68 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 28, 
[ Woman and Home 
From Day to Day. 
A KNACK. 
Oh, I am a woman whose house Is a sight! 
From garret to cellar there’s nothing that's 
right, 
For day after day I am striving and straining 
To reach perfect neatness, but never attaining 
While I'm washing the windows the carpets 
get dusty ; 
While I'm cleaning the pantry the parlor 
grows musty; 
My meals are behind time and always have 
been, 
And I just get my bed made in time to get in. 
The neighbors make comment, “Alas! and 
alack ! 
Poor thing, she works hard and don't want to 
be slack; 
Put somehow or other, she hasn't a knack !” 
Oh, a very fine thing 't is to have a great 
knack! 
Now 1 have a neighbor whose house is just 
right, 
Whenever you enter from morning till night : 
.She gives a touch here and she gives a touch 
there, 
And all is in order from cellar to stair. 
Should I ask for the reason, her friends all 
can tell: 
“Oh, she has a great knack of doing things 
well!” 
It's not that she works any more than her 
neighbors. 
Rut she knows how to get good results from 
her labors. 
Oh, yes it is plain she is blessed with a 
knack! 
That coveted gift which so sadly I lack. 
So she sits at her ease while I'm breaking my 
back— 
Oh, a very fine thing 't is to have a great 
knack ! 
Oh, is there no merchant who traffics in 
knacks! 
By wholesale or retail, in barrels or sacks? 
Or is there no ship that sails over the sea 
1 bring in its cargo a great, knack for me? 
There’s many a peddler out tramping the 
road— 
Is there one with a half-dozen knacks in bis 
load? 
O'er mountain and valley i'll follow bis track. 
I'll seize him by force and I'll rifle his pack, 
For I am determined I'll have what 1 lack— 
Oh, a very fine thing 't is to have a great 
knack! 
—New York Sun. 
* 
Coffee creams are delicious homemade 
candies. Boil together half a cupful of 
strong coffee and two cupfuls of sugar 
until the syrup strings when it drips from 
a spoon. Remove from the fire and beat 
until creamy. Stir in a cupful of chopped 
nuts, and pour into a shallow buttered pan 
to cool. When quite cold cut into squares. 
* 
Some of the English papers recently 
published the portrait of a very remark¬ 
able woman, Elizabeth Pulley, who has 
remained in domestic service in the same 
family for 70 years. She entered the fam¬ 
ily of General Carnell in 1S34, at the age 
of 10, being promoted, in the course of 
time, to the position of housekeeper, which 
she still holds. This record is evidence of 
unusual virtues on the part of both em¬ 
ployer and employed. 
* 
We have heard of a fresh-air child who 
on her return to the city last Summer in¬ 
sisted upon taking an egg from her lunch 
basket and carrying it in her hand, lest 
something should happen to it on the jour¬ 
ney. Naturally in the jolting crowd 
something did happen to it. x “Now you 11 
have to throw that away,” said the dea¬ 
coness, as the child endeavored to gather 
up the fragments. “Oh, I wanted to 
carry it home to mamma,” mourned the 
child; "it was one the hen made herself.” 
* 
Fudge is the simplest of all candies—yet 
it has an exasperating habit of failing 
to come out just right. Some use, how¬ 
ever, may be made of chocolate fudge that 
won’t “fudge.” If too thin, and sticky, 
heat some butter thins or other crisp 
crackers, spread with a thin layer of hot 
fudge, and lay another cracker on top. 
These fudge crackers are very good. If 
the fudge has been cooked too long and 
stiffened too much, break it up and melt 
it with a cupful of molasses. When it 
comes to a boil pour it into a buttered 
pan, and when half cold mark into squares 
with the back of a knife. Chocolate car¬ 
amels are the result. 
* 
A variety of belts or girdles does not 
necessarily mean extravagance, if the 
wearer is handy with her fingers. Pieces 
of soft silk or short lengths of ribbon may 
be made into very attractive girdles. 1 he 
narrow girdles are usually made by gath¬ 
ering tucks at the back and front, some¬ 
times the sides also, and staying the 
shirred part to the desired width with 
whalebone. The whalebone should be en¬ 
cased and fastened with cat-stitching. The 
belt is fastened with an ornamental 
buckle, or with invisible hooks. The high- 
pointed girdle must be made over a fitted 
lining, well boned to keep it in place. 
These deep boned foundations can be 
bought ready-made, like the collar foun¬ 
dations. 
* 
Immediately after the holidays the 
large shops show new styles in wash 
gowns and waists, for the benefit of tour¬ 
ists going South. From these one may 
get many good ideas for the Summer 
sewing to be worked*out before house- 
cleaning time. Among those noted were 
some extremely pretty gowns of dotted 
swiss, both white and colored. A very 
attractive model was broWn swiss with 
small white dots. The skirt was full, 
gathered at the top, trimmed with three 
ruffles, each about four inches deep. The 
ruffles were edged with narrow white lace 
(Valenciennes). The waist had a round 
yoke of lace, bordered by a gathered ber¬ 
tha of the swiss; the sleeves full. A deep 
shirred belt of the swiss finished the 
bodice. A similar model in white dotted 
swiss had full elbow sleeves, and was 
trimmed with tiny oval wreaths of pale 
pink and pale blue ribbon forget-me-nots. 
The little wreaths, about two inches 
across, have a foundation of milliner’s 
wire, which is covered with the ribbon 
flowers. The wreaths are used just as a 
buckle would be in trimming. Sometimes 
the wire is simply covered with twisted 
ribbon, finished at the top by a little rosette 
or bow-knot. _ 
Charity Sweetheart’s Letters. 
The'Winter, so far, has been a succes¬ 
sion of freezing and thawing, that keeps 
people thinking about their clothes, for 
sometimes we wear too heavy garments 
while the weather is mild, then comes a 
sharp frost and thick woolen clothing is 
needed. We had so much trouble with the 
boys during the early January thaw, for 
they were constantly coming in with wet 
feet and stockings soaked with soft snow; 
then bad colds resulted, and loss of school¬ 
ing, that is always a pity in midwinter 
when there is plenty of time for countn 
boys to take in knowledge. One thing 
about boys, they throw off their ailments 
as quickly as possible by determined will 
power, and seldom like to be coddled for 
long. This northern climate ought to 
make strong men and women of the chil¬ 
dren who live an out-of-door life, as 
they will if given half a chance. After 
trying several remedies we found old- 
fashioned goose oil most efficacious. I 
think about the children a great deal these 
quiet days when I sit in the kitchen mend¬ 
ing their jackets or stockings, while 
Father’s old clock tick-tacks away the 
hours. Regular kickers they are, and one 
day there will be a blanket to mend, and 
the next day a quilt,^nd their restless feet 
seem always determined to make holes in 
their heels. “Minty” is an easy-going 
mother, but is always saying “Don’t” and 
"Stop” till the boys get so used to hearing 
it they don’t mind a bit. Once when Sher¬ 
man was a little fellow some one asked 
him his name, and without a moment’s 
hesitation, he answered, “My name is Sher¬ 
man Stop.” It is quite a problem, this 
matter of education, and the boys are be¬ 
hind those of their age who attend more 
advanced schools. Besides, in potato-pick¬ 
ing time or some other hurried work it 
is a temptation for Brother to take the 
little fellows out of school. They are al¬ 
ways willing, and he doesn’t fail to call 
on them to stay at home for such purposes, 
and then wonders when examination day 
comes, why they are behind the rest of 
their class. It seems to me that methods 
of education in country schools have not 
materialized into a plan for teaching just 
those things we are most likely to need. 
A rhyme I read the other day fits into this 
thought: 
To get rich quick with reckless haste 
\Ve risk our little store. 
To get wise quick, we cram the young 
\> ith fifty kinds of lore. 
To get strong quick, we strain and pull 
And sawdust food we pick, 
Until it seems we moderns need 
A scheme to cet slow quick. 
Cramming the young has not yet reached 
this faraway corner, but the subject of an 
advanced education is a very serious one 
to families of small means and high aspi¬ 
rations, and there are many of that sort. 
I hope the lads will make good farmers, 
for it is such an interesting life, nowa¬ 
days, when there are agricultural colleges, 
and farmers’ institutes and experiment 
stations, and there is no reason for a 
lack of intelligent work. 
“Minty” would like them to choose some 
profession, but it is just as honorable to 
be a good farmer, and there is no reason 
why it need run to drudgery, for there is 
study and work for brain as well as mus¬ 
cle, and it requires a more thorough all¬ 
round man to make it a success, than any 
other occupation. But I need not dream 
so far ahead—only we all know it is best 
to have a good foundation whatever fol¬ 
lows. 
This is the first year we have enjoyed 
salsify. 1 sowed some seed last Spring, 
being taken with the name “vegetable 
oyster.” It did not grow very large, but 
was taken up in Autumn and put into a 
box of sand. When to be used the roots 
are scraped, and this should be done by 
keeping the hands under water during the 
process, for if exposed to the air they be¬ 
come discolored and brown. It made good 
soup cut into small bits, and has the flavor 
of the oyster, but was most successful 
made into fritters. This was done by 
mashing the boiled salsify fine and mixing 
with beaten egg, then making a batter in 
the usual way. A neighbor had chanced 
to stay to supper the first night I tried 
them and remarked: “What nice oyster 
fritters you make, Charity,” and now she 
intends to grow salsify next year. 
CHARITY SWEETHEART. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 14. 
ROYAL 
Baking Powder 
exceeds all 
ANAEMIA 
is thin blood. It causes pale 
faces, white lips, weak nerves 
and lack of vitality. A blood- 
enriching, fat producing food- 
medicine is needed. Scott’s 
Emulsion goes to the root of 
the trouble, strengthens and 
enriches the blood, and builds 
up the entire system. For 
anaemic girls, thin boys, and 
enfeebled mothers, it is the 
standard remedy. It builds 
up and strengthens the entire 
system with wonderful ra¬ 
pidity. 
We’ll send you a sample free. 
Scott & Bowne, 409 Pearl St., New York. 
[MRS. WINSLOW’S 
SOOTHINQ SYRUP 
1 haa been u*ed by Millions ot Mothers for their ' 
children while Teething 
1 It Boothee the child, s< 
1 all pain, cures wind 
. remedy ror diarrhoea. 
mirpVrrvrTnT' nrVTi 
COLD COIN 
t ,r ' Stoves and Ranges 
at. Y* liolesale Prices. 
To Introduce this well known 
line In your town, or where 
they are m t now 
sold, wo will send 
on approval, 
freight p epalcl, 
securely crated, 
nicely blacked, 
ready to set up a 
GOLD OOl N 
K A N(> K or Heat¬ 
ing Stove at whole¬ 
sale prices. This 
line husbeen man ■ 
ufactured for over 
forty years and 
this fact ” alone Is a sufficient guarantee as to 
tbeirvalue. Write to-day for lllustiated catalog and 
w bolesale prices. Gold Coin Stove Go., Troy, N .Y. 
5^° And Safety 
Iv J pj. 2 
PROFESSIONAL men Mid 
* other# with limited oppor¬ 
tunity for profitable home in¬ 
vestment are advised hy many 
conservative authorities to 
utilize the facilities of this Com¬ 
pany for effecting loansoit high- 
olatts real estate. Our ‘ * certi¬ 
ficate” system Is the simplest 
plan for mail investment. 
Write for detahed information. 
upward, with- 
• drawable on 30 
days' notice. 
Investments bear earn¬ 
ings from day received 
to day withdrawn. 
Supervised by New York 
Banking Department. 
Assets,. SI,700.000 
Surplus and Protits, 
*160,000 
Industrial Savings A LoanCo* 
1134 Broadway, Nkw York. 
No Smoke House. Bmoke meat with 
KRAUSER’S LIQUID EXTRACT OF SMOKE. 
Madefrom hickory wood. Glvesdeliciousflavor. 
Cheaper, cleaner than old way. Send for cir¬ 
cular. E, Kruuser <fc Bro., Milton. Pa. 
YALTY PAID 
-ON 
and Musical Compositions 
„ We arrange and popularize 
-wx,-PIONEER MUSIC PUB. CO. 
11 g-PoeillS 30 s Manhattan Bhig., Chicago, Ill. 
ABY RAMBLER ROSE 
Everblooming Dwarf Crimson Rambler, 
er novelties as well as a general list of nursery 
k. Illustrated descriptive catalogue t ULL. 
others in 
leavening power, 
purity and 
wholesomeness; 
makes food 
lighter, sweeter, 
of finer flavor. 
No other 
should be used. 
INDRUROID 
ROOFING 
Requires no Coating or 
Paint. 
Acid and Alkali Proof. 
Elastic and Pliable 
Always. 
Strong and Tough. 
Absolutely Water Proof. 
Climatic Changes Do Not 
Affect It, 
Practically Eire Proof. 
Gan Be Used on Steep or 
E’lat Surfaces. 
Any Workman Can Put 
It On. 
No Odor. 
Will Not Shrink or Crack. 
Light in Weight. 
Does Not Taint AVater. 
Write for samples, prices and 
circulars. 
H. F. WATSON CO. 
ERIE. PA. 
Chicago, Boston. 
Mention R.N.-Y. 
