562 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 23, 
From Day to Day. 
A SUMMER RESORT. 
They’re talkin’ about Bar Harbor; 
They’re talkin’ about Cape May, 
An’ likewise Allantic City, 
An’ Coney islanti gay. 
An’ it's pleasant to read about 'em 
With their trolleys an' loop-the-loop; 
I picture them all 
As the shadows fall, 
Where I sit on the old front stoop. 
An’ I smell the lingerin’ sweetness 
Of the honeysuckle vine, 
An’ I wait for my friend, the liglitnin’ bug, 
To circle around an’ shine; 
An’ the crickets an’ frogs will cheer me, 
A gay, melodious group, 
The place that’s best 
For a real rest. 
Is out on the old front stoop. 
So I ain't a-packin’ my satchel 
Nor studyin’ up the maps, 
Nor travelin’ abroad for the “comforts of 
home,” 
I am missin' a lot, perhaps, 
I have studied the matter over, 
An’ maybe I’m fancy’s dupe, 
But it seems to me 
That the place to be 
Is out on the old front stoop. 
—Washington Star. 
* 
Ginger punch is a pleasant variation in 
hot weather drinks. It requires one quart 
of cold water, one cupful of sugar, one- 
quarter pound of Canton (preserved) gin¬ 
ger, one-half cupful orange juice, one- 
half cupful lemon juice. Put the water 
and sugar on to boil in a granite saucepan, 
add the ginger, and boil for 15 minutes. 
Remove from the fire, add the fruit juice, 
strain, cool, and serve in glasses contain¬ 
ing a little cracked ice. 
* 
A convenient little metal slide for drap¬ 
ing a girdle is called a waist former. It 
is a narrow blade of steel, about four 
inches long; at either end are little slides 
and teeth intended to hold the waist rib¬ 
bon. It is placed in the center of the 
back, and the girdle draped from this 
point. It costs 15 cents. We are warned 
by the dressmakers that the waist bloused 
down to a deep point is no longer in 
vogue; the newest belts are brought down 
to a deep point at the bottom, but are 
draped straight across the top, giving a 
high girdle effect. It is a little hard to 
get accustomed to the change. 
* 
The automobile has brought back our 
old friend the linen duster, only now it 
is an automobile or traveling coat and 
is a very smart-looking garment. Such 
a garment is an absolute necessity for any 
woman who drives much in the country, 
when the Summer dust grimes into her 
clothes. These coats are not cheap to 
buy ready-made, but can be made at home 
by any handy seamstress. Excellent pat¬ 
terns may be obtained, those designed for 
raincoats being the right style. The ma¬ 
terial may be linen, mohair, gloria, taffeta, 
or pongee. Gloria is a mixture of silk 
and linen used for serviceable umbrellas; 
it is 44 or 48 inches wide and costs $1 to 
$1.50 a yard; this is especially useful for 
these coats where a dark color or black is 
desired. Cloth of gold, so called, used in 
making elaborate wraps, is really a spe¬ 
cies of pongee with a metallic luster, like 
the fashionable radium ribbons. A long 
coat of linen made after a good pattern, 
would be very inexpensive, but would 
soon save its cost in the protection given. 
* 
Here is a most delicious French recipe 
for preserving raspberries; it forms a 
jelly-like sweetmeat of exquisite flavor: 
Take four pounds of raspberries picked 
from the stalks, set aside at least half, 
which should be the finest. Add to the 
rest one pounu of white currants, and 
bruise and strain them through a cloth, 
wringing it so as to extract all the juice. 
Put the juice into a preserving pan, and 
allow three-quarters of a pound of lump 
sugar to one pound of juice, including the 
weight of the raspberries left whole. Let 
the sugar and juice boil, skimming it, and 
at the end of 20 minutes put in the rest 
of the fruit and let it boil for 10 minutes 
longer. When the preserve is boiled 
enough—it is so if the syrup jellies when 
a little is put in a plate to cool—take it 
off the fire and pot it in the usual way. 
Raspberry syrup that will be useful in a 
variety of ways, is made by putting one 
pound of sugar over every quart of ber¬ 
ries, and allowing them to stand over 
night. In the morning boil the fruit and 
sugar for half an hour; skim and strain 
through a jelly bag, put in bottles and 
seal tightly. 
* 
The great responsibility that rests upon 
women who have the management of chil¬ 
dren was thus expressed by Dr. Kerley 
at the recent meeting of the American 
Medical Association: 
Instinct directs the lower animals as to the 
proper selection of food, not only for them¬ 
selves, but their young. Instinct tells the 
higher animal, man, very little. Every day 
of our lives, in private work among the well- 
to-do, and in children’s clinics among the 
poor, we are brought face to face with the 
most dense ignorance relating to the most 
important feature of the management of a 
child, his nutrition. Among the thousands 
of children which we have treated at the out¬ 
patient department of the Babies' Hospital 
and at the New York Polyclinic Dispensary, 
but 2G per cent of those over one year of age 
are of normal growth, and of those under one 
year of age 35 per cent are normal. These 
children are the offspring, on the fathers’ 
side, of laborers. The mothers are young 
women of considerable intelligence. An inti¬ 
mate insight into the daily life of these peo¬ 
ple will demonstrate that a large percentage 
of malnutrition among the young is not due 
to poverty, but to the absence of food. The 
children don't go hungry. The malnutrition 
is U ue to want of proper food. 
It is not only in such cases as these, 
but among people of ampler means also, 
that we find ill-fed and poorly nourished 
children. There are too many cases where 
the trouble begins with the artificial feed¬ 
ing of the infant as a makeshift to save 
the mother trouble, rather than as a ne¬ 
cessity, and where carelessness results in 
gastric trouble that continues into maturer 
life. It is interesting to note Prof. Bab¬ 
cock’s recent statement that an infant fed 
on cow’s milk is more likely to suffer from 
fluctuations in quality when confined to 
the milk of a single cow than when re¬ 
ceiving the mixed product from a herd. 
* 
A writer in Good Housekeeping thus 
describes the way a courageous farmer’s 
wife met an emergency. The year’s crop 
of oats, representing many days of hard 
labor, had been put into a large stack. 
Her husband had gone to the village, sev¬ 
eral miles away, to procure necessaries 
for the house. Suddenly the clear sky be¬ 
came dark, while the boom of distant 
thunder plainly foretold that a storm was 
coming, and coming quickly, too. Mrs. 
- was sadly worried. She knew that 
the “hangers” which are put on stacks to 
keep them from toppling over or blowing 
down, had not yet been put on this one, 
and that, in all probability, their year’s 
supply of oats would shortly be scattered 
broadcast over the prairie. The sky grew 
darker and darker, the air was so sultry 
that it was hard to breathe. What could 
she do? She felt that she must save those 
oats somehow. But how? Now, Mrs. 
-- is a very large woman, and the 
thought occured to her that possibly she 
could hold the stack down and keep it 
from blowing away. So, while the greater 
part of the community was hastening to 
cellars or cyclone pits, this brave woman 
hurriedly put a long ladder up the side of 
the stack and mounted to the top. She 
then drew the ladder up, placed it cross¬ 
wise of the stack, and, seating, or, as she 
afterward expressed it, planking herself 
on the middle of it, awaited developments. 
She did not have long to wait, for in less 
than two minutes the storm broke in all 
its fury. A worse one was never known 
in that vicinity. Huge trees were broken 
off like pipestems, and the air was full 
of flying debris. But through it all Mrs. 
- stuck to her post. After the storm 
was over, dripping, but triumphant, she 
came down from her perch and returned 
to the house as though taking the part of 
a “banger” was an everyday affair. 
Pickles and Relishes. 
Chow Chow.—Wash thoroughly and 
chop without paring half a peck of green 
tomatoes; chop fine one large head of 
white cabbage; pare and chop six large 
cucumbers; clean thoroughly and cut into 
small dice one bunch of celery and finely 
chop one large white onion. Mix all to¬ 
gether, add half a cup of salt and let 
stand over night. Clean 100 tiny pickles 
and fifty small silver-skinned onions; put 
into separate jars, cover with strong salt 
water and let them stand over night. The 
next morning drain the first mixture thor¬ 
oughly, wash off the pickles and onions 
and wipe dry. Chop fine one large red 
mango pepper. Put all together into a 
preserving kettle, add two quarts of the 
best cider vinegar (dilute somewhat if 
very strong), half a pound of granulated 
sugar, half an ounce each of turmeric and 
celery seed, one ounce of ground mustard 
seed. Cook 30 minutes, then bottle and 
seal. 
Chopped Cucumber Relish.—This is 
simple and very excellent. Pare and chop 
fine half a peck of medium-sized cucum¬ 
bers ; chop two medium-sized onions. Salt 
each separately over night, using one- 
third of a cup of salt in all. Drain thor¬ 
oughly the next morning and mix. If the 
mixture seems too salty cover with cold 
water and drain a second time. Then 
put into a granite kettle, add a rounding 
tablespoonful each of celery seed and mus¬ 
tard seed, a level tablespoonful of ground 
mustard, one-eighth of a teaspoon of 
cayenne pepper, half a cup of brown sugar 
and a pint of best vinegar. Boil 10 min¬ 
utes, then bottle and seal. 
Piccalilli.—Two pecks of green toma-. 
toes, two heads of white cabbage, 12 large 
onions, four green peppers, two red pep¬ 
pers, one good root of horseradish (grat¬ 
ed), one tablespoonful each of cinnamon, 
nutmeg and allspice. Chop all fine, stir in 
two cups of salt and let stand all night, 
then drain; cover with cold vinegar, boil 
10 minutes and drain again. Cover with 
vinegar, add the spices and three pounds 
of brown sugar. Boil a few minutes and 
put away in jars. 
Salting Cucumbers for Winter.—Secure 
a- small keg and if you have cucumbers 
in your garden gather every other day. 
Place a layer of coarse salt—ice cream 
salt—in the bottom of the keg, add a cup 
of water and cover with the cucumbers 
you have gathered and washed; sprinkle 
over salt to cover. Repeat this as you 
gather cucumbers from day to day, not, 
however, adding any more water, as the 
salt should make sufficient brine. If there 
should not be brine to cover them you 
may add a little, cautiously. There should 
always be a layer of salt in the bottom 
of the keg undissolved. When you have 
gathered all the cucumbers you wish put 
two or three fresh horseradish leaves on 
the top, and if you wish you may place a 
stone on the top to keep the cucumbers 
under the brine. When desired to make 
pickles take from the brine as many as 
you wish into a stone jar and cover them 
with boiling water; let them stand 24 
hours; drain and cover again with boil¬ 
ing water; let stand till next day. If you 
desire them very fresh you may repeat this 
the third time. It is not always neces¬ 
sary. Then pour off the water and drain 
well. To every three quarts of cucum¬ 
bers take one quart of best cider vinegar. 
To each gallon of vinegar take one tea¬ 
spoonful each of whole cloves, allspice, 
peppercorns, mace, celery seed and two 
teaspoonfuls of mustard seed. Tie these 
in a little muslin or cheesecloth bag. (The 
spices, if scattered through the cucum¬ 
bers, turn them dark.) Add to vinegar 
two pieces oi ginger-root an inch long 
and two tiny red pepper pods, same size. 
Boil vinegar with spices for one minute 
and pour over the cucumbers. If not 
enough vinegar to cover, add more boil¬ 
ing hot to fill jar. These need not be 
sealed. Place a horseradish leaf on the 
top of jar; are ready for use in a few 
days. Will keep indefinitely. 
Cucumbers in Oil—Two dozen medi¬ 
um-sized cucumbers, eight onions. Slice 
cucumbers and onions thin, sprinkle with 
about one cup of salt and let stand three 
hours. Drain; then pour over the fol¬ 
lowing dressing: One quart vinegar, one 
teacupful best olive oil, one-fourth tea¬ 
cupful mustard seed, one tcaspoonful cel¬ 
ery seed. Let stand over night, and in the 
morning fill up with vinegar. These are 
' delicious and very easily made, requiring 
no cooking. 
Sweet Peach Pickle.—Cut the peaches 
in two, remote the stones, and fill the 
openings with halves together, pack in 
jars, and cover with the following liquid: 
To two pounds of sugar add one pint of 
vinegar (best cider vinegar alone should 
be used for all pickles), tie in a bag a 
teaspoonful of whole cloves, one-half tea¬ 
spoonful cassia buds, three sticks of cin¬ 
namon (broken) and some tiny bits of 
ginger, allspice and nutmeg (about a 
teaspoonful in all). Repeat three times 
and seal the jars. Keep in dark, dry 
place; when ready to use remove the 
string. 
The Bookshelf. 
1 he Crisis, by Winston Churchill.— 
I his is another of the famous recent 
novels now published in the Macmillan 
Paper Novel Series. Its popularity has 
made it so widely known that it seems 
hardly necessary to refer to the story it¬ 
self; it will be remembered as dealing 
with the period of the Civil War, and in¬ 
cluding among its characters descendants 
of Mr. Churchill’s Revolutionary hero, 
Richard Carvel. Grant and Lincoln are 
prominent figures in “The Crisis;” the 
scene is chiefly laid in St. Louis, and one 
receives a vivid impression o’f. the social 
life of the period, as well as the wider 
issues of National history. “The Crisis,” 
like Mr. Churchill’s new book, “The 
Crossing,” is a novel every good Ameri¬ 
can should read. Published by the Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York; paper cov¬ 
ers, 25 cents; cloth $1.50. 
Midsummer Flower Notes. —The gar¬ 
dens are lovely. 1 had six Dahlia roots 
last year, and bought six more, beside 
14 that a friend gave me. I enjoy them 
immensely, and they need no care be¬ 
yond a few supports. Then there are 
several feet of choice sweet peas grow¬ 
ing on an old fence and making the 
whole place dainty and sweet. Salvia 
and ten-week stocks are growing at a 
corner of the house, and climbing nas¬ 
turtiums shade the kitchen windows. 
Along the edge of this bed I tucked tiny 
forget-me-not seedlings for next year. 
I had not thought of them, and hidden 
away there, cool and moist, they grew 
so fast that a tiny bunch of the sky-blue 
eyes peeped out at me from the great, 
round leaves of the nasturtiums. Our 
Crimson Rambler outclassed all our other 
roses, and we have many. I would not 
part with it for five dollars. Some one 
gave me some pansy seedlings and tiny 
mountain daisies for next year. I planted 
the pansies in the middie with the daisies 
for a border and sowed a bit of ordinary 
fertilizer around them. They, too, have 
rewarded me liberally, for I gather their 
dainty blossoms every morning, and the 
next day there are twice as many dear 
little faces smiling goocl morning at the 
world. The hardy Hydrangea bush is 
putting forth white blossoms. By-and-by 
they will be tinted pink and brown. We 
shall gather them, and then we shall have 
only the fragrance of potpourri and this 
bunch of dry flowers to speak to us from 
the Summer that has gone. 
ADAH E. COLCORD. 
