i89o 
487 
CHEAP COOKERY. 
S OMFI time ago the government print¬ 
ing office sent out a pamphlet con¬ 
cerning cookery for workingmen’s wives, 
with some special reference to oat-meal. 
The matter was in the form of a report 
(from the United States Consul at Glasgow, 
Scotland) of the free cooking school for 
poor women, established in Glasgow about 
the year 1886, by Mrs. John Elder, which re¬ 
port was accompanied with recipes for a 
series of 14 different dinners for six (no one 
of which exceeded 24 cents in total expense), 
besides a large number of miscellaneous 
recipes and hints for household economy. 
The object of the report was, in part, to 
prepare the minds of the people for the es¬ 
tablishment of similar schools here, as it is 
said that they are likely to be needed in the 
more populous districts of the United 
States, and it is thought that teaching 
people how to live comfortably upon small 
wages, and to cultivate habits of neatness, 
order, and self-respect is quite as necessary 
as other less practical forms of benevolent 
effort. 
The question of cheap meals is one that 
has been agitating the minds of women 
who study these matters, to an unusual ex¬ 
tent for the past few years, and household 
papers have abounded with menus for din¬ 
ners always for a family of six at from 50 
down to 25 cents, ever since Catherine Owen 
wrote her “Ten Dollars Enough.” Many 
of these bills-of-fare were excellent; some 
of them, especially the 25 cent ones, have 
appeared scanty or almost stingy, but none 
of them have shown anything of that stress 
of economy which is exhibited in these 
across-th e-ocean recipes. Possibly the 
most economical of messes which farmers’ 
wives attempt to prepare is scrapple 
or head cheese; but in these recipes 
for the poor of Glasgow, besides the 
staple cheap things, rice, onions, corn 
meal, beans, dried, peas, etc., such others 
as cod’s head, calf’s head and feet, 
sheep’s bag, lights and liver, beef “ skirt,” 
ox-tail, ox-foot, and “ blood and skins ” 
(for pudding) have prominent places. 
These sound far from appetizing to us; 
but it may be well for some of those 
farmers’ families who think themselves 
obliged to practice the most rigid economy, 
to compare their bills of-fare with food of 
this sort, and see if the difference will not 
stir them to an appreciation of some bless¬ 
ings of whose existence they have been, to 
say the least, thoughtless about. Those 
families on the farm who can but just suc¬ 
ceed in making a living, are often loud in 
complaint that farming does not pay ; yet 
the man who earns $50 a month in the 
large cities (a stipend which many a 
farmer views with envy as “ big pay ”), 
must spend it all in that same living, and 
his wife must look well to the matter of 
economical foods if she would make both 
ends meet. The only real difference is 
that the workman handles the money, and 
hands it over in exchange for his living, 
while the farmer thinks he is not getting 
much because he gets his living without 
hearing the chink of the coin. 
With regard to oat-meal, the report stated 
that after centuries of experience with 
this standard food, there has arisen a re¬ 
pugnance toward it among the people who, 
most of all, have need of it, the poor of 
Glasgow, from the fact that it has come 
to be regarded among them as the badge 
of poverty. As a result, all the worst re¬ 
sults of innutrition are becomiug apparent 
among the poor. This, while oat-meal is 
becoming the fashionable food with which 
to preface a morning meal among the rich 
and the well-to-do 1 It is said that the 
Scotch oat-meal is much superior in flavor 
to that met with in the United States, it 
having a flavor somewhat resembling that 
of popped corn. A few recipes from the 
various departments of the report are ap¬ 
pended. Some bints may perhaps be ob¬ 
tained from them, even if they be not used 
as given. 
Poached Egos. —Bring one pint of water, 
one table-spoonful of vinegar, and one-half 
tea-spoonful of salt, to a boil; break the 
eggs into it carefully, and simmer four 
minutes 
A Nice Bkeakfast.— Cut one-fourth of 
a pound of old cheese very thin; put it into 
a frying pan with a bit of butter, pepper, 
salt, and one-half cupful of milk. Stir until 
the cheese is melted, then add two eggs, 
well beaten, and another half-cup of milk, 
cook one minute and serve on hot toast. 
Kedgeree. —One pound of fish,one-fourth 
of a pound rice, one ounce of butter, three 
eggs. Boil the fish well, remove the bones 
and skin, ami separate iuto flakes. Boil the 
|iara,.ti)ri)w jotwM water to prevent 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
their turning black, then peel and cut fine. 
Add all the ingredients (except one yelk) 
with salt and pepper to the boiled rice; 
dish, and grate the yelk of the egg over 
it. 
Fish Soup. —Wash a large cod head well, 
put it into one gallon of cold water, and 
boil an hour, then strain the soup through 
a sieve or coarse cloth ; add one-half pound 
of rice, some onions cut very fine, and a 
grated carrot, and boil very slowly for one 
hour; then add some chopped parsley, and 
the fish taken from the head, with pepper 
and salt. A little milk will be an improve¬ 
ment. This is very like oyster sonp. 
Mock-turtle Soup, (equal to the real 
turtle soup.)—Wash and cook a calf’s head, 
and a small piece of the lights and the liver, 
and boil carefully, keeping well covered. 
Cut the meat into small strips; fry one- 
fourth of a pound of fat pork, cut in small 
pieces, and add all to the soup. When it 
boils, put in one tea-spoonful each of cinna¬ 
mon and allspice, one half a tea spoonful 
each of cloves and Cayenne pepper, the 
juice and grated rind of one lemon, and 
three grated potatoes. Brown one-half 
pound of flour, mix it smooth, and add, let¬ 
ting all boil for 10 minutes. Slice three hard- 
boiled eggs into a tureen, and pour the soup 
over them. Force-meat balls added are an 
improvement. 
Good “ Poor-Man’s Pie.”— Without 
meat; cost 11% cents. One dozen potatoes, 
three ounces tapioca, one-half pound of 
onions, one pound flour, one-fourth pound 
dripping, pepper, salt and baking-powder. 
Wash the tapioca, and soak for an hour be¬ 
fore it is wanted. Slice the potatoes and 
cut the onion fine; then place the materials 
alternately in a pudding-dish ; from 
the remaining three ounces of the dripping, 
the flour and the baking-powder, make a 
crust, to cover the pie. Bake two hours 
and serve hot. 
Rice and Cabbage.— Wash one head of 
cabbage and one pound of rice, and boil till 
soft in separate salted waters. Mash the 
cabbage well; add to it the rice and a little 
dripping, with pepper to taste. Mix well 
and serve hot. 
Fig Pudding.— One pound of figs, one- 
half pound of flour, one-half pound of bread 
crumbs, one-fourth pound of suet, two 
ounces of sugar, half a tea spoonful of nut¬ 
meg, one tea spoonful of cinnamon, one 
small tea- poonful of baking powder, milk 
or water. 
Sherbet: a Refreshing Drink.— One- 
half pound of sugar, one-fourth pound of 
tartaric acid, one-fourth pound of car¬ 
bonate of soda, 60 drops of essence of lemon. 
Mix sugar and essence of lemon, and dry 
thoroughly. Then pass all through a 
sieve. Bottle aud cork tight. For a 
tumbler of water use a tea-spoonful of the 
mixture. 
Boston Cream. —One pound of brown 
sugar, 2d. worth of essence of lemon, two 
ounces of tartaric acid, the white of an egg. 
Put the sugar into three quarts of cold 
water, boil it, pour into a basin, and let it 
cool. Add the essence of lemon, tartaric 
acid, and the white of the egg well beaten 
up. Bottle. One table-spoonful of this 
syrup to a tumbler of cold water. 
Linseed Meal Poultices.— Put suffi¬ 
cient meal to make the poultice the size re¬ 
quired into a hot bowl, and pour on boiling 
water enough to make a soft paste; beat 
quickly for three minutes, or till it looks 
oily. Have ready a flannel, or cotton bag, 
the size required; pour in the paste, sew 
up the mouth of the bag quickly. Apply 
the poultice to the affected part as hot as 
can be borne. If ordered with mustard, 
mix a table-spoonful of dry mustard with 
the linseed meal. Good for inflammation. 
Fish for an Invalid —One small flsh, 
a small sprig of parsley, one table-spoonful 
of milk. Get a nice, fresh white flsh ; clean 
it well; put it iuto a small jelly jar with 
the milk and parsley well washed, cover 
very closely with paper, and set it in a 
saucepan of boiling water at the side of the 
fire for half an hour. This is a very light 
way of cooking flsh for an invalid. It can 
be skinned and boned if preferred. 
Egg with Tea, Coffee, Cocoa or 
Milk.—B reak the egg into a tea-cup, beat 
with a fork till well mixed; pour in the 
tea, coffee, cocoa, or milk gradually, stir¬ 
ring all the time. This is very nourishing, 
and good in cases of exhaustion from over¬ 
work or strain. 
Croup.—A very good and simple remedy 
for croup is, a tea-spoonful of powdered 
alum and two tea-spoonfuls of sugar; mix 
with a little water, and give it as quickly 
as possible, a little at a time, and instant 
reJW wiil lie 
“RANK HERESY.” 
* * A HERETIC ” on page 391, criticises 
some of my “ Good, Homely No¬ 
tions.” Pardon me, she is not a heretic, as 
I understand the definition, but a critic. 
It ends in “tic,” and one tic (k) is as bad as 
another! She misunderstands me: Of 
course one would not wash dishes on the 
floor! That was meant as “sarkasm.” 
She may also criticise that (similar) old 
saying, “It is better that a hog wear ear¬ 
rings than for a vain woman to do so.” Of 
necessity I see that some must eat with the 
table against the wall; but, if I could help 
it, I would not. So about ragged dish¬ 
cloths ; and—there is no need of having 
them. But better be ragged than sour. 
Yet better a sour dish-cloth than a sour 
woman. And yet again, a sour woman has 
some advantage over a sweet one, in that 
she does not have to put any vinegar in the 
salad! l. c. m. 
A KNOT IN THE NIGHT-CAP. 
R EV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, in the 
Ladies’ Home Journal, tells a little 
experience which we would all do well to 
heed. 
“On one occasion I remember the con¬ 
ductor had punched our tickets and closed 
the curtains, and I proceeded to prepare a 
night-cap. My only resource was a hand¬ 
kerchief, in the corners of which and along 
the edges thereof I tied five or six knots, 
and having adjusted this hasty crown to 
my head I lay down. After somewhat 
excited speaking for a couDle of hours, it 
took a little time for my thoughts to get 
quieted, and then, under the cover of my 
night-cap I fell asleep. For some reason 
my dreams were of the roughest and most 
uncomfortable sort. I was falling over 
embankments; I was knocked on the head 
by marauders; I was dying of brain fevpr, 
and, in bewilderment as to where I was, I 
woke up. All this was so different from 
my usual quietude of slumber, I rubbed my 
eyes and said, ‘ What in the world is the' 
matter ?’ The fact was, I had got one of the 
knots of my night-cap in the wrong place, 
and the pressure of it against my temple 
had caused this dislocation of things. 
I said to myself—how a little thing will 
upset the comfort of sleep. I was at peace 
with all the world save that one twist in 
my handkerchief. And at that very mo¬ 
ment, I suppose, up and down the world, 
there were people as restless because of 
some infinitesimal annoyance. People 
under the exhaustion of some great trouble 
sleep so unsoundly, you wake them up 
almost fearing that they are dying or dead; 
but a little twist in their domestic or social 
or financial affairs kept them wide awake 
so that they heard the clock in the morning 
strike one, two, three, four. I have known 
merchants vexed beyond somnolence by a 
mistake in their cash account. Women 
have become restless because of a grease 
spot on their new silk dress. The provok¬ 
ing remark of some one, whose opinion 
was not worth consideration, has spoiled a 
good sleep. Hours that ought to have been 
given to physical invigoration have been 
ruined by a twist in the night-cap. The 
mistake which I made in the aforesaid rail- 
car ought to have been corrected before at¬ 
tempting slumber. 
Before retiring we ought to get the knot 
in our affairs disposed of. But suppose we 
cannot do so ? Then shove the knot further 
along. Let it take you in some other place. 
Shove it along to the next morning. Do 
not put upon one day the burdens of two. 
If I had moved my night-cap an inch or 
two I should have been undisturbed. Be¬ 
sides all this, if we cannot by our will get 
our affairs arranged as we would like, 
supernal aid is offered us for turning the 
night cap in the right way. There is 
always a place between the two knots of 
care and trouble in which to rest. But how 
prone we are, instead of looking for that 
smooth place, to put the knots together 
and lay our head on the accumulated dis¬ 
comfort. It ouly took a minute for all this 
to pass through my mind, then I got up on 
one elbow, re adjusted my head-covering, 
threw myself back on the pillow of the 
Pullman sleeping-car, and knew nothing 
but roseate and heaven-descended dreams 
for seven hours. There is not one 
man or woman in 10,000 who can 
afford to do without seven or eight hours’ 
sleep. All those stories written about 
great men and women who slept only three 
or four hours a night make very interest¬ 
ing reading ; but I tell you, my readers, no 
man or woman ever yet kept healthy in 
body and mind for a number of years with 
less than seven hours’ sleep. Americans 
need more sleep than they are getting. This 
lack makes them so nervous and the insane 
asylums so populous. If you can get to 
bed early, then rise early. If you cannot 
get to bed till late then rise late. It may 
be as Christian for one man to rise at eight 
as it is for another to rise at five I counsel 
my readers to get up when they are rested. 
But let the rousing-bell be rung at least 30 
minutes before your public appearance. 
Physicians say that a sudden jump out of 
bed gives irregular motion to the pulse. It 
takes hours to get over a too sudden rising. 
Give us time after you call us to roll over, 
gaze at the world full in the face, and look 
before we leap.” 
^UsceUatteousi gUvmijsing. 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. will please the 
advertisers and benefit the paper by always 
mentioning it when writing to advertisers. 
The Majority 
Of so-called cough-cures ao little more than 
impair the digestive functions aud create 
bile. Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral, on the con¬ 
trary, while it cures the cough, does not in¬ 
terfere with the functions of either stomach 
or liver. No other medicine is so safe and 
efficacious in diseases of the throat and 
lungs. 
“Four years ago I took a severe cold, which 
was followed by a terrible cough. I was 
very sick, and confined to my bed about four 
months. I employed a physician most of 
the time, who finally said I was in consump¬ 
tion, and that he could not help me. One of 
my neighbors advised me to try Ayer’s 
Cherry Pectoral. I did so, and, before I had 
finished taking the first bottle was able to 
sit up all the time, and to go out. By the 
time I had finished the bottle I was well, and 
have remained so ever since.”—L. D. Bixby, 
Bartonsville, Yt. 
Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral, 
PREPARED BY 
DR. J. C. AYER & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
Sold by all Druggists. Price $1; six bottles, $5. 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS. 1878. 
W. BARER^j CO.’S 
Breakfast Cocoa 
Is absolutely pure and 
4‘j Is soluble. 
No Chemicals 
are used in its preparation. It has mors 
(Aan three timet the strength of Cocoa 
mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and is therefore far more economical, 
costing less than one cent a cup. It is 
delicious, nourishing, strengthening, EA¬ 
SILY Digested, and admirably adapted 
for invalids os well as persons in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
W. BAKER & CO.. Dorchester, Mass 
We will Send a Sample 
Buggy, Road Cart 
OIt HARNESS 
to one person at each post-office 
who will show to others who we 
may seud to see it, Many people 
will buy If they e<m see for 
themselves, therefore we give 
a bargaiu to get samples of our 
work in a neighborhood. 
Will Von Have One or All? 
Don’t miss this bargain, you may never 
have another We guarantee our work 
to be Hrs[ class in every particular. 
Send b cents in stamps for catalogu s to select from, 
and get testimonials 
from those who have had 
our bargains. 
UNION MACHINE C0„ 
Carriage Dept Vo. 7, 
PHILADELPHIA. PA. 
MINIATURE INCANDESCENT 
ELECTRIC LAMPS. 
}{ to 36 Candle Power. For use with Batteries or Dynamos. 
TV t, MILL SEN' I) FREE, Catalogue E, which shows prices of, 
aud experiments with, Edison Lamps, and gives directions how to 
make a cheap battery to operate them. Any intelligent boy can 
make use of these batteries. 
EDISON LAMP ©0., Harrison, N. J, 
