1006 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
511 
Ways With Floors. 
“Never have a shellac finish put on your 
Floors,” cautioned the friend who was 
Showing me the guest chamber in her fine 
hew house. 
"It is a pretty tint, and has a clear, 
fresh look on the new hard pine,” I re¬ 
turned. 
"Yes, but its surface is not hard 
enough. This was left to dry thoroughly, 
but see the heel marks leading to the 
closet door and before the windows where 
the rugs do not cover.” 
In another house I was admiring the 
large Axminster rug in oriental coloring 
"Yes, we are perfectly satisfied with the 
rug; its colors grow on us, but the floor 
finish—well, it has to be wiped every sin¬ 
gle day. We thought only this mahogany 
shade would harmonize with the rug, and 
if there is dust about the edges of your 
room of course it is far more sanitary to 
wipe it up every morning than to let it 
cling to a carpet and then be wafted up 
to get into your lungs whenever opening 
and shutting doors create a draft.” The 
lady surveyed her floor and sighed, but 
the sigh seemed wholly made out of satis¬ 
faction. 
Now if the Ithamar house were new, 
with clear hard pine floors, we should try 
to keep the surface oiled and free from 
any gloss of varnish, for a glossy finish 
is not the desirable thing on any wood 
these days. But if floors are old and 
paint-spattered, what can one do? I can 
tell you what one man has done, but he is 
a rather young husband, and his wife too 
used to winning others to her way to give 
up easily what she has set her heart on. 
This indulgent man got down and scraped 
the oak floor in the parlor of an old house 
they had recently bought. Only a two- 
foot border was attempted, but that came 
out a mellow tint when oiled, a floor fit 
to put envy into the eyes of all callers. I 
hope the husband hears some of the praise 
lavished on his work, and that it repays 
him for the backaches of Winter evenings 
when he worked by lamplight and found 
every tool needing the grindstone after a 
half hour’s scraping of the hard old oak 
boards. 
But for those of us having old floors 
and no possibility of getting them 
scraped down to freshness there is now an 
easy alternative at hand in the varnish 
stains put on the market since not many 
years back. We have found these fairly 
easy to apply, and better looking than 
paint alone, for if your floors are at all 
defective a coat of paint tinted with the 
varnish stain must be used as foundation. 
As the finish is nearly transparent paint 
spots and roughness need an even coat 
of paint to give all a good appearance. 
Even if there are no such things to hide a 
preparatory coat of some good wood 
filler is needed, else the varnish stain will 
sink in, be dull in spots and not spread 
well. Our experience has been wholly 
with the oak stain. Last year the girls 
made a great improvement in the looks of 
a small chamber. Out of the border of an 
old Brussels carpet, which was not as 
much worn or faded as the center, and a 
square of new carpet they made a rug 
which covers the floor before the bed. It 
is next to nothing to toss this rug out of 
a window and beat it, and when the shin¬ 
ing “oak” floor has been wiped with a 
mop wrung very dry the whole room 
seems fresh and sweet, as if just passed 
through a housecleaning siege. Out of 
her experience with this floor Pauline of¬ 
fers this advice: 
“If possible remove all furniture from 
the room before beeinning work. Don’t 
think you can roll the bed out of the way 
or shove the bureau about. When ready 
to put on the varnish stain begin at the 
back of the room and do one board at a 
time. You can’t lap your brush strokes 
without its showing. Of course you can 
keep along one board, dipping your brush 
as needed, but leave it ’five minutes and 
anyone can tell exactly where the overlap 
was made. But any darker lines parallel 
with the grain of the wood seem like nat¬ 
ural shadings. Have a bottle of turpen¬ 
tine handv. and you can rub out any dark 
spots by pouring on a few drops and 
working the stain out while it is fresh, 
but if you follow the floor cracks this 
will not be necessary.” 
We have done other floors since this 
one. The dining room looks very well 
with an “oak” border and large central 
rug of rag carpet woven hit or miss. As 
to filling the cracks in old floors, unless 
they are very wide, I should never at¬ 
tempt it. It is a slow and laborious task, 
and a floor with every crack filled has an 
unnatural and expressionless look. 1 he 
unusual width of the floor boards in old 
houses has a charm of its own, just as a 
grandmother’s wrinkled face pleases us in 
its way as much as the unlined freshness 
of sixteen. I know an artistic city home 
where an old floor of wide boards and 
pronounced cracks is stained and pol¬ 
ished, and particularly valued for its har¬ 
monious blend with some fine old mahog¬ 
any furniture. 
In our dining room floor, which had to 
be first painted, were some hollows left 
by loose knots, and also two wide cracks. 
We got a can of dry powder which we 
had only to wet up with a little water to 
make a paste which could be pressed into 
these cavities with a flexible knife. It 
hardened promptly, and when painted 
could scarcely be detected. We who hate 
to have half canfuls of such things left to 
inches wide with 4 l / 2 yards of banding to 
trim as illustrated. The pattern 5352 is 
cut in sizes for a 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 inch 
bust measure; price 10 cents. 
The skirt is made with front and back 
gores and circular side portions, these 
last are fitted over the hips by means ot 
darts and both the front and back gores 
are laid in box plaits, the closing being 
made invisibly at the back. 1 he quan¬ 
tity of material required for the medium 
size is 1034 yards 21, 9J4 yards 27 or 534 
yards 44 inches wide with 16*4 yards of 
braid to trim as illustrated. The pattern 
5353 is cut in sizes for a 22, 24, 26, 28 and 
30 inch waist measure; price 10 cents. 
5352 Eton Jacket, 32 to 40 bust, 
dry up considered it an advantage that the 
dry powder could be kept without loss till 
again needed. 
You will notice that I have said nothing 
of waxed floors. I consider them out of 
the question where labor is an item of 
importance, and in every farmhouse there 
are things far better worth doing than 
polishing floors. In a village house where 
a stout housemaid is always employed I 
know of a waxed hall and staircase now 
given over to one of the patent varnish 
stains. In fact, the effect is nearly as 
good, and the labor far less. In a New 
York orphan asylum I once saw some 
beautifully waxed floors. Going about the 
place we happened upon the phalanx of 
workers to whom praise for the floor pol¬ 
ish was due; 20 or so little figures in 
blue checked pinafores, all down on their 
knees and each pushing a weighted pol¬ 
isher to and fro—that was the secret of 
the shine on those halls and reception 
rooms. In that case any useful occupa¬ 
tion was preferable to the weary monot¬ 
ony of a cheerless playground. Those 
were waxed floors of which I approve, 
and to which I can look back any mo¬ 
ment with closed eyes and renew my ad¬ 
miration. R. ITHAMAR. 
The Rural Patterns. 
The Eton jacket and princess skirt 
makes one of the most fashionable suits 
this season. The jacket No. 5352 is a 
Household Congress. 
Buttered Mush. —Put a tablespoon of 
shortening, as for corn bread, in the ket¬ 
tle of cornmeal mush, and note the great 
improvement. It is much better than 
wheat bread, for those with very poor 
teeth, and those who suffer with starch 
dyspepsia. Heat up in frying pan when 
wanted; and eat with sugar, or plain, 
without milk. f. e. h. 
Cream Pie Crust. —To the very fas¬ 
tidious, lard pie crust or that made with 
cottolene sometimes leaves a lurking 
taste in the mouth that is not pleasant. 
If one can use cream, delicious crust 
may be made. Add baking powder and 
salt to the flour and mix stiff with cream 
that is not too heavy. The crust is ten¬ 
der, browns quickly and has a very sweet, 
agreeable flavor. s. b. r. 
Cranberry Pudding.— Sift and measure 
one pint of flour; add two teaspoonfuls 
baking powder and half a teaspoonful of 
salt. Sift again until all are thoroughly 
blended. Add enough sweet milk to make 
a soft batter. Stir in one cup of cran¬ 
berries that have been coarsely chopped. 
Pour into a pudding bag or a porcelain- 
lined mold. If the bag is used boil one 
and one-half hour in plenty of water. 
If the mold is used, steam the pudding 
two hours. 
Washing Blankets. —If you wish to 
have your blankets look like new after 
washing never rub soap directly on them. 
Run threads around soiled spots so that 
they may be found after they are wet. 
Make strong suds with any good white 
soap in hot water; dissolve in it a table¬ 
spoonful of borax. Rinse vigorously, rub¬ 
bing only the marked soots. Prepare an¬ 
other hot suds with borax and rinse again, 
then rinse in as many hot waters as nec¬ 
essary, and run through a wringer. 
MARY A. HOWE. 
To be glad of life because it gives you 
the chance to love and to work and to 
play and to look up at the stars; to be 
satisfied with your possessions, but not 
contented with yourself until you have 
made the best of them; to despise noth¬ 
ing in the world except falsehood and 
meanness, and to fear nothing except 
cowardice; to be governed by your ad¬ 
mirations rather than by your disgusts; 
to covet nothing that is your neighbor’s 
except his kindness of heart and gentle¬ 
ness of manners; to think seldom of your 
enemies, often of your friends, and every 
day of Christ; and to spend as much 
time as you can, with body and with 
spirit in God’s out-of-doors—these are 
little' guide-posts on the foot-path to 
peace.—Henry Van Dyke. 
5 % 
INVEST CONSERVATIVELY 
BUT BE SURE OF 
We cannot offer greater dividends 
from investments than careful 
borrowers with ample security 
need to pay. But if your savings 
institutions demand for themselves 
more than one-sixth of the borrower's interest-pay¬ 
ments, we can serve you to your 
advantage. 
Assets, $1,750,000. 
Established 13 Years. 
Banking Dept. Supervision. 
Earnings paid from day re¬ 
ceived to day withdrawn. 
Letters of inquiry solicited 
and promptly answered. 
INDUSTRIAL SAVINGS AND LOAN CO. 
5 Times Bldg., Broadway, New York. 
A LEAKY TANK 
Is an abomination 
CALDWELL 
TftiikM don’t leak. They 
are made right. We build 
tanks of Everlasting Cy¬ 
press; also White Pine. 
We have hundreds we 
can refer to In your 
vicinity. Send for Illus¬ 
trated catalogue and 
price list. 
W. E. CALDWELL CQ. 
Louisville, Ky. 
BEE BOOK FREE 
T ELLS of pleasure In rearing bees and get¬ 
ting money out of honey. It’s good read¬ 
ing. Sample copy of Gleanings in Bee Cul¬ 
ture free. (H months'trial, 25e). Money back 
if not satisfied. The A. I. Root Co., Medina, O. 
THE ADIRONDACK 
MOUNTAINS 
Are now about the most central 
of all the great resorts. They 
have through Pullman sleeping 
cars from New York, Phila¬ 
delphia, Boston, Buffalo and 
Niagara Falls via the 
( 
r NEW YORK 
Central 
v lines j 
“AMERICA’S GREATEST RAILROAD." 
A night’s ride takes you from 
any of these places to the center 
of the mountains in time for 
breakfast next morning. 
For a copy of “The Adirondack 
Mountains and Howto Reach Them,’’ 
which is No. 20 of the New York 
Central Lines’ “Four-Track Series,” 
containing a fine map of the Adiron¬ 
dack Mountains and adjacent territory, 
with useful information in regard to 
hotels, camps, lakes, rivers, etc., send 
a two-cent stamp to George H. Daniels, 
Manager General Advertising Depart¬ 
ment, Room 21F, Grand Central Sta¬ 
tion, New York. 
C. F. DALY, Passenger Traffic Mgr., N. Y. 
Of.^ 
Simpson - Eddystone 
Shepherd Plaids 
Dainty checks that make bright, beauti¬ 
ful Spring and Summer dresses. The 
standard of quality. Permanent, fadeless 
color. 
Ask your dealer for 
Simpson- Eddy stone Shepherd Plaids. 
Three generations of Simpsons 
have made Simpson Print*. 
EDdystonE 
PRINTS Thd Eddyitone Mfg Co (Sole Maker*) Philadelphia 
5353 Circular Princesse Skirt with 
Box Plaits, 22 to 30 waist. 
very pretty model for silk, cloth or linen. 
It consists of the fronts and the back, the 
fitting being accomplished by shoulder 
and under-arm seams and by the single 
darts that are concealed by the trimming. 
There is a simple flat collar at the neck 
and the sleeves are made in the favorite 
three-quarter length. The quantity of 
material required for the medium size is 
334 yards 21, 3 yard 27 or 1% yard 44 
Gold Coin Ranges 
FREIGHT 
PAID 
This well-known line of Stoves and Ranges which has been standard 
for nearly fifty years, we will sell direct to the user at 
Wholesale Prices 
safely delivered, freight prepaid, highly polished, icady to 
put in your home, with the privilege of 
A YEAR’S FREE TRIAL 
Return stove at our expense if not satisfied and we will return 
_,our money at once. Gold Coin is the first Standard Trade-Marked 
stove ever offered at the wholesale price. Write for our Free Illustrated 
Catalogue. It tells all about stoves, and gives wholesale price on each. 
THE GOLD COIN STOVE CO., 3 Oak St., Troy, N. Y. 
(Successor to Bussey A McLeod, Est. I860) 
You cannot be well unless your stomach and bowels are right. 
Jayne’s Sanative .Pills 
