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FROM DAY TO DAY. 
T a “ mothers’ meeting ” held in con¬ 
nection with one of the New York 
churches recently, Dr. Julia Townsend 
Hill, of Pennsylvania, spoke on the sub¬ 
ject of heredity. Dr. Hill announced, 
with an infectious laugh, that she was 
from the country and would, therefore, 
tell a story about cows. The cows are 
her own, it appears, and are very fine 
ones, with pedigrees reaching back unto 
the third and the fourth generations. 
Dr. Hill’s cows were all black until this 
spring, when a calf arrived that was 
spotted. The puzzled doctor got out the 
book of pedigrees, and began investiga¬ 
tions about that spotted calf, and, sure 
enough ! she found that it was the very 
image of its grandmother on its father’s 
side. The story gave her the opportunity 
to point to an evident moral, which was 
to the effect that a good, healthy woman 
cannot marry a wicked, diseased man 
and hope to have healthy, moral child¬ 
ren from such a marriage. 
* 
Another of the speakers was Mrs. 
Rebecca Kohut, who was a prominent 
speaker at the recent convention of Jew¬ 
ish women in this city. Mrs. Kohut had 
spoken, at some former meetings, of the 
reverence and obedience to parents in¬ 
culcated in Jewish homes, and in the 
course of her remarks on this occasion, 
she observed : 
Perhaps we ought to teach our children to find 
more satisfaction in their homes. Aren’t we get¬ 
ting too theoretical, anyway ? Don’t we need the 
moral courage to pul into practice the things we 
already know? Isn’t that what we need, rather 
than to know more things and do less ? 
The mothers smiled a little sheepishly 
at this, but frankly applauded and 
nodded their heads approvingly. 
* 
During the past three weeks, all the 
shop windows have been gay with Easter 
gifts, and very pretty many of these 
trifles are. Rabbits, butterflies, eggs 
and chickens have appeared everywhere. 
Some of the decorated eggs mounted 
upon pen-wipers or paper-weights are 
extremely pretty. The egg-shell is 
emptied, decorated and glued to its base. 
The grinning features of Humpty Dump- 
ty, wearing a clown’s cap of tissue paper, 
the irrepressible Brownies, or almond- 
eyed Chinese, appear among these. A 
meek-featured egg with the head-dress 
of a Sister of Mercy, made in black and 
white paper, has been a favorite for 
two or three seasons. Little cards, with 
a row of fat kittens seated upon a fence, 
their furry bodies made with pussy-wil¬ 
low flowers, glued on the card, were a 
taking novelty. Some of the quaintest 
little figures of gnomes and Brownies 
come from Germany, but a great many 
of the Easter novelties are made by 
women in this country, and many of 
their ideas are very clever and artistic. 
Indeed, it is hopeless for any one to try 
making such articles for sale unless 
capable of originality and taste, as well 
as deft and clever fingers. 
HOME PAPER-HANGING. 
ANY, especially those situated some 
distance from the larger cities, 
undertake to do their own paper hang¬ 
ing, and for the benefit of these, the fol¬ 
io wing suggestions are given. Indi¬ 
vidual taste must be relied upon in the 
selection of colors or designs suited to 
the various rooms to be papered, and so 
much has already been written upon 
this subject that I shall only say in re¬ 
gard to selection, choose for the first 
attempt, a good quality of paper, one 
that will not tear easily ; though the ex¬ 
pense may be a trifle greater, the saving 
of time and disappointment will more 
than offset it, at least, until you have 
gained a little experience in handling 
the paper. 
The first matter for consideration is a 
proper outfit for the work. Purchase a 
“ smoothing brush,” a wide, thin-backed 
bristle brush which may be had for 75 
cents. An ordinary whitewash brush of 
good quality, a rather soft one, is a good 
paste brush. Then one needs a large 
pair of scissors and a pocket or pouch 
large enough to hold the smoothing 
brush and shears. This pocket is sus¬ 
pended from the waist while working. 
This is the entire outfit of necessary 
tools, with the exception of an old 
table or, better, a couple of broad, 
smooth boards supported on light tres¬ 
tles, making a table about two feet wide 
and nearly as long as the room. 
Do not cut the paper, piece by piece, 
as needed. Cut several at a time, but 
before doing this, the paper should be 
trimmed. Lay a bolt across the feet in 
an ordinary sitting posture, draw the 
end up over the knees, and with the 
right hand, shear off the margin with a 
clean, even cut, and roll up the ready 
trimmed portion with the left hand, pro¬ 
ceeding in this way until the whole bolt 
is trimmed. 
Always begin with the ceiling, and as 
there are 20 yards in a bolt, a little 
head work will quickly determine which 
way the paper should run to cause the 
least waste, though the shorter width 
is the easier to handle. 
In cutting wall paper, never cut odd 
lengths, but always a certain number of 
repeats. The repeat is usually from 13 
to 17 inches long, and marked by a dot 
or print on the margin. The ceiling 
pieces must be cut to the nearest repeat 
longer than the width of the room. After 
the first cut, there need be no measure¬ 
ment, as one lays the second piece over 
the first and cuts to the same repeat mark, 
and so on until a whole bolt is cut, be¬ 
fore beginning to paste and hang. 
This done, the worker will have a 
number of pieces lying upon each other. 
Do not separate them. Simply turn the 
whole bunch face downward on the long 
table. Have a pot of smooth flour paste 
at hand, and with the brush quickly and 
thoroughly wash over the first or upper¬ 
most sheet, and when done, fold each 
end in toward the center, leaving 10 to 
12 inches of the pasted side exposed at 
the middle of the piece. The first attempt 
at folding in the ends will, doubtless, be 
a failure, as it requires quickness and 
decision. Smooth these folds flat, and 
do not fear that the sharp break in the 
paper will do any harm. 
The sheet is now ready for hanging, 
the most difficult part of all. Along one 
side of the ceiling, draw a cord parallel 
to the side wall and about 16 inches 
from it, marking its position at inter¬ 
vals with a pencil. Take up the pasted 
paper, paste side up, and holding it over 
your head on upturned palms, carefully 
fit the untrimmed margin to the line 
marked, at a point equidistant from 
either end, and with a stroke or two of 
the smoothing brush paste it fast. For 
one person alone to hang the ceiling re¬ 
quires great dexterity, and an assistant 
to hold one end while you brush on the 
other, will be indispensable at first, and 
at all times helpful. The weight of the 
paper, if not supported, would immedi¬ 
ately tear itself away from the wall, so 
while the assistant holds one end, and 
with the left hand retaining the central 
part already placed, loosen the corner 
of the fold with the right thumb and 
finger and pull it down part of its length, 
after which its own weight will gradu¬ 
ally unfold it, while with bold strokes 
of the smoothing brush it is pressed 
firmly and smoothly to the ceiling. 
Striking the edge of the brush into angles 
will push the paper entirely into them 
without tearing. Treat the other end 
in the same way, and if the paper should 
extend down the side walls more than 
three or foui inches, cut it off to that 
length after it is on the wall. The opera¬ 
tion is repeated for each successive 
sheet, carefully matching the paper at 
the middle. Never begin at one end, but 
always at the middle, and then if the 
paper does not perfectly match, the ends 
may be allowed to loosen by their own 
weight till near the middle, and then be 
corrected and brushed smooth again. 
The walls are not so difficult as the 
ceiling, though, in cutting the paper for 
them, the lengths are cut in the same 
way. Find the height of the room, be¬ 
ginning five or six inches from the ceil¬ 
ing, and measuring down to the base¬ 
board, including the chairboard if there 
is one, and cut to the nearest repeat 
longer than this measurement. This 
will always result in the least waste of 
paper. Paste and fold in the ends as 
before, and mark with a plumb line for 
the edge of the first piece. The object 
in folding the paper paste inward is that 
it may be handled then like dry paper, 
and while at work, the printed side will 
be against the wall, thus allowing it to 
swing clear without adhering until you 
have it properly placed. 
Loosen a few inches of the upper end, 
and beginning near enough the ceiling 
so that the border will cover it, fasten 
and let the sheet drop, smoothing it to 
the wall as it unfolds. Reaching be¬ 
hind, start the lower fold, and with the 
brush, work the paper into the angle at 
the top of the chair-board and draw the 
point of the shears along the angle, not 
so as to scratch, however, but merely to 
make a mark. With the left hand, draw 
the paper away a few inches again and 
cut along this line, and smooth down a 
second time. This makes a perfect fit 
every time, if properly cut. The piece 
thus cut off is not laid aside, but is 
placed beneath the chair-board, extend¬ 
ing several inches above its lower edge 
as well as down over the edge of the 
base-board. Mark these angles as above, 
cutting to the line, and again smoothing 
into place with the brush. All angles, 
horizontal or perpendicular, are treated 
in this same way, and one should never 
undertake to cut a piece of paper before¬ 
hand to fit a certain space, for it cannot 
be done. Spaces over doors and win¬ 
dows will, of course, require the cutting 
of short pieces, which often results in 
considerable waste, but it cannot be 
avoided if you would do nice work. Last 
of all, the border is hung, but this re¬ 
quires no new method of handling. It may 
take a beginner a trifle longer to paper 
a room than it would a professional, 
but even the first attempt, if carried out 
in this way, will be far superior to the 
lower grade of professional work. 
J. MARION SHUI/L. 
Homemade Hard Soap. —J. F. F. in¬ 
quires for advice regarding homemade 
soap. The following recipe has been 
used with excellent results : Dissolve 
one can of concentrated lye in three 
pints of warm water. Before the lye 
cools, stir in slowly five pounds of liquid 
grease which has been previously 
strained and is still lukewarm. Stir for 
10 minutes. Now add three teaspoon¬ 
fuls of borax; stir in well. Your soap 
is now completed, but in its liquid state. 
Pour it into old pans which should be 
reserved particularly for this purpose, 
and let it stand overnight. Before it is 
quite cold, it should be marked off, and 
when thoroughly hardened, it can be 
cut into cakes. This soap will be found 
to be of excellent quality. One must 
wear gloves for this work and be careful 
not to get the lye on the flesh, as it will 
burn ; one must also be careful not to 
inhale the lye. 
Best. Rest. Test. 
There are two kinds of sarsaparilla: The best — and the 
rest. The trouble is they lodk alike. And when the rest 
dress like the best who’s to tell them apart? Well, “the tree 
is known by its fruit.” That’s an old test and a safe one. 
And the taller the tree the deeper the root. That’s another 
test. What’s the root,—the record of these sarsaparillas ? The 
one with the deepest root is Ayer’s. The one with the richest 
fruit; that, too, is Ayer’s. Ayer’s Sarsaparilla has a record of 
half a century of cures ; a record of many medals and awards — 
culminating in the medal of the Chicago World’s Fair, which, 
admitting Ayer’s Sarsaparilla as the best — shut its doors against 
the rest. That was greater honor than the medal, to be the only 
Sarsaparilla admitted as an exhibit at the World’s Fair. If you 
want to get the best sarsaparilla of your druggist, here’s an 
infallible rule : Ask for the best and you ’ll get Ayer’s. Ask 
for Ayer’s and you’ll get the best. 
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