" ’SPECIALLY ME.” 
Beth our pet, her prayer was saying 
Close beside her mother’s knee. 
And this was the way she ended : 
“ God bless us all—’specially me.” 
And her words set me to thinking, 
Was she selfish more than I ? 
Had not my own heart, half thoughtless, 
Made the same un-Christlike cry ? 
And my prayer that night was humbler, 
For I plainer seem to see 
God’s great mercy, and the weakness 
Of us all—’specially me. 
—Mary M. Currier in “ Among the Granite Hills.” 
Why do we consider the New Year the 
most appropriate time to make good 
resolutions and good beginnings ? A 
year is such a long time to wait to undo 
a failure or bad habit. If we desire to 
make a good start in the right way, to¬ 
day is the right time, whether it be 
January 1 or July 4. And, if to-morrow 
we fail, we shall not wait until the New 
Year to regret and begin amends, but 
improve the present. “Now is the 
accepted time.” 
* 
Let us crowd as many good things into 
life as we can ! Yes, crowd them ! Do 
not let good cheer visit the home but 
once a year, simply because Christmas 
comes no oftener. If you regret, now 
that you did not make more of Christmas 
for the children’s sake, it is not enough 
to resolve that next Christmas you will 
atone for it. Begin by celebrating the 
first birthday that comes in the family, 
and keep it up. Birthdays can’t be 
coaxed to come oftener than once a year, 
but that need not keep the family from 
reminding each other oftener that life 
is better because they are privileged to 
spend it together. We need more of the 
holiday spirit, the spirit of rejoicing, in 
life. When we accomplish this duty, 
there will be less sorrow at funerals. 
* 
Another great injustice to woman has 
been discovered, a superstition rever¬ 
enced for ages, and planted in the hearts 
of the young by woman herself. Indeed, 
she cannot say that man is as responsible 
as herself in this. Honor was bestowed 
on his sex, and he took it, uncomplain¬ 
ingly bearing it all. But, henceforth, 
Mr. Santa Claus must divide the homage 
which future generations have to oiler, 
with Mrs. Santa Claus. She has been 
discovered, at this late date, when so 
many are beginning to doubt the old 
gentleman’s existence, and she is rapidly 
asserting her rights. She contends, 
quite justly, that Christmas has been 
perpetuated by feminine as well as 
masculine efforts and she thinks it quite 
unfair that Mr. Santa Claus should re¬ 
ceive all the praise. The Chief Cook 
desires the cooperation of all The R. 
N.-Y. mothers in securing to Mrs. Santa 
Claus her rights. 
A POSSIBLE KITCHEN. 
REASONABLE AND BUSINESS¬ 
LIKE ARRANGEMENTS. 
WOULD like to have my kitchen with 
a southeast exposure, for good cheer 
in the mornings. Two doors opening 
opposite each other, give quick ventila¬ 
tion, and prevent the odor of burn or 
smoke escaping through the house ; one 
should open on a cosy south veranda, 
shaded by a fragrant climbing rose, and 
the other disclose a cool north or west 
porch with a sweet honeysuckle vine 
over it. As my kitchen will not be used 
for diningroom or woodshed, it need 
not be very large—12x14 feet will do— 
and it must have fine, large windows, 
one right in front of the table where 
food is prepared ; here must also be fixed 
a good lamp bracket with reflector and 
shade, for one must have good light at 
all hours. One end of the room will 
have a low, spring cot, well cushioned 
for a lounge, a cosy rocker, a light table 
to catch the children’s things when they 
come in from school. A good window 
here should look to the road to get sight 
of the stranger who may enter the gate 
before he shall reach the door. Here, 
too, must be another bracket lamp, also 
a bracket at the side of the window to 
hold one blooming plant. This part 
shall have a carpet or large rug, the 
whole floor to be of some hard wood— 
double if possible, for warmth—and well 
painted. 
The wall will be of good, hard cement 
(which will absorb nothing), close down 
to the floor, putting the base board over 
it ; this will give a perfectly smooth sur¬ 
face, where not taken up by doors, win¬ 
dows or cupboards, which will all be 
painted some tint to harmonize with the 
wall. 
The side next the diningroom will all 
be occupied by cupboards about 18 inches 
deep, opening both from the kitchen 
and diningroom ; but the doors must not 
open exactly opposite, and must extend 
only to within three feet of the floor, 
this space to be filled with drawers to 
hold napery on the diningroom side, and 
on the kitchen side, towels, work aprons, 
holders, etc. Over the table, also behind 
the stove, will be cupboards and drawers 
to hold all sorts of cooking utensils, all 
to close up tight and smooth when not 
in use. 
neat shall be provided by a wrought- 
iron, asbestos-lined range to burn wood 
or coal, with a reservoir to hold hot 
water. This brings up the subject of a 
water supply. Over this room by the 
chimney, which will be on the north 
side, shall be a large “rustless iron” 
tank or cistern, to hold all the rainwater 
that falls from the main roof of the 
house ; from this tank extend pipes with 
faucets, one over the sink, which will 
be of wood, zinc-lined. This is easily 
kept clean, will not break dishes, is un¬ 
injured by heavy iron kettles, and any 
amount of black is easily washed off. 
Another pipe has a faucet over the stove 
reservoir, also, one to a washbowl in the 
corner of the room to rest in a light iron 
bracket fastened to the wall, a painted 
slop jar under it, and over it a looking- 
glass, with places for soap and towels. 
My kitchen shall contain no drain ; all 
slops go into a barrel on truck wheels 
standing out in the woodshed, and may 
be rolled out and emptied by a man 
once a day, where it is most needed, 
ai’ound fruit trees and shrubbery. Back 
of the washbowl on the other side of 
the wall in the woodshed, another pipe 
over a long sink, will supply water for 
men to wash, and for laundry work in 
summer. A cut-off in this pipe would 
save freezing in winter. 
A small portable sink made strong 
and as light as possible, fitted with stout 
castors will save lifting and carrying 
dishes. With the dish-pan in it, it may 
be rolled alongside the table while'.the 
cups and silver are washed ; or in taking 
up the dinner in summer, when one 
wishes to get away from the stove, set 
the kettles right into it and roll up to 
the table, where stand the platters and 
dishes waiting to receive the food which 
may be taken up without standing over 
the hot stove. 
In the pantry shall be a wire-covered 
set of shelves to hold food, and admit 
air, and a dumb-waiter running down 
cellar into another wire-covered cup¬ 
board. On this, food left from a meal 
may, by turning a crank, be lowered 
to the cellar, where it will be cool and 
safe. WESTERN NEW YORK. 
COOKING MEAT. 
MAKING THE BEST OF IT. 
HE average butcher has a great 
many hard things said of him, and 
I am bound to confess that, in a vast 
number of cases, there is “just cause 
and provocation,” for tough steaks and 
juiceless and flavorless roasts are all too 
common, even when the cook does her 
part faithfully and well. But I am con¬ 
vinced that injustice is often done the 
butcher, and that very good meat is 
often spoiled in the cooking. I have 
studied this matter quite thoroughly, 
and have made many mistakes and fail¬ 
ures ; but out of the mistakes and fail¬ 
ures, I have learned some things in 
regard to the proper cooking of meat. 
It is all important that the meat be of 
good quality to start with, and right 
here comes in the matter of wise selec¬ 
tion. Good meat comes only from well- 
fed, thrifty animals, and these the best 
butchers insist on having ; but some 
deal in a poor quality of meat, because 
they can buy inferior animals at a low 
price. Thex-e is a great chance for a 
wise selection m all kinds of beef ; some 
parts of the round, for instance, afford 
much tenderer steak than others near 
by. The middle of the rump is vastly 
more tender and juicy than the first, or 
outside cut. One should be familiar 
with these facts before essaying to order 
meat, understand thoroughly where the 
best cuts are, and then insist upon hav¬ 
ing them. When a butcher learns that 
a customer understands such things, he 
will rarely try to work off inferior cuts 
upon him. 
Steak should be placed where the 
temperature will be as even as possible, 
for changing temperatures tend to cause 
the juices of meat to run out. Freezing 
and thawing qlso greatly injure the 
flavor of meat. 
The best way to cook steak is to broil 
it over red-hot coals, turning quickly 
and often, and carrying the process just 
far enough to change the dull red of the 
raw meat to a rich red all through. If 
the broiling be carried so far that the 
interior of the steak loses its rich red 
color and turns dark, the meat has been 
toughened and the flavor injured. This 
is one great fault in cooking steak— 
“ cooking the life out of it.” Another is, 
attempting to cook it without having a 
sufficiently hot fire, when the juices 
ooze out and the meat slowly dries and 
becomes insipid. Where red-hot coals 
are not at hand, the steak can be well 
cooked by heating an ungreased spider 
as hot as a bright blazing fire will make 
it, and then dropping the slices upon it, 
turning quickly and often. Do not salt 
and butter until taken from the fire. 
Roast beef is, also, too often injured 
by overcooking, being kept a long time 
in the oven in the endeavor to get it 
“cooked through,” a process that results 
in very nearly, if not quite, spoiling the 
entire outside of the roast. There are 
two ways of avoiding this trouble—one 
is to cover the roast closely in a pan ; a 
self-basting roasting pan is bast, but 
where this is not at hand, let a second 
pan be turned down over the meat. If 
two pans of equal size are used, the 
steam can be kept in and the outside of 
the roast kept from drying, the whole 
being cooked through very evenly. An¬ 
other way is to put the roast into a hot 
oven for half an hour, and use only the 
outside slices for the first meal. The 
meat may be put in and roasted for an¬ 
other half hour when desired for another 
meal. This plan gives a chance to have 
two hot meals from one roast without 
drying the outside. 
One word in regard to the selection of 
a piece of beef for roasting. I long ago 
gave up rib roasts as too fat, having too 
much waste, and as not affording good 
slices of “ cold roast beef.” I now order 
a big square cut from the round, and 
would on no account go back to the old 
roasts from the rib. A roast from the 
round is simply delicious, if properly 
cooked, and has no bone or waste, while 
affording great slices. 
In regard to stews, I think that house¬ 
keepers do not, as a rule, cook the meat 
long enough. Meat, tough or tender, 
pale folk 
How many pale folk there 
are ! People who have the 
will, but no power to bring 
out their vitality. People 
who swing like a pendu¬ 
lum between strength and 
weakness—so that one 
day’s work causes six days’ 
sickness! People who have 
no life for resisting disease 
—thin people, nerveless 
delicate ! 
The food for all such 
is Scott’s Emulsion. The 
hypophosphites of lime 
and soda, with the oil, will 
tone up the system, give 
the blood new life, improve 
the appetite and keep up 
digestion ! 
50 ceata and $1.00 
SCOTT & BOWNE 
Chemists • - New York 
A GOOD START BUT A VERY POOR FINISH. Fig. 7. 
