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American Agriculturist, August 9, 192< 
What My Country Home Means to Me 
Contentment and True Happiness Found in its Familiar Scenes 
WILL lift up mine eyes unto the 
A hills from whence cometh my help.” 
So said the Psalmist and so say I, for in 
this home I cannot look out of my window 
east, west, north or south, without seeing 
those inspiring hills of Tioga County. 
The road past our house leads parallel 
with the creek toward the south, and 
between the road and creek is a wide 
fertile flat where my husband raises good 
crops of corn, wheat and oats. This 
same winding stream is no small attrac¬ 
tion on the dear old farm I have learned 
to love so well. There my four rosy- 
faced youngsters fish and wade to their 
hearts’ content on summer afternoons 
when the daily tasks are done. 
Hills, valley and stream—all are lov¬ 
able, but there is one particular hill 
which attracts me most and this rises 
immediately west of the house—a great 
friendly hill, partly covered with trees, 
some of which yield a sweet harvest every 
spring. This harvest my husband and I, 
with some help from the children, gather 
and boil. He furnishes the wood and I 
keep the fire. How I love those sweet 
spring days I spend throwing wood into 
the blaze under the sap pan and getting 
tired, so tired with the unusual effort of 
keeping the fire crackling to boil the sap, 
besides doing the housework for six! 
But the spring winds whisper strength 
to me and the energy of the trees seems to 
flow to me as I sit and watch the white 
clouds rise from the sap house. The he- 
paticas are the first flowers to answer 
spring’s call and there among the lofty 
trees on the hillside, I go with my littlest 
one to gather the blue, white and pink 
messages from the Giver of all good gifts. 
With hands full of the blossoms, I hurry 
back to the sap house to see that my fire 
is going and if the syrup is not ready to 
be dipped off. 
Joys That Wait the Finding 
This same kindly hill furnishes another 
joy. This is the arbutus lot, which is in 
the far northwest corner of the farm 
near a large hogsback. Here, too, is a 
grove of pines that shelters blackberries, 
huckleberries and win^ergreens. The 
arbutus, of course, is the first attraction 
and the one which thrills me most with its 
pink fragrance. The whole family of us 
drive the team up there some April 
Sunday and gather a little and see the 
rest in bloom. How can any sane being 
fail to worship the Creator of such loveli¬ 
ness! 
The children love the red wintergreen 
berries too, but give me the blue huckle¬ 
berries which are ripe in the haying time. 
My heart just thrills with the memory 
of those warm days when we put up our 
lunch and' taking pails and baskets 
climbed the long hill to pick huckle¬ 
berries. I seem to have a sort of mania 
for gathering these delicious clusters of 
blue globules in the green grass. It takes 
a long time and a backache to get a 
quart and it does not matter if our 
shadows say it is noon by the time we 
have that many berries, for then we 
betake ourselves to our summer house, 
with an old stump in the center for a 
cupboard and pine needles for carpet. 
The wind in the pines furnishes our orches¬ 
tra free. Jack, the dog, waits patiently 
or otherwise, for his share of the dinner 
and then scampers off with my boy to 
kill woodchucks. 
When my three girls get tired of berry 
picking,' they swing on the low boughs of 
the pines while I continue to scramble 
around after the precious fruit. How I 
wish the sun would stand still for me 
as it did for Joshua when the shadows 
begin to slant too much! Though my 
muscles ache, still I’m not satisfied as I 
start down the long trail for home. 
There are yet more berries to pick, but 
perhaps we can come again next week. 
It would take too long to tell the charms 
of the strawberry patch in the shady 
orchard, the hickory-nut trees, and 
chestnuts too, that we visit in the fall. 
I will let the reader imagine these and 
ask if anyone wonders at the fact that I 
do not care to move to the city?—M rs. 
LaVerne Palmer. 
Dressing Up Junket 
J UNKET, once considered entirely an 
infant or invalid food, has gradually 
endeared itself to the housekeeper as a 
delicious family dessert which now, thanks 
to the commercial junket tablets and 
powders, can be very easily prepared. 
Even old-fashioned whey, reminiscent of 
Miss Muffet of Mother Goose rhymes, 
may be prepared with junket powders 
syrup. Place half a peach cut side up, on 
one end of slice and carefully turn the 
junket out on the other end. Put a 
spoonful of the cream, which has been 
whipped, into the peach and pile some on 
the junket. Top it with bits of rasp¬ 
berry jam. 
Junket Rice Pudding 
1 package vanilla-flavored 1 pint milk 
junket powder 1 cupful boiled rice 
Y’l cupful maple sugar 
Place rice in bottom of dessert glasses, 
sprinkling maple sugar over it. Dissolve 
powder in slightly warmed milk and pour 
into glasses. Let set until firm, then 
chill. Any left-overs of milk pudding— 
tapioca, cornstarch, etc.—may be used 
up in junket. 
Write the Story for This Picture! 
\K7 HAT happened be- 
* ^ fore the photog¬ 
rapher snapped this 
scene? And what will 
happen when the dog 
stops looking at the 
camera? There’s a story 
here and the AMERICAN 
AGRICULTURIST will 
give prizes to the junior 
readers who think out 
the best one. 
To enter the contest 
you must be under six¬ 
teen. Each story must 
be written without help. 
Use your imagination, 
write your story clearly 
and send it to the Boys’ 
and Girls’ editor. 
This editor will award 
a handsome book to the 
writers of the three best 
letters. Please state 
whether you would 
rather have a copy of 
“ Piggie,” a story of the 
adventures of a western 
farm boy’s pet pig, or 
“Team Play,” a book of 
high school stories. 
Letters must not 
exceed 250 words. Pay 
attention to spelling, 
grammar and neatness. 
State your age and give 
your full name and 
address. Letters must 
reach us on or before 
August 23. 
and is sometimes prescribed by doctors 
for sick babies. 
But for healthy, husky children and 
their parents, something with a little 
more decided flavor is usually desirable. 
Here are three recipes which use the 
nourishing junket as a base but add flavor 
and decorative effect to tempt older 
palates: 
Orange Junket With Walnuts 
1 package orange-flavored Walnut meats 
junket powder 2 fig newtons 
1 pint of milk 
Chop coarsely the walnut meats and 
place in bottom of dessert glasses. Then 
sprinkle the finely chopped fig newtons 
over nuts (or you may use any bits of 
cake). Dissolve the powder in the slightly 
warmed milk and All the glasses. Let 
set until firm. Then chill. When serving, 
sprinkle nut meats on top of each glass. 
Peach Melba 
1 package vanilla-flavored 1 pint milk 
junket powder 1 cupful cream 
4 slices sponge cake Jam 
Preserved peaches 
Dissolve junket powder in the slightly 
warmed milk and pour into small molds 
or glass cups. Let set until firm. Chill. 
When read}’ to serve, place a slice of cake 
on each plate and moisten with peach 
A Home-Made Memory System 
A N aid to memory which our family 
has found invaluable is the family 
bulletin board which is prominently hung 
on one of the kitchen walls. It has proved 
so helpful that we feel we could not get 
along without it. 
When the children have a multiplica- \ 
tion table or a recitation for school or 
Sunday-school which must be learned, a 
copy is pinned on the bulletin board and is 
studied at odd minutes. The New Year’s 
resolutions were plainly written on heavy 
paper and placed in a row along the top of 
the board where they have served as a 
constant reminder. 
The children search the board for the 
lists of spelling words which have proved 
/especially troublesome, and history dates, 
which are such a stumbling block to many 
youngsters, are here before their eyes — 
in red figures—and can be more easily 
memorized when both eyes and ears 
absorb them. 
A list of tasks assigned to each child 
finds a place on the board and youngsters 
take considerable pleasure in crossing out 
the duties, one by one, as they are fin¬ 
ished. When any errand is likely to be 
forgotten, a reminder in large letters, 
pinned on the boara makes it practically 
impossible to accidentally neglect it. 
Pins Kept Handy 
In the upper corner hangs a wall pin. 
cushion furnishing the pins needed to 
attach the various slips of paper, and i 
also saves many steps when a pin is 
needed in a hurry. A school lesson 
paper which has received an unusuallv 
high mark is also placed here and the 
proud recipient is delighted with the op. 
portunity to display his accomplishments 
before the family. A well-drawn uia 
hung in full view serves to refresh one’s 
memory of far-away places, as well as to 
please the one who drew the map. 
Jack London, in Martin Eden, tells how 
he had his room filled with similar aids 
to memory and of the amount of good they 
did him. A person really desirous of learn- 
ing constantly can acquire a surprising 
amount of information by tlie use of such 
a board. The busy housewife can memo¬ 
rize many an inspiring bit of verse or help 
herself to keep abreast of the times bv 
studying a chart or map at odd minutes on 
the bulletin board when she is oblige 
to wait for the flatirons to heat or the pies 
to brown. 
A schedule of the day’s duties, jotter 
down with the time allotted for each, will j 
assist materially in getting the work 
finished promptly. Or if mother is oblige;! 
to be away unexpectedly she can leave a 
notice on the board, sure that it will be 
discovered readily when the family comes 
in from school or work. 
In fact the possibilities of the board are 
endless and after a family has once be¬ 
come accustomed to this willing servant 
there will be a loud demand for its con¬ 
tinuance.—V incy Preston Loops. 
Popular Berry Dishes 
Red Raspberry Pudding. One-half cup¬ 
ful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of butter, 
one egg, one cupful of sweet milk, two 
cupfuls of flour, one-half teaspoonful ol 
soda, one teaspoonful of baking powder, 
and one-half cupful of red raspberries 
beaten in at the last. Mix these ingre¬ 
dients well, pour into a buttered mold. 
Steam one hour. Serve with a sauce 
made of two cupfuls of powdered sugar, 
one-half cupful of butter, one egg white, 
and two cupfuls of red raspberries. 
Blueberry Loaf. Sift two cupfuls ol 
flour, with two heaping teaspoonfuls ol 
baking powder and a little salt. Cream 
one cupful of butter with two cupfuls ol 
powdered sugar, stir in the beaten yolks 
of four eggs, add one-half pint of sweet 
milk, one-half teaspoonful each ol 
powdered nutmeg or cinnamon, and the 
stiffened whites of the four eggs added 
alternately with the sifted flour. Last ol 
all stir in lightly one quart of blueberries, 
thickly dredged with flour. Turn into a 
greased mold with a funnel in the center 
and bake. 
Raspberries With Rice 
B OIL until tender one-half cup of rice 
in two cups of milk. Sweeten with 
powdered sugar and flavor with lemon. 
Turn into a border mold and when stiff 
turn into a shallow glass dish. Fill the 
center with sweetened raspberries and 
serve with cream.— Mrs. R. C. DeLyne. 
Instead of spending hours of labor 
cleaning a greasy sink, especially one ol 
glazed ware, a little paraffin-oil upon a 
piece of flannel will remove all grease. 
Afterwards wash with hot water and soap- 
Flush with cold water. This clean) 
the pipe at the same time. 
A box of growing plants intended fof 
the house in winter should be started in 
August. Vines and slips take root inert 
easily this month. 
