2b 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
.January 13 
f Woman and Home ] 
From Day to Day. 
DAD AND MOTHER AND ME. 
Nobody’s like old Santa Claus 
With his red and jolly face; 
There’s not another around the globe 
Can travel so swift a pace. 
His twinkling eyes, and his merry laugh, 
His chuckle of bubbling glee— 
Nobody else is so dear by half 
To Dad and Mother and Me. 
He doesn’t forget the baby sweet 
As she rocks in her cradle white; 
He has time to wait for the lagging feet 
Of the old, by candle-light. 
He has gifts and gifts for the young and 
gray, 
Who encircle the Christmas Tree; 
And he has the love to his latest day 
Of Dad and Mother and Me. 
The frost is chill in the nipping blast, 
Smooth is the icy mere; 
The short fleet days go hurrying past 
To the last of the waning year. 
And never was rose of the Summer’s prime 
So royally fair to see 
As the rose that blooms in the Winter’s 
rime 
For Dad and Mother and Me. 
—M. E. Sangster, in Collier’s Weekly. 
* 
After trying out lard, most house¬ 
keepers utilize some of the cracklings, 
or scratchings, as our English friends 
call them, in bread or cake. Here is a 
recipe for crackling corn bread, which 
may be a pleasant variation; Stir to¬ 
gether one pint each of corn meal, flour 
and finely chopped cracklings. Beat two 
eggs, add a pint of milk and saltspoon- 
ful of salt, and stir into the dry mixture. 
Add more milk if necessary to make a 
very thick drop batter. Pour into well 
greased bread-stick pans and bake until 
brown and crisp. 
* 
lx the recently-published memoirs of 
Lord Playfair, the distinguished British 
scientist, there is a little anecdote show¬ 
ing the wonderful sense of touch culti¬ 
vated in those afflicted children to whom 
sight, speech and hearing are denied. 
While at the Perkins Institute for the 
Blind, at Boston, Lord Playfair saw a 
little deaf, dumb and blind girl, who 
took much pleasure in a common brass 
curtain ring, which she wore on one fin¬ 
ger, so the kindly visitor gave her a 
pretty finger ring to replace it. The fol¬ 
lowing year he paid her another visit, 
and, without revealing his identity, sim¬ 
ply placed his hand in hers. At first she 
felt of it without recognition, but, touch¬ 
ing his skin on the wrist under his cuff, 
her face suddenly lighted up, and with 
much excitement she spelled on her fin¬ 
gers: “It is the Englishman who gave 
me the ring!” Then she flung her arms 
about his neck, and during the whole of 
his visit clung to him with every dem¬ 
onstration of affection, constantly strok¬ 
ing his face and hands. 
* 
A New York woman returned to her 
flat alone Christmas night, to find two 
burglars ransacking the rooms. She 
screamed, but did not run, the burglars 
doing the running. One got away, but 
the other tripped over a portiere and fell 
flat. Before he had time to recover him¬ 
self the woman put a chair over him, 
and stood on the chair, as if the bur¬ 
glar were a mouse. It was a little, 
short-legged chair, so that the burglar 
found the space a very tight fit; he could 
only wriggle an inch or two at a time, 
and whenever he did wriggle, his captor 
would lean over and prod him with a 
hatpin. His position was anything but 
a happy one, and he appeared rather 
glad than otherwise when a policeman 
arrived to lead him to the station. The 
heroine of the chair and hatpin has at¬ 
tained distinction similar to that of the 
dressmaker’s assistants who vanquished 
a sneak thief with needles and thread, 
or the Brooklyn women who besprinkled 
a burglar with a baking of bread dough. 
The light-fingered fraternity will begin 
to consider unarmed women as extra- 
hazardous risks. 
* 
One of the popular English period¬ 
icals recently held a discussion on the 
question whether town or country girls 
made the best wives. The decision was 
in favor of the country girls, who were 
considered healthier, better-tempered, 
more industrious, and more carefully 
trained than the city girls. The greatest 
difference, however, is to be noted 
among girls who must work for a living. 
It is natural, but not at all the fault of 
the city girl, that she should receive lit¬ 
tle household training, and lose vitality, 
when tied down in some indoor occupa¬ 
tion, as so many are. A young woman 
who is busy during all the hours of day¬ 
light in office or factory can hardly be 
blamed if she show little interest in 
housework or sewing during her scanty 
hours of recreation. It is in points like 
these thart: the country girl has the ad¬ 
vantage. 
* 
A curious accident which recently oc¬ 
curred in Cincinnati warns women of a 
frequent danger which is little under¬ 
stood. A woman leaned down before an 
open grate, and as she did so a celluloid 
comb in her hair exploded with suffi¬ 
cient force to throw her several feet. 
The comb ignited, burning off most of 
the wearer’s hair, eyebrows, and lashes,, 
and she was severely burned about the 
face and neck. It seemed impossible to 
extinguish the burning comb so long as 
any of it was left, and considerable ef¬ 
fort was required to prevent the carpet 
and furnishings from catching fire. The 
fact that celluloid, whose foundation is 
gun cotton, is highly inflammable and 
explosive, seems to be little understood, 
and the wonder is that more injuries do 
not result, for many women are ex¬ 
tremely careless when heating curling 
irons by a gas jet or alcohol lamp, and 
might very easily expose a celluloid 
comb to ignition. Under all ordinary 
circumstances, the pretty, convenient 
and inexpensive celluloid is as innocent 
as need be, but it must not be brought 
in contact with fire. 
* 
For two months past the great stores 
of New York have been devoted to the 
Christmas trade. The very day after 
Christmas—the coldest day of the pres¬ 
ent Winter in this locality—a large pro¬ 
portion of the stores had not only re¬ 
moved most of the holiday goods, but 
were announcing the “openings” of 
Spring materials. Two big stores made 
their first great display of Summer shirt 
waists December 26. and the windows 
were full of elaborate garments of lawn 
and organdie, loaded with lace and in¬ 
sertion, while outside, women shivered 
in sealskin wraps. A woman who was 
so daringly unconventional as to at¬ 
tempt to buy a flannel waist on this 
date, was told by the saleswomen, as she 
looked with disfavor at the meager 
stock, that it was entirely too late to 
buy Winter garments, as people were 
now looking for Spring outfits! There 
is no doubt that this tendency to rush 
the seasons is due, in some degree, to 
the fact that many New York shoppers 
are preparing to go South, or abroad, at 
this season, and are buying Summer 
outfits in consequence; still, it is rather 
hard on those who do not care to do all 
their Winter shopping in the early Fall. 
This Winter there was, practically, no 
cold weather before Christmas, and real 
Winter set in just when the Spring dis¬ 
plays appeared. The first cotton waists 
shown looked rather skimpy, after the 
styles of previous Summers, for they are 
built on the same lines as the cloth 
waists, and show plain sleeves and no 
blouse effect. Though so desperately 
plain in cut, many of them are made 
very elaborately, white ones being al¬ 
most solid insertions of Valenciennes 
lace. The insertion is either vertical or 
diagonal, but not horizontal, like last 
year’s stripes. That bayadere style is, 
we think, very dead. If we are to judge 
from these first appearances, there will 
be an attempt bo boom very elaborate 
washing waists, which will, really, lack 
the shirt-waist character. They are 
very dainty and pretty, for those who 
can afford them, but no matter how 
elaborate, they are soon copied in cheap 
material, and thus vulgarized. Their 
laundering is an absolute nightmare, 
too; when the washing is done out, it is 
often difficult to have even a plain waist 
done up satisfactorily, and more elabo¬ 
rate styles are really ruined in the wash¬ 
ing. Many laundries charge 25 cents for 
washing and ironing a plain shirt waist 
now, so the woman whose washing is 
not done at home must consider many 
things when buying waists. 
* 
A St. Louis woman recently mislaid 
her baby while shopping in a depart¬ 
ment store, and me missing innocent 
was not found for five hours, being final¬ 
ly discovered peacefully sleeping in a 
basket of waste in the basement. The 
baby had been laid on the counter, 
whence it had rolled into the basket 
without protest, the bargain-hunting 
mother forgetting all about it. In con¬ 
trast with this, the papers describe the 
expedient of a woman from Iowa, who 
feared that some of her seven children 
might stray away while going through 
St. Louis. She tied one end of a 20-foot 
rope about her own waist, and fastened 
the other end to her largest child. Then 
she tied the six remaining children to 
the rope at intervals, with binding 
twine, and having thus rounded up the 
entire family, she passed through the 
crowded streets, without leaving any of 
her progeny adrift. Her expedient ex¬ 
cited a good deal of comment, but the 
general opinion was that the plan pos¬ 
sessed a good many advantages. 
A Woman Farmer. 
NOTES FROM I1ER NEW DIARY. 
Being about to take up my chosen oc¬ 
cupation, I have duly consulted several 
farmers, and they have conscientiously 
discouraged the undertaking. I find 
only one sanguine enough to say; “You 
may do well,” and one who said doubt¬ 
fully; “You make things go.” At first 
I became quite discouraged by these 
solemn warnings; then the thought 
came to me, that these men live on their 
farms, year after year, and must get a 
living some way, if nothing more. I 
conclude that they think a woman can¬ 
not succeed at this occupation, or per¬ 
haps, there being fewer women than 
men farming, they think it unwomanly. 
Most wom£n seem to think it an unde¬ 
sirable employment; one advised me to 
invest what little money I had in a vil¬ 
lage house and lot. Where this would 
earn a living she failed to state. I sup¬ 
pose that to become the village dress¬ 
maker, or some equally high calling, 
would add to one’s importance; any¬ 
thing but a plain farmer. Discourage¬ 
ments, commonplace life and all consid¬ 
ered, it is my deliberate choice, and all 
I ask is a fair living. 
I now have 140 acres, with buildings. 
This was partly acquired by inheritance, 
and partly by purchase. I have been 
teaching for several years in country 
places, and am well acquainted with 
rural ambitions and lack of ambition. I 
have had an intention of farming for a 
long time, and circumstances seem now 
favorable. As to my experience, I have 
had the management of a small farm for 
12 years or more, and while profits have 
been small, so far as I know there has 
never been a loss on the whole year’s 
accounts. Results aimed for are only a 
fair living, with pleasant home surround¬ 
ings, and a small bank account, if that 
does not require too great sacrifice. I 
intend to follow mixed farming; the 
more mixed the safer I shall feel at 
present, and I expect to practice all the 
small economies I know to be so neces¬ 
sary when one expects the farm to meet 
its expenses. I have a high opinion of 
a person able to manage a 10-acre fruit 
farm at a profit, but am well aware that 
I have not the knowledge required for a 
specialist. 
I have been a reader of agricultural 
papers since childhood. While we find 
the experiment station reports very in¬ 
teresting, as well as reports of success 
in various lines, we feel that lack of 
real sincerity, such as is given in a full 
report of a year’s mixtures of failure 
with the success, like the glimpses of 
real farm life in the Hope Farm Notes. 
Perhaps my record may encourage other 
farmer’s daughters, who feel an uncer¬ 
tainty of depending on the old farm. 
n. m'd. 
A Novel Dictionary Stand. 
The old-fashioned revolving piano 
stools are now quite out of date, a wood¬ 
en bench or chair accompanying the 
modern pianos. The New York Times 
says that some of the old stools were 
very respectable-looking pieces of fur¬ 
niture and made of fine wood. One fam¬ 
ily which has one has improvised a use¬ 
ful piece of furniture from it. The up¬ 
holstery was removed, and in its place 
was securely fastened a box which had 
been secured at the grocer’s and neatly 
stained. On top of the box, which is laid 
on its side, is placed the family diction¬ 
ary, where it is always ready for use, 
and which can revolve in a most con¬ 
venient manner on the screw of the old 
stool. In the box, through its opening at 
the side, are placed the magazines of the 
month, which must be at hand, but litter 
the room. The piano-stool dictionary- 
stand is such a convenience that the 
family which made the discovery does 
not know how it ever existed without it. 
To secure another effect a bit of uphol¬ 
stery can be tacked on the top with a 
frill around the edge to hide the sides, 
and if this is in keeping with the room 
the result is very good. Homemade fur¬ 
niture is not always to be recommended, 
but with the excellent foundation the 
stool offers it does not require any great 
amount of talent to make a useful ar¬ 
ticle. 
Imitation the Sincerest Flattery. 
Cheaply made imitations of obsolete forms 
of Singer sewing-machines are offered by 
merchandise dealers to deceive an unwary 
public. 
GENUINE SINGERS ARE 
4EVER SOLD TO DEALERS. 
They go directly from maker to user, and 
can only be obtained from the Company’s 
employees. 
Sold on Instalments. You can try one Free. Old machines taken in exchange. 
SINGER SEWING-MACHINES ARE MADE AND SOLD ONLY BY 
The Singer Manufacturing Co. 
OFFICES IN EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD. 
