MY LIFE. 
I know not if it be .short or long, 
Dark with sorrow or bright with song. 
But X hush my questioning heart with trust, 
Knowing that ( rod is always just. 
And whatsoever He sendeth me 
The discipline I need, must be. 
—Gillette M. Kirke. 
What have we done, now ? Really, it 
becomes serious when some staid head 
of a house, whose wisdom we respect, 
sees the necessity of setting us right. 
Rut after re-reading the editorial on 
page 862, we see that it does convej r 
more than we intended that it should, 
and, moreover, it was rash to trifle with 
such a question on the eve of leap j'ear. 
A better word than “ proposing” might 
have been used, the main idea being in 
the latter part of the sentence : “ That 
she may rid herself of this dog-in-the- 
manger class.” The old teaching that 
women must “suffer in silence,” is what 
we were aiming at. Mrs. Grundy is 
always too ready to make matches, and 
she starts the rumor of a wedding on 
very slight pretext. When these rumors 
are groundless, they harm only the 
woman in question, and this fact justi¬ 
fies a woman in protecting herself from 
meaningless attentions of men, if she 
has no father to attend to the matter. 
We cannot conceive of a womanly 
woman offering herself to the man of 
her choice except under very unusual 
circumstances, although we have heard 
that it has been done without shattering 
a heart’s ideal. Rut let us discuss this 
matter if you have anything to say. 
* 
The last prize contest has been de¬ 
cided, and the winners are published on 
this page. The offer is now withdrawn. 
We are pleased with the interest that 
has been shown, and trust that our read¬ 
ers have benefited by the results. Per¬ 
haps the most important result of these 
contests has been the insight we have 
gained of our readers’ tastes, and we 
mean that all shall profit by it in the 
improvement of our department, which 
is thus made possible. 
* 
Tiie Woman's Bible, which really con¬ 
sists only of the comments of several 
women on those passages in the Bible 
referring to women, is receiving condem¬ 
nation on all sides. It is very evident 
that women in general are not ready to 
sacrifice their religion for political prin¬ 
ciples or privileges. And, if the leaders 
of the suffrage movement have reached 
that degree of degeneration—we cannot 
call it development—they will only de¬ 
feat their own ends by proclaiming the 
fact. If the day ever come when women 
will deny their faith and mechanically 
fall into line with their political leaders, 
as the bulk of men voters do to-day, 
that will be the time when woman suf¬ 
frage would be a greater evil than any 
it has promised to cure. 
THE PRIZE WINNERS. 
ICIEST PRIZE. 
To Keep Children at Home. 
HEN baby begins to run around 
and talk, he sees wonderful sights 
and asks wonderful questions—wonder¬ 
ful both in quantity and quality. The 
world is wonderland. Nothing is too 
large for him to try to grasp, nothing 
too small for him to discover. And to 
whom does he come with his wealth of 
discovery, and torrents of questions ? 
Always to father and mother, and this 
is their great opportunity to build for 
future years. The parents that are wise 
enough to see this opportunity, will not 
dare to be “too busy” to give heed to the 
little one’s importunities ; but will share 
in his pleasure over the downy leaf he 
brings in ; will leave supper-getting a 
moment to go into raptures with him 
over the sunset; will lay aside the sew¬ 
ing long enough to help straighten out 
an unruly toy. In short, will be to him 
what he expects them to be—friends 
and companions. They will teach him 
that the real beauties and pleasures of 
life are not the things we buy with 
money, but are the dewdrops under his 
feet, the frost pictures on the window, 
the ferny nook, the wee brown seed- 
baby in the heart of the flower—that 
next year will grow into a plant and 
have flowers of its own—the dainty 
little nest and happy mother-bird, the 
joy of making some person or some 
animal happy, the delight of discovering 
God’s hidden treasures by the brook or 
in the woods. The child, taught to see 
and love all these things and their 
Maker, will have within himself sources 
of entertainment, and his affections will 
be preempted for better things than pro¬ 
fanity, slangy stories, or cruel tricks. 
When father turns aside questions 
about the beauties and mysteries of life 
with, “Oh! be still and don’t bother,” 
and mother stops on the threshold the 
joyous bearer of an armful of autumn 
leaves with, “Now take that trash right 
out of here,” is it anj 7 wonder that other 
companions and other things soon claim 
the child ? mrs. h. marie currey. 
SECOND PRIZE. 
Your Own Tinner. 
Few people realize how easy it is to 
mend tinware. No farmer should be 
without a soldering “kit.” Any black¬ 
smith can make a soldering iron, or the 
complete outfit may be ordered of a 
hardware store for SI or $2. The “ kit” 
consists of an old file, a knife for scrap¬ 
ing the tin, some resin, a brick, and a 
bottle of muriatic acid in which some 
zinc has been dissolved. The soldering 
iron must be well tinned. File the tool 
until bright, heat until hot enough to 
melt the solder. Melt a little resin on 
the brick with the iron, rubbing it back 
and forth on the brick until the point is 
well polished. Melt a little solder on 
the brick with the resin. This will 
spread itself over the tool, making a tin 
coating. In this condition the tool is 
said to be “tinned.” Never heat the 
iron red hot, for this will remove the 
tinning. 
When taken from the fire, hold it near 
the face, and after a little experience 
one will be able to tell just the heat 
needed. Keep an old rag near to wipe 
the tool free from ashes. While heating 
the iron after it is tinned, the dish to be 
mended must be scraped around the hole 
until it is clean and bright. Dust on a 
little powdered resin and, if the tin coat¬ 
ing is worn off, dip a stick in the acid 
and wet the tin with it. This covers the 
iron with a coating of zinc, to which the 
solder will easily unite. Test the tool, 
for heat, wipe on the rag, then touch to 
a piece of solder. A drop will remain 
on the tool, which, when placed on the 
tin, will flow around and over the hole, 
making a round spot of new tin. If the 
first attempt is not a success, it must be 
because the tool is not properly tinned, 
or the tin around the hole was not 
cleaned. Mending will be found an easy 
job, and one that will save the pennies 
and dimes. lillia Arnold. 
THIRD PRIZE. 
Look After Your Dishcloths. 
I was thinking of a delightful evening 
with Emerson that I had enjoyed as a 
member of a reading circle, and imagin¬ 
ing how elevating would be the thoughts 
I could arouse by extracts from his beau¬ 
tiful essay on “Friendship.” I became 
deeply absorbed in my theme, so much 
so that I scarcely heard the knock at the 
door which finally aroused me. On going 
to answer the summons, I found a little 
gii*l, the daughter of a neighbor, whose 
mother had sent her for me, as several 
of the children were sick. Putting aside 
my writing, I at once went over and 
found them suffering from fever. On 
my advice, a doctor was summoned, but 
in spite of all his efforts, each case de¬ 
veloped into typhoid. The mother, who 
had the reputation of being an excellent 
housekeeper, could assign no reason for 
this sickness; “As lam always so careful 
in every way,” were her words. There 
were no sewer pipes to leak, no outside 
influence to produce germs. 
The doctor analyzed the water, but 
found nothing objectionable. He threw 
disinfectants into the sinks and slop- 
pails and still the fever raged. Rut one 
day I had to go into the kitchen to 
make some gruel, and, needing a dish¬ 
cloth, I looked around but found noth¬ 
ing but grimy rags, which I at once 
pitched into the stove, satisfied that I 
had discovered the cause of the trouble. 
Calling the mother, I asked her for a 
dishcloth. She looked around upon the 
table. “ Why,” she said, “ there were 
several here this morning.” She then 
looked in the woodbox, and felt in the 
cupboard. 
“ If you called those greasy rags I 
found here, dishcloths, I have burned 
them, and never, as you value your 
health, use such again.” It was plain 
talk, but I felt it a duty ; and so I say to 
all housekeepers, look after your dish¬ 
cloths. Let Emerson go unread ; let the 
dust lie on the parlor furniture ; let the 
floor go unswept; leave the spider’s 
work unmolested ; let the socks go un¬ 
darned ; eat without a tablecloth ; go 
without a Christmas cake or plum pud¬ 
ding ; but, as you love your life, keej) 
your dishcloths clean, h. macdonald. 
WHOLESOME AND SUPERIOR BUCK¬ 
WHEAT CAKES. 
ERE we not delighted to read in 
an authoritative work (partly on 
dietetics) not long ago, that buckwheat 
had long been given a bad name which 
it did not deserve ? This book has be¬ 
come a standard, and is a household 
word all over the country ; but lest I be 
thought advertising it, I may not men¬ 
tion its name. 
Buckwheat is one of the most nutri¬ 
tious of grains ; it contains a large pro¬ 
portion of the gluten which we are just 
beginning to appreciate. The paragraph 
which so pleased me was to the effect 
that the common disrepute of buckwheat 
(healthfully considered), has been due 
to two causes : First, the poisonous 
smut of the grain (to which, and not to 
the grain itself, is due the eruption so 
often following its use), has not been 
properly removed. Second, far too large 
quantities of melted grease, and of sugar 
and syrup have been the accompaniment 
of the “cakies.” “Let the grain be well- 
cleaned, and let the grease and syrups 
be superseded by fruit sauces or by 
honey,” says the physician referred to, 
“and we shall hear far less of the dele¬ 
terious effects of buckwheat cakes.” 
Think, for a moment, of eating buck¬ 
wheat cakes with a clear conscience ! Did 
any one not really strong ever do this ? 
Rut it may be done, it seems. And the 
invalid of the family, eating thus with 
a clear conscience, has also been enabled 
to eat with a tractable digestive appar¬ 
atus ; no small advance to one in daily 
bondage to a tyrant stomach. 
And such delightsome cakes ! Sweet, 
light, beautifully brown, feathery, why 
need one have a conscience as regards 
eating them ? For they do not have 
even the clamminess of one-day-old 
bread. 
The recipe is this : three-fourths pint 
of water (warm) ; one-third to one-half 
of a yeast-cake ; one cupful of plain 
buckwheat flour (that is, not the pre¬ 
pared flour) ; one-half cupful of white 
corn meal ; a pinch of salt. This is well 
beaten and set in an evenly warm tem¬ 
perature over night. In the morning, 
the batter is thinned a little by the 
addition of warm water, in which has 
been dissolved one level teaspoonful of 
soda, and one teaspoonful of sugar. It 
should not be made thin enough to de¬ 
stroy its spongy character, yet should 
run easily from the spoon. 
After first starting the batter, no 
yeast is used ; the mixture being thence¬ 
forth raised by the batter left over on 
successive mornings. After breakfast 
each morning, one cake that has been 
left from the morning's baking, is cut 
into fine shreds, and added to the re¬ 
maining batter, together with a handful 
of fresh buckwheat flour. This gives 
the batter something to work on, and 
prevents it from souring through the 
day. The addition of the baked cake is 
a strong factor in the good quality of 
cakes ; yet, strange to say, adding too 
many “spoils the broth”—that is to say, 
the batter. 
The above quantities, be it remem¬ 
bered, are for two people. Those with 
large families containing children with 
growing appetites, may need to increase 
the quantity a little more than propor¬ 
tionately to the number. 
Milk may be added in the morning, in¬ 
stead of water ; but I think that it in¬ 
creases the tendency of the batter toward 
toast bread 
and keep it dry. There’ll 
be no danger of its mold¬ 
ing. But moisten the bread 
with water, and see the re¬ 
sult. It is covered with 
mold. So with consump¬ 
tion. Its germs will not 
grow in the lungs unless 
everything is suitable to 
them. Weakness, poor 
blood, loss of appetite, 
coughs and colds often pre¬ 
pare the ground for the de¬ 
velopment of its germs. To 
destroy germ-life the sys¬ 
tem must be kept in a well- 
nourished condition. Do 
not lose flesh. 
Take Scott's Emulsion, 
with hypophosphites, as a 
preventive. It furnishes 
the reinforcements neces¬ 
sary for the body to con¬ 
quer in the easiest pos¬ 
sible form. The oil is m a 
state quickly taken up by 
the organs and tissues. 
Soorr Ji BoWia, Chemists, Now York. joc. und $i.oe 
