i89o 
715 
FRESH AIR AND SUNSHINE. 
KATHERINE B. J. 
I F people in general could be educated or 
inspired to rightly understand and 
justly appreciate the sanitary value of 
fresh air and sunshine; if they could realize 
how much greater is their combined power 
to relieve nervous prostration, to turn ob¬ 
stinate sleeplessness into healthful slumber, 
and to restore wasted physical vitality, 
than that of any “elixir of life,” or of all 
the nostrums extant, what a grand reaction 
there would be from the customs of the 
present day. 
It is a fact that during those parts of the 
year when we are compelled to have fires 
In our homes for comfort, we habitually 
keep our living and sleeping rooms at too 
high a temperature, and insufficiently ven¬ 
tilated, and we have only ourselves to 
blame for very much of the acute and 
chronic lung troubles from which we suffer 
during winter, and for the debilitated 
physical condition in which spring finds 
us. We have not jet learned that the laws 
which govern our physical being are a part 
of the gospel of God, and as such it is our 
duty to study and understand and keep 
them. Ignorance will be no excuse when 
we shall be required to account for what 
• was committed to our keeping. 
But it would certainly seem that when 
fires are no longer a necessity, when the 
cold, damp winds of spring have given 
place to the balmy air of summer, we would 
have our homes in a healthful condition. 
Yet we do not. From long-established cus¬ 
tom, and from an innate desire to see our 
homes looking neat and attractive, far 
more than from any true appreciation of 
its sanitary value, we undertake the annaal 
task of thoroughly renovating them, 
though even then we often neglect the most 
important part of all—the cellar. We 
hurry and drive through this laborious 
work, neither sparing ourselves nor resting, 
‘ and when it is done we have lost what little 
reserve force we had, and the uppermost 
consideration in our minds, is how we may 
best keep the home in order and find time 
in which to recuperate. If the sun is al¬ 
lowed to enter our rooms it will fade and 
ruin expensive carpets and furniture ; and 
open windows and doors will also admit 
that abomination of thrifty housewives, 
flies. Instead of counting screen doors 
and windows as of more importance than 
either new carpets, furniture, or clothing, 
we set them down as impossibilities, and 
convert our rooms into dark, damp, stuffy, 
unhealthful places. Yet even this sacrifice 
of healthful conditions to order and sup¬ 
posed neatness might be tolerated in our 
living rooms and parlors, if we would only 
exclude ourselves from them too ; if, when 
the essential work was completed, we 
would take the sewing that positively must 
be done, or the reading we are wise enough 
to do, and go out and sit on the pleasant 
piazza or lawn ; if, when we can goad on 
the tired nerves and aching muscles no 
longer, but are compelled to lie down and 
rest, we would go out of-doors and lie 
down in a hammock or on a comfortable 
stretcher, and while we rested inhale life- 
giving oxygen instead of the carbonic acid 
and other poisonous substances with which 
our rooms are filled. 
But from the impure air and unhealth¬ 
ful condition of our sleeping rooms where 
we spend at leaft eight out of each twenty- 
four hours, there seems no relief but in an 
awakened sense of the folly, not to say sin, 
of our present methods. Our dear mothers 
had a much keener appreciation of ap¬ 
parent neatness and order than they had of 
the laws of hygiene, when by “line upon 
line, precept upon precept ” they taught us 
that a neat, tidy woman should always 
have the beds made in the early morning. 
If possible a sleeping-room should be 
situated where it will get the morning 
sun; at least where it will get the full 
effects of the sun’s rays during part of the 
day. When that time arrives throw wide 
open the windows and let its purifying rays 
penetrate to the farthest possible corner. 
Do not commit the common and senseless 
Pi.occUnncousi §Uvcvti,$iug. 
Always name The R. N.-Y. in writing to 
advertisers. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Gas tor la, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castoria, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castoria, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castoria. 
THE RURAL N 
blunder of devoting the largest, sunniest 
chamber in the house to the passing guests. 
Hospitality Is beautiful; but do exercise it 
in some way that will not be detrimental 
to the health of yourself or one dearer than 
yourself. 
There are many degrees of comfort and 
healthfulness in the material and make of 
different beds. One filled with sweet, dry 
oat straw which is thoroughly sunned and 
aired each morning will conduce to far 
more healthful rest than will the softest 
hair mattress that is* not so treated. In 
making a bed almost as soon as the occu¬ 
pants are up all the exhalations from the 
skin during the night are shut in beneath 
the sheets and breathed in again. A bed 
should certainly be aired two hours each 
morning. No person should wear the same 
clothing during the day that was worn at 
night. And ths latter, instead of being 
hung in a close closet during the day, 
should be placed in the sun, or at least in 
the air. All clothing which comes in con¬ 
tact with the exhalations of the body 
emits disagreeable, unhealthy odors and 
needs purifying. There is no disinfectant 
in the whole category that equals Nature’s, 
viz., fresh air and sunshine. For these 
reasons the habit of keeping the clothes 
which await the wash in a sleeping-room 
is very pernicious. This is a nest for dis¬ 
ease breeding, often very dangerous. But 
one may ventilate to perfection during the 
day and retire in a room filled with fresh, 
invigorating air; yet if no provisions are 
made for ventilation at night it will be to 
awaken jn a close, stuffy room feeling tired 
and languid. This is all wrong; a gentle 
current of air should be continually in 
motion. The window should be lowered at 
the top and raised at the bottom also ; we 
must provide for the egress of impure air 
as well as the ingress of that which is 
pure. To avoid a draft lower the shade or 
draw the curtain, or even change the po¬ 
sition of the bed. There is no good and 
sufficient reason why a bed should always 
stand in one position. 
It is supposed that the earth and organic 
bodies on it generate the microbes floating 
in the air to which so many maladies are 
due. Only a comparatively few are harm¬ 
ful, and the greatest known safeguard 
against them is thorough cleanliness, pure 
water, and ample ventilation, an abun¬ 
dance of fresh air and sunshine. Our best 
medical authorities unite in saying that 
nervous diseases are largely on the in¬ 
crease. The weakness and general debility 
of American women are appalling, and no¬ 
where are they more apparent than 
among farmers’ wives, where it would 
seem the conditions which tend to right 
living could be most easily secured. But 
I care not how unfavorable the conditions, 
how hard the lot, and how great the de¬ 
mands upon her time and strength (and 1 
know just how wearing they can be), it 
lies in the power of any thinking woman to 
better her condition ; to rise superior to her 
environment; to put health above every 
other consideration. Have an easy chair in 
the kitchen and when you can sit down to 
your work do so,and when you can take your 
work out of the over-heated kitchen and 
sit down where the sun will shine on your 
feet, conscientiously persist in doing it. 
When the essential housework is done, do 
not, I beg of you, pick up some lace to 
knit or other fascinating ornamental work, 
but go out of-doors. Have a flower bed to 
care for, or lie down in the hammock and 
rest half-an-hour, and see how the petty, 
carking cares will fly away, and how much 
more hopeful and courageous you will 
feel. If you cannot go away for a vacation, 
see how many of its benefits you can 
secure at home by giving the important 
things of life your first consideration. 
Canning Green Tomatoes.— In answer 
to F. K. P.’s question in The Rural of Sep¬ 
tember 20, I would say that I have often 
canned green tomatoes, and have never lost 
any. The first year they proved such an 
acquisition that I wrote to my sister giving 
my method, and she has also canned some 
with good results. Choose those that are 
green. Reject any that have changed 
color inside, though still green outside. 
Wash well; remove all hard, dry spots, 
cores and blemishes, but do not peel. Slice 
and cook thoroughly, and can in self¬ 
sealing glass cans. We used ours as sauce 
for the table the following March and 
April. When used, add an equal amount 
of granulated sugar and some fresh lemon 
shaved very fine, after the seeds have been 
removed. Boil all together for 10 or 15 
minutes, and set to cool in an earthen 
vessel. I oanuot tell whether the sauce 
Will “keep.” MRS. LEVI H. NILES. 
E W-YORKER. 
• 
TOMATO SOUPS. 
S a matter of course tastes differ, and 
some who are not fond of tomatoes 
may feel a little impatient at seeing the 
word “tomato ” so often lately. Yet many 
others are anxious for new recipes, and 
others, especially young housekeepers, will 
be glad of good old ones. One lady says: 
“ I wish you would give some recipes for 
tomato soups. Oar family are all so fond 
of them, and I am always on the lookout 
fora new one.” 
Tomatoes with Soup Stock.— Skin two 
quarts of ripe tomatoes, and cut them in 
small pieces. Add one quart of good soup 
stock, let it simmer an hour, ,then pass 
through a sieve. Return the soup to a 
kettle, and season with salt, pepper, and a 
suspicion of onion; boil up once, and serve. 
A granite-ware kettle is much the nicest 
for tomatoes. 
Pick up Tomato Soup.— An excellent 
soup may be made from tomatoes with an 
equal or greater quantity of sliced potatoes, 
and a few bits of any meat that may have 
been left from a previous meal. A few 
shreds of fish, a small handful of shavings 
of dried beef, or a little ham are excellent 
additions to such soup. Onions may be 
used, or not, as liked. Salt, pepper and a 
bit of butter are the regular seasonings, 
and if a sweet soup is liked, milk may be 
used, added as desired. When thi3 is done, 
a pinch of soda is putin just before taking 
the soup from the stove. 
Any of the above will form an appetizing 
first course for dinner, or especially for the 
“dinner-suppers” that are a frequent ac¬ 
companiment of farm life in the fall of the 
year. 
SOME HINTS FROM THE 
MASCULINES. 
CARCELY can one take up a house¬ 
hold paper in these latter days, with¬ 
out seeing some record, usually couched in 
story form, of the trials and difficulties 
which befell the family one dismal day 
when the man of the house was put in 
charge of the domestic machine, in order 
that he might learn that the way of the 
home-maker is not a path of roses. As a 
matter of course he made many blunders, 
and came out of the fiery trial fully con¬ 
verted to the belief that his wife was the 
harder-worked partner in the firm of We 
Us & Co., and with an increased respect 
for her powers. Thus the story, in¬ 
variably. 
We also have a little story to tell, and 
our story has the merit—if merit it be—of 
being fact. It happened that the lady 
director of the Home Department took a 
short vacation, leaving a few last instruc¬ 
tions to the men in charge as to the proper 
cooking of the provisions already prepared 
for the big Rural family. In*other words, 
the matter for the department was left in 
masculine hands, with the consoling 
thought that, as it was all ready, no serious 
mistake was possible. But, unfortunately, 
no Worth was among them, and not a man 
of them understood about “side-back 
pieces,” “ shirrings,” etc. Thus it came 
about that the carefully prepared, definite 
instructions for the home dressmaker were 
made to say that “ care must be taken not 
to stretch the arm-size or the under-arm 
form,” when they were booked to say “not 
to stretch the arm size on the under-arm 
form. As a matter of fact, the arm-size is 
usually stretched quite a little on the 
fronts where it is cut out the most, hence 
these directions, as given, were misleading. 
A worse mistake, however, was made in 
stating that the back of the waist while 
held toward the worker in basting the 
shoulder seams “is to be pulled a very 
little.” This piece is to be held slightly 
full, otherwise “fulled a little,” which is 
just the reverse of the statement as given. 
It is to be hoped that none of our home 
dressmakers has been troubled by these 
little “ inconsistencies.” It may not be 
amiss to confess that if the Chief Cook 
could write a “ copper-plate ” hand, there 
would be fewer possibilities of such mis¬ 
understandings. 
Another interested masculine, in trying 
to assist us has succeeded only in being 
tantalizing, because he was weak at just 
the critical point;. His letter says : 
“Green Tomatoes for Peach Pies.— 
Our colored help recently made from green 
tomatoes some pies which almost equaled 
peach pies. I do not know how she did it, 
and do not believe she could tell how, but 
I am positive of the fact. She failed to 
destroy the tomato taste entirely, other¬ 
wise she completely succeeded. 
DR. G. G. GROFF.” . 
If he had only told us how it was done! 
We are grateful for this help, just as far 
as it goes, but if the Doctor will go a little 
farther, and find out how those “ peach 
pies ” were made, The Rural womankind 
will vote him a medal, that is, as soon as they 
are allowed to vote. Seriously, the informa 
tion as to the value of green tomatoes which 
is being sent in by various subscribers is 
a real addition to cooking lore, and must 
be especially valued in a year like the pres¬ 
ent. The recipe given by Mrs. Niles in the 
present issue, is especially good, as there is 
no loss but the work, if the experiment in 
canning should not prove a success. In 
boiling the lemons three hours with the 
sauce, as one subscriber suggested, it would 
seem that the sauce would become bitter, 
unless the rinds were removed. 
|fti,$fcUancou,$ SUvevtvsincj. 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural. 
Each Season 
Has its own peculiar malady; but with the 
blood maintained in a state of uniform vigor 
and purity, by the use of Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, 
the system readily adapts itself to changed 
conditions. Composed of the best alteratives 
and tonics, and being highly concentrated, 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla is the most effective and 
economical of all blood medicines. 
« For some years, at the return of spring, 
I had serious trouble with my kidneys. I 
was unable to sleep nights, and suffered 
greatly with pains in the small of my back. 
I was also afflicted with headache, loss of 
appetite, and indigestion. These symptoms 
were much worse last spring, especially the 
trouble with my back. A friend persuaded 
me to use Ayer’s Sarsaparilla. I began 
taking it, and my troubles all disappeared.” 
—Mrs. Genevra Belanger, 24 Bridge st, 
Springfield, Mass. 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla 
PREPARED BY 
DR. J. C. AYER & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
Sold by Druggists. $l,six$5. Worth $5 a bottle. 
IF YOU HAVS 
Malaria or Piles, Sick Headache, Costive 
Bowels, Dumb Ague, Sour Stomach and 
Belching; if your food does not assimilate 
and y ou have" no appetite. 
Tuff’s Pills 
•will cure these troubles. Price, 25 cents. 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878, 
W. BAKER & CO.’S 
jJraMCocoa 
Is absolutely pure and 
E. i; is soluble. 
Ik No Chemicals 
1 M% are used In its preparation. It has more 
tun than three times the strength of Coco* 
\M mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
Ilia an< l i* therefore far more economical, 
I Vi costing less than one cent a cup. It ia 
nil delicious, nourishing, strengthening, Ea- 
III | siLY Digested, and admirably adapted 
for invalids as well as persons in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
W. BAKER & CO,. Dorchester, Mass. 
USE BOILING WATER OR MILK. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING. * 
COCOA 
SOLD IN LABELLED hi LB. TINS. 
General Advertising Rates of 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK. 
The folioicing rates are invariable. All are there¬ 
fore respectfully informed that any correspondence 
with a vietc to obtaining different terms will prove 
futile. ^ 
Ordinary Advertisements, per agate line (this 
sized type, 14 lines to the inch).SO cents 
One thousand lines or more,within one year 
from date of first insertion, per agate line, 25 “ 
Yearly orders occupying 10 or more lines 
agate space...25 “ 
Preferred positions.25 per cent, extw 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.,” per 
line, minion leaded.75 cent 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New-Yorker is 
Single copy, per year.$2.00 
“ “ Six months. 1.10 
Great Britain. Ireland, Australia and 
Germany, per year, post-paid.$3.04 (12». 6d.) 
France. 3.04 (16** tr.) 
French Colonies. 4.08 t29J4 fr.) 
Agents wUl be supplied with canvassing outfit od 
application. 
Entered at the Post-office at New York City, N. T. 
M teoond elu* mall matter. 
