222 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
APRIL 5 
Woman’s Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
CHAT BY THE WAY. 
“ There's no time like the present; 
To-morrow's far away. 
And what one's handa may find to do 
Ood bids us do to-day. 
Be ready in the golden now 
To do a helpful deed. 
And never let the chance go by 
To help a sister's need." 
* 
H- * 
I F there is a call to use a bed which has 
not been slept in for some time, don’t 
think of using it without a thorough air¬ 
ing, especially in cold or damp weather. 
Charles Reade says he has known many a 
strong man go down to his grave a cripple, 
slain by the gentle little hand of a woman 
who did not air her beds, and there is no 
doubt that many colds are contracted in 
this way. We sometimes sigh for the 
warming-pans of our grandmothers ; there 
is no doubt they were of great benefit in 
removing any dampness from the sheets. 
A bed which is only occasionally used 
ought always to be made up with freshly 
aired linen before using, and it will be 
greatly improved by a liberal use of warm 
irons over the mattress before being made 
up. Our practice is to use half-a-dozen 
warm irons, wrapped in cloths, distributed 
over the mattress for some hours before 
the bed is made up, while pillows, blankets 
etc., are spread out before a register. Hot 
bricks may be substituted for the irons. 
Then there is no danger of damp, which 
has been difficult to avoid during such a 
winter as the past. 
* 
* * 
The ordinary splint Quaker rocking- 
chairs, or splint-bottomed kitchen chairs 
can be very prettily treated, so as to be 
quite decorative. They are very pretty 
painted with dull green oil paint, diluted 
with turpentine, and then afterward dash¬ 
ed here and there with gold bronze. A 
pretty head rest cushion for this chair 
should be covered with old red furniture 
corduroy. Another pretty style is to paint 
the frame with Florentine gold bronze, 
giving two or three thin coats, which gives 
a better effect than one thick coat. Then 
stain the splints bronze, and have an old 
gold or peacock blue head-rest. Again, a 
chair is pretty painted deep vermilion red, 
with cushions of Turkey red twill, having 
laced over the scarlet cushion a cover of 
deep blue, with eyelet holes worked near 
the sides, through which the cords are 
run. 
* 
* * 
Every now and then we read in the 
household magazines very good advice to 
the tired housewife, in which she is adjured 
not to work berself to death for the sake of 
a dollar, but to have a woman in by the 
day, at least once a week, if only to do the 
washing. Now this advice really is most 
excellent, only, unfortunately, it is not al¬ 
ways practicable, and not only for want of 
ready money, though a good many of us 
have to look very hard at a dollar before 
we can afford to spend it on household help. 
The fact is that in country places it is often 
absolutely impossible to get a woman in to 
do a day’s work. A large proportion of the 
farm help consists of single men ; occasion¬ 
ally there is one whose wife can or will go 
out by the day, but these are few. The re¬ 
sult is that often there are no women in a 
district, except the farmers’ wives and 
daughters ; there is no one even to go out 
for a day’s washing. It does seem as if 
there was a need of adjustment, when one 
reads and hears on the one hand of women 
in great cities starving for want of work— 
on the other, of lonely farmers’ wives who 
are working themselves into invalidism for 
want of help. Even in thickly settled 
places there is often a great lack of women 
who go out by the day, and this lack must 
bestill greater in isolated places. One West¬ 
ern farmer’s wife, very comfortably situ¬ 
ated in every way, said that in her experi¬ 
ence one of the greatest troubles to an ex¬ 
pectant mother was the lack of assistance 
during her time of trial; it was absolutely 
impossible to get help, and she must be en 
tirely dependent on such aid as her busy 
neighbors could bestow. It was not a ques¬ 
tion of economy, but of compulsion, and 
undoubtedly there are many localities 
where the same trouble prevails. Many 
busy women would be only too glad to ob¬ 
tain help, but it is impossible. 
We have heard of a novel plan for induc¬ 
ing conversation at social gatherings, 
which certainly does away with a proba¬ 
bility of neglected wallflowers. Each per¬ 
son is given a card on which are written 
the names of about a dozen of the com¬ 
pany. The receiver of the card has to talk 
for five minutes to each of the persons 
whose name is on the card, taking them in 
regular order. At the end of each five 
minutes a bell is rung, when the changes 
are to be made. When this plan is carried 
out, it is impossible to divide into sets or 
cliques, and every one receives some atten¬ 
tion. This plan is sometimes carried out 
with the addition of suggested subjects of 
conversation written on the card. 
NOTES FROM THE NORTHWEST. 
AUNT E. S. L. 
T O wash flannels and all woolen goods 
without shrinking : After they are 
washed clean, pour boiling hot water upon 
them and wring them out of this when it 
has cooled so you can bear your hands in 
it; then hang to dry. White flannels and 
especially white blankets rinsed thus, are 
as white and soft as if bran new. 
A new complexion! Toilet secret. Put 
a quart or less of wheat bran into a wash¬ 
bowl ; pour on it warm water enough to 
just wet it. Before you begin the beautify¬ 
ing process, roll up your sleeves and fasten 
them securely; turn your dress low in the 
neck, and tuck your hair every thread of 
it—snugly under a night-cap; take a gen¬ 
erous handful of the moist bran and plas¬ 
ter it on face, neck, arms and hands, rub¬ 
bing it well in. You should spend at least 
five minutes on your hands, rubbing it 
over and and over them. Do not rinse it 
off ; if in a hurry, rub with dry bran, then 
finish with a soft, dry cloth, very gently. 
Corn-meal can be used with very satisfac¬ 
tory results, but more time is needed to do 
the work of renewal. Try it on your hands 
first, especially if they are roughened and 
enlarged from coarse work ; it leaves them 
soft, so white and flexible, like a new pair. 
* . 
* * 
For a young knitter, who finds the work 
tedious, I lately wound a “wonder ball” 
containing quite a considerable number of 
pretty trifles to be enjoyed as the knitting 
progresses. A handsome ring slipped over 
a half yard of pretty ribbon and all wrap¬ 
ped in tissue paper formed the center. A 
half dozen other small gifts found place 
among the layers of worsted so that every 
day’s knitting brings something pretty to 
light and still leaves more to be earned un¬ 
til the very last. 
* 
* * 
A GOOD thing to remember when you 
see “ trouble ahead “ As thy days so 
shall thy strength be.”DEUT. 38—25. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
I T is easy enough to destroy ; and there 
are destroyers enough. It requires 
skill and labor to erect a building; any 
tramp can burn it down. God alone can 
form and paint a flower; any foolish child 
can pull it all to pieces. 
The Christian Union Says: ‘'Our 
chief concern in life is not with the things 
that are done to us, or that happen to us, 
but with what we do ourselves. So long as 
a man remains true and faithful in his re¬ 
lations in life, nothing can happen to him 
which contains any shadow of real humil¬ 
iation.”. . 
BEGIN your life-work betimes; it is sad 
to be sowing your seed when you should be 
reaping your harvest. 
There are some people who think they 
make the most of life when they make it as 
wretched as possible. Luttrell was once 
asked if an acquaintance of his was not 
very disagreeable. “ Well,” was the reply. 
“ he is always as disagreeable as the circum¬ 
stances will permit.”. 
I have somewhere seen four homely rules 
which comprise true wisdom, and whose 
observance would prevent much remorse : 
1. Do all the good you can ; 2. In all the 
ways you can ; 3. To all the people you 
can : 4. Just as long as you can.—Afrs. 
Sigourney . 
That was a good bit of advice given by 
an old and revered minister to some young 
theologuea who were seeking hints as to 
sermon writing. “Choose your text,” he 
said ; “ then try to live for a week, and at 
that time you will be in a condition to 
write.” If this method of preparation were 
in more frequent use, audiences might have 
less reason to complain of “ dry” discourses. 
Science offers the butter maker by the 
use of Thatcher’s Orange Butter Color the 
means of maintaining that beautiful golden 
Tint that, unlatches the purse strings of 
the cautious buyer.— Adv. 
Bite off your tongue! bite off your tongue I 
Rather than speak the word that might have stung 
Somebody’slheart; 
Don’t think it smart 
To speak out the thoughts that our bad natures lend; 
Keep your mouth shut 
Rather than cut 
Heart-strings In two that you never can mend. 
Once let it.start, 
Off on Its track, 
Science and art 
Can’t call It back. 
Bite off your tongue : let your teeth cling 
Rather than speak the word bearing a sting. 
D omestic economy will soon be¬ 
gin the publication of some articles 
descriptive of food served at the restau¬ 
rants and cheap boarding houses in New 
York by those who dine at such places. It 
is not supposed that our good housekeep¬ 
ers can learn better methods from these 
articles, still, on the principle that “ one- 
half th* 1 world never know how the other 
half live,” it is hoped that these articles 
will interest our readers. 
RECIPE FOR BOILED RYE AND INDIAN- 
BREAD. 
Two and one-half cups of Indian meal; 
IX cup of rye or wheat flour, both 
measured after being sifted; X cup of 
molasses; one cup of thick sour milk; 
two cups of sweet milk, one tea-spoon¬ 
ful of soda. (A cup of sweet milk and 
two tea-spoons of cream-of-tartar can be 
used instead of the sour milk, with equal 
success.) Pour this batter into a three- 
pint pail, or any vessel of about that size, 
which can be covered tightly. Place it in 
a kettle containing boiling water enough 
to come half way up the sides of the pail. 
Cover the kettle and keep it boiling 3X 
hours. Set the pail and bread in the stove 
oven 15 minutes to dry off. The above is 
very good and can be made with much less 
fuss than the R. Island Brown Bread. 
“CONNECTICUT BROWN BREAD.” 
ONE quart of Indian meal; one tea-cup¬ 
ful of molasses. Pour hot water nearly 
boiling over both, thoroughly mix and let 
stand covered until nearly cold ; then add 
one pint of rye flour and mix very soft. If 
the meal is coarse, the dough must be 
softer on account of that fact. Wet with 
milk, let stand three or four hours in a 
baking-tin; then bake, or add yeast and 
bake when the loaf cracks apart on top. 
The longer it is baked the better—ail night 
is the rule, in an^old-fashioned brick oven. 
If yeast is used, less baking will answer; 
but the genuine old-fashioned bread that 
was so nice toasted and eaten with milk 
was made without yeast, and if made 
right it will be light to a degree, with 
spots of jelly through it. M. m. w. 
SOME GOOD HOMELY NOTIONS. 
Eggs boil more tender if put into cold 
water which is allowed to gradually reach 
the boiling point. Just consider what an 
egg is made of, and you will see the phil¬ 
osophy of this. 
Do you fry your beef-steak ? Do you 
boil your tea ? Do you stew your coffee ? 
You do? Well then, it must have been 
you who were inquiring the price of pepsine 
at wholesale rates. 
Never sun feathered beds. It is a great 
mistake, as the sun will draw the oil and 
give the feathers a rancid smell. Air the 
beds on a windy day in a cool place, where 
it is shady. 
Eat and digest, read and remember, earn 
and save, love and be loved. There are 
four rules for you, ma’am. Follow them, 
and look out for health, wealth, intelligence 
and happiness. 
Straw matting should be washed with 
warm salt and-water, and applied as quick¬ 
ly as possible, not wettingit any more than 
is a bsolutely .necessary, linn IE c. morse. 
KEEPING SALT PORK. 
HORTENSE DUDLEY. 
A MISSOURI subscriber of the R. N.-Y. 
asks the following questions: 
“Will it do to pack salted pork, to keep 
through summer, in tight barrels with 
bran ? Does it need to be wrapped in paper 
or anything ? ” 
The probabilities are decidedly against 
its sweet keeping. Bran contains in itself 
enough moisture to cause it to become 
moldy and sour, and this would naturally 
hasten the stale flavor of the pork. The 
best material in which to pack salt pork 
would be that which has the smallest 
amount of water in its composition. Chem¬ 
ical analysis shows the presence of water 
in almost everything. Salt pork itself con¬ 
tains a sufficient quantity of water to set 
up a slow decay which would injure the 
flavor of the meat long before the end of 
summer. I would rather pack salt pork 
through the summer in pure, dry salt than 
in any other material that I know of, and 
then the pieces should be placed in a box 
or barrel as nearly air-tight as possible, and 
stored in a cool, dry place. In placing it in 
the box lay some dry corn-cobs, seasoned 
blocks of wood, or lumps of charcoal— 
which would be better than either—be¬ 
tween the pieces of pork so as to prevent 
their touching, while all the space between 
and around the meat must be filled with 
salt, which should also be heaped several 
inches above the top piece in order to pre¬ 
serve an even temperature and to prevent 
exposure to the air. The box should be 
kept in the driest, coolest, and darkest place 
on the premises : driest, in order that the 
meat may condense as little moisture as 
possible; the coolest, to prevent the fat 
from melting and ruuning; and the dark¬ 
est, as a protection from all kinds of in¬ 
sects. But even with all these precautions 
salt pork stored in this way is very likely 
to become more or less stale as the summer 
advances: that is, unless a considerable 
portion of the water which it contains is 
evaporated before the meat is packed down 
in anything. 
For this reason, housekeepers in Ken¬ 
tucky and the adjoining States prefer to 
hang up their pork and dry it thoroughly 
over a slow fire of some kind of sweet green 
wood, hickory being usually preferred. 
First, however, they pack the pork in salt 
and allow it to remain long enough to ab¬ 
sorb a sufficient quantity to preserve the 
tissues. The sides may be left hanging 
in perfect safety all summer, as the insect 
which is most troublesome cannot live in 
pure fat. Tne joints are preserved from 
the insidious depredations of the pest by 
many different methods. One of the sim¬ 
plest and most effective is to rub the fleshy 
and bony parts of hams and shoulders with 
pulverized black pepper, after which the 
joint is suspended by a cord and then in¬ 
closed in a stout domestic bag, the mouth 
of which is tied so closely around the cord 
that no insect can enter. The weight of 
the meat should not press against the bot¬ 
tom of the bag, as the cloth will become 
saturated with fat and attract insects, as a 
further precaution against which some per¬ 
sons place several thicknesses of paper in 
the lowest part of the bag. Many house¬ 
keepers leave the joints thus protected 
hanging in the meat-house all summer; 
others, after the bacon has been thoroughly 
cured, prefer packing it down in leached 
ashes, taking care to place corn-cobs or 
something of that sort between the pieces 
to prevent their touching. Cured in this 
way, we sometimes keep hams for two or 
three years perfectly sound and sweet. 
When the ba« is opened the outside of the 
meat Is found to be covered with a crisp 
brown crust which confines the juices with¬ 
in, so that the bacon is tender, juicy and 
sweet, and of a flavor so desirable that good 
country-cured hams always bring more per 
pound in market than even the sugar-cured. 
I have often wondered why it is that so 
many persons, especially those living in the 
North and West, seem to object so seriously 
to drying or curing their pork. The papers 
cllnncou,$ Q dicrthittg. 
When Baby was alck, we nave her Castoria. 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla. 
When she became Miss, she clung to Caatoria 
Wbeu she bad Children. »b« gave 'h«*ui Canorie 
