29o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 1, 
l Woman and Home 
From Day to Day. 
TO KEEP A TRUE LENT. 
Is this a fast—to keep 
The larder lean 
And clean 
From fat of veals and sheep? 
Is It to quit the dish 
Of flesh, yet still 
To fill 
The platter high with fish? 
Is It to fast an hour— 
Or ragged go, 
Or show 
A downcast look and sour? 
No! ’t is a fast to dole 
Thy sheaf of wheat 
And meat 
Unto the hungry soul. 
It is to fast from strife. 
From old debate 
And hate— 
To circumcise thy life. 
To show a heart grief-rent; 
To starve thy sin, 
Not bin— 
And that's to keep thy Lent. 
—Robert Herrick (Born 1501 ; date of death 
unknown). 
* 
When tablecloth and napkins are hem¬ 
stitched the hemming goes all the way 
around—not merely across the ends. The 
width of the hem for napkins is one inch; 
for tablecloth 2]/ 2 inches. In hemstitch¬ 
ing the corners are left solid; the drawn 
tlneads do not go across the corner, but 
turn in at a right angle, leaving the hem 
unbroken around the corner. 
* 
While a wrapper is very handy for a 
“slip-on” garment, we think there is noth¬ 
ing so neat for a working dress as a shirt 
waist and skirt. To keep skirt and waist 
from parting company, sew four flat but¬ 
tons on the waist at the waist line, and 
put four loops of hat elastic at the cor¬ 
responding places on the inside of the 
skirt hand. 
★ 
Wood alcohol will he a great help in 
cleaning windows, especially in cold wea¬ 
ther. Moisten a sponge or cloth with the 
alcohol, and rub the glass well, then polish 
with a dry cloth. There is no smudging, 
and the glass takes a high polish. Wood 
alcohol is very cheap; it must never he 
forgotten, however, that it is a dangerous 
poison if taken intei-.ally. 
* 
A common half-bushel basket, enam¬ 
eled white and lined with pretty chintz, 
will make the most useful of work bas¬ 
kets for a housekeeper. It will hold a 
whole week’s mending, with room to s’ip 
in the ordinary small work basket on top. 
This keeps all sewing materials just 
where they are needed, without the 
trouble of diving under a layer of worn 
garments in search of darning cotton or 
thimble. 
* 
To make peanut crackerjack, boil to¬ 
gether a cupful each of molasses and 
brown sugar, a teaspoonful of vinegar and 
two of butter. When a little, dropped 
into cold water, is brittle, add a cupful of 
shelled, roasted and skinned peanuts, re¬ 
move at once from the fire, add a tea¬ 
spoonful (scant) of baking soda, beat 
hard and pour into buttered pans. Well- 
popped corn may be used in place of the 
peanuts; the original crackerjack was 
made with popcorn. 
* 
Silk coats are to be in vogue again 
this Spring, but they are very different 
from the shapeless garments popular 
three years ago. The most novel in shape 
are the long redingotes, pleated or shirred, 
and tightly belted, which, with a skirt to 
match, are a feature of handsome street 
costumes. Taffeta and peau de soie are 
the usual materials, prices ranging from 
$15 to $45. The redingotes cost $21, in a 
pleated or shirred style trimmed with 
stitched straps. Later on similar coats 
of pongee will again be popular Coats 
of embroidered linen lined with India silk 
are to be a Summer feature, many being of 
all-over eyelet embroidery. They are 
trimmed with frills of Valenciennes lace 
on collar and cuffs. Cocardes formed of 
several frills of lace surrounding a large 
button mold covered with linen arc often 
used to trim such coats. 
* 
“Lady lufkins’” form a very dainty des¬ 
sert. Make a very rich, flaky piecrust, 
roll out very thin, cut into strips an inch 
wide, and wind each strip around a tube 
of metal-or heavy manila paper about two 
inches wide; bake until crisp and brown. 
This is the way in which bakers make 
their cream rolls. When cold, fill each 
roll with marmalade in the center and 
cream at the ends. The odd name of 
this pastry is possibly a corruption of the 
old Saxon, meaning a little loaf. 
* 
A reader asks how to make a horse¬ 
radish sauce containing eggs, which is 
served with roast beef. Probably the fob 
lowing is the sauce desired: Three table¬ 
spoonfuls of horseradish grated fine, a 
teaspoonful of sugar, one of vinegar or 
lemon juice, and one of salt; half a tea¬ 
spoonful of dry mustard. Add two table¬ 
spoonfuls of water, bring to a boil, and 
just before taking from the fire add the 
beaten yolks of two eggs. Stir and serve 
hot. The mustard may be omitted if de¬ 
sired. This is very nice with plain boiled 
beef, or with pot roast that has been re¬ 
heated. 
Breakfast and Tea Cakes. 
Bread Sponge Muffins.—Late in the 
evening set a sponge as for water bread, 
allowing a pint of warm water for a dozen 
muffins, a third of a cake of compressed 
yeast and a pinch of salt. Mix the bat¬ 
ter a little thicker than for pancakes and 
beat thoroughly. In the morning have 
gem pans greased, and in cold weather 
warm them; pour* in the batter without 
stirring, filling half full; let them rise at 
least an hour and bake in a hot oven. 
Yeast Flannel Cakes.—Heat a half-pint 
of sweet milk and into it put one heaping 
tablespoon ful butter, let it melt, add a 
half-pint cold milk and the well beaten 
yolks of two eggs, a half-teaspoonful of salt 
two tablespoonfuls homemade yeast, and 
flour to make a stiff batter. Let rise in 
a warm place over night. Before baking 
add the beaten whites, which have been 
kept in a cool place during the night. Be 
sure to make batter stiff enough, as flour 
must not be added after it has risen. These 
cakes, half cornmeal and half wheat, are 
very nice. 
Jolly Boys.—One quart of cornmeal, 
which has been scalded and cooled; one 
pint of flour, two eggs, two teaspooonfuls 
of baking powder, salt, enough milk to 
make a thick batter. Can be cooked on a 
griddle like pancakes or in deep lard like 
fritters. Half quantity sufficient. 
Rice Corn Dodgers.—One and one-half 
cupfuls white cornmeal (if granulated it 
should first be made into a mush and then 
into a batter), a teaspoonful salt and one 
of shortening, one and one-half cupful of 
boiled rice. Mash the rice through the 
meal. Now add gradually, stirring con¬ 
stantly, enough boiling water to make the 
batter just thick enough to keep its shape 
and not run. Grease gem irons; put a 
large spoonful in each. Bake in oven hot 
enough to crust over quickly. Break open 
(do not cut) in two layers. They will be 
moist inside and crusty outside. Butter 
while hot. Do not add sugar to the bat¬ 
ter; it makes them tough. The sweetness 
in the meal should make them palatable. 
Force Muffins.—One cup force food, one 
and one-half cups of flour, three level tea- 
poonfuls baking powder, one level table¬ 
spoonful sugar, one-half teaspoonful salt, 
one tablespoonful melted butter, one full 
cup milk, one egg. Mix together all the 
dry ingredients, then add milk, melted but¬ 
ter and beaten yolk. Lastly add the white 
of egg well beaten and force food. Place 
in hot buttered muffin pans and bake in 
hot oven. 
Bran Gems.—Beat two eggs very light, 
add half a tcaspoonful of salt, a table¬ 
spoonful of brown sugar and one and one- 
half cupfuls of milk, then stir in a pint of 
finely ground bran. Fill oiled gem pans 
half full and bake in a hot oven 20 min¬ 
utes. These gems are advised in some 
forms of indigestion, .where fine flour is 
objectionable. 
The Bookshelf. 
The Eye, Mind, Energy and Matter, 
by Chalmers Prentice, M. D. A readable 
book of 130 pages, showing the relation 
of eye strain and defective vision to many 
nervous and physical ailments. Published 
by the author, Chicago, Ill. 
The New York Public School: Being 
a History of Free Education in the City 
of New York. This book, by A. Emer¬ 
son Palmer, secretary of the Board of 
Education, is published by authority of 
that board, and contains an introduction 
by Seth Low. It marks the centenary of 
the movement for free schools in New 
York, which was inaugurated Feb. 19, 
1805. It is interesting to learn that prac¬ 
tically the first free school opened in New 
York City after the Revolution was es¬ 
tablished in 1787 by the Manumission So¬ 
ciety for the purpose of giving negroes 
“the elements of education.” This was 
followed in 1805 by the organization of 
the Free School Society, under the presi¬ 
dency of De Witt Clinton, then mayor of 
this city. In 1826 this society became the 
Public School Society, and in 1842 the 
first Board of Education was established, 
but it was not until 1853 that the schools 
of the Society were turned over to the 
Board. The earliest schools in Manhat¬ 
tan and Surrounding were of course under 
clerical supervision, and it is interesting 
,to learn that the Flatbush schoolmaster, 
in 1682, had to keep the church clean, 
ring the bell, dig graves and convey fu¬ 
neral invitations in addition to his schol¬ 
astic duties, for which he was paid annu¬ 
ally 400 guilders in grain, as well as ex- 
|tra perquisites. He would appear to have 
an advantage over the Bushwick school¬ 
master, who in 1662, received his salary in 
wampum. This book contains, in its 440 
pages, an immense fund of information, 
which will be valued by anyone interested 
in our school system. Published by the 
Macmillan Company, ivew York; price $1. 
I am proud 
of my lamp- 
chimneys. I 
put my name 
on them. 
Macbeth. 
How to take care of lamps, including fhe 
getting of right-shape chimneys, is in my 
Index; sent free. 
Macbeth, Pittsburgh. 
Badly Cheated 
The man who buys poor 
shaving soap. Give your 
face its due. Use 
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ne 
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Telephones that work on any line. 
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PAPER 
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