It is stated that the managers of the 
greatest liquor trust in America, re¬ 
cently adopted an ironclad rule to em¬ 
ploy none but strictly temperate men. 
That’s consistency for you. But who 
expects to find any sort of virtue in the 
liquor business ? 
* 
The Queen of Portugal has studied 
medicine, passed a successful examina¬ 
tion, and is now qualified to take charge 
of the king's health. He would not 
obey his physicians, but had more re¬ 
spect for the queen’s commands, so she 
fitted herself to dispense medical ad¬ 
vice. Now he is gaining in health. 
That’s a good example of energetic 
womanhood rightly appreciated. 
* 
Will' will those who call themselves 
authorities on dressmaking, continue to 
advise putting on a garment wrong side 
out in order to pin the seams in fitting ? 
Any one who has had much experience 
and given intelligent attention to her 
work, knows that a perfect figure is a 
rare thing, and that imperfections are 
generally one-sided—a high shoulder, 
etc. In fitting a garment wrong side 
out, the alterations for these faults of 
the figure are in the wrong place when 
the garment is reversed. Common sense 
is a much better guide when one has it, 
than the advice of some who profess 
to know their business. Even a skirt 
should be fitted right side out. 
* 
Isn't this a solution of the “ new 
woman” problem : There are really two 
“ new women” ? The one from whom 
we shrink, is that one who has a grudge 
against the Creator because she is cast 
in the mold of a woman, and spends her 
life in trying to fit herself into the 
grooves of man’s questionable habits, 
ignoring his virtues. The other new 
woman rejoices over the opportunities 
that are hers, and considers her God- 
given responsibilities so sacred that she 
calls to her aid all the intelligence and 
courage that she can command, that she 
may discharge her duties faithfully. She 
is not the dependent, childish creature 
that woman once was. She has become 
a woman, and put away childish things. 
She has awakened to her great responsi¬ 
bilities. Need we be surprised when 
she asks great privileges ? 
LEARN HOW TO SHIRK. 
SAVE SOME OF THE UNNECESSARY WORK. 
T is sad but true that many of our 
oldest and best housekeepers do 
not know how to shirk. It is fully as 
important in this busj^ world of ours, to 
know what to leave undone, as to know 
what must be done. When we stop to 
realize how many steps must be taken 
every day, dishes washed, meals cooked, 
beds made, rooms swept, and the thou¬ 
sand and one duties performed that fall 
to the lot of every good housekeeper, is 
it any wonder that such a large class of 
wives and mothers break down every 
year, or what is infinitely worse, go in¬ 
sane ? The chief fault, and it may well 
be called a very grave fault, with many 
housekeepers, is that every moment in 
the day is given to housework or sewing. 
I realize full well how little time there 
is to call one’s own, when one pair of 
hands must do everything ; but it is a 
thousand times better to leave some of 
the non-essentials undone, and to read 
a bright sketch or short story everyday, 
and to get outdoors long enough to 
breathe in the pure air and sunshine. A 
half hour's nap will prove most refresh¬ 
ing every afternoon, where one must 
rise very early every morning, and the 
time taken will by no means be lost. 
A good homemaker means far more 
than simply a good housekeeper, how¬ 
ever much that may mean. Not always 
do we find our most delightful home¬ 
makers the best housekeepers ; but they 
do possess the happy faculty of making 
the cosiest and most attractive of homes 
where one and all love to come and stay. 
Supposing the house is not swept thor¬ 
oughly every week ! It is not such a ter¬ 
rible thing after all. How much wiser 
to save one’s strength and time, so that 
the family will find you bright and cheer¬ 
ful when they come home at night, than 
to find a house swept and dusted from 
attic to cellar, and a tired and cross wife 
and mother. 
A carpet sweeper is a great saver of 
labor. Instead of scrubbing the kitchen 
so often, cover the floor with a large rug 
of old ingrain or rag carpet. Tack down 
the corners to hold it in place. It is 
much easier to sweep than to scrub ; 
then this rug may be shaken out of doors 
twice a week. Cover the kitchen tables 
with marble oilcloth, which is easily 
wiped, and much easier to keep clean 
than the wood. 
If you cannot afford a baking table 
with its modern conveniences, perhaps 
you or the good man of the house, can 
rig up a homemade affair which will save 
no end of steps. In the large, old-fash¬ 
ioned kitcheas, how much time was con¬ 
sumed in getting the utensils ready for 
bailing, to say nothing about the steps 
taken ? Everything is handy in the new 
baking table, the molding board, rolling 
pin, flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, 
soda, salt, etc. Another most important 
convenience for the kitchen is a dish¬ 
washer. Many of the new ones are com¬ 
paratively inexpensive, and no woman 
who has her own work to do for a large 
family, should be without one. There 
is no household task more monotonous 
than washing dishes three times a day, 
365 days in a year, carrie may ashton. 
HELP THE SCHOOL TEACHERS. 
T takes a great deal of strength, and 
vital force, to keep a mixed school. 
A graded school is hard enough for a 
teacher ; a school where the pupils are 
of all ages and conditions is much 
harder. So the first way to help the 
teacher, is to help her to save her 
strength. Give her a steady boarding 
place. It is a relic of ancient barbarism, 
tbe plan cf making a teacher board 
around—one night here, three nights 
there, a dozen in another place. Cold 
rooms, icy beds ! I have known teachers 
to get colds in such, that resulted in 
their deaths. I hope every man and 
woman who reads The K. N.-Y., and 
has any influence in such matters by 
vote or otherwise, will use that influence 
to secure steady boarding places for the 
teachers, near to the school houses. Eor 
years before the town system was 
adopted here, we had the teacher board 
at the house nearest the school. The 
matter of hiring board was usually left 
to the school committee ; but sometimes 
it was let to the lowest bidder. One 
living near the school always bid off the 
board, as they did not have the expense 
of carrying the teacher. 
But if the teacher must board around, 
see to it that she is made as comfortable 
as possible in every way, when she 
boards with you. The teacher needs 
good food, needs a warm dinner, needs 
a rest after school instead of visiting. 
She should have an opportunity to go to 
a warm, quiet room, and read or lie 
down. She should not be compelled to 
take a long walk in snow or mud, to get 
to or from school. 
Then the readers of The R. N.-Y. can 
help the teachers by encouraging them 
to introduce improved methods of teach¬ 
ing. If the teacher is wide-awake and 
progressive, seek to learn just what she 
is trying to do, and then give her your 
sympathy and encouragement. There 
are always enough to hinder and dis¬ 
courage, people who delight in clinging 
to antiquated ways. But just as sure as 
the children of the farmers are educated 
in the same way that their grandfathers 
were, they are handicapped for life. A 
good education counts for more to-day 
than it ever did before, and it is going 
to count for still more in the future. 
Many farmers’ children get all their 
education in the common schools, and if 
these are not good, if your child is badly 
taught, it will be a great loss. 
See to it that your teacher reads some 
good educational paper. I wish that 
every farmer could read one. I have 
read the Journal of Education for years, 
and it has been a very great help to me 
in learning the new educational meth :>ds. 
The American Teacher is another most 
excellent periodical to put the best of 
the new ideas in education into a 
teacher’s mind. A teacher has no more 
business to go without reading a teach¬ 
er’s paper, than a farmer has to farm 
without a good farm paper. And the 
country schools would be far better, if 
every farm home were supplied with 
educational reading. 
When a timid teacher tries to intro¬ 
duce better methods, she needs sympathy 
from the parents. But too often, instead 
of sympathy, she gets only discourage¬ 
ment. If she wish to beautify the school 
room, aid her in it. Show her that you 
are her friend. If you see faults in her, 
try to tell her of them in a kind way. 
Don’t listen to or repeat slanderous 
stories about her. Above all, do not 
encourage your children in any dis¬ 
obedience. It is amazing how foolish 
some parents are. If everything doesn’t 
go to suit them, they will take their 
children out of school. Try to have 
your children go to school punctually 
and promptly every day of school. If 
there is a “ fuss” in or about the school, 
don’t you help it on, but seek to be a 
peacemaker. Since we adopted the town 
system, our schools have gone on much 
better in every way. j. w. newton. 
USING DRY BREAD. 
HAT will you do with this pile 
of dry bread ? ” I asked a city 
triend where I was visiting. 
“ Oh ! put it in the garbage pail, or 
give it to some beggar. I never fuss 
with dry bread.” 
I never have bread to throw away, 
as it can be made a part of many appe¬ 
tizing dishes. The best dumplings I 
ever ate were made of a quart of bread 
crumbs soaked in sweet milk, one egsr, a 
teaspoonful of baking powder, and flour 
sufficient to make a stiff batter that 
would drop from the spoon on the 
chicken boiling in the kettle. 
A nice dressing fori-oasts of beef, pork 
and veal, and my Johnnie cake pudding 
is greatly liked, using the pieces left 
over. It should not be made so thick as for 
white bread pudding. One pint of crumbs 
to three pints of sweet milk, three eggs, 
one cupful of sugar, spice, cinnamon, 
and a cup of raisins and currants mixed, 
make it very nice. Care must be taken 
in baking—if baked too long, it will get 
watery, which spoils it. 
One morning, not having potatoes 
enough, I used part bread crumbs in the 
hash, and it was pronounced even better 
than all potatoes with the meat. 
An old colored woman who had been 
a great cook in her day, who had called 
for scraps of bread, when asked what 
she did with them, replied, “ I steam 
them, but I put a cloth around the 
pieces so they won’t get soggy, ma’am. 
I cut them in strips or squares, and but¬ 
ter them good, and pile all on a plate, 
then pour maple ’lasses over all, and 
it’s just delicious, ma’am, with a cup of 
coffee for breakfast.” The garbage pail 
in the city, and swill pails in country, 
often tell the story of where the hard- 
earned dollars go. mrs. f. c. .Johnson. 
THE LITTLE ONE’S BED. 
ONG ago, the doctors pronounced 
cradles unhealthful, and said that 
many a baby had died of brain fever 
brought on by continuous rocking, says 
Isabel A. Mallon in Ladies’ Done Jour¬ 
nal. So his highness, the baby, dreams 
beautiful dreams in a tiny bed of his 
own that does not rock. Sometimes 
these are of brass, sometimes of iron, 
enameled white, or of rattan, but always 
standing on strong legs. Curtains of 
silesia of the color chosen for the baby, 
are over-draped with dotted muslin 
trimmed with fluted ruffles. The cur¬ 
tains are not only dainty to look upon, 
but they keep the draughts away, while 
they are not so thick as to forbid the 
entrance of fresh air. Feathers are 
counted too heating, and so the tiny 
pillow and small mattress are filled with 
carefully-picked white horse hair, tine 
as possible. The small blankets are 
bound with ribbon of the proper color, 
the muslin sheets are hemmed by hand, 
and there is also provided a dainty com¬ 
forter made of cheesecloth ; this is filled 
with lamb’s wool, tied with Tom Thumb 
ribbon and bound like the blankets. A 
rubber sheet is a convenience, also. Any 
pretty sentiment may be worked on the 
borrowing 
If you have borrowed 
from health to satisfy the 
demands of business, if your 
blood is not getting that 
constant supply of fat from 
your food it should have, 
you must pay back—from 
somewhere, and the some¬ 
where will be from the fat 
stored up in the body. 
The sign of this borrow¬ 
ing is thinness, the result— 
nerve-waste. You need 
fat to keep the blood in 
health, unless you want to 
live with no reserve force— 
live from hand to mouth. 
Scott’s Emulsion of cod- 
liver oil, with hypophos 
phites, is more than a medi¬ 
cine. 
$• cent* and $1.00 
SCOTT & BOWNE 
Chemists • - New York 
