37o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 80 
From Day to Day. 
THREE GATES. 
If you are tempted to reveal 
A tale some one to you has told 
About another, make it pass, 
Before you speak, three gates of golu. 
These narrow gates—First, “Is It true?” 
Then, “Is it needful?’’ In your mind 
Give truthful answer. And the next 
Is last and narrowest—“Is it kind?’’ 
And if to reach your lips at last 
It passes through these gateways three, 
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear 
What the result of speech may be. 
—Credit Host. 
* 
If there is no thoroughly dry closet 
in which to store jellies and preserves, 
Prof. Conn says that the air in a damp 
closet may be partly dried by keeping 
their time for recreation, for reading, for 
the walk or ride, or hour under the trees 
that might have been. And at the end of 
every rule we find the inevitable formula, 
“Garnish with,’’—etc. There are houses 
where a chet reigns whose end and aim 
in life is garnish, legitimate always in its 
own place. And there are natural gar¬ 
nishes. as of flowers in season—nasturtium 
blossoms for instance, against the tender 
green of pale lettuce. Parsley also is easy 
and satisfying. But there is that other 
garnish which may mean an hour to a 
single dish, itself consuming other hours, 
the whole fit only for an offering on the 
altar of Irrationality. 
We do not wish to decry a tasteful ar¬ 
rangement of the table—clean linen, 
well-washed dishes and silver, and a 
growing plant or vase of flowers for the 
centerpiece, These give dignity to a 
unslaked lime in bowls on shelves near dinner of herbs, and cultivate one’s self- 
the jelly. These will absorb the mois¬ 
ture and aid in checking the molding. 
The lime should be renewed from time 
to time. 
* 
Here is a simple sour milk pudding. 
The recipe comes from New Hampshire, 
and it is considered excellent. Soak 
four slices of stale bread in a little milk 
or water until soft. Then stir in a ing the simplest dish to its highest per- 
respect and refinement. But laborious 
erections of potato roses and ruffles, car¬ 
rot stars and pastry architecture are un¬ 
called for, especially on the part of some 
woman who needs every moment she 
can snatch from her daily duties for pur¬ 
poses of rest, recreation and culture. 
The woman who can cook the family 
meals as they should be cooked, bring- 
quart of rich, sour milk, a cupful of 
molasses, a tablespoonful of melted but¬ 
ter, a teaspoonful each of cloves and 
cinnamon and a saltspoonful of salt. 
Bake slowly three hours. 
* 
Lawn dresser sets are noted among 
the furnishings offered for the country 
home. They consist of scarf and two 
mats, edged with fluted ruffles, and hav¬ 
ing a printed border in colors. They 
cost 40 cents a set, and are said to wash 
well. For a washstand linen is better 
than any very thin material, and plain 
huckaback, having a broad hem with a 
line of cross-stitch looks well and 
washes well. The lawn dresser sets 
suggest the wisdom of buying some 
pretty printed lawn at the Summer bar¬ 
gain sales, when the price is low, for 
this use. The cheapest “bargain” lawns 
are always elaborately flowery patterns 
that would be just right for these sets. 
* 
Last year we planted some Horticul¬ 
tural pole beans, which bore very abun¬ 
dantly, but we only used them a short 
time, because the bush beans of higher 
quality soon competed with them. A 
good many of the Horticultural beans 
ripened, and were harvested in the Fall, 
but they were untouched until the white 
beans were ail used, because we did not 
care for their speckled brownish-red 
color. On using them, however, we find 
them of particularly high quality, either 
for baking or soup. They are very 
mealy, with an agreeable richness of 
flavor. In some markets brown or red 
beans always hold the preference, and 
we have known housekeepers who se¬ 
lected them by choice for baking. 
* 
Illustrated recipes form one of the 
most decorative features in many do¬ 
mestic publications nowadays. The in¬ 
structions are clearly given, and with 
the picture as a guide, the most inex¬ 
perienced may know just what the dish 
is like. We have often been struck by 
one fact, however, and that is the ex¬ 
treme elaboration of garnish and ar¬ 
rangement, which, while not beyond the 
purse or the ability of the average 
housewife, is for her an indefensible 
waste of time. We have felt this so 
often that we were glad to see this fact 
commented on by Mrs. Helen Campbell 
in the Home Science Magazine. Says 
Mrs. Campbell: 
Stimulated to the necessary point by the 
feeling that society demands it of them, 
thousands of women will give an entire 
morning to the preparation of some elabo¬ 
rate sweet, wickedly unnecessary, at the 
end of a heavy dinner, and so part with 
fection, is an artist whose achievements 
need no frivolous accessories 
Save the Wild Flowers. 
The article on our native flowers in 
The R. N.-Y., page 299, went straight 
to my heart. The wild flowers are be¬ 
ing rapidly exterminated. A few years 
ago I came from a well-farmed section 
of New York State, where wild flowers, 
except a few varieties, were scarce, to 
live in a rather poorly cultivated part of 
Connecticut. One of the first discoveries 
I made near my new home was a short 
cross-road, whose banks were rich in 
shrubs and wild flowers such as I had 
never seen before nor knew' existed. 
With the aid of Mrs. Dana’s “How to 
Know the Wild Flowers,” I identified 
them, and they were an endless source 
of pleasure to my children and self, and 
a tonic as w r ell, for I often spent an hour 
on my lovely bit of hilly roadside with 
the rushing brook at its foot when 1 
was blue or had no other interest to 
draw me from the house in reachable 
distance. But a thrifty man now owns 
two neat houses on my hillside, and the 
dogwoods and dogbane are cut away; 
the grass is trimmed, and my dainty 
flowers are a thing of the past. 
One day I was out gathering an arm¬ 
ful of ferns, which if given a chance, 
grow in beautiful varieties in this lo¬ 
cality. Growing against a rock at the 
roadside, was a large graceful cluster 
of feathery fronds, which I would not 
spoil, as I knew I could get plenty in 
a less noticeable spot. A few days later 
I passed the place again, and there lay 
the beautiful ferns in a withered heap 
in the grass, the victim of some vandal . 
and his scythe. Within a hundred feet 
were clumps of nettles and thistles 
which it would have been a mercy to 
man and beast to destroy. But, no; his 
excessive industry had touched but the 
one thing as he passed. Anger and in¬ 
dignation filled my heart over the fate 
of my poor ferns. On the roadside just 
in sight of my window was a gorgeous 
bank of waving golden-rod in full 
bloom. One day I looked out to see it 
a withered mass, another case of the 
man with the scythe, and there it lay 
brown and dry all the Fall till the mer¬ 
ciful snow threw its blanket over it. 
Now I know right well that every good 
farmer who sees this will say: “That 
woman has lost her mind.” But to such 
I would say, clean up your roads if you 
wish, and keep them clean, and no one 
will complain. But if you cannot do 
this, let the shrubs and golden rod wave 
in peace, until you have time to cut and 
carry them away, instead of leaving 
them to disfigure the roadside and be 
an eyesore "to all who pass. 
Mothers can do much. Teach your 
children to respect the flowers, not ruth¬ 
lessly to tear and destroy them. Love 
for flowers will follow, and the country 
life will be enjoyed tenfold when they 
have been taught to see the beauty 
around them. Children, do not pull up 
the beautiful gentians and arbutus, root 
and branch. Break off the dainty blos¬ 
soms, and next year they will be waiting 
your coming again I wish all our 
schools and country homes might have 
a copy of Mrs. Dana’s “How to Know 
the Wild Flowers.” It is such a simple 
and interesting book that it helps to 
purify our girls and boys, and lift their 
^yes and thoughts to God. m. c. 
—The Bookshelf. 
Bacteria, Yeasts and Molds in the 
Home, by Prof. H. W. Conn. This book, 
which contains a summary of informa¬ 
tion concerning the relation of micro-or¬ 
ganisms to matters connected with the 
home, appeals to all interested in home 
economics. Here the housekeeper may 
learn the relation of germ life to her 
daily work. Molds, which are the cause 
of mildew, the spoiling of many foods, 
and the decay of fruits; yeasts, which 
are the foundation of fermentation in 
the raising of bread; and bacteria, 
which cause food to spoil, meat to de¬ 
cay, and contagious diseases to spread 
—all these phenomena which are of the 
most vital importance are presented in 
an interesting and helpful manner. The 
author explains the various actions of 
bacteria, and points out the sources of 
trouble and the principles which under¬ 
lie the methods to be adopted for avoid¬ 
ing their effects. Special attention is 
paid to the problems of food preserva¬ 
tion and to the practical methods which 
can be used in the home for preventing 
the distribution of contagious diseases. 
The book is well bound and freely illus¬ 
trated; 293 pages. Published by Ginn 
& Co., Boston; price $1. 
Cheap chimney, 
dear lamp. 
Macbeth. 
My Index tells what chimney fits your 
lamp. If you use that chimney, you get 
perhaps twice as much light, and save 3 
dollar or two a year of chimney-money, 
It tells, besides, how to care for lamps ; 
even that is imperfectly known. 
I send i f ■'Yee; am glad to. 
Macbeth, Pittsburgh. 
Make Your Soap 
Easily and quickly and cheaply done nu l you 
k n 1 j w your soap is pur * *»nd freef.om rosin,lime, 
clay or other adult rants. 
No boiling or la 'po kettles and it’s made in ten 
minutes with one can of 
Banner Lye 
costing ten cents at yonr grocer’s or druggist's 
and 514 pounds of grease or fat from your k itclieu 
Th9t mokes 10 pounds of best bard soap or 20 
gallons of soft soap. 
Dirt that you can’t see. 
is the most dangerous. You can’t get at it with 
soap, but Banner Lye will 
take it away. Disiuf. <-ts 
as well as cleanses. Use 
it in 
Milk-pans Garbage-pails 
Butter-tubs Toilets 
Dairy Cellar 
Drains Sink 
and be free from the dan¬ 
ger of dirt mil disease- 
germs. 
Banner Lye is odorless 
and colorless and is sold 
in patented sitety pact - 
ages which are easy to 
- open and close. 
It is not old-style lye. 
Writ for book ‘ Uses of Banner Lye," which 
contains lots of things you ought to know. 
The Penn Chemical Works Philadelphia USA 
Never rail at the world, it is just as we 
make it— 
We see not the flower if we sow not the 
seed; 
And as for ill luck, why, it’s just as we 
take it— 
The heart that’s in earnest no bars can 
impede. —Swain. 
it in _ 
Direet from our own factory 
At Factory Prices' 
full lino in steel or cast 
iron. We save you 
from *-'>.00 to *40.00 
and ship Freight 
Prepaid on 
360 
Days Approval. 
riffle 
All blacked and polished. 
All ranges and cook 
stoves are equipped with 
ourpatentoven thermom¬ 
eter, which makes bak- 
[ in, eaaj. We are MANUFACTURERS, not mall order dealers. 
Send postal for special proposition and catalogue No. 114 ay 
Kalamazoo Stove Co. Mfrs. Kalamazoo, Mich. 
No Maker Has r-p . T ' f 
P :d l IIC i v. 
ISA 
I* 
The TONE of 
PIANOS 
AND 
ORGANS 
K«- 
Pm 
UiSp 
It Makes Them 
The Joy of Any Home 
The instruments are beautifully made 
and guaranteed to last a lifetime. Sold 
direct from the factory without dealers’ 
profits—cash or installments. 
All f T, J° Cornish Plan of giving the buyer 
dealers’ profits helps la buying right. 
FREE The CornUli Album— most beautiful 
_ .. ever made—shows our fifty styles. 
The Embossed Pianos and Organs 
show exactly how our instruments look. 
The 5000 References will give you 
confidence that we and our instruments 
are botli right. 
•.TOX-.V; 
m 
I 
Let us send you a piano or organ on 
thirty days’ free trial. We are glad to 
put them beside any instrument costing 
twice as much. 
We will teach you to play free, if you have 
no local teacher. If you buy and at the end 
of the year find the instrument not as repre¬ 
sented send it back and you will get your 
money with six per cent interest added. 
Fair, isn’t it? We have done this for fifty 
years and have a quarter of a million satis¬ 
fied customers. 
(ORNISIKO. 
Washington, 
New Jersey. 
•Sit down and write vpv 
— K a 
to ns to-day. 
n'.vE-V;. 
IfiTi-j ■ 
—wStiw,- 
