1914. 
THE R.UR>VE NEW-YORKER 
101 
That Pressing Need. 
Aunt Martha and I were tired after a 
day of shopping, and we rode homeward 
in the electric car in silence. Without 
fully realizing what I did I gazed fixedly 
at a neatly darned three-cornered tear in 
the coat of a young man who sat in front 
of us. It was an unusually neat piece 
of work. The darning had been done 
with a thread of the goods, which had 
been raveled from some hidden seam, and 
the stitches had been set evenly, carefully 
following the warp and woof of the 
cloth. Only the roughened edges of the 
tear remained as witness to the disaster 
that caused the rent. So carefully had 
the darning been done that I wondered 
vaguely why the tear still showed. Sud¬ 
denly Aunt Martha spoke. “That rep¬ 
resents pressing need,” she said. I looked 
at her quickly and saw that she too was 
looking at the tear. I must have looked 
my inquiry as to her meaning, for she 
reddened and said in a whisper, “O, I 
didn’t mean to say that, I was thinking 
out loud. I will explain later.” 
That evening after we had rested a bit, 
I asked for her explanation, for there 
was nothing about the young man to 
suggest poverty. “No, the young man 
is not in need,” said Aunt Martha. “It 
is only his coat. Did you notice how 
neatly it was mended and yet how visible 
the rent was?” I nodded in the affirma¬ 
tive. “Well, I was just thinking what 
a pity it was that the one who darned 
so beautifully had not learned the value 
of pressing.” Now I understood, but 
Aunt Martha continued. 
“If after having darned that coat she 
had dampened a piece of dark cheesecloth 
and laid it over her work and carefully 
pressed it until it was dry, it would have 
taken a magnifying glass to reveal that 
it had been mended.” 
“But isn’t there danger that the iron 
will leave the goods shiny, or that there 
will be a mark of the Hat iron on the 
goods?” I asked, for I had seen such evi¬ 
dences of pressing. 
“Not the slightest danger if one uses 
common sense,” she replied. “When you 
are pressing a darn, lay the damp cloth 
over the work, and with an iron comfort¬ 
ably hot press firmly down over the darn. 
Don’t iron it, and don’t leave your iron 
standing on the cloth a second. Just set 
it on firmly and lift it at once, then re¬ 
peat. setting the iron on and lifting it 
until the cheesecloth is nearly dry; then 
you can iron over the whole, always keep¬ 
ing the cheesecloth between your iron and 
the cloth. If it is so you can get at the 
under side of the goods easily, it is a 
good idea to turn the goods over the last 
thing and press lightly on the wrong side. 
Even a poorly darned tear can be so 
pressed as to be scarcely noticed. Press¬ 
ing is an art to be learned before embroid¬ 
ery or sewing, in my opinion. I have seen 
women wear dresses made of most expen¬ 
sive materials, with stitching and needle¬ 
work which might well be the envy of 
queens, and yet the gowns looked common¬ 
place and even boteliy because the seam¬ 
stress had not learned the art of pressing. 
And my heart has ached for the poor chil¬ 
dren who have to wear made-over clothes 
or have their clothes let down, not because 
the things had to be made over, for often 
the made-over garment is of nicer material 
than one would buy new for a child, but 
because creases and wrinkles had not been 
properly pressed out, and clothes which 
might look new and interesting have in¬ 
stead a stringy, made-over appearance 
which is humiliating to the child. The 
hem let down and the crease of the old 
hem left unpressed is a disgrace to the 
seamstress.” 
Aunt Martha had struck a hobby, and 
she always warms to the occasion when 
she gets to talking on her hobbies. 
“Take your own clothes.” she said, look¬ 
ing me over critically, “How would they 
look before you had worn them six months 
if you did not press them?” 
“Not very presentable,” I replied, and I 
guess my face reddened, for I do have to 
wear my clothes a long time, and in order 
to keep them from seeming shabby I have 
to attend strictly to the matter of keeping 
them brushed clean and the wrinkles 
smoothed out with an iron. Doubtless my 
aunt saw the red in my face, for she 
made haste to say, “Exactly, but as it is. 
you always look as if you had donned a 
brand new gown ; but I did not mean to 
be personal, my dear. Only, one sees so 
many looking shabby and poor when all 
that they need to give them a smart up-to- 
date appearance is a good pressing, that 
sometimes it gets on my nerves, and that 
tear to-day started all my resentment. I 
truly believe a most pressing need of the 
times in many quarters Is more pressing,” 
she finished with a laugh. “Now let us 
forget the rough edges and talk of some¬ 
thing pleasant.” 
The next time I went shopping I looked 
at the crowds about me with Aunt Mar¬ 
tha’s words in mind, and I had to admit 
that the difference between the well- 
dressed and the shabby was largely a 
matter of “pressing need” which the flat¬ 
iron could supply in many instances. 
MARTHA’S NIECE. 
Other Ways With Eggs. 
Meals that are Easier 
and Quicker to Get 
The splendid d' ihes which can be prepared 
are only one reason why there should be 
in every farm kitchen an 
“Boiled, fried and scrambled; scrambl¬ 
ed, boiled or fried—and then begin all 
over again !” Is there one rural house¬ 
wife who has not felt rebellious that ap¬ 
petites persist in the same old way, even 
when food materials are limited? Try 
the eggs scalloped. 
Scalloped.—Butter a pudding dish 
freely. Break in a layer of eggs. Sea¬ 
son to taste and cover with bread 
crumbs, over which put tiny dots of but¬ 
ter. Then add more eggs and do the 
same. Continue until you have enough 
for your family. Pour over it a cup 
of milk, and bake 20 minutes in a quick 
oven. Serve with baked potatoes. 
Baked Eggs.—Butter a pie plate. 
Break the eggs and season to taste. 
Bake in a hot oven 10 minutes. Crisp 
some bacon on a separate plate, and serve 
both with freshly boiled potatoes. 
Veiled Eggs.—Chop cold hard-boiled 
eggs, and turn them into a hot frying 
pan where you have crisped some bacon, 
but remove it and most of the fat. Stir 
constantly, and at the last moment pour 
on a cup of milk, stirring again and ad¬ 
ding salt. Serve on thin slices of crisp 
toast, with creamed potatoes. 
Creamed Eggs.—Make a white sauce 
with a tablespoonful of butter mixed 
into two of flour until smooth. Melt 
another spoonful of butter, or of bacon 
fat in the frying pan. adding a pint of 
milk that has been salted. Stir in the 
flour and butter paste, and when the 
mixture boils add half a dozen chopped 
eggs that have been boiled. Season to 
taste and pour over whole boiled po¬ 
tatoes, in a deep dish. 
Egg and Tomato Toast.—Poach the 
eggs until hard, one for each slice of 
toast on a hot plate, separately. Stow 
tomatoes and season them, thickening 
them a little bit. Pour half a cupful 
on each egg, under which the toast has 
been put. lucy a. yexdes. 
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Apple Dumplings. 
I see two others are ahead of me on 
the apple dumpling question. I asked 
my father how his mother used to make 
apple dumplings, and he went back near¬ 
ly 70 years and told me almost word for 
word the same as Mrs. Lauipmau has 
written, even to the cormneal pudding 
boiled in a bag with ham or a boiled din¬ 
ner. lie said those puddings used to melt 
away like dew before the sun. And I ■ 
can imagine they did, for his mother had i 
thirteen children. But what of the ap¬ 
ple dumplings of to-day? I know of no 
one who makes them but myself. I know 
of several who like them, but they say 
their women folks cannot make them. I 
make them a little different from what 
my grandmother did. Pare and core ap¬ 
ples to half fill a small, smooth-bottomed 
iron kettle, add a very little water, or 
enough to keep the apple from scorching, j 
Make dough as for cream of tartar bis- j 
cuit, and when the apple begins to boil j 
lay the cut-out biscuits around on the 
apple. Cover closely and let steam. 
Twenty minutes or half an hour will be 
long enough. If too much water is add¬ 
ed to the apple the dough will settle into 
it and the dumplings will be heavy. If 
the apple stops cooking before they are 
done they will bo heavy. Uncover as 
soon as cooked. Serve with pudding 
sauce made of brown sugar. 
ANNA n. LOVERING. 
more feet. 
A Constant Water Supply 
is easily maintained without expense 
RIFE RAM 
with three or more 
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Department “M" 
Rural New-Yorker 
333 West 30th Street 
A good book is the precious lifeblood of 
a master spirit, embalmed and treasured 
up on purpose to a life beyond a life— 
Milton. 1 
New York City 
Mrs. Corntassel: “Oh, dear! Just 
look at this! And smell it! John 
caught a skunk in the hen house 
last night—and his shirt and 
trousers are ruined. He didn’t 
know what it was in the dark. 
I'll never get the smell out.” 
Anty Drudge: “Well—I don't 
know. That’s one thing I’ve 
never meddled with. But if any¬ 
thing will bring out both stain 
and smell, it’s Fels-Naptha Soap. 
Let’s try it, anyway. I see you 
have a box. That’s right. I al¬ 
ways tell everybody to keep plenty 
on hand.” 
Never be sure 
that a thing is ruin¬ 
ed until you have 
tried washing it 
with Fels-Naptha | 
Soap. If Fels- 
Naptha in cool cr 
luke-warm water 
doesn’t do the 
work, you might 
as well throw the 
article away. 
Fels-Naptha dis¬ 
solves grease, makes 
dirtdisappear and takes 
out all kinds of stains. 
Clothes washed with 
Fels-Naptha do not 
have to be rubbed hard 
nor boiled and are 
cleaner, sweeter and 
whiter than ever be¬ 
fore. It does all kinds 
of housework easily, 
thoroughly and in less 
than half the time it 
used to take. 
Just follow the easy 
directions on the red 
and green wrapper. 
Better buy it by the carton or boco. 
Pel# St Co., Philadelphia. 
