1018 
August 14, 1915. 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day. 
The Two Mysteries. 
We know not what it is, dear, ths sleep 
so deep and still ; 
The folded hands, the awful calm, the 
cheek so pale and chill; 
The lids that will not lift again, though 
we may call and call; 
The strange, white solitude of peace that 
settles over all. 
We know not what it means, dear, this 
desolate heart pain; 
This dread to take our daily way, and 
walk in it again ; 
We know not to what other sphere the 
loved who leave us go, 
Nor why we’re left to wonder still, nor 
why we do not know. 
Rut this we know : our loved and dead, if 
they should come this day— 
Should come and ask us “What is life?” 
not one of us could say. 
Life is a mystery as deep as ever death 
can be; 
Yet, oh, how dear it is to us, this life we 
live and see! 
Then might they say—these vanished ones 
—and blessed is the thought: 
“So death is sweet to us, beloved ! though 
we may show you naught; 
We may not to the quick reveal the 
mystery of death. 
Ye cannot tell us, if ye would, the 
mystery of breath.” 
The child who enters life comes not with 
knowledge or intent, 
So all who enter death must go as little 
children sent. 
Nothing is known. But nearing God, 
what has the soul to dread? 
And as life is to the living, so death is to 
the dead. 
—Mary Mapes Dodge. 
* 
That question about making a good 
meringue still continues to call out ad¬ 
vice. We were quite surprised to hear 
from many women who still beat mer¬ 
ingues with a fork, and say they do not 
get as good results from an egg-beater. 
Beating with a fork is tiring and labor¬ 
ious, as one realizes when making a mocha 
icing, but there is much in personal 
“knack.” Personally we prefer the egg- 
beater. Now we are in search of a cake 
recipe which, so far, we have been unable 
to find. Who can tell us how to make im¬ 
perial cake? It resembles a rich pound 
cake, baked in a loaf, with chopped wal¬ 
nuts and citron scattered through it, and 
it is very rich and delicious. 
* 
New York City is suffering from an 
unusual plague of mosquitoes this year, 
and the health officials think much of it is 
due to carelessness with tanks and drains* 
while the damp season is naturally a con¬ 
tributing factor. Many buildings in the 
city have a storage tank on the roof, 
which may easily form a congenial breed¬ 
ing ground. In the same way, it is quite 
possible to establish mosquito hatcheries 
around a farm home. Any disused vessel 
in which rain water may lodge will fur¬ 
nish a home for infant mosquitoes, or a 
stopped-up house gutter, or an overflow 
from a pump or trough, or an abandoned 
drinking vessel for hens or other stock. 
It is always possible to have this nui¬ 
sance inflicted upon us by causes outside 
our control, but there is no reason why 
we should invite it by our o.wn careless¬ 
ness. We can all aid in controlling mos¬ 
quitoes as well as flies. 
* 
The following is a Flemish recipe for 
cooking red cabbage. Trim and quarter a 
red cabbage. Scald, drain, and chop fine. 
Simmer for an hour in a covered sauce¬ 
pan with a tablespoonful of butter, a 
chopped onion, a bay leaf, two cloves, 
salt, and a small piece of red pepper. 
Stir oeecasionally, take out the bay-leaf, 
add a tablespoonful of butter, and serve 
very hot. 
* 
We continue to receive many letters 
from women and girls who wish to sell 
Summer garden flowers in city markets. 
We are obliged to answer in a somewhat 
d’scouraging style, because prices for 
such stock are always moderate, and this 
season supply has been much greater than 
demand. The flower trade is poor; this 
city feels the loss of steamship trade se¬ 
verely, and financial conditions generally 
do not induce heavy flower buying. By 
the time transportation and commission 
charges are paid, returns on small lots of 
outdoor flowers are somewhat disappoiut- 
THE RURAL 
ing as a rule. Our advice is to look for 
local outlets, which are often found in 
directions least expected. Any locality 
where there are Summer hotels and 
boarding houses usually requires flowers 
for the dining tables from June to Octo¬ 
ber. These flowers should be showy va¬ 
rieties that do not fade easily ; a succes¬ 
sion may be secured with roses (Dorothy 
Perkins is especially good for this pur¬ 
pose), cornflowers, sweet peas, Gladioli, 
Dahlias, Shasta daisies, asters, Cosmos, 
marigolds, Zinnias and hardy Chrysanthe¬ 
mums. There are plenty of other flowers 
useful for cutting, but these are satisfac¬ 
tory .ir.d inexpensive. Ferns from the 
woods (well hardened in water to pre¬ 
vent fading) scented geranium and scent¬ 
The Rural Patterns 
In ordering patterns, always give 
number of pattern and size 
desired. Price of each 
pattern 10 cents. 
8695—Gown with Alissus ami Small 
Raglan Sleeves, 34 Women, 16 and 18 
to 44 bust. years. 
ed verbena may be used for foliage, but 
flowers for such bouquets should be cut 
liberally, with plenty of their own foliage 
and unopened buds. In some towns where 
there is a farmers’ market a great many 
flowers are sold from the farmers’ 
wagons. 
Seen in New York Shops. 
Motor goggles with light imitation tor¬ 
toiseshell rims, are 50 cents. Amber 
glass will be found more comfortable by 
most people than blue or smoke. 
“Kee Chong” porch rugs, 8x10 feet, are 
reduced to $4. These are made of some 
heavy Chinese fiber, firm and thick, 
brown checked with dull red or green, 
with border to match. They are as firm 
as old-style cocoa matting, and rather 
similar in weave. 
Among the appliances for using solid 
alcohol is a grill which may be stood on 
the table and used to make toast, warm 
or fry potatoes, eggs, meat, etc. It is 
NEW-YORKER 
made of polished nickel plate, and costs 
$1.75. The grill may also be used to heat 
flatirons. The little disk stove for solid 
alcohol, polished nickel plate, is 75 cents. 
A coffee percolator to be heated with this 
solid alcohol costs $3.25; a chafing dish 
$4. 
White corduroy, 30 inches wide, is now 
50 cents a yard ; it is washable, and is 
much used for skirts, coats, dresses and 
childrens’ clothes. 
Blouses of black lace and Georgette 
crape have white frills or fichus; they 
are very cool, and have a dignified look. 
Some handsome styles are offered for $5 
and $0.50. 
August is the great month of furniture 
sales; all the leading shops offer great 
and genuine reductions. It is quite pos¬ 
sible to do some bargain shopping by 
mail, writing for quotations and telling 
what you wish to purchase, as the sales 
last through the month. In addition to 
other furniture, there are special reduc¬ 
tions in mattresses and other bedding, 
which is always a formidable item in 
household gear. 
Aluminum measuring spoons come in a 
group of three attached together by a 
ring in the tip of the handle. They have 
round bowls holding one-fourth teaspoon¬ 
ful, one-half, and the regular spoonful. 
China jars, with lid, are made to hold 
a can of condensed milk, so that it does 
not look unsightly on the table. These 
serving jars are made of china, glass or 
silver to hold jars of cheese, preserves 
etc., when on the table. Whore preserves 
are bought, instead of homemade, the 
crockery jars are soon sticky or stained, 
and the covering receptacle prevents the 
waste caused by putting the supply for 
each meal in another dish. 
This Summer Japanese paper parasols 
have come into favor again for country 
and seashore use; Summer visitors use 
them on their country walks, boating or 
driving. They are light and pretty, sur¬ 
prisingly durable and cheap, and while 
out of place in a city or for ‘ T dress up” 
occasions, they will be found excellent for 
picnics, excursions and other informal oc¬ 
casions. They cost from 20 cents to $1. 
Years ago, when everyone was singing 
the charming music of “The Mikado,” 
these paper parasols were in fashion, but 
for many years we have only seen them 
used by children. 
Care of Mocking-birds. 
A friend from Oklahoma brought us a 
pair of mocking-birds and we know very 
little about caring for them. I wonder if 
some of The R. N.-Y. readers could help 
us? I would like to know in regard to 
care, feed and rearing them in confine¬ 
ment. There are no mocking-birds in 
Oregon ; in fact, no good feathered sing¬ 
ers, so we are quite anxious to be suc¬ 
cessful in raising some, and any help will 
be gratefully received. E. M. s. 
Sauce for Clambake. 
How is the sauce for an old-fashioned 
clambake prepared? w. a. m. 
The only sauce we have used as an ac¬ 
companiment to a clambake is pure melt¬ 
ed butter; it is not allowed to fry or cook, 
but merely melted. Each person has a 
supply in which to dip the baked clams, 
and it is also used with the baked lob¬ 
ster. Some add pepper or vinegar, but 
good melted butter, without other season¬ 
ing, is the orthodox sauce. 
Homemade Dustless Duster. 
In your very popular paper of a recent 
date I find a request for the following, 
which I gladly pass on; Use wornout 
hosiery or old underwear and wring out 
of a mixture made in the proportion of 
three tablespoonfuls linseed oil to one- 
half pint kerosene. After saturating, 
wring, dry, and hang out on line for thor¬ 
ough airing. M, b. pritciiard. 
Velvet Cake. — One-fourth pound 
butter creamed with one-half pound 
sugar; add three eggs, one at a time, 
beating well after each egg is dropped in. 
Add gradually one-half cup lukewarm 
milk, beat well, then add one-half tea- 
spoonful baking powder mixed with one- 
half pound flour. Flavor and beat thor¬ 
oughly. Is much like pound cake and ex¬ 
cellent. MRS. e. 
Dish-washing at the Farm. 
While the proud possessor of a farm, a 
few years ago, though the place was 
abundantly supplied with water—as all 
farms are not—I found the question of 
dish-washing a most serious one, even for 
the small number (four) in the usual 
family; and when it came to be trebled 
in size, the work appalled the young girl 
to whom it had been assigned. I was not 
there in person often, but finally ob¬ 
served the following reasons for the work 
having assumed so undue proportions, so 
as to have become a bugbear, prevent¬ 
ing that “joy in service” which even the 
washing of dishes should give, and re¬ 
quiring from two to four or more hours 
daily; 
1. The distance between kitchen sink 
and dining-room table was too great, mak¬ 
ing even the setting and clearing away of 
table a real “chore.” 
2. All this work was being done at 
haphazard, no effort having been made 
even to reduce the taking of steps to a 
minimum, nor to prepare the dishes be¬ 
forehand by scraping, soaking or piling 
up. 
3. There was no drain pipe from the 
sink, so all the water had to be emptied 
by hand, as well as heated for the pur¬ 
pose—no hot-water tank being fitted for 
the oil stove, although when the coal 
stove was used there was a limited sup¬ 
ply of hot water. 
I ooking about for a big box, which I 
could line with zinc, and to which I could 
fit a cover (for a “dish-washer”) I found 
a wooden washing-machine that had been 
discarded, though it was not worn out. 
It leaked; but an all-night visit to the 
pump remedied that, and the next day I 
began operations, nailing cleats on the 
inside bottom, between which plates, sau¬ 
cers, etc., could bo stood on edge. A long 
“stopper” for the hole in the bottom was 
fitted from a broom handle, and a por¬ 
table cover from a soap box. A piece of 
an old quilt, freshly laundered and dried 
in the sun, completed the equipment. 
No one knew what I was doing and 
planning, as I wanted to see the thing 
“worked out” before calling it a “help.” 
After the noon meal I asked Emma how 
long it would take to wash the dishes— 
for there had been 10 at table. “Oh, I’ll 
get them done in time to put them hack 
on the table for supper,” she replied, 
dully. 
“Well, if you will heat a kettle of hot 
water, now, and put away the food. I 
will clear the table and wash the dishes 
inside of an hour.” 
“All right,” she replied, with anima¬ 
tion. “I’d like to see you try it,” and she 
almost flew to the kitchen. 
My dish-washer was on castors, but 
these were rusty. (Later I greased and 
oiled them.) I moved it up to the din¬ 
ing table, which I began to clear of dirty 
dishes, scraping all hut the silver—which 
I wiped with soft newspaper, so as to put 
them in the dish water, fairly free from 
crumbs and grease. 
I put the silver, the pitchers, platters 
and vegetable dishes in first, because of 
their weight; plates, saucers and sauce- 
plates next, with cups and tumblers on 
top, and all turned on edge. I wheeled 
the “load” into the kitchen, near the 
sink; made a good suds, of not too hot 
water, and poured over all, put on the 
cover, then the quilt, leaving the dishes 
to steam and “sweat,” while I cleared the 
sink, and put a draining cloth on the bot¬ 
tom of it—having first replenished the 
kettle on the fire, so as to have hot rins¬ 
ing water. 
Putting a dishpan under the dish¬ 
washer, after 10 minutes of “soak and 
steam” in the hot suds, I lifted up the 
cover and took out the stopper, letting the 
still hot suds into the pan below, in which 
I had set the ironware, and all cooking 
utensils. 
Replacing the plug I poured over the 
hot rinse water, and let that sit under 
cover while I removed the pan of cook¬ 
ing dishes to the stove, and put a clean 
pan underneath, to catch the rinse water. 
(In the country water is so scarce!) 
Lifting out the glasses I wiped them 
while hot, setting them on a tray, ready 
for the dining table. Drying the rest of 
the dishes was the work of five minutes, 
but few needing to go on the draining 
cloth. The cooking utensils, in their hot- 
suds bath, were soon cleaned and rinsed. 
