1911 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
246 
Those Puzzling Shoe Numbers. 
Could you help me to an intelligent order¬ 
ing of family shoes by mail? The present 
way the manufacturers have of making 
shoes, sizes and widths, is perfectly unin¬ 
telligible to me. When I order a 2% D I 
don't know whether I am getting what I 
order or not. What advantages has the 
new way over the old way? mrs. j. c. 
We have always believed that those 
puzzling numbers were invented for the 
confusion of customers who insist that 
they take a certain size, whether it fits 
or not. We do not know of any other 
reason, but we find that when we ask 
for our accustomed size we are fitted 
without trouble, even though the num¬ 
ber marked in the shoe looks like the 
license number of an automobile. It is 
quite safe to order shoes by the old 
numbers, as the new numbers are merely 
synonyms for them; the shoe dealer 
knows what is meant, and so long as 
they fit, the obscurity of the new num¬ 
bers does not matter. Of course there 
is sometimes difficulty in fitting where 
there is a great change in model of last, 
and we sometimes find that slippers 
and ties, especially, are more comfortable 
when one size longer and one width nar¬ 
rower than the accustomed size is se¬ 
lected. Indeed, short shoes are always 
both uncomfortable and disfiguring. We 
would keep on ordering by the old num¬ 
bers, and let the seller struggle with 
the new ones. 
A Box of Candy 
Coffee Caramels.—Two cupfuls of 
granulated sugar, half a cupful of very 
strong coffee, one cupful of cream. 
After the sugar and coffee have boiled 
five minutes add the cream and con¬ 
tinue boiling until the candy strings 
when dropped from the spoon. Pour 
into a buttered pan and when cool cut 
into squares. This candy should boil 
over a moderate fire, or it will burn. 
To make the coffee, put two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of powdered coffee into the bag 
of a French coffee pot and pour 
through it one cupful of boiling water. 
When the water has dripped through 
pour it back over the coffee. Repeat 
this process twice and the result will be 
strong enough to give the candy the 
true coffee flavor. Keep the coffee pot 
hot while coffee is being made. 
Plain Vanilla Candy.—Six pounds of 
best white sugar, three teaspoonfuls of 
vanilla extract, one teaspoonful of 
soda, three cups of clear water. Pour 
the water over the sugar, and, when 
nearly dissolved, set it over the fire and 
bring to a boil. Stew steadily until it 
hardens in cold water, stir in the 
vanilla, boil one minute, add the dry 
soda, stirring in well, and instantly 
turn out upon broad, shallow dishes. 
Pull, as soon as you can handle it, into 
long white ropes, and cut into lengths 
when brittle. 
Cream Peppermints.—Put a pound of 
white sugar and one and one-half tea¬ 
spoonfuls of cream of tartar in a tea¬ 
cupful of cold water. Stir until dis¬ 
solved, then boil until a little of it, 
cooled in water, can be rolled into a 
ball with the fingers. Remove from the 
fire, allow it to cool a little and beat 
with a spoon until it turns white. Add 
three drops of oil of peppermint and mix 
well. If it hardens too quickly while 
beaten set the bowl in a tin of boiling 
water. Make it into balls with the hands. 
Turkish Delight.—Break an ounce of 
sheet gelatine into pieces and soak it 
for two hours in a half cupful of cold 
water. Dissolve two cupfuls of granu¬ 
lated sugar in a half cupful of cold 
water. As soon as it boils, add the 
gelatine and cook steadily for 20 min¬ 
utes. Flavor with the rind and juice 
of an orange, with orange flower water 
or rose water. Turn into tins wet with 
cold water, and when it is set cut it 
into squares. Roll in a mixture of con¬ 
fectioner’s sugar and cornstarch. A few 
chopped nuts may be added to the syrup 
when it is taken from the fire. 
Glaces.—To “glace” nuts and certain 
kinds of fruit, nothing is needed but 
sugar and water and a little patience. 
Boil a pound of sugar with a gill of 
water until it threads. Drop nuts, figs 
or grapes into the syrup, one at a time, 
dipping them out with a buttered fork 
and dropping them on a buttered tin to 
dry. Care must be taken not to shake 
the syrup more than necessary, and it 
is necessary to work rapidly, as the 
syrup should be removed from the fire 
before the nuts or fruits are dipped, and 
it soon hardens. A teaspoonful of vine¬ 
gar added to it makes a crisper glaze. 
A second dipping after the first coat 
hardens greatly improves the appearance 
of the candy. It should be eaten fresh, 
as it soon becomes sticky with changes 
in the atmosphere. 
Peanut Brittle.-~One pound of granu¬ 
lated sugar, melted in a skillet but not 
scorched. When melted add a lump of 
butter size of a walnut and one quart 
of finely chopped peanuts. Stir well and 
pour a little on a buttered board; roll 
thin with a buttered rolling pin as it 
hardens quickly; continue until all is 
formed into sheets. 
Peanut Creams.—Break into a bowl 
the white of one egg, add one table¬ 
spoonful of orange juice and into this 
gradually stir sufficient sugar to make a 
thick paste. Mix with it one teacupful 
of finely chopped peanuts. Form into 
balls, roll in pulverized sugar and lay 
on buttered dishes to dry. When dry 
each can be dipped into melted chocolate 
if preferred. 
Maple Caramels.—Two cupfuls of 
brown sugar, one and one-half cups of 
maple syrup, one-ihalf cup of cream 
and one tablespoonful of butter. Test 
the cooking as for chocolate caramels. 
Pour on buttered shallow pans. Cut 
in squares when cool. Nuts can be 
sprinkled on the greased pan before 
pouring, or stirred into the caramel just 
before moving from the fire. 
Chocolate Fudge.—One-pound cake of 
chocolate, two pounds of granulated 
sugar, one cup of cream or rich milk, 
one teaspoonful of vanilla, a large-sized 
piece of butter, about an eighth of a 
pound, a good-sized pinch of salt. Dis¬ 
solve the chocolate over the tea kettle, 
then mix with it the sugar and cream 
and return to the stove. After it comes 
to a boil, stir in the butter and salt. 
Boil until the mixture forms a very soft 
ball when dropped in ice water. It 
should have just consistency enough not 
to go to pieces when picked up. Beat 
vigorously, stirring in the vanilla when 
the candy has cooled slightly. Pour 
into buttered pans, and when almost 
set mark in squares with a knife. This 
is also an excellent icing for chocolate 
cake. 
Boiled Indian Pudding. 
Wanted, to know how the old-fashioned 
boiled Indian pudding was made. I remem¬ 
ber holding open the bag while mother 
turned the mixture in, and then the bag 
was tied up tight and put in a kettle of 
water to boil. w. j. r. 
The following recipe for old-fashioned 
Indian pudding is given in “The Rural 
Cook Book”: One quart of milk, one 
quart of Indian meal, three eggs, three 
heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar, one tea¬ 
spoonful of salt and one-half pound of 
beef suet chopped into powder. Scald 
the milk and while boiling hot stir in 
the meal and suet with the salt. When 
cold, add the yolks, beaten light with the 
sugar, then the whites. Dip your bag 
in hot water, flour it and fill half full 
with the mixture, as it will swell very 
much. Boil five hours. Eat very hot, 
with butter and sugar. This pudding is 
even better when baked in a well-but¬ 
tered dish for an hour and a half. Bake, 
covered, for an hour and a quarter, then 
brown. 
Another recipe is as follows: One 
cupful of milk, one cupful of cornmeal, 
one egg, one tablespoonful of sugar, one 
tablespoonful of beef suet minced fine 
and strings removed, one-half teaspoon¬ 
ful each of salt and ground cinnamon, 
one-third saltspoonful of soda in the 
milk. (Sour milk may be used, in which 
case take one-half teaspoonful of soda.) 
Heat the milk with the soda; when 
boiling stir in the meal, salt and suet 
and set aside to cool. When cold beat 
in the spice, sugar and whipped eggs 
and stir vigorously. Boil in a well- 
greased brown bread mold for three 
hours. Leave plenty of room for the 
pudding to swell. Serve with hard sauce 
or caramel, maple sugar or molasses. 
The recipe may be doubled and divided 
in two molds for steaming—one to be 
set aside in a cool place and used in a 
week. A cupful of chopped, floured 
raisins, dates, or cooked dried apricots 
may be added. For molasses sauce, use 
one cupful of molasses, one and a half 
tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of lemon juice, a dash each of nut¬ 
meg and cinnamon. Boil molasses, 
spices and butter five minutes, remove 
from fire and add lemon juice. Serve 
very hot. _ 
The Bookshelf. 
The Teaching of Agriculture in 
the High School, by G. A. Bricker. 
This is a discussion of agricultural 
teaching in secondary schools, mode of 
presentation, sequence of operations, or¬ 
ganization of the laboratory and field 
work, etc. It will be found helpful to 
teachers and others interested in this 
work, and includes a copious list of 
book? relating to this line of study. 
Published by the Macmillan Company, 
New York; 202 pages, 29 illustrations; 
price $1 net, postage additional. 
More About Zinc 
There may be something in the zinc 
cure for soot; there often is a bit of 
fact at the bottom of popular beliefs, 
but I have no idea what the real ac¬ 
tion, if any, depends upon. It is pos¬ 
sible that the zinc oxide alternately re 
duces in the presence of hot carbon, 
which of course it easily does, and 
then again oxidizes, thus acting as an 
oxygen carrier and slowly burning away 
the soot. There are many reactions 
of that sort. But never advise your 
readers to treat any appreciable quantity 
of zinc with acid in any enclosed space 
where the least spark or flame could 
get to the resulting mixture of hydogen 
and air. Should that happen the ex¬ 
perimenter would likely “be wafted away 
from this black Alcadema of sorrow” 
in the resulting puff. f. d. c. 
Zinc is used for cleaning flues by 
laying the metal, preferably in sheets 
as may be had by taking the outsides 
of worn-out dry batteries, on a bright 
coal fire. The metal burns with a pale 
flame and the abundant white fumes 
pass up the chimney. This is popularly 
believed to remove the soot, perhaps it 
merely appears to by giving it a coat 
of zinc whitewash. It is at any rate 
harmless. f. c. 
In regard to use of zinc as a flue 
cleaner, the theory is this: Zinc when 
thrown into a fairly hot fire is partly 
or wholly volatilized (depending on 
amount used) forming a light, gray or 
white oxide, which passes up the flue 
and unites mechanically with deposited 
products of combustion, forming a fire¬ 
proof (in sense of being slow-burning 
and flameless) mass. While I do not con¬ 
sider it of much value it costs nothing 
to try, and is highly recommended by 
many. Just throw a few pieces of 
scrap zinc in the fire, say once a week. 
w. b. c. 
No man can safely go abroad that 
does not love to stay at home; -no man 
can safely speak that does not willingly 
hold his tongue; no man can safely gov¬ 
ern that would not cheerfully become 
subject; no man can safely command that 
has not truly learned to obey; and no 
man can safely rejoice that has not the 
testimony of a good conscience.—Thomas 
a Kempis. 
When you write advertisers mention Tub 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee page 16. 
My ‘ ‘Pearl Glass’ * 
lamp chimneys give 
more light than 
common ones, due 
to perfection of 
shape and propor¬ 
tions—right balance 
of drafts. 
They are clear as 
crystal—m a d e of 
tough glass, not 
bottle glass. They make the 
lamp do its best. 
Common chimneys hinder the 
light—the draft is a matter of 
chance. The lamp can't do its 
best. 
My name, Macbeth, is on every “Pearl 
Glass” lamp chimney. Send for my Index. 
Macbeth 
Macbeth-Evans Glass Co. Pittsburgh 
TAPESTRY RUC, 
WOOL, 9 x 12 ft., 
Art Squares—9 x 12 
ft., *3.25 up. Fine 
Smyrna Rugs—9 x, 
12 ft., *6.98. Mat¬ 
ting— from 13c a yard 
up. Oil Cloth — 24c a 
yard up. Linoleum—41c 
a sq. yard and up. Brus¬ 
sels Carpets—40c a yard 
up. 
Raxboroilh Rugs 
$ 7.48 
Just think! Floor 
coverings as fine 
as can be made— 
beautiful, long last- 
_. guaranteed , with 
bright, fadeless colors— 
at regular manufactur¬ 
er’s prices, one-third fo 
one-naif less than retail! 
We buy in big lots. You 
know that saves money. 
Just as big bargains in 
Body Brussels, Axmin- 
aters, Velvets, Ingrains, 
Wiltons, Rag Carpets, 
Carpet Linings, Cocoa 
Mats and Lace Curtains. 
Talk about handsome 
patterns! We have 
them for parlor, 
bedroom, dining 
room and kitchen. 
Get a postal right now, 
and write for our hand¬ 
some illustrated cata¬ 
logue. It tells all about 
each article and gives 
you'the exact low price. 
Don’t put off writing! 
You won't have to buy 
unless you want to, but 
by all means send for 
the catalogue, and sea 
the low prices. 
ROXBOROUGH RUG CO., Dept. 377 , Philadelphia, Pa. 
Nature would cover them with 
shells, like nuts, protecting from 
moisture, mildew, dirt and insects. ^ 
Just so are Uneeda Biscuit protected by the 
moisture-proof, dust-proof package. It keeps 
them oven-fresh and crisp, retaining all their 
flavor and goodness till used. n 
Think it over and you will always 
buy the protected kind 
Uneeda 
Biscuit 
Never Sold 
in Bulk 
In the moisuire-praof 
package 
NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY 
