14 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 2. 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day 
THE TELEPHONE. 
Oh ! what a marvel of electric might. 
That makes the ear the conqueror of 
space, 
And gives us all of presence but the 
sight. 
When miles of dark and distance hide 
the face. 
Soul! is not this thy very analogue? 
l/o not strange thoughts come sound¬ 
ing through thee thus? 
Aye, clear sometimes, as if there were no 
clog 
To shut remotest being out from us! 
Low notes are said through this strange 
instrument 
To reach the listener with distinctest 
tone; 
So inmost thoughts, from man or angel 
sent. 
Strike through the soul's aerial tele¬ 
phone. 
—Charlotte Fiske Bates. 
* 
J ANUARY is the month of the “white 
sales,” and much may be saved by 
discreet purchases of staple goods. 
Ready-made muslin underwear is on sale 
at marked reductions, and lougcloth, 
cambric, nainsook and all lines of wash 
goods meet the greatest reduction of the 
year. We do not believe in indiscrimin¬ 
ate buying because a bargain may be se- 
• cured, but any woman who looks well to 
the ways of her household knows about 
how large a stock of staple goods her 
family will consume in a year, and the 
saving made by well-considered buying is 
remarkable. The mid-Winter months 
give the best opportunity for making up 
such purchases, too. 
* 
H ERE is a well-tested recipe for cider 
cake: Sift together four cupfuls of 
flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking pow¬ 
der, half a teaspoonful of salt and one 
teaspoonful each of ground allspice, cin¬ 
namon and nutmeg. Beat to a cream 
half a pound of butter and one pound of 
sugar, three eggs (whites and yolks beat¬ 
en separately), and gradually mix these 
ingredients with the flour and spices. 
Moisten to the consistency of a stiff cake 
batter with sweet cider, beat the mixture 
hard for five minutes and blend in one 
cupful of chopped and seeded raisins and 
one cupful of shredded candied citron. 
Pour into a well greased cake pan and 
bake in a slow oven for forty minutes. 
Ice when cold with a boiled frosting. 
* 
K NITTING is now so much the fashion 
that even the women in the New 
York workhouse are working on socks 
and mufflers for the Red Cross. The lack 
of adequate employment is a very serious 
matter on Blackwell’s Island, but Miss 
Davis, the New York Commissioner of 
Correction, says that the poor unfortun¬ 
ate in the workhouse are delighted with 
this knitting, and 600 women there use 
up about $25 worth of wool in a day. 
As for society in general, knitting goes 
on in the home, at afternoon receptions, 
at theatres and concerts, and even on 
railroad trains. One of our friends ob¬ 
served that he didn’t mind if the women 
knew how to knit but that lots of them 
didn’t, and one night, while he was 
listening to the fluty notes of a famous 
prima-donna, a sweet young thing seated 
next to him nearly put out one of his 
eyes in an effort tc regain a lost stitch. 
It would certainly appear as though the 
superiority of old-fashioned hand work 
was once more vindicated in this age of 
the machine-made. 
* 
I SN’T a good heating system a won¬ 
derful aid in maintaining family har¬ 
mony in Winter? There are still some 
country houses where about two rooms 
only are comfortable in bitter weather— 
the rest like Greenland’s icy mountains. 
Some one is always sitting around the 
kitchen stove to get “warmed up,” while 
the housekeeper is at her busiest, caus¬ 
ing her to take numerous extra steps to 
avoid the obstruction. Bed-making and 
sweeping in the distant rooms are more 
like arctic exploration than real house¬ 
work. and the evening finds everyone 
huddled together, with some regular oc- 
• upations suspended because all cannot 
share in both light and heat without un¬ 
comfortable congestion. It is hard, lin¬ 
ger such conditions, to avoid a surface 
irritation that finds vent in sharpness of 
manner or speech. These discomforts 
are passing away with the continued im¬ 
provement in household comforts, but 
there are still enough of them to make 
us realize how much comfort adds to 
harmony, with its consequence of house¬ 
hold efficiency. We think that the grow¬ 
ing improvement in standards of home 
comfort will finally solve the question 
of keeping the young people on the farm. 
The Rural Patterns. 
In ordering patterns, always give num¬ 
ber of pattern and size desired. Price of 
each pattern 10 cents. 
8354, Cape coat, small 34 or 36, me¬ 
dium 38 or 40. large 42 or 44 bust. 
With or without sleeves, with cape per¬ 
forated for cutaway fronts. Five yards 
of material 27 in. wide, 3.^4 yards 36, 3 
yards 4-1 or 50 for coat; Sy 2 yards 27 
or 36, 2 y 8 yards 44 or 50 for cape, with 
Vs yard 21 in. wide for collar, for me¬ 
dium size. 
8490A, Six-piece skirt, 24 to 34 waist. 
With empire, high or natural waist line. 
8*4 yards of material 27 in. wide, 4 Yz 
yards 36 or 44, 3% yards 54 if material 
lias figure or nap; 5 Yz yards 27 in. wide, 
3 Yz yards 36, 2% yards 44 or 54, if ma¬ 
terial has neither figure nor nap; width 
at lower edge 2 yards and 30 in., for me¬ 
dium size. 
Seen in New York Shops. 
OTTON crepe in corded, plaid and 
crossbar effects is made up in chil¬ 
dren’s dresses for “Spring” styles. 
Some very pretty ones are red crossbar 
crepe, made with a long waist, a short 
little kilted skirt, and gathered sleeves 
with a very large armhole. 
Dancing caps of jet sequins fit over the 
hair as closely as a bathing cap, with a 
butterfly or other ornament in front. 
They cost $5. 
New corset covers or underbodices are 
made with tiny cap sleeves, instead of 
the abbreviated straps we have become 
accustomed to. A fashionable model in 
China silk, white or flesh-colored, has 
the top made in a round bertha effect of 
Valenciennes lace, with sleeve caps to 
match. 
Some of the new evening gowns are 
quite suggestive of the Civil War period, 
with flowing skirts and decolletege cut 
straight across, from shoulder to shoul¬ 
der. Wreaths of small flowers are worn 
with them as hair ornaments, recall¬ 
ing the heroine of the old song who “wore 
a wreath of roses.” Small flowers, such 
as tiny daisies, forget-me-nots or heather 
are used in these wreaths. Another form 
of evening head-dress is a little bunch of 
flowers at each temple, connected by a 
band of ribbon around the crown of the 
head. This style is very becoming to a 
girlish face, but not desirable for a more 
mature wearer. 
Striped flannel waists, which have 
been put in the background by lingerie 
effects, are with us again, as comfortable 
and practical as ever. They are cut on 
mannish lines, with set-in sleeves, but¬ 
toned cuffs and high military collar, 
closely buttoned at the front. Such a 
blouse is especially desirable where a 
house is rather chilly, but most women 
would find it comfortable in severe 
weather. The excessive gauziness of the 
waists ordinarily worn gives little pro¬ 
tection to the wearer. However, we no¬ 
tice many tailored styles of natural pon¬ 
gee, which has renewed its vogue as a 
result of the sand and putty-colored cov¬ 
ert cloth suits. The pongee waists look 
well with dark sujts also. They are 
often piped with white satin, or have 
a binding of the satin on cuffs and col¬ 
lar—sometimes a collar of white satin 
or taffeta. 
Raincoats for both girls and boys are 
made of tan rubberized cloth exactly like 
a. man’s raincoat, in sizes from six to 
14 years. With a sou’wester cap they 
cost from $3 to $4.50, and aie exceeding 
practical for the school girl, as well as 
boy, in a driving storm. Rain capes of 
rubberized sateen, garnet or blue, cost 
$1.75; sizes six to 14. 
Three-pronged hairpins with plain or 
ornamental tops are offered for wear 
either as pins or combs. High Span¬ 
ish combs such as our grandmothers 
wore, have been brought into vogue again 
by present styles of hair-dressing. The 
casque and French twist coiffures call 
for pins or combs with curving ornamen¬ 
tal tu'S, and these are made in shell 
(real and imitation), and metal. Jet 
hair ornaments are particularly hand¬ 
some and fashionable. 
A Cape Cod fire lighter consists of a 
tankard of copper or brass, and an oval 
“lighter” with a handle. A little kero¬ 
sene is put in the tankard; the lighter 
which is porous, and incombustible, ab¬ 
sorbs some of the oil. and gives a steady 
flame to be applied to all sides of the 
logs in the open fire. There is a saucer 
on which the lighter rests while cooling, 
before being returned to the tank¬ 
ard. Of course these lighters are intend¬ 
ed solely for open fires. 
Double omelet pans of aluminum have 
a sort of hinge down the middle, so that 
one-half may be turned over the other, 
thus facilitating the turning over that 
seems so difficult to an inexperienced 
cook. 
A. Convenient Fish Carrier. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
‘square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Ponitively tho cheapest and strongest light on earth. 
Ubcd in every country on tho globe. Makes and 
burns Itfi own gas. Casta no shadows. Clean and 
odorless. Absolutely safe. Over 200 styles. 100 to 
2000 Candle Power. Fully Guaranteed. Write for 
catalog. AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE. 
THE BEST LIGHT CO. 
401 E. 5th St., Canton, Qt 
WELL 
DRILLING 
MACHINES 
Over 70 sizes and styles, for drilling either deep or 
shallow wells in any kind of soil or rock. Mounted on 
wheels or on sills. Witli engines or horse (lowers. Strong 
Simple and durable. Any mechanic can operate them 
easily. Sena for catalog. 
WILLIAMS BROS.. Ithaca, N. Y. 
O UR farm is 40 miles from a fish mar¬ 
ket on the coast, and to be deprived 
of fresh fish is not to be considered. We 
have the fish come by express, iced, from 
a thoroughly reliable dealer. A pottery 
company made for us a five gallon butter 
jar with ten half-inch holes in the bot¬ 
tom. The fish are wrapped in cheese 
cloth and laid in this jar, and covered 
with broken ice, and care is taken to 
keep the jar full. It is such a conven¬ 
ience whenever we want a few slices of 
haddock for breakfast to find it ready 
and of the highest quality for a week. 
The holes give ample drainage so no ice 
water stands about the fish. The jar is 
kept in the ice box of our refrigerator. 
f. c. c. 
Nut Creams.—Chop almonds, hickory 
nuts, butternuts or English walnuts 
quite fine. Make the French cream, and 
before adding all the sugar and while the 
cream is still quite soft stir into it the 
nuts and then form into balls, bars or 
squares. Three or four kinds of nuts 
may be mixed together. 
MAKE BIG PAY DRILLING 
WATER WELLS 
Our Free Drillers’ Book with 
catalog of Keystone Drills 
tells how. Many sizes; trac¬ 
tion and portable. Easy 
terms. These machines 
make good anywhere. 
KEYSTONE WATER DRILL CO 
Beaver Falls, Pa. 
LET US TAN 
YOUR HIUE. 
Cattle or Horse hide. Calf, Dog. Deer 
or any kind of skin with hair or lur on. 
Wo tan and finish them right ; make 
them into coats (lor men and women), 
robes,rugs or gloves when ordered. 
Your fur goods will cost you less than 
to buy them, and be worth more. Our 
Illustrated catalog gives a lot of in 
formation which every stock raiser 
should have, but we neversend out tins 
valuable book except upon request. 
it tells how to take off and care for 
hides: how and when we pay tho frolght 
both ways ; about our safe dyeing pro¬ 
cess which is a tremendous advantage 
to the customer, especially on horso 
bides and calf skins ; about the fur 
goods and game trophies we sell, tax i- 
denny, etc. If you w ant a copy send us 
your correct address. 
Ike Crosby Frisian Fur Company, 
571 Lyell Ave.. Rochester. N. Y. 
