694 
The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
May  5,  1923 
WOMAN  AND  HOME 
From  Day  to  Day 
Castles  in  the  Air 
The  bonnie,  bonnie  bairn,  who  sits  poking 
in  tire  ase, 
Glowering  in  the  fire  wi’  his  wee  round 
face ; 
Laughing  at  the  fuffin’  lowe,  what  sees  he 
there? 
Ila !  the  young  dreamer’s  bigging  castles 
in  the  air. 
His  wee  chubby  face,  and  his  touzie  curly 
pow, 
Are  laughing  and  nodding  to  the  dancing 
lowe, 
He'll  brown  his  rosy  cheeks  and  singe  his 
sunny  hair. 
Glowering  at  the  imps  wi’  their  castles  in 
the  air. 
He  sees  mickle  castles  towering  to  the 
moon  ! 
He  sees  little  sodgers  pulling  them  a’ 
doun. 
Worlds  whombling  up  and  doun,  bleezing 
wi’  a  flare — 
See  how  he  laughs,  as  they  glimmer  in 
the  air. 
For  a’  sae  sage  he  looks,  what  can  the 
laddie  ken ! 
He’s  thinking  upon  naething,  like  mon.v 
mighty  men ; 
A  wee  thing  mak’s  us  think,  a  sma’  thing 
mak’s  us  stare — 
There  are  mair  folk  than  him  bigging  cas¬ 
tles  in  the  air. 
Sic  a  night  in  Winter  may  weel  mak’  him 
cauld, 
His  chin  upon  his  huffy  hand  will  soon 
male’  him  auld ; 
His  brow  is  brent  sae  braid,  oh  pray  that 
daddy  Care 
Would  let  the  wean  alane  wi’  his  castles 
in  the  air. 
He’ll  glower  at  the  fire,  and  he’ll  keek  at 
the  light ! 
But  mony  sparkling  stars  are  swallowed 
up  by  night, 
Aulder  een  than  his  are  glamored  by  a 
glare, 
Hearts  are  broken,  heads  are  turned,  wi’ 
castles  in  the  air. 
— JAMES  BALLAXTIXE. 
* 
Dr.  Cummins,  the  Surgeon-General  of 
the  United  States  Public  Health  Service, 
thinks  that  the  present  craze  for  continu¬ 
ous  dance  records  is  a  recurrence  of  the 
dancing  plague  which  swept  over  Europe 
in  1364.  In  the  middle  ages,  Dr.  Cum¬ 
mins  said,  London  was  visited  hy  the 
dance  plague,  and  many  of  the  popula¬ 
tion  seized  with  the  mania  danced  and 
whirled  about  the  streets,  sometimes  four 
and  five  days  without  stopping,  when  they 
would  fall  from  exhaustion.  Many  died. 
We  cannot  imagine  anything  more  useless 
and  senseless  than  this  sort  of  endurance 
test.  Women  whose  daily  duty  means  an 
endurance  test  at  washtub  or  kitchen 
stove  are  not  likely  to  meet  with  any 
competition  from  these  muscular  fox- 
trotters. 
* 
We  have  received  several  letters  recent¬ 
ly,  without  full  name  and  address,  asking 
how  to  control  bedbugs.  This  filthy  and 
disgusting  pest  is  broadcast  by  modern 
conditions  of  travel  and  transportation, 
and  even  the  cleanest  household  must 
watch  perpetually  to  avoid  infestation. 
The  remedy  offered  by  one  experienced 
housekeeper,  who  had  been  obliged  to  deal 
with  the  pest  in  various  tenant  houses, 
was  spirits  of  turpentine  and  household 
ammonia,  half  and  half,  squirted  into 
cracks  and  crevices  from  a  sewing  ma¬ 
chine  oil  can.  or  brushed  over  surfaces 
with  a  paint  brush.  This  does  not  stain, 
is  cheap  and  extremely  efficient.  Several 
persons  to  whom  we  suggested  this  rem¬ 
edy  report  entire  success.  Another  reader 
says : 
I  have  helped  clean  up  several  houses 
of  these  pests  by  using  equal  parts  cor¬ 
rosive  sublimate,  alcohol  and  carbolic 
acid.  With  a  good  stout  turkey  or  goose 
feather  go  over  all  crevices  of  the  bed¬ 
steads,  ends  of  the  slats,  and  where  the 
slats  rest  on  side  boards,  on  the  ends  of 
side  boards,  or  broken  places  in  the  walls. 
Apply  often  ;  don’t  be  afraid  to  use  too 
much  of  it.  Look  the  beds  over  each 
morning,  and  kill  any  insects  you  see,  and 
I  will  guarantee  that  you  will  soon  be  rid 
of  the  dirty  pests.  If  applied  thoroughly, 
this  fluid  seems  to  kill  the  eggs  before 
hatching,  or  young  as  just  hatched,  and 
does  not  leave  any  marks  where  applied. 
Gasoline  is  often  very  effective,  but  its 
inflammable  nature  must  be  remembered. 
Where  partitions  or  ceilings  are  made  of 
matched  boards,  as  occurs  sometimes,  we 
have  heard  of  spraying  these  boards  with 
gasoline  from  a  knapsack  sprayer,  as  the 
only  way  of  getting  at  the  insects  in  the 
cracks  of  the  boards,  though  it  is  possible 
that  sulphur  fumigation  would  have  been 
quite  helpful.  We  think  frequent  mop¬ 
ping  of  the  floor  with  one  of  the  commer¬ 
cial  floor  oils  is  quite  discouraging  to  in¬ 
sects.  Plaster  walls  that  are  painted  or 
finished  with  one  of  the  modern  calcimine 
products  afford  less  harbor  for  insects 
than  wallpaper.  Buhach  or  Persian  in¬ 
sect  powder,  blown  into  cracks  with  a 
powder  gun,  is  helpful  if  fresh,  and  there 
are  some  places  that  are  better  reached 
by  this  than  by  liquids,  but  the  powder 
looks  dirty,  and  for  this  reason  a  colorless 
The  Rural  Patterns 
In  ordering  always  give  number  of  pattern 
and  size  desired,  sending  price  with  order 
2147.  Cape.  One 
size.  The  pattern 
will  require  3  % 
yards  of  material  30 
or  40  inches  wide. 
2%  yards  44.  20 
cents. 
9971.  Blouse  with 
kimono  sleeves,  34 
to  42  bust. 
2095A.  Two-piece 
skirt,  with  or  with¬ 
out  side  panels,  20 
to  34  waist.  The 
medium  size  blouse 
Will  require  1% 
yards  of  material  40 
or  44  inches  wide. 
The  medium  size 
skirt  will  require 
2%  yards  of  mate¬ 
rial  36,  40  or  44 
inches  wide,  with  1 
yard  any  width  ex¬ 
tra  for  the  panels. 
Each  20  cents. 
2038.  Girl's  dress, 
with  plain  or  scal¬ 
loped  edges,  8  to  14 
years.  The  medium 
size  will  require  2% 
yards  of  material 
36,  44  or  54  inches 
.wide.  20  cents. 
2150.  Dress  with 
or  without  strap,  36 
to  40  bust.  The 
medium  size  will  re¬ 
quire  5  yards  of 
material  36  inches 
wide,  4  yards  44, 
3%  yards  54,  with 
1  yard  36  extra  for 
lining.  20  cents. 
liquid  is  preferable.  Whatever  is  used 
must  be  applied  freely,  and  repeated  with 
persistent  regularity  ;  it  is  the  follow-up 
system  that  puts  an  end  to  the  nuisance. 
Prune  Marmalade  and  Conserve;  Shrink¬ 
age  in  Canning 
On  page  55S  someone  asks  for  a  recipe 
for  prune  marmalade.  The  following  are 
two  recipes  that  we  use ;  perhaps  one  of 
them  might  be  acceptable. 
Prune  Marmalade. — Wash  and  soak 
over  night  one  pound  of  prunes.  In  the 
morning  cook  slowly  until  tender.  Stone 
and  press  through  a  coarse  sieve.  Add  a 
generous  cup  of  ivhite  sugar  and  the  grat¬ 
ed  rind  and  juice  of  a  large  lemon.  Re¬ 
turn  to  the  stove  and  cook  slowly,  stir¬ 
ring  often,  until  thick  like  apple  butter. 
Pour  into  jelly  glasses  and  seal  with  paro- 
wax  when  cold.  More  or  less  sugar  may 
be  used  to  suit  the  individual  taste. 
Prune  Conserve. — Two  pounds  large, 
meaty  prunes.  Soak  over  night  and  cook 
until  the  stones  may  be  removed.  Chop 
or  grind  rather  coarsely  one  orange  and 
one  lemon.  Add  to  the  stoned  prunes 
with  %  lb.  of  white  sugar.  Cook  very 
slowly  for  about  two  hours.  Ten  minutes 
before  removing  from  the  stove  add  three- 
fourths  of  a  cup  of  chopped  walnut  meats. 
Of  course  these  may  be  omitted  if  pre¬ 
ferred.  Seal  as  for  jam. 
On  the  same  page  information  about  a 
steam  pressure  cooker  is  asked.  A  few 
years  ago  I  assisted  a  relative  iu  doing 
commercial  canning.  We  used  a  steam 
pressure  canner  holding  48  pints.  We 
had  trouble  at  first  with  shrinkage,  but 
in  our  case  found  it  due  to  allowing  the 
steam  to  escape  too  rapidly  at  the  end  of 
the  processing.  After  remedying  that  we 
had  no  further  trouble. 
MRS.  JOIIX  LYONS. 
Wash  1  lb.  prunes.  Put  into  saucepan 
and  cover  with  cold  water ;  boil  slowly 
until  they  mash  easily.  Remove  the 
stones,  strain  through  coarse  strainer. 
Return  to  saucepan  and  add  one  cup 
grated  pineapple,  one-half  cup  sugar,  one 
teaspoon  salt.  Boil  slowly  40  minutes. 
It  must  be  thick  enough  to  spread. 
MRS.  j.  p.  L. 
As  prunes  are  always  to  be  had,  I  only 
make  a  small  quantity:  1  lb.  prunes  (the 
best),  %  lb.  apricots  (either  dried  or 
fresh).  Stew  very  slowly  until  pits  of 
prunes  can  be  removed.  Put  pulp  through 
colander,  return  kettle  and  juice.  Add 
two  cups  sugar,  *4  lb.  each  of  candied 
lemon  and  orange  peel,  the  juice  of  one 
lemon,  and  water  enough  to  make  two 
cups.  If  it  seems  thick,  add  a  little  more 
water.  Cut  peel  fine  with  scissors.  Be 
careful  not  to  burn.  Set  on  back  of  range 
and  simmer  slowly  until  right  consistency, 
perhaps  three  hours.  Add  one-half  cup 
of  nut  meats  just  before  removing  from 
the  fire.  Fill  tumblers  and  cover  with 
paraffin.  An  old,  tried  recipe. 
MRS.  E.  H.  L. 
Tennessee  Notes 
March  brought  us  some  very  cold 
weather,  hard  freezes  that  have,  no  doubt, 
cooked  the  peaches,  yet  we  find  one  here 
and  there  still  alive,  but  farther  south, 
where  the  buds  were  more  open,  very 
few  escaped.  Apples,  I  hope,  are  not 
seriously  injured.  The  yellow  plums  are 
beginning  to  show  white  buds.  I  have  not 
examined  the  buds  to  see  if  they  are  in¬ 
jured,  though,  in  the  yard ;  in  fact,  I 
have  been  housed  up  with  the  toothache, 
and  the  teeth  in  Johnson  City,  21  miles 
away !  One  of  those  teeth  that  had  been 
smashed  out  and  replaced  began  to  give 
me  trouble.  More  than  a  week  ago  I 
went  to  the  dentist,  and  after  cautioning 
him  in  regard  to  a  neck  that  will  only 
go  so  far  back,  jaws  that  will  only  open 
so  far,  and  teeth  that  had  been  tied  up 
to  anchor  a  fractured  jawbone,  he  began 
to  inject  stuff  in  my  gums.  Such  a 
funny  sensation,  but  there  was  no  sen¬ 
sation  of  pain,  even  when  he  had  to  make 
one  pull  and  twist  after  another ;  but,  oh. 
the  aftermath !  Today  is  the  first  bit  of 
flNDOW  SHADE 
holesale  Prices 
S 
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“ Lightning 
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Instantly  dissolving  salt 
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Made  from  Evaporated  Salt 
