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lomiiamon. 
A TALK WITH HOUSEWIVES. 
Much lias been written about housekeeping, and 
a great deal learned by reading, but after all 
ex¬ 
perience is the best teacher. 77 This old, time-worn 
maxim cannot be more truly applied than in this case. 
Not till our housekeeping years can be counted by 
the dozen do we feel anything near satisfaction on 
reviewing our attainments in this branch of the busi¬ 
ness—for it is a business (I was going to say a science, 
and am not quite sure but it is), and those who en¬ 
gage in it should be trained just as much and as well 
as for any other life-work. 
There are many inventions nowadays professedly 
to lighten woman’s labor, but I think there is great 
danger of it being too much lightened in this one 
direction. For instance, it is becoming too much 
trouble to beat the butter and sugar to a cream and 
whisk the eggs to a puffy lightness necessary to have 
good cake, and some one of the numberless popular 
raising mixtures are used instead. Nor is it cake 
alone, even bread, the staff of life, has to suffer by 
these new inventions, and the sweet, lively yeast such 
as our grandmothers kept in the stone jug on the 
cellar floor is in some families a thing of the past. 
I am glad to say there are still some housekeepers 
old-fashioned enough to keep their own yeast and 
make the good old-time bread. 
I do not wish to have you think I condemn the 
improvements and new inventions ; by no means 
would I do so, for there are many such good and 
true. But there are some general principles that 
must be followed in order to bring good results. For 
instance, the yeast must be sweet and lively, the 
flour fresh and fine, or the bread will not be good. 
The water must boil before it is poured on the tea, or 
it will not be drinkable. 
I recently heard a mother recounting the total ig¬ 
norance of her daughters in regard to housekeeping. 
One of them being left at home one afternoon with¬ 
out a servant, and the mother also being absent, there 
was no remedy : she must get the tea herself or go 
without it. Having a gentleman visitor, she set 
about getting the evening meal. When at table she 
passed the tea to the gentleman, he (being a privileg¬ 
ed friend) asked, “ What ails your tea % I don’t think 
the water boiled when you made it. ” “ Why, must it 
boil?” said the young lady innocently. “ I did not 
know it should; it was pretty hot.” The gentleman 
made the tea himself. This same young lady gradu¬ 
ated with high honors at one of our popular colleges. 
Can we wonder there are so many unhappy homes 
in our land when there is so little attention paid to 
our daughters’ education in this particular branch"? 
Of what avail are all the accomplishments upon 
which so much time and money are spent? When a 
woman lias a dinner to cook, a sick child to nurse, or 
a retinue of servants to look after, how can she tell 
others to do what she knows nothing about? 
Some one bas said if a young lady can make a good 
sponge-cake she is ready to get married. I cannot 
agree with them. No woman should assume the du¬ 
ties of wife and mother without some practical know¬ 
ledge of housekeeping; this knowledge and a love for 
the work will in time bring perfection. I once heard 
a gentleman say, “ If I was a woman, 1 would be a 
housekeeper, and one of the best, too, and would not 
be satisfied with only an ordinary name.” 
That is just it: the largest majority of our women 
are not in earnest in this great work, but delegate to 
the rough and often inexperienced hands even the 
finest points of this business ; they cannot endure this 
“ eternal vigilance,” necessary from garret to cel¬ 
lar, if everything has a place and is kept in it. 
I am not speaking a word for those fussy, fretty, 
housewives who are continually in a broil lest the 
sun should shine on the carpet (if it would be allowed 
to slip in and sweep up some of the must and mould in 
some parlors we wot of, there would be more health, and 
happiness too, there) or their furniture get rubbed. 
My dear sisters, what are these things for? Why 
not enjoy them while we can ? Those who come after 
us will not want them; other fashions will turn them 
out. Therefore, I say, don’t let us invest so much in 
our household goods that we cannot afford to use 
them while we have health and strength to enjoy 
them. Better far get less costly adornments for our 
homes, and invest the surplus in brightening the 
homes of those less favored than ourselves. 
I admit it is painful to any good housekeeper to see 
our best chairs, holding two hundred pounds of human 
flesh, tilted back on two casters, or a careless boy 
leaning on our new piano, scratching the shining- 
surface with his buttons. But accidents will happen 
to furniture as well as persons ; and while a broken 
chair is a loss to the owner, it is a gain to the dealer 
when we buy another ; and this is what we are to do : 
“ Live and let live.” 
I would like to speak a word for the help, or, as 
some say, the “ hindrances,” in our homes. Those of 
us who must endure these “ necessary evils ” (I quote 
again) should bear in mind that these same persons 
are members of the same human family as ourselves, 
have trials and disappointments such as we. Let us 
then try the gentle method; a little praise will set the 
wheels of domestic machinery in swift motion, some¬ 
times, when a cross word or sharp rebuke would ex¬ 
cite passion and bring everything to a stand-still. 
Who of us would not much rather serve a beloved 
friend than one who takes no interest in our affairs? 
Let us then try what patience and gentle dealing 
with firmness (for without this the reins will be too 
slack) will do in our domestic government, and I 
think we will be amply repaid by faithful serv- 
ing. 
There are training-schools now for housekeepers. 
No doubt these are excellent institutions. But there 
are scores of American homes where there are far 
greater opportunities for gaining a practical know¬ 
ledge of housekeeping in all its branches. I have 
heard more than one say, when urged to learn the 
ways of keeping house, “ It will be time enough when 
I am obliged to do it; I can learn then.” But when 
that time comes, how gladly would this self-confi¬ 
dence be exchanged for a little real practical know¬ 
ledge. Let our daughters be taught, while under the 
roof-tree of home, a complete knowledge of house¬ 
keeping. Mrs. E. B. Cook. 
Trenton, N. J. 
HOW TO MAKE DYES. 
A German writer tells us that a number of excel¬ 
lent dyes can be obtained from the berries of common 
plants by boiling them in water so as to produce a 
strong decoction. The whortleberry and the blue¬ 
berry, when boiled down, with an addition of a little 
alum and copperas, will make a fine shade of dark 
blue. The same treatment, with a solution of nut- 
galls added to it, will make a handsome brown ; while 
by adding alum, verdigris, sal-ammoniac to the berries 
several shades of bright purple and red can be obtained 
The juice of elderberries boiled in water with a little 
alum will also produce a shade of blue. The berries 
of the privet, when over-ripe, will yield, by mixture of 
a little salt, a scarlet red ; and the seeds of the burning- 
bush, when treated with sal-ammoniac, make a beau¬ 
tiful reddish purple. The juice of the currant, with 
a little alum, will dye a bright shade of red ; and the 
bark of the bush, treated in the same way, makes a 
good brown. Yellow can be obtained from the bark 
of the elm, the poplar, the ash, and the apple-tree, 
boiled down strong and mixed with alum water. 
The tassels of broom-corn, treated in the same way, 
produce a good shade of green. 
USEFUL RECIPES. 
Cement for Glass, etc. —A new and very strong- 
mucilage, capable of fastening together wood, porce¬ 
lain, or glass, is described in the Journal de Phar- 
macie. To a strong solution of gum-arabic, mea¬ 
suring eight and one-third fluid ounces, add a solu¬ 
tion of thirty grains of sulphate of aluminum, dis¬ 
solved in two-thirds of an ounce of water. 
A Cheap and Truthful Barometer. —Put a 
small quantity of finely pulverized alum in a long, 
half-ounce vial, and fill it with spirits of wine. When 
the atmosphere is dry and clear, the spirits will be 
clear as crystal; but on the approach of rain or bad 
weather the alum will rise in the centre in the form 
of a spiral cloud, which is an infallible indication of 
rain or bad weather. 
A Cheap Tidy. —First make a frame, about afoot 
and a half square, of common laths; have two 
bunches each of red and white dress braid. Cut the 
braid in pieces the length of the frame, and tack them 
on at both ends, about two-tliirds of an inch apart. 
Weave the braid together over one and under one. 
When it is all woven in, pull the tacks out, baste 
the ends down, and fringe out the edges.—“ Maud ,” 
in Home Guest, Boston. 
Cookies. —One and one-half pound sugar, one- 
half pound butter worked until a cream; add 6 eggs, 
the yelks first, the whites beaten to a froth ; 3 tea¬ 
spoonfuls of baking powder; beat one egg, spread on 
each cookie. Strew with sugar. 
Ginger-Snaps. —Boil together 1 pint of molasses, 
one and one-half pint of butter. When cool, take 1 
tablespoonful of ginger, 1 tablespoonful of soda, 1 
teacup of sugar; flour to make a stiff dough. Boll 
thin and bake quick. 
