594 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 3, 
| Woman and Home \ 
From Day to Day. 
A MEMORY. 
This is just the weather, a wet May and 
blowing, 
All the shining, shimmering leaves tossing 
low and high. 
When my father used to say: “'Twill be the 
great mowing! 
God's weather's good weather, he it wet or 
dry." 
Blue were his eyes and his cheeks were so 
ruddy, 
lie was out in all weathers, up and down 
the farm ; 
With the pleasant smile and the word for 
a wet body: 
“Sure the weather's God's weather. Who 
can take the harm?” 
With a happy word he’d silence all repin¬ 
ing, 
While the hay lay wet in field and the cat¬ 
tle died, 
When the rain rained every day and no sun 
was shining: 
“Ah, well, God is good,” he'd say, even 
while he sighed. 
In the parched Summer with the corn not 
worth saving, 
Every field bare as your hand, and the 
beasts to feed, 
Still he kept his heart up, when other folk 
were raving: 
“God will send the fodder; ’tis lie that 
knows the need.” 
A wet May, a wild May ; he used to rise up 
cheery 
In the gray of the morning for market and 
for fair. 
Now he sleeps the whole year long, though 
days be bright, be dreary, 
In God’s weather that’s jsfood weather he 
sleeps without a care. 
Now 'tis just the weather, a wild May and 
weeping, 
How the blackbird, sang and sang ’mid the 
tossing leaves! 
When my father used to say: “’Twill be the 
great reaping, 
God sends fine weather to cevry home the 
sheaves!” 
—Katharine Tynan Hinkson 
in Freeman's Journal. 
* 
We do not believe in starching table¬ 
cloths unless they are old and worn thin; 
if of good quality they are quite stiff 
enough when well dampened and ironed 
until dry. If the cloth is very thin, how¬ 
ever, rinse it in a thin water starch made 
by diluting the starch left from the other 
clothes, and after drying sprinkle and iron 
as usual. 
* 
If you have some sour cream on hand 
use it to make biscuits as follows: To 
each pint of sour cream add one teaspoon 
of soda, one teaspoon of salt and flour 
enough sifted with one teaspoon of soda 
for a soft dough. To the first cup of 
flour add one teaspoon of baking powder 
and sift together. Bake in a quick oven 
fifteen minutes. 
* 
To make elderberry jelly strip the ripe 
berries into the kettle and stir over the 
fire with a wooden spoon until the juice 
flows freely; turn into a jelly bag and let 
drain without touching so as not to be¬ 
come cloudy. Weigh and boil sharply 15 
minutes. Remove from fire and add 
sugar, allowing 14 ounces to one pint of 
juice. Boil 15 minutes, stirring and skim¬ 
ming until it jellies. This is an English 
recipe and a very good one. 
* 
A mixture for sunburn that will be 
found equally useful for chapped hands 
consists of almond oil, good mutton tal¬ 
low and white vaseline, equal parts, melt¬ 
ed and stirred together. The mutton tal¬ 
low should be carefully tried out before 
melting with the other materials. For a 
bad case of sunburn the mixture should 
be melted by standing the vessel contain¬ 
ing a portion of it in a saucer of hot 
water and then painted on with a brush. 
This may sound absurd to a person whose 
outdoor life makes sunburn merely a 
passing discomfort, but a thin-skinned 
person who is out of doors but little may 
suffer a good deal from this cause. The 
daily papers recently recorded the case of 
a young man who sought to obtain a 
complete coat of sunburn in a single day 
down at Coney Island. He spent the en¬ 
tire day out on the beach attired in a 
scant bathing suit and the next day he 
was taken to a hospital. The intense 
heat caused the skin to blister off in large 
patches and a species of poisoning super¬ 
vened, rendering careful medical treat¬ 
ment a necessity. 
* 
When cracking ice with a hammer for 
use in the freezer put it in a heavy can¬ 
vas bag with a draw string to prevent it 
from flying about. Such bags are sold in 
the department stores, but can be very 
cheaply made at home and are much more 
convenient than using odd pieces of bur¬ 
lap. Indeed, we have known cases where 
a good dish towel was used to inclose the 
ice while it was pounded—not at all a 
thrifty proceeding. 
* 
One of the delightful new books we 
have been reading is the “New Chronicles 
of Rebecca,” by Kate Douglass Wiggin, 
which continues the career of that de¬ 
lightful heroine, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook 
Farm.” The reference to the parsonage 
carpet is somewhat suggestive of more 
than one rural community. The Rev. 
Judson Baxter, the new incumbent of 
Riverboro Center parish, was voted by 
his people to be as near perfection as a 
minister can be in this finite world. His 
young wife had a small income of her 
own. This was a distinct and unusual 
advantage and as soon as it was generally 
known, says the author of “The New 
Chronicles of Rebecca,” the subscription 
committee immediately hoped that they 
might not be eternally driving over the 
country to get some body’s 50 cents that 
had been overdue for eight months, but 
might take their onerous duties more eas¬ 
ily. Said one of them: 
“It does seem as if our ministers were 
the poorest lot! If their salary is two 
months behindhand they begin to be nerv¬ 
ous ! Seems as though they might lay 
up a little before they come here and 
not live from hand to mouth so.” 
“The Baxters seem quite different and 
I only hope they won’t get wasteful and 
run into debt,” said Mrs. Robinson rather 
dolefully. “They say she keeps the parlor 
blinds open ’bout half the time and the 
room is lit up so often evenings that the 
neighbors think her and Mr. Baxter must 
set in there. It don’t seem hardly as if it 
could be so, but Mrs. Buzzell says ’tis, 
and she says we might as well say good- 
by to the parlor carpet, which is church 
property, for the Baxters are living all 
over it.” 
This criticism was the only discordant 
note in the chorus of praise and the peo¬ 
ple gradually grew accustomed to the 
open blinds and the overused carpet, 
which was just completing its twenty-fifth 
year of honest service. 
* 
We are offered a good many hygienic 
rules for the preservation of health and 
strength nowadays and it may be wise to 
listen to the advice of Mrs. Mary Ramsey 
Woods of Hillsboro, Ore., who was born 
in Ten. essee 120 years ago. Mrs. Woods’ 
rules of health are: “Don’t live artificial¬ 
ly; work, eat, sleep and rest in a natural 
manner; forget yourself; be temperate.” 
She still eats the food prepared for the 
rest of her family and sleeps twelve hours 
out of the twenty-four. Her face bears 
the marks of her years, but she has 
changed little in appearance since she 
passed the century mark. She says she 
does not see why she may not live for 
many years to come. But she is prepared 
for the end and shows to visitors the 
shroud and little bonnet in which she will 
be buried. 
“Never until after I had passed my one 
hundredth birthday did I think of death,” 
said Mrs. Woods. “I believe that mind 
more than bodily ills affects one’s happi¬ 
ness and welfare. I never built air castles 
and my motto has been ‘Sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof.’ Observation 
has taught me that most people live al- 
5701 Misses’ Jumptr Waist, 
14 and 16 years. 
ways in a world of their own creation. 
Consequently their sorrows and discontent 
and unhappiness are imaginary. Every 
event that comes within their view seems 
of some personal significance to them, 
when, in fact, such events are without re¬ 
lation to their being. 
“With mind grasping the world as it is 
and conscience at rest, the problem of 
long life consists only of the questions of 
diet, work and sleep. I have always eat¬ 
en the coarse foods of the farmer class 
and have sometimes gone hungry, but 
was never overfed. One hundred years 
ago people lived in much more primitive 
fashion than now. All through the first 
half of the last century and, in fact, until 
after the civil war, the people practiced 
economies that would not be dreamed of 
these days. They lived largely on corn 
bread and pork and chicken was eaten for 
Sunday dinner because the farmers all 
raised poultry. As to work, we did just 
5700 Misses’ Box Plaited Skift, 1 
14 and 16 years. 
what there was to do. We worked hard, 
but worried little. We went to bed soon 
after dark and slept soundly till morning. 
Since I have been a very old woman I 
have gone to bed soon after sundown and 
have risen very early. I take a nap every 
morning and again in the afternoon. I 
come of a long-lived race. My mother 
died sixty-five years ago at the age of 110. 
My father died a few years before almost 
as old.” Mrs. Woods went West in 1853 
and on July 4 was proclaimed “Mother 
Queen of Oregon.” 
The Rural Patterns. 
The jumper waist and skirt figured will 
make a very pretty suit for a young girl. 
The waist consists of front and backs and 
is laid in plaits at the shoulder -1 d gath¬ 
ered at the waist line. The shat .d band 
is arranged over the neck edge and holds 
the fullness firmly in place and the short 
loose sleeves are similarly finished. The 
closing is made invisibly at the back and 
the pointed girdle is adjusted over the 
waist. The quantity of material required 
for the 16-year size is 2% yards 27, 2 
yards 32 or 1 V 2 yards 44 inches wide with 
% yard 36 inches wide for the trimming. 
The pattern 5701 is cut in sizes for girls 
of 14 and 16 years of age; price 10 cents. 
The skirt is cut in seven gores and is 
arranged in a succession of double box 
plaits, the closing being made invisibly at 
the back. The quantity of material re¬ 
quired for the 16-year size is 7% yards 
27 or 32 or 4% yards 44 inches wide with 
18 yards of braid to trim, as illustrated. 
The pattern 5700 is cut in sizes for girls 
of 14 and 16 years of age. price 10 cents. 
How Do You Make Dill Pickles? 
Will you ask some of the readers to 
tell just how to make dill pickles? 
Those who have given formulas in the 
past are not explicit enough. When they 
say to place dill in alternate layers with 
pickles what part of the dill plant do 
they mean? Some seem to indicate seed, 
others evidently the foliage of the plant, 
but they don’t say whether green or dry. 
I would think it should be dried before 
using. Would not the green set up a 
ferment? I have a row of the dill grow¬ 
ing and cucumber plants and wish to 
make these pickles. c. B. 
Illinois. 
Some Citrou Recipes. 
Doubtless most readers are familiar 
with the delicious flavor of the citron as 
a preserving fruit. I find the following 
tested recipe looks well, keeps well and 
makes an agreeable change of sweets: 
Cut the citron in strips half an inch wide, 
pare off the rind as thin as possible and 
cut up the fruit in small squares. Put 
in a vessel and cover with water in which 
has been dissolved an ounce of alum to 
the gallon of water. Soak 24 hours, or 
until the citron is clarified. Take out of 
alum water and soak in clear water until 
the alum is all out, which will probably 
be in 12 hours. Weigh and allow to each 
pound of fruit a pound of sugar. Put the 
fruit in a preserving kettle with only a 
little sugar, adding sugar several times 
until the weighed amount has been used. 
Season with any flavoring preferred. 
Cook rapidly until done, put in glass cans 
and seal. 
To prepare citron for cakes and pies 
cut the fruit in four parts, pare and re¬ 
move the seeds; then take a couple of 
quarts of clear water, dissolve a piece of 
alum the size of a hickory nut in the 
water, put in the preserving kettle as 
much citron as the water will cover and 
boil until tender enough to pierce with a 
straw; then boil in sugar; a pint bowl 
of sugar to the same measure of fruit. 
Boil one-half hour. Spread it on pie 
plates and set it in a cool oven or heater 
and let it dry perfectly. Chop up rather 
fine when used for pies or cakes and it is 
ever so much better to my taste than the 
real citron peel that is so high priced ini 
the market. mrs. n. a. m.. 
Pumpkin Pickle —This is very good 
when there is a scarcity of apples. Pare 
the pumpkins carefully, leaving out all 
soft or stringy parts, then cut into pieces 
about one or two inches square. Soak 
over night in vinegar, salt and water, just 
enough vinegar and salt to make a good 
flavor. The next day make a pickle as 
you would for any nice pickle and let 
them simmer on the back of the stove 
for a long time without stirring. My 
rule for pickle is seven pounds fruit, four 
pounds sugar and one pint of vinegar. 
We usually flavor the pumpkin pickle with 
either sliced lemon or ginger root. 
MARGARET E. HIGBY. 
