854 
December 17 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
* Woman and 
The Home. 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
I cannot rave of Sappho’s wit, 
But Miss Parloa well I know, 
And Marion Harland’s worth can show, 
And Mrs. Lincoln quote a bit. 
Their works are equal, I maintain, 
To all the best of ancient books, 
For men are civilized by cooks, 
More than by Learning’s gentle reign. 
Success is work, and hungry men 
Few battles win or poems write; 
The well-fed mortal wins the fight 
In this old world, with sword or pen. 
—Sharlot M. Ilall , in What to Eat. 
General Francis A. Walker declared 
that America is suffering' from two great 
curses, indigestion and alcoholism, and 
that they are both due to the same cause 
—the inability of women in the middle 
and lower classes to prepare wholesome 
and nourishing food. The responsibility 
thus put upon housewives may do some¬ 
thing to dignify what we too often re¬ 
gard as a commonplace occupation. 
of cooking. It is better to serve such 
meat in the form of a stew or boiled 
pudding, and make the sirloin steak an 
occasional luxury. In preparing a sir¬ 
loin, the tail end, so to speak, should be 
removed before broiling, and reserved 
either for a stew, or to be chopped into 
Hamburger steak. When the steak is 
being served, it should be sliced slant¬ 
ingly into neat pieces, so that each per¬ 
son receives a piece of sirloin and a piece 
of tenderloin. The chopped steak is or¬ 
dinarily made into small cakes and fried, 
but it is also very nice if, after season¬ 
ing, it is made into one large cake and 
broiled over a steady fire. As soon as 
cooked, it should be placed on a very 
hot dish, with a piece of butter on top 
of it, and kept covered until served. 
Tomato sauce or broiled tomatoes are 
very nice served with this. 
A HOMEMADE WORK TABLE. 
The boy who is handy with tools can 
make the work table shown in Fig. 388, 
for his mother, using three-eigliths-inch 
wood of handsome graining. The upper 
supports can be made plain, if access 
cannot be had to a lathe or to a wood 
One sensible mother of our acquaint¬ 
ance has provided her little girls with 
roomy bloomers, to be worn in snowy 
weather. The bloomers are put on over 
the skirts, the skirts tucked into them 
and, with leggings from ankle to knee, 
the child can wade through the snow 
without injury. A long coat disguises 
the bloomers, which are to be removed 
when the child reaches school. This 
seems a very sensible plan for snowy 
weather. 
* 
We are often persuaded that modern 
manufacturers have done more to lighten 
the work of the men than of the house¬ 
keeper. Yet, when we consider the food 
preparations now on the market, we can 
see that the women, too, benefit amaz¬ 
ingly by modern improvements. Compare 
the labor with which hulled corn was 
prepared, years ago, with the great vari¬ 
ety of easily-cooked cereals now obtain¬ 
able. They are so cheap, too, there be¬ 
ing a wide range of choice at from two 
to five cents a pound. The canned goods, 
too, are a great aid. A recent addition 
to the list is canned sauerkraut and 
Vienna sausages, which cost 10 cents a 
tin. It is amazing how much food may 
be purchased for 25 cents, and this in a 
form requiring very little preparation 
for consumption. 
* 
F. Hopkinson Smith, the artist-author 
who builds lighthouses between whiles, 
and who has told us about such work in 
Caleb West, Master Diver, has this to 
say about worriment and anger : 
When I was 40 years old, I made an interesting 
discovery, and that was that all the things which 
worried me were the bridges I never had been 
obliged to cross, and the things that caused me 
trouble came out of the clear sky. Therefore, I 
had had all that worry and unhappiness for 
nothing. Now you might also say: “ At the 
same time you worried you became careful and 
cautious.” A man cannot save himself from all 
worry; there is worrying over a sick child or 
friend ; but that, I say, is not “ worry,” that is a 
calamity. For instance, any one of us could 
have sat down and worried to death lest the 
Spanish fleet should bombard New York harbor, 
and we could soon have gotten ourselves into a 
frenzied state of mind, but it wouldn’t have 
helped them fire a gun. Worry is as sand on the 
journal. (The journal in machinery is where the 
wheel comes on the shaft, you know.) But anger 
is that which curdles the milk of human kind¬ 
ness, and sours it for all time. I really think 
that, when a man gets into a rage, it curdles all 
the blood in his body for the whole of that day. 
* 
The carving of a beefsteak seems a 
very simple one, yet this dish is often 
badly served. A good steak, by which 
we mean a fine sirloin, is an extravagant 
dish for a family, while the cheaper por¬ 
tions such as flank or chuck, often cooked 
under the guise of steak, lose digesti¬ 
bility and nutritive value in this mode 
A HOMEMADE WORK-TABLE. Flo. 388. 
turner. The rest of the work is certainly 
within the ability of the home workshop, 
and of the boy in it. d. 
ECONOMY OF LABOR IN LAUNDRY 
WORK. 
Easily-Washed Garments. —Not many 
housewives stop to think, when buying 
cotton fabrics, whether they will iron 
easily. If one must iron and wash, mend 
and make, then it is well to consider the 
amount of work necessary to accomplish 
these duties. Knit underwear is always 
neat-looking, and the washing and iron¬ 
ing are much easier done than would be 
the case if the garments were made from 
muslin and trimmed, as most such gar¬ 
ments are, with ruffles and tucks. It is bet¬ 
ter to pay a little more maybe, for a neat, 
well-fitting knit garment of good work¬ 
manship and material, than to spend a 
less amount on garments that require a 
great deal of time and labor to keep 
them “ done up.” 
Starched Underwear. —If, however, 
one must (because she wishes to) wear 
muslin or cambric undergarments, with 
ruffles and embroideries, then let these 
be starched and well ironed. This may 
seem like extra work; instead it really 
saves work, for a garment well starched 
and ir*ned will keep clean longer, be¬ 
cause the dust and dirt will not stick to 
it as they will to a carelessly-ironed gar¬ 
ment. The dirt will not permeate to 
every fiber of the goods if starched, but 
will be on the surface, so the garment 
will be much easier washed. Therefore 
starching and ironing are really an 
economy of labor, when looked at from 
this point of view. I am not one of the 
non-ironing advocates, because I have 
tried both ironed and unironed garments, 
and I find that those neatly ironed stay 
clean so much longer that it really pays 
to iron them. I know women who wash out 
their every-day gowns, aprons, etc., hang 
them in a breeze, and then put them on 
unironed. They do not look so very 
badly, but this I do know, that gowns 
so laundered will show the soil more 
quickly than they would had they been 
lightly starched and pressed out. 
Why New Goods Stay Clean. —The 
fiber of the goods, when starched and 
ironed, is pressed down so that it cannot 
catch the dirt as it would if not so ironed. 
Especially is this true of thick cotton 
goods, like the Dutch blue prints so 
much used for housework gowns and 
aprons. You have often noticed how 
much longer new print or gingham seems 
to keep clean than that which has been 
once washed. This is on the same prin¬ 
ciple. When new, the goods are so 
pressed and sized or starched that every 
fiber lies as smooth, almost, as glass, 
therefore, cannot catch the dirt as it 
will after even our best efforts at iron¬ 
ing. A little borax in the starch gives 
an added smoothness, and a spoonful of 
common Epsom salts is also useful, giv¬ 
ing a certain newness of look to prints 
and ginghams. 
Knit Underwear —All knit under¬ 
wear is as well folded right from the 
line, and if perfectly dry when put away, 
needs no ironing. It will be smoother if 
folded when taken from the line than it 
would be if putin a basket and left under 
the weight of other clothes to crumple 
and wrinkle. It is a great economy of 
labor to fold the clothes right from the 
line ; if they are simply dropped into the 
basket, more wrinkles will be pressed 
into them than can be pressed out with 
several hours’ ironing. It does take 
longer to fold the clothes from the line 
and, if the weather is cold, this cannot 
always be practiced. 
Hanging on the Line. —Inhanging up 
sheets, if they are folded with the hems 
together, and these hems put over the 
line, they will be ready to fold easily; 
besides, sheets so hung will never trouble 
one with frayed hems where the wind 
has switched them out. I hemstitch all 
my sheets and pillow slips, and I find 
that, by hanging the hems over the line, 
these remain intact as long as the things 
last. This is a matter of economy, for a 
sheet or pillow slip with a frayed hem is 
not only unsightly, but it will become 
really worn out sooner. In taking pil¬ 
low slips from the line, lay them flat, 
one on top of the other, and then roll up 
lightly ; this will leave them compara¬ 
tively smooth, so that the sprinkling and 
ironing are small matters. Some do not 
iron pillow slips and towels, but having 
tried both ways, I have decided that, if 
there is strength enough to iron them, it 
is by far the best plan, for it will save 
more than as much work in the washing 
later. 
Outing Flannel. —Some buy a great 
deal of outing flannel for children’s 
clothes, and while this is new and fresh, 
it is pretty ; but it shows the soil sooner 
than almost anything else. The nap on 
it, that makes it look so soft and pretty, 
is the very trap that catches the dirt 
and thus makes the washing more. It 
cannot, however, be denied that this 
fabric washes with very little labor, and 
so in that way, it is desirable. Still for 
very little children who soil their clothes 
quickly, there are other fabrics better 
worth the using, if one must do the wash¬ 
ing and ironing herself. One can iron a 
thin, sheer garment almost as quickly 
again as one of heavy material. 
If the children go to school, and wear 
white or light-colored aprons, you will 
find that those of light weight can be 
pressed off with about half the labor re¬ 
quired for ironing heavier goods. I have 
known women to make for themselves 
aprons of bleached muslin, of the stand¬ 
ard makes, thinking this an economy ; 
but when it comes to the ironing, it is 
quite a difficult matter to do up such an 
Macbeth lamp-chimneys 
save nine-tenths of the 
chimney money and all the 
trouble. But get the right 
chimney. Go by the Index. 
Write Macbeth Pittsburgh Pa 
apron and have it look smooth and nice 
Two lawn aprons could be ironed in the 
same length of time. 
Woolen School Frocks. —Flannel or 
cashmere makes excellent school dresses 
for little girls, and if these are made 
simply, they are more easily done up 
than cotton, and may be worn without 
aprons, if one will wash and do them up 
as needed. I think such frocks are an 
economy in Winter. One may make them 
from old ones if she has such to make 
over, and they will wear a good while, 
too, especially if the skirts are lined 
with a thin material. It is very little 
work to wash and iron such frocks, and 
they save a great deal of starching and 
ironing in the Winter. 
ROSE 8EELYE-MILLKR. 
METHEGLIN. 
Will you give a recipe for making metheglin ? 
Nassau, N. Y. N. b. r.. 
Ans. —The following are English rec¬ 
ipes for metheglin: After the honey 
has been run from the combs, the latter 
may be steeped in water to clear the 
honey from the wax. When the liquor 
is strong enough to float an egg (the wax 
having been removed), it is boiled for 
about an hour, and then put into an 
open cask to ferment. It is stirred oc¬ 
casionally to promote the fermentation, 
and after a few days, put into casks. 
When fermentation is nearly finished, 
the bungs are put in loosely, and after¬ 
wards tightened. 
A second recipe is to pour five gallons 
of boiling water upon 20 pounds of 
honey, boil and remove the scum as it 
rises ; add one ounce of hops, boil for 10 
minutes longer, and then put in a tub to 
cool. When the heat is reduced to 75 
degrees, add a little yeast, smeared on a 
piece of toast. Stand the metheglin in 
a warm room, stirring occasionally until 
it ferments thoroughly, then put in 
casks. 
Still another way is to mix three 
pounds of honey and the juice of four 
lemons with two gallons of water; 
boil for half an hour, skimming well, 
ferment with yeast, let it stand for six 
months, and then bottle. Metheglin 
improves greatly with age, but becomes 
a strongly alcoholic drink. Metheglin 
and perry (made from pears) used to be 
favorite festival drinks in some parts of 
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