1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
25 
TOE i®U§ra©M)o 
(J3?“ For other Household Items, see “flasket ” pages.) 
Lap Robes and Picture Frames. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE PRIZE ESSAY BY MISS EYA M. 
COLLINS, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
Some time ago we sent a number of things away 
to be colored. We send the wool requisite for fam¬ 
ily use to the factory to be spun into yarn. As 
Ralph was about starting with the fleeces, it oc- 
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Fig. 1.— LAP ROBE. 
eurred tome, as grandmother repeated to him some 
special instructions concerning a part of a fleece 
which was to be very coarse for oversocks, that 
| . coarse, slack-twisted yarn from 
| fine wool would make a capital 
lap robe. It could be colored 
as brightly as zephyr, would be 
warmer, more durable, and no 
more expensive than a horse 
blanket. I could knit it in Af¬ 
ghan stitch, in long strips, and 
crochet them together, and the 
robe could be as long and as 
wide as I pleased to make it. 
How nicely it would look in 
our large new cutter, and how 
comfortable it would be, espe¬ 
cially when the front seat was 
in, and both the good buffalo 
robes were used in front! But 
Ralph was starting. “Oh! fa¬ 
ther, call him back.” “Halloo, 
Ralph!” “What is it child?” 
“ Oh ! father, put in another 
fleece. I want to make a lap 
robe. Can you spare one more ?” 
“ Wait Ralph, here is an errand for your little fin¬ 
ger, and I expect we shall turn out in fine style 
next winter.”—There is the lap robe complete, 
(fig. 1)—fifteen strips, four inches in width, and 
four feet in length—seven 
of them black, four scar¬ 
let, two green, and two 
orange, put together with 
scarlet. Katie embroider¬ 
ed a palm-leaf near the 
points of each strip, fig. 2, 
as fast as completed, and 
Jennie made the tassels to 
correspond. [A palm-leaf 
in embroidery is nothing 
like a natural palm-leaf— 
it more resembles a crazy letter G than anything 
else, and our artist supposing that it was a very bad 
G, made his drawing accordingly.—Ei>.] About 
every nine inches we put in a star in zephyr, in 
colors contrasting with the 
strips upon which they 
were worked, to preserve 
an agreeable harmony of 
color. Desirable colors not 
Fig- 5. indicated by the colored 
Fig. 2. 
Fig. 3.—FRAME. 
Fig. 4. 
strips were used to advantage upon the black, al¬ 
ternating with the stars upon the colored strips. 
Father and I have been initiating the robe into the 
mysteries of active service,' or rather ourselves 
into sailing under such gay colors with sobriety. 
Our “ Shaksperean Reading ” comes off to-night, 
and will be at our house for the first time. We be¬ 
gin “Brutus” alias “Julius Caesar,” to-night. 
Father and I stopped at the-rectory and found our 
rector, Mr. N., and the gentlemen who are to read 
the parts of Cassius, Antony, Julius Caisar and Cas- 
ca with their Shakspeares. Mr. N. is Brutus. He 
is our most correct reader, and whenever he will 
consent to it, he is made the hero of the play. We 
meet every fortnight, and read only one act in an 
evening. Two miscellaneous readers are appoint¬ 
ed, each limited to twenty minutes, and several are 
designated to furnish the music. Father bought 
an engraving of Carpenter’s “ Signing of the Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation ” a few days ago, and as I 
am to read for one, I intend, if our President docs 
not think it out of order, 
to spend my twenty min¬ 
utes upon an explanation 
of the picture, with some 
extracts and anecdotes 
from Carpenter’s book. 
The picture looked deso- Fig- 0. 
late all alone after it was hung. It was all there 
to be sure ; but there were so many legs, and coats, 
and arms, as to become wearisome, before it was 
possible to get into the spirit of the tableau, at 
least so it seemed to me last evening, as I was 
studying the scene in view of to-night; but it is all 
right now. Something is needed above the picture. 
I would hang my little head of Christ there, only 
the engraving is so exquisitely fine, the “ Cabinet ” 
would look coarse in comparison. The better way 
will be to bring down the frame I made for Char¬ 
lie’s photograph from my room for to-night, and let 
Washington preside. The way I made the frame is 
quite a good one for variety. It is made of gilt 
paper, which comes in large sheets, one of which 
is sufficient for three frames like 
one in fig. 3. The outer row of 
points is made from strips half an 
inch in width, cut into pieces two 
inches in length. The strips used 
for each of the other rows are a 
trifle narrower and shorter than for the row imme¬ 
diately outside. Double the paper down first from 
the left, as in fig. 4, and then from the right, as in 
fig. 5, and sew each row of points, beginning with 
the outer one, upon an oval cut from an old box 
cover, fig. 6. The inner row of points is a piece 
of the gilt paper upon which points are cut neatly , 
and pasted over the last row of stitches, fig. 7. 
Deportment at Table. 
A mother wishes to know what she shall do to 
secure agreeable manners in her children at table. 
There are probably a good many mothers among 
our readers pressed with the same solicitude. 
Good breeding shows itself at the table more 
than elsewhere, for here we come to gratify 
an animal appetite, and without some painstaking 
to redeem its coarseness the repast is likely to be 
purely an animal exercise. Children learn more 
readily from example than from precept, and unless 
the parents are agreed in having a little formality at 
the table, it will be impossible to form decorous 
habits in the children. If the parents will observe 
the rules of good breeding themselves, there is 
very little difficulty in training the children. It 
helps the matter very much to have the table set 
in an orderly manner. Every article to be used 
upon the table should have its place and be in it at 
the beginning of the meal. It is a terrible annoy¬ 
ance to any well bred person to have a perpetual 
running to the pantry or kitchen for some forgot¬ 
ten article. Then neatness in the appearance of the 
table helps neatness and order in the children. 
Clean table-cloths and napkins are contagious some¬ 
what. The meals should be at fixed hours, and 
punctuality at the table should be insisted upon. 
Nothing should be allowed to intrude upon the 
time allotted to meals. It should be made a time 
of leisure and social enjoyment. Mental care and 
haste disturb digestion and make dyspeptics. 
There should be a few rules observed in good soci¬ 
Fig. 7. 
ety laid down and enforced so early that the child 
will have no rememberance of a wrong way of using 
his knife and fork or handling his cup or goblet. 
Politeness is always to be insisted upon, and broth¬ 
ers and sisters should be made to study each other’s 
happiness. This will make them agreeable in 
larger circles. Politeness often contributes more 
to one’s success in life than brains or capital. 
Foot Warmers. 
Many people suffer more in the winter from cold 
feet than from any other cause. The feet are easily 
kept warm while exercising, but in a sitting posture, 
while riding in a carriage, or at home, there is much 
inconvenience and exposure to taking cold. For 
invalids it is especially important that a good cir¬ 
culation of the blood should be kept up at the ex¬ 
tremities. Those ancientaud time-honored devices 
to remedy cold feet, the junk bottle and the stone 
jug filled with hot water, often led to petty disas¬ 
ters, more vexatious than perilous. The corks 
would fly out or get loose and make a bad matter 
worse. Yankee ingenuity has improved upon these 
primitive inventions, and we have in fig. 1 a vessel 
holding about two quarts of water, quite as conven- 
Fig. 1.— STONE-WARE FOOT WARMER. 
iently handled as the bottle, and the cork inserted 
upou the top so that if it fly out under pressure of 
steam there is no danger of leakage. This is a very 
convenient article for the 
bed of an invalid or for 
the carriage in a cold day. 
Fig. 2 is another form of 
pj„. 2 the same article. It pre¬ 
sents a larger surface to 
the feet and is more convenient for use while sit¬ 
ting. If wrapt in cloths or sheepskin with the 
wool on, it will retain its heat for a long while. 
The heated stone or brick has been improved upon 
by cutting slabs of soap¬ 
stone into convenient 
sizes, and putting handles 
upon them. They are 
much neater in appear¬ 
ance, and are always at 
hand. Fig. 3. Aside from 
the suffering which these Fig. 3. 
articles prevent, there can be no doubt of their use¬ 
fulness even for those in health. It is much better 
for a robust man to ride with comfortable feet, than 
to be benumbed with cold. It is by timely atten¬ 
tion to little things that the health is preserved. 
Gems or Aerated Rolls. 
The only convenient article for cooking Gems is a 
French roll pan for baking, shown in the engraving, 
and we cannot warrant success in anything else. The 
pans are made of cast iron, and can be had at the large 
FRENCH ROLL PAN. 
hardware and furnishing stores in the cities at about 
$4.50 per dozen, and 75 cents single. Put the pan 
upon the stove, heated nearly to redness. Take 
one cup of water, one cup of milk, and three cup9 
