FROM DAY TO DAY. 
A pretty and useful accessory for the 
nursery or sickroom is a cover for the 
hot-water bag. It may be made of fine 
flannel, and is rounded at the bottom, 
and drawn in at the top with double 
drawstrings, one string coming around 
the neck, the other being drawn up over 
the stopper These are sometimes cro¬ 
cheted in afghan stitch, being shaped to 
fit the bottle, but a cover of this kind 
should, necessarily, be made with the 
idea of washing, and the crochet work 
does not wash as well as the flannel. 
* 
The white veils of washing net, so 
much worn this summer, are best 
cleaned by dipping up and down in 
lukewarm water containing a little 
ammonia. They are then rinsed in 
clear water, and spread out smoothly to 
dry upon a sheet of glass. The scalloped 
edge should be pulled out very care¬ 
fully, so that it is kept in perfect shape. 
This year, a great many of these veils 
have been worn draped carelessly 
around the crowns of sailor hats, with 
the ends hanging at the back and, like 
all fashions both cheap and becoming, 
this is displayed in modes both be¬ 
coming and the reverse. The white 
lace, draped carelessly about a white 
sailor hat, gives a soft effect to that 
headgear, and suggests that the veil 
is merely pushed back for coolness 
and convenience. But one sees tightly 
folded veils of every discordant color 
worn in the same way, and sometimes 
even a misguided woman wearing a net 
veil over her face, in the ordinary way, 
and a second draped about her hat. 
Doubtless the draped veil will be a 
thing of the past when summer wanes. 
* 
A useful convenience for women who 
are traveling, shopping, or going to 
business is an adjustable pocket to be 
worn under the dress-skirt, after the 
fashion of our sensible grandmothers. 
It may be made of any stout material, 
such as linen or drilliag, and should be 
flat, made in two pieces, with an open¬ 
ing in the center of the front, the back 
portion being lengthened into a strap, 
to be pinned to the belt. It is a very 
convenient receptacle for an extra hand¬ 
kerchief and some of the other trifles a 
woman usually carries about with her. 
A pocket is put in most skirts now, but 
this is usually small and inaccessible, 
and gives few opportunities for carry¬ 
ing extra articles. 
* 
The question whether fretfulness and 
impatience arise from temper or nerves 
is discussed in a recent issue of Harper’s 
Bazar. Sometimes it seems rather diffi- 
cult to define the difference between 
the two; but while nervous ailments 
caused by overwork and anxiety, un¬ 
doubtedly affect temper and disposition, 
there is always the danger of permit¬ 
ting our own lack of self-control to in¬ 
crease these conditions. In other words, 
while “ nervousness ” causes irritability, 
irritability engenders nervousness Life 
is full of little pin-pricks which, brooded 
over, are multiplied in discomfort. We 
can’t abolish the pin-pricks, but we can, 
at least, modify our own point of view. 
Mrs. Squeers’s consoling remark that it 
would be all the same a hundred years 
hence, was not particularly cheering to 
the pupils at Dotheboys Hall, but it 
forms excellent working philosophy. 
We can hardly expect to control out¬ 
side circumstances to our liking, when 
we can’t even control our own mental 
attitude towards them. The disposition 
to see the dark side grows upon one, 
until it seems impossible to see anything 
else. We women are too much inclined 
to be so deeply in earnest that we can’t 
see the amusing side of life and its mis¬ 
haps ; we suffer from what the Autocrat 
of the Breakfast Table termed a neu¬ 
ralgic conscience. Even though we may 
not feel serene and unruffled, the effort 
to repress outward manifestations of 
discontent will be of benefit, until it 
results in an acquired serenity that be¬ 
comes second nature. And if, with that, 
we can attain a sense of humor that 
puts sunshine into the daily grind, the 
question of “ nerves ” will be settled for 
the term of our natural lives. 
FARM HOUSEKEEPING AND DOMES¬ 
TIC SCIENCE. 
O NE of the chief faults, in my esti¬ 
mation, in ordinary farm house¬ 
keeping, is lack of system or method in 
the household work. System in work is 
the foundation of all success, and house¬ 
keeping cannot be well done without it. 
A day’s work in the house must be 
planned with as much care as a day’s 
work on the farm, and the housekeeper 
will find that twice the amount of work 
may be done if she plan systematically 
the duties of each day. The lack of 
knowledge in household matters will 
soon undermine the best home, and this 
is another fault that we often find. It 
ought not to be so, but at times we find 
the crudest mode of living in farm homes 
simply because the mother or daughter 
does not know the essentials of house¬ 
keeping. 
One can usually tell from a woman’s 
personal appearance just what her home 
is, but, of course, there are exceptions 
even here. If we find a neat woman, her 
home undoubtedly will be neat. We find 
untidy women in other besides farm 
homes, but the farmer’s wife or daugh¬ 
ter should have no excuse for such care¬ 
lessness, and it may be avoided by hav¬ 
ing plenty of calico and gingham dresses, 
with a surplus of clean aprons, and we 
may be sure that if reform starts here, 
it will continue throughout the home. 
A lack of knowledge in household mat¬ 
ters will give a slovenly appearance 
throughout,and especially in the kitchen. 
It does not take very much money com¬ 
fortably and wisely to furnish a kitchen, 
and this room should be furnished first, 
regardless of what the parlor may have. 
One way to make cooking easy is to have 
a sufficient supply of kitchen utensils, 
and then many dishes otherwise un¬ 
known may be made a part of the daily 
fare. 
One of the great leaks on the farm is 
often found in the kitchen—the wasting 
of food. A judicious management of 
the provisions brought into the kitchen, 
and the proper care of all cooked and 
uncooked food, is absolutely necessary 
to guard against this waste. Another 
barrier to successful housekeeping is the 
help question. The work must be done, 
and to get through all of it, some part 
is slighted. With such conditions, the 
home is not cared for in the right way, 
and the housekeeper is at fault. 
In domestic training, all girls must be 
taught to think quickly and carefully. 
With this as a foundation, a great deal 
may be accomplished. I find it neces¬ 
sary to teach them system or method in 
their work, which is one of the very im¬ 
portant things to learn, and then comes 
domestic science, which is, in other 
words, home-making and housekeeping, 
and this embraces much. 
The business inducements or prospects 
for a young woman who has taken a 
course in domestic science are many. 
The field is large and the laborers are 
few. If she be competent in any one 
thing, she may always command a 
good salary. Housekeeper, cook, nurse, 
teacher of sewing, teacher of cooking, 
lecturer on foods, instructor in physical 
training, principal of cooking school, 
superintendent of working girls’ clubs, 
etc. Any of these lines of work are 
open to her if she prepare herself to fill 
the place, and there are many calls to¬ 
day for competent workers in all the 
lines I have mentioned. 
Domestic science means much or little. 
Every womanly woman must needs know 
at some time of her life something 
about it. The household is woman’s 
kingdom and reign, and she may make 
her work easy or hard, pleasant or un¬ 
pleasant, as she uses the means which 
she has. Healthful, economic food does 
much towards making happiness, and a 
wise cook may make her home what she 
will by the manner in which she uses 
her food. I teach domestic science some¬ 
what after this plan : In sewing, a girl 
brings her own material, and the teacher 
helps her to plan and teaches her how 
to make her own garments, or the de¬ 
partment furnishes material and teaches 
plain hand-sewing until the pupil is pro¬ 
ficient in this, when plain machine sew¬ 
ing is taught. After these are mastered, 
almost any kind of fancy work requir¬ 
ing the use of needle and fingers may 
be taken up. A straight line system of 
cutting and fitting is taught each pupil 
who wishes to learn, when she has be¬ 
come proficient in plain sewing. Care 
of the sick, health of the home, etc., re¬ 
ceive due attention, while in physical 
culture an hour each day is given to the 
perfecting and building up of strong, 
healthy bodies with such exercises as 
are best suited to their needs. Cooking 
is best taught by lectures, combined 
with actual work. The lectures cover 
something of the chemical composition of 
foods, the production, preparation for the 
table, and the use to which that particu¬ 
lar food is put in building up the body. 
The subjects of marketing and of table 
service are given their share of time. 
The cooking covers actual work done at 
the cooking table. The substantials of 
everyday living are giveD the prominent 
place ; but as pupils become able, they 
are given practice in preparing the 
dainties of the table. The reasons why 
food is prepared in certain ways are 
brought out, and each girl has an oppor¬ 
tunity not only to cook a dish, but to 
cook that dish, and serve it as well. 
CHARLOTTE J. SHORT. 
FOR WINTER WARMTH. 
W INTER bedding seems a little un¬ 
seasonable at the present time, 
but it is necessary that we should take 
stock of our belongings before the cold 
nights find us unprepared. Patchwork 
quilts are little seen now, except where 
there is some old lady who likes to spend 
her leisure in such work. These heavy 
quilts are not really so warm as blankets, 
while often burdensome to the person 
sleeping under them. They are heavy 
to wash, too, and unless great care has 
been taken in selecting the pieces, there 
will always be some faded bits that de¬ 
teriorate the appearance of the whole. 
We should certainly give the preference 
to blankets, both of wool and cotton, 
with pretty tufted comfortables as extras 
to be put on the outside of the bed. 
Cotton blankets will be found a great 
convenience where a blanket is substi¬ 
tuted for sheets during cold weather. 
They are warm, light, and easily washed. 
A blanket used inside the bed really 
ought to be washed as often as a sheet, 
and if woolen is used, this is hardly pos¬ 
sible. The cotton blankets are very 
pretty, cheap and convenient and, in the 
summer, they may be substituted en¬ 
tirely for the woolen article. If means 
permit, we should not use comfortables 
at all, except for extra coverings to be 
thrown over the other bedclothes. The 
objection to their regular use, in place 
of blankets, is that they cannot be prop¬ 
erly washed. We all know houses where 
the bedding does not seem really sweet, 
because it is not properly aired or 
cleansed ; and this condition is very 
likely to be apparent if comfortables 
are regularly used for a long time ; they 
are so difficult to wash. All-wool blan¬ 
kets are easily cleaned with no other 
agency than sun and dew and, under 
this treatment, retain their original 
fleecy whiteness for years. They should 
be merely spread out flat on the dewy 
grass early of a summer’s morning, and 
left there until the dew has dried up. 
The process may be repeated for several 
mornings in succession, and the blankets 
come from their dewy bath clean and 
sweet, with their original velvety pile 
unchanged. Any woman who feels ner¬ 
vous about washing her finest and fleeci¬ 
est blankets should try this process. 
The comfortables, tufted and quilted, 
seem prettier every year. Very dainty 
ones, less expensive than silk, are cov¬ 
ered with figured challie, but person¬ 
ally, we prefer silkaline, because it is a 
little smoother in surface than the chal¬ 
lie, therefore not so likely to catch 
dust. These are very pretty when one 
side is covered with flowered material 
and the other with a solid contrasting 
color. Delicate colors, pink, blue or 
yellow, are to be preferred, not only for 
their daintiness, but because darker 
tints are very likely to rub off on the 
white bedclothes. Where comfortables 
are used in place of blankets, the ordin¬ 
ary cream-white cheesecloth is prefer¬ 
able to any other color, as all the colors 
fade in washing, and plain red cheese¬ 
cloth, pretty though it may be, rubs off 
and stains lighter fabrics. It is wise to 
make these comfortables quite light; 
they are far more convenient, both for 
washing and using, than when extra 
thick and heavy. If down-filled covers 
are out of reach, the feather comfort¬ 
ables described in The R. N.-Y. a few 
months ago are possible wherever poul¬ 
try is kept, and they are light, warm 
and cheap. Very heavy covers surely 
fatigue the sleeper, and it is impossible 
for one to awake refreshed after sleep¬ 
ing under a heavy weight of bed-clothes 
in a close, unventilated room, no matter 
how cold the weather may be. Warm, 
but light covering, and abundant fresh 
air are the prime requisites for refresh¬ 
ing sleep. 
Don’t Give Up the Home —One of the 
saddest sights I see, is that of the old 
man or woman—particularly the latter 
—living around with the married chil¬ 
dren, buffeted about like a leaf in the 
autumn wind, staying a month or six 
months with one child, as long with an¬ 
other, and six months with a third. 
The home in which the children were 
reared has been given up at their solici¬ 
tation, the spoils divided, while the aged 
parent receives, in compensation, the 
children’s promise to take care of him. 
Everybody knows the story, for there 
are few country neighborhoods in which 
the pathetic figure of such an aged per¬ 
son is not only a familiar, but a sorely 
pitiable object. There is no cruelty in 
the world that so cuts into the heart, as 
that inflicted by one’s kin, and indiffer¬ 
ence and neglect are but varieties of 
cruelty. Old people, as well as the very 
young, need guardians to save them 
from folly, and one of the direst follies 
is that of giving up the home. Children 
who persuade their parents to this act 
are either wilfully or ignorantly unfilial 
—barring, of course, the very excep¬ 
tional cases. It is in the line of nature 
for children to live with parents, but the 
reverse is unnatural, and discomfort and 
discontent follow in its train. So, dear 
old father or dear old mother, don’t give 
up your home to go and live with ‘* the 
children.” To take care of his father and 
mother is the first and highest duty of a 
Chinaman—a duty most rarely neglected 
—but the American isn’t trained that 
way. He can even act as if he thought 
the old folks were a burden and their 
happiness of small account. m. w. f. 
