228 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
March :?*» 
Woman and 
The Home. 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
Thk Pennsylvania Audubon Society in¬ 
tends to make a millinery display in 
Philadelphia this Spring, for the pur¬ 
pose of showing hard-hearted woman 
how she may trim her hat fashionably, 
without any necessity for the plumage 
of slaughtered birds. As Spring fashions 
are sure to call for a liberal display of 
artificial flowers, rather than feathers, 
Audubon’s protest will be listened to 
more patiently than in the Autumn. 
* 
If, as Dr. Holmes says, the cook makes 
our bodies, while the apothecary only 
cobbles them, there is plenty of reason 
for giving our cook as careful an edu¬ 
cation as circumstances will permit. 
Neither should we allow her to take 
credit for her ability in constructing 
desserts, salads, and all the more elabor¬ 
ate portions of the bill-of-fare. if she 
cannot make wholesome bread, or serve 
well-cooked vegetables. Unfortunately, 
vegetable cooking is a branch to which 
many cooks pay little attention. In the 
average restaurant, most of the vege¬ 
tables are very badly cooked, and the 
same is very often true of the home table. 
No wonder so many people say that they 
“ never cared much for vegetables.” 
* 
All Winter, fashionable women have 
been wearing walking shoes that leave 
nothing to be desired by admirers of 
sensible footgear. They are flat-heeled 
and round-toed, of calf with a heavy 
dongola top, the sole thick and heavy. 
Made on a regular man’s last, the stitch¬ 
ing and finishing are exactly like the 
masculine shoe. What is known as the 
bull-dog toe is a favorite type, and a very 
determined-looking style it is. Strangely 
enough, one sees this style of shoe worn 
less by women in the country, where it 
should be a necessity, than in the city. 
There is everything to recommend it. 
including the fact that it is fashionable. 
Of course, it is not well to wear such 
heavy shoes in the house, but then, it is 
very poor economy to wear one’s walking 
shoes in the house at any time. 
* 
Housekeeping in the Klondike is not 
without its disadvantages, according to 
a woman writing to one of the Chicago 
newspapers. She says: 
It is impossible to escape the dirt. Every pore 
of the skin is tilled with it, and all clothing is 
ruined. There is some sort of mineral deposit— 
gold, perhaps -which acts upon the skin and 
clothing, and grinds into them. Washing does 
not remove it, but produces a gummy substance 
which the strongest soap won’t cut. This dirt is 
the hardest thing I have to endure. I like the 
country. The air is fine and clear, with glorious 
sunsets on mountain and river. We have an $800 
log cabin; just a hut, with one room, one window, 
a bunk, and a place for a stovepipe. There are 
no beds; in the whole town there is but one cot 
and mattress, and that is ours. * * * Dried 
fruits, butter, evaporated potatoes, kerosene oil, 
etc., are $1 a jiound. A stove which sells in Seattle 
for $12 brings 5 here, and is not to be had except 
occasionally. We have everything, almost, in 
one form or another, except fresh meats. Eggs 
and milk we have dessieated and condensed, like¬ 
wise potatoes and onions: and we have excellent 
appetites. 
* 
Chintz portieres, costing 15 cents a 
yard, are charming for bedrooms, and 
wash as well as muslin. The poles for 
such portieres are inserted in the door 
jamb. The newest and best curtain poles 
for the bedroom (or for any room where 
muslin curtains are used) are slender rods 
of white enameled wood, made to run 
through the curtain hem. A pretty style 
for bedroom curtains, especially where 
there is a deep window sill, is to make 
them of thin white muslin, with a deep 
hem, just long enough to hang to the 
bottom of the window. They are run 
upon poles or rods at the top and. over 
them, is a flounce about one foot deep, 
run upon a separate rod or wire. The 
advantage of this arrangement is that 
the separate flounce trims the top of the 
window’ when the curtains are drawn 
aside, and the effect is very pretty. 
* 
Mrs. Rorkr says that those who suffer 
from indigestion will be relieved if they 
will avoid in their eating and drinking 
boiled coffee, boiled tea, all sweets, fried 
foods, white bread, crackers, cakes, acid 
fruits, pork in all forms, veal, turkey, 
duck, cooked cabbage, beets, green corn, 
potatoes, pickles, spiced foods, gelatine 
desserts, red or dark fish, salt foods, all 
the Crustacea, clams, raw or fried oys¬ 
ters ; and refrain from drinking iced 
water, acid drinks, flavored soda water. 
Unfortunately, this list gives one the 
same impression as that of the small 
girl who defined wholesome food as 
“ things you don’t want to eat.” 
THE SPRING WARDROBE. 
A FORETASTE OF COMING FASHION. 
Although one need not go very far out 
of New York to see snowdrifts, the shops 
are full of summery clothes. It would 
appear that the indignant Audubon So¬ 
ciety need no longer denounce bird-laden 
bonnets, for the Spring millinery is a 
rainbow and flower garden in one. Few 
feathers are seen, the main decorations 
being flowers. While it is quite likely 
that, as the season advances, large hats 
will be worn, the Spring styles are chiefly 
toques and walking hats, a natural re¬ 
action against the immense halos worn 
during the Winter. The brilliant Roman 
stripes, which are so exceedingly popu¬ 
lar for neckties and sashes, appear also 
among the millinery effects. Among 
fashionable hats for intermediate Spring 
wear, are Alpine shapes of gray or cas¬ 
tor color, having rather a wide brim, 
trimmed with Roman scarfs put on in 
numerous stiff, narrow pleats, so as to 
give a close effect. The scarfs are most 
brilliant in color, green and red predom¬ 
inating. These hats are still quite ex¬ 
pensive, but they are sure to be quickly 
imitated in cheap materials, and then 
become common. The Roman-striped 
neckties, which are the rage of the pres¬ 
ent time, are so excessively brilliant in 
their gorgeous cross-bars that one must 
grow accustomed to them by degrees, 
but if the colors are selected with judg¬ 
ment, they are admirable for brighten¬ 
ing up a dark woolen shirt waist. A mong 
them are some combinations of red, purple 
and green that are excessively glaring. 
Judging from the exhibits already 
shown, this is to be a blue season ; win¬ 
dow after window is filled with dress 
materials and millinery, in varied shades 
of blue. Among them are royal blue, 
flag or National blue, Yale, sky, tur¬ 
quoise and Mazarin blues. Combinations 
of blue and violet are seen in millinery ; 
they are less flagrant than the green and 
purple hats seen last Spring, but it is 
not a combination to be recommended. 
The most marked difference to be seen 
in the newer styles is in the skirts, which 
are often very elaborately trimmed. It 
must not be supposed, however, that 
plain skirts are entirely out of date; 
they still appear in the heavier cloths, 
without any trimming at all. They are 
much narrower than last year, and the 
upper part fits closely to the figure. In 
some styles, while the upper part of 
the skirt is tight, it flares out quite 
wide from the knee down. This ef¬ 
fect is also produced by the circular 
flounce, now very popular, but it would 
be difficult for the home dressmaker to cut 
and fit this successfully without great 
care. Many cloth skirts are prettily 
trimmed with tucks or milliner’s folds, 
arranged at intervals around the skirt 
up as high as the knee, or else sloping 
down from the hips to a deep apron point 
in front. 
In thinner fabrics, such as silks and 
washing materials, ruffles and puffs will 
be the most fashionable trimming. This 
puff is simply the bouillon of 20 years 
ago, a bias band gathered on both sides, 
sometimes with a ruffle at the foot. 
Some of the neckties and sashes are 
trimmed with these puffs. The ruffies 
sometimes run straight around the skirt; 
sometimes they run up and down, and 
sometimes they are put on in festoons. 
Readymade taffeta skirts are often seen 
with three narrow ruffles put on like a 
pointed apron drapery. For a thin wash¬ 
ing skirt, a pretty effect is produced by 
putting two narrow ruffles at the bottom, 
and a third at the knee. We may natur¬ 
ally expect fuller trimmings to come into 
vogue, because skirts, waists and sleeves 
fit tightly, and we must have fullness 
somewhere. For this reason, we are 
threatened with the crowning horror of 
the bustle and overskirt. 
In spite of the changing styles, last 
Summer’s frocks will not look out of 
date if prettily made when new. All 
those already on hand should be exam- 
March 25 
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EASTER FASHIONS 
tell in print and pictures of the changes that the 
season will bring to Woman and her wardrobe. 
Not the extravagances of style, but everything that 
is newest, that is in good taste. The Journal's 
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