742 
THE RURAL NEW -YORKER 
August 14, 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
COLUMBUS. 
Behind him lay the gray Azores, 
Behind tlie Gates of Hercules; 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 
Before him only shoreless seas. 
The good mate said : “Now must we pray, 
For lo, the very stars are gone. 
Brave admiral, speak, what shall 1 say?” 
“Why, say, 'Sail on ! Sail on, and on !' ” 
“My men grow mutinous day by day; 
My men grow ghastly wan and weak.” 
The stout mate thought of home; a spray 
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 
“What shall I say, brave admiral, say, 
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" 
“Why, you shall say at break of day, 
‘Fail on ! Sail on ! Sail on, and on !' ” 
They sailed and sailed, as winds might 
blow, 
Until at last the blanched mate said : 
“Why, now not even God would know 
Should I and all m.v men fall dead. 
These very winds' forget their way, 
For God from these dread seas is gone. 
Now speak, brave admiral, speak and 
say—” 
He said : “Sail on ! Sail on, and on!” 
They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the 
mate; 
“This mad sea shows' his teeth to-night, 
lie curls his lip, he lies in wait, 
With lifted teeth, as if to bite! 
Brave admiral, say but one good word : 
What shall we do when hope is gone?" 
The words leapt like a leaping sword: 
“Sail on ! Sail on ! Sail on. and on!" 
Then, pale and worn, be kept his deck, 
And peered through darkness. Ah, that 
night 
Of all dark nights! And then a speck— 
A light! A light ! A light! A light! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled ! 
It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn, 
lie gained a world ; be gave that world 
Its grandest lesson: “On! Fail on !” 
—Joaquin Miller. 
* 
Buttered toast, with cheese, is an 
appetizing dish for luncheon or sup¬ 
per. Toast the bread a nice brown, 
butter liberally and then cover with a 
thick sprinkling ,of freshly grated 
cheese; serve hot. Entire wheat bread 
is very nice for this toast. 
* 
One of the officials of New Tork’s 
Department of Charities tells about a 
little girl from the tenements who was 
sent to the country for her vacation. 
On her return, very brown and plump 
from the pine woods, she was offered 
a glass of milk, which she declined 
with scorn. 
‘‘None of that for me,” she said. ‘T 
know all about that stuff now. It’s 
nothing but chewed grass.” 
* 
This is the season for grass stains, 
which often refuse to fade out of the 
children's white clothes. Sometimes, 
if washed immediately in ammonia and 
water they are removed, but not al¬ 
ways. The stain is soluble in alcohol, 
hut that is not always safe to use with 
very delicate colors. Molasses, or a 
paste of soap and cooking soda, spread 
over the stain for some hours, will 
take it out. while another good plan is 
to keep the stain moist in full sunshine 
until it turns brown, when it may be 
washed out in clear water. 
* 
A number of prominent periodicals 
have conducted campaigns against the 
so-called headache powders freely ad¬ 
vertised, which have proved dangerous 
in many cases. We understand that 
the National Department of Agricul¬ 
ture is now conducting an investiga¬ 
tion into these drugs. Acetanilid, anti¬ 
pyrin and phenacetin are three drugs 
widely used to deaden pain, but their 
use, unless under competent advice, is 
dangerous, because they depress the 
action of the heart. It is asserted 
that they are frequently used in head¬ 
ache medicines, and apart from the 
danger of forming a drug habit, there 
is great risk in their use. Persons 
who are subject to frequent headaches 
•should remember that this pain is a 
symptom of some trouble that is not 
removed by mere deadening of the 
pain. It may be- due to a cause easily 
reached—eye strain, lack of outdoor 
exercise, overtaxed digestion, or in¬ 
judicious diet—or it may be one of 
the symptoms of a deeply-seated 
trouble that calls for expert medical 
care. What could be more unwise 
than to deaden a recurring headache 
with dangerous drugs, when poor, 
abused nature is trying to make you 
understand that you need a pair of 
eyeglasses or a change of diet, or, more 
serious st'll, the knowledge of an ex¬ 
pert to set in order the delicately bal¬ 
anced mechanism of the body? 
* 
The Philadelphia Ledger tells of a 
Southern housewife who was leaving 
her home in a great hurry and wanted 
to remind her negro maid of some ap¬ 
ples baking in the oven. 
“Watch when the apples burn, 
Chloe!” she called, as she was leav¬ 
ing the house. 
When she returned there was a pan 
of burned and charred apples on the 
kitchen table, but Chloe was placid 
and happy. 
“Dem apples burned at just eleven 
o’clock this morning, ma’am,” said 
Chloe, complacently, “for I noticed the 
time particular.” 
* 
It is reported that a school at Haar¬ 
lem, Holland, has adopted the blowing 
of soap bubbles as a form of physical 
culture to broaden the children’s 
chests. It was found difficult to make 
the children go through breathing ex¬ 
ercises properly, so three days a week 
they were all provided wfith soapy 
water and a pipe, and the windows 
opened wide to supply fresh air. Then 
they were encouraged to see who could 
blow the biggest bubbles. It is stated 
that periodical chest measurements 
•show increase in every case where the 
bubble-blowing is a regular thing. This 
is worth remembering when bad 
weather keeps the children indoors, 
and prevents their usual exercise. 
Mrs. Spraker Talks. 
“Now, my dear,” Mrs. Spraker pro¬ 
tested. “I have a presentiment that you 
are going to spoil that steak.” 
I hesitated, the steak in one hand, the 
spider in the other. 
“I may be wrong,” she went on, “but 
it looked as if you were going to put 
that*steak on the cold spider and let 
them warm up together. , And anyway, 
it is too soon to begin to cook it.” 
I looked at the clock. 
“I always wait till the men folks come 
in to wash up before I put the steak on 
the spider.” 
I started back to the pantry, under 
protest, when she called me back. 
“Put the spider on to heat, child,” she 
said, “or, if you have a flat griddle, all 
the better. You want to have it smok¬ 
ing hot before you put the meat on it. 
I've got to go now, but you do as 1 say. 
When the griddle is smoking hot, take 
a bit of the fat and rub it over the grid¬ 
dle just enough so the meat won’t stick 
—you see you are broiling the steak, 
not frying it. Now put your steak on, 
and just as soon as it is seared on one 
side, turn it over. In this way, if your 
griddle is hot enough, there won’t be 
any juice running out. When you think 
it is done, cut into it a little way and 
see. If you like it rare, it ought to be 
a bright red, not purple, but if you 
want it well done, cook it a little longer. 
Then put it on a hot platter and salt 
it. You'll find it a very different piece 
of meat from what it would have been 
if you had cooked it on a warm grid¬ 
dle over a slack fire and let it sizzle 
away in all the juice that could run out 
of it. Salt draws out the juice, too; 
that’s why you don’t want to salt it till 
it is done.” 
“I guess I can remember,” I said as 
she paused. 
“Smoking hot griddle, with a good 
fire under it,’’.were her last words. 
SUSAN B. ROBBINS. 
The Rural Patterns. 
Skirts with a deep yoke and pleated 
flounce are among the newest. The 
skirt is made in five gores, the one at 
the front being extended to full length. 
The flounce is straight and plaited and 
joined to the lower edge. The closing 
is made invisibly at the back. The 
quantity of material required for the 
6381 Five Gored Walking Skirt, 
22 to 30 waist. 
medium size is 8 yards 24 or 27, 4% 
yards 44, 3)4 yards 52, 1 yard 27 inches 
wide for bands; width of skirt at lower 
edge 4 -Hj yards, including plaits. The 
pattern G381, is cut in sizes for a 22, 
24, 26, 28, and 30 inch waist measure; 
price, 10 cents. 
A number of new trimmings are 
seen upon gored skirts, and the one 
figured will be found very effective. 
The skirt is cut in seven gores and is 
laid in inverted plaits at the back. The 
trimming is applied on indicated lines 
and there is a fitted girdle arranged 
6387 Seven Gored Skirt, 22 to 32 waist. 
under the upper edge which keeps it 
snugly in place. The quantity of ma¬ 
terial required for the medium size is 
9J4 yards 24, 5J4 yards 32, 44 or 52 
inches wide.when material has figure or 
nap; 7J4 yards 24. 5j4 yards 32, 4 
yards 44, 3 yards 52 when material has 
neither figure nor nap, 54 yard 27 
inches wide for trimming, width of 
skirt at lower edge 3J4 yards. The 
pattern 6387 is cut in sizes for a 22. 24, 
26, 28, 30 and 32 inch waist measure; 
price, 10 cents. 
There is nothing more difficult than 
to keep a parity between what we think 
of ourselves and what others think of 
us. If our happiness is dependent upon 
what others do for us we are apt to 
be disappointed; if we measure our 
happiness by what we do for others our 
happiness is in our own keeping.—W. J. 
Bryan. 
Breakfast Food. 
Scotch Toast.—Place in the oven for 
a few minutes six pilot biscuits; remove 
and put in a deep dish, covering with a 
scant pint of boiling water; fit tightly 
over these another dish (a deep soup 
plate), allowing it to remain pressing 
over the biscuit for a couple of mo¬ 
ments, so that they may well absorb the 
water. Remove the cover, pour off all 
the water and season the soft biscuit 
while hot with a dash each of pepper 
and salt and a generous supply of but¬ 
ter. Serve immediately. Boiled milk 
may be used instead of boiling water. 
Stodge.—Equal parts of stale white 
bread and cornbread or johnny cake 
are crumbled together. Season well 
with pepper, salt and butter and cover 
with milk. Place over the fire and al¬ 
low it to boil for several minutes, 
•stirring to prevent burning and also to 
mix it thoroughly. Eat with butter, as 
either a breakfast or supper dish. 
Graham Porridge—Sift \ x / 2 cup of 
graham flour, and stir gradually into 
four cups of rapidly boiling water, 
adding one teaspoonful of salt. Bring 
to a rapid boil, then put in double boiler 
and cook 15 minutes. Eat with sugar 
and milk. This is excellent for dys¬ 
peptics, though when digestion is poor 
we would omit the sugar. 
Buttered Puffed Rice.—Take the 
puffed rice from the box, put in a pan 
and heat in the oven until entirely crisp. 
In another pan put to each cup of rice 
a piece of butter the size of a thimble. 
Heat the butter till it is smoking, add a 
pinch of salt, and turn in the hot crisp 
rice, stirring briskly so all of it may 
absorb a tiny bit of the butter. Serve 
while still hot. 
Odds and Ends. 
Emergency Salad Dressing.—One 
teaspoon ful dry mustard, one salt- 
spoonful salt, one-half saltspoonful 
pepper, one or two teaspoon ful s sugar. 
Add very slowly one teacupful thick 
cream, working it gradually into the 
dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. 
Now add, also by degrees, one table¬ 
spoonful vinegar, stirring well. Make 
just before using. 
Raspberry and Rhubarb Jam.—Two 
and one-half pounds rhubarb, one and 
a half pounds raspberries, four pounds 
sugar. Boil 30 to 40 minutes. . Seal 
while hot. 
Banbury Cakes.—One ounce finely 
chopped suet, one ounce chopped can¬ 
died peel, one ounce sugar, rind of 
half a lemon, a little grated nutmeg. 
Enclose in paste, making little three- 
cornered puffs and bake. 
Apple Dumplings.—Two cups flour, 
two teaspoonfuls backing powder, one 
teaspoon ful salt, one tablespoonful but¬ 
ter, one tablespoon ful lard, seven- 
eighths cup sweet milk, one teaspoou- 
ful cinnamon, two tablespoonfuls brown 
sugar, six apples cooked or partly 
cooked as for sauce. Work butter and 
lard into sifted flour, baking powder 
and salt, add milk, roll out one-half 
inch thick; sprinkle with cinnamon and 
sugar spread with the apples, roll up 
and cut into 12 slices. Lay these cut 
side down in a single layer on a greased 
baking pan, and pour over the following 
sauce, prepared before the dumplings 
are made; One cup 'sugar, one table¬ 
spoonful butter, one tablespoonful flour, 
one-half teaspoonful salt, mix and add 
one cupful water. Stir well, cook 
three minutes, pour over raw dumplings, 
bake about half an hour. 
Buns.—One pint perpetual yeast, two- 
thirds cup sugar, one cup (or more) 
sultana (seedless) raisins, butter size 
of half an egg, two eggs, beaten, pinch 
salt. Add enough flour to make stiff 
enough to be just worked with a spoon, 
mix well, let rise in a warm place; form 
into buns, brush over with egg or milk: 
sprinkle sugar over, let rise again and 
bake. Candied peel may be added. 
Buttermilk Biscuit.—One pint flour, 
little salt, one even teaspoon ful baking 
powder; sift together twice. Save out 
a spoonful flour to roll biscuits out in. 
Rub in a big spoonful lard. Put one- 
half teaspoonful soda into a cup butter¬ 
milk, stir till it foams, add to flour, 
etc., roll out and bake. This makes 
about 10 biscuits. a. e. f. 
