248 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 2 
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 
♦ Woman and ♦ 
The Home. ♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ ♦ 
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
Knowledge of domestic science can 
be called a success only when it makes 
the home a more comfortable place to 
live in. We want the “available” 
knowledge, not an “ insoluble ” type, 
which becomes manifest only in charac¬ 
ter analysis. 
* 
When a teething baby drools badly, it 
is a wise idea to cut a rubber dress shield 
in half, and pin it under the frock, to 
prevent wetting it through, if the bib 
does not give enough protection. An¬ 
other suggestion, when there is a very 
tiny baby in the home, is to have an 
oval basket, flannel lined, with a pad of 
wadding in the bottom, in which to 
carry the infant around. It will be 
safer and more comfortable than if car¬ 
ried in the arms of an inexperienced 
person. 
* 
Some housewives think so much of sav¬ 
ing time in their operations, that every 
other economy is lost sight of. It is a 
good thing to save time, but not at the 
expense of strength or comfort. This is 
especially time in cooking; hurried meals 
are not always nutritious meals, and the 
time gained by “ rush ” cooking may be 
more than offset by the lack of nutri¬ 
ment provided. The farm housekeeper 
is less likely to hurry over her cooking 
than the woman who can send out at the 
last moment for some addition to a 
hasty meal ; but in cooking most eco¬ 
nomical dishes, the value of the food de¬ 
pends largely upon the care given it in 
preparation, and economy in time may 
be an extravagance in other ways. 
* 
Guimpes or yokes are a fashionable ad¬ 
junct to this season’s waists, and this 
pretty style is a great convenience in 
renovating a partly worn garment. To 
be fashionable, the yoke should be 
rounded at the corners, rather than 
square. Jetted or beaded net seems 
likely to be more in vogue than it has 
been for several years, and any one who 
has trimmings of this material laid away 
may bring it to the light again; it is 
very suitable for a yoke. Entire seam¬ 
less circular skirts of the jetted net are 
to be seen in the shop windows. The 
lace and net skirts worn 10 years ago 
are also revived. Jet toques and bon¬ 
nets are also offered extensively for 
early Spring wear, until it appears as 
though womankind would break forth 
into a barbaric glitter of beads and 
spangles. One great drawback to jet 
bonnets is the weight, which is usually 
oppressive, especially when the bonnet 
is perched at an uncomfortable angle 
* 
A convenient dressing case, for use in 
traveling, to hold brush, comb, etc., 
described in Harper's bazar, is made of 
brown linen. It requires three pieces of 
the material, 12 inches long and 6 
inches wide, curved at top and bottom. 
Two of these pieces form the outside 
covers ; the third is sewed between the 
two covers, to divide the case into com¬ 
partments. A fourth piece of linen, 
similar to the others, but one inch 
smaller each way, which is to form an 
outside pocket, is bound with yellow 
silk braid, and further embellished with 
feather-stitching, the covers being fin¬ 
ished in the same manner. This should 
be stitched on to one of the covers, leav¬ 
ing the top open, to form a receptacle 
for the comb. Set upon the other cover, 
half way up, is a pouch of linen laid in 
two single box pleats a little over one 
inch wide, held in place by two little 
flaps of linen, bound and stitched, which 
button over the pleats. The top of the 
piece of linen forming the division be¬ 
tween the two covers is bound with 
braid, and the three pieces stitched to¬ 
gether, the top being left open, to be 
fastened with ties of silk braid when the 
case is filled. 
* 
Any one who has watched a dress¬ 
maker fill her mouth with pins while 
fitting a dress, without interfering in 
the slightest degree with her conversa¬ 
tional powers, has suffered some misgiv¬ 
ings as to the possible destination of 
those articles. Some man who attended 
a meeting of the Daughters of the Revo- 
tion in Washington appears to have been 
deeply impressed in the same way. He 
states that one of the women who made 
a speech had the several sheets which 
contained her remarks carefully pinned 
together. As she proceeded, she would 
detach a sheet, and put the pin in her 
mouth. Then she would detach another 
sheet, and put another pin in her mouth. 
She kept this up for several minutes, 
talking all the time, and the mystified 
man wants to know whatever she did 
with those pins. She certainly did not 
swallow them, neither did she remove 
them from her mouth. When consider¬ 
ing the ability to deliver an interesting 
address without swallowing or ejecting 
a mouthful of pins, no one may gainsay 
the superior ability of the gentler sex. 
REMOVING SPOTS AND STAINS. 
Grease or oil stains may be readily re¬ 
moved from wall paper, painted walls or 
floors by covering with a paste made of 
pipe clay, borax and cold water ; and 
from carpets or rugs by applying pow¬ 
dered borax. Spots made by food, greasy 
in their character, should be washed out 
immediately with warm borax water. 
Blood stains require cold water, and a 
little soaking before rubbing out. 
Ink spots require prompt treatment, 
for, if allowed to dry, they are difficult 
to remove. Fresh ink, if wiped up as 
dry as possible, and then covered with a 
mixture of borax and salt, will leave no 
stains on carpets, floor, or upon garments 
upon which it has been spilled. Iron 
rust and mildew are well-known annoy¬ 
ances with bed and table linens, and re¬ 
quire special attention at the hands of 
the laundress, before being put in the 
tub. A paste made of citric acid, French 
chalk, powdered borax, and cold water, 
spread over the spots and dried in the 
sun, will usually be found effective. If 
the first application fail, it should be 
repeated. 
The brown stains on baking dishes and 
porcelain lining of cooking utensils, are 
best taken off with muriatic acid, but 
should be well rinsed with borax water 
to prevent injurious action on the sur¬ 
face. White spots on polished tables 
made by hot dishes will readily yield to 
an application of sweet oil. Fruit stains 
on table cloths, napkins, or wearing ap¬ 
parel should always be removed before 
putting in the wash, as hot water and 
soap will set them, so that it will be im¬ 
possible to take them out. White articles 
may be wetted in acids with excellent 
results, but colored fabrics require more 
care to prevent discoloring. If held over 
a basin, and very hot water, to which 
powdered borax is added, is poured over 
the spots, they will come out without fad¬ 
ing or injuring the most delicate colors. 
Troublesome coal dirt spots in Winter, 
and dust spots in Summer, often disfigure 
woolen gowns, and if washed out with 
soap, leave an ugly stain. To remove 
them, first cover with French chalk, 
then brush off, and rinse in a little tepid 
borax water, and hang in the shade. 
When dry, the spots will have entirely 
disappeared. eliza r. darker. 
A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY. 
It is not what we have but what we 
are that makes happiness ; circumstances, 
environment, have little to do with it. 
People talk of their trials, and mourn 
over them, when they are what, patiently 
borne, would make them stronger to 
bear more if need be. Then, a trial is 
only a trial when regarded as such ; a 
man is a man or a mouse just as he 
thinks. It is very seldom that people 
with genuine burdens are miserable. I 
know a woman with three small children, 
a helpless husband, two old people both 
more than 80 to care for, and she is as 
happy as the day is long. “ A happy 
disposition”, you say ? Yes, but if not 
natural, it may be, in a measure, ac¬ 
quired, and is it not worth striving for 
more than all else on earth ? 
The only true foundation of a beauti¬ 
ful character is the three reverences—for 
“God, self and humanity”. Look con¬ 
stantly for the least bit of malice or 
envy, and resolutely tear it out root and 
branch. It is the “ little foxes that spoil 
the vines of happiness.” It is worth while 
to weed your garden frequently and thor¬ 
oughly. Does not the garden of your 
heart need as much care ? 
It has been well said that many people 
Easter Ladies’ Home Journal 
Enlarged to 4$ Pages—Handsomely Illustrated 
THE INNER EXPERIENCES OF 
A CABINET MEMBER’S WIFE 
Intensely interesting letters, describing actual real-life happen¬ 
ings in social and official Washington. These papers tell of 
facts only, and the authorship is naturally withheld, though 
they are none the less interesting on that account. 
A HEAVEN- 
KISSING HILL 
Unquestionably Miss Magruder’s 
best novel—a romance ot a New 
York society girl—commences 
in the Easter number. 
FOR 25 CENTS WE WILL SEND THE LADIES’ 
HOME JOURNAL ON TRIAL FOR THREE MONTHS. 
ALSO, a handsome illustrated booklet containing our 
Prospectus for 1898 , with portraits 
of famous writers and small 
reproductions of some of the 
illustrations that are to appear 
in the Journal in future numbers. 
$1.00 per Year 
10 cts. a Copy 
LILIAN BELL 
SEES THE GERMANS 
Perhaps the brightest of these 
lively foreign letters from this 
American girl abroad appears in 
this special Easter number. 
THE BACHELOR GIRL 
Ruth Ashmore gives a delight¬ 
fully common-sense talk about 
this type of the girl of to-day, 
in the Easter number. 
The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia 
US 
K. % j'U 
A ? 
