 
“ in style ” as any one, but do not ewe to do 
it at the expense of the strength needed for 
more important duties. Furthermore, wo 
have no moral right to wantonly trifle with 
our health. Is it not wrong to injure, wil¬ 
fully', the bodies that have been given us 
with which to perform our mission here ? 
The sacrifice of comfort and health for the 
benefit of others, in any rational way, is 
beautiful; but the sacrifice of health to 
style, selfishness or superstition is folly. A 
blunder is said to be worse than a crime; but 
this is both. L 
HOW LONG TO SLEEP. 
There has been a great deal of trash writ¬ 
ten and labelled “Hygienic;” but the fol¬ 
lowing (we are sorry we do not know who 
wrote it) so entirely accords with our own 
experience, both as a working farmer and a 
working editor, that we commend it to the 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker as sen¬ 
sible:—The fact is, that as life becomes con¬ 
centrated, and its pursuits more eager, short 
sleep and early rising becomes impossible, 
We take more sleep than our ancestors, and 
we take more because we want more. Six 
hours' sleep will do very well for a plowman 
or brick-layer, or any other man who has no 
exhaustion but that produced by manual 
labor, and the sooner he takes it after his 
labor is over the. better. But for a man 
whose labor is mental, the stress of work is 
on ids brain and nervous system, and for 
him who is tired in the evening with a day 
of mental application, neither early to bed 
nor early to rise is wholesome, lie needs 
lettiug down to the level of repose. The 
longer the interval between the active use 
of the brain and his retirement to bed, the 
better his chance of sleep and refreshment. 
To him an hour after midnight is probably' 
as good as two hours before it, and even 
then his sleep will not so completely and 
quickly restore him as it will his neighbor 
who is physically tired. He must not only 
go to bed later, bub lie longer. His best 
sleep probably lies in the early morning 
hours, when all the nervous excitement has 
passed away, and he is in absolute rest. 
Ixodes and Dflmmqs. 
COSTUME FOR ELDERLY LADIES. 
We give (on page 300) an illustration of a 
costume especially adapted for elderly la¬ 
dies. The skirt, is of black Ronbaix velvet, 
which is a fabric between Lyons velvet and 
velveteen, and is much superior to the Ger¬ 
man velveteen, which was fashionable a lew 
seasons ago. The Ronbaix velvet has a cot¬ 
ton back, but much more silk in the pile 
than the velveteen. It is used very largely 
for underskirts, worn with'polonaises of 
oachcmiro and silk. The skirt, is made very 
simply, with a little flounce bordering the 
bottom. A more dressy garment would have 
two flounces, each a little deeper, with an 
interval between. 
It is the wrap, however, to which wc'call 
attention. It ia a large, loose paletot of 
cachemwe de soie —a peculiar quality of silk, 
heavy and without luster. The sleeves are 
large, in pagoda style, and the wrap has a 
capuchin or hood. The whole interior of 
the wrap is lined with gray squirrel, the edge 
of the fur extending boyoml the outside of 
silk, giving it a finish ; a band of fur orna¬ 
ments the outside and is placed around the 
hood. 
These garments aro very popular with our 
fastidious neighbors, the French* who are. not 
admirers of fur except for lining, for wliich 
purpose, they use it extensively. Equally pop¬ 
ular is the large circle of caehemire de sole, 
without sleeves, with the capuchin, and 
lined with fur. They are not expensive, the 
silk being the chief item. Large skins, ar¬ 
ranged for lining, can be bought for $ 10 ; 
two of these, we. think, would be sufficient’ 
Such a garment, uniting elegance and com¬ 
fort, is superior to the changes of fashion, 
and may he expected to last a long time. 
The bonnet worn with this costume is of 
deep gray felt, bound with black velvet and 
trimmed with black velvet and a deep gray 
plume ; underneath the diadem is a ruche of 
turquoise silk, blue or pink. Those bonnets 
with diadems, arc better suited to ladies who 
are no longer young, as they sib well with 
the bows and barbes of lace of the head¬ 
dress. 
Wo have .seen another polonaise which, for 
comfort, elegance and simplicity, it is worth 
while to describe. It was made of sealskin 
and camel’s hair cloth. In front it reached 
almost, to the bottom of the dross, which 
was silk of a lighter brown ; the hack was 
perfectly plain and only slightly draped ; 
sleeves with cuffs ; pockets not vary large’ 
and marked only by the buttons. Indeed^ 
the whole garment, entirely plain, acquired 
its elegance in the perfect lit and in the 
fringe, a finger’s length in depth, which or¬ 
namented the bottom. This fringe was of 
wool, heavily twisted, and much larger than 
the bullion fringe so commonly used. We 
have seen uo trimming so well adapted to 
those long, plain garments. 
Ball fringe is in very common use. It con¬ 
sists of three balls separated about lmlf-inoh 
apart and graduated in size. This fringe 
comes in all colors, and is also mixed in the 
colors of tho tartan plaids, which arc becom¬ 
ing very fashionable for young girls. Even 
tho brightest colors are worn, but the most 
suitable are greens and blues. Those dresses 
are made very simply ; the underskirt lias 
deep side plaitings ; the overdress is long in 
front, draped on the sides, simply hemmed 
or trimmed with hall fringe. A plain little 
basque or French waist is worn with it. 
We cannot commend too highly t he French 
or blouse waist, for school girls. One of the 
finest schools we know of requires the young 
girls to wear it—nqt only that, but insists on 
the. particular style, which is dark navy blue, 
trimmed with white bauds. The advantages 
of thfc loose dress are apparent, although one 
may object to the uniform. 
CIGAR BOX. 
This (see page 397) is made out of cache- 
mire or satin, of light-brown color. Cut the 
sides and trim them with velvet, applied in 
leaves and flowers of deep brown. Fasten 
the pieces on in, the proper design with a 
little gum arabic, and button around the edge 
with gold silk or gold thread. Tlio outside 
is mounted on stiff card board, lined with 
quilted silk lining, the sewing concealed by 
a cord. In the interior is a thin, dark wni- 
nut division witii perforations. In these the 
cigars are arranged, permitting the points 
to dry. The frame may bo manufactured in 
the rustic style akin to that given, wldeh is 
of black bamboo sticks with gilded knobs. 
It will be a pretty gift to any unfortunate 
bachelor who is so foolish as to smoke cigars ! 
