FROM DAY TO DAY. 
E are recommended by the Pacific 
Rural Press to treat California 
cured peaches as follows : Soak cured 
peaches 24 hours in water, after which 
the skin will slip off. Without cooking, 
it makes a delicious dish served between 
two crusts as a shortcake, cream being 
used as an adjunct. A correspondent 
also reports using the same fruit treated 
in the same preliminary manner with 
cream and sugar, and states that the re¬ 
sults are about as satisfactory as with 
fresh fruit. 
* 
Those who marry despite remon¬ 
strance, saying, “It is no one’s affair 
save ours,” says Harper’s Bazar, speak 
in the obstinacy of an almost intentional 
blindness, for they have only to look 
back and forth (in the family history, 
perhaps) to see where here and there and 
the other place, the deliberate infusion 
of bad,blood or weak will or vicious in¬ 
stincts has swept a whole generation out 
of its inherited place. No man may live 
or die alone, and least of all may a man 
marry alone. In that one tie are twisted 
strands that run back into the past and 
forward into the future. When the un¬ 
happily married begin to see miserable 
and far-reaching conditions arising, it is 
impossible that they should not remem¬ 
ber that all is resultant upon their own 
act, which need never have been, and 
with the thought the iron enters more 
deeply. 
BINDING BOOKS AT HOME. 
ANY people who throw their papers 
aside, because it costs too much 
to send them away to be bound, would 
gladly save them if the binding could 
be done by themselves at home. There 
is a way to do it, at almost no cost, and 
with very little labor, that little being 
more of a pastime than actual labor. 
When I tell you that by the following 
simple method, and with the simple 
tools given, I have bound 40 odd volumes 
of thick State law reports, Harper’s 
and Scribner’s magazines, etc., besides 
many paper-covered novels, 1 feel sure 
that many persons will try their hand 
at the art of book binding, and be glad 
that they did so. 
These are the tools. More elegant 
ones may, of course, be used, but I give 
the homely ones that have been mine 
own faithful friends : The greater part 
of the head of a clean barrel ; two pieces 
—each six inches long — of a broom 
handle ; a piece of slat 1% foot long, by 
one inch broad ; a short hind saw ; a 
ball of good twine the thickness of a 
knitting needle ; a spool of coarse white 
flax thread ; a short needle with blunt 
point and big eye ; a lead pencil; a bit 
of wax ; five cents’ worth of good sheet 
glue ; one paint brush an inch or half 
an inch broad ; a few tacks and nails; 
odd pieces of old pasteboard boxes; 
sheets of wrapping paper, cheese cloth, 
colored calico, glazed colored cambric, 
or old cambric window shades. A long 
list, I grant, but will venture to say that 
every home will afford it, with, perhaps, 
the exception of brush and glue. 
Nail the two pieces of broom handle to 
each end of the barrel head, near the 
straight edge. Lay the piece of slat on 
the pieces of broom handle and nail it 
to them securely. Drive three tacks 
(half way) in the straight edge of the 
barrel head, one in the middle and one 
on each side of it a few inches apart ; 
also exactly opposite these, drive three 
corresponding tacks in the slat above 
them. Stretch three pieces of twine 
tightly, from the tacks in the barrel 
head to those in the slat; see upper part 
of Fig. 26. This completes the binding 
frame. 
Lay the magazines to be bound, one 
upon the other, being careful to get all 
the edges exactly even, and place them 
on the binding frame so that all their 
backs touch the stretched twines ; then 
with the lead pencil draw a deep line 
across the back of the books along each 
of the twines, and another line about an 
inch from the two end twines, making 
five lines in all; these two end lines are 
called the “ kettle holes.” Remove the 
magazines from the frame, and saw in 
every pencil line in every book, a cut 
about the sixteenth of an inch deep. 
See central Fig. 26. 
Begin with the December number of 
the magazine, take out the little tin 
strips that hold it together, and take off 
the section of leaves at the back of the 
magazine ; run the fingers up and down 
it to remove the glue from its edge, then 
lay the section of leaves on the binding 
frame so that the stretched twines will 
fit in the saw cuts, middle twine in mid¬ 
dle saw cut, and so on. Open the sec¬ 
tion of leaves at the middle folded sheet, 
and holding it open with one hand, put 
the needle, threaded with a strand of 
waxed flax thread, through one of the 
“ kettle holes ”, from the outside, leav¬ 
ing an inch or so of thread hanging ; 
bring the needle out through the next 
BINDING BOOKS AT HOME. Fig. 26. 
saw cut on one side of the twine and put 
it back in the same hole on the other side 
of the twine (see upper part Fig. 26) 
and so continue, drawing the thread 
gently to force the twines in the saw 
cuts; be careful not to draw the threads 
backward, as it will split the paper. 
When the second “kettle hole” is 
reached, bring the needle out through 
it, then lay on the next section of leaves, 
let the needle enter the “kettle hole” 
in this fresh section of leaves, and pro¬ 
ceed with it in the same manner as with 
the first. On reaching the starting point, 
tie the end of thread that was left hang¬ 
ing, to the strand in the needle ; lay on 
the third section of leaves and start 
back again ; when the “kettle hole ” is 
reached again, pass the needle through 
the under thread to fasten it. So con¬ 
tinue until all of the December number 
is on the frame, then take the Novem¬ 
ber number, and proceed with it in ex¬ 
actly the same way. Four or six num¬ 
bers are best to form one volume of the 
thick magazines, but a whole year of 
the thin papers may be put into a vol¬ 
ume if one so choose. The many sec¬ 
tions of leaves given over to advertising, 
I always leave out, as they only increase 
the bulk of the volume and add nothing 
to its value. I refer, of course, to the 
pages that are free from the reading 
matter. 
When the needle requires refilling, tie 
the old strand to the new one inside the 
sheets of your magazine, being careful 
not to cut the ends shorter than half an 
inch ; and be sure at the end of each sec¬ 
tion, to draw the thread gently, so that 
the stretched twines will enter the saw 
cuts. Do not- think it necessary to wrap 
the thread several times around the 
twines ; simply bring the needle out on 
one side of the twine and put it back on 
the other. The object is to get the 
thread around the twine, so that it can 
be drawn in to the saw cut, and once 
around is enough, more would result in 
a tangled thread, and would prevent its 
being drawn taut on reaching the “ ket¬ 
tle hole”. This precaution is added, 
because beginners invariably are pos¬ 
sessed with the mistaken idea that wrap¬ 
ping the thread several times about the 
twine is sure to add strength to the 
binding. 
When all of the magazines for one 
volume have been bound on the frame, 
put on in like manner, a few sheets of 
wrapping paper for fly leaves—the bot¬ 
tom fly leaves should have been put on 
before the magazines — then cut the 
twines, leaving at least an inch of loose 
end to every twine, for these ends of 
twine are to hold the bound book to its 
cover; when stretching the twine, be 
sure to wind enough around the tacks 
in the barrel head to allow for these 
ends. 
The book is now ready for the glue ; 
prepare it for use by breaking into 
small bits ; put into a tin can and pour 
hot water over it until quite covered ; 
then set the can in a vessel of boiling 
water on the stove, where it should re¬ 
main until the glue is well melted. 
With the paint brush, smear this melted 
glue over the extreme back of the bound 
volume, and while it is wet, put on a 
piece of cheese cloth that will cover it 
and extend about half an inch beyond 
the loose twines on each side. Fold 
under the edge of the cheese cloth at 
top and bottom edge of the book so that 
no raw edges will show. A fold of 
stripped calico with a cord in the fold is 
often added at these ends to give finish 
to them, but they need not be added 
unless wanted. 
Having placed the cheese cloth 
smoothly on the back of the volume, lay 
it away to dry between two weights ; if 
a letter press is at hand, lay the book in 
that, and while the glue is drying make 
the cover for the volume. For this, 
measure two pieces of pasteboard the 
size of the outside cover of magazine. 
Measure a thick piece of wrapping paper 
the exact size of the extreme back of the 
volume. Smear thfe glue well over one 
side of these, and lay them on a square 
of calico—the pasteboards on either side 
of the heavy paper—cut the corners, 
and bring the edges of calico neatly 
over on the other side, as shown in 
lower part of Fig. 26. From the glazed 
cambric—or old window shade—cut four 
three-cornered strips and put them 
neatly on the four corners of the book 
cover, as the leather corners are put on 
cloth books. These bits protect the 
corners and add to the appearance of the 
volume, but may be omitted if preferred. 
When the glue is quite dry, put the 
volume in its cover and secure to it thus : 
First smear glue over the cheese cloth 
edges that were left loose with the ends 
of twine, then press the cheese cloth 
smoothly to the board cover, slightly 
ravel the loose ends of twine and lay 
them on the cheese cloth ; put glue on 
each twine and press them straight and 
smooth to the cloth ; let the glue dry, 
then smear glue over the first fly leaf 
and press it smoothly and carefully over 
the cheese cloth, twines, and entire 
pasteboard ; first having cut the edges 
of the paper fly leaf even and neatly all 
around, so as to leave about a quarter 
of an inch of the cloth binding showing 
around the edge of the cover. Do not 
paste the extreme back of the cover to 
the volume ; this is left loose. Get a 
well bound book and examine it as you 
work ; this will enable you to under¬ 
stand should my explanation be indefin¬ 
ite on some points. After securing the 
book in its cover, put again under 
weights until the glue is dry. Cut a 
strip of glazed cambric or old window 
shade, and print on it the name of the 
magazine, year and months contained 
in volume, and also the number of 
volumes ; paste this on extreme back of 
the book, as title strips are placed on 
leather volumes. 
This manner of binding books on 
stretched twines is, I have been informed, 
employed by all the best book-binders. 
It is one of the oldest, yet the best 
method yet discovered. Putting them 
together by means of sewing machine 
and bits of wire, are cheap ways and ex¬ 
tensively used, but they are far inferior 
to the old way, and always prevent a 
volume from being opened wide. 
It is best for a beginner to make his 
first experiment with a few old almanacs 
or a valueless paper book of small size. 
An earnest worker, having become pro¬ 
ficient in this work, might make it of 
pecuniary advantage by binding maga¬ 
zines for friends and acquaintances. 
Unbleached cotton, duck, and coarse, 
colored linen make stronger, better 
covers than calico, if they can be had. 
In conclusion, let me caution the 
worker against poor glue, thread, and 
twine ; let these three articles be of the 
best, and your book binding will, if done 
carefully and neatly, last as long as the 
best and most expensively bound books. 
A pound of good white sheet glue costs 
very little, and at least half a pint should 
be prepared and kept ready for use, with 
a good inch or half-inch paint brush to 
use it with. Do not buy the thin stuff 
put up in bottles ; it is utterly useless 
for this work or any other. It will stick 
nothing together but the worker’s 
fingers, and is sure to spoil everything, 
including the worker’s temper. 
As old pasteboard boxes are seldom 
heavy enough to form covers for weighty 
volumes, it is best to paste two pieces 
together ; in this way, the boards may 
be rendered as stiff as desired. News¬ 
paper offices generally have facilities for 
cutting the edges of papers, and if one 
is accessible, you might, for a trifle, have 
the ragged edges of your magazines cut 
smooth by them. M. bane griffin. 
See that 
it is there! 
This is the trade-mark which 
is on the wrapper (salmon-col¬ 
ored) of every 
bottle of the gen- 
nuine SCOTT’S 
EMULSION. 
Be sore this is on 
the package, and 
that nothing else 
is palmed off on 
you when you 
ask for it. 
Nothing has been made that 
equals it to give s'rength and 
so'id flesh to those who are 
run down or emaciated. 
Your doctor will tell you 
that it is the one food for all 
those whose weight is below 
the standard of health. 
Put up in 50 cts. and $1.00 sizes, 
and sold by all druggists. 
SCOTT & BOWNE, New York. 
