128 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 18 
From Day to Day. 
‘ 1 Waterproof ” black India silk is one 
of the newer dress goods, highly recom¬ 
mended for mourning wear. This silk, 
in ordinary weaves, has a tendency to 
spot, if wetted, while the “ waterproof ” 
repels moisture. The salesmen in the 
shops offering it throw water over the 
widths of silk to prove its invulnerabil¬ 
ity, shaking off the drops without leav¬ 
ing any trace. This silk may be bought 
for 90 cents a yard, 27 inches wide. 
An odd organization recently formed 
in New York is the Hundred Year Club, 
for the study of longevity. The found¬ 
ers of the club say that the life of man, 
as compared with other animals by the 
length of time it takes to reach matur¬ 
ity, should be normally from 120 to 180 
years. By observing the fundamental 
laws of health, avoiding excesses, and 
living a simple, well-balanced life, it is 
considered that longevity may be much 
increased. 
* 
A restaurant at Iloilo, as described 
in Harper’s Weekly, presents a distinct 
contrast when compared with its Ameri¬ 
can equivalent. It is a large hut, in 
one corner of the market. An elderly 
Filipino, whom the writer rather un¬ 
graciously describes as an old hag, 
keeps the place, and ladles out the 
food. On the floor of split bamboo, in a 
circle about the room, are large, smoking 
ja’-s, filled with unsavory stews of 
buffalo meat and queer vegetables, 
which give off an unpleasant odor. The 
clients come in with their plates, and 
squat before the jar they prefer, receiv¬ 
ing a ladleful for one cent. If they 
like the concoction, they take another 
helping. 
* 
Two citizens of a country district in 
Pennsylvania were returning home late 
at night, when they noticed a light in a 
neighbor’s backyard. Creeping nearer, 
they watched the neighbor and his wife 
dig a grave, and carefully bury some 
large object. No one was missing, but 
the witnesses to the eerie burial felt sure 
that some tragedy had occurred. The 
next day they came with reenforcements 
to exhume the defunct, to discover that 
the corpse was that of the family dog. 
The poor creature had been slowly dy¬ 
ing of old age and rheumatism, and his 
owners felt that he ought to be merci¬ 
fully chloroformed. Owing to the grief of 
the children, the deed had been done 
when they were asleep in bed, hence the 
burial after the fashion of of Sir John 
Moore. The relieved neighbors decide 
that, in future, they will never feel ready 
to condemn any one on purely circum¬ 
stantial evidence. 
* 
The frugal housewife who expects 
milk to form part of the daily diet would 
be at a disadvantage in Porto Rico. The 
cattle are milked but once in 24 hours, 
before daylight; the warm milk must be 
supplied promptly to customers before it 
sours, for there is neither ice nor cooling 
sp ings to cool it. The selling price 
ranges from 8 to 12 cents a quart. Cream 
is unknown, not that the milk is too poor 
to produce it, but because the milk is 
never cool enough for the cream to rise. 
Canned butter is sold for 60 cents to $1 
a pound. Poultry culture, according to 
Harper’s Weekly, chiefly takes the form 
of breeding game cocks. Miserable little 
skinny fowls bring 50 cents each. Eggs 
are limited in quantity, and range in 
price from 30 to 50 cents a dozen, 
according to age ; they become painfully 
over-rips in 48 hours. Altogether, the 
island does not seem a housekeeper’s 
Paradise, as yet. One American traveler 
complains pathetically of the sleeping 
accommodations at the native hotels. 
The rooms are meanly furnished, and 
the bed without mattresses, the victim 
sleeping on a blanket stretched over 
wire springs. The bed is so short that 
the sleeper must balance himself care¬ 
fully on the tiny pillow to keep off the 
wooden cross-piece, while the heels rest 
on the bottom of the frame. The general 
sensation is that of sleeping on the 
mantelpiece. 
* 
A cask of ptomaine poisoning recently 
reported was caused by eating Philadel¬ 
phia scrapple, and sad to say, the victim 
was a Philadelphia man. Scrapple holds 
the same position, with regard to Phila¬ 
delphia, that baked beans maintain in 
Boston, and any suggestion that it is 
not an innocent and healthful food 
would be strongly resented by the 
Quaker City. The information that tie 
eminently respectable homemade dough¬ 
nut is capable of exploding like a dyna 
mite cracker, while the equally respect¬ 
able scrapple may destroy its victim 
with ptomaine poison, makes us wonder 
what portion of our dietary is rt ally safe. 
HEALTHreformers have often assured us 
that the familiar doughnut is one of the 
most dangerous articles of food in which 
we may indulge, but they have general¬ 
ly considered this viand quite harmless 
until it is eaten. Later experience, how- 
evei, shows that it is dangerous even in 
the process of construction. An estima¬ 
ble housewife in Massachusetts is re¬ 
ported to have lost an eye by the explo¬ 
sion of a doughnut while frying it. It 
is supposed that the housewife neglected 
to puncture its tire before dropping the 
doughnut into the boiling fat, and the 
abandoned oleykoek, as our New Jersey 
friends would describe it, filled itself 
with gas and blew up. This is serious, 
but let us hope that a similar tendency 
will never be exhibited by a Boston 
bean-pot; such an explosion would be 
enough to destroy the bulwarks of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
To Dispose of the Family Pig, 
OUR CHESTER WHITE. 
(Concluded.) 
Spareribs. —Chester White gave us 
delicious sparerib, short-boned and thick, 
tender-meated. I lent half of one to a 
neighbor who will be making pork later, 
and will return me as many pounds from 
her pig. One piece we hung in the attic 
where it froze stiff and kept till a spell 
of warmer weather came on, and another 
portion I put into a light brine. I was 
careful not to let it lie in pickle too long, 
and when cooked, the family pronounced 
it the best sparerib of all. 
Hams and Shoulders. —I had a mind 
to put one of the shoulders in the brine, 
too, and bake it whole later. But Na¬ 
thanael intends to turn out a superior 
lot of hams, and insisted on smoking 
them all. He has not put them in brine, 
but rubs them in salt and sugar. He got 
for the salted pork a lard barrel that the 
grocer had just emptied. He packed it 
very firmly, and I shall be careful to 
keep an under cover, weighted with a 
stone to hold everytlrng under brine 
after we begin using it. 
Some of the choicest eating afforded 
by Chester White is in pickle awaiting 
a “ boiled dinner” day. Winter squash 
and fried onions will accompany the re¬ 
past, and I shall not be able to tell 
whether hocks and feet are better when 
first boiled, or when—like the Queen’s 
bag pudding—they are “next morning 
fried.” They must not be left in pickle 
too long, and mu3t be boiled till very 
tender. 
Ears and Snout. — An old basket- 
maker from over the hill received the 
ears and snout. I had intended boiling 
them up for the hens, but he seemed to 
consider them a great delicacy. Na¬ 
thanael added the kidneys (which we do 
rot consider fit for food), and the old 
man promised us a basket. To keep my 
soul from leanness, in giving to one 
poorer than ourselves only such things 
as we did not want, I added one of the 
head pieces, which I had put in water to 
soak out the blood before committing to 
the brine tub. I would have liked to top 
off my donation to the basketmaker 
with what remained of the pluck. The 
toDgue I like boiled and sliced cold for a 
relish with bread and butter, but Na¬ 
thanael said the pluck was to go to the 
making of mince pies. As one sort of 
mince pie is, perhaps, no more deadly 
than another, I added some beef, and 
made a jar of mince meat. The meat 
was chopped very fine and the whole 
cooked a long time after mixing. I shall 
find it very handy, for one mince pie, 
now and then, made along with other 
sorts, is no trouble at all, and a healthy 
digestion can brave it without fear. 
Suggestion for Gravy. —Though we 
made no scrapple or head cheese, I do 
not feel that any portions of Chester 
White were wasted. Neither have we 
had too much fat in our Winter diet. 
After cooking sparerib or sausage, I do 
not turn the plain hot fat into the gravy 
boat, but first pour off most of the clear 
grease. A tablespoonful of flour stirred 
into the browned and meat-flavored por¬ 
tion remaining cooks smooth without a 
previous melting in cold water. I have a 
little pancake turner that is very handy 
for loosening up all the browned meat 
from the pan. When a cupful of boiling 
water has been added, and perhaps a 
t/ifle of salt, we have a very nice, smooth 
brown gravy. 
A Good Shortening.— Of course, a'.l 
the pork fat added to the clarified beef 
drippings makes them less hard and far 
better for all uses. We know that no 
other such soft gingerbread can be 
made as that shortened with sausage or 
sparerib drippings. 
Using the Fragments. —The skins 
and toes and last remnants of Chester 
White were boiled up for the hens. I 
was going to chop up the lungs raw for 
them, also, but Nathanael came in with 
a contrivance of his own manufacture 
which has proved a very convenient feed¬ 
ing arrangement. He had covered a 
piece of board a foot square with poultry 
netting laid loosely to make a sort of 
pouch or wall pocket. Small staples 
held the netting on three edges, and the 
top was open that meat and bones might 
be slipped in. A hole in the board at 
the top makes it easy to hang the feed 
basket to the side of the poultry house. 
When it is placed a little high, the hens 
get a deal of exercise along with their 
meat scraps. p. t. primrose, 
Women in the Philippines. 
Pineapple Cloth. —The Tagalo woman 
is usually clever with her needle, says a 
recently returned soldier, writing to the 
Gentlewoman, and many an American 
soldier lad, far from the folks at home, 
has had his mending done by the deft 
fingers of some semi-savage seamstress. 
Many of these women make the most ex¬ 
quisite embroidery—a kind of drawn 
work—done on a native cloth called pina. 
This cloth is made from the fiber of the 
pineapple plant, and is beautifully fine 
and glossy. The pina is stretched tightly 
over a bamboo frame, and beautiful de¬ 
signs are drawn in the cloth by the in¬ 
dustrious workers. Time and labor are 
no object in these lazy islands, and I 
have seen handkerchiefs which have 
taken months of steady work to produce. 
These people fully realize the value of 
this class of work, and it is no un¬ 
common thing for a pina handkerchief 
or veil to sell for 100 Mexican dollars. 
Hoosi is another native cloth which is 
much employed in the dressmaking of 
the natives. It is even finer than the 
pina cloth, and is made from a mixture 
of fine hemp fiber and the pineapple 
plant. 
Filipino Housekeeping. —It is not a 
difficult matter for a Filipino couple to 
set up housekeeping after marriage. The 
native shacks or bungalows, are curious 
looking affairs, built entirely of bamboo 
thatched with banana leaves, and in¬ 
variably set up on stilts of bamboo six 
or ten feet above the ground. The in¬ 
terior of the house is divided into two or 
three rooms, one of which is usually re¬ 
served as a chapel or prayer-room, for 
therein is set up a picture of the Virgin, 
and a candle is invariably kept burning 
in homage. The household gods of these 
people are few. A grass mat serves for 
a bed ; half a dozen calabashes or earth¬ 
enware pots for cooking purposes and 
for the storage of rain water, and pos¬ 
sibly one or two pictures cut from some 
illustrated paper, complete the furnish¬ 
ing of a Filipino’s home. They invari¬ 
ably keep children, pigs and at least 
three dogs, but the most prized of all is 
the plumed and petted fighting cock of 
the Filipino. This bird is fed on the 
best, has a bamboo house for himself 
and is the pride and boast of the whole 
family. This passion for cock fighting 
is general among these people, and it 
is no unusual sight to see a Filipino on 
his way to church with a game cock 
under his arm, expecting to fight in the 
churchyard after service. 
Cigarette Babies.— Smoking is a gen¬ 
eral custom among the natives. Men, 
women and children use tobacco in every 
form, and I have seen a mother with her 
babe of two or three years in her arms, 
smoking a cigar while the poor little 
one was sucking on a-cigarette. Many 
of the young women do not smoke, out 
of regard to their teeth, but as soon as 
they marry, they seem no longer to be 
so particular, and every old woman has 
a cigar or cigarette in her mouth from 
morniDg till night. 
fATTY 
Degeneration 
of the tissues, heavi¬ 
ness and discomfort aro 
promoted by excessive 
starcli food. 
Dr. Gaillard says: 
“In the study of Cer¬ 
eal Foods it is only 
necessary to remember 
that the gluten of such 
foods is their nitrogen- 
ized element, the ele¬ 
ment on which depends 
their life sustaining 
value, and that this ele¬ 
ment is, in the fool¬ 
ishly fashionable white flour, almost entire¬ 
ly removed while the starch, the inferior 
element is left behind. To use White Flour from 
which the gluten lias been removed, is almost 
criminal; that it is foolish and needless needs no 
further demonstration.” 
Franklin Mills Fine Flour of the Entire Wheat 
is rich in gluten and will relieve consumers from 
excessive starch eating. 
Tf 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 nude only by the 
FRANKLIN MILLS CO., LOCKPORT, N. Y. 
! i] 
Sweet 1 Van— over 40 varieties. 
Perfected Royal Show Pansies— 100 colors I 
Nasturtiums —every known good sort. 
Above 3 packets mailed for 6 cents and names of I 
twofriends whogrow flowers; also Floral Culture I 
which tells how to grow flowers from seeds. Dain-I 
tiest catalogue ever issued of flower seeds exclu-l 
sively, sent free by the “pioneer seedswoman." I_ 
MISS C. II. LIPPINCOTT, Minneapolis, Mian. 
1899 
GARDEN 
mid FLORAL GUIDE 
Golden Wedding Edition to celebrate 
5°th year in business is a work of art. 24 4/ 
■Xf pages lithographed in colors. 4 pages souvenir; ^ 
6 nearly 100 pages filled with fine half-tone illus- tijr 
ii) trations of Flowers, Vegetables, Plants, ib 
» . rui ^> e .tc. It is too expensive to giveaway 
indiscriminately, but we want everyone inter- t£r 
ested in a good garden to have a copy, there- iAii 
fore we will send a copy of the Guide with a iAj 
7 Due Bill for 25 cents’ A R n We have a & 
J worth of seed for only AU blui new plan of ifcf 
V selling vegetable seeds, giving more for your Vb 
t money than any seedsman, and also a scheme kb 
giving credit for the lull amount of your pur- )&l 
iJ chase to buy other goods. Don’t fail to get \h 
tl/ our catalogue, it will pay you. 
$ Vick'S Little Gem Catalogue, free. £ 
Vick's Magazine, enlarged, improved, and 
>J/ U P to ^ ate on ah subjects relating to garden- JJJ 
vj, ln g: 50c. a year. Special 1899 offer—the Jr* 
y Magazine 1 year, and the Guide for 25 c. Y 
J JAMES VICKS SONS, R0C H HE Y S . TEB g 
