1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4o7 
The Unexpected Guest. 
My ideas upon the subject of catering 
to the unexpected guest—or to the ex¬ 
pected one, for that matter—may seem 
eccentric and inhospitable, but I have 
found them practicable, and as we have 
a great deal of company it would seem 
that there is no cause for complaint on 
the part of our visitors. In the first 
place I take the stand that my friends 
come to see me, and not primarily to 
eat my cooking. Then, too, I think that 
it is a woman’s duty to feed her family 
as well as she would a guest who is 
inconsiderate enough to come unexpect¬ 
edly. I have a friend who is an excel¬ 
lent cook. During the Summer months 
she is almost “companied” to death, not 
by her nearest friends and relatives, but 
by acquaintances and their friends. 
They come, not because they care for 
her and want to see her, but because 
they know they will get a good “feed.” 
My friend complains bitterly of the im¬ 
position, and it spoils her Summer for 
her, but she has a pride about her hos¬ 
pitality and will not adopt the radical 
measures necessary to rid herself of 
these parasites. 
As I said, we have a great deal of 
company, and a good many come unex¬ 
pectedly. I have had four people drop 
in half an hour before dinner time, and 
I heard afterward that one of them 
said, “She doesn’t mind having com¬ 
pany; she doesn’t get excited a bit.” 
Nevertheless my mind was quite active¬ 
ly engaged with the problem of how I 
was to provide for these extra ones. 
This was an exceptional instance. Usual¬ 
ly there is an hour or two of leeway. I 
will not deny that I try to do a little 
more and have things a little nicer when 
there is company. But I will not go be¬ 
yond my strength or beyond my means 
for anybody. It is not honest, and I 
would not like others to do it for me. 
Let each one think how it would seem 
if she herself were the unexpected guest. 
Which would you prefer, to have your 
hostess fly around in a nervous flutter, 
killing a chicken and making all sorts 
of elaborate preparations, and be her¬ 
self fluttered and red-faced at meal 
time, and urging upon you viands which 
you knew were out of the ordinary 
nary and even perhaps more expensive 
than she could afford; or, on the other 
hand, to have the preparations for din¬ 
ner go on smoothly and uninterrupted¬ 
ly, and when you sat down to dinner 
have the feeling that you had not dis¬ 
turbed the domestic machinery in the 
least, and that' the dinner was just the 
same as it would have been had you 
stayed away? The latter is, it seems to 
me, the ideal way, but there arise occa¬ 
sions—during housecleaning or other 
large undertakings—when a scanty din¬ 
ner for the family is a necessity. It is 
usually at such times that the unex¬ 
pected guest arrives. For such emer¬ 
gencies canned salmon is my great 
standby, and I try always to keep it on 
hand. Then I usually have a jar of 
delicate cookies, and there is always 
canned fruit down cellar. These things, 
with one or two vegetables of the sea¬ 
son, and bread, or hot gems d the bread 
jar is empty, make a dinner good 
enough for anyone. 
I do not take much account of the 
meat question, for I know that town 
people care most for fresh vegetables, 
and so with a good garden to draw upon 
I can usually get something together 
that is apparently relished. Then there 
is milk to use, and eggs can take the 
place of meat in case of necessity. There 
is nothing line being independent and 
unpretentious in one’s relations to com¬ 
pany. There is one relative who comes 
here who, when at home lives on very 
delicate food, but I always try to make 
him an old-fashioned johnny-cake 
(scalded Indian meal cooked on a grid¬ 
dle) for he is fond of it, and his wife 
simply will not make it for him. A 
cousin and his wife come here nearly 
every Summer. They are people of 
means and care a great deal for eating, 
sparing no expense or work for the 
gratification of their appetites. It would 
bo rather fearsome to think of cooking 
for them if I tried to cater to them in 
the style to which they are used. But 
I put my pride in my pocket and give 
them plain country fare. One night I 
had crackers and milk and blueberries, 
and it was surprising to see with what 
zest they ate it. 
We have a good many callers on Sun¬ 
day afternoons during the Summer. 
Sometimes as many as eight or 10 drop 
in. Now it is too much to have to set 
the table for so many, especially on the 
day of rest. So when it is pleasant we 
sit out of doors, and when it is time for 
lunch I bring out a tray on which is a 
large plate heaped with bread and but¬ 
ter sandwiches, another of sponge cake 
—I never dare risk not having a sponge 
cake on Sunday in Summer—with glasses 
and a big pitcher of cold milk. If every¬ 
thing is the best of its kind, no fault 
need be found with a lunch as simple 
as this. It makes very few dishes and 
is but little trouble. Sometimes there is 
fruit or different kinds of berries, and 
then there have to be sauce dishes and 
spoons. If one tries to make a display, 
or tries to give one’s guests better than 
can be afforded, company will be a seri¬ 
ous tax on one’s means. It is a tax that 
the average farmer can ill afford. But 
if company is treated like one of the 
family, then the expense will not be so 
great, and those who come for the sake 
of eating and nothing more, will soon 
get discouraged. It must be remember¬ 
ed that country air is a great appetizer, 
and the same food that would seem 
rather poor in town will taste delicious 
out on the farm. 
SUSAN BROWN ROBBINS. 
Home Paper Hanging 
I saw some three-cent paper in a store 
window and thought it would do for the 
kitchen, but inside they showed me 
“granite” paper (looks like pudding- 
stone) at six cents per roll, with a pretty 
border, that I liked better, and the clerk 
explained that the difference in cost for 
the room would be but 20 cents, as the 
three-cent paper is put up in shorter 
rolls. Granite paper needs no matching, 
so I cut off the proper number of lengths 
for ceiling, allowing a few inches over. 
Paper is 18 inches in width, and by re¬ 
ducing the width of room to inches and 
dividing by 18 you get the number of 
strips required. Next I cut the side wall 
strips, subtracting nine inches from the 
length for 10-inch border. By measur¬ 
ing carefully and marking strips as cut, 
chimney strips, over door, under win¬ 
dow, south side, west side, etc., I was 
able to go ahead when I started putting 
it on without any trouble. I made a 
good thick flour paste and had an exten¬ 
sion table to lay the paper on, being 
careful to lay it along the edge of the 
table so as to have as little mess in 
pasting as possible. I used a medium¬ 
sized flat paint brush to put the paste 
on, and a whitewash brush, without a 
handle, to brush the paper on the walls. 
Two “horses” with the top of a tree-box 
laid across them and braced in the mid¬ 
dle with small box made a safe, wide 
platform. 
Getting the first strip on to the ceil¬ 
ing is the main thing; the rest is easy. 
Few old houses have perfectly straight 
lines, so you must not attempt to follow 
the edge of ceiling and wall exactly, but 
try to get your paper started “on the 
square” at one end of the room and then 
brush it clear across evenly to the other 
end, letting it lap over on to the wall 
along the side edge if it wants to. 
“Paper is just as stubborn and contrary 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
as an old hen,” a paperhanger told me 
once. If the paper is brushed straight 
there will be no wrinkles—but it’s a 
“rub” to do it. I had to have a helper 
hold one end of the paper for the ceil¬ 
ing work. In doing the walls, hang the 
paper as many inches from the ceiling 
as your border is deep, allowing an inch 
for the border to lap over—“butting” is 
not to be thought of when walls are not 
perfectly straight—brush it straight 
across the top, then downwards, and 
pat it firmly across the bottom and 
along the side of the woodwork. Light 
quick strokes of the brush give best re¬ 
sults when finished. 
The border was cut in just as long 
strips as I could manage, and put on 
last. Figured and striped paper must 
be evenly matched; hence a greater 
number of rolls is used and more time 
is required in putting it on—that’s all. 
A number of my neighbors do their own 
paperhanging and do it better than 
many professionals who want to hurry 
through the job. It requires more tact 
and patience than hard work. White¬ 
washed, calcimined or varnished walls 
should be “sized” with glue before put¬ 
ting on the paper. If the room has al¬ 
ready been papered all loose paper must 
be torn off; in fact, it is considered bet¬ 
ter to take off all of the old paper, but 
this is not necessary, and few paper 
hangers take the time to do it. Wetting 
the old paper thoroughly with cold 
water, with a little flour in it, will make 
the paper easier to pull off. 
Plain tinted papers in pale shades of 
pink, green, blue, gray and yellow are 
much liked by people of taste, hand 
some borders being used with them. 
Nothing can be more “jarring” than 
large-figured paper on a small room— 
unless there is added a carpet with huge 
bouquets of bright flowers; then you 
have a headache. 
Very pretty paper with narrow satin 
stripes, small conventional designs and 
a few quiet posies may be had for eight 
cents per roll. Blue is pretty for a din¬ 
ingroom, especially if you happen to 
have blue dishes, a blue-print picture 
or two in white frames and a blue por¬ 
celain clock. Red is good on the living 
room and makes an excellent back¬ 
ground for etchings and engravings or 
photos in dark frames, docia dykens. 
TRY GRAIN-0! TRY GRAIN-0*! 
Ask your Grocer to-day to show you a package of 
GRAIN-0, the new food drink that takes the place 
of coffee. The children may drink it without injury 
as well as the adult. All who try It, like it. G RAIN-O 
has that rich seal brown of Mocha or Java, but It is 
made from pure grains, and the most delicate stomach 
receives it without distress, hi the price of coffee 
16c. and 25o. per package. Sold by all grocers 
Our Fen Carbon Letter book 
Copies • 
Your Letters 
While you write. 
Use any pen and your own stationery 
stationer does not keep it, write for free spv 
work. Beware of infringements. Address 
Pen-Carbon Manifold Co.,115-7-9 Centre St 
Very Low Rates 
tor 
COLONISTS 
TO 
California, Montana, Utah, 
Washington, Oregon, 
British Columbia, Idaho, 
VIA 
By rooting out our selfish desires, 
even when they appear to touch no one 
but ourselves, we are preparing a cham¬ 
ber of the soul where the Divine Pres¬ 
ence may dwell.—Ellen Watson. 
Big Four Route 
One way second class colonist tickets 
to Helena, Butte, Ogden, Spokane, Port¬ 
land, Tacoma, Seattle, San Francisco, 
Los Angeles, San Jose, and other points 
in the Wesband Northwest will he on sale 
at very low rates from all points on the 
“Big Four,” daily, until April 30, 1902. 
For full information and particulars as 
to rates, tickets, limits, etc., call on 
Agents “Big Four Route,” or address 
the undersigned. 
WARREN J. LYNCH, W. P. DEPPE, 
Gen’l Pass. & Ticket Agt. Asst. G. P. & T. A 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Corns Cured Free. 
Allen’s Antiseptic Corn Plaster 
cures corns. To prove it I will mail free 
plaster to any one. Send name and ad¬ 
dress—no money. 
Geo. M. Dorrance, 221 Fulton St., Dept.L, N. Y. 
MADE $ 105 THE FIRST MONTH 
writes FRED. BLODGETT, of N. Y. J. L. 
BARRICK, of La., writes: “Am making 
$3.00 to $8.00 every day I work.” MRS. L. 
M. ANDERSON, of Iowa, writes: “I 
made $3.80 to $6.50 a day-” Hundreds 
doing likewise. So can you. 
$5.00 to $10.00 daily made pla¬ 
ting jewelry, tableware, bicy¬ 
cles, metal goods with gold, sil¬ 
ver, nickel, etc. Enormous de- 
, mund. We teach you PDFE 
1 Write—offer free. I ll Lbi 
6. GRAY Ss CO.. PUtlne Works. A Blumi Illdg.. Cl.clnu.tUO 
ABSOLUTE RANGE PERFECTION! 
SOLD FOR CASH OR ON MONTHLY PAYMENTS. 
Your money refunded after SIX MONTHS' TRIAL If 
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The only manufacturing company In the world In their line selling 
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