46 
JAN. 4 
|ldus of % olfcli. 
Monday, »ec. so, 1878. 
[Noth.— The Rural New-Yorker expresses no 
political opinions whatsoever. We merely furnish 
a resume of the week’s political occurrences ror the 
benefit of those who do not read the dally papers.— 
Eds.] 
POLITICAL, 
congress having adjourned for the holidays, 
there Is little political hews of Interest abroad. 
The session was a short but a busy one. The sen¬ 
ate passed the pension and Postal-Car Deficiency 
Rills and a Bill repealing the law which penults jury 
challenges on the ground of voluntary participa¬ 
tion In the Rebellion. The House has passed the 
Indian Appropriation Bill without regard to the 
controversy now pending about the transfer. On 
Thursday Senator Burnside reported from his Joint 
Committee the voluminous Army Bill, whose prep¬ 
aration had been kept quite secret. Simultaneous¬ 
ly the House Naval Committee has agreed upon a 
Rill establishing a Board of Assistants to the Sec¬ 
retary of the Navy. The House committee on Cur¬ 
rency and Finance adjourned without being able 
to reach a conclusion In regard to the measures 
that have been referred to it. 
Senator Teller Is chairman of the cominrttee ask¬ 
ed for by Blaine, and it Is therefore called the Tel¬ 
ler Committee. There was danger of Its being 
brought to a standstill tor lack or runds, as no ap¬ 
propriation had been made to defray Its expenses, 
ft has been found, however, that there Is In the 
Treasury a balance ot $310,000 appropriated for in¬ 
vestigations in Florida and Louisiana by the Potter 
Committee, and the Department of .Justice has just 
decided that that sum can be used by the Teller 
Committee. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
The trials of the election cases at Charleston, 
S. c., will begin early In the new year. Chief Jus¬ 
tice Waite will preside, with Judge Bond as associ¬ 
ate. The Department of Justice claims to have 
Important evidence. The .Supreme Court has 1,080 
eases ou Its docket. Its business Is nearly three 
years behind, and losing constantly. For all this, 
Justice Swayrie thinks “ litigation rapidly falling 
off.” This diminution, he ascribes to the fact that 
contracts broken by the strain of the financial 
panic have been about adjudicated, and the volume 
of law business has got back to nearly Its normal 
state. 
There have been distributed during the year 
drawing to a close, from Cbe Department of Agri¬ 
culture, over 50,000 young tea plants, and as many 
more, will be distributed dming the coming year. 
Commissioner Le Due is still sanguine that tea can 
he cheaply and profitably grown in the United 
States. 
For two or t hree years back there has been a good 
deal of quasl-scicntltlc talk about changes in the 
Gulf Stream, spots In the sun. etc., etc., all going 
to account- for our milder winters; but this year win¬ 
ter has set In In dead earnest, for the holidays, both 
In this country aud Kurop*-!' i tie storm of Saturday 
a.nd Sunday was especially severe In New York 
State, and It has delayed trains at Buffalo with 
snow three feet on the level, blocking all Erie and 
New York Cent ral stock t rains at East Buffalo, and 
obstructing thoroughly t ravel In tlie northern part 
of the State and In Canada. The cold lias also 
been very Intense all through the West. In Great 
Britain and throughout the continent, the fall ot 
snow has been heavier than for thirty years. It 
was particularly heavy in Scotland, firming 12 feet 
deep about Aberdeen, near which place a dozen 
trains were snowed In. In Geneva -wo men and iso 
carts are constantly kept at work dealing the 
streets, and travel Is almost wholly interrupted 
throughout Switzerland. There is more snow on 
the Vosges than the oldest inhabitant remembers, 
and It has driven the wolves out so that they have 
penetrated to the very gates of Metz. 
The Moffet bell-punch ts not quite so popular as 
It was. The liquor dealers generally don’t like It, 
and the other people find that It Is not working 
such financial wonders as had been promised. In¬ 
deed, the statement comes trnm Richmond that It 
has realized only $83,00 more hi vtrgiua the past 
year than the old system, while It was expected to 
yield a revenue of at least $ 600 , 000 . The marble 
palace In which the 102d Legislature or New York 
Is soon to meet was to have cost $4, 000 , 000 , hut, 
built during the wildest days of Imtation aud ex¬ 
travagance, it has swallowed up $ 14 , 000,000 since 
It was begun at the close of the war, though for¬ 
tunately without entailing any debt. It Is the 
most costly structure on the continent, next to the 
capitpl at Washington, and Ls the second New 
York Capitol at Albany. The first one was finished 
in 1807, ten years after the Legislature had finally 
settled down there, and cost $ 120 , 000 . 
South Carolina under democratic rale still con¬ 
tinues loorc liberal In Us policy regarding Inter¬ 
marriage of the races than Rhode Island under 
republican sway. The New England common¬ 
wealth obstinately refuses through Us Legislature 
to repeal the ancient prohibition against a “ nig¬ 
ger's" marrying a white woman —if he can find one 
who would Uke to be his wife. The South Carolina 
Legislature, almost unanimously democratic, has 
just retused to Interfere with tlie freedom In this 
respect now enjoyed In that state by putting the 
Rhode Island law on the statute book, as some of 
the members wanted to do. 
The suit brought against the government, by the. 
hell’s of Stephen A. Douglas, for certain cotton 
captured in Mississippi dming the war and sold as 
abandoned property, is settled finally In the court 
of claims by judgment hi favor of the claimants. 
The case lias been pending for years and has been 
the subject of much controversy. Investigation and 
litigation. The heirs are Robert M. Douglas, Uni¬ 
ted States marshal for the western district of North 
Carolina, and Stephen A. Douglas, Jr. 
Venerable Myra Clark Gaines has added another 
to the reverses of her eventful career, the House 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
committee on private land claims at Washington 
having lopped off 80 ,000 acres from the 85 ,000 in 
Louisiana on which she claimed scrip, because her 
grandfather had no title for tlie land from the 
Spanish government, but the committee will report, 
a bill In favor of allowing her the remaining 5,000 
acres. 
Since gold fell to par the demand for standard 
sliver dollars Invs steadily Increased. Before that 
time orders received at the Treasury Department 
averaged about 10,000 dally. Now they run 
up to more than three times that sum. With 
the return or financial matters to a specie basis, 
wages too, hare gone back to about ante-bellum 
rates. The following are the average wages paid 
at tlie factories of Connecticut. 
I860 and I860. 1878. 1878. 
Laborers.$1 UttMt 25 $1 66<i2 00 $1 (XKg>l 76 
UnakiUea mechanics. 1 (X) • 1 12 l 25®1 76 l 12&1 25 
Mechanics. I 12 a 1 50 1 75t»2 25 1 25<8il 75 
Skilled mechanic*_ 1 76«i2 60 2 60&3 SO 2 1XM3CX) 
Extra skilled mean's. 3 0<J@1 00 3 o0(»6 00 3 uo@5 00 
Foremen. 2 (HJi»3 00 2 6*1*8 00 2 50@8 00 
The trifle of increase in present rates over those 
of fseo, Is fully counterbalanced by the higher 
{trices tor most commodities now-a-days, owing to 
our much hea vier taxation—If to no other reason. 
The New York Produce Exchange has sent a cir¬ 
cular to all the commercial bodies In the United 
States, urging that the pound be taken as the unit 
of weight in the sale of all articles of produce, and 
that larger transactions should be Indicated by the 
loo pounds and by multiples thereof. Last year we 
sold England $ 150 , 000,000 worth of grain, live stock, 
meats, cheese and eggs. We scut over 300,000 cat¬ 
tle, 1 , 000,000 Mieep, 60,000 swine and 30 ,000 horses. 
The cast 01 recent wars, as computed by competent 
authorities, Is as follows: 
_ Vilist. 
The Southern rebellion. $ 6 , 000 , 000,000 
Austro-G- mum war . 3W),uoo,ooo 
AU8tro-IU»Uau. 160,01X1,000 
Austro-Germau-Dauwh war. 20.000,000 
Franco-German war. 4,000,UIX),000 
KusBo-TurkiBh war. 1,600,000,000 
Total.$11,970,000,000 
FOREIGN. 
From across the Atlantic Great Britain sends 
news of dire distress among her operatives. Hav¬ 
ing disposed of all their salable belongings, the 
starving working people are now crowding Into the 
poor-houses, in view of the severe competition 
from tills country, fanners in the North of England 
are agitating for a repeal of the free-trade laws 
with regard to certain kinds or raw materials In 
Which they are unable to complete profitably with 
foreign supplies. Many manufacturers, too, are 
not so enthusiastic as formerly on the manifold 
virtues of free trade. It was all well enough as 
long as they supplied the markets of the world and 
hud no lorelgn competition at home; hut lately 
cotton goods from this country and Iron-ware from 
Belgium and Germany compete successfully in En¬ 
glish markets with native products, and are running 
English goods closely In the markets of the world. 
In Germany’, too, Bismarck Is vigorously’ pressing 
the passage of a law’ lmpi wing protective (jrnL;s on 
all articles of rorelga manufacture which ciOTe in 
competition with goods made at home. He wants 
to return to the tariff of Tsil*. Meanwhile be Is ep - 
ergelleally enforcing all laws against the soTfaHsts, 
but Is so anxious to retain In the country men suita¬ 
ble for the army that a naturalized American who 
wished to deliver a course of lectures In Berlin on 
the beauties and advantages of this country, has 
been forbidden to do so, lest his words might In¬ 
crease the emigration ot Ukely young men. 
’The Impression that the Afghanistan war Is 
ended, Is confirmed by the recent capture of Jela- 
labad by the Brtttsh, and the arrival there shortly 
aftenvards of Yacoob Khan, sou of Shere AIL whom 
the latter left In command ot his forces on his own 
(light In company with the Russian Embassy’. It Is 
said that the son will be set. upon the father’s throne; 
but in that case it would be necessary for the Eng¬ 
lish to keep him there, as It Is not Improbable that 
efforts would be made by the rather and tils adher¬ 
ents to displace him. For the present, heavy snows 
and severe cold are Impeding operations aud caus¬ 
ing a great deal of sickness and mortality among 
the European and Hindoo contingents of the British 
army. 
The distress in tlie Interior provinces of Brazil is 
reported as appalling. The people are even de¬ 
vouring the corpses of those who have perished of 
starvation, to escape a Uke fate, it Is difficult to 
see how such a condition of affairs can exist In ag¬ 
ricultural communities where no destruction of 
crops has been reported. .Moreover, a telegram 
Horn vearu, reports deaths in the capital from 
smallpox to the number of 000 dally. 
A letter from Cairo, Egypt, states lliat English 
and Scottish horse raisers, who have beau furnish¬ 
ing carriage horses of high quality to that country, 
slate they can not compete at home with the horse 
raisers of Kentucky and Ohio, who send tine car¬ 
riage horses to EnglamL and far undersell the 
native English raisers. The letter, therefore, sug¬ 
gests shipments of horses train America to Egypt. 
The Whitehall Review, of l/oridon, has lately’ 
been publishing lists of converts from the Protest¬ 
ant to the Roman Catholic Church In England with¬ 
in the last 25 or 3t) .vears, giving the names and con¬ 
ditions of most, of the wealthier ones. ’The matter 
has caused a good deal ot excitement across the 
water, and a brlei summary ot tho chief sources 
from which, the best, known of them have come, 
may be of Interest to some Rural readers, oi t hem 
200 are from Oxford University, iso from (Jam- 
bridge; from Trinity College, DublJn, and London 
University Jointly, only id; 85 of the army, 14 of 
the uavy, 45 ol the bar, 13 peers, 14 peeresses, 19 
sons and 28 daughters or peers, 7s other tilled 
ladles, and 35 titled men—lu all 1 , 600 . 
England and Russia are fast, becoming close 
friends again, to all appearances, at any rate. The 
former proposes the Duke ol Edinburgh, Victoria’s 
son, and the czar’s son-in-law, as King of Bulgaria. 
Turkey and Russia, also, will soon sign a final 
treaty of peace and amity, and. preparations are 
under way for transporting to the Crimea 100,000 of 
the troops now’ In Turkey so soon as the treaty 
shall have been signed. Immense quantities of 
wheat are being shipped from Odessa, and most of 
It is landed at Marseilles. 
The Supreme Court of Justice of Spain has finally 
condemned to death Juan Moncasl, w’ho attempted 
to assassinate the king, Oct. 25. 
Beginning with a production of four pounds of 
tea In 1840, India now exports 40 , 000,000 pounds and 
all the Islands of the Indian archipelago are cultt- 
atlng the plant. 
The London Truth says t he Duke ol Connaught, 
one of victoria’s sons, will be appointed Lord-Lieu¬ 
tenant of Ireland as soon after Ills marriage as an 
opport unity occurs to provide lor the Duke of Marl¬ 
borough, who at presents holds the position. 
Homtstk (tcononui. 
•— <<> 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
PEN THOUGHTS FROM EYERY-DAY HOUSE. 
BT ANNIE L. JACK. 
GLOOMY SKIES, FIRESIDES AND SPIRITS. 
“ Weeks of dull,dreary, sunless weather, try 
the most amiable temper." So says the family 
oracle, and we all bow r assent. For during the 
long time of cloud which this November has 
brought us, have we not felt every careless 
word, every duty undone by auybody, or over¬ 
done by somebody, rasping ou our nerves, aud 
irritating us? Even the cat goes arouud 
twirling her body in search of her taii in 
gloomy persistence, and the chickens walk 
past the window in silence w ithout indulging 
in a single r-r-r. The kitchen fire, too. is in 
the pouts, for to-day a thread of smoke is found 
to emerge from the joints of tlie pipes, and vve 
arc told it is due to a ” bad wind.” A smoky 
chimney is like the toothache—it gains one but 
little sympathy, yet if a man had to stand, as I 
have seen some women do, over a smoky fire, 
with eyes full of sharp tears, there would be 
some tall talking, and lie would find some 
means of stopping the nuisance, even if to do 
it, he hud to goto the village blacksmith’s, for I 
have often noticed that that, is the panacea for 
many of the dull, blunt things that worry a 
farmer’s life. Aud speaking of bluut things, the 
bread knife and the butcher knife felt dull, too. 
and would uot cut anything for breakfast that 
morning, but this is one of the evils a woman 
should know how to remedy, so vve speedily 
made them as sharp as ever. 
But the conversation about all these annoy¬ 
ances took place oue breakfast time, aud if it 
contained any element of unhappiues6 as a 
morning picture, it must be attributed to the 
want of sunlight in our darkened home. And 
yet I was reading yesterday that the proportion 
of sunny days in Canada as compared with 
Boston, is as fourteen to nine per month. 
Poor, dark, Boston, if so much more dim thy 
skies this last fortnight! Aud now comes the 
rain. If there has been oue day without mist 
or rain for the last three w eeks I do not re¬ 
member it. Surely now w’e have had enough of 
the moist air said to be so conducive to health 
and beauty. 
“ Well, I much prefer clear skies,” says the 
family critic; and the would-be wit among us 
remarked that the air was so calm even the 
wind could not rise aud hoped the bread would 
not suffer from the general depression. And 
this seut the amateur cook to look at the 
sponge which we knew was satisfactory by her 
gentle, self-batisfied nod. ll is one of the luxu¬ 
ries of farm life to he able to have home-made 
bread from home-grown wheat. There is about 
it a flavor that is not to he defined, but is, nev¬ 
ertheless, felt and tasted. We use hop yeast, 
making it every week, and keep in tlie yeast- 
jar a piece or two of root ginger, which is a 
great improvement in the raising. The sponge 
is set over-night with a few potatoes mashed 
through a sieve aud mixed with the water to 
be used in setting. Two workings the next 
morning, and then our loaves are set to rise 
before the fire, taking care to have tlie pans 
out of the way of a draft. Count twenty quick¬ 
ly with the hand in the oven—it is an old-fash¬ 
ioned thermometer but safe—and bake for an 
hour aud a quarter with a steady fire. There 
is no baker’s bread that has. the same sweet, 
nutty taste ; it will even put one in a good hu¬ 
mor ou a sunless, gloomy day. 
-♦ ♦ ♦- 
HYGIENIC FOOD. 
One hears a great deal, nowadays about hy¬ 
gienic food. 1 should like to know what it. 
really is, for I do not think many of the writers 
about it have a very clear idea ol it themselves. 
They talk of “albuminous food,” and food 
rich iu nitrogen, or gluten; but they do not 
tell the average woman, who is not usually a 
profound chemist, what to cat aud what to 
avoid. And they talk a good deal of uonseusc, 
too. Oue lady, a constant contributor r.o an 
agricultural paper, who writes continually 
about brain and body food, gave, as an excel¬ 
lent—and, I believe, “ hygienic ”—dish, cabbage 
boiled in a small quantity of water till soft, 
aud then thickened with milk aud seasoned to 
taste. 
Shade of departed Hygiea, think of that! 
As if cabbage boiled were not enough—and it 
is a well-known fact that boiled cabbage is 
less digestible than raw—she adds milk to it. 
I do not object to milk in itself, but the mix¬ 
ture is barbarous. 
I wish to say a word about pics, though it is 
a well-worn theme. I do not think they should 
be bauished entirely, for if they are well made, 
and eaten in moderation, they do no harm. A 
German physiciau told me the Americans do 
uot know how to make or eat pies, but I am 
not ready to believe that. For my part, I pre¬ 
fer my fruit au naturel. And I think in the 
summer vve can do almost without pies. A 
dish of blanc-mange, and one of fruit, stowed 
or raw, form a delicious dessert. 
It is very well to point out pale, nervous 
school-girls, and say that their paleness and 
nervousness are the results of indigestible food, 
but these traits are oftener the results of late 
hours and insufficient exercise. If girls would 
keep early hours, and take long walks, wc 
should not hear so much about the need of 
“hygienic food.” Sarah Gamp. 
•-♦-*-♦- 
CARPET SWEEPING. 
I would like the “testimony" of rural darae6 
who have used carpet-sweepers, in regard to 
their superiority over the ordinary broom—if. 
indeed, they arc preferable. I have been as¬ 
sured that with a sweeper one can sweep a 
carpet with ease, raise less dust, remove more- 
dirt. and litter by far than with a broom, and at 
much less wear to the carpet. m. w. f. 
-- 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
Corn-Starch Cake. 
One cup of butter; two cups of sugar; two 
cups of flour; two cups of corn 6tarch; four 
eggs; one cup of milk; one teaspoonful of 
soda, and two teaspoonfuls of cream-of-tartar; 
pinch of salt; flavor to taste. 
Mountain Oake. 
Two cups of sugar; one eup of butter; one 
cup of milk ; four cups of flour; the whites of 
four eggs; oue teaspoonful of soda; two tea- 
spoonfuls of eream-of-tartar; one pound of 
raisins; a piuch of salt. 
White Cake. 
One eup of butter ; three cups of sugar: four 
aud oue half cups of flour; the whites of ten 
eggs; oue eup of milk ; one teuspoonful of 
soda ; two teaspoonfuls of cream-of-tartar and 
a little salt; flavor with hitter almonds. This 
cake requires 8ome time to bake, but is very 
nice. One great secret in making cake, is 
thorough beating. Beat the butter aud sugar 
together, aud the yelks and whites of the eggs 
separately. Then add the yelks to the butter 
and sugar, and beat uutil you are tired. The 
greater part of the heating should be doue be¬ 
fore the flour is added. I always use sweet 
milk in cake and a small teaspoonful of soda, 
and large ones of cream-of-tartar. 
The corn-starch cake should be baked in 
small, round tins. If anyone should try these 
recipes and fail, she must not think that the 
fault is iu tho recipes, for I have tried them 
repeatedly with the best of results. I prefer 
powdered sugar in making cake, but some¬ 
times it will uot stir to a cream with the butter, 
but seems heavy like plaster. If the powdered 
sugar is poor, I use grauulated. Butter a pa¬ 
per the size of tbe bottom of the cake tin, to 
prevent the cake sticking to the tin. m. 
Sweet Cider. 
Mrs. M. L. says that cider may be kept sweet 
by adding mace, eiuuamon and mustard-seed— 
a quarter of a pound each—with a pound of 
raisins to a barrel of cider. Rack the cider un¬ 
til free from pinnace : put the spice and raisins 
into a cloth bag, which should be. long enough 
to extend from the bung to opposite side. 
Drive the bung over the top of the bag and let 
stand a few weeks before tapping. 
Dish-Washing. 
I am truly sorry for those young housekeep¬ 
ers who liute to wash greasy dishes. A few 
directions which I will give, simple as they 
seem, will, if followed, help to lessen the dis- 
agreeubleness of this dreaded duty. 1 would 
fill the dish-pan half full, or nearly so, with 
water as hot as you can hear the hands in. 
Take enough soap to make a slight suds ; put 
in the dishes, having a clean dish-cloth. Wash 
them and turn into a pau, and pour hot water 
over them ; then turn them into another pan to 
drain: take another clean dish-towel to wipe 
them with, and they will wipe so quickly aud 
easily you will be surprised. If yon will put 
water into the pots^and kettles as soon as 
emptied, they will be soaked.so that they will 
wash easily by the time you are ready for 
them. 
Dessert Pudding. 
One cupful of sour buttermilk ; two table¬ 
spoonfuls of fried meal drippings, or the same 
of melted butter; one scant teaspoonful of 
soda ; a pinch of salt; one cup and a half of 
flour ; stir together into a batter. Have ready 
two or three large apples ; pare aud slice them 
ou a buttered tin and pour the butter over 
them. Bake half au hour; serve warm, with 
sugar and cream or vinegar 6auce. mm js. t. 
