106 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
A riLGRIM'S PRAYER. 
Lord, make me gentle. Since the ways, 
Of earth are filled with needless strife. 
Let me be gentle all the days 
Of this, my life! 
Let me go softly, so my feet, 
Noiseless, their mission may fulfill— 
A tranquil farer in the street 
And on the hill. 
Let me speak low, that they who hear 
May listen, glad of tender tone, 
And they who answer, drawing near, 
May calm their own. . . . 
Lord, though a tumult of distress 
And noise and clamoring be rife, 
Let me move down with gentleness 
My path of life! 
—Nancy Byrd Turner in Churchman. 
* 
As a change in cereals, boil rice in 
skimmilk and serve without draining; 
cook in a double boiler to avoid burn¬ 
ing. This is nice with brown sugar, if 
one likes it sweetened. It is a good 
way to use broken rice, which some 
dealers sell at a considerable reduction 
in price. 
* 
A correspondent of the New York 
Tribune describes an ingenious way of 
gathering up fine splinters of glass. 
Take a sheet of absorbent cotton, dam¬ 
pen it and press over the place where 
the glass splinters are; they will all 
cling to it. This is especially recom¬ 
mended when a glass slips from one’s 
fingers into a set wash basin, where it 
is very hard to remove the splinters; 
by pressing the damp cotton all over the 
inside of the basin the splinters are en¬ 
tirely removed. 
* 
In the last issue of the old year we 
printed at the head of this column a 
New Year’s poem by Mary Louisa Chit¬ 
wood. We knew nothing of this author; 
indeed, we had never seen the name 
attached to any other work, but some 
years ago we met with this little poem, 
and filed it away because of its beauti¬ 
ful sentiment and graceful diction. Now 
comes Dr. H. W. Wiley of pure food 
fame to tell us that Mary Louisa Chit¬ 
wood was one of the early poets of In¬ 
diana, and that he knew some of her 
family many years ago, back in Jeffer¬ 
son County. Indiana has a famous list 
of poets and authors, and we are glad 
to include Mary Louisa Chitwood 
among them. 
* 
One of the witnesses before the. New 
York Factory Commission recently was 
a manufacturer of crocheted and knitted 
goods who gave out work to be done at 
home. He paid 50 cents a dozen for 
crocheting bedroom slippers, and stated 
that much of the work was done by 
well-to-do women, who liked to do it 
for the little pin money it brought. Here 
we have women with abundant food, 
clothing and shelter lowering wages by 
competition with those who do the 
work through bare necessity. In a 
nearby city a woman’s exchange felt 
obliged to give up the sale of culinary 
products because so many well-to-do 
women crowded in with cakes, pre¬ 
serves, etc., that women who were try¬ 
ing to earn a living by such cooking 
had no chance. A young school teacher 
with an excellent salary, whose father 
has a good income, spoke with pleasure 
of her delightful vacation in a camp for 
self-supporting girls, where she only 
had to pay $3 a week for board—she 
said she had to make arrangements 
long in advance, because there was al¬ 
ways an extensive waiting list. So the 
young teacher, who could afford travel 
and pleasure, spent the two weeks al¬ 
lowed by the rules very frugally, gain¬ 
ing health and strength in the camp, 
while some poor girl on inadequate 
wages pined at the bottom of the wait¬ 
ing list. What shall we say of the 
blunted sensibilities, the warped ideas 
THE RURAE 
of duty to one's neighbor shown by 
these instances? The young school 
teacher went on to travel for the re¬ 
mainder of her vacation, feeling, no 
doubt, rather proud of the frugal way 
in which she had enjoyed a pleasant 
change, without any thought of some 
poor saleswoman or factory girl whose 
place she had taken; the women of 
means who compete in domestic handi¬ 
crafts with the submerged worker never 
realize the extra pressure they put upon 
their toiling sister. Is it not time to 
remember that we are “every one mem¬ 
bers one of another,” and responsible, 
each and all, for our duty to our neigh¬ 
bor, as defined in the parable of the 
good Samaritan? 
Warning Against Naphtha Soap. 
Don’t allow careless advisers to tell 
how to make naphtha soap, as these 
formulas are impractical and dangerous. 
Only the inexperienced will try mixing 
gasoline and hot fat on a fire with the 
belief that they can incorporate a gaso¬ 
line liquid into the cells of a fat, and 
in that way make an easy wash soap. 
If anyone knows the least bit about 
gasoline or naphtha he should know 
that the moment you stir them you 
render them more gaseous, and the 
quicker they vanish, and the moment you 
heat them the same process is intensified 
a hundred times, producing only a dan¬ 
gerous gas to blow some well-meaning 
person’s kitchen inside out, together 
with a loss of eyesight? or life. Those 
who can make naphtha or gasoline soap 
are the same as the child who grabs a 
handful of water and gets nothing, and 
that is what becomes of the naphtha 
after stirring and heating; it vanishes. 
The making of an easy wash soap is 
sure to be tried by people who are not 
fond of work and naturally careless; a 
better way is to put a cup of kerosene 
into your tub of hot suds while washing 
and off the stove. This will give better 
results for dirty clothes if you can give 
them a good outdoor drying and airing. 
D. MOGEY. 
Shellac on Wallpaper and Linoleum. 
Will some of your numerous readers tell 
me if I could use ordinary white shellac 
on walls after they have been newly pap¬ 
ered so that I could wipe them with a 
damp cloth when soiled? I am having two 
rooms papered that are in use a great deal 
and the paper soils very quickly. Can 
shellac he successfully used on linoleum 
once or twice a year to prevent the pattern 
wearing off? My floors are covered with 
linoleum; get a great deal of hard wear 
and as I am having them newly covered 
I want it to keep in as good a condition 
as possible. During the three year I have 
been a reader of The R. N.-Y. I have used 
dozens of useful hints and recipes from its 
pages and I think some of my sister read¬ 
ers will perhaps be able to give me this 
information. mrs. r. s. 
We have heard of shellac being used 
on wall paper, but much would depend 
on the style of the paper; some patterns 
and styles of decoration might smudge 
with the varnishing. We could only ad¬ 
vise experimental use to see whether 
your paper takes it well. We think it 
would not be cheap, if the rooms are 
of fair size, as paper would be likely to 
take up more varnish than a harder 
surface. As a permanent finish for 
walls that need frequent cleaning we 
prefer dull-finished paint, with stenciled 
border if desired. 
Linoleum is often varnished, both to 
add to its wearing qualities and to 
brighten a worn surface. Our own ex¬ 
perience has been with “floor varnish,” 
so called, which gives a quick-drying 
hard finish. Experience from others 
would be helpful, both as regards lino¬ 
leum and wallpaper. 
Lemon Dumplings.—Chop very fine 
half a pound of beef suet and mix with 
half a pound of fine dry bread crumbs, 
four ounces of sugar, grated peel of 
one lemon; mix these well together with 
two well-beaten eggs. Make into little 
balls and steam over hot water for three- 
quarters of an hour. Serve with cream, 
or with any preferred pudding sauce. 
NENV*YORKEH 
The Rural Patterns. 
When ordering patterns ahvays give 
number of pattern and measurements 
desired. 
The first group shows 7472A, blouse 
with Robespierre collar, 34 to 42 bust; 
7663, fancy blouse, 34 to 40 bust; 7657, 
semi-princess Norfolk dress for misses 
and small women, 14, 16 and 18 years; 
4J4 yds. 36, with yd. 27 in. wide for 
collar and shield for 16-year size; 7649, 
girl’s dress, 10 to 14 years; 7664, three- 
piece skirt, 22 to 30 waist; 3jd yds. 36, 
with ~/% yd. 12 in. wide for panel, 2 yds. 
of braid; width of skirt at lower edge 
V/s yds. for medium size. 
The second group includes, 7674, girl’s 
empire dress, 10 to 14 years; 7652, 
child’s bishop dress, 6 months, 1, 2 and 
4 years; 7643, semi-princesse dress for 
misses and small women, 16 and 18 
years; 7661, child’s coat, 1, 2 and 4 
years; 698, embroidery pattern, 2 yds. 
36 in. wide, for 2-year size; 7665, doll's 
coat and hat, 18, 22 and 29 inches high. 
yd. 36 in. wide, with 2^2 yds. of fur 
banding, for medium size. Price of 
each pattern, 10 cents. 
Walnut Cake. —When eggs are high 
and butter not plentiful, try this: One 
cup packed full of carefully selected 
walnut kernels (the common wild ones) 
rolled fine or put through meat chopper; 
one teaspoonful soda, heaping a little; 
three heaping tablespoons cornstarch, 
V /3 cup sugar, l->4 cup good buttermilk 
(not right fresh), pinch of salt, flavor 
to taste, flour to make stiff batter. Bake 
in well greased pan, wrap in cloth to 
cool. M. E. S. 
January 25, 
Bran for Humans. 
What food value has wheat bran? Is It 
possible to make a palatable bread from 
wheat bran, and would it have any health¬ 
ful qualities? How may the ordinary bran 
obtained at the feed store be cleaned and 
sterilized and made of use as a food? 
J. e. w. 
The average composition of wheat 
bran is given in Henry’s “Feeds and 
Feeding” as water, 11.9; ash, 5.8; pro¬ 
tein. 15.4; crude fiber, 9.0; nitrogen-free 
extract, 53.9; ether extract, 4.0. As com¬ 
pared with this the composition of high- 
grade flour is: Water, 12.2; ash, 0.6; 
protein, 14.9; crude fiber, 0.3; nitrogen- 
free extract, 70.0; ether extract, 2.0. In 
these analyses “nitrogen-free extract” 
means such organic matters as sugar, 
starch, gums, etc., while “ether extract” 
means fat. Protein may be roughly de¬ 
scribed as muscle-makers. It will thus 
be seen that bran is higher in muscle- 
makers and fat than fine flour, but lower 
in percentage of starches. This does not 
necessarily mean that the human system 
could obtain more nutriment from bran 
than from fine flour. We have to con¬ 
sider the assimilability; the excess of 
fiber in the bran irritates the intestines, 
having a very laxative effect, and for 
this reason the digestive tract would 
not be likely to assimilate alPthe nutri¬ 
ment contained in the bran. Entire 
wheat flour properly ground would give 
all the nutrients in the grain, without 
the irritating properties of so much 
coarse fiber, to which the human stom¬ 
ach is not ordinarily accustomed. Bran 
is used, however, as part of the diet in 
obstinate cases of confirmed constipa¬ 
tion. and some of the manufacturers 
of health food make bran bread and 
biscuits commercially. We do not know 
whether ordinary stock bran is used, 
but some years ago one of our corres¬ 
pondents informed us she made ordi¬ 
nary stock bran into biscuits for a dys¬ 
peptic, and very likely others may do 
the same. “Cleansing and sterilizing” 
stock bran does not sound very prac¬ 
tical, though of course it would be ster¬ 
ilized by baking. 
Two Bits of Experience. 
The one-piece garments for children 
are a great saving of both time and ma¬ 
terial. If trimmed with strips of bias 
binding for braid, or a bit of hand em¬ 
broidery, using an anchor, stars, or the 
initials for a boy, and a flower design 
for a girl, the trimming need cost but 
a few cents. The patterns come for 
nearly every garment the child wears, 
cut in one-piece style, from the boys’ 
school blouses, with body and sleeves 
cut in one, and extra strips for the col¬ 
lar. front facings and cuffs, to similar 
styles for the baby. 
Boys’ shoes can be made waterproof 
with the following mixture, said to be 
absolutely reliable: One-fourth pound 
mutton tallow, three ounces of yellow 
beeswax, two ounces of yellow resin, 
one-half pint of boiled linseed oil melted 
together and well mixed. Rub well into 
the leather while warm, not hot. 
Cheaper and better than rubbers. 
EDYTHE STODDARD SEYMOUR. 
Rule for Corned Beef.— For 100 
pounds of meat use four quarts of salt, 
four pounds of sugar, and four ounces 
of saltpeter. Dissolve in water suffi¬ 
cient to cover meat when closely packed 
and weighted. The brine should be 
boiled, skimmed and then cooled before 
pouring over the meat. bettie wier. 
Corned Beef Pickle. —Twelve pounds 
salt, eight pounds brown sugar, one 
ounce saltpetre, for 100 pounds of 
fresh killed native beef. Cut beef in 
handv-sized pieces, pack in barrel, using 
the mixture. As you pack, the meat 
weight it down, and in 24 hours cover 
well with cold water. Keep the meat 
under brine, tipping the barrel back and 
forth occasionally to keep the brine 
stirred up. The beef will keep all Sum¬ 
mer and needs no freshening; just wash 
it off in cold water and boil until the 
bones slip out. It will be rich, sweet, 
red and tender. This recipe has been 
used over 150 years in Vermont. 
A. L. B. 
