THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
643 
one conclusion to the subject. “There is not 
a farmer’s daughter in all my knowledge that 
goes out to do general housework—just as 
sure as I live.” and she dropped her work, 
pushed up her spectacles, and looked at me in 
astonishment. 
I had to laugh and say to myself, “ I told 
you so.” 
‘•There are the Bradford families,” said 
Aunt Belinda, “with their daughters. Anuie 
Bradford went to school, then taught, then to 
school again until she graduated. She then 
taught in her alma mater, and her two young¬ 
er sisters were pupils in the same school. 
Mary is at a university now and is a senior. 
She spent six weeks of her vacation at Chau¬ 
tauqua studying German and writing for the 
city papers. A cousin of hers graduated at a 
college last year where her brother in law 
filled a chair, and she taught French in the 
institution during her senior year.” 
“Then there are the Tuttles who atteuded 
school at Oberlin, One rf mains at home, one 
teaches, and or.eis an artist, and is successful 
enough to make it pay us well as teaching, to 
say nothing of home adornments; and then 
they have money of their own. One of them 
said to me once,'we girls would not feel like 
going to father for all the money we want’.” 
“Do you think such girls will marry far¬ 
mers, Aunt Belinda?” 1 asked. 
“Good, honest girls, will marry the one 
they love If he is worthy, or else remain single, 
whether he is a farmer or not.” 
“But what is the answer to the help ques¬ 
tion?” 1 asked. 
“You have help now,” she answered. 
“Yes. I am like Mrs. S. When I get a 
girl 1 keep her for some ti ne, but it’s hard 
getting ” 
“Good, efficient girls that wish to work, 
are taken into good families and remain for a 
long time. Those that change often are the 
inefficient. I cannot solve what wiser beads 
cannot; but farmers are more apt to demand 
help than to give service. Tell me about your 
visit, yesterday. What is the news, aud did 
you have anything new to eat?” And she 
looked over the top of her spectacles in an 
amusing way. 
“Not really new,” I answered; “but the 
houses seemed full of hospitality, and I came 
home, feeling younger aud more free from 
care than when 1 left. I made up my mind 
about one tiling, though, and that is, never to 
flavor fruit. We hud peaches with flavoring 
that spoiled t he peach taste, and we had some 
lovely-looking canned pears to eat with cake, 
that were flavored too. Flavoring does for 
puddings and cakes, I told John on the way 
home, but let the fruit be natural. Now don’t 
roll up your work, Aunt Belinda, for I am 
going to have mock oysters for supper, and I 
waut you to try them.” 
“Well, 1 guess 1 will; for ‘something has 
happened,’ as the little girl said when she was 
urged; besides, I have heard your oysters are 
good, aud as I must hasten home to do the 
chores after eating, let rue have the recipe 
now, if you have leisure.” 
MOCK OVSTER8. 
Mix into a pint of grated corn, three table¬ 
spoonfuls of milk, one teaeupful of flour, t.wo 
teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted with it, 
two ounces of butter, oue tcaspoouful of salt, 
half a teaspoonful of pepper, and one egg. 
Drop into hot butter with a tablespoon, and 
fry brown on both sides. 
“Lizzie Myers is going into the silk culture, 
and I have sent her all the information I bave 
gathered in the Rural and elsewhere,” 1 re¬ 
marked, as we left the table. 
“Indeed! aud Flora Thompson is taking up 
bees, aud the Brown girls are raising poultry, 
aud hatching them in an incubator,” said 
Aunt Belinda. 
“All farmers’ daughters,” said 1. 
“Yes, farmers’ daughters, with practical 
brains,” she answered. “Your fritters are 
good—oysters, 1 should say. it takes a person 
thoroughly disciplined to make a housekeeper, 
aud our help comes mostly from our laborers' 
daughters. If farmers’ daughters would make 
a profession of cooking, many would excel. 
But it’s not homes they want. it’s wages—they 
have the homes. While persons wishing a 
home and help in a family are getting it, aud 
in a certain way, they get the luxuries the 
family enjoy. Of course they work hard; but 
who does not?—and 1 must hurry away to 
mine.” 
Thus Aunt Beliuda loft me, while I took up 
the threads of my evening’s work. Four chil¬ 
dren to bathe, hear their prayers, put them to 
bed, and get them settled. Ah! if you were 
to peep in, you would declare the “settling” 
was the hardest of all; for the undressing 
briugs new life into the active bodies, aud 
sleep is a stranger—without 1 spin a yarn; and 
it seems, sometimes, as if the material was all 
drawn out. “Why don't I read them one?” 
Haven’t 1 tried that? And they would bog me 
to put away the book and “tell it.” There! I 
do not need to finish it; they are oil In the 
“land of Nod;” and l turn to my mending, 
survey the rents. Precious?—yes. The story 
is over, but the “sandman” has not left, me. I 
feel his influence, and I atn with the children 
until John’s step awakens me. 
DRESS WARMLY. 
The season of cbuuges in the temperature 
of the house and of the outer air is now more 
apparent, and not only do children require 
more warmth of clothing, but adults also. 
Young girls go out dressed in merino and 
cashmere, looking comfortable, but often with 
thin underwear. If you ask thorn, they will 
assert that they are warm enough, hut they 
are perhaps not aware how the lack of requi¬ 
site warmth uses up the vital force which is 
ueeded to carry oo the various functions of 
the body, and robs them of strength and vigor. 
Dress warmly, no matter how plain or lack¬ 
ing in ornament; lot comfort and health be 
the first consideration. a. l. j. 
-- 
The husband of the Baroness Burdott-Cout ts 
is about fill, fine and manly looking, while sho 
is small, round-shouldered, and past 60. Sho 
is but one of many distinguished women who 
have married men much younger than them¬ 
selves. among them Miss Thackeray, Miss 
Muloek, Rose Terry, and Grace Greenwood. 
Queen Marghkhita last Winter said that 
Mrs. Astor was the most beautiful woman ever 
presented to her. 
Tub $1,000 fan carried by Mrs. L. M. Bates 
at Saratoga ought to be able to “raise the 
wind.” 
Domestic Ccottomi) 
CONDUCTED BY EMII Y MAPLE. 
A WEEK AT THE SEASIDE. 
sms. J. E. EATON. 
Becoming somewhat wearied by the cares 
and duties of home, which for the last four 
years had pressed quite heavily, my friends 
advised a change; so, giving my little maid 
all needed directions for her work during my 
absence, we started, a party of live, for the 
seashore. Those only who are passing through 
like circumstances can realize the intense feel¬ 
ing of relief which possessed me us I thought: 
"No more planning for the meals for a whole 
week ! Nothing to do but rest, and get strong; 
and to be able to pick up a piece of neglected 
funcy work, or an unread poem, and enjoy it 
without interruption!” Why, it seemed too 
good to bo true. And then the sea! Old ocean, 
in all its glory of sunlit wave and dashing 
foam! What a pleasure, to sit for hours on 
the rocks aud enjoy the glorious sight! To 
watch the light oars of the boatmen dip in 
the water, or the white sails of some incoming 
craft; to roaui uuhiudered on the beach, and 
imagine we were children once agaiu. Then, 
when wearied and hungry, go to our board¬ 
ing place, where the trim mistress had every 
thing in readiness for our comfort. What was 
to hinder our getting refreshed and strength¬ 
ened once more to take up life’s duties? And 
I could not help thinking how more tliau fool 
ish it seems for the wile aud mother to go on, 
year after year, without a pause of even one 
week, and imagine she has no time to get 
rested. Why, this is time well spent. Does 
it pay to get so run down and low-spirited, 
that nothing but a sickbed and doctor’s bills 
will sot us right again? Methinks it is far 
cheaper to take the seaside medicine, which 
Cheers both body and spirit. Then, too, oue 
learns so much. To the iuqniringmind every 
position m life tends to inciease knowledge. 
Among some useful items learned from the 
lady where we boarded (who allowed us free 
access to the kitchen) was her way of beating 
eggs. This she did with a sharp knife and, 
although we have not yet tried too process, 
being a devoted disciple of Dover, oue had 
only to look at her stiff', white massesof froth¬ 
ing, to believe in the efficacy of the operation, 
in her parlor wo noticed a handsome crazy 
sofa pillow; not made of scraps of silk, but of 
pieces ot bright-colored wools, tied together, 
aud crocheted. It was certainly novel, and 
very pretty. She also showed us common 
tidies worked in the same wuy, from the 
thrums left from her beautiful homo-mude 
carpet. But it was the neatness of her kitchen 
which made the chief attraction of the house. 
When we saw the white dish-cloths hanging 
todry, aud which, we noticed, were keptsweet 
and white by frequent boiling, we were sure 
of eujoying our meals. In one of the low win¬ 
dows Imng a pretty basket containing simply 
a carrot, but whose drooping, green leaves 
and white blossoms were certainly handsome. 
After all, there is as much poetry in the right 
kiud ot housekeeping as there is drudgery in 
the wrong. Aud now, as I look back to that 
week at the seaside, my daily cares grow 
lighter, and to my many Rural sisters I 
would say, “Go, thou, «.«d do likewise.” 
A WORD WITH CHARITY. 
Of late about the first thiug that “ wo,” at 
our house, look for in the Rural, is one 
of Charity’s Reveries. Like Dr. Hoskius, 1 
have grown to admire Charity greatly, and 
from the first I have thought she was not fair¬ 
ly treated. She gets lots of advice, for such 
stuff is very cheap and. of course, we all want 
to give in our share. What I want to say to 
Charity is that if l were in her place. 1V1 be 
blamed if 1 wouldn’t set my cap for some 
young man that I knew would lie willing to 
help bis mother and sister in their work, and 
would not let them milk or feed pigs and 
calves. From all that, Charity says, 1 judge 
that she is almost ns smart as my wife, and 
that she ought to have a man as good as or bet¬ 
ter than, my wife has. My wife can do all the 
chores that Charity does, but l don’t propose 
to let her. as it is not, a woman’s place to milk, 
or feed pigs, work butter or lift cream, etc. 
We keep 18 cows, but my wife or her girl 
has not been obliged to milk a dozen times in 
nine years. When it is time to milk 1 stop my 
work and do it, and I believe 1 get along just 
as well as if 1 shifted it off on to the women 
folks. I always i»ut up the churning to save 
their lifting the cream, and when tne butter 
conies, if I am about the house, I draw off’ 
and empty the buttermilk, and, if not driven, 
I work and pack the butter. Of course, it is 
well that girls should knowhow to do these 
things; but they are too hard work for them 
to lie obliged to do, as a rule. I dislike to 
see my wife look tired, and I know her duties 
are wearisome enough if T help her all I can. 
My advice may seem plain to Charity, for 
sho may he looking higher than the life of a 
common farmer’s wife; but she must remem¬ 
ber that boys always get the largest share of 
the property, and if she turns the cold shoul¬ 
der to all of her suitors, the first thing she 
knows, she will be a discontented old maid, 
and what fate could be worse than that! 
Nothing, unless she happened to marry a nmu 
who would expec t her to do ml the chores, and 
get up first in the morning and build the fires. 
I think the life she would lead as the wife of a 
good farmer would be most likely to make 
her happy in years to come; but if she has 
higher aspirations than to be a happy, healthy 
and godly woman, I could not offer her the 
fulfillment of such ambition, because I am 
only A COMMON FARMER. 
THE OTHER SIDE. 
I am in entire sympathy with “Illinois.” I 
think women waut strength of purpose; they 
waut sound sense, and with theso virtues they 
should command respect. Half of life’s troubles 
are either imaginary, or else they uro thought 
over until the mind becomes so morbid they 
cannot be looked at in their true light. A lit¬ 
tle temper now and then does no harm. I 
abominate those terribly meek people who 
have no mind of their own, aud are crashed If 
the least care is put upon them, while the sight 
of a worm or spider is cause enough for a fit 
of hysteria, 1 think there is always a silver 
lining to the clouds Of our life; llmt our joys 
and sorrows are divided pretty evenly, ouly 
the lat ter are the more noticed. The mother 
shields the daughter, because she will soon 
enough have care; does this bringing up help 
the daughter to fight the battles of life brave¬ 
ly? The father helps the son over hard places, 
tukiug most of the burden upon himself; does 
this make the son a brave soldier? The Good 
Book says it is well fora man to bear the yoke 
in his youth. Isn’t it? If we are in the thick¬ 
est of the fight we shall not lie unscathed, but 
surely the scare will be honorable ones. To 
those of my own sex I would say, “Be brave; 
bear and forbear; but have your own thoughts 
und opinions; make something of yourself; 
gain for yourself a place aud reputation.” 
aunt mollie. 
A NEW DEODORIZER. 
Mrs. B C. IX writes: “I learned something, 
the other day, that may answer for a house¬ 
keeping ‘note.’ 1 was assisting in the care of 
a sick person, when the nurse brought in some 
tobacco burning on a shovel for a deodorizer. 
The smell of it, was far less offensive to me 
than the usual articles used for such purposes, 
except coffee. The nurse told me that she 
used it frequently. As it was new to me, l 
marked it down as worth remembering.” 
DOMESTIC R EC I FEB 
MOCK MJNCE PIER. 
One cup of vinegar, one cup of water, one 
cup of molasses, one cup of sugar, a piece of 
butter the size of an egg, one teaspoonfuJ of 
salt, two teaspoonfuls of ground cinnamon, 
one of cloves, two rather large slices of bread 
broken up Sue and simmered with the other 
ingredients. liauius chopped may be added, 
more or less according to the taste. This 
quantity will make three or four pies, accord¬ 
ing to the size and quality, aud if wall made, 
they will sometimes surpass the regular 
article. As much as pics are condemned as 
an article of diet, even by those who never 
refuse to eat them, there is no greater con¬ 
venience to a cook than a well made pie. 
AUNT RACHEL. 
JELLY CAKE. 
Oue large cup of flour, three eggs, one-half 
cup of milk, one cup of sugar, one teaspoonful 
of soda, two teaspoon fuls of cream-of-tartar, 
pinch of salt. Bake in along tin, spread the 
top of oue-half the cnlce with jelly, and put 
the other half on top. This is quickly made 
and very good. 
BREAD FRITTERS. 
Soak stale pieces of bread in good, rich but¬ 
termilk, mash all up smooth, then add a little 
salt, and flour enough to make a good batter, 
quite stiff; lastly add two teaspoon fills of soda, 
dissolved in hot water. Fry as for common 
fritters. 
FERNS. 
A nice way to press ferns is to place them 
in a newspaper, and put them under a <1 raw¬ 
ing room rug. MRS. J. E. e. 
A SIMPLE AND WHOLESOME DESSERT. 
Bake tart apples, having removed the cores 
and filled the cavities with sugar. Make a 
thin custard as follows; put a. quart of uew 
milk on to heat; when at, the boiling point, stir 
in a tablespoonful of corn-starch dissolved iu 
a little cold milk, add a small cup of gran¬ 
ulated sugar, then three well beaten eggs. 
Adda, piuch of salt, and stir constantly for a 
moment, then take from the fire, aud when 
cold flavor ns you please. Serve the apples in 
berry saucers with custard poured over each. 
MRS. c. 
TO COOK ANY FRKHII FISH, 
Split, season with salt and a little Cayenne, 
heat the gridiron, butter the bars, and lay the 
fish on it flesh down, and broil over a bright 
fire. When cooked, place on u hot platter; 
mix together a teaspoonful of minced parsley, 
the juice of half a lemon, a piece of butter the 
size of nn egg. Spread this over the fish, put 
in the oven long enough to allow the butter to 
penetrate the fish. city cook. 
IMCKLEI) GRAPES. 
Fill a jar with alternate layers of small 
bunches of grapes and sugar (the sugar should 
be simply sprinkled over the grapes), aud fill 
up with cider vinegar, not too strong. Ca- 
tawbas are best for this pickle. K. c. b. 
MINT VINEGAR. 
• 
Those persons who like mint sauce or vine¬ 
gar in Winter with lamb and mutton, will do 
well to secure the seusoning now, I'ut into a 
wide-mouthed bottle enough fresh, clean 
mint to fill it loosely; fill up with good 
vinegar, cork tightly, and let stand two or 
three weeks. Then pour off, and keep well 
corked for use. Use this vinegar as a condi¬ 
ment, or put a small quantity into the drawn- 
butter sauce made for the mutton. 
SLICED TOMATOES AND ONION PICKLES, 
Slice oue peek of green tomatoes and eight 
large onions; strew over them a coffee-cup of 
salt, mix aud lot stand over night. Next 
morning drain and put ovor the fire in a pre¬ 
serving kettle, with a quart of vinegar and 
two of water. When at boiling heat, simmer 
half an hour; drain, and cover with the fol¬ 
lowing hot preparation: Take four quarts of 
vinegar, add to it, two pounds of white sugar, 
half a pound ot white mustard seed, two table- 
spoonfuls each of ground cloves, cinnamon, 
allspice and mustard. This mixture should 
bod In minutes before pouring over the piekle. 
MRS. j. BROWN. 
SWEET POTATOES. 
Boil until almost tender, and remove skins. 
Make a batter with a little milk, and a beaten 
egg thickened with Hour and seasoned with 
pepper and sab. Cut the potatoes into rather 
thick slices, dip iu this batter, and brown on 
both sides iu hot beef drippings. Nice with 
roast meat. a. v. 
EXCELLENT CORN STARCH CAKE. 
Three cups of sugar, one of butter, one of 
milk, three of flour, one of corn sturch, whites 
of l’J eggs beaten stiff, two teaspoonfuls of 
baking powder. Beat sugar and butter to a 
cream, dissolve the starch m the milk, add 
then the flour and whites. The powder should 
be sifted with the flour. Bake m a moderate 
oveu. B. 
Ilornford’* Acid IMiompImie. 
Very Seilxlucioi y in l’roftir« I ion. 
l)r. F. F Gilmartin, Detroit, Mich., says: 
“I have found it very satisfactory in its 
effects, notably in the prostratiou attendant 
upon aichoholism.”— Aav, 
Prol'cxsor llornlord’s Itakins Powder 
is healthful and nutritious, because it coni.us 
the phosphates required by the . 
