1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
49 
plates to see whether they will go ’round. 
Neither plates nor spoons are used. The 
guests are seated upon mats made of the 
braided leaves of the cocoanut palm, and 
one or two calabashes of poi are pro¬ 
duced. Into this mass of sour stickiness, 
each thrusts a hand and, by a dextrous 
whirl of the fingers, succeeds in secur¬ 
ing a taste of the delectable compound. 
The different degrees of thickness are 
expressed by referring to it as “ two¬ 
fingered ” or “three-fingered poi ” 
Taro is served in a variety of ways 
upon the tables of the white residents of 
Hawaii. It is baked and boiled ; and the 
baked root, dried and grated, produces a 
flour from which very palatable cakes 
are prepared. I had tried all these last. 
When the time came for me to test the 
poi (for it would have been unpardonable 
to leave the island without having eaten 
the national dish), I determined to take 
it in the orthodox way. Ah Lee, my 
landlady’s Celestial assistant, proffered 
both spoon and fork. As I declined, he 
said : “ Spoon ? No ? Fork ? No ?” (each 
negative mingled with surprise and fast¬ 
failing respect)—“ Fingers ? ” and then 
a grunt of extreme disgust as he added, 
“ Allee same Kanaka ! ” 
My effort was not crowned with such 
a remarkable degree of success as to 
cause me to dwell loDg upon the sub¬ 
ject. I am willing to concede the truth 
of the saying, “ Fingers were made be¬ 
fore forks,” but at the same time, I am 
quite prepared to give thanks that forks 
came into use before my time. 
I am tempted to add to this rambling 
medley a brief reference to a picnic, or 
“loo-ow” as its native name is pro¬ 
nounced. It was given by a friend who 
had reproduced upon his grounds one of 
thepicturesque grass-houses, which, with 
the advance of civilization, are fast fall¬ 
ing into disuse among the natives. The 
feast was spread in the open rooms or 
“ lanai,” without which no house in 
Hawaii is considered complete. The 
floor was covered with mats braided 
from cocoanut leaves, and upon these, 
were garlands of green, great bunches 
of the exquisite ferns for which the 
islands are famous, and fragrant maile. 
The same beautiful decorations almost 
covered the ceiling of braided cocoanut 
leaves. 
A large stone table in the center was 
interesting, because its top had once 
been a tablet in a heathen temple on the 
island of Hawaii. Upon this, figs, man¬ 
goes, grapes in braided baskets, pine¬ 
apples and watermelons were artistically 
grouped. In the corners on the floor, 
were bunches of bananas and shocks of 
rice just cut from the field. This was 
the feast-room. 
The guests, each with a multitude of 
flower-necklaces (leis in Hawaiian), and 
garlands, were seated Turk-fashion 
about the mats on the floor. Before each 
guest was placed at first a dish of poi. 
Fish followed, either cooked or raw as 
the guest desired. Then appeared a 
queer little steaming bundle containing 
pork and chicken smothered in greens 
(taro-leaves). Fish, chicken and pork 
are considered at their best when they 
are thus prepared in the imu or under¬ 
ground oven. Sweet potatoes, shrimps, 
and crabs were followed by a bewilder¬ 
ing variety of new and strange dishes. 
Taro and cocoanut, shrimps and sea¬ 
weed, sweet potatoes and sea-eggs, sug¬ 
gested to the uninitiated most unusual 
mixtures, to which soda water and salt 
fish seemed a fitting finale. 
It is but fair to report that one and all 
partook with a relish ; but there came a 
time when we had to say “ maona loa” 
—“ A great sufficiency.” Into the huge 
koa bowl, with its fresh geranium leaves 
floating upon the water, we dipped our 
fingers as it was passed to us in turn, 
and then joined the group outside. Fruit 
and coffee were served there, aud from 
the thicket just beyond came the sound 
of rich, full Hawaiian voices, accom¬ 
panied by the queer native fiddles. All 
too soon came the close of that bright 
afternoon, when with parting “Alohas” 
to our hosts we set our faces towards 
Honolulu. 
POCKET-HANDKERCHIEF FARMS. 
We often hear of the care with which 
farming is carried on in Europe, even 
the edges of the ditches being under cul¬ 
tivation. A writer in Chicago Record, con¬ 
trasting French with English farms, 
says that in leaving England we had left 
the walls and hedges. We looked out on 
tiny farms which lay open and uncon¬ 
fined. The fields of bright stubble joined 
closely to the little angular pieces of 
meadow, which were stitched to garden 
tracts or dainty squares of pasture. The 
landscape was like a rumpled quilt made 
of dozens of patches. 
Then the roadways—yellow-white in 
the afternoon sunshine and as smooth as 
any floor. They led far and away across 
the undulating hills, each as trim aud 
clean as a ribbon, and attended by a row 
of tall poplars. Instead of a wild scatter¬ 
ing of farmhouses, there were clustered 
villages now and then. Deliberate carts, 
drawn by clumsy horses, moved along 
the roadways, in and out among the bars 
of shade cast by the trees. We saw, also, 
the women who worked in the fields. 
They were free of corsets and swung 
along with muscular stride. 
France, as we saw it that day from 
Calais to Paris, was all park. We could 
imagine that it had been beautified just 
to please travelers. I thought of the 
farms that I had seen between Chicago 
and New York—ragged at the corners, 
the fences neglected, the trees and hedges 
untrimmed, the farmyard strewn with 
rubbish, tall weeds along the roadways 
and the harvest field showing here and 
there a scattering of grain which the 
improvident farmer had neglected to 
carry to the thrasher. 
Then I paused to consider that the 
French peasant family must depend for 
subsistence on the product of from three 
to five acres of land, and that the farm¬ 
ing class in France has never aspired to 
those luxuries of life which many Amer¬ 
ican farmers regard as everyday neces¬ 
sities. No French peasant need hope for 
the time when he can have meat, eggs, 
milk, butter and white bread every day. 
Books and magazines are not printed in 
Lis behalf. He dare not aspire to own 
a covered carriage or a saddle horse, and 
if he ever dreamed of owning a bicycle 
he called it a dream and dismissed it 
from his mind. When a farming class 
is compelled, by the minute division of 
land, to guard and cultivate every inch 
of soil with maternal care, it follows 
that the farm will be beautiful to look 
upon. After all, however, if I were a 
farmer I would rather have 160 acres, 
weeds and all, and be able to send my 
children to school. 
“HELP” QUESTION IN CALCUTTA. 
The working women of every rank who 
crowd the cities of America and Europe, 
says the Chicago Record, do not exist in 
Calcutta, where the shop assistants are 
Eurasians and the office clerks Baboos. 
What room is there even for the washer¬ 
woman when the dhobi, or domestic 
laundryman, is willing to thrash one’s 
garments into cleanliness upon the stones 
of his tank at the rate of $1.24 a hundred? 
These same dhobi stones were literally 
the first things against which I “kicked” 
on settling in India. It would make the 
very wringers in a big American steam 
laundry weep to see the method by which 
delicate fabrics are cleaned here. The 
washerwoman’s apparatus consists of the 
nearest pool or tank, a flat stone, with 
occasional jaggededges, on which to lay 
the garments, and a like stone with 
which to pound them. They are dried 
in the sun, and ironed, goodness knows 
where or how. Out of this “ tub ”, come 
fresh-feeling garments, with an average 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup ” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
of three rents to each, and in a short 
time, the things have to be discarded. 
This is only one detail in the general 
system of “ doing ” the mem-sahib—and 
the sahib, too, for that matter. All 
household work in India is done by men. 
The castoff garments are inherited by 
one’s bearer, as the male chamber ser¬ 
vant is known, and in due time, if one 
be curiously minded, it is possible to be¬ 
hold one’s former possessions gracefully 
arrayed on a street stall in one of the 
native bazaars. I have seen scraps of 
western adornment, from the ruins of 
shirts and dancing shoes to bits of ribbon 
and boot laces, hanging in festoons 
above betelnut, sweetmeats and tobacco. 
The gathering together of riches, even 
if it be only pice—a small Indian coin 
worth about half a cent—or his master’s 
garments, is a great point with the 
natives. If you listen five minutes to a 
street row, you will find it is all about 
pice. For a rupee, your true Bengali 
would cheerfully choke one another, or 
the sahib as well, if they were not so 
ghastly afraid of him. 
Occasionally your servants have a sligh t 
difference. They want to know to whom 
belongs one anna (two cents),out of which 
they have collectively cheated the mem- 
sahib, and the funny part comes in when 
you are asked to settle the dispute, for, 
like the children they are, they bring 
all their quarrels to the “ mem ” to be 
settled. Pharaoh had cause to be thank¬ 
ful that he had not a plague of servants 
sent to him. Here they can be had by 
the hundred, and the more you have the 
worse your state. To a girl fresh from 
the comparative simplicity of home, the 
crowd of strange faces is a worry in it¬ 
self. It takes some time to know their 
different features, and then she has to 
learn their duties, which a*e regulated 
by their caste. 
The head bearer, who rules the whole 
household, yourself included, chiefly 
walks about the bedrooms with a duster 
flecking up the dust, while the sweeper, 
the lowest-caste man, raises clouds with 
a bundle of twigs. The head bearer also 
condescends to brush and fold his sahib’s 
clothes, and, oddly enough, it is the 
bearer who cleans shoes and trims lamps. 
He will also bring his master a cocktail 
or a whisky “ peg,” but he would be shot 
before he would wait on him at meals. 
For table service, you must keep two or 
more “ kidmatgars.” A cook and his as¬ 
sistant and generally an ayah for the 
mem-sahib make up the list. 
BEAUTIFIM 
WHITE- 
foolishly 
Ij^fosliionabler 
Almost' 
Criminal'.' 
These strong words have been applied 
to white flour, because it is robbed of 
the Gluten of the wheat to make it white. 
Flour deprived of Gluten has lost its 
nutritive elements and hence its life sus¬ 
taining qualities. Franklin Mills Fine 
Flour of the Entire Wheat is rich in 
Gluten and when baked into Bread or 
Bolls is a beautiful golden brown. 
If your grocer does not keep it, 
send us his name and your order— 
we will see that you are supplied. 
See that the flour delivered bears 
our label; avoid substitutes. 
Booklet free. 
The genuine made only by the 
FRANKLIN MILLS CO., LOCKPORT, N. Y. 
LACE CURTAINS, 
Watches,Clocks,Tea I 
Sets, Toilet Sets, I 
with $5.00, $7.00 and $10.00 orders. 
Send this “Ad.” and 15c. and get 
yi lb. Best Tea, imported, and 
new Illustrated Price-List. 
The Great American Tea Co., 
31 & 33 Vesey St.. N. V., Box 283. 
PASTE, CAKE 
OR LIQUID. 
Ihe only up to date Stove 
poWsh in me market 
J. L.Prescotf & C<? New York. 
B. & B. 
to prove to you 
how earnestly and fearlessly we’re emp¬ 
tying the shelves of all surplus lots good, 
useful Winter Dress Goods and Silks— 
with prices as never before—We want 
to send you samples of the following : 
Lot of 75 cent strictly all wool nice 
dark Plaids 44 inches wide, 55c. yard. 
Large lot, broken lines, 40 to 50 cent 
neat novelty Dress Goods and plain mixt¬ 
ures—all 25c. yard— 36 to 44 inches 
wide. 
Lot 75c. to $1 handsome silks 50c. 
yard. 
And let the kinds, and the prices 
they’re sacrificed at—show what an op¬ 
portunity it is for you and your pocket- 
book. 
Choice goods that any number of house¬ 
holds will have use for—and all who buy 
will get advantage such as pays them 
well for sending. 
Lots of other Silks and Dress Goods at 
shelf emptying—reduced—prices. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY. PA. 
SOLD! 
UNDER A 
Positive 
Guaran 
to wash as clean as can be 
done on the washboard, 
even to the wristbands and 
collar of the dirtiest shirt, 
and with much more ease. 
This applies to TerrifPs 
Perfect Washer, which 
will be sent on trial at 
wholesale price. If not 
satisfactory, money will 
be refunded. Agents 
wanted. For exclnsive 
territory, terms A prices. _ 
write --.rtlemi Wfg Co.. Box 14, Portland, Mick. 
High 
Arm 
168-164 West VaoBuren 
$10 to $25 SAVED 
In buying direct from factory. SO 
days free trlaL No agents large 
proflt3 to pay.No money In ad vance 
$65 Kenwood Machine for.$22.50 
No better Machine at any price. 
$50 Arlington Machine for.$19.50 
Other Machines $8.00, $11.50 end $15.00 
all attachments tree, over 100,000 In 
use. Catalogue and testimonials free 
Write today for special freight offer. 
CASH BUYERS’ UNION, 
uren St., B-343 Chicago, Ills. 
WATCH AND CHAIN FOR ONE DAY'S WORK. 
Boys and Girls can get a Nickel-Flaied Watch, 
also s Chain and Charm tor felling 1 1-5 dozen 
1 Packages of Blaine st 10 cente each. Send your 
toll addrosf by return mail and we will forward 
the B'.nlns pod-paid, and a large Premium List- 
_No ’“•Nquiiod. 
BLUIWI CO. BoxJ353, Concord Jinetlos Mut. 
Fruit Packages. 
A description of the current styles of baskets, 
boxes, crates and barrels used in marketing 
fruits in all parts of the country. How to 
grade and pack fruit. Illustrated. Pa per.. 20 
The Rural New-Yokker, New York. 
