666 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 28 
[ Woman and Home ] 
From Day to Day. 
INTERFUSED. 
We must buy and sell in the markets; we 
must earn our daily bread; 
But just in the doing these usual acts may 
the soul be helped and fed. 
It is not in keeping the day’s work and 
the day’s prayer separate so, 
But by mixing the prayer with the labgr, 
that the soul is taught to grow. 
For if sweeping a room by God’s law is 
a service He deigns to bless, 
And mending a kettle worthily is working 
for Him no less 
Than steering steady the ship of State, or 
wielding the sword in war. 
Or lifting the soul of man by songs to the 
heights where the angels are— 
Then none may deem it wasted time who 
stands in a humble spot 
And digs and waters a little space which 
the hurrying world heeds not; 
For the Lord of the harvest equally sends 
His blessed sun and rain 
On the large work and the little work, and 
none of it is in vain. 
—Susan Coolidge. 
* 
Housekeepebs who make their quilts 
or comfortables at home grow fewer 
year by year, but for the convenience 
of those who do this it is now possible 
to buy cotton batting in sheets the 
width and length of the bed. It is much 
easier to make the comfortable with 
such batting than with the narrow rolls, 
* 
Good cooks nowadays use an oven 
thermometer to tell whether the heat is 
just right for cooking. A safe guide, 
however, is a piece of white paper. Put 
it in the oven for five minutes; if, at 
the end of that time it is charred the 
oven is too hot; if dark brown it is 
right for small pastries and cookies; if 
light brown for pound cakes and pie 
crust; if only a dark yellow, it is just 
right for sponge cake, bread, and other 
things requiring a steady and moderate 
heat. 
* 
Adults often find it difficult to under¬ 
stand a child’s literary tastes, and the 
following little incident gives a point 
of view we often overlook: In one of 
the large city libraries, with a well 
equipped juvenile department, a little 
girl recently asked for “a good book,” 
and, when offered one by an author 
whose specialty is believed to be child- 
delineation, firmly shook her head. “I 
had it last week,” she said. “It isn’t 
a children’s book.” “I thought it was,” 
apologized the librarian. “Well”—some¬ 
what relenting—“it’s a kind of a chil¬ 
dren’s book. It’s not a children’s chil¬ 
dren’s book, that’s all!” 
• 
We saw a highly interested class in 
nature study over in City Hall Park 
recently. Half a dozen small boys clus¬ 
tered together, deeply absorbed in their 
researches, and displaying enough en¬ 
thusiasm to put a halo around Cornell. 
We had noticed one eight-year-old, 
whose appearance certainly suggested 
tha;t he was made from the dust of the 
earth, groping about the edges of a 
fiower bed, whence he had rescued the 
exhibit which gathered them together. 
“Get on to his Blackwell Island 
stripes,” observed a small and slightly 
damaged naturalist with a fading black 
eye. “Gee whiz! Look at them legs— 
he’s got six!” observed another. 
“He aint,” objected a small pessimist 
on the outer edge of the group, whose 
visible attire consisted of two very well 
ventilated garments. “Bugs only has 
four legs, same as dogs and cats.” 
“Aw, you don’t know nothin’ about 
it,” haughtily observed the boy in the 
middle. “Some has more’n a thousand 
legs—I seen ’em,” and just then we got 
cloae enough to see what they were 
■tudying. It was a serious and corpu¬ 
lent Potato beetle, which, having lost 
its way, possibly in an effort to escape 
from New Jersey to Long Island, had 
become stranded in City Hall Park. 
Just think of a pernicious Potato beetle 
becoming an object of respectful curi¬ 
osity! We don’t know whether the dis¬ 
cussion threw any new light on the 
moral attributes of the Potato beetle, 
but it gave the boys a healthy interest 
for a few minutes, so one of those six¬ 
legged pirates, at least, did not live en¬ 
tirely in vain. 
* 
A jiouseiceepek who has been an¬ 
noyed by fading rugs and curtains says 
she now remedies this trouble very sat¬ 
isfactorily. She selects some good dye 
of the color desired, mixes a little with 
cold water in a cup, and applies this to 
the faded surface with an old tooth¬ 
brush or nailbrush. Faded rugs are 
rubbed over, a little at a time, until the 
surface is the same color as the pile un¬ 
derneath, and the same process is used 
to restore gimps, cords and bindings, 
which often grow shabby while the up¬ 
holstery ihey edge is still fresh. Such 
a process will be found useful in reno¬ 
vating many house furnishings. 
* 
We are asked how to mix a boiled 
mustard sauce. Here are two simple 
methods; Beat well together three 
tablespoonfuls of mustard, three table¬ 
spoonfuls of sugar and one egg. Beat¬ 
ing well means in this instance that the 
mixture must be well blended and every 
little lump must have disappeared be¬ 
fore the beating ceases. Now add one 
cupful of vinegar. Put the mixture in 
a saucepan and cook until it boils. Then 
add one teaspoonful of butter and beat 
again until smooth. Or, to follow the 
other method, mix together two table¬ 
spoonfuls of mustard and one table¬ 
spoonful of fiour. Mix one-half cupful 
of vinegar with one-half cupful of 
water and stir into the fiour and mus¬ 
tard. Cook this as you would for a 
boiled custard. Add one teaspoonful of 
sugar, one tablespoonful of butter and 
a little ground celery or celery salt. 
Rural Recipes. 
Sweet Pickled Gherkins.—Make a 
brine of coai-se salt and water that i« 
strong enough to bear an egg. Gather 
your small cucumbers each day; when 
they are dry wipe them well and put 
them into the brine; cover them with 
cabbage, grape or horseradish leaves; 
place a weight on top to keep them un¬ 
der the brine. When you wish to have 
fresh pickles take as many as desired 
from the brine, wash and soak them in 
cold, fresh water for two hours, chang¬ 
ing the water once or twice, according 
to how long they have been in the brine 
and their size. For 50 cucumbers take 
two quarts of best cider vinegar; add 
an ounce of pepper corns, half an ounce 
of mustard seed, an ounce of green gin¬ 
ger sliced, half an ounce of mace, a 
small root of horseradish sliced and a 
cupful of sugar; a few bay or tarragon 
leaves improves them. Tie the spices in 
muslin bags; boil all together for 15 
minutes and then pour over the pickles. 
The pickles will be more brittle if they 
are not scalded, but not so green. If 
you desire you can green them in the 
following manner, but do not use alum 
or brass or copper vessels; line your 
kettle with cabbage leaves, bottom and 
sides, and put in the vinegar and pickles 
after they have become cold; cover the 
top with the green leaves and let them 
heat gently; if the first scalding does 
not make them green enough, repeat, 
adding fresh leaves. 
Tomato Mustard.—'Slice half a bushel 
of ripe tomatoes, bruise half a dozen 
small red peppers and add to the toma¬ 
toes; boil for one hour, then rub through 
a coarse sieve, add two tablespoonfuls of 
black pepper, two ounces of ginger, an 
ounce of allspice, half an ounce of 
cloves, eighth of an ounce of mace, quar¬ 
ter of a pound of salt; boil gently for 
an hour. When cold stir in two ounces 
of mustard, two of curry powder and a 
pint of vinegar. 
Okra Soup.—Cut in slices a quarter of 
a pound of bacon, put It in a frying pan, 
fry gently for a few minutes and add a 
sliced onion and one quart of green okra 
pods cut into small pieces. Put the lid 
on and fry the okras for 30 minutes. At 
the end of this time take out the bits 
of bacon, the okra pods and onion, and 
add three tablespoonfuls of fiour to the 
fat in the pan and let it get a rich 
brown. In the meantime put the okra 
and onions and bits of bacon in a sauce¬ 
pan with two quarts of stock; add the 
fat to this and simmer gently for three 
hours. Then strain through a fine sieve, 
season with a teaspoonful of salt and a 
quarter of a teaspoonful of paprika and 
a pint of cold diced chicken meat. (If the 
cold chicken is not on hand, the soup 
is quite delicious without.) Simmer for 
20 minutes longer, and serve either hot 
or cold. 
Peach Cups.—Beat two eggs without 
separating until light; add them to a 
pint of milk. Measure 2% cupfuls of 
sifted fiour; add half a teaspoonful of 
salt and two tablespoonfuls of baking 
powder and sift twice again. Make a 
well in center of the fiour, pour the 
liquid in gradually, stirring it into the 
flour until you have a thick batter; add 
two level tablespoonfuls of melted but¬ 
ter and mix well. Grease small custard 
cups or muffin tins; drop in a spoonful 
of the batter, then half a ripe, yellow 
peach pared and stone removed, placing 
the hollow side of the peach up. Cover 
with another spoonful of the batter and 
dust with powdered sugar. These can 
be either steamed half an hour or baked 
in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve with 
orange sauce. 
German Coffee Cake.—One cake com¬ 
pressed yeast, one quart sweet milk, one 
cupful sugar, one cupful raisins, one- 
half cupful butter, a saltspoonful of nut¬ 
meg, grated rind of lemon, a scant tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, flour sufficient to make 
a soft dough. Allow milk to come to a 
boil and then oool until just warm; 
break yeast into one cupful of the milk 
and allow it to dissolve; then stir in 
sufficient flour to make a oatter; when 
light, mix in remainder of the milk, 
sugar, raisins, butter, salt, nutmeg and 
lemon rind; then stir in sufficient flour 
to make the consistency of bread (care 
must be taken not to get in too much 
flour) and mold with your hands for 
about five minutes; set in a warm place 
to rise again; when light, divide into 
four equal parts, roll out on breadboard 
and place in shallow pans; allow it to 
rise once more, then put dabs of but- 
ler on top of it, and sprinkle sugar ana 
cinnamon over the whole; bake in mod¬ 
erate oven 25 minutes. 
German Pancake.—Sift and then 
weigh half a pound of flour. Beat three 
good-sized eggs until light, make a well 
in the center of the flour and gradually 
work the eggs into flour until you 
have a smooth batter free from lumps. 
Add a tablespoonful of powdered sagar 
and gradually half a pint of cold milk. 
Beat the batter again until very smooth 
and light. Heat a frying pan and when 
it is hot brush it well with melted but¬ 
ter and pour in the batter. Cover with 
a pint of preserved pineapple or pre¬ 
served apples and set in a hot oven for 
12 or 15 minutes or until the batter is 
thoroughly cooked through under the 
fruit. Then slide it carefully out of the 
pan on to a hot plate. Sift jwwdered 
sugar over it and serve at once. 
Butter Rolls.—Dissolve two table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter in one pint of scald¬ 
ed milk. When cool add one scant tea¬ 
spoonful of salt, one tablespooniul of 
sugar, one-half of a yeast cake dissolved 
in a little warm water and enough flour 
to make a soft dough. Knead lightly for 
five minutes and set aside to rise. When 
very light make into small rolls and let 
rise again; then bake in moderate oven 
20 minutes. 
Vienna Puffs.—Crumble one-half 
yeast cake into one cupful warm water, 
add one-half teacupful sugar and set in 
a warm place until it rises to the sur¬ 
face. Add to it one pint flour, one table¬ 
spoonful of butter, one-half teaspoonful 
salt, one tablespoonful sugar, and one 
egg. Mix well, cover and let rise till 
morning, butter gem pans, fill half full 
and bake quickly. 
A Michigan Picnic. 
One of our fi’iends in Michigan, F. 
Hodgman, of Owosso County, sends us 
the picture of a farm picnic, shown at 
Fig. 298. It is a happy-faced and in¬ 
telligent group, and there is no reason 
to ask any of* them whether they enjoy 
the day’s outing, for they show their 
condition of mind very plainly. Mr. 
Hodgman celebrates the festival in the 
following verses: 
When the hay is safely gathered 
And the grain is in the stack— 
When the hurrying time is over 
And the work is getting slack— 
Then we join with friends and neighbors, 
Bringing chicken pie and cake. 
And we have a little picnic 
On the island at the lake. 
When the days are getting shorter. 
Ere the seeding time has come. 
And the puffing traction engine 
Makes the busy thrasher hum. 
When it’s time to go a fishing 
Or a little outing take. 
Then we have our little picnic 
On the island at the lake. 
Then we harness up the horses 
And we hitch ’em to the rig— 
And we tumble in the babies 
All the little folks and big— 
All the good things and the fixings 
And it’s then the road we take. 
Gaily going to the picnic 
On the island at the lake. 
It is safe to say that everyone who 
participates in the day’s outing is the 
better for it, in mind and body, and bet¬ 
ter able to take up plain duty again. 
That is our ideal of a picnic—not a big, 
noisy excursion among strangers, but a 
happy and rational day, spent with 
friends and neighbors. Such a gather¬ 
ing would be an admirable feature for 
any rural community. 
AN ISLAND PICNIC IN MICHIGAN. Fig. 298. 
