THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 1, 
122 
£ Woman and Home 
From Day to Day, 
A FEW HARD ONES. 
Stand up, you spellers, now and spell— 
Spell phenaklstoscope and knell; 
Or take some simple word as chilly 
Or gauger or the garden lily. 
To spell such words as syllogism 
And lachrymose and synchronism 
And Pentateuch and saccharine, 
Apocrypha and celandine, 
Jejune and homeopathy, 
Paralysis and chloroform. 
Rhinoceros and pachyderm. 
Metempsychosis, gherkins, basque, 
Is certainly no easy task. 
Kaleidoscope and Tennessee, 
Kamchatka and dispensary, 
Diphthong and erysipelas. 
And etiquette and sassafras. 
Infallible and ptyalism. 
Allopathy and rheumatism. 
And cataclysm and beleaguer. 
Twelfth, eighteenth, rendezvous, intriguer, 
And hosts of other words all found 
On English and on classic ground. 
Thus Bering Straits and Michaelmas, 
Thermopylae, jalap, Havana, 
Cinquefoil and ipecacuanha. 
And Rappahannock and Shenandoah, 
And Schuylkill and a thousand more 
Are words that some good spellers miss 
In dictionary lands like this. 
Nor need one think himself a scroyle 
If some of these' his efforts foil, 
Nor deem himself undone forever 
To miss the name of either river— 
The Dnieper, Seine or Guadalquivir. 
—Credit Lost. 
* 
Boiled bread is an old-fashioned break¬ 
fast dish that will utilize dry pieces satis¬ 
factorily. Heat the milk as for toast, add 
salt and a generous piece of butter, and as 
soon as it comes to a boil put in the bread. 
Boil up once and serve hot. 
* 
Those new shades of orange called 
coque des roches prove a trial to purists 
in language. One wholesale milliner de¬ 
clares that some of his customers insist 
on calling the color “cockroach” and he 
has to accept the term or lose the order. 
* 
We have heard of a small girl in Aus¬ 
tralia who was laboriously spelling out the 
war cables in the pride of her new-found 
ability to read. Suddenly she looked up. 
“What’s a flotilla, pa?” she asked. Her 
father replied that the term applied to a 
lot of warships. “And is a lot of soldiers 
an armadilla, pa?” inquired Muriel. 
* 
Quitted mattress protectors large 
enough for a double bed cost $1.65; they 
are made of stout white muslin bound 
around the edge and are quilted in lines 
an inch apart, so that they wash as easily 
as any other quilt. They are much more 
desirable than the tufted comfortable so 
often used to lay over a mattress. 
* 
Wild grapes and barberries in equal 
proportions make a delicious jelly to 
serve with meats. Stem both fruits and 
put on to cook with a little water, not 
quite enough to cover them. Boil well, 
then strain; put on to cook, and when 
it begins to boil add warmed sugar, a 
cupful to each cup of juice. Boil 15 min¬ 
utes from time it begins to bubble, skim¬ 
ming constantly; then pour into glasses 
like any other jelly. 
* 
The Chicago public schools are mak¬ 
ing some changes in the order of studies, 
and it is pleasing to learn that the new 
course of study, in its improvements over 
the old, brings the study of nature, his¬ 
tory and civics and literature down into the 
first grades. Pupils in the lowest room 
will be asked to investigate for two hours 
a day the habits of little bugs and to ob¬ 
serve natural phenomena. Observation of 
the heavens will be made during the sec¬ 
ond year, in the fourth year they will in¬ 
clude “erosion and sedimentation” and in 
the sixth grade they will take up “migra¬ 
tion of birds; granite, igneous and strati- 
fic rock; observe exact time a star crosses 
the meridian and deduce its apparent 
westward movement; formation of dew; 
chemistry of a candle flame.” In history 
and civics the first grade toddlers will 
study “institutional life,” investigating 
the functions of such public servants as 
the “garbage man, (policeman, janitor, 
teacher and the lamp lighter.” The 
course will grow more difficult each year. 
We hope that the little victims will also 
be inducted into the ancient and hon¬ 
orable society of the three R’s, and that 
they will learn to spell and to speak their 
own language with some approach to 
accuracy, but judging from some of the 
town and city school children who have 
come unde? our observation, this may be 
more than we have any right to expect. 
* 
A large number of handsome plaids ap¬ 
pear in the Fall waists, both in the ordin,- 
ary soft woolen and in mohair brilliantine. 
Some are trimmed with vests and bands 
of leather, usually in russet finish; others 
with ornamental buttons. Suede and kid 
are used for the leather trimming. A new 
idea is to have the belt made of the waist 
material, and the effect of this is very 
becoming now that the unnaturally long 
waist line is out of style. These belts are 
finished with a simple square, oblong or 
harness buckle. Purlaine is one of the 
new washing flannels, which is said to 
wash without fading or shrinking. 
* 
Eggplant makes a delicious vegetable 
dish when cooked as what is called 
mock mushroom stew. Pare the 
eggplant, cut first into half-inch slices 
and then into dice or cubes. Simmer in 
salted water until tender but not soft. 
It will be spoiled if mushy. Drain. In 
a separate saucepan put a rounded table¬ 
spoonful of nice butter and a level table¬ 
spoonful of flour. Stir until frothy but 
not brown. Add a teacupful of rich milk 
(cream is better), season well with salt 
and pepper, let boil up, add the eggplant 
carefully and when it simmers throughout, 
dish for the table. A trifle of either 
lemon juice or onion juice may be added 
if liked. 
* 
In preparing the Winter wardrobe it 
will be well to include bloomers of some 
woolen material in the school girl’s outfit, 
and the same useful garment is a con¬ 
venience to any woman who is exposed to 
cold or bad weatl er. The bloomers take 
the place of a flannel petticoat, and are 
much warmer and more comfortable 
Little girls often have them made to 
match the dress in color. Flannel, bril¬ 
liantine and serge are the usual materials 
used, but it is often convenient to rip and 
wash an old dress skirt which, too 
shabby for outside wear, can be trans¬ 
formed into blcomers. Excellent patterns 
can be obtained, the best being fitted by 
darts rather than a yoke, so as to avoid 
extra bulk. 
* 
Apple chutney is a very appetizing 
sauce, in high favor with English cooks; 
as a rule an effort is made to imitate the 
mango chutney of the tropics. We have 
had several recipes for it; here is one of 
known excellence: Twelve sour apples, 
one mild onion, three peppers (one red), 
one cupful of seeded and chopped raisins, 
one pint of (genuine) cider vinegar, one- 
half cupful of currant jelly, two cupfuls 
of sugar, the juice of four lemons, one 
tablespoonful each of ground ginger and 
salt, one-fourth teaspoonful of cayenne. 
Chop the apples, onions and peppers very 
fine; add the vinegar and jelly, and let 
simmer one hour, stirring often; add the 
other ingredients and cook another hour, 
stirring constantly. Store as canned fruit. 
Within the oyster’s shell uncouth 
The purest pearl may hide; 
Trust me, you'll find a heart of truth 
Within the rough outside. 
—Mrs. Osgood. 
u CoHtemptuary ” Novelists. 
Book-loving women whose circumstan¬ 
ces debar them from reading many ot 
the widely advertised “best-selling books” 
of the publishers’ lists may take comfort 
from the wholesome point of view of Mrs. 
Binns, thus related in the Youth’s Com¬ 
panion : 
“Quite a lib’ry, deary, ain’t it?” said 
Mrs. Binns, comfortably, following her 
visitor’s glance toward the table littered 
with books. “I ain’t had time to put ’em 
to rights yet; they litter over everything 
and I don’t know where to Moses I’m 
goin’ to find room for ’em all, but I s’pose 
I shall, somewheres. Carrie sent ’em; a 
hull boxful; and they’re all contemptuary 
novels. 
“You see I got a little wore down nurs¬ 
in’ Jonathan, and now he’s well again, 
doctor says I’m to let up and take things 
easy; says I must stop doin’ so much, an’ 
not bother about the things that ain’t get¬ 
ting done because I’m not doin’ ’em. ‘I 
can’t,’ says 1 to that, plump out. ‘Yes, 
you can,’ says he. ‘You can do it by step- 
pin’ right out o’ your world into other 
folkses—folks that’s new and interestin’, 
and that haven’t got to be nursed or man¬ 
aged or looked after in any sort of way. 
I prescribe novels,’ says he, ‘a course of 
fascinatin’ novels, as thrillin’ as they make 
’em/ 
“So last time she was down, Carrie 
found me readin’ ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin,’ 
an’ ‘The Heart of Midlothian’ and ‘Oliver 
Twist’ ’side o’ me in the mendin’ basket, 
and she gave one look, and then she 
laughed and asked if I couldn’t get any¬ 
thing newer than that/What for?’ says 
I. ‘They’re thrillin’, and 1 liked ’em when 
I was a girl; why shouldn’t I read ’em 
over again?’ ‘You should if you want 
to,’ says she, sort o’ ’pologetic and soothin’, 
‘but wouldn't you like to make acquaint¬ 
ance with some of the contemptuary 
novelists?’ Well, I s’pose I must have 
said I should, but if I did ’twas more 
polite than particular as to truthfulness; 
it’s dretful easy to slip into sayin’ things 
that kind of way. 
“But next thing I knew, down come 
the contemptuary novelists, and here be I 
feelin’ bound to make acquaintance with 
’em. Well, maybe I shall git inside the 
covers, but don’t you tell Carrie if I 
don’t! I’ve kinder glanced into some of 
’em a’ready, an’ they don’t tempt me a 
mite. Mebbe I could read through ’em 
if I give my mind to it hard, but I jest 
know I couldn’t ever feel friendly with 
’em, same’s I do with Dickens and his 
story-folks, and Scott and his, an’ Mrs. 
Stowe and hers. They don’t seem so 
kind of human, some ways; they’re more 
jest children’s stories for grown-ups. 
“They’ve got better covers, though—aw¬ 
ful pretty some o’ those bindin’s, now, 
aren’t they? And the illustrations are 
fine —fine! Though I must say some, be¬ 
in’ colored, makes ’em more an’ more like 
nursery picter-books, to my mind. But 
at any rate I’m rejoiced ther’s somethin’ 
I can praise up honest and lengthy when 
I write to thank Carrie. I’d be ashamed 
to tell her what wasn’t true, and she’s been 
real kind. 
“Yes, I expect to finish ‘Oliver Twist’ 
to-night, and to-morrow I’m goin’ to be¬ 
gin on ‘David Copperfield’; I’m anticipat¬ 
in’ a real good time with it. But if you 
see Carrie before I do, down to Boston, 
don’t you darst to tell her I wasn’t readin’ 
the contemntmries!’’ 
If your lamp- 
chimneys break, 
say Macbeth to 
your grocer— 
loud! 
He knows. 
You need to know how to manage your 
lamps to have comfort with them at small cost. 
Better read my Index; I send it free. 
Macbeth, Pittsburgh. 
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