4888 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
“Refrain thy foot from thy neighbor's 
house , lest he weary of thee and so hate 
thee." 
LIFE. 
Life is a mill, but whether 
A treadmill for a slave 
Or a mill of God, for grinding 
The precious gift He gave, 
Depends on us; and only 
By grinding with our might 
With Faith and Love for mill-stones 
Grinding by day and night, 
Can we ever know the triumph, 
The riches and beauty of work, 
Or escape the weary treadmill 
And the famine of soul that lurk 
In the hearts of those who fail 
To accept the promise sweet 
That the busy mills of God, 
“ Shall be tilled with the finest wheat.” 
HELEN KNArP GARRETT. 
A FARMER’S DAUGHTER’S DOMESTIC 
REVERIES. 
CHARITY SWEETHEART. 
GAIN we are 
round to the 
Ch r i s t m a s 
holidays, and 
that “ dark 
side of farm¬ 
ing,” to me 
the pig kill¬ 
ing, is over 
at last. And 
it is the worst 
time I ever 
remember, it 
has been so 
miserable with extra work and dirty doors. 
Father knows I don’t like to have the carcasses 
scraped near the house, and generally takes 
them out of sight; but when doing the work 
the other day the weather was drizzling and 
chilly, and he had them in the shelter of the 
shed before I knew it, and there were pools of 
gore all over the grass close to the woodshed 
door, and from there it would be brought 
into the house on the men’s boots. I had 
not looked out of the door while the work was 
going on, for the sight of it always distresses 
me; but when they had done calling for hot 
water and seemed through the business I 
glanced out. There were Burt and Tom, 
Dick Taylor, Rob Windless and Harry Bromp- 
ton, all with their hands in their pockets look¬ 
ing on, and father finishing off the animal. 
But I did not take time co look at the boys, for 
the dirt and bristles and running red pools on 
the little white patches of snow caught my 
eyes, and I could have cried to think the nui¬ 
sance had to stay there for ever so long. 
Why will the men folks be so careless of the 
comfort and happiness, in little things, of 
those they profess to love? I try to forget 
the matter and work hard at preparing saus¬ 
age and potted meat, pickle-making and lard 
rendering; but that unnecessary blot on my 
housewifely pride seemed too much for me, 
and when, in course of a day or two, some of 
the girls came in to ask me to paint them 
little things for Christmas they stopped dis¬ 
mayed, ‘‘Why, Charity ! why didn’t you send 
them behind the barn?” they chorused— 
“Because,” I said, “I am not able to watch 
half a dozen men who have no more brains 
than as many calves, and don’t care how 
dirty the door yard is,” and then our indigna¬ 
tion meeting passed several vehement resolu¬ 
tions: We unamiously resolved, first of all, 
that there is no necessity for men being so 
selfish and heedless, or thinking, as some do 
that because they are farmers they need not 
be particular as to appearances either of per¬ 
son or property; secondly, that such farmers 
need not wonder that farmers’ girls are glad 
to go to the city: that they are likely to detest 
the mountain of work that looms up all the 
year round, and is topped by pig killing. 
The city servant has everything to her 
hand. There’s a man to attend to the furnace; 
bread and butter, milk and every thing else are 
brought to her door; the fowls for the family 
are plucked and dressed: there is no thrashing 
to be done by half a dozen dirty boys and 
men, who come in full of dust, and leave their 
tracks marked with grain and chaff even in 
their bed-rooms when they take off their 
clothes. What we want is refinement amoug 
the young people of both sexes, and more 
thoughtfulness to save work. 
A young girl who was visiting in this 
neighborhood last summer, in speaking of a 
certain family, said—“The^daughters are re- 
_ 
fined and well read; but the boys are boors,’’ 
and no one could deny that she was right 
and I say that going behind the plow, feeding 
animals, sowing or reaping, need not make 
a man rough and coarse. This is done by the 
company he keeps: men who do not know 
any better, and who make out that farmers 
must be rough, and sneer at refinement, till 
the boys learn to imitate them instead of as¬ 
piring to better things. I am tired to-night. 
There is little hope for anything else for me 
than this weary round of duties; but even thi 
monotonous life would be robbed of half its 
pain and sorenesss if thoughtful love on the 
part of the stronger members of the family, 
lightened its burdens. Burt when he wants to 
go out early, never thinks of lighting the fire 
before he calls me, or after, for that matter, 
though it would be a great comfort to me, 
and yet when he and father are away, or if 
they are all very busy at work, I do not think 
it beneath my dignity to feed the horses or 
any other animal, without being asked. It is 
these mutual acts of interest and affection 
that give one courage to face the troubles of 
life that beset us all; and this is one of the 
secrets of happiness in every home. 
A Friend says that for her part she finds it 
rather hard to define where gossip begins, and 
real, true interest in our friends and their 
concerns end. 
A WOMAN’S P. S. ANSWERED. 
(FROM A PRIVATE LETTER). 
P. S.—Of course, I must, however, ask this 
question: If J. H. G. in “ Woman’s Wo rk, 
frowns down all education for women save 
what he thinks needful for wives and mothers, 
what does he want to do with the “ surplus 
females”? Kill ’em off in infancy, or leave 
them to Nature’s thinning out process which 
ordains “the survival of the fittest?” Does he 
favor Mormonism, or what? He ought to be 
made to tell. e. 
I do not frown down all education save 
what I think needful for wives and mothers. 
I only claim that the forms of education, 
intellectual, physical, and moral which are 
necessary to materialize the “Spirit of Home,’- 
are the highest and the best forms of educa 
tion which a woman can have, and the forms 
of education whiGh our country needs most at 
this time. New York and all other large 
cities and towns are filled with “ surplus” (if 
that is the proper word) females who are 
educated for teachers or clerical positions 
and who are unable to obtain remuner¬ 
ative employment; while the number 
of housekeepers, or at least of homekeepers, 
is very limited, and they can either obtain 
employment readily, or, what is vastly bet¬ 
ter, create homes of their own. A cook gets 
$10,000 per year while “artists,” “teachers” 
and “authors” can scarcely keep body and 
soul together. [Yes; A cook—that is one; 
but thousands can’t get anything near that 
Ed]. 
It is said that the modern forms of commu¬ 
nistic or co-operative living in hotels, lodging- 
houses, and restaurants are rapidly taking 
the place of homes and home life, and are 
therefore forcing women into other employ¬ 
ments. As the mammoth establishments of 
Macy and others have driven hundreds of 
smaller merchants out of business, so co-oper¬ 
ative living is driving the wife and mother of 
the older time out of her home, and into other 
employment, and as women go into other em¬ 
ployments and come into competition with 
men, they reduce men’s wages to an amount 
which is barely sufficient to support an in¬ 
dividual, leaving no surplus for the wife or 
family. The old-fashioned individual home 
cannot compete with modern lodging-houses 
and restaurants in the matter of freedom from 
care or cheapness of living any more than the 
small merchants of the past can compete 
with the enormous co-operative stores of the 
present time. 
Notwithstanding, however, the difficulties 
and obstacles which are connected with the 
establishment and maintenance of the indiv¬ 
idual home, it is still the highest and best 
form of living and the education which 
qualifies a woman for house-keeping is 
still the highest and best education. 
Combinations in any form dwarf the 
individual, and increase selfishness. In 
modern co-operative livingjthe predominant 
thought is the gratification of self. Children 
are avoided because they increase the expense 
and decrease the power of individual indul¬ 
gence. I sometimes think the failure of mar¬ 
riage, insofar as it is a failure, is due chiefly 
to incompetency and selfishness. Concerning 
the unselfishness required tor successful mar¬ 
ried life, the Sunday School Times says: 
“Married life can never be what it ought to 
be.while.the„husband or wife makes personal 
happiness the main object of its securing. If 
a man seeks a wife because he thinks she will 
make him happy, he is likelv to be disappoint¬ 
ed in his life-pursuit so far; but if he enters 
the married state in the hope of giving hap- 
piness to the woman he loves by his unselfish 
endeavors to be of service to her and to hers, 
he is likely to succeed in his endeavors, and to 
have more of happiness, in addition, than he 
could have if he lived for happiness. And as 
it is with the husband, so it is with the wife 
also. If she marries in order to be happy, 
she will probablv find that she has made a 
mis-step in marrving; but if she marries in 
order to be unselfishly of service as wife and 
mother, she will always find something to do 
in the line of her object of living, and her 
highest happiness will be an incidental result 
of her success in a life of loving service.” 
I have not answered the question as to what 
shall be done with “surplus” women. I am 
not sure there are necessarily any “surplus” 
women. There are plenty of anxious, aimless 
aDd comparatively useless women, the victims 
of false ideas and an improper system of 
education rather than the lack of useful and 
remunerative employment. When I see the 
thousands of children who are permitted to 
roam about the streets of our cities and 
towns, without proper food or clothing, I 
have no patience with people who talk about 
surplus women. It is lamentable but true 
that about the only children who are properly 
cared for and educated, are those who are put 
in charge of “hired help.” The average 
mother or aunt cannot or at least does not, 
spend her “valuable” (?) time in earing for or 
educating children. j. h. g. 
'■■■ •»• i 
BREAD. 
TOO LATE FOR THE BREAD SPECIAL. 
There are ways and ways of making bread, 
and I have tried many of them, in .order to 
have if possible the best. To claim that I 
have possibly attained this desirable know¬ 
ledge would be to claim too much; but there 
are a few points gained which I think can not 
be controverted. First, every housekeeper 
knows that without good flour and good 
yeast, good bread is impossible. Compressed 
yeast, when fresh, is convenient, quick, and 
in every way satisfactory in result. But not 
every one in the country can be sure of ob¬ 
taining a cake of fresh yeast just as the stock 
of bread needs replenishing, and, besides, 
when the family is large, the cost of com¬ 
pressed yeast, though small at each time of 
using, adds quite a little sum to the house¬ 
hold expenses when the yearly reckoning is 
made. So, for farmers’ use, home-made 
yeast is usually to be preferred. Bread is 
whiter and more tender if one half of the mix¬ 
ing is milk and the other half water, and the 
bread is also nicer with the addition of three 
or four potatoes. An excellent way is to pare 
the potatoes, cut them in small pieces, cook 
them very soft in a little water, and then after 
thoroughly mashing, add the milk while the 
potatoes are still in the kettle, and let the 
whole come to a boil. This scalds the milk 
and thus prevents any possibility of souring. 
But one of the most important additions 
to my knowledge of bread-making I learned 
from Mrs. Eaving, teacher of cooking in the 
Iowa Agricultural College, who also taught 
a class in the same art at Chautauqua for 
several summers, and this is, never to wrap 
the bread in a cloth after removing it from 
the oven. This process of steaming opens the 
pores of the crust, allowing the escape of the 
moisture and the bread becomes dry much 
more quickly than when her method is fol¬ 
lowed. The proper way is to sponge the crust 
all over with milk or cold water, and place 
the bread in a strong current of air to drive 
off the alcohol which has been generated by 
the action of the yeast. Those who have never 
tried this method will be agreeably surprised 
to learn how the bread is improved in sweet¬ 
ness and keeping qualities. The sponging 
seals the crust and prevents the escape of 
moisture from the inside of the loaf, besides 
making the crust tender. I have given no 
formula for bread making, but these few 
hints I am sure will be valuable for those 
seeking information as to best methods. Here 
is a recipe for very excellent brown bread 
which it is hard to excel: 
BROWN BREAD. 
Two and one-half cups of sour milk, and 
one-half cup of molasses: into these put one 
heaping teaspoonful of soda, two cups of corn 
meal, one cup of Graham flour and one tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. Use coffee cups. Steam 
three hours and afterwards brown in the 
PRIZE BREAD. 
Good yeast and first class-flour are indis¬ 
pensable in making good bread. A test of 
perfect bread is to press a piece up together 
in the hand. If it goes back to its original 
size, it is just right. I have received first 
premiums on bread at two county fairs for 
three years, and will give the formula which 
I always use now, after experimenting sev¬ 
eral years with different methods. I look 
upon most patent yeast cakes as a snare and 
a delusion, having tried various kinds, when¬ 
ever I would chance to get out of the home¬ 
made article. The compressed yeast is good 
and never fails to give satisfaction. I make 
a kind of yeast every time I bake, and save 
enough of this to start the next sponge. I 
only use hops every second or third baking. 
Of course, a person must have yeast to com¬ 
mence with, but after the first time, one need 
never get out of yeast, and it will always be 
as fresh as at first. 
Boil together six medium-sized potatoes, 
and a spoonful of hops tied up in a thin cloth, 
in plenty of water to cover them well. 
When done, mash very fine and free from 
lumps. (I use a gallon crock in which to set 
the sponge.) Then add the water in which 
they were boiled, and squeeze the water from 
the hops. Stir in at once a large bread-spoon 
of flour, while the mixture is hot enough to 
scald it well. Add a large spoonful of sugar t 
and half as much salt; mix well together and 
let stand until milk-warm, then stir in one 
cup of good home-made yeast if you can get 
it; if not, use one cake of Fleischman’s 
dissolved in warm water. Beat well and set 
in a warm place over-night. The first thing 
in the morning, stir the sponge and take out 
a little more than a euoful into a bowl, cover 
tightly and set away in the cellar for next 
time. Fill up the crock about two-thirds full 
with warm water, and stir in flour until the 
sponge is quite thick, while it can be beaten 
up easily. Beat (not stir) this batter well, 
and let it rise. When light, pour into the 
center of your bread pan of flour, and mix 
into a large loaf. The longer it is kneadedi 
the more spongy the bread will be. Some 
zealous bread-makers say that an hour is none 
too long, but I rarely spend half that length of 
time on mine. Let this loaf rise, not too near 
the fire, (yeast bread will not be nice if kept 
too warm), and when light, grease the hands 
with lard, and divide the dough into loaves. 
Work these into shape, either in your hands, 
or lightly on the board. Put them into tins 
and let them rise for the last time. Have 
your oven just right, watch closely, turn the 
loaves when half done, and bake one hour 
they are of good size. When done, lean them 
on one side and grease the top crust with 
butter or lard. 
Lately I have made Graham bread every""" 
baking day. In the morning after filling up 
the sponge crock, I pour half of its contents 
into another crock. I add one cup of sirup 
(I use maple), and a bread-spoon of melted 
lard; stir up quite thick with sifted 1 Graham 
flour, let rise once in a warm place. Then 
make into loaves with white flour, making 
them as soft as possible and have them 
smooth. They will rise again and get baked 
just in time to give place to the white bread. 
Our children are very fond of “cinnamon 
rolls for school lunch, and they are delicious 
to eat with coffee for breakfast. Take a piece 
of dough after it is risen in the large loaf, 
work into it a piece of butter and a little 
sugar. Roll out half an inch thick and spread 
with melted butter. Sprinkle thickly with 
sugar, and sift cinnamon over it, cut into 
strips two-thirds of an inch wide, and roll 
up into cakes. Place in a dripping-pan like 
biscuits, and let rise. Do not let them get 
overdone, as it spoils them. 
I must tell an amusing incident that hap¬ 
pened the first time I ventured to take bread 
to the fair. I and two of my friends were n^ar 
the shelf where the long row of loaves were 
lying under their snowy covers. We were 
naturally anxious to know which would get 
the red card, when alongbame a spry little old 
lady, who reached over and squeezed each 
loaf as she passed, saying, with about every 
third squeeze. “The soft bread’ll take the pre¬ 
mium.” We laughed heartily over the occur¬ 
rence, and that night I dreamed of bread. My 
two little boys slept in a low bed near mine. 
It was a bright moonlight night, and they lay 
curled up in little heaps under the white 
cover. When I came to myself I was reach¬ 
ing over and pinching Georgie along on the 
back, saying, with every pinch, “The soft 
bread’ll take the premium.” 
FANNY FLETCHER. 
ESSENCE OF ROSES. 
I have just learned how to make the most 
delightful essence of roses, and, feeling sure 
that some of the Rural sisters will be glad to 
know of it, I hasten to tell them. 
Save all your rose leaves and put them into 
a jar, or bowl, as you may prefer. Then 
make a strong sirup of granulated sugar. 
When the sirup is boiling-hot pour it over 
the leaves and cover the jar, or bowl, closely. 
Let stand till cool. Then strain the sirup 
from the leaves, and you have the most de¬ 
lightful aromatic essence imaginable. This 
makes a delicious flavoring for cake, corn¬ 
starch, farina, and other desserts, d. h. v. 
