1913. 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
107 
Rural School Improvement. 
About three years ago our children 
were attending school in a little old 
schoolhouse built by their grandfathers. 
Our teacher advised the ladies of the 
community to organize a Women’s Bet¬ 
terment Association for the purpose of 
school improvement. This we did with 
good results. We began by giving bas¬ 
ket suppers, ice cream parties and oyster 
suppers. Each seemed best and all proved 
a wonderful success. The oysters were 
served piping hot with plenty of crackers 
on a long dining table in the old school 
room. We soon raised a neat little sum, 
and then the men of the community, 
seeing the women intended having anew 
schoolhouse, put forward, and in a short 
time we had a house that was up to date, 
also furnished with patent desks, nice 
blackboards, maps, good lights and a 
nice pump. We had been using an open 
well previous to the time the Women’s 
Association began its work. We hold 
our meetings in the school building on 
Friday afternoons twice each month; 
by this method we can cooperate with 
the teachers and get ideas from each 
other in regard to the best ways to con¬ 
duct our parties. I would urge every 
rural school to adopt this plan. One has 
no idea how much may be accomplished 
in this way. The broad-minded people 
of other communities, seeing the needs 
and efforts being made, will turn out 
and help make the work a success. The 
children take keen delight in helping the 
work along. And after we have done 
our duty in making our school what, it 
should be we feel so much better. I 
trust every woman who reads this, and 
whose school is not what it should be, 
will get busy at once, for we know the 
boys and girls of to-day, if given every 
opportunity possible, will be more able 
to meet life’s struggles and to wield a 
greater influence for good. 
Last Summer we hired a competent 
man to teach a singing class in our 
neighborhood. The people came from 
far and near, both old and young, and 
the old people seemed young again while 
mingling their voices with those of the 
young. The little folks were delighted, 
and learned rapidly. If greater interest 
was taken along this line there would be 
fewer young men to take back seats at 
church; they would go to the front to 
sing. I feel it behooves each mother to 
give her children, boys as well as girls, 
the opportunity of learning to sing. Then 
the singing school produces the get- 
togethcrism so needful to farm life. 
MRS. C. G. TUIf STALL. 
Cracklings in Unusual Ways. 
A few uses of the scraps left after 
rendering leaf lard follow. These will 
be afterward referred to as “cracklings’’ 
in this article, as many do not like to 
think of eating scraps. Cracklings are 
highly nutritious and may be kept, just 
as they come from the lard press, for a 
long time in a cool, dry cellar. Keep 
covered to prevent drying out. 
Use cracklings in place of suet in 
your own recipe for suet pudding and 
the result will be pleasing. Use \% cup 
to replace one cup of suet. 
Cracklings make excellent shortening 
for fruit cake. Use the proportion of 
IE 2 cup to each quart of flour. 
Use one cup cracklings to three cups 
other meat in making mincemeat. 
Crackling Pudding with Sweet Milk. 
—Lard cracklings, one cup; cracker 
crumbs, one cup; sugar, three table¬ 
spoonfuls; eggs, three; salt, one tea¬ 
spoonful; sweet milk, three cups. Beat 
yolks and sugar, add the cracker crumbs 
and milk, then the cracklings and other 
ingredients; whip the whites- of two 
eggs and add last. Leave one white for 
a frosting. Bake about one hour. When 
pudding is baked, spread on the frosting 
made from the white left for the pur¬ 
pose and one tablespoon ful powdered 
sugar. Set back in oven to brown. 
Watch closely. 
Crackling Pudding with Sour Milk.— 
This is a very good way to dispose of 
cracklings, as it will keep for a month 
or more when covered and kept in a 
dry cellar before being used, and the 
quantity desired may be steamed when 
wanted. To each l l /> cup chopped 
cracklings take one cup each chopped 
raisins, syrup and sour milk, one-half 
cup currants, two even teaspoonfuls 
soda. Mix the cracklings, raisins and 
currants well into the syrup, then add 
milk, next the soda mixed in a handful 
of dry flour. Stir until it begins to 
foam, then add flour to make a stiff 
batter. For a small family use the re¬ 
quired amount and steam 1 x / 2 hour. For 
a large family use a larger quantity and 
steam two hours. Serve hot with a 
lemon sauce. 
Cracklings Short Cake.—To each 
quart of flour take one cup cracklings, 
one teaspoonful salt, one tablespoonful 
sugar, and either but not both of the 
following, sour milk or cream and one 
teaspoonful soda, or sweet milk and two 
teaspoonfuls baking powder, using 
enough to make a medium dough. Mix 
all, handling as little as possible. Roll 
and bake in a hot oven. If the crack¬ 
lings are coarse they should be ground. 
Plain Cracklings Short Cake.—Pre¬ 
pare a biscuit dough, stirring in one cup 
ground cracklings to each quart flour. 
Roll out to make a cake of good thick¬ 
ness. Let rise and bake in a quick oven. 
Scrapple.—One of the most palatable 
ways to use part of the cracklings is to 
use them with a hog’s head in making 
scrapple. Soak the head over night; in 
the morning clean thoroughly, remove 
the eyes and ears deeply, then boil until 
tender. Let stand until cold, remove all 
the bone and chop meat fine. Drain off 
all the water it was boiled in, strain it 
to get out all the bits of bone, then use 
again, putting it over fire to get hot 
while the chopped meat is being sea¬ 
soned to taste. Put in the chopped meat 
together with four pounds ground crack¬ 
lings to each medium-sized head. Make 
quite thin with additional water, then 
thicken with cornmeal to the consist¬ 
ence of mush. Cook from one to l l /t 
hours after putting -in the meal. Put in 
pans, smooth off the top and cover with 
lard to prevent top drying if it is to be 
kept any length of time. For use cut 
one-half inch slices and fry to a good 
brown on both sides in a little melted 
lard or butter. If you have no special 
use for the feet, heart and tongue, cook 
with the head. l. p. c. 
The School Libr«ry. 
A letter recently received from a 
friend in a Western State set me think¬ 
ing about the possibilities of the rural 
school library. Not that I had never 
considered it before, for I have, but this 
brought it up a little more forcibly. 
She wrote “The children bring so many 
good books from the school library, 
‘To Have and To Hold,’ ‘The Little 
Shephard of Kingdom Come,’ ‘Freckles,’ 
‘The Girl of the Limberlost.’ ” Well, I 
caught my breath rather suddenly. 
Those people out there on the other 
side of the Rockies are reading books 
that some of us here in Central New 
York are first beginning to hear about, 
and why? Because those books are in 
their school library—and not in ours. 
Here’s the question. Why can't every 
school library have a few new books 
added each year? In the districts I 
know the only recent additions to the 
libraries have been “sets” of from 10 
to 25 books, approved by the depart¬ 
ment, published by some “inside” pub¬ 
lishing company, sold by a perfectly 
slick agent and paid for by the people’s 
hard cash. Well, we wouldn’t object to 
an occasional set of good books, but 
we would draw the line on some “sets” 
that have been placed in schools at ex¬ 
orbitant prices. Now we are coming to 
the point, 
“For every evil under the sun 
There is a remedy or there is none. 
If there is one, try and find it; 
If there isn’t never mind it.” 
L’sually there is a remedy, and it’s 
about time we found it. If we poor 
country folks are going to have an op¬ 
portunity to read “Freckles” and “The 
Girl of the Limberlost,” we must get 
them into our libraries before they go 
out of date. Let us all first visit the 
school and examine the library. No 
doubt there are books and books there 
which are worth reading. Some of 
them probably are very helpful, but they 
won't do us any great amount of good 
shut up in a bookcase, year after year. 
Ask the teacher if we can borrow a 
few of the best. If we take good care 
of them and return them in good time' 
she may be more willing to lend again. 
The school law says (I believe) that 
the teacher shall be the librarian. In 
some cases I have known the teacher 
refused to allow children to take books 
home for their parents to read. Per¬ 
haps she had reasons, but it has always 
appeared to me that the district property 
should be used for the good of the 
district. There are families in every 
school district who need and want good 
books to read, but they haven’t the 
money wdth which to buy them. If they 
knew that the school library contained 
good, readable books which were at 
their command, they would avail them¬ 
selves of the opportunity and many 
stormy days and long evenings would 
be passed more pleasantly and profit¬ 
ably than now. 
Then, while getting the good of the 
books on hand, speak to the trustee 
about new books. Each district has 
some library money each year. Why 
shouldn't the people af the district have 
something to say about the use of that 
money? True, the Department of Edu¬ 
cation must approve the selection, but 
that doesn’t mean that the department 
must of necessity make the selection. 
Then next Spring, when it comes time 
for the annual school meeting, you sis¬ 
ters just quietly walk along with the 
men folks and have your say about 
school matters. You mothers of children 
certainly have a better right to conduct 
school affairs than have those bachelors 
and childless men who vote simply be¬ 
cause they are taxpayers and hence 
want to keep the tax as low as possible. 
The friend whom I mentioned at the 
first lives in a State where they have 
ceased to class women with “infants and 
idiots,” and consequently have advan¬ 
tages which we have not. However, if 
we make better use of those we have 
we may find that not least among them 
is a good school library. e. d. m. 
Keeping Cider Sweet. 
Could you give me a recipe for keeping 
cider sweet? c. g. 
We have been told that a handful of 
mustard seed put in the barrel will pre¬ 
vent fermentation, but we have not tried 
it. If kept in a barrel the receptacle 
should be thoroughly sulphured before 
use, to insure freedom from any fungus 
growth. In a place where the tempera¬ 
ture never gets above 50° it will keep 
sweet for some time. But the only sure 
method is to pasteurize it like unfer¬ 
mented grape juice. The cider is 
strained through flannel, heated to 160° 
and held at this temperature for 15 
minutes. It must not be boiled, as 
this spoils the flavor. When the pas¬ 
teurizing is finished, it is at once put 
into clean jugs, which are immediately 
closed with new corks, pressed in 
firmly and tied down, and then covered- 
with melted paraffin. When cold an¬ 
other covering of paraffin is put over 
the cork, and the containers are then 
stored in a cool dark place. Sometimes 
chemicals are advised to prevent fer¬ 
mentation a£ barreled cider, but such 
treatment is extremely objectionable, 
and should never be advised. 
WnEs you write advertisers mention Tub 
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==r=J 
