i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
4o7 
CAN SHE MAKE A CHERRY TIE ? 
Although other fruits receive more praise, 
it is doubtful if there is any one which has 
more delightful possibilities than the 
cherry. What can be more bewilderingly 
beautiful than a cherry orchard in full 
bloom f Indeed, the Japanese make a festi¬ 
val of the season, and the “ Time of the 
cherry viewing” is one of unusual rejoicing 
with them. But it is not so much of the 
beauties of this regal member of the rose 
family as of its usefulness that I desire to 
speak. From the cook’s stand point cher¬ 
ries are invaluable. They need no acces¬ 
sories when in a perfect state to make them 
an acceptable adjunct to any meal; yet 
they are equally delicious when the cook’s 
skill has transformed them into pies, pud¬ 
dings or preserves. For a pudding for 10 
persons try this : Pour one quart of stoned 
cherries, or the contents of a quart can into 
a colander and drain thoroughly; then 
place in a pudding-dish which has been well 
greased, and pour the following batter over 
them : Two eggs, two table-spoonfuls of 
melted butter, four table-spoonfuls of 
sugar, two cupfuls of sweet milk, two des¬ 
sert-spoonfuls of baking powder, two cups 
of flour and a little salt. Beat the eggs 
separately, and mix with the butter and 
sugar which have been previously creamed. 
Stir in the milk and then the flour, baking 
powder and salt which it is well to sift to¬ 
gether. Bake or steam as preferred. 
Sauce. —Put two cupfuls of boiling water 
into a double boiler with one cupful of 
sugar and two table-spoonfuls of corn 
starch or flour, previously stirred smooth 
with a little cold water. Let it cook until 
thick, then add one cupful of the juice 
drained from the fruit. 
Cherry Pudding No. 2.— Sift two cups 
of flour, one heaping tea-spoonful of baking 
powder and a little salt into a bowl, and 
rub a piece of butter as large as a black 
walnut into it. Put one egg into a cup and 
fill it with sweet milk. Pour this into the 
bowl and beat it until thoroughly mixed. 
Have some cherries stoned and drained. 
Drop a spoonful of batter, and a spoonful 
of fruit alternately into a well greased 
pudding mold. Steam until the dough 
does uot adhere to a broom splint. It will 
require from three quarters of an hour to an 
hour to cook. Serve with cream and sugar. 
In dividing it for serving, it is much better 
to tear it apart with two silver forks, as cut¬ 
ting sometimes makes it seem heavy. 
Cherry Birds’-Nksts.—M ake a nice bak¬ 
ing-powder biscuit dough, as soft as can be 
rolled out. Roll to a thickness of about 
half an inch and cut with a large biscuit 
cutter. Cut the centers from half of the 
cakes; moisten the edges of the whole 
ones; put a spoonful of drained and sweet¬ 
ened cherries on each, lay th& rings on top 
and press the edges together. Bake or 
steam until done, and serve with plenty of 
rich, sweetened cream. 
Cherry Pie. —Line deep pie-plates with 
pastry made as follows: Whip a cup of 
rich, sweet cream with the yelk of one 
egg ; add a salt-spoonful of salt and one of 
sugar, and just enough flour so that it can 
be rolled out. Fill the plates with cherries 
which have been drained and sweetened. 
One tea cupful of sugar is none too much 
for a large pie. Stir one table-spoonful of 
flour smoothly with half a cupful of juice 
and pour on the fruit. Cover with a top 
crust. Have the oven very hot when the 
pies go iu, and allow it to grow cooler 
rather than warmer. Eat as soon as cold. 
Canning. — A good supply of cherries 
canned with or without sugar will be use¬ 
ful in winter, as they are almost as 
good as fresh fruit for pies and puddings. 
A very pretty way to prepare hard white 
cherries for canning when one does uot like 
to have the stones left in, is to cut off a 
large goose quill and remove the stones 
with it. It is extremely tedious work; but 
the result is very gratifying. A cherry 
pitter is a great convenience, and if the 
fruit is dropped by small handfuls into a 
pail of water, all wormy fruit will arise to 
the top. I prefer this test to the eyes of the 
majority of people. Cherries are very nice 
dried, with or without sugar; but they are 
an expensive luxury. I once paid the cus¬ 
tomary penny per pound to a boy for pick¬ 
ing 75 pounds of fine cherries. After pick¬ 
ing and drying I had five pounds of fruit. 
Had I bought it at the market price my 
dried fruit would have cost me 60 cents, 
without counting my labor. Cherries 
for canning or preserving should be of 
decided flavor. There are many kinds 
which are delicious when eaten fresh, but 
which seem flat and insipid when canned. 
Burr’s Seedling is one of the best of sweet 
cherries for pies or puddings; but the 
French Imperial and the Yellow Spanish 
are a little handsomer when canned for the 
table. 
Of sour cherries the Early Richmond is 
difficult to excel. 
The Black Tartarian and the Black Eagle 
are among the finest dark cherries; but 
the latter is often a shy bearer. 
The Holland Bigarreauis a beatiful late, 
dark fruit, but it appeals to the shipper 
more powerfully, perhaps,than to the cook. 
Clyde, N. Y. s. A. little. 
IS SCIENCE TOO “DRY” FOR 
MOTHERS ? 
CIENTIFIC education embraces every 
field of knowledge; turn which way 
we will, science touches our lives on every 
side, and a general knowledge of the prin¬ 
ciples of science is of such vital importance 
that it seems strange that women do not, 
generally, take a deeper interest in what so 
nearly concerns them as well as humanity 
at large. When we remember what diffi¬ 
culties our great men and women had 
to contend with in time past, it seems that 
we do not appreciate what wondrous op¬ 
portunities are ours. Even Agassiz, whose 
life fills one with enthusiasm to do and be 
something more than a living machine, 
had not the books which now can be had 
by every one. He was obliged to borrow, 
and copy what he would keep. Nor were 
there laboratories equipped as now, nor 
were there any summer schools, or Agassiz 
associations. Every facility is now offered 
to any one who will bestir himself or her¬ 
self sufficiently to take an interest in what 
science is, and what can be learned about 
it. But many consider that science is a 
mere bundle of dry, technical facts, wound 
about with long, hard, Latin names; or that 
scientists, like poets, are born, not made. 
Each bird warbles the song fitted to its 
throat without discussing whether it was 
meant to be a singer, and there are those 
studying music all over the world who 
will never distinguish themselves as musi¬ 
cians ; there are preachers, teachers, law¬ 
yers and doctors who will never become 
eminent, yet should they cease striving to 
do the best they can ? And so in science. 
The feast is abundant, and we are invited 
to help ourselves to whatever seems most 
tempting. The King of the Universe, un¬ 
like the fabled Polycretus, who demanded 
a present from his guests ere they seated 
themselves at his banquet, asks only our 
appreciation of his wondrous works. Not 
an appreciation which consists of mingled 
fear and awe, such as the ancients felt 
when the sun was eclipsed or the lightning 
flashed, but a knowledge subject to the 
test of reason and common sense. 
How often do we hear parents discuss 
their early experience, or inexperience, and 
laughingly exclaim that they experimented 
with the first baby as best they could. 
What a world of meaning is conveyed by 
these few words! Ignorance, which we 
should blush to own, stares us in the face; 
for what do we know of anatomy, physi¬ 
ology, hygiene, subjects of which all women 
should have a knowledge ? Not that we 
must know the names of all the muscles, 
nerves, etc., of the body; but that we 
should have a general understanding of 
that which has such an important bearing 
on life. For us, who have the care of 
children from infancy until maturity, not 
to know the location of even the principal 
organs of the body, nor to understand any¬ 
thing about the functions of those organs, 
is almost a disgrace to womankind. "When 
every woman knows the why and where¬ 
fore of “ the two breaths,” as Charles 
Kingsley aptly terms the process of respir¬ 
ation, her common sense will teach her 
what manner of clothes she should wear. 
When she understands the mechanism of 
the human foot she will see the folly of the 
fashionable high-heeled shoe. 
Not until we understand something of 
the laws of development can we care 
rightly for our children. When we read of 
the terrible mortality among children, we 
are shocked; we scarcely deem it possible 
that the rate can be so high ; but when we 
reflect that mothers are, as a rule, entirely 
ignorant of the laws of health, and that 
they enter upon tneir sacred duties with 
almost no training, no thought of their 
awful responsibilities, we no longer hesi¬ 
tate to credit statistics. Although women 
may now legitimately follow any calling 
in life, or practice any profession, the ma¬ 
jority, the great mass of women, will still 
have the care of children, and a knowledge 
of the natural sciences would aid them 
vastly in their work. Every day and every 
hour would such knowledge help them to 
answer the questions, to solve the problems 
children are ever ready to propound. 
Of what practical use is botany ? It is 
true that many people think of the botanist 
as one who collects and analyzes flowers, 
who dries and labels them, and puts them 
away! But botany now has a broader 
meaning, a closer connection with our 
lives. Aside from the excellent training it 
afFords in cultivating an acute observation, 
there are wonderful histories of growth 
and development written by the lives of 
plants, which enlarge one’s views of life, 
which broaden one’s conception of Nature. 
What can one appreciate of the nicety of con¬ 
struction of a steam engine, who knows 
nothing about machinery ? How, then, can 
the careless on-looker enjoy what the 
trained eye understands P The one sees a 
mass of green slime in a pool; the other 
sees the beautiful algae, and the sight brings 
to mind their varied manner of growth. 
The one sees a velvety-looking stone in the 
gurgling brook ; the other sees the myriad 
diatoms with their mysterious motions, 
their beautiful forms and delicate mark¬ 
ings. The microscope has wrought a won¬ 
drous change in the study of botany. Now 
knowing the name of a plant is but a very 
formal introduction to it; to gain an inti¬ 
mate acquaintance, the microscope is neces¬ 
sary. 
We discover in our pantries sometimes 
patches of mold on our preserves, or per¬ 
chance a scrap of moldy bread; suppose 
the little ones see it, they are sure to ask 
what it is. What satisfaction is it to them il 
we can but tell them it is mold ? What if 
the inquiring mind persists and says: “ But, 
mamma, what is mold ?” How pleasant 
and how instructive the answer might 
be, and yet how often it is only 
“ Run away, please, and don’t ask 
so many questions.” Just here is shown 
the fundamental need of some familiarity 
with the sciences. Children are born nat¬ 
uralists and in their early years, when they 
are thought of as either playing or iu mis¬ 
chief, they are learning from that rarest of 
all teachers, Nature. She has fine sand for 
them to play in, pretty flowers for them to 
pluck. She has dainty shells scattered 
along the river shore, shining pebbles in 
the water, silvery fish, pinching crabs; or 
there are bright butterflies to chase—gold 
beetles to capture; all manner of winged 
life darting hither and thither in Nature’s 
beautiful nursery. 
But she never wearies children, making 
them look at flowers or birds until they are 
disgusted with them; when they weary of 
one thing, she at once shows them another. 
Now, we are all teachers, whether we are 
conscious of it or not; whether we assign 
daily lessons or not, we teach by actions, in¬ 
fluence, example, and is it not vitally im¬ 
portant that we should be fitted for the 
work ? 
In teachers’ institutes, national associa¬ 
tions and numberless magazines, methods 
for teaching children are ever being dis¬ 
cussed. There is a continual cry until it 
has well-nigh become a wail, against “ brain 
forcing ” in childhood; yet how many 
mothers heed the cry ? Physicians tell us 
from knowledge based upon experience, 
Spencer tells us, and Nature tells us not to 
weary children with things they cannot un¬ 
derstand. Yet in the face of it all, we take 
them from the sunshine and green fields 
and fresh air, away from their birds and in¬ 
sects and flowers, and shut them up in a 
school-room, and give then arithmetic, 
grammar and geography. And why do we 
do so ? Is it not because mothers are not 
able to teach what children want to 
know ? 
We know that much depends upon the 
kindling of a fire. We know that shavings 
and hard wood are not a success without the 
kiqdling intervening; that when insuffi¬ 
cient kindling is used the Are is sullen, and 
will perhaps finally go out. And so with 
the fire of intellect; much depends upon 
the kindling of these precious little fires in 
our homes; their future brilliancy and 
warmth may depend upon the kindling of 
the fire in the nursery. We have grown 
old in the habit of taking things for 
granted, and cannot understand the rest¬ 
less questioning, the eager inquiries of our 
children. We may use a carpet sweeper, 
but care not how it is constructed, so that 
it does its work well. The little boy, on the 
contrary, cares nothing for its efficiency in 
taking up dust, but would upset it on the 
carpet that he might see the construction, 
that he might learn the how and why. The 
little girl beginning the piano, unless all 
originality has been schooled out of her, 
questions about the connection between the 
striking of the keys and the sounds which 
result. Ever and always they are trying to 
understand the reasons of things. Even the 
baby tries to see what it is that rattles. The 
cry that “ home duties” will be neglected 
if women become scientists, is ill-directed, 
for our homes especially need women in 
science. mrs. w. a. kellerman. 
THE CARE OF CELLARS. 
AKE a chair, Mrs. May, and lay 
off your bonnet,” said Mrs. Dean, 
as her neighbor, who lived a quarter of a 
mile away, came in quite unceremoniously 
at the back door. 
“ Oh ! I can’t stay,” said Mrs. May, “ I 
only ran over to see if you can lend me a 
cup of yeast; mine is all sour. But it is 
too bad to ask you to take your hands out 
of the dish-water to get it.” 
“ Oh, no! I have to go down cellar any¬ 
way, to take those things,” pointing to a 
row of dishes of different viands. 
“Well, you must have the ‘two pair of 
hands ’ women often wish for, if you can 
carry all those at once ; I will be your sec¬ 
ond pair of hands. How sweet and dry 
your cellar is,” exclaimed the caller; 
“ mine is so damp and has such a moldy 
smell. I am careful, too. I cleaned early, 
and white-washed the walls, and I keep the 
windows open from spring to fall.” 
“ No wonder your cellar is damp and 
moldy, if you follow that plan,” said Mrs. 
Dean, “airing the cellar only at proper 
times is the only way to keep it dry and 
sweet. A cellar needs perfectly tight win¬ 
dows and doors that are closed except when 
the outer air is dry and cooler than the air 
in the cellar. No warm or damp air should 
ever be admitted ; no damp or south wind 
should be allowed to blow through it. I 
open the doors and windows on cool, dry 
mornings, closing them as soon ae the air 
becomes warm, or the least dampness ap¬ 
pears on the stones in the cellar; if the day 
is cool I leave them open all day. On cool, 
dry nights, I leave the windows open ; but 
never if there is any indication of storm or 
shower. I had the care of cellars drilled 
into me when I was a girl at home by my 
only brother, who looked carefully after 
the sanitary interests of the family. How 
often in fancy I hear his cheery voice as I 
descend the cellar stairs: “Now, girls, 
close those cellar windows this morning, 
there is a damp south wind;” or : “ Now, 
open all the cellar windows and doors this 
cool morning.” Another excellent plan in 
connection with letting m or excluding the 
air, is to sprinkle slaked lime over the 
floor before sweeping, and to sweep it 
into every part of the floor. 
“ I have learned a valuable lesson,” said 
Mrs. May : “ but I am keeping you from 
your work; I will hurry home and close 
my cellar windows.” B. H. G. 
Johnsons, N. Y. 
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