546 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 16, 
l Woman and Home ] 
From Day to Day 
TABLE MANNERS. 
The bluejay is a greedy bird ; I often watch 
him eat, 
When crumbs are scattered from our door he 
snatches all the treat, 
lie drives the smaller birds away, his man¬ 
ners are so rude— 
It’s quite a shocking thing to see him gobble 
down his food! 
And sometimes, when I’m not polite, I hear 
my mother say, 
“Why, now I see a little boy who’s eating 
bluejay way !” 
The sparrows are a noisy set and very quar¬ 
relsome, 
Because each hungry little bird desires the 
biggest crumb, 
They scold and fight about the food, all chirp¬ 
ing “Me! Me! Me!” 
And sometimes when we children are inclined 
to disagree 
About the sharing of a treat, my mother says, 
“Why, you 
Are acting now the very way the silly spar¬ 
rows do!” 
The jolly little chickadees are perfectly polite. 
They never snatch, they never bolt, they 
never, never fight, 
They hold the crumbs down daintily with 
both their little feet, 
And peck off tiny little bites—we love to 
watch them eat! 
And when my sister's good at meals, my 
mother says, “I see 
A little girl who’s eating like a darling 
chickadee !” 
—Hannah G. Eernald in Good Housekeeping. 
• 
A delicious sauce to serve with plain 
vanilla or lemon ice cream is made by 
mashing red raspberries, sweetening with 
powdered sugar, and putting to chill in 
the ice box until used. 
* 
A combination of blueberries . and 
gooseberries, one portion of gooseberries 
to three of the blueberries, canned in the 
ordinary fashion, makes an excellent Win¬ 
ter sauce or filling for pies. 
* 
An oilcloth bath mat to stand on when 
taking a quick sponge in the bedroom wilt 
save much sloppiness. If the edge is 
rolled over a rope and stitched in place it 
makes a thick border that prevents escape 
of water. 
* 
A very sightly dessert consisted of a 
whole pineapple brought on the table in 
an ornamental dish. The top was lifted 
off, like a lid, and we found that the in¬ 
terior had been scraped out and mixed 
with finely cut banana and peach, the 
whole being sweetened and returned to 
the pineapple shell. It was well worth the 
little extra trouble. 
* 
Sometimes a certain pantry or closet 
becomes badly infected with mold germs, 
any food stored in it being quickly mold¬ 
ed. To remedy this, the room or closet 
should be thoroughly aired all day, if 
possible exposed to sunlight, and well 
swept, following this with scrubbing or 
wiping with a damp cloth. The cleaning 
should be done by preference on a windy 
day. After thus removing the germs, 
food is much less likely to mold. 
* 
In a recent volume on bacteria, Prof. 
Conn calls attention to the fact that milk 
is not necessarily harmless because it has 
not soured. Soured milk contains more 
bacteria than sweet milk, but most of 
them are entirely harmless, while milk 
that is perfectly sweet may contain dan¬ 
gerous disease germs. The farmer’s wife 
is more at ease concerning her milk sup¬ 
ply than the city dweller, because she 
knows the conditions under which it is 
produced. If there is any reason to feel 
doubtful of milk it should always be 
cooked, or Pasteurized, before using as a 
beverage. 
* 
We fear that the little incident thus re¬ 
corded by the Youth’s Companion is not 
without point and accuracy: The editor 
of the Creektown Eagle was a young man 
with impressive manners. After he had 
knocked at the door of Mrs. Casey’s mod¬ 
est dwelling he waited, hat in hand, foi 
her appearance. 
“Madam,” he said, with a low bow, “I 
was present at the graduation exercises 
of the Creektown Seminary, and was much 
impressed by the essay of a young lady, 
Miss Violet Casey, who is, I am told, your 
daughter. Her treatment of the theme, 
‘Stern Duties of Life,’ was such that 1 
hope to induce her to contribute similar 
articles to the Creektown Eagle. Would 
it be possible for me to see her?” 
Mrs. Casey’s mouth had opened in a 
slow, helpless way during this address, 
but here at last was something tangible, 
and she brightened at once. 
“Violet?” she repeated. “Sure you can 
see her. She’s out back o’ the house in 
the hammick. She’ll be glad to see you. 
no doubt, but if you'll excuse me, I’ll run 
back to me ironing.” 
* 
A newspaper report from Waterloo, 
Iowa, states that the wives of many far¬ 
mers have during the past month been vic¬ 
tims of a smooth woman grafter, who 
during her stay in the county cleared up 
several hundred dollars by her scheme, 
which is a new one in those parts. The 
woman, with a little daughter, stopped 
at a prominent boarding house in the 
city, and dany with her child drove 
through the country selling hair tonic to 
the farm women. After having sold them 
a bottle of worthless hair tonic for a 
dollar she would ask if they had any of 
their combings. This necessary accom¬ 
paniment to every woman’s toilet was then 
taken by the agent to be made into a fine 
switch that would make the farm wife 
have twice the amount of hair that she 
naturally possessed. After securing the 
hair combings she stated that she was 
doing light housekeeping in the city and 
would like about five dozen eggs. The 
eggs would pay for the making of the 
switch, she stated. After selling the tonic, 
securing the valuable hair combings and 
five or six dozen eggs, for which she had 
a case under the seat of her buggy, the 
woman would leave with a promise to 
return the switch and pay for the eggs 
in about two weeks. That was the last 
seen of her at that farmhouse. This com¬ 
bination of grafts she worked at hundreds 
of farmhouses. The hair combings the 
woman shipped to Chicago, where they 
were sold for high prices, while the eggs 
were sold to local grocers at highest 
prices. When her graft was found out it 
was too late, for she had left the city on 
an early morning train, without giving hei 
next stopping place. Incidentally she left 
many accounts, including a board bill in 
the city. The woman with her smooth 
combination is a new one to the police. 
She doubtless made hundreds of dollars, 
as eggs are now high priced, the tonic 
is made of colored water, and the hail 
combings are worth money in hair dress¬ 
ing and switchmaking establishments. 
What a Little Girl Did. 
This little 10-year-old girl had heard 
a lady say that if one hour each day was 
devoted to a certain task the result would 
be surprising at the end of a year or even 
six months. “I’m going to try it, mam¬ 
ma,” was her resolve, as soon as vacation 
came, and before Christmas it was a sur¬ 
prise to every one who was allowed to 
peep into the closet where she kept her 
pretty things. She began with carpet 
rags for rugs, because her mother con¬ 
sidered that the easiest task, and soon had 
enough for three rugs each V/z yard 
long. The rags were torn in short lengths, 
and were all blue and white, from old 
skirts and blue gingham dresses and ap¬ 
rons, the chain was blue and white, and 
when the rugs were complete they were 
pretty enough for any home. The mixed 
rags—one blue and one white—and the 
striped chain made the owners think them 
the prettiest bedroom rugs ever seen. 
With a crochet hook and the bits of car¬ 
pet chain the weaver sent home our little 
girl made handsome fringe for the ends 
that helped the appearance very much. 
The next things were pincushions, as 
these were a little more fancy, and soon 
four were added to the store in the closet. 
Small muslin bags were stuffed tightly 
with rags, and fancy covers made that 
could be slipped off to wash. There were 
two checked gingham covers with simple 
cross stitch in white cotton, one ruffled 
white one and the other of the remains 
of an old silk waist. Of course her mother 
cut out all the things, but the sewing was 
the little girl’s. After the cushions came 
holders for Mamma and all the aunts. 
These were made of pieces of old coats, 
with a layer of cotton batting between, 
and the covers were made from the pieces 
of coarse linen used in the lining oi 
coats. Each holder had an initial worked 
in red cotton on it, and was really a use¬ 
ful article in the kitchen. When they be¬ 
came soiled the little girl promised to 
re-cover them, but the ones she made the 
next year had removable slips over them. 
The most ambitious piece of work in 
the collection, and the one which the little 
worker prized the most was a pillow cover 
for her mother. An aunt in the city sent 
a buff linen top and bottom stamped with 
a simple design to be outlined with silk 
and a pair of embroidery hoops to the lit¬ 
tle needlewoman, and it would have been 
hard to find a happier child anywhere. 
Another aunt taught her how to make the 
outline stitch, and the mother tried hard 
to look unconscious when the two disap¬ 
peared for an hour each day. It was 
three weeks before the precious bit ot 
work was safely stowed away in the 
closet, but it was the finest thing in the 
world to the little girl. A skilled worker 
could have completed it in half a day, 
but the patient fingers toiled hour after 
hour till it was done. 
A slipper case for Papa took less time, 
but was as highly prized on Christmas 
morning as the pillow cover. It was just 
a piece of bright calico with six pockets 
firmly sewn on, and had loops to hang it 
to the closet door on stout hooks, but the. 
stitches were so neat and the colors so 
gay that everyone admired it. The little 
girl was often tempted to work longei 
than an hour a day, but her mamma per¬ 
suaded her to wait till after Christmas, 
so she could see exactly how much she 
had accomplished in six months. And 
what do you think came out of the closei 
two weeks before the great day when the 
little girl went upstairs to wrap her pres¬ 
ents and mark them? There were three 
rugs, the slipper case, the pillow cover, 
six holders, one hemstitched towel and 
four pincushions. She is planning more 
elaborate things this year, and already the 
happy vacation days see a busy worker 
curled up in the hammock under the old 
apple tree hard at work with a square of 
linen and some bright silks. 
HILDA RICHMOND. 
Three Tested Recipes. 
Compote of Rhubarb. —Wash and wipe, 
but do not peel the rhubarb, and if very 
young and tender, or forced, cut into two- 
inch lengths, but if full grown and thick 
cut it into one-inch lengths. For a pound 
of rhubarb boil seven ounces of sugar, if 
young and forced, 10 ounces if full 
grown, in half a pint of water for 10 
minutes. Then put in the rhubarb and let 
it simmer very gently until tender with¬ 
out being in the least broken. Lift the 
pieces out carefully as they become cooked 
through, and lay them in a glass dish. 
Dissolve in the syrup two teaspoonfuls 
of gelatine and boil it for two minutes. 
Then pour it out to cool. Color with 
two or three drops of prepared cochineal, 
and pour the syrup over the fruit. This 
compote is nice with blanc-mange or a 
mold of rice. By using more gelatine it 
may be made in jelly form and shaped 
in a mold. 
Bread and Butter Pudding. —Strew 
half a cupful of currants in the bottom 
of a baking dish, then butter some slices 
of freshly baked bread and lay in the 
dish. Make a custard with two eggs and 
a pint of milk, sweeten to taste, and pour 
it over; grate a little nutmeg over the 
top and bake a light brown. This pud¬ 
ding should be baked in the dish in which 
it is to be sent to table. It is delicious 
eaten with stewed fruit. 
French Mustard. —The French have 
many ways of preparing mustard with 
vinegar and spices, sometimes using mush¬ 
rooms or tomato ketchup, or even pickle 
liquors in the preparation. This is one 
good recipe: Take six ounces of salt, 
Tour ounces of scraped horseradish, one 
clove of garlic, and two quarts of boil¬ 
ing vinegar; steep these together in a 
covered vessel for six hours, then strain 
and add mustard to the spiced vinegar 
sufficient to make it the proper consist¬ 
ency. These proportions are large ; they 
can be reduced if necessary, but the mus¬ 
tard will keep a long time, as it is made 
with boiling vinegar. isadore. 
A STUDY IN HOME SCIENCE. Fig. 240. 
