4887 
calico set together with white. There are 25 
small pieces in each block, the corners heing 
of the light goods. The large white block 
Fig. 305. 
must have a blue piece set in at each corner. 
Put together with 72 large blocks, the quilt 
will he two yards and a halt' long by two and 
a quarter wide. Set together either straight 
or diagonal—I prefer the last. This is known 
as the Irish chain quilt. 
MRS. R. W. WILLIAMS. 
PRECOCIOUS. 
Lucy: “Two cups, three plates, anil one saucer broke, 
and uo cat In the house- Guess I hod better cut for 
home and send in nty resignation by mall. 
A IIOT-WEATHER BREAKFAST. 
My husband hasa some what undesirable fash¬ 
ion of springing company upon me at all sorts 
of unexpected times. I consider myself for¬ 
tunate if he does not wait until he sees the 
table beiug laid, to nnuouuee that, some one is 
coming to “breakfast” or to •‘dine.’’ Conse¬ 
quently I was neither surprised nor indignant, 
one morning when I received a two hours’ no¬ 
tice that two friends would breakfast with 
us. It was a hot July morning, and even at 
that early hour the mercury was fast ap- 
proachiug the nineties. 
“Get up something nice for hot weather, 
yon know Mary,” said my husband’s sleepy 
voice as I left the room. So, leaving minut¬ 
est instructions with Nornb as to the care of 
the tire, laying of the table, etc., I sallied 
forth in search of “something nice, you 
know ” This is not hard totiud in New York, 
even at an up-town market, or green-grocer's, 
but I had to consider the capabilities of my 
servant, and, alas! they were few. 
My lirst purchase was three hue Ski] man’s net¬ 
ted musk mo lous. Most of my life had been spent 
in the country, where I bad raised the Cassaba 
and Hackensack, and many other varieties of 
melons within a stone’s throw of Joe Jeffer¬ 
son's beautiful place on the banks of the Hobo- 
kus, and I knew a good melon when 1 saw it. 
I did not serve them with pepper, salt and 
sugar eitl er. The/ were cut in halves, the 
seeds removed lightly, so as not to disturb the 
delicate tlesb, and a lump of ice laid in each 
half when they were placed in the ice box to 
make their appearance lirst on the bill of 
fare. 
A wenkfish weighing about a pound ami a 
half, two veal kidneys aud a pound of calf's 
liver, which I induced an obliging butcher to 
cut very thin, with a box of great, luscious, 
dewy blackberries, completed my purchases, 
and my breakfast was arranged as follows: 
Muskmotona. 
Gralulet Porridge. 
Broiled Weakflsh, Potato Croquettes, 
Liver anil Kidney Saute, Graham Gents, Broiled Corn, 
Sugared Blackberries. 
Gralulet is one of the most delicate of break¬ 
fast cereals. Into a quart of fast-boiling and 
salted water, sprinkle a cup of the meal: stir 
constantly to keep it from lumping, and set 
where it will steam aud puff for ten minutes. 
I always put my afternoon’s supply of milk in 
a shallow vessel in the ice-box over-night, and 
skim it for our breakfast porridge, aud even 
from a siugle quart of milk, one can obtain a 
nice little pitcher of a fluid, called by courte¬ 
sy, create. 
i could not trust Norah to broil the fish, so I 
cut it in nice pieces, rolled it in flour,and fried 
it a light brown, mixed a tablespoouful of 
butter, a teaspoouful of lemon-juice, and some 
fiuely-miuced parsley together; dished the 
lish, spread this sauce over, and took my place 
at the table with some degree of comfort, 
knowing that ten minutes in the warming 
oven would not detract from its flavor, but 
would allow the sauce to penetrate. 
For the croquettes mix a pint of smoothly 
mashed potatoes with a little nutmeg, a dash 
of Cayenne, and the beaten yelk of one egg. 
Mix well and roll into small balls; efip in 
beaten egg and cracker-crumbs aud fry m hot 
dripping. Thase I fried also, preferring to 
leave them to the mercies of the warm oven 
rather than to those of my cook. 
Liver and kidney saute 5 was a favorite 
breakfast dish with us, and she was well- 
drilled in its mysteries. The liver must lie 
thinly sliced aud then cut into dice, and the 
veal kidneys free from suspicion of staleness; 
take all the white fab from them aud cut in 
dice. Fry to a golden brown half a dozen 
slices of boneless, smoked bacon, and lay on a 
hot dish; add a lump of butter to the fat in 
the pan. aud turn in the liver and kidneys 
with a teaspoonful of minced onion; season 
highly with pepper, salt to taste, remembering 
that the bacon was salt; stir with a knife 
while cooking. They will require about ten 
minutes. Finish with a teaspoonful of lemon 
juice, and pour upon a hot dish over thin 
slices of buttered toast: garnish with points of 
toast, and the fried bacon. Cucumbers sliced 
in vinegar or water-cress should accompany 
this dish. 
The corn was Early Minnesota, which has 
very small ears and is exceedingly sweet aud 
delicious. R-emove the silk and boil in salted 
water, leaving on a single covering of the 
inner husk. Remove this before it goes to 
the table. There are few people who can eat 
corn gracefully, aud if one does eat it like a 
flute, he should confine his operations to the 
bosom of his family, aud refuse it in polite so¬ 
ciety. 
Graham gems are made with a teaspoonful 
each of salt and baking powder, sifted through 
three cups of Graham flour, aud mixed with 
milk to a soft dough. Bake in buttered gem 
pans in a very hot oven. Failing this latter 
requisite, they will be flat and heavy. 
The blackberries had been placed on the 
ice, with cracked ice sprinkled over them, aud 
were deliciously cool. mrs. g. 
ONE SUMMER—IV. 
ANNE THRIFTY. 
The morning after the Fourth, Freddie 
and Rob begged so bard for a holiday during 
the rest of the week that it was given to 
them. The next Monday they were quite wil¬ 
ling to begin their studies again. On Tues¬ 
day Father came to dinner with news that 
the steam thrasher he had engaged to thrash 
his wheat was coming that night, and the 
thrashing would begin early the next morn¬ 
ing. Exclamatious of dismay from all gave 
place to questions as to what we could give 
the men to cat, and where the four men who 
travel with the engine should sleep. Mother 
was reaily for sueh sudden calls for extra 
food, and began her preparations as soon as 
dinner was over. Jo unit; was sent to the baru 
for a quart of dry beaus and they were pre¬ 
pared tor baking. Gertie and Nell gathered 
blackberries for pics. Mother put a smoked 
ham iu the pot to boil, and I took Freddie aud 
Rob to the pea patch, where sve gathered a 
great basket of jieas. Wo put them in the 
cellar without shelling until the next morn¬ 
ing. These things, with new potatoes aud 
plenty of milk and coffee, mother said would 
be enough. Khe always provided bountifully 
for the thrashers. She sanl she would rather 
cook for hard-working men than for visitors 
who had dotio nothing to make themselves 
hungry. The men and machine, engine and 
water-wagon, came about 11 o'clock at night. 
Father had been asleep two hours, but he 
dressed aud went out to direct them whore to 
place the engine and separator, then offered 
to show them co the rooms we had prepared 
for them. But they asked to be allowed to 
sleep in the baru on the bay, saying they were 
used to tbut and found it cooler. Father 
gave them liberty to pull down all the bay 
they wanted into the ham floor, and by set¬ 
ting the big doors wide open they would get 
all the breezes blowing. 
Imagine our consternation wlieu we uwoke 
and found a steady pouring rain had com¬ 
menced during the night. Of course, nothing 
could be done, for the wheat was stacked out¬ 
side the barn and would be too wet to put in 
the separator. What should we do with all 
the food we had ready, if the rain lasted long? 
The four men would eat a share of it, but we 
had prepared enough for 20 men, besides our 
usual family. Mother decided that everything 
but the pies might be kept, so three pies were 
then sent to Aunt Esther aud two to Aunt 
Ella or Helen, as we called her since she had 
become Uncle John’s wife. This left us five. 
Aunt Esther sent back a message that, she 
would bake three pies to return when the 
rest of the thrashers came, and Aunt Helen, 
who rarely baked pies, came to see what she 
could do to help us We accepted her offer 
of a few heads of cabbage and part of her last 
baking of bread. It was always our way to 
help each other in sudden emergencies, and 
the help was given so gladly that there was no 
hesitation about accepting it, and any uuusual 
work of all three households was made lighter 
in this way. Everything planned, we waited 
for the rain to stop, but it rained all day. We 
kept the four men, and the peas, beans and re¬ 
maining pies disappeared rapidly, so our work 
of Tuesday had all to be done over again— 
beans had to be baked, [teas picked and black¬ 
berries gathered for more pies. It was not 
until nearly noon the next day that the work 
of thrashing began. The day was sultry, and 
Freddie and Rob were kept busy carrying 
ice-water and switchel to the men—the latter, 
a drink made of vinegar, ginger, molasses aud 
water, mixed to suit the taste. 
The boys liked this work, for it gave them a 
chance to watch the men and the machinery. 
The whole thing was fascinating to them as 
work of almost every kind is to children, un¬ 
til it loses its novelty. They watched the 
men throwing the bundles of wheat from the 
stack to the man who fed the separator, the 
men taking the straw as it came continuoasly 
from the carrier, and building a broad, com - 
pact straw-stack of it. They ran from one 
place to another, now to see thecleau grain as 
it poured from the machine, and now away 
to the engine, or to look at the long band con¬ 
necting the engine to the machinery. This 
was high enough from the ground so they 
could dodge under it. This they would do in 
mingled terror and delight, fearing lest they 
should be caught by the band, and enjoying 
the thrill of a hair-breadth escape when safe¬ 
ly under, but father stopped this part of their 
enjoyment when he saw them. 
Several of the neighboring far me re had 
come to help with the thrashing. Laborers 
being hard to get, the farmers “changed work” 
aud each was helped in turn by the others. 
While the swift work and the noise fasci¬ 
nated the boys at the barn, we were hurrying 
about the kitchen and dining-room, preparing 
dinner. We set two tables: the extension- 
table drawn to its full length and a leaf-table 
set against the wall. At the back door we 
prepared things for the men to enable them to 
wash their hands and faces, hanging the tow¬ 
els on the grape-arbor and putting basins and 
wash-bowls on the bench that stood by the 
door. Then we filled a tub with water from 
the kitchen pump. 
The table seemed to contain food for a hun¬ 
dred, when everything was ready, but half an 
hour later great havoc had been made by the 
hungry men. We distributed the meat and 
vegetables in small dishes on the tables 
so the men could help themselves. Car¬ 
rying iu the coffee aud pouring milk and 
water was all we had to do. Then mother 
staid iu the dining-room to replenish the cups 
aud glasses, while we washed up the pots aud 
pans used in cooking. The wash-boiler had 
been filled with water for the dishes and Nell, 
mischievously insisted upon w ashing them iu 
a tub, and we found it very suitable, as two 
could wash from it at the same time, aud we 
used the dish-pau for a rinsing-pan. 
We made quite a frolic of the work, but the 
aftei noon was half gone when everything 
was washed. Supper must be prepared for 
the same number of men. A big piece of 
stewing-meat had been cooking since noon 
and nearly the same work was repeated for 
supper that had been done for dinner, except 
that enough vegetables had beeu brought in 
so that we hail no trips to the field to make in 
the afternoon. We had only the four men 
who came with the machine to keep over_ 
uight aud to breakfast in the morning 
This was the last meal we had to cook for 
them as the thrashing was finished by nine 
o’clock. 
When the shrill whistle from the engine told 
us that the work was done we drew a long 
breath of relief, for we knew by past experi¬ 
ence that thrashers are a very uncertain quan¬ 
tity, aud a miscalculation of the grain to be 
thrashed, or the breaking of any part of the 
machinery, might detain them for another 
meal. 
Father was as glad as we were, for he had 
been working as hard as any of them, aud 
came iu covered aud choked with dust, hot 
Hint tired to tell us how the wheat had aver¬ 
aged to the acre, and as it was a bushel more 
than he had calculated, and a good yield, the 
hard work indoors and out didn’t seem quite 
so hard after all. 
Wheu it grew cool in the evening, we all 
went to the barn to look at the huge straw- 
stack and count the bags of grain. There was 
a strong contrast between the noise and con¬ 
fusion of the morning, and the great silent 
stack and the lazy bags of grain leaning 
against each other for support., in the evening. 
The boys had enjoyed three holidays be¬ 
cause of the thrashing, and the next Monday 
we began again the morning hour of school. 
THE FRUIT JAR DIFFICULTY. 
If “Troubled Housekeeper” will take a file, 
aud file the seam down around the neck of the 
can, it will help keep the contents in good 
condition. New rubber aud tops will some¬ 
times remedy the difficulty. Screw down the 
tops as tightly a-s you can while quite hot and 
turn the cans upside down, for a few minutes. 
a subscriber's wife. 
Take a small file and file off the “raised” 
place. When I purchase a new lot of 
Mason’s jars I examine each, aud use the file 
when needed. By attending to this, one will 
not lose any fruit, mrs. o. e. shankland. 
chow CHOW. 
One colander of sliced green tomatoes, one 
quart of sliced onions, one colander of cu¬ 
cumbers pared an<1 sliced, two good handfuls 
of salt. Mix and let all stand over-night. 
Drain through a sieve. Scald one half cup of 
celery seed, one half ounce of allspice, one 
teacup of white mustard seed, one tablespoon¬ 
ful of black pepper, one pound of brown sug¬ 
ar, two tablespoonfnls of mustard, one gallon 
of vinegar poured on hot. Boil up and cover 
with horse-radish leaves A teacupful of 
grated horse-radish stirred in, will keep it 
from turning sour, and add to the flavor. 
JELLY CAKE. 
One cup of sugar, three eggs, three table¬ 
spoonfuls of water, one and a-half teacup of 
flour, one tablespoonful of butter, one and 
a-half teaspoonful of baking powier. 
310LASSES CAKE. 
One cup of molasses, one cup of sugar, one 
of buttermilk, one teaspoonful of soda, one 
teaspoonful of ginger. Sprinkle coarse granu¬ 
lated sugar over the top, when it is put in the 
oven. 
FEATHER CAKE. 
One egg, one cup of sugar, one cup of milk, 
two cups of flour, one teaspoonful of cream- 
of-tartar, one-half of soda, and one table- 
spoonful of butter. Flavor as desired. 
AMANDA’S CAKE. 
Three eggs, one cup of sugar, one table 
spoonful of milk, one and a-half cup of flour, 
one and a-half teaspoonful of baking pow 
der. 
INDIAN MEAL PUDDING. 
In o one quart of boiling water stir a scan 
cup of meal. Remove from the tire, stir in 
piece of butter the size of a walnut and a tea 
spoonful of salt. Sweeten to the taste with 
molasses. When cool stir in two eggs. After 
it has been in the oven a half hour pour on a 
half pint of water, but do not stir. Bake two 
hours. AUNT RACHEL. 
Pi&tlUntou* 
The Great Secret 
Of exceptionally long and abundant 
hair may never bo solved ; but that 
Ayer’s Hair Vigor preserves the hair 
iu all its beauty and luxuriance, and 
even restores it, when thin aud gray, is 
Well Known. 
P. J. Cullen, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 
writes : “ My father, at about the age of 
fifty, lost all the hair from she top of his 
head. Alter one month’s trial of Ayer’s 
Hair Vigor, the hair began coming, and, 
in three months, lie had a fine growth of 
hair of the natural color,’’ 
J. T. Gibson, 96 Hope at., Huntley, 
Staffordshire. Eng., says : “ 1 have seen 
young men in South Australia quite 
gray, whose hair has been restored to its 
natural color after using hue one bottle 
of Ayer’s llair Vigor.’’ 
Ayer’s Hair Vigor, 
Prepared by Pr. J.C. Ayer & Co., I.owell, Mass. 
Sold by Druggists and Perfumers. 
Steel shears, 73c.; Button-hole Scissors, Stic. Ulus. List free. 
THIS WILL PLEASE YOU 
Blades are finest razor steel, 
hand-forged, tile-tested., and 
replaced free!If soft or flawy. 
It Is made for the hunter, far¬ 
mer. or mechanic. Brice T5c 
H for S3.. With 
stag, ebony .or white 
““— handles. Our •.’blade 
Jac«Knlfe,50c.; I’ru 
nl«gKnlfe,5Ue.; Bud¬ 
ding, H5c: Grafting. 
2'o ; Boys’ strong 1- 
blade, 25c.; U Iris', 
25c.; Ladles' 2-blade 
Pearl. Stic.; Gents' 3- 
blade, *!._$luch 
H A1IKH & tJROSll, tlb si., Toledo, Obto. 
