464 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
dishes taste alike are dyspepsia-breeding as well as 
appetite-killing ; and that food for the well is bet¬ 
ter than physician for the sick. 
NEW FASHIONS FOR WOMEN. 
They say that our fashions for feminine garments 
have long sprung from a very impure source, hence 
they have been senseless and demoralizing in every 
way. The fast women of France have led us long 
enough, and a new era has already begun. Few 
women, comparatively, have any idea of the ex¬ 
cellent work for humanity that the women’s clubs 
are doing. They seem to have the real welfare of 
women at heart, and have entered earnestly upon a 
practical work of the utmost importance—dress- 
reform! In Boston and iu New York, and in some 
other cities East and West, the women of the best 
inteHeetual culture and social standing, authors, 
artists, physicians, teachers, lecturers, and wives 
of eminent men, have set to work to invent the 
most healthful and comfortable articles of dress 
for women, and to secure their adoption. The 
ignorance of women generally, of the first prin¬ 
ciples of healthy living, stands chiefly in the way ; 
so lectures on physiology, with especial reference 
to dress, are to be given free to women and to 
school-girls. By and by, we are to have tracts upon 
the subject scattered through the country. The 
Dress Committee of the New England Women’s 
Club seek to make the changes in woman’s dress 
as unobtrusive as possible. They begin with the 
under-garments. Those of the old style, which 
they utterly condemn, are the chemise and the 
corset. Those they entirely abandon. The prin¬ 
ciples which they attempt to carry out are these— 
perfectly free action for the vital organs, thus 
abolishing all tight-fitting waists and all tight 
bands around the waist; an equalizing of the heat 
of garments over the entire body, thus lessening 
the amount of cloth worn over the lower part of 
the body, and increasing it upon legs and arms ; a 
reduction of the weight of the clothing by making 
skirts as few and light as possible ; the supporting 
of all clothing from the shoulders, by attaching 
skirts to waists or suspenders. 
The garments already devised, which embody 
these principles, are the Chemiloon and the Gabri- 
elle underskirt. The first is made of flannel or 
cotton, a long-sleeved waist and drawers in one, 
covering the person from waist to ankles. Outer 
drawers may be buttoned to these. The stockings 
drawn over the long drawers fitting at the ankle, are 
fastened with safety pins or with buttons on the 
drawers. No garters are allowed, because these hin¬ 
der the circulation of the blood. The Gabrielle un¬ 
derskirt is made of white cotton usually, gored from 
shoulder to hem, after the plain gabrielle pattern 
rather loosely fitting, and sufficiently short and 
scant. The outer skirts button upon it, so arranged 
that one band does not lie over another. If a hoop 
is worn, (and this is recommended, as it keeps the 
folds of the skirts from clogging the limbs in walk¬ 
ing, and holds the tops of the other skirts so as to 
prevent undue heating of the pelvis and spine) there 
should be a stout button hole in the middle of the 
back of the hoop-band, to fasten upon a strong but¬ 
ton on the back seam of the underskirt waist. On 
each side of this button-hole place the buttons for 
holding common suspenders, placing the front 
buttons just over the firm side terminations of the 
upper hoops. This brings the suspenders back 
under the the arms, so that they do not interfere 
with the bust. The balmoral may rest upon this 
hoop, with a binding made in semicircular shape, 
so as to lie upon the skeleton below its binding. 
For outer dress the plain gabrielle pattern is 
recommended, not too full in the skirt, and lightly 
trimmed if trimmed at all. This for the house 
dress; and an added polonaise or overskirt and 
short sack for the street. 
Thus do the educated American women advise 
us to dress, and their recommendations are worthy 
of good heed. In cold weather more than one 
pair of chemiloons at a time is advised, one per¬ 
haps of flannel and one of cotton, or two of wool 
if more comfortable. All hail the »liemiloon ! say 
I, and I suppose that I am not the only obscure 
woman, who quietly discarded one of the garments, 
utterly condemmed by the N. E. Woman’s Club 
long ago, for long-sleeved and high-necked shirts, 
and who never has worn the other instrument of 
torture. 
WARMED-OVER POTATOES 
Because only a few potatoes were left from 
dinner, that is no reason why they should be thrown 
in the cow’s pail. Peel them if not done already, 
and bake them over in the oven. Or slice them 
and warm them with bread—which is even better 
than potatoes warmed alone. This is the way. 
Put bread crumbs soaking in milk upon the stove. 
When hot add the sliced or chopped potatoes with 
salt, and stir all well together till thoroughly 
heated or cooked. Then season as you wish with 
a little butter or cream. 
THICKENING. 
It makes a deal of difference with your cooking, 
how you stir up sauce thickening for gravy or pud¬ 
ding. You use flour or starch of some kind, mixed 
with water or milk. Wet the flour with very 
little water or milk, and beat thoroughly together 
till every lump disappears, then thin with more 
water or milk and beat well again. Let the milk or 
whatever is to be thickened, be actually boiling, 
and stir as fast as possible while you slowly add 
the thickening, beating rapidly for two or three 
minutes. This makes the gravy or custard wonder¬ 
fully light and foamy, especially if there are beaten 
eggs in the compound. If you try to mix a little 
flour with a good deal of water, you will have a 
long hard siege in getting out the lumps. Salt 
should be added before the thickening goes in. 
The Use of Drt Yeast. —Some excellent kinds 
of dry yeast may be purchased at our groceries. I 
6aid once that these cakes were so slow in rising if 
mixed at once with the sponge that they were 
chiefly useful for raising new yeast. Not long 
afterwards I found that this slowness to rise (or to 
start to rise) gave them great value for summer 
use, when it seemed desirable, as it usually does, 
to do the baking early in the morning. Bakers’ 
yeast, or any kind of quick, soft yeast, is so apt to 
sour before morning on a hot summer night, that 
a slower kind of yeast is often preferable. I have 
found it perfectly safe to mix my bread sponge be¬ 
fore dark in summer, stirring in the yeast-cake as 
soon as it was soaked soft in a little warm water, 
and have never had bread mixed with this yeast 
become sour during the night or while waiting for 
me in the morning. I am confident that I know 
sour dough when I smell it or taste it, as many 
house-keepers certainly do not. Else why do they 
make sour bread week after week, year in and year 
out ? Or why do they persist in regularly putting 
in soda as a necessary step iu the process of 
bread-making? 
Those who make dry yeast for themselves should 
be very careful not to let it get sour while drying. 
It should be dried rapidly in a good, cool, drying- 
wind. It is unsafe to dry it in the sunshine or by 
the stove, lest it may sour from excess of heat. It 
should be mixed with a good deal of corn-meal, 
and then made into small thin cakes, or—better 
still, I think—dropped in small crumbs upon a 
board to dry. Any kind of good, lively, soft yeast 
may be mixed with meal and make dry yeast. 
In winter it is best to put the dry yeast, soaked in 
warm water, rising in a bowl of flour and warm 
water batter three hours before setting the sponge. 
Homes and How to Make Them. 
The above is the attractive title of a work by E. 
C. Gardener, and published in elegant form by J. 
B. Osgood & Co. This is not, strictly speaking, an 
architectural work, though it has much to say about 
architecture ; it is a series of letters from persons 
about to build houses of their own, to their friend, 
who is an architect, and the architect’s replies. 
The correspondence is bright and pointed, and on 
the one side shows the difficulties and doubts be¬ 
setting the intending builder, and on the other the 
removal of these troubles by advice and sugges¬ 
tions. The book is characterized by great common 
sense, and if one contemplates building a new, or 
remodeling an old house, the perusal of this work 
will afford many useful hints, and set the thoughts 
of the reader in the right direction. An extract or 
two from the book will give an idea of its style, 
and perhaps be of use in themselves. The author 
pleads for 
ABUNDANT SUNSHINE ; 
for plenty of windows in.the first place, and then 
their freedom from obstruction by blinds and shut¬ 
ters. We have been long in doubt if carpets have 
not, on the whole, done quite as much harm as 
good. A few years ago we visited a house, the lady 
of which had long been noted for the number and 
beauty of her window plants; on the occasion re¬ 
ferred to, after asking about the rest of the house¬ 
hold, we inquired as to the plants ; the lady apolo¬ 
getically told us that a few months ago they had 
newly carpeted theirrooms, and not wishing to fade 
the carpets by the light necessary for the plants, 
these were given up. Here, instead of a cheerful 
parlor, with its windows filled with plants, the nat¬ 
ural flowers were banished, and shutters closed, all 
that the miserable caricatures of flowers in a car¬ 
pet might not lose any of their unnatural bright¬ 
ness. Our author pleads for sunlight, not for 
plants, but for the comfort and well-being of the 
household. He says: “Let your doors and win¬ 
dows be wide, and your roof be high. A wide, door 
is far more convenient than a narrow one, usually 
much better in appearance ; and for the windows— 
when shall we learn the unspeakable worth of the 
bountiful light of heaven? Does Mrs. John com¬ 
plain that the sunlight will fade her carpets ? Let 
them fade, and know of a truth that all the colors 
of all the carpets of all the looms that ever 
throbbed, are not worth to the civilized mortals 
who tread the dust-containing fabrics, one single 
hour of unobstructed sunshine. Is it that our 
deeds are evil that we seem to love darkness rather 
than light • or is it through our ignorant exclusion 
of this glorious gift 1 offspring of heaven first 
born,’ that we are left to wander in so many dark¬ 
some ways ? Be generous did I say ? rather try to 
be just to yourself.”—In his advice to build the 
roof high, the author has iu mind that which mod¬ 
em architecture ignores. To our notion the chil¬ 
dren of the present day are deprived of one of 
their choicest rights. How can a child ever look 
back with pleasure upon its early home if it had no 
garret? Writers lament that there are no children 
nowadays, that there is no intermediate state be¬ 
tween infancy and young ladies and gentlemen. 
An evolutionist would, we think, have little diffi¬ 
culty in tracing this precocity to 
HOUSES WITHOUT GARRETS. 
Here is what the author of “ Homes and how to 
make them,” says: “You will lose too, under the 
fiat roof, the roomy garret of the old high-roofed 
houses. These have for me a wonderful fascina¬ 
tion. Whether the rain upon the shingles, the 
mingled fragrance of seeds and drying herbs, the 
surprising bigness of the chimney, the mysteries 
hidden in the worm-eaten chests, the almost saint¬ 
ly charm of long-unused spinning-wheels, crumb¬ 
ling mementoes of the patient industry of former 
generations, or the shine of the stars through the 
chinks iu the shrunken boards, the old garret and 
all its associations, are among the ‘long, long 
thoughts. ’ I sometimes doubt whether the modem 
conveniences we are so fond of proclaiming, are 
really an equivalent to the rising generation for 
this happiest of play-rooms, this store-house of 
heir-looms, this silent but potent tie that binds us 
to the life, the labor, and the love of the past. Let 
there be light too in this upper story. Spinning 
spiders and stinging wasps are not half so terrible 
to the children who will make a half-way paradise 
of the garret, as the darkness that is covered by an 
unlighted roof.”—While we have found much to 
commend in this work, we must express our sur¬ 
prise that the author, who is so generally accurate 
in treating of ventilation, should speak of carbon¬ 
ic-acid as carbon. This he does more than once, 
and should hasten to rectify. 
