8 o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER,! 
November 18 
Woman and Home \ 
From Day to Day. 
I sit at my window and sew and dream. 
While my little boy at play 
Beguiles my thoughts from hem and seam 
As he frolics the livelong day; 
But time and again he comes to me 
With a sorrowful tale to tell. 
And mother must look at the scratch or 
bump. 
Then kiss it and make it well. 
So I kiss his head, and his knee, and his 
arm, 
And the dear little grimy hand; 
And who can fathom the magic charm, 
And who can understand? 
For I even kiss when he bites his tongue, 
And love works its mystic spell. 
For there’s never a cut, nor a scratch, nor 
a bump, 
But mother can kiss it well. 
’Tis a foolish whim, do you say? Ah, yes! 
But the foolish things of earth 
Have taught the wise, since a little child 
In Bethlehem had his birth. 
And we know that many an older heart— 
We know, but we do not tell— 
Will never be free from its bitter smart 
Till kisses have made it well. 
—Woman’s Home Companion. 
* 
Women have been chosen as superin¬ 
tendents of public schools in 11 coun¬ 
ties in Iowa, and they are rendering efti • 
cient service. There can be no doubt of 
their ability for such work. 
« 
A women’s nail-driving contest was a 
recent festivity in a Pennsylvania town 
a prize being offered for the woman who 
succeeded in driving a certain number of 
nails in the shortest time. It is said 
that the judges had as much difficulty in 
rendering a satisfactory decision as in 
distributing prizes at a baby show. We 
think that a button-sewing contest 
among men would be quite as exciting 
as a nail-driving competition among 
women. 
* 
Most of the canned fruit jellies sold in 
this country are made from apples, say 
the analysts. The apples are boiled with 
a preparation known to the trade as tar- 
tahine, which consists of dilute hydro¬ 
chloric or sulphuric acid. The jelly 
formed by the action of the acid upon 
the apples is transformed to any va¬ 
riety desired by the addition of flavoring 
agents, which are, as a rule, entirely in¬ 
nocent of any connection with the fruit 
imlitated. Science says that such jellies 
are harmless to health, although com¬ 
mercial frauds. But how poor they are, 
when compared with the fragrant, fruity 
jellies made in the home kitchen! 
* 
According to the New York Sun. a 
“man’s rights” movement is now ram¬ 
pant'in the District of Columbia. Judge 
Walter S. Cox, lately retired from the 
District Supreme Court, is preparing a 
new code, to be incorporated in a bill 
submitted to the next Congress, restrict¬ 
ing the rights of a married woman to 
engage in business as an independent 
person. The view taken is that a man is 
held responsible for the livelihood of his 
wife and children. The wife engages in 
productive labor outside the home; the 
household industry necessarily suffers 
because of the wife’s attention being di¬ 
verted to other things, and the cost of 
living may be increased by waste and 
extravagance. The money the wife 
earns she holds as her own, to spend as 
her individual fancy may dictate. The 
family has no lawful claim upon it. In 
this instance, therefore, feminine inde¬ 
pendence operates to disturb the condi¬ 
tions of household labor, increase its ex¬ 
pense, and to unite a sense of moral irre¬ 
sponsibility with the wife’s production 
of wealth. It is in line with these views 
that the School Board of Brooklyn Bor¬ 
ough, New York, has decided against 
the employment of married women as 
teachers, other than widows. They ad¬ 
mit that this rule may bar many excel¬ 
lent teachers, but they hold that a wo¬ 
man, in marrying, assumes duties and 
responsibilities that, if properly carried 
out, should fully occupy her. Further, 
it is felt that the married woman should 
be supported by her husband, and give 
other women, without such protectors, a 
chance to earn a living. 
* 
A little child in Brooklyn, N. Y., re¬ 
cently swallowed a steel screw about 
two inches long. He was immediately 
taken to a doctor, who feared that a 
surgical operation, very likely to prove 
fatal, would be necessary. Suddenly he 
thought of the possibility of removing 
the screw with the cobwebby threads of 
raw silk used as ligatures in surgical 
operations. Some bread and milk was 
prepared, and some of these silk threads 
mixed with the food, the doctor retain¬ 
ing one end of the thread. The baby 
was persuaded to eat some of the food 
containing the silk, which became en¬ 
tangled with the screw, and the doctor 
was enabled to withdraw the intruding 
body, with very little trouble. It is said 
to be the first time that such an opera¬ 
tion was performed. 
• 
Mink and marten tails promise to be 
exceedingly popular trimmings again 
this Winter. Tender-hearted persons 
look at these little tails, and think sor¬ 
rowfully how many innocent little ani¬ 
mals are slaughtered to make the trim¬ 
ming for one garment. It seems very 
sad to think of gentle woman thus deco¬ 
rating herself, like an Indian with a 
fringe of scalps. If, however, one may 
believe one of the trade papers devoted 
to the leather business, these little tails 
first decorated the person of a plain, 
everyday dog. Dressed dogskins are 
rolled and manipulated into the form of 
a little tail, shaded and dyed to the pro¬ 
per tint, and then appear on the market 
as mink or marten tails. It is not alto¬ 
gether alluring to think of wearing a 
superfluous bow-wow in this fashion, but 
at least one does not have the slaughter 
of so many innocent little wild creatures 
upon one’s conscience. In furs, even 
more than (in any other department of 
dress, things are seldom what they 
seem. 
• 
Attendants at the New York Aqua¬ 
rium say that many of the visitors, 
especially those from inland towns, are 
especially anxious to see familiar food 
fishes. They wish to see codfish and 
mackerel swimmling around, instead of 
packed in barrels and boxes. Said one 
of these visitors: 
I was born and raised in a salt-water 
city, and my own original idea of the cod¬ 
fish was of a flat triangular, hard slab of 
substance of some sort, almost white, and 
with a fish tail at the small end; that was 
a codfish as it looked with the head off, 
and with the body of the fish split open 
and dried and salted. That was the uni¬ 
versal way in which dried codfish was sold 
once, and that not so many years ago, 
either. The selling of codfish trimly put 
up in paper boxes, and so on, as it is so 
largely sold nowadays, is a modern prac¬ 
tice. And who would get any idea of 
what codfish looked like from two pounds 
of codfish put up in a square paper box? 
And, for that matter, a man may have 
eaten plenty of fresh codfish and yet never 
have seen a fresh codfish in the market, 
or never seen a whole one there, or not 
have known it if he did see one. 
Adults are not the only ones who feel 
this curiosity. Children may be greatly 
interested by descriptions of familiar 
fishes, and the manner in which they are 
procured. This naturally reminds us of 
Kipling’s Captains Courageous; any boy 
who has devoured that fascinating book 
feels that he is quite at home in all the 
details of fisherman’s luck upon the 
Grand Banks. One of the best features 
of such a book is the fact that it shows 
us the heroism, fortitude and courage 
that find their place in the daily toil of 
plain working men. 
Brussels Sprouts. 
I have 50 plants of Brussels sprouts, with 
their long necks well covered with small 
cabbage heads. Will The R. N.-Y. tell me 
how to cook them? h. j. s. 
Illinois. 
The following recipes for cooking 
Brussels sprouts are given in Mrs. 
Rorer’s book, How to Cook Vegetables, 
published by W. Atlee Burpee, Phila 
delphia. We have tried them, and find 
them excellent: 
Pick off all the dead leaves from a 
quart of sprouts, wash well in cold 
water, then throw them into boiling 
water, to which salt at the rate of two 
tablespoonsful to the gallon has been 
added, also a pinch of bicarbonate of 
soda. Boil uncovered 20 minutes; drain 
in a colander and serve in a heated dish 
with sauce made of melted butter, a lit¬ 
tle flour, pepper, and a portion of the 
liquor in which the sprouts were cooked, 
boiled together a few minutes until 
smooth. Brussels sprouts may also be 
served with plain melted butter, salt and 
pepper, boiled, with a cream sauce, or as 
a garnish for meats. 
A good second mode is to pick over, 
wash and boil one quart of sprouts as 
above directed; drain carefully, put in a 
saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of 
butter, toss over a quick fire for about 
eight minutes, then add one tablespoon¬ 
ful of vinegar, one tablespoonful of 
chopped parsley, and a palatable sea¬ 
soning of salt and pepper; serve very 
hot. 
Brussels sprouts is a most interesting 
and palatable member of the cabbage 
family, too little grown in this country. 
It succeeds well if set out early on cool, 
rich soil. The sprouts, or little heads 
lining the stem, are much subject to at¬ 
tacks of aphis, or Cabbage lice. The 
best remedies are frequent applications 
of tobacco dust or sprayings with kero¬ 
sene emulsion. 
Rural Recipes. 
RAKED VEGETABLES, LARDED LIVER AND 
BREAD MADE OF MUSH. 
Cabbage, Turnips and Carrots.— 
Baking is an acceptable way of cooking 
many vegetables, and it is often of ad¬ 
vantage when the top of the stove is 
crowded, as when irons are being 
heated. Baked cabbage is prepared as 
follows: Slice as for cold slaw, put in 
an earthen baking dish, and then fill the 
dish half full with sweet milk. Season 
with pepper, salt and butter. Stand the 
dish in a second pan partly filled with 
water, and allow it to bake until the 
cabbage is tender. Carrots or turnips, 
cut into dice, may be baked in the same 
way. If desired, when the cooking is 
nearly completed, some fine bread¬ 
crumbs and butter may be put upon the 
top, and the dish returned to the oven 
to brown. 
Larded Liver. —To “lard” a piece of 
meat is to insert strips of firm pork fat, 
about two inches long and one-fourth of 
an inch thick, at regular intervals. A 
larding needle is used for the purpose, 
but the work may be done with a sharp 
skewer. A calf’s liver, after the usual 
cleansing, is larded whole, and makes 
a nice dish, and a very economical one. 
Place the larded liver on some chopped 
onions and slices of pork, in a dripping 
pan; season with salt and pepper, and 
add herbs if desired. Pour over it some 
soup stock or gravy, and bake in a mod¬ 
erate oven for about one hour. When 
done, remove the liver to a hot platter, 
thicken the gravy with flour, and pour 
over the liver. 
Mush Bread. —This is an unfamiliar 
recipe, and it gives a variety of corn 
bread as light as an omelet. Boil one 
pint of milk and stir in two-thirds of a 
cupful of cornmeal. Cook a moment, 
then remove from fire and beat in the 
yolks of four eggs, add a saltspoonful of 
salt and fold in the well-beaten whites. 
Bake about 30 minutes, and serve hot. 
Sweet-Potato Buns. —When cooking 
sweet potatoes for dinner take out two, 
skin, mash and add a tablespoonful of 
butter while still hot. When cold make 
a sponge with the potatoes, two cupfuls 
of sweet milk, two eggs, one tablespoon¬ 
ful each of yeast and sugar, one tea¬ 
spoonful of ground cinnamon and one 
cupful of flour. Let it rise, then thicken 
with flour and leave till morning. Make 
into buns, put in greased pans and bake. 
Peanut Wafers. —Mush bread and 
sweet-potato buns are both American 
productions, so it seems appropriate to 
follow them with another native dainty. 
Cream together one-half cupful butter, 
one-half cupful sugar, three-fourths cup 
milk, two cupfuls flour. Butter well the 
inverted bottom of a square cakepan 
and spread the dough on very thin and 
evenly, and sprinkle with peanuts 
which have been previously parched, 
blanched and chopped fine. When a 
light brown remove from oven and cut 
quickly into squares and remove from 
pan. These are delicious. 
Velvet Rolls are to be found among 
the Chicago Record’s prize recipes. They 
are very good, made as follows: One 
pint milk, scalded, one tablespoonful 
sugar, two tablespoonfuls butter, one- 
half teaspoonful salt, about one quart 
flour, one-fourth yeast cake; dissolve 
the yeast in one-fourth cupful lukewarm 
water; stir the sugar, butter and salt 
into the hot milk and pour it into a 
bowl; when lukewarm add the yeast, 
also the flour, stirring and beating well. 
Let it rise over night and in the morn¬ 
ing beat down again. Never knead it. 
When it has risen the second time roll 
it out on a floured board, cut into 
rounds, butter half of each circle and 
fold. Let the rolls rise in a pan until 
they are very light and bake in a hot 
oven from 20 to 30 minutes. 
_It is impossible that an ill-natured 
man can have a public spirit; for how 
should he love 10,000 men who has 
never loved one?—Pope. 
EVERY AMERICAN 
SHOULD CARRY 
A WALTHAM WATCH. 
THE BEST 
POCKET TIHEPIECE 
IN THE WORLD. 
