JAN.45 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
43 
years In Its making. Except tnat the town is 
squared, and not dose knit, It might belong lu 
Ohio or even In New England, 'mere are shops 
that’ would do credit to Broadway, aDd houses 
that would fit in our oldest towns. In the peo¬ 
ple there la no more ot the frontier than one 
may And in all the towns west ot the AUeghanles. 
The laboring miner has been called to the moun¬ 
tains, and except that he comes here to spend 
his gains, or to show hl3 " prospects ” to men ot 
capital, Denver la out ot his range. Probably no 
other American city has such a noble site. The 
eastern slope ot the Platte rises evenly and grad¬ 
ually from Us sandy bed, until In a mile It gains 
a height ot two or three hundred rect. From 
any house-top and all the streets oue gets majes¬ 
tic views out over the vast eastern plain or over 
the mountains. A canal brought on to the ridges 
ot the plain trom the Platte canon supplies 
ditches, through which, in summer, water finds 
Its way along the street, and by httle sluice 
gates Into the gardens that surround every 
house. For the time irrigation ot this long-parched 
soli has brought about much sickness, so that the 
town seems to be temporarily unwholesome ; but 
this condition must soon pass, and leave the 
city with almost Ideal conditions ot salubrity. 
Free from parchlug hoats and withering cold, 
nearly snowless, with the sweet, dry air ot iha 
mountains and the oasta-lllte fertility that irriga¬ 
tion will in time give to Its surroundings, It may 
hope for a noble future.— N. S. Shaier In January 
Atlantic.__ 
applktons’ Journal. —Contents : The Veterans 
of Yesterday, In Three Parts (Part First), from 
the French of Erckmanu-Caatrlan; The Early 
History of Charles James Fox; Social Life Among 
the Ancient Greeks; The Influence of Art In Dally 
Life (V. Dress), by J. Beavlngton Atkinson; Po¬ 
litical somnambulism, by Professor J. It. Seeley ; 
Holland and Its People; Philosophy at concord, 
by Mrs. A. B. Blake; The Earl ot Beaconsfleid's 
New Novel; vers de Soclete, by A. U. Japp; rue 
Court and literary Salons of Old Paris; Editor’s 
Table: Eccentricities ot Punctuation—New and 
Old Art The sides—Ex-Presidents as Senators; 
Notes for Headers. 
The publishers announce their Intention of ad¬ 
hering to their,purpose ot providing intelligent 
readers with literature of a permanent and ster¬ 
ling character on aU topics which afTect public 
welfare and general culture. “Large space,’ 
they say, “will continue to be given to literary 
and Art Themes, to Discussions of Social ques¬ 
tions, to Critical and Speculative Essays, to Pa¬ 
pers, original and selected, that In any way are 
likely to Interest Intelligent people, or which 
will reflect the intellectual activity of the age.” 
A feature will be brilliant novelettes from French, 
British, and home writers; and considerable at¬ 
tention will be given to comprehensive and an¬ 
alytical reviews of important new books. A sub- 
editorial department has been added, under the 
title ot “Notes for Readers,” in which will be 
preserved many minor things In llteratuie ot in¬ 
terest to readers. 
NORTU AMERICAN REVIEW—CONTENTS The 
Philosophy ot Persecution, Professor John Flsko; 
Controlling Forces In American Politics, Senator 
George F. Edmunds; Atheism In Colleges, Johu 
Hascom, D. D., I.L.D., President ot the University 
of Wisconsin ; The Ruins of Central America, 
Part V., Desire Cliarnay; Partisan Government, 
Wm. D. Le Sueur; Popular Art-Educallou, Pro¬ 
fessor John F. Weir, Director or the School of Flue 
Arts, Vale College; The Limitations of Sex, Nina 
Morals; The Mission or the Democratic Party, 
senator William A. Wallace; Recent Philological 
Works, Professor F. A. March. 
THE PHILOSOPHY or Persecution. In the first 
series of his admirable essays on contemporary 
literature, M, Scherer reminds us that in 1841 
Lacordalre wrote a biography of Salut Dominic, 
In order to prove that he was not the founder of 
the inquisition. “ strange are the vicissitudes of 
opinion,” observes the critic. “ The Bollamllsts 
saw a title of honor whore the modem Dominican 
sees a blemish which he would fain wipe away. 
While the former scornfully asked what there is 
criminal or shameful In delivering heroilca to the 
torture, Lacordalre complains of the calumnies 
which have injured, in the eyes of posterity, the 
reputation of the chief of his order.” The case. Is 
Indeed a sinking one; but the vicissitudes of 
opinion which It Illustrates, are in no way tempo¬ 
rary or accidental, but are symptomatic of a gen¬ 
eral and progressive change in the tempers and 
opinions of civilized men. The interval of a cen¬ 
tury or more between the earlier Boilaudlsts and 
Lacordalre marked a new era In this change of 
temper, in so far as persecution, while losing much 
of lie old cruel intensity, became also discredited 
and disavowed. It was during this interval that 
Lessing’s theory of the relative truth of opinions, 
whloh destroyed the logical basis ot persecution, 
began to make Its way among cultivated minds. 
Though the persecuting spirit has not jet ceased 
to influence men’s actions, It Is no longer i egarded 
as a trait to be proud of, but seeks to hide itself 
under specious disguises. Its manifestations, 
too. have become correspondingly feeble.— Xort.fi 
American Review for January. 
.scribnek's Monthly. — contents: Potei the 
Great as Ruler and Reformer. III. (Illustrated); 
The London Theaters (illustrated); The Expensive 
Treat of colonel Moees Grice: In Albania with the 
Ghegs (illustrated); Jean-Francols Millet-Peasant 
and Painter. V. Conclusion (Illustrated); Tlger- 
Uly. lu three parts. Part HI.; My Neighbor’s 
Confession; Recollections ot A mertcan Society. I.; 
The Charcoal-Burner; Glimpses of Parisian Art. 
II. (Illustrated); A Christmas Hymn (with two Il¬ 
lustrations) ; Welsh Fairs (Illustrated); Christmas 
Song; The Bible society and the New Revision ; 
The Battle of Waterloo Encored; Topics of the 
Time; Home and Society; Culture aud Progress ; 
The World’s Work; Bric-a-brac. 
Character, and What Comes op It. —Above 
all other things In the world, character has su¬ 
preme value. A man can never be more than 
what his character—Intellectual, moral, spiritual 
—makes him. A man can never do more, or better, 
than deliver, or embody, that which Is character¬ 
istic ot himself. All masquerading and make-be¬ 
lieve produce little impression, and. In their prod¬ 
ucts and results, die early. Nothing valuable can 
come out of a man that Is not In him, embodied In 
hls character. Nothing can be more unphllo- 
sophlcal titan the Idea that a man who stands upon 
a low moral and spiritual plane can produce, in 
literature or art, anything valuable. He may do 
that which dazzles or excites wonder or admira¬ 
tion, but he can produce nothing t hat has genuine 
value, for, after all, value must be measured by 
the power to enrich, exalt and purify life. If art 
I were an end, lu ltself-if tnere were any meaning 
In the phrase “ Art for art’s sake,”—then what we 
say about character would not, or need not, be 
true; but art Is not an end In Itself any more than 
milk, or flannel, or tilth, or harvest. The further 
art is removed from ministry, the more It Is di 
vorced from It, the more illegitimate does It be 
come. Pyroteohny attracts many eyes, and may 
excite a great deal of wonder and admiration, but 
when wu talk about the value of Are, we only think 
of Its service In the furnace and on the hearth.— 
Scrtoner's jor January, 
Notices ot Magazines, xc., for December, isse, 
were unavoidably crowded out. 
----- 
Influence op Flowers.— What can give au air 
of refinement to the meanest place more effectu¬ 
ally than flowers ? I know a row or dingy looking 
city houses, in front of which a few ragged, dirty 
trees drag on a miserable existence, but between 
the end house and a dreary blank wall there Is a 
triangular bit of ground, which is literally carpet¬ 
ed with lilies of the valley whenever May comes 
rotmd. They scent the squalid street and not a 
single pair of leaves come up without Its attend¬ 
ant spray of blossom. 
.-- »■»- 
“ Hands wanted on boys’ pants,” Is the dally ad¬ 
vertisement in the newspapers. 'Twas ever thus 
from childhood's hour. 
- ** * - 
Ask any good doctor If Hop Bitters are not the 
best family medicine on earth. See notice. 
Dorafstii (fconomi). 
**— J ^ 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
CONCERNING DINNER PARTIES. 
MAKY WAGER-FI8UKK. 
A DINNER party, to my mind, is the most en¬ 
joy able of all social inter course, providing, of 
course, that the company be well chosen and 
the dinuer a good one. The dinner need not 
necessarily be either sumptuous or expensive, 
but it should be good, well cooked and nicely 
served. Now that the Winter is well under 
way, aud dinner parties a feature of the sea¬ 
son, it may not be amiss to say something 
about them. As a rule, people who never have 
time to ’• go visiting ” will accept an invitation 
to dinner, and be very punctilious, as they 
should be, in arriving in time; If the dinuer 
hour is fixed at six o’clock, they come ten or 
fifteen minutes before six- 
There are reasons for most things uuder the 
sun, and one reason for beginning a dinner 
with soup, is that it saves oue from the wait¬ 
ing, and often awkwardness, attendant upon 
the'earving of the roast, or rather it puts the 
company into a condition to wait theshaip- 
uess of the appetite is assuaged by it, and the | 
ball of conversation is set rolling. Soup 
should always be made the day before it is 
wanted, so that it may get cold, aud the grease 
or suet, which rises to the top be taken off, 
for greasy soup Is an “abomination. It is a 
very easy matter to have soup two or three 
times a week at least, if one is so disposed. For 
a soup kettle 1 find the granite-ware very nice, 
and most convenient, as it is light to handle 
and the soup can be allowed to stand in it any 
length of time. Of course, the kettle should 
have a closely fitting cover. Two or three 
kinds of meat make a better soup than when 
one alone is used, and bones always give a 
good flavor. While the juices of the meat are 
being extracted, the water should simmer— 
never boil. 
After the soap has been removed from the 
table, and the host or hostess is carving the 
roast (it Is to be hoped that the carving is 
done'without the carver rising to his feet), 
entremets may be passed. These may be beefs 
tongue, spiced, raw or fried oysters, cold, 
boiled ham, head-cheese or slices of molded 
souse, from which the bones have been re¬ 
moved. For an elaborate dinner oue serves 
fish after Boup, but we are considering a diuner 
the materials for which may be found in the 
larder of most country dwellings. Spiced 
oysters are an appetizer enjoyed by most per¬ 
son. and they will keep for three or four 
weeks in a cold place. If the roast is to be of 
beef, do not put water iu the roasting pan ; 
water converts the roast into a stew. If you 
want the beef extra-nice, cover the roasiiug 
pan with another pau of the same size. Ail 
sorts of meats cooked in the oven are the bet¬ 
ter for being roasted iu a covered vessel. Some 
very good cooks dust the outside of a roast ag 
with wheat flour; others condemn the prac- wi 
tlce, so that it is quite a matter of taste. Among rh 
vegetables the potato holds a pre-eminent place re 
and there are more ways of preparing it than m 
there are days in the year, and there are as 
many grades of mashed potato 1 The most de¬ 
licious mashed potato that ever came on my 
table was prepared by an Irish girl whose stu¬ 
pidity was most rasping. But her mashed po¬ 
tato was her redeeming feature, and as I now 
think of her in connection with that dish, her 
memory iB a pleasant one. She had no belter i’ 
potatoes, or cream to put in them, than the 
honBe always affords, but she mashed and beat I 
them until they were utterly smooth, and light 
like foam. A dish of them sent on the table L 
hot never failed to elicit words of praise from a 
some member of the family, if, after potatoes ^ 
are mashed, they be put through a colaudei, c 
and the long ‘'•strings” pile themselves high a 
and toose in a dish, and if they are then set in e 
the oven long enough to brown, they both look 1 
very nice and taste very good. 
There must be a salad, aud a very nice salad ' 
can be had iu cold-slaw, if rightly prepared. 1 
When I was in Baltimore a few days ago, my 1 
hostess there set before me a slaw that I * 
thought waB dressed with oil, and was very 
I ce. Of course, the cabbage was finely cut 1 
ith a knife—not chopped—and here is the 
idpe for the dressing r a heaping teaspoon of J 
jur, a small teaspoon of sugar, a saltspoon 
t mustard, half a teaspoon of salt, half a tea- 1 
ip of vinegar; stir all together aud boil. 
, r hen cold, add half a cup or more of cream, 
,veet or Bour, and pour over the cabbage cold, 
iix thoroughly. If you have no cream, use 
utter milk. This will dress slaw enough for 
) persons. “ What shall we have for dessert?” 
s always a question when a dinner party i6 on 
tie tapis. Heavy, substantial pudding on the 
op of a hearty dinner should never be toler- 
ted. What one wants is somethiug fresh and 
ainty. Spouge cakes, with canned peaches, 
md coffee, make a nice dessert. Blauc-mange 
, r plainly cooked corn starch Berved with pre- 
erved strawberries, or pine apple, with cream, 
s another very nice dessert. The Southern 
tyle of passing cream with preserved fruits, 
a now quite generally adopted, so that a 
jltcher of cream is much more essential to a 
tinner than is butter. (Tim French never 
serve batter with a “ meat ’’ dinner, and maiiy 
>f the more fashionable Americans are follow- 
ng the custom which is a good one). Unless 
the number of guests is large, two varieties in I 
Jessert are sufficient. Sponge cake is a favorite 
with gentlemen, aud most, but not all, women I 
like it. Apples and nuts are always iu keeping 
with dessert; the appleB should be made bright 
with a good rubbing, and the nuts be nicely 
cracked. 
Apropos of coffee, although customary to 
serve it only with dessert, it Is still in the best 
taste to serve it with the dinner when the 
guests are elderly persons who are accus¬ 
tomed to have It; there should be tea also 
for such as prefer it. A certain amount of for¬ 
mality. or order, rather, is necessar ily observed 
in serving a dinner in order to prevent confu¬ 
sion. but unnecessary formality is Btifl and un¬ 
pleasant. There should be no hurry, aud so 
long as the conversation aud inclination of the 
guests warrant it, remain at the table. Two 
hours at dinner are not an over-prolonged 
meal, as “ the feast of reason and flow of soul” 
is never more happy than after one has dined 
About salt: if you are to invest In receptacles 
for salt, do not choose the “Individual” salt 
dishes, but buy the salt boxes with perforated 
nickel, or silver covers, out of which the salt 
is sifted, like pepper out of a box. One feels 
tolerably sure then that the salt is clean, and 
has not been plowed into by the knife of his 
predecessor at table. 
Napkins— never starch them in the slightest 
degree. Only a trifle of starch is permissible 
in a table-cloth. A napkin is a table towel, 
and a starched towel,—one might as well wipe 
himself on the back of an Irate porcupine ! 
A long chapter might be written on the art 
of dinner-giving, but most Rural readers un¬ 
derstand how suitably to prepare and serve 
the meal; if not, they can overcome their ig¬ 
norance by asking Domestic Economy any 
number of questions pertaining thereto and 
Ojj inviting the neigMtors to dinner ! For there 
Is nothiug like practice and familiarity in such 
things to do them well- I cannot too Btrongly 
recommend dinner parties, especially in coun¬ 
try neighborhoods where the social element 
e . needs development. One talks of better 
e9 things, and is in a way ennobled by meeting 
Br with people dressed in their best bib and 
ie tucker. One never has too fine a frock to 
.j wear as a guest to a dinner party. Name 
r _ guests whom you know to be “ congenial to 
llr each other,” 
against the window, and the blinds rattled 
with a dismal shake. Over and over there 
rhymed through my brain averse I had been 
reading the night before, that seemed to suit 
mv mood. 
ONE WEEK FROM MRS. CLAY’S JOURNAL. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
Thursday.— When I awoke this morning 
from a troubled dream the rain was pattering 
" No chill the wind, and barren is the soil. 
So weary am I that I fain would cease 
From scattering seed. It seems a fruitless tolL 
And a voice answered “ God 6hall give Increase.” 
I went into the kitchen before breakfast aud 
found that by some mischance Janet had 
broken a large piece out of my best meat 
platter—at. which she was looking with a 
holpleas, puzzled air. “I’m no vara bad at 
breakin’ delf” she exclaimed, as I entered, “I 
dinua ken hoo it happened." At that moment 
Lonsdale came in, threw his capon a chair 
and sitting down a little too near the north 
wiudow, he raised his arm with a jvrk and suc¬ 
ceeded in pushing bis sharp elbow through 
a pane of glass. We had hardly time to 
exclaim, when little Alex, toddled in from the 
piazza with a large pot in his hand, that held 
my pet rose “Pear] of the Gardens” on which 
were half-a-dozen buds just opening that I 
had watched and tended carefully. He had 
never noticed it before, but now carried the 
trophy toward me, exclaiming joyously, 
“ Mamma, hereare some roses a-rosing .” It was 
a lovely plant; the pot too was fanciful and I 
started to catch it—but too late. It fell and 
the buds were either broken or spoiled. I 
felt like scolding. I think there is a new wrinkle 
started in my forehead, but just then Nora 
came in with quiec step, and a face full of 
sympathy, and I merely said “ A Chapter of 
Accidents'." and lifted the “ Pearl"; took the 
pruning knife and resolately cai it up into 
four plants. So the present enjoyment was 
destroyed, but we will hope for the rose’s fu¬ 
ture beauty. To Lonsdale I said “You must 
take the measure of the glass, and buy a pane, 
and then you can try your hand at glazing.” 
I think this the best punishment a child can 
have for carelessness and I have always 
found it to work like a charm. The rain poured 
down unceasingly all day; the mud and damp 
clothes and leaden skies bad a depressing ef¬ 
fect, and not lili evening, when we were fain 
to “ stir the fire and close the shutters fast,” 
did we recover from theeffects of the day. But 
the peace and calm of eveniug restored our 
equanimity, and we could smile over our disas¬ 
ters while Alex, slept and Janet sang with Lons¬ 
dale to Karen’s accompaniment that sweet 
and touching melody “Oh wert thou in the 
cauld blast." 
REPAIRING TIN-WARE. 
We mend all our own tin-ware, from fixing 
a leaky pan to putting a spout on the tea ket¬ 
tle, both as a matter of convenience and econ¬ 
omy. We used to do the work with a pair of 
tongs heated to melt the solder. Now we have 
a tinuer’s iron (which is not iron at all, but 
copper but, what’s in a name). Our outfit 
consists of the iron, a bar of solder, a lump of 
resin and au old knife for a scraper. Some¬ 
times we use muriatic acid in place of the 
resin, but if the articles to be repaired are not 
too much woru, or have been well scraped 
around the leak or broken place, the resin— 
which should be rubbed on before the solder 
is applied—will answer as well. To make 
repairs which will look as well as those done 
at the shops, requires practice, but by having 
the iron heated j ust enough to melt the solder 
readily, holding it—if you are. a novice—direct- 
1 ly over the place to be m«nded while it melts, 
even a child can do it very well. How much 
better to fix pans aud the like in this way than 
t to stop the leaks with putty or beeswax, as is 
5 often done! A - s - 
QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Haricot of Muttou. 
I wish to learn through the Rural, the art 
of preparing that excellent dish called Haricot 
of Mutton , which at one time could only be 
found at first-class restaurants in New York 
City. It was then regarded as one of the best 
dishes prepared by French cooks. 
R. W. Ludlow. 
Ans. Two pounds of loin of mutton, or leg 
rounds, half pint of gravy, one medium-sized 
onion, carrot and turnip, or in place of the 
turnip substitute one cup of green peas, one 
dessert-spoonful of mushroom or tomato cat¬ 
sup, one glass of sherry or port wine, two ta¬ 
blespoonfuls of butter, a little browned flour, 
pepper and salt. Cut the mutton into strips 
three Inches long by one wide, and fry with 
the sliced onion and butter till a nice brown. 
Have the gravy in a stewpan, and put in the 
fried meat. Simmer, tightly covered one hoar. 
Then add the carrot aud turnip, parboiled 
and sliced, or the peas, and boil twenty min¬ 
utes. Thicken the butter used in frying with 
a little biowned flour; add catsup, pepper and 
salt, pour iuto the stew, boil three minutes, 
add the wine, boil up and serve in a deep dish. 
.--- 
The Solid South, to a woman, are tor Hop Bit¬ 
ters, using them as their only family medicine. 
