4 
ABSH U 
3 RURAL MEW-YORKER 
otlcs nttd Jflamteijs. 
SPRING GOODS. 
Although it seems very early, the mer¬ 
chants are displaying their spring goods, that 
those who are in haste to get through their 
spring sewing can have the opportunity of 
seeing what will be woru when the warm 
weather conies. First, there is the greatest 
variety of percales. The taste for tints of 
the same color, which prevailed iu winter 
costumes, is to be seen iu the new goods. 
There are percales of lavender with purple 
polka dots, salmon and yellow dots, light 
blue with dark blue dots, and different shades 
of grays and browns. Ths percales with 
white grounds arc ornamented with stripes 
and figures. Those with stripes are exceed- 
uigly pretty in pink and blue coral patterns. 
The figures are zigzags, in diamond form in 
pink, blue, green and violet, and in three 
links of color. Nothing could be prettier for 
morning and country wear than these per¬ 
cales ; they are of a very nice quality and 
cost but 35 cents a yard. 
SATIN PERCALES 
are so lustrous that they look like foulards. 
They come most often in buff, gray and 
brown grounds, and are ornamented with 
sprigs, running vines, and sprays of leaves. 
These are made up as polonaises, or basque 
and tunic to wear with black silk or white 
skirts. These are not to be confounded with 
the Dolly Varden, which has passed into the 
obscurity it merited. 
LINENS 
in solid colors are seen. Buffs, steel and 
browns will be worn ; but, as last season, 
dark blue will be the most fashionable. These 
dork blue suits are very pretty embroidered, 
or thoy may be trimmed with a galloon of 
dark blue worsted with white vines. It is 
almost too early to prescribe any particular 
stylo for these costume*, The spring open¬ 
ings, which take place next month, will 
doubtless decide whether polonaises are to 
be worn or not. 
CASHMERE 
appears in a new variety, called SicilienDe 
cashmere, which is more like a lustrous 
alpaca ; it is cool and shakes off the dust. 
Cashmere proper, however, is st ill the most 
desirable goods of its kind. Tt is sufficiently 
cool for all but the warmest weather when 
lined with linen. It is always advisable to 
Black grenadines, it is almost superfluous to 
say, will be worn, probably, more than any 
other fabric. Striped, plain, watered and 
ribbed are seen. A very beautiful grenadine, 
all silk, with vines and flowers of thicker 
texture, is the most desirable material for 
over-garments, in whatever shape they may 
be made. It is as yet a novelty, and quite 
expensive. In the same fashion, for evening 
wear, Chambery gauze, white grounds with 
stripes of color or vines in tangled profusion, 
unite with silk in color of the figure in the 
most charming toilettes. 
It is almost too early for muslins and white 
goods, but the former will doubtless come in 
the same patterns as the cambrics and per¬ 
cales, and white goods predominate in stripes. 
ENGLISH JACKETS, 
in lighter cloths, are worn double-breasted, 
with revere, two rows of buttons, and flaps in 
the back. As it has been noted, the tendency 
is toward n, more mannish stylo of garments. 
Fashion has now taken a decided stop in 
the swallow-tail basque, which proclaims by 
its name its origin. It is made In light basket- 
cloth, in diagonal or plain stripes, chocks and 
diamonds, in all light shades. It is cut away 
in front and worn over a vest with two 
points. It has lappeis and roiling collar, 
which exposes the vest or neat habit-shirt. 
In the buck it is in the shape of the gentle¬ 
men’s dress coat. These basques are very 
plainly trimmed ; often they are finished 
only with a binding or braid. The appear¬ 
ance of these now garments is very jaunty 
indeed, and will doubtless find immediate 
favor. 
The trimming on basques of silk and cash- 
mere will be passementerie, largely mingled 
with jot, used in the greatest quantity. Trim¬ 
ming is arranged rather perpendicularly than 
in any other way. The backs are particular¬ 
ly rich with it. Galloons and straight braids 
are also strewn with jet. For this trimming 
jot buttons are much used, and crochet but¬ 
tons, mingled with jet. There are also jet 
fringes and gimp hung with balls of cut jet. 
There is certainly no more brilliant trim¬ 
ming and no more expensive, Steel buttons 
and oxydized silver arc not so popular as be¬ 
fore. Mother-of-pearl, smoked pearl, and 
tortoise-shell buttons beautifully carved, 
have taken their place. On cashmeres and 
worsted goods embroidered buttons will still 
be worn. 
As for hats and bonnets, the most aston¬ 
ishing rumors come from abroad of sky¬ 
pointing head-gear. Bonnets are said to 
^mnestiq ^oiuratg. 
. . , . . ~ uLau-Qcui. jouuucw arc t»tuu tu 
run cr,s inset e wit x silk; no other kind of, have raised several inches. The diadem 
trimming makes with it an effective ccstume. 
MOHAIRS 
come in the usual grays and browns, plain 
and with stripes. They are ugly materials 
and do not wear well—that is, they soon 
wear shabby. There is a new material called 
poplinette, with lace-like stripes in white, or 
white and black mixed, that is very pretty. 
In fact, in most of the now goods there is a 
tendency toward stripes. 
The old-fashioned challis, whose fine silken 
texture made it such a favorite, appears 
again In Russian and French grays, tea, 
mauve, reddish gray, and blue slate. Pongee, 
gray and brown, which, by the way, although 
very beautiful, is most unserviceable, as it 
spots with water, is still offered for those 
who want it. 
JAPANESE POPLINS 
are now very cheap aud pretty, but their 
ailkine?.s soon disappears, and beauty lasts 
but a short time. 
GOODS Or MIXED SILK AND WORSTED, 
very much like those of the past year, will 
be worn this season. India goods, the buff, 
raw silk, are very desirable as t unics and pol¬ 
onaise, trimmed with yellow Cluony, for old 
silk skirts. They are not inexpensive when 
finished, but the consideration that they save 
in washing bills and arc always ready, is one 
that most ladies will appreciate. 
FRENCH FOULARD SILKS, 
that Americans have never half appreciated, 
are in style, like the satin foulards. They 
are so soft and lady-like that it is strange 
thej* are not more popular. Made with trim¬ 
mings of solid color, there is no prettier cos¬ 
tume. The designs in some of the new im¬ 
portations are more artistic and the contrasts 
more singular than in any other goods. 
CANVAS GRENADINES, 
in buff, plain, and with stripes, will make 
very cool summer costumes. In making any 
thin grenadines, it should be remembered 
they look muck better over the same color 
than over white. B iff batiste, plain, in stripes 
bonnets, in various shapes, which have been 
worn this winter, are to be superseded by 
tall structures, the brims pointing down¬ 
ward. For summer wear they will bo of 
tulle and soft straws. Flowers will be the 
principal garniture, and flowers and vines of 
every hue in the greatest quantity. The 
contrasts and combinations of color which 
have prevailed during the winter in toilettes, 
will be carried out iu the summer hats. This 
style of trimming demands the skill of the 
milliner, and none but those who are very 
clever in imitating will be able to manufac¬ 
ture a summer bonnet without the aid of a 
practiced eye. The difference between hats 
and bonnets is so very slight that, generally 
the addition of strings transforms the one 
into the other. 
NOVELTIES. 
The gilt and silver buttons for collars mid 
cuffs have become very popular. They are 
fastened with a spring leaving a space be¬ 
tween the two edges. The prettiest descrip¬ 
tion are the frosted silver buttons. Frosted 
silver jewelry is now worn. Balls as ear¬ 
rings, charms with pendants, and frosted 
combs are wort} with light evening toilets, 
and are very effective. A pretty necklace is 
of frosted gold and silver beads. 
English jet-garnet jewelry is very desirable. 
The patterns are exceedingly delicate. Jet 
necklaces of the finest cutting are among the 
most beeomiug ornaments. Their great, deli¬ 
cacy renders them rather expensive. Jet 
pins are universally used in the hair, disposed 
among the curls and Huger puffs. Whitby 
jet sets are more durable and, in some of the 
unique designs, are veiy beautiful. 
Black velvet necklaces hung with Persian 
coins are now worn. They are not only sim¬ 
ple and inexpensive but very becoming. Gilt 
stars ou velvet and Jleur-dc-l is are often seen. 
Red gold, ornamented with pale gold in 
wreaths and flowers, is very fashionable, and 
the most delicate enameling on gold is a 
favorite style, t hough liable to injury. 
Cameos are always desirable, but more 
A ... lwo idub more 
w i h em n’oidered Powers and spots, will than ever they have become works of art_ 
Tip n C Mnnulan « ..,.1 . . riPl. _ 
be as popular as formerly. The great num¬ 
ber of designs and styles of batiste can satisfy 
evei-y taste. Very handsome toilettes for 
the country are made out of batiste, with 
silk embroidered spots in rod, groonand blue. 
copying famous antiques and celebrated 
paintings. They are very expensive, but are 
bought for a lifetime. They are beautifully 
set with square projections of black enamel 
holding a pearl or diamond. 
HOUSEKEEPING HINTS. 
How much it facilitates the 'business of 
housekeeping to have some standard articles 
of diet prepared by the quantity, so that in 
ease of an emergency one is always pre¬ 
pared ! During the cold weather every 
housekeeper should keep on hand fruit-cake, 
cookies, or jumbles (we prefer the latter for 
common use), pies, tarts, pressed meat, &o. 
It economises time to make all of these iu 
large quantities. Many kinds of cake keep 
well, but we think that 
Fruit-cake is a little the best to keep. We 
make ours by the following recipe 1 cup of 
butter, 2 of sugar, 3% lbs. of flour, whites of 
three eggs, the Whole of one, 1 oup of milk, 1 
teaspoon of soda, 3 of cream of tartar, over 
1 cup of raisins. 
For Jumbles —1 cup of butter, 2 of sugar, 
1 of sour cream, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of sale- 
ratus ; don’t knead very stiff ; roll out and 
bake in a quick oven. 
We make our tart crusts ; then fill with 
jelly when we want them for use. For the 
crusts we use 1 cup of lard, 1 tablespoon of 
white sugar, white of one egg, 8 tablespoons 
of water, flour sufficient to roll out. Tapioca 
jelly is very nice to fill them with, but it 
should l>e prepared the same day it is used. 
Boak four tablespoons of tapioca over night 
in water enough to cover it. Mash and stir 
up the tapioca and add a pint of water. Let 
it simmer gently till clear and thick ; add 
half a oup of sugar and half n spoonful of 
lemon Juice, and, if desired, half a wine 
glass of white wine. It, is nice served up 
white, but, it you desire it pink, add red 
sugar sand till it is the right shade. 
Pressed Meat. —We prepare a quantity of 
press-id meat every winter. This is our 
mode :—We take t he lean part of pork found 
in the chops and neck pieces, and about a 
third part lean beef. Boil till done. Take 
out all the bones and chop fine ; season with 
pepper, salt and sage. Place in something 
to mold it, with a weight on top to press out 
all the fat possible. We use a steamer to 
press ours in, with a largo plats over it and 
a flatiron for a weight. 
In these days of canned fruits sauces are 
always ready. We fill our empty cans 
toward spring with sweet apples. They are 
nice with a few raisins or spiced lemons. 
Wo sometimes find our store of pickles 
growing too small toward spring, and it is 
rather a poor time to replenish them ; but 
apple pickles are about as good as uuy, 
judging from the way people eat them. 
Pure and halve the apples, removing the 
cores carefully to kefcp them in good shape. 
Steam them and remove to a jar. Heat 
i spiced vinegar and pour over them. 
What should wo do without apples i There 
is nothing nicer to use in cooking, and we 
are pretty sure that, whatever tlxe state of 
our stomachs, they will not hurt us. Apple 
short-cakes are favorites of ours. Make a 
rich* cake of sour cream, saleratus and enough 
flour to roll out; bake, split open and spread 
on stewed apples, sugar, butter, and nut¬ 
meg. Mrs. Loretta E. Knapp-Turner. 
-»»» 
DOMESTIC BREVITIES. 
Buckwheat Caked.—Take 4 tablespoonfuls 
of hop yeast, 4 cups of tepid water, nearly l 
cups of buckwheat flour, sifted, aud a little 
salt. Measure the flour after sifting, or they 
will be too thick. Mix in a stone jar, and if 
desired for breakfast, let them stand over 
night in a warm place to rise, and when 
light fry as other griddle cafcf?*. Leave 
about a teacupful of batter in the jar, and 
add water, suit and flour as before, omitting 
the yeast. The second and third mesa will 
bo better than the first. Use no a&leratus in 
these cakes. If they should become sour 
cleanse the jar thoroughly and start again 
with yeast. Bo sure to keep the jar in a cool 
place after the batter begins to rise, or it will 
become sour. These cakes are delicious with 
nice buttes’ aud honey. 
Very nice apple griddle cakes are made 
as the above, only substituting good wheat 
flour for buckwheat, and when ready to fry, 
stirring gently among them a quantity of 
sliced, mellow apples (not too acid).—J ulta 
M. W. 
To Reduce the Price of Coffee. —When 
good coffee is 35 or 40 cents a pound, it takes 
away remorse of conscience for using it, 
somewhat, to parch barley a nice brown and 
mix it half and half with the genuine article. 
It makes a very good substitute and you 
know what you arc drinking. The barley 
should be nicely browned, and when just j 
| warm an egg should bo stirred in it, then set 
! tlle Ore to dry, and ground as wanted. 
Prepared in this way it settles as well as any 
coffee,—F armer's Wiki*. 
Apple Fritters. —1 pint sour milk ; 1 egg ; 
teaspoon soda ; flour enough to make a stiff 
batter ; 3 good-sized apples sliced fine and 
stirred in last; fry in lard. Will some one 
please furnish a recipe for making cocoanut 
cake ?—Louie. 
'ttflicnic information. 
REPLY TO “FEATHER BEDS.” 
But for discussions we should have but. 
one side of questions and see bnb half tho 
merits of this subject. In this semi-southern 
country, where one is accustomed to well- 
kept feather beds, it remains to bo seen 
whether this much-abused commodity is not 
still one of our finest, luxuries. I have knowl- 
clgo of feather beds that have been in use 
from twenty-live to forty years, *o light, clean 
and sweet as to charm old Morpheus himself. 
Good judgment and cleanliness being the 
watchword, just in proportion as it relates 
to the care of every other luxury—i’ur^ fine 
woolen rubrics, silver Ware, cooking, &e.,— 
the abuse of which would render the finest 
arrangement repulsive. Who would leave a 
good bed of any kind unprotected from such 
accident and sickness aa Mrs. C. tells 113 
about ? Aside from neglect, feathers, are 
easily cleaned. Persons who aspire to feath¬ 
ers hardly go to auctions, where tho refuse 
of creation is offered Lo the ignorant, indolent 
and penurious, and who doubtless do not 
read the Rural New-Yokkkr. The longev- 
ity, healthfulness and cheerfulness of our 
ancestry is another argument in favor of 
feather beds. 
Many of the changes in the present way of 
living are more noticeable and objectionable 
than the use of feathers, For instance, wo 
wear a stack of stuff on the top of our heads 
and call it, a bonnet,—so painful to the ugly 
and faded face—that bears little semblance 
to the bonnets that were, and that protected 
the head, surrounding the face with laces and 
flowers. 
Another of these charges is found in tho 
air tight, furnace-heated houses, breeding de¬ 
bility and crossness. 
There is no evil so painful as the. overmuch 
trimming of underclothing, summer wear 
and children’s clothes, when we take into ac¬ 
count the. heavy, tedious ironing entafled by 
this excessive ornamentation; and all the 
washings-made-easy won’t balance the ac¬ 
count. 
In the days when “she seekath wool and 
Ilax and worketh it willingly with her 
hands,” woman found more leisure for self¬ 
culture and intellectual research than now- 
in these days of sewing machines and ready¬ 
made clothing ; neither did she look so frail. 
We often wonder what comforts we are to 
relinquish in the improvements and changes 
that are to overtake us in the next quarter of 
a century. Not, we hope, that we shall have 
to sleep on a ‘’bed” of boards, or live in a 
furnace, or wear a smaller bonnet, or eat any 
harder bread, nor wear any longer dresses, 
or any higher keels, a la “ Grecian bend,” 
nor to mix slang more freely in our language. 
Aunt Kate. 
- 
. FISH AS BRAIN-FOOD. 
The idea that a fish diet, or, at least, the 
frequent use of fish as diet, is promotive of 
brain-power, seems to be growing; and the 
philosophy of it is said to be that the phos¬ 
phorus contained in fish acts beneficially on 
the brain. Looking at vvhat are called the 
lower animals, it is time that a very consid¬ 
erable amount of intellect is to be observed 
in those thr.t feed exclusively on fish. Learned 
seals are very common accessories to shows. 
Of all wild creatures the otter is one of the 
most intelligent and easily domesticated; 
and, with regard to the feathered race, won¬ 
derful stories are told about the instincts of 
storks and other birds that feed upon fish. 
It does not appear to have been satisfactorily 
demonstrated, however, that intellect is 
much developed in the human race by fre¬ 
quent use offish diet. To arrive at a conclu¬ 
sion respecting this, it would be necessary to 
obtaiu trustworthy statistics with regard to 
the mental powers of Laplanders, lighthouse 
keepers, tasters iu Lent, and others who live 
much upon fl&h, Our own observation is 
that those who live much upon fish—as, for 
example, the inhabitants of fishing-villages— 
are not specially distinguished for mental 
vigor, though their animal power cannot be 
questioned,— Technologist. 
