1054 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
The Fourth of July 
Day of glory ! Welcome day ! 
Freedom’s banners greet thy ray; 
See! how cheerfully they play 
With the morning breeze, 
On the rocks where pilgrims kneeled, 
On the heights where squadrons wheeled, 
When a tyrant’s thunder pealed 
O’er the trembling seas. 
God of armies! did thy stars 
On their courses smite his cars. 
Blast his arm, and wrest his bars 
From the heaving tide? 
f>u our standard, lo! they burn. 
And. when days like this return, 
Sparkle o’er the soldier's urn 
Who for freedom died. 
God of peace! whose spirit fills 
All the echoes of our hills, 
All the murmur of our rills. 
Now the storm is o’er. 
O let freemen be our sous. 
And let future Washingtons 
Ilise, to lead their valiant ones 
Till there’s war no more! 
—John Pierpont (1785-1806). 
* 
Polka-dot blouses are noted among 
new styles. One style was fine white 
voile, with polka dots in black, blue, 
green, rose or white, and a rolling collar 
of white organdie edged with a frill. 
Another style was a blouse of sheer white 
lawn, having collar, cuffs and frill in 
front, finished with a knife pleating of 
polka-dot voile, in red, turquoise, black 
or white. 
Jje 
A Baltimore scientist has suggested 
a practical use for the 17-year locusts— 
eat them ! lie says they are just as good 
as shrimps if harvested while young and 
tender, just after they have emerged. We 
fear, however, that the taste for locusts 
would have to be carefully cultivated 
before many of us are ready to give them 
the same status as shrimps, though the 
shrimp is equally unlovely in looks. 
>!; 
Tiie New York League of Women 
Workers has opened Camp Matasac, near 
Peekskill. as a Summer play farm for 
working women. It is a 35-acre farm, 
with a large house and surrounding tents. 
The object of the Matasac camp and 
others which the committee is planning 
to establish is to interest the working 
woman, especially those with a trade in 
which there are slack seasons, to take 
up practical householding and farming. 
Last Slimmer various units of working 
women successfully farmed their gardens 
and’ learned the rudiments of household 
arts while at the farm. Many city girls 
who leave school early to begin factory 
work have no opportunity to learn sys¬ 
tematic. housekeeping, and such instruc¬ 
tion may be made very helpful to them 
after their vacation, is over. 
if 
Many practical women who attend 
scientific lectures and demonstrations have 
heard some explanations of common 
things rather like the following, given in 
Life: 
The scientist had given a very scien¬ 
tific lecture and at the end he said, beam¬ 
ing down at his audience condescendingly : 
“Now. if there is any scientific ques¬ 
tion that any of my friends would like 
to ask. I beg them not to hesitate. I 
shall be only too happy to answer any 
inquiry in my power.” 
An old lady in spectacles that gave her 
a severe, stern look, rose and said : 
“Why do wet tea leaves kill cock¬ 
roaches ?” 
The scientist did not know wet tea 
leaves did anything of the kind, much 
less the cause of the phenomenon; but, 
never at a loss, he replied: 
“Because, madam, when a cockroach 
comes across a wet tea leaf, he says: 
‘Halloa, here’s a. blanket,’ and wraps him¬ 
self up in it, catches cold and dies.” 
* 
One of the great city shops displays 
an “efficient kitchen.” It is wonderfully 
attractive, with gingham curtains, red 
geraniums in the windows, and chairs 
and tables painted cream color, with 
touches of bright grass green. It gave 
quite an idea for strong but shabby 
kitchen furniture. All the appliances in 
this kitchen were electric; cleaners, dish¬ 
washer, washing machine, stove, bread 
mixer, cake mixer, etc. Few of us are 
able to achieve all these labor-savers in 
a farm home, but one point brought out 
in the “efficient kitchen" ought to be con¬ 
sidered everywhere, and that is fitting 
the sink to the height of the woman who 
uses it. The average kitchen sink is 
installed without any reference to com¬ 
fort in this respect, and is usually too 
low for anyone but a small woman. As 
a result the woman using it. has to adopt 
a backacliy position while working. A 
sink of proper working height, and com¬ 
fortable shoes, with rubber heels, will do 
much to lessen the housekeeper’s fatigue. 
How I Carried on Kindergarten Work 
in My Home 
Bart II. 
Later on. when I had more money to 
spend. I obtained a kindergarten table 
and two little chairs, several books on 
kindergarten work, and material for the 
entire 20 gifts or occupations. Also I 
subscribed for “The Kindergarten end 
First Grade.” as my older children were 
ready for first grade work. Wo had 
moved to the country by this time and. 
as our school teacher slighted the lower 
grade work, 1 taught my children at 
home the first year. “ The Kindergarten 
mid First Grade” has charming little 
songs and stories for children, besides 
other valuable help. Tt is always an in¬ 
spiration to know what others are doing 
along the same line. 
In “ What and How,” by Henderson 
and Palen. 1 found a most helpful out¬ 
line for carrying out systematic kinder¬ 
garten work. After I obtained this book 
I would often, on an extra busy morning, 
open the book to a page of patterns for 
stick laying, and ask the children to 
build me a pattern like the one in the 
book. Sometimes it. was a stick house 
and pump that I wanted, and at other 
times a windmill or a tree. With the 
picture in plain view they could get along 
with very little help. I had colored 
sticks in one-inch, two-inch, three-inch, 
four-inch and five-inch lengths. 
(>n some of my very busy days the 
children would model walnuts, strawber¬ 
ries. apples, turnips,, rabbits and many 
other things simply with the aid of the 
pictures shown in the clay modeling sec- 
tion of “What and How.” Many a time 
did the children and 1 refer to “What 
and How” to see just how some object 
looked that we did not have at hand. 
Clay modeling certainly teaches a child 
to be very observing. You cannot model 
an object very exactly without you know 
its chief characteristics very well. Do 
not model a pug dog with a beagle hound’s 
ears, nor a hunting hound with a pug- 
dog’s tail. 
There are excellent suggestions for 
“Free-hand Cutting” in the same book, 
and very good illustrations for the chil¬ 
dren to follow. Since I have been in the 
country I have many times been very 
thankful for the numerous fine patterns 
in “What and IIow” that the children can 
copy without my assistance. The work 
of weaving paper mats, the folding and 
construction work, the sewing cards, and 
the work in form and color require the 
presence and aid of the mother. Plan to 
work along these lines on your mending 
day. How many stockings and little 
dresses have I mended as I sat by the 
kindergarten table overseeing the chil¬ 
dren’s work! 
I found from experience that plasticine 
was more handy than the artists' clay, 
which must be softened each time before 
using, so I ordinarily use the plasticine 
now for my five-year-old lassie. This lit¬ 
tle lady has had her full share of kinder¬ 
garten work. When she was a few months 
old I used to hold her in my lap while the 
two older children and I copied the many 
designs in block building shown in “The 
Paradise of Children.” This book shows 
112 forms that a child can build with 
only eight one-inch cubes. Would you 
have believed it! These eight one-inch 
blocks form the third gift or occupation. 
Below is a list of Froebel’s gifts: 
1. Six rubber balls, covered with a net¬ 
work of twine or worsted of various col¬ 
ors. , 
2. Sphere, cube and cylinder, mafic of 
wood. 
3. Large cube, consisting of eight small 
cubes. 
4. Large cube, consisting of eight ob¬ 
long parts. 
5. Large cube, consisting of whole, half 
and quarter cubes. 
0. Large cube, consisting of doubly di¬ 
vided oblongs. (The third, fourth, fifth 
and sixth gifts serve for building pur¬ 
poses. ) 
7. Square and triangular tablets for 
laying of figures. 
8. Sticks for laying of figures. 
!•. Whole and half rings for laying of 
figures. 
10. Material for drawing. 
11. Material for perforating. 
12. Material for embroidering. (Sewing 
cards. 1 
13. Material for cutting of paper and 
combining pieces. 
14. Material for braiding or weaving. 
15. Slats for interlacing. 
16. I’lie slat with many links. 
17. Material for intertwining. 
18. Material for paper folding. 
10. Material for peas-work. 
20. Material for modeling. 
The materials for the third, fourth, 
fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, elev¬ 
enth, twelfth, fourteenth, eighteenth and 
twentieth gifts are the ones of which T 
have made the most use. although I pur¬ 
chased material for the entire 20. 
Do not neglect story-telling in your 
kindergarten work. If you feel a little 
backward in that matter, buy "IIow to 
Tell Stories to Children,” by Sara Gone 
Bryant, and a child’s magazine called 
“John Martin’s Book.” 
If your children are musically inclined, 
T would by all means purchase “Color 
Music for Children,” by Fannie E. Hugh¬ 
ey. and. if you have a piano, get “Piano 
Technic for Children,” by Julia Lois Car- 
uthers. The latter contains the best col¬ 
lection of children’s songs I ever saw. I 
used it along with the former book. Fan¬ 
nie Hughey’s method of teaching music to 
children can be used with success with 
children as young as one year, as I know 
from my own experience with my young¬ 
est child. I have be^n very much pleased 
with the results I have obtained with 
each of m.v three children, although I my¬ 
self sing by note only the simplest music. 
If you can sing the scale correctly, if you 
own a pitch pipe, and a narrow board 
long enough to represent the keyboard of 
a piano or organ, and a box of crayons, 
you have all there is necessary to carry 
on “Color Music” with your children. 
I think it was a great mistake that I 
was taught to play on the piano before I 
learned to sing by note. When I see a 
note on the first added line below T imme¬ 
diately think “Middle C.” and think of 
its place on the keyboard ; when my chil¬ 
dren see the same note they immediately 
think the tone “doh‘,” and can give, in 
most instances, the exact tone. They 
know where the red bird that sings “doh” 
has his nests on the piano keys, but they 
have never heard of “Middle C.” 
L. c. E. 
Thrift Hints by a Country Woman 
Save sugar by careful measurement. 
There was a time when we poured the 
sugar until we thought there was plenty, 
and sometimes used much more than was 
necessary. Then came tin* time that we 
must conserve sweets, and we found that 
careful measurement saves much. The 
ban has been taken from sugar, yet the 
price is high, and we are still conserving 
sugar by using just what the lesson taught 
us is needed, and no more. One scant 
cup of sugar sweetens one-lmlf gallon jar 
of berries or ripe grapes. Half a cup is 
plenty for a jar of peaches, unless they 
he very sour. The same amount is needed 
for. a half gallon of apples. Open the 
fruit an hour before' serving, add sugar 
and stir so as to mix in well. In this 
way the sugar will penetrate the fruit 
and the sweetening is perfect. A table¬ 
spoon of sugar stirred into half a pint 
of cream and served with any fruit re¬ 
moves much of the tart taste. 
Very acid fruits, rhubarb, green grapes, 
gooseberries and plums, require almost 
an unlimited amount of sugar to counter¬ 
act the great amount of acid contained, 
but by bringing these and other very sour 
fruits to a boil and adding half a tea¬ 
spoon of baking soda to each quart of 
fruit and stirring in well before adding 
sugar one-half the amount of sugar will 
ho enough. Remove from fire before ad¬ 
ding sugar, since heat lessens the .sweet¬ 
ening qualities of sugar. 
Save the fruit jar rubbers. “T never 
save a rubber, nor do I ever buy the 
fivc-cents-a-dozen kind,” said the wife of 
a very poor man to me last season. Now 
I consider this quite wasteful, as I just 
as soon throw out a penny as a good 
rubber ring. I find that with care the 
10-cent rubbers give perfect satisfaction 
two to four seasons, and the thinner ones 
two seasons at least. I save every per¬ 
fect rubber. Two of the thin ones are 
sometimes used on a jar. These rubbers 
are used for berries, grapes, peaches and 
apples. Most any rubber answers well 
for pickles. New ones are bought each 
season for vegetables. Broken rubbers 
are used for stopping leaks in tubs. pans, 
etc. Get rubber ablaze and melt over 
July 5, 10ID 
hole. Spread melted rubber with knife. 
This will stand a lot of heat. 
All kinds of quilt cloth is extremely 
high-priced, yet we must have coverings 
for the beds. I save all the worn dresses 
and from the best part of these make 
covers for comforters. The pieces are 
torn in strips and sewn together on the 
machine. Linings are made from dis¬ 
carded blankets, the best part of worn 
outing flannel and sometimes flour sacks, 
which are dyed before being list'd. Whem 
a quilt is worn “past redemption” it is 
washed clean and used as a filler, being 
laid on lining with a thin layer of cotton 
mi top when covering is put in place 
and tacked closely. This makes a soft, 
warm quilt, which if taken care of will 
last through many Winters. Heavy 
quilts should never be used where they 
will become soiled badly, as the washing 
is quite a task. Make protectors of mus¬ 
lin and tack over ends when in use. When 
Winter is past fold and pack in dust- 
proof box. Handled thus they will last 
for years. 
Lengthen the wear of sheets and pillow 
cases. When sheets are half worn I rip 
apart and sew outside edges together, 
tin'll hem the newly-made sides and they 
will wear almost as long as before. Only 
the bottom seams of pillow cases are 
ripped, and they are folded so that side 
seam comes half way between corners 
and sewed again. This brings the wear 
on a different part, so that they will last 
quite a while longer. 
Prevent cold bread from piling up. We 
care little for bread puddings, toast, etc. 
Fresh bread is more desirable than 
“warmed over,” so that I prefer to cook 
just plenty and no more. We use hot 
biscuits, for breakfast and corn bread for 
other two meals. I find that one pint 
of buttermilk mixes enough dough for 15 
good-sized biscuits, enough for two ordi¬ 
nary persons with no great surplus. Two 
pints sifted cornmeal will make plenty 
of bread for four persons. Thus by care¬ 
ful measurement of ingredients I am en¬ 
abled to have plenty of bread at all times, 
yet no constantly accumulating surplus 
to dispose of. This is especially helpful 
during these days when all breadstuffs 
are soaring skyward. L. j. Y. 
Relishes Worth Trying 
A Relish Pickle.—Grind 12 apples, six 
green tomatoes, six mangoes and one box 
of seeded raisins. Add one quart of 
vinegar, two cupsful of brown sugar, one 
tabiespoonful of celery seed, one heavy 
tablespoonful of salt and cook for one 
hour, stirring constantly. Pour into jars 
and seal. 
Corn Relish.—Two dozen ears of corn, 
three-fourths cupful of onions, chopped, 
two tablespoonsful of salt, three quarts 
of vinegar, one red pepper, two green pep¬ 
pers, one bunch of celery, 2% cupsful of 
sugar, three-fourths cupful of flour, 
one-half teaspoonsfuls of turmeric, one- 
fourth teaspoon ful of red pepper, one 
spoonful powdered ginger, and one 
head of cabbage. Put the corn from the 
cob. Put the cabbage through a meat 
chopper with the onions, peppers and 
celery stalks. Put the vegetables in the 
preserving kettle and pour over half the 
vinegar. Mix the sugar with the flour 
and spices and add the remaining vinegar. 
Combine the mixtures, bring to boiling 
point, then allow to simmer gently for 
45 minutes. Pour into glass jars and 
seal. 
Apple Relish.—Twelve apples, two 
onions, three green peppers, one cupful 
of seeded raisins, 1*4 cupsful of brown 
sugar, one lemon, one-half tablespoonful 
of powdered ginger, one-half tablespoon¬ 
ful of salt and two cupsful of vinegar. 
Core, peel and chop the apples, peppers 
and onions, add the sugar, vinegar, salt, 
ginger, raisins and lemon, sliced thin and 
seeds removed. Mix well and cook for 
two hours, then bottle and seal. 
Chow Chow.—Break up one cauliflower 
in small portions and chop eight peppers 
fine. Slice one white cabbage and eight 
onions. Cover with boiling salted water 
and boil until tender, then drain. Put 
back into the saucepan, pour in 3*4 pints 
of vinegar and two ounces of white mus¬ 
tard seed, and let boil up twice. Mix 
one-half cupful of mustard with two table- 
spoonsful of water and just herore re¬ 
moving from the stove pour this in with 
one cupful of sugar, one-half ounce of 
celery seed and one-half ounce of tur¬ 
meric. Stir well, let boil up once, and 
pour into glass jars. 
Beet Pickle. One quart of boiled beets, 
one quart of raw cabbage two cupfuls of 
sugar, one-half cupful of grated horse¬ 
radish. one teaspoonful of black pepper, 
one-fourth teaspoon ful of red pepper, one 
pinch of paprika, one teaspoonful of salt 
and enough vinegar to cover. Chop the 
beets and cabbage, add the sugar, salt, 
black pepper, red pepper, paprika and 
hroscradish, then cover with cold vinegar; 
pour into glass jars and seal. 
Pickled Red Cabbage.—Trim and cut 
the stalk from a firm red cabbage, quar¬ 
ter it and cut the sections across in thin 
pieces, which will reduce the cabbage to 
shreds. Put on to a large dish, sprink¬ 
ling well with salt as it is piled up. and 
leave for a day, then drain well in an 
earthenware colander and put into a large 
jar. Boil enough vinegar to cover it. 
with one-half ounce of whole pepper and 
one-half ounce of allspice to the quart, 
the spices in a muslin bag. and when cold 
pour it over the prepared cabbage. Very 
delicious; good to use in about four days. 
Melon Pickle.—Take a nice melon, cut 
