FROM DAY TO DAY. 
AST week, our nursing symposium 
gave ample information on the 
subject of a most useful and honorable 
profession. It is, as may be seen, no 
easy occupation, but to a woman properly 
qualified, it offers very great advantages. 
Many a girl who dreams of becoming a 
second Florence Nightingale or Clara 
Barton quails when the harsh duties of 
the hospital are brought before her. 
Think of all the most disagreeable de¬ 
tails of home nursing, multiply them a 
hundredfold, and one begins to realize 
what hospital nursing means One young 
woman, brought up amid the daintiest 
surroundings, told us, with some humor, 
of one of her first hospital experiences ; 
she was called upon to wash an old 
woman who was so shockingly unclean 
that scraping suggested itself as a 
needed prelude to the bath ! 
* 
It will be noted that very great stress 
is laid upon good health as the first 
requisite for a hospital nurse. This is 
equally true of every occupation for 
women. It is often urged, by those who 
seek to dissuade women from a business 
career, that they lack the power of con¬ 
centrated effort that makes a man suc¬ 
cessful in life. We think this is more 
often physical than mental disability. 
Going home with all the daily toilers in 
the street cars, one soon notices how 
fagged-out and haggard the women look 
as compared with the men. They do not 
appear to possess enough stamina to bear 
the continual, day-after-day strain as 
men do. They forget, too, that the en¬ 
gine must receive a certain amount of 
fuel to keep up steam, and after a year 
or two of hurried business life and coff ee- 
and-Charlotte-Russe luncheons, they ac¬ 
quire “nerves” and begin to think that 
life is a failure. Women are prone to 
fritter away their energies in too many 
exacting interests, and this cannot fail 
to injure business capacity. The nurse 
in training soon learns that, if she wishes 
to devote a sound mind and body to her 
profession, all other pursuits must be 
set aside for it, and other women of 
business would do well to observe the 
same attitude. 
A CONVENIENT BOOKCASE. 
HE accompanying illustration, re¬ 
produced from The Modern Pris¬ 
cilla, shows a very convenient bookcase 
for a bedroom, or any place where space 
is restricted. It is made to set under 
the window sill, which projects, always, 
more or less from the window. Five 
boards are all that are necessary, for it 
need have no back, the wall serving 
that purpose. They must be a little 
over half an inch thick, and may be of 
any kind of wood ; a real wood, of course, 
is more handsome, but a common wood 
is cheaper, and may be stained or painted 
so as to be very pretty. The length 
and breadth of the boards will differ ac¬ 
cording to the space at command. The 
two at the sides must be made at the 
bottom to fit into the beveled edges of 
the surface, and should be the height 
from the floor to the window, lacking 
about half an inch, if the top board is to 
set under the sill; but a better way is 
to bring it up to the window and to have 
the top board thicker than the others, 
say a little over an inch, that one edge 
of it may be cutout to set on the rounded 
edge of the sill. This makes it more 
secure. 
The two shelves must extend from the 
wall to the outer edge of the sides, and 
it is better to have them both lie above 
the surface, that they may be of the 
same breadth. Often, though, this is not 
possible, and one shelf has to be fastened 
in place as low down as the surface to 
make the shelves the same height, and 
so will be a little narrower. Underneath 
the lower shelf there will be a little 
room left, about three to four inches 
probably, in which to tuck away news¬ 
papers and magazines. A carpenter will 
put this simple bit of furniture together 
for very little cost. Then, when it is in 
place, if it be of common white wood, 
stain it some dark color—brown is pret¬ 
tier than anything else. Put a light 
brass rod at the top, with some brass 
rings, and hang a curtain, which will 
hide the books from view ,and reach to the 
floor in graceful folds. So many pretty 
patterns can be bought in silk, or silka- 
line, and a curtain to harmonize with 
the prevailing tint of the room will make 
a bright spot of color. A scarf of the 
same material is laid on the top of the 
bookcase, and the improvised piece of 
furniture is complete. 
COLLARS AND CUFFS. 
TOOK collars of colored ribbon seem 
on the wane, and this most con¬ 
venient fashion is likely to give way to 
newer modes of neck dressing. Where 
ribbon is used, it is often lightened by a 
frill of white lace or silk muslin, plaited 
stiffly. This is widest at the back, and 
tapers gradually at the sides, disappear¬ 
ing entirely in the front. White collars 
and frills seem more in favor than for 
several years. A full plaited ruche of 
white mull or chiffon, extending from 
the back half way around the sides, is a 
very popular and becoming style. Some 
very rich cream laces are made into 
these ruffs ; others are of chiffon with a 
lace edge, and some are of plain China 
crape. 
Among the collars to be worn with 
shirt waists, a favorite is the straight¬ 
standing throat band, which came in 
just at the close of the last season, and 
is one of the most popular shapes. The 
cuffs that match should be fastened 
with the regulation button, not links, or 
those of the dumbbell order. The next 
collar in popularity, and somewhat 
newer and more generally becoming, is 
called the two-inch turnover. It con¬ 
sists of a high-standing portion with two 
turnover sections, having square sections 
opened both back and front. This is to 
be worn with one of the many fashion¬ 
able stocks or with the most fashionable 
of all cravats at present—the new 
Windsor tie. This cravat is straight, 
not bias, as was the Windsor of the past. 
It is about three inches wide and two 
yards long. It is carried around this 
collar from the front to the back, where 
it is crossed, then brought to the front 
again and tied in a wide-open bow. The 
effect is not as stiff as the stock. 
Other neck bands to be worn with this 
new cravat are those that flare around 
the throat. The most novel one, which 
is suited only to faces both pretty and 
fresh, is the Portia. This consists of a 
band of medium height, closed in front 
with two studs, and has an outstanding 
portion of three decided points. The 
cuffs to match are similar in shape, but 
instead of flaring, lie neatly against the 
outside of the sleeve. 
The collars adapted for smaller ties or 
those made up in stiff bows have, in 
many instances, turnover hemstitched 
points. An admirable example has two 
double points in front, while others 
have as many as eight or ten put on all 
’round the neck band and falling just 
the least bit below its lower edge. The 
new high turnover collar, which should 
always be worn with a stiff bow, opens 
in the back as well as the front. This is 
an improvement on the old style, in con¬ 
venience, at least, since it is much easier 
to slip the tie in place. More elaborate 
collars are made of grass linen edged 
with a hemstitched band in white or 
plain colored lawns, bordered with white 
lace. 
Collars suitable for shirt waists of 
silk—which, by the way, to be strictly 
up-to-date, must have high, crushed 
bands at the neck—are dainty little 
strips of muslin or fine linen, hem¬ 
stitched and edged with delicate ruffles 
of lace. The cuffs are to match, and 
the sets are to be had not only in white, 
but in cardinal, navy blue, black and all 
the delicate tints. Tabs of white lace, 
of white chiffon or mousseline de soie, 
edged with lace, are also popular. 
Ties of printed India silk or foulard 
are very suitable to be worn with shirt 
waists. Some of the prettiest seen are 
bright, but carefully blended plaids. 
Loops of ribbons are still used at the 
back of dressy gowns, with the lace 
ruche falling between, and one pretty 
neck finish is two quarter-of-a-yard 
lengths of four-inch black satin ribbon 
cut with slanting ends and plaited on 
one edge in a small double box-plait, 
forming two little frills meeting in the 
back, and the lace, which begins nar¬ 
rowly in the sides, falls over these. The 
tucked collar bands are very pretty with 
simply the lace ruche in the edge, and 
the knot effect in front is another fancy 
this season which is very pretty on 
some gowns. Stocks made of the silk 
like the bodice tied in a soft bow with 
hemstitched ends in front, and a narrow 
linen collar turned over the edge, are in 
excellent taste as well as good style. 
Ribbon is used for stocks, with the order 
of last season reversed and the bow tied 
in front, and the same narrow linen 
collar is the finish, with narrow cuffs to 
match. 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES. 
OW great a source of comfort as 
well as economy it would be if 
women would learn that a very hot fire 
is not often needed for cooking ! It is 
often a case of “ making haste slowly.” 
Even potatoes will cook quicker if not 
boiled too hard, and Mrs. Rorer says 
that meat should be kept below the 
boiling point after the first 10 minutes. 
Corn meal mush is not much used in 
the summer in many families, but we 
consider it more wholesome than pota¬ 
toes for supper, and use it very often 
the year ’round. Mush-making is not 
the bugbear it was, since I’ve learned 
to make it the new way ; that is, mix 
the meal in cold water, and then pour 
into the boiling water, stirring quickly 
and well. We think the mush much 
better ; only a little fire is needed to 
keep it cooking the hour required. 
About one-fourth as much meal as boil¬ 
ing water, mixed with a little more cold 
water than meal, is the proportion. 
Eaten with stewed fruit or fruit juice, 
it makes a substantial supper dish. 
For some time, I have been soaking 
dried fruit 12 hours before cooking, and 
new I read that it would be better yet 
if soaked 24 hours ! We like dried apples 
cooked until they mash nicely—then 
sweeten. We also cook them with one- 
fourth as many apricots, and think them 
greatly improved. 
A round pudding or pie-pan two inches 
deep is nice for pieplant and fruit pies. 
Use biscuit dough for covering ; it is 
best to stew the fruit first, and then one 
can have plenty without being afraid of 
its not being done. With our men it is 
liked better than plain stewed fruit, and 
fills the place of the more unwholesome 
pie. 
Have we all learned that boiling water 
poured on lemon juice makes it go far¬ 
ther ? In this way, one large lemon will 
make two very good pies. The best way 
to get the most benefit from lemonade 
is to take a glass, very sour, a half hour 
before breakfast, or a half hour before 
bed time. 
Cocoa is handier and quite as good as 
chocolate to make chocolate icing ; a 
tablespoonful of cocoa to a cup of sugar, 
make as usual. 
A friend who did not have enough 
rags for her carpet, bought the rags from 
one of her butter customers in the city. 
As the city woman did not make rag 
carpets, the buyer found many nice rags 
for her carpet, and then sold the re¬ 
mainder to the rag-man. Perhaps many 
who need material for rag carpet have 
acquaintances in town who would be 
glad to sell their paper rags in this 
way. RAY MORRIS. 
A Wash-Day Apron. — For kitchen 
and nursery wear, an apron of oil-cloth 
or rubber saves its price many times in 
saving labor, for, besides protecting 
dress fronts, it is kept clean without 
rubbing. When removed, lay right side 
up, on a dry table, and with a damp 
cloth wipe the surface. If of rubber, 
it will outwear many aprons of cloth. 
White, with a binding of red braid, 
stitched on by machine, is neat and 
pretty. It may be cut all in one piece, 
with a bib. D. £.. T. 
VICTORIES. 
FOUR MEDALS—3 Gold and 1 Silver, World’s Centennial 
Cotton Exposition, New Orleans, 1884. 
HIGHEST AWARDS—Nebraska Agricultural Fair, 1887. 
DIPLOMA—Alabama Agr’l Society, Montgomery, 1888. 
| AWARD—Chattahoochie Valley Exposition, Colum¬ 
bus, Ga., 1888._ 
and 
—J 
C OPP M 
back! 
HIGHEST AWARDS—St. Louis Agricultural 
M echanical Association. 1889 ._ 
’GOLD MIEDALS and 6 DIPLOMAS—World’s Colum¬ 
bia nExposition^CIhicago^J893. 
HIGHEST AWARDS—Western Fair Association, Lon¬ 
don, Canad a, 18 93._ 
I SIX GOLD MEDALS and Diplomas—Ca lifornia Midw inter Fair ’94 
.SILVER MEDAL—Industrial Exposition, Toronto, Canada, 1895. 
' 345,584 Home Comfort Ranges Sold to Jan. lst,'i>7 5 
CT^Range illustrated sold throughout the United States and [ 
the Canadas at a uni form price front our ow n wagons. 
Made of open hearth, cold rolled steel-plate and malleable 
I iron —will last a life-time with ordinary care. 
WROUGHT IRON RANGE CO., 
Founded 1864. Paid-up Capital $1,000,000. 
Factories, Salesrooms and Offices: ST. LOUIS, MO., and TORONTO, CANADA. 
Western Salesrooms and offices: DENVER COIO. 
E3?”We manufacture and carry a complete stock of Hotel Ranges and Kitchen goods. also the 
unequaled HOME COMFORT STEEL FURNACES. Write for catalogue and prices. 
