1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
foot, with a wide facing cut to fit, gives 
a well-hanging skirt, becoming and very 
serviceable, it launders well, but need 
not go to the wash nearly so often as 
lighter fabrics, especially those showing 
white in the stripes or plaids; indeed, 
unless the cook has an incurable habit 
of slopping and splashing, there need be 
no excuse for soiling such a skirt till 
several blouses have borne it company. 
Laundry work is thus materially les¬ 
sened, and the housekeeper finds herself 
sufficiently well appareled to take the 
unexpected drive to village or station, 
by merely laying aside her apron, and 
donning cape or jacket. These cotton 
goods may lose their color in time, but 
hold it as long as ginghams or prints, 
and make durable linings, etc., when 
past other service. 
Two hooks at the back of the belt to 
suspend the weight from corresponding 
eyes or rings on the blouse, are precau¬ 
tions that should never be omitted. If 
the weight still seems burdensome, wear 
a thinner petticoat, or even a pair of 
knickerbockers, which latter add no 
perceptible burden to the form. 
Although the dress worn by the trained 
nurse is certainly very tidy and invari¬ 
ably becoming, the expense of buying, 
making and laundering so many work 
gowns, even if all done by one’s own 
hands, must prove a considerable tax 
where one would prefer many other 
things more enjoyable. The nurse is, 
when in uniform, attired for service ; 
when work ends, she assumes with relief 
a pretty house or street costume. Should 
not the house-mother regard the eyes of 
her family enough to wear the pretty 
clothes of leisure whenever her duties 
will permit ? Why go always swathed 
in aprons? Nothing soils more quickly 
than white aprons, and though they 
have their occasions of use, I can see 
nothing desirable about them for habitual 
afternoon wear. The big work aprons 
described in the article referred to, hang¬ 
ing always ready behind the kitchen 
door, can be put on in a half second, and 
as quickly laid aside. Why wear a large 
apron except when busy with work re¬ 
quiring complete protection? Smaller 
black sateen aprons are tidy and incon¬ 
spicuous, and savor less of the kitchen. 
To some busy housewives, it may 
seem as though the hour for laying 
aside working attire never came. but. 
there are few who could not rest the 
eyes of their children by wearing some¬ 
thing more attractive a part of the time. 
It is not good for husband and children 
to settle to the belief that “ mother’s ” 
sphere is always to he a drudge. 
P. T. PHI M HOSE. 
PUTTING UP FRUIT FOR SALE. 
We have a great deal of fruit on our farm, and 
I wish to start a business in canning it for cus¬ 
tomers, on a small scale, of course, at first, but 
do not know exactly how to go to work. How 
much profit should I expect a quart for the fruit 
put up in good shape? In making jelly, what 
would it sell fora glass—pure jelly, I mean ? How 
could mixed pickles, chili sauce, etc., be made ? 
We live five miles from a good-sized town and 15 
miles from the nearest city—Binghamton. What 
would be a good way to get a few customers at 
first? Reader. 
Tioga County, N. Y. 
My advice to those who are anxious to 
take up this line of work for financial 
aid, would be to begin on a very small 
scale. If one has customers who will 
give their orders, it will be a very great 
help, and lift a load of discouragement, 
which usually comes to beg-inners. Solicit 
their orders early, that you may not he 
working at a venture. It is better to 
put in the needed supply of glass, sugar, 
spices and vinegar, with all the utensils 
needed to do the work, before fruit 
ripens, so there will be no waste of time. 
A good way to decide on the price to 
be asked, is by giving to each of the 
materials used a fair value, counting 
time as well, and add enough to make a 
fair margin. On some fruits, of course, 
the expense would be much greater than 
on others, lly making a uniform price 
for all kinds of picklesorjellies.it seems 
to make matters right, giving more profit 
on some, which helps even up the lesser 
profit on others. I think a good average 
for jellies in one-third-quart tumblers 
would be $2.25 per dozen. Mixed pickles, 
though one should raise all the vege¬ 
tables used, are quite expensive, as they 
take so much time, and are troublesome 
to do : so they ought not to sell for much 
less than ot her kinds. Chili sauce can 
be put up very cheaply, the glass being 
the greatest expense, though many ob¬ 
ject to that relish on account of its con¬ 
taining onions. Canned fruit is of such 
different quality that one can give no 
idea as to price. One must make it as 
rich as he choose, and make the price to 
correspond. The tin-canned goods with 
which we have to compete, and with 
which the country is supplied in immense 
quantities, make it much harder to find a 
market for glass-canned fruit. It is put 
up so much cheaper, and for some seems 
to answer the purpose just as well as 
more expensive, purer kinds. 
MHS. O. P. HOWLAND. 
SUBSTITUTES FOR WHEATEN BREAD 
The extraordinary advance in the price 
of wheat has made a great increase in 
Hour, which at present (May 12) is held 
at $8.25 a barrel by many retail dealers. 
This makes wheat bread an expensive 
item in many households, and careful 
housekeepers, to whom economy is a 
necessity, will endeavor so to arrange 
the dietary as to lessen the expense of 
this one item. Corn bread suggests it¬ 
self as the most convenient supplement, 
though it is not an actual substitute for 
wheat. Prof. Harry Snyder, of the Min¬ 
nesota Experiment Station, who has 
given special attention to dietetic values, 
gives us his opinion as follows : 
“ When such a course is necessary, the 
change from wheat Hour to corn meal 
should be a gradual one, and the wheat 
bread should not be entirely excluded 
from the dietary. Wheat Hour contains 
somewhat more protein and less fat than 
corn meal, hence it would be advisable, 
if corn meal is more liberally used, to in¬ 
crease the amount of the cheaper proteid 
foods as beans, peas, oatmeal, milk, and 
cheese. There is no material difference 
between the white and the yellow corn 
meal. Yellow corn meal contains a yel¬ 
low coloring matter which is absent in 
white corn meal. There is no greater 
difference in food value between yellow 
and white corn meal than between yel¬ 
low and white butter. Corn meal, if 
properly used, and combined with other 
foods, can be made to lessen the house¬ 
hold expenses during the present high 
price of flour.'’ 
A CEMETERY SOCIETY. 
I spent a few weeks last Fall visiting 
in a thickly settled farming community 
in north central Illinois; it was some 
distance from towns, and thought too 
far by many to attend church. The 
people were thrifty and well-to-do, but 
still clinging to many of the old-fash¬ 
ioned ideas of living—everybody knew 
everybody in that township, what they 
did, how they did it, where they went, 
what they said, etc. Little things that 
were not worth mentioning were made 
much of. It was not a reading com¬ 
munity, which accounted for this, to a 
great extent. 
But one thing the women had under¬ 
taken. and the result was so satisfying 
that I deem it worthy of mention. Per¬ 
haps it would be the means of sociability, 
and also of doing a good work in some 
isolated farming country. The country 
graveyard had become very badly 
neglected, overrun with weeds, no fence 
—not an attractive picture in the other¬ 
wise pleasant landscape. The women 
who had friends buried there took it in 
hand, organized a cemetery society, 
meeting every two weeks at the homes 
of different members. As an illustra¬ 
tion, taking notes from the secretary’s 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use ‘‘Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
391 
book : “ Meeting met with Mrs. Parr. 
Two comforts were tied for her, paying 
one dollar to the society for said work.” 
Perhaps, at the next meeting, it would 
be carpet rags to cut and sew, or helping 
with the Winter or Spring sewing. 
It was an all-day meeting, and looked 
forward to with pleasure. The fine 
dinner and supper were no small part of 
the entertainment, and there is where I 
think a mistake is made, although in 
this instance, such a thing as economy in 
cooking was not thought of; each tried 
to outdo the other in quantity and 
quality. 
But they could point with pride to the 
changed condition of the graveyard. A 
man was paid to keep grass cut and 
weeds down, and to water plants and 
shrubs when required. A nice iron fence 
with ornamental gateway was built, a 
graveled drive was made, and a neat, 
small house built at one side for tools. 
Several beautiful monuments had been 
set up, which otherwise would have been 
common stones. It was a pleasant 
thought that so many of the old settlers, 
the fathers and mothers of pioneer life, 
could rest in such a beautiful spot, near 
and surrounded by their own homes 
occupied now by their children and 
grandchildren. 
MHS. FREDERICK C. JOHNSON. 
A Friend in Need. —If in skirmishing 
among the closets before the pitched 
battle of house-cleaning is on, one comes 
across an old-fashioned gossamer, or a 
partly worn mackintosh, it should be set 
aside in the sewing room, to be made 
into a big, full-skirted apron with a 
generous bib, and a pair of over-sleeves. 
Such an equipment will stand in good 
stead all through the house-cleaning 
campaign, be a faithful friend on wash- 
days innumerable, do good service when 
going out into the vegetable gaiden for 
a toothsome addition to the menu, or to 
the flower bed to wage war on the con¬ 
quering weeds. It will make the wash¬ 
ing and ironing easier, because fewer 
kitchen aprons will be soiled, and if 
slipped on when the little pigs, or the 
calf, or the cosset clamor for luncheon 
after one’s dress is changed in the after¬ 
noon, there will be fewer draggled skirts, 
also. ROSALIE I«\ WIT,LIAMS. 
From lilimfictmor to Consumer. 
For the asking we 
mail you our Litho¬ 
graphed Carpet Cata¬ 
logue, showing goods 
in lithographed colors, 
for gam plea,send eight 
cents. ALL CARPETS 
SEWED FREE, AND 
FREIGHT PAID TO 
YOUR STATION. 
$3.95 
buys this (exact) 
Solid Oak Refriger¬ 
ator. Our 112-page 
Catalogue of Furni¬ 
ture, Draperies, 
Crockery, Baby Car- 
r i a g e s, S t o v os. 
Lamps, Bedding, 
Mirrors, Pictures, 
&c., is mailed to all 
who ask for it. 
$7.45 
Buy sa Made-to-you r-Measu re 
All-wool Cheviot Suit, EX¬ 
PRESS PAID TO YOUR 
STATION. Catalogue and 
Samples Free. Address 
(exactly as below.) 
JUI-IUS HINES & SON, 
Dept. 320. BALTIMORE, MD. fe) 
For Our Far-away Friends 
A few days ago we acquired a very extraordinary lot of silks 
at a very extraordinary price. We put them on sale, without 
saying a word about them, and they were so pretty and so cheap 
that they sold like the proverbial “hot cakes,” or, to use a more 
up-to-date comparison, like steam yachts in war time. 
It occurred to us that these were exactly the kind of goods that 
would interest some of the many thousand friends with whom we 
have recently become acquainted through the mails ; so, just in 
time, we withdrew a lot of the prettiest of the silks, and held 
them for your orders. Here they are—five lots of them, with 
plenty of choice in each, and samples of any and all waiting for 
your request. 
One lot at 80c. a yard, regularly $1 
A firm, rich taffeta silk, in seven exquisite evening shades. It lias a 
delicate pattern outlined in pin-dots over fine diagonal satin stripes— 
three tones of the same color. 
One lot at 80c. a yard, regularly $1 
Hair-line taffetas, with a bayadere satin stripe, shaded with black ; an 
exceedingly cool, neat, tasteful style, which will impress you at sight. 
Seven shades. 
One lot at 85c. a yard, regularly $1 
Beautifully brocaded taffetas, pattern of trailing vine, delicately exe¬ 
cuted between clusters of jewel satin stripes. Shades are pink, yellow, 
nile green, and white. 
One lot at 85c. a yard, regularly $1 
Very rich white Canale taffetas, white grounds, diversified with white 
satin stripes and colored “eanale” stripes of green, heliotrope, grey, bluet, 
yellow, lavender, new red or pink. 
One lot at $1 a yard, regularly $1.25 
These are heavy silks for outdoor wear, effective and rich, but not too 
showy. In three color combinations, beautifully blended. Two-way 
striped, jeweled at intersections. 
Would you like samples of these or of anything else ? 
JOHN WANAMAKER 
Broadway 
Section 159 New York 
(Please address exactly as above) 
