THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MARCH i5 
174 
V)omttris Work* 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
A NY ONE who has tried to drape a 
skirt without either a lay figure or 
aa accommodating friend to act as one, 
knows what an aggravating proceeding it 
• is. Even now, though voluminous drap¬ 
eries are a thing of the past, the need for 
such an appliance still exists, if one wishes 
to judge of the appearance of the skirt, or 
the way it hangs. 
These lay figures do not cost very much ; 
the best are of stout wires, so arranged 
that they may be made larger or smaller, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the person whose 
skirt is to be fitted. Cheaper ones are 
made of light basket-work ; they are light 
and convenient, but do not fold up; the 
wire forms shut up like an umbrella. 
We recently saw a home-made dress 
form, which, though exceedingly simple, 
answered the purpose fully; it may be 
found a very useful suggestion. The' ma¬ 
terials used were four pieces of scantling 
and two round pieces of board. The scant¬ 
ling was about the thickness of a barrel 
hoop, well rubbed, so as to be perfectly 
smooth; the pieces were about 54 inches 
long. The round pieces were of different 
sizes, the upper one about 12 inches in diam¬ 
eter ; the lower one probably 18 inches. 
These discs were nailed to the ends of the 
scantlings, the smaller piece at the top, the 
larger at the bottom. The scantlings were 
placed evenly at the four quarters of the 
discs. This made a frame, sloping out 
wider at the bottom, not unlike a skirt in 
shape ; it may be described geometrically 
as a truncated cone. It was very handy, 
and so easy to make that if the good man 
of tne house is not an amateur carpenter 
any woman with the least knack for tools 
could make it without trouble. It might 
be still further improved by adding four 
hoops at equal distances down the scant¬ 
ling ; this would prevent a skirt from sag¬ 
ging in while being arranged. This may 
not be so convenient as the collapsible wire 
form, but it will answer all ordinary pur¬ 
poses, and need cost nothing but a little 
time and ingenuity. Certainly, all these 
little helps aid in removing some of the 
trouble attendant on home dressmaking. 
* 
* * 
A very pretty and simple scarf or tidy 
may be made of dotted muslin. Select 
that with large dots, about three-fourths 
of an inch across. Get embroidery silk of 
as many colors as possible, and outline the 
dots with silk, never using the same color 
around two dots in succession. Finish the 
ends either with a row of little vari-colored 
tassels, or, if able to make knotted fringe, 
use the embroidery silk, drawing it through 
the end, and making a knotted end The 
colors in the fringe or tassels should be as 
varied as in the embroidery. Different 
shades of yellow, green, blue and terra¬ 
cotta will go effectively together and look 
very well. Such a scarf is not at all expen¬ 
sive, and is very pretty. 
* 
A lovely blotter, which makes a charm¬ 
ing present, had the upper cover, over the 
blotting paper, covered with fine chamois 
leather. The leather was laid over the card¬ 
board, and had a thin bit of cotton batting 
underneath, to make it soft. 
The under side of the cover was lined 
with yellow satin, to hide the edges of the 
1( ather. This cover was fastened to the 
blotting paper with two bows of narrow 
ribbon, one violet, the other pale green. In 
the lower left-hand corner a bunch of pur¬ 
ple pansies was painted on the leather ; the 
upper part was covered with interlacing 
circles of silver end gold. In the lower 
right corner were these words, in irregular 
gilt letters: “ Blot spots from thy charac¬ 
ter, as well as from thy pen.” Fastened to 
the left end of the blotter by loops of vio¬ 
let and green ribbon was a little pen-wiper, 
in the form of a small book, made of the 
chamois The edges were scalloped, and 
decorated with silver paint; a little pansy 
was painted on one side in gold letters and 
these words on the other : “ Within a drop 
of ink may lurk that force that moves the 
world to better deeds.” This same idea 
may be carried out with many different 
styles of adornment; it would be very 
pretty painted with sweet peas, and trim¬ 
med with old pink and pale green ribbon, 
while another charming decoration would 
be yellow daisies, with orange and serpent 
green ribbon. 
OUR CLUBS. 
MRS. C. F. WILDER. 
P ERHAPS to the woman who desires to 
economize time and strength there is 
nothing so helpful in doing so as societies 
and clubs. The average woman does not look 
upon the matter in this light; but we are 
delicate machines, and, as Emerson says— 
‘‘it requires the wisest sort of treatment 
to get from us the maximum of power and 
pleasure.” We must have tonics and are 
forced to take those that entail little or no 
reaction. If we use books only we in time 
grow morbid; if society only, restlessness 
seizes upon us. The busy house mother, 
the keen, thoughtful, intelligent woman 
wants both her books and society. With 
only a few hours she can call her own in 
the course of a week or month, how is she 
to spend those hours so as to bring the 
greatest returns? If she is a member of a 
church, the weekly teachers’ meeting, the 
Bible-class, the prayer-meeting and the 
monthly missionary society bring her in 
contact with the most intelligent and de¬ 
vout members in her church. The mission¬ 
ary society does much more for the spirit¬ 
ual and intellectual needs of the workers 
than it can possibly do for the heathen. 
Besides the church societies in our own 
little city, there are perhaps more clubs 
there than in any other city of its size in 
the United States. The first ladies’ club 
was called “The Domestic Science Club,” 
and the first meeting was held in ’80. It is 
formed into departments—Domestic, Nat¬ 
ural Science, Art, Educational, Literature 
and General Intelligence. The meetings 
are held monthly at the homes of the mem¬ 
bers, the club being limited to 30. Its 
name was chosen because “Domestic 
Science” should include all sciences that 
help woman to be a better woman, wife, 
mother, friend or home-keeper. Some 
members, wives of professors of the Nat¬ 
ural Sciences, are fine botanists, geologists 
and chemists. Two-thirds, if not more, of 
the ladies have been teachers, so the sub¬ 
ject of education is always an interesting 
one. In literature, several have made a 
mark, and are now earning a fair income 
with the pen. In art, there are musicians 
and artists who have more than a local 
reputation. In the domestic department 
there are 30 notable housekeepers, one of 
whom is a Professor of household Econ¬ 
omy at our State Agricultural College, re¬ 
ceiving a salary of §1,000 a year. The sub¬ 
jects are assigned to the members only one 
month before they are expected to have 
papers on the given topics. After each pa¬ 
per is read, the subject is discussed by cer¬ 
tain members. At the close of the meeting, 
which lasts two hours, there is a short 
time for friendly intercourse. 
Last May, feeling tbe need of a more decid¬ 
edly literary club and wanting more mental 
stimulus, a club of 14 ladies was organized 
to meet every Saturday afternoon. Shak- 
speare reading is the basis of the organiza¬ 
tion, to which is added a “recreation ” and 
“intellectual quiz.” All the historical plays 
of Shakspeare have been studied. The “ in¬ 
tellectual quiz” consists of papers on 
Browning, Campbell, Byrant, Whittier or 
some other poet or novelist with recitations 
from the same authar. The “ recreation ” 
is some bit of pure fun, as original poems, 
impromptu speeches of one minute’s length 
on a given topic or parodies. Some¬ 
times it is music, sometimes a “ reading.” 
None but the originators of the club, know 
who got up the programme which is read 
at the meeting a week ahead of that for 
which it is intended. It has never been 
twice alike and the officers have never been 
twice the same and no one knows where the 
club is to meet until the place is named. 
By changing the officers constantly all 
have equal opportunities of being president, 
secretary or critic. One meeting was 
wholly unlike the others. The idea came 
to the originator of the club when she 
heard a very interesting Spanish Bible 
reading at a missionary meeting in Nebras¬ 
ka. The lady who gave the reading is a 
member of the club. Tne meeting held at 
New Year’s was at the home of Congress¬ 
man Anderson. Col. and Mrs. Anderson 
are people of rare culture and it was a 
double pleasure to the ladies of the club to 
meet in that beautiful home. It was sim¬ 
ply a Bible-reading, but the Bible was read 
in English, German, French, Italian, Span¬ 
ish, Greek and Latin. This from a club of 
ladies on “The Great American Desert!” 
The young ladies of our city have a Dick¬ 
ens’ Club and the misses a Little Women’s 
Club. There are also a Dorcas Club, a 
Pleasure Club and other societies with va¬ 
rious names and for different.pur poses, In 
the societies to which I belong we see, hear 
and know only the best of each other. 
There is no time, no desire for gossip. Our 
time is so limited that we are always eager 
for the next meeting, always stimulated to 
make our life-work grander and always 
ready to lend a hand to those who do not 
have our opportunities. 
Manhattan, Kan. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Beecher said that beauty is generally 
unfavorable to good dispositions. (I am 
talking to the ladies no'w) There seems to 
be some dissent, but this is the orthodox 
view. It seems as if the evil incident to 
human nature had struck in, with hand¬ 
some people, leaving the surface fair; while 
the homely are so because the virtue within 
has purged and expelled the evil, and 
driven it to the skin. 
Men have very largely had presented to 
them the machinery of religion instead of 
religion ; as if a farmer should present to 
you plows, crowbars, harrows, carts, 
wagons, spades, and they should produce 
the impression on you that those were the 
only apples and pears that were on the 
farm. 
Gnats, fleas, bed-bugs, chiggers, and 
other things that shall be nameless, make a 
business of supplying their hunger,without 
refinement, without the accompaniments of 
conversation, or any refinements whatso. 
ever. It is mere appetite. But a mosquito 
will not gorge himself for the sake of 
eating. He first offers you a song. 
Said Bailey : Faith is a higher faculty 
than reason. 
The March of Progress in butter 
making has been wonderfully accelerated 
by the discovery and placing within the 
reach of the Dairymen in all markets 
Thatcher’s Orange Butter Color.— Adv. 
REQUESTS. 
W HAT is the recipe for “New Eng¬ 
land rye and Indian bread,” the 
kind our mothers and grandmothers made 
that was baked so long and had so thick a 
crust? A. B. 
Will those who have used washing ma¬ 
chines give us their experiences? Are any 
of these machines really helpful for a 
whole or a part of the washing? H. D. L. 
KITCHEN TALK. 
M Y mother had a large family of girls 
and taught us all the art of house¬ 
work as a necessary part of our training as 
useful women and future wives, and I shall 
always thank her for having done so. I be¬ 
lieve that girls, no matter how wealthy 
their parents may be, should be taught 
housework well and thoroughly, as they 
will then make better wives. The need of 
diversion and society seems to be inherent 
in all, and its gratification appears neces¬ 
sary in order to keep the mind and body in 
a healthy condition, for though we may 
consider work a real blessing yet we re¬ 
quire something to interrupt the daily 
routine. The many and varied household 
labors of the morning generally keep us 
busy until after dinner. (I am speaking of 
those who do their own work.) Then comes, 
perhaps a little mending, which we can, if 
we choose, put off until evening, and we 
can have a few hours of respite and fill up 
the time in reading, writing, crocheting or 
visiting. We need not sacrifice everything 
to unceasing, unending work; for no one 
needs rest more than a hard-worked house¬ 
wife, and if she manages she will find time 
for reaction. But she must learn to plan 
well, to be able to keep all the skeins of 
household duties straight. 
In order to keep the household machinery 
running day after day without friction, 
we should have our work laid out for each 
day. If there is a daughter or sister in the 
family, much can be accomplished by skill¬ 
ful planning. We should have breakfast 
in readiness overnight, so that as soon as 
the kitchen is sufficiently warmed, we can 
go to work and in a very short time have a 
delicious breakfast smoking upon the table, 
or as soon as the “ men folks ” have done 
the “chores.” The most important article 
on the breakfast table is a fragrant cup of 
coffee, therefore have the coffee ground 
over-night, and in the morning as soon as 
the tea-kettle boils, prepare a table-spoon¬ 
ful of ground coffee to each person; mix it 
with part of an egg, then thoroughly with 
cold water; pour on the boiling water, say, 
two cups for as many persons as wish the 
beverage, and let it first simmer then boil 
a few minutes only; then set it back on 
the stove. If you wish rolls for breakfast, 
you should, the evening before, rub one 
table-spoonful of butter into two quarts of 
sifted flour: scoop the flour from the 
middle and pour into the depression one 
pint of milk that has been boiled and 
cooled, and one-half cup of yeast, one-half 
cnp of sugar and a little salt. Mix and 
knead and let it rise until morning. Mold 
and set it where it will rise quickly, then 
bake in a quick oven. The dough for the 
rolls should be cut out in round form and 
a little butter should be placed on one-half 
and the other half lapped nearly over. If 
you wish them for tea, mix the ingredients 
in the morning. Griddle-cakes can be 
mixed the evening before. Take one quart 
of sour milk, one tea-spoonful each of salt 
and soda, (omit the latter until morning) 
one-half cup of corn-meal, and flour for a 
batter of the right consistency. Another 
way with more meal—one quart of meal, 
one table-spoonful of butter, and salt to 
taste; pour on boiling water to make a 
thick batter, then thin it with cold milk or 
water, add a saucer of flour and one table¬ 
spoonful of sugar or molasses. These cakes 
can be stirred and baked immediately or 
prepared the evening before. A very nice 
breakfast dish : Melt a piece of butter in a 
stew-pan until it is slightly browned. 
Beat one egg and add to it; then put in 
some ham finely minced. Add as much 
water as will make it moist, stirring it 
qjiickly, and pour it on buttered toast. 
Serve hot. Another: Mince very fine a 
piece of boiled beef, mix it with cold 
mashed potatoes and one or two eggs, sea 
son well, roll into balls, dip into flour and 
fry in butter. Fried apples also make a 
nice dish for breakfast. Slice the apples 
without paring them, and dip the slices in¬ 
to sugar, then into flour and fry in hot lard 
a nice brown. A farmer's wife. 
A COW’S SENSE. 
* * UT ES ! ” said farmer Jolly, sitting on 
X the plow-beam when he reached 
the end of the furrow where I stood wait¬ 
ing for him. “It’s fine weather for plow¬ 
in’.” Then he cracked his whip at the 
herd of “ milky mothers” whose curiosity 
brought them to the fence near which we 
stood. 
“ What intelligent-looking animals ! ” 
said I, watching them as they whiffed, 
stepped back out of reach of the lash, and 
resumed their wonted occupation—convert¬ 
ing grass into milk. 
“ ’Tellygent! well I guess so. W’y ! las’ 
fall when I waz laid up with the rheuma- 
tiz, my wife, Sereney, had to do the milkin’, 
an’ one mornin’ thet big cow yonder 
(White-face we call her), tuk it into her 
head she wa’n’t goin’ to be bossed by no 
woman, so when Sereney turned ’em into 
the barnyard White-face give a run and 
jump an’ cleared the bars like a deer. That 
little Red to ye’r left, is alius ready fur mis¬ 
chief, and, of course, she follered. But 
whether she didn’t car’kilate right, or 
what ever was the reason, instead o’clearin’ 
the bars, she landed square on top of ’em. 
An’ thare she balanced. Couldn’t git 
down ary way. Sereney’s a woman of gret 
busines’ faculty. She giv Red one look an’ 
sez she : * While you’re a hangiu’ there you 
ain’t a gittin’ into the corn-field,’ and 
calmly turned to the herd an’ went on 
milkin’. After she’d took the milk to the 
house; (they wan’t no men-folks aroun’ but 
me, an’ I was laid up, you know), what 
does she do but git a hand saw and go an’ 
saw off one end of the top bar, Red never 
sayin’ a word. When the bar dropped ef 
that heifer didn’t back off and go in with 
the herd, instead of follerin’ after White- 
face as she first intended. Oh yes! they 
know what’s what. Ge up thare ! ” 
THE DOW. 
Pi.sccUancoujs Advertising. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla, 
When she was a Child, she erltd for Csstoria. 
When she became Sllss, she clung to Casiorla. 
When she had Children, slie gave them Castot't* 
