950 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
The Seekers 
On life’s high trails two pilgrims met, 
And east and west their ways were set. 
Said one: “I seek the towers tall 
That shelter Merlin’s mystic hall. 
“There shall I learn his secrets grave 
Tntil the earth shall he my slave. 
“I leave the valleys’ peace to roam; 
I bid farewell to love and home.” 
Said one: “I from the heights come down 
To seek the valley kind and brown. 
“There shall I learn from seed and sod 
The quickest pathway unto God. 
“There shall T find m.v heart’s desire 
Beside a humble hearthsido fire.” 
Then on they went with pitying thought, 
Each leaving what the other sought! 
-—ARTHUR WALLACE PEACH 
in New York Sun. 
We are again asked to give recipe for 
the sweet pickle or preserve known as 
“cucumber rings.” Who can supply this 
recipe? 
* 
The New York Assembly passed. April 
24, the Donohue-Lockwood bill increas¬ 
ing teachers’ salaries throughout the 
State. Under the measure the average 
increase per teacher in New York City 
would amount to $000; Buffalo and Tioch- 
ester, $550; Albany, Schenectady, Bing¬ 
hamton. Utica. Troy, Syracuse and Yon¬ 
kers. $450. Cities of the third class and 
Mt. Vernon. New Bochelle and White 
Plains, $250; union free school districts 
with a teaching and supervising staff, 
population over 4,500. $350; union free 
districts maintaining academic depart¬ 
ments. not including villages over 4.500, 
$300; common school districts, $250. The 
measure contains a provision for the im¬ 
position of a direct tax of one and one- 
half mills on real property for the purpose 
of yielding the $20,000,000 or more that 
will be needed to pay the increases. There 
is, at the present time, a marked shortage 
of teachers, and many women trained for 
this profession have gone into business 
life because of the superior salaries of¬ 
fered. Anything that will improve school 
conditions will be for the benefit of rural 
life. Our guess is that the majority of 
newly-enfranchised women will show in¬ 
terest in two particular things—efficient 
schools and greater economy in adminis¬ 
tration. 
* 
We have had several recipes for sub¬ 
stitute coffee made from corn or rye. One 
of our friends writes us that she parches 
rolled oats for this purpose, and thinks 
the beverage made from this product espe¬ 
cially good, as it is nourishing and whole¬ 
some. The oats are spread out on a plat¬ 
ter and browned in a warm oven, being 
stirred so that they are well browned 
throughout, but not scorched. The parehbd 
oats are prepared like any other cereal 
coffee; the result is said fro be best when 
this cereal coffee is steeped in boiling 
water for a time without hard boiling, 
merely simmering gently. 
* 
Fashion authorities tell us that this 
Summer is to see a return to the old-time 
Summer girl, with cotton and muslin 
frocks of simple design ; rich and heavy 
fabrics are to be given up, and Summer 
furs are out of date. Last Summer 
reached the extreme of absurdity in furs 
and velvets, and a change was to be ex¬ 
pected. Certainly the change is not due 
to economy, for cotton goods are abnor¬ 
mally high. Gingham at 05 cents to $1.25 
a yard is not old-time simplicity. We 
wish that the return to- simpler dress 
would result in more modesty of appear¬ 
ance and manner on the part of many 
young girls. There is only too much rea¬ 
son for the unsparing criticism of those 
who still retain old-fashioned ideals. 
* 
Summer Beverages 
Will some one give a recipe for the so- 
called “cherry smash” or any good bev¬ 
erage that would sell, well in Summer to 
tourists, Summer people, etc.? 
MRS. M. J. H. 
We do not have the recipe for cherry 
smash, but perhaps it is like what we 
know as cherry punch. For this stem 
and wash three pounds of cherries, leaving 
the pits to cook with the cherries in three 
quarts of boiling water. Cover and set 
on the back of the range, where they 
should be allowed to simmer slowly for 
two or three hours. Turn into a jelly 
bag and allow them to drip until all the 
juice has passed through. Make a syrup 
of three cups each of sugar and water; 
boil a few minutes, add the cherry juice 
and cook five minutes longer. Put in a 
cold place. Serve with a little cracked 
ice and two fresh cherries in each glass. 
The following are simple and excellent 
Summer drinks: 
Xangaree.—To one quart of rich, un¬ 
sweetened grape juice add one-fourth cup 
each of cold water and sugar syrup and 
one-half teaspoop of grated nutmeg. Just 
before serving grate ice in the glasses 
until heaped up. 
Peach Cup.—Weigh 10 pounds of 
peaches. Peel, cut iii slices, and put in 
layers with sugar. Use one pound of 
sugar. Let stand two hours. Add two 
quarts of water and strain through 
cheesecloth, pressing out all the juice. 
Add a pint of strawberries, in slices, or 
raspberries, and a few sprays of bruised 
mint. Pour onto a pint of cracked ice, 
or pour over ice in individual glasses. 
Barley Water.—Three tablespoons of 
barley, four cups of cold water, two-thirds 
of a teaspoon of salt. Boil barley and 
water gently for one and one-half hours, 
strain, add the salt, and when cold cover 
and set on ice. When serving, flavor 
with lemon juice and sugar, and pour 
over cracked ice. This is a very whole¬ 
some drink, and people who are rather 
fussy about digestion will find it especial¬ 
ly refreshing. There are always some 
tourists who will appreciate this drink. 
Iceland Shiver.—Mix the juice of four 
lemons and two oranges with six table¬ 
spoons of simple syrup. Fill a glass with 
shaved ice. Add four tablespoons of the 
The Rural Patterns 
In ordering always give number of pattern 
and size desired, sending price with order 
972 f> 
V7/J- 
0724. Eton for 
Misses and Small 
Women, 10 and IS 
years. 0745. Skirt 
for Misses and 
Small Women, 10 
and 18 years. The 
lK-year size Eton 
will require 8% yds. 
of material 27 in. 
wide, 2% yds. 80, 
1% yds. 44, with % 
yd. any width for 
vest. Price of each, 
15 cents. 
0772. Box Coat, 
84 to 44 bust. 078S. 
Two-piece Skirt, 24 
to 84 waist. The 
medium size will re¬ 
quire 8% yds. of 
material 80 in. wide, 
8 yds. 44, 2Vi yds. 
54. The medium 
size skirt will re¬ 
quire 8 % yds. of 
material 86 in. wide, 
i!‘/j yds. 54. Width 
of skirt 1% yds. 
Price of each, 15 
cents. 
mixed juices and syrup, and sip with a 
spoon. 
Ginger Ale Julep.—Put a scant cupful 
of granulated sugar into a glass pitcher 
and squeeze upon it the juice of six large 
lemons. Set it on ice until the sugar dis¬ 
solves and you are ready to serve the 
julep. Stick half a dozen long stalks 
of mint in the pitcher, bruising the lower 
leaves slightly by pinching between thumb 
and finger! put into the pitcher a cupful 
of pounded ice; shake hard for one min¬ 
ute. and add two bottles of ginger ale. 
Pour out at once. 
Tropical Chocolate.—The following is 
a good way to prepare chocolate in ad¬ 
vance if a hot drink is desired: Break 
fine an unflavored and unsweetened quar¬ 
ter pound of chocolate in a pint of luke¬ 
warm water. Increase the heat slowly 
until it boils;- cook for 15 minutes in a 
covered porcelain kettle. Now set in a 
warm, but not hot. place on the range 
and let it remain for half an hour. Add 
a little vanilla. "When wanted for use 
add one pint and a half of hot milk and 
six teaspoons of sugar; serve a tablespoon 
of whipped cream on top of each cup. 
Chocolate should not he cooked in a metal 
vessel to get the best flavor. 
Feathered Pensioners in Winter 
What a Winter we had. with its suc¬ 
cession of cold, snowy days! Never have 
we experienced such a feeling of complete 
isolation and utter helplessness, yet we 
have enjoyed many of the days. We have 
had as regular visitors so many of our 
feathered friends that we have derived 
much pleasure from them. Early in the 
morning the juncoee. about 20 in num¬ 
ber, were on the piazza eating bread 
crumbs, meal and bran, and scratching 
like small hens in hay seed which we 
placed there. At the breakfast hour two 
pairs of chickadees gave us their cheery 
calls close beside us, as our table was 
against the windows, and their table, 
made of round cartons that oysters are 
bought in. wore fastened on the patches 
of the blinds, and furnished with nut 
meats, walnuts and butternuts, and occa¬ 
sionally peanuts and bread crumbs each 
day; also small pieces of suet or lard 
were hung there, and how much the little 
fellows did devour every day! They 
were so tame we eould put our hands 
against the glass and they would not fly 
away. Then came those silent, to my 
mind, ghostly birds, the white-breasted 
nuthatches. Every day a pair of them, 
also a pair of downy woodpeckers, who 
delighted in the bones they found there, 
and a large number of English sparrows. 
While I do not give a cordial welcome to 
these birds. I realized that they were hun¬ 
gry like other vagabonds, nnd eould not 
let them perish. On a table near the end 
of the piazza we strewed corn for a flock 
of the brilliant, saucy jays, who break¬ 
fasted. dined and supped there regularly, 
and one day we were surprised to see a 
pair of large gray squirrels eating at the 
same table, so even if we had no human 
callers for several weeks we did enjoy 
those bird callers. To. those who have 
not had the privilege of entertaining such 
visitors let me say that when cold 
weather comes again, if you will provide 
a table for them, you will be pleasantly 
entertained yourself, and also furnish 
these little farm helpers with the means 
of sustaining life. L. F. T. it. 
Some Favorite Recipes 
Mother’s Standard Fruit Take.—Three 
cups dried apples, soaked over night, 
chopped fine, three cups raisins, one cup 
butter, two cups brown sugar, one cup 
sour milk, one teaspoon soda, two eggs, 
one cup browned flour. t! J /j cups white 
flour. Beat butter and sugar to a cream, 
add sour milk, with soda dissolved in it, 
then the eggs, well beaten. Stew dried 
apples in two cups dark molasses two 
hours. Chop fine one cup English wal¬ 
nut meats, then add fruit and nuts. 
Lastly spice to suit taste, also flour 
folded in. This makes two good-sized 
loaves. Bake in a moderate oven 45 
minutes. 
Delicious Cream Cake.—One pint sweet 
cream, two teacups granulated sugar, two 
eggs, well beaten, two cups flour, two 
teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon 
vanilla. Bent sugar and eggs to a 
cream, add cream and vanilla, mix well, 
fold in the flour with baking powder 
sifted in it. Bake either in two layers 
or a loaf in a moderate oven. 
Caramel Icing.—One cup brown sugar, 
one-half cup sweet milk, piece of butter 
size of egg. Cook all until soft hall stage, 
beat until cold, then spread on cake. This 
is a fine icing. 
Cottage Cheese and Pimento Salad.— 
Three cups cottage cheese, <>ne pimento 
pepper, two small stems parsley, one tea¬ 
spoon vinegar, three tablespoons sour 
cream. Mince cottage cheese fine with 
fork, cut pimento and parsley in small 
pieces, mix with the cheese. Season to 
suit taste with salt, add vinegar and sour 
cream. Serve on lettuce leaves in a salad 
dish. 
Black Walnut Fudge.—Cook until the 
soft ball stage two cups brown sugar, 
two ounces or grated unsweetened choco¬ 
late, one cup sweet milk. When cooked, 
set aside until almost cold, then beat 
with a spoon until mixture separates, 
when a spoon is drawn through it: then 
add one cup black walnut meats, chopped 
fine, and two teaspoons of vanilla. Pour 
into a buttered square pau; when cold 
cut in squares. 
Peanut Clusters.—Shell and take 
brown skin from one quart of roasted 
peanuts. Grate a cake of sweet choco¬ 
late in small bowl set over a teakettle of 
boiling water to melt. Add a piece of 
paraffin wax size of hiekorynut. When 
all is melted stir in the peanuts, drop by 
spoonful on waxed paper. Set in a cold 
place to harden. L. E. ». 
Angel Cake 
Will you give recipe for angel cake? 
s. m. o. 
The following is a tested recipe which 
we have used for many years: 
Whites of 10 eggs, 1% cuiks sugar, one 
cup flour, one teaspoon cream of tartar, 
pinch of salt and flavoring. Beat the 
whites of the eggs very stiff, then beat in 
the sugar and add the salt and flavoring. 
Stir in the flour, after sifting it three 
times with tin- cream of tartar. Bake 
in a tin with a funnel up the center for 
45 minutes. Do not grease the tin. When 
linked invert over another tin or sieve 
and leave for about au hour. When cold 
ice all over. 
Soap-making in Small Quantities 
We nre asked to repeat the instruc¬ 
tions given by Dr. Crane for making soap 
in small quantities. This is a handy for¬ 
mula for small amounts of fat, and it 
allows perfect accuracy in measurements: 
Pour into n glass jar five and a quar¬ 
ter cups of cold water. Add to the water 
the contents of a can of lye. Stir until 
all the lye is dissolved and allow it to be¬ 
come completely cold. 
Try out the fat from scraps of meat by 
heating. Clarify the fat and get rid of 
any salt it may contain by boiling it for 
May 15, 1020 
at least five minutes with several times its 
volume of water. Allow the fat. to collect, 
then skim it off. It may be melted amt 
strained again. 
Make out of stiff paper or cardboard 
some molds about the shape of a cake of 
laundry soap, but thicker. Weigh out half 
a pound of fat. Ileat. it just enough to 
melt it—no more. Measure out half a 
cupful of the lye solution. Add the lye 
to the fat. a spoonful at a time, stirring 
well after each addition. This should 
take over five minutes. Keep on beating 
until the mass is fairly thick; pour it into 
molds. Set it away to harden. 
Substituting for Deficient Fruit Crop 
The Easter cold spell, which lasted 
nearly two weeks with us in Tennessee, 
has taken all the fruit, it is thought, so 
we shall have to plan for vegetables to fill 
all those yawning empty cans and crocks. 
Every year I say, “Oh, I never can fill 
them all this year.” hut, when the last 
vegetables and fruits are put away in 
November I have used ever jar, even to 
old patched-up cracked ones, nnd the clos¬ 
et shelves arc all full. How much pride 
and delight I take in viewing them, and I 
enjoy the filling again, even if it is hot, 
tiresome work. ’I will tell what I am 
planning to use as substitutes for fruit. 
First come tomatoes, the very best sub¬ 
stitute of all. we think. We shall set an 
unusually large amount, both early and 
late varieties, and 1 shall fill many jars 
of preserves, varying the flavoring so they 
will he “different.” Then if I can get any 
scraps of apples (we nearly always have 
a few even when we think they are all 
killed). I shall make jelly of the juice of 
tomatoes and apples mixed. It, is cer¬ 
tainly fine. I have never tried it alone, 
though it might do all right, as tomatoes 
contain lots of acid. 
Green ones make delicious pickles and 
preserves, and ripe ones canned are fine 
with cream and sugar, in .puddings, soups, 
etc. There is no finer butter than tomato 
butter, or jam. some call it. Melon rinds 
make fine preserves; also, muskmolon pre¬ 
serves are hard to beat, and some use 
them in butter. Pumpkin and squash 
make good butter if vinegar or grape- 
juice is used instead of water to cook 
them in. 
Pieplant is a fine substitute for canned 
apples; also good for preserves or jelly. 
If a handful of cherry leaves are added 
while cooking, skimming out later, they 
give a decided cherry flavor. mrs. h. 
Dyeing with Walnut Hulls 
1 have noticed inquiries concerning col¬ 
oring with butternut bark. I cannot say 
as to the bark, but a fine, unfading dark 
brown can he colored by using the com¬ 
mon black walnut hulls. They can be 
used either fresh or dry. We used iron 
kettles to boil them in. Boil until color is 
all extracted, remove hulls, strain liquor, 
boil goods in liquor at least two or three 
hours. Take up on a stick, let drain and 
dip, while hot, into strong alum water, to 
set color, and 1 will guarantee you will be 
satisfied with the results. I helped to dye 
rags for a rag carpet in this way that 
never faded as long as the carpet lasted, 
and you know how the old-fashioned rag 
carpets used to wear. I never used the 
hark, hut think it would work all right, 
used in the same way. Maple bark makes 
a fine drab, always remembering to set 
the color with strong alum water, than 
which there is nothing better. 
MILS. I. v. m’pitehson. 
More About Hair Switches 
In the directions for making hair 
switch recently given it does not mention 
any binding string. The loom should he 
longer, to have plenty of room. I ouly 
use three strings to weave on. and have 
one for a binder. Put the hair over 
the front, under the middle, over and 
around the back, up over middle, under 
the front, up around under the middle, 
over and around the back, over the middle 
and under the front. Shove up tight and 
put the fastener down between the hack 
threads and up between the front, and 
draw tight to hair, and keep tight 
Fasten each strand the same way and it 
will never come out. I separate the long 
hair from the short and weave the long 
first. To sew to the shoestring, begin at 
the bottom of string and the end which 
has short hair. Wind the weaving around 
the string in a spiral manner, which will 
let the long hair fall over the short. 
MRS. .1. H. G. 
Crumb Coffee Cake 
Will you reprint the crumb cake recipe 
you gave last year? w. H, 
Gream together one tenspoonful butter 
nnd one-half cup sugar, beat in one egg, 
about one cup milk, pinch of salt, 1 Vj 
cups of flour containing three level 
spoonfuls baking powder, very little flav¬ 
oring. Bake in two layer cake pans. I'or 
the crumbs, melt two tablespoons butter 
and one tablespoon lard in the frying- 
pan, then add one cup of flour mixed 
with two tablespoonsful powdered and 
two tablespoonsful granulated sugar; 'i 
toaspoonful ground cinnamon, pinch or 
salt. Stir in pan until it forms crumbs, 
then spriukle on batter and bake. 
Emergency Icing 
A neighbor tells me that sin* never does 
without icing on cake when she desires it 
no matter how scarce sugar may he. She 
buys 15c worth of eholocate drops, melts 
them with a little water, and adds vanilla. 
She finds the quantity sufficient for three 
layers of cake. g. A. T, 
