1901 
443 
Rural Recipes 
Tray, wliat is “Health Food?’’ Is it not 
The fancy name we call 
All sorts of thing that haven't got 
The slightest taste at all? 
—Catholic Standard and Times. 
Prune Short Cake.—Make a short 
cake, using a regular biscuit crust or a 
short cake batter. For the prune filling 
wash a pound of prunes, thoroughly 
cover with cold water and let soak for 
24 hours. Then put prunes in double 
boiler, water and all, and let cook slowly 
until perfectly tender. Slice a couple of 
lemons very fine and add to the prunes 
when half done. Drain off the juice, 
add half as much sugar and boil to a 
thick syrup. Put the prunes into a col¬ 
ander and mash with a potato masher 
so that the pulp will go through and the 
stones and skins remain. Add syrup 
and spread over cake while both are 
warm. Serve with or without cream. 
Ice Cream Cake.—Stir one cupful of 
butter and two cupfuls of sugar to a 
cream. Add three level teaspoonfuls of 
baking powder to two cupfuls ot sifted 
flour, add also one cupful of cornstarch 
and sift again. Add this alternately 
with one cupful of milk to the creamed 
butter and sugar, add one teaspoonful of 
vanilla extract; finally lightly and thor¬ 
oughly mix in the stiffly-beaten whites 
of eight eggs. Divide the mixture even¬ 
ly among four jelly-cake pans and bake 
in a moderately hot oven 10 to 15 min¬ 
utes. For the icing, shell and cut in 
pieces enough pecans to weigh four 
ounces. Make ready also four ounces of 
raisins cut in pieces and weighed after 
being seeded. Cut four ounces of citron 
in small thin strips. Put 1^ pound of 
sugar into three-quarters of a pint of 
boiling water; boil without stirring un¬ 
til clear and thick—it should pour from 
a spoon in a c^^ntinuous thread. Pour 
this hot syrup slowly on to the beaten 
whites of four eggs and stir until cool. 
Build the cake with this icing between, 
sprinkling the mixed pecans, citron and 
raisins over the icing on the three inner 
layers and pressing all down gently. Ice 
the top without the fruit. 
Cracked Wheat Muffins.—Two cupfuls 
of cracked wheat; soak over night in 
two cupfuls sweet milk; add one tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of 
sugar, the beaten yolks of two eggs; 
beat vigorously, fold in the stiffly-beaten 
whites, and last add one rounding tea¬ 
spoonful baking powder; bake in well- 
greased muffin tins in hot oven; break 
open; do not cut. 
Ham Croquettes.—One cupful cooked 
ham chopped, two cupfuls mashed pota¬ 
toes, one tablespoonful butter, yolks of 
three eggs, a dash of cayenne; mix the 
hot mashed potatoes, butter and yolks 
of two eggs with the cayenne; beat un¬ 
til smooth and turn out to cool; put the 
remaining yolk with the ham in a fry¬ 
ing pan and stir over the fire for one 
minute; remove, and when cool form a 
ball of the mashed potato, pressing into 
it a large teaspoonful of ham; fold the 
potato over it, roll in egg and crumbs 
and fry. 
Cabbage with Cheese.—Cut the cab¬ 
bage in good-sized pieces. Put one 
piece at a time into rapidly boiling wa¬ 
ter, having added a tablespoonful of 
salt and one-fourth teaspoonful of soda. 
Boil rapidly without covering for 
25 minutes. Turn in a colander, drain 
and cool. Then chop. Make a sauce of 
one tablespoonful of butter and fiour 
each, one cupful of milk, saltspoonful of 
salt and a dash of cayenne. Spread a 
layer of cabbage in baking dish, cover 
with sauce, then a layer of grated 
cheese; repeat, and on top place a layer 
of crumbs which have been rolled in 
butter. Bake until the sauce bubbles 
through the crumbs. 
Egg Rusks.—The ingredients for this 
delicious tea bread are seven eggs, a 
pint of boiled milk, one quarter pound 
of butter, one-half pound of sugar, two 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins- 
low s Soothing Syrup’’ for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.—Ady. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pounds of flour, a saltspoon of salt, and 
a pint of flour into which a half tea¬ 
spoonful of soda has been sifted. Beat 
the whites and yolks separately and as 
lightly as possible. Into the boiled milk 
drop the butter and sugar, and after 
mixing thoroughly add the flour and 
yeast powder, and lastly the eggs. Put 
in a warm place to rise, and when light 
add the pint of flour and soda. When 
risen the second time, make into small 
rolls, wipe the tops over with the white 
of an egg, sprinkle sugar and chopped 
almonds over them, and bake a light 
brown. 
When Apples Were Scarce 
A writer in the American Kitchen 
Magazine gives the following suggestion 
for the use of dried apples: 
The children were hungry for fruit; 
but the apple crop, usually the mother’s 
main resource, had been a failure that 
year. Apples were extremely high, and, 
in faot, hardly to be obtained at all. Or¬ 
anges and bananas in sufficient quanti¬ 
ties to supply her large and voracious 
flock were quite beyond her small 
means, and she had been unable to can 
much fruit that year. What should she 
do? One day she saw at her grocer’s 
some very white evaporated apple. By 
a sudden inspiration she thought she 
saw in it the answer to her question. 
She bought a pound, which cost her only 
10 cents. That night she put the apple 
into a preserving kettle with plenty of 
cold water. In the morning it was soft, 
and the slices could be easily separated 
and washed. With a sharp knife she 
carefully removed all brown spots and 
tough seed cases. Then she added a cup¬ 
ful of seeded raisins and put the whole 
into fresh water, stewing it slowly until 
it was reduced to pulp. 
After filling her pretty glass fruit 
bowl with the sauce, she put the rest 
into pint jars. “I’ll fix up this bowlful 
for the children’s lunch,” she thought, 
“and if they don’t like it, I can use the 
rest for pies.” First she sweetened the 
sauce to taste; then she flavored it gen¬ 
erously with fresh, fragrant ground cin¬ 
namon, and setting it on the table with 
plenty of good bread and butter, and a 
plate of little scalloped cakes, she called 
the children to lunch. They came troop¬ 
ing in, hungry, expectant. The new dish 
was quickly spied. “What is it. Mother? 
Apple sauce! And oh! goody, goody! 
raisins in it!” 
They began to eat. There was no 
sound but the clatter of knives and forks 
responding briskly to the “hurry call”; 
but by-and-by one fresh young voice and 
then another rang out in eager demand: 
“More bread and butter and apple sauce, 
please. Mother. It’s good!” And the 
mother smiled happily upon her con¬ 
tented young brood, and thought, “How 
easy it is to please them after all. One 
doesn’t need to have much money—just 
a little loving thought.” 
TJie Children’s Playhouse. 
The three little girls who owned the 
playhouse thought it the most delightful 
spot in their little world, and it truly 
was a charming place. It had been 
built in less than a day, and did not 
cost a cent. Two posts seven feet high 
and two six feet high, firmly planted in 
the ground, made the framework, with a 
board roof for covering. The posts were 
nine feet apart, making the playhouse 
three yards square. On three sides nar¬ 
row boards were nailed about two feet 
apart to the posts to support the vines 
with which the house was covered, but 
the front had a wide open space for a 
door with vines on each side. As the 
house faced the north the hot sun could 
not stream through the door. Over the 
roof was thrown a big square from a 
binder cover to keep out the sunshine 
that peeped through the cracks. A tight 
shingle roof would have been better, but 
the house had to be built of odds and 
ends of lumber, for the family was far 
from rich. The east side was gay till 
noon every day with purple, pink and 
blue morning-glories, while the west 
side was one mass of buff and pink 
sweet-scented honeysuckle that effectu¬ 
ally shut out the sun’s rays and filled 
the air with fragrance. The south side 
had gourd vines with pretty shiny 
gourds, big and little, nestling among 
the green leaves. There were dipper 
gourds. Job’s tears, and half a dozen 
other kinds, for a package of mixed 
seeds had been planted in the rich soil 
and carefully tended by little hands. On 
each side of the door hop vines rustled 
their green bells through the long Sum¬ 
mer days and furnished a big sack of 
the light feathery balls for yeast and 
poultices in Autumn. 
Two low trestles supported a table 
made of pine boards, and this with a 
cupboard made of starch boxes furnished 
the playhouse, except the little chairs, 
which were carried from the house in 
the morning and taken back. Each lit¬ 
tle girl had a flat peach basket to put 
away her doll, work basket ana doll 
clothes in when through playing, and 
these were stored in the kitchen closet 
when not in use, so habits of neatness 
were soon established by the mother. 
Friends and relatives had kept the play¬ 
house in mind at Christmas and birth- 
3797 Sun l!onnv,t8, 3823 Child’s 
Small medium Washable Hat, 
and large. ^ One Size. 
days, so the small cupboard held a gen¬ 
erous supply of small mugs, plates and 
dishes. There were gay little dinner 
parties within the four green walls, at 
which the children took turns playing 
hostess, sewing classes with Mamma for 
teacher, and many a delightful hour for 
reading stories and playing games. I am 
sure these fortunate children will always 
think some of their best and happiest 
hours were spent in the cool little play¬ 
house, and I am sorry there are not 
hundreds like it for country children 
scattered up and down the United 
States. HILDA RICHMOND. 
Laundry Conveniences. 
An ironing table ought to be high 
enough for the ironer to bend her el¬ 
bows at right angles and work without 
stooping. In reckoning the height allow 
for a thick mat or excelsior cushion un¬ 
der foot, says Emily Holt, in Kansas 
City Star. It is a great economist of 
strength and backaches. Pick out sound 
deal, free of knots or warping, and see 
that the drawer works easily. To fur¬ 
nish the table properly take first a soft, 
coarse, all-wool blanket, fold it by a 
warp thread, lay the fold upon a long 
edge of the table and make very smooth. 
then trim all round, save at the fold, ex¬ 
actly as it lies, first making sure that 
the underside is as free of wrinkles as 
the upper one. Cut a four-inch square 
of stout muslin for each corner, double 
the squares to triangles and sew them 
fast. Their use is to slip over the cor¬ 
ners of the table, thus holding the blan¬ 
ket in place. When the blanket is wash¬ 
ed take off the squares and remove the 
whipping from the edges. Make ironing 
table covers of unbleached sheeting. Cut 
them three inches bigger than the table 
top, all round, hem the edges narrowly 
and miter three of the corners, sewing 
them fast; then in the double work a 
couple of eyelets either side and lace a 
tape through them. By tying this tape 
tight after slipping the mitered corners 
over the table corners all need of pins is 
done away witn and a firm, smooth, un¬ 
wrinkled surface assured. 
Cover skirt and sleeve boards the 
same way—first the double woolen cloth 
sewed firmly on, then with removable 
muslin slips, hemmed at the small ends 
and laced snug over the large one. Fit 
under and upper covers well, so either 
side can be used. A bosom board is a 
necessity in doing up shirts. It should 
be also square, of very thick cardboard, 
covered four-fold with flannel. If there 
are many children to iron for a small 
size shirt board and several sizes in 
sleeve board soon pay for themselves in 
saving time. 
Provide the ironing table further with 
either a light trivet or asbestos mat to 
hold the irons, a clean wiping cloth, a 
shallow wooden box with salt for rub¬ 
bing a rough iron smooth, a smaller box 
for either white wax or white soap, and 
at least three clean, soft holders. In ad¬ 
dition, furnish the laundry with a fold¬ 
ing clothes horse of white wood, which 
may be turned into a screen as clean 
clothes are hung on it; a big starch ket¬ 
tle, agateware or copper or block tin; 
several cheese cloth strainers and at 
least three sheets of cheesecloth to cov¬ 
er the clean clothes while they air after 
ironing. 
Wkalth and rule slip down with fortune, 
as her wheel turns round; 
He who keeps his faith, he only cannot be 
discrowned. 
Little were a change of station, loss of life 
or crown. 
But the wreck were past retrieving if the 
man fell down. 
—James Russell Lowell. 
A GIRL cannot too sedulously guard 
her, if the mother has reached a period 
where she is more easily wearied than 
formerly, and where little things vex 
her. To some of us there come days 
when our hearts are heavy because we 
were not so sweet and loving as we 
might have been, and God alone can 
help us when this realization comes too 
late.—Margaret E. Sangster. 
When you write advertisers mention 'I'he 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See our guarantee 8th page 
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T 
|HE old-fashioned paint that never 
chalked, cracked nor peeled was 
made from Pure ''old Dutch pro¬ 
cess" White Lead mixed with Pure Linseed 
Oil, and thoroughly brushed out, using 
plenty of elbow grease to rub the paint in, 
and allowing ample time for it to dry be¬ 
tween coats. 
Ihe brands named in the margin are 
genuine. Any shade or color required may 
be easily obtained by using the National 
Lead Company’s Pure White Lead Tinting- 
Colors. 
Pamphlet giving full information and showing samples oi 
shades, etc., etc., furnished free upon application. 
National Lead Co., 100 William Street, New York. 
