1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
6i5 
A Color Problem. 
It was Abner Doolittle who related 
to me this series of incidents. We get 
our butter and eggs from the Doolittles, 
and I had stopped at the farm as I was 
driving, in order to make certain ar¬ 
rangements regarding the future sup¬ 
ply. I had accepted a kind invitation to 
sit at the Doolittle table, and now Abner 
was taking his “nooning” with me un¬ 
der the apple trees. 
“There goes Sam Saunders,” spoke 
Abner, indicating a figure crowned by 
a large, flapping straw hat, passing 
along the road. “His daughter Mattie 
has died since you was here last. 
Mebbe you heard? No? Well, it was 
sort of peculiar like, and I thought 
p’r’aps your city papers might hev tuk 
it up. Didn’t you ever hear tell of Sam’s 
fancy chickens and hogs, either?” 
I expressed ignorance on the subject, 
and intimated that I was curious for the 
details. Abner nothing loth, continued: 
“Well, Sam Saunders—he’s been the 
talk of the hull county, on account of 
his critters. He’s tuk prizes at fairs, 
and he’s kep’ judges and experts guess- 
in’ on what he’s goin’ to raise next. 
’Specially his strong hold’s been in hogs 
and chickens. Seems like he was in¬ 
ventin’ new breeds every week. It all 
come about this way: 
“Sam, he once read somewhere or 
other that over in Europe canary-bird 
raisers turn their birds red by feedin’ 
’em red peppers, with the pepper part 
tuk out. So Sam—who alluz was a 
’sperimenty kind of feller—thougnt 
what would do for canaries would do for 
other feathered things, and jes to see 
what would happen he shut up a white 
Shanghai and fed it red peppers with 
the pepper tuk out, and, b'gosh, that 
there chicken begun to get redder and 
redder, and finally the pesky animal was 
all red! That settled Sam. The chick¬ 
en was lively. Peppers agreed with it. 
Sam c’lected all the white chickens he 
could find, and he stocked up on red 
peppers, and in a few months he had 
a big chicken-yard jes runnin' with the 
most pe-cu-liar fowls you ever see. 
Chicken fanciers didn’t know what to 
call 'em. They were a funny red—not 
like other red chickens—and all sizes. 
“Trouble come when Sam begun to 
sell. Buyers said that after a while 
the red faded out and the chickens got 
white. They accused Sam of dyein’ his 
chickens. He said they couldn’t prove 
it, and he guessed they didn’t under¬ 
stand takin’ care of sech fine poultry. 
He said sech chickens alluz got white 
when they was ailin’. People who tried 
to eat uie red chickens swore the flesh 
was the worst they ever et. Sam said 
these were fancy chickens, not meant 
to eat. 
“Sam tried red peppers on his hogs. 
Durned if he didn’t make red hogs out 
of Chester Whites, and hog experts lay 
awake nights studying over the new 
breed. Not only were white chickens 
and white hogs turned red, but he 
’sperimented on combinations with 
other colors—black and speckled, for 
instance—and if he didn’t give us some 
outlandish critters I never seed one! 
Bein’ as he had sech success with red, 
he c’cluded to try yaller. He tuk orange 
peel—with the juice squeezed out, for 
he’d heard juice was pizen—and yaller- 
corn meal, and butter-colorin’, and but¬ 
tercups, and other yallers, and fed his 
chickens and hogs on that. What hap¬ 
pened? Well, his place looked like the 
Spanish flag—red and yaller every¬ 
where. Mebbe you never see yaller 
hogs, but I’ll jes tell you that them yal¬ 
ler hogs of Sam Saunders was the queer¬ 
est beasts on earth outside a menagerie. 
And the chickens—I swan! Of course, 
he put the yaller, jes’ as he had the red, 
into the animals that wasn’t white, and 
so he had green and blue and pink and 
I dunno what not. 
“In my opinion Sam would hev had 
his hens layin’ Easter eggs if his daugh¬ 
ter Mattie hadn’t got mixed in the ’speri- 
mentin’. Mattie was one of them 
rheumaticky—no, reckon I mean ro- 
manticky, don’t I?—girls who’s alluz 
fixin’ to look purtier in case a beau 
comes along, and this yaller business 
struck her to a ‘T.’ Yaller hair was all 
the rage Dout that time, and Mattie 
thought here was an improvement on 
bleachin’. She saw what her dad was 
doin’ to his chickens and hogs. Of 
course, what was good for a hen was 
good for a goose! She went on a diet 
of yaller, and by and by the school-mas¬ 
ter—who is crazy as a loon, anyway— 
was publishing poetry in the Sentinel to 
‘Locks of Gold’ and ‘Her Golden Crown,’ 
and about ‘sun-kissed tresses,’ and so 
forth. 
“But Mattie got tired of yaller hair. 
She wanted red: ‘auburn’ they call it 
now, don’t they? She read that ‘auburn’ 
hair was the c’rect thing, and so she tuk 
to peppers. People saw her hair was 
gettin’ darker and darker, green for a 
time, then purplish-lavender, and at 
last red, or ‘auburn.’ The school-mas¬ 
ter changed his tune and wrote about 
‘crown of glory’ and ‘sunset halo’, et 
cetery. 
“Then Mattie died. I dunno jes ex¬ 
actly why, but the doctor said her dis¬ 
ease was general debility. I reckon it 
was stomick trouble. The yaller and 
the red didn’t mix peaceably, p’r’aps. A 
terry-cotter stomick can’t be very 
healthy, I judge. Leastways, she died. 
While she was sick her hair faded quite 
a bit, and in her coffin it was real nat¬ 
ural and lightish. Mattie’s spell sort 
of broke up Sam, and he hasn’t been 
payin’ much attention to fancy stock. 
But lately he’s started in again, I take 
it, for when I was over to his place las’ 
week it was a reg’lar Noah’s ark, with 
animals all different colors—yaller hogs, 
purple chickens, blue geese, and he says 
he thinks he’s got a green cat and a 
crimson dog.”—Lippincott’s Monthly. 
Pioneer Experiences. 
The sturdy pioneers worked indus¬ 
triously and lived plainly, but they were 
no more averse to amusements than 
their descendants are at this day. The 
very self-dGnials they felt obliged to 
practice daily seemed to give an added 
zest to their recreations. One particular 
enjoyment was the donation parties 
which were held during the Winter. 
Distance counted for nothing, neither 
the particular church which was having 
one; everyone went regardless of his 
own peculiar opinions. They sometimes 
turned out by families, and the children 
formed part of the company; and at 
one gathering it was noted with smiles 
that there were eight babies asleep at 
one time on the same bed. They had 
little silver or gold to give; but an 
abundance of the necessities of life, and 
they gave of these with lavish gener¬ 
osity. Flour, pork, homemade sausage, 
potatoes, nearly everything which peo¬ 
ple live on came in this way to the min¬ 
ister’s family, and the good feeling and 
social enjoyment that went witn it all 
made these gatherings delightful. 
A trip to town to purchase dry goods 
and other supplies, made in a lumber 
wagon with a grasshopper seat, as it 
was called, freshened up the toilers on 
the farm. The establishment of county 
fairs was a boon not only to the far¬ 
mer bound to a rut in his methods, but 
to the busy farmer’s wife it brought a 
needed and healthful change, as well as 
in a way amusement. A woman with 
a large family would rise early in the 
morning, dispatch her work, get herself 
and the others ready, and ride perhaps 
several miles to the place where the 
fair was to be held, then walk about the 
grounds, carrying one child and leading 
another, while the older ones took care 
of themselves. This was hard work, 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Beet.— Adv. 
but it shifted the burden, and the fair 
became one of the pleasures looked for¬ 
ward to from year to year. 
One of the occupations of many wom¬ 
en during their spare moments was to 
knit cotton stockings to sell at the 
stores, or exchange them for dry goods. 
The material was prepared from No. 10 
to No. 12 cotton yarn, which was called 
mixed colored. Two threads were blue 
and one white. No one who has not 
tried knows what a soothing effect knit¬ 
ting has on the nerves and also on the 
tongue. Sad that the art should have 
passed away; the articles I speak of 
that were fashioned by the women of 
the day of which I write would shame 
the modern ones, woven or knit on the 
machine. Some would say, if your 
time is worth anything it does not pay 
to do this kind of work, but their time 
was not worth anything to them for 
profit, and if a woman took enough pairs 
of stockings to the store in town to get 
herself a couple of calico dresses, she 
felt as though her time had been worth 
something to her. Sometimes a mania 
for making rag carpets would break out 
in a neighborhood, and there would be 
a good-natured strife which would make 
the prettiest stripe out of the materials 
on hand, and this gave much entertain¬ 
ment to the women when they met. 
They had a happy faculty of making 
recreation out of their useful work. 
AUNT RACHEL. 
Rural Recipes. 
Said the mussel to the oyster: 
“Are you happy as a clam?” 
Said the oyster, rather grumly: 
“No; I do not think I am.” 
"What’s the reason? said the mussel,” 
And the snappish oyster said: 
“Well, I got out this morning 
The wrong side of my bed.” 
—Puck. 
Cape Ann muffins give another good 
way to use blueberries. Sift two cup¬ 
fuls of flour with two teaspoonfuls of 
baking powder, a half-teaspoonful of 
salt and one rounded teaspoonful of 
sugar. Beat three eggs without sep¬ 
arating; add to them iy 2 cupful of milk 
and stir uie milk and eggs into the 
flour. Have ready a cupful of carefully- 
cleaned blueberries and stir tuem light¬ 
ly into the mixture. Bake in hot but¬ 
tered gem pans in a quick oven for 15 
minutes. 
Still another blueberry dish is blue¬ 
berry pancakes. Sift one scant pint 
of flour with one teaspoonful of baking 
powder and a half-teaspoonful of salt. 
Mix two weii-beaten eggs with ^ cup¬ 
fuls of sweet milk and thoroughly blend 
all together. Grease the griddle, drop 
the batter on in large spoonfuls and 
spread a teaspoonful of blueberries on 
each, pressing into the cake. Turn, and 
when brown serve with butter and 
powdered sugar. 
Apple uipflaps are delicious. Butter 
gem pans and half fill them with rich 
biscuit dough. Pare, core and slice 
four tart, juicy apples and place on top 
of the dough. Cover each with a tea¬ 
spoonful of grated maple sugar and dot 
with bits of butter. Bake in a quick 
oven. Serve with cream. 
Oyster chowder will come in season 
this month. Fry together two ounces 
of salt pork and one onion, sliced. 
Parboil one pint of sliced potatoes five 
minutes and drain. Look over carefully 
one pint of oysters, pour over one-half 
cupful of water and heat to the boiling 
point; skim out the oysters and pour 
the liquor over the potatoes, add the 
pork and onions and cook the potatoes 
until tender, adding a little more water 
if necessary; add the oysters, one pint 
of milk and one-half cupful of fine bread 
crumbs. Season with one teaspoonfui 
of salt and half-teaspoonful of pepper 
and pour in the serving dish. 
Green peppers are excellent served 
with steak as follows: Cut three pep¬ 
pers crosswise into thin even slices, re¬ 
jecting the seeds. Stew in water until 
tender. Drain and cook in a little hot 
butter, sprinkling them lightly with 
salt. When done arrange on a hot 
platter and place the nicely broiled 
steak over them. 
©SAVE StEKE FUEL 
Rochester Radiator Co. 27 Furnace St. Rochester, N.Y. 
The University of Notre Dame, 
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA. 
Classics, Letters, Economii s and History, 
Journalism, Art, Science, Pharmacy, Law, 
Civil. Mechanical and Electrical Engineer¬ 
ing, Architecture. 
Thorough Preparatory and Commercial 
Courses. Ecclesiastical students at special rates. 
Rooms Free. Junior or Senior Year, Collegiate 
Courses. Rooms to Rent, moderate charge. 
St. Edward’s Hall, for boys under 13. 
The 57th Year will open September 4th, 1900. 
Catalogues Free. Address 
Rev. A. MORRISSEY, C. S. C., President. 
B.*B. 
homespuns 
—decidedly the smart fabric of 
the season for new Autumn suits 
and skirts. 
A distinctive assortment, 50c. to 
$3.50, that shows we’re determined 
to interest dressy folk. 
The 65c. Homespuns, especially 
attractive style and worth — 50 
inches wide—choice new shades. 
Extraordinary collection of all- 
wool Dress goods for girls’ school 
wear 25c., 35c. —savingTor you 
on every yard. 
Superb variety of fine Wedding 
Silks, 50c. to $5. 
Want all concerned about ele¬ 
gance for the bride’s gown to 
write for proof of our claim to the 
preference. 
Rich quality white Satin Duch- 
esse $1.25. 
Fine showing of exquisite novel¬ 
ties for bridesmaids. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA, 
S 
TENOGRAPHY SZES& 
1LUVU1VXH AAA Book-keeping, 
etc., thoroughly taughtby mail or personally. 
Situations for graduates of complete commer¬ 
cial course. Catalogue free. 
C. C. GAINES, Box 817, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
COE’S 
ECZEMA CURE, ®1 at druggists. 26o 
size of us. Coe Chem. Co., Cleveland, O. 
Elgin Watches 
are sold by jewelers everywhere in various sizes 
and styles, at prices to suit. Send for free booklet 
to the ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH CO., Elgin, Ill. 
fblETZ MONARCH LANTERN 
This is ono of the cheapest lanterns and yet it is a marvel of per¬ 
fection and safety. It is well made, of good materials. Tho oil pot 
is drawn from a sheet of tinned steei and then re-tinned, adding years 
to its lifo. The globe and burner are first-class. Tho “trick” for 
raising and lowering the globe to light and trim is ingenious and 
convenient, and when tho globe is down tho burner is securely 
locked in place. 
This lantern sells at retail everywhere for about 73 cents. If your 
dealer does not keep it, and will not got it for you, send $1.00 to us, 
and wo will send one to you, postago or express paid. Don’t let him 
sell you some other lantern, which ho says is “just as good.” 
Send postal for free pocket catalogue. 
R. E. DIETZ COMPANY, H 7 Laight St, New York City. 
