454 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 28 
l Woman and Home \ 
sent us by the same friend in Pennsyl¬ 
vania who furnished the boy and calf 
figured on page 33, issue of January i8. 
From Day to Day. 
What know we of the gnawing grief 
That dims perchance our neighbor’s way, 
The fretting worry, secret pain. 
That may be his from day to day? 
Then let no Idle word of ours 
Sting to his heart with more dismay. 
What know we of temptations deep 
That hover round him like the night, 
What bitter struggles may be his. 
What evil influences blight? 
Then be not hasty to condemn 
If he have strayed from paths of right. 
We know so little of the hearts 
That everywhere around us beat, 
So little of the Inner lives 
Of those whom day by day we greet. 
Oh, it behooves us one and all 
Gently to deal with those we meet; 
Gently to deal and gently judge 
With that divinest charity 
That thinks no evil but would seek 
The good in every soul to see, 
Measuring not by what it is, 
But by that which it strives to be. 
—The Churchman. 
If your store closet Is not dark, it Is 
a good plan to slip each jar of canned 
fruit or vegetables into a paper sack 
when it is put away. Canned foods keep 
better in the dark, and grocers’ bags are 
usually plentiful for such use. 
* 
Have any of our readers attempted 
making vinegar from gooseberries or 
rhubarb? We are told that vinegar 
made from ripe gooseberries, mashed 
with water without cooking, used to be 
considered superior to the best white 
wine vinegar by old-fashioned English 
housekeepers, but we have no details as 
to its making. 
Compressed air is one of the agencies 
used in modern carpet cleaning, and also 
in dusting libraries and similar public 
buildings. The same idea is applied on 
a small scale by a housekeeper who uses 
a little bulb syringe to blow the dust 
out of small corners, where triangles of 
dust accumulate out of reach of the dust 
cloth. The little syringe is also a valu¬ 
able aid in dusting fragile bric-a-brac. 
• 
Raspberry vinegar, also known as 
raspberry shrub, is a refreshing Summer 
drink which can be made from a mod¬ 
erate home supply of fruit, since it calls 
for two successive pickings. Put three 
quarts of ripe raspberries in an earthen 
bowl, pour over them a quart of vinegar, 
and at the end of 24 hours press and 
strain out the vinegar, and pour over 
another three quarts of fresh fruit. Let 
this stand 24 hours, again press and 
strain the fruit, add a pound of sugar to 
each pint, and boil for 20 minutes. Turn 
into bottles, sealing up when cold. When 
used the raspberry vinegar is diluted 
with about three times its bulk of water. 
• 
We heard recently of a young woman 
who has a pernicious habit of washing 
her hair with a good deal of borax. A 
little borax, especially when the water 
is hard, is permissible, of course, but 
most women, when they use it at all, use 
too much; it makes the hair very fluffy, 
but it also takes out so much of the 
natural oil that the hair is too dry to re¬ 
tain a healthy condition. The young 
woman under consideration used a great 
deal of borax, as she thought, because 
her hair was naturally wavy, and she 
expected it to dry into sunny little rip¬ 
ples. It didn’t, however; when she at¬ 
tempted to dry it the hair appeared to 
be frozen into wisps, and she almost fell 
in a faint when she discovered that she 
had used powdered alum in the water 
in place of borax! For about a week 
she went about looking like Medusa of 
the snaky locks, before she could get 
all the alum out, and she has made a 
solemn vow that she will never use any¬ 
thing but a lather of some good soap in 
future. She was almost in a position to 
sympathize with the unhappy woman 
who brought suit against a New York 
druggist because, when she dyed her 
hair with henna, it came out a cheerful 
shade of pea green! 
* 
One of the new Summer wraps is the 
Monte Carlo coat, intended for wear 
over thin and frilly frocks. It looks like 
a pleated Mother Hubbard cut off at the 
length of an Eton jacket at the back, 
dipping down to a point just below the 
waist in front. It is entirely innocent 
of fitting, and is further embellished 
with flaring sleeves, either box pleated 
or shaped like those in a kimona. In¬ 
deed, the Monte Carlo coat Is more like 
a black taffeta dressing sacque than any¬ 
thing else in this world. It is not in¬ 
tended for general wear, its real use be¬ 
ing to slip over a flimsy and elaborate 
gown that would be crushed by a close 
wrap, but It is making its appearance 
on the street already, its novelty being 
sufficient excuse. 
Cherry shortcake is a very simple 
dessert, and quite as good as the straw- 
The Household Congress. 
Rhubarb Vinegar. —Has any R. N.-Y. 
reader tried making vinegar from rhu¬ 
barb? if so, I should like to learn the 
method of thus using this plant, o. r. 
Canada. 
Re-enforced Buttonholes. —Here is 
a hint for mothers of small boys who 
are always tearing out buttonholes. 
When working them take the stitches 
over a strong cord held loosely around 
the unfinished hole; cut the ends after 
tying together when the buttonhole is 
finished. sweet fern. 
Old-Fashioned Johnny-Cake. —Noth¬ 
ing could be easier to make than otd- 
fashioned johnny-cake. Simply salt the 
meal, scald it and cook on a hot, greas¬ 
ed griddle—and yet there are few people 
who can, or will even try, to make it. 
There are several reasons for failure— 
the wrong kind of meal, not having the 
water boiling and not using enough of 
it To make a medium-sized cake, put 
the griddle on the stove, and see that the 
tea-kettle is boiling hard. Measure out 
1 % cupful of coarse, yellow, granulated 
meal, sift it together with a rounding 
teaspoonful of salt. Pour in boiling 
water, and don’t be afraid of using too 
much. I have seen people stare at me 
in amazement, at this point, but the 
A CROUP OF PLAYMATES. Fig. 177. 
berry variety. Stone the cherries, 
sprinkle generously with granulated 
sugar, and let them stand for fully two 
hours before using. Make the cake and 
cook it just as you would for straw¬ 
berries (almost every housekeeper has 
her own special formula for shortcake); 
put a thick layer of cherries between it, 
add cherries to the top, and pour the 
juice over the top. A slight variation 
from shortcake, which forms a pretty 
dessert, is made by lining cups with 
ladies’ fingers or slices of sponge cake, 
as for charlotte russe, filling the center 
with the fruit, and then pouring a lib¬ 
eral allowance of cream, either plain or 
whipped, over all. Red raspberries are 
very nice served this way. 
amazement gradually faded as they saw 
the meal take up the water. It is best 
to add all the water at first, but more 
can be added if enough has not been 
used. If you get in too much, do not 
despair, but put your dish—and for th.s 
reason it should be a tin one—on the 
stove, and cook the mixture, liasty-pud- 
ding fashion, stirring constantly till it 
is thick enough. When it is just the 
right thickness it should be a soft, 
sticky mass, not a bit dry or crumbly, 
and not the least sloppy, either. When 
it stirs up just right, butter your griddle, 
turn the dough on to it, and spread out 
smooth, a quarter of an inch thick. Let 
it cook, not too rapidly, five or 10 min¬ 
utes or till brown, then turn it and cook 
on the other side. When done, slide it 
on a plate and cut like a pie. If one 
prefers, small cakes may be made in¬ 
stead. It may be split and eaten with 
butter, or with milk or cream or syrup. 
Cooked in small cakes and split and 
made into cream toast it is delicious. 
SUSAN BROWN ROBBINS. 
Cooking Cereals. —The directions 
which come on the packages of various 
cereals are very misleading to one not 
experienced in the cooking of these 
grains. The instructions are to use 
boiling water, which produces a lumpy, 
pasty product. We get the best results 
from the following method; Two cup¬ 
fuls cold water to one of oat flake, a 
pinch of salt; cook till smooth. 
SWEET FERN. 
Kitchen and Soullery. —I have been 
interested in the kitchens described from 
time to time, and while there are excel¬ 
lent arrangements in all of them, no one 
has touched upon the point which I 
should consider first of all in planning 
viy castle in Spain. It is not in the 
kitchen, but simply a small room where 
articles could be kept and work done, 
which for appearance’s sake, if for no 
other reason, would better be kept away 
from the cooking. My plan is a kitchen 
and pantry as convenient as possible, 
but not very large, as this should not be 
the family living-room, but merely a 
place for work; at one side should be 
this indispensable scullery, having an 
outside door, and two leading respect¬ 
ively to the cellar and second story. If 
practicable, it should contain a wash¬ 
bowl with hot and cold water, or, fail¬ 
ing in that, at least a bench, basin, glass, 
etc., where the men could make them¬ 
selves presentable before coming to the 
table. There must also be hooks for 
hats and coats, shelves for boots, mit¬ 
tens, and other things not ornamental 
in the kitchen. Last, but by no means 
(he least, I should have an oilcloth-cov¬ 
ered table, with a cupboard above, con¬ 
taining the oil can and everything per¬ 
taining to the care of lamps, which 
could here receive their daily cleaning, 
thus doing away with kerosene oil on 
the kitchen table, or at the sink where 
dishes must be washed. I have never 
seen just such a room as this, but think 
it one that would not willingly be re¬ 
linquished after being used awhile. 
A. M. 
Scandal injures three persons; the 
one who utters it, the one who hears it, 
the one of whom it is said.—The Tal¬ 
mud. 
Far better than fortune’s best is mas¬ 
tery in the using, the sweeter than any¬ 
thing sweet, the art to lay it aside— 
Guiney. 
Reverence the highest, have patience 
with the lowest. Are the stars too dis¬ 
tant, pick up the pebble that lies at thy 
feet.—Marchioness d’Ossoli. 
A Group of Playmates. 
There is a natural affinity between 
children and the young animals of the 
farm; calves, lambs, foals and kittens 
offer an irresistible attraction, and 
though they grow to a thoughtful ma¬ 
turity too soon for a little human, there 
is a procession of the farmyard babies 
to demand care and affection. The baby 
in Fig. 177 is too much absorbed in the 
camera to notice the appealing expres¬ 
sion of his little friend on the log, out 
no doubt all three will be ready for a 
romp when the photographer gives them 
permission to move. The photograph 
from which Fig. 177 was reproduced was 
in an 
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