THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
423 
1002 
Uncle Ichabod’s Plain Talk. 
“Yes, I s’pose I do talk pretty plain, 
but sometimes folks get into a rut and 
it takes consider’ble to get ’em out of 
it. It jolts ’em some, usually, but if it 
ain’t only one good hard bounce, why, 
it generally does ’em good and it don’t 
take ’em long to get over it. You see 
I got talked to plain, myself, once on a 
time, and I ain’t never forgot it. 
“It was ’long the first of my married 
life. We was living on the farm, then, 
and—well, I don’t s’pose I’d really got 
used to double harness, and it was 
kinder lonesome, too; not many neigh¬ 
bors, and I’d always been where there 
was a good deal going on. John and I 
set store by each other, of course, and 
if anybody’d said a word against him I’d 
have wanted to fly at ’em, but without 
really sensing it I’d got into the habit 
of finding consider’ble fault at one time 
and another. We’d been married a year 
or so when Uncle Ichabod come to visit 
us. Ho was a pretty old man then, but 
he was spry and jolly and nobody could 
help liking him. He stayed most two 
weeks, and he went ’round and made 
friends with all the neighbors and took 
an int’rest in everything that was going 
on. Wo loved to have him ’round. He 
was a clean old man, and never made 
the least bit of trouble in the world, and 
we was always glad to have him come 
and hated to have him go. 
“Well, it got to be ’most the end of 
his visit, and one night John went to 
town to a caucus, leaving Uncle Ichabod 
and me alone in the house. I’d noticed 
Uncle Ichabod had seemed awful anx¬ 
ious for John to go, but I didn’t know 
why till afterwards. It was a kinder 
blustery night in February, and it seem¬ 
ed good to sit by the fire, bncle Ichabod 
was eating an apple. His teeth was 
’most all gone, so he had to scrape the 
apple with a knife, and it took some 
time. When he got through and had 
put away his knife, he looked at me 
with his bright brown eyes that never 
missed seeing anything, and says: 
“ ‘Well, ’Senath, I’ve made you quite 
a visit.’ 
“ ‘Yes,’ I says, ‘and I wish you was 
going to stay as much longer.’ 
“ ‘I’ve had a good time,’ he says, ‘but 
—no—I guess I don’t want to stay any 
longer. I’ve always thought I was 
pretty contented, but discontent is 
ketching, and I’m afraid I’d ketch it if I 
stayed much longer.’ 
“‘Why, Uncle Ichabod!’ I says, real 
surprised like, ‘I thought John was con¬ 
tented.’ 
“ ‘John?’ he says. ‘Oh, yes, John’s 
got a better disposition than I’d have 
under the circumstances. I don’t know 
how long it’ll last, though. Human na¬ 
ture can’t stand everything, no moren 
a stone drag.’ 
“ ‘What are you driving at?’ I says, 
and I begun to feel my face getting hot. 
“ ‘Well, Asenath,’ he says, ‘I’ll tell 
you. I’m going to find fault with you, 
and I want you to keep still till I get 
through. Do you want to fill your 
mouth with water?—or can you get 
along without it?’ 
“ ‘I guess I can keep still if I try,’ I 
says kinder stiff. 
“ ‘Well, then,’ says Uncle Ichabod, 
settling back comfortable in his chair, 
‘I’ll begin right off. In the first place, 
you ain’t happy, and John won’t be 
much longer, if you keep on as you’ve 
begun, because, as I said before, discon¬ 
tent is ketching, and to live in the house 
with a woman that’s all the time finding 
fault ain’t very pleasant. I don’t say 
you find fault all the time, yet, but it’s 
growing on you and you’re in a fair 
way to. Now take it this morning; you 
fussed because John spilt some water on 
the floor; you worried because you 
didn’t do something you’d meant to do 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
>vhile Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
yesterday, and you was afraid ’twould 
be stormy to-night so that John couldn't 
go to the caucus. Well, the water dried 
up before you had time to wipe it up; 
you did that piece of work to-day, and 
it ain’t stormy to-night; so what did 
your fussing amount to? 
“ ‘I’ll tell you just what’s the matter 
with you. You’re trying to live in the 
past and the future, and it can’t be done 
with any satisfaction. You tell about 
the good times you used to have, and the 
good times you are going to have, and 
you don’t think anything about the good 
times you might be having right now. 
It’s all well enough to think about the 
future and the past some, but the pres¬ 
ent is what ought to occupy the most of 
your time. It’s the present that’s going 
to be the past, pretty soon, and the fu¬ 
ture is coming along about as fast as 
you can take care of it. 
“ ‘Anybody’d ’most think you hadn’t 
got anything to be thankful for, to hear 
you go on. Let’s see how it is; you are 
young and strong and well, you’ve got 
a kind husband and a comfortable home, 
and a good farm, and pleasant neigh¬ 
bors. Yes, you have, Asenath; I’ve been 
around amongst ’em on purpose to see, 
and if you can’t see any good in ’em, 
why, it’s your own fault. And you 
might as well make up your mind to 
like ’em, for if you don’t, why you can’t 
expect them to like you, and it is 
pleasanter to go through the world feel¬ 
ing kind and neighborly with folks. It 
ain’t so lonesome. 
“ ‘Now I don’t s’pose an old man like 
me has any business dictating about 
housekeeping matters, but it seems to 
me one thing that’s the matter with you 
is this kitchen. You stay in it most of 
the time, and it ain’t a cheerful room, 
on the north side of the house, no sun 
in it. Now, if you’d live more in the 
front room, where it’s pleasant and 
sunny, and not keep it shut up for some 
time in the future, it would be better for 
you. You’ve got the makings of a cheer¬ 
ful, wholesome kind of woman in you, 
Asenath, and I hate to see you turn into 
the other kind. That’s why I’ve talked 
so plain to you, and not because I like 
to scold. You think it over, and don’t 
feel too hard towards your old uncle,’ 
and then he got up and went off to bed. 
“Well, I was awful mad for a spell, 
but the more I thought it over the plain¬ 
er I could see that what he said-was so. 
And when John come home pretty late 
and looked at me kinder apprehensive, 
as though he expected me to scold him, 
why, I had hard work to keep from cry¬ 
ing, I felt so ashamed and discouraged 
with myself. Uncle Ichabod went away 
the next day, and I made him promise 
to come again in the Summer, and then 
I went to work. I moved things around 
in the sitting room, so’s to use it for a 
living room. There was two south win¬ 
dows and a west one, and it was an aw¬ 
ful pleasant room. Then I begun to go 
round amongst the neighbors, and I 
found Uncle Ichabod was right, and they 
was all real pleasant. And I tried to 
have a good time every day of my life, 
and I found out that it’s just as easy 
and a good deal pleasanter to live in the 
present than it is to be looking behind 
you and ahead of you too far. 
“Well, when Uncle Ichabod come to 
see us in the Summer, he didn’t say 
much, but i see he was looking around 
pretty sharp. He saw how pleasant and 
friendly the neighbors was, and how 
much more cheerful John and I seemed, 
and he say: ‘Well, ’Senath, I guess I 
won’t have to jerk you out of those ruts 
this time.’ 
“Yes, I’ve always remembered Uncle 
Ichabod’s plain talk. It did me lots of 
good, and ever since I’ve done more or 
less of getting folks out of ruts, myself. 
“What’s that?—Uncle Ichabod’s talk 
applies to you?—Well, if the coat fits, 
put it on. I kinder thought maybe it 
was pretty near your size.” 
SUSAN BKOWN ROBBINS. 
The Use of Gooseberries. 
Will you give various recipes for the use 
of gooseberries? I would like to know any 
way in which they can be prepared for 
food. M - E - H - 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
We begin to use gooseberries as soon 
as they are mature, while they are still 
green; in this condition* they are 
canned, preserved, and made into sauce, 
puddings and pies. It was an old cus¬ 
tom among country people in England 
to serve the first gooseberry pie of the 
season on Whitsunday, which this 
year fell much earlier than usual, on 
May 18. Gooseberries do not cook very 
quickly while yet green, so we prefer to 
stew them a little before making into 
pies, as otherwise the crust is likely to 
become sodden. We prefer a pie made 
in a deep earthen dish, with top crust 
only, what is known as a “cobbler” in 
some sections of the country. Green 
gooseberries mixed with rhubarb make 
a nice combination for pie or puddings. 
Of course plenty of sugar is needed. For 
gooseberry pudding we line a mold with 
baking powder or suet crust (preferably 
the latter), fill with gooseberries alone 
or mixed with rhubarb, sugar liberally, 
add a little water, and cover; steam 
three hours. 
Gooseberry fool is an old-fashioned 
dessert, and a very delicious one. Ac¬ 
cording to the original English recipe it 
was merely gooseberry sauce enriched 
with cream; American authorities, how¬ 
ever, use eggs and butter instead of 
cream. To make it English fashion, 
stew either green or ripe gooseberries, 
after topping and stemming them, until 
tender, in just enough water to prevent 
burning, strain through a sieve, sweeten 
and then stir in as much rich cream as 
taste dictates; pour into a glass dish, 
and set away in a cool place. A very 
delicious dessert is made by using this 
gooseberry fool as filling for charlottes, 
lining either one large mold or small 
individual cups with ladies’ fingers or 
small slices of sponge cake, and then 
filling with the gooseberry mixture, put¬ 
ting whipped cream on the top. The 
American recipe adds to one quart of 
ripe gooseberries, stewed and strained, 
the yolks of four eggs, one cupful of 
sugar, and one tablespoonful of butter, 
beaten together until light. Pour into 
a glass dish, and heap on top the whites 
of the eggs, beaten to a meringue with 
two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. 
Gooseberries are stewed just like 
cranberries, and may be served as a 
sauce with meat if desired. They are 
canned and preserved like any other 
fruit, but we have never made them into 
jelly. It is well to can some of the 
green gooseberries without any sugar 
for use in Winter pies. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
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THERE IS A CLASS OF PEOPLE 
Who are Injured by tne use of coffee. Recently there 
has been placed In all the grocery stores a new pre¬ 
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takes the place of coffee. The most delicate stomach 
receives It without distress, and but few can tell It 
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Children may drink It with great benefit. 15c. and 
25c. per package. Try It. Ask for GRAIN-0 
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Household Congress. 
Tomato Patties.— We have enjoyed 
tomato patties so much during the Wiu- I 
ter that I will send Tile R. N.-Y. the 
recipe used in making them. For a 
family of five use one pint of canned 
tomato, thicken with bread crumbs to 
a consistency for baking on a griddle. 
Season with salt, pepper and butter, I 
adding sugar if the taste requires it. Dip 
with a cooking spoon on to a griddle 
heated as for pancakes, and brown on 
both sides. The time required for prop- I 
erly cooking is much longer than for | 
griddle cakes. e. c. g. 
New York. 
Keeping Jelly. —In answer to Mrs. L. 
A., on page 375, jelly should never be I 
stored in a cellar. It demands a cool, 
dry, dark place, which can be well ven¬ 
tilated, to insure its keeping perfectly. [ 
Great care must be given the juice, 
sugar, etc. The glasses should be hot, I 
dry and clean (surgically clean, 11 
mean). Paraffin has never failed me, 
but it surely would if I stored fruit in | 
a cellar. Small tapering cups or bowls 
make jelly a nicer shape to turn out to I 
serve, but the regulation jelly glass with 
its tin top comes much cheaper, besides, ] 
it looks better “all in a row.” e. m. 
New York. 
A Boarding House 
2,798 Years Old 
is the “motif” of the story of 
“The Prophet’s Chamber” in 
The Four-Track News for May. 
This little story will prove in- 
tensely interesting to every 
farmer, and particularly to every 
farmer’s wife, in New York and 
New England. 
The Four-Track News will be 
mailed free to any address in the 
United States on receipt of 5 
cents in stamps, or it will be 
mailed for a year for 50 cents, 
by George H. Daniels, General 
Passenger Agent, Grand Central 
Station, New York. 
Very Low Rates 
FOR 
COLONISTS 
TO 
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Washington, Oregon, 
British Columbia, Idaho, 
VIA 
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For full information and particulars as 
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the undersigned. 
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Cincinnati, Ohio. 
