LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
HOUSEHOLD 
 
 NOTES AND QUERIES 
 
 A FAMILY REFERENCE BOOK 
 
 BY 
 
 THE WISE BLACKBIRD 
 
 ^^><ss^ , ^ y ^ . 
 
 BOSTON 
 D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 
 
 FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS 
 
 \ 
 

 t'^ 
 
 Copyright-, iSS6, 
 
 by 
 
 D. LoTHROp & Company. 
 
Plousehold Notes and Queries. 
 
 I. 
 
 TENNIE VILAS writes, "I ink my fingers every 
 ^ time I write. It is a bad habit, and my aunt is 
 annoyed by it. Please tell me some way to cure my- 
 self." It is an untidy trick, but one that is avoided 
 by giving a little thought to the implements you write 
 with. Look at the book-keepers in stores, who write 
 all day, and yet keep their hands, cuffs and ledgers 
 faultless, so that a white hand, with a fresh cuff and 
 a page like copperplate, seem ordered in a set to- 
 gether. Ink-spots are the signatures of carelessness. 
 Have a wide-mouthed inkstand with only half an inch 
 of ink in it, and fill often. You can't dip a pen has- 
 tily in a deep ink-bottle without smearing the holder 
 and your hands. The little earthen pots which 
 Liebig's extract comes in, make good inkstands in 
 want of anything better, and, with a sprig of flowers 
 or other device in colors painted or pasted on, make 
 pretty holders for ink, matches and crayons. To 
 
lO HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 keep your page neat in writing, have a sheet of blot- 
 tin^^-paper large enough to cover it, and keep it just 
 below the line you are writing, to rest your hand 
 upon. By this means, copyists and draughtsmen 
 keep their large pages fresh and undimmed. 
 
 Lily, aged eight, thoughtfully asks if there is no 
 use to be made of wild roses, which grow in such 
 myriads on low shores and wet lands. Yes : their 
 petals yield the finest perfume, and you want to gather 
 them after the dew is dry, and shut their pink leaves, 
 before they wilt, into thin muslin bags, baste up the 
 open end and lay these large sachets away under the 
 clothes in drawers, or in writing-tables. Clean three- 
 cent salt-bags will answer, but you want dozens of 
 loosely filled bags to strew about. Save all the rose- 
 petals of any kind you can get ; their scent is more 
 delicate than any prepared perfume. Girls should 
 save bunches of sweet garden clover, and of vernal 
 grass, both of which keep their delicious sweetness 
 for years, and fill one's room with haunting breaths 
 of lost summers. Part of our duty to keep our corner 
 of the world sweet and lovely is fulfilled in such 
 ways; for the fragrance of refreshing flowers and 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. II 
 
 plants is not only pleasant, but healthy, as it purifies 
 the air and kills the germs of disease. So gather the 
 heads of vernal grass which bloom a second time in 
 the late season, and the green leaves of the tall 
 spiked garden clover, the lemon verbena, whose scent 
 is so good for headaches, and of rose geranium, 
 and let the cheap cologne and perfumes with fancy 
 names go by. 
 
 To take out ink-stains, stretch the part stained 
 smoothly over a bit of board to keep the ink from 
 spreading. Wash with a sponge, and rub dry as 
 possible, and scrape gently with a dull knife. Most 
 of the ink will come out, and what is left will yield to 
 lemon juice and salt rubbed on the spot. Leave this 
 on a few minutes in the sun, wash off, and restore the 
 color by wetting with diluted ammonia, half a tea- 
 spoonful in a teacup of water. 
 
II. 
 
 SARAH GARDINER L. asks very pitifully if 
 the Wise Blackbird can help her about keeping 
 her dress in order ; for her cruel mamma and aunts 
 insist that she shall look like a lady and take care 
 of her things herself, as she is twelve years old ; 
 and brushing dresses and polishing boots is what 
 she detests. That is a strong word to use for such a 
 common and essential thing. What, detest the care 
 to be spotless as a lily, sweet and fresh as lavender, 
 a blessing to those who see her, a part of all fair and 
 comely scenes, instead of something discordant, mar- 
 ring them ? I refuse to believe it of any girl who 
 reads this. Now let the Wise Blackbird drop a bit 
 of wisdom in your ears which will take the harshness 
 out of every disagreeable duty in life. In Dr. John 
 Todd's "Letters to a Daughter,"he wrote, "Whatever 
 
 12 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 13 
 
 one does well, she is sure to do easily," and words 
 to the effect that what one goes at thoroughly, ceases 
 to be disagreeable. I knew a girl of twenty years 
 ago who took these words into her heart, and they 
 have made work the pleasure of her life. All the 
 careless people who watch her, cry out, at the trouble 
 she takes with ererything she does ; but they are 
 very apt to say, after all is through, " You have such 
 an easy way of turning off things, and things always 
 stay done for you." Of course they do. Thorough 
 is the Saxon for through, and anything that is 
 thoroughly done is through with. It is a queer para- 
 dox, that if you try to do things easily, to shirk and 
 slur them over, you will always find it hard to gQt 
 along ; while if you put all sorts of pains into your 
 work, and never think how easily it can be done, but 
 how well it can be, you find it growing easier day by 
 day. At last everything seems to come right to your 
 hand, and all things conspire to help you. A girl of 
 twelve should know how to mend nicely both stock- 
 ings and clothes, and to cut and make most articles 
 she wears. There are plenty of girls who can do 
 this now, but every girl ought to do it. A small 
 
14 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 book might be written on the care of clothes, but I 
 will only tell you a few labor-saving hints : 
 
 Instead of brushing the dust from a gown, or the 
 mud from a drabbled flounce, inch by inch, take your 
 dress out on clean short grass, after the dew is off, 
 and holding by the shoulders, sweep and beat it 
 against the sward, turning so that all sides of the 
 skirt will touch the ground. The grass acts as a 
 fine soft brush, taking out dust, and freshening every 
 part, while it does not wear dresses as a hair-brush or 
 whisk-broom does. Lawn dresses and grenadines 
 are refreshed safely in this way, when a brush would 
 fray them. The flounces and plaitings of silk are 
 thoroughly dusted, and the hems of drabbled water- 
 proof cloaks are cleansed without the disagreeable 
 need of touching them with the hands. I never saw 
 the lightest frock stained or worn in the least by grass. 
 
 Pour boiling water through fruit-stains until they 
 disappear, holding the spot stretched firmly. Carry 
 a needle threaded with cotton or silk, to match your 
 dress, and you are ready for accidents. Darn thread 
 gloves, which are always dropping stitches like 
 Jacob's-ladders, with ravellings of old gloves. In 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 15 
 
 the present fashion of wearing mittens you can pro- 
 long the usefuhiess of long-wristed gloves when the 
 finger-tips wear out, by cutting them off evenly at 
 the lower joint, hemming the edges with ravellings, 
 and pressing them with a hot iron, when you have 
 a neat pair of Nell Gwynne gloves. 
 
 RoRY. " Won't you tell us the meaning of postage- 
 stamps when put on upside down, sideways or across ; 
 I have been told each of these ways is significant." 
 Silly people have invented a code of signals by post- 
 age stamps, but only very vulgar, ignorant persons who 
 have nothing else to occupy their minds, ever think of 
 such a paltry concern ; and no paper which has any 
 respect for the brains of its subscribers will publish it. 
 
 Cornelius V. H. " What were coats of arms used 
 for ? " To distinguish the different chiefs or lords 
 and their followers in battle and abroad, before 
 the common people had learned to read. They 
 were necessary as the uniforms and badges are 
 now to distinguish the various regiments and State 
 officers. The figures of lions, dragons, eagles, 
 and other creatures, the rose, lily and palm, could 
 be recognized when embroidered on the sur coat 
 
1 6 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 or garment worn above the armor to protect it 
 from tarnishing, and soldiers could know at a glance 
 when they met to what duke or prince they belonged. 
 At first only sovereigns used these distinctions; 
 afterward all families of noble birth chose badges 
 and figured shields, every design on which was a 
 sign of some trait of which they were proud, their 
 loyalty, courage or ambition. Or the figures recalled 
 some notable event in the fortunes of the family, as 
 the spider, which Robert Bruce watched mending 
 its web in the cave while he was hiding from his 
 enemies, was placed in the royal arms after he be- 
 came King of Scotland. 
 
 Billy. To make a spangled motto for Christmas, 
 cut the letters out of stiff paper or pasteboard, wash 
 them with weak glue or thick gum, and when sticky- 
 damp, sprinkle with what house-painters call ''bro- 
 cades," which are scales of gilt metal, bronze or 
 silver of different qualities of coarseness. These 
 cost from ten to twenty-five cents an ounce, and you 
 would want perhaps six ounces for a motto of ten words. 
 " Flitters," or fine shavings of gilt or silver paper 
 for the same purpose, are forty-five cents an ounce. 
 
III. 
 
 PIP. " How can I keep fleas off a little fleecy 
 dog ? " Do not use carbolic soap on young 
 or tender dogs : it burns their skin. I knew a beau- 
 tiful little spaniel nearly killed by it. Rub dry 
 sulphur into the hair, or wet it with camphor, and 
 wash in warm water with fifteen drops carbolic acid 
 to the quart, twice a week; wipe dry and comb. 
 Three or four applications will drive the insects away, 
 and they can be kept away by giving the dog pine 
 shavings for bedding. You should comb all large 
 dogs with a curry-comb once a week. Dog-fanciers 
 use a common horn comb and stiff brush for their 
 terriers and spaniels. 
 
 Laura. "How shall I keep knitting-yarn from 
 staining my hands in working ? " Always before 
 knitting throw the skein of yarn into a basin of cold 
 
 17 
 
l8 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 water with a tablespoonful of alum dissolved in it. 
 Let the yarn stand ten minutes to shrink it and set 
 the color, then shake the water out without wringing, 
 and hang in the sun and wind to dry. 
 
 Kate and Willie of Milwaukee want suggestions 
 for a juvenile party from seven to ten o'clock p. m. 
 A magic lantern, conjuring tricks by a clever papa or 
 uncle. Punch and Judy, home-made, are favorite en- 
 tertainments. In cities a professional conjurer is 
 often engaged to show his tricks at private parties, 
 at terms about ten dollars an hour, or evening, if it 
 is preferred that he should exhibit at intervals be- 
 tween other games. It is great fun to have an older 
 friend come in disguise of a tramp or gypsy woman 
 during the evening, to beg or tell fortunes. 
 
 France Jordan can best improve her memory by 
 writing down what she wishes to remember, whether 
 a message or passage to learn, reading it slowly aloud 
 three or more times, or writing it three times over, 
 then destroying the paper, and depending on her 
 mind. A few months of such practice will improve 
 the memory wonderfully. To remember a poem, 
 study and repeat, stanza after stanza, morning, noon 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. I9 
 
 and night, going over what you have learned from the 
 first each time. 
 
 Teddie has been chosen to give the teacher of 
 his class a fine writing-desk as a birthday gift from 
 her pupils, and wishes I would write him a present- 
 ation speech. Dear Teddie, the bore of receiving 
 presents is that peop-le, large and small, insist on mak- 
 ing occasions and speeches about them. The speech 
 takes away the pleasure of the time for the persons 
 most concerned — the unlucky wight who has to make 
 it and wonders how he shall get through it, and the 
 person complimented, who has to say something 
 charming to the surprise, without six weeks to pre- 
 pare for it as the first speaker has. The best model 
 of the sort I ever knew was this from a boy who was 
 chosen to present a teacher with a gold watch 
 from her school : " Dear Miss Raeburn : The scholars 
 you have helped and worked over, w^ant you to carry 
 this watch to remember them as they will long and 
 gratefully remember you." Then the teacher made 
 the same response which M. Outry, the French Min- 
 ister, made to the attentions of the Brown Univer- 
 sity students at Providence, complimenting the visit- 
 
20 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES, 
 
 ing French officers. No, hers was longer by three 
 words. She said with a happy smile and rather a 
 glistening eye, " Dear boys and girls — thanks ! " 
 
 Lionel asks if a permit is needed to visit the room 
 of either branch of the General Assembly, and if so 
 how he can get one. As the General Assembly is 
 the governing body of a free and republican State, 
 no permit is needed to visit the galleries of either 
 house. Please remark that one of the distinctions 
 between a republic and a monarchical country is 
 that the people of the former have a right to visit 
 its national and state capitals to see how public 
 business is carried on. 
 
IV. 
 
 T3 ILLY BUTTON. " How shall I make my old 
 -■— -^ shabby trunk mother gave me to keep my 
 clothes in, look better ? " Soak off all express labels 
 first, by laying wet cloths over them till they will 
 peel off, glue down all torn places in the covering 
 with the strongest glue, wash off any grease or mud 
 with hot soda water, rinsing well, then paint with 
 " edge blacking " from the shoemaker's, if it is a 
 leather trunk, and varnish with the black varnish 
 stove dealers use for grates. After it is dry, rub the 
 nail heads bright with sandpaper, and polish with 
 pumice stone in powder. Line the trunk with glazed 
 cambric, put on with thick rye paste, well boiled, 
 with a little glue in it. 
 
 Laura. " Is there such a stitch in embroidery as 
 * captivity * stitch, and what gives it its name.^ " The 
 
 21 
 
22 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 captivity stitch known to embroiderers and lace fan- 
 ciers is one of the forty or fifty different stitches used 
 in needlework, and was devised by a captive lady of 
 rank to beguile the tedious hours of imprisonment. 
 It is much like double crochet, and is used in filling 
 large outlines and heads of flowers. 
 
 Polyanthus. " I live at a distance from any art 
 school, and would like to know what sort of clay is 
 used in modelling, for I have often felt I should like 
 to try to make figures in it." The modelling clays 
 used in studios are prepared by mixing with finely 
 ground and sifted sand or powdered stone ware. 
 Nearly all clays need such mixture to make them 
 work smoothly, and some kinds are so sticky and 
 greasy that they cannot be handled at all. If you 
 are near a brick-kiln, you will find the finer clays 
 used in brick-making answer well. The best will be 
 clays from a pottery, ready mixed. Blue clay, if not 
 too stick}^ can be mixed with very fine sifted sand, 
 and works well. All clay is sticky when first wet, 
 and should stand till it is like putty throughout, and 
 then be well kneaded before moulding. The clays in 
 different parts of the country differ in color, but no 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 23 
 
 matter whether your clay is red, buff, yellow or gray, 
 if it moulds well ; warm reddish or pale drab shades 
 only add to the richness of the work. Make the best 
 of what comes to hand. 
 
 Florence Ridley. "When was wall-paper first 
 used } Was it in England ? " No, my dear, that in- 
 ventive people the Chinese first made wall-paper in 
 square blocks, stamped to imitate embossed leather, 
 and the Dutch imported such papers about the last 
 of the sixteenth century. They began to copy the 
 Chinese papers about 1640. 2, " Does air pass 
 through the walls of a well-built house ? My brother 
 says it does, but I don't see how it can be, for houses 
 are built to keep out the air." I am glad to see boys 
 and girls ask such questions, it shows they think 
 about things of some use. Besides, it is a very good 
 exercise for the mind to think at all, and not to take 
 everything for granted. Brick, stone, plaster and wood 
 — all building materials — are more or less porous, 
 and the air passes through any surface not glazed or 
 covered with fresh oil paint, so that a slight venti- 
 lation is all the time going on through the walls of 
 our houses, which I suppose accounts for the fact 
 
24 HUUSr.HOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 that people are not oftener suffocated in close rooms. 
 In a strong wind you can feel the faint current of air 
 through a brick wall on the side from which the wind 
 blows. Or you can blow out a candle through a 
 Philadelphia brick or block of sandstone. But how 
 many of you can tell me how this is done ? 
 
 Billy and Rob. " Please tell us an easy way for 
 boys to make some mone3\ " It is a little curious 
 that over thirty letters are at hand asking the very 
 same question ; from which it is fair to conclude that a 
 good many people are interested in the same subject. 
 If I should tell at once all the ways I know of in 
 which people are making money, I am afraid the pub- 
 lishers would have trouble in printing editions of 
 the book for all who would want them. But I 
 will promise now and then to pick up some new way in 
 which boys and girls can make money by their own 
 labor. And I promise you they will be ways which 
 mean work, and which will be of use to others. Not 
 poor little tricks to ask people for their money in ex- 
 change for something of really no value, which is only a 
 kind of beggary at best. Shall I tell you of a boy 
 who wanted money very badly, and contracted with 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 
 
 all the neighbors to sift and cany away all their coal 
 ashes for the sake of the cinders ? The folks were 
 very glad to get rid of their coal ashes and the cin- 
 der heaps which disfigured the back yards, and Fred 
 in his old coat and trousers wheeled away the ashes 
 and sold the cinders at thirty-five cents a bushel, for 
 which price folks were glad to buy them back again, 
 sifted and washed, to keep fires over night. Some 
 of the boys laughed and called him nicknames, but 
 they didn't laugh so much when Fred bought his ten- 
 dollar magic lantern with the proceeds of his screen- 
 ings. Boys, there is money in bank for some of you 
 — in the ash-bank — but how many of you will find it .'' 
 Every town I know, and a good many homes I know, 
 are decorated with ash-heaps along the sides of the 
 streets, thrown into the green woody corners and on 
 the banks of streams which ought to be fresh, clean 
 and picturesque places, pleasant to view, instead of 
 refuse-harbors and " free dumps " for the neigh- 
 borhood. You might find some dollars for your- 
 selves by making use of this rubbish, and earn the 
 thanks of the neighborhood besides. 
 Bella Barker. How shall I kill worms at the 
 
26 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 roots of my house-plants, without transplanting? 
 Water with strong salt water poured over the earth, 
 not touching the leaves, or with warm water having 
 twenty-five drops of carbolic acid to the quart. Sea 
 water kills worms in the ground or on plants, but in- 
 jures delicate foliagfe. 
 
 Jennie C. has whooping cough, and dislikes to 
 stay at home from her classes, as she is working for 
 a prize. Can I tell her anything to help her? Dr. 
 Mott of New York says that sulphate of quinine, dis- 
 solved on the tongue, cured his children in seven 
 days, but you must ask your doctor to prescribe the 
 doses. Both whooping cough and diphtheria are re- 
 lieved by breathing fumes of a tablespoonful of sul- 
 phur, burned on a hot shovel, held a yard or two from 
 the patient, taking care not to choke him by too strong 
 a whiff. 
 
 Minnie wants some good selections for dramatic 
 reading in school, Wednesday afternoons. Don't I 
 remember turning over the leaves of the home library 
 in search of the same readings, and finding Whittier, 
 Bryant, "The English Poets," the "Ladies' Wreath" 
 of poetry, and the English classics, all too poor to 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 27 
 
 furnish one theme for the Wednesday afternoon exer- 
 cises ! You want something fresh, I suppose, and for 
 that it is best to search the magazines and weekly- 
 papers. At a late commencement of Chauncy Hall 
 School — one of the most admired in the country — 
 where reading is made an accomplishment as it 
 should be, most of the selections were from news- 
 papers and magazines of the same year. Look 
 through the Wide Awake, Harper, and Century s de- 
 partment of Bric-a-brac, especially. Remember that 
 pointed or humorous pieces are more liked in gene- 
 ral than sentimental ones, but bear in mind that a 
 passage not striking in itself, may be so read, with 
 just, varied and natural expression, as to be interest- 
 ing and affecting. If this advice isn't what you 
 want, write again, saying how old you are, and I will 
 make a list of special readings for you. It is very 
 pleasant to have the requests come fluttering in, like 
 November leaves. 
 
 Edna and Joe have caught the collecting fever, 
 but the trouble is they don't know where to begin. 
 "Do I advise them to collect postage stamps, mine- 
 rals, cards, or samples of earths from different States, 
 
28 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 or to get up a case of birds' eggs. Isn't it a good plan 
 to make collections?" Depends on what the col- 
 lections are. Collecting for the sake of collecting, to 
 have something somebody else has not, or to have 
 a thousand or two uninteresting specimens is a 
 nuisance, not worth the while except as it keeps one 
 from petty larceny, backbiting, arson and such de- 
 praved tricks. Frequently, with postage stamps, 
 when not made a means toward the study of history 
 and geography, no one cares less for the collection 
 in a short time than its owner. Cases of little bits of 
 stones and vials of earth from all the States in the 
 Union, are too trivial to illustrate anything — as the 
 range of minerals in each State is too wide to be rep- 
 resented in any such way. I have spent a year in 
 wondering at the Cincinnati teacher, who could delib- 
 erately set his boys collecting birds' eggs and stuffed 
 birds, and teach them to rob nests and kill happy 
 creatures with blow guns or pocket pistols, to fill 
 scholars' cases. Except for large scientific col- 
 lections, it is most unnecessary cruelty to kill birds 
 and rob their nests to gratify a collector's vanity. 
 Rather, while young, make the beginning of col- 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 
 
 lections which will grow in interest through life. 
 Collections of autumn leaves of singular beauty, or 
 leaves of rare trees, mounted singly, have always 
 an interest ; sections of different woods, not less than 
 six inches square, are of lively interest while collect- 
 ing, and can be made into a parquet mantle, or 
 window seat, when complete. But the most valuable 
 of all are collections of pictures, large and small, 
 wood or steel engravings, good, bad and indifferent, 
 if the subject is interesting. As they gather you as- 
 sort them by classes, heads of public men and women, 
 old worthies,foreign and ancient costumes,noted towns, 
 great events, animals, etc. You do not know what 
 interest such a collection has. For instance, a boy 
 may have all the presidents, all the modern 
 inventors, large guns, war-ships, maps of the 
 seats of modern war, and heroes of each war, cut 
 from the weekly papers, to which the arrangement 
 gives double value, and such a scrap-book is always 
 excellent for reference. Take old school-books and 
 interleave them with such pictures as you find 
 illustrating the subjects. This is a favorite occupa- 
 tion of wealthy collectors, but you can have just as 
 
30 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 much fun out of it. Collections of figured chintzes 
 and calicoes to show the patterns of each season will 
 be highly interesting the older they grow. Collec- 
 tions of initial letters, or end-pieces from old books 
 are useful to artists, and so are all specimens of 
 ornamented borders or headings. Collect insects if 
 you like, for you can kill them instantly and pain- 
 lessly with ether. Collect flowers for herbariums, and 
 locks of hair, if you like, not sentimentally, but to 
 show the endless variety of fineness and shades on 
 human heads. Collect samples of as many different 
 shades of each color in silk, kid, muslin, or any fine 
 stuff as you can, and get the fashionable name for 
 each. Such collections educate one, and have an 
 interest for manufacturers and artists in after life, 
 while they always have a money value not dependent 
 on the caprice of the moment. 
 
V. 
 
 CARRIE sends ^a neat page from her drawing- 
 book, and wishes to know if I think it advisa- 
 ble for her to study to be an artist. It is early to 
 say that, but Carrie, and all readers who like to draw, 
 can practise till they gain such skill that they can 
 correctly draw commojt objects, which is the first step 
 toward being an artist, and is more valuable than 
 great talent without this correctness. When you can 
 draw your own chair or work-basket so that the sketch 
 looks just like them, with the nicks and curves and 
 the air of familiar objects, then it will be time for 
 you to think whether it is best for you to devote 
 your life to art. 
 
 DossiE. " How shall I mend a carved photograph 
 frame, also a black-walnut chair, which we children 
 broke one night jumping around ? " Buy five cents' 
 worth of brown glue, choosing clean pieces which do 
 
 31 
 
32 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 not smell of decayed matter, cover ^Yith cold water 
 over night, and boil to a thick syrup. Have the 
 broken surfaces perfectly clean from dust or grease, 
 or the due will not stick. Blow or brush the dust 
 off ; if soiled with handling, dip the ends in strong 
 solution of washing soda, and brush clean. Then 
 heat both parts to be joined, hot as possible without 
 scorching, brush each while smoking hot with boiling 
 glue, or dip the ends in the glue two or three min- 
 utes to absorb as much as possible. Fit the broken 
 parts perfectly, wipe off the glue outside, tie tightly, 
 and leave in a dry warm place three days or a week. 
 Better have a sixpenny pair of clamps, which screw 
 the pieces together tightly, and are useful in other 
 sorts of juvenile work. When dry, wipe all the glue 
 from the outside with a moist cloth, or rub off with 
 sandpaper, and go over the whole frame with a 
 brush dipped in boiled linseed oil, which improves 
 most carved-wood frames. 
 
 Ethel. You might like the new pincushions 
 made of satin or satine to imitate a mattress, with 
 square-bound edges and tufting done with tiny but- 
 tons or gold beads. Dark red-brown, wine color. 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES ANL QUERIES. ;^;^ 
 
 peacock, or crimson are the best colors to last. 
 
 Brown Josie. It is the best kind of an idea to 
 
 keep a diary, only don't make it a record of your own 
 
 thoughts and feelings, but rather of events in the 
 
 family, and interesting things which come in your 
 
 notice. Your feelings and ideas will alter as you 
 
 grow older, till a record of them is very embarrassing 
 
 to look over. But you will like by and by to have 
 
 something to remind you just when you got the big 
 
 Newfoundland, or when the new teacher came, and 
 
 when the corner house took fire and frightened all 
 
 the family, and when the boys went off on their first 
 
 hunt, or the eclipse took place, or the cousins died of 
 
 diphtheria, or the new minister was married. Time 
 
 will come when you will find it pleasant to fix your 
 
 recollections of these incidents which were the events 
 
 of early days. You will want to remember many 
 
 things which happened last year, in 1881 — for 
 
 instance, the great comet which made August nights 
 
 so lovely, with its shafts of light against the dark 
 
 soft blue ; the strange aurora of the autumn, which 
 
 some old-fashioned people imagine foretells a great 
 
 war ; and, most notable of all, " the yellow day " of 
 
34 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 the northeastern States, which none of those who 
 saw it ever will forget. But by and by you will want 
 something to refer to which will give you the exact 
 date and remind you how the hens went to roost and 
 the currant-worms seemed bewildered and left the 
 bushes, and you couldn't see to read Robinson 
 Crusoe in-doors. Keep a diary, by all means, writ- 
 ing in it not every day, but as often as there is any- 
 thing interesting to put down. By the way, who 
 can write an interesting account of that "yellow 
 day" as it appeared in Maine, also in New 
 Hampshire, as well as in the Lake George region, 
 and so on ? Each telling when the strange appear- 
 ance was first noticed in the day, and anything 
 remarkable which came under his oum knowledge. 
 And Southern readers might give some account of 
 the great storm off the Florida and Georgia coast 
 August, '8 1, which was the wildest storm known by 
 seamen since the great gale of 1801. Write briefly, 
 and be sure of your facts, and you can't fail to add 
 interest to your own observations and those of others. 
 Red FORD. You want the promise kept of telling 
 boys and girls how to make an honest penny. Very 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 35 
 
 well. I shall tell you of the basket business, which 
 many boys of good family around Boston have taken 
 up. A basket is stocked with needles, thread, tapes 
 and "findings" for the work-table in general, and 
 the boys go from door to door selling them Saturdays 
 out of school. I don't think it is fair for boys who 
 have fathers able to support them and give them all 
 they need, to go into any such business, to the injury 
 of regular dealers and merchants who have families 
 to care for and who give employment to other per- 
 sons ; but there is a chance to suppty little nice 
 things not kept at the shops, which people are glad 
 to get, and which will not interfere with any other 
 business. It is a great thing to feel that nobody has 
 a smaller slice of the cake because you have had 
 yours. Nice sewing-silk, nice Providence yarn, cur- 
 tain cord and tassels, good cheap toilet soap, extra- 
 good pins and needles, milliners' needles, fine 
 darners, very coarse tape-needles, carpet thread of the 
 best quality, heel and knee protectors for children, to 
 save the wear of trousers and stockings, are things 
 not found at shops in general, and which meet a 
 ready sale at good profits. 
 
L 
 
 VI. 
 
 AURA B. asks how can a girl of ten who goes to 
 
 school earn money ? If she has good parents to 
 supply her with what a little girl needs, and studies 
 out of school as most children do nowadays, and 
 helps her mother as all girls ought, she will not have 
 much time to earn or think of money. She should 
 not attempt any work which will keep her sitting in 
 the house, for she will need all the fresh air and 
 exercise she can get out of school. Raising plants 
 and fowls is the best pursuit for you, beginning with 
 some carnations and geranium slips in the window, 
 and half a dozen hens in the back yard. But re- 
 member, to succeed in anything, you must give it 
 steady care, feed and w^ater the chickens when you 
 had rather be reading a new story, or watering andi 
 tending the plants' when you want to play with other 
 
 36 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 37 
 
 girls. You will need to study and read about plants 
 and fowls to learn how to raise them and the best 
 part of the business will not be the trifle of money 
 you will earn, but the experience and knowledge of 
 things you will gain. 
 
 Frank L. W. " Would you please tell me how I 
 could become a midshipman and enter the naval 
 academy at Annapolis, and what would be required of 
 me ? " Would I ? Under what circumstances ? Would 
 and could imply some condition ; and when used as a 
 question, are correctly followed by the word if, and 
 there is no if about the Blackbird's answering. Say, 
 Will yoM tell me how I caji do so and so. To enter 
 the classes of cadet midshipmen, you must be be- 
 tween the ages of fourteen and eighteen, of good 
 moral standing and sound health, and pass a satis- 
 factory examination in arithmetic, grammar, geo- 
 graphy, reading, writing and spelling. You must 
 apply with such recommendations from influential 
 friends as you can secure, to the congressman from 
 your district, each representative having the right to 
 nominate one candidate. You will find the routine 
 very strict, and that learning to fill a place in the United 
 
38 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 States service is a very different thing from grammar- 
 school discipline. There will be some rough hazing 
 to undergo, unless customs have changed at Anna- 
 polis lately. How would you like being held out of 
 a fourth-story window by the neck and heels by 
 a few fellows no stronger than yourself, as one new- 
 comer was a very few years since ? As usual, the mid- 
 shipmen make the hardest of their position for each 
 other. Entering the navy is no holiday work ; but the 
 discipline is what every boy would be better for, 
 
 Constance "is ten years old, and lives in a hill 
 town in Vermont where wood is plenty and no one 
 burns coal," so she can't sift cinders, and wants to 
 know how she can make money. Why, the wooded 
 hill country is just the place for treasures of creeping 
 pine, princess pine, arbutus, laurel and mitchella, 
 which keep green under the snow, and townspeople 
 like to have these hardy plants which are beautiful 
 in pots and baskets. Such things are sold on the 
 street in Boston all winter long, and children can 
 dispose of them in every large town or village. 
 Gather the running pine and other vines by the yard 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 39 
 
 or half yard, and pack the roots in damp wood moss. 
 Take up the other plants without disturbing the roots 
 or shaking the earth loose about them ; have plenty 
 of soil, and place them in half-pint strawberry 
 baskets or birch baskets, with moss to hide the roots. 
 Wash the leaves clean with the spray from a watering- 
 pot, and florists are very likely to take them to sell 
 at a small price. A quart basket with a fine wild 
 fern, a clump of hepatica and some mitchella, sells in 
 the city for ten cents. Nice lengths of wild grape- 
 vine and roots trimmed for rustic work, or bundles of 
 small straight cedar branches for nailing on the out- 
 side of plant-stands are salable. And I hope you 
 know how to knit, all of you, boys and girls, beginning 
 with wristlets in wool or cotton, to finish off the 
 wrists and ankles of flannel under-garments, and 
 going on to socks and mittens, spreads and blankets. 
 
VII. 
 
 LiLLiE. "Please tell me how I can keep my 
 hands nice and white doing housework." Only 
 by wearing thick kid or castor gloves about sweeping 
 and chamber work, by using a dish-mop to wash dishes, 
 and a wire " burnisher " with handle to clean kettles, 
 wiping all tin and stove ware with a coarse dry 
 towel instead of wringing a dish-cloth a dozen times 
 out of the water. After using potash, soda or strong 
 soap wash the hands in vinegar and water, a table- 
 spoonful of acid to a pint of water. Never wash 
 your hands in cold water, use pumice stone disks 
 which come for the purpose, to remove roughness, 
 and be careful to have nice soap for the hands, and 
 a brush. You need nothing expensive ; white ]\Iar- 
 seilles soap at fifteen cents a pound, or Queen Bath 
 
 soap or the Cold Water soaps are good for common 
 
 40 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 41 
 
 hand or bath soaps, and keep the skin soft. Use 
 vaseline, olive oil or nice mutton suet to heal cracked 
 hands. 
 
 K. S. " Can you not give us some directions how 
 to pack a trunk ? A good many of us will have it to 
 do for ourselves this summer, and I fear few know 
 how to do it scientifically." Line the trunk first with 
 strong manilla paper, dark blue, or buff envelope 
 paper ; white injures delicate colored things by the 
 lime used in bleaching. Fold it neatly at the corners, 
 as in covering a book, clip and paste it slightly to 
 keep in place. Put books in the bottom, then boxes, 
 underclothing, sheets and towels which are always 
 convenient in boarding, the dresses either in trays or 
 above other things. Have all shoes and rubbers very 
 clean, wrap in thin paper separately, then tie pairs 
 together in firm paper very closely. Put nice dresses 
 and shawls in a fine towel, or keep in paste-board 
 dress boxes. Tack three or four broad tapes to the 
 sides of your trunk or tray, and tie across the contents 
 to keep them from tossing. Fold everything very 
 smoothly, and pack singly, without crowding, filling 
 the crevices with stockings, towels, or work which may 
 
42 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 be rolled tightly. Have all laces, ribbons and orna- 
 ments in separate boxes, tied with tape which does 
 not cut the boxes. Fill the crowns of bonnets and 
 hats with tissue paper or light articles which keep 
 them from crushing, wrap the outside in a soft veil or 
 plenty of thin paper and pack closely round to prevent 
 shaking. Have all toilet articles together, all fancy 
 work, all writing materials, and the dress you will first 
 need, so packed as to come first at hand. Nice lace 
 keeps best in a soft, quilted wrapper, lined with thin 
 silk or satin, which allows it to go without folding. 
 Take plenty of small wares, thread, pins, invisible 
 hair nets to keep the front hair from losing its crimp. 
 Take a shot-bag, a toilet-bag of crash to hang over 
 the wash-stand, a large colored bag for soiled clothes, 
 a scrap-bag and hair-receiver which will greatly aid in 
 keeping a small room tidy, also a tin medicine box 
 with bottles rolled separately in cotton wadding, and 
 then tied in paper, a layer of cotton under and another 
 over them. Bottles can be carried in this way any 
 distance. Take vaseline, carbolic acid to keep away 
 mosquitoes, gum camphor, Jamaica ginger, a few 
 seidlitz powders, and quinine pills, plenty of ammonia, 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 43 
 
 lavender water, and chloroform for toothaches and 
 for taking spots out of silk. You can get such things 
 of course, but the trouble of getting them, and of 
 being without them just when wanted, will soon teach 
 one that it is best to be prepared with them. Better 
 carry a medicine box six years unopened, than to be 
 caught with a ragmg toothache, a bee-sting, an ink 
 spot, or find yourself in the same house with typhoid 
 fever, without remedies. Carry ground mustard for 
 poultices, a paper of baking soda, which is sovereign 
 for burns, scalds and stings, to avoid calling up a 
 whole house to get either of these trifling things. A 
 spirit-lamp, and a hollow, nickel-plated iron for press- 
 ing muslins and laces, heated by the lamp, are great 
 conveniences. 
 
VIII. 
 
 JESSIE K. "Will you tell me how to keep a 
 little balcony on the northeast side of the 
 house filled with flowers this summer ; what to 
 plant and when ? " You will have to start plants in 
 a warmer summer exposure, in boxes at south win- 
 dows, or, better, depend on plants from the nurse- 
 ries. Young, strong plants, not yet in bloom, are 
 not expensive, and you can get a fine selection from 
 the florist's each month. Ivies grow well in partly 
 shaded exposure like yours ; a Virginia creeper will 
 be the best screen you can have, with early pansies, 
 violets and lily-of-the-valley to lead off, heliotrope, 
 vinca, perpetual roses, mignonette and nigella 
 through the season from successive sowings or cut- 
 tings. Plant pansies, mignonette, lavender and petunias 
 at once in boxes, and again every two weeks till the 
 
 44 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 45 
 
 middle of June, to have plants coming in bloom as 
 fast as the first ones drop off. Carnations and ver- 
 benas will do well in your balcony in midsummer, 
 when most plants are grateful for shade. Start 
 tuberose bulbs, forget-me-not, ice-plants, thunborgia 
 and ferns in hanging-baskets with evergreen honey- 
 suckle and madeifa-vine in pots to hang in masses 
 over the balustrade. Phlox, portulacca, tulips, bal- 
 sams, geraniums, asters and gladeolus will not do 
 well for your balcony, as they need more sun. 
 
 Constance. " How can I keep little green lice 
 off my plants in winter ? " By washing the plants 
 once or twice a week in warm soap-suds, placing the 
 pots in a tub of water on washing-days, sponging 
 the leaves off gently with a soft cloth or spong.e, or 
 throwing the water over them with a whisk-broom. 
 Turn up the under side of the leaves and wash the 
 insects off carefully. Also put the plants under a 
 barrel, and smoke them with coarse tobacco- 
 stems laid on a shovelful of coals for half an hour. 
 Sprinkle the plant well afterward. 
 
 LiLLiE P. H. *' Will you tell me how to free rose- 
 bushes from scale-bugs ? " Mr. Vick, the florist, advises 
 
46 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 washing the plant in strong suds made from soft 
 soap, going over leaves and stem with a soft brush 
 very carefully, and then rinsing the plant with clear 
 lukewarm water. It is easier to prevent scale and green 
 fly by keeping the plant free from dust, well washed once 
 a week, and sprinkled daily. 
 
IX. 
 
 AMERICAN EAGLE, (i) " How do animals 
 know their masters so well ? " In the same 
 way that you know your friends, by getting used to 
 them. Animals have sight, smell and hearing much 
 keener than yours, and make better use of what sense 
 they have than most boys do. (2) " How do they 
 know their names so well ? " By hearing them often, 
 and associating the sound with the food to which it 
 often calls them. 
 
 Anxiety. " We have taken a cottage for the sum- 
 mer, but it is too far to carry furniture, and mother 
 says we shall take only what is absolutely necessary : 
 stove, table, dishes, and beds. It seems to me 
 the house will look so bare and desolate we shall be 
 homesick in a week. How can we make the house 
 more tasteful and comfortable ? — for I want my broth- 
 
 47 
 
48 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 ers to think it pretty and have a pleasant time." The 
 tendency to over-decoration, which is one of the fine 
 vices of the time, speaks pretty plainly in this appeal, 
 which comes too late for the answer to be of use the 
 present season. However, the advice will keep good 
 till next year. " Anxiety " has found before this that 
 her brothers, if they are real boys, will find any place 
 pleasant in summer where they can have plenty of 
 out-door sport, and lounge comfortably in-doors with- 
 out asking much finery about the house. For the rest, 
 people who have a pleasing view from their windows, 
 a fresh, cool, clean house, with turf and shade about 
 it, and plenty of wild flowers for the rooms, do not 
 miss the mats and tidies, fancy chairs and bric-a-brac 
 of town. The summer-houses of wealthy people are 
 being simply furnished, often with floors left bare for 
 coolness, and the indispensable furniture. However, 
 you can take sprigged muslin curtains for the windows, 
 photographs mounted to hang without frames, Japan- 
 ese scrolls, white laced toilet covers for bedrooms, 
 pillow covers and trunk covers of chintz, gay mats for 
 the floor, bright sofa rugs and turkey-red cushions for 
 the veranda seats. The necessary furniture may be 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 49 
 
 fanciful as you please — rattan rockers, camp-chairs 
 and Shaker chairs, a pretty table or two, faience lamps 
 and colored china for the dining-room. 
 
 Ruth. " Will you tell me how to take stains of 
 fruit and medicine out of white linen or cotton ? " 
 Fresh stains may be taken out by pouring boiling 
 water through the spot for a long time, or by laying 
 the article wet in very hot sun and keeping it wet two 
 or three days. Leaving things out in a pouring rain will 
 remove many stains. For obstinate cases, dip the spots 
 in Javelle water from the druggist's, using one table- 
 spoonful to a pint of hot water. Wet the spot only, 
 and lay in the sun three minutes. If the spot does not 
 change, dip again and expose to the sun, then rinse in 
 water slightly sour with lemon or vinegar, and in clear 
 water twice, and dry in the sun. The Javelle water 
 must be carefully used, for it will eat holes in cloth 
 and take out the color where a spot falls. Sunshine 
 is the best bleach for fruit stains, and Javelle water 
 for medicine which oxalic acid will not remove. To 
 use the latter, wet the spot, dip into a strong solution 
 of the acid, and lay in the sun, or hold over hot steam 
 a few minutes, rinse in water with a spoonful of 
 
50 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES 
 
 ammonia to the half-gallon, then in plenty of clca? 
 water, and finish in the sun. 
 
 PussiE. " Can you tell me any good way to clean 
 ribbons ? I wear light-blue ribbons a great deal, and 
 wearing them once or twice soils them." Brush the 
 soiled parts only, with refined benzine applied by a 
 nail-brush, rinse in fresh benzine and dry in the shade. 
 Or wash with warm water and fine white castile soap, 
 rinsing and pressing between soft white cloths. , (2) 
 " What can I do for my hair, which is very oily. I 
 have tried washing it with soap and water, but it only 
 stays fresh a day or two, and it is such a trouble to 
 dry it." Wash your hair at night, wipe well, comb 
 and shake it loose in a current of air, do it up lightly 
 in a net, and it will give you less trouble. Or 
 bathe your head with weak alcohol, slightly per- 
 fumed with Florida water or lavender water; rub it 
 into the roots of the hair with a linen cloth. It will 
 cleanse the scalp, and correct the unpleasant oiliness 
 of the hair. Pussie ver^' shrewdly " hopes everybody 
 will add some court-plaster to their medicine box 
 when they go travelling ; " and I join with her in think- 
 ing it very good. 
 
X. 
 
 JESSIE B. C. doesn't like oatmeal, and her mother 
 wishes directions for making the steamed oat- 
 meal spoken of in the Health articles of Wide 
 Awake. Put eight heaping tablespoonfuls of oatmeal 
 to soak over night in one quart of filtered water ; 
 next morning set it in a tin boiler over the fire till it 
 boils, then place in a double boiler or kettle half full 
 of boiling water, to finish cooking. Add one heaping 
 teaspoonful of salt while cooking, and keep it boiling 
 twenty minutes at least. Sprinkle cinnamon and 
 sugar over it, or eat with beefsteak as a vegetable. 
 When cold, slice thick and fry on a very hot griddle, 
 with as much butter or suet as for batter-cakes. The 
 " steamed oatmeal " and " steamed wheat " are prep- 
 arations sold after steaming and drying, but the W. 
 B. does not recommend them. 
 
 SI 
 
52 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 KiTTiEL. W. " Can you tell me a cure for mos- 
 quito bites?" Put one teaspoonful of carbolic 
 acid in a quart bottle of pure soft water and you have 
 a lotion for bites of all kinds, "prickly heat," and all 
 irritations of the skin. Bathe the parts affected with 
 the wash till the smarting is over. A quart will last 
 all summer, unless the mosquitoes are very bad. 
 The best authority says lobelia extract rubbed on the 
 bites, and witch-hazel are both good. 
 
 Edith H. Press autuinn leaves between six sheets 
 of the softest, coarsest printing paper, under a smooth 
 board and heavy weight. Gather leaves when free 
 from dampness, press as soon as possible, changing 
 to fresh papers each day for a week. They should 
 not look " shiny," but a natural sort of finish is given 
 by brushing when pressed, with thin turpentine var- 
 nish in which wax is melted, one ounce of wax to the 
 pint of varnish. Have the varnish in a dish, warm, 
 dip the leaves and hang them to drip into the dish 
 by threads in a warm place. Keep them pressed till 
 you want to use them. 
 
 Janie and Bessie. " Please give full directions for 
 making a white curtain or curtains for a window 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 53 
 
 thirty-four inches wide and sixty-two high. Tell what 
 material and how much should be used, whether one 
 curtain or a pair, and how should the rings be fixed ? " 
 For such a narrow window a single short curtain 
 of cottage muslin forty inches wide, or wider, and 
 falling a foot below the frame. Hem each end, the 
 lower one two and* one half inches wide, sew the 
 curtain-rings of the smallest size on the upper hem, 
 and run on a fine brass rod ; or, without the rod, 
 draw a two-inch ribbon through the upper casing, 
 full the muslin on it, and tie bows at each end over 
 a picture nail. Such a curtain is to hang before the 
 glass most of the time, and one corner pinned back 
 with a bow in any airy fashion when lifted. 
 
XI. 
 
 SUE. " I saw in the Wide Awake Post-Office an 
 interesting letter in which the correspondent 
 says : ' I find it hard to keep from saying I guess.' Will 
 you tell me if it is incorrect to use the word guess ? '* 
 Yes, as frequently used instead of " I f/zink " so and so. 
 To guess means to conjecture, at haphazard more or 
 less, not to give your belief on the best grounds, 
 which you intend generally in saying you guess. You 
 guess when you know nothing at all about a matter; 
 you think so when you have reasons for it. 
 
 M. B. " Could you tell me the address of the whole 
 Cabinet, so that I could get their autographs } " Not 
 for any consideration, for, as all well informed people 
 do, I regard the whole business of soliciting auto- 
 graphs as a nuisance and impertinence. The Cabinet 
 of the United States, and all other public men, politi- 
 
 54 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 55 
 
 cians, authors, divines, are far too busy men to be 
 annoyed by the requests of entire strangers for their 
 autographs. The applications of this kind are one of 
 the worst inflictions public personages suffer, and the 
 Wise Blackbird will have no hand in encouraging a 
 practise in such bad taste. If you can get an auto- 
 graph in any legitimate way, by exchange or gift, from 
 some one who has a letter from a notable person, take 
 it, but don't make yourself one of the five thousand 
 impertinents who exhaust the time and temper of 
 very busy men by senseless requests they have no 
 business to make. That the practise is so wide 
 among ignorant, unthinking people, does not make 
 it becoming or allowable. 
 
 M. A. S. "Where can I get a work on pen and ink 
 drdwing suitable for a beginner } I want to take 
 drawing in connection with writing lessons at school 
 this winter." Write to D. T. Ames, of the Penman^s 
 Art Journal,, 205 Broadway, New York, and read 
 Ruskin' s Notes on Drawiiig. You did not say whether 
 you wanted to learn merely to do ornamental flourish- 
 ing, or to make pen and ink sketches, but the works 
 above will guide you. 
 
56 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 A. B. C. I. " Why are stories of events which 
 occurred before Magna Charta was dreamed ofj 
 called Magna Charta stories ? " Because they all 
 belong to the same noble history of struggles of 
 various nations for their liberties, of which Magna 
 Charta was the greatest victory. 
 
 2. "In speaking of collections, you advise for one 
 a collection of engravings, good, bad and indifferent. 
 Of what use, of what value, are the bad and indif- 
 ferent ones ? " Juvenile collections are generally 
 made for the sake of illustrating a country, class of 
 persons, or a period. A boy will gather pictures of 
 public men, of presidents, explorers, kings or philoso- 
 phers, or he will collect as many of public buildings, 
 ships or machinery, as he can find, or scenes in for- 
 eign countries or in separate States of his own land. 
 In such collections a scrap which is a very poor 
 engraving in itself may be interesting to fill the gap in 
 a series, or as giving an idea of some place or personage. 
 I certainly would not advise you to save a poor 
 picture when you could get a better. But in a series 
 of New Hampshire scenery, or summer resorts, even 
 such ordinary scraps as you send would be useful 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 57 
 
 3. " In a certain picture, why is the young man 
 rowing his boat stern first — because he has so heavy a 
 load in the bow ? " No ; in such a case, any school- 
 boy who uses oars knows a boat would row twice as 
 hard stern first. The rower is probably backing out 
 from some narrow passage or channel. 
 
 J. A. R. "Wliat is the use of a two dollar postage 
 stamp .? " When such a stamp is used, it is on large 
 bundles of newspapers sent to the same ofhce, which 
 are prepaid by publishers. 
 
 Emeline p. I. " An early number of Wide Awake 
 with its article on John Ruskin, deeply interested me 
 in his works. Will you kindly give me their titles, 
 and tell me which are best suited for a little girl of 
 sixteen, also where I can get the cheapest editions, 
 and about what I must expect to pay for them ? " 
 
 The works by which Mr. Ruskin became known 
 were his Modefyi Painters in seven volumes, which it 
 will be time enough for you to read four years from 
 now. Beside his Seven Lamps of Architecture and 
 Stones of Venice he has written many later books which 
 treat less of art than of men's duties to each other, 
 duties of rich men, working men, women and children, 
 
58 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES, 
 
 books with arresting, significant titles : Fors Clavigera^ 
 Ethics of the Dust, A Crown of Wild Olives and others. 
 For the present you will find most benefit in his Notes 
 on Drawing, a thin volume which will teach you much 
 about nature and methods of w^ork, though you know 
 and care nothing for art, and in Sesa77ie and Lilies, 
 which has beautiful counsel for girls. Read these 
 slowly, learn passages by heart, write things which 
 please you in a blank book ; keep them by you to 
 read a passage now and then, and they will do you 
 more good than to sit down to read the entire series 
 of Ruskin's Works in twenty-six volumes. Buy the 
 English editions of the volumes you want at a good 
 second-hand bookstore, where unused books can 
 always be bought at reduced prices. You should get 
 both works recommended for $2.50 in all. 
 
 2. "Which is the best college for girls ? " Home, 
 by all means, if you are in reach of fairly good teach- 
 ers, as from your address you must be. The most 
 highly educated women of to-day were not trained in 
 colleges, but by private teachers, under the eye of 
 sagacious mothers and fathers. The finest ladies in 
 society do not send their daughters atway from home 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 59 
 
 to the mixed companionship of large boarding-schools 
 and the independence of girls' colleges, but have 
 them trained at home by careful governesses and 
 masters, or in private schools where they are at 
 home daily. Boarding-schools and colleges are for 
 those who lack h'bme advantages. 
 
 3. "When should I begin singing lessons?" A 
 child should begin to sing carefully and properly as 
 soon as it can sing at all. You cannot begin too 
 soon, and have lost much time already. • 
 
 4. " Is it proper to take a gentleman's arm in 
 day-time .'' " Not unless you are too much an invalid 
 to walk easily alone, or there is a dense crowd to 
 pass through in which you are in danger of being 
 separated. These are the only cases when it is 
 necessary, and therefore the only ones where it is 
 allowable to take the arm of an escort by day. 
 
 5. "What books should I read to best mould my 
 character?" There are a few books I would advise 
 every girl to read once a year. One is The Intellectual 
 Life, by Philip Gilbert Hamerton ; another is Vilette, 
 by Charlotte Bronte ; a third is that lovely old-fash- 
 ioned, plain-speaking, but most high-minded and 
 
6o HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 lady-like of all books, The Listener, by Caroline Opie. 
 Read Miss Edge worth's novels; get the Life of Mrs. 
 Delany to learn what an accomplished woman of the 
 last century could be, and then read that incompar- 
 able memoir of Mrs. Susan -Riple}^ George Ripley's 
 mother, who used to hear schoolboys' lessons in 
 logic and Latin while shelling peas under the shade 
 of the elms on the grass. Miss Martineau's Autobi- 
 ography, zxi^ ikiQ Journal of Caroline Fox lately issued, 
 will be frood books for you. Also read works of real 
 adventure and of practical art like house furnishing, 
 embroidery and decoration. Study the best works 
 on decorative art, Mrs. Bury Palliser's Book of Lace ^ 
 and learn to tell the different laces accurately ; take 
 Prime's Pottery and Fo7relain, and learn the " marks " 
 of china ; study botany, gardening, visit hot houses 
 and learn to tell the orchids apart, and the ferns. 
 Tell the truth, do your duty, and quit thinking 
 intensely of 3^ourself and how to mould your own char- 
 acter. Charles Kingsley says of one of his noblest 
 heroes that " he never thought about thinking, or 
 felt about feeling," and that the narrowness of his 
 Information was counterbalanced by the depth and 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 6l 
 
 breadth and healthiness of his Education. There is 
 something for you to take to heart, and not only you, 
 but many like you, who are fidgety about the cubits 
 of their mental stature. Neither much reading or 
 study or meditation will ever mould brains or charac- 
 ter without ten times as much doing something useful 
 and skilful with all your heart and all your ability. 
 G. McC. I. "I should like to know how to 
 make a lawn look pretty. I think it would be nice to 
 have little paths running through the grass." No ; lit- 
 tle paths, which good gardeners will tell you, give a 
 cut-up look to grounds. A lawn or grass plot should 
 be a sheet of beautiful, short, velvety green, with a 
 wide path and shrubbery or flower-beds on its borders. 
 Fine grass, as all artists will tell you, is one of the 
 most beautiful things in nature ; more refreshing than 
 flowers, or landscapes without it. Grass should be 
 well fertilized each fall, and fresh seed sown on bare 
 places when it has been trodden or burnt out by the 
 sun. Through summer it is to be cut with a lawn 
 mower and sickle once in ten days, and sprinkled 
 evenings in dry weather to keep it fresh. Frequent 
 wetting makes the thick sward we love to see. Sow 
 
62 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 white clover and vernal grass with other lawn grass, 
 the clover for the pearly embroidery of its white blos- 
 soms, most beautiful with the fresh green — the 
 vernal grass for its fragrance in spring and fall. In 
 shady corners plant roots of bluebells, lilies of the 
 valley, violets, and the lovely Star of Bethlehem, 
 which will run in the grass and make sweet surprises 
 of bloom. Let the daisies too, flourish by the fence, 
 and near trees, for their foamy white against the foli- 
 age cannot be spared, and the gardeners in large 
 parks plant them out in wide clumps for graceful effect. 
 2. " I want to ask what you have to do when you 
 belong to the C. Y. F. R. U." Send three three-cent 
 stamps to the Recording Secretary, Miss Kate Kim- 
 ball, Plainfield, N. J., and you will receive the circular 
 explaining the work of the Union. It designs to join 
 people all over the country in a course of regular 
 reading which will give them entertainment and infor- 
 mation on a variety of subjects, and will lead them to 
 read and study other books. Some people will study 
 with more interest when they feel that a great many 
 others are studying with them. 
 
 I am very glad to see that correspondents have so 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 63 
 
 quickly taken the sense of my request, and no longer 
 fill their first pages with apologies for sending ques- 
 tions. Here is a rule of good breeding and policy : 
 never make an apology unless the occasion obliges 
 you to. 
 
XII. 
 
 A LICE H. " In reading Macaulay's Essay on F?'ed- 
 ^ eric the Great, I came across this sentence — ' The 
 Princess Wilhehnina was treated ahnost as badly as 
 Mrs. Brownrigg's apprentices ; ' and in the Essay on 
 Bunyan, Mrs. Brownrigg is again mentioned. I was 
 unable to find her name in the dictionary, so I decided 
 to ask about this mysterious lady." Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Brownrigg's history appears in the Book of Remarka- 
 hh Trials ajid IVotorious Charadcj-s published in Lon- 
 don. She was the wife of a plumber, who opened a 
 sort of private hospital and applied to the Foundling 
 Hospital for girls to be apprenticed for servants, 
 whom she treated with the greatest cruelty. She 
 would whip them over two chairs till she wearied her- 
 self with the punishment, and then threw water over 
 them. An apprentice, Mary Clifford, was tied and 
 beaten with a horsewhip or cane, sent to sleep on a 
 
 64 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 65 
 
 mat in the coal-hole, and often locked up without 
 food. She was so cruelly treated that the neighbors 
 interfered, and found her almost senseless from a 
 brutal whipping which caused her death in a few 
 days. Mrs. Brownrigg was tried and hung for the 
 murder. It is remarkable that this atrocious woman 
 showed great affection and even tenderness for her 
 husband and son, though so hard of heart toward 
 others. 
 
 Edith J. " Can you tell me how to keep the oil 
 from running down the outside of a lamp? Our 
 lamps are always oily, and kerosene on your fingers 
 is not as pleasant as it might be." Be careful not to 
 fill the lamp so that the oil comes up in the metal 
 rim, and wipe carefully just before lighting. 
 
 Flora E. M. i. "Some of my friends and myself 
 have had quite a discussion over the standard diction- 
 ary. They say Worcester, while I supposed Webster 
 bore off the palm. Will you please settle the question 
 for us ? Webster for spelling, Worcester for pronun- 
 ciation is the general decision about the merits of the 
 two dictionaries. 
 
 2. "I have an hour and a half every day for read- 
 
66 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 ing. Do you think the time sufficient to warrant me 
 in taking the Chautauqua course, its examinations, 
 etc. .'' " If you can come fresh and untaxed by other 
 study the time should be sufficient. The Chautauqua 
 course is specially purposed for those who have but a 
 small amount of time to devote to reading. 
 
 3. " I would like to read Ruskin's works. What 
 should I, a girl of sixteen, read first, and where can I 
 get cheap editions ? " Mr. Ruskin's small book on 
 Drawing will be as good a beginning for you as any, 
 even if you are nothing of an artist, as it leads one 
 to observe nature minutely and intelligently. You 
 might follow this with Sesame ajtd Lilies, which con- 
 tains his first advice to women. You will get the 
 meaning of Ruskin best by reading his books slowly, 
 a few pages at a time, with a note-book at hand to 
 which you may transfer striking passages. The mere 
 act of copying will assist to fix them in the memory. 
 You will find the cheapest editions by inquiring at 
 any large city bookstore, but you will enjoy reading 
 the fine illustrated English copies from the public 
 libraries. Always read a good author in the best 
 edition within reach. 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 6j 
 
 4, "I oftentimes write stories; now if I should 
 send one to you would you judge it truly and honestly 
 without reference to my age, and tell me whether or 
 no I should keep on writing ? My indelible pencil is 
 horrid! which accounts for my writing." If the story 
 was not a very long one, I would read and criticise it 
 for you, but the process might not be a pleasant one. 
 It is not good form to write letters to any one with 
 pencil, especially on the cover of a book whose em- 
 bossing makes the writing still more blurred and try- 
 ing to the eyes which read it. 
 
 Dukis sedecim. " Please tell me who Tam O'Shanter 
 was ? " He was the hero of an old Ayrshire story, 
 which tells that a man riding home very late from Ayr 
 one stormy night, seeing a light in Alloway Kirk, a 
 lonesome wayside church, was curious to look in, and 
 saw a dance of witches with the fiend playing the 
 fiddle for them. Tam was moved to an unwary ex- 
 clamation at the sight, when the lights instantly van- 
 ished, and the whole assembly started in pursuit of 
 him on his good gray mare. He rode fast for the 
 nearest bridge, the belief being that neither witch nor 
 evil spirit can cross running water. Fast as he flew, 
 
68 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 the witches gained upon him, till just as he reached 
 the keystone of the bridge the foremost and fleetest 
 witch laid hold of his horse's tail. But Meg was 
 stanch, and bore her master safely home with the 
 loss of her own gray tail. So runs the story of which 
 Burns made a poem to illustrate a drawing of Allo- 
 way Kirkj in a Scotch volume. 
 
XIII. 
 
 T TARRY W. "Would you please tell me howtrans- 
 
 ''- fer pictures are made, and a good way to transfer 
 
 them ? " " Will I," you mean to ask, Harry boy. 
 
 Can't you find the rule in your grammar which tells 
 
 when to use the will or the would ? I wonder if 
 
 Harry will make a paper-weight tuch as a boy once 
 
 decorated in transfer and sent me as a Christmas 
 
 gift years ago ? His mamma or his teacher would 
 
 like it, I imagine. The picture for transferring must 
 
 be on good, firm paper, and sheets of them come on 
 
 purpose for the work. Lay the print in cold water 
 
 five minutes, then leave it to drain smoothly in the 
 
 folds of a clean cotton cloth — an old sheet or pillow 
 
 case is best, for it absorbs the water. When damp, that 
 
 is, in about ten minutes, cover the face of the picture with 
 
 nice mucilage, made from strong gum tragacanth, clear 
 
 white of eggs, rock moss, or gelatine, lay it face 
 
 69 
 
70 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 down on the surface to which you want to transfer it. 
 Press out all blisters, and wipe away smears, then let 
 it dry. After this, wet the back by laying a cold wet 
 cloth on it a few minutes and carefully peel the white 
 paper away by rubbing with your finger till the print 
 begins to show through. This is nice work, for it is 
 easy to peel all away and make a hole which ruins the 
 picture. If well done, the picture shows every line 
 with a white film over it, which disappears by varnish- 
 ing with clear white transfer varnish, or beaten white 
 of egg. It is well for boys to try such work, for it 
 teaches them to be nice and particular. 
 
 Subscriber. " I have been chosen secretary of a 
 literary society. Strictly, what are the duties of the 
 office ? Is it in order to report beside business trans- 
 actions all items of interest of an informal character 
 connected with the society, particularly when such re- 
 port will give life and spice to the meeting ? " 
 
 The duty of a secretary is to take minutes of all the 
 proceedings at each meeting, and enter them as briefly 
 as possible in the record which is read at the next 
 meeting. Any letters on business of the society nat- 
 urally fall to him for answer, unless there is a corre- 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 7 1 
 
 spending secretary. It depends on the amount of in- 
 terest before the meeting, whether lively reports would 
 be acceptable or not. Generally, anything to add 
 life and spice is welcome, but the limits of good 
 taste should be closely observed by an officer of the 
 society, and he should be sparing of personalities. 
 Begin in a modest way, make brief reports, and lend 
 your efforts to make other exercises interesting. 
 
XIV. 
 
 LR. B. wants something that will sell well for a lit- 
 tle missionary society which is tired of making 
 iron holders and sweeping caps. Try knitting 
 wristlets of garnet wool finished with crimson, 
 for ladies to wear in winter instead of cuffs, and 
 cotton flannel mittens for housekeepers. Patch- 
 work in tiny blocks an inch and a half square, 
 of fine cambric and percale is pretty. Flannel 
 chest protectors are easily made, as they have 
 only to be cut out and bound. But if you want to do 
 genuinely useful and profitable work, learn to knit 
 new heels, toes and knees to children's warm stockings, 
 and make a specialty of it for busy mothers. Did you 
 ever try fitting on thinking caps ? 
 
 Ethel. — " Please tell us what kind of paste a 
 Professor of Pasting uses. Also how to make a paste 
 that will keep without moulding." The best paste 
 
 for common use is boiled flour paste with a half-tea- 
 
 72 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 73 
 
 spoonful of carbolic acid and ten drops of oil of cloves 
 to the pint. 
 
 Kate E. H. — "I have grown so thin the past 
 year that I feel very badly about it. Will you tell 
 the very best things I can eat to gain flesh } " Plump- 
 ness depends on many things beside eating. Sleep, 
 for instance, has much to do with freshness and flesh- 
 iness. A girl in her teens who goes to parties three 
 times a week, lives in an ill-ventilated schoolroom or 
 sitting-room, and is fond of excitement, is certain to 
 grow thin. Sleep all you can ; it is evident you need 
 it. From half-past nine at night to six in the morning 
 is not at all too much for young, growing girls, espe- 
 cially if they lead active lives. Take warm baths at 
 night, sit in the sun, and walk in the open air. Eat 
 cracked wheat and cream or beef gravy for breakfast, 
 with juicy steak, and use the wheat as a part of each 
 meal, as a vegetable with meats at dinner, with fruit 
 and milk at supper. Take a dose fifteen minutes be- 
 fore each meal of the juice of an orange with one 
 tablespoonful of pure olive or salad oil ; and, if liked, 
 one teaspoonful of honey. Eat dates and figs in 
 plenty. Turkish women fatten themselves on a paste 
 
74 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 of dates, almonds and milk. Use no white bread, and 
 little cake or pastry, and see of what form you are in 
 three months. 
 
 Dot. — "I will be fifteen years old the coming 
 January. The following August I have been invited 
 to go with a party of friends to California. I do 
 not know by what route they go. Please tell me what 
 I can read between now and then that will make the 
 trip by either route (starting from Cleveland) profita- 
 ble and pleasant." Read The Santa M Trail, by Dr. 
 Hayes, Colorado Days, by Helen Hunt Jackson, My 
 First Vacation, by Mrs. Caroline H. Dail, and Knock- 
 ing Around the Rockies, by Ernest Ingersoll. The 
 Round Trip, by Capt. John Cod man, will tell you 
 more about California than any other book except 
 Herr Nordhoff's California. Mrs. Dall's book and 
 Mrs. Jackson's give very fair ideas of the country 
 and society you will meet. 
 
 Frank E. S. — " Please tell me how I can 
 strengthen my ankles so that I can skate. I can 
 run as fast as any boy, but when I go to skate mv 
 ankles turn." The ankle is apt to turn till one grows 
 used to skating, but if yours really are weak, as hap- 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 75 
 
 pens with growing boys, you can strengthen them by 
 bathing every night with cold water, and rubbing 
 well ; by a lotion of a tablespoonful of rock salt, dis- 
 solved in a teacup of alcohol ; by anointing with deer 
 fat, and rubbing in well ; and by using vasaline on 
 them at night. Have high shoes which button snugly 
 round the ankle and support it. And let me know 
 in time if any of these remedies help you. 
 
 Bessie M. i. " Please give me directions for 
 using odds and ends of single zephyr worsted. I 
 would rather work on canvas." Work lozenges or 
 diamonds of different colors in the cross-stitch now 
 fashionable, dividing them with stitched lines of 
 black, white or gold silk. Make shaded, tufted 
 " daisy mats." Those who do much fancy work find 
 it best to save odd skeins of worsted, which come in 
 use occasionally when the supply runs short. 
 
 2. " Please tell me a nice society object for girls 
 from thirteen to sixteen. Something that is fun and 
 interesting." Try a work-society to learn different 
 fancy stitches, the object of which will be to 
 provide each girl with a full set of pretty things for 
 her own room, or make up tidies, mats, brush-holders 
 
76 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 and such articles for some teacher or busy woman 
 who cannot do the work for herself. Make help the 
 object, and the fun will come of itself. 
 
 3. Which game of " Pi " do you inquire about ? 
 The common one is played by selecting the card- 
 board letters which spell a word, mixing them and 
 passing to another person who finds the word without 
 telling. It is also called Word-making. 
 
 Newark wants the address of an author who 
 " writes such nice fairy stories." Once again, I re- 
 peat that any author of any magazine may be 
 reached by sending a letter to the person, in care of 
 the publishers or editors. But young readers may 
 remember that writers in general are very busy peo- 
 ple, and reflect well whether it is worth while to take 
 up a busy man's time to read and answer letters, 
 written because some juvenile admirer did not know 
 what else to do with his idle hours. 
 
 Dot Avondale. i. "Will you tell me a few 
 books interesting as well as instructive for a girl of 
 fifteen to read." Try Maria Edgeworth's novels, 
 and Jane Austen's. Miss Mitford's Our Village^ 
 Mrs. Gaskell's Cratvford, the first part of Miss Mar- 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 77 
 
 tineau's Autobiography, Good's Book of Nature, 
 Shirley Hibberd's Book of Wild Flowers^ and British 
 Sea Mosses^ if you have any taste for natural things. 
 2. " Do you prefer the angular or round hand for 
 a lady to write ? " The angular English hand has 
 been considered the fashionable style for many years, 
 and it is easier to adopt than the Italian or round 
 hand which all ladies were taught till the last twenty- 
 five years. A plain handwriting easily read is the 
 distinguishing mark of a lady's correspondence. 
 
XV. 
 
 IV TELLIE. " Please mention something nice for 
 our papa's and uncle's Christmas presents. They 
 do not smoke, so we cannot make anything for their 
 cigars ; they have slippers, and they use fountain 
 pens and do not need penwipers, and we do not 
 know what to give them." As pretty a present, 
 then, as you could wish, is a slipper case, like 
 a deep wall-pocket, to hang on a closet door. 
 This is a nice present for a gentleman, especially if 
 worked or painted on satin with frame of carved 
 wood, and draped with silk cord and Turkish tassels. 
 ,iA blotting case of fine dark linen, with large leaves 
 of blotting paper is useful , a calendar in large type 
 to stand or hang over the desk, a note book with 
 calendar, rates of postage, hours of high and low 
 tide and such friendly hints are very welcome ; a 
 whisk broom with plush pocket and tassels, a ball of 
 
 78 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 79 
 
 office cord in a little satin bag, or a fancy box for 
 postage stamps, a case of court plaster, even sachets 
 for scenting handkerchiefs, and watch pockets or 
 stands, ornamented with chenille, tinsel and satin 
 bows. 
 
 Little Sister. " Will you please tell me how 
 to make a bag for skates ? " Make a square bag 
 of baize or thick flannel, stitched in the middle 
 to make a pocket for each skate, the bag to close with 
 drawing strings of woollen braid. The initials of the 
 owner are worked in bright colors on the side of the 
 bag, which may be ornamented further with herring- 
 bone border in bright silks, or with figures of boys 
 skating. 
 
 Hattie, " I have a pair of nice black gloves that 
 moulded last summer, and they look spotted and 
 dingy. How shall I make them look nice again ? " 
 Some glove makers have a preparation for retouching 
 the spots and worn finger tips of black gloves, which 
 makes them jet black and smooth again. Kid black- 
 ing has been a great convenience for those who like 
 neat boots a good many years, and glove blacking 
 will be hardly less a boon. You might touch the 
 
8o HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 spots carefully with the French Dressing sold for 
 nice boots, thinning the polish with a little alcohol 
 first. 
 
 Joe. " Wanted, an object for a school society." 
 Why not have an Observers' society, to notice and 
 record all the curious, pleasant and amusing facts 
 which come in your way ; not in books, but in real 
 life. You can divide it into sections for recording 
 facts in natural history, in character, in humor, all 
 the members to see what they can bring of interest to 
 the meetings, and each contribution, if worthy, to be 
 set down in the record. Notice when the late or 
 great snowstorms come, when they begin, what hour 
 they leave off, how deep the snow is, measuring the 
 highest drifts, notice when the first spring birds are 
 heard, and the date when the first flowers are found. 
 To compare the seasons year by year, put down the 
 readings of the thermometer on very cold or warm 
 days, mention unusually fine specimens of common 
 plants, and the situation they grew in. If any one 
 knows of a very kind, high-minded or generous thing 
 done by a person of his acquaintance, or an interest- 
 ing experience, that may go on the record of character. 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 8 1 
 
 Any one who hears a good joke or knows a piece of 
 fun may tell it, and the collection of such jokes may 
 enrich the volume of American humor, who knows ! 
 Only learn to see for yourselves, and notice what 
 goes on about you, not taking everything from 
 books. 
 
XVI. 
 
 73 OY- "What makes so many white spots on 
 -*^ my finger nails ? I never saw any one with so 
 many." Impurity and poorness of blood lead to un- 
 equal deposits of the horny substance of the nail, 
 which grows cloudy and chalky in spots. You need 
 to pay attention to diet, bathing often and rub your- 
 self briskly with a coarse towel every night before 
 going to bed. I dare say a knowing old lady would 
 dose you with dandelion and herb extracts for clear- 
 ing the blood. A very old cure for spots on the 
 nails, "liver spots," or those brown patches on the 
 face some people call moth, together with other dis- 
 orders of the blood and digestion, was to eat raw 
 onions widi salt. The practice was sensible, as the 
 onion contains powerful medicinal qualities. An 
 old couplet, older than Shakespeare, advises us to — 
 
 Eat leeks in Lent and raisins in May, 
 And all the year after physicians may play. 
 82 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 83 
 
 If you try the remedy, like an investigating boy, your 
 presence and the effect of the medicine will be im- 
 proved by always taking a teaspoonful of powdered 
 charcoal mixed in water after each dose. 
 
 M. C. " Could you tell me how to take care of 
 goldfishes in a glass globe ? We have had a good 
 many but most of them have died." Goldfish need 
 plenty of air and should be kept in a wide-mouthed 
 globe not more than three fourths full of water. 
 They need partial shade, and must be kept out of the 
 sun and away from the fire. The water needs chang- 
 ing once in a week or two, and should have the chill 
 taken off. Do not feed the fish with crumbs of bread 
 as it makes the water sour. 
 
 Kate. " What do you think the best things to 
 collect for a scrapbook ? " Rather a wide question, 
 Kate, to which I answer, the items most interesting to 
 your own taste. Begin with what you have, say a pict- 
 ure of some town, person, or building of note. Then 
 gather anything you see about the subject, and keep 
 your clippings in a large envelope or drawer by them- 
 selves. Don't be in a hurry to fill your scrapbook, 
 but collect five or six weeks or months before arrang- 
 
84 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 ing the scraps. You will find much that you don't 
 care for on second reading. Collect all the para- 
 graphs about birds, all about dogs, all the bright jokes 
 and short stories of adventure you find for three 
 months, and tell us if you are not repaid. 
 
XVII. 
 
 A LICE H. S. wishes to know how to extract the 
 ^ wax from bayberries as they are plenty near her 
 home and she would like to make candles from them 
 after the old fashion. Not a question received since 
 these conundrums were opened, has given me more 
 trouble or more pleasure to answer, for it shows 
 a bright, happy intelligence ready to observe the 
 stores of nature, to ask their meaning and attempt 
 their use. The Pilgrims and early New England 
 colonists used the wax from the baybushes for making 
 candles, so did the settlers in Northern Ohio, and still 
 do the country people of Louisiana and Arkansas 
 near the coast. Such candles are said to give a beau- 
 tiful clear, fragrant light. But the art has so died out 
 East that not one of the books gives the process for 
 making them. The bay tallow as it was called was 
 made by heating the berries in plenty of water, boil- 
 
 8S 
 
86 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 ing slowly, straining and leaving the water to cool, 
 when the wax rose on top. Then it was run in molds, 
 like other candles, perhaps mixed with one third fine 
 beef tallow to make it go farther. With the growing 
 partiality for wax lights it is worth inquiring whether 
 this industry of making bay wax cannot be revived as 
 a limited luxury. It might become as profitable as 
 raising silkworms on our northern coasts. We will 
 all wish Alice good luck with her bay candles, and 
 hope she will have the pleasure of lighting tapers of 
 her own making next Christmas, and that she will be 
 sure and let us hear how she succeeds. 
 
 E. F. G. *' A class of young girls want work to do 
 for unfortunate people. It is too early in the season 
 for them to send flowers to the ' Flower Mission.' 
 For the meantime, the following has been suggested, 
 viz.: To paste on green cambric quotations from poets 
 and other writers in letters cut from white muslin. 
 
 I. "W^ould not such 'mottoes' relieve the monot- 
 ony of bare hospital walls ? " Certainly, if the quota- 
 tions are very brief, simple and rich ; for passages 
 more than a line or two will weary sick brains, and 
 being short, all the more need to be sweet or stirring 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 87 
 
 enough to fill the mind with its snatch of thought. 
 The effect will be better painted in white with black 
 shading on leaf-green ground ; you will find it very diffi- 
 cult to make pasted letters look well. 
 
 2. " Would the mottoes be acceptable, and would 
 the express companies carry such packages free of 
 charge ? " Such work might be pleasing for convales- 
 cent wards. An inquiry at the express office in your 
 town will be more satisfactory than one made here. 
 I judge that the articles not being of any particular 
 value in hospital work, like fruit, flowers or supplies, 
 the exprsse companies would not feel called on to 
 send them free. Why undertake work that must go 
 so far from home to reach its object ? Have you no 
 sick families in your own village to whom your atten- 
 tions and help would be a grateful surprise ? How is 
 the poor-house furnished in your township ? Would 
 not the decorations and flowers in season be a 
 thousand times more welcome to those who are over- 
 looked by all, and who have forgotten to hope for 
 any notice or pleasure ? Hundreds of generous 
 homes near by send their offerings to the city hospi- 
 tals while the same charities exist in every county to 
 
88 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 be aided and encouraged, but how few think of the 
 crushed and hopeless within an hour's drive of their 
 homes ? Have you a village or even a county hospital, 
 or if there is one, is it a good one ? If not, why not 
 turn your talents to starting one, where accidents 
 may be treated with the best appliances, and the 
 sick with chronic diseases find such quiet and care as 
 would be difficult to secure at home. I would sug- 
 gest making the mottoes and other pretty things for 
 home decoration, and having a pleasant little sale to 
 raise money for couches, invalids' chairs, water beds, 
 spinal corsets, and appliances for distorted limbs, to 
 be lent in the neighborhood to persons needing them 
 who could ill afford to buy such things. There 
 would be a noble work, and worth your efforts — nay, 
 it is one so close to you that it comes within the line 
 of sacred inspiring duty, and any aid or suggestion I 
 can give in such undertakings you may call for, with 
 the greatest freedom. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 TNQUIRER asks: "What is the height of the 
 picture line ? " No precise rule is given, farther 
 than to hang pictures so that the lower half will be 
 opposite the eye, where the whole can be easily viewed 
 without lifting or bending the head. In exhibitions 
 where two or three rows of pictures must be hung 
 to have space for all, naturally the best are hung on 
 this line, and those of less consideration in the rank 
 above or below it. 
 
 Dora J. D. " In answer to a query, you told a girl 
 of thirteen she could earn money by raising flowers 
 and seeds. Please tell me where and how these can 
 be sold, and recommend some good practical book, 
 with pictures, if possible, telling about flowers which 
 can be raised in a common garden, and the best 
 method of culture." Vick's Flower and Vegetable Gar- 
 den is probably the book you want, which is mostly 
 
 89 
 
90 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 devoted to flowers, and has colored plates as well as 
 many wood cuts. Henderson's F?-actical Floriculture 
 is a delightful book for older cultivators, and will 
 give you a good idea how to sell flowers and what 
 prices to expect. A girl can either raise nice bed- 
 ding plants like geraniums, verbenas, and choice coleus 
 to sell at her home, or she can send cut flowers like 
 roses, heliotrope, carnations, and violets boxed to the 
 town florist to sell for her. 
 
 2. "I can get some kinds of wild flowers here. 
 Could I sell early violets ? " Good plants of fine 
 wild flowers, well rooted in baskets with plenty of 
 their native earth, find sale among flower fanciers. I 
 think I should particularly like to buy a fine scarlet 
 lobelia, or white wild honeysuckle, pink orchid or 
 clump of mayflowers ready to blossom, and a good 
 many other people have the same taste. Rooted 
 plants of wild blue and white violets, in small fruit 
 baskets, would sell in spring in city streets, but the 
 plucked wild flowers wither too soon to be profitable. 
 Go to the greenhouse and see how the florist arranges 
 the spring baskets of fern and moss and you will know 
 how fresh and delicate such things should be. 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 91 
 
 A. Boston, i. " Can you tell me two or three 
 pretty trios for young ladies to sing, something of the 
 ballad style ? The voices are first soprano, second 
 soprano and alto." Tilden's Trios for Female Voices^ 
 published by Ditson & Co., may have what you want. 
 In Pan Pipes, a book of old songs newly arranged by 
 Theodore Marzials, the English song writer, you will 
 find several things which with some knowledge of 
 music you can arrange for three voices. Hullah's 
 Part Songs and the old singing books of the time of 
 Lowell Mason and George James Webb have such 
 songs as you want in the best taste. 
 
 2. "Can you tell me of some vine which grows 
 very fast and does not need rich ground, and not 
 much sun ? I want to plant some vines around a 
 summer-house so that it may be covered quite quickly 
 as it is not very handsome in itself." Try a root of 
 ampelopsis or Japanese creeper, which is the fastest 
 growing vine known in this country. The Virginia 
 creeper grows fast and in almost any place, but if you 
 want vines to grow quickly you must give them rich 
 earth, and plenty of water — street scrapings and slops 
 from the house. A root of madeira vine will cover a 
 
92 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 large space with its shoots in a single season and will 
 look well with either of the others. Plant something, 
 on each of the four sides of your summer house if you 
 want it screened next season. 
 
 3. *' Does German or English ivy grow fastest, 
 and which is easiest to cultivate ? I have heard of an 
 ivy which grew fifty feet in one winter. I should like 
 to have such an ivy as that. Will any sort of ivy 
 grow well without much sun ? " The common German 
 ivy of our sitting-rooms grows most successfully in 
 this country, though the dark Irish ivy makes a 
 richer screen in time. The ivy which grew fifty feet 
 in a season was a German one, and was well tended, 
 had plenty of rich soil and water. Ivies like a little 
 old pounded mortar with their earth, and will grow in 
 sun or shade. 
 
 Prue. I. "I have a pot of carnations, some ivy 
 and pansies in my window. Lately the carnations 
 have been covered with a small green bug. It does 
 not seem to eat the plant, nor does it wither. The 
 other plants are not touched. They are in a window 
 where they have the sun all day. Can you tell me how 
 to get rid of them, or are they doing no harm ? " 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 93 
 
 Insects and plants do not thrive together, as you have 
 probably found by this time. The air is too dry for 
 your plants, and you want to put them in a tub and 
 wash the leaves and stems with a soft brush or chicken 
 wing and plenty of warm soapsuds ; then keep a little 
 water in the pot saucers, spray the foliage often, and 
 evaporate water on the stove or in the water-front of 
 your furnace, to make the air of the room healthy for 
 the plants and yourself. 
 
XIX, 
 
 JESSIE B. " I want to learn all I can about plants 
 and gardening. What books on the subject do 
 you recommend ? " You may begin with Wood's First 
 Lesso7is in Botany, a small book, but the best and 
 most direct introduction to the knowledge of plants 
 for beginners of any age, following with his Class 
 Book, then with Professor Gray's works if you choose, 
 which will be as thorough a course in Botany as people 
 usually care to take. For gardening you want Peter 
 Henderson's books, and having those you need 
 nothing beside. There are no others about garden- 
 ing so plain, full and delightful. Of the three which 
 tell all that the gardener on large or small scale 
 needs to know, Gardening for Profit^ Gardenijig for 
 Pleasure, and Practical Floriculture ; you will probably 
 want Gardening for Pleasure at first, as it tells about 
 flowers, fruit and vegetables, house plants and out- 
 
 94 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 95 
 
 door gardens. The Floriculture is for florists who 
 wish to grow flowers to sell. The Gardenitig for Profit^ 
 for those who keep market gardens, but all as plain for 
 children to understand as if written for them. The 
 Handbook of Plants^ by the same author, you will want 
 for a book of reference, as it tells you all that is inter- 
 esting about plants known and grown in America, their 
 botany, habits, uses in medicine or art, their origin, and 
 how to cultivate them. I have gone through a hundred 
 or more books about plants, and find these four all I 
 want for use. You can find much that is delightful 
 about the history, habits and sentiments of flowers in 
 English books. This is a part of the subject unfilled 
 as yet in American writing, except by such graceful 
 works as Miss Harris's Field, Wood and Meadow Ram- 
 bles, and her Wild Flowers and where They Grow. 
 But in English works you find several volumes about 
 garden flowers. British Sea Mosses and Wild Plants, 
 with well-colored plates, written by Shirley Hibbard, 
 editor of the English Gardener's Monthly, beside Mrs. 
 Loudon's books and a score by less known writers 
 who have scanned every nook and hedgerow of Eng- 
 land for their favorites. Ask all the questions about 
 
gS HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 gardening you please, for I desire nothing more than 
 to see you and a host of other American girls learn to 
 love plants intelligently, ardently as Aliss Hope 
 Johnstone did, the Scottish gentlewoman who made 
 flowers her life-long pleasure, who wrote about them, 
 studied them, grew them, and thought it charming to 
 go a journey of a hundred miles into a strange 
 country to dig a basket of wild anemones of a rare 
 variety from old castle ruins for her garden borders. 
 
 VV. H. V. A. I. "What will prevent hang- 
 nails ! " After washing and wiping the hands, press 
 back the skin around the nails and loosen it with the 
 point of an ivory knife or scissors. 
 
 2. " How can one whiten the skin ? " Bathe it in 
 warm water with a teaspoonful of chloride of lime to 
 the pint — rinsing with water that is slightly sour 
 with lemon juice, and rubbing with a little vaseline or 
 cold cream. If the skin is red and sunburnt, use the 
 cold cream alone. 
 
 3. " What will remove freckles ? " Hot chloride 
 of lime water, made quite strong, one tablespoonful 
 of chloride to the pint, rinse off with diluted lemon- 
 juice. Use with great care, as the chloride is a 
 
\ 
 
 
 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 97 
 
 caustic poison. Hot borax water made in the same 
 proportion will sometimes take of the freckles, but 
 must be used patiently, bathing the face ten minutes 
 at a time, and often. 
 
XX. 
 
 T^ E. F. J. " What is the best rifle, how far will it 
 
 •*• shoot, and what will it cost ? I can't find out 
 
 much about the first question, as different books say 
 
 differently." You will find that most advertisements 
 
 and sportsmen say differently about their favorite 
 
 weapons. Which is the best rifle depends on what 
 
 you want it for. Hunting requires a much lighter one 
 
 than target practice, for which you must have an arm 
 
 of long range, and very accurate sights. The best 
 
 hunting rifle is the Winchester, a light, repeating arm 
 
 which will throw a dozen shots in nearly as many 
 
 seconds, from three hundred to five hundred yards. 
 
 A plain Winchester, with twenty-four-inch barrel, 
 
 either thirty-eight or forty-four calibre, can be had for 
 
 twenty dollars. Most of the shooting on target ranges 
 
 is done with military rifles, or with high-priced guns 
 
 of long range and very fine sights. The New York 
 
 98 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 99 
 
 State arm adapted to sevcnteen-hundred-yard shoot- 
 ing, which costs from fifty to one hundred dollars, is 
 the Remington, the Massachusetts' the Springfield 
 rifle, but these are government arms and not for sale. 
 For general use, hunting and short range target practice 
 of from three to four hundred yards, the Remington 
 sporting rifle is probably the most useful one you 
 can have. The longest range military rifle is the 
 Martini-Henry rifle, made by the Providence Tool 
 Company, and with which the Turks did such execu- 
 tion in the Balkans. Under its fire the Russian sol- 
 diers fell at a distance of a mile and a half. 
 
 T. K. " Can you tell me a way to keep rats out 
 of a chicken coop next to a barn ? I am afraid to use 
 poison and they will not go into a trap." The rats 
 will not go near your trap because it smells of those 
 which have been caught in it. Soak it two days in 
 water with a little potash ; then let it stand without 
 setting the spring for three or four days tilted near 
 the rat-hole, baited, till the rats are used to it. Then set 
 it with ham or cheese, soaking it every time a rat is 
 caught to take the scent out. Strew poison in their 
 runs under the barn, leaving a small tub of water 
 
lOO HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 near for them to drink and drown in. A poisoned 
 rat starts for the water at once. Or gather the wild 
 hound's-tongue or dog's-tongue that grows in waste 
 pastures, a plant of rank odor, and near relation of 
 the weed " beggar's-lice," and strew it bruised around 
 the coop. It is said to keep rats away. A hunter 
 advises you to get some skunk's scent and rub around 
 the barn, when the rats will leave in a body. But I fear 
 your chickens would all be gone before you could 
 get the prescription filled. Try bruised wormwood and 
 garlic about the coop. Vermin dislike these plants 
 and poultry like them. 
 
XXI. 
 
 T~^ THEL S. " Please tell me how to clean bronzes. 
 — ^ My sister has a pair of bronze statues with ebony 
 bases, and while she was in New Orleans the chamber- 
 maid put a piece of cocoa butter on one of them, 
 not knowing that it would soil it, and she also wiped 
 it off with a wet cloth." If the articles are really 
 bronze, take the grease out with magnesia, or weak 
 soda water, and a sponge, rinsing with beer; then 
 restore the color with bronze powder of the right 
 shade, which you will find at a metal worker and 
 burnisher's, or at a large paint dealer's. If the articles 
 are imitation bronze, touch the spot with alcohol or 
 wipe with yolk of egg, and apply bronze powder. 
 
 Maggie. " Will horse hairs kept in water become 
 snakes ? " No ; a small snake closely resembling a 
 hair, with no head or tail to be seen without a magnify- 
 ing glass, is found in streams and springs, and has 
 
 lOI 
 
I02 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 raised the belief that it sprang from a hair, which in 
 some mysterious way became vivified. 
 
 Quiz. "What will prevent the skin from growing 
 tight to the base of the finger nails? In trying to 
 loosen it, I make it rough and homely and sometimes 
 make a rough place in the nail, which is a long time 
 going off. If I let it be, it cracks at the side and is 
 sore." Cut the ragged skin away with sharp, fine 
 scissors, and rub the nails and finger joints with 
 vaseline or olive oil, before going to bed. Repeat 
 every night and morning till healed, then daily in 
 drying the bands, press the skin from the base of the 
 nails with the forefinger nail or a tiny ivory knife for 
 the purpose. The cracking and soreness shows an ir- 
 ritable condition of the blood ; using the vaseline will 
 soon nnprove the nails. You can remove rough- 
 ness by polishing them with fine emery and nail 
 powder. 
 
 Gertie M. i. Use cretonne of warm, dark colors, 
 lined with red or olive silesia for winter window cur- 
 tains to your bedroom. I cannot recommend the 
 cotton flannel so much used, as it fades badly. The 
 deep, all red German damask used for tablecloths is 
 
EOUSEHOLD I<JOTES AND QUERIES. 103 
 
 much liked for draperies, as it washes and lasts better 
 than anything else, 
 
 2. The simplest decorations for cake are the 
 prettiest ; a beading of pearly sugar plums on 
 edge. Guipure lace patterns are pencilled on the 
 plain frosting and followed with a tracery of lines 
 of frosting pressed from a paper horn filled with the 
 mixture, or put on with a confectioner's syringe. 
 White leaves and ornaments are sold by fancy bakers 
 for decorating cake, and can be used more than once, 
 as they are not to be eaten. A cluster of phantom 
 leaves is very pretty on cake, or bunches of white 
 currants crystallized. Crescents of lemon and orange 
 peel dipped in frosting, or coral sprays in rough sugar 
 seeds, which are ea nt ararg osye. 
 
 A. B. C. I. Cherryburn is a pretty name for a 
 place with a spring and a cherry orchard. Summer- 
 side and Summerestare names given to cherry orchard 
 homes. 
 
 2. You can become a good conversationalist only 
 by having plenty to talk about. Lay up all the 
 interesting, droll and kindly things you read and hear, 
 think before you meet people what you can say to 
 
I04 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 them that will be kind or pleasant, and practice, by 
 being just as entertaining as you know how to any 
 and every person you talk to. 
 
 3. The sulphate of quinine ointment sold by drug- 
 gists is recommended to make eyelashes grow. 
 
XXII. 
 
 OALLIE can be rid of the large hair moki which. 
 ^^-^^ troubles her, by the new process in whiv.h fine 
 needles connected with a battery pierce to the root 
 of each hair, and a weak current of electricity destroys 
 it. But the operation can only be performed by an 
 expert surgeon, and the price of such a cure is high. 
 Fifty dollars is the price for removing a slight pencil- 
 ing of hair from a lady's upper lip. 
 
 H. P. X., who wants to grow thin without pinching 
 herself, is advised to get Banting's Letter oii. Corpu- 
 lence, which any bookseller can procure for twenty- 
 five cents, and study it. Hot baths twice a week, 
 frequent change of clothing next the skin, plenty of 
 out-door exercise and plain food, mostly of hard bread 
 and dry meats, without milk, sugar or potatoes, will 
 reduce superfluous flesh in most cases. 
 
 2. "Where can one get fans mounted on sticks, 
 
 105 
 
I06 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 and how much will it cost ? " Any dealer in fancy 
 goods can direct you to some one who mounts fans. 
 The price depends on the delicacy of the mount ; 
 a chintz fan can be mounted for one dollar, a lace one 
 will cost ten dollars, where the material is sent with 
 the order. 
 
 Ida T. wants to know what she can make in the 
 shape of something ornamental for the room of a 
 gentleman who is already furnished with a whisk 
 broom holder, slipper case and shaving paper case, 
 lambrequin, pin cushion and mats for his bureau. 
 Embroider a large square of dark bronze or terra 
 cotta felt, for a writing mat to lay on the table ; 
 work the stripe for back of a Turkish chair, or deco- 
 rate a match set, with sandpaper and refuse box ; 
 work or paint a box for postage stamps ; braid a mat 
 for the bedside; embroider a two inch band of satin 
 for the heading of a photograph frame. Embroidered 
 blotting cases, collar boxes, cravat boxes, calendar 
 frames, pen racks and handkerchief sachets remain to 
 be furnished this destitute friend. A splasher for the 
 wall above the washstand, would be most acceptable, 
 made of white enameled cloth or rubber cloth, bound 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 107 
 
 and decorated in color to suit the rest of the room. 
 I have one parting hint for Ida and others, never to 
 use that crowning vulgarity of expression "lady 
 friend" or "gentleman friend," which is heard only 
 from the lowest or most careless speakers. Say a 
 friend of mine, and let the pronoun following decide 
 the sex, or simply say, a gentleman, or a lady, and do 
 not parade the fact of friendship. As a knowing 
 collegian of the sort whose opinion would have 
 weight with schoolgirls remarks : " If there is anything 
 sappy and girly-girly, it is to hear a ' teener ' talk 
 about her 'gen'l'm friend,' and I always expect to find 
 her chewing gum into the bargain." With its burden 
 of truth and horrible slang I leave to make its deep 
 impression where needed. 
 
 Joy L. C. and others whose hair falls out and 
 collects dandruff are advised to wash the head with 
 carbolic soap or borax and hot water, weekl}', rinsing 
 and drying the hair well before putting it up. Brush 
 it daily for ten minutes. 
 
XXIII. 
 
 T^VA S. L. is very anxious to learn to skate, but 
 
 — ' her ankles are so weak that they turn when 
 
 she attempts to strike out, a defect of which others 
 
 have complained to the department. Bathe the 
 
 ankles and the lower part of the sjDine in very warm 
 
 water till redness appears, then sponge with cold and 
 
 rub briskly. Rubbing with deer's fat, bathing with 
 
 strong salt water, and stroking the calf of the leg and 
 
 the ankles are recommended to make them strong. 
 
 It takes a good walker to make a good skater, and 
 
 there is nothing like due exercise to give sound, 
 
 steely muscles, fit for any sort of work. 
 
 A Subscriber. Purple ink is made by dissolving 
 
 a few grains of aniline violet in boiling water till the 
 
 right depth of color is secured. For the blue ink 
 
 which turns to black, dissolve the iron salt mentioned 
 
 in the sulphate of indigo, grain by grain, with the 
 
 io8 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 109 
 
 purest soft water, filtered or distilled if you can get 
 it, till the ink is right for use. Let it stand three days 
 before you decide on its quality. 
 
 Jessie Jessel has read and taken the advice to 
 prevent colds by exposing the body to the air, and 
 not making the skin tender by dressing in warm 
 clothing. Of course it gave her a worse cold than 
 ever. If she learns not to believe everything she 
 reads, the wisdom may be well earned at the price of 
 a heavy cold. However, this trying experiments on 
 one's health is too dangerous for young people, who 
 easily do themselves a mischief from which their sys- 
 tems never recover. What are our feelings given us 
 for, if not for guides as to what is safe and desirable, 
 or not? The effect of cold is to depress vitality and, 
 though the reaction may leave one warmer and 
 stronger than before, yet it is at the cost of vital 
 force which many constitutions cannot afford to lose. 
 The exposure which may be pleasant to a strong man 
 or warm-blooded youth will ruin the health of a girl 
 or a slender boy. The best way to cure and avoid 
 colds is to keep warm, and never to suffer a chill on 
 the surface of the body. It is not the warmth of the 
 
no HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 air we live in which causes colds, but its impurity and 
 lack of moisture. 
 
 Johnnie and others demand as usual a skate-bag 
 model, and I am happy to give the directions for 
 an excellent one, made for a Boston boy's holiday 
 present. It is of bronze-green flannel, fourteen inches 
 by thirty-two, lined two thirds of its length with 
 chamois leather, and strongly stitched and bound to 
 form a pocket twelve inches deep, with flap ten 
 inches, lined with gray twilled linen, buttoning 
 squarely over the front with five round gilt buttons, 
 below which on the edge are five gilt miniature sleigh 
 bells jingling as the owner hies along. A leather 
 strap like that of a courier's bag goes over one 
 shoulder, and a large spray of golden rod embroidered 
 on the flap completes what you will allow is a dashing 
 style of skate-bag. 
 
 A. R. and B. B. " Please tell two girls how to put 
 up simple gymnastic apparatus in a barn ? " The 
 best gymnastic aid known is the pair of handles 
 fixed to a stout rubber rope fastened to the wall, by 
 which one can swing, twist from head to heel, hand 
 over hand, and gain the most perfect suppleness of 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. in 
 
 every limb without danger of strains or falls. But the 
 price of this gymnastic pull is five dollars, and some- 
 thing at less cost will be acceptable to most persons. 
 A new inch rope fastened to a high cross-beam with 
 handle of turned hard wood attached by the middle 
 to the lower end of the rope, swinging the height of 
 one's head, will afford scope for a variety of exercises. 
 A stout new clothes line ten feet long, fastened by the 
 middle to a hook in the wall, with skipping-rope 
 handles at each end, allows of inany twisting exercises 
 which tend to suppleness of joints. A rope thrown 
 over a beam with a weight at one end and handles 
 at the other to pull by, gives many a good tug to 
 Strengthen the muscles. A strong oak bar fixed 
 across a door-frame, one foot higher than you can 
 reach standing, will answer for the feat young gym- 
 nasts are anxious to perform, of hanging their whole 
 M^eight by their hands. Slots for bars may be fixed 
 at different distances opposite each other in the sides 
 of the door-frame, or holes may be bored for bars 
 which answer for ladder feats, or swinging at arm's 
 length. All ropes must be sound and strong, all han- 
 dles of hard wood, round and smooth to the grasp, 
 
112 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 and not too large for the hands which are to use it, 
 to prev^ent dangerous accidents. 
 
 Han. " What will remove scars caused by small 
 boils .'* I have tried internal and external remedies 
 without effect." Try (i) a square of flesh-colored 
 court-plaster an inch larger than the scar, worn for 
 weeks, applying a new one as fast as the first piece 
 comes off ; (2) a paste of bean flower and white of 
 egg, left to dry on over night, continued indefinitely ; 
 (3) is an old recipe which melts one tablespoonful 
 of the finest turpentine (not spirits of turpentine), the 
 same of spermaceti, and twice as much olive oil to- 
 gether in a cup over a slow fire till it begins to boil. 
 Let it stand three days and rub gently on the face. 
 Its use will cause marks of eruptions to disappear 
 if not very deep. 4, consult a good physician. 
 
XXIV. 
 
 /^^ C. O. " I am secretary of a history club of 
 ^■^ twenty members, and would like to know 
 strictly what are the duties of president and of secre- 
 tary." The president in a little society of this kind, 
 should merely act the part of host or hostess at any 
 evening party, to see that things go off well. He or 
 she mentions the recitations or readings, gets peo- 
 ple's attention, and secures quiet when the real busi- 
 ness of the evening is to begin. The less formality 
 and the more friendliness with which this can be 
 done, the more grace and credit to the occasion. The 
 whole duty of these society officers is summed up in 
 these words, to see that things go off well. There 
 must be some record kept of things for future refer- 
 ence, and this duty falls to the secretary, who keeps 
 count of the members to see whether any failure of 
 interest is visible. The secretary also reads the 
 
 "3 
 
114 HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. 
 
 papers presented by persons who do not care to 
 read their own, writes and answers all letters on 
 business of the society. The president also studies 
 how to keep up the interest of the meetings by quiet 
 suggestions to individual members outside the regular 
 evenings, by inviting new people, hunting up new 
 topics, in consultation with the secretary. Nothing 
 is better worth the interest of such societies than 
 local history of their own towns and neighborhoods 
 taken systematically. Lists of the first settlers should 
 be correctly made, and their property identified, and 
 the traditions, which cluster in the dullest village, 
 should be gathered and verified. Then every town 
 has its special happenings which deserve to be re- 
 membered for the sake of science and general history 
 — like that anniversary ball in winter, at Kenniston, 
 N. H., a few years since, when windows being opened 
 to ventilate the ball-room during supper, the cold 
 precipitated the vapor in flakes, and the dancers 
 returning opened the doors on a white snow storm 
 whirling in the room, while the sky was clear as steel 
 and the air serenely, profoundly cold without, many 
 degrees below zero. Such a happening of a most 
 
HOUSEHOLD NOTES AND QUERIES. TI5 
 
 curious and beautiful fact of scientific interest should 
 be treasured in every detail. Other towns have such 
 wonderful deliverances to tell of as that of the young 
 lady who fell over a cliff thirty feet high, near Ithaca, 
 N. Y., and was buoyed up by her skirts so that she 
 reached the ground in safety. Such things deserve 
 record, and not to be trusted to failing memories and 
 hearsay. How many societies deep in Chaucer or 
 Elizabethan history have yet failed to notice or make 
 any exact observations and account of the wonderful 
 sunsets and sunrises of the winter past ! How many 
 have even read the still more w^onderful record of 
 the year 1883, memorable for its overwhelming con- 
 vulsions of nature. Study facts as well as books. 
 
^^ Ideal Americait magazines!** 
 
 It is a fact acknowledged by 
 the English press that American 
 magazines, by enterprise, able edi- 
 torship, and liberal expenditure lor 
 the finest of current art and litera- 
 ture, have won a rank far in ad- 
 vance of European magazines. 
 
 It is also a fact that for 
 young people 
 
 WIDE AWAKE 
 
 Stands foremost | 
 
 hi pleasitre-^iving I 
 In prnctical helping ! 
 Each year's numbers contain a thousafid quarto pages, coveriiif? the widest 
 rancre of literature of interest and value to young people, from such authors as 
 John G. Whittier, Cliarles Egbert Craddock, ISIrs. A. D. T. Whitney, Susan 
 L'ool'dge, Edward Everett Hale, Arthur Gilman, Edwin Arnold, Rose 
 Kingsley, Dinah Mulock Craik, Margaret Sidney, Helen Hunt Jackson 
 (H/ H.), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elbridge S. Brooks and hundreds of 
 others; and ha// a thousand ilhtstrations hy Y. H. Lunpren.W. T. Smedley, 
 Miss L. B. Humphrey, F. S. Church, I\Iary Hallock Foote, F. Childe 
 Hassam, E. H. Garrett, Hy. Sandhani and other leading American artists. 
 0."^if.V $3f.OO A YEAR. PKOSPECTUS FKEE. 
 Wide Awake is the official organ of the C. Y. F. R. U. The Required 
 Readings are also issued simultaneously as the Chautauqua "i'ouNG Folks' 
 Jv>t;RiNAL, with additional matter, at 75 cents a year. 
 
 F©r the joiia^cv JSoys «b»iI CiJii!« and the Babies: 
 
 0\xv Little Men 
 and Women, 
 
 With its 75 full-page 
 pictures a year, and num- 
 berless smaller, and its 
 delightful stories and 
 poems, is most admirable 
 for the youngest readers. 
 
 $1.00 a year. 
 
 Babyland 
 
 Never fails to carry de 
 light to the babies and 
 rest to the mammas, with 
 its large beaiuiful pict- 
 ures, its merrs' stories and 
 
 The Pansy, 
 
 Edited by the famous 
 author of the " Pansy 
 Books,'' is equally 
 charming and suitable for 
 week-day and Sunday 
 
 jingles, in large type, en reading. Always contains 
 heavy paper. a serial by " Pansy." 
 
 $1.00 a year. 
 
 50 cis. n year. 
 ^§^ Send for specimen copies, circulars, etc. , to the Publishers, 
 
 D. LOTHBOP & CO., BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A. 
 
Little Folks^ Every Day Book. 
 
 KYHMES AND ILLUSTRATIONS FOR EVERY DAY. 
 
 MAV' i8iH. 
 
 A song of a nest : — 
 There was once a nest in a hollow ; 
 Down in the mosses and knot-crr.T.ss pressed 
 Soft and warm, and full to the brim: 
 
 MAY 19TH. 
 
 \\'^~ii// /[S^Mh ■' ^'Ock! nisht!" j-.a-'d the hen, when hei 
 Wii. suoper was none, 
 
 Tr. Fanny who stood in the door, 
 ^ " Good n'.ght," answered she, " come back 
 in the morn, 
 And you and your chicks shall have more.** 
 
 MAY 20TH. 
 
 There's a merry brown thrush sitting up 
 in the tree, 
 " He's singing to me I He's singing tr> 
 
 me ! " 
 .\ndwhat does hesay, little girl, little bo\ ? 
 " Oh, the world's running over with joy " 
 
 Edited by AMANDA B. HARRIS. 
 
 rWELVE COLOR DESIGNS EMBLEMATIC OF THE MONTHS. 
 By Grorge 'F. BARNEb. 
 
 Sauare i8mo, tinted edges, $1.00. 
 D. LOTHROP & CO., Publishers, 30 and 32 Franklin St., Boston^ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 184 234 1 
 
 ..x.,^'' 
 
 ^^<>;