THE DARKEST HOUR. 
We tue often told in story, whether true, I cannot 
say, 
“The darkest hour comes just before the dawning 
of the day.” 
But certainly it is, in lonely watches of the night, 
A happy thought, “The darkest hour comes just 
before the light.” 
If we could bend before life’s storms, as bends the 
forest flower 
Before the blast, we should come forth from sor¬ 
row’s darkest hour, 
Just as the blossom lifts again, its petals to the 
light, 
When rolls the gloomy cloud away, or day breaks 
from the night. 
There is a silver lining to every gloomy cloud 
That darkly lifts its frowning front, or swathes 
us like a shroud; 
So when the billows of despair roll high and o’er 
us tower, 
Some star of hope will fling its ray athwart the 
darkest hour. 
Life is light and shadow; the dawn succeeds the 
night, 
And night absorbs into its gloom, the day’s efful¬ 
gent light. 
The joyous chimes proclaiming birth, commingle 
with the toll 
That tells the darkest hour has come to some de¬ 
parting soul. 
When shadows darkly gather ’round our path¬ 
way, when we grasp 
The hand of those we cherish, in one last clinging 
clasp. 
When we drift away forever, in death’s long, sol¬ 
emn night, 
Oh ! may the darkest hour come just before the 
light. —Belle II. Gardner. 
Don't overlook the fact that the 
Woman and Dome Department was en¬ 
larged last week, by “ A Jar of Jelly,” 
now running in our part of the paper. 
* 
We do not generally credit the poor 
witli the desire to be cleanly. However, 
the Association for Improving the Con¬ 
dition of the Poor, reports 9,844 bathers 
at the People’s Baths during one month. 
The lack of conveniences for bathing is, 
no doubt, one of the principal reasons 
why personal cleanliness is neglected. 
What should be of more interest to us 
than our lifework, not the ideal occu¬ 
pation we dream of, but our every-day 
tasks? There are great possibilities in 
even the simplest employment. That 
any is dull is because we are blind, 
unthinking creatures. We would rather 
piod along doing our work because it 
must be done, spending what mental 
force we have, in dreaming of change, of 
freedom from the present task. Thus 
we lay the foundation for continual dis- 
emtent. _ 
A JAR OF JELLY. 
HOW IT IS MADE AND SOLD. 
Part II. 
Best iugar. Jars and Fruits. 
Before the ripening of the earlier fruits, 
the necessary supply of sugar has been 
purchased and stored. We always use 
medium. The very fine grade is not good 
for jellies and jams, as the hot syrup 
will form around it, forming large lumps 
which it is, sometimes, almost impossible 
to break before the jelly sets, especially 
in currant or crab-apple. We use the 
same grade for every article, pickles as 
well as preserves. 
The supply of jars is also in readiness, 
all nicely washed and turned on the 
shelves ready for immediate use, with 
the covers in a basket by themselves, 
the rubbers in another ready for use. 
One cannot realize how much time and 
annoyance it saves by having this done. 
There is such a variety of jars in the 
market that a beginner hardly knows 
which to choose. Of course, we wish the 
best of everything. It is useless to ex¬ 
pect to put a fine article on the market 
unless we are very particular to have 
everything which constitutes it of good 
quality. 1 use the Lightning jar. It 
makes a very clean and handsome pack¬ 
age, nothing but glass coming in contact 
with the fruit. It is more expensive 
than some other kinds, but, everything 
considered, it has so many more good 
qualities than other jars, that I consider 
it the cheapest in the end. 
I insist on it that all fruits shall be 
strictly fresh. We usually order the 
amount we expect to be able to put up 
for the day. Stale fruit cannot make 
good preserves. 1 would not be able to 
put up fruit satisfactory to myself if I 
depended on getting it at the groceries. 
We have a small place outside the city 
limits, so we raise all the strawberries, 
red and black raspberries, and the vege¬ 
tables for pickles, that we need ; we also 
have currants growing. For the rest, 
before it is time for the fruit to ripen, 
we engage the amount we think we shall 
need, to be delivered by the grower, and 
he brings it in certain quantities, on cer¬ 
tain days, so that we are sure that it is 
fresh. 
Our orange marmalade we usually 
make in March. The oranges are then 
the cheapest, and seem to be at their 
best Either Valencias or Messinas are 
best. Do not use Floridas ; they are 
too sweet, and will not give the real 
English Havor. Use the whole orange. 
Pineapples are next in order ; these we 
usually put up in June. We never use 
the sugar loaf. The larger ones are 
much the best, though, of course, a little 
more expensive. If you have never made 
pineapple marmalade, try this ; it is sim¬ 
ply delicious. It may seem to some very 
foolish to give the way to peel a pine, 
but I have known people to do it in a 
very hard way. This is ours : After cut¬ 
ting off the burr at the smaller end, 
stand it on a board and, with a thin, 
sharp knife, slice off the covering. It is 
very easily done. When all are carefully 
prepared, grate them, using a rather 
coarse grater. Then add sugar, pound 
for pound, and cook till transparent. It 
will not be solid, but I think it very nice. 
For preserving, we always slice rather 
thin toward the core, and make them 
pound for pound. We buy tumblers by 
the barrel, at 25 cents per dozen. 
All our preserves are made in the 
good old-fashioned way our grand¬ 
mothers used, pound for pound,though 
we differ with them in our way of cook¬ 
ing. A preserve is done when it is trans¬ 
parent, if it has cooked one hour or 
three, and all extra cooking after it is 
done, only makes it dark and hurts the 
flavor. You can have no definite rule 
for cooking as to time ; it depends on 
just how hard they cook. By cooking I 
mean boiling, not simmering, and a 
steady boiling is best. 
Of strawberries, we make only pre¬ 
serves and jam. We make two grades 
of these, using the larger for preserves, 
the smaller ones for jam. We are not 
very particular about the variety, though 
of late, we have used Cumberland Tri¬ 
umph. This variety makes a delicious 
preserve. By careful handling, they 
can be put into the jars nearly all whole. 
We cook in a large saucepan, a good 
many jarfuls at a time; we think it a 
much better way than doing it in small 
quantities. We have the jars, covers 
and rubbers warm. When the fruit is 
done, skim it very carefully, fill the jars, 
cover and seal, and lay on the sides, at 
least over night. Then ours are washed, 
and put away in the sweetmeat room, 
on a row of shelves. 
It is not necessary to tell how to make 
jam ; everybody knows that. After the 
strawberries have been taken out, there 
will be a quantity of syrup left as the 
berries shrink so. This can be used for 
fruit syrups for soda fountains, or saved 
for a delicious drink for the poor, tired 
workers. 
As our red raspberrie- t ome from the 
field, we sort them carefully, putting 
them in our saucepans. Our pans are 
all agate ware, and hold from 8 gallons 
down, the largest size being most used. 
Then we crush and cook them until ten¬ 
der, add sugar, and cook until transpar¬ 
ent. Dish out while hot, fill the tum¬ 
blers even full, as the jam will shrink 
when cold. Last year, just for an ex¬ 
periment, I made a few tumblers of 
jelly from red raspberries. We found it 
very fine. I did not expect that it 
would be solid; nevertheless it was, and 
was found to be very delicate and fine- 
flavored. 
For some reason, we cannot grow 
blackberries on our soil, though a neigh¬ 
bor, not far away, raised delicious ones. 
Ot these, we make jam, preserves and 
pickle preserves, a spiced pickle, a very 
nice relish for fish. It is rich enough to 
be used as a preserve, or tart enough for 
a pickle. Gooseberries we do not use, as 
there seems to be no call for them. I 
think that we Americans have not yet 
educated our appetites to appreciate 
this fruit. Black currants are used only 
for jam, and to my taste, from the whole 
list, this is the most delicious. It is 
made the same as any other jam, and 
keeps beautifully. We are troubled to 
find enough currants every year, and 
this is nearly always the first article 
out of stock. The other most salable 
fruits with us are currant jelly, cherries 
and peaches, both pickled and preserved, 
and crab-apple jelly. We always aim to 
put up larger quantities of these. 
MRS. O. I’. HOWLAND. 
EVERY-DAY DRESSES. 
TO MAKE THEM TO SUIT THE SEASON. 
TOUT people who love coolness in a 
midsummer gown, but find that a 
bodice affords little wear unless lined, 
should try having their ginghams and 
prints made over a lining cut low in the 
neck. The lining need extend only 1% 
inch from the arm's eye up the shoul¬ 
der seams, and may be rounded down 
considerably both back and front. 
For the one-piece gown known as a 
wrapper, stitch up the three back seams 
of the lining, and hem it about the top. 
Put on the outside in pleats running to 
the shoulder seams, and sloping together 
at the waist line. These pleats may be 
tacked invisibly to the lining, and will 
furnish part of the necessary fullness 
for the skirt back. When cutting the 
fronts, allow six inches extra width at 
the front hems on the outside goods. 
Hem the linings across the top, and 
stitch the front darts, leaving the back 
darts to be stitched after the outside is 
basted on. The extra six inches are 
arranged in gathers at neck and shoulder 
seam, and shirred four or five times at 
the waist to fit the lining there. The 
fullness below the waist will not be 
objectionable there, and that upon the 
waist portion adds prettiness and an 
easier tension, which latter helps the 
wear very considerably. 
The popular bishop sleeve is exactly 
adapted to this sort of work dress, but 
will be most comfortable if made to 
reach but half way from elbow to wrist, 
and be finished with a narrow band and 
three-inch ruifle. In a gingham made 
after this plan, the housekeeper blessed 
with more flesh than she likes, will look 
both trim and neat, and find herself as 
comfortably clad as possible for mid¬ 
summer. 
A lined waist wears best, but often 
becomes distorted by washing and starch, 
unless the figure is stout enough to force 
it back into place. For persons of slight 
physique, the plan of making summer 
prints without linings is to be recom¬ 
mended, the waist portions on a slender 
form usually wearing quite as long as 
the sleeves. The blouse waists and full 
sleeves that look best on thin forms, 
admit of being loose enough for the 
wearing of any sort of underwaist be¬ 
neath. 
Cambric underwaists, with and with¬ 
out sleeves, some of canton flannel and 
some of woolen, are all needed by women 
and girls not robust enough to pass un¬ 
heeding through the season of open-air 
living and changeful temperature. If 
one choose to buy a woolen undervest of 
jersey weave, and not too snug a fit, 
shorten it to reach but little below tbe 
waist, and open it all the way down the 
front, it affords a very comforting 
warmth worn beneath the ever-popular 
shirt waist on damp or cold days, or at 
the mountains or seashore. 
Most of us feel that nothing is so neat 
and suitable for kitchen wear as ging¬ 
ham or calico, that gowns worn where 
cooking and cleaning are going on, need 
frequent visits to the laundry to keep 
them sweet and tidy; yet some of us take 
cold when we attempt to wear cotton 
dresses in winter. One woman arranges 
matters to her satisfaction by making 
her winter prints over domett linings. 
This material, it will be remembered, 
has the nap of canton flannel without 
the twilled weave, and is pliable, soft 
and warm. 
Laying tbe pattern across, instead of 
lengthwise of the goods, is always a good 
plan when cutting linings, for the warp 
is always stronger than the woof ; as 
any cloth shrinks most in length, we may 
later find it easier to let out an under¬ 
arm seam than to overcome the short- 
waisted effect caused by shrinkage. 
1*. T. PRIMROSE. 
LIVE IN THE PRESENT. 
HE great iihilosopher, Emerson, 
never wrote words more inspiring, 
or thoughts more beautiful, than the fol¬ 
lowing : “ These roses under my window 
make no reference to former roses, or to 
better ones ; they are for what they are ; 
they exist with God to-day. There is no 
time to them. There is simply the rose ; 
it is perfect in every moment of its ex¬ 
istence. Before a leaf bud has burst, 
its whole life acts ; in the full-blown 
flower there is no more ; in the leafless 
root there is no less. Its nature is sat¬ 
isfied, and it satisfies nature, in all mo¬ 
ments alike. There is no Time to it. But 
man postpones or remembers ; he does 
not live in the present, but, with reverted 
eye, laments the past, or, heedless of the 
riches that surround him, stands on tip¬ 
toe to foresee the future. He cannot be 
happy and strong till he, too, lives with 
Nature in the present, above time.” 
And is it not too true of every one ? 
We are prone to “stand on tiptoe to fore¬ 
see the future,” although observation 
has taught us that the great happiness, 
or the brilliant triumph came, alas, to 
few/ heedless of the riches that surround 
him ”—the commonplace, everyday joy 
and happiness that are made up of trifles 
which are, of themselves, so unobtrusive 
that they easily pass by unnoticed ; the 
loving thought,the kindly tone,the letters 
and photos from absent friends, the quiet 
content and interest which every well- 
balanced person must take in his own 
everyday work and belongings, even the 
delight of watching “green things grow¬ 
ing,” the fresh air in early morning, and 
the glorious sunrises and sunsets, the 
marvelous changes in Nature that in the 
country may be watched from “ under 
your own vine and fig tree.” Will you 
let the “trials and vexation of spirit” 
(which, perhaps, form a part of the lot 
of all) make them seem of little value V 
“Live with Nature, above time,” if 
your sorrows are great ; look at the 
“ everlasting hills ” they are clothed in 
