*-i*r 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
The motto of the graduating class at 
a Kansas high school this year was, 
“ Labor conquers all,” and one of the 
local papers, commenting on it, says 
that it is hoped that, if the labor lies 
near at hand, and consists of dish-wash¬ 
ing, mending, or chopping kindling, it 
will not be despised. These mottoes 
apply to just such work, though a 
graduate dressed all in white is likely 
to connect her class motto dreamily with 
mountains of obstacles to be overcome 
on the path to success, and great battles 
to be fought. Doing up the dishes well 
is a good skirmish to begin with. The 
pupils are only privates in the war, 
and should not take to themselves the 
rights, privileges, duties and glories of 
the generals. 
* 
Passe-partout photograph frames of 
embroidered linen or fancy drawing- 
board painted in water colors, while 
very dainty, have the disadvantage of 
being very easily soiled. This difficulty 
is obviated in the newer styles by cover¬ 
ing the entire frame with a pane of 
glass. An example noted was a rectan¬ 
gular frame covered with white linen 
embroidered with scattered violets. A 
circular space was cut out for the photo¬ 
graph, the back of the frame being 
neatly covered with plain linen. A pane 
of glass the exact size of the frame was 
laid over it, frame and glass being held 
together at the edges by a binding of 
violet ribbon. Naturally, the photo¬ 
graph, as well as the frame, is protected 
by the glass. Another pretty frame was 
smoothly covered with violet satin. 
Around the oval opening for the picture 
was a band of very fine crocheted lace 
about 1% inch wide, laid smoothly on 
the satin. The whole frame was cov¬ 
ered with a pane of glass, the edge be¬ 
ing bound with violet satin ribbon. 
This was a very inexpensive frame, but 
was made with such exactitude that the 
effect was excellent. The same idea 
would be very attractive with the use of 
Delft blue satin and ribbon in place of 
violet. Some of the prettiest painted 
frames are decorated in this color. 
* 
Summer sofa cushions seem meant for 
comfort rather than display, and many 
of the prettiest among them are of wash¬ 
ing materials. There is a special make 
of gingham for this purpose, usually 
seen in large plaids and simple colors ; 
red and white, blue and white, red and 
blue, etc. A cushion of red and white 
plaid, bordered with a frill of solid red, 
is a favorite style. A plaid of Delft blue, 
in large squares upon a white ground, was 
decorated with fancy stitches in blue 
linen floss upon the white squares, the 
edge being a blue frill embroidered in 
white. White butcher’s linen embroid¬ 
ered in blue rope silk, with a frill of 
blue linen around it, makes another 
pretty washable cover. Old red denim 
embroidered in black rope silk, with a 
frill of soft black silk, is pretty and ser¬ 
viceable. These cushions are certainly 
far preferable to the stuffy pillows of 
elaborately adorned plush, which we 
used to pile upon our uninhabited sofas. 
JELLY-MAKING CONVENIENCES 
HE two devices shown at Figs. 188 
and 189, are designed to aid the 
housewife when making jelly. It is both 
hard and uncomfortable work to extract 
the juice from a jelly-bag filled with 
hot, cooked fruit, by hand power. Fig. 
188 shows a homemade contrivance for 
extracting the juice from the jelly-bag 
without touching it with the hands. 
Hang up the bag and insert it between 
the curved faces of the blocks, and the 
handles will apply sufficient strength. 
As the bag grows thinner, turn up the 
nut to bring the handles nearer together. 
A homemade jelly press is shown in 
Fig. 189. A cooking “steamer,” with 
large holes in the bottom, is fitted with 
a circular board cover, and placed under 
pressure, as shown. The steamer sets 
on a board that is perforated, and that 
is raised above another board that is 
grooved to catch the juice of the fruit 
and conduct it into a pan below. 
The bottom of the steamer cannot 
thus be pressed out of shape. The hinged 
lever presses a wooden block down upon 
the lid, being steadied by an upright 
fastened to the block on which the press 
A JELLY SQUEEZER. Fig. 188. 
stands. Extract the juice quickly, as 
the crushed fruit should not stand long 
in a metal vessel. A granite - ware 
steamer is preferable to tin. 
WEBB DONNELL. 
THE FARMER’S VACATION. 
EARLY every farmer is so situated 
that he can spare a day occasion¬ 
ally for recreation, and also give his 
family a share in his pleasure. Every 
farmer has a horse, perhaps two or 
three, and a comfortable wagon, prob¬ 
ably a carriage. Let him plan his work 
so that he can spend a day with his fam¬ 
ily on some pleasure trip. If too far 
from the seashore to go and get back 
comfortably at night, let the ride be 
somewhere nearer. Near every New Eng¬ 
land town, there are pleasant woods, 
perhaps some good ponds for fishing. 
The children will enjoy going to some 
new place, even though they have woods 
around their home. Do not let the good 
wife weary herself preparing an elab¬ 
orate lunch ; something would be pro- 
vined for dinner if they stay at home, 
so why not take the same dinner along 
with them to the woods. 
The farmer and his family will be much 
more refreshed than if they had gone to 
the seaside for a week, and stowed the 
whole family into one small room of a 
cottage, paying one dollar per day for 
the privilege of sleeping in hard bunks, 
or on the floor, and cooking three meals 
a day with a smoking cookstove until 
all the family were in tears. That has 
A HOMEMADE JELLY PRESS. Fig. 189. 
been my experience in a vain attempt 
to have a pleasant outing without the 
expense of hotel accommodations. About 
all the benefit received was the poor 
satisfaction of saying that we had been 
to the beach for a few days. 
For illustration, I will give two cases 
that came under my observation sev¬ 
eral years ago, in a New England town. 
One family, consisting of a man, his 
wife and daughter, had tried the beach 
outing for several summers, to their 
utter disgust, as they invariably came 
home tired and sick, trying to have a 
good time on an economical scale. For 
several years after, they tried an en¬ 
tirely different plan. They owned a 
horse and carriage and took several de¬ 
lightful trips during August and Sep¬ 
tember, sometimes going for blueber¬ 
ries or raspberries, which grew wild in 
profusion, thus combining pleasure and 
profit. Sometimes it was a fishing trip 
to a pond about eight miles distant ; at 
other times, a picnic in some beautiful 
pine or oak woods. They always car¬ 
ried a good supply of food for the horse 
and themselves. The horse was unhar¬ 
nessed, and tied to some tree, and he 
seemed to enjoy these outings as much 
as the family. The daughter, who was 
quite a botanist, took great delight in 
roaming about the woods in search of 
plants new to her. A small oil stove, 
frying pan and kettle were always 
tucked under the seat of the carriage, so 
that fish or vegetables could be cooked 
nicely. 
Another family, living in a convenient, 
roomy house, worked for weeks to make 
up dresses of all descriptions, traveling, 
dinner, evening and bathing dresses, for 
mother and daughters. Then they left 
the husband and father at home to take 
care of the house, taking his meals at 
the house of one of his hired men, while 
the mother and daughters were at the 
seashore, each paying $8 a week at a 
hotel, two occupying a little 8 x 10 bed¬ 
room with only one window in it. Which 
family had the most real enjoyment and 
derived the most benefit ? s. s. A. 
AN EXPERIMENT IN EDUCATION. 
HILE reading the opinions in the 
school symposium, I was re¬ 
minded of a boy of my acquaintance, 
who has three sisters—all school teach¬ 
ers—with “ views” on the education of 
children. Long before he was out of 
kilts, the plan of his education had been 
settled. 
From a mere baby, he was read to and 
amused. His favorite books were read 
and reread, he played with ABC blocks, 
and had his little blackboard and slate. 
Not the slightest effort was made to 
teach him anything. If he asked ques¬ 
tions, they were answered in the sim¬ 
plest language. He does not remember 
when he learned to read. His earliest 
recollections are of standing by the 
table reading to his mother, while she 
mixed bread. Tom Brown at Rugby, 
the Alcott books, The Lady of the 
Lake, A Boy’s Town, Boys of ’61, and 
many other books had been read and en¬ 
joyed long before he entered school. It 
was some time before he learned to like 
any poetry besides The Lady of the 
Lake, but he now reads Longfellow and 
Whittier. 
He was sent to school for 14 months 
in the country, where much of the home 
culture was destroyed by careless teach¬ 
ing. But nothing can ever destroy the 
independent habits of thought and 
study acquired through the wise direc¬ 
tion of his sister. Before he was 12 
years old, he successfully passed the 
Boxwell examination which, m Ohio, 
passes country scholars into the city 
high schools, and was admitted to the 
high school of a second-class city. It 
must be borne in mind that this mother 
did all her own work, as the daughters 
were away most of the time at their 
schools. The farm on which they lived 
was heavily mortgaged, yet somehow, 
by saving and wearing old clothes, they 
managed to have books and maps and 
magazines. The daughters had been 
sent to school when quite young, and the 
remembrance of long hours spent among 
noisy scholars in poorly-ventilated 
school-rooms, as well as pity for their 
own small scholars, made them particu¬ 
larly anxious that their brother should 
be kept at home as long as possible. 
Children should be kept at home until 
they are old enough to look out for 
themselves. Teach them to read, give 
them the best books and magazines, and 
they will soon learn to think and act 
independently, and half the battle will 
be over. Does this sound too hard ? Do 
you like to send the little ones to school 
to have them out of your way '? If you 
trust them to the public school, you 
must, of course, take the consequences. 
Many people are even too thoughtless 
and indifferent to inquire how tbeir 
children are getting on at school. They 
spend more time and money and thought 
on the temporal affairs of life, and for¬ 
get that the minds of their children are 
eternal. 
As to making the country schools 
better, that can never be so long as the 
best and brightest people cannot afford, 
for the exceedingly low wages, to teach 
in the public schools. 
HILDA RICHMOND. 
KITCHEN DRUDGERY. 
0 the woman who has the well¬ 
being of her family at heart, and 
who takes pleasure in gratifying their 
tastes, cooking is, by no means, the dis¬ 
agreeable work it is often supposed to 
be. On the contrary, it has many attrac¬ 
tions. But the labor which necessarily 
follows in the cleaning of pots and 
kettles, and washing of dishes, is dreaded 
by every housekeeper upon whom it de¬ 
volves. 
To women who wish to keep their 
hands in good condition, dishwashing 
with very hot water and strong soap is 
objectionable and by no means neces¬ 
sary. After a meal, gather and scrape 
clean the plates, meat and vegetable 
dishes. Fill the dish-pan half full of 
warm water, to which add a teaspoonful 
of powdered borax. Put the silver, 
glasses, teacups and saucers in first and 
wash quickly ; then wash the plates and 
greasy articles in the same way. For 
the kitchen utensils, water of the same 
temperature with the addition of borax 
may be used. All dishes washed in this 
way will be quickly cleansed from grease 
far better than if soap be used. The 
hands will not only not be injured by 
the work, but made white and smooth. 
For washing dish cloths and tea tow¬ 
els, put a kettle of water on the stove, 
add a tablespoonful of borax, drop the 
articles to be washed into it, let boil 
two or three minutes, set off and let 
stand until cool, then rinse, wring and 
hang out to dry. No handling or rub¬ 
bing will be necessary, yet the grease 
and dirt will be entirely removed. The 
kitchen presses, oil cloths and sinks may 
be cleansed in this way with equally 
good results. eliza r parker. 
ODDS AND ENDS . 
A Quaker acquaintance, while seated 
at our table, mentioned the method fol¬ 
lowed in his family for keeping hams 
through the heated season. He assured 
us at the time that they were using ham 
two years old, which had kept in an ex¬ 
cellent condition. When thoroughly 
“ cured,” they dipped the entire ham in 
liquid whitewash, thoroughly coating 
every part. 
Don’t, for an instant, suppose that the 
woman who is continually cleaning and 
scrubbing is necessarily the neatest 
housekeeper of your acquaintance. It 
has been well said that “ one keep-clean 
is worth a dozen make-cleans.” The 
same might be said with equal force of 
keeping a house in order, and a home 
with rooms in a partial state of chaos 
never gives the impression of neatness, 
though it be ever so clean. 
