856 
May 17, 1910 
The RURAL NEW-YORKEk. 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
Knitted Thoughts 
As I have seen some women do 
Who knit and knit I ho whole day hrough, 
So I. as I go here and there. 
Along the city’s thoroughfare. 
.Tust take my thoughts amid th chrong, 
And knit and knit them all day ng 
Into a gay, fantastic song. 
Folk little guess within my head- 
What, happy melody is bred. 
What singing thoughts go laughing past, 
What jocund love my heart holds fast; 
Nor liow I have to walk my feet. 
Instructing them to be discreet. 
To keep from dancing on the street. 
The songs are made of folks I love: 
Of wind-blown steam, blue sky above; 
Of babies laughing at balloons; 
< >f young men’s quips and whistled tunes ; 
Of birds, of beasts, of women s hair, 
And jonquils bowing debonair. 
All strung with words that daucc and pair. 
So all day long, prinked out in rhyme, 
My thoughts go by to measured time. 
And all because, O Love! O Might! 
(> Melody of sheer delight! 
My soul kneels down to say it true 
Weaving a song forever new. 
The world goes dancing past to Aon . 
—Margaret Prescott Montague. 
& 
The poison ivy season is approaching, 
and it may be helpful to list some com¬ 
mon remedies that have proved helpful. 
AH remedies are aided by sponging the 
affected surface with ether or grain alco¬ 
hol first, to remove the volatile oil. Fx- 
traet of witch hazel, tincture of grindelia, 
hot brine, baking soda dissolved in hot 
water, hyposulphite of soda, as used* in 
photography, saturated solution of sugar 
of lead in alcohol (poisonous), pure olive 
oil. Common jewelweed or touch-me-not, 
foliage and tender stems bruised and 
applied fresh, is excellent, also bruised 
leaves of common plantain. Salt, soda 
or witch hazel are all more effective if 
used hot. 
* 
California has passed a law by which 
It) hours constitute a day’s work for a 
woman iu domestic service. To our mind 
anything that standardizes housework, 
and gives a recognized place to it among 
other occupations, is beneficial to all 
women. In our own neighborhood women 
who go out washing by the day work 
eight hours, and are paid a day. Men 
who go out by the day to mow lawns and 
do general garden work are paid $-1 for 
an eight-hour day. 
* ii 
Thebe have been many criticisms of 
the effect of business life upon women, 
but the president of Tufts College re¬ 
cently decided that, in Massachusetts at 
least, business women have much better 
taste in dress than college girls. Presi¬ 
dent Bumpus made the test by having 40 
girls from Jackson College choose some 
feminine article of dress. “The majority 
chose highly colored and inferior material 
in preference to better qualify and more 
subdued and conservative colors." Then 
another test was made when 20 shop 
girls were shown the same materials and 
told to choose what they themselves would 
wear. “Not one of them failed to select 
the articles of the best quality." This 
may result, in part, from the fact that 
many girls at college have had their shop¬ 
ping done for them by elder relatives, 
and have not handled money in a busi¬ 
nesslike way. Self-supporting girls learn 
to handle money with more wisdom. They 
know what money costs iu human effort, 
and they soon learn that a good appear¬ 
ance is a valuable asset. Care in dress 
is not always associated with personal 
vanity, nor does it necessarily menu ex¬ 
travagance. AVe look on good taste 
in clothes as a valuable part of any girl s 
education, and feel Sorry for those college 
girls who, with all their culture, displayed 
ignorance in this line. There are always 
ridiculous fashions, but no woman of 
sense is compelled to follow them. Gen¬ 
erally speaking, modern styles are com¬ 
fortable, and no sensible girl is compelled 
to make herself a caricature in order to 
achieve style. 
Dyeing a Fiber Rug 
T have a fiber rug which has become 
vorv dingy, but is not worn out. ( Diild 
I paint it’ with a Hat-finish paint such as 
we use on our walls ? I think you have 
had some articles on dyeing carpets, but 
I fear I do not have the skill to do that. 
This will have to be done on the floor. 
MRS. F. K. M. 
Our plan would be to use hot dye, put 
on with a brush, instead of paint. Sev¬ 
eral read rs have fold us how they dyed 
carpet :.i this way. Jne great advantage 
of tbe hot dye is tl.r.t it would sink into 
the fiber, and be le likely to wear off 
than the paint. A -dee the dye double 
strength and apply \.ith a brush to the 
rug, which is left stretched on the floor. 
The dye should be kept as hot as possible. 
It will be wise to try some of the dye on 
the under side of the rug, to make sure 
that the color is right, before coloring 
the whole surface. 
Dyeing Carpet; Home Spinning 
In response to a question in a late 
issue, would say that, we have dyed car¬ 
pets several times and in several different 
ways. The first time we applied the dye 
hot. with a paint brush, to an ingrain 
carpet on the floor. The result was sat¬ 
isfactory. but the carpet was a long time 
drying, and if the house is not very dry 
there would be danger of a crop of mold 
forming under the carpet. A better way 
would have been to take the carpet up 
before applying the dye. 
Since then we always rinse out carpets 
when we wash them in a dye bath, the 
hotter the water the better they will 
color, but even a faint tinge of red or 
blue is better than the faded appearance 
of an old carpet. Any sort of liquid dye 
may be used. The result has always been 
satisfactory. 
Some time ago someone asked where a 
spinning wheel could be purchased. A 
neighbor of mine bought one from a seed 
firm. The friend learned to spin very 
quickly, and has some very fine, even 
yarn to show for her work, at a very 
low cost, because they own several sheep. 
Many of the German-born women here 
spin yarn for their family’s needs, but 
this is the first young woman that I have 
known to take up the work. The home- 
spun yarn is much more durable than any 
factory-made. c. o. J. 
Rag Rugs with Mitered Corners 
Regarding the question whether it is_ 
possible to weave rag rugs with mitered' 
corners on ordinary looms, I have been 
unable to find a weaver who could do so, 
but wishing a rug with mitered corners 
for nly dining room I instructed the 
weaver to weave a border of the colors in 
strips one-lialf yard wide, the same width 
as the 1 rder of colors * n each end of the 
long strips. My rug was hit-or-miss cen¬ 
ter with a half-yard border o colors on 
each end. The extra half-yard strips in 
colors I sewed on the sides of the hit-or- 
miss center, bringing the ends down even 
with the colors in the ends of strips, 
matching stripes and mitering the corners. 
Some of the side stripes will have to be cut 
in order to make the corners come right, 
and these pieces I stitched several times 
across with coarse thread, on the. ma- 
*chine, to prevent fraying. afc„jt which I 
had no trouble ii. sewing the corners to¬ 
gether, using ball stitch, as I do for all 
my carpets. My rug is very pretty, and 
is admired by all who see it. By laying 
the pieces on the floor one can readily see 
where the cutting should be done. 
In reply to second part of same article 
referring to coloring rag carpet without 
dipping, will say it can be done, but is 
some work. A friend whose carpet was 
nearly new, but badly faded, took it from 
the floor and after thoroughly cleaning it 
tacked it firmly to the floor again and 
proceeded to dye it in the original colors 
of stripes. First, the dye was prepared 
according to directions, each package of 
prepared dye, making a quart of strong 
dye, which was applied boiling hot to the 
carpet with an ordinary paint brush, and 
allowed to dry. The result was very 
satisfactory. If the color is not dark 
enough after the first application, when 
dry apply another coat, or bath, until' the 
desired shade is reached. jessie. 
Conserving Women’s Clothing 
Part I. 
The good needlewoman at home has the 
opportunity to wear repaired clothing 
much longer than the business woman, 
and thereby save her new garments for 
special occasions; for there is no way to 
remedy a scrimpy business skirt when a 
bad break occurs between the waist and 
hip line. A light weight skirt can be con¬ 
verted iiito a shirtwaist for cold weather 
and save wash waists—that is..if a short, 
narrow skirt can yield anything becom¬ 
ingly comfortable autside of a patch bun¬ 
dle and the ragbag. 
With two narrow skirts of good mate¬ 
rial. both worn at the top. the one of 
lighter shade can be used as a yoke, to 
give a yoke effect, by the following method, 
which lias been used with tlie seven-gored 
skirt with worthwhile results: Remove 
the waistband: brush; clean and press: 
lay on a table or a bed. with the top at 
the left hand, and with a piece of tailor’s 
chalk or starch outline a desired shaped 
yoke; beginning from you. at the center 
fold of the front breadth, well below all 
the worn places, and remember to pass 
over all the seams in the skirt, on the 
horizontal; then run a line of white bast¬ 
ing thread through the outlining, securing 
the thread at each seam, and start in 
again on the opposite side of seam, for. in 
no other way can the new yoke section 
be applied and match after the seams have 
been opened and sewed together again. 
After the outlining with white thread, 
open all the seams; take a paper pattern 
of each gore iu the skirt, by placing paper 
underneath and run over the outlining 
with a tracing wheel, or run a large 
needle through the outlining or through 
basting, and transfer the design to each 
yoke pattern section, and when cutting 
out allow for turning in of the raw edges. 
In repairing, the same as in coat and 
dressmaking, the raw edge of material 
should be turned, basted and pressed be¬ 
fore attempting to apply one piece to 
another for machine stitching. With 
acute angle, sharp points or angular 
turn, never baste around the turn, in¬ 
stead begin at a turn and baste to the 
limit and press. Now turn the piece over 
and beginning at the turn (the point) 
again, pin the turn in, from the face 
side, and when just right, baste and press, 
and thereby all points can be turned 
easily, and all such applied pieces after 
having been secured by machine stitching 
and pressed, will have a finished effect 
that means good workmanship iu new 
material or in repairing. 
After applying the yoke sections, re¬ 
move the old. baste the seams carefully, 
stitch and press and finish with a new, 
clean waistband. A dress ekirt repaired 
in sections at the top, or at the bottom, 
if the work has been well done, can be 
worn in an office and anywhere under¬ 
neath a coat, and calls for less skill than 
a yoke that has to be fitted about the hips. 
This method of repairing and of applying 
sectional designs, strapping, etc., is the 
method for the home repairer and dress¬ 
maker for all material used in making 
dresses for women and children. Material 
old or new can be pieced with the warp 
or the woof threader, with a deep or a 
narrow tuck or plait effect. 
Women who dislike transparent waists 
always use bleached muslin, next in grade 
to cheesecloth, to line wash waists, and 
black shrunken lawn for dark wool or 
silk, and thereby can eke out waists from 
small patterns by applying upper sections 
over the lower, to give 'a yoke effect; 
lower portion of coat sleeves over the 
upper for a. deep or a narrow cuff effect. 
Even a yoke itself can be pieced by bast¬ 
ing shouldei-end pieces onto the lining, 
and apply a solid center piece between. 
An ingenious woman with plenty of 
pieces of material, new or old. can con¬ 
serve money and both her good and par¬ 
tially worn clothing. MEDORA CORBETT. 
0703. Child’s One-piece Press ant petticoat, 6 months or 1 and 2 years. 
808. Design for embroidering a Child's Dress. 
The one year dress will require 1*- yards of material 86 or 44 inches wide, with 1% 
yards 30 or 44 for the Petticoat. 
Price of each pattern number or transfer lo cents. 
SAFETY 
cays: Don’t ts. chances with 
lightning—insura, cewon’trepay 
the property loss when it strikes 
—nor bring back the life that’s 
snuffed out by a thunderbolt. 
Security Lightning Rods 
Give Guaranteed Protection 
Made of 99.8% pure Lake 
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Our Patented Security Water 
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permanently moist grounding 
under all conditions. 
Write for free book—Stop Lightning Lossei 
Security Lightning Rod Co. 
504 Pine St. Burlington, Wi». 
HONE 
_ Cut down your fuel bills. Avoid " A 
Athe labor and annoyance of caring for a 
f number of stoves. Enjoy the winter heat__ 
I and comfort of the finest 
\ homes. 23 years 
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given continued satisfaction in / 
Monies, stores, schools, etc., from Coast to Coast jj 
WRITE TODAY FOR CATALOG DESCRIBING BOTH 
PIPE AND PIPELESS FURNACES 
Ask for Catalog 21 
^teHeafingG^ 
OHIO 
Caldwell Sash Balances 
If you are groing to 
BUILD or REMODEL 
those old windows 
DO-IT-NOW 
Caldwell Sash Balances 
counterbalance sashes at any 
given point. They outwear 
ordinary weights and cords. 
Cheapest method for mod¬ 
ernizing old windows, as 
alterations in sashes ana 
frames are not necessary. 
For sale by all Hardwa'e 
Dealers, or 
F. 5 Jones St., Rochester, N. Y. 
Kodakers—Get Acquainted! 
Developing and Printing by our NU-TONE 
Process. Largest laboratory in New York 
Sizes: Vest Pkt. 214x334 234*434 334x431 334x5b: 
Devi’s 6 exp. .05 .05 .05 .10 .10 
Printing ea. .03 .03 .03 .04 .04 
8x10 mounted enlargement 35c. AH work prepaid 
“SCHULTZ" KODAK SHOP. 122 Nassau St.. NewTork 
What Every Home 
Canner Should Have 
One of our H & A HAND POWER DOUBLE 
SEAMEKS. The only adjustable Hand Power 
I>onl»le Seamer built that will seal all sizes of 
sanitary fruit and vegetable cans., Write for prices 
ami descriptive matter to Dept. K. 
HENNINGER & AYES MFG. ! CO., Portland. Ore. 
Builders of Steam Pressure Canning Outfits and Double Seamers 
Cuttcura 
Fop Baby’s 
Itchy Skin 
All druggists; Soap 26, Oint¬ 
ment 25 and 60. Talcum 25. 
Sample each free of ''Cutl- 
,ura, Dept. F, Boeton." 
Standard Fruit Books 
American Fruit Culturist. Thomas-2.60 
Citrus Fruits. Hume. 2.60 
California Fruits. Wickson. 3.00 
Plums and Plum Culture. Waugh. 1.60 
Fruit Ranching in British Columbia. 
Bealby . 1.60 
Farm and Garden Rule Book . 2.00 
Live Stock — Poultry 
Types and Breeds of Farm Animals. 
Plumb .$2.00 
Poultry Feeding and Management. 
Dryden . 1.60 
Swine in America. Coburn. 2.60 
Diseases of Animals. Mayo... 1.76 
Principles of Breeding. Davenport.... 3.00 
FOR SALE BY 
Rural New-Yarker, 333 W. 30th St., NewYark 
