946 
THE RURAL NEW-VOKKER 
July 3, 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
THE TWO GLASSES. 
There sat two glasses, filled to the brim, 
On a rich man’s table, rim to rim. 
One was ruddy and red as blood, 
And one was clear as the crystal flood. 
Said the Glass of Wine to his paler brother, 
“Let us tell tales of the past to each other. 
I can tell of banquet, and revel, and mirth. 
Where I was king, for I ruled in might: 
For the proudest and grandest soul on 
earth 
Fell under my touch, as though struck with 
blight. 
From the heads of Kings I have torn the 
crown, 
From the heights of fame I have hurled 
men down. 
I have blasted many an honored name; 
I have taken virtue and given shame; 
I have tempted the youth with a sip. a 
taste, 
That has made his future a barren waste. 
Far greater than any King am I, 
Or than any army beneath the sky. 
I have made the arm of the driver fail, 
And sent the train from the iron rail. 
I have made the good ships go down at sea. 
And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to 
me. 
Fame, strength, wealth, genius before me 
fall; 
And my might and power are over all. 
Ho! ho! pale brother,” said the Wine, 
“Can you boast of deeds as great as mine?” 
Said the Water Glass: “I cannot boast 
Of a King dethroned, or a murdered host : 
But I can tell of hearts that were sad 
By my crystal drops made bright and glad: 
Of thirsts I have quenched, and brows I 
have laved. 
Of hands I have cooled, and souls 1 have 
saved. 
I have leaped through the valley, dashed 
down the mountain, 
Slept in the sunshine, and dripped from 
the fountain. 
I have burst my cloud fetters and dropped 
from the sky, 
And everywhere gladdened the prospect and 
eye; 
T have eased the hot forehead of fever ancf 
pain : 
I have made the parched meadows grow 
fertile with grain. 
T can tell of the powerful wheel of the mill 
That ground out the flour, and turned at 
my will. 
T can tell of manhood debased by you 
That I have uplifted and crowned anew; 
1 cheer, I help, I strengthen and aid: 
T gladden the heart of man and maid; 
I set the wine-chained captive free, 
And all are better for knowing me.” 
These are the tales they told each other. 
The Glass of Wine and its paler brother. 
As they sat together, filled to the brim, 
On a rich man’s table, rim to rim. 
-ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. 
* 
Adjustable curtain rods and pillow 
sham holders are among the handy, 
things seen recently. They are firm 
spiral springs about the thickness of 
one’s little finger, which can be pulled 
out to fit accurately; the curtain rods 
fasten to fixtures, which screw to the 
window frame, while the sham holder^ 
are finished at each end with a hook 
that passes around the post of a metal 
bed. The curtain rods, with fixtures, 
cost 15 cents each, the sham holders 
25 cents. 
* 
A Massachusetts correspondent of 
the New York Sun, says that the tender 
leaves and shoots of Alfalfa, boiled, 
make better greens than dandelion or 
spinach. He has tried Alfalfa greens 
for two years and considers them de¬ 
licious. This is news to us: have any 
of our readers tried it? Mr. Van De¬ 
man says that cow peas feed both farm¬ 
ers and their stock in the South, and 
the Sun’s correspondent evidently 
thinks Alfalfa ranks with it, unless he 
is trying an agricultural joke. 
* 
Mr. Kirke had been setting forth 
some of his cheerful views on life, and 
the Summer boarder was much pleased, 
says Youth’s Companion. “You are a 
real optimist!” she said, joyfully. 
“No, ma’am,” said Mr. Kirke, with 
reproachful decision. “If I’ve give you 
any reason to think I’m going back on 
the Methodist church that I was raised 
and brought up in, I’m sorry; you’ve 
mistook my talk. I haven’t any quarrel 
with folks that find these new sects 
helpful, but the old ones are good 
enough for me.” 
* 
While we are told continually that 
separate shirt-waists are entirely out of 
date, as a result of one-piece gowns, we 
still find them a necessity with many 
jacket suits, and a convenience with all 
sorts of skirts. The stores are as full 
of them as ever, and every style of 
make and material is shown. In the 
lingerie waists a favorite model has 
Dutch collar and jabot, or else the 
Dutch neck bordered with lace. In 
tailored waists we see a good many 
with a narrow stripe of color. Many 
of them are a perfectly plain pleated 
model with stiff cuffs. Sometimes a 
pleated jabot edged with the color, 
forms a trimming; a very pretty model 
has a double jabot, one pleating with, 
colored border and an upper pleating 
edged with lace. A rather scant bisliQp 
sleeve with cuff is the usual model with 
tailored waists, while lingerie blouses 
follow the prevailing models in close 
fitting sleeves. 
* 
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, author of 
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” 
celebrated her ninetieth birthday at 
her home in Boston May 27. A recep¬ 
tion was given to a few close friends, at 
which Mrs. Howe was assisted by her 
four children, Mrs. Laura E. Richards, 
whose delightful stories have given joy 
to hosts of young people, Mrs. D. P. 
Hall, Mrs. Maude Howe El’iott and 
Prof. H. M. Howe. In spite of her age, 
Mrs. Howe retains full possession of 
her faculties, only physical weakness 
showing her advanced years. She has 
delivered several public addresses this 
year, and made her usual appearance be¬ 
fore the Perkins Institute for the Blind, 
which was founded by her husband, 
Samuel Gridley Howe. Although so 
long associated with Boston and its cul¬ 
ture, [Mrs. Howe was born in New 
York, down near the Battery, and her 
girlhood was spent in the then fash¬ 
ionable neighborhood of Bond street 
and Broadway. Mrs. Howe has long 
been a leading advocate of woman suf¬ 
frage, and has written and spoken much 
upon this subject. She has included 
many notable people among her friends, 
writers, statesmen and reformers, both 
native and foreign, and is herself one 
of the most remarkable figures of our 
national life._ 
Canning Egg Plant. 
Some time ago I was asked to give 
my recipe for canning egg-plant. It is 
very easy and this vegetable seems to be 
one of the least difficult to keep. I ex¬ 
perimented with it two years ago, 
though I had never heard of anyone 
canning it. Peel and cut the egg-plant 
into inch-thick slices and put in a little 
salt water. Fill half-gallon jars with 
the slices, as many as you can pack in. 
Put in a teaspoonful of salt and fill to 
the top with cold water. Set the jars 
in the boiler, first putting in a thin 
piece of wood in bottom of boiler, fill to 
neck of jars with cold water. Use 
lightning jars and put rubber bands on 
top, but don’t clamp down the wire. Put 
on lid of boiler. When the water be¬ 
gins to boil, look at the clock and time 
the cooking to a steady boil for three 
hours. Then clamp down wire on jars 
and set the boiler off stove and allow it 
to cool slowly. One page 592 there is an 
article on canning, and I have been re¬ 
minded of our excellent Farmers’ Bul¬ 
letin, sent out by the United States 
Agricultural Department, called “Can¬ 
ning Vegetables in the Home.” I would 
advise everyone to get it. It was sent 
me recently and I intend to try canning 
by that method this Summer. It is 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 359. Beans, peas 
.and corn are said to be canned easily by 
this process in the common boiler. 
This bulletin is free to all who write for 
it. MRS. m. c. P. 
The Rural Patterns. 
The pinafore bodice is one of the 
new models very becoming to a slim 
figure. The pinafore is made with 
front and back portions. The front is 
fitted by means of dart tucks and is ex¬ 
tended to form a girdle, which is lapped 
over on to the backs. The guimpe is a 
plain fitted one with long one-piece 
Guimpe, 32 to 40 bust, 
sleeves. The quantity of material re¬ 
quired for the medium size is, for the 
pinafore, 2A yards 21 or 24, 2 yards 32 
or lA yards 44 inches wide, 2 A yards 
of banding; for the guimpe 1 yard of 
material 36 with lA yards 18 for tlie 
yoke and sleeves. The pattern 6357 is 
cut in sizes for a 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40- 
inch bust measure; price 10 cents. 
The simple gored skirt is always in 
demand, and the model shown is in ac¬ 
cordance with present styles. The skirt 
is made in nine gores and the fullness 
6354 Nine Gored Skirt, 
22 to 32 waist. 
at the back can be laid in inverted 
plaits or the skirt can be cut off and 
finished in habit style. The quantity 
of material required for the medium 
size is lM yards 24, 8 yards 32, 5A 
yards 44 or 4 A yards 52 inches wide 
when material * has figure or nap: 7 
yards 24, 6->4 yards, 32, 4-A yards 44 or 
3 A yards 52 inches wide when material 
has neither figure nor nap. The pattern 
6354 is cut in sizes for a 22, 24, 26, 28, 
30 and 32-inch waist measure; price 10 
cents. _ 
The limit of life is brief: 
‘Tjs the red in the red-rose leaf. 
’Tis the gold in the sunset sky; 
’Tis the flight of a bird on high. 
Yet we may fill the space 
With such an infinite grace 
That the red will vein all time. 
The gold through the ages shine. 
And tlie bird fly swift and straight. 
To the lilies of God's own gate. 
— Marie 15. Williams. 
Odds and Ends of Paint. 
After painting has'been done I have 
always plenty of ways for making use 
of the odds and ends left in the cans. 
A gill of green paint, and I can freshen 
up ni}- Hydrangea and Agapanthus 
tubs, and maybe paint over a tin can 
or two which will come handy after all 
the flower pots are filled next Fall. 
(Before painting a can I always place 
it for a few minutes on top of a coal 
fire and then, while the spider is soft¬ 
ened, pry off the rim left in opening, 
for only when thus treated can a plant 
be taken from it with any success.) 
While green is preferable a brown or 
dark Indian red are not so bad as let¬ 
ting such tubs go unpainted Once I 
took the worn white oilcloth from the 
pantry table and work shelf, and. tack¬ 
ing it against the board siding in the 
empty stable loft, gave it a coat of 
white paint. It was of course heavier 
than when new, but bad thus gained 
the advantage of keeping its place bet¬ 
ter. Pails, whether of tin or wood 
fiber, will wear many seasons' longer 
if given a coat or two of paint upon 
the inside now and then. A light 
brown or gray is the best color and it 
is surprising how fresh and new they 
will seem after thus treated. Tin will 
be kept from rusting and fiber that has 
begun to seem soft and somewhat por¬ 
ous will harden nicely. If such pails 
can be set away for a month, allow¬ 
ing the new paint to become very dry 
and hard the work will last the longer. 
Where the more expensive porcelain 
slop jars cannot be afforded to stand 
beside the washstands prettily - shaped 
ones are to be found in wood fiber, and 
if given several coats of white paint, 
well dried on will prove neat .looking 
and serviceable and much lighter than 
the crockery ones to lift. Finally and 
lastly T paint to an even color the tin 
cans from which the paint has been 
taken. Tt takes but a moment to do it, 
and a neatly painted pail can be used 
when getting nuts or water cress and 
even if they have no bails and are small 
one may si ill use them for nails, on the 
tool bench or to bold seeds raised in 
the vegetable garden. A 15-cent invest¬ 
ment in a small paint brush to be kept 
for one’s own use arid prompt cleaning 
of the same after using is rather neces¬ 
sary if a woman likes to do this sort 
of dabbing and freshening up. 
PATTIE LYMAN. 
The Prince of Pies. 
. The country housewife has one great 
advantage over her city sister, in that 
she has nearly always on hand mate¬ 
rials for that most delectable of all 
pies, the custard. For most, of us agree 
that a properly made custard pie is a 
dessert combining the greatest amount 
of toothsome delicacy, with the least 
amount of the indigcstibility possible 
to a pastry combination. It is a la¬ 
mentable fact, however, that custard 
pies arc not ahVavs properly made; the 
chief objections being' soggy crusts, or 
watery and thin custard. Some house¬ 
wives prevent sogginess bv washing the 
crust with the beaten white of egg be¬ 
fore pouring in the'custard: others ad¬ 
vise setting the crust on the top of the 
stove arid partially baking it before add¬ 
ing the liquor, which has been slightly 
warmed, then popping it into a hot 
oven. Then, as to the custard itself, 
many of the best cooks contend that 
the eggs arc usually beaten too much, 
rendering the custard less liable to re¬ 
tain its jelly-like consistency under 
heat; still others say the eggs should 
be beaten long and bard. On one point 
all agree: that the best custard may 
be ruined by overbaking, which is a 
sure cause of a watery condition. 
A reliable formula for plain custard 
pie requires one pint of milk, one cup. 
sugar, three eggs beaten sufficiently 
thoroughly to mix whites and yolks; 
a sprinkling of salt and flavoring to 
