1486 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
Things 
All day I’ve been a-wisliing 
For things I haven’t got: 
A quaint old blue delft pitcher, 
A rose-filled garden plot, 
A dancing dress of silver 
A little gate that swings, 
A gently curving highboy; 
Ah me, the lovely things! 
All day I’ve borne my wishing 
A weight against my heart, 
-And all my thoughts were longings 
To burn and sting and smart; 
But now that it is evening, 
I’ll sit me down to rest. 
And watch the twilight soften 
The hill’s low crest. 
Above my small white doorstep 
Are stars; the night is still; 
Deep are the inky shadows; 
Grave is the distant hill. 
My heart is hushed with beauty! 
My spirit stirs and sings. 
Tell me, what is wishing? 
And what are things? 
—HELEN COWLES LECRON 
in Contemporary Yei'se. 
* 
A convenient soiled clothes bag is a 
sack of heavy material with a wooden 
hoop in the top to keep it open, and a 
loop of heavy cord at each side to hang 
it upon hooks. 
* 
One of our friends has a good-sized 
bottle on the pantry shelf, on which she 
winds odd pieces of string. She says it 
is much more convenient than a ball, and 
always handy to reach. 
* 
Newspaper reports recently told of a 
new fraud, worked upon newly-enfran¬ 
chised women. In one district in Penn¬ 
sylvania, men representing themselves as 
electoral assessors canvassed women, tell¬ 
ing them that they must pay $1 poll tax 
before they could vote. The men then 
collected the money, gave a receipt and 
left. The collection was, of course, en¬ 
tirely fraudulent, and the swindlers had 
nothing to do with any form of govern¬ 
ment. This fraud is likely to appear in 
any isolated community, and farm women 
especially should beware of it. 
* 
A savory supper dish consists of 
stuffed tomatoes with bacon. Tomatoes 
are prepared by cutting off a slice at the 
stem end. removing seeds, and filling with 
bi'ead crumbs seasoned with pepper, salt 
and butter. A little chopped onion, 
thyme or savory may be added if desired. 
The stuffed tomatoes are then put in a 
casserole, slices of bacon laid over the 
top, and baked in the oven, the lid of the 
casserole being left on until the tomatoes 
are well softened, after which it is re¬ 
moved to ci’isp the bacon and finish the 
cooking. * 
Farm Notes from Oklahoma 
September and school days are. with us 
again. Every mother knows that it means 
work, and plenty of it, in getting the 
children ready for entering school. I 
have been lengthening out and remodeling 
dresses, making underwear, aprons, etc., 
and am not done yet. It is easy to make 
the small skirts a few inches longer by 
opening shoulder seams, and setting in a 
piece two to six inches long, as .may be 
needed. This is quicker and easier than 
letting out hems. This is for skirts sewed 
to underwaists, and to be worn with mid¬ 
dies or overblouses,, both of which are 
worn by most little gii’ls at present. 
I shall depend largely on. neatly made 
sleeve aprons for my little girl of 10 this 
term. These aprons are cut by a good 
pattern, with round collar, pockets and 
sash served in the under arm seam and 
tied in a neat bow at the back. Some are 
white, others light percales; all will boil 
without fading, and look neat, are easily 
ironed, and may be changed often. 'M e 
do our own laundry work, hence plan, for 
clothing which is easy to wash and iron. 
Ruffles and tucks are pretty, but require 
too much time for the busy mother who 
must do her own work. 
This has been a lovely season here in 
Oklahoma. Crops were never better. 
Rains have always come before needed 
very badly, and all farm crops are flour¬ 
ishing. and pastures are good. Cattle 
look well, but the price has dropped to 
where farmers take little interest in live 
stock, but all hopes are centered on the 
big fields of cotton. Early corn is well 
filled, and the later plantings look well. 
Thrashing is still going on. Wheat is 
bringing around $2, and oats 50 cents per 
bushel. , , 
A severe freeze, lasting three days, 
which came last Easter, killed practically 
all fruits except apples, so that fruit-can¬ 
ning has been a light task with us this 
Summer. Blackberries, however, were 
very plentiful, and grapes have yielded 
well. Tomatoes are doing well, and hun¬ 
dreds of cans are being saved by the busy 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 18, 1920 
housewives. Tomatoes are selling for $1 
per bushel, and I find that one bushel 
fills 20 quarts, which gives a great saving 
over buying from the stores. There is 
even a greater saving in making the sup¬ 
ply of catsups, sour relishes, etc., at home, 
since these come higher in price than 
plain canned goods. 
This has been an ideal season for grow¬ 
ing chickens, and many nice flocks are 
seen on the farms. Egg prices have kept 
up throughout the Summer, and farm 
women are turning more attention to the 
poultry than ever before. Ours is not a 
dairy country, although it seems that our 
State is suited to this line of farming. 
Our Winters are mild, feed may be grown 
in abundance, water is good, and the 
climate is such that cows may be kept on 
pasture at least nine months out of the 
year; but so long as cotton brings such 
good returns it will receive first attention, 
for the women, children and all can help 
in the growing and gathering of the fleecy 
staple. This is what, as a rule, the ten¬ 
ant farmer likes, and he moves from one 
cotton farm to another. Cotton-picking 
begins about the middle of September. 
Then most of the rural schools stop for. a 
month or longer, in order that the chil¬ 
dren may help with the work. The crop 
is gathered and sold by Christmas, and 
all are happy. llllie reed york. 
Chow Chow 
Will you give me a recipe for chow 
chow? R. M. 
Wash and chop without peeling half a 
peck of green tomatoes; chop fine one 
large head of white cabbage; peel and 
chop six large cucumbers; clean thor¬ 
oughly and cut into dice one bunch of 
celery, and finely chop one large white 
onion. Mix all together, add half a cup 
of salt, and let stand over night. Clean 
100 tiny pickles and 50 small silver- 
dren may help with the work. The crop 
The Rural Patterns 
In ordering always give number of pattern 
and size desired, sending price with order 
2008. Girl’s Dress, 
8 to 14 years. The 
medium size will re¬ 
quire 1% yards of 
material 36, 44 or 54 
inches wide for the 
front, with 3 yards 
36, 2Yi yards 44, 
194 yards 54 of the 
figured material to 
make as illustrated. 
20 cents. 
2034. Middy Waist 
for Middy Suit for 
misses and small 
women, 16 and 18 
years. The 16-year 
size will require 5% 
yards of material 30 
inches wide, 4% 
yards 44, 4% yards 
54. 20 cents. 
2024. Girl’s Dress 
with raglau sleeves, 
6 to 12 years. The 
10-year size will re¬ 
quire 2% yards of 
material 86 inches 
wide, 2% yards 40 
or 44, 1% yards 36, 
1% yards 40 or 44 
extra for the ruffles. 
20 cents. 
2027. Dress with 
applied facing, 34 
to 44 bust. The 
medium size will re¬ 
quire 5 Vs yards of 
material 36 inches 
wide, 514 yards 40, 
5 yards 44 or 54, 
with 2 yards of 
black satin to make 
as illustrated. 20 
cents. 
skinned onions; put in separate jars, 
cover with strong salt water, and let 
stand over night. The next morning drain 
the first mixture thoroughly, wash off the 
pickles and onions; wipe dry. Chop fine 
one large red pepper. Put all together into 
a preserving kettle, add two quarts cider 
vinegar, one-half pound granulated sugar, 
one-half ounce each of turmeric seed and 
celery seed, one ounce of ground mustard. 
Cook 30 minute.:, bottle and seal. 
Virginia Chow Chow.—This is an old 
recipe. One peck each of green and ripe 
tomatoes, one large, firm cabbage, six 
green and six Tipe peppers, six large 
onions and two bunches of celery. Chop 
the vegetables fine, sprinkle over them a 
cupful of salt, and let stand 24 hours. 
Drain, then cover with cider vinegar, 
stir in one pound dark brown sugar, half 
cupful of grated horseradish, two table¬ 
spoonfuls white mustard seed, one tea¬ 
spoonful ground ginger, • one teaspoonful 
ground cloves, and the same amount of 
allspice. Let the pickle come slowly to 
the boiling point, then remove to the back 
of the stove, and let stand one hour. Put 
in sealed jars. 
Notes from Vermont 
How the other half of the world lives 
is always an interesting question, espe¬ 
cially now, when all foods are high-priced 
and, we are told, scarce. Never were 
potatoes so scarce as this last Spring and 
early Summer, and many families were 
without them for ■weeks, although pota¬ 
toes are the main cash crops raised, and 
many were shipped away from last year’s 
crop*. The high price tempted people to 
sell themselves short, and the weather 
made this year’s crop late. It was hard 
for the workingmen, but harder yet for 
their wives, and _ beans, rice, macaroni 
and greens did their best to take the place 
of the humble tuber. 
I 11 the same way the blueberry is com¬ 
ing into its own, as it requires less sugar 
to be palatable than any other native 
fruit. The fresh berries stirred into any 
cake help to make a variety, or added to 
the batter for hot gems to serve with but¬ 
ter are favorites in the haymaker’s lunch 
pail, and dried berries are used in the 
same way. The high cost does not deter 
the thrifty Green Mountain house-wife 
from canning every available berry. Ex¬ 
perience taught us long ago that berries 
for pies were just as good without sugar 
cooked with them, and in the Winter it 
is an easy matter to open a "an of fruit, 
add the required amount of sugar aud 
let simmer a few minutes, then set aivay 
to cool. 
We have greatly appreciated the early 
vegetables while potatoes are scarce. The 
English marrow squash is a favorite with 
us. It is thrifty in growth, very prolific, 
and when boiled, rolled in flour and fried, 
is especially good. This is also good 
canned by the cold pack method, or strain 
the cooked vegetable and use for pies. 
The New Zealand spinach deserves every 
word of praise that it receives. With us 
it is the green for canning. 
Why do not more farmers raise eitr-on? 
It is one of the best preserves we have, 
flavored with lemon, or lemon and orange, 
while we are told that two-thirds citron 
and one-third pineapple (canned) is a 
pleasing combination. 
Laddie asked this morning “Aren’t you 
being economical?” We were preparing 
Astraehan apples for canning, saving the 
peelings and cores for jelly, and then said 
he: “You save the cooked skins for Pig- 
gie to make meat of for next Winter.” 
While the severe Winter two years ago 
did not kill many apple trees in our vicin¬ 
ity, it lowered their vitality, so apples 
are not as plentiful. 
Twenty dollars for things to make work 
easier! I said at once a kitchen cabinet, 
and then wavered between that and num¬ 
erous small articles. If the floors were 
not in good shape aud carpeted I believe 
I would take up the carpets, make rugs 
and paint or stain floors. If, as often 
happens here, in these days of scarce and 
high-priced labor, the housewife has to 
do her own painting, a good assortment 
of brushes makes the work easier; then 
I never have quite cleaning brushes 
enough. 
Homemade coat hangers answer many 
times, but if closet room is at a premium 
the “boughten” ones with fasteners un¬ 
derneath the hanger for skirt or trousers 
double the room and keep the clothes in 
better condition. 
Perhaps my greatest small convenience 
is my mop wringer that fits almost any 
bucket or pail and any mop. It has been 
in use 19 years, and bids fair to last 19 
more. , , 
Aluminum ware is another fad of mine, 
and as fast as I can afford it I shall re¬ 
place the worn-outs with aluminum. 
I have always wanted a two or three- 
color muslin quilt, so now I am saving 
all small cloth salt, sugar, etc., sacks, and 
soon I shall have my long desired quilt 
after I “dye.” In our cold Winters an 
extra warm quilt for each bed is a com¬ 
fort, so I piece wool scraps on a founda¬ 
tion crazy work style, piece a lining of 
squares or bricks of outing (heavy) or 
wool scraps, for a filling two or three 
worn bed blankets, and have a warm 
quilt at small expense. 
Worn silk and ribbons I cut into rather 
wide carpet rags, and knit, or crochet into 
sofa pillows or porch pillows. Mine are 
both hit or miss, and filled with lawn 
clippings or pine or balsam are well liked. 
In all advice about fighting bedbugs I 
never saw this old lady’s remedy men¬ 
tioned : Mop the floors in strone hot 
brine if you have reason to belieVd r •' 
could lodge in the cracks. If the oeus 
are of wood scatter salt in the places 
where put together, etc. A friend who 
often moved always painted the cracks of 
her springs full so there was no lodging 
place for vermin. 
' .less we know we are talking of a 
person of ordinary good nature, especially 
a man, we never mention the weather. 
The hay crop is better than the average, 
but the season is late and help was 
scarce, and for th.e past two weeks there 
has not been a good hay day. A neigh¬ 
bor said in his vicinity nearly every 
farmer had excellent oats raised for hay, 
and many of them had oats cut and lying 
flat for two weeks. These things happen 
in everyday life, but have no place in 
the city farmer’s plans. Husband cut the 
grass on a farm on shares this year, plan¬ 
ning to sell our share, buy a cow and have 
a coin or two left to jingle. Part of the 
grass laid out a week, so it is not salable, 
so we must plan once more. 
The make-over articles are always read 
with interest, and among my belongings 
is an old style seal plush coat, 28 inches 
long. The body is in several pieces, but 
the sleeves contain quite large pieces. I 
feel sure with a pattern one could make 
a good neck-piece of the sleeves, and caps 
for tW small boys, from the waist. Will 
some one come to the rescue? The coat 
has been worn but very little and is of 
extra good quality. mother bee. 
Candy Fondant 
Could you give me a recipe for candy 
fondant formerly printed in Tiie R. 
N.-Y. ? I had used it a number of times 
and liked it; this had no corn syrup in it, 
merely sugar, water and cream of tartar. 
MRS. W. B. N. 
White Fondant.—Put 2 1 / 4 pounds of 
granulated sugar, iy 2 cupful of hot water 
aud one-quarter teaspoonful of cream of 
tartar in a smooth granite saucepan and 
stir until well mixed. Place on range and 
heat gradually to boiling point. Boil 
without stirring until when a little is 
dropped in cold water, then rolled be¬ 
tween thumb and finger, a ball will form 
that will just keep in shape—which is 
238 degrees Fahrenheit. After a few 
minutes’ boiling sugar will adhere to sides 
of kettle ; this should be washed off with 
a swab dipped in cold water. Have a pan 
of cold water near by; dip swab in this 
cold water, then quickly wash off a small 
part of the sugar, and repeat until all 
sugar adhering to side of saucepan is re¬ 
moved. Pour slowly on a slightly oiled 
marble slab. Let stand a few minutes to 
cool, but not long enough to become hard 
around the edge. Scrape fondant with 
chopping knife to one end of marble and 
work with a wooden spatula until white 
and creamy. It will quickly change from 
this consistency and begin to lump, when 
it should be kneaded with the hands until 
perfectly smooth. Put into a bowl, cover 
with oiled paper to exclude air, that a 
crust may not form on top, and let stand 
24 hours. A large oiled platter and wood¬ 
en spoon may be used instead of marble 
slab and spatula. Always make fondant 
on a clear day, as a damp, heavy atmos¬ 
phere has an unfavorable effect on the 
boiling of sugar. 
Two Apple Recipes 
Apple Butter.—Apple butter should bs 
made from new cider, fresh from the 
press, and not yet fermented. Fill a 
porcelain-lined kettle with cider and boil 
until reduced one-half. Then boil another 
kettleful in the same way, and so con¬ 
tinue until you have sufficient quantify. 
To every four gallons of boiled cider allow 
a half-bushel of nit..- juicy apples, pared, 
cored and quartered. The cider should 
bo boiled the day before you make the 
apple butter. Fill a very large kettle with 
the boiled cider and add as many apples 
ns can be kept moist. Stir frequently, 
and when the apples are soft beat with a 
wooden stick until they are reduced to a 
pulp. 'Cook and stir continuously until 
the consistency is that of soft marmalade 
and the color is a very dark brown. Ilava 
boiled cider at hand in case, it becomes 
too thick, and apples if too thin. Twenty 
minutes before you take it from the fire 
add ground cinnamon and nutmeg to 
taste. It requires no sugar. 
Boiled Apples in Syrup.—Rub the ap¬ 
ples clean, but do not peel, and stick four 
cloves into each. Put in earthen dish, 
half cover with cold water, and add one 
cup of sugar to each pint of water. Place 
upon stove and cook until apple skins 
crack; remove apples, then boil down 
syrup until it is like jelly, and pour over 
the fruit. -- 
Suggestions for Cleaning Days 
A coat of glue “sizing” applied and 
dried prior to painting, with two subse¬ 
quent applications of enamel paint, inside 
and out, keeps wooden tubs and sinks 
from cracking, and renders them easily 
cleaned and kept clean. The same treat¬ 
ment of metal tubs and iron sinks pre¬ 
vents their rusting. 
Tea. with the leaves strained out. leaves 
varnished surfaces with unharmed gloss, 
when used to wash furniture or wood¬ 
work. 
A mixture used by one housekeeper for 
scouring is made by diluting with rain 
water one part each powdered chalk 
washing soda, powdered pumice stone and 
soft or softened soap. This is excellent 
for scrubbing marble or unpainted floors. 
Paint with enamel the nails or hooks 
on which clothing is to be hung, and so 
avoid rust spots._ lill ian trott. 
More Hospital Experience 
I have been much interested in the dis¬ 
cussions about the maternity hospital. 
My experience and that of a number of 
friends and relatives scattered so widely 
as to include several hospitals in at least 
three States, is that the maternity hos¬ 
pital is an excellent place to give birth 
to a child, both as far as mother and 
child are concerned, and as concerns 
the cost for doctors aud nurses. My 
mother had all her children at home, but 
6he has encouraged the hospitals for her 
daughters, so that all four of her grand¬ 
children have been born in the hospital 
(four different hospitals), aud all have 
received excellent care. At the hospital 
where I was, not only was the baby 
tagged, but almost everything the babies 
and mothers used. mbs. r. o. h. 
