569 
1885 
his house and attend to his comforts while he 
labors in the field. It is well for.her that her 
son is thoughtful and considerate and has 
been able to build a nice little house and sur¬ 
round her with the little com forts so necessary 
at her tirnB of life. His few leisure hours are 
spent in cultiv»ting some of the favorite 
(lowers which grew in their old Eastern home. 
Here comes another team dashing along the 
road, the driver attending to bis spirited team 
while the passenger in the back seat scans the 
surrounding country with a shrewd and calcu¬ 
lating glance. He seems to be an ancient 
land speculator looking for a place to invest 
some of his surplus capital in land, where 
plain people would be likely to settle, and thus 
his own possessions would be made far more 
valuable by the labor of other men’s hands; 
those of the poor men, who iu laboring to 
secure and adorn homes of their own, make 
the wildernees to blossom as tbe rose. Won- 
deiful is tbe promise of the new States and 
Territories, where the fertile soil yields such 
liberal crops of grain to feed the millions of 
the earth, and whose wild scenery, now so 
very beautiful, is yet to grow more lovely 
with each passiug year, as the labor of heroic 
men and women build rural homes, where 
children are reared to honest industry, and 
ever generous nature repays them for all 
their toil, as they sit in the shade of tbe green 
trees they have planted and enjoy tbe fruit of 
their intelligent labor. 
SOLITUDE SWEETENED. 
Domestic Cctmomi) 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
HOUSEKEEPING ON PUGET SOUND. 
• MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
VII. 
But as “all things have an end,” so an end 
came to our “fine art of simple living” to the 
general regrot of the family, whle I looked 
forward to the time of serious housekeeping 
at home with positive dread. We had all kept 
so well, and bad such a happy time and at 
comparatively little expense, that nothing 
seemed more silly and “tremendous” than the 
care of a large house and all that it involved. 
We were free at all hours to go or come, and 
housework never stood in the way of a holiday. 
Anaximander taught me in mauy ways how 
things could be left undone, aud nothing bo 
harmed, and from my habitually-careful 
Martha-uess, I expanded gradually into the 
broad '“philosophy” of my studious comrade, 
who always has the sense, come what will, to 
guard against having his time frittered away 
in details. The Winter aud early Spring 
passed, and the formidable scientific reading 
he had counted on accomplishing he bad got 
through with; tbe laddie under home teach¬ 
ing had made good progress m history and 
French and “general information,'’ and hav¬ 
ing reached the age of nearly eight years, was 
often allowed to sit up late enough to have au 
out door lesson under the stars, and took 
great delight in pointing out to me the various 
constellations, at oue time assuring me that a 
certain star was “Sarah Aim”—meaning Siri¬ 
us! I think it may serve some parent well, 
who is teaching a child the rudiments of 
French, to mention that a Reader which is 
altogether charming and practical, full of the 
every day talk of childreu aud parents, is 
called “Livre Pour les Bnfans”—in two vol¬ 
umes, Judeed, it is capital for any beginner, 
who wishes to learn at once how to construct 
sentences and parlor Francais. 
As the Spring advanced, the products of the 
vegetable gardeus were brought almost daily 
to our door by the Chinese hucksters. The 
first, “greens” were cabbage sprouts, a new 
growth from the cabbage "sturups” which are 
left iu the ground during the Winter aud 
which are uot frozen because of the mildness 
of the climate. But with all its mildness, the 
amount of clothiug required to keep one warm 
both in bed and out of it, Is remarkable. I 
felt very shy at first of buying of the Chinese, 
as I had heard so much concerning their pe¬ 
culiar habits—particularly in taking oysters 
from them. But I soon learned that if we had 
oysters at all it was impossible to find any iu 
the markets that had not been opened by the 
deft fingered Celestials, who have an amazing 
faculty of growing long finger nails whieu 
seem never to break off. My Scotch neighbor 
said that the wry homely Chinaman had the 
best oysters; but to insure a further degree of 
cleauliucss, after a family council, it was re¬ 
solved to throw away the oyster juice and 
wash the oysters, and this I subsequently 
learned was the proper method of cooking the 
Puget Hound bivalve—tbe juice uot being val¬ 
ued. The oysters are small and pink and very 
sweet, and, for 15 cents the laddie would 
sometimes count ns many as 120 oysters iu the 
meusure. Five cents would buy all the fish 
we would eat for dinner, anil the same amount 
expended in lettuce would give us a largesnlad 
lor two days, and the nicest lettuce 1 ever ate, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
very large heads and deliciously crisp and ten 
der. Radishes were tender, but we thought 
them inferior to home radishes. Peas were 
plentiful the last o f May, and sold for eight 
ceuts a pound in the pod. Asparagus does 
not grow well here, and tbe markets were 
supplied from California at 10 cents the hunch. 
Early potatoes come from California, but are 
inferior in quality. 
As this will be my last paper of this series, 
I wish to pay a tribute to the bread made by 
the Seattle bakeries. We never tired of it, 
as one does of most baker’s bread. We usual¬ 
ly took what is called “French” bread—a long, 
slim loaf with a hard crust all over it, and a 
small round loaf similarly encrusted, neither 
of which is baked in pans. 1 think much 
home made bread might be greatly improved 
by being similarly baked. One peculiarity of 
spice goods here, which I never observed in 
the East, is a convenience for putting them 
up, which especially adapts them to pioneer 
life. The spices are ground and put iu round tin 
boxes with perforated covers, with a tin slide, 
so that you can shake out your pepper or all¬ 
spice at will. Nutmeg is ground and put up 
in the same way. Roasted coffee is put up in 
an air-tight can, which has a mill in the bot¬ 
tom, which grinds the coffee as you want it. 
The amount of canned goods consumed in 
all Western towns is enormous. People buy 
canned meats when fresh meat can be had for 
less money—but we never enjoyed any article 
of food that bad found repose in a tin can. 
When the time came for us to break camp 
and resume our travels, it was to the accom¬ 
paniment of a groan from Auximander and 
the laddie. The accumulated treasures of the 
latter, which he declared must be packed 
“carefully” and shipped East, had in large 
part to be sacrificed, which quite broke 
his heart, to which he added that he would be 
quite pleased if he could stay in Seattle and go 
home, too! And Anaximander groaned be¬ 
cause a man always groans when a change 
comes in the even tenor of housekeeping, 
while madame tried to be serene in the reflec¬ 
tion that one cannot have his cake and eat it, 
too! As usual, at the very last, invitations 
and visitors and packing taxed our time and 
strength to the utmost, and we were a fagged 
out trio of sleepy mortals when we boarded 
the steamer at four o’clock on the morning of 
June 0th, route for the “Laud of the Mid¬ 
night Sun.” We had “tea” the evening be¬ 
fore with an acquaintance, who invited also a 
number of others to meet us, some of whom 
were "old settlers,” having come to the Sound 
2-i years ago. One of the ladies charmed us 
with some reminiscences of the early days, 
when uo"store”furniture was to be had.and she 
concluded by saying that she thought that 
after all, people were far happier in simple 
homes, with few contrivances, and these the 
products of their own hands. We had a 
charming "tea” and flowers all through the 
house—as well as a button-hole bouquet with 
a pin through the stems—laid at each cover. 
At the house of one lady where I often dined, 
there was always placed at the plate of an 
only daughter who was dead, a low vase of 
flowers—a pretty and touching memorial. It 
may not be amiss to say as a concluding word, 
for tbe further enlightenment of the dense 
iguorauee of the West that prevails iu the 
East, that if you w ish to “astonish tbe natives,” 
you need uot come to the Pacific Coast, be you 
“doctor, lawyer, farmer, priest”—and in auy 
eveut do not come unless you are fairly well 
furnished with money; neither burden yourself 
with things to make you “comfortable,” as did 
a school teacher 1 know of, who only a year ago 
brought a bed mat,trass with her from New 
Jersey, fearful lest she could not find a good 
bed here! It would have been no more ludic¬ 
rous had she carried one with her to the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, New York City. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
The season for preserving and pickliug is 
upon us, and a few suggestions and recipes 
may not come amiss. 
I seldom make old-fashioned preserves now, 
as we all prefer canned fruits, and those I put 
up seldom or never spoil. My general rule is 
one-half pound of granulated sugar to oue 
pouud of fruit, aud one cup of wuter to each 
pound of sugar. I put the water and sugar 
into the preserving kettle (porcelain lined) 
aud let them come to boil, skimming well; 
then add the fruit, and, after it begins to boil, 
let it boil slowly for 15 or 20 minutes; then 
can and seal. 
1 have my jars iu boiling water, take them 
out of that with a towel, hold them, bottom 
up, for uu instant, set them on a plate and 
fill and fasten quickly, screwing very tightly. 
1 have never broken more timu oue jar of the 
hundreds l have put up in this way, and the 
siugle broken one bad a flaw in the glass. 
For greengages and quinces I use more 
sugar, as 1 want them just sweet enough to 
be pleasant whoa served. 
E. M. would, perhaps, kindly give us her 
recipe for putting up pears, as those on her 
table, when I visited her, not only looked 
very beautiful, but tasted delicious. 1 give 
some long tested recipes for sauces, etc. Real 
pickles I seldom make, as we are not extra 
fond of them. 
TOMATO PICKLES. 
One peck of green tomatoes, slice and salt 
over night; in the morning pour off the water 
and add, in layers with them, five or six white 
onions sliced, one-fourth of an ounce of cloves, 
one-fourth of an ounce of black pepper, one 
ounce of mustard seed, two ounces of tumeric 
(kerkimer), three fourths of a small box of 
Colman’s mustard. Cover with good vinegar 
and simmer two-and a-half hours. 
CHILI SAUCE. 
Nine large or 18 small, ripe tomatoes, two 
Chili peppers, one large, white onion. Pare 
and chop the tomatoes very fine, also chop the 
peppers and onions, then add oue tablespoon¬ 
ful of salt, two of sugar, one teaspoonful each 
of ginger, cloves, cinnamon aDd one-half of 
allspice, one nutmeg, grated. Boil 20 minutes, 
then add two small cups of vinegar, boil 10 
minutes longer, cool a little, then bottle and 
cork tightly. 
CHOW-CHOW. 
One half peck finely chopped green toma¬ 
toes, five white onions chopped, salt these 
over-night, in the morning squeeze as dry as 
possible, then add oue small tablespoouful of 
ground black pepper, one small tablespoonful 
of ground allspice, two small tablespoonfuls 
of ground cloves, four of mustard, one-aud 
one half tablespoonful of horse-radish grated, 
six Mountain Sweet peppers sliced very fine¬ 
ly, one-balf pint of white mustard seed. Mix 
well and add cold vinegar, say one quart, 
then put in wide-mouthed bottles. 
SWEET TOMATO PICKLE. 
Two gallons green tomatoes sliced, 12 good- 
sized white onions sliced, two quarts good 
vinegar, oue quart of sugar, two tablespoon¬ 
fuls each of salt, ground mustard, and black 
pepper, and one each of allspice aud cloves. 
Mix and stew until tender, stirring often lest 
they burn. 
In Rural of Aug. 1, “A Vexed Question” 
engaged my attention, and I can assure “Iowa 
Aunt” that, with the aid of such excellent 
patterns as are now published by many 
parties, dress-making need no longer remain 
a vexed question, hut become a settled one, so 
tbat parties who can ill afford to have their 
dresses made, may yet have them fit well and 
look stylish. 
I have three daughters, the eldest over 20, 
and they have never worn a dress that was 
not made by me, except that the oldest one 
now makes her common ones, and I know 
they always look well-dressed, whereas if I 
had to hire a dress-maker, I fear their changes 
would be few and far between. 
My flowers! Don’t I enjoy them! Neural¬ 
gia has secured me for a victim since the fore 
part of June, seriously affecting my left 
limb, rendering me at times unable to walk 
at all, and at best, I can only crawl around; 
but if able to do that, I get out among my 
flowers two or three times a day to enjoy 
their beauties. Oh what lovely varieties of 
poppies were among tbe Rural Treasures! 
Four different kinds have bloomed, and sev¬ 
eral others are budding. The Phlox Drom- 
mondii is also gorgeous in coloring. Other 
flowers I know not the names of, are bloom¬ 
ing; others still only in bud. I hope they 
may ripen seeds. 
I thank “Iowa Aunt” for her expressions of 
good-will. It cheers me to know that words 
of mine can cheer others, for I, too, am a 
worker, not a drone in the human hive. 
AUNT EM. 
TOMATO PICKLES. 
Slice ten pounds of tomatoes, sprinkle with 
salt, cover with a plate and weight, let stand 
over-nigbt. Drain well. Then to fonr quarts 
of vinegar add one pound of brown sugar, 
one-balf cup of mixed spices (the unground 
are best), let these come to a scald, then add the 
tomatoes and cook until tender. 
EXCELLENT TOMATO CHOW-C'UOW. 
Nine pounds of tomatoes, 12 onions, chop 
together fiue and cover with salt, two pounds 
of brown sugar, two quarts of vinegar, one- 
quarter pound of cinnamon, one ounce of 
cloves, a tablespoonful of allspice, two tea¬ 
spoonfuls of black pepper, a few red peppers. 
Stew all together (after draining the tomatoes 
well) until lender. Bottle while hot. 
PLUM PICKLES. 
Seven pounds of plums—small frost ones 
are best—two pounds of brown sugar, three 
quarts of vinegar, one-half cup of cinnamon, 
one-quarter cup of doves. Place the plums 
in a jar and pour the hot spiced vinegar over 
them for three alternate mornings. 
APPLE PRESERVES. 
Make a nice sirup of sugar and water, and 
put in it a small piece of ginger-root. Have 
some good apples peelsd and cored—Pippins 
are the best to use. When the sirup has 
scalded up three or four times, drop in the 
apples and let them remain until transparent. 
SWEET PEAR PRESERVES. 
For each pound of fruit take one-half pound 
of sugar. Save the perfect cores and skins, 
boil these in sufficient water to merely cover 
them; strain this sirup and put in the sugar, 
boil skins and add the prepared fruit. Stew 
gently until the sirup becomes colored finely. 
When sealing the preserves, if there is too 
much sirup, bottle for pudding sauce. 
When putting away pickles iu large¬ 
mouthed jars, we find nothing better to pre¬ 
vent mold than the leaves of Nasturtium 
spread over the top before sealing up. s. b. e. 
ppscrUanfous 
Preserving The Hair. 
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OX YG E |\| TREATMENT 
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Plates, AUilr<.^sDR. PEIRO, Chicago Ooera House, 
JJe refer by permission to a few f ourpstrom: ju.diu wo, ill. 
Hon. Wm. Penn Nixon, Tii I-t.rOivan. - . Chicago 
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