702 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day. 
WE SHALL BE SATISFIED. 
Not here, not here, not where the sparkling 
waters 
Fade into mocking sands, as we draw 
near, 
Where in the wilderness each footstep fal¬ 
ters—• 
I shall be satisfied—but, oh, not here! 
Not here, where every dream of bliss de¬ 
ceives us, 
Where the worn spirit never gains its 
goal, 
Where haunted ever by the thought that 
grieves us, 
Across us floods of bitter memory roll. 
There is a land where every pulse is thrill¬ 
ing 
With rapture earth's sojourners may not 
know. 
Where heaven’s repose the weary heart is 
stilling, 
And peacefully life’s time-tossed currents 
flow. 
Far out of sight, while yet the flesh en¬ 
folds us, 
Lies the fair country where our hearts 
abide. 
And of its bliss is naught more wondrous 
told us 
Than these few words, “I shall be sat¬ 
isfied.” 
Satisfied, satisfied ! the spirit’s yearning 
For sweet companionship with kindred 
minds, 
The silent love that here meets no return¬ 
ing. 
The inspiration which no language finds. 
Shall they be satisfied? The soul's vague 
longirif». 
The aching void which nothing earthly 
fills? 
O, what desires upon my soul are throng¬ 
ing. 
As I look upward to the heavenly bills! 
Thither my weak and weary feet are tend¬ 
ing, 
Saviour and Lord, with thy frail child 
abide. 
Guide me toward home, where, all my wan¬ 
derings ending, 
I then shall see Thee and “be satisfied.” 
—Credit Lost. 
* 
Oatmeal kisses are dainty made as 
follows: One cupful of sugar, one egg 
beaten with the sugar, one cupful rolled 
oats. Stir in at the last a handful of 
stoned raisins and a little vanilla, and 
drop on a greased pan by teaspoonfuls. 
Bake in a slow oven. 
* 
Little Mary went into the country on 
a visit to her grandmother, says Subur¬ 
ban Life. Walking in the garden, she 
chanced to spy a peacock—a bird she 
had never seen. After gazing in great 
admiration, she ran quickly into the 
house and cried out, “Oh, grandma! 
come and see; one of your old chickens 
is in bloom!” 
* 
Among the improvements in ready¬ 
made cotton dresses is the neat placket, 
which often gives a suggestion to home 
dressmakers. The placket in wash dresses 
is now usually buttoned, instead of fas¬ 
tening with hooks or snaps. When fas¬ 
tened at front or side the buttonholes 
are under a fly; when at the back the 
buttonholes are on the under side of the 
placket, the buttons on the inside of the 
upper lap. They thus button through to 
the under side of the skirt, and are in¬ 
visible, making a very neat closing. 
Nothing is more untidy than a gaping 
placket, and with the present scant pro¬ 
portions of our skirts there is reason for 
extra care. 
* 
Creole Hamburg steak is an excellent 
way to prepare the cheaper cuts of beef. 
It requires l l / 2 pound of lean beef, one 
onion, one egg, three tablespoonfuls of 
milk, one cup of bread crumbs, one tea¬ 
spoon of salt, one-half teaspoon of pep¬ 
per, one cup of soup stock and half a 
cup of tomatoes. Chop the meat fine and 
add the onion, salt, pepper and milk. 
Soak the bread crumbs in hot water for 
five minutes, then drain off the water, 
and add the crumbs to the meat. Form 
into small flat cakes and flour lightly. 
Heat some drippings in the frying pan, 
and when hot put the meat cakes in the 
pan, brown one side, then turn and 
brown the other. Add the tomatoes and 
stock or hot water, cover the pan, and 
draw back to where it will cook more 
slowly until the meat is well done, and 
the liquid is reduced one-half. Serve on 
a hot platter, pouring the gravy over the 
meat. 
* 
A correspondent of the New York 
Times describes an “anti-stove,” for 
cooling the air of a room in hot weather, 
as follows: 
Procure a small zinc-lined tank holding 
from two to three gall >ns of ice and salt, 
and put in about a half pint of ammonia. 
This tank can be placed in a corner of the 
room, occupying very little space, and a 
drip pan put under it to catch the water- 
condensed by the heat of the room. This 
process of condensation is quite rapid, and 
will very quickly reduce temperature. The 
larger the room the larger the tank, and 
vice versa. The practicability of this 
scheme has been tested, and it is simple, 
clean, and inexpensive. The tank will have 
to be replenished but once a day, except 
when the weather is extremely warm. 
There is one objection to this plan of cool¬ 
ing rooms on our hottest days, and that is 
we will be apt to feel the heat of the 
streets when we are obliged to go out, and 
are more likely to suffer from prostration 
or sunstroke. T.hat is something for us to 
think of. especially old people, before we 
make the experiment. Of course, it is 
understood that these little tanks can be 
made no less ornamental than radiators, 
and take up very little space, besides being 
portable. 
It is quite possible that in some cases 
of illness, where intense beat menaces 
the sufferer’s life, such a refrigerating 
tank may enable a person to live through 
the hot spell, until a change in tempera¬ 
ture causes renewed strength. 
* 
Farmer’s Bulletin 39G, issued by the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, is de¬ 
voted to the muskrat. It will be ex¬ 
tremely interesting to anyone with a 
taste for nature study, and also to those 
who trap these animals. We realize 
something of the commercial value of 
this animal when we learn that 5,000,- 
000 muskrat skins were sold in the Lon¬ 
don fur sales of 1903. But we were es¬ 
pecially interested in what was said re¬ 
garding the muskrat as food. It does not 
sound appetizing, but some time ago 
Prof. Massey compared the muskrat very 
favorably with terrapin, and it seems 
that many others hold the same opinion, 
for they are sold extensively in some 
markets of the East and Middle West, a 
single dealer in Philadelphia being re¬ 
ported as selling about 3,000 muskrats 
a week for food. The season extends 
from the Christmas holidays to the mid¬ 
dle of March, and the muskrats, or 
“marsh rabbits,” as they are sometimes 
called, sell for seven to 10 cents each. 
At Saginaw, Mich., they were reported 
as selling for 15 to 20 cents each. The 
flesh of the muskrat is dark red in color, 
tender and fine-grained. It is free from 
any muskiness or strong flavor unless 
carelessly skinned and dressed. It is 
cooked like squirrel or chicken. The 
bulletin gives several recipes for cook¬ 
ing muskrat. While the animal does dam¬ 
age in some places, the bulletin consid¬ 
ers that its value for fur and for food, 
and the fact that it inhabits areas un¬ 
available for farming, make it economi¬ 
cally valuable, and that laws for its pro¬ 
tection should be made more uniform 
throughout the States where it is found. 
The cut-and-dry knowledge which is 
acquired from the study of manuals or 
from so-called crammers is very apt to 
share the fate of cut flowers. It makes 
a brilliant show for one evening, but it 
fades and leaves nothing behind. The 
only knowledge worth having, and 
which lasts us for life, must not be cut- 
and-dry, but, on the contrary, it should 
be living and growing knowledge, 
knowledge of which we know the be¬ 
ginning, the middle, and the end, knowl¬ 
edge of which we can produce the title 
deeds whenever they are called for. 
That knowledge may be small in ap¬ 
pearance, but, remember, the knowledge 
required for life is really, very small.— 
Max Muller. 
The Rural Patterns. 
When ordering patterns always give 
number of pattern and measurement de¬ 
sired. 
The attractive outing blouse shown is 
made with fronts and back. The front 
edges are finished with hems and there 
are tucks in the front that are stitched 
for their entire length. The patch pocket 
gives a distinctive touch. The soft 
rolled-over collar is joined to the neck 
34 to 42 bust. 
edge. Whether the sleeves are in three- 
quarter or full length they are gathered 
at both upper and lower edges. The 
three-quarter sleeves are finished with 
bands and rolled-over cuffs, the long 
sleeves with straight cuffs. The tie is 
straight and knotted in sailor style. The 
quantity of material required for the 
medium size is 3J^ yards 24 or 27, 3)4 
yards 32 or 36, yard 44 inches wide 
with yard 27 for trimming. The pat¬ 
tern 6712 is cut in sizes for a 34, 36, 38, 
40 and 42 bust measure; price 10 cents. 
The tunic skirt is now a very attrac¬ 
tive model. No. 6710 consists of the 
upper portion, flounce and tunic. The 
upper portion is cut in five gores. The 
flounce is straight, whether plaited or 
gathered, and the tunic is cut in one 
piece, fitted by means of darts over the 
hips. The closing is made invisibly at 
the back. The quantity of material re- 
22 to 30 waist. 
quired for the medium size is 6 yards of 
bordered material 36 inches wide or 7J4 
yards of plain material 24 or 27, 6 yards 
36 or 4Lt yards 44 inches wide with 2 
yards 24 or 27, 1 yard 36 or 44 for the 
gored upper portion, l]/ 2 yard 24 inches 
wide for the bands. The pattern 6710 
is cut in sizes for a 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 
inch waist measure; price 10 cents. 
July 30, 
Difficulty in Curing Ham. 
I would like to know how to cure and 
have good sweet hams, and what makes 
hams tough? I can hardly cut the moat 
after it is fried, and the fatty part has a 
peculiar tallowish taste. Is it caused by 
the feeding? R- G . 
It is possible that the ham is over 
salted. An excess of salt will make 
ham tough, as it does the lean meat 
of salt pork. Defects in flavor some¬ 
times result from excess of saltpetre, the 
use of poor salt or peculiarities in feed¬ 
ing. The following are tested recipes 
for curing ham: 
This is a Virginia method. For cur¬ 
ing four hams, averaging 12 pounds 
each, have ready one and a half gallons 
of the best salt, one pound of good 
brown sugar, one-eighth pound of pow¬ 
dered saltpetre, one ounce of black pep¬ 
per and one-half ounce of cayenne. Cut 
the joints into proper shapes, without 
unnecessary bone and fat, and lay them 
on a board or table. First rub the skin 
well with salt and lay each joint aside, 
then begin over again, and into the 
fleshy side of each ham rub two tea¬ 
spoonfuls of saltpetre and a tablespoon¬ 
ful of brown sugar mixed together. 
Rub the pepper, particularly, about the 
hock and under the bone and give to 
the whole ham a good application of 
salt. Now pack the hams, one upon an¬ 
other, the skin side downward, with a 
layer of salt between, into a tub or 
box, the bottom of which has also been 
covered with salt. The process of salt¬ 
ing will be complete in five weeks. At 
the end of that time have ready a peck 
of hickorv ashes; clean the hams with 
a brush or dry cloth and rub them 
with the ashes. To smoke the hams the 
joints should be hung from joists be¬ 
neath the ceiling and a slow, smothered 
fire kept up for five or six weeks, so 
as to smoke thoroughly, but not over¬ 
heat the hams. Or, as an excellent sub¬ 
stitute for this process, paint the hams 
with a coating of pyroligneous acid, let 
them dry and repeat the operation. 
W rap each ham in paper and encase it 
in a canvas or strong cotton bag. 
A simple way to salt bacon and ham in 
brine is to rub the meat well with salt, 
especially into the exposed ends of bones, 
and then pack into a barrel, with a layer 
of salt between each piece. Allow the 
meat to remain thus for 48 hours, then 
pour over all a brine strong enough to 
bear up an egg. Let the meat remain 
in pickle six weeks; then smoke. 
Molasses pickle is made as follows: 
To four quarts of fine salt and two 
ounces of pulverized saltpetre add 
enough molasses to make a paste. Hang 
the hams in a cool dry place for three 
or four days after cutting up; then 
cover with the pickle mixture, thickest 
on the flesh side, and lay them skins 
down for three or four days. For 100 
pounds of ham make brine in the fol¬ 
lowing proportion: Seven pounds coarse 
salt; two ounces saltpetre; one-half 
ounce pearlash; four gallons soft water. 
Heat gradually, removing all scum as it 
arises, then cool. Pack the hams in a 
barrel, pour the brine over them, and 
keep in pickle five to eight weeks, ac¬ 
cording to size. 
Ham, Sugar Cured.—To 50 pounds 
of ham or “side bacon” allow three 
pounds of sugar and a pint of molasses, 
six pounds of salt, one full tablesooonful 
of saleratus and the same of saltpetre. 
Cover the bottom of your firkin with salt 
(about two pounds). Mix sugar, mo¬ 
lasses, saltpetre, saleratus and the re¬ 
maining salt into a paste. Rub each 
piece thoroughly with this, work it in 
well and hard, and pack into the firkin, 
the rind downward. Cover all with cold 
water—just enough to rise above the 
meat. Lay a heavy board on top, weight 
it with a stone to keep the meat under 
water, and leave it thus for four weeks, 
turning the meat and stirring up the 
pickle every week. Take out, then wipe, 
rub into the pieces as much dry salt and 
an equal quantity of sugar as they will 
take up; pack in a dry firkin and leave 
for 24 hours before sending to the 
smokehouse. 
