107" 2 
THIS RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 11, 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
A SONG OF DECEMBER. 
When Robin sings on a bare thorn 
Tlie Baby King of the world is born. 
When snow is on the brush and briar 
And all the folk are boused warm; 
When beasts are gathered to the byre 
Safe from the Winter night and storm ; 
Then in the deepest gloom of all 
God's Son lies in the cattle's stall. 
When snow is on the field and hill 
And every bird is cold in nest, 
And numb and frozen every rill. 
And Robin sings with a puffed breast: 
In the midwinter the world's Rose, 
Our Lord, is wrapped in swaddling clothes. 
When shepherds watch their silly sheep 
Lest that some wandering one be lost; 
When all the chilly drifts are deep 
And the white world is in the frost: 
With stars all keen, and wind in the east 
Ills Mother gives Ilim of her breast. 
When the first lambs are laid in fold, 
And every grass blade's grown a spear, 
When chMdrcn cluster from the cold 
Around the nursery hearth fire clear: 
About the hour of bitterest dearth 
The Lamb of God is born on earth. 
Now in the bitter Winter weather 
The ass, the ox, they give Ilim bed. 
The stars and angels sing together 
And Heaven is in the cattle shed. 
The ass, the ox. they kneel to adore 
The hope the world long waited for. 
The ass, the ox. are hosts to Him, 
Since all the inns are full to-night, 
With seraphim and cherubim 
All kneeling in the starlight white. 
Noel! Noel ! Our Lord! is born 
When Robin sings on a bare thorn. 
—Katharine Tynan in the London Tribune. 
* 
At the present time we have to pay 
25 cents a pound for bacon, which ought 
to make our friend the pig feel rather 
proud of himself. This is prepared by 
an eastern packer, who cures the bacon 
quite dry, and finishes with real smok¬ 
ing, so this bacon is much more profita¬ 
ble than some offered us at 20 or 22 
cents which is cured by one of the great 
Chicago packers, this latter being very 
wet and heavy, and so poorly smoked 
that we cannot believe it has seen the 
interior of a real smoke-house at all. 
We think the farm family with good 
home-cured meat is much to be envied 
these expensive days. 
* 
Creamed Finnan haddie is a savory 
dish. Pick apart one-half pound of the 
fish, and cook in one heaping tablespoon¬ 
ful of butter till heated through; then 
stir in one tablespoonful of flour, mois¬ 
tened in one cupful of cream or rich 
milk, and let it cook for five minutes; 
add the yolk of one egg, a dash of pep¬ 
per and one teaspoonful of grated 
cheese. When smooth, serve immediate¬ 
ly on hot toast and garnish with parsley. 
Increase the quantity of fish and other 
ingredients in proportion to the family. 
We also prepare this fish in a plain 
white sauce, without the egg, scattering 
a little chopped parsley over the top, or 
put it, with the sauce, in a baking dish, 
cover with bread crumbs, and bake. 
* 
The number of firms now advertising 
for raw furs shows the demand antici¬ 
pated for such goods. The size of muffs 
continues to increase, and a great many 
of the neck-pieces are now very large 
also, though the small throw scarfs are 
still freely worn. The large scarfs are 
often a shawl shape, deeper at the back, 
like an old-fashioned pelerine, or a nar¬ 
row stole falling to the knees. The pel¬ 
erine shapes often fall quite to the waist 
in the back, like a bolero, or they may 
be shaped like a square collar prolonged 
by a number of tails. The rug muffs are 
still favorites, being made of unstiffened 
skins lined with soft satin, and open at 
the bottom, the hands being tucked into 
a small shirred pocket at the top. Often 
the muff is so large that the ends of the 
dangling skins and tails fall to the knees 
when the muff is held in both hands. 
The flat pillow muff is quite as great a 
favorite, and one occasionally sees very 
large round muffs in some of the long¬ 
haired furs. As for the furs, one’s purse 
is the only thing that limits selection. 
The large size of fur pieces naturally 
increases the price, and as a rule they 
seem very expensive, compared with a 
few years ago. There are many well-to- 
do women to whom $30 to $50 for a 
handsome muff does not seem at all ex¬ 
pensive, but there are still more who 
expect the set of muff and neckpiece to 
come within $20, and this means careful 
buying. There are many cheap dyed furs, 
made up in the same styles as the costly 
ones, some quite nice looking when new, 
but as a rule they wear badly, this being 
especially true of the cheap coney furs, 
Opossum dyed in various styles, wears 
well; the brown dyes seem to keep the 
color better than the black. Skunk, under 
various names, is excellent. Fox furs of 
the cheaper grades are liable to lose the 
hair badly, but sabled fox is really one 
of the prettiest of the long brown furs. 
Brook or Japanese mink, which costs 
about the same (much less than real 
mink), is a very pretty brown striped 
fur, not so fluffy as the fox; but it wears 
well, and will be found very serviceable. 
An inexpensive black fur that stands 
hard wear is Persian paw; while not as 
handsome as fine Persian lamb or cara¬ 
cul, the glossy waves are attractive, and 
a nice muff or neckpiece may be bought 
from about $6 up. We do not see so 
much gray squirrel as a few seasons 
ago, except among children’s furs. Very 
handsome sets are made of black lynx, 
but this is never cheap, if a good fur. 
There is no doubt that furs often wear 
poorly because they are abused or care¬ 
lessly treated. Many furs suffer from 
getting wet, and being carelessly dried. 
They should always be shaken out gen¬ 
tly and dried in a cool place, away from 
a fire. 
* 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture 
has just issued Farmers’ Bulletin 375, 
“Care of Food in the Home.’’ which dis¬ 
cusses the micro-organisms which cause 
molds and other deterioration of our 
food. The formation of poisonous pto¬ 
maines and the bacterial changes that 
induce decay, are discussed in an inter¬ 
esting manner. Good housekeepers will 
realize from this bulletin that the scrub¬ 
bing, airing, and sunning of pantries 
and food receptacles is founded upon ex-, 
act scientific reasoning. We like to 
bring this point out, because, though 
masculine scientists may have run down 
and captured the specific bacteria that 
cause moldy cake and sour bread and 
frowy butter, women were circumvent¬ 
ing these enemies by sun. air and hot 
water long before the germ theory was 
heard of—only they didn’t realize they 
were inventing scientific sterilization—• 
they thought they were merely cleaning 
things up! _ 
The Fireless Cooker. 
Fireless cookers have been written 
about for a long time but, up to date, 
this writer has had nothing to say be¬ 
cause she had never used one. Now, 
however, after thoroughly testing one 
their recommendation is given without 
qualification of any sort, for they cer¬ 
tainly will do what is claimed for them. 
I didn’t believe the claims made, before 
the trial, but now I know. I purchased 
a small, one-compartment “cookerette,” 
and found that I could put cabbage and 
other vegetables in the kettle (that 
comes with the cookerette) ; get them 
boiling hot; put the kettle in the box 
and after about three hours find them 
thoroughly cooked and piping hot. Ce¬ 
real of any kind prepared in the evening 
will be cooked to perfection when want¬ 
ed for breakfast. If not quite as hot 
as liked it takes but a very little time 
to reheat it, as both the cereal and the 
water under the pan are a long way 
from being cold. 
When reading the directions that come 
with each cooker the first thought is 
that they need a lot of fussing, but con¬ 
sider: The directions say that food 
must be brought to a boil and allowed 
to boil 10 or 15 minutes before being 
placed in the “fireless.” By the “good 
old way” the fire must be kept going 
and the food watched for from one to 
any number of hours after it begins to 
boil, while with the fireless there is no 
consumption of fuel and no need for 
attention of any sort after that first 
boil-up. It is true that with the very 
large pieces of meat needed for a large 
family it may be necessary to put over 
the fire and bring, again, to boiling heat 
after being in the cooker for a few 
hours, but with the contents of the ket¬ 
tle already hot this takes but a few min¬ 
utes. Most homes, nowadays, contain 
either oil or gasoline stoves, and the 
heating, or re-hc«ting, is a very simple 
matter. A “cookerette” is not so ex¬ 
pensive but that the fuel saved will soon 
pay for it, while the ability to go where 
one pleases, stay several hours and re¬ 
turn to find a hot meal ready for serv¬ 
ing is something well worth paying the 
price for. 
When cooking foods in the upper part, 
only, the water in the lower part is left 
perfectly clean and ready for use in 
other ways. Being, already, hot it takes 
but a moment to have it briskly boiling, 
ready for making tea or coffee. If soft 
water is placed in the lower kettle it is 
ready for dish-washing when the meal 
is served. The longer one uses a “fire¬ 
less” the more one appreciates the vari¬ 
ous ways in which it lightens both labor 
and fuel expense. 
EVA RYMAN-GAILLARD. 
Head Cheese. 
Would you give a recipe for old-fasliioned 
head cheese, like our grandmothers used to 
make in olden times. H. a. h. 
The following is a tested recipe for 
head cheese, though we are not sure 
that it is the old-time formula that 
FI. A. H. refers to: Have the head split 
open, and remove the ears, eyes, snout, 
brains and skin, wash thoroughly and 
soak over night in cold salt water, then 
put on to cook in enough cold water to 
cover. When it begins to boil skim care¬ 
fully and continue to cook until the 
meat will slip from the bones. Remove 
to a hot pan and chop quickly with a 
sharp knife, removing all the bone and 
gristle. For six pounds of meat allow 
two tablespoonfuls salt, one teaspoon¬ 
ful black pepper, a little cayenne, 
one-fourth teaspoonful ground clove, 
and two tablespoonfuls of pow¬ 
dered sage. Mix meat and seasoning 
thoroughly together, put into a crock 
or mold with a heavy weight on top, 
and allow it to stand until cold. If the 
tongue is included with the other meat 
it should be skinned while warm, before 
chopping. The same recipe may be used 
for English brawn, in which the tongue, 
carefully skinned, is placed whole in the 
center of the seasoned meat, which is 
pressed into a deep, narrow mold, so 
that when cut into thin slices with a 
sharp knife, there is a piece of tongue 
in the center of each slice. The soup 
in which the meat is cooked should be 
allowed to become cold, the cake of fat 
removed from the top, and it may then 
be used in making pea or bean soup. 
It is also sometimes thickened with corn- 
meal, after seasoning nicely, the mush 
cooled in a square tin, and then fried, 
thus making a sort of scrapple without 
meat. ___ 
Butter Strudel with Prunes.—Make 
a batter with one pint of milk, four 
whole eggs and yolks of two, half a 
level teaspoon fill of salt and flour 
enough to make a batter consistency of 
pancake batter. Butter pie tins and pour 
in a thin layer of the batter and bake, 
Have ready some stewed prunes, stoned 
and mashed, sweetened and flavored 
with cinnamon and grated lemon peel. 
Have this hot and spread it over the 
cake as soon as it is baked; roll up im¬ 
mediately. Serve with powdered sugar. 
Enough lamp- 
chimneys break 
from “accident” 
to satisfy me, 
without having 
them crack and 
smash every time 
the light is turned 
up. 
Macbeth 
chimneys never 
break from heat. 
It takes an “ac¬ 
cident” to end their usefulness. 
They add to the beauty, com¬ 
fort and usefulness of the lamp— 
and they fit. 
There is a Macbeth lamp chimney made for 
every known burner, and my name is on it. 
My book will tell which one to get for your 
lamp. It is free. Address 
Macbeth, Pittsburgh. 
MEN WANTED 
2254 men $7.42 Pr° fl t 
average /-— per day 
Selling "WEAR-EVER” Aluminum 
Specialties During July and Aug., 1909 
Half of these men had no previous experi¬ 
ence. Work made pleasant by our 17f» 
pane Instruction Book. No door-to-door 
canvassing. Let us show you what others 
have done. Address 
The Aluminum Cooking Utensil Co., Desk 44, Pittsburg, Pa- 
Opportunity knocks but don’t expect the door to he kicked in. 
Reg. U. S. Pat Off. 
Fertile Farms in Tennessee 
—$5 to $10 per acre— 
Fortunes are being made on fertile Tennes¬ 
see farms. They raise big crops of Canta¬ 
loupes, Cabbage, Tomatoes, String Beans, 
Green Corn, etc., also Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, 
Poultry and Eggs. Write me at once for Free 
Literature. I’ll tell you how to get one of these 
splendid farms for S5 to S10 per acre. Act quickly! 
II. F. Smith, Tnif. Mgr.,N.C.&St.L.Hy.,I>ept.O.Nashville, Tenn. 
C. Are now selling at from $10.00 to $25.00 j 
per acre. Located in this rich farming and 
trucking country, in Southside Virginia, along 
the New Virginian Railway. Excellent climate- 
two and three crops a year. 
C. Write for catalogue and full information 
B. E. RICE, Agent, Industrial Dept., 
Virginian Railway Company. 
Dept. G, Norfolk, Va. 
The Land of Manatee 
Situated on the West Coast, the climate is tem¬ 
pered by the Gulf—balmy breezes in summer, 
mild sunny winters. There are no droughts—no 
killing frosts in Manatee. 
Vegetables Net $1000 Per Acre. 
A ten acre farm would net you more than a 
hundred acres in any Northern State. 
Write for our valuable booklet, 
and information about our special 
homeseeker’s rates. 
J. W. WHITE, 
General Industrial Agent, 
Seaboard Air Line, 
Dept. Norfolk. Va. 
WESTERN CANADA 
Prof* Shaw, Well-Known Agriculturist, Says: 
“I would sooner raise cattle in Western Canada 
i in the corn belt of the United States. 
• Food is cheaper and climate better 
for the purpose. Your market will 
| improve faster than your farmers 
will produce the supplies. Wheat 
can be grown up to the 60th parallel 
[800 miles north of the International 
boundary). Your vacant land will 
be taken at a rate beyond present 
conception. We have enough peoplo 
I in the United States alone who want 
__J homes to take up this land. * ’ Nearly 
70,000 Americans 
will enter and make tlielr homes 
in Western Canada this year. 
1909 produced anot her large crop 
of wheat, oats and barley, in addi¬ 
tion to which the cattle exports 
was an immense Item. 
Cattle raising, dairying, mixed farming and 
rain growing in the provinces of Mani¬ 
toba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. 
Adaptable soli, healthful climate, 
splendid schools and churches, and 
good railways. For settlers’ rates, de¬ 
scriptive literature “Last Best West,” how to 
reach the country and othor particulars, write 
to Sup't of Immigration, Ottawa, Can., or to 
tho Canadian Government Agent. 
J. O. Duncan, Oanadlnn Government 
Agent, Room 30, Syracuse Bunk Build¬ 
ing, Syrucuse, N. Y. 
<TJse address nearest you.) (6) 
