t&V&ikm&SRi Yd S' 
iSfiB& 3 i 
it in the best taste. Velvet cut on the bias 
would be desirable ; lace and gimp, as you 
suggest, would be elegant, but somewhat ex¬ 
pensive. Bands of sable, mink or ostrich 
ditto. One word here about bias 
Velvet Ti-tintiiluit. 
It should be lined with crinoline or foun¬ 
dation, and sewed to the garment by means 
of this lining. It looks fifty per cent, better 
than when applied in the usual manner. 
Also, when gimp, passementerie and such 
Oue thing more. Will not the young folks 
and the old folks give, through this depart¬ 
ment, any and all things they may wish to 
say on this topicV Let “successful house¬ 
keepers” let us into their secret for making 
“ December as cheerful os May.’’ Let the 
young folks whose home is the “ dearest 
spot ou earth,” tell what makes it so. Let 
those whose home is the reverse, do like¬ 
wise. From these means, great good will 
result. Never fear hut that we shall keep an 
eye on the proper way of broiling beefsteak, 
of stewing apple sauce, and the feather bed 
cpiestiou. But necessary ns these things are, 
there are others far more important, and to 
these we beg your attention, these autumnal 
and coming winter evenings. 
We have only succeeded in this article, in 
showing our desire to write heartfully on this 
subject, and our utter failure so to do! You 
certainly can do no more, and—the hoys— 
the boys who “can't bear to stay at home 
evenings,” will they not tell us why? It is 
one of their “rights” so to do, and one of 
the “wrongs” it is a “ woman’s right” to 
right / _ 
tttmstrial 
aimers 
omtstic 
emtonm 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAGER. 
MINT WOOD'S CONVERSAZIONE 
A GREAT ENTERPRISE, 
THE "YOUNG FOLKS” AT HOME, 
Suit for the “ Fair Little Slater.’* 
Hattie —Dress of gray French poplin, 
trimmed with bands of gray velvet; paletot 
or long loose sacque of violet plush or vel¬ 
vet, bordered with grebe; violet velvet tur- 
[Krom the N. Y. Evening Mult.] 
Pum.rc announcement is just made of llio 
general features of a great enterprise which 
has for several mouths been in the process 
of incubation. 
Under the powers derived by their incor¬ 
poration as “ The Industrial Exhibition 
Company,” a large number of wealthy and 
prominent gentlemen in this city, and in till 
parts of the Union, have associated them¬ 
selves for the purpose, of inaugurating here 
a permanent “ Palace of Industry,” some¬ 
what like that at. Sydenham, near London, 
but with new and origiual features, and of 
somewhat wider scope. 
The important preliminary work of organ¬ 
ization has been well done. This stage of 
the great experiment, at all events, is safely 
passed, and the auspices for the eventual and 
complete success of the scheme whose out¬ 
lines are now clearly defined, are sill ex¬ 
tremely fhvorable. In the direction of the 
Company are included such men as Marshall 
O. Roberts, William B. Ogden, William IT. 
Vanderbilt, Horace F. Clark, C. K. Garri¬ 
son, D. D. T. Moore, and other well-known 
citizens, while the Regents are Horace Gree¬ 
ley, Moses LI. Grinnell, Cyrus VV. Field, 
Gerdt Smith, Ezra Cornell, Chief Justice. 
Church, William Cullen Bryant, and John 
Arnot. The actual work of organization has 
mainly been effected they ugh the energy and 
business tact of Mr. Edward McMnrdy, the 
President of the Company. 
These are names to inspire the public willt 
confidence in the great undertaking, whose 
success their names are measurably pledged 
to secure. The plan of the Exhibition is also 
such as to invite the attention of capita fists. 
A brief statement will make this clear to any 
reader. A tract of land, embracing nearly 
twenty-three acres, and extending from Nine¬ 
ty-eighth to One Hundred and Second street, 
and from Third to Fourth avenue, has been 
purchased by the Company,as the site for its 
“ Now Palace of Industry.” 
The streets running across this large tract, 
have been closed by law, Oil this ground it is 
proposed to erect auExhihition building,ex¬ 
tending entirely around the square, and con¬ 
taining, among other features, an Art Gallery 
one hundred and fitly feet wide and three 
thousand seven hundred and sixty feet long. 
Proportionate space will he given to exhi¬ 
bitions of manufactures, agricultural pro¬ 
ducts, minerals, machinery, etc.; while hun- 
X.E.VD CUSHION FORMING A WORK-BOX 
silli,” Astrachan of any kind would not trim 
trimming are used, that need many stitches 
to fasten down all the curves and corners, 
the under side of the goods should he faced 
with foundation. 
floods. 
The “ old fashioned ” rigolet, of worsted, 
hung with balls, and various “danglers" of 
the same, are seen in the shops. Hoods of 
silk, merino, flannel, etc., are for the most 
part cut with ltood and cape separate; the 
hood part is nearly round, laid in plaits over 
the top and neck part, to give it shape; that 
part of the cape which joins the hood is al¬ 
most a half circle in shape, while the bottom 
is pointed in front and at the back; bow on 
top of hood and at hack of neck; border of 
pinked or fringed ruches of the same, or some 
contrasting goods. Swan’s down is used on 
children's hoods to some extent. 
iUoilicr’* OtiriMdiin* l.iift. 
Louisa writes:—“ Will you he so good as 
to suggest something nice, that I can make, 
that ivill he suitable for a gift to mamma on 
Christmas, — something a little uncommon, 
please?” If I were “ mamma," I am sure 1 
should consider a toilet, or work box, like 
litis illustration, not only “ uncommon,” but 
very useful and beautiful. Make a deal box 
seven inches long, live inches wide, and two 
inches high. Ou the bottom, to give it 
weight and substance, place a flat piece of 
lead two-fifths of an inch thick, Cover the 
box out and inside with calico, then with 
green silk. The cover consists of a thin 
piece of deal, covered inside with calico and 
green silk, A cushion ia made for the top 
side, quilted and covered with green silk, 
ornamented with flowers worked in green 
satin stitch. Sew the cover to the box; and 
ornament the edge with a ruche of green 
ribbon bordered with white guipure lace. A 
green silk cord runs around the top. Of 
course you can vary the ornamentation, or 
choose silk of a different color. Instead of 
embroidered flowers, a monogram of your 
mother’s initials would bo pretty; or the 
motto “ Merry Christinas ” handsomely 
wrought in raised chi broidery. 
New Year’* Cull*. 
A Young Lady Reader, Warsaw, N. Y. 
—Calls on New Year’s Day are usually re¬ 
ceived from 10 A. M. to 9 I*. M. Ladles at¬ 
tire themselves in their prettiest dresses, and 
receive their gentlemen friends with as much 
ease and grace as is possible; receive their 
congratulations and behave quite as on or¬ 
dinary “calling” occasions. Refreshments 
may he as simple as one pleases—cakes, 
SOAP MAKING 
hibilion of “natural dcpruvily?" What is 
it that gives the enticing color to the social 
atmosphere of the poorest and less cultivated 
homes? What Is it that breeds restraint at 
your own hearthstone, and represses the 
truest expression of feeling and enjoyment 
in your young folks ? 
The long evenings have come—the winter 
evenings will soon he here, with their une- 
qualed possibilities for social good or social 
ill, and is it not quite time for housewives, 
for mothers, and all other presiding home 
geniuses, to plan for the entertainment of the 
young folks? They are of vastly more con¬ 
sequence to you than visitors, or should he. 
But perhaps you have hitherto considered 
differently, and the children, in order to eu- 
joy Avlmt the social element In them demand¬ 
ed, constituted themselves visitors, liy going 
out for the evening. Perhaps the pleasant¬ 
est room in your house was only opened, 
warmed and lighted when company came, 
instead of being an every evening parlor, full 
of a joyous, home-like atmosphere, at once 
refining and elevating. Perhaps you have 
been so extremely given to “ order,” that the 
young folks momentarily expected a “ blast" 
for destroying the harmony of arrangement, 
(a prim room is our detestation. We insist 
upon cleanliness and a civil display of order, 
but when the method of order is apparent, it 
becomes painful. There is such a thing as 
being perfectly happy with a magazine iu 
one chair, a newspaper on the floor, an upset 
basket of worsted, and some one at the front 
door,) Perhaps you are “ nervous,” and cun' I 
well endure the gay laughter and keen spar¬ 
ring of the hoys and girls, and are given to a 
chronic “ hush." Perhaps when other young 
people come iu, you are so grave aud sedate 
and “ terrible” that, they all wish you would 
retire, so they can talk with freedom. 
There is such a difference in people in 
this very respect. Every one who reads this 
will at once recall the fathers, and mothers, 
and “grown people” of their boy and girl¬ 
hood days, whom they loved and felt at 
home with, and those other ones whom 
they were always afraid of and preferred to 
avoid. The same state of things prevails 
now, and your children will readily tell you 
who they are, iu your own immediate neigh¬ 
borhood. Perhaps their social confreres 
would class you among them ! 
It is well to ask, occasionally, if we are not 
growing old too fast, and forgetting how we 
felt when we were young, and what our 
wants were, and how we looked at life in 
Mothers aud 
E. F. C. writes:—“ I wish you would pub¬ 
lish some recipes for making a soap that is 
called erosive soap; also for bar soaps ot 
other kinds; and give ns some directions for 
making the lye of ashes mix or unite with 
the grease when it does not. seem inclined to 
do so. Although wo understand philosophy, 
and chemistry, and the theory of making 
soap, yet it is quite difficult for the farmers’ 
wives to make the lye ami grease unite when 
we “ go ” the practical part of it. Also give 
a recipe for making soap with the crude or 
commercial potash, anti how to make it unite 
with the grease; also, how to crystalize 
flowers.” 
Directions have recently been given for 
crystalizing flowers. 
We cannot furnish a recipe for making the 
erosive soap you mention. The method is 
probably kept secret. 
When lye and grease do not unite, the lye 
is not of suffleient strength, or the grease is 
too plentiful,and has not been well subjected 
to heat. 
Hard or “bar” soap cannot be made di¬ 
rectly from lye of ashes; but with the addi¬ 
tion of salt, (common salt,) hard soap can be 
made from soft soap. To have the soap hard, 
use the firmer sort of grease or fat, like that 
obtained from cattle and sheep. Rosin is 
sometimes added to make it harder, aud 
when used, dissolve it in the melted fat be¬ 
fore adding the lye. It gives a yellow tinge. 
Two pounds of rosin to six of grease, one 
pound of potash dissolved in three and n-half 
gallous of soft water, form good proportions. 
Keep the. ingredients boiling and stirring un 
ti> thoroughly united, which will take from 
live to ten hours. New grease requires 
longer boiling than the old. Be careful to 
add water as it boils away. 
To make fancy toilet soaps, stir in while 
soft aud warm a little oil of rosemary, sassa¬ 
fras, burgamot, or tiny oil you may prefer. 
Let it set to harden. 
in Rurai. New-Yorker of October 16th, 
1869, page 667, E. L. M. gives this recipe for 
toilet soap: — Sal soda, six pounds; un¬ 
slaked lime, three pounds; soft water, four 
gallons ; grease, seven pounds. Boil water, 
lime, and soda, until dissolved ; after settling, 
pour the liquid on the grouse and boil until 
of the consistency of honey. Color with 
Chinese vermilion, and perfume to your 
taste. 
* “ Northwest,” on page 863 of 1809, (Rural 
of June 5th,) avers that in making hard 
soap, one pound of sal soda put in the lye with 
quicklime is worth ten pounds of chloride of 
sodium (salt) for the same purpose. He also 
gives as proportions for soil soap, one pound 
of caustic potash to five pounds of clean 
grease; product, five gallons of soap. 
B. P. Broavn, ou page 569 of Rural of 
i860, (how much you lose by not filing your 
Uu rals and often referring to them,) says: 
“As scraps accumulate, try the grease out 
from time to time, until you wish to make 
soap. For a leach I place a common salt 
barrel on a platform; if a head in it, 1 bore 
holes in it; if not, put sticks oil the platform 
within; cover lightly with straw; put four 
quarts of lime on the straw, filling up with 
wood ashes well pounded down. Leach 
water through until you have three pailfuls 
of lye; put this in the soap barrel with ten 
pounds of clear grease; fill up the barrel 
with weaker lye as it leaches, lie has had 
twenty years experience, and professes to 
know whereof lie speaketh. 
those inexperienced days, 
fathers, who are girls and boys with their 
own boys aud girls, never grow old at heart, 
and we all know how delightful such young 
old folks are. 
A charming evening at home consists in 
reading aloud, with a period at every pithy 
paragraph, or promulgation of a specific 
idea, into which discussion or criticism is 
invited from every member of the home cir¬ 
cle who is old enough to think. The even¬ 
ings may eacli be devoted to some special 
entertainment. One to discussions, oue to 
compositions, one to games and puzzles, one 
to quizzes (asking all sorts of questions that 
have passed into your mind about various 
tilings) and other kindred entertainments. 
Of course all young folks are not literary, 
neither given to scientific research. But 
nearly all have a predominance of the social 
element, love story telling and pleasant com¬ 
pany If these requisites can lie furnished 
at homo, they will not be sought elsewhere. 
Then there’s the good in each to lie en¬ 
couraged, and the bad to be suppressed, and 
home influence is the instrument to effect 
both. If the young people go out for the 
evening, aud get iu late, manage to have a 
pleasant warmth and comfort await their re¬ 
turn. Don’t growl if you are disturbed. The 
time may come when you would give your 
kingdom to be again thus awakened from 
sleep or rest by their footsteps. Enter into 
their winter enjoyments, and be a leader in 
their planning for social enjoyment and im¬ 
provement. 
Collar Cli cm incite. 
Materials, Valenciennes lace, inserting, mus¬ 
lin with embroidered edge, and rose satin 
ribbon ; to be made of a foundation of white 
net; to be worn on the outside of a heart- 
shaped or pompadour waist; hand of inch 
wide black velvet with pendant ornament 
for the neck. The ribbon can be of other 
colors to suit the complexion of the wearer. 
Luce Curtains, Lnmbreoiiin*. etc. 
Lace curtains are more fashionable with a 
heading known as lambrequins. Heavy 
cord with tassels are used for looping. Crim¬ 
son, blue or gold would he a good color to 
brighten lambrequins of drab or fawn colored 
material. Crimson the best, probably. The 
looping cord of the curtain, of course, should 
match with the lambrequin trimming, and, 
in every event, regard should be had for the 
predominating color in the room to be cur¬ 
tained. Very pretty hooks for curtain loops 
may be had for fifty cents a piece—of bronze, 
gilt or finished in silver. 
Astrnchnn for Dress Triinmina. 
Sadie Jones. —For a “ heavy corded 
Swift's GliiBerbreud—A Correction. 
In the recipe given In the Rural New- 
Yorker Nov. 12th, the amount of soda to 
he used is given “ one even fmspoonfol.” It 
should read “ one even tai&ispoouful.” Make 
this correction Avith a pencil, so you will re¬ 
member it. 
Lawful Woitlit. 
“ Quiz,” a correspondent of the Freeport 
Journal, writes that paper:—“The lawful 
weight of rye and shelled corn is fifty-six 
pounds to the bushel, but grain dealers here 
take sixty pounds for a bushel, which they 
then sell in Chicago or other Eastern markets 
at fifty-six pounds to the bushel. How much, 
in the aggregate, do the Western fanners lose 
by this dishonest practice? aud how long 
will they suffer themselves to be thus 
duped?” 
Domestic Inquiries. — Can you Inform me how 
many pounds of dried apples can be obtained 
from one bu9hel of fair apples.— Rural Read¬ 
er, West Stockbridye, Mass. 
