S[ & Wallin 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
Women who are always looking out for 
some new interest are now devoting 
themselves to a new science which they 
call “ menticulture.” It appears to com¬ 
bine some of the attributes of Christian 
science with the philosophy of Epictetus, 
but the gist of the whole cult seems to 
lie in the ability of mind to control mat¬ 
ter. In other words, so long as we think 
happy and wholesome thoughts only, we 
are to expect our material bodies to be¬ 
come happy and healthy, too. The men- 
ticulturists say that, so long as they 
think only of healthy things, it is im¬ 
possible for them to suffer from any 
bodily ills and, by constantly dwelling 
upon the thought of a thoroughly and 
ideally healthy body, they can so im¬ 
press their thoughts upon others as to 
aid sick friends as well as themselves. 
* 
Now, we believe in menticulture—of a 
certain kind. We should hesitate to try 
it, without any more material remedy, 
upon a bad case of chilblains or an ulcer¬ 
ated tooth, but we think it would be a 
valuable science in a good many domestic 
emergencies, and it is a science we 
women sorely need. A man usually has 
so many outside things to think of that 
he does not worry about the small jars 
of daily life. To the woman, these small 
jars throw the whole machinery of life 
out of gear. One class formed for the 
study of menticulture is called the 
“ Don’t-Worry Club.” If menticulture 
will aid us in overcoming the habit of 
worrying over trifles, by all means, let 
us begin to study it. When we look into 
the matter candidly, it is surprising how 
many of our troubles come from undisci¬ 
plined temper, or from the disposition 
to fret and worry over trifles. 
* 
In studying the recipes of most good 
cooks, the average housekeeper is often 
frightened from testing novel dishes by 
the variety of condiments or flavorings 
called for. She says to herself, as she 
reads of some inexpensive stew, “ That 
sounds nice, but what is paprika ?—no 
use trying to make that.” Then she 
finds that Worcestershire sauce, mush¬ 
room catsup, bay leaves, a varied list of 
herbs, or little-used spices, are called 
for, and feels at once that the recipes are 
too expensive for her. She forgets that 
a small stock of these condiments, put 
away carefully in tight boxes, will last 
for a long time. All the herbs may be 
bought dried in five-cent packages. Un¬ 
ground spices used in infinitesimal quan¬ 
tities in meat dishes, last a long time. 
The paprika, called for by so many mod¬ 
ern cooks in making salads and meat 
dishes, is Hungarian red pepper. There 
is no extravagance in providing the cook 
with black, white and red pepper; the 
quantity used is small, and the differ¬ 
ence in flavor will be appreciated. It is 
very easy to make up a wholesome ra¬ 
tion of cheap food, but if we are unable 
to make it palatable, we lose much of 
its food value. In preparing made-over 
meats, the condiments make all the 
difference between an insipid dish that 
elicits the contemptuous comment of 
“nothing but hash,” and some tooth¬ 
some combination that pleases the family 
palate. These flavoring materials are, 
really, an economy, since they enable us 
to utilize material that might, other¬ 
wise, be wasted. 
* 
Some of the southern newspapers com¬ 
ment on the fact that, while we are en¬ 
deavoring in every way to encourage 
the use of corn products abroad, the con¬ 
sumption t of corn in the household is 
annually falling off in the United States. 
Years ago, corn bread or corn-meal mush 
formed part of the daily ration, not only 
in the South, but in many other parts of 
the country. It has now been super¬ 
seded by many other food preparations, 
and the art of properly preparing it is 
being lost. It has been advised that 
American cooks give instructions at vari¬ 
ous foreign exhibitions, in the cooking 
of corn products ; but really it would 
seem as though we needed some instruc¬ 
tions in these lines ourselves, since the 
passing away of the old colored cooks 
who excelled in such dainties. One 
drawback to the substitution of corn 
for other grains among the peasantry of 
Europe is the fact that stale corn bread 
is very unpalatable, thus necessitating 
frequent bakings, while bread from 
other grains may be made at longer 
intervals. If we are unable to do mis¬ 
sionary work for our national grain 
abroad, it is, at least, possible for us to 
encourage its use at home by cooking it 
in the most palatable modes. Corn 
bread, Johnny-cake, and Indian pud¬ 
ding, properly cooked, are both tooth¬ 
some and nourishing, and give a pleas¬ 
ant variety to the winter bill-of-fare; 
neither is there any reason against vary¬ 
ing the children’s oatmeal occasionally 
by a dish of New England hasty pud¬ 
ding. We have been preaching the value 
of wheat and oats so strenuously that 
we forget the virtues of our own national 
grain. 
MAKING THE MOST OF THINGS. 
“ I am so glad to see you, but sorry 
that you had not come at some other 
time, when we would have had some¬ 
thing better to eat.” This was the wel¬ 
come I received from a friend in the 
country, to whose home I was making 
my first visit. After an hour passed in 
pleasant reminiscences, she left me and 
went into the kitchen to prepare the tea, 
but after a short time, came back with 
such a rueful face. 
“Oh! what do you think !” she said. 
“ My husband has just come in and told 
me that our new minister will call and 
have tea with us. Now, what am I to 
do ? Those who have visited at his home 
tell me that his wife serves such dainty 
dishes, and has everything so nice, and 
I have nothing but cold pork and apple 
sauce to offer him. My fruit is all gone, 
and in the country we have no chance to 
get anything, as you have in the city.” 
“ Let ine help you out,” I suggested. 
She very willingly accepted my offer, 
and led the way to the kitchen, where I 
at once made an inventory of the stock 
on hand. There was a piece of cold ham, 
a can of currant jelly, a sponge cake, 
and plenty of apples and eggs. I peeled 
the apples, took out the cores, leaving 
the apples whole, and put them in boil¬ 
ing syrup in which I had thrown a few 
slices of lemon peel. They were cooked 
until tender, and then placed in a fancy 
fruit dish. The sponge cake was cut 
out in the center, leaving about an inch 
around the outside, on which I heaped 
creamy icing made from the white of one 
egg, beaten very light, and a cup of sugar 
dissolved in milk and boiled until it can¬ 
died. The cavity in the center was filled 
up with the currant jelly, and the result 
was a delicious cake, pleasing to the eye 
and tempting to the palate. The ham was 
cut in thin slices and garnished with 
parsley. The latter also served to add 
to the appearance of a plate of golden 
brown omelettes made from the eggs 
that my hostess would have made indi¬ 
gestible by covering with grease in the 
old way. These dishes, with thin slices 
of bread, and good sweet butter, put 
upon a snowy cloth, with shining glass 
and china, made a very inviting appear¬ 
ance. 
I also added a few leaves from her 
foliage plants, and some vines from her 
hanging basket, which formed quite a 
center-piece, and the result so pleased 
my friend that she could hardly believe 
it was her own table. The delighted 
expression on her husband’s face as he 
surveyed the table on sitting down, and 
the ample justice done by the minister 
to the repast, were ample remuneration 
for the efforts made. h. macdonald. 
KITCHEN AIDS. 
Knowing as I did that Mrs. A did all 
the housework for a family of six, there 
was a query in my mind as to how she 
kept her hands in such nice condition, 
until I made her a kitchen call one 
morning. She was washing dishes, but 
her hands were not soaking in the dish¬ 
water ; she used a string mop for the 
china, and for the iron ware, what she 
called a kettle cleaner, made of broom 
corn ; it was about 10 inches long, 
securely bound with three wires, and 
firm enough to do good scrubbing if 
wielded energetically. 
“ There is no need of putting my hands 
in greasy water, or making them grimy 
if I use my tools,” she said, and she pro¬ 
duced her helpers. Only a clam shell 
for scraping utensils that had been 
burned; a pair of old harvest mittens, 
to be worn while blacking stoves; a 
paint brush used to daub blacking; a 
five-cent vegetable brush ; a stick with a 
sponge tied to one end for a lamp-chim¬ 
ney cleaner; and last, but not least, a 
good large chamois, whose uses were in¬ 
numerable. “Some folks think I am 
putting on airs,” said she, “ because I am 
careful of my hands; but when I sit 
down at the piano to help the children 
with their music, I dislike to see a pair 
of unsightly, swollen hands, and think 
some care of them is worth while.” I 
thought so, too, and honored her for her 
simple contrivances ; some of them were 
not new to me, but I had never before 
seen the benefits of them so plainly. 
“ I have my work all planned before¬ 
hand for busy seasons, and do nothing 
extra that can be avoided ; for instance, 
Mrs. B made jelly and canned all her 
peaches the week she had a houseful of 
silo fillers to board, while I did mine be¬ 
fore they came, and after they had gone. 
Of course, we remember that plans of 
mice and men are often foiled, but one 
can, by looking ahead, make some rough 
places smooth, and to be well prepared 
is sometimes half the battle.” 
MARY MANN 
SOME HOUSEHOLD ADDITIONS. 
Unless one is skilled in the handling 
of tools, articles constructed from boxes 
are only a delusion and a snare, and look 
really well only in print ; but a friend 
has made one or two successes. She uses 
her kitchen as a dining-room as well, so 
she made from a four-sided clothes-horse, 
a screen to hide the cook stove and its 
paraphernalia of pots and pans. Ordin¬ 
ary straw matting was tacked over the 
sections of the screen. The clothes-horse 
frame painted red, with green or blue 
matting, is really ornamental, but the 
white wood with the common yellow, or 
figured matting looks well. When the 
meals were ready, the iron vessels were 
filled with water and set on the stove. 
A small wooden table near held the des¬ 
sert in readiness, the screen was ad¬ 
justed, and the room was as attractive 
as possible. The windows had sash 
curtains and shades, and my friend wore 
calico dresses in the kitchen always, as 
they are easily kept clean, and do not 
catch and retain odors like woolens. A 
linen collar completed her tidy dress, and 
it was a pleasure to take a meal in her 
kitchen. 
Another useful thing in preparing and 
serving meals was a wooden table on 
casters, with a raised edge. This can be 
bought at a furniture dealer’s, being 
called a dinner wagon. My friend con¬ 
trived one at home. When ready for 
dessert, the soiled plates, etc., were put 
upon this table, it was wheeled behind 
the screen, the dishes put on the other 
small table near the stove, and the des¬ 
sert, tea or coffee put upon the dinner 
wagon and wheeled in, all quickly done, 
and so restful and pleasant, for all con¬ 
cerned. 
The nicest homemade lounge that I 
have seen was an iron cot with a spring 
and mattress, and no head or foot piece, 
of course. The legs were cut off to make 
it the height of an ordinary lounge, and 
the whole thing was concealed by the 
drapery. The prettiest covering is a 
Bagdad portiere thrown all over it, with 
large pillows standing straight along the 
wall. A lounge covered with cretonne, 
a flounce concealing the edge and legs, 
and the pillows covered with the same, 
would be nice, in dark rich colors for a 
livingroom ; in light dainty colors, for a 
bedroom. 
A pad for a closet, to keep dress waists 
from being whitened by contact with 
the wall, is made of two yards of cheese¬ 
cloth, with a layer of the sheet wadding 
between. Sprinkle sachet powder freely 
in the wadding, lay the cheesecloth 
smooth, buttonhole or feather-stitch 
the edges all ’round, and tack here and 
there, or tie with baby ribbon. It is 
suspended against the closet wall by six 
rings, covered with silk to match the 
stitching. saraii isham coit. 
Tiie Back of tiie Skirt. —In adjusting 
the fullness at the back of the dress- 
skirt, a strip of elastic is generally used, 
a few stitches serving to secure the skirt 
to the elastic at suitable intervals. As 
an improvement on this plan, try the fol¬ 
lowing : Sew spring hooks at regular 
intervals to the underside of the skirt, 
about 12 inches from the belt. The 
“ hump ” hook is not adapted to this pur¬ 
pose ; it requires the true spring hook 
cut from a flat piece of metal. Four will 
generally be found sufficient. Over 
these, snap elastic bands, which may be 
purchased of any required width, about 
three inches long - doubled ; one-quarter 
inch in width insures sufficient strength. 
Each band is snapped over two of the 
hooks, the middle hooks doing double 
duty. If it is necessary to pack such a 
skirt, unfasten each band, leaving it 
attached to only one hook. The skirt 
may then be folded free from wrinkles. 
A minute’s work replaces the bands, and 
the skirt is ready for wear again. 
ELI.A II. COOPER. 
“1 Earn More 
Money Than My 
Girl Friends Who 
are in Business” 
Ayoung lady in Indiana, an 
invalid and confined to her 
room, writes: “No ‘shut- 
in’ need complain of being 
unable to earn money so 
long as your generous plan 
remains in force. It might 
appear as if I were working 
under great disadvantage, for 
I do all my work by corre¬ 
spondence, and rarely see 
my people personally. Yet I 
earn much more money 
than the majority of my girl 
friends, who are pursuing 
the ordinary avocations open 
to women.” 
The Ladies’ Home Journal 
wants agents to obtain sub¬ 
scriptions and to look afterre- 
newals. What this girl, sick, 
has done, surely a healthy 
girl can do—and more. 
The Curtis Publishing Company 
Philadelphia 
