<911. 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
477 
Look for the Victor dog 1 
on every ^ .. m, every ■ 
Victor ^ Victor-Victrola 
^fvem' 
Victor J 
| $25 'I 
Other styles 
$10 to $100 
and on every 
Victor Record 
V icfcor- Victrola X* $75 
Victor-Victrola XI, $100 
The Victor tone stands today without an equal in the world 
of music. Such sweetness and richness of tone were never known 
before in any musical instrument, and can be secured now only 
through the combined use of the Victor and Victor Records. 
-L _J i That’s why the world’s greatest art- 
r -• J -~~ ists make records only for the Victor. ^ v~ 
That’s why you should be sure to jL. . 
get the Victor and Victor Records— g jf" PTTI ^ 
why it is important to look for the #1 J |U I 
famous Victor trademark. Jj i! ji f 
Go today to any Victor dealer’s and he will g p jj| 
gladly play any Yictor music you want to hear. I if | j 
Make your own selections from the Victor catalog 1 ‘ r — — : 
I the dealer will give you, or write us for a copy. » j 
©3> I And be sure to hear | 
[ the Victor-Victrola | ^ 
Victor Talking Machine Co. I 
/f 20th and Cooper Sts., Camden, N. J. 1 
1 Berliner Gramophone Co.. Montreal, Canadian Distributors B 
.M To gel best results, use only M j 
Victor Needles on Victor Records m~ W ------ - 
Victor - Victrola 
Victor-Victrola X VJ, $200 \Janrf $2SQ 
A His Masters Voice / 
Charity Sweetheart’s Letter. 
The Spring sunshine stirs one’s 
blood, and I am not content to sit in 
the house and sew. There is a new charm 
in Nature, and new delights in her un¬ 
folding of the tender leaves. But what 
is called sometimes “Spring fever” 
comes too, a feeling of tiredness, a lack 
of the vigor that keeps one going in the 
cool, bracing weather, and a failure of 
appetite. Everything tastes alike, and 
one wearies of the same old pudding and 
revolts at a “stew.” So when I came in 
the other day from clearing up the yard 
a bit, and found there was no fresh meat 
in the house, I determined to make some 
macaroni croquettes, which I had seen 
recommended, and they were certainly 
very appetizing. The first thing was to 
melt two tablespoonfuls of butter and 
stir in flour, about three or four spoon¬ 
fuls, then add a cup of hot milk and 
cook till rather thick, adding salt and 
pepper and two tablespoonfuls of 
grated cheese. Take from the fire and 
stir in the beaten yolks of four eggs 
and a cupful of cold boiled macaroni 
cut into very small pieces. I turned it 
out to cool, then cut into croquettes and 
dipped in beaten egg, fried them in hot 
fat, and we add enjoyed the change, 
though “Minty” said, “Why, Charity, 
they took more time and work than fry¬ 
ing pork, but they’re very nice.” And 
Brother laughed and said, “You women 
are always wanting to get something 
new.” 
A neighbor came in to supper and we 
had some stewed prunes that she said 
did not taste like hers, and I told her 
that we simmered them for 12 hours on 
the back of the stove with a little granu¬ 
lated sugar added, to bring out the 
flavor. We keep the lid on the saucepan, 
but never let them boil, and sliced lemon 
is an improvement. Aunt Agnes Draper 
came over the other day; she is one of 
those helpful old souls that everybody 
calls “Auntie,” and we always enjoy one 
of her visits. While we were washing 
the dishes a small boy came in, asking 
for a little milk, and when he was gone 
she said: 
“I was real glad you didn’t skim it. 
Charity; so many people only give away 
the blue skim-milk of human kindness.” 
1 laughed and said I didn’t think about 
it. 
“No,” she said, “I know you didn’t. 
You’re not built that way, neither was 
your mother before you. She never 
spoiled a favor by being ungracious 
about it.” 
I was pleased to have Mother’s good¬ 
ness remembered by her old friends; it 
seemed to do me good, and I thought 
one might take the lesson to heart, for in 
our kindness toward each other, there is 
often a good deal of “skimming” done, 
a hint or manner that takes the cream 
from a kindly deed. 
The burdens of the housekeeper in¬ 
crease with the lengthening days, as 
Spring work looms up in the near dis¬ 
tance, but I have determined not to be 
overwhelmed, and to take one day at a 
time, not to crowd two days into one. 
If we only have health, we can vary 
the tasks before us, and plan what is 
best, instead of plodding along with our 
heads down. “Minty” never cared about 
gardening so I have made a bargain 
with her to get the breakfast and dinner 
and let me work outside, for I enjoy 
clearing up, and sowing seeds. One 
thing that I learned in The R. N.-Y. is 
to have a fair trial this season, and that 
is when sowing the first green peas to 
put a hill of sweet corn every few feet 
in the row. If no cold weather comes to 
check its growth it will be very early 
and can have the ground when the peas 
are done, and if cold does come it can 
be resown if nipped. There is quite a 
demand for green peas shelled, at the 
hotels, some people having a prejudice 
against the canned goods, and it is my 
'ntention to put in an eighth of an acre 
of them, and if they do well, I can do 
the shelling in the afternoons instead of . 
embroidery. It is clean, tidy work, and 
1 can sit out of doors under the trees, 
and feel that I am not idle. But this is 
<tll in the future; how thankful we 
should be for the comfort we find in an¬ 
ticipation, though Brother says I am 
often given to counting my chickens “be¬ 
fore they are hatched.” 
And speaking of chickens reminds me 
that I am quite envious of the success 
with poultry that I read about in The 
R. N.-Y. the past Winter, for our hens 
have never done so badly. They are 
the same breed, are not over-crowded, 
kept in the same house, fed the same 
food as other Winters, but we have had 
very few eggs, while some of our neigh¬ 
bors who give them less care, have had 
eggs for market. I do not like to give 
up a problem and am always anxious to 
know wherein I fail, but cannot think of 
anything except that a strange ill-tem¬ 
pered boy fed them while Brother was 
away in early Winter. But they laugh 
at me when I suggest such a reason for 
the falling off in eggs, yet I have read 
that a change of attendant, if the later 
one is rough and surly, will sometimes 
stop the supply. Now they are laying 
well, and using their freedom to investi¬ 
gate the garden, where I am sure they 
do good at this season of the year, 
when they enjoy a change of food and 
insect life is astir in the soil. Oh, the 
joy of the early Spring days! All nature 
is being renewed, and as I hear in my 
consciousness the call of the garden, 
leading to fresh endeavor, all weariness 
leaves me and I am ready to be 
“Up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate.” 
CHARITY SWEETHEART. 
A Word For the Rag Carpet. 
A great many people think a rag 
carpet not worth bothering with. It is 
all a matter of skill in the making, 
whether “a thing of beauty” or just a 
shabby floor covering. I made my first 
rag carpet 30 years ago. It was a stripe, 
but I was too economical to use much 
coloring, and it never could be called 
handsome, though it was used on our 
dining room for 10 years, and then 
ripped and washed, doing duty in the 
kitchen for three years more, washing 
and turning until it was worn out. My 
next carpet was a hit or miss, and it 
was a miss. As before I used very little 
coloring, and as most of the rags were 
faded there was no contrast. I used it 
for a few years and then gave it away 
and bought an ingrain. I wanted no 
more rag carpets. Last Summer the 
dining room floor again needed covering 
and there was very little money to spare 
at that time to buy another carpet. 
Looking over the accumulation of old 
clothes I saw there was plenty of ma¬ 
terial for a carpet, and I decided to 
make a rug for the center of the room, 
that and a strip to put in front of the 
bed in the little room off it would take 
20 yards. I cut 10 pounds of black rags, 
mostly men’s working shirts and my 
black calico dresses. I would need 30 
pounds of rags for that amount of car¬ 
pet. The other 20 pounds were white 
and light faded pieces; these I colored 
red, green and yellow, eight pounds of 
red and six pounds each of green and a 
lemon yellow. I used an old tin dishpan 
to color in, and used two packages of 
each color. I put in as many rags as I 
could stir and cover, and when they 
were done put some more rags in the 
same dye and kept it boiling until it was 
pretty well evaporated. The second 
batch was a lighter shade but very 
pretty. This carpet is a hit or miss. I 
tore the pieces as large as possible, and 
all small ones were caught together with 
a few stitches. When they were all 
dyed I weighed them out in four dif¬ 
ferent piles of each color, then mixed 
each quarter well, and then began to 
sew. I sewed them on the machine, had 
the ends of all rags square, and lap 
about a quarter of an inch. 
Do not have any ends sticking up, or 
your carpet will look rough. Don’t use 
seams or any dirty rags, and don’t tear 
them too coarse. A carpet is nicer made 
of all cotton rags. I have kept my 
woolen pieces for rugs. If you mix 
them, the woolen ones wear out much 
sooner and make a carpet look bad. I 
like either yellow or white warp; it 
makes a carpet look bright and clean. 
A pound of warp to every three yards 
is the rule. I painted the bedroom 
floor yellow, two coats; it is onlv 10x12, 
and just room for a bed and washstand 
with a strip of carpet between, and so 
easy to keep clean. The dining room 
has a strip of three feet painted all 
around the wall, and my new rug in the 
middle, and is the admiration of all who 
see it. When I got through my color¬ 
ing I found so many pieces of faded 
ginghams and light calicoes that were 
strong and had taken the dye so well 
that it seemed a pity to use them for 
carpet rags. I had an old quilt that I 
wanted to cover. I tore these pieces up 
into six-inch strips and joined them with 
other pieces of new goods that I had, 
and they made me a new comforter for 
almost nothing. mrs. kate buchan. 
Rog. U. S. Pat. Off. 
Macbeth “ Pearl 
Glass” lamp-chim¬ 
neys bring the right 
balance of draft to 
the llame, and let 
die light shine with-, 
out hindrance. 
Common chim¬ 
neys give a dull 
light. They hinder 
the light because the proportions 
are wrong and the glass is misty. 
Get my Index and you will know just what 
lamp-chimney to get. I make one for every 
style and size of burner. Address, 
Macbeth 
Macbeth-Evans Glass Co. Pittsburgh 
Chicago: Philadelphia: 
178 East Lake Street 42 South Eighth StreeJ 
\ New York: 19 West 30th Street 
44 Bushels to the Acre 
is a heavy yield, but that's what John Kennedy of 
Edmonton, Alberto, Western Canada, got from 
40 acres of Spring Wheat in 1910. Reports 
from other districts in that 
I irovince showed other excel- 
ent results—such as 4,000 bush¬ 
els of wheat from 120 acres, or 
33)6 bushois per acre. 26.80 and 
40 bushel yields were numerous. 
As high as 132 bushels of oats to 
the aero were threshed from 
Alberta fields. 
THE SILVER CUP 
at tho recent Spokano Fair was 
awarded to tho Alberta Government 
for its exhibit of grains, grasses and vege¬ 
tables, Reports of excellent yields for 1910 
wine also from Saskatchewan and Manitoba 
in Western Canada. 
Free Homesteads of 100 acres, 
and adjoining pre-emptions of 160 
acres (at $3 per acre), are to he had 
in the choicest districts. 
Schools convenient, climate ex¬ 
cellent, soil of the very best, rail¬ 
ways close athnnd, building! timber 
cheap, fuel easy to get anti reason¬ 
able In price, water easily procured, 
mixed farming a success. 
Write as to bost place for settlement, set¬ 
tlors'low railway rates, pamphlet "hast Best 
West" and other information, to Sapt. of Im- 
mig., Ottawa, Can., or to Can. Gov't Act. (04) 
Supt. of Immigration, Ottawa, Canada, or 
Canadian Government Agent, SO Syracuse 
Savings Bank Bldg., Syracuse. N V. 
