1076 
71* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 9, 1924 
WOMAN AND HOME j 
From Day to Day 
Footfalls 
Or loud or low, I ever find 
Delight in footfalls of the wind, 
I joy to hear the crisp leaves creep 
Down woodland paths when nights are 
deep 
In Autumn, and there is to me 
A blithesomeness, a buoyancy, 
In a hound’s racing steps through grass; 
I like to hear the rabbit pass— 
The fox go stealthily, and am fain 
Of the soft patting of the rain. 
But best I joy. when love is nigh, 
To hark how silence loiters by. 
—Clinton Scollard in New York Sun. 
How do you use sweet apples? Corre¬ 
spondents who have a few trees of some 
sweet variety tell us that the fruit is 
not salable, and that they have very lit¬ 
tle use for it. Sweet apples are used 
in cider apple butter made after the old- 
fashioned recipe, which calls for one- 
third tart apples and two-thirds sweet. 
The following is a standard recipe for 
apple butter: It should be made from 
new cider, fresh from the press, and not 
yet fermented. Fill a porcelain-lined ket¬ 
tle with cider and boil until reduced one- 
lialf. Then boil another kettleful in the 
same way, and so continue until you have 
sufficient quantity. To every four gallons 
of boiled cider allow a half-bushel of 
nice juicy apples, one-third tart and 
two-thirds sweet, pared, cored and quar¬ 
tered. The cider should be boiled the day 
before you make the apple butter. Fill 
a very large kettle with the boiled cider 
and add as many apples as can be kept 
moist. Stir frequently, and when the 
apples are soft beat with a wooden stick 
until they ai-e reduced to a pulp. Cook 
and stir continuously until the consis¬ 
tency is that of soft marmalade and the 
color is a very dark brown. Have 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. When cold, put 
into stone jars and cover closely. 
* 
Sweet apples are also delicious baked, 
baked sweet apples with crackers and 
milk being an old-fashioned New Eng¬ 
land combination. Baked apples may be 
canned with satisfactory results. They 
are cored and baked as for immediate 
use, then packed in jars, the syrup from 
the baking poured around them, and the 
jar filled with boiled syrup such as is 
prepared for other canning. Seal lightly, 
and process in water bath 12 minutes, 
then remove and fasten top tightly. 
* 
The Children’s Bureau of the U. S. 
Department of Labor, Washington, has 
issued Folder No. 2, on “Backyard Play¬ 
grounds.” which is reprinted from an 
Oakland, Cal., bulletin. It would inter¬ 
est parents who wish to erect gymnastic 
appliances for their children, as it gives 
clear diagrams of sand box, horizontal 
bars, flying rings, baby swing, etc., stat¬ 
ing the kind and quantity of lumber 
needed. The Children’s Bureau issues 
some very valuable literature, and there 
are many parents who would find it help¬ 
ful to learn more about this work. 
Adaptable Patterns for 
Children’s Clothes 
I wonder how many of the mothers 
have a little daughter just starting to 
school this Fall, and needing a different 
assortment of clothes from what she has 
needed heretofore. And I wonder if 
those mothers, like myself, are reveling 
in the joy of “concocting” something 
prettv out of the remnant counter noth¬ 
ings.' Surely the little girls’ styles are 
for economy these days, especially if 
Mother does the bobbing herself and her 
own sewing. I have found that a yard 
and three-quarters of pretty gingham 
will make a dress by careful cutting, and 
such pieces are frequently to be found 
greatly marked down. I look over the 
remnant counter and size up the desir¬ 
able pieces, then go to the gingham or 
chambray counter and see what can be 
had to match with them, and have had 
splendid luck. A piece of lovely plaid 
gingham with a bit of pink in it was just 
long enough for a kimono dress pattern 
and none to spare for the hem. But a 
piece of “neverfade” solid color gingham 
matched it nicely, and by binding the 
bottom, neck and sleeves of the plaid 
dress with the sold pink and making pink 
bloomers an unusually pretty outfit was 
the result at a very satisfactory price. 
The little dresses for the very little girls 
do not have to be just such a length. In 
fact some of the most attractive little 
suits have the dress six inches shorter 
than the bloomers. An outgrown dress 
does not need to be discarded. 
The kimono pattern has been such a 
satisfaction to me. I cut my own pat¬ 
tern, using few measurements. The 
length from the shoulder top to the bot¬ 
tom of the hem and enough more allowed 
for the hem is the first in importance; 
then the depth from neck to under arm, 
and that must be generous. If this is 
scant the kimono garment will burst the 
underarm seam. I do not have that 
trouble even with old garments by al¬ 
lowing a generous depth. 
If a fulness about the neck is desired, 
and a little is always becoming to the 
small girl, a wide neck curve is made. 
If such fulness is made there need not 
be a great widening of the skirt and the 
very bias seam is avoided. However, if 
a bias seam is cut a strip of selvage 
should be sewed with the bias seam to 
prevent it stretching and resulting in a 
sagging skirt. The same kimono pattern 
may serve to cut a garment with raglan 
sleeve, and this is very useful when ma¬ 
terial of narrow width is used. For a 
six-year-old a 27-in. material may be cut 
to good advantage setting in this raglan 
sleeve. 
There are endless variations that may 
be used with the kimono pattern. The 
opening may be made down the back, and 
the front decorated with a little embroid¬ 
ery or a group of tucks catstitched : The 
opening may be a slit down the front, 
but be very sure enough room is allowed 
for the head to go through. If the neck 
is bound with a narrow bias fold and the 
slit also, two little ties of the bias bind¬ 
ing may be tacked at the top of the slit. 
A square neck may be made with an un¬ 
derlying box plait in the middle making 
a closing, and a row of tiny buttons down 
each side, or a wee vest of contrasting 
color or of all-over embroidery. 
The dress may fall full to the hem or 
side straps may hold a narrow belt. Tiny 
ties on each side make a dainty dress 
and do not cause trouble in ironing. Try 
the finished kimono dress on the little 
girl and allow’ across the front a panel 
wide enough to look roomy. Then make 
a very narrow fold under which tack a 
little tie of the material or contrasting 
goods, bring together the front and back 
ties and tie under the arm, being careful 
to not draw too close and cause a scant 
appearance. 
By cutting a kimono dress straight 
down from the underarm curve, to low 
hip depth and putting onto the bottom 
a not too full ruffle, a very fluffy little 
dress may be made from the same ma¬ 
terial required for a long kimono dress. 
In fact the first one I made was cut 
for a straight dress and I decided to ex¬ 
periment with it. So I cut off the bot¬ 
tom till the body of the dress was the 
right length, straightened the ends of 
the left-over pieces, and gathering them 
found just the right fullness for a deep 
flounce. If the body is cut quite long 
and the ruffle made narrow, another 
may be mounted on the body above the 
first ruffle and a very fluffy-ruffle dress 
be made. The bottom of the dress may 
be marked with wide scallops (a teacup 
top is a good size) as well as the sleeves, 
and the edges bound with quite narrow 
bias binding. This is very pretty when 
the dress is of a solid color gingham and 
the binding is of white lawn. Lawn is 
the easiest to fold and to handle. The 
ready made bias binding, folded for use, 
is helpful. 
The plain, short kimono sleeve is the 
easiest to cut and to finish with binding, 
tiny cuffs, etc. But if a little extra is 
allowed in width when cutting the sleeve 
may be gathered in to a binding or a nar¬ 
row ribbon beading and a pretty puffed 
sleeve is made. It is not usual to find 
material wide enough to make a long 
sleeve unless the raglan sleeve is cut. 
But a sleeve length may be cut from the 
end of the material and added to the 
dress, and if carefully done will not show 
the seam wdien pressed. Ahvays when 
making a long sleeve with the kimono 
pattern, care must be taken to make it 
generously long else the drawing will 
cause the dress to burst out. 
When cutting a kimono dress with bias 
under-arm seam, the bottom of the dress 
must be curved else the hem will sag at 
the sides. But if the raglan pattern is 
used and the body cut wide to allow for 
fulness at the neck, the bottom may be 
cut straight. This makes it easy to put 
tucks in the skirt. This is also true 
where the body is cut off short to apply 
flounces to the bottom. I have made 
quite a few little girls’ dresses and find 
the kimono pattern the most economical 
and the easiest made as well as the 
easiest to iron. It is also indeed the 
only pattern to use for infants’ garments. 
By making a loose binding at neck and 
wrist and running very narrow tape 
through it, a very loose garment may be 
made to fit a very tiny baby, and as* the 
baby grows the length adjusts itself, the 
tapes may be let out. and there is no 
scant, binding, outgrown little garment 
to torture the tender body. My little 
daughter finished wearing out her first 
baby nightgowns of fine muslin when 
she was four years old. True, the 
sleeves were quite short as well as the 
skirt, but there was room in the body of 
the garment. mbs. e. f. l. 
Notes from Vermont 
Saturday evening, June 7, the end of a 
busy week; Jack and the three older 
boys are out on their first fishing trip of 
the season, going for eels. A cousin (a 
woman at that) wrote she and her daugh¬ 
ter had already caught 12 eels, although 
earlier in the season than our folks usu¬ 
ally go. 
It has been a cool, or cold, wet May 
generally in New England, according to 
correspondents, and if, according to the 
old saying, it “fills the barns with hay,” 
barns should be filled almost to bursting. 
The earlier apple blossoms are falling, 
but Northern Spy and Wagener are not 
yet out; neither are lilacs fully in bloom. 
Higher up on the mountains a frost May 
31 killed lemon lily buds and injured 
lilacs. Here the newly plowed ground 
showed a trace of white, but house plants 
set out for bedding were uninjured. The 
wind stays cold and snow was reported as 
a foot deep in a few places on Stratton 
Mountain last week. 
IVe are just planting potatoes. The 
team has worked out a great deal, as 
there is a shortage of teams in our town, 
but an abundance of autos. The soil has 
stayed so cold there seemed to be no hur¬ 
ry. In fact, a truthful neighbor says he 
planted potatoes four weeks ago and none 
are showing growth above ground, but 
when dug into show sprouts starting, and 
corn planted at the same time he thinks 
has rotted. Our folks changed their plans 
and sowed 3 y 2 acres of oats instead of 
planting any corn, as they planned. 
The dairy problem and low prices of 
dairy products have been the subject of 
much debate as to whether to ship milk 
or cream. At least the cream shippers 
have the skim-milk to feed pigs, poultry, 
and raise calves. The milk shippers have 
to carry milk every day all the year, and 
the cream shippers only twice a week in 
hot weather and once a week in cold 
weather, and of course the carrying 
charges are less on the cream. All these 
should be thought of by the back-to-the- 
lander who is seeking a fortune. 
We, after almost 23 years of butter¬ 
making, are shipping cream. We have 
sold butter to private trade and the bal¬ 
ance to the general store, but when the 
merchant pays the farmer 35 cents for 
butter to resell for 45 cents, we begin to 
wonder who is making the profit on our 
cows. Or, in other words, if it is worth 
10 cents per pound to put a few pounds 
of butter in a refrigerator, taking it out 
and doing it up, how much should a farm¬ 
er receive to raise the hay, raise or buy 
the grain, raise or buy the cows, care for 
them and make the butter, besides the 
taxes and interest on the farmer’s invest¬ 
ment? 
But to return to pleasanter topics. If 
it has been a cool Spring it has kept the 
tree leaves from developing as fast as 
usual, and what variation of colors they 
have shown ! I fear most of us fail to 
realize one of our greatest blessings, and 
that is the beauty around us that money 
cannot buy. One of our early physiology 
lessons used to give as essentials to health 
“good food, pure air and proper exer¬ 
cise.” Most farmers can have these, at 
least; most of the food we can raise, the 
best of both air and water are abundant, 
and no farmer yet ever died for want of 
exercise—or farmer’s wife, either. In 
fact, I have been dropping potatoes today, 
that the men may sooner build the porch. 
Some years ago I visited the old school 
on the hill, and the good old professor 
asked the psychology class to name the 
three essentials of success, and one mem¬ 
ber of the class gave “Grit,, grace and 
gumption.” Can any of you improve on 
these? 
It has been quite a bird season. The 
hail of April 22 drove numerous birds to 
our buildings for food. We wondered 
how they knew we were prepared for 
boarders. We counted 75 juncoes, then 
there were robins, bluebirds, field, song 
and chipping sparrows, phebes, and, of 
course, the blue jays. It seems as if the 
barn swallows are fewer in numbers than 
usual, but a friend reported counting 150 
goldfinches in oue flock. I never saAV 
more than 25 or 30. One scarlet tanager 
reported this Spring and haunted the ap¬ 
ple trees two days, but the combined ef¬ 
forts of the family failed to discover his 
modestly attired wife. A crane walked 
over the lower flat one day. 
The seedlings are doing finely ; whether 
luck or more experience, never have seeds 
germinated as well. I give the praise to 
the seeds, and hardy Salvia, Pentstemon, 
hardy aster, Centaurea, red, yellow and 
various blue Delphiniums, new hollyhocks, 
hardy Phlox, flax and many more will 
gladden us with blooms next year, and a 
border of violets and a nice Bocconia or 
plume poppy has come to me. If an in¬ 
terest in gardening keeps people young, 
we really ought to grow young every year. 
The plant I mentioned as spider lily 
seems to be the one listed and described 
as a hardy Tradescantia. I had never 
thought of it till I examined the picture, 
but the “make-up” of the flower botan- 
ically looks identical with the tender trail¬ 
ing Tradescantias. [Tradescantia Vir- 
ginica is commonly called spiderwmrt.] 
Now, can someone tell us if the roses 
A head barber 
has written 
a booklet 
It tells you how 
to use clippers. 
Shall we send you 
a free copy? 
Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. 
Providence, R. I., U. S. A. 
Brown Sharpe Mfg. Co. 
Providence, R. I. 
Please send me a free copy of your 
new booklet, "Howto Use Clippers 
Name 
Address 
Ctty 
State . 
R. N.-Y. 8-9-24 
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