342 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 7 
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♦ Woman atid ♦ 
| The Home.: 
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FROM DAY TO DAY. 
Tiie Attorney-General of Colorado has 
decided that no law in that State re¬ 
quires a woman, upon marriage, to as¬ 
sume her husband’s name, so the women 
who regard the assumption of another 
name upon marriage as an admission of 
inferior status may ignore this conven¬ 
tional law, if they so desire. Perhaps 
they may go still further and insist upon 
the husband’s acceptance of his wife’s 
name instead ; we have several precedents 
for this. 
* 
Many people seem to have a prejudice 
against olive oil in salad dressing, butter 
or cream being frequently substituted 
for it. It would seem wise to overcome 
this prejudice as far as possible, for this 
oil certainly possesses much dietetic 
value. Its use is recommended where 
there are defects of the excretory ducts, 
especially of the skin. In cases of eczema, 
the discontinuance of starchy foods, and 
the substitution of fruit, milk, eggs and 
olive oil, has produced a marked im¬ 
provement. Eggs or oysters, fried in 
olive oil, possess a delicacy of flavor 
absent when any other fat is used. It is 
a valuable restorer of wasted tissue, and 
there seems every reason to encourage 
its use. 
* 
A member of Parliament from New 
Zealand, who spoke recently before a 
New York audience of workingmen, gave 
the impression that this far-off British 
colony is more socialistic than our re¬ 
public in some of its laws. Arbitration 
between labor and capital is compulsory ; 
the land laws are such that great estates 
cannot be held in perpetuity, and women 
have, in every respect, equal rights with 
the men. It will, however, seem a little 
surprising to find that New Zealand 
women are not in sympathy with prohi¬ 
bition, although their influence is 
strongly on the side of social reforms. 
So far, they have been very conservative, 
and quite indisposed to be blown about 
by every wind of doctrine. 
* 
Buttekmaking, to a city-bred child 
who has never seen the work done, is a 
delightful mystery, and some of the 
kindergartens give a demonstration in 
this line, to the great interest of the 
children. The teacher sets a pan of milk 
over night in the open window ; when 
the cream has risen, it is skimmed and 
put in a glass fruit jar. The teacher 
and children take turns in shaking the 
jar, until the butter comes, when it is 
taken out, patted a little, and served to 
the children upon crackers. When the 
children go home, they have a wonder¬ 
ful tale to tell, about “ the way we made 
butter ”. It is only after studying the 
way in which the kindergarten teacher 
interests the children that one realizes 
how much can be taught, in the home 
circle, about everyday things. 
* 
The pax-asols displayed in the Spring 
openings show every color of the kaleido¬ 
scope, but a great many of them are 
very useful affairs of the coaching type, 
ready for sunshine or rain alike. These 
are in solid colors or checks, with no 
trimming except a little puff of the same 
material around the stick at the top. 
The porcelain handles, so long popular, 
are not seen on these new parasols, 
natural wood sticks, without any curve, 
being preferred. Sometimes the sticks 
are dyed to match the cover. Surah is 
one of the best materials for a service¬ 
able parasol, because it does not spot 
readily. Among the more showy coach¬ 
ing parasols are some in plain dark colors 
edged with a broad border of plaid. The 
more elaborate parasols are covered with 
flounces and puffings of chiffon. Al¬ 
though one often sees such elaborate 
parasols carried by women in walking 
dress, they are in very bad taste under 
such circumstances. One of the worst 
examples of such defective taste was a 
woman who marched complacently along, 
one day last Summer, wearing a shabby 
black gown and a black walking hat, 
while she carried a gauzy and much- 
frilled white parasol. 
* 
March and April have given us alter¬ 
nations of very warm weather with raw 
and gusty days. We know many people 
who let their fires go out by the first 
week in April, so that the housecleaning 
could be finished and, at intervals since 
then, they have been sitting around 
muffled in shawls, or thawing out over 
the kitchen range. A great many ob¬ 
stinate colds are started under these cir¬ 
cumstances, often with serious results. 
Even where fires are retained, raw Spring 
days are very likely to induce stiff neck, 
or similar aches. In case of the ailments 
named, relief is often obtained by thor¬ 
oughly rubbing with warm sweet oil, 
covering the affected portion, after the 
rubbing, with flannel and oiled silk. 
Rubbing the chest and throat with the 
warm oil often gives relief, where there 
is an obstinate cough. When the heavy 
underwear is taken off in the Spring, 
the risk of chill is lessened, if not en¬ 
tirely obviated, by rubbing body and 
limbs with alcohol. The same treat¬ 
ment is excellent after one has been 
badly chilled by exposure to cold or wet. 
MERELY THE DISH-CLOTH. 
The “ company ” insisted upon wiping 
the dishes, and the hostess got out the 
towels and arranged the draining-rack 
and churned the hot water into a suds 
with a soaper. “ Now, where’s my dish¬ 
cloth disappeared this time? ” she laugh¬ 
ed. “ I never saw such a slippery thing ! 
Oh, here it is, tumbled down behind the 
kettles—just where it belongs! ” she 
added. 
The spoons chinked merrily against 
the forks, and the company tried not to 
look at the dish-cloth. It was a “slippery” 
thing—it looked so, anyway, and its com¬ 
plexion was browned and speckled be¬ 
yond the reach of cosmetics. The com¬ 
pany looked away quickly for fear of 
discourtesy. 
“ You can’t think what a dislike Dick 
has for dish-cloths ! ” ran on the hostess. 
“ He helps me ‘do’ the dishes lots of times, 
p„nd the queerest part of it is that he al¬ 
ways wants to do the washing part. You'd 
think he’d rather wipe, wouldn’t you ? 
But he won’t touch the dish-cloth—my, 
no! He takes it out with a fork and 
lays it, all sloppy and limpsy, upon the 
shelf, and then he washes the dishes 
without any. Men are queer folks ! ” 
Was It the man or the dish-cloth that 
was “queer” in this case? The com¬ 
pany found herself sympathizing with 
Dick, in spite of herself, and in spite of 
herself, she couldn’t help remembering 
her own white dish-cloths at home that 
smelled of sunshine and looked like snow. 
Perhaps, of all house-working tools, 
dish-cloths are most subject to abuse— 
and surely they are as indispensable as 
any. If we could only realize that thej' 
have a stubborn way of harboring dis¬ 
ease and disaster in their grimy folds— 
if they are grimy—we should be a little 
more particular about them. We can¬ 
not, by any possibility, be too particu¬ 
lar. A dish-cloth cannot be washed too 
often or hang too long in the sunshine. 
Water and sunlight are at sword’s points 
with disease. Especially is it true that, 
not for one minute, should a well-be¬ 
haved dish-cloth hang away in the cup¬ 
board under the sink, in the dark and 
dampness. Let it live out its life in the 
broad, sun-sweetened daylight. See that 
it is thoroughly cleansed, three times a 
day, and thoroughly dry it in the sun¬ 
shine, if possible. Constance morrill. 
ALCOHOL PICKLES. 
I found a recipe in a very old paper (I think it 
was in The R. N.-Y.) for pickling cucumbers, 
using alcohol. [We think not; we never publish 
such stuff.—E ds.J It was stated that they would 
make their own vinegar, and after the pickles 
were gone, the vinegar would be good for mar¬ 
ket, the price being very small. Will you give 
this recipe again ? mrs. g. 
New York. 
ANSWERED BY PROF. EDITH F. M’DERMOTT. 
Mrs. G. has, evidently, obtained the 
impression, somewhere, that the spore 
of acetic fermentation is present on the 
surface of the cucumber, just as the 
spore of alcoholic fermentation was dis¬ 
covered by Pasteur to be on the skin of 
the grape. I can find no authentic sup¬ 
port of this theory ; in fact, the theory 
itself is not mentioned. It is true that 
this ferment is present in the air. and 
will change dilute alcohol into vinegar. 
The alcohol ought not to have a strength 
of more than six or eight per cent for 
this change to take place, and alcohol as 
weak as this would not have the pre¬ 
servative power necessary for pickles. 
There would be nothing in the alcohol 
for the bacteria to feed upon, unless 
something were added for this purpose. 
Then would not the brine into which 
the pickles were previously placed kill 
the ferment? If the laws in New York 
are like those in Michigan, the vinegar 
so formed would have to be sold as spirit 
vinegar, which commands a much lower 
price than cider vinegar. 
AN IMPROVISED BATHROOM. 
When stern necessity forced us to leave 
our comfortable house in the city, and 
move to the farm, the things we missed 
most of all were the closets and bath¬ 
room of our former home. The daughter 
of the house declared it simply out of 
the question to live without the latter, 
and set about arranging one forthwith. 
It may encourage others to hear of her 
success, for she spent less than $2, and 
the bathroom is almost as good as the 
one we left behind us ; we get almost as 
much good from it, and never suffer from 
the ill effects of bursted water pipes. 
Lath was carefully tacked over the 
cracks in the woodhouse, and in one side, 
a platform of smooth old boards was 
neatly laid. These were covered with 
several thicknesses of old rag carpet. In 
front of the tub was a square of white 
oilcloth that had once done duty on the 
kitchen table. The tub was simply a 
watering-trough of hard wood, which 
cost SI.50, including the making. This 
was sandpapered till it was as smooth as 
glass, then painted with three coats of 
good white paint. It was then placed 
firmly on two huge blocks of wood. The 
only window was covered with thin cur¬ 
tains of light calico to admit the air on 
hot days, and between it and the bath¬ 
tub stood a screen made from two sections 
of an old clothes rack, draped in old 
damask curtains. A small rack for clean 
clothes, and a homemade stand for soap, 
towels, sponge and other toilet articles 
completed the entire furnishing. Every¬ 
thing was as clean and neat as possible. 
After bathing, the stopper was re¬ 
moved from the trough, and a small 
drain carried the water out into the 
garden. A tub four feet long is better 
than one several feet longer, and it should 
be perfectly smooth. Even where the 
family is already provided with bathing 
facilities, such an arrangement will be 
found very convenient for the farm help. 
HILDA RICHMOND. 
From Manufacturer tc Consumer. 
For the asking we 
mail you our l.itlio- 'j&iiiiiif* 
graphed Carpet Cata¬ 
logue, showing goods 
in lithographed colors. 
Fcrsamples.send eight 
cenis. A I,L CARPETS 
SEWED FREE, ANI) 
FREIGHT PAID TO 
YOUR STATION. 
$3.95 
Buys this (exact) 
Solid Oak Refriger¬ 
ator. Our 118-pago 
Catalogue of Furni¬ 
ture, Draperies, 
Crockery, Baby Car- 
r i a g e 8, Stoves, 
Lamps, Bedding, 
Mirrors, Pictures, 
&c., is mailed to all 
who ask for it. 
$7.45 
BuysaMade-to-your-Measure 
All-wool Cheviot Suit. EX¬ 
PRESS PAID TO YOUR 
STATION. Catalogue and 
Samples Free. Address 
(exactly as below.) 
JULIUS HINES & SON, 
Dept. 320. BALTIMORE, MD. 
Concerning Values in General 
We shall have a great many special things to tell about during 
the next few weeks, and it may be well to have some matters per¬ 
fectly understood between us. 
It’s a hard thing to fully appreciate a bargain without seeing 
the goods. About the only standard of judgment you have is the 
reduction from the “ regular price.” But there is probably no 
phrase in all advertising so much abused as that. It is so easy to 
tack on a few cents or dollars to the regular figures, and then an¬ 
nounce the reduction with a flourish of trumpets. Exaggeration 
is so easy that the truthful advertisement sometimes sounds 
commonplace. And what we want you to understand (if you do 
not already understand it), is that our news stories are written 
literally and truthfully. 
When we say “Half-Price,” we mean one-half the figures at 
which we ourselves would sell the goods under ordinary condi¬ 
tions. “ Regular price ” is our own regular price. 
Now we’d like you to send to us for practical examples of this 
policy. We are selling Silks (50c. to $1.00 a yard), Press Goods 
and Handkerchiefs at figures much below the regular prices. 
We are selling Upholstery Goods, and especially Lace Curtains, 
at figures very much less than regular ; but you must be quick to 
get any. 
We have some below-the-usual figures on Wash Wrappers, 
Ribbons and Hosiery, which it would pay you to investigate. 
Write us about your needs. Samples cost only the price of a 
post-card. 
JOHN WANAMAKER 
Section 159 
Broadway 
New York 
(Please address exactly as above) 
