672 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
ANGELS. 
In the old days God sent Ilis angels oft 
To men in thrashing floors, to women 
pressed 
With daily task; they came to tent and 
croft, 
And whispered words of blessing and of 
rest. 
Not mine to guess what shapes those angels 
wore 
Nor tell what voice they spoke, nor with 
what grace 
They brought the dear love down that 
evermore 
Makes lowliest souls its best abiding 
place. 
But in these days I know my angels well; 
They brush my garments on the com¬ 
mon way, 
They take my hand and very softly tell 
Some bit of comfort for my weary day. 
And, though their angels’ names I do not 
ken, 
Though in their faces human love I read, 
They are God-given to this world of men, 
God sent to bless it in its hour of need. 
Child, mother, wife, brave hearts that take 
The rough and bitter cross, and help us 
bear 
Its heavy weight when strength is like to 
break— 
God bless you all, our angels unaware! 
—Margaret E. Sangster. 
* 
i 
Some pretty gingham dresses shown 
by one New York shop were accom¬ 
panied by hand bags of the same ging¬ 
ham, made up with metal frames. These 
bags are made to order for 50 cents. 
'All the frame bags are flat. Some hand¬ 
some bags were of white moire in flat 
envelope shape, edged with a flat bind 
of white silk braid, and finished with 
white cord and tassels. 
* 
Strawberry turnovers are simple, but 
good. Make a rich biscuit dough, roll 
about one-third of an inch thick, and 
cut into rounds. Mark into halves; on 
one half put as many sweetened berries 
as the dough will hold, fold over the 
other half, moisten the edges, and 
pinch together. Brush the turnover 
with melted butter, and bake; serve 
with sweetened or whipped cream. It 
makes a pleasant change from short¬ 
cake. 
* 
Anyone who has traveled on the New 
York Subway during the rush hours 
knows how great the jam is on the up¬ 
town platforms which are reached by 
elevators. The New York Sun says that 
while the crowd was slowly pushing 
along the 168th street Subway station 
the other day on its way to a big game 
a man suddenly began excitedly feeling 
his coat front, the coats of those near 
him and looking at as much of the 
ground as was visible, murmuring 
“That’s very strange! I had them on 
my nose a minute ago—very strange!” 
A while later when progress had been 
gradually made to the elevator a girl 
was punctuating her conversation with 
emphatic nods and thereby tickling the 
face of a man in the back of her with • 
her gracefully angled plumes when he 
touched her upon the shoulder. “Par¬ 
don me,” said he, “but do you know 
that you have a pair of eyeglasses in 
your feathers?” It took about a minute 
to notify the eyeglassless man of the 
discovery. 
* 
A friend who has a large glass 
aquarium globe wondered whether it 
was not possible to grow water lilies 
in it, as a decoration for porch or door- 
yard. We could not recommend this, 
though a tub sunken in the ground will 
afford a congenial home for choice 
water lilies. The aquarium globe, how¬ 
ever, is desirable for the water hyacinth, 
Eichhornia speciosa, a very odd and 
beautiful plant which floats on the sur¬ 
face of the water, buoyed up by its in¬ 
flated bladder-like petioles. Its bloom 
is a showy spike of pale lavender and 
the plant itself is a brilliant lettuce 
green, attractive at all stages. Where 
the water is shallow it sends roots 
down into the mud, but grown in an 
aquarium seems quite happy without 
any soil, the glass displaying the thread¬ 
like roots below, as well as the tender 
green above. This water hyacinth is 
the “million-dollar weed” of the news¬ 
papers, its persistent growth blocking 
Florida rivers, and compelling Govern¬ 
ment appropriations to thin it out, be¬ 
cause of the obstruction to navigation. 
It is a native of Brazil, which, like 
many other plant immigrants, tends to 
become a greater nuisance abroad than 
at home. Of course frost prevents any 
possibility of its becoming a nuisance 
at the North, and it has given us much 
pleasure as an aquarium plant. 
* 
According to James Forbes, secretary 
of the National Association for the 
Prevention of Mendicancy, this city 
gives from $30,000 to $40,000 a day to 
street beggars, practically all of whom 
are undeserving. According to Mr. 
Forbes there are from 7,000 to 8,000 
beggars in the city, whose pickings aver¬ 
age $5 to $6 a day. The New York 
police are now extremely lenient to beg¬ 
gars, and they are rarely interfered 
with. Among them are a great many 
strong, husky men, who often become 
threatening if their demands are not 
complied with. There is so much real 
need in New York that it is saddening 
to think of the money thrown away 
upon professional beggars, who fear 
nothing so much as honest work. If 
charitable people would make an in¬ 
variable rule to deny the demand of any 
street beggar, and to give through such 
bodies as the Association for Improving 
the Condition of the Poor, St. Vincent 
de Paul Society, or Charity Organiza¬ 
tion Society, they could feel sure they 
relieved real need, instead of support¬ 
ing the vicious in idleness. It is true 
that a wicked man feels hunger and 
cold quite as much as a good one, but 
that is no reason why our benefaction 
should go to one who begs insistently 
because he will not work, while honest 
poverty and suffering languishes be¬ 
yond our sight. 
Inexpensive Floor Coverings. 
Cream Chinese matting at 25 cents a 
yard is worth the money for a sleeping 
room, protected here and there by small 
rugs or pieces of carpeting. Matting at 
15 cents a yard will give good service 
and stand turning, but after having had 
personal experience with various grades 
of matting in both dining and sleeping 
rooms, the suggestion is made to the 
housewife who desires something to 
“tide over,” to see if her home merchant 
carries a floor covering now used in cot¬ 
tages, called Dundee Brussels. This 
carpeting is double-faced, one side with 
designs in imitation of Brussels carpet¬ 
ing, and the other of matting, one yard 
wide at 30 cents a yard. The colors are 
said to be fast, and if well padded un¬ 
derneath with newspapers, and well laid, 
would give a smooth surface to care for, 
and without doubt, prove worth the 
money. 
In the way of homemade rugs, they 
take rags, time and patience. The old- 
fashioned round braided rug about 30 
inches in diameter, made of rags cut 
two inches wide, with three colors 
braided together, is the best looking 
homemade rug of rags yet observed. 
Possibly a braided rug could be started 
to form a sexagon (six-sided) instead 
of the usual circular form, then several 
could be joined together, forming a large 
rug. But alas, it would be a long, hard 
task to make, and hard to beat such a 
braided rug, yet it would make a durable 
and inexpensive floor covering or center 
piece. MEDORA CORBETT. 
The Rural Patterns. 
When ordering pat tents always give 
number of patterns and measurements 
desired. 
Coats that give straight lines are 
essentially smart this season. Here is a 
model that produces the effect that is 
distinctive and attractive and at the 
same time quite simple. The fact that 
the side portions and sleeves are cut in 
one renders fit an easy matter. The 
big revers and collar are smart and 
7020 Coat with Side Body Portions 
and Sleeves in One, 34 to 42 bust. 
effective and the model will be found a 
good one both for the suit and for the 
separate coat. If a simple effect is 
wanted, revers and trimming could be 
of contrasting linen or of eyelet em¬ 
broidery of any thing similar. The coat 
is made with fronts and back and with 
side portions that are cut in one with 
the sleeves. It is turned back to form 
the revers and the sleeves are finished 
with rolled over and flaring cuffs. For 
a woman of medium size will be re¬ 
quired 4 yards of material 27, 2)4 yards 
36 or 44 inches wide, with 3)4 yards of 
lace banding and )4 yard of contrasting 
material 27 inches wide to trim as illus¬ 
trated. The pattern, No. 7020, is cut in 
sizes for a 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42 inch bust 
measure; price 10 cents. 
The smaller pictures include 7006, 
house jacket, small, 34 or 36; medium, 
38 or 40; large, 42 or 44. 7015, bathing 
suit, with V-shaped neck and sailor 
collar or high neck and round collar, 
June 10, 
with or without bloomers; 34 to 44 bust. 
6962, bolero jacket, 34 to 42 bust. 6906, 
circular walking skirt, in one or two 
pieces, 22 to 30 waist. 6864, four-gored 
walking skirt, 22 to 30 waist. 7032, 
blouse for misses and small women, 14 , 
16 and 18 years; price of each 10 cents. 
My Unsightly Garden. 
Of course everything about a garden 
should be neatness and order; trim bor¬ 
ders, well-raked gravel walks, tidy beds, 
and stakes and supports all well set and 
inconspicuous. I try to come as near 
this ideal as I can in my little garden, 
but out in the back yard, where poultry 
and weeds are forever trying to make 
desolation, is an overflow plantation 
from which I pick many a bunch of 
flowers I should not have but for this 
strife against the general ugliness. 
Suppose I am resetting my hardy 
Phlox. I turn out a clump four times 
as large as it is wise to replant. I slice 
it into quarters with a strong knife. 
There is room for but half of it in the 
hardy border, and it is too pretty to 
throw away. But if I set it anywhere 
not protected by netting will not the 
hens run over it, and take dust baths 
under it, and reduce it to nothingness 
in about a week? But the soil looks so 
soft and rich there next the rhubarb, 
and flowers are so much prettier than 
the weeds that are sure to grow there. 
And I have a scheme. I plant my Phlox 
and also Iris and daffodils and paeonies 
and cornflowers, whatever things there 
are to throw away, uprooting dock and 
catnip and mallow, perhaps, to give 
them place. Then I turn a bottomless 
box or pail over each, pressing it well 
down. Inside such a screen a sturdy 
perennial will find coolness and protec¬ 
tion for its roots, and will soon be look¬ 
ing out above six or eight inches of 
wood or tin, and preparing to smile in 
blossoming serenity above the heads of 
their enemies in feathers. As a flower 
bed it is not pretty, but it is beautiful 
when compared with burdock and plan¬ 
tain, and you can pick every blossom 
without a qualm of regret, and put them 
in cut-glass vases on the parlor table 
and forget where they grew. The idea 
is, of course, beneath the needs of those 
who keep all poultry properly yarded, 
but when the busy farmer’s wife must 
be cook and housemaid, seamstress and 
nursemaid, and forty things beside, she 
knows the easing of her poultry raising 
when fowls roam at large. Yet what; 
barren dooryards one sees in driving 
about the country! Better a few flow¬ 
ers grown after my inelegant plan than 
nothing but chicken coops and stones 
and sand. pattie eyman. 
The Best From Southern Tables. 
Not all of the many good dishes 
served on southern tables are adaptable 
to our colder climate, owing to the 
lack of many of the vegetables and con¬ 
diments approved by them, and which 
lend to Creole cookery the distinctly 
southern touch. Neither would all be 
found palatable by the more conserva¬ 
tive northern palate, which is more 
chary in its use of condiments and 
sauces. However, there are certain of 
the viands favored of southern tables 
which would be equally delicious in any 
climate, and which are not difficult of 
adaptation for the northern table. The 
recipes which follow I obtained while 
on a visit South, and have since en¬ 
joyed them on my own table, with the 
few changes and omissions made neces¬ 
sary by the difference in climate. 
Gumbo is a dish that would be equally 
delicious under any other name, and 
usually contains okra, a vegetable which 
is not always either obtainable or de¬ 
sirable. To make it cut in small pieces 
one medium size chicken (or two 
pounds beef or veal may be used in¬ 
stead), one-half pound lean pork or 
