716 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
The Pace of the Ox 
AVhat do wo know (and what do we care) 
of Time and his silver scythe? 
Since there is always time to spare so 
long as a man’s alive; 
The world may come, and the world may 
go, and the world may whistle by. 
Rut the Pace of the Ox is steady (and 
slow), and life is a lullaby. 
What do we know of the city’s scorn, the 
hum of the world amaze, 
1 lot-foot haste, and the fevered dawn, and 
forgotten yesterdays? 
Men may strain and women may strive 
in busier lands today, 
Rut the Pace of the Ox is the pace to 
thrive in the land of the veld and 
vlei. 
Crimson dawn in the Eastern sky, purple 
glow in the West, 
Thus it is that the days go by, bringing 
their meed of rest— 
The future’s hidden behind the veil, and 
the past—is still the past - 
Rut the Pace of the Ox is the sliding 
scale that measures our work at. 
last. 
—From “Songs Out 
Cullen Gouldsbury. 
of Exile,” 
by 
Farmer’s Bulletin 1159, “Fermented 
Pickles,” will be found useful by those 
who plan to make dill pickles and sauer¬ 
kraut. This bulletin may be obtained 
free from the Division of Publication. 
X'nited States Department of Agriculture. 
R would be wise to get it before the 
pickling season arrives. 
A recent “fashion show” at the W al- 
dorf-Astoria Hotel in this city presented 
some items already familiar to countr.\ 
women, such as children’s rompers made 
out of discarded shirts. The display was 
made by the New' York County Chapter 
of the Red Cross, which is asking for 
volunteers for the cutting out and sewing 
of discarded garments to clothe destitute 
children in Europe. Material is wanted 
for 73,000 garments and 8,800 babies’ 
outfits. It is said that when the ragged 
children of Central Europe are clothed, 
a thrift movement, is to be started' here. 
It will hardly be needed in farm homes, 
where the housekeepers are usually able 
to make up the last available shred of a 
second-hand garment. 
* 
The following is an excellent recipe 
for horseradish sauce. Mix thoroughly 
together three tablespoonfuls grated horse¬ 
radish. one tablespoon vinegar, scant tea¬ 
spoon salt, dust of cayenne pepper. When 
ready to serve stir in one-half cup of 
cream, whipped very stiff. This is excel¬ 
lent with boiled or roast beef, or with 
cold meats. It is also very appetizing 
with plain boiled asparagus. 
* 
It is quite interesting to note the di¬ 
versity of experience with oil burners 
that fit into an ordinary kitchen range. 
The first letters we received on this sub¬ 
ject reported unsatisfactory results, while 
later correspondents expressed themselves 
as greatly pleased with these appliances. 
It is quite possible that poor or imperfect 
models were sold by irresponsible dealers, 
but it is evident that improved oil burn¬ 
ers are now giving satisfaction to many 
users. It would appear that increasing 
coal prices and all the difficulties and 
annoyances connected with that fuel are 
causing an increasing number of consum¬ 
ers to investigate the possibilities of oil. 
Experience with Oil Burners 
There is a wide difference of opinion 
noted iu the reports of all oil burners. 
The users of all oil burners may fairly 
justify their opinions because of their 
experience with certain types of burners. 
The failure of a few of the cheap burners, 
however, does not justify the purchasers 
in wholesale condemnation of oil burners 
for coal stoves, which have long been 
sought by people living where gas is not 
available. For the past year 1 have beeu 
using such a burner, which is very satis¬ 
factory ; simple to operate, economical, 
gives excellent quick fire and does not 
make enough noise to be any more objec¬ 
tionable than a whistling teakettle. I 
paid about $40 for my outfit, which I 
would not give up for $150. For several 
years I looked carefully over the various 
burners offered. Our place is a farm¬ 
house. eight in family. The burner suits 
us. as well as some neighbors who have 
same kind. 1. H. s. 
The oibburner attachment for an ordi- 
Vhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 14, 1921 
nary kitchen stove has been tried in the 
homes of two of our neighbors. Two 
burners were installed in the firebox of 
the range, and were supposed to heat, the 
range as thoroughly as a good coal fire. 
A thorough trial was given, but the oil 
burners would r.ot heat the oven suf¬ 
ficiently for baking, and for ordinary 
cooking used mere oil than two burners 
on an ordinary good oil cooking stove. 
The burners in each case were discarded 
and the housewives returned to the use 
of coal in the range and the small oil 
cooking stove. mrs. e. e. l. 
More About the Pressure Cooker 
The pressure cooker has become more 
and more of a necessity in our home. It 
is my opinion that no housekeeper who 
has a large family to do for can afford 
to be without one, especially if she has, 
as we have, a • gang” of hired men to 
cook for. We keep our cooker almost 
constantly on the stove. Besides the 
meals, in the Winter at butchering times 
there is the extra meat to be taken care 
The Rural Patterns 
In order’ng always give number of pattern 
and size desired, sending price with order 
0772. Box Coat, 
34 to 44 bust. 
0593. Two - piece 
Skirt, 24 to 32 waist. 
The medium size 
coat will require 3% 
yds. of material 36 
in. wide, 3 yds. 44, 
2 1 /£ yds. 54. The 
medium size skirt 
will require 2% yds. 
of material 30, 44 or 
54 in. wide. 20 
cents each. 
9857. Coat Blouse 
with vestee, 10 and 
18 years. 
9053. "Two —piece 
Skirt for misses and 
.small women, 10 and 
18 years. The 10- 
year size coat will 
require 2% yds. of 
material 30 in. wide, 
2 >4 yds. 44, 2% yds. 
54, with % yd. 30 
or 44 for the vestee. 
The 16-year size 
skirt will require 
2% yds. of malerial 
30 or 44 in. wide. 
20 cents each. 
2047. 
Blouse, 
bust. 
2048. Two - piece 
Tunic, 24 to 32 
waist. The medium 
size blouse will re¬ 
quire 1% yds. of 
material 30, 40 or 
44 in. wide; the 
medium size skirt 
will require 2% yds. 
30, 40 or 44, with 
2% yds. 40 or 44 for 
the tunic and girdle. 
20 cents each. 
2027. One - piece 
Dress, 34 to 44 bust. 
The medium size 
will require 5!4 yds. 
of material 30 in. 
wide, 5X4 yds. 40, 
5 yds. 44. 20 cents 
each. 
of. This may be canned in a variety of 
wjays, so that it will not become monot¬ 
onous. 
It cau be boiled, roasted or fried, the 
liver and sausage are. of course, fried, 
and the pigs’ feet and tongues pickled 
before canning. The. bones may be 
broken up and made into soup. Some 
of this can be put up clear and some 
contain tomatoes, rice, spaghetti, etc, so 
that it can be opened and served upon 
short notice. 
Then, in one’s spare time, old roosters 
or liens can be put up or made into soup 
and canned. An hour or an hour and a 
half at pressure will convert even a tough 
old rooster into a tender morsel. We 
like our meat cooked before it is put in 
the cans, aud it then takes a much 
shorter time to “process” than when raw 
meat is put in the cans. However, this 
latter method may be used and is less 
trouble. Young chickens can be fried 
and canned like other meat, either with 
or without the bones, aud just think of 
the comfort and satisfaction one would 
derive from a shelf full of canned fried 
chicken ail ready IFor the unexpected 
guest. 
All extra vegetables cau be saved by 
Canning them, and they are so much 
nicer, besides being cheaper, than the 
commercial variety. Of course only firm, 
fresh fruit or vegetables should be used 
aud these should be canned the same 
day they are picked. The green vege¬ 
tables should always be blanched before 
canning, that. is. boiled from three to 10 
minutes, drained, cooled in water and 
drained again. When canning most vege¬ 
tables they are blanched, packed in cans, 
with small amount of water_and salt, the 
cap put into place, then put in the cooker, 
which is then run up to 20 lbs. pressure 
aud held there from 30 to 40 minutes. 
This is quicker and easier than the old 
method, and the percentage of cans that 
spoil is very small. In three years we 
have had very few spoiled eaus. 
After fruits are put in the cans with 
syrup, they are run up to five to 10 lbs. 
pressure for from 6 to 15 minutes. As 
soon as the cooker has cooled they are 
ready to take out and put away. 
A great deal of canning can be done iu 
one day by using the cooker, especially 
if it is planned so that there will be as 
little other work as possible. The main 
point to remember is to follow the direc¬ 
tions given with, the cooker, and to refer 
to them frequently. I often find that 
some little thing has slipped my mind, 
so I read over the directions every once 
in a while. 
The pressure cooker makes a fine fire¬ 
less cooker, and it is convenient to use 
it so when one wishes to go to town or 
has outside work to do. Heat the food 
by holding at pressure of 20 lbs. for a 
few minutes, then set. cooker mi an as¬ 
bestos mat and wrap well with a heavy 
blanket (preferably wool) where the wind 
will not strike it. The cooker may bo set 
on the back of a coal range to cook as the 
fire dies down. Any different kinds of 
food may be cooked at the same time if 
they are placed in separate vessels, and 
it is a saving of nervous energy as well 
as work to put your whole meal iu the 
cooker and sit down, merely keeping a 
watch on the steam gauge, instead of 
rushing madly to and fro preparing a 
meal over a hot stove. One can evolve 
any number of menus after a little prac¬ 
tice. Here are a few meals that are 
readily prepared and served. 
For an old-fashioned stew put one 
tablespoon of drippings in the bottom 
of the cooker, add 1% lbs. of round steak 
cut in small pieces. Season with salt 
and pepper. Use pressure at 20 lbs. for 
30 minutes. While the meat is cooking 
prepare as many potatoes as needed, two 
or three carrots and onious. I.et the 
steam off the meat, add the vegetables 
and season. Put the wire rack over the 
vegetables, place on it a quart pan filled 
with pared and sliced apples, one-half 
cup water and one cup sugar. Use 20 
lbs. pressure for 10 minutes, let steam 
off and serve. 
The following meal can also be pre¬ 
pared and served with little trouble: 
Use 2 lbs. of round steak, peel potatoes 
and cut lengthwise. Put two tablespoons 
of drippings in the cooker, turn the meat 
once in drippings but do not brown, lay 
potatoes on the meat, season with salt 
and pepper. Set wire rack on potatoes 
aud on it place a vessel containing peeled 
and diced turnips and a very small 
amount of water. Over this vessel place 
another wire rack and another vessel 
containing two cups boiling water, two 
roumled tablespoons minute tapioca, two 
medium-sized apples, sliced thin, a pinch 
of salt and one-half cup of sugar. Keep 
pressure at 20 lbs. for about 15 minutes. 
The turnips should be drained, seasoned 
and a little cream added, and the pud¬ 
ding served with cream. 
Ham's fit for kings can be cooked in 
the pressure cooker. Wash and scrape 
ham, cover partly with water, seeing that 
the lean part is below water. Add half 
dozen cloves and one bay leaf. For an 
eight-lb ham hold pressure at 20 lbs. for 
50 minutes aud let cooker cord down 
slowly. If it is to he served cold let 
cool in the liquor until perfectly cold. If 
to he served hot. sprinkle a little brown 
sugar over the ham and brown in a hot 
oven with a little of t ! -e liquor. Slice 
and serve with horse-ra ’isli or mustard. 
An old tough chicken eau be cooked 
whole. Stuff chicken and put one cup 
water iu the cooker, put iu the wire rack 
and place chicken on it. Keep pressure 
at 10 lbs. for one hour. Remove and 
brown in a hot oven. 
Do not make the mistake of always 
cooking in the cooker; this is especially 
so with meats. The cooker is particularly 
suitable for the tough, cheaper cuts of 
meat as the intense heat makes them 
tender, aud they do not lose their juices 
as they do by prolonged boiling. Rut a 
good steak should be fried or broiled and 
a roast roasted in the oven. The ad¬ 
vantage that the cooker has is that it 
enables one to save on the meat bill with¬ 
out sacrificing the quality of the food 
served, aud making it just as nutritious 
and appetizing as the expensive kinds. 
But if the steam cooked meat were always 
served the flavor would become tiresome. 
When we are in a hurry we save time 
by haviug the cooker hot aud pouring hot 
water over the food to be cooked; it then 
takps less time to start pressure. 
We have found that some foods such 
as red beans, discolor the cooker so we 
always cook them in an inner vessel 
although that way takes a little longer. 
We have two utensils which are almost 
indispensible to use with the cooker, a 
meat, fork made like a pair of tongs, with 
which to lift out the large pieces of 
meat, a “hot-pot-lifter” which clasps the 
edge of the inner vessels and enables one 
to lift them out while still hot. 
Brown breads and steamed puddings 
are steamed one hour as in an ordinary 
kettle, and then the pressure raised to 
20 lbs. and held there about 10 minutes, 
but dumplings will fall if pressure is 
used. Drop them in the cooker after 
the meat is done and steam let off; re¬ 
place cover leaving pet-eock open and 
cook 10 minutes. 
When the pressure has risen above 
25 lbs., our cooker makes ,a hissing noise, 
caused by steam escaping from the safety 
valve, which can be heard some distance 
away, but the ' more recent makes of 
cookers have whistles which warn one 
and thus the danger is minimized. If 
one uses a little care and common sense 
a pressure cooker is just as safe as any 
other household utensil. We consider 
that as a time, labor aud money-saver our 
cooker is a great investment. M. a. 
Tennessee Notes 
I am a flower crank. The old-fash¬ 
ioned shrubs, roses. Chrysanthemums and 
any new varieties that come my way are 
given room. Wc have flowers from 
March until the Autumn frosts cut them 
down. True, there is no money in them, 
but there is lots of pleasure and genuine 
satisfaction in seeing them grow in their 
beauty and their fragrance; they form 
a picture that most famous artists can 
only copy. 
What shall we cook until garden stuff 
comes in? One tires of eggs, meat, etc. 
I find my own family like fried mush for 
a change, or creamed potatoes cold, made 
into cakes aud fried; gravy made by 
browning two heaping tablespoonfuls' of 
flour in meat drippings, or butter, adding 
a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper and one 
pint of rich, sweet milk. Stir until 
smooth and of the Tight consistency. 
Bushels of watercress grow close by; we 
use that for a noon relish, with beans or 
potatoes, and pie. Some members of the 
family will eat pie three times a day. 
365 times a year; but my, the work! I 
am a bit partial to the one-erust pie— 
less work—or sometimes I toast bread 
crumbs, bring canned fruit to the boil, 
and make a bread pie with a layer of 
fruit, a layer of bread crumbs, a bit of 
sugar, more fruit and so on until dish is 
full, or if the fruit is peaches or apples. 
I build this out of cold fruit and bread 
and bake in a deep pan. 
I am planning to can a generous quan¬ 
tity of fruit juices this year, those of 
last year have come in so handy for jel¬ 
lies. puddings and drinks for parched 
throats. Of the 29% gallons of butters 
I made last year, I find I have only six 
gallons on hand; no danger of that spoil¬ 
ing. 
One of the boys has come in with a 
basket of tender greens. They are to be 
picked, washed and cooked for dinner. 
For the others who do not like greens, 
there will be potatoes to cook. And I 
have in my mind a big rhubarb stew pie. 
Onions and lettuce will soon be ready for 
use. 
I see one of the married daughters com¬ 
ing with the two little grandchildren. No 
more writing; truly the world’s a pleas¬ 
ant place. No wonder we hate to leave 
it; so many to love and work for; so 
many to he glad to see and hear from ; 
every day something new in the Spring 
of the year to look at. When one has 
been shut up inside of four walls with a 
long siege of sickness, one is that thank¬ 
ful and glad to be out. I find it impos¬ 
sible to grieve ever eggs going down to 
15c and sugar going up, even when one’s 
worldly wealth consists of one dime and 
two pennies. We thank the good Lord 
for health and strength and a little more 
time with our loved ones here. 
MRS. D. B. P. 
Trapping the Wily Rat 
When you have used every kind of 
bait and trap and still fail to catch some 
wily old rat, try covering the steel trap 
with an old. soiled rag. It. has proven so 
successful in our home that we never 
use bait of any kind, and seldom have to 
leave the trap longer than 48 hours. The 
experiment was tried after the man of the 
house had seen a rat rolling and playing 
on a pile of old clothes. A dean cloth 
does not seem to invite the rat to a frolic; 
perhaps the scent of the hand is more 
evident on it. But a soiled cloth, care¬ 
lessly thrown over the trap, placed'where 
the rat has been running, is almost sure 
to get him. MRS. E. E. L. 
More About Upholstering 
Reading the upholstering notes by 
“Jessie” brings to mind a little work that 
we did several years ago. Instead of 
burlap, which will sometimes let the stuf¬ 
fing sift through, we used an old-fashioned 
wheat or mill sack of heavy cotton to 
cover the springs, and also to put on top 
of the stuffing. It has worn splendidly. 
In covering one chair we found we had 
enough upholstering material left from 
something else, but the color clashed woe¬ 
fully with the frame, so we dyed it with¬ 
out much trouble and the result was quite 
satisfactory. 
For polishing old mahogany and other 
fine woods use lemon oil. 
RUTH W. GORDON. 
