FROM DAY TO DAY. 
E are told that next season’s shirt 
waists will have smaller sleeves, 
and a round yoke at the back, the fronts 
quite full. With them we are to wear 
white collars, or ribbon finished with a 
narrow line of white. 
* 
We often hear of people “ borrowing 
trouble.” Why not change off occasion¬ 
ally to borrow happiness ? It’s always 
sunshine somewhere. 
* 
A convenient traveling case for stick¬ 
pins consists of a strip of chamois leather 
eight inches long and four inches wide, 
one end being pointed. Down the mid¬ 
dle of the strip, a lining of thick white 
lamb’s-wool cloth is stitched. This 
makes a secure place to stick the pins. 
The strip is bound with narrow ribbon, 
and has, at the pointed end, a wider rib¬ 
bon to tie it when rolled up. On each 
side, near the square end, inch-wide flaps 
of the chamois should be added, these to 
fold over the pins that they may not slip 
out. 
* 
For the woman who wishes to keep 
her hair silken and glossy, a fortnightly 
egg shampoo is the best thing possible; 
it is not nearly so troublesome as it 
appears. Beat the yolk of the egg 
smooth, then apply to the scalp with a 
small, rather stiff, brush; a fine nail 
brush is useful. Rub the egg well into 
the central parting, and separate the 
locks of hair until it has cleansed every 
part of the scalp; then rinse copiously 
with warm (not hot) water. It is far 
more cleansing than soap, without the 
harsh after effect of most hair washes. 
A little bay rum or alcohol, rubbed into 
the roots of the hair after washing, will 
obviate the risk of taking cold. 
* 
For the little girl’s winter bonnet, the 
close-fitting little round Puritan or Dutch 
cap will be found the most becoming, 
though we see some in the shops with 
great flaring rims like a grandmother’s 
skyscraper bonnet. A favorite shape 
is a close little round cap with a flaring 
curtain to protect the neck, a narrow 
band of fur around the face, with a 
white lace ruche on the inside. When 
made of velvet, they are very pretty 
in such sober colors as bronze or 
mouse color. They do not necessarily 
match the coat in color or material, 
merely harmonizing with it. For every¬ 
day use, the same close little shape, 
firmly crocheted or knitted in a washing 
yarn, is pretty and useful. 
WOVEN RUGS OF SACKING. 
HE fatigue of ironing is much in¬ 
creased by standing all the time 
on a hard, unyielding floor. Have some¬ 
thing springy to stand on ; two or three 
thicknesses of old carpet laid flat on 
each other make a good stand for iron¬ 
ing, but better still is bran-sack mat¬ 
ting, and this is how to make it. Take 
old bran sacks, rip them open, wash 
clean, cut on the bias into strips \\i 
inch wide. Sew them together strongly, 
then fray the edges by pulling them 
through the fingers or over a chair back 
that has a square edge on it; roll it into 
balls as for rag carpet, and allow about 
seven pounds for a square yard of weav- 
ng. Have it woven in the manner of 
German carpet; that is, all the warp 
covered, and beat up hard. It should 
come off the loom about half an inch 
thick, and makes excellent matting, 
which will lie as close as a board to the 
floor, at almost no cost except for weav¬ 
ing. As a standing place when ironing 
will be found a great comfort. A ma 
six feet long by two feet wide will be 
found a good size. This would require 
about 10 pounds of old sacking and two 
running yards of weaving. 
I usually put on warp enough when 
getting ready for a carpet to weave 
what matting will be required. Leave 
ends long enough to tie, and tie them 
before the mat is removed from the 
loom, to prevent raveling. The sack¬ 
ing will take any kind of dye readily, 
and fancy borders may thus be woven 
on if wanted, but don’t try to put on 
borders of some other material, in case 
the two do not shrink the same, and 
thus make your rug show uneven all 
over. 
Grandmother’s loom is no longer a 
necessity in our homes, for the production 
of underwear or clothing ; but there are 
many ways in which it can be used pleas¬ 
urably and profitably in the long win¬ 
ter days by man or boy when home- 
bound. Rugs, hammocks, horse blan¬ 
kets, horse-fly nets, portieres, etc., will 
all suggest themselves as suitable things 
for the tome factory to produce, using 
waste time and mostly waste material to 
beautify and benefit. 
No need to try our friend’s plan of 
putting down boards to keep stravs berry 
grounds clean. Your old rags can be 
woven into strips, to suit the space be¬ 
tween the rows, or you can use old car¬ 
pet that, having seen its best days, can 
be, as it were, turned out to grass to end 
its days in peace, and it would, 1 believe, 
on account of its porosity, be the 
superior of boards as a permanent 
mulch. AUNT HANNAH. 
HOMEMADE CLOTHES HAMPERS 
AND BASKETS. 
HOSE who have made clothes 
hampers out of empty barrels 
have, no doubt, found the same fault 
which caused me to try to make a better 
one; they are so heavy that they can 
not be moved from place to place with 
ease. In Fig. 7 I have endeavored to 
show the frame of a hamper that is 
light, pretty, and strong enough for any 
use to which it is adapted. Three of 
the broad, flat hoops of a half barrel 
are to be used for the body of the 
hamper, and these are held together by 
two or three strips of lathing—the kind 
used on walls for whitewash—or if this 
can not be had, split barrel staves and 
use them in its place; these strips must 
be nailed inside of the hoops. Cover 
the bottom hoop with some kind of 
heavy cotton cloth, lap the edges well 
over the hoop and tack securely to it all 
around. Hinge a fourth hoop to the one 
on top, using a small hinge, or a strong 
tape woven in and out as shown in 
Fig. 7, tie the ends together (this hinge 
is like the one used on the red bound, 
double school slates, and will do if a 
better one can not be had). The frame 
is now ready for its covering ; to make 
this, measure a width of good matting 
around the frame, stretching slightly so 
that it will fit snugly, and allow for a 
broad seam—at least an inch—firmly 
stitch up this seam, lay it open and 
neatly fell under the edges to prevent 
their raveling; now slip the matting 
over the frame, and with small tacks, 
secure it all around to each of the three 
hoops, letting the selvedge edges of the 
matting reach the top and bottom edges 
of the two end hoops. The cover of the 
hamper must also be covered with 
matting; cut a round piece, allowing 
for deep edges to turn down on the out¬ 
side of the hoop, where the fulness will 
have to be plaited, and cut with the 
scissors, in order to make it lie flat; this 
is the only part of the hamper that will 
give trouble, but if care be taken to cut 
out the pieces neatly, and not too near 
the top edge, it will not be a difficult 
task. After the edges are tacked 
securely, cut a strip of matting, fold 
under the raw edges and tack the strip 
around the hoop, letting the selvedge 
ends meet at the back; if the strip is not 
long enough to meet, put in a piece 
extra, and tack the selvedge parts over 
it. Let the strip cover the hoop well, 
and put it on neatly with a double row 
of tacks. 
To provide the hamper with handles, 
cut neat strips of leather from an old 
kid shoe, and tack one on either side of 
the middle hoop, patting several tacks 
in each end of the leather, and letting it 
bulge between the fastenings like the 
straps on a trunk. Another strip of 
leather is used to fasten down the cover; 
tack this strip to the hoop that forms 
the cover, cut a button hole in it, and 
just below,on the top hoop of the hamper, 
fasten an oblong, roundish button, by 
passing through its metal eye, a leather 
string and tacking each end of the 
string to the hoop. If the leather straps 
are bound around with narrow, colored 
tape, stitched on the machine, they are 
much prettier and neater. Beat down 
all points of the tacks, and line the 
hamper with cheese cloth. Work and 
waste baskets, umbrella stands, etc., 
can be made in this same way, by using 
the little wooden hoops that ladies use 
FRAME FOR CLOTHES HAMPER. Fig. 7. 
for their embroidery frames, in place of 
the barrel hoops. When tacking the 
matting to the hoops, use a stick of 
stove wood to rest the hoop on as you 
work. M. LANE GRIFFIN. 
HOMEMADE HOSE SUPPORTERS. 
HERE there are several members 
in the family to wear hose sup¬ 
porters or suspenders the expense is no 
small item, for the elastic used is so 
poor, particularly in children’s support¬ 
ers, that they soon wear out. A yard 
of strong, serviceable, plain elastic can 
be purchased for 10 cents, and will fur¬ 
nish all of this material necessary for at 
least two pairs of supporters, three pairs 
for small children. Cut it in suitable 
lengths, and to one end carefully over¬ 
hand a piece of heavy drilling two inches 
long, twice the width of the elastic, 
folded, to be, when finished, six thick¬ 
nesses. With coarse thread, work a 
buttonhole in this to button it to the 
clothing. To the other end attach the 
two short straps containing the metal 
clasps from a pair of worn-out support¬ 
ers, and one has a pair of serviceable ones 
that will outwear at least two, maybe 
four, pairs of purchased ones costing 
from three to five times as much. We 
used to button these to the children’s 
underwaists, but finding them a heavy 
strain, we invented a sort of shoulder 
strap or suspender to support them. To 
make it we take tvio strips of muslin 
two inches wide, and for a child of eight 
or ten years old, about a yard long. 
These are folded lengthwise, edges 
turned in and stitched; they are then 
crossed in the center, forming a diamond¬ 
shaped join, instead of square. One 
fourth of each piece is then folded up at 
one end, and the end of the opposite 
strip is brought over and laid over the 
end of the one folded in such a way that 
the ends of each come even with the 
sides of the other, making shoulder loops 
on the principle of a man’s suspenders. 
Wherever folds or joinings occur it is 
securely stitched on the machine. A 
button and buttonhole join it in back, 
and buttons are sewed where the lower 
part is folded upward to button the 
stocking supporters on to. If desired, 
short straps can be stitched on here to 
attach the supporters to, but we think it 
better to make the supporters long 
enough to reach to the waist. 
MRS. C. 8. EVERTS. 
ODDS AND ENDS . 
Simple Remedies for Earache. —Ear¬ 
ache can be quickly and easily cured by 
either of the following remedies : A 
menthol pencil rubbed on a small piece 
of cotton batting, and the batting placed 
in the ear will give almost immediate 
relief, or a little black pepper and sweet 
oil with a drop or two of laudanum will 
soon effect a cure if put on batting and 
put in the ear. When the children are 
subject to this complaint a small bottle 
of oil, laudanum and pepper could be 
prepared and kept ready for use. Both 
remedies are excellent for toothache 
and neuralgia, and the menthol pencil 
is a fine headache cure. 
MABEL H. MONSEY. 
Diet Cookery. —To be able to prepare 
dainty and nutritious dishes for invalids, 
is an art quite apart from ordinary 
cooking. Indeed, it is so much so that 
women who are quite famous in their 
neighborhoods for getting up fine din¬ 
ners or collations are utterly at sea when 
circumstances require food for an in¬ 
valid. In feeding patients recovering 
from typhoid fever, the utmost caution 
should be observed to give food that is 
digested in the stomach, and that will 
not tax the enfeebled intestines. The 
yolk of egg should never be given in in¬ 
testinal trouble, and the albumen should 
not be cooked beyond what cooking it 
would get in being stirred, after a little 
beating, into hot milk (not scalded). 
Milk in fact, which is a standard diet, 
should not be eaten cold, but made 
warm, particularly for the children who 
eat milk and bread for supper. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Cottage Cheese. —In The R. N.-Y. 
sometime ago, 1 saw a recipe for cottage 
cheese, and I’ve been thinking I’d send 
a new way I learned. It is quicker and 
we like the cheese better. I like the 
milk to be pretty solid ; yet it must not 
be too old. Put the clabbered milk into 
a large pan, and pour on it slowly 
(stirring the milk all the while with a 
skimmer) about half as much boiling 
water as you have milk. The tempera¬ 
ture should not go above 110 degrees. 
As soon as you have poured on the 
water, begin testing it by rubbing be¬ 
tween the fingers, and when as hard 
as desired, pour into a muslin bag and 
squeeze out the whey. Then put the 
bag in a bucket, open it’ and pour on to 
the cheese about a gallon of cool or cold 
water; crumble the cheese with the hand, 
and so wash thoroughly. Again squeeze 
it, and it is ready for the salt and cream, 
which should not be added until time to 
serve, or if for sale, just before starting 
to town. We make it in the evening 
and then the next day, season and take 
to town. b. 
