46 
Homfstu (tjrotiomg. 
IJONDUOTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
PEN-THOUGHTS FROM EVERY-DAY 
HOUSE. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
“ We may live without poetry, music and art 
We may live without conscience!, and live without 
heart. 
We may live without, friends, we may live without 
books. 
Hut civilized man cannot live without cooks. 
lie may live without books, what is knowledge but 
grieving ? 
He may live without hoi>o—what, is hope but deceiv¬ 
ing? 
He may live without love- - what is passion but pin¬ 
ing ? ... 
% Hut where, is the man that can live without dining?" 
It was inauy years since I had read that 
poem of Owen Meredith's in which these Hues 
occur. “ Lueile” abouuda in sentiment and ro¬ 
mance, and those lines wedged in among such 
passionate love scenes, cause one tosmileat the 
truth of this confession from such a source. 
Oh! bride of one, or of fifty years, you have 
ere this learned the truth of that last line I 
am sure, for— 
“ Where is the man that can live without dining?” 
Does some cynic of the sterner sex add,—or 
woman either ? I reply, that I have noticed 
in Instances when the gentle sex alone inhab¬ 
ited a home, there was less and perhaps too 
little attention paid to a full, '‘square” meal. 
We depend too much on cups of tea, and put 
ourselves off by way of a resting spell, with au 
easily prepared lunch when the men folk arc 
not with us. 
These thoughts were purify brought to my 
mind by the remarks of a lady in Boston, who, 
being the wife of a clergyman of wide and 
well know renown, has had au opportunity of 
learning a great deal of the domestic life in 
families. 
‘•My dear" she said, “ I hope you use good, 
respectable hop yeast.” I assured her I did. 
"That is good ; but the mixture ca'lod ‘salt 
risings’ or * milk risings’ is very unhealthy. 
The smell, when a few days old, is quite putrid, 
though the bread, when new, is very white 
and attractive. Then the saleratus bread with 
greenish streaks or small, acrid spots all 
through tbe unwholesome loaf or biscuits! 
Yes; I have suffered.” she wont on. “Pics, 
rich and indigestible, butter that lias managed 
to retain au endless variety of bad flavors, and 
is inserted into every dish upon the table! 
How ofluu have 1 said in my heart—* not even 
a dinner of herbs do I crave, but a well baked 
potato with a little salt, if cooked aright!' ” 
"But,” I ventured to protest—“ these are 
extreme eases.” 
••There are too many of them still to be 
found in rural districts,” she added, confi¬ 
dently. 
I felt as if such a tiling must be a mistake, 
and have been wondering ever since how we 
could come at the facts; how learn what, and 
in what manner our rural housekeepers pre¬ 
pare the midday meal. Suppose—taking one 
urdiuary day without any extras—we jot down 
for each other's benllt the details. We will 
suppose that all our butter tastes ol white 
clover—but let us tel) in what proportion we 
use it, aud il the libel we sometimes hear is 
true, that fat pork swimming in grease, with 
few vegetables, forms the staple cooking of a 
farmer’s wife. 1 think it might be conducive 
to good if our faithful domestic Economist, 
Mrs. Maple, would kindly print some of the 
"dinners” that may be sent in. Let them be 
bona fide-, no embellishments, and 1 think we 
can prove even to the “Hub,” that our food 
is wholesome aud palatably cooked with care 
aud often with regard to hygienic principles, 
that do credit to us, according to the light that 
has been given us. Aud as was remarked 
with regard to the grand complimentary 
breakfast lately given the veteran author, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, that it was discussed 
much as all meals must be “ even when liter¬ 
ary lions are at the table,” so we once more 
repeat— 
“ Where is the man that, can live without dining !" 
CHILDREN'S CLOTHING. 
BY MARGUERITE. 
E. E. K.’s article of December 6th is a good 
one, aud I earnestly wish that all mothers were 
as sensible io the mods of dress for their child¬ 
ren. I tried her method last year and, please 
excuse my egotism when I say I think I’m a 
step in advance now. I found the drawers, 
skirt, and stocking supporters too much for 
one waist, so I stitched a piece of muslin in¬ 
side of the waist of flannel chemise, putting 
on it a button for the drawers. Then I sewed 
the skirt fust ou the waist, putt ing buttons on 
each side lor the supporters, Recently 1 have 
adopted still a better method for wearing the 
stocking supporters. I look a piece of elastic 
tape nearly au Inch wide, and sewed the ends 
together, having it go over her right shoulder 
aud under her left arm; another over her left 
shoulder and under the right arm, coming 
THE RURAL H£W-V©R!K£B. 
down below the waist. A single piece was 
fastened to this, about five inches long, and the 
stocking supporters are buckled on to it. They 
work like a charm ! Not a button about them, 
aud her clothing is supported by her should¬ 
ers, which is the only proper way. 
The drawers go into the stockings, extend¬ 
ing to the ankle; but on account of their 
liability to slip up, I knit on ankle-pieces of 
fine yarn, seaming it; I also knit a heel on it, 
like a stocking, and a half-instep. The leg of 
the drawers then are fast, and my little girl of 
five can dress herself. Another way is to sew 
a piece on the bottom of the drawers similar 
to the top of a man’s sock. They are more 
inclined to fit snugly. For the wrists of uuder 
chcmtsc-slecvcs I knit pulse-warmers and sew 
them on. 1 have great trouble on account of 
my children wearing out the knees of their 
stockings while the feet are good. I find I 
can cut the worn parts off, and knit the sound 
lower parts up. I also have tried knitting the 
knees double, as one would a double heel, 
which is an excellent plan. Another good way 
is to line them across the knees before they arc 
worn. 
There is not enough said about the proper 
ways of dressing children. I visited a baby 
the other day, that was just beginning to walk. 
It wure cotton stockings, and bad nothing to 
protect it from cold from its waist to below its 
knees except the loose dress. The mother was 
doctoring it for croop, and had had no rest with 
ir, the night before. A doctor’s bill will prob¬ 
ably follow, aud perhaps a cofliu. Isu’t it 
better to invest in fianuel, or Canton llaunol, 
aud learn the best way to make the garments ? 
Remember, mothers, your children have to 
hear the penalty of your ignorance. Because 
one does not know any better does not clear 
us. Cod bolds us responsible. I have gained 
the knowledge I have by study aud experience 
since i became a moLber. A little thought on a 
mother’s part will bridge over many a chasm 
in the family, aud many of our parental troub 
les would cease to exist. 
- +■*■■* - 
TO KEEP THE CELLAR WARM. 
MARY BEAT, M’LOUTH. 
Tiieke is nothing in winter which mars the 
farm-house more than the unsightly straw 
used lor banking its walls. Ou bright, warm 
days it gives oil a sour, unpleasant <?iTur, be¬ 
sides furnishing a good foundation for a fire. 
A house hanked with dirt, presents a much 
more titty appearance aud the banking does 
not have to he done over again every year. 
Pack the dirt hard as high as the wall, aud 
then cover with sod, leaving a blank space 
under the windows. It will settle a few inches. 
The ground under the windows can be filled 
temporarily with sand, aud a hoard nailed on 
to prevent its scattering! 1 do not wish to 
recommend anything whereby careless people 
might get their houses burned ; but il families 
will use every precaution against fire, a stove 
can beset up in the cellar, just underneath the 
stove in the room above, and the pipe put 
through a thimble in the floor, aud made to con¬ 
nect by means of an elbow with the back part 
of the stove-pipe. A little expense will pre¬ 
pare a joint suitable to receive it. It is neces¬ 
sary to have a damper; but one can be made 
to auswer for both stoves. A very little fire is 
sufficient, but the stove must be very tight. A 
few brick can be put in front, and all cracks 
covered with sand. In a cellar that is exposed, 
a thermometer is sometimes the means of sav¬ 
ing the poLatoes by warning one of impending 
danger. 
--- 
SMALL CHOPPING-MACHINE. 
Can any housekeeper help a backwoodb’ 
lady to a choppiug-machine which will do for 
a family of three ? Of course, I have the sau¬ 
sage-mill, but when I have a little meat or cold 
fowl—just lor one diuuer's relish, perhaps—I 
don’t want to be troubled with that machine. 1 
have a chopping-board and knife, both big and 
heavy. But is there no machine for chopping 
a little meat without needing an hour’s work 
to clean and fix up when done ? I like minced 
meats, but they are.aluiost unkuown at our 
house, because of the trouble of preparing 
them. Now is there auy contrivance to help 
me out—something that won’t cost a great 
deal, either of money in the beginning or ot 
time and patience in the end. If there is noth¬ 
ing of the sort, won’t some ingenious Yankee 
invent one? I wish he would. Mrs. fe. 
North Carolina. 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
Escaloped Chicken or Turkey. 
Choi* fine any cold fowl aud season with 
pepper aud salt. Moisteu bread-crumbs with 
a little milk, butter a baking-pan, put in a 
layer of crumbs, then a layer of meat, and so 
on, until the pan is full. Beat up two eggs, 
add half a cup of milk, any gravy or dressing 
that has been left, thicken with bread-crumbs, 
season with butter, pepper and salt,, spread 
over the top, cover, bake three-lourths of an 
hour, then uncover and let brown 
Orange Hferinque Pie. 
The beaten yelks and whites of three eggs, 
grated rind and juice of three oranges, four 
table-spoonsful—or more, if liked very sweet 
—of sugar, one table-spoonful of melted but¬ 
ter. Cream the butter and sugar, add the 
beaten yelks, then the juice, rind and whites; 
hake with au under-crust. When done, beat 
the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, add 
two table-spoonsful of powdered sugar and 
spread over tbe top, and return to the oveu to 
brown. Mary B. 
-♦♦♦- 
QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Sugar-Cured Until*. 
Please give directions for the above. 
Mas. Stone. 
Ans. —Allow the hams to staud until the 
animal heat is entirely out of them, then rub 
well with common salt and leave them in a 
eask for two days, turning over tw ice a day. 
Takeout and, for hams weighing from Hilo 
14 pounds, take for each, throe-quartors of a 
pound of common salt, the same quantity of 
brown sugar, one ounce of powdered saltpeter 
and a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper. Rub 
first with tbe saltpeter, then with the salt, after 
which with the sugar aud pepper. All the in¬ 
gredients should be well rubbed in. Place in 
the barrel, skiu side down, in which they arc 
to he kept, let remain a week, make a pickle 
of salt aud water, strong enough to bear up 
an egg, add to it a pound of sugar and pour 
over the hams until covered. At the cud of 
four weeks take out, hang up for a week, then 
smoke. Hickory wood is the best to use. 
Smoke at least three weeks. 
|Ull)S Of tj}C (f’diffll. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Monday, Dec., 29, 1S79. 
It Is rumored on good authority that the United 
states mission to Russia has been tendered to 
Gov. Van Zandt of R. 1. The Russian Is one ot the 
four great missions, and our Important and friend¬ 
ly relation with that power give some significance 
to this appointment, should the rumor be true, 
It will leave the Held clear for the re-election ot 
Gen. Burnside to the senate, and will give several 
anxious candidates an opportunity to enter the 
Gubernatorial race In April. 
A petition has been received by the President, 
signed by 400 gentile citizens ot Utah, protesting 
against the reappointment of Governor Emery as 
the chief magistrate for that territory. The rea¬ 
son given Is, that he favors polygamy and has 
approved the repeal of the only territorial law r 
under which polygamy can be punished. 
As the refunding act of 1S70 was amended last 
year so as to permit the. four per cent, bonds It au¬ 
thorized to be exchanged for auy bonds of live per¬ 
cent. and over as they became redeemable. Secre¬ 
tary Sherman will be able to take up the $is,429,ouo 
six per cent, bonds w hich come due ou the last 
day of December. There still remain about $103,- 
000.000 of rour per cent, authorized by the act of 
1S70, but never Issued; but none of these can be 
used in exchange for Hie 'si sixes till the latter 
are actually due. 
Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1879.—The Western 
railroad rates are likely to be altered. An Evans¬ 
ville Indiana despatch of Dec. 26 , says an Import¬ 
ant meeting of the general freight agents of the 
Southern and Western Railroad lines will be held 
thereon the 80 th lust., relative to rates to the 
southeast coast, regular green hue points and 
routes via Baltimore and New York. The South¬ 
ern Interests, It Is understood, will prepare for 
war on the steamship lines and combinations that 
have forced the coast freights round by Baltimore 
to Charleston by ocean. Messrs, stahlman ot the 
Louisville and Nashville; Knox, of the Nashville 
and Chattanooga; Frink, ot the St. Louis and Iron 
Mountain, aud Babcock, of the Evansville, Terre 
Haute and Chicago, have been in correspondence 
and twenty representatives are expected. 
A monument has been erected over the ueglect- 
ed grave near Lincoln City, Ind., of Abraham Lin¬ 
coln’s mother, Nancy Lincoln, who died in isit>, 
when Abe was nine and a half years old. The 
Lincoln family removed from Kentucky to that 
spot when It was a wilderness in 1616, the year 
Indiana entered the Union, aud there Abraham 
lived till he was 21 years old. studebaker, ibe 
great wagon-maker of South Bend, Ind., was 
chiefly instrumental in having the mother’s rest¬ 
ing-place cleared ot us tangled undergrowib and 
a marble stone provided remark the spot,. 
Congress adjourned last week for the holiday 
recess. The chief things of Interest during the 
last two days of the session were a debate in the 
Senate led oil by Voorheea or Indiana, on his reso¬ 
lution to investigate tbe negro exodus irom North 
Carolina to the State which the senator represents, 
and which was passed by the aid of republican 
votes, and a debate In tbe House over the Ute 
question, which, however, led to nothing definite. 
A number of prominent republicans are said to 
have formed the New Orleans Ledger publishing 
company, in publish a republican newspaper, the 
first number of which will appear J anuitry :i. Ex- 
Gov. Michael Halm will be president of the com¬ 
pany and edltor-ln-ehlet. 
A motion was submitted by Senator Edmunds 
In the United States supreme c.uurt last week . to. 
advance upon the docket the case of Augustus D. 
Julllard against Thomas S. Greenman, which now 
stands No. 779. This Is a teat case, brought to ob¬ 
tain the opinion of the court, ns to the validity of 
the act or Congress ot May Hi, 187s, forbidding a 
further retirement of the Bo-called United stales 
legal-tender notes, and requiring them to he re¬ 
issued and kept In circulation after redemption. 
Dennis Kearney talks of nominating Thurman as 
the workingmen’s candidate for president, in the 
hope ot a democratic indorsement. Dennis is 
now on his way to Boston. 
President Leland Stanford or the Central Pacific 
road Intends to plant, every tree, shrub aud vlue 
that will grow in California on an arboretum of 
some 800 acres, which he has set apart for that 
purpose on his Menlo Park estate near San Fran¬ 
cisco. lie has just bought 1231 kinds of plants 
and ho Intends to give a practical test of his be¬ 
lief that California will grow a greater variety of 
plants than auy other country In the world. 
The surrender ot the guilty India ns Is still doubt¬ 
ful. A dispatch from Los Pinos agency, Col., 
datdd Dec. 20 , says that “ Ouray and the chiefs 
selected to go to Washington came to the agency 
yesterday, bringing with them only a part of the 
prisoners. General Mutch refused to go unless all 
the prisoners demanded by the commission were 
surrendered, ouray asked for further time, and 
live days more were granted to deliver them at 
Cline’s ranche, thirty miles from here, on the road 
to Almosa, at which place General Hatch will 
await tlielr corning. Ouray Is either playing a 
double game or is unable to accomplish what he 
attempted. 
The snow Is from five to fifteen feet deep on the 
range, aud the general la compelled to build a 
sleigh hi order to make the trip. The success of 
the commission Is somewhat doubtful, and the 
army may yet bo called upon to sol tie the I T te 
question.’’ 
The next meeting of the Michigan Pomolog- 
loal Society will be held at Hillsdale, February 
11th, 12 th and 13th. 
FOREIGN. 
The cold In Europe continues severe. . . Trouble 
Is feared among the boers of Transvaal, south 
Africa. This Dutch colony was some time ago 
annexed by Great Britain, and the original set¬ 
tlers don’t like the present government. . . 
Business Is remarkably brisk In Great Britain, In 
all binuches, but especially In tbe Iron depart¬ 
ment. Strikes, of course, are multiplying. . . 
Tbe emancipation of Cuban slaves has been de¬ 
creed by the Spanish cortes, only a handful of op- 
ponets voting against the measure, and these 
chiefly representatives of "The liver-Faithful 
island." Students at Russian Universities will 
In future be subjected the most rigid mili¬ 
tary dlaclplltne. . . . Accounts vary some¬ 
what with regain to military operations between 
Chill aud the allies, Peru and Bolivia; but tho 
balance of success seems ou the side of the sturdy 
Chilians,who have invaded Peru latelyand won sev¬ 
eral victories. All farmers are Interested in this 
struggle, as tu case Peru wins, she’ll have a mono¬ 
poly of guano and nitrates, her object In fighting. 
There has been another Cabinet crisis in France. 
The present. Ministers have all resigned, but no suc¬ 
cessors have yet beeu found for certain who can 
command a majority of the Legislature. The new 
Cabinet Is certain to be anti-clerical, more radi¬ 
cal, favorable to general amnesty ot imprisoned 
communists, and, on the whole, au advance to¬ 
wards extreme republicanism. , . The Russian 
Government seems to be inclined to recede from 
the extreme measures of repression It appeared to 
contemplate against revolutionists Immediately 
after the late attempt upon tbe life of the t zar. 
We are now assured that liberal measures will be 
(soon Inaugurated. In spring the Russian empire 
will, It is said, be extended eastward, by tho cap¬ 
ture ol Merv, and also of Herat lu Afghanistan. 
The English, however, will probably anticipate 
tbe Russians In case of the latter. . . The con¬ 
dition of the British lorees in Afghanistan is 
rather critical. The natives have everywhere 
risen to arms, and the various detachments of 
English troops are pretty nearly all surrounded. 
That under Gen. Roberts atCabool has been forced 
to quit the city, and for some time was besieged 
In the neighborhood; but by tho latest, accounts It 
seems he has defeated the enemy, and having 
plenty Of provisions expects to hold his own at 
least until spring, when the necessity ol planting 
their crops will lorce the warlike hill tribes to re¬ 
turn home. . . There are various reports, some 
of them true, no doubt, and others sensational, of 
a grand rising of the Mahormncdans of the East 
against British domination. It Is said to have 
begun In Afghanistan, and to be likely to spread 
to British ludla. Considering that the number of 
Alahommedans exceeds that or Christians of all 
denominations, such un uprising would be for¬ 
midable, as nearly all of them urc m Eastern 
countries. But there is Uttle fear or anything 
more than a local excitement. . . Bismarck Is 
again reported sick. . . The French Government 
has proposed a plan for the settlement of the 
Turko-Greelan boundary, which Is expected to be 
satisfactory, and bo a threatening war is averred... 
More Russian Nihilists have been arrested In Ber¬ 
lin and Florence. Not content with conspiring 
against the Czar, they are also accused or concoct, 
mg schemes against the government of the coun¬ 
tries that give them a refuge. . . Another insurrec¬ 
tion In Mexico l—this time In Lower California. 
Eggleston Truss Co.—Gems I was in your 
office a few weeks ago and was fitted with a Truss. 
I can say It la the best Truss i have ever used. 
Has not troubled me one bit since it was put on. 
I have notlvad the Truss off but. once since you 
put it on, and that was this morning. The intes¬ 
tines did not come down, go 1 know I Cun soon 
take It oiT altogether. Then I shall walk the earth 
a free man, after 30 years of bondage and suffer¬ 
ing, No money, would. Induce me to be placed 
