FROM DAY TO DAY. 
The Wisconsin Audubon Society re¬ 
cently made a very practical effort to in¬ 
duce thoughtless women to avoid bird 
slaughter for millinery purposes. The 
society held a millinery opening in the 
parlor of a prominent hotel, all the head- 
gear displayed being of the newest mode, 
but devoid of any feathers except ostrich 
plumes, quills, and cock’s feathers. All 
the leading milliners of the city made 
exhibits, and so attractive were the hats 
and bonnets displayed that they were 
bought freely by the visitors. It is, how¬ 
ever, rather a sad cominentai’y upon 
womanly tenderness that an appeal to 
personal vanity should be so much more 
efficacious than one to humanity, that 
bird-lovers must perforce appeal to the 
baser feeling. 
* 
While it is not always possible for a 
housekeeper to lighten her work by all 
the modern improvements, she can do 
much for her comfort by an occasional 
judicious outlay among the small wares 
seen on the 5 and l()-cent counters at a 
housefurnishing or hardware store. Con¬ 
venience does not always mean expense. 
We see plenty of women who still use the 
old-fashioned wooden potato-mashers, 
which are heavy, awkward to handle, 
and troublesome to wash properly. We 
should replace such an article by one of 
the wire mashers, or by the little vege¬ 
table press, which forms the potato into 
floury threads. Of cake cutters there is 
no end, but one recently noted is far 
more quickly used than the old stamp¬ 
ing-out cutters. It consists of two curved 
oval tin blades, fastened back to back, 
and revolving on an axle. Pushed along 
like a dressmaker’s tracing wheel, the 
blades cut out the cakes very rapidly. 
* 
Egg-beaters continue to multiply ex¬ 
tensively, most of them being modifica¬ 
tions of the type operated by a wheel at 
the top. One of the good ones has, in¬ 
stead of the rounded wire beater, double 
blades like those of a screw propeller, 
and these beat the eggs to a foam very 
rapidly. For creaming sauce or icings, 
instead of a regular egg-beater, a paddle¬ 
shaped wire frame, covered with hex¬ 
agonal wire netting, is light and easily 
used. Among useful little trifles noted 
in one well-furnished pantry lately, was a 
wire ball to hold coffee, thus obviating 
the need of a strainer or material for 
settling the coffee. The ball was made 
of fine wire netting, and opened into two 
equal halves, fastened together by hinge 
and clasp. The ground coffee being put 
into the ball, may be left to steep with¬ 
out any further attention. In making 
coffee in one of the so-called French pots, 
there is often delay because the water 
either runs through too rapidly, and 
must be poured back, or else it drips 
very slowly. The coffee ball is certainly 
an advantage in hasty coffee-making. 
Tea balls, often very elaborately made in 
silver, were much in vogue for several 
years, and are still verj' often used, 
though not by any means essential to 
good tea-making. 
* 
This is the season when the large city 
stores sell all classes of white goods— 
sheeting, towels, table linen and muslin 
underwear—at reduced prices. It is real 
economy for a housekeeper to prepare 
for making purchases in these lines dur¬ 
ing January and February. She has, 
also, a better opportunity for sewing at 
this season and, if there are sheets, pil¬ 
low cases, and table linen to be hemmed, 
she would better do this now, before the 
regular spring sewing is needed. The 
table linen should, of course, be hemmed 
by hand, if a good effect be desired, but 
many women feel unable to take time 
for hand sewing, and must, therefore, be 
content with the machine. When either 
table linen or sheets are hemmed on the 
machine, the ends of the hems should be 
carefully finished by hand, that it may 
not rip out in washing. Hemstitched 
sheets and table-cloths, while handsome, 
have been discarded by many of those 
housekeepers who can indulge their 
tastes in this direction, because the 
stitching is so likely to wear out, part¬ 
ing the hem from the body of the mate¬ 
rial. Pillow cases having a broad, heavy 
insertion of linen lace just above the 
hem, which is four inches wide, are hand¬ 
somer than those having the lace at the 
edge. On a metal bed, pillow shams are 
clumsy and out of place, and during the 
day, the bed is best arranged with a 
round bolster only, this being covered 
with more or less elaboration, to match 
the decorations of the room. 
VENTILATOR FOR A SLEEPING ROOM. 
Many have trouble in ventilating a 
sleeping room, because a draught over the 
bed causes colds. Make a thin board 
with two end pieces, like that shown in 
Fig. 23. Put two hooks at the sides of 
the window casings, and screw eyes in 
the top of the board’s two sidepieces. 
Hang this in the window as suggested, 
VENTILATOR FOR A SLEEPING ROOM. 
Fig. 23 
and the window may be raised nearly to 
the middle, without causing a draught 
upon the bed, the entering air being car¬ 
ried upward and diffused over the upper 
part of the room. Good ventilation 
means sound sleep. w. o. 
“COUNTRY GIRLS’ OPPORTUNITIES.” 
This is a question which will admit of 
discussion, and deserves attention. By 
advising the girls to remain in the coun¬ 
try and “whip the cat ” around among 
friends and relatives, making themselves 
generally useful by plying a number of 
trades, they would, without a doubt, find 
employment. But there are disadvan¬ 
tages, such as long hours, hard work and 
small pay, and these same relatives and 
friends would expect a special benefit for 
having furnished them a job, rich farm¬ 
ers though they might be. Most rural 
neighborhoods once held such a charac¬ 
ter, the typical spinster, but the new 
woman has crowded her out, and does 
her own sewing, modeling her gowns 
after some she admired when she made 
her last business trip to the city. Oh ! 
do not dwarf the range of vision for the 
girls in that way, but let them get a 
glimpse of the outside world. 
We have all heard the cry over and 
over, “ Give the boys a chance.” They’ve 
had their chance, and now, all the girls 
ask is to be allowed to go out for them¬ 
selves and, unassisted, they’ll earn a liv¬ 
ing, and soon have a bank account start¬ 
ed, that years of drudgery at home would 
not accomplish. There are advantages 
in the cities of which the girls will take 
the benefit. They will join literary 
clubs, have access to a free library ; lec¬ 
tures by our famous men and women 
will be within their reach, so that, should 
they afterward come back to the farm, 
they will be much better fitted to take 
up the burden and carry it, too. We are 
living in an age where marriage and 
housework are not the only positions a 
woman is capable of filling. The country 
girl who is self-supporting and seeks 
employment in town or city, will find 
most situations crowded with applicants 
to be sure ; but let her remember that 
there is always room at the top, for few 
get there ; she may be one of them. Com¬ 
petition drives out dormant talents and 
energies which render her more capable 
of accomplishing any task that may come 
before her. 
The experience she will gain behind a 
counter, such as reading human nature, 
learning to deal with the different types, 
and adroitly exchanging her goods for 
their money, even when they are not dis¬ 
posed to buy at first, will all come in 
handy as her stock in trade, when she 
comes home to sell her father’s farm 
products. It will form a useful part of 
her education and, perhaps, she may be 
able to help out the old mortgaged home 
and overworked parents in a better way 
for having had such experience. The 
average country girl will require some 
such drill to acquire the necessary assur¬ 
ance and tact to succeed in selling farm 
produce, for she will meet with the same 
badinage that is common among men, 
and must be prepared to meet a rebuff 
now and then. The day has come when 
it is no longer a disgrace for a woman to 
sell farm produce, but again she meets 
with competition, and will here realize 
the benefit of her past experience in the 
so-called crowded, lonely city, for there 
she must dispose of her goods. 
I wholly agree with the writer in The 
It. N.-Y., page 10, that it might be a 
good business for some of our girls to 
follow, but that does not help out the 
overworked housewife. However, if by 
the combined efforts of the farmers’ 
daughters they put to rout the middle¬ 
men, housework on a farm would not be 
the drudgery it now is, with so little 
compensation. We could afford every 
labor-saving device invented, and many 
luxuries the farm produce affords the 
middleman. ida c. Gordon. 
COURTESIES OF THE TABLE. 
A correspondent of the American 
Kitchen Magazine asks whether modern 
usage has done away with the old rule of 
not beginning to eat until all at table 
are served, and also whether the children 
should wait before folding their napkins, 
until the mother has folded hers. In 
answer, it is stated that it is now con¬ 
sidered proper to begin to eat as soon as 
you are served, but like most rules of 
table etiquette, it was made for those 
who maintain a certain style of living. 
There are good reasons for its observance 
at a formal table, where there is a maid 
to do all the serving as well as changing 
the plates. You are not supposed to have 
any responsibility about others, or for 
anything beyond your own plate. The 
maid will see that your neighbor has 
what she needs, and you are at liberty 
to regard yourself first, and have the full 
enjoyment of your food while it is hot or 
freshly served. 
In a family where only one maid is 
kept, or where there is no maid at all, 
much of the serving must be done by 
those at the table. Plates must be passed 
from one to another, and all the extras 
must be passed from hand to hand. 
It would appear very selfish to begin 
eating and become oblivious to the neces¬ 
sary passing, and very awkward to drop 
your fork while in the act of conveying 
food to your mouth, that you may help 
pass along another's portion. 
All children like to be useful,and boys as 
well as girls can each have a part assigned 
to them in the daily serving. The gist 
of the matter is here : Shall we carry 
out that golden precept, “ In honor pre¬ 
ferring one another,” or shall we think 
only of self ? 
In these days of so great freedom and 
liberty for children it will do no harm to 
draw the lines a little more strictly at 
the table. Let them be taught that there 
they must defer to their elders, and con¬ 
sider each other, and that the table is 
not merely a place for animal indulg¬ 
ence, like the horse’s or the cow’s feeding 
trough, but for the daily interchange of 
little acts of courtesy and love. 
The best way is to begin this training 
as soon as they are old enough to come 
to the table, and to see that the children 
do the right thing at every meal. Then 
there will be no fears of mistakes or 
need of special training when company 
is present. Naturally, there are times 
and conditions when the individual 
rather than the family needs to be con¬ 
sidered. The father must hasten his 
meal that he may take an early train ; 
one child must be served first on account 
of a short noon hour ; another one may 
be detained at school, and cannot be 
prompt in coming to meals. 
All these irregularities a wise and 
thoughtful mother will meet and adjust 
as best she can. But she will be careful 
to check any tendency that may appear 
in the child to think that he must always 
be first. Unless school or other duties 
call them away, better have them re¬ 
main at the table until the end of the 
meal. Let them understand that then 
is the time for them to talk and enter¬ 
tain you, instead of beginning while you 
are busy serving, or talking while they 
are eating. The custom of waiting for 
mother to fold her napkin before folding 
yours is a good one to follow, and at a 
formal table, where there is no menu, it 
is the established signal that there is 
nothing more to be served. 
There is so much of the e very-on e-for- 
himself spirit, and eat-and-run habit al¬ 
lowed in this independent age, that it 
will do no harm for children to be re¬ 
strained in this respect, and unless it is 
in the daily training, it will be useless 
to enforce it on occasions. Digestion 
will go on more easily and naturally if 
bolting of food is tabooed, and children 
must be carefully taught to eat slowly. 
From Lack 
of Money 
Half the boys and 
girls are, by neces¬ 
sity, prevented from 
reaching beyond the 
common school. 
Over two hundred 
and fifty have been 
educated at our ex¬ 
pense. Our offer is 
still open. The pupil 
need not spend a 
penny. Let her sim¬ 
ply write to 
The Curtis Publishing Company 
Philadelphia 
