Class J /i /v (j Book Jg:3 Gopyright}^°_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT s^^^^^ ^^ ^OTO^ffi 1 i B 1^ ^fe; m ^ ^^ ^^p^ ^ i m B E iSSsIS ^^ 1 ^^^^ m^Mfmif^ ^H M^j- i ^^^ ^^M^f 3 ^^ raffi^^; i i n x^ 1 "i B 1 hv ".4 mail's work is from sun to sun But a woman's work is never done." A PRACTICAL REFERENCE WORK FOR HOUSEKEEPERS THE COMPRISING — A COMPLETE COOK BOOK— PRACTICAL HOUSEHOLD RECIPES, AIDS AND HINTS FOR HOUSEHOLD DECORATIONS ; THE CARE OF DOMESTIC PLANTS AND ANIMALS AND A TREATISE ON DOMESTIC MEDICINE Including A Chapter ON J_ 1 J ri F^ r\ t_^t^ J I /C /lS I v^ The Great White Plague A CURABLE AND PREVENTABLE DISEASE BY — DR. LAWRENCE F. FLICK Medical Director of the Henry Phipps Institute for the Study, Treatment and Prevention of Tuberculosis GENERAL EDITORS OF THE WORK ALICE A. JOHNSON Graduate in Domestic Science of Drexel Institute, Philadelphia MRS. JANET McKENZIE HILL Editor of the Boston Cooking School Journal DR. HENRY HARTSHORNE, M.D., LLD. Author of ^'Essential of Practical Medicine" AND Other Specialists PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED With Color Plates, Half-Tone Engravings and Text Pictures THE UPLIFT PUBLISHING CO PHILADELPHIA COPYRIGHT 1909, BY M. L. DEWSNAP €CI.A,ciGi=l.98 INTRODUCTION This volume is dedicated to the busy American housewife, in the hope that its use will lighten her toil and prove to be a trusted helper in the numerous duties which she so nobly undertakes. We believe that the pages of this book which are devoted to preparing appetizing and wholesome dishes will be welcomed as a great boon by many thousands of women, whether they do the work themselves or merely super- vise it. The many recipes here compiled cover every variety of food and are easy to follow in practical use ; the lists of ready-made menus for various kinds of meals will often be referred to, and this department will be found to con- tain valuable household recipes, and many general hints on serving and table- setting which distinguish this part of the work from the ordinary cook book. Every woman will gratefully receive the department of this work which suggests attractive ways of fixing up her home. In the leisure time which she may have, if she makes good use of this book, she will take pleas- ure in planning, with its assistance, to try inexpensive changes in the house and its furnishings. It is wonderful how a new arrangement of furniture, pictures or hangings freshen up a bedroom or living-room and adds to the comfort of its occupants. This section of the work also indicates how flowers and pets may be kept without much trouble and with a great addition to the family total of enjoyment. Workmen's bills for little jobs about the place are always a considerable item "of expense to the average family. They can be cut down greatly if the woman or man or boys of the household learn how to use a few simple tools. It will be well worth while to study the chapters devoted to Practical Mechanics in this volume and to put them into practice whenever oppor- tunity offers. Nearly everyone likes to make or mend things and this instinct, directed in the proper way, will produce results of lasting value, INTRODUCTION The pleasure of life is largely increased by a recognition of the customs prevalent in polished and cultivated society and the laws of etiquette become important to all who have to meet others in social intercourse or in business relations. Nor is this department without practical benefits, for it is generally conceded that politeness makes many a hard thing more easily obtained and is greatly instrumental in winning friendships w^hich are of real worth. It is intended to enable her to guard her loved ones from the menace of diseases which lie in wait on every hand in daily life ; to assist her in bind- ing up the wounds of accidental injuries quickly and correctly so as to save many a case from resulting seriously or even fatally through otherwise unavoidable neglect and delay; to show her how to nurse the invalid or bed-ridden so that a speedy restoration to health may follow ; and how to take care of her own precious health and her personal charms as nature intended them to be cared for. The Publishers. TABLE OF CONTENTS BOOK I. THE MODEL COOK BOOK PAGE The Art of Cooking 19 Soups and Their Preparation 20 Fish 24 Shell Fish 27 Poultry and Game Birds 30 Meats ;i^ Beef 35 Mutton 38 Pork 39 Hashes and Sandwiches 41 Eggs 42 Vegetables and Their Preparation .... 43 Milk and Cheese 49 Sauces and Salads 50 Bread, Biscuit and Pastry 50 Griddle Cakes 55 Cereals 56 Cakes and Cake-making 56 Custards and Cream 60 PAGE Puddings and Sauces 61 Pies and Pastry 64. Jellies, Jams, Etc 66 Ices and Ice Cream 68 Pickles and Salads 69 Candies and Confections 73 Beverages 74 Dishes for the Sick 75 Menus for Various Occasions.. 76 Table-setting and Serving 79 Cuts of Meats and Their Uses 81 Outside the Kitchen 82 Household Utilities 86 Laundry Work 90 Recipes for Cleaning 92 Household Pests 94 Other Recipes 95 Brief Recipes for Housekeepers 96 BOOK II. HOME DECORATIONS How to make Attractive Home Deco- rations 99 A Rustic Rug 99 A Simple Wardrobe 99 Bookcase 99 Mantelpiece 100 Screen 100 Window Draperies 100 Mirrors 100 Sofa Pillows 100 Ornamentation of Bedrooms 100 Living-Room 10 1 The Convenient Kitchen loi Window Gardens • 10 1 Decorations for Public and Festive Occasions 102 Wedding Occasions 102 Decorating the Table 102 Fancy Work for Leisure Hours 102 Embroidery 102 Stitches 103 Things to Embroider 103 Crocheting 103 Knitting 103 Decalcomanie 103 Potpourri 104 Wax Flowers 104 Flower and Fruit Molds _• 105 xi Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Phantom Leaves 105 Autumn Leaves and Ferns 105 China Painting 106 Amateur Photography 106 Screens 106 Care of Domestic Animals and Plants. . 106 The Canary Bird 106 Care of Canaries 107 The Mocking Bird 108 Other Song Birds 108 Parrots 108 Pigeons 109 PAGE Rabbits no The Belgian Hare m Other Animal Pets in The Aquarium m House Plants and Flowers 112 Geraniums 112 Sweet Pea 112 Azalea 112 Hyacinths and Tulips 113 Pansies 113 Verbenas and Petunias 113 The Lily and the Rose 113 BOOK III. PRACTICAL MECHANICS Broken Window, How to Mend 117 Knowledge Must be Paid For 118 Carpentry Most Desirable 118 Bricklaying and Masonry 118 Excavating 118 Kinds and Prices of Materials 119 Working Drawings 119 Woods Generally Used in Ordinary Carpentering 119 Strength and Breaking Strain 121 Tools Used in Carpentry 121 The Divisions of the Building Trade... 126 Work in Metals 127 Decorative Work 127 Practical Points in Excavating 128 Making Good Concrete 128 Bricklaying 129 Soldering and Brazing 130 Indoor and Outdoor Painting 131 Varnishes, and Recipes for Making Varnishes 133 Polishing, and Recipes for Polishing. . 134 Paper Hanging 134 Bells and Telephones 138 Facts and Figures for Every Day Use. , ,..,,., 142 Shingles 142 Clap-Boards 142 Painting 142 Stone Work 143 Concrete Walls 143 Plastering 143 Brick- Work 143 Slating 144 Average Weight of Animals 144 Average Number of Cubic Feet per Ton of Various Substances for Estimating Work or Stowage. ... 145 Workshop Recipes 145 Engines and Boilers 147 For Steam Heating of Houses 148 How to Thaw Out a Frozen Steam- Pipe 149 Suggestion for Hot-water Heating System 149 A Cheap Filter 149 Tables of .Measure and Weight 149 The Metric System 150' Miscellaneous Tables 151 Mensuration; or, Useful Rules for Computing Measurements 152 Lumber and its Measurements 152 TABLE OF CONTENTS Xlll BOOK IV. THE HOME BOOK OF ETIQUETTE PAGE General Principles of Good Manners ... 155 The Art of Conversation 155 Avoid Heated Argument 156 Consider the Feelings of Others 156 Care in the Use of Witticisms 157 All can be Agreeable 157 Avoid Referring to Your Own Exploits 157 Other Rules Worth Observing 158 A Winning Manner 158 Principles of Politeness 159 Good Breeding 159 The Demeanor of a Lady 160 Incivilities to be Avoided 161 Flirtation 161 Demeanor of a Gentleman 162 What Constitues Gentlemanly Man- ners 162 The Demands of Etiquette 163 Etiquette of Travel 163 The Art of Dress 164 A Well Dressed Woman 164 Dress for Various Occasions 164 Suitability of Apparel 165 Public Occasions 165 Jewelry 166 Traveling Dress 166 A Well Dressed Man 166 Appropriate Costume 167 The Shirt Waist 168 Introductions 168 The Introducer's Formula 169 Salutations 170 Calls, Formal and Informal 170 Ending a Call 171 Visiting and Visitors 172 Evening Calls 172 Entertaining Guests 173 Bidding Guests Adieu 173 Engraved or Printed Cards 174 Rules for Leaving Cards 174 Balls and Evening Parties 175 Subscription Dances 176 The Dressing Room 176 The Question of Toilette 177 In the Bail-Room 177 Requests to Dance 178 In the Dance 178 PAGE Taking Supper 179 After the Ball 179 Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea 179 Luncheon 180 Teas and Afternoon Receptions 180 Suppers 181 Picnics 181 Theatre Parties 181 Chaperons .' 182 Banquets and Dinners 182 Choosing Guests . 182 Duties of the Hostess 183 Arranging the Table 183 Placing the Table-ware 184 Dress 184 Entering the Dining Room 184 The Dinner 185 Dinner Courses 185 After the Courses 186 Retiring from the Table 186 General Hints 187 Wines 187 Dinners at Restaurants 187 Courtship and Marriage 188 Wedding Preliminaries 189 Bridal Gifts 189 Flowers 190 The Bridesmaids 190 The Groomsmen 190 The Bride 191 The Ceremony 191 The Wedding Breakfast 191 A House Wedding 192 Sending Cards 192 Funeral Etiquette 193 The House Services 193 Flowers 194 Mourning 194 Anniversary and Other Occasions. . . . 195 Gifts and Invitations 195 Christenings 196 Private Theatricals 196 Etiquette for General Occasions 197 Etiquette of the Household 197 Table Manners 197 Etiquette of the Street 198 In the Electric Car 198 XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Etiquette of Business 199 Etiquette of the Club 199 Etiquette of Traveling 199 Table Etiquette for Children 200 Forms of Invitations 201 Invitations to Parties 201 Dinner Invitations 202 Small Entertainments 203 Form of English Invitations 203 Wedding Invitations 203 General Invitations 204 Art of Letter Writing 205 Style in Correspondence 205 Forms of Address 206 Letters of Recommendation 207 Letters of Introduction 207 Letters of Congratulation or Condo- lence 208 Replying to Letters 209 Punctuation 209 Postscripts 210 Forms of Correspondence 210 Ordering Goods 210 Application for a Situation as Teacher . 210 Introducing a Young Lady Seeking Employment 210 Introducing a Friend 211 Short Form of Introduction 211 Congratulating a Gentleman Upon His Marriage 211 PAGE Congratulating a Young Lady Upon Her Marriage 211 A Letter Sent with a Gift 211 The Reply 211 Soliciting a Loan from a Friend 212 In Answer Declining, on Account of Incapability 212 A Letter to a Friend (on the Anniver- sary of His Birthday) 212 Reply to the Above 212 Requesting a Friend to Execute a Commission 212 Application for Subscription to a Charity 213 Letters of Application 213 Application for Position of Salesman and Collector 213 Requesting the Settlement of an Ac- count 213 A Demand for Payment of Rent 213 Introducing a Young Man Seeking a Position 214 Social Letters 214 From Charles Dickens to James T. Fields 215 From Charles Sumner on Leaving for Europe, to His Ten-year Old Sister 2 1 5 Etiquette of Beauty 216 How to Grow Old Gracefully 216 Care of the Bodv 216 BOOK v.— Part I. TUBERCULOSIS A CURABLE AND PREVENTABLE DISEASE By dr. LAWRENCE F. FLICK Medical Director of the Henry Phipps Institute for the Study, Cure and Prevention of Tuberculosis The Microscopic World 231 What Consumption Is 231 What Tuberculosis Is 231 Distinction Between Consumption and Tuberculosis 232 Recurrence of Tuberculosis 233 Colds, Influenza and Pneumonia in Relation to Tuberculosis 233 History of Consumption 233 How Tuberculosis Got into the World. . 233 Is Tuberculosis Inherited 234 Predisposition to Tuberculosis. . , 234 Diseases as Predisposing Causes of Consumption 235 Dissipation as a Predisposing Cause ... 235 Want and Overwork as Predisposing Causes 235 Alcohol in Tuberculosis 236 Climate in Tuberculosis 236 Immunity in Tuberculosis 237 Contagiousness of Tuberculosis 237 Mode of Contagion of Tuberculosis .... 237 How Contagion can be Prevented 237 Consumption a House Disease ........ 238 TABLE OF CONTENTS XV PA«E Hotels and Boarding Houses as Means of Spreading Tuberculosis 238 Servants and Employees as Means of Spreading Tuberculosis 238 Contracting Tuberculosis in the School Room 238 Contracting Tuberculosis in Churches and Public Places 239 Contracting Tuberciilosis in Public Conveyances 239 Getting Tuberculosis on the Street .... 239 Relationship Between Human and Bo- vine Tuberculosis 239 How the Tubercle Bacillus gets into the System 239 Duration of Tuberculosis 239 Tuberculosis —a Curable Disease 240 Remedies for Tuberculosis 240 PAGE Food in the Treatment of Tuberculosis. 240 Fresh Air in the Treatment of Tuber- culosis 240 Rest and Exercise in the Treatment of Tuberculosis 241 Slowness of Recovery from Tubercu- closis 241 Preventability of Tuberculosis 241 The Consumptive Protects Himself by Protecting Others 241 The Government in the Prevention of Tuberculosis 242 Humane Isolation of Advanced Con- sumptives 242 Groundless Fear of Consumption 242 Should Consumptives Marry? 243 Should the Consumptive Mother Suckle Her Child? 243 BOOK v.— Part II. THE FAMILY DOCTOR What is Disease 241 Nature of Diseases 250 General Disorders 253 Classification of Diseases 255 Remedies and Their Application 263 Principal Medicine and Other Reme- dies 281 Doses of Principal Medicines 305 Nursing and Care of the Sick 308 The Sick-Room 309 The Sick-Bed 310 Sick Garments 311 Washing and Bathing 312 Food for the Sick 313 Giving Medicines 317 Poisons and Their Antidotes 328 Infancy and Childhood 332 Clothing Infants 334 Sleep for Children 335 Teething 336 Why Babies Cry 337 What Teething Is 337 Summer Dangers 338 Rules for Management of Infants 338 Rules for Diet of Infants 339 Weaning the Infants 339 The Laws of Hygiene 340 Diseases Due to Impure Water 342 Purification of Water 343 Diseases Due to Impure Food 343 Infectious Diseases 345 Contagious Diseases 347 How to Avoid Disease 348 Muscular Exercise 348 Modes of Exercise 349 Clothing 350 How to Live Long 351 Value of Vegetable and Animal Food . . 352 Bread 352 Vegetables 353 Fruits 354 Eggs 354 Meats 354 Time-table for the Housekeeper 356 The Homeopathic Treatment 357 BOOK I. THE MODEL COOK BOOK This is a complete guide in all the duties of the kitchen, containing general instructions on the care of the fire and cooking. It also tells how to prepare all the different classes of dishes, such as soups, fish, poultry, meats, eggs, vegetables, sauces, breads, cakes and desserts, so that the most inex- perienced can provide appetizing food, and the best housekeeper can find very many helpful hints. In addition, it contains exact recipes for making all kinds of dishes, and offers sample menus for various occasions. The suggestions on table-setting and serving, explanations of the different cuts of meats, and the valuable advice on the care of the house, together with practical household recipes which are included, make this department of the work alone an everyday necessity in every home. The Model Cook Book THE ART OF COOKING— THE PREPARATION OF FOOD— RECIPES FOR COOKING SOUPS, MEATS AND VEGETABLES— FOR MAKING BREAD, PASTRY, CONFECTIONS; OTHER VALUABLE RECIPES FOR THE HOUSE- KEEPERS* NEEDS THE ART OF COOKING The section of the house which is most rarely seen by the visitor is the one which is most necessary to his comfort and that of the family. While the drawing-room, the library, the dining-room, and other apart- ments contribute their share to the enjoy- ment of life, the kitchen and its products are essential to existence itself. Whatever, therefore, it may be felt important to say about the arrangement and adornment of the rooms most in evidence in the well- ordered household, in all accounts of family life a large space needs to be devoted to the kitchen, that reservoir from which flows an endless succession of palatable viands, which have much to do with making life worth living. Of the time at our command a con- siderable portion is spent at the table ; eating and drinking occupy a large place in our thoughts, and, while conscious that we must eat to live, we do our utmost to make the act of eating one of the chief enjoyments of Hfe. J For this the art of the cook is all essen- tial. Nature offers us a great variety of foods, and man has learned how to combine and develop these into hundreds of palatabi'^ dishes. They can be spoiled ; nothing is more easy. They can be rendered unnutri- tious and distasteful by careless or ignorant handling. On the other hand, by t^^e exer- 19 cise of skill and care, they can be made nutritious, toothsome, often delightful to the palate, and the task of sustaining life can be converted into one of the leading pleasures of existence. How this may be done it is proposed to show in the following pages, by giving a collection of practical recipes for the preparation of food. In this it has been our purpose to combine economy with palatableness. Many of the recipes given in cook-books are so lavish in the use of butter, eggs, and other costly ingredients as to place them beyond the reach of ordi- nary families. This we have endeavored to avoid, and have also taken care to submit all our recipes to the inspection of expe- rienced housewives, giving none which have not received the verdict of approval. Man is omnivorous in appetite. He is at once a carnivorous and a herbivorous animal. A due combination of meats and vegetables forms the basis of our meals; followed, when appetite is stayed, with deli- cate and tasteful viands, in which all the art of the cook is enlisted to make them deli- cious. In ordinary dinner service it is cus- tomary to begin with soup, and follow with fish, meats or game, accompanied with vege- tables, and proceed to a dessert of pies or puddings, cake, fruit, and other stays to the failing appetite. In arranging our recipes THE MODEL COOK BOOlt we have followed in general this order, be- ginning with soups and proceeding through the solid courses to the dessert. The Kitchen Fire. To make a fire in a stove or range, take off the covers, brush out the ashes and knock all clinkers from the sides of the fire box. Open all the dampers. Bring shav- ings or paper, wood and coal. Cover the grate with shavings or loosely crumpled pieces of paper. L,ay in crosswise small pieces of wood, and on top of these larger pieces, being careful to fill all the corners of the fire box. Leave spaces between for the passage of air, and light the fire from underneath. When the wood begins to burn put on coal, pressing the wood down to the grate. Add more coal after the first supply kindles. As soon as the fire burns freely close the back damper, and when the oven is hot close the front damper. Never allow the coal to come above the edge of the fire box. Every stove or range has, at least, two dampers ; one to allow the air to pass up through the fire, -another to allow the gas to escape up the chimney and to complete the circulation of air. When the oven is to be used, the dampers should be so regulated as to allow the heated air to pass around the oven. In making a fire one thing should be borne strictly in mind. Never pour coal-oil on the kindling to make it burn more freely or on the fire to give it new life. If you have it in view to do this you had better take poison at once, and avoid the more painful suicide of burning to death, which has been the fate of so many who had the habit of using this dangerous material. To keep the fire over night, close the front damper and leave the back one partly open ; put on fresh coal and after it has kindled open the cooling doors to admit cold air over the fire. The stove is blackened to make it look well, to prevent it from rusting and to keep in the heat. Moisten the blacking with warm or cold water, making a paste about as thick as cream. Rub this over the stove while it is cold and polish with a soft brush after the fire is kindled. 20 Soups and Their Preparation. In making soup uncooked meat should always serve a^ the basic element. Cracked bones of cooked game or of rare beef and mutton may be added if desired, but the juices derived from raw meat can alone be depended upon for nourishment and flavor. The meat should be chopped fine, and then placed in cold water and allowed to soak for some time. If bones are used they should be thoroughly fractured. Heat should next be gradually applied and the water slowly brought to a boil. At no stage must it be allowed to boil fast. Salt has a tendency to harden the fibres and check the flow of the juices, and therefore should not be added till the meat is thoroughly done. While boiling, keep the pot covered. When done, strain through a cullender ; and after- wards, for clear soup, through a hair sieve, or coarse bobbinet lace. Let the tureen be kept covered until you are ready to serve the soup ; then ladle it out quickly and neatly, having the soup- plates warmed in advance. In most cases soup is better on the second than on the first day ; but it should not be warmed over too quickly, or left too long upon the fire after heating. . If the object be to obtain stock for soup, boiling must be kept up for some time, so as to obtain from the meat all its gelatine, so far as possible. The hardened albumin- ous matter which floats in the liquid can be removed by straining, so as to leave the soup clear. There will remain in the vessel a dry fibrous mass without taste and of little nutritive value. Soup is often looked upon as a light kind of food — useful only as a preliminary to other foods ; but in many countries it is the staple article of diet. There is no better way of economizing food. All the waste fragments of the table may be made avail- able in this way. The French peasant has his '•' pot-au-feu^'' always ready to receive anything from which nutriment can be extracted, and makes his soup, with the addition of bread- his main sustenance. Soups may be made alike from meats and vegetables, from shell-fish and game, and are capable of being very widely varied. Rolled Rib Roast with Riced Potatoes PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS Remove the bones from a rib roast and skewer the meat into a round shape ; dredge with flour and set on a rack in dripping pan, into a hot oven. When the outside of the meat is seared over, add a little drippings melted in hot water ; reduce the temperature of the oven and bake, (weight from six to eight pounds) from sixty to ninety minutes. Baste often with the drippings in the pan and dredge with flour after each basting ; add salt to the flour when half cooked. When cooled substitute silver skewers for those used in the oven. Garnish with a stem of watercress and surround with Riced Potatoes. Pass through a ricer about eight hot boiled potatoes ; add three tablespoon fuls of butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, and about half a cup of hot milk or cream, beat thoroughly with Verforated cake spoon, and pass through the ricer, or vegetable press, around the meat. THE MODEL COOK BOOK We give below recipes for preparing some of the more desirable kinds : Beet Soup. — Select a shin of beef of five or six pounds' weight, crack the bone, thoroughly wash and place it in a kettle to boil, with five or six quarts of cold water. Let it boil very slowly for about six hours. In this way the stock is prepared, which may be set away for use the next day. Set it on an hour before dinner, add salt and pepper, and one carrot, two turnips, two tablespoonfuls of rice or pearl barley, one head of celery and a teaspoonful of summer savory powdered fine ; the vegetables to be minced up in small pieces. After these in- gredients have boiled a quarter of an hour, put in two potatoes cut up in small pieces ; let it boil half an hour longer, take the meat from the soup, and, if intended to be served with it, take out the bones and lay it closely and neatlj' on a dish, and garnish with sprigs of parsley. The seasoning of this soup is a matter of taste. Some use only salt and pepper, others put in a little mace and some small herbs. Serve very hot. To make a simpler stock omit the spices and herbs, also the vegetables. Veal Soup. — Put a three-pound knuckle of veal into three quarts of cold water, with salt and one small tablespoonful of uncooked rice. Boil slowly for three hours, or until the liquor is reduced to half its original quantity ; remove from the fire. Into the tureen put the yolk of one ^%z^ and stir in a teacup ful of cream, or new milk ; add a small piece of butter; on this strain the soup, boiling hot, stirring it all the time. Chicken Cream Soup. — Take two young or one full-grown chicken. Cut it into pieces and put these into a soup kettle with half a pound of ham, and an onion ; add four quarts of cold water. Bring slowly to a gentle boil , and keep this up until the liquid has diminished one- third, and the meat drops from the bones ; then add half a cup of rice. Season with salt, pepper, and a bunch of chopped parsley. Cook slowly until the rice is tender, then the meat should be taken out. Now, stir in two cups of rich milk thickened with a little flour. A chicken at least a year old is better for soup than a younger fowl. Mutton or Lamb Broth Take four pounds of lean mutton or lamb, and cut into small pieces, which boil slowly in a gallon of water, in a covered vessel, for two hours. Soak a half teacupful of rice in enough warm water to cover it, and add to the boil- ing soup. Cook another hour, stirring from time to time, to keep the rice from settling to the bottom. Beat an ^^■g to a froth, and stir into it a cup of milk, into which has been rubbed a tablespoonful of flour. Mix with this a little of the hot liquid, until the &%% is cooled sufiBciently to prevent danger of curdling. Then, after taking out the meat, pour this into the pot, season with parsley, thyme, salt and pepper ; let boil and serve. This soup is nutritious and palatable for the sick with the rice left in. When strained it makes an excellent white table soup. Mock Turtle or Calf's Head Soup.— Scald a well-cleaned calf's head, remove the brain, and boil the head until the meat will easily slip from the bone. Then take out the head ; cut it in small, square pieces, and throw them into cold water ; when cool, put it into a stewpan, and cover with some of the broth ; boil until quite tender, set aside. In another stewpan melt some butter, and in it put a quarter of a pound of lean ham, cut small, with herbs, also parsley and one onion ; add about a pint of the broth ; let it simmer for two hours, and then dredge in a small quantity of flour ; add the re- mainder of the broth, and a glass and a half of Madeira or Sherry wine ; let all stew quietly for ten minutes and rub it through a mediumsieve ; add thecalf'shead,season with a very little cayenne pepper and a little salt. Having previously prepared force-meat balls, add them to the soup, and serve hot. Serve with sliced lemon, which may be laid on top of the soup, or passed separately. Force-rieat Balls for Soup. — The force- meat balls, mentioned in the preceding re- cipe, may be thus made. Take one cupful of cooked veal or fowl meat, minced ; mix with this a handful of fine bread-crumbs, and the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs 21 THE MODEL COOtC BOOK rubbed smooth together with a tablespoon- ful of milk ; season with pepper and salt ; add a half teaspoonful of flour, and finish with two beaten eggs ; the hands must be well floured, and the mixture be made into little balls the size of a nutmeg ; drop into the soup twenty minutes before serving. Ox Tail Soup. — Boil two ox tails three to four hours, season with salt, black pepper and a small piece of ripe pepper pod. Add one-half cup barley, previously soaked in cold water three hours, a cup of tomato juice and a little carrot finely chopped. Boil all together one hour and serve hot. Vermicelli Soup. — Take four pounds of lamb, removing all fat, one pound veal and a slice of ham, cut up, cover with a quart of cold water, and let it heat slowly. Keep it closely covered. After an hour, add four quarts of boiling water, and cook till the meat is in shreds. Then season with salt, herbs, and a little Worcestershire sauce, boiling for ten minutes in the soup. Then strain and set again on the fire. Now add about the third of a pound of vermicelli which has been boiled tender. Boil up once, and serve. Macaroni may be used if pre- ferred to vermicelli. Philadelphia Pepper Pot. — Put two pounds of tripe and four calves' feet into the soup pot and cover them with cold svater ; add a red pepper, and boil until the calves' feet have become very tender. Then lake out the meat, skim and stir the liquid, and cut the tripe into small pieces, which put back into the liquid. If there is not enough of this add boiling water. Flavor with half a teaspoonful of sweet marjoram, sweet basil, and thyme, two sliced onions, sliced potatoes and salt. When these have boiled until almost tender, add a piece of butter rolled in flour, drop in some ^"g^ balls, boil fifteen minutes more. Serve hot. Noodles for Soup. — Beat up one Q^%g light, add a pinch of salt, and flour enough to make a very stiff dough ; roll out like thin pie crust, and dredge with flour to keep from sticking. Let this dry for an hour or more ; then roll it up into a tight scroll, and slice it into thin pieces. After all are cut, mix them lightly together, and, to prevent them sticking, keep them floured a little until you are ready to drop them into your soup. This should be done 15 min- utes before serving, for if boiled too long they will go to pieces. Fish Soup. — Select a large, fine fish, clean thoroughly, and put over the fire in water, allowing one quart for each pound of fish. Add an onion cut fine, and a bunch of sweet herbs. When the fish is cooked, and is quite tasteless, strain all through a cullender, return to the fire and add some butter ; then salt and pepper to taste. A small tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce may be added. Serve with small squares of fried bread and thin slices of lemon. Oyster Soup. — Strain the juice from two quarts of oysters, add to it a teacupful of water, and heat slowly in a covered vessel. When near boiling, season with salt and pepper, add the oysters, and let them stew for about five minutes. Heat in a separate vessel a quart of milk with two tablespoon- fuls of butter, pour in, and stir well for two minutes. Be very careful that the soup is cooked just enough. Too much cooking ruins the oysters, while they are equally ruined for the taste by being underdone. The plump- ness of the body and the ruffling of the edge are indications of their being in the right condition. Serve with sliced lemon and oyster or cream crackers. Mace and nut- meg may be used for seasoning. Oyster Bouillon. — Wash and chop fifty good-sized oysters, put them in a double boiler, cover and cook slowly for an hour ; add a pint of water, a level teaspoonful of celery seed, and strain through two thick- nesses of cheesecloth ; reheat, add a level tablespoonful of butter, a little salt, and serve in cups. Clam Soup. — Take twenty-five clams, and chop fine. Put over the fire the liquor that was drained from them, pour in a cup of water, and let boil ten minutes ; then add the chopped clams, and boil half an hour. Season to taste with pepper and salt and two tablespoonfuls of butter ; let it boil again and add one quart of milk heated to scalding, stir in a tablespoonful of flour made iMh MuDkL cook: BOOK to a cream wilt a little cold milk, or two crackers rolled fine. Some like a little mace and lemon juice in the seasoning. Serve without delay. Green Turtle Soup. — Chop the coarser meat of the turtle, with the bones, add four quarts of water, with salt, pepper, two onions, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Stew slowly for four hours, keeping it at a boil. Then strain the soup, and add the finer meat and the green fat of the turtle, which have been simmering for an hour in a quart of water. Thicken with brown flour and boil for an hour more. If there are turtle eggs , boil them separately for four hours , then throw into the soup. Use force-meat balls if there are no eggs. Then put in the juice of one lemon and a glass of Madeira wine. Beat up once and pour out. Any private family can now obtain green turtle meat for soup, it being preserved in air-tight cans. Chicken Soup. — Prepare a fowl for cooking. Separate it at the joints and cut it into small pieces. Put the meat into a saucepan with three pints of water and cook it slowly from 2)^ to 3 hours, or until very tender. Then take out the meat, let the liquor continue to boil, and to it add two tablespoonfuls of rice, two tablespoonfuls of finely cut onion, which has been fried in a little butter until soft, but not brown, and three peppercorns . Remove the gristle from the meat and put the meat, with one tea- spoonful of salt, into the soup, and simmer until the rice is very soft. A little white pepper and celery salt may be added, if desired. If the water boils away during the cooking, add more boiling water. Serve the soup with croutons. Croutons. — Cut slices of stale bread Y^ incb thick. Cut off the crusts and divide the slices into ^ inch cubes. Place them on a tin sheet and bake them until golden- brown. Serve with stews and soups. Vegetable Soup. — Scrape one small car- rot and pare one small turnip, removing a thick skin. Grate and add them to one cup of soup stock and let it simmer 45 minutes. Pare one potato, cut it into small cubes and add it to the stock after the turnip and carrot have cooked 15 minutes. Add some 23 tomato , if desired . The soup may be varied by using rice or noodles with the stock, in- stead of vegetables . Thick Vegetable Soup.— Put i lb. shin bone into one pint cold water with one-half teaspoonful each of salt and sugar, let it sim- mer. Brown two sliced onions in one table- spoonful of butter, stir in an equal quantity of flour and brown it ; add one cup boiling water gradually, and, when the mixture is smooth and thick, stir it into the soup. Cut two carrots and two turnips in small squares, and some celery in ^ inch strips, and add them. Simmer two hours. Three quarters of an hour before serving slice two potatoes, parboil 5 minutes, and add them and one- half teaspoonful of pepper. One tablespoonful of chopped parsley may be added just before serving. Remove the bone, separate the meat, if there is any, into small pieces, and serve in the soup. Do not put any fat meat into the soup . Green Pea Soup. — Put the empty pods of a half peck of peas into a gallon of water, and boil for an hour. Then strain, put in four pounds of chopped beef, and boil slowly an hour and a half. Then add the peas ; boil half an hour, adding ten minutes before serving a half cup of rice flour, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. Strain into a hot tureen. Dried Pea Soup. — One gallon of water, one quart of soaked peas ; boil slowly for two hours. Then press the peas through a cullender with a wooden spoon, and return to the pot, adding a small head of celery, chopped, and a little parsley or summer savory. If the soup becomes too thick add more water. Place in the bottom of the tureen small pieces of toasted bread, or scatter bread that has been fried in butter until brown on the surface of the soup, after it has been poured into the tureen. Pea Porridge. — Shell the peas and put the pods on to boil, cooking about an hour. Drain off the water, and put it over the fire ; add the peas, some potato cut in small pieces, a bunch of pot-herbs, and a small onion. When these are well cooked add a quart of milk, and thicken with flour and butter rubbed together, and salt and peppei THE MODEL COOK BOOk to taste. Small dumplings are an addition, if liked. Bean Soup. — Cook three pints soup or marrowfat beans, with one and one half pounds of fresh pork. When done remove the meat. Take out a dish of beans to serve for dinner. Take a pint of beans and run them through a sieve. Have as much water as iaecessary, for the amount of soup desired to make, add the pulp and a table- spoonful of butter, make thickening of one tablespoonful of flour and one-half cup sweet milk, one well-beaten ^%z^ ^^^ one onion cut fine. Black Bean Soup. — Take one cup black beans, soak several hours or over night ; put to boil in one quart cold water. Slice half a small onion, and fry it in a table- spoonful of butter. Add it to the beans, and simmer four or five hours, or until the beans are soft, adding cold water so as to keep the quantity one quart. Cook together one tablespoonful each flour and butter, and add to the soup after it is strained. Season with a tablespoonful salt and a sprinkle of pepper and mustard. Any other dried beans may be used in making this soup. Corn Soup. — Stew one-half can or two cups corn with one- half cup water until soft. Scald one pint milk, with salt and pepper added, in the top of a double boiler; add one-half tablespoonful of sugar. Pour in the corn, and strain it if desired. Chicken Corn Soup. — ^Take a large chicken, cut into pieces, and boil with the cobs of the corn in a gallon of water till tender. Then put into the pot the green corn cut from a dozen ears, and stew gently for an hour longer. Remove the chicken and the cobs, season the soup with pepper, salt, and parsley, thicken with rice or wheat floiir, boil up again, and serve. There is no need to strain if the corn is young. The chicken, unless boiled to rags, may be served in a fricasee. For this, beat up an &%'g and a tablespoonful of butter, adding some liquor from the soup, and boil for a moment. Thicken with flour, season, and pour hot over the chicken. Garnish dish with parsley and slices of hard-boiled egg. Graham Soup.— Chop up finely three onions, three carrots, four turnips, and a bunch of celery. Put on the fire in about three quarts of water. Simmer half an hour, then add a small cabbage, which has been parboiled and cut up. In fifteen minutes more put in a pint of stewed tomatoes and a bunch of sweet herbs, and boil briskly for twenty minutes. Then rub through a cul- lender, and boil again, adding pepper and salt and a tablespoonful of butter. Some cream, thickened with corn starch, may be added, if convenient. Give it a brief boil, and it is ready to serve. Tomato Soup. — Stew a quart of peeled tomatoes until soft, strain, and add a pinch of soda. Set over the fire again, adding a quart of hot milk ; season with salt and pepper, a piece of butter the size of an ^%%., and three tablespoonfuls of rolled cracker, and serve hot. Canned tomatoes may be used in place of fresh ones. Potato Soup. — Three potatoes, one and one-half cups water, three cups milk, one onion, three teaspoonfuls salt, one and one- half tablespoonfuls flour, one and one-half tablespoonfuls butter. Boil potatoes until soft, drain and mash them. Cook the onions in the milk ; add this to the mashed pota- toes, add the salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a pan, add flour, add this to the soup, let boil up once, strain and serve hot. Cream of Tomato or Mock Bisque Soup. — Stew one can tomatoes until soft, strain, and add one-half teaspoonful soda. Melt three tablespoonfuls butter in a sauce» pan, and stir in two tablespoonfuls flour. Cook it, stirring until the flour swells and is smooth. Pour in one quart scalded milk gradually and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens ; add one teaspoon- ful salt and one-eighth teaspoonful pepper. Add the tomato, and serve immediately in a hot covered dish. If the soup curdles, beat it with an egg-beater until smooth. Fish. The variety of edible fish is very con- siderable, most of them being wholesome and nutritious. Yet white- fleshed and red- fleshed fish, oily fish, shell-fish, etc., difier widely in their properties. In general, fish contain less fat than ordinary meat, while 24 THE MODEL COOK BOOK often much richer in nitrogenous tissue. The suitability of fish for the table varies with the season, its food supply, the length of time it has been taken out of the water, and the treatment it has received. It is in the highest condition just before the spawn- ing time, being then fatter and of richer flavor. Herring, mackerel, and many other fish are best immediately after being caught, while the ray and some similar fish improve by keeping for several hours. As a rule, white fish are more digestible than red fish, and the less oily than the very oily. Among those best suited for weak stomachs are fresh- water fish, such as shad, whiting, etc. Salmon, while the most es- teemed of table fishes, has an evil reputation with dyspeptics — this being probably due less to the fish itself than to its condition when cooked and its accompaniments. Fish of all kinds should be eaten as fresn as possible, and should be kept near the ice until cooked. A fish in good condition should have firm flesh, bright- red gills, and full, clear eyes, with little odor about it. Before cooking it should be thoroughly cleaned and wiped with a cloth wet with salt water. For frying and broiling pur- poses oily fish, such as shad, mackerel, her- ring, salmon, and bluefish, are the best, as they do not become dry. Fried Fish. — Most of the smaller fish are eaten fried. They are generally termed pan- fish. Clean well, cut off" the head, and, if the fish is large, cut out the backbone, and slice the body crosswise. Season with salt and pepper. Dip in Indian meal, or wheat flour, or use beaten &%^ and roll in bread or fine cracker crumbs (trout and perch should not be dipped in meal). Cook in a thick bottomed iron frying-pan, laying the flesh side down, and using hot lard or drippings. Fry slowly, turning when lightly browned. Steamed Fish. — Bend the body of the fish in a circle, pour over it half a pint of vinegar, season with pepper and salt, and let it stand an hour in a cool place. Then pour off" the vinegar, and put the fish into a steamer over boiling water, and steam twenty minutes, or longer for large fish. When the meat easily separates from the bone it is done. Drain well, and serve on a 25 napkin placed on the platter, decorating with sprigs of curled parsley. Broiled Shad.— Split and wash the shad, and dry it in a cloth. Season with salt and pepper. Grease the gridiron well, heat it, and lay the shad upon it, the flesh side down. Cover with a dripping-pan and broil for about a quarter of an hour, or more, ac- cording to the thickness. The fire must be clear and hot. Butter well, and send to the table . Covering the fish while broiling gives it a better flavor. Broiled Salmon.— Cut into slices an inch thick, and season with pepper and salt. Having buttered a sheet of white paper, lay each slice on a separate piece, and envelope them by twisting the ends. Broil gently over a clear fire, and serve with anchovy or caper sauce. When higher seasoning is re- quired, add a few ciiopped herbs and a little spice. Boiled Fresh Codfish. — Before cooking, soak in slightly salted water for half an hour. Then wipe dry, and wrap in a linen cloth, dredged with flour, and sew up the edges. Put into the kettle, with plenty of hot water, and boil briskly, allowing fifteen minutes for each pound. The fish is suf- ficiently cooked when the flesh separates from the bone. The sauce is prepared by stirring into two gills of boiling water and milk two tablespoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour, and adding, as it thickens, two beaten eggs. Season with salt and parsley, and, on with- drawing from the fire, add pickled nastur- tium or celery seeds. Put the fish in a hot dish and pour the sauce over it. Garnish with parsley and circles of hard boiled eggs. Rock fish and bass may be cooked in the same manner, but will need less boiling. Shad Roe. — Drop into boiling water and cook for twenty minutes. Take from fire. Butter a tin plate and lay the roe on it ; dredge with salt and pepper and spread with butter, then dredge with flour ; cook in oven for half an hour. Baste frequently with salt, pepper, butter, flour and water. Salt Codfish Balls. — Soak shredded codfish in cold water about ten minutes and drain. Add an equal amount of mashed iO THE MODEL COOK BOOK potatoes, a small piece of butter and one ^ if preferred ; cut ov*- the 26 backbone to within two inches of the tail, and stuff the fish with the following mix- ture : Soak stale bread in water ; fry in butter a large onion, and chop fine ; add the bread, squeezed dry, two ounces of butter, and salt, pepper, and a little parsley or sage ; heat through, take off the fire, and add the yolks of two well-beaten eggs. Sew the fish, when filled, with fine twine, and wrap with several coils of white tape. Rub it over slightly with butter, cover the bot- tom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it, back upward. Serve with the following dressing : Reduce the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil ; stir in half a teaspoonful English mus- tard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste. Baked Salmon. — Clean, wipe dry, and rub with salt and pepper. Then lay the fish on a grating over your baking-pan, and roast or bake, basting at first with butter, and afterwards with its own drippings. If browning too fast, cover with a sheet of white paper until the whole is cooked. Then put in a hot covered dish, and add to the gravy a little hot water thickened with flour, a large spoonful of strained tomato sauce, and the juice of a lemon. Let this boil up, and serve in a sauce-boat. If you prefer, you can serve with cream sauce. Stewed Catfish — Skin, clean, and cut off the heads. Sprinkle with salt, and lay in a cool place. Then cover with cold water in a saucepan, and stew gently for thirty or forty minutes, according to size. Add a small onion, chopped, some dropped parsley, pepper, and a paste made of flour and butter. Boil up, take out the fish, and lay in a deep dish, pouring the gravy over the fish. Serve in a covered dish. Fried Catfish. — Prepare as above. Beat two or three eggs, in which dip the fish, and then dip into powdered cracker. Fry quickly in hot lard or dripping. Serve as soon as done. Boiled Salmon Trout. — Clean, wash, and dry the fish. Wrap in a thin cloth, cover with salted water, and boil gently for half an hour, or longer for large fish. When done, remove the cloth and lay in a THE MODEL COOK BOOK It iiot dish. Pour over it cream sauce and serve. The cream sauce is made of a cup of cream, diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot water, stirring in two tablespoonfuls melted butter and some chopped parsley. Fried Trout. — Brook trout are usually served fried. After cleaning and drying, roll in flour, and fry in butter, or butter and lard. L,et the fat be hot, fry to a deli- cate brown, and serve instantly. Use no seasoning except salt. Lay on a hot nap- kin, to absorb any external grease, and rang& side by side in a heated dish. Canned Salmon. — Canned salmon may be served cold with any of the fish sauces. For a breakfast dish it may be heated, sea- soned with salt and pepper and served on butterea toast, with a dressing of milk thick- ened witn butter and flour poured over it. Breakfast flackerel. — Soak the fish over night, next morning put in a skillet in cold water. Let come to a boil and pour off water, add more and let come to a scald ; take up, spread over with butter, dredge with flour and set in oven to brown. Terrapin. — Cut off head and dress. Boil till tender with a little salt and a pinch of soda added to the water. When tender take from water and pick to pieces, add a few cracker crumbs, one onion, parsley, allspice, salt and pepper, add two tablespoonfuls of butter. Boil liquor down, pour over fish ; garnish with slices of lemon and bake a light brown. Mock Terrapin — Take half a calf's liver, season and fry brown. Hash it not very fine ; dredge thickly with flour ; take one teaspoonful of mixed mustard, a pinch of cayenne pepper, two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, a piece of butter size of an ^%g, one teacup of water. Boil together a minute or two and serve. Turtle.— Cut off the head, and scald, scrape and clean thoroughly. Put on to boil, shell and all, add salt and pepper, and cook until very tender, pick meat from shell, season with butter, and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour and a litl^e milk. Fried Eels. — After cleaning the eels well, cut in pieces about two inches long, 27 wash them and wipe them dry, roll them in flour or crackers, fry in hot lard. They should be browned all over and thoroughly done. Fish Chowder. — ^Take i lb. cod or had- dock ; put the head, bones, fins and skin into one cup cold water and let simmer. In one tablespoonful of dripping brown one small onion. Pare and slice two potatoes and parboil five minutes. Strain the fish bones from the water, add the potatoes, scrape in the browned onion, and add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then add the fish, cut into inch pieces ; simmer from ten to twenty min- utes, or until the fish and potatoes are done. Take two tablespoonfuls each of flour and butter and one cup of milk, and cook to- gether to make a white sauce ; add it to the chowder, boil, and add two crackers broken into quarte' Serve in a hot dish. Fish S: iice. — Put four tablespoonfuls butter into a saucepan, and cook in it the same measure of flour. Add two cups boiling water, milk or fish-stock, four table- spoonfuls of butter, and season with salt and pepper. Boil five minutes and serve. This is often cabled drawn-butter sauce. To make &%;g sauce add to above two or three chopped hard-boiled eggs. Shell Fish. Of shell-fish the oyster is the general favorite among epicures and everyday people alike. It is more wholesome eaten raw than when cooked, the flesh being coagulated and hardened by cooking. The least digest- ible part is the firm hard section of muscle, by which the animal was fastened to the shell. Persons of weak digestion should reject this portion. The clam, while it may be made into various palatable dishes, is much tougher and less digestible than the oyster. As regards the crab and lobster, they are favorite epicurean dishes, but not from their digestibility, since they are un- fitted for weak stomachs. Many persons of fairly good powers of digestion find the crab or lobster a heavy load upon the stomach. Fried Oysters. — Remove all bits of shell from oysters, lay them on a clean cloth, and pat them gently to dry them . Shake salt and pepper over them. Beat an ^%%^ and stir 12 THE MODEL COOK BOOK into it one tablespoonful cold water or milk. Sprinkle some fine crumbs with salt and pepper. Dip the oysters in the crumbs, then in the beaten ^z%, and again in the crumbs, covering them over each time. Fry them in deep, hot fat, drain on brown paper, and serve on a hot dish. Fried Oysters. — Take large oysters from their own liquor, and dry them in a thickly folded napkin. Then heat an ounce each of butter and lard in a thick- bottomed frying- pan. Season the oysters with pepper and salt, and dip each into ^% then in cracker dust or breadcrumbs, or the two mixed ; fry quickly in hot lard to a rich brown. 47 32 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Stuffed Egg=plant. — Cut the egg-plant in two, and scrape out the inside, which put into a saucepan with a little minced ham. Cover with water and boil until soft, then drain off the water and add'two tablespoon- fuls of grated crumbs, a tablespoon ful of butter, half a minced onion, salt and pepper. Stuff each half of the shell with this mix- ture, to each add a small lump of butter, and bake fifteen minutes. Minced veal or chicken in the place of ham is equally good, and many prefer it. Stewed Salsify or Oyster=plant Scrape the roots and place in cold water, to prevent discoloration. Cut in inch-long pieces. Cover with hot water in a sauce- pan and boil tender. Then pour off most of the water, and add a cup of milk. Bring this to a boil, stew ten minutes, put in a large lump of butter, cut and rolled in flour ; season to taste ; boil up once, and serve. This dish has much the taste of stewed oysters . Asparagus — Break asparagus stalks in pieces any desired length ; boil until tender ; season with salt, pepper, and plenty of but- ter ; thicken with a tablespoonful of flour, mixed with milk. If desired, serve on toast. The tops, which are tender, should be placed in the water ten minutes after the other pieces begin to boil. Asparagus. — Boil a bunch of asparagus twenty minutes, or until tender. Place in a baking dish, add butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Beat well four eggs, add two tablespoonfuls of good cream ; pour over the asparagus and bake ten minutes. Boiled Turnips. — Scrub the turnips and pare off the thick skin. Cut into slices or quarters, and cook in boiling salted water until soft. Then put them into a piece of coarse cheese-cloth and mash fine with a v'/ooden masher, pressing them to remove the water. To one pint of mashed turnips add one tablespoonful butter, one-quarter teaspoonful salt, and a sprinkle of pepper. Serve in hot dish. Potatoes are sometimes mashed with turnips, to absorb the water. Carrots. — Scrub and scrape off" a very thin skin. Cut each carrot into slices from one quarter to one-half inch thick, and cook in boiling salted water until soft. Serve with a white sauce. Stewed Carrots. — Wash and scrape the carrots, and cut them into strips. Put these in a stewpan with water enough to cover them, add a spoonful of salt, and boil slowly until they are tender. Then drain and replace them in the pan, with two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in flour, a little pepper and salt, and enough cream or milk to moisten the whole. Bring to a boil and serve hot. Parsnips. — Scrub, scrape off a thin skin, cut each parsnip into quarters length- wise, and cook in boiling salted water, from thirty to forty minutes, until soft. Place in a dish and pour a white sauce over them, or serve with vinegar on the table. They may be buttered after boiling, placed in the oven and baked a golden brown. Fried Parsnips. — Wash and scrape pars- nips, quarter and remove heart, cut in pieces about two inches long, salt and pepper. Mix butter and lard in frying-pan , put them in and fry till a nice brown. Parsnip Balls. — Wash and boil in water with a little salt, cook till perfectly tender. When cold scrape off" the skin, mash them , and for each cup of the mashed parsnips, add one-half cup breadcrumbs and one ^%^, salt and pepper. Flour the hands and make into balls, brown in hot butter, and serve very hot. Summer Squash. — When young and tender, this can be fried in the same man- ner as egg-plant. Winter squash takes much longer to cook, and should be soaked in cold water for two hours or more before cooking. Cold stewed squash can be used by taking two cups of squash, two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-half cup of milk, and a small piece of butter. Fry in hot lard. Stewed Pumpkin. — Cut in two, remove the seeds, slice, and pare. Soak for an hour in cold water, then put in boiling water and stew gently, stirring often. When the pieces grow tender and break, drain and squeeze dry, rub through a colander, and return to the pan with a THE MODEL COOK BOOK 33 seasoning of bulter, salt and pepper. Stir rapidly from bottom till very hot. Dish in a mound shape. Vegetable Hash. — Chop up coarsely the vegetables left over from dinner — cabbage, parsnips, potatoes, beans, etc. Sprinkle them v^^ith a little pepper. Take a sauce- pan or frying-pan, oiling its sides and bot- tom vi^ith melted butter ; then put in the chopped vegetables, pour in a few spoonfuls of hot water, and cover quickly to keep in the steam. When thoroughly heated, re- move the cover and stir the mixture till well cooked. Serve hot. Milk and Cheese. Milk should be kept covered with a cloth to prevent it from absorbing impuri- ties from the air. It should be sterilized for babies and young children ; especially during warm weather. Vessels used for milk should DC kept perfectly clean . Rinse them out after using, fill them with water in which a tea- spoonful of borax or washing soda has been dissolved and let them stand an hour. Then wash them in hot soap-suds, scald them, rinse again and let them cool. Sterilized Milk.— Sterilize milk bottles or jars by boiling them twenty minutes in water. Remove them, fill two-thirds full of milk, and cork with baked or prepared cot- ton or with rubber corks which have been sterilized. Place the bottles on a vdre stand in a kettle of cold water, heat the water gradually to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and keep it at that temperature forty minutes ; then remove the bottles and cool quickly by placing them in cold or iced water. Keep the bottles in a cool place. A thermometer for testing the tempera- ture may be bought at any pharmacy, but if there is none at hand heat the milk until a scum forms over the top, and keep it as nearly as possible at that temperature for forty minutes. Do not allow it to boil. Cold Custard or Junket. — Warm one quart new sweet milk, add two tablespoon- fuls sugar, and stir until the sugar is dis- solved. Pour the mixture into a glass or china dish and add one tablespoonful liquid rennet, and set it in a warm place. If, at 26 R 49 the end of an hour, it has not begun to harden, stir in one teaspoonful more of ren- net ; it should be firm in one or two hours. Remove it to a cool place or set it on ice to cool. It should be eaten within an hour after it has hardened or it will separate into curds and whey. Serve with cream. Cold custard may be flavored with nutmeg grated over the surface, or a teaspoonful of vanilla extract or rosewater stirred in with the rennet. Cornstarch Blanc flange. — Scald a pint of milk in a double-boiler. Add one table- spoonful sugar and a sprinkle of salt, with some mashed or preserved strawberries or a little cocoa, mixed with some cold milk. Mix two tablespoonfuls cornstarch with cold milk, stir it into the hot milk, boil and stir five or ten minutes, until it is smooth and thick. Pour the mixture into cold wet cups or molds. Serve cold with cream or milk and sugar. Toast and Cheese. — Prepare toast ; dip in hot, salted v/ater ; grate enough dry cheese to cover the slices ; set in the oven to melt, and put the slices together as sand- wiches. This may be enriched in various ways by adding ^zz, butter, and spices. Cheese Pudding. — Butter a baking dish, put in a cup of grated breadcrumbs and a half cup grated cheese in layers, or mix and keep some crumbs for the top. Beat an &gg slightly, add a half cup of milk, salt and cayenne pepper ; pour in baking dish, add a top layer of crumbs and bake till brown. Rice and Cheese Pudding. — Pick over and wash a cup of rice. Steam until soft in salted water, in a double boiler. Butter a baking dish, put in the rice and two cups of grated cheese in layers, pour on one cup of white sauce. Sprinkle over it buttered cracker crumbs and brown in the oven Macaroni may be used in the same way. Welsh Rarebit. — Take half pound grated cheese and Quarter cupful milk or cream, put into a double boiler, and stir until the cheese is melted. Beat one &%%, and add mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper ; then pour the milk and cheese over the mix- ture. Add a teaspoonful of butter, return to the boiler, and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly. Pour it over dry toast. 34 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Cheese Sticks. — Take oue pint flour, one-half pint grated cheese ; mix and make paste with lard the size of an ^^^ ; make the same as pie crust. Roll out and cut in strips one half inch wide and five inches long ; sprinkle over top with grated cheese and bake a light brown. Cheese Straws. — One cup of grated cheese, one-half cup butter, three-fourths cup of flour, sifted, one small teaspoonful dry mustard, four teaspoonfuls of cold water ; mix all together and roll out like pie crust, cut into strips half-inch broad and five inches long. Bake a light brown and serve with salads. Macaroni With Cheese. — Take twelve sticks of macaroni broken into one inch lengths, and cook in three pints of boiling salted water twenty minutes ; turn into a colander and pour over it cold water ; drain, make a sauce of one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, and one and one-half cups of hot milk ; salt and pepper to taste ; put a layer of grated cheese in the bottom of baking dish, then a layer of sauce, then macaroni, and sauce, cover this with fine breadcrumbs ; bake until brown. Sauces and Salads. Drawn Butter. — Take one and one-half teaspoonfuls flour, make of it a thin paste with cold water, and stir it into a teacupful of hot water. Bring to a boil, and add by degrees two ounces of butter, stirring till well mixed. Boil one minute. Tomato Sauce. — Heat one tablespoon- ful of butter ; cook in it a teaspoonful chopped onion until golden brown ; stir in one table- spoonful flour, and cook till smooth. Add one-half cup water or stock gradually, pour in one cup of strained tomato, add salt and pepper, boil five minutes, and strain. Serve with boiled macaroni, or boiled or baked meat. White Sauce. — Take two tablespoon- fuls each butter and flour. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour and work in the butter until smooth. Cook it, stir- ring until the flour swells and is smooth. Add one cup scalded milk gradually, and boil, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Stir in a seasoning of salt and pepper and serve hot. Use one tablespoonful flour when mak- ing the sauce for macaroni. A brjDwn sauce may be made by browning the butter before the flour is added. Macaroni Served With White Sauce. — Break macaroni into pieces one or two inches long, and cook in boiling salted water until tender. It will require from thirty minutes to one hour. Drain ofi" the boiling water and pour cold water over the macaroni. Stir the macaroni into the white sauce and heat it. One cup of maca- roi.i is the proportion for the quantity of white cauce in the above recipe. Two tablespoonfuls grated cheese stirred into the white sauce improves it. Vegetables Served With White Sauce, — Asparagus, tied in bunches and cooked in boiling salted water, carrots, turnips, parsnips and potatoes, boiled and cut in slices or cubes, may be served with white sauce. Bread, Biscuit and Pastry. Bread is one of the most important arti- cles of diet. It is made of flour, salt, water, and yeast. The flour best adapted for bread-making is that from wheat, because it will produce the most appetizing and nutritious loaf at the least cost. The quality of wheat bread depends to a great extent upon the kind oi flour used, whether whole-wheat, Graham, or bread flour (as the ordinary flour is called) . The so-called bread flour is made by grinding the wheat, screening out the bran and sifting the flour through linen or bolt- ing cloth several times, thus making a fine white flour composed chiefly of starch and gluten. The whole-wheat flour differs from this in that the whole grain is ground fine, thus obtaining more gluten and some min- eral matter, both of which lie close to the bran. Graham flour is made from the whole grain ground coarse. Both the whole-wheat flour and the Graham are dark in color and make dark bread. Pastry flour contains a very small amount of gluten, and is used for pies and cakes. 50 THE MODEL COOK BOOK 3S There are certain general rules by which good bread flour can be tested. First. It should have a yellowish tinge. Second. When pressed in the hand it should fall loosely apart. Third. When rubbed between the fin- gers it should feel slightly granular. In bread-making an indispensible re- quisite is good yeast ; and though modern bread and cake makers avail themselves largely of baking powders, a recipe for sat- isfactory yeast is of the first importance. The one given below has the warrant of ex- perienced housekeepers. Excellent Yeast. — Boil two ounces of the best hops in four quarts of water for half an hour ; then strain and let stand until lukewarm. Put it in an earthen bowl, add half a cupful each of salt and brown sugar, and a quart of flour; mix all well together, and let it stand forty-eight hours. Now add six medium sized potatoes, which have been boiled and mashed through a colan- der, and let stand for another day, then stram and bottle and it is fit for use. While making it must be kept near a fire and often stirred. This yeast ferments of itself and needs the aid of no old yeast. If care be taken to let it ferment sufl&ciently in the bowl, it may immediately be corked tightly. Be careful to keep it in a cool place, and before using shake the bottle briskly. It will keep in a cool place two months, and is best the latter part of the time. Use about the same quantity as of other yeast. Yeast Cakes. — Boil one quart pared and sliced potatoes and a double handful of hops (tied in a muslin bag) in two quarts of water for nearly an hour. Then take out the hops and strain the remainder through a colander into a bowl. Stir into the hot liquid flour enough to make a stiff batter, beat up well, add two tablespoonfuls of lively yeast, and set to rise in a warm place. When light stir in a cup of Indian meal, roll into a thin sheet, and cut into round cakes. Dry these in a very moderate heat, and when quite dry and cold place them in a cool dry place. For a fair-sized loaf use a cake three inches in diameter, soaking until soft and adding a little soda. These cakes will keep a month in summer, two months in winter. Wheat Bread. — Take a cup of luke- warm milk, or of water with a teaspoonful of butter, a quarter cake yeast dissolved in a quarter cup of lukewarm water, or a quarter cup of liquid yeast, flour to make a stifi^ dough (three and quarter to three and half cups) one teaspoonful sugar and one tea- spoonful salt. Scald the milk, add the sugar and salt, and cool it until lukewarm. Dissolve the compressed yeast in the lukewarm water, and add it. Stir in flour to make a dough stiff enough to handle. Scrape the dough out on a floured board, and knead it about fifteen minutes. It should be smooth and elastic, so that when pressed with the finger the dough springs back. Put the dough back into the bowl. Cover with a towel, and set it in a warm place and let the dough rise until double its bulk. Then lay it on a board and knead it again about fifteen minutes, using as little flour as possible. Shape it into biscuit or loaves, lay them m a greased pan, let them rise in a warm place, until double their bulk, and bake on the floor of a hot oven. Biscuit will require from twenty to thirty minutes, and loaves from forty-five minutes to one hour. If the dough is mixed with water, a little butter may be added to prevent the bread from being tough. The butter should be added to the lukewarm water. The quantity of yeast in the recipe will raise the dough to double its bulk in about six hours ; one- third of a cake of yeast will raise it in about four hours, and one-eighth of a cake will raise it in about twelve hours. When the bread is baked take it out of the pan and let it stand uncovered, that the air may circu- late around it. When it is perfectly cold put it away in a clean, dry tin box. Do not wrap it in cloth, as the cloth absorbs the moisture in the bread and destroys it flavor. Bread Made with a Sponge. — Use recipe for bread, stirring in only enough flour to make a thick batter. lyCt the batter rise over night. In the morning add flour to make a stiff dough, and knead or beat it until it is smooth. Mold it lightly into loaves or biscuits. Let them rise until 51 36 THE MODEL COOK BOOK double their bulk, and bake. A potato may be mashed and stin'ed into the batter before it is set away to rise. Graham Bread. — Take one teacupful of wheat flour, a half teacupful each of molas- ses and of good yeast, a teaspoonful of salt, and a pint of warm water. Mix these and add sufficient Graham flour to make the dough as stiff as can be stirred with a strong spoon. Set this over night, and in the morning add one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little water. Mix well, and pour into two medium-sized pans, which should be about half full. Let stand in a warm place until the dough rises to the top of the pans, then bake one hour in a fairly hot oven. The loaves should be covered when first put into the oven with a thick brown paper, or an old tin cover ; this prevents the upper crust hardening before the loaf is well risen. If these directions are correctly followed the bread will not be heavy or sodden. Graham Bread. — Mix the sponge or batter, using a pint of lukewarm water, half a teaspoonful salt, half yeast cake and one cup flour. When lighc, stir in three tablespoon - fuls molasses and beat until it is thoroughly mixed ; then add enough Graham flour to make a soft dough. Knead it ten minutes, shape it into two loaves, and put it in greased pans to rise. When light, bake in a moderate oven about thirty minutes. The bread may be made without any white flour. Entire Wheat or Whole Wheat Bread. — Use recipe for Graham bread substituting whole wheat flour for the Graham. Soft Graham Bread. — Mix together two cupfuls Graham flour, one cupful white flour, one teaspoonful salt, four tablespoon- fuls molasses, one tablespoonful butter or lard and lukewarm water to make a soft dough, add half a yeast cake dissolved in halt a cupful of lukewarm water. Beat thor- oughly and allow it to double its bulk. Beat again, and pour into greased pans. L,et it double its bulk. Bake in moderate oven. Boston Brown Bread. — Mix together thoroughly two cupfuls of rye meal or Gra- ham flour, one cupful corn meal, one-half teaspoonful salt, and one-quarter teaspoonful soda. Add two cupfuls of milk and one-half cup molasses. Fill a greased mold two-thirds full, cover it and steam six hours or longer. The longer it is steamed the darker and richer it becomes. Boston Brown Bread. — Mix one pint of rye flour, one quart of corn-meal, one tea- cupful of Graham flour, half a teacupful of molasses or brown sugar, a teaspoonful of salt, and two-thirds of a teacupful of yeast. Stir this with a spoon into as stifi" a dough as you can, using warm water for wetting. Let it rise several hours, or over night. In the morning, or when light, add a teaspoon- ful of soda dissolved in a spoonful of warm water ; beat well and turn into, well-greased, deep pans, and let it rise again. Bake in a moderate oven from three to four hours. Boston Brown Bread (Unfermented). — Stir thoroughly together, wetting with sour milk, one cupful of rye flour, two cupfuls of corn meal, one cupful of white flour, half a teacupful of molasses or sugar, and a tea- spoonful of salt. Then add a level tea- spoonful of soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of water. Sweet milk may be used by sub- stituting baking-powder for soda. The bat- ter must be stirred thick with a spoon, and turned into well-greased pans. Virginia Brown Bread. — Take a pint of corn-meal, and thoroughly scald with boiling water. To this, when cool, add a pint of light, white bread sponge, mix well, and add a cupful of molasses, and Gra- ham flour sufficient to mold. When light bake for an hour and a half in a moderate oven. The quantities here given will make two loaves. Boston Corn Bread, — Take one cupful of sweet and two of sour milk, two-thirds cupful of molasses, a cupful of wheat flour, four cupfuls corn-meal, and a teaspoonful of soda. Steam for three hours and brown in the oven a few minutes. If made with sweet milk and baking-powder it is equally good. Corn Bread. — Beat thoroughly two eggs — whites and yolks separately . Mix two heap- ing cupfuls of Indian meal and one cupful of flour, adding a teaspoonful of melted lard and milk enough to make a thin batter. Put into the flour while yet dry a teaspoonful Chicken and Sweetbread Croquettes PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS Add to a sweetbread cooked, cooled and chopped, not too fine — enough chopped chicken to make one pint in all. Melt one-fourth a cup of butter, add half a cup of flour and cook until frothy ; then add gradually, stirring constantly, one cup of chicken stock, well seasoned with vegetables and sweet herbs, and one-third a cup of cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper ; add one egg, well beaten, and the chopped meat. Set aside to become cold, then shape, apply egg-and-bread crumbs, and fry in deep fat ; drain on soft paper. Serve with mushroom sauce in a boat. Medallions of Mutton with Green Pea Salad PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS Remove the bones and fat from lamb or mutton chops, and skewer the meat in rounds. Braise the meat with the bones and fine cut vegetables until tender; let cool under a weight cover with brown chaudfroid sauce, decorate with white and yolk of egg, and brush over with liquid aspic. Serve cold with cooked peas dressed with French dressing. Brow7i Chaudfroid Sauce. — To a cup of highly seasoned brown sauce add the yolk of an ^%%, diluted with one-fourth a cup of cream and a scant tablespoonful of gelatine soft- ened in three tablespoonfuls of stock. Use when cold, but still liquid. THE MODEL COOK BOOK 37 of soda and two of cream of- tartar. Put in the eggs last. Beat very briskly. Bake quickly in a buttered mold ; a half hour is usually time enough. All kinds of corn bread should be eaten while hot. Corn Pone. — To one quart of corn meal mush, add one and one-half pints cold water ; stir well and add corn meal to make soft batter. Let stand overnight in a warm place. In the morning add one cupful but- termilk, a level teaspoonful soda, one ^^^ beaten light, one tablespoonful salt, three- fourths cupful sugar, two tablespoonfuls flour. Add enough meal to make it about as stiff as common corn bread and bake one hour and a quarter in a moderate oven. Johnnie Cake. — Sift into a pan one quart of Indian meal, and, making a hole in the middle, pour in a pint of warm water, and add a teaspoonful of salt. Mix the meal and water with a spoon into a soft dough ; then stir very briskly for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light and spongy. The dough must next be spread evenly on a straight, flat board, and the board be placed nearly upright before an open fire, with some support to hold it in position. Bake well ; when done, cut into squares ; send hot to table, split and buttered. New England Corn Cake. — Take a quart of milk, a pint of corn meal, a teacup- fiil of wheat flonr, a teaspoonful of salt, and two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Scald the milk, and pour it gradually on the meal. When cool, add the butter and salt, and half a cupful of yeast. L,etset over night. In the morning beat the sponge thoroughly, and add two well -beaten eggs, and half a tea- spoonful of soda dissolved in a teaspoonful of water. Pour into buttered deep earthen plates , let stand fifteen minutes to rise again , and bake from twenty to thirty minutes. Corn Meal Griddle Cakes. — Scald two cupfuls of sifted corn meal and mix with a cupful of wheat flour and a teaspoonful of salt. Add three well-beaten eggs ; thin with enough sour milk to make the mixture the right consistency. Beat the mass till very light, and add a teaspoonful of baking-soda dissolved in a little water. If you use sweet milk, replace the soda with two large teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Lunch Biscuit To enough raised dough to make a loaf, add one-half cupful sugar, one-half cupful lard, and mix thor- oughly. Roll to one-fourth inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter, place them in pan one on top of the other, with piece of butter the size of a pea between them. Let raise and bake. Rusk. — Two teacup fuls raised dough, one teacupful sugar, half cupful butter, two well-beaten eggs, flour enough to make a stiff dough ; set to raise, and, when light, mold into high biscuit and let raise again, sift sugar over top and wet with milk, place in oven. Parker House Rolls. — Scald a pint of milk, melt in it while warm a piece of but- ter the size of an ^ZZ^ ^^^ ^ tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt, and a cupful of yeast. Add flour to make soft dough and let it rise over night. In the morning add half a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a spoonful of water. Mix in enough flour to make the same stiff- ness as any biscuit dough, and roll out about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut with a large round cutter, spread soft butter over the tops, and fold one-half over the other by doubling. Cover, and place near the fire for fifteen or twenty minutes to rise be- fore baking. Bake in rather a quick oven. French Rolls. — These may be made of the bread dough prepared for baking. When making bread, reserve enough dough for rolls. Work into this a tablespoonful of lard or butter, and stand in a cool place for four hours. Knead again, and let stand three hours more. Then roll, very lightly, pieces of the dough into round cakes, and fold these over, not quite in the centre. Let rise again an hour, and bake half an hour in a hot oven. Risen Biscuit. — Mix one quart milk, three-quarters of a cupful each lard or butter and yeast, two tablespoonfuls white sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt, with flour enough to make a soft dough. Set over night. In morning roll out into a sheet three-quarters of an inch thick. Cut into round cakes, set close together in a pan , let rise twenty minutes, and bake twenty minutes. Or hali 53 38 THE MODEL COQK BOO.^ the flour may be worked in, and the re- mainder five hours later, the dough being ieft to rise five liours more. Gluten Bread. — Scald a pint of milk ; when lukewarm, add the whites of two eggs slightly beaten, and one yeast cake dissolved in two tablespoon fuls of warm water ; add sufficient gluten flour to make a thick bat- ter. Beat for five minutes ; cover, and stand aside for three hours ; then add suffi- cient flour to make as thick a batter as you can handle with a spoon. Turn it into a greased square pan, and when it is very. light (about one hour) bake in a moderately quick oven for three-quarters of an hour. Gluten Muffins. — Separate two eggs ; beat the yolks; add a pint of milk. Add to this a half pint of gluten flour, a half tea- spoonful of salt. When thoroughly mixed, add a rounding teaspoonful of baking pow- der ; stir in the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in greased hot gem pans in a moderate oven twenty minutes. 5ally Lunn. — Warm one-half cupful of butter in a pint of milk ; add a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, and two quarts of flour. Beat thoroughl}^ and while the mixture is warm, add four well-beaten eggs, and, lastly, four tablespoonfuls of yeast, which beat in well. Set it to rise over night in a buttered dish. In the morn- ing, dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda, stir it into the batter, and set it to rise again about fifteen or twenty minutes. Bake steadily three-quarters of an hour, or until a straw thrust in comes out clean. This cake should be torn. apart, hot cut. Cutting is apt to make warm bread heavy. Bake a light brown. Eat while hot. English Crumpets. — To a quart of warm milk, add half a cup of yeast, a tea- spoonful of salt, and flour enough to make a stiff batter. When light, rub in half a cupful of melted butter, a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water, and a very little more flour. L,et stand twenty minutes or until light. Next grease some muffin rings, place them on a hot griddle, and fill them half full of the batter. When done on one side, turn and bake the other side. Butter them while hot, pile one on another, and serve at once. Rice Cakes. — Take one cup cold boiled rice, one pint flour, two well-beaten eggs, a teaspoonful salt, and milk to make a moder- ately thick batter. Beat well together and bake quickly. Flannel Cakes. — A quart of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, two well-beaten eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, and three table- spoonfuls of yeast, with flour enough to make a good batter. Set at night as a sponge, and add the butter and eggs in the morning. Buns. — Break one ^^^ into a cup and fill with sweet milk ; mix with it half cup- ful yeast, half cupful butter, one cupful sugar, enough flour to make a soft dough ; flavor with nutmeg. Let rise till very lighc, then mold into biscuits ; let raise a second time in pan, bake, and, when nearly done, glaze with cream and sugar. Coffee Cakes. — To one quart light dough add one cupful sugar, one-half cupful butter, one cupful raisins, and season with cinna- mon or nutmeg to taste ; let raise, then roll out in large round cakes ; set the other half away in a can in a cool place until you wish to bake again. Biscuit. — One quart flour, one teaspoon- ful salt, one of soda, sift together and rub in one tablespoonful of lard, sour milk to make a soft dough, bake immediately in a quick oven. If milk is not very sour use less soda. Tea Biscuit. — Sift together one quart of flour and three teaspoonfuls baking powder, rub in a tablespoonful lard, one-half tea- spoonful salt. Mix with enough sweet milk or water to make as soft a dough as can be handled. Roll and cut out biscuit. Soda Biscuit. — Rub into a quart of sift- ed flour two tablespoonfuls lard, one tea- spoonful salt, one scant teaspoonful soda, two of cream of tartar. Mix with one pint milk, or enough to make a very soft dough. Roll and cut one-half to one inch thick with biscuit cutter ; bake in quick oven. Graham Muffins. — Mix together thor- oughly one and one-quarter cupfuls Gra- ham flour, one cupful white flour, scant tea- spoonful soda, and a teaspoonful salt. Add 54 THE MODEL COOK BOOK 39 one-third cupful of molasses and one cupful Bour milk. Bake in greased gem pans. Muffins. — One cupful milk, one-half tea- spoonful each of butter and lard melted, a little salt, three teaspoonfuls baking powder, flour to make batter like cake. Bake in quick oven. Corn Meal Muffins. — Two eggs, two tablespoonfuls granulated sugar, one cupful sweet milk, one cupful of granulated corn meal, one and one-half cupfuls sifted flour, three teaspoonfuls baking powder, and -a pinch of salt. Wheat Muffins. — One pint sour milk, one-fourth teaspoonful soda, one and one- half teaspoonfuls baking powder, one-half teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful sugar, one tablespoonful butter, one beaten ^%^, flour enough to make stiff as cake batter. Grease mufl&n tins ; fill half full, and bake in a quick oven. Sweet milk without the soda may be used. Add an extra teaspoonful of baking powder. Breakfast Gems — One heaping pint flour, one teaspoonful baking powder, one teaspouniul salt, butter half size of an ^^Z-, one teacupful water. Bake fifteen minutes. Graham Gems. — One cupful sour milk, one-half teaspoonful soda, one tablespoonful sugar, pinch of salt ; add Graham flour to make stiff batter. Drop in greased gem pans and bake quickly. This amount makes eight gems. Waffles. — Mix one quart each milk and flour, five tablespoonfuls yeast, and a tea- spoonful of salt. Set this over night as a sponge. In the morning add two eggs and a tablespoonful of melted butter, and bake in waffle-irons. Rice and Corn Meal Waffles. — Mix a cupful cold-boiled rice, half cupful each flour and corn meal, two well-beaten eggs and milk to make soft batter. Add a table- spoonful melted butter, one and one-half teaspoonfuls baking powder, and a teaspoon- ful of salt. Beat smooth and bake in waffle- irons, greasing your irons. Griddle Cakes. Take one cupful flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, and a sprinkle of salt. Sift SS the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Beat an ^%%, add a scant cupful of milk, and stir in gradually the dry ingredients, to make a smooth batter. Place an iron or soapstone griddle over the fire and grease it with a little dripping. When the fat be- gins to smoke, dip out the batter with a tablespoon or ladle and pour it on the grid- dle to form cakes. When the cakes are full of bubbles, turn them so that both sides may be brown. Serve on hot plates, with syrup, or butter and sugar, or place them in layers, with butter, sugar and cinnamon between. The cakes may be varied by adding half- cupful of cold boiled rice, hominy, wheatena, oatmeal or canned corn, to the ingredients called for. By using a half cupful of corn meal, rye, Graham flour or bread crumbs, instead of the flour called for in the recipe, various kinds of griddle cakes may be made. Bucl^wheat Cakes. — ^Take a quart of buckwheat flour, a teaspoonful of salt, a handful of Indian meal, two tablespoonfuls of molasses. Add four tablespoonfuls of yeast and enough warm water to make a thin batter. Beat well and set to rise in a warm place. Let rise till morning and bake quickly on a hot iron. Breakfast Cakes. — Take one quart bread crumbs ; pour enough boiling water over to soak them. Add quart buttermilk, three eggs, one-half teaspoonful salt, tablespoon- ful of lard, teaspoonful soda. Stir well and thicken with flour to the right thickness for griddle cakes. Fritter Batter. — Beat the yolk and the white of one ^%z separately. To the yolk add a tablespoonful of butter and a little salt, and two tablespoonfuls water or milk, and stir in flour to make a smooth dough. Add as much more of the liquid gradually to make a batter, and beat in the stiff white of the ^zz- ^"^Y ii^ deep, hot fat. The fritters may be served with syrup, with sugar and cinnamon, or with a pudding sauce. To make apple fritters, add one table- spoonful of sugar to the batter. Cut apples into slices, dip in the batter and fry them. Sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon before serving. Oysters and clams may be dipped in the fritter batter for frying. 40 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Cereals. In cooking cereals use plenty of water. Be careful to cook cereals thoroughly. Ce- reals should be cooked in a double boiler, to prevent scorching. Avena or Relied Oats. — Put one and one-half cups of boiling salted water into the top of a double boiler. Remove any black specks found in the oatmeal, and stir one-half cup of the meal into the water. Cover and cook from thirty minutes to one hour. Serve with milk or cream and sugar. Baked or steamed apples and other fruits are sometimes served with oatmeal. Scotch Oatmeal. — Pick over a cup of coarse oatmeal and put it, with one teaspoon- ful salt and five cups boiling water, into a two quart covered boiler or pail. Set it on a stand in large kettle of boiling water and let it boil slowly &L day or all night. This makes a jelly-like mass with a rich flavor. Do not stir, as stirring makes it ropy. Wheatlet. — Pick over the wheat. Put it, wich salt and six cups boiling water, into the top of a double boiler. It may cook from thirty minutes to two hours. Cornmeal Mush. — Add salt to a cup of cornmeal and mix one cup cold water grad- ually to make a smooth paste. Pour it into a pint of boiling water and cook in a double boiler from three to five hours. Serve with milk or cream. Cold mush may be cut in slices one-half inch thick and fried a delicate brown . Serve with syrup. Rice. — Take one-half cup of rice and pick out the specks. Wash and rub it with the hands in two or three waters to make it white. Then dry it in a clean cloth. Put it, with one and one-quarter cups boiling water and salt, into the top of a double boiler and cook from thirty minutes to one hour, until perfectly soft. If it becomes dry in cooking, add one tablespoonful hot water occasionally. A few raisins, seeded and cut into small pieces, may be cooked with the rice to flavor it. If the rice is cooked in milk instead of water, one and one-half cups hot milk to one half cup rice will be a good proportion. When the rice is done, press it R Pros 56 into small cups, let it cool two or three minutes, and turn the shapes out on a pretty dish. Serve hot with sugar and milk. Boiled Hominy. — Soak over night ; put in pot with two quarts water to a quart of hominy ; boil slowly for three hours, or till soft. Drain in a colander, and stir in but- ter, pepper, and salt. There are two grades of hominy, the large and the small grained- The latter may be boiled till as thick as mush, and eaten as a breakfast dish with sugar and cream. Fried Hominy. — Cut into slices cold boiled hominy, and fry in hot lard, or moisten with milk to a soft paste ; add melted butter, and a beaten ^%Z'' "^^^^ form into round cakes Dredge with flour and fry a light brown. Cakes and Cake=Making. General Directions for Making Cakes. — For cakes which contain butter, cream the butter, warm slightly if hard, add sugar gradually, and beat. When smooth add the yolks of eggs or whole eggs (beaten light) and the milk. Then sift in the flour, which has been mixed with the baking powder and spices. When the yolks and whites are beaten separately, the whites are usually added last. A cake can be made fine-grained by long beating ; light and delicate with a small amount of beating. Never stir cake after the final beating. For cakes which do not contain butter, separate the whites and yolks of eggs. Beat the yolks until thick, add sugar gradually, and continue beating ; add flavoring. Beat whites until stiff and dry and add to mixture. Sift the flour with the salt and cut and fold in lightly at the last. Do not beat mixture after flour is added, if baking pow- der is not used. Light Cake. — Cream one cup of butter, and work in gradually one and one-half cups of sugar. Separate three eggs, beat the 3'olks, pour in one-half cup of milk, and add to the creamed butter. Sift with three cups of flour two teaspoonfuls baking pow- der and add to mixture. Beat well to make a smooth batter. Beat the whites until stiflF and fold lightly into the batter. One cnp THE MODEL COOK BOOK 41 ljurrants or nuts, well flavored, may be added. Bake in round, shallow pans ; put the cakes together with jelly between. Sponge Cake. — Three eggs, one and one-half cups flour, one and one-half cups sugar, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, two teaspoonfuls vanilla or lemon, one-half cup boiling water. Beat the whites and yolks separately until light, then put together and •beat again, sift in sugar, a little at a time, add flavoring, flour and baking powder, beat all together, last stir in hot water, bake in two layers, and ice. Pound Cake. — Take one pound each of flour, sugar, and eggs, three-quarters pound of butter, one nutmeg, one teaspoonful of mace. Cream half the flour with the butter, add spice. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add the sugar, then add the beaten whites and the remaining flour. When this is done mix all thoroughly, beating for half an hour. This, if properly baked, makes an excellent cake. Gold Cake. — Take one-half pound of pul- verized sugar, one-quarter pound of butter, one half pound of flour, one-half cup of milk, the yolks of six eggs, a half teaspoon- ful of soda and one of cream of tartar, and the rind of one lemon. Mix thoroughly. Silver Cake. — Take same materials as aoove, except that the whites, instead of the yolks, of six eggs are used. Mix the soda and cream of tartar with the flour. Flavor with oil of bitter almonds instead of lemon rind. Bake gold and silver cake in tins of same size, and lay in alternate slices in the cake basket. Angel Food Cake. — Whites of eleven eggs, one and one-eighth cups of sifted granulated sugar, one cup sifted flour, one teaspoonful vanilla, or almond flavoring, one teaspoonful of cream tartar, sift flour ^nd cream tartar together several times ; beat eggs to a stiff froth on a platter, add the sugar lightly, then the flour gently, then the flavoring. Do not stop a moment before putting it in pan. Bake in a moder- ate oven forty minutes. Do not grease pan, but put several layers of paper in the bot- tom. When done invert pan and do not take out until cool. Use plain white icing, Lemon Cake. — Two cups sugar, one cup butter, one cup sweet milk, three cups flour, whites of four eggs, one lemon, grated rind and juice, three teaspoonfuls baking powder ; beat the eggs to a stiff" froth and add after the batter has been mixed ; bake in jelly pans, put icing between. Lemon Jelly Cake. — One and one-half cups sugar, one- half cup butter, beat to a cream, one-half cup milk, two and one-half cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, three eggs, well beaten, bake in layers. Jelly : One cup sugar, one ^z%, the juice and grated rind of one lemon, one table- spoonful water, one teaspoonful flour, place dish in a pan of boiling water and let thicken, when cool spread between layers. riountain Cake. — Two cups sugar, one- half cup butter, two eggs beaten togethei until light, three cups flour, one cup sweet milk, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, bake in layers. Icing: White of one ^z%^ beaten stiff, seven teaspoonfuls pulverized sugar. White riountian Cake. — One cup sugar, one-half cup butter, one-half cup sweet milk, one-half cup corn starch, one cup flour, whites of six eggs, half teaspoonful vanilla, two teaspoonfuls baking powder. Bake in layers. Icing: Whites of two eggs, twenty teaspoonfuls sifted sugar, beaten very light, half teaspoonful vanilla. Spread between layers on the outside. Chocolate Cake. — One-fourth cake of chocolate, one- fourth cup sweet milk, one- half cup sugar ; cook this together, and when hot add the beaten yolks of two eggs . Flavc' with vanilla, and set aside to cool. Take one ^%%-, one-half cup sugar, one-half cup butter, one-half cup sweet milk, one and a half cups flour, one-half teaspoonful soda dissolved in the milk ; when the other mix- ture is cool stir the two together. Bake in layers, and put cooked icing between. Marble Chocolate Cake. — Two cups sugar, three fourths cup butter, three cups flour, one cup milk, four well-beaten eggs, two teaspoonfuls baking powder. Take one cup of this batter and mix with four table- spoonfuls of chocolate, dissolved in a little cream. Cover the bottom of the pan with white batter, and drop a spoonful of the 57 42 THE MODEL COOK BOOK chocolate mixture upon it in places, which will form rings ; then another layer of white and dark until all is used. Bake in a mod- erate oven. Cocoanut Cake. — Two cups sifted gran- ulated sugar, three- fourths cup butter, beaten to a cream, one cup sweet milk, whites of seven eggs, two heaping cups flour, one and one-half teaspoonfuls baking powder, one cup corn starch. Filling: Two cups sugar, one-half cup cold water. Boil together and stir into the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Beat until cold, then spread on each layer, and sprinkle each with grated cocoanut. Cream Cake. — One cup sugar, one and one-half cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder. Beat two eggs until very light, put in cup and fill up with cream. Bake in layers in a quick oven. Filling: One-half cup sugar, one ^%%, one tab.espoonful flour, one pint milk, small tablespoonful butter. Boil gently for a few minutes, flavor after removing from the stove. Ice Cream Cake. — One cup butter, beat- en to a cream, two cups pmverized sugar. Mix sugar and butter and beat until light, add one cup sweet milk, three full cups flour, and three teaspoonfuls baking powder; lastly add the whites of eight eggs, well beaten. Bake in layers. Almond Cake. — Whites of five eggs, two coffee-cups " A " sugar, one cup sweet milk, two-thirds cup of butter, three cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, \)ne tea- spoonful lemon extract. Cream, butter and sugar together, add milk, flour, well-beaten whites of eggs, then the baking powder. Bake in three layers. Filling : White of one egg beaten stiff, one cup of sugar, one- fburth cup water. Boil water and sugar until it is brittle, when drop in cold water. Pour over the ^^^ and beat well, add one- half pound of blanched and chopped al- monds, flavored if desired. Then spread between layers. Fruit Cake. — Four eggs, one cup sugar, two cups molasses, one and one-half cups butter, one-half cup milk, one teaspoonful soda, one pound of raisins, one pound of currants, one-half pound of citron, sliced fine, one teaspoonful cinnamon, one nutmeg, 58 one teaspoonful cloves, five cups flour. Bake two and one-half hours, in a slow oven. Fruit Cake. — One pound sugar, one pound butter, one pound flour, ten eggs, one pound raisins, one-half pound currants, one-fourth pound citron, one nutmeg, one tablespoonful cinnamon, one tablespoonful ginger and allspice mixed, one tablespoon- ful vinegar, one teaspoonful soda. Bake slowly. Boiled Frosting — Take one cup granu- lated sugar, one-half cup water, one-eighth teaspoonful cream of tartar, mix together and cook without stirring until the liquid, when dropped from a spoon, will thread. Beat the whites of two eggs. Remove the mixture from the fire, and when cool pour it slowly upon the whites of eggs, beating all the while. Continue beating until the mix- ture is a thick, creamy mass : then spread it over the cake. Egg Frosting. — Beat the white of an ^%^ until light. Then beat into it, gradu- ally, enough powdered sugar to make a soft dough. Add one-quarter teaspoonful lemon extract, or one teaspoonful lemon or orange juice, or one-quarter teaspoonful vanilla, and spread it on the cake. One tablespoonful melted chocolate, or one tablespoonful desiccated cocoanut may be mixed with it. The yolk of the ^^^ may be used instead of the white to make Sun- shine Frosting. Plain Frosting. — Mix one cup sugar and a tablespoonful lemon or orange juice ; stir in enough boiling milk or water to make a soft dough. Spread it over the cake. This may be varied by adding difi'erent in- gredients as in the preceding recipes. Chocolate Filling. — Beat together the yolks of two eggs, one-half cup cream, one- half cup sugar, two sections of a cake of chocolate ; put in saucepan and boil until thick enough to spread. Cream Filling. — One pint of sweet cream beaten until it looks like ice-cream ; add one cup sugar, flavor with vanilla ; blanch and chop one pound of almonds, stir in cream and spread very thick between layers. Soft Gingerbread. — One-half cup of lard, one cup each of milk and sugar, two THE MODEL COOK BOOK 43 of molasses, one teaspoonful soda, two tablespoonfuls cinnamon, and one of ginger. Stir butter, sugar, molasses and spice to- gether, add the milk and soda, and, lastly, about five cups of flour. Beat hard, and bake into a loaf, or in small tins. Some seeded raisins will improve. Add these last. Ginger Crackers. — Take one pint mo- lasses, one cup of shortening, and one of sugar, with ginger and cinnamon to taste. Add flour enough to make a soft dough. Roll very thin, cut into small cakes, and bake in a quick oven. For plain cookies use only one-half cup shortening. Ginger Snaps. — One cup each of sugar, molasses and lard, one ^zZ-> one tablespoon- ful ginger, one tablespoonful vinegar, dis- solving in the vinegar one teaspoonful soda. Use no milk or water. Mix in seven cups flour and knead. Roll out in any shape desired and bake in quick oven. Risen Doughnuts. — Take a pint of boil- ing milk, two cups of sugar, one-half cup of butter, a half pint of yeast, and two eggs. Beat together the eggs, butter and sugar, and then pour in the milk. Let it rise three times, the last rising after they are cut out. Fry in smoking-h6t lard. Sift with pow- dered sugar while hot. Crullers. — Cream one tablespoonful of butter, work in a teaspoonful of cinnamon , beat the yolks and whites of two eggs sepa- rately, then together, and stir into the bat- ter. Sift two-thirds cup sugar and one tea- spoonful baking powder with two cups flour, add to the eggs and butter, mix well, and stir in gradually one-quarter to one-half cup milk. Roll out, cut in rounds, with a small round out of the centre of each ; fry in deep, hot fat, turning as the sides are browned. Lift from the fat with a wire frying-spoon, and lay on brown paper to drain. Jumbles, — Mix one pound each flour and granulated sugar and one grated nut- meg. Put in one pound butter, and stir in two beaten eggs. Sift granulated sugar on a board, lay the dough on it, roll out one- third inch thick, cut out with a round cut- ter, and cut out a circle in the centre. Bake in a buttered pan, in a moderately hot oven, from ten to twenty minutes. Cocoanut Jumbles. — Grate one cocoa- nut. Rub one-half pound butter and sifted sugar together. Mix with one pound of sifted flour and three well -beaten eggs, with a little rose water. Mix the cocoanut grad- ually, so as to make a stiff dough. Bake in a quick oven, placing the batter in small particles in tin pans, or on greased paper. Sugar Cookies.^Cream one cup sugar and one-half cup butter, beat one ^^% and add it with one-quarter cup milk. Sift in one teaspoonful baking powder with one cup of flour. Flavor with one-quarter teaspoon- ful lemon or vanilla. Stir in more flour to make a dough stiff enough to handle. Roll out on a floured board until one-quarter inch thick . Bake from ten to fifteen minutes . Lemon Crackers. — Two and one-half cups soft sugar, one cup lard, one pint sweet milk, two eggs, five cents' worth bak- ing ammonia, two cents' worth lemon oil. Dissolve ammonia in the milk, or in a little ' hot water, make dough as stiff as for pies, and roll very thin, cut with square cake cut- ter, prick with fork, and bake in hot oven. Cracknells. — To one pint rich milk add two ounces butter and one tablespoonful yeast, make it warm, and mix enough flour to make a light dough. Roll thin and cut in any shape desired, prick well with fork, and bake in slow oven, allowing to rise as they bake. Chocolate Drops. — One-half cake grated chocolate, one pound sugar, four eggs, one lemon, one tablespoonful baking powder, one tablespoonful cinnamon, flour enough to roll, cut out, place on greased pan and bake. Swiss Puffs. — Two eggs, beat light, a pinch of salt in flour enough to make stifi" dough, take out small bits, roll very thin and cut in strips, twist and join the ends together. Fry in hot lard, lift with fork, and let drain. Sprinkle with pulverized sugar. Cream Puffs. — Melt one-half cup but- ter in one cup boiling water, stir in one cup flour, take off stove and beat thoroughly and let it cool. Stir in three eggs, one at a time without beating, mix thoroughly and drop a heaping teaspoonful in greased pans, two or three inches apart, and bake in a moderate 59 44 THE MODEL COOK BOOK oven twenty-five or thirty minutes, or until none ; if not done they will fall. When cold cut open near the top and fill with cus- tard cream. Cream: — Two-thirds pint sweet milk, four tablespoonfuls sugar, one ^ZZ^ two tablespoonfuls flour, wet in a little milk. Mix all together and boil until it thickens, add one teaspoonful vanilla, and let cool a little, then fill pufis. Hickory nut Snaps — Three cups chopped nuts, one pound sugar, one teaspoonful cin- namon, three eggs, one tablespoonful baking powder, two cups flour. Mix well, drop from teaspoon on greased pan, and bake a light brown. Tea Cake. — Two well-beaten eggs, two cups sugar, two-thirds cup butter, one tea- spoonful flavoring, five pints flour, with two heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder, mixed into it. Mix thoroughly and add one-half cup sweet milk, or one cup sour cream, beaten to a foam with soda. Take upon the bread board and mix stiff. Bake in hot oven. Custards and Creams. Cup Custard. — Scald one pint milk. Beat two eggs, add the milk, sprinkle of salt and two tablespoonfuls sugar, and stir until the sugar dissolves. If desired, a little nutmeg may be added. Pour into cups, stand the cups in a pan of boiling water, put the pan in the oven and bake until the custards are firm in the centre. To make a bread-and-butter pudding, pour the custard into a pudding-dish and place buttered slices of bread on top of the custard. Stand the pudding-dish in a pan of boiling water and bake in the oven. To test baked custard. Put a knife in the centre ; if it comes out without ^%% or milk on it the custard is cooked. Over- cooking will curdle it. Steamed Custard. — Scald one pint milk. Mix one teaspoonful cocoa with a little cold milk and stir into the hot milk. Boil one minute. Separate two eggs, keep- ing the whites in a cool place. Beat the two yolks and one whole 0.%% together, add salt and three tablespoonfuls sugar, and stir into the hot milk. If liquid flavoring, instead of cocoa, is used, add it last, and pour the mix- ture into a pudding-dish o*" into cups. Set it into a pan of hot water or into a steamer over a kettle of boiling water until the cus- tard is solid. Just before meal time beat the two whites of eggs stifi", add half table- spoonful sugar and half tablespoonful red jelly or jam, and drop by spoonfuls on the custard for a meringue or float. Snow Custard. — Take one quart ol milk, sweeten and flavor with lemon and vanilla. Bring the milk to a boil, and lay on top the whites of five eggs beaten to a froth. When the whites have cooked slightly, remove and lay on a dish. Then add the boiling milk to the beaten yolks, stirring constantly, and put on the fire until near boiling. Then remove it, and lay the whites carefully on top. Floating Island. — Scald one pint milk. Separate three eggs. Add salt and two tablespoonfuls sugar to the yolk and beat. Beat the whites until very stifi", add one teaspoonful powdered sugar to them, beat slightly, and drop spoonfuls of the stiff whites on top of the scalded milk. Let them cook two or three minutes, until firm, lift cut on a plate, and pour the scalded milk oj. the beaten yolks. Put this mixture into a double boiler, and stir until it thick- ens. Pour it into a china or glass dish. When nearly cool, stir in the flavoring, put the whites on the top, and serve cold, as a pudding. A pretty way to serve it is to put specks of jellj' on the tops of the whites. To make cocoanut or chocolate custard, cook two tablespoonfuls cocoanut or one- half tablespoonful melted chocolate in the scalded milk. Tapioca Custard. — Soak three heaping teaspoonfuls of tapioca over night. Place over fire one quart milk, let come to a boil, then stir in tapioca, pinch of salt ; one cup sugar and beaten yolks of three eggs. Stii quickly and place in dish. Place on top the whites of three eggs well beaten. Set on ice. Small Custard. — Beat one egg, one heaping teaspoonful sugar ; one-half pint milk. Put in cup, set in vessel of boiling water and bake. 60 THE MODEL COOK BOOK 45 Baked Custard. — Four well-beaten eggs, one-half cup of sugar, one and one- naif pints milk ; flavor with nutmeg. Bake from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, according to temperature of oven. If baked too long it will be watery. As soon as it solid clear through it is done. Set baking- dish in a pan of water while baking. Peach Cream. — To one quart of ripe peaches, peeled and rubbed through sieve, add whites of two eggs, one cup granulated sugar. Beat together until a stiff cream is formed. Serve cold. Banana Cream. — After peeling the bananas, mash fine with a spoon, then allow equal parts of bananas and sweet cream. To one quart of the mixture add one-fourth pound sugar. Beat all together until the cream is light. Spanish Cream. — Scald three cups milk with one-quarter box gelatine, add one- half cup sugar, and pour on yolks of three eggs slightly beaten. Cook until thick, stirring constantly ; remove from heat, add salt, one teaspoonful vanilla, and whites of eggs beaten stiff. Pour into mold wet with cold water. Apple Snow. — Peel and grate one large sour apple, sprinkling over it a small cup of powdered sugar as you grate it, to keep it from turning dark ; break into this the whites of two eggs, and beat it all con- stantly for half an hour ; take care to have it in a large vessel, as it beats up very stiff and light ; heap in a glass dish and pour a fine, smooth custard around it and serve. A very delicate dessert. Raspberry Float. — Crush one pint ripe red raspberries with gill of sugar. Beat whites of four eggs to stiff froth and add gradually a gill of powdered sugar. Press raspberries through fine strainer to remove seeds, and by degrees beat in juice, ^^^ and sugar until so stiff that it will stand in pyramids. Lemon Jelly. — Take one ounce gela- tine, cover with one pint cold water, let stand for one hour. Add one pint of hot water and juice of three lemons ; sweeten to taste and let boil ; strain and set away to cool. 6i For orange jelly, omit the lemon juicC;, slice four oranges, and place in a glass jar. Pour gelatine over and eat cold. Strawberry Charlotte. — Make boiled custard of one quart of milk, yolks of three eggs, three-fourths cup sugar. Place in fruit dish, pieces of cake dipped in sweet cream, lay upon this ripe strawberries sweetened to taste, and alternate layers of cake and berries. When the custard is cold pour over it cake and berries. Beat whites of eggs to stiff froth, add three tablespoon- fuls of sugar and place on top of custard. Tapioca Cream. — Soak over night two tablespoonfuls tapioca in one-half teacup milk (or enough to cover), bring one quart milk to boiling point. Beat well together the yolks of three eggs, one-half cup sugar, one teaspoonful vanilla or lemon for flavor ing. Add tapioca and stir the whole into boiling milk, let boil, turn into dish, and immediately turn on the well-beaten whites. Serve cold. Puddings and Sauces. Cabinet Pudding. — Cream together a quarter pound butter and a pound and a half of sugar. Add the beaten yolks of five eggs, and a half pound of flour moistened with a cup of milk, alternately with the whites. Add lastly a half pound seeded and cut raisins, a quarter pound currants, and the juice and grated rind of half a lemon, well dredged with flour. Cook for two and a half hours in a buttered mold. Serve hot with cabinet-pudding sauce. This sauce is made as follows : Rub together a cup of sugar and a tablespoonful of butter, add the well-beaten yolks of four eggs, the juice and half the grated peel of a lemon, and a teaspoonful of cinnamon. Beat ten minutes, add a glass of wine, and stir hard. Set in boiling water and beat while heating, but do not let it boil. Cottage Pudding. — Rub together a cup of sugar and a tablespoonful of butter. Beat in the yolks of two eggs, then add a cup of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, half one of soda, and the beaten whites, and enough of flour to make a moderately thick batter, 46 THE MODEL COOK BOOh To the flour add a teaspoonful of cream of tartar. Bake in a buttered mold, cut in slices, and eat with sauce. Bread Crumb Pudding. — Take one cup bread crumbs and half cup sugar, put them into a pint of scalded milk, add two tablespoonfuls butter, the rind and half the juice of a lemon. Beat the yolks of two eggs and stir the mixture into them. Bake in a buttered dish about thirty minutes, or until thick and brown. Cool and spread a meringue of the beaten whites, half cup pul- verized sugar and the remainder of the lemon juice on the top. Brown in the oven and serve hot or cold. Bread=and=Butter Pudding. — Cut thin slices of stale bread, butter thickly and sprinkle with sugar. Fit neatly into a but- tered pudding dish until half full. Lay on top a plate to keep them from floating, and pour in a custard made of three cups of hot milk, four beaten eggs, and nearly a cup of "iugar. Season with vanilla and nutmeg. i,et soak for fifteen minutes, then remove the plate and put in the oven. If the' bread still inclines to float, hold it down with a fork until the custard thickens. Eat cold. L,ayers of currants improve this. Rice Pudding. — Wash a cup of rice and soak for two hours in a pint of milk. Then add three pints of milk, a spoonful of salt, butter of the size of an ^^^ melted, and flavor with nutmeg and cinnamon. Bake two hours. Bag Pudding. — 'Take one cup each of milk, syrup molasses, and finely chopped suet, half a pound of currants, and three cups of flour. Mix thoroughly, add a tea- spoonful each, of soda and ginger. Pour into your pudding-bag, tie closely, and boil for two hours. Tapioca Pudding. — Add to three pints of milk eight large tablespoonfuls tapioca. Warm, and let soak until soft. Then stir, and mix in two teaspoonfuls melted butter, four beaten eggs, four spoonfuls sugar, one glass wine, a grated nutmeg and the rind of a lemon. Bake immediately. Block Pudding. — Take three cups flour, one cup each of molasses, sweet milk, and finely chopped suet a teaspoonful each of 62 cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and a half pound of raisins. Stir well together, boil for four hours, and serve with sauce. Baked Indian Pudding. — Mix together half cup corn meal, quarter cup flour, one ^SS> quarter cup New Orleans molasses, with a little salt, ginger and cinnamon. Stir these into three cups of hot milk. Bake in a moderate oven. When the top begins to brown pour a little cold milk over it and cover it. Bake four to five hours, putting cold milk on the top every hour. Serve with hard sauce or with cream and sugar. 5uet Pudding. — Three cups flour, one cup chopped suet, one heaping cup chopped raisins, one teaspoonful salt, two teaspoon- fuls baking powder ; mix one cup flour while chopping raisins, then suet and baking powder, then the other cup flour, water enough to finish mixing ; put in a sack, boil two or three hours. Sauce : — Table- spoonful flour, butter size of one-half ^%%, one-half teacup sugar, nutmeg and vinegar to taste, one pint of water, boil all together. Batter Pudding. — One pint milk, four tablespoonfuls flour, pinch of salt. Scald the milk, taking out some to smooth tht flour, then stir into the milk until it thickens and stand away to cool. At noon beat the 5'^olks of five eggs and stir in, then the whites well beaten and bake twenty or thirty minutes. Serve while hot. Sauce: — Cream, one cup sugar, one tablespoonful butter, add flavoring and one-half pint of whipped cream. Chocolate Pudding.— One quart sweet milk, one small cup of sugar, two well- beaten eggs, six tablespoonfuls grated choco- late, two heaping tablespoonfuls corn starch, dissolved in a little cold milk, a small piece of butter. Let boil a few minutes, stirring constantly. To be served with whipped cream, or sugar and cream. Cottage Pudding. — One cup milk, one- half cup sugar, one ^^Z-< ^wo tablespoonfuls melted butter, one teaspoonful baking powder, sifted with one pint of flour. Bake half hour and serve with liquid sauce. Sauce : — Two tablespoonfuls flour, one cup sugar, teaspoonful vanilla, tablespoonful of THE MODEL COOK BOOK 47 butter ; mix these with one tablespoonful of cold water, put in sauce-pan and pour slowly in a little less than a pint of boiling water. New Century Pudding. — Take one cup each of suet, sugar, currants, raisins and milk, add three cups of flour. Shred and chop fine the suet and prepare the fruit. Beat together until light the suet and sugar and the yolks of two eggs ; add the milk and flour ; beat until smooth ; add the beaten whites of the eggs, a teaspoonful each cinnamon and a little salt, and a tea- spoonful baking powder. Mix well, flour the fruit and add ; turn into a greased mold and boil for three hours. Serve hot, with wine or hard sauce. Cream Pudding. — Stir together one pint of cream, three ounces sugar, yolks of three eggs, a little grated nutmeg, add the well-beaten whites, stirring lightly, pour into a buttered pie plate on which has been sprinkled crumbs of stale bread to the thick- ness of an ordinary crust, sprinkle over the top a layer of breadcrumbs and bake. Cocoanut Pudding. — One pint sweet milk, one-half cup sugar ; let milk come to boil (in custard kettle), add sugar, four tablespoonfuls of corn starch dissolved in cold milk, two cups grated cocoanut (less will do), stir well, cook until it thickens, remove from fire, gently beat in the whites of four eggs well beaten, one-fourth tea- spoonful of lemon and vanilla each. Pour in molds and serve with v/hipped cream when cold, or pour half in mold, add a few drops of red fruit coloring to the remaining half and pour on top, or flavor part with two spoonfuls of melted chocolate. Cup Pudding. — Make a batter as for waffles ; to one pint of milk allow two eggs and enough flour to thicken, one teaspoon- ful baking powder, stirred in the flour. Butter a sufficient number of teacups and fill with this and fruits in layers. Set cups in a steamer, boil water underneath for one hour. Serve while hot with sugar and cream. Any jam or raw apples chopped fine is nice with this. Lemon Pudding.— The juice and grated rind of one lemon, one cup sugar, yolks of two eggs, three tablespoonfuls corn starch, 63 a pinch of salt, one pint sweet milk ; mix corn starch and part of milk to a smooth paste, add lemon and sugar, &^^ well beaten and the rest of the milk. Line a jelly tin with a rich puff paste one-fourth inch thick, pour custard in, and bake until done; beat whites to a stiff froth, with two tablespoon- fuls of sugar, spread over the top, return to oven and brown ; serve with whipped cream. This is a rich but not expensive pudding. Brown Betty. — Chop two cups of tart apples ; put a layer into a deep dish, but- tered ; sprinkle with sugar, and a little but- ter and cinnamon ; cover with breadcrumbs, and add more apple. Continue till the dish is full, add a thick layer of crumbs, cover closely, and steam for nearly an hour in a slow oven. Then uncover and brown quickly. Eat warm with sweet sauce, or sugar and cream. Cherry Roll. — Seed one quart fruit, sweeten to taste, let it simmer in its own juice until quite thick, pour one quart of milk over a loaf of grated bread, beat three eggs very light, and add the milk, with a little flour and large lump of butter melted. Put the cherries inside the batter and stir well . Steam in cups or baking powder cans two hours. Apple Roll. — One pint flour, one and one-half tablespoonfuls butter, pinch of salt, add water to make a soft dough, roll one- half inch thick ; chop two large apples fine, spread over the cake, roll up, fasten, place in pan to bake. Pour over this one and one-half pints of boiling water, one cup sugar, one-half cup butter. Cover pan, bake one hour, basting often with sauce. For small family use one-half of recipe. Apple Tapioca. — Pick over and wash three-quarters cup tapioca or sago and soak about one hour. Pour on a quart of hot water, cook till clear; stir often, add salt. Prepare and core six apples, slice or put them whole into a buttered baking-dish, sprinkle sugar and spice over them, and .turn in the tapioca. Bake till the apples are soft ; flavor with cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve with cream or milk and sugar. Peaches may be used instead of apples. ♦8 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Pudding Sauce. — One cup boiling water, one tablespoonful corn starch, one-fourth cup butter, one cup sugar, one &g%, one- fourth nutmeg, one or two tablespoonfuls of jelly. Wet the corn starch in cold water, stir into boiling water, boil ten minutes. Rub butter and sugar to a cream, add the egg well beaten and nutmeg. Add jelly to the corn starch, and pour this in the ^^^ mixture, and stir rapidly until they are thoroughly blended. Lemon Sauce. — Mix one-half cup sugar and one tablespoonful corn starch ; add slowly one cup boiling water, stirring care- fully ; boil until transparent ; remove from fire. Add four tablespoonfuls of butter, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, and a little nutmeg. Cold Cream Sauce. — Beat together one cup sugar and one half cup butter, and add a cup rich cream. Stir all to a cream ; flavor with vanilla or lemon, and let get very cold before serving. Plain Cream Sauce. — One pint cream, three ounces brown sugar, and half of a small nutmeg grated. Hard Sauce. — Cream one-half cup but- ter, Vork in one cup pulverized sugar grad- ually, and add two tablespoonfuls lemon juice or one tablespoonful lemon juice and one tablespoonful vanilla. Beat until foamy. Serve with hot pudding. Pies and Pastry. Pie=Crust. — One cup shortening, three cups flour, little salt, rub t'^e flour, short- ening and salt all well together. Use enough cold water to hold all together, no more. Handle as little as possible. Crust for one pie : — One coffee cup flour, lard size of an ^zZ-> one fourth teaspoonful salt, water just to wet the other ingredients. Puff Paste. — Take a pound of flour and three-quarters of a pound of butter. Chop half the butter into the flour. Beat the yolk of an &ZZ' s^'^ i^ '\\\\o half a cup of ice water, and with this work the flour into a stifi" dough. Roll ovit thin, add in bits one- third the remaining butter; fold, and roll out again, and continue till all the butter is used. Roll very thin, fold, and set in an 64 ice-cold place for a quarter hour. Then make your crust. This paste will serve both for fruit pies and for oyster pates. Short=Cake Paste. — Sift together two cups flour, half teaspoonful cream of tartar, and quarter teaspoonful each soda and salt, and rub in half cup of butter, keeping it as cold as possible. Stir in one cup of sweet milk to make a dough soft enough to handle. Turn it on a floured board ; divide the dough into halves and roll each piece out to fit a round tin plate. Bake at once, in a hot oven. When done, turn out each cake and lay it en the under side of the baking-tin. With a thin, sharp knife, split the cake evenly, and lay the bottom crust on a china plate. Butter each half. Lay partly mashed, sweetened strawberries, peaches, apple- sauce, stewed rhubarb, or any hot cooked fruit suitable for pies, on the under crust, lay the upper crust over it, and serve as a pie. Powdered sugar may be sifted over the top. Serve with cream. Apple Pie. — Pare, core, and slice tart apples, put a layer of fruit in your crust, sprinkle thickly with light brown sugar, add more apples, and go on till thick enough. Cover with top crust and bake. Sift pow- dered sugar over the top. Apple Custard Pie. — Take three cups stewed apples, which make very sweet with sugar, and let cool. Beat the yolks and whites of three eggs separately, and mix the yolks well with the apples, seasoning with nutmeg. Then stir in one quart of milk, beating as you do it. Lastly, add the whites, fill the crusts, and bake without top crust. Pumpkin Pie. — Take a quart of stewed pumpkin, which has been pressed through a sieve ; six eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, two quarts milk, a cup or more of sugar, and mace, cinnamon and nutmeg for flavoring. Beat all well together, and bake without top crust. Lemon Pie. — Take the juice and grated rind of one lemon, one cup of white sugar, the yolks of two eggs,three tablespoonfuls of sifted flour and suflBcient milk to fill a plate. Bake v^^ithout an upper crust. Bake till nearly done and then add a frosting made of THE MODEL COOK BOOK 49 the beaten whites of two eggs, and two tablespoonfnls of powdered sugar, and set back in the oven to brown slightly. Cherry Pie. — I^ine the dish with crust ; fill with ripe cherries, sugared in accord- ance with their degree of sweetness ; cover and bake. Sift white sugar over the top. Fruit pies generally are made in the same way. They should be eaten cold. Mince Pie. — Take four pounds of meat (boiled lean beef) and apple — two-thirds Deing apple. Add half a pound of suet. Chop each separately, and when fine mix thoroughly. Then put in three pounds of chopped raisins and two of carefully picked currants, a teaspoonful each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and half a spoonful of mace, with brown sugar to make very sweet. Add three quarts cider. Mix thoroughly, cover closely, and let stand for a day before using. This will keep all winter, and may be used as wanted. The flavor is much improved if it is allowed to stand a week or so. Add one pint of brandy if desired. Cocoanut Pie. — One large cup of grated cocoanut, one quart of milk, the yolks of five eggs, a lump of butter the size of a hickory nut, sweeten to suit taste. Beat the whites of the eggs and spread over the pies after done, and return to oven and brown. This will make two pies. Custard Pie. — One-half cup sugar, one quart rich milk, two tablespoonfnls corn starch, yolks of four eggs. Put on stove and stir until thick. Beat whites of four eggs to stiff froth, add two tablespoonfuls sugar, spread on top, and brown. This will make two pies. Cream Pie. — One pint sweet milk, one tg'g beaten separately, one tablespoonful flour, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, lump of butter; flavor with lemon. Use white of ^^^ for top. Cook in a kettle. Bake crust first. Put into crust, place white of egg on top. Place in oven to brown. This will make one pie. Ice Cream Pie, — One pint of cream, whites of two eggs, half cup sugar, teaspoon- ful vanilla. Beat eggs to stiff froth, add other ingredients, bake with one crust. 25 ^ 65 Strawberry Pie. — I,ine a deep pie pan with rich crust, and bake. Fill with the following : Whites of two eggs, half cup of sugar, one pint of fresh berries. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, and stir in sugar and berries. Bake slowly fifteen minutes. Pieplant Pie. — Mix half cup sugar with one heaping teaspoonful flour; sprinkle over the bottom crust, then add pieplant cut up fine ; sprinkle over this another half teacup sugar and heaping teaspoonful flour ; bake with upper crust fully three-quarters of an hour in slow oven. Pineapple Pie. — Five eggs, one cup sugar, one-half cup butter, one cup sweet cream, one pineapple grated. Beat the but- ter and sugar to a cream, add the beaten yolks of the eggs, then the pineapple and cream, and lastly the beaten whites whipped in lightly. Take each section out with a steel fork and cut off the blossom, then chop them up very fine, and add the grated core or heart. Bake them with an under crust only. Peach Pie. — Slice the peaches ; line a pie plate with crust and lay in fruit, sprink- ling with sugar. Ripe peaches need little. Add three chopped peach kernels to each pie ; add a little water. Bake with an upper crust, or with cross-bars of crust. Strawberry Short=Cake. — Take two cups flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, one- quarter teaspoonful salt. Sift into a bowl, rub in two tablespoonfuls butter, beat one ^gg-, mix it with one cup of milk, and stir it gradually into the flour to make a smooth dough. Spread it in a greased pan, anr' bake in a quick oven twenty or thirty minutes. When done turn it on a hot plate, split open quickly and butter it. Spread strawberries over the lower half, sprinkle sugar over the berries, and replace the upper half ; put another layer of strawberries and sugar on top. Serve cold or hot, with cream. Other berries, peaches or oranges may be used instead of the strawberries. Apple Dumplings (Boiled). — Make your crust of a quart of flour and a quarter pound of suet, with a teaspoonful each of salt and cream-of- tartar and half one of soda. Make into a tolerably thick paste with cold water. so THE MODEL COOft BOOK Roll, cut into squares, and put into each a pared and cored apple. The hole left by the core may be filled with marmalade, or with sugar moistened with lemon juice. Close the paste over your apple, tie the dumplings in cloths, and boil for an hour. Apple Dumplings (Baked). — Into one quart flour drop two tablespoonfuls of lard (or lard and butter mixed) and add two tea- spoonfuls cream-of- tartar. Then put in a teaspoonful of soda, and wet quickly with milk until stiff enough to roll into a paste half an inch thick. Cut into squares, lay in each a pared and cored tart apple, and close the paste around it. Lay in a buttered bak- ing pan and bake till finely browned. Then brush with a beaten &%%, and let glaze in the oven for a few minutes. Kat hot, with rich sweet sauce. Jellies, Jams, Etc. Apple Jelly. — Slice nice clean apples in preserving kettle with enough water to almost cover. When stewed soft, strain through the jelly bag. Measure juice and boil twenty minutes. Add two-thirds as much sugar as juice. Boil five or ten min- utes longer. Always boil jelly as fast as possible. Crab Apple Jelly. — Wash fruit clean, put in kettle, cover over with water and cook thoroughly. Pour into sieve and drain. Do not press it through. For each pint of juice allow one pound sugar. Boil twenty to thirty minutes. Blackberry Jelly.— Wash berries and put in porcelain kettle with enough water to keep them from sticking. Cook a few minutes, then drain through jelly bag. To one pint of sugar add two pints of juice. Boil until it jellies. Quince Jelly. — Wash, core and slice in small pieces. Stew in plenty of water until fruit is soft and juice is rich. Pour all juice off; for jelly use one pint of juice and one pint of sugar. Boil until it jellies. Currant Jelly.— Wash the fruit in a stone jar, squeeze through a flannel bag, then strain without squeezing to obtain a clear liquid. Boil briskly in porcelain-lined kettle for twenty minutes, then stir in heated 66 sugar; skim, boil two minutes longer; warm your tumblers and fill with the hot liquid ; stand it away twenty- four hours to jelly. If not done then, cover the tumblers with window glass and let stand several days in the sun. Grape Jelly. — Take grapes just turning ripe, wash, put in granite kettle with very little if any water, let simmer for one hour. Then mash, strain through flannel bag, let come to a boil. While this is heating put sugar in moderateoven. ("A" sugar is best.) For two cups juice take one cup of sugar; let boil for five minutes, then simmer ten minutes more. Strain again through another flannel bag into glasses. Do not make more than three glasses at once. Calf's Foot Jelly. — Clean four calves' feet, put in a kettle of cold water and let simmer for eight hours ; reducing from six to two quarts. Strain the liquid and let stand till next day. Next remove all fat from the surface and sediment from the bot- tom. Put in a kettle over the fire; add cinnamon and sugar, the juice oi four lemons, tv/o oranges, and the whites of two eggs slightly beaten. Mix well, boil hard for twenty minutes ; throw in a gill of cold water, let boil again, then cover and stand at side of range for twenty minutes. Next pour into a flannel jelly bag, warmed, and let drip into a bowl. Do not squeeze or touch the bag. Turn into molds and stand in a cold place. If you desire, a half pint of sherry wine may be added before putting it into the molds. Cider Apple Butter. — Boil one barrel of new cider down half, peel and core three bushels of good cooking apples. When cider has boiled to half the quantity add the apples and continue to cook. Peach Butter. — Cook peaches until they will mash easily, run through a sieve : add pound for pound of sugar and peaches, stir until well cooked. Tomato Butter. — Scald and remove skin from nice sized tomatoes, slice and mash fine, to each quart of tomatoes add a quart of granulated sugar ; let cook fast, stir until done. Lemon Butter. — Grate the rinds of three lemons, and add the juice. Beat THE MODEL COOK BOOK Si together two cups sugar and three eggs, and add one teaspoonful butter. Stir all together and boil to the consistency of strained honey. Strawberry Jam. — Take a quart of berries, mash with a potato masher, add one pint granulated sugar, and cook fast, stirring constantly, until of the desired con- sistency. Raspberry Jam. — To five pounds red berries add an equal quantity of granulated sugar. Mash the berries in a kettle, put in the sugar, let boil until it jellies upon a cold plate. Pineapple Preserves. — Pare, slice pine- apples ; to every pound of fruit add one pound of sugar ; place in jars a layer of apple, then of sugar ; let stand over night ; take juice off of the fruit and boil until it thickens ; pour in the fruit and boil fifteen minutes ; take apples out of syrup to cool ; then put in jar and pour syrup over and seal. Quince Marmalade. — Stew as many apples as you wish to put with your quinces, and strain the juice as for jelly. Pare and core the quinces, put in a bowl and chop as fine as desired ; put in a vessel and cover with the apple juice, add a little water if necessary, and cook until the fruit is tender. Skim the fruit out carefully, strain and measure the juice ; add sugar as for jelly, and boil until almost jellied. Drop in the fruit and cook until it begins to jelly. Put in jelly glasses. Preserved Strawberries. — One large cup of sugar to one pint of berries. Add enough water to dissolve sugar, and boil to a thick syrup. Add berries, and boil rap- idly fifteen minutes. Cook small quantity at a time. Preserved Rhubarb. — Cut as for pies, without peeling ; take the same quantity of sugar as you have fruit, put a small piece of butter in the bottom of a porcelain or gran- ite kettle ; place the sugar and rhubarb al- ternately in the kettle, place on the back of range and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved ; then cook more rapidly until preserved. Preserved Peaches, Pears, Plums. — Make fruit ready for preserving ; to each 67 pound of fruit use three- fourths to one pound of sugar and one cup water, accord- ing to tartness of fruit, boil syrup from five to ten minutes, then put in fruit ; boil until fruit looks clear ; fill jars and close. Spiced Currants. — Make a syrup of three pounds of sugar, one pint vinegar, two tablespoonfuls each of cinnamon and cloves, one-half teaspoonful salt ; add six pounds of currants, and boil one-half hour. Spiced Peaches, Pears, and Sweet Ap- ples. — Take five pounds fruit, three pounds sugar, cloves and cinnamon to taste ; one pint cider vinegar ; have the syrup hot, cook until tender. Canned Strawberries. — Wash berries thoroughly before picking off" stems ; weigh them. To each pound of berries allow one- quarter pound of sugar. Let them cook fifteen minutes ; after they come to a boil they are ready to can. Canned Peaches, Pears, and Quinces. — Prepare fruit for canning, place in kettle ; to each quart of fruit put four tablespoon- fuls of sugar ; put in water to prevent burn- ing, heat slowly to a boil, then boil three or four minutes, can and seal. Cook pears and quinces longer. Canned Cling Peaches. — Take one quart of granulated sugar, one quart of water, let boil, add three quarts of nice smooth peaches, peeled ; let boil slowly twenty minutes. This is sufficient for two quart cans. Have cans hot and dry ; fill and seal while hot. Canned Tomatoes. — Scald nice smooth tomatoes and cook in granite kettle ; ' ' sim- mer," not boil, ten minutes ; salt, pepper as for use ; then fill cans very full ; just before sealing put in a lump of fresh butter the size of a walnut. Tomatoes canned this way will keep for years. Canned Corn and Tomatoes. — Peel and slice tomatoes (not too ripe) in the propor- tion of one-third corn to two-thirds tomatoes; put on in porcelain or granite kettle ; let boil fifteen minutes ; can immediately in tin or glass. Some take equal parts of corn and tomatoes, and prepare as above. Canned Rhubarb in Cold Water. — Cut rhubarb in small pieces as for pies without peeling ; fill Mason jars with fruit ; pump 5^ ^HE MODEL COOK BOOK water over it rapidly to force out all air. Put lids on tightly at once. Set in a dark, cool place. Baked Apples. — Wipe and core sour apples. Place them in an earthen or agate- ware baking dish — never use tin for apples — and fill the centre of each apple with sugar. Measure one tablespoonful water for each apple, and pour it around the apples, being careful not to pour it through the centres, so as to take away the sugar. Bake until the apples are soft, from twenty to forty-five minutes. When done, place on an attractive dish. Strain the juice, measure, and put it into an agate saucepan. For each half cup of juice add one-third cup sugar. Boil five minutes, and pour it over the apples. Serve cold with milk or cream. Baked Pears. — Remove the skin and leave the pears whole, or cut them into quarters and take out the cores. Put into a deep earthen dish. To each pint of fruit add quarter cup brown sugar, quarter cup water. Cover, and bake in a moderate oven until soft. This dish is good if baked one hour, but becomes richer if cooked three or four hours. Apples, peaches and quinces may be baked in the same way. Apple Sauce. — Quarter, pare and core sour apples. Put them into an agate sauce- pan, with just enough water to keep them from burning, and cook until soft. Stir in sugar, allowing half cup sugar for six me- dium-sized apples, and boil five minutes. Strain through a wire strainer. Cool and serve. Stewed Apricots. — Wash one pound dried apricots carefully, taking each piece in the fingers. Put them into a pan with three cups water, and soak two hours or over night. Then cover them and stand them over a moderate fire. L,et them come to a boil, and cook gently ten minutes. Add half cup sugar and cook five minutes longer. Stewed Prunes. — Prepare and cook them in the same manner as apricots. One pound of prunes will require a quarter cup of sugar. Just before removing from the stove, add two tablespoonfuls lemon juice. The prunes should be soft, but not broken. Stewed Cranberries. — Take four cups cranbeiTies. Pick them carefully. Put them into a pan with a cup of water, and cover them closely. Stand them over a moderate fire, let them come to a boil, and cook gently eight minutes. Add two cups of sugar, and cook two minutes longer. When cold the skins will be tender and the juice will form a delicate jelly. Cranberry Jelly. — Cook the fruit as di- rected in the above recipe and press it through a strainer into a mold or glass dish. Cranberry Sauce. — Put a quart of ripe cranberries into a saucepan with a teacupful of water. Stew slowly, stirring often ; cook ten minutes. Take from fire and sweeten well with white sugar. Put into a mold. Or strain the pulp through a sieve into a mold wet with cold water, and when firm turn into a glass dish. Eat with roast tur- key or game. Steamed Rhubarb. — Wash one cup of rhubarb and cut it into inch pieces without removing the skin, as this gives a pretty pink color to the juice. Put it in an agate double boiler without water, sprinkle one- third cup of sugar over it and steam half hour, or until soft. Do not stir it, as it breaks the pieces. Ices and Ice Cream. General Rules. — Ice (or snow) and salt are necessary for freezing cream, fruit, etc. Salt melts the ice, and in melting it absorbs heat from the cream, thus causingthe cream to freeze. For each cup of rock salt used, allow three cups of broken ice. Pound ice in a bag or piece of carpet. To pack the freezer : Put three cups pounded ice around the can, then sprinkle one cup of rock salt, and pack in alternate layers of ice and salt until within an inch of the top of the can . Let it stand from ten to twenty minutes to chill, then turn or beat until the cream is frozen. Pack away with ice and salt around and over the can. Vanilla Ice Cream. — One quart of cream, one pint of milk, two cups sugar, one tablespoonful vanilla, white of one ^%%, beaten ; strain cream. For peach ice cream leave out vanilla and add one quart of peaches, mashed fine, after cream is partly frozen. 68 Steamed Plum Pudding PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS Mix thoroughly together half-a-pound of fine chopped suet, half-a-pound of bread crumbs, two ounces (half a cup) of flour, a teaspoonful of '^innamon and one-fourth a tea- spoonful, each, of mace and clove, three fourths a cup of sugar, three-fourths a pound of mixed fruit, — seeded raisins, orange peel, citron of figs, and a teaspoonful of salt; b^p' four eggs, add two or three tablespoonfuls of milk and stir into the dry ingredients. If the mixture is not moist enough, add more milk. The mixture should be much too soft to handle, but of such consistence that it can be taken up in heaped spoonfuls. Steam in a buttered mold about five hours. As the water evaporates, replenish with boiling water. Serve hot with a hard or a liquid pudding sauce. THE MODEL COOK BOOK 53 Put the mixture into a can with a tight cover and stand it in a pail. Pack the ice and salt around it, beat the cream, and turn the can back and forth, opening it once in five minutes to scrape the cream from the sides of the can and stir thoroughly. It should freeze in twenty minutes. Strawberry Ice Cream. — One quart cream, one pound sugar, one and a half quarts strawberries ; put one teacup new milk and half the sugar on to boil in a dou- ble boiler ; when sugar is dissolved set aside to cool ; rub the berries through a colander, and then add the remaining half of the sugar to them ; pour the sweetened milk and cream into the freezer and freeze ; when nearly done add the berries and beat thoroughly. Banana Ice Cream. — Remove the peel from eight ripe bananas, mash them into a pulp, then beat them thoroughly with one quart of cream. Sweeten and freeze the same as ordinary cream. The bananas may be grated or chopped fine. Chocolate Ice Cream. — Melt one and one-half squares Baker's Chocolate and di- lute with hot water to pour easily, add one quart thin cream ; then add one cup sugar, a sprinkle of salt, and one tablespoonful vanilla, and freeze. Orange and Lemon Water Ice. — Juice of four lemons, juice of four oranges, four cups sugar, four cups water, whites of four eggs, well beaten, add last, then freeze very slowly. Lemon Water Ice. — To the juice of six large lemons add one quart water and one quart sugar. Make a syrup of part of the water and sugar, then add lemon juice and rest of water. When half frozen add whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Fruit Ices. — Take three each of oranges, lemons and bananas, and one pint of straw- berries or raspberries. Put the fruit into a coarse strainer and rub it through into a large bowl. Pour three cups of cold water through the strainer, add three cups of sugar. Stir and freeze. Lemon Sherbet. — Juice of four lemons, strained, one quart water, one and a half pints granulated sugar, one-fourth box 2J 69 Pink Plymouth Rock gelatine, soaked in cold water half an hour ; place in vessel in warm water to melt ; one teaspoonful va- nilla, one pinch soda ; mix all together, then put in freezer and when nearly done add the well-beaten white of one ^%z^ then freeze until solid. Suflficient for fourteen persons. Pineapple Sherbet. — Two large pine- apples or one quart can, one and one- fourth pounds sugar, juice of two lemons, one quart of water. Pare the pineapples, cut them, and remove the cores, or the pine- apple may be grated around them ; boil the sugar and water together for five minutes, take it from the fire, add the grated pine- apple and the juice of the lemons; strain through a cloth, pressing hard to get all the juice. Freeze, and when almost done add the meringue, which is made as follows : Beat the white of one ^g^ until frothy, then add a tablespoonful of powdered sugar and beat until white and stiff. Milk Sherbet.— Put one quart of milk into the can and let it freeze five minutes. Mix together two cups of sugar and the juice of three lemons ; stir into the milk, and freeze. Pickles and Salads. Gherkin Pickles. — Use small cucum- bers or gherkins. Pack in a stone jar in layers, salting each layer thickly. Cover the top layer deep with salt, pour cold water to cover all, and weight with a board and stone. lyCave in the brine a week to a month, stirring up daily. When ready to put up, throw off the brine and pick out any softened cucumbers. Soak for a day in fresh water. Then change the water and leave another day. Put them now in a ket- tle, lined with vine leaves, throwing in a little powdered alum ; fill with water, cover with vine leaves, and steam five or six hours. When the pickles are green take out the leaves, and throw the pickles into ice-cold water. To one gallon of vinegar add a cup of sugar, three dozen each whole black peppers and cloves, half as much allspice and a dozen blades of mace. Boil five minutes. Put the cucumbers into a stone jar, and pour over them the scalding hot vinegar. 54 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Scald the vinegar several times, at intervals of two to five days, and return. Finally cover the jar and put in a cool dry place. The pickles will be ready for use in two months. They should be examined at in- tervals of a few weeks. Cucumber Pickles. — Wash cucumbers oarefully and put in weak salt water over night. In the morning drain them and put on stove in weak vinegar, half vinegar and half water, to which has been added alum, a piece the size of a small hickorynut to a gallon. lyet them heat slowly until scald- ing hot. Have ready in another kettle good cider vinegar to which has been added sugar, in the proportion of one teacup sugar to one quart vinegar. Have cans hot and pack cucumbers in closely, scattering mixed spices through them as desired. When can is full pour over the sweetened vinegar, boiling hot, and seal. Pickled Beets.-— Boil until quite soft ; when cool cut lengthwise to size of small cucumbers, boil equal parts vinegar and sugar with half a tablespoonful ground cloves, tied in a cloth, to each gallon ; pour boiling hot over the beets. Pickled Onions. — Peel the onions, cook in salt water till they begin to get tender. Take out of water and drain, pack in cans, take enough hot vinegar to cover them, add sugar and spices to taste. Pickled Cauliflower. — Break three heads in small clusters, lay in salted water three minutes, then drain, use small onions if liked. Boil one quart cider vinegar, and one cup sugar together. Mix mustard, celery seeds or spices to suit taste. Put in jars, pour over vinegar while hot, seal. Pickled Cabbage, — Chop cabbage fine, take enough for one-half gallon can, put in tablespoonful of salt, let stand over night, drain and add two tablespooonfuls of mus- tard seed, one pod of red pepper and horse- radish. Mix well, then put in can, press tightly ; then pour over cabbage enough vinegar to cover, seal in glass self-sealers Chow Chow. — Take six cucumbers just before they ripen, peel and cut in strips and remove the seed, four white onions, six good sized heads of cabbage, chop all fine ; let them stand in salt water over night. Then pour off the water, and add vinegar and spices to suit taste. Tomato Pickles. — Slice thin one gallon green tomatoes, salt and let stand over night ; next morning drain, chop one gallon cabbage, grate one quart horseradish. Put tomatoes on in vinegar, boil until tender, pour over cabbage, let stand till cool, and drain. Mix horseradish, celery, mustard seed and mixed spices ; then boil vinegar and sugar and pour over them. Piccalilli. — One peck green tomatoes, one dozen onions, six red peppers, one-half ounce ginger, one-quarter of an ounce of mace, one tablespoonful black pepper, one box of mustard, five cents' worth of celery seed, one pound of brown sugar ; slice onions, tomatoes, and peppers, put in a jar with salt, mix well, let stand twenty-four hours ; drain off and boil in vinegar (after adding the spices) until clear. Mixed Pickles. — One-fourth peck green tomatoes, twelve large pickles, three dozen small pickles, eight large onions, two heads cauliflower, one pint small green beans, one pint salt. Place in jar, let stand over night, rinse in cold water. Take equal parts vine- gar and water, put in the ingredients, boil until tender (about ten minutes), drain, put three quarts vinegar, one pound brown sugar, one-half pound mustard seed, five cents' worth turmeric, one-fourth pound ground mustard, four tablespoonfuls black pepper, one ounce celery seed. lyCt come to a boil, put in jar and seal. Tomato Sweet Pickles. — Slice tomatoes, salt and let stand over night ; then drain well and place in porcelain kettle and cover with vinegar ; let come to boil, then lift out the slices with a fork and place in cans pre- viously heated . Have a syrup ready. Two pints sugar, one of vinegar, with spices to taste ; let boil till thick and pour over tomatoes, then seal. Ripe Tomato Pickles. — For seven pounds of tomatoes, make a syrup of one quart of vinegar and four pounds of sugar. Scald, skin and drain the tomatoes. Boil them in the syrup, adding a little stick cinnamon. Must boil a long time, or until quite thick, or they will not keep unless in air-tight cans. 70 THE MODEL COOK BOOK 55 Pickled Pears. — One quart of vinegar, two quarts sugar ; boil together ; pour over pears ; let stand over night. In the morn- ing pour hot boiling syrup on pears; let cook until tender ; put fruit in cans ; add one- half ounce of cloves, one ounce stick cinna- mon ; boil in syrup ttntil thick. For one gallon of pears. Pickled Peaches. — For six pounds of fruit use three of sugar, about three dozen cloves, and a pint of vinegar. Put one or two cloves into each peach. Have the syrup hot ; cook until tender. Pickled Cherries. — To every quart of cherries (fresh tart ones) add a cupful of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls of sugar, with a dozen cloves and six blades of mace. Boil the vinegar, sugar and spices five min- utes, and after it has cooled strain out the spices, and pour the vinegar over the. cher- ries, which have been placed in jars till three-quarters full. Cork or cover tight. Higdin Pickle. — Take one peck green tomatoes and a dozen medium-sized onions. Cut and slice these, and salt and mix to- gether. L,et them stand over night, then drain them well, and add one ounce each of cloves, allspice and pepper, and a quarter pound of mustard seed, also a pound of sugar and horseradish to taste. Place the mixture in an earthen vessel, cover with vinegar, and cook over a slow fire until tender. Pickled Oysters. — Put 150 oysters into a suitable vessel, and salt to taste ; then put over a slow fire, bringing the liquid to a simmer, not a boil. Take out the oysters and put into a stone pot. To the liquid in the saucepan add a pint of good vinegar, a few heads of mace, three dozen each of whole cloves and pepper, and let come to a boil. When the oysters are cold. pour the liquid over them. Tomato Catsup. — Boil for half an hour three gallons of good ripe tomatoes. Strain through a sieve. Then put on and boil down to two gallons. While boiling add , two ounces each of whole cloves, allspice and cinnamon, and a quarter pound of black pepper. When done take off, cool, add one- quarter pound mustard and half a pound of 71 sugar. Stir well, and put in a quart of best cider vinegar for each gallon. Bottle and seal up for winter use. Apple Salad. — Take one-third more ap- ples than celery (chopped), put in as many English walnuts or hickorynuts as you like. Dressing; Yolks of three eggs, beaten, one teaspoonful mustard, two teaspoon fuls of salt, one-fourth saltspoonful of cayenne, two tablespoonfuls sugar, one tablespoonful butter, one cup cream, one-half cup of hot vinegar. Whites of three eggs, beaten stiff; cook in a double boiler until it thickens like soft custard. Cabbage Salad. — Two quarts of chopped cabbage, two level tablespoonfuls white sugar, one of black pepper, one of mustard. Rub yolks of three hard-boiled eggs until smooth. Add two tablespoonfuls butter, slightly warmed. Mix with cabbage and add one teacup good vinegar. Serve with whites of eggs, cut in rings and placed on salad. Salt to taste. Cold Slaw with Cream Dressing. — Slice cabbage fine, season with salt. Make a dressing of one-half cup whipped cream, two tablespoonfuls sugar, four of vinegar and pour over cabbage. Cold Slaw. — Chop cabbage fine, then put in a crock, add sugar, sale and pepper to taste ; mash all together with a potato masher until juicy; add either sweet or sour cream to make real moist, and vinegar to suit taste. Cooked Slaw. — O ne small head of cab- bage cut fine ; put one tablespoonful butter in a skillet ; when melted, stir in the cab- bage. Mix the yolk of one ^^g, one-third cup vinegar, a little mustard, sugar and salt, pour on the cabbage and heat, then serve. Lettuce with Cream Dressing. — Care- fully look over and wash lettuce, and tear in pieces. To two tablespoonfuls fresh meat fryings add one tablespoonful flour, while hot add one cup sour cream, salt and pepper, stir rapidly until it thickens, then pour over lettuce and stir very little, dish up and lay slices of hard-boiled eggs over the top. Sugar or vinegar may be added at the table. 56 THE MODEL COOK BOOK Nut Salad. — Mix one cup chopped English walnut meats, with two cups celery or shredded lettuce leaves ; arrange on let- tuce, and serve with Mayonnaise dressing. Potato Salad. — Slice thin, eight cold boiled potatoes, and cover with a dressing made as follows : Yolk of one hard-boiled ^%%, mashed fine, one teaspoonful of mixed mustard, four tablespoonfuls of melted but- ter, four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, salt and pepper. Finely chopped onion may be added. Fruit Salad — To one package Ply- mouth Rock gelatine, add a pint of cold water, the juice of four lemons, the grated rind of one. Let stand one hour. Add one pint boiling water, two cups sugar. Let boil and strain through a cloth into a mold. When about to congeal stir in fruit. One pound white grapes, seeded, one- half pound candied pineapple, one-half pound candied cherries, cut in pieces. Let stand on ice to cool and harden, then serve. Tongue Salad. — Boil, skin and trim a tongue, cut in dice and add the whites of six hard-boiled eggs cut in similar pieces. Cut fine the white stalks of three heads of celery and mix with tongue and eggs. Make a dressing as follows : Beat together four eggs, six tablespoonfuls of vinegar, five of melted butter, one of prepared mustard, one of sugar and two-thirds of a cup of cream. Put over the fire in a double boiler and cook until as thick as boiled custard. Set aside to cool ; season with salt and pepper, thin with lemon juice, mix with the tongue and other ingredients, and serve. Cream 5alad Dressing. — Mix one-half each, salt and mustard, with one table- spoonful of sugar, add one beaten &%Zi two and one-half tablespoonfuls butter, and three- fourths cup sweet cream, add slowly one- fourth cup vinegar ; cook until it thick- ens, then strain and cool. riayonnaise Sauce — Mix in a two-quart bowl one even teaspoonful ground mustard, one of salt, and one and a half of vinegar, beat in the yolk of a raw ^z^. Then add very gradually a half pint of pure olive oil. Beating briskly all the time. The mixture will become a very thick batter. Flavor with vinegar or fresh lemon juice. If cov- ered closely it will keep for weeks. If the dressing curdles . take another yoke of egg and add to it the curdled mixture slowly, stirring constantly. Salad Dressing. — Yolks of three eggs, one tablespoonfnl sugar, a lump of buttei size of a small ^%z> ^ pinch each of salt, and cayenne pepper, one teaspoonful of pre- pared mustard. Stir all together, add one- half pint of vinegar, set over fire and stii constantly until it becomes about like custard. This will keep several days in a cool place. Very nice served with nice ripe tomatoes. Peel and cut out a little of the top with a teaspoon ; serve it on a let- tuce leaf with the salad dressing. Salad Dressing. — Yolks of three eggs, one teaspoonful mustard, one teaspoonful salt, a sprinkle of cayenne, two tablespoon- fuls of butter, one cup milk, or cream. Stii the above together. When well beaten pour over one-half cup of hot vinegar. Have ready the whites of three eggs, beaten stifi". Cook in double boiler, stirring all the time it is cooking, using an &%% beater to stir with. Cook until cream thickens, then bottle. If one bottle of good salad dressing is mixed with the above recipe, it is im- proved. Potato Salad. — Boil four or six pota- toes, cut in thin slices, pour the hot dressing over and let it stand until cold. Two table- spoons chopped celery may be mixed with the potatoes, and one teaspoon onion juice may be stirred into the dressing after it is cooked. Serve in the same manner as the meat salads. Sliced boiled beets are some times added. Tomato Salad. — Pour boiling water over four or six tomatoes, and let it stand a moment. Pour ofi", and add cold water, slip ofi" the skins, slice, and set away to be- come cold. Serve with the cold dressing. If desired, the slices of tomatoes may be served on lettuce leaves. Tomato Catsup. — Take a peck of ripe tomatoes, cut each, and boil in a porcelain kettle until the juice is extracted a«d the pulp dissolved. Press through a colander, then through a hair sieve. Return to kettle ; 72 THE MODEL COOK BOOK 5? season with an ounce each salt and mace, a tablespoonful each black and cayenne pepper, powdered cloves, and celery seed (in a thin bag), and same of ground mus- tard. Boil five hours, stirring frequently and in the last hour constantly. L,et stand twelve hours in a stone jar in cellar. Add a pint of strong vinegar ; take out the bag of celery seed, and bottle for use. Keep in a cool, dark place. Of the numerous catsups, this is the most useful for ordinary purposes. Cold Slaw. — Take a fresh, crisp cab- bage, and pull off the loose and torn leaves. Cut it into several pieces, and shave each piece into very thin strips. Strain the salad dressing, while hot, over the cabbage, mix it well, spread it out, and set it away to cool. When ready to serve, arrange in a neat mound in the centre of a clean dish. If the cabbage is wilted, soak it for an hour or more in cold, salted water. Lettuce Salad. — Pick over the leaves carefully and see that they are whole, clean and free from insects. Wash them in cold water, and shake the leaves gently in a cloth to dry them. Arrange on a fiat dish with the smaller leaves inside the larger, and serve, with the cold salad dressing on the table. Boil hard one-half dozen eggs. When cold chop fine with stalks and tender leaves of a root of celery, and a handful of green parsley. Pour over the mixture a sauce made by rubbing together a dessertspoonful of mustard with, the same quantity of salt and two spoonfuls of granulated sugar, into which beat well, five spoonfuls of olive oil and five of vinegar. Candies and Confections. Butter Scotch. — One cup of light brown sugar, one-half cup of hot water, a table- spoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of vin- egar ; boil about twenty minutes, testing in cold water ; when it begins to thicken it can be flavored by adding half a teaspoon- ful of lemon or vanilla if desired. Pour on buttered plates and mark into squares as it cools. Chocolate Caramels. — One and a half pound of brown sugar, one cup of cream, 73 one tablespoonful of butter, half a cake oj Baker's chocolate. Mix ail together and let cook, stirring frequently until done. Drop a little in water ; if done it hardens at once. Just before pouring in pan flavor with vanilla or lemon. Pour in a buttered dish, and before it gets perfectly cold cut in squares by running a knife across the dish. It will break when cold. Vanilla Caramels. — Two cups of sugar, one-half cup of water, one-fourth cup of vinegar; boil until it will harden when dropped in water, then add one-half cup of cream and two teaspoonfuls of vanilla. Stir to prevent scorching. When it will harden if dropped in water, pour into a greased pan so it will be a half inch thick. When cool enough, cut in squares and wrap in paraffine paper. Soft Caramels. — Make either with or without nuts. Whites of two eggs beaten stiff", half cup of corn starch, eight table- spoonfuls of pulverized sugar. Stir untJ3 stiff enough to manipulate with the hands then work just with the fingers. Cocoanut Caramels. — One cocoanut grated fine ; take the milk of the cocoanut and add sufficient water to make one pint, to this add three pounds of white sugar. When it boils up well, add one-half tea- spoonful cream of tartar dissolved in a little water ; boil until it will make a soft ball when dropped in water, then add the grated cocoanut; remove from the fire and beat until it begins to get white — if beaten too long it will crumble ; pour into shallow pans and when partly cold cut in squares. Ice Cream Candy. — Two cups granu- lated sugar, a scant half cup water, a lump of butter the size of a walnut, and one quarter teaspoonful cream of tartar. Flavor with vanilla. Boil until it cracks when dropped into water. Do not stir. Pour in buttered tins, and when cool pull until white. Maple Creams. — One cup maple sugar, one-half cup cream or milk, lump of butter; boil until it brittles in cold water. Let stand until cool, then beat to a cream. Put in buttered tins and cut in squares. English Kisses. — Whites of two ^^gi beaten dry and stiff, one-half pint granulated sugar, one teaspoonful vanilla, mix thor- 38 THE MODEL COOK BOOK ougbly ; drop in drops on greased manilla paper and lay half kernels of English wal- nuts on the top. Bake a light brown. Molasses Candy. — One quart good mo- lasses, one-half cup vinegar, one cup sugar, butter size of an ^zz-i one teaspoonful bak- ing soda. Boil molasses, sugar and vinegar until it hardens when dropped in cold water, then add butter, and the soda dis- solved in hot water ; flavor to taste. Pour in buttered dishes and pull when cold. Taffy. — Put into a pan half cup of butter, two cups brown sugar, and the juice of a lemon or four tablespoonfuls vinegar ; stand it over a moderate fire. Stir until it begins to bubble, then draw it to one side of the stove and let it boil slowly. Test occa- sionally by dropping a little into cold water. If it hardens at once, it is done. Stir in shelled peanuts or walnuts and pour into buttered pans. Chocolate Creams. — Beat the white of one ^"gz and add to it two tablespoonfuls cold water and half teaSpoonful vanilla. Stir in gradually enough confectioner's or XXX sugar to make a stiff dough. Roll into balls the size of marbles, and let dry one hour. Melt quarter pound chocolate in a bowl and put the balls into it in succes- sion. Lift out each ball with a fork and place it on greased paper to harden. Walnut Creams. — Open English wal- nuts carefully, that the half-kernels may not be broken. Press the two halves into op- posite sides of a sugar-ball, as above de- scribed. Date Cream s.^-Remove the seeds from dates. Roll sugar-balls into cylinders and press them into the spaces from which the date seeds were taken. Cherry Creams. — Buy quarter pound red candied cherries. Cut each cherry partly open, and press into the opening a small ball of the sugar mixture. Lemon or Orange Creams. — Take one teaspoonful of vthite of ^gg and mix with it one tablespoonful lemon or orange-juice. Add enough sugar to make a dough, roll it into balls and let it harden. Fruit Creams. — Take one tablespoonful ftultana raisins, two figs, four dates, and one tablespoonful nut kernels. Chop the fruit very fine and stir all together. Take a portion of the sugar dough, above described, and mix with it the chopped fruit. Roll the mixture into balls, or pat it flat and cut into small squares. Home=made Candy. — Two pounds white sugar, one pint water ; boil until it cracks when dropped in cold water; add three tablespoonfuls vinegar and one-half tea- spoonful soda ; flavor to taste. Peanut Candy. — Two cups granulated sugar, one cup chopped peanuts, no water. Put sugar over a slow fire ; it melts very slowly. After it has melted a little it turns into very hard lumps, then melts again. When it is free from lumps remove from fire, pour it over the peanuts, stirring with a spoon to prevent them collecting at the bottom of the pan. When cool mark into squares. Peppermint Drops. — One-half cup sugar, one half cup water, one teaspoonful vinegar. Boil until done, then beat fast with a fork. Before it gets cold add five drops peppermint oil, beat thoroughly, let fall in drops on buttered paper. Sugar Candy. — Six cups white sugar, one cup vinegar, one cup water, one table- spoonful butter put in at the last with one teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water. Boil without stirring one-half hour. Flavor to suit taste. Walnut Macaroons.— One cup walnut meats chopped fine, one cup sugar, a little salt, three tablespoonfuls flour. Cook in a buttered tin in a slack oven. When done cut in small squares and lift from tin while warm. Pop=Corn Balls. — Pop the corn and re- ject all the h'ard kernels ; place in a large pan. To eight quarts of corn take one pint sugar, scant one-half teaspoonful cream of tartar, and a little water. Boil all together until it hardens in water, then the corn and make into balls. pour over 74 Beverages. Tea. — The water for tea should be freshly boiled. An earthenware pot should be used. Scald the pot, put in one teaspoonful tea, THE MODEL COOK BOOK 59 and pour on one cup of boiling water. Cover it and let it steep five minutes. Never allow tea to boil. Coffee. — To one tdblespoonful ground coffee add an eggshell or one-half teaspoon- ful white of ^2 in. The or- dinary carpenter's chisels should be pur- chased first of all. A few paring chisels can be added to the stock at any time if required. Boring Tools. The tools comprised in the first division of boring tools are bradawls, gimlets, and augers. These tools are, for the most part, extremely simple in construction, the brad- awl being a piece of steel sharpened at the end and fixed for convenience of use in a wooden handle ; and the gimlet a piece of steel so fashioned at one end that it may take hold of, and cut its way into, timber, and having a small piece of wood or iron attached crosswise at the other end, which serves as a lever to turn the steel shank of the tool, and press it into the wood. The auger is only a gimlet on a large scale, the 124 cross handle being turned by the operator with both hands, which are transferred from end to end of the handle at every half-turn of the tool. The Bit-brace or Stock-and-Bit, is the principal boring tool, and, indeed, the only tool of this kind with which the ama- teur artisan need concern himself. There are breast-drills, fitted with a plate to hold against the breast, steadied with a handle held in the left hand, and having a chuck at the further extremity, in which the drill is placed and caused to revolve at a rapid rate by a large toothed-wheel working in a smaller wheel, the former being turned by a handle held in the right hand. Other Tools. In good carpentry everything depends on accuracy of measurement of parts, and fitting the parts together at right angles, or at the required angle or bevel. For the at- tainment of these most necessary requisites, tools of guidance and directioji of various kinds are used, without which it would be impossible even for a skilled carpenter or joiner to do his work, and fit the various pieces together with the nicety that is essen- tial in all operations of this nature. Thus, for setting out a long, straight line in rip- ping a slip of wood from a board, a line aiid }'eel is required ; and for the measurement of any length into parts, or to measure any re- quired length, breadth, and thickness, the carpenter's rule is needful. For cutting ofl" the end of a board at right angles to the edge, or for mortising, etc., the square must be used, and for cutting wood at any given angle to the edge, the proper line of direction for the saw must be marked by ai(i of the bevel. For cutting notches in wood or for cutting or planing down pieces of wood to the same thickness, the necessary guide lines must be marked b}'' a marking gauge, while in mortising the mortise gauge is used. For joining pieces of wood at right angles, as in making a picture-frame, re- course must be had to the mitre box ; and for subdividing any given space into smallei spaces, or marking out circles and sweeps of various diameters, the compasses must be used. In turning, to make sure of having THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC II the diameter of various parts of the work in harmony with the pattern, these diameters must one and all be tried and regulated by Xh& callipers as the work goes on. In bring- ing horizontal bars, shelves, etc., to a true level, the spb'it level must be used ; and in fixing a post in the ground, or a piece of quartering to the wall, the icpright level with cord and plumb-bob. A straight-edge is useful for testing the nicety and accuracy with which wood has been planed up, and for other purposes. We name these, though the amateur is not likely to need them all. There are many miscellaneous tods and ap- pliances used in carpentry and joinery which are not subject to classification. Among these we may include the screw- driver, the nail-punch, the reamer or rymer, the scriber, the cramp, the glue-pot, and the oil-can. Sand-paper and emery-paper must also be noticed. There is another appliance called the bench holdfast, which is used to hold wood firmly down on the carpenter's bench when necessary. These tools are so simple and easily ob- tained that a description of each is not neces- sary. In their selection cheapness is not to be considered, but accuracy and convenience. The Glue-Pot. The GluK-Pot should be in every house, whether the tenant turns his atten- tion to household carpentry or not. So many little odd jobs can be done by its aid, that, if nothing more than a hammer and screw-driver be kept, a glue-pot should be purchased. For example, a piece of veneer may come off a looking-glass frame, or any piece of furniture, and may be mislaid or lost before a. carpenter : happens to be at work in the house, putting these and sim- ilar little matters in order. Now, if the piece of veneer is lost it will be a costly business — that is to say, costly in pro- portion to the actual damage — to replace it, and if the missing piece is not replaced the appearance of the piece of furniture is spoiled, and its value considerably deterior- ated. But, if a glue-pot is at hand, the damage may be instantly repaired, and if the mending is carefully done, as it ought to be, the piece of furniture is little the worse for the mishap. The glue-pot is a pot within a pot, the outer and larger one being of iron, and the smaller one of copper or iron, as the case may be. The glue is broken up small, and placed in the smaller pot, which fits into the larger pot, the rim of the former resting on the rim of the latter. Water is placed in the larger pot, sufiicient to nearly fill it when the smaller pot is put in. The pot is placed on or close to the fire, and as soon as the water boils the glue begins to melt, until it is reduced to a semi-fluid condition. Recipe for Making Glue. The following is a good recipe for mak- ing, or, rather melting, glue. It is given by an authority in ' ' Workshop Receipts : ' ' " Break the glue into small pieces, and soak from twelve to twenty-four hours in cold water ; put the glue in the glue-pot, fill the outer vessel with water, and apply heat. For ordinary purposes it should run freely, and be of the consistency of thin treacle. The hotter glue is, the more force it will exert in keeping the two parts glued together; in all large and long joints the glue should be applied immediately after boiling. Glue loses much of its strength by being often melted ; that glue, there- fore, which is newly made is preferable to that which has been used. When done with, add some of the boiling water from the outer vessel to the glue, so as to make it too thin for immediate use. Put it away till wanted again, and by the time the water in the outer vessel is boiled the glue in the inner is ready melted and of the proper thickness for use. Powdered chalk, brickdust, or sawdust, added to glue, will make it hold with more than ordinary firm- ness." To do any kind of work in carpentry and joinery, with blunted tools, in a credita- ble and workman-like manner is simply im- possible. The professional carpenter and joiner will frequently stop in his work to put his plane-iron and chisel on the oil- stone — for he is well aware of the import- ance of having a keen edge to all cutting tools of this description — and he will take care to keep his saws sharpened and fit foi use. It is necessary that the amateui artisan should imitate the resrular mechanic 125 12 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC in this essential duty of keeping his tools in a fit condition to do the work that is re- quired of them. Directions for Sharpening Tools. Of course all cutting tools must be pro- vided with a keen edge, and this is obtained by grinding them to a proper bevel on the grindstone and afterwards rubbing them on the oil-stone. Among striking tools the adze and hatchet will require sharpening on the grindstone. For sharpening or rather for grinding edge tools such as plane irons and chisels, the grindstone is also necessary, finishing off on an oil-stone. It is necessary that the cutting edge should be made as straight and true as possible. The following directions are for grinding edge tools, which the amateur will do well to follow implicitly, as it is given by a practical wqrkman of great experience. ' ' In grinding plane irons, chisels, and similar tools, the stone sho7ild tnrn towards the ope- rator,, and the tool should be held very firmly and quite squarely upon the stone, at a point sufficiently near its upper part to allow the tool to be in a nearly horizontal position, while its bevel lies flat upon it. If it is held too low, so that its handle points downwards, the water from the stone will run down the hands and arms, which is de- cidedly disagreeable, especiall)' in winter." n addition the tool cannot be so firmly held nor the work so readily seen. Keep the edges of the stone in use by constantly traversing the tool across its face, and never try to hurry the work by grinding to 1 more obtuse bevel than that made by the nanufacturer. This is, indeed, generally rather more obtuse than it ought to be, and carpenters reduce this angle, and then the second bevel, formed by the oil-stone, re- stores it correctly. In grinding planes and -hisels, especially the first, it is as well for the amateur to make use of a square to test the correctness of the edge, otherwise the latter may not be truly at right angles to the side of the tool. The Carpenter's Bench. One of the most indispensable essentials to the performance of operations in carpen- try and joinery is the carpenter's bench. Nothing can be fairly done without it — ex- cept sawing, for which the stool is wanted ; or mortisin'g, which may also be done on a couple of stools or trestles, although small mortises maybe cut on the bench. Planing mufet be done entirely on the bench, the sur- face of a board being laid flat on the top of the bench and butted against the bench- stop. In planing the edges, the board must be laid along the side of the bench, being supported on pegs (for the reception of which holes are made along the side itself) in the middle, and at one end nearest the operator, while it is gripped and held tightly against the side by the bench-jaw or vice at the other end. How to Hold and Handle Tools. Having provided oneself with the neces- sary tools and work bench, or such a selec- tion from the whole as may best meet his requirements, the next thing to be done is to learn how to use them. It is next to im- possible to do this from printed instructions ; and on the principle that a little showing is better than a great deal of telling, the best advice that can be given to the amateur on this head is that he should arrange with some skilled artisan to give him a few prac- tical lessons in the method of holding, using, managing, and sharpening his tools, and the everyday operations in carpentry and joinery, such as sawing, planing, scar- fing timbers, cutting rebates, mortises and tenons, dove-tailing, mitring, etc., etc. THE DIVISIONS OF THE BUILDING TRADE When any art or manufacture begins to assume importance, and there is a continu- ally increasing demand for the articles, be they what they may, that are made by those who are engaged in it, it has been invariably found that in due proportion to its growth the art or manufacture, as the case may be, becomes divided and even subdivided into 126 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 13 many and various branches, until it is well- nigh impossible to carry the subdivision of the trade to a greater extent. The building trade is an aggregation of various trades and their separate depart- ments, which have become affiliated, as it were, and grouped together for the better attainment of the end desired. Taking each a prominent and active part in the building trade we find the exca- vator, bricklayer, mason, pavior, slater, plasterer, carpenter and joiner, sawyer, ironmonger, smith and founder, zinc- worker, wire-worker, bell-hanger, gas-fitter, plumber, painter, decorator, gilder, ppper- hanger and glazier — a goodly array of tradesmen and artisans whose aid and co- operation is absolutely necessary in building and finishing a house. Practical Knowledge of all the Trades. It is in doing repairs of an ordinary nature that the amateur will find practical knowledge of the arts connected with the building trades of use to him, in the first place. Secondly, he will find it of equal val'ite in constructing any small building for use or ornament, or for both, out of doors, or for making any appliance within doors ; and thirdly, as it has been already urged, he will find it of even more value in en- abling him tc look after men who may be at work on his premises, and in seeing that the work is done in a proper manner. Excavations of all kinds can easily be compassed by the amateur, and he will find no difficulty whatever in making and using concrete. In connection with this kind of work lies the making of walls and paths of all kinds, and no one will deny that it is of advantage to the amateur to know how to do these things. In building walls with brick and stone he will probably fail, and more particularly because it is by no means as easily done as other kinds of work that fall more naturally within his compass ; but, at the same time, it is desirable to know how to repair and ' ' point ' ' a piece of gar- den wall, as it is technically called ; to fix a step that has become loose with cement ; to put a piece of paving to rights and relay a loose paving-stone ; and to repair a piece 13 127 of plastering that has been displaced by damp or other causes. Work in Metals. Similarly he may not be able to accom- plish much in smiths' work, but it is cer- tainly of advantage to be able to work in iron so far as to be able, by aid of fire, ham- mer, and anvil, to beat a piece of iron into any shape that may be required, to drill a hole, and to turn a screw, which operations come under the category of forging. Cast- ing, which necessitates the melting of metal in a furnace and running it into a mold, is an operation which may well be left to the iron- founder ; but it is useful to possess an iron ladle, and run in lead round an iron bar or rail that has been loosened in the socket cut for it in a stone coping or step. Zinc-working, as far as making a simple shoot and covering a small flat roof are con- cerned, and wire- working in the construc- tion of a wire trellis, hanging basket, sieve for sifting earth or cinders, or repairing such articles, are far more practicable ; and sol- dering and simple working in sheet metal are matters with which the amateur may readily make himself acquainted. Plumb- ing and gas-fitting, which if badly and in- efficiently done may involve serious conse- quences, are best left to professional artisans ; but it is as well to know how to stop a leak in a pipe on an emergency, how to take down a gasalier, clean it, and put it in its place again, and how to substitute new gas- burners for old ones with safety. Decorative Work. In the decorative portions of the build- ing trade he will find no very great difficulty. House-painting — that is to say, covering wood or metal with a uniform surface of oil paint — may be easily managed, and to a person possessed of taste and manual skill the work done by the decorator will present , no very great difficulty. Paper-hanging re- quires nothing more than care and a certain amount of manual dexterity. Glazing is more easily done than most of the work that has been mentioned, but as it involves handling putty it is not, perhaps, very de- sirable work. Still, it is work that should be taken up and carried out by the amateur 14 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC as he can put in a pane of glass for about half the price at which a professional glazier will do it if the work be such as can be done at the shop, as the glazing of a light for a pit-frame, etc., and for from one-sixth to one-fourth the Drice charged if it be a window. Practical Points in Excavating. The following facts with regard to exca- vator's work, may be of use: "In loose ground a man can throw up about lo cubic yards per day, but in hard or gravelly soils 5 yards will be a fair day's work. Three men will remove 30 yards of earth a dis- tance of 20 yards in a day. A yard (cubic) of concrete requires about 3 hours' labor to mix and throw in, or if in heavy masses, and the materials handy, about 2 hours. With regard to the weight of materials, 19 cubic feet of sand, 18 ditto clay, 24 ditto earth, 15)^ ditto lime, 20 ditto gravel, will each weigh one ton. A cubic yard of earth before digging will occupy about i^ ■ cubic yards when dug. Sand and gravel does not increase more than one-third as much as earth in bulk when dug, but will decrease in height one-fourth more than earth. A wheelbarrow (that is to say the broad, shallow barrow used by navvies) holds jV yard cube. A cubic yard, or 27 cubic feet of earth, is a single load, and contains 20 bushels ; i ciibic yard of gravel contains 18 bushels in the pit ; when dug it will in- crease nearly one-third in bulk, but will subside nearly one-fourth in height, and de- crease one- fifth in bulk when formed into embankments. When earth is well drained it will stand in embankment about i^ to I." This will prove a useful rule for the amateur in throwing up embankments, mounds, etc., in his grounds or garden. If revetted, to use an engineer's term, or cov- ered with turf, the inclination may be greater, because the roots of the grass bind the surface earth together and keep it from being washed down by heavy rains. This will be evident from an inspection of the side of a hedge or bank covered with turf which may be inclined to the horizontal base line at angles ranging from 10° to 20°. J 28 flaking Qood Concrete. Concrete, now so much used in forming the foundations of buildings of every de- scription, and even the walls themselves, is a mixture of cement and sand, gravel, broken stones, brick rubbish, or similiar materials in the proportion of one part of cement to five or six parts of any of the other ingredients that are used in its manu- facture. Good lime is often used instead of cement, but the amateur, if he uses lime at all, is advised to use cement with it in equal parts. The cement, being the substance that binds the gravel ballast, etc., together into a solid mass impervious to water, is technically called the matrix, and the sub- stance that is added to the lime is called the ^r eg ate. It may be said that any waste material of a hard nature may be used as aggregate in making concrete, sand and gravel of all kinds, including pea or fine gravel, pit gravel, river gravel, ashes, cinders, and coke, lime chippings, flints, old stones and bricks, especially when broken, broken earthenware and stoneware, and rubbish from the brickyard may all be used. Slag, too, the refuse of the iron furnaces, can be made available whenever it can be obtained. It should not be used in too large sizes. Pieces about the size of stones ordinarily used for mending roads, or such as will pass through a ring oi 2^/2 inches in diameter, are best suited for the purpose when the material is broken up on purpose for mak- ing concrete. Any of the various cements in general use may be used in the manufacture of con- crete, but the amateur is recommended in all cases to use Portland cement. Quantities of Cement Used. When made into stucco for covering a wall, the following table will show the ex tent of surface that a bushel of cement may be made to cover when used pure or with various proportions of sand, and at certain thicknesses : I bushel of cement will cover i \i yards I inch thick, 1% yards Y^ inch thick, 2^ yards >^ inch thick ; i bushel of cement and I of sand, 2^ yards i iach thick, 3 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 15 yards ^ inch thick, 43^ yards Y^ inch thick ; ' I bushel of cement and 3 of sand, 3}^ yards I inch thick, 4;^ yards ^ inch thick, 63^ yards Y^ inch thick. As cement will not keep, especially in a moist atmosphere, the amateur, when he re- quires a small quantity for repairs, is re- commended to buy just so much as he wants and no more. In making concrete, it is important, in the first place, that the aggregate, be it what it may, should be deposited on a clean place — 'if on old boards, as scaffold boards, so much the better — so that no dirt may get mixed up with it. The concrete itself should be made on boards, nailed together on ledges or on three putlogs placed on the ground parallel to one another, forming a rough platform. The aggregate and the cement or lime used as the matrix must then be placed on the boards, the aggregate being measured out first, and the proper propor- tion of concrete to the aggregate being also measured out and thrown upon it. The heap is then wetted with water poured over it from a large water-pot fitted with a fine rose, and the whole is then mixed until the materials are thoroughly amalgamated. Bricklayinjf Bricklaying is in itself an apparently simple process, inasmuch as it consists merely in laying or disposing regular and similar rectangular pieces of baked clay one upon another, layer upon layer, until a certain height is reached, spreading a com- position of lime and sand called mortar be- tween each layer, which hardens and con- nects the bricks together in a tolerably solid mass. There is, however, much more skill in bricklaying than is apparent at first sight, and really good bricklaying cannot be done without practice any more than other building processes. The tools requisite in bricklaying are a large, strong steel trowel, with which mor- tar may be spread and bricks chopped asun- der or reduced to any extent that may be required in order to produce a perfect bond. Mortar is carried up the ladder, and on to the part of the scaffolding where the brick- layer is at work, by his attendant laborer, in a vessel called a hod, which is shaped like a box, open at one end and cut across diagonally, and fitted at the bottom angle into a short pole. Then a small trowel for pointing, and a mortar-board to hold in the hand, on which the mortar or cement is carried. A brick is accounted to be 9 inches long, 4'/^ inches broad, and Q-Yt. inches thick, the breadth being half the length, and the thickness rather more than half the breadth, or one-fourth the length ; an ar- rangement which renders bricks more con- venient to use, owing to the correspondence and harmony of proportions in length, breadth, and thickness. The equivalents of the thicknesses of walls enumerated in terms of bricks will, therefore, be, when expressed in inches, ^ brick =4^ in.; i brick =9 in.; 1Y2 bricks =13^^ in.; 2 bricks = 18 in. ; 2}^ bricks = 22^ in., etc. There are many different kinds of bricks, embracing the three classes of building bricks, fire-bricks, and clinkers, or paving bricks. Mortar for Brickwork. Bricks are cemented together with mor- tar, which is a mixture of lime and sand brought to a pasty consistence by the addi- tion of water. When it is desired to make brickwork as strong and durable as possi- ble, the mortar should be made of cement, or a little cement should be added to the lime. The following are the proportions : lyime and sand, and cement and sand, lose about one-third their bulk when made into mortar, and lime and Portland cement both require one-third their bulk of water to mix. For a rod of brickwork (contain- ing 306 cubic feet and needing 4,352 bricks), 71 cubic feet of mortar will be required, and to make this quantity are re- quired xYi cubic yards of unslaked lime and 3 of sand ; or i cubic yard of stone lime and 3>^ of sand ; or 36 bushels of cement, and the same quantity of sharp sand. Lime or cement and sand, to make mortar, require as much water as is equal to one-third of their bulk, or about 5>^ barrels for a rod of brickwork built with mortar. The mortar used by the old builders was far more durable than the mortar used in 129 i6 THB PRACTICAL MECHANIC the present day. It hardened into a mass which offered greater resistance to the weather than even the stone itself that it was used to cement together. The cost of brickwork may be easily calculated from the above memoranda. Soldering and Brazing. For zinc-working, plumbing, gasfitting, and all kinds of work in sheet metal, a knowledge of the processes termed solder- ing and brazing is necessary. By these processes the edges of pieces of sheet metal are joined together, and although it is bet- ter for the amateur, for safety's saice, to have all zinc-working that he may require in the way of covering roofs, making zinc pipes, lining wooden cisterns, and similar operations, done by the professional zinc- worker, and to call in the plumber and gas- fitter to rectify any leakage in lead pipes or gasfittings, it is as well that he should know how to make a joint in metal, whether sheet or pipe, and possess the few appli- ances necessary for doing so. If he can do no more than repair tin pots, kettles, etc., it will be of advantage to him, for the itinerant tinman seldom does his work effectually , and seems never to be at hand when his services are most required . First, then, with regard to soldering and brazing. They may both be described as methods of uniting pieces of either the same or different kinds of metal with a strong and, if necessary, water-tight joint. To effect this by the first-named opera- tion, namely soldering, a compound metal called solder is used. This composition is melted, but the metals to be united do not require to be heated otherwise than through contact with the melted solder. In the operation of bi-azing the metals to be joined must be raised to the melting point of the brazing composition, which is soft brass. Although this makes the strongest joint, the necessity for exposing the articles to such a great heat renders this operation inapplicable to many purposes. Soldering is very useful for joining cop- per and copper, copper and brass, copper and iron, brass and brass, brass and iron, tin and tin, and tin and any other metal. If the joint has to stand a rather high degree of heat — such, for instance, as the seams of a small copper steam boiler — a /mr^ solder must be used. By hard solder is meant one that only fuses at a high tem- perature ; a soft solder, on the contrary, fuses at a low degree of heat. The following are the compositions of some of the most useful of solders and alloys, with the degree of heat required to melt each : Tin. 1 part 2 " 2 " 5 " 5 " Lead, 25 parts 1 " 2 " 3 " 3 " Bismuth. Mercury. I part 3 " 3 " 3 parts Melts at 558° Fahr. 340° " 292° " 202° " 122° " How Soldering is Done. The surfaces to be united must be thor- oughly cleaned and brightened. Without this the metal will not adhere. The solder- ing iron must be warmed sufficiently to melt the solder; it must not be made red-hot, because the solder will not " hold to it." Whilst the iron is waiming, tin the sur- faces by brushing them over with muriatic acid, dipping them into melted solder, and quickly rubbing off the adherent metal. This, if done well, will leave a thin coat of solder. When it cannot be done thus, the surfaces must be tinned by means of the sol- dering iron. In this case they must be coated or washed with the acid as before, but the solder must be melted on the places required with the hot iron. When tinned, the surfaces should be brought close together, a little acid rubbed along the joints, and the iron dipped in the acid and put against some solder, so that the melted solder will stick to the iron. The iron must now be applied to the joints, and drawn slowly along in such a manner that the metal between the joints is melted, and the joints filled up. A little practice will soon make the amateur tolerably skilful in doing this. The muriatic acid, or spirit of salt, as it is sometimes called, must be killed, or rendered neutral, before it is used, and this is done by putting one or two small pieces of zinc into it and allowing it to expend all its energy on this. Killed acid is much more effective than the raw or pure acid. Sometimes resin is used instead of the acid ; but the neutralized acid is THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 17 preferable, because it does not leave the ' work in such a mess as resin. Should it be desirable for the solder not to adhere to any portion of the article, a paste must be made with whiting and water, and put about those places ; this paste will harden with the heat, but can be removed after the soldering operation is effected. Indoor and Outdoor Painting. Nearly all that has been said with regard to operations in the building trades is con- nected with construction, but here we shall speak chiefly of decoration. It has long been found necessary to protect wood and iron from the ill effects of moisture by a hard exterior coating impervious to wet ; and hitherto the best preservatives have been found to be paint and varnish, through which no wet can penetrate as long as they remain in a sound state. In doing work of this kind, it is much better and cheaper to buy paints and var- nishes ready mixed. One very good reason why the amateur painter should do this is that the paint which he makes himself is apt to take a long time to get thoroughly dry and hard ; and sometimes, even after the lapse of several weeks, it is still sticky. Before beginning to paint, all dirt and projections, such as lumps of glue, etc., must be cleared away with the putty-knife and duster. Then, if the work be new, all the knots in the wood must be killed with knotting, to prevent the turpentine in the knots from oozing out and spoiling the ap- pearance of the painting when finished. Knotting is a preparation of red lead, lith- arge, boiled oil, and a little turpentine ; the amateur is advised to buy the ' ' patent knot- ting, " which may be obtained ready for use. After the knotting, which dries and hardens very quickly, is applied, the priming, or first coat, is put on. This is made of white lead, with some drying material, and a little red lead to harden it. It is made very thin with oil, as unpainted wood or plaster absorbs the paint very quickly. The Several Coats of Paint. As soon as the priming is dry, all holes made by punching in the heads of nails, cracks, etc., must be stopped with putty. 131 It is useless to attempt to do this before the priming has been applied, because putty will not stick to wood unless painted. After this has been done the second coat may be applied ; and for new work the second coat of color should be made up chiefly of oil, because oil is the most efficient in stopping the suction of the wood ; then a third, and even a fourth coat, may be applied. In lay- ing on the color, the brush should be passed backwards and forwards and in every direction, to spread the color evenly and work it well into the wood , in the earlier coats. Finally, the brush should be drawn uf and down, or backwards and forwards, at the case may be, in the direction of the grain of the wood, taking care to leave no marks of the hairs of the brush. In painting a door, or any piece of work in which part is sunk and part raised, the mouldings or any bead-work should be painted first with a sash tool, and then the panels, styles, and rails with a brush. No coat should be laid on a previous coat until that coat shall be perfectly dry and hard ; and before begin- ning to paint any piece of work, whatever may be the number of the coat, every particle of dust that may have settled on it should be carefully removed with the dusting brush. The composition of the paint that is ap- plied to old work, and indeed to wood gen- erally, must depend upon the style or man- ner in which the work is to be finished = The first coat after the priming in new work should be paint in which the oil predomi- nates over the turpentine ; but for the first coat for old work the turpentine should be in excess of the oil. Paint mixed with oil in excess will present a shining surface when dry, but paint mixed with turpentine in excess will present a flat, dead, dull ap- pearance. Therefore, when a shining sur- face is required, it is necessary that the under coat should be paint mixed with tur- pentine, the final coat being mixed with oil ; but when the finishing coat is to be " flat- ting," as it is technically called, it must be laid over an under coat or ground color mixed with oil. Removing Old Paint. When the surface of a coat of paint, that is to say, of any under coat, appears rough, i8 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC especially in the case of patches in old work that have been retouched, the paint, when dry, should be rubbed down with fine. glass paper until the roughness has disappeared. All loose paint, or paint that appears loose round the blister-marks, should be scraped away with a knife before the putty is put on. For cleaning old greasy smoke-stained paint limewash or limewater may be used. This kills the smoke or grease, on which no oil paint will ever dry and harden. Some will put a coating of weak size over the smoke and grease ; the paint will dry on this, but it is very likely that it will soon crack and peel off. It is not desirable to keep loading on coat after coat of paint on old work. It is better, when the incrustation caused by suc- cessive coats of paint has become very thick, to remove the paint entirely and begin de novo. There are various modes of removing paint. The professional painter will do it by the agency of heat, applying a flame to the surface of the paint ; the heat soon softens the color, and it may then be scraped away with a knife. Other Modes of Removing Old Paints. Recipe. — To Remove Old Paint Jrom Woodwork. (i) Make a very strong solu- tion of common washing soda, and apply it to the paint with a brush until the paint can be scraped away. (2) Apply naphtha to the paint in the same manner, giving it a second and even third damping with this substance until the paint yields. When soft enough scrape it away with a knife. (3) Slake 3 lbs. of stone lime in water, and then add to this I lb. of pearlash, and sufficient water to bring the whole to the consistency of thick cream. Apply the preparation with a brush, and leave it on the paint for from eighteen to twenty-four hours, when it will be found that the paint is softened and may be easily scraped off. The amateur will find it necessary, per- haps, to do his painting work at intervals, often few and far between. If he leaves paint in the paint pot for some length of time, he will discover, much to his annoy- ance, on resuming work, that the paint is too hard and thick to be used. The addi- tion of some oil and turpentine may save a 13^ little of it, but it will neither work pleas- antly, nor, indeed, be worth using. When- ever paint must be put aside, a little cold water must be poured on the top of the paint. This prevents the evaporation of the oil, and keeps the paint all right for future use by excluding the air and prevent- ing its action in drying and hardening the paint. The Care of Brushes. Similarly, brushes not in use should have the bristles or hair kept under water, that they may remain soft and flexible. It is better, however, when the amateur painter does not know how long it may be before he uses his brush again, to wash the color well out of it by means of a little tur- pentine, and then allow the brush to dry. When kept in water for some time, the con- stant soaking will rot the string and the bottom of the wooden handle to which the bristles are attached, and the amateur, on commencing painting, will experience the annoyance of his brush snapping off" short like the end of a carrot. Various Coloring Substances Used in Painting. It will be useful to the amateur painter to mention the various pigments or color- ing substances used in painting to produce different simple colors, and to follow these with a list of colors that are produced by combinations of two or more of these colors. White lead, a substance highly prejudicial to the health, both of those who manufacture it and those who use it, is mixed with all colors to tone them down and produce different shades, hues, and tints. There are, however, othej mineral whites capable of supplying the place of white lead, which have the advantage of being non-poisonous pigments-. It will be convenient to classify each set of coloring substances, whether mineral or otherwise, under the color which it yields when properly mixed. Table of Simple Coloring Substances. (i) Whites. — White lead, including Ceruse and Flake White, Zmc White (oxide of zinc), Griffith's Zinc White (oxj'-sulphide of zinc — non-poison- ous), Spanish White. THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 19 (2) Blacks.— ^i^vay^ Black, Ivory Black, Blue Black, Vegetable Black, Patent Black. (3) Yellows. — Chrome Yellow, Turner's or Pat- ent Yellow, Naples Yellow, Orpiment, Massicot, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Yellow Lake. (4) Reds. — Vermilion (crimson and scarlet). Carmine, Cochineal Lake, Madder Lake, Red Lead or Minium, Indian Red, Venetian Red, Spanish Brown, Purple Brown, Orange Lead, Burnt Sienna. (5.) Browns. — Umber (burnt and raw), burned Prussian Blue, Manganese Brown. (6) Blues. — Prussian Blue, Cobalt, Ultramarine, French Ultramarine, Blue Verditer. (7) Greens. — Verdigris, Scheele's Green, Emer- ald Green, Green Verditer, Italian Green, Saxon Green, Brunswick Green. Recipes for Tints Produced by flixing Simple Colors. Straw Color. — Chrome yellow and white lead. Lemon Color. — Chrome yellow and white lead ; more of the first than in straw color. Orange. — Chrome yellow and vermilion (bright), yellow ochre and red lead (duller). Buff. — White lead and yellow ochre. Cream Color. — Same as for buflf, but with more white. Gold Color. — Chrome yellow with a little ver- milion and white lead ; or Naples yellow and realgar. Sto7ie Color. — White lead and yellow ochre, with a little burnt or raw umber. Stone Color (grey). — White lead, and a small quantity of black. Drab. — White lead, burnt umber, and a little yellow ochre (warm) ; white lead, raw umber, and a little black (cool). Flesh Color. — Lake, white lead, and a little ver- milion. Fawn Color. — Same as for flesh color, with stone ochre instead of lake. Peach Color. — White lead, with vermilion, In- dian red, or purple brown. Sky Blue. — White lead, Prussian blue, and a little lake. Olive. — Black, yellow, and a little blue ; or yel- low, pink, lamp black, and a little verdigris. Chestnut. — Light red and black. Sahnon Color. — Venetian red and white lead. Chocolate. — Black, with Spanish brown, or Ve- netian red. Sage Green. — Prussian blue, raw umber, and a little ochre, with a little white. Olive Green. — Raw umber and Prussian blue. Pea Green. — White lead and Brunswick green ; or white lead, Prussian bliie, and some chrome yellow. Pearl Gray. — White lead, with a little black, and a little Prussian blue or indigo. Silver Gray. — Same as for pearl gray. Gray (common). — White lead and a little black. Lead Color. — White lead with black or indigo. Violet — Vermilion, white lead, and indigo or black. Purple. — Violet as above, with the addition of a rich, dark red, or colors for French gray. French Gray. — White lead with Prussian blue and a little lake. Lilac. — Same as for French gray, but with less white. Oak Color. — White lead with yellow ochre and burnt umber. Mahogany Color. — A little black with purple brown or Venetian red. In all operations of painting, varnishing, etc., it is of the greatest importance that everything used, whether slab, muller, knife, or brushes, should be kept thoroughly clean. Varnishes, and Recipes for Making Varnishes. Varnishes may be bought at the oil and color store at reasonable rates. A few coats of varnish much improve painted or stained work by imparting to it a smooth and glossy surface. For some work, such as staining, one or two coats will be sufficient, but where it is desir- able that the appearance of the article should be as good as it can possibly be made, eight or ten coats will have to be laid on. After the first three or four coats are given and thoroughly dry, take some fine glass- paper and smooth off the brush marks or any gritty particles that may have stuck to the varnish. Then give the work another coat of varnish, which serve in the same manner, and so on for every coat until the last, which should be polished with a flannel rubber dipped in Tripoli powder and water, and finished off with a powder made of suet and flour. The same precautions must be observed with regard to the brushes used in varnish- ing as for painting. If put away wet with varnish, they will, after remaining unused for a day or two, be hard and utterly useless. They must, therefore, be well washed im- mediately after use, and will then be in proper order when again wanted. Gold Varnish. — Thoroughly wash and cleanse from color one part of gum shellac ; when dry pulverize it well, reducing it in a mortar to an impalpable powder ; mix with it four times its weight of spirits of wine ; put the mixture on the fire, and let it re- main until the gum is entirely dissolved. Strain the liquor, and keep for use in a well- corked bottle 133 26 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC Black Varnish for Metal, etc. — Fuse and thoroughly incorporate asphal- tum, ^ lb. ; shellac, 2 oz. ; turpentine, i quart. L,ay on with a brush. Polishing, and Recipes for Polish. Polishing very greatly improves the ap- pearance of articles made of any fancy wood or stained work. There are many different sorts of polish ; but those for which recipes are given below will be found to answer the amateur's purpose in every way : French Polish. — Spirits of wine, i pint; gum sandarac, ^ oz. ; gum lac, ^ oz. ; gum shellac, ^ oz. Expose the whole to a gentle heat, frequently shaking the mixture until the gums are dissolved. Naphtha Polish. — Wood naphtha, y^, pint; orange shellac , i oz. ; dragons' blood, % oz. ; benzoin, ^ oz. Prepare in the same way as French polish. Shellac Polish. — Orange shellac, i^ oz. ; spirits of wine, i pint. The method of applying these polishes is the same for all. A flannel rubber is made and dipped in the polish, and a piece of fine and old linen is then put over the rubber. When the polish oozes through the covering, dip the pad into or slightly moisten it with linseed oil. Another way is to strain the linen over the flannel pad, and then to moisten the linen with a drop or two of the polish and a drop or two of oil. The pad should be held in the right hand, and the linen strained tightly, so that the pad may present a rounded surface. Apply the pad to the surface of the wood in a series of light strokes made by a circular sweep of the hand until the surface is nearly dry, when the pad should be passed up and down in the direction of the grain of the wood. When the rubber is dry some more polish and oil must be put upon it in the same man- ner as before, and the rubbing continued. Plenty of what is generally called ' ' el- bow-grease" should be given to the work, and not too much polish. Beginners gen- erally lay on a large quantity of polish in clots or thick coats, but when this is done the polish does not look well, neither has it a permanent effect. No more polish should be laid on than is absolutely necessary. The polish should be well rubbed in and finished off with a little pure naphtha or spirits of wine, whichever happens to be the spirit that is used in the polish. The naphtha or spirits of wine, as the case may be, should at first be laid on very gently and with great care, otherwise it will dissolve and remove the polish al- ready laid on ; but if proper care is taken its effect will be not only to give the polish a better gloss, but to render it more lasting. Some woods absorb a great deal of polish. In order to prevent this absorption, a coat of gold size, or something of a like nature, is given before the application of the polish. When polishing mahogany or other orna- mental or colored wood, should there be any inequalities or faults in any conspicuous part of the object, fill them up with stop- ping, consisting of plaster of Paris mixed to the consistency of cream with water, tinted with staining or coloring matter correspond- ing with the color of the article that is to be polished. A mixture of putty, consisting of finely-pounded whiting and painters' drying oil and some coloring matter, will do quite as well. For large holes a composition of beeswax, resin, and shellac is found very useful. Paper Hanging. Next to painting, the most important decorative work that can be done within the house is paper-hanging, and a knowledge of the mode of doing this will often prove of great advantage to the amateur artisan, especially if he be a man of slender means. Besides the American there are two other wallpapers used in paper-hanging, one being of English and the other of French manu- facture. The French paper-hangings are perhaps prettier, more artistic, and produce a better effect than American or English- made papers, but they are much more expensive. They may be distinguished from English papers by their narrow width, the English papers being 22 inches wide and the French and American papers only 20 inches. Again, a piece of English paper is 1 2 yards long, and a piece of French paper about 9^ yards, the former covering 7 square yards, or 63 feet superficial, and the latter \Y^ square yards, or 41 square feet. Speaking approximately, therefore, 134 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 21 where two pieces of English paper are re- quired, three of French will be wanted at the very least, and in practice this will not be found to be enough. The American paper is in more common use now, and for quality and artistic effect equals that of foreign make. It comes in rolls oi two pieces each, or i6 yards, a piece being considered 8 yards long. The width is 20 inches over all or 1 8 inches net A piece then will cover 36 square feet of surface. On looking at a piece of wall-paper it will be found that the pattern does not come quite out to the edges, so that it must be re- membered, in measuring a room for paper, that 18 inches is the absolute net width of the pattern (American) ; the actual roll of paper itself is wider than this. To measure a room, one method is to measure the cir- cumference, making allowance for doors and windows, and, having ascertained the num- ber of feet, multiply this by the height of the room and divide by the number of square feet in a piece of paper. For the ceiling multiply the length of the room by breadth, which will give area, and divide as before. If a room has offsets these may be measured separately . Thus , tak ing the room to be 1 8 ft . by 15 ft., and allowing 11 ft. for doors and windows, and taking the height of the room to be 9 ft., between skirting-board and cor- nice we have : i8ft. + i8ft. + 15ft. + 15ft. (length of 4 sides of room) — i ift. (allowance for door and windows) X 9ft. (height between ceil- ing and skirting) -^36 (No. of square feet in piece of paper) . Or 66 — II X 9 -^ 36, or 55 X 9 -^ 36 = 14 pieces, or 13 and a fraction, which requires of course 14 full pieces, or 7 rolls, for the sides. The ceiling would be 18 X 15 -=- 36 = 7>^ , or 8 pieces. Small Patterns Most Satisfactory. The most satisfactory kind of pattern is a small geometrical one, consisting of some simple form, a leaf or flower, convention- ally treated. For staircases, passages, etc., papers in imitation of wood or marble are most commonly used, and these can be pre- served from much casual injury by varnish- ing. Marble papers are usually hung in Jarge blocks, the lines of demarcation, hori- zontal and vertical , being traced , with the aid of a straight edge, iu black or brown. For sitting-rooms satin papers, or papers with a glossy surface, are generally used. Papers in which gold is introduced are expensive if they are worth anything at all. In cheap gilt papers, the gold, which is most likely Dutch metal, soon tarnishes and changes as time goes on from a dull copper- red to black. It is good taste to have the ceiling paper light in color and with a subdued figure to harmonize with the sides. Preliminary Work for Paper Hanging. If the wall be new it will require sizing before the paper is put on, though this is by no means done as a rule. If the wall has to be re-papered, it must be stripped of the old paper, or should be stripped, as new papers are too frequently hung upon old papers ; a procedure which is certainly not cleanly, and is in many cases prejudicial to health, because the dampness caused by putting up the new paper often detaches the old paper from the surface of the wall, and oftentimes, if the paste used in hanging the old paper has been bad, a fungus is gener- ated, which spreads over the wall in dark patches of a brown or greenish color. In re-papering a room after any one stricken down with some infectious dis- order, such as scarlet or typhus fever, on no account should the old paper be left on the walls, but it should be carefully stripped and the walls washed, and the ceiling coated with limewash, after the old coating has been taken off with clean water. As soon as this is done, the walls may be sized anc' the process of re-papering maybe proceed e*^ with. Size is a kind of weak glue, made from the clippings of parchment, glove-leather, fish-skin, and similar substances, by boiling them down in water. When cold it resem- bles jelly. It is sold by all oil and color dealers. The wall being sized, it is necessary to determine what tools are absolutely neces- sary for the paper-hanger's work. These may be summed up as a pair of boards con- nected by hinges, or, if preferred, simply grooved and tongued together, or even joined by dowels or pins. The amateur 135 22 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC need not provide himself with a pair of boards and trestles merely for the sake of papering a single room ; a kitchen table, if long enough, or even a dining table suit- ably protected, will answer every purpose. The boards are portable, and, therefore, useful to the regular paper-hanger, who may not find any suitable table at the house to which he is going. They are also of greater length than most tables, which is obviously an advantage. Whether the ama- teur is provided with boards or not, he must of necessity have a pair of good-sized scissors ; a pail to hold his paste, whether of wood or iron it matters not, so long as it is clean ; and a paste brush, something similar to that used for whitewashing, but smaller. Paste for Paper Hanging. Good paste for paper-hanging is made of old flour, mixed to a milk-like consis- tency with water. When put in the sauce- pan to boil, a little size or glue may be added, which will increase its tenacity. A little alum may also be added to paste, in order to cause it to spread more freely ; this ingredient has the property of keeping paste sweet and wholesome, and it is gener- ally used in the thicker kinds of paste, such as shoemakers' paste, partly for this pur- pose. The paste when boiled should be of the thickness of ordinary gruel, and must be laid on the paper smoothly and equally with backward and forward strokes of the brush. Care should be taken not to load the brush with too much paste at one time, lest the paper should be rendered too damp. It will sometimes happen that through an over-abundance of paste a little is pressed out at the edges when the cloth is used to dab the paper against the wall. Any paste that makes its appearance should be re- moved by means of a sponge dipped in clean water, but the amateur must be care- ful to avoid smearing the colors of the pa- per. The colors will often be started in a slight degree by the influence of the damp paste, and if the surface be smeared the only thing that can.be done is to paste a piece of fresh paper over the smear, which, if left as it is, will prove a continual eye- sore. 136 Where to Begin to Hang Paper. Where to make a commencement in hanging a room with paper will be a bit of a puzzle to the amateur paper-hanger. The rule is that the edges of the paper when hung shall be towards the window ; that is to say, that if there be a window in the room the paper must be hung Irom either side of the window round the room, the junction being finally effected in some cor- ner of the room or some recess, where the mismatching of the pattern would not be so apparent. When it has been ascertained by actual measurement how much paper is required for hanging on each side of the commence- ment, wherever it may be, whether on each side of the window or from the middle line over a mantel-shelf, proceed to cut the pa- per. The usual way is to unroll the paper for a yard or two, cut the edge on one side, roll up the paper just cut, lightly and loosely, and continue unrolling, cutting, and rolling up by a 5 ard or two at a time till the other end of the roll is reached. Some will then cut the other edge, proceed- ing in the same way until the paper is rolled as it was before the cutting commenced, having the topmost piece at the outer end. It is important to remember that whichever side is cut close to the pattern, the opposite side must not be cut closer than from ^ in. to Yz in. of the pattern. The edge that is not cut close need not, in point of fact, be cut at all ; tlie chief object in cutting it is to leave as small an extent of overlapping as possible where the strips are joined to- gether. The best paper-hangers, who can set the paper to a line, trim close on. both sides and do not overlap, but set to the edge. Cutting Paper into Lengths. When the edges are cut the next step is to cut the paper into lengths suitable to the height of the room, and this, whether the overplus at top and bottom be much or little, must be done in such a manner that when the second strip is pasted up by the side of the first the pattern will join neatly and exactly, leaving as few traces as possi- ble, if it leave any, of the line of junction. The ' ' match ' ' is shown by certain marks THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 22> on the edge of the paper, and if it be found that a considerable length of paper be left either at top or bottom, or at both, it will be better and more convenient for the amateur in carrying out the operation of hanging each slip to cut off the surplus paper, leav- ing no more than an inch or two at top and bottom beyond the length between skirting and cornice. Cut the paper straight across, which can be easily done by aid of the pat- tern, and cut as many lengths as will sufl&ce for one or two sides of the room to begin with. lyay the lengths thus cut face down- wards on the pasting-board, letting the edge of each strip as it is laid down project a little beyond the edge of that which is im- mediately below it, in which the uppermost strip is the last strip laid down. This pre- vents the paste from getting under the edges of the piece below when the piece above is being pasted. Attaching to the Wall. As many strips as may be required hav- ing been laid one on top of another on the board, the first strip may be pasted, but a little judgment must be used as to the time that may be allowed to elapse before the paper is attached to the wall. If the paper be cheap, and therefore thin and unsubstan- tial, it must be hung up as quickly as possi- ble after the paste is put on ; but if it be a stout, good paper, some two or three min- utes may elapse between pasting and hang- ing ; and a thick paper may be left even twice as long, to allow the damp to pene- trate the paper and render it more easy of manipulation and less liable to be crushed or broken. For easier manipulation it is better to loop up the lower end of the paper, the paste causing the paper to adhere slightly where one part comes in contact with another. Then fold back the top, and putting the hands, which should be perfectly clean and free from paste, under this fold, attach the paper to the wall, bringing the top upwards with the hands to meet the cornice. Care should be taken beforehand to make a guide line on the wall, or to see that the woodwork round the window is perfectly upright, and this will assist the amateur in fixing the first strip truly per- pendicular. After attaching it lightly to the wall, the plumb-line may be applied to see that all is true and vertical, and if all is right release the fold, and, after letting the paper hang straight down, lift it away from the wall, except for about six or eight inches below the cornice, and then let the strip fall, when it will gently float down into its place. The next step is to press the paper against the surface of the wall in every part, and for this purpose the amateur must be provided with some clean soft cloths. First of all, the paper must be pressed down the middle from top to bottom with firm but gentle pressure, avoiding all rubbing, which may have the effect of starting the color and smearing and spoiling the paper. Then press from the centre outwards on both sides in a downward direction. The paper in some cases will lay smooth and flat against the wall , but if the paper be cheap and thin there will in all probability be many wrinkles all over the surface. Do not attempt to press these flat. The paper has stretched under the influence of the moisture of the paste, and as it dries it will contract again and lay as flat as possible all over the wall to which it is attached, lyastly, draw the scissors over the paper just below the cornice and just above the skirt- ing-board, making a crease. Then pull the paper gently from the wall as far as may be necessary, cutting off" the edges along the mark or crease made by the scissors, and restore the ends to their places, dabbing them lightly as before with the cloth, which should be so doubled up as to form a ^arge, loose pad. The second strip may now be put up in the same way. Here, however, the chief anxiety will be to match the pattern neatly, for if the first strip be put up perpendicu- larly the other strips will be perpendicular as a matter of course. Nevertheless it will be as well for the amateur to test his work occasionally by the plumb-line, to make sure that it is not getting out of the perpendicular. It may be that the amateur will not be successful in his first effort, and then all that can be done is to sacrifice the strip of paper, pull it down, and try again. As in everything else, practice is necessary to en- able a man to do this work well and quickly. 37 24 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC It will be advisable, then, for any beginner to try his 'prentice hand in an attic or some small room of no great consequence, in order to give him some idea of the way in which paper must be handled and attached to the wall. He will soon gain confidence in himself, and find no great difficulty in oapering other rooms where it will be abso- utely necessary that the work be neatly and accurately done. Borders should be neat in design, and match the paper in this respect and in color, or if the colors do not harmonize they should be in agreeable contrast, A cable pattern generally looks well, or the Grecian rec- tangular pattern, known as the Greek key pattern. The representation of a simple molding is often very efiective, and when the paper is plain in character and geometri- cal in pattern a floral border is admissible. It must be remembered, however, that a border, however good it may be, tends to detract from the apparent height of the room, and therefore is not so well calculated for a low room as for a high room, to which the horizontal lines of the border impart an appearance of breadth and space. BELLS AND TELEPHONES The electric bell constitutes one of the most simple pieces of apparatus for signal- ing by electricity, and although more than half a century has elapsed since it was first introduced, no better method of signaling or giving a call has yet been invented for land lines. It is always used for attracting attention in telephonic communication and Very often also in telegraphy. To Wire for and to Connect Electric Bells. It is easy to understand that an electric bell equipment usually consists of one elec- tric bell, one cell of battery, one push-button, and wire enough to connect the outfit for a reasonable distance. The push-button is, of course, set at the place from which the signal is to be given, and, when connected, the pressing of the but- ton should ring the bell. The bell should continue ringing as long as the button is pressed. The bell should be placed where the persons who are expected to answer it [when it rings] are likely to be, so it can be heard by them. The battery, the motive power, is placed at some convenient place, the closer the battery is placed to the push- button, the better for some work. The wire is used to make the connection to the bell, battery, and push-button. The proper way to connect an electric bell outfit is to run one wire from the push-button to the battery, one wire from the push-button to the bell, and one wire from the bell to the battery. This gives two wire ends at each place, namely, bell battery, and push- button. The bell, battery, and push-button each have two places where the wires are connected. To all places to which wires are connected the insulation covering of the wires must be removed, and the wire made clean and bright. Then connect it with the connecting places of the push-button, bell, and battery. This way of connecting an electric bell outfit is called a metallic cir- cuit. A Grounded Circuit. On long distances wire can be saved by using a grounded circuit, which is done as follows : Drive a piece of iron into the earth, from four to five feet down, connect a wire to the iron driven into the ground by wrap- ping the bare wire tightly around the iron. This ground wire is then run to the battery and connected to the zinc side. A second wire is run from the carbon side of the bat- tery to one side of the push-button ; a second wire runs from the push-button to wherever the bell is placed ; a wire is run from the bell to a second ground iron, and attached or connected to the ground iron, the same as the first ground connection was made. Where long distances are to be connected, namely, from house to stable, factory or any other building, this way of doing electric bell work is frequently done. All wires that are outside of buildings should be fas- tened on to porcelain or glass insulators, and never be nailed against brick or stone walls, or any frame buildings ; always use f insulators, and have wires clear of all places. THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 25 It is recommended for electric bell work that no lighter wire than what is known in the trade as No. 16 be used, and that the wire have a good insulation or covering. Making Connections. Jn all ordinary electric bell work, if reasonable care is taken, no connections or splices are necessary in the wire. Should it be necessary to make a connection of two ends of wire, make a good one and solder it ; do not neglect doing this (soldering con- nections) in case you cannot solder the con- nections, wrap them with tin foil, or some tissue paper, and on top of this use some insulating tape, making a good covering over the wire again. Do not, however, use insulating tape right on a wire connection, as the place gets corroded, and is an injury to good work. When it is desired electric bell work can be so arranged so one, two or more bells can be rung from one or as many more places as desired. This is all simple work, and can be easily understood by making electric bell circuit diagrams, to show similar points on same line. The wire for push-buttons must be al- ways connected in multiple, with the wire attached to the first push-button. This is easily done by making half connections . The push-button end of wires must always be so connected in open circuit bell work. The bells when so connected that two or more ring simultaneously, should be also connected in multiple. The Working of tlie Bell. The electric bell consists essentially of an electro-magnet and a vibrating armature piece which oscillates in front of it. If a current enters the terminal A it is conducted through the coils D D of the electro-mag- net, which has iron cores, and passes out through the metal of the armature, the con- tact screw, g, and the terminal B. Such a current will, of course, cause the electro- magnet to draw the armature down on to its terminal^, the armature itself being at- tached by a flexible steel spring to the framework, so as to make this movement possible. In the act, however, of drawing down the armature, the contact of the screw 139 g, and a prolongation of the armature spring, is broken, and as this contact forms part of the electric circuit, the current ceases to magnetize the electro -magnet ; the armature is, therefore, no longer attracted and springs back by virtue of the steel spring, and contact between it and the screw, g, is restored, which causes the same opera- tion to be repeated. This motion takes place very rapidly to and fro, and is com- municated to a light hammer, d, which strikes the bell, b, and produces a continu- ous and loud ringing sound. The whole apparatus forms a sim- ple method of draw- ing attention from a distance, and can always be relied upon to work properly. The only draw- back to the bell is that if the screw, g, is set so as to make it as sensitive as possible, a vibration of the sup- port to which the whole apparatus is fixed, due to a passing train or vehicle, might be suf&cient to cause the hammer to strike the gong. In railway signal-boxes, where electric bells are much used, it is absolutely necessary that this should not happen, as it might lead to a serious catastrophe. The bells in this case are, therefore, so arranged that on closing the electric circuit the bell- hammer only strikes the gong once, and only when the circuit is broken again out- side the bell does it spring back so as to be ready for a second signal. Alternating Currents. Such vibrating electric bells will work with both direct and alternating currents, but not nearly so well with the latter. As, however, it is very often found desirable to use alternating currents, a special polarized bell has been devised for use with them, in which the armature, the amplitude of whose movement is regulated by screws, vibrates in a vertical plane between two poles of an electro-magnet, bent round at right angles. -Electric Bell. 26 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC No make-and-break mechanism is nec- essary as in ordinary bells, because the al- ternating current is continuously reversing the sign of the poles of the electro-magnet, causing the armature and bell- hammer to vibrate, by alternate attraction and repul- sion. It is usual in these bells to intensify the sound by using two domes, making use of the return stroke of the hammer. The current is produced by a small mag- neto dynamo worked by hand. This method of dispensing with primary batteries is due to Sie- mens, and has the advantage that a high E.M.F. (Electric Motive Force) can be gener- Jrdcropkc ated at no expense, the power _. being supplied by the operator jjihiljil' himself. li The first practical telephone was invented by Graham Bell, and patented by him in 1877 ; it was also invented independently about the same time by Elisha Gray. The principle of this telephone is based on the laws of electro- magnetic induction. A complete apparatus for telephonic com- munication consists : at the transmitting station, of a microphone, battery, and induction coil, and a bell-push which rings "cpj Cautions to be Observed. To sum up, then, let us say that in putting up electric bells, telephones, etc., there are sev- eral points which must be carefully attended to, if satisfactory working is desired ; the con- ducting wires must be as well insulated as possible. Mere touching contacts should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. If pos- sible contacts or joints should be soldered so as to make a good metallic connection. If any connections are made by terminals or binding screws, they must be carefully cleaned and seen to from time to time ; this remark applies especially to the battery terminals, which are more likely to become corroded by the electrolyte. The general ar- rangement of the wires should be first map- ped out on paper, and this plan carefully adhered to in putting them up, otherwise confusion and trouble will arise. Putting up Telephones. There are two very distinct methods of transmuting the voice possible in telephonic systems : electro magnetic transmitters for use without batteries, and transmitters on the micrf)y)hone principle requiring some external source of current. The instru- ments for receiving the voice are called receivers, and are always based on the prin- ciple of the electro-magnetic transmitter. receiver battery Apparatus for the Transmission of Sound by Electricity. a bell at the receiving station to draw attention ; at the receiving end, of Bell tele- phone receiver and the call-bell. Line Wires. In towns, each person having a telephone is connected to an excnange, and by which he can be connected at will to any other per- son also connected to the exchange. The line wires, connecting the trans- mitting and receiving stations, consist ol two copper conductors of high conductivity and great tensile strength. It is found that alloys of copper and silicon, or copper and aluminium, are best for this purpose. The wires have a resistance of about 80 ohmo per mile, and their breaking tension is about 150 lbs. With wire weighing about 19 lbs. per mile, spa ,is of 100 to 150 yards are possible. The wires, if overhead, are supported on porcelain insulators, which are attached at a convenient height from the ground to posts or houses ; in the country trees often come in handy for the purpose. In cities the best method is to lay them underground, where they are safe from the effects of fire or weather ; this, however, is rarely done, as overhead wires are so very much cheaper. 140 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 27 If a telephone line does not run any- where near any other telephone, telegraph, or electric circuit, the return wire may be re- placed with economy by the earth. In this case very careful connection must be made with the earth at each end. A good plan is to solder the connecting wire to a water pipe, but if this is not available, it must be connected to a large metallic plate of copper buried deeply in damp earth, which it is as well to water from time to time. It is best to avoid this earth return for telephones if possible, as it is very seldom satisfactory. In fixing up the telephone apparatus it should never be attached to thin partitions which are capable of vibration, but should be screwed to a solid wall, and even then it is as well to place a couple of layers of felt between the instrument and the wall. Number of Bells Required. A couple of cells of almost any make such as Daniells or Le Clanche are quite enough for working a short telephone line, and for longer distances three or four at the outside are sufficient, for, an excess of electro- motor force produces a crackling sound in the receivers, which may be loud enough to seri- ously inconvenience conversation. For elec- tric bells the number of cells required de- pends upon the length of the line and the resistance of the bells used, and the right number is usually found by experiment. If a telephonic line is to be established near a telegraph line, it becomes necessary to use a metallic wire for the return, because the effects of induction, due to the making and breaking of the telegraph current, when an earth return is used by both circuits, be- comes sometimes great enough to spoil all telephonic communication. As a matter of fact it is very seldom that an earth return can be used for telephone lines, for the circuit is then always liable to external disturbances, such as leaks from electric light and power circuits, telegraph currents, earth currents, etc. Even with twin wires the greatest attention must be paid to good insulation of the line, otherwise the above-mentioned disturbances may make their influence felt. When all such stray currents have been eliminated from the sys- tem ^ the length of a telephone line may be greatly increased ; conversation has been carried on quite distinctly at distances of 800 and 900 miles. Operating a Telephone. The manipulation of a telephone instru- ment is quite simple. In nearly every type of instrument the receivers are hung on a hook which is pivoted on an axis. This movable hook has a spring attached to it so that, when the receiver is hung on it, the hook falls and distends the spring. If the receiver is unhooked the spring is released and the hook is drawn up. It is really a switch, and the up-and-down movement causes the proper connections of line and bell, and line and telephone to be made. To enter into communication with another person through the exchange, the handle of the magneto-generator is turned, or a button is pressed. The exchange answer the sig- nal by ringing the subscriber's bell. The receiver is then unhooked and placed to the ear, and the mouth is placed opposite the microphone. The attendant at the exchange asks what number is required, which being given the proper connection is made there, and the two persons are now in direct com- munication. When the conversation is fin- ished , the bell is again rung to signify the fact, and the attendant at the exchange dis- connects them. Batteries. Batteries are connected by attaching the carbon side of one cell to the zinc side of the next ; follow this for any number and there will always remain one carbon pole and one zinc pole to which line wires may be con- nected. Batteries should be examined occa- sionally and cleaned. Do not use more salamoniac than will readily dissolve and have a small amount in bottom of cell Place the batteries so they may not be ex posed to draughts or heat. Use soft rain- water in the solution. Six ounces of sala- moniac to a jar is enough. When the bat- teries appear to be doing too much work or become weak, examine all connections ; look for leaks where wires cross or touch. Test each battery separately by connecting it with the two poles of a bell used for that purpose, 141 38 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC The practical mechanic — the amateur workman — the busy man of affairs — the housekeeper — the farmer, have occasions for useful information about the common mater- ials used in building and repairing and for the tables and measurements used in the different trades and business pursuits, which are seldom found outside of books treating of special trades. These facts and figures also enable one to deal intelligently with the mechanic and tradesman. They are time- savers^ and hence 2iX& money- makers. Such information is only secured after long and diligent search and comparison of adthori ties. We give many of the important ones. FACTS AND FIGURES FOR EVERY DAY USE Shingles. The best shingles are of white cedar. When of good quality, they will last 40 to 50 years in our Northern States. Cypress and white pine are much used for shingles, but will not last half as long as white cedar. Shingles are packed 250 to the bundle, or 4 bundles to i ,000. I Bundle 16-inch shingles will cover 30 square feet. I Bundle 18- inch shingles will cover 33 square feet. When laid 5 >^ inches to the weather , 5 lbs . 4° or 3^ lbs. 3° nails will lay i ,000 shingles. Clap- Boards. I Bundle laid 3}^ inches to the weather will cover 26 square feet. Painting. For outside wood work, paint made from white lead ground in linseed oil is most used. If the oil is 7'aw, or unboiled, d?yer is added ; if boiled, no dryer is necessary. Not less than four coats should be applied — five are better. Paint, ready mixed, put up in cans or kegs, may be procured from manufacturers or dealers. These paints have to be thinned by adding i pint of oil to about 2)4 lbs. of paint. When thinned, i lb. will cover about 2 square yards of first-coat, 3 yards of second, and 4 yards of each subsequent coat ; or i^ lbs. to the square yard will be required for 4 coats, and i^^ lbs. for 5 coats. For inside ivork, either white lead or oxide of zinc is used, and for good work 4 coats are necessary. For iron exposed to the zveather, metallic paints, such as yellow and red iron ochres or brown hematite ore, finely pulverized and mixed with oil or dryer, are best. For iron subject to the action of water, red lead is best. Plastered walls should stand a year before painting. Painting is measured by the square yard, girding every part of the work that is covered by paint and allowing an addition to the actual surface for the difficulty of covering deep quirk of moldings and for " cutting in " as in sash and shelving, or where there is a change of color, on same work. Painter's Putty. Spanish whiting, 1 Made into a stiff paste. pulverized, 80.6 1 If not intended for im- Boiled oil, 20.4 | mediate use, raw oil J should be used. One pound of putty for stopping every 20 yards. Glazier's Putty. Whiting, 70 lbs. ; boiled oil, 30 lbs. ; water, 2 ' galls. Mix. If too thin, add more whiting ; if too thick, add more oil. To Soften Putty. To remove old putty from broken win- dows, dip a small brush in nitro-muriatic acid or caustic soda (concentrated lye), and with it anoint or paint over the dry puttj' that adheres to the broken glass and frames of your windows ; after an hour's interval the putty will have become so soft as to be easily removable. White and Other Washes. For outside wood-work. In a tight bushel, slake half a bushel of fresh lime by pouring over it boiling water sufficient to cover it 4 or 5 inches deep, stir until slaked : add 2 lbs. of sulphate of zinc dis- solved in water, add water enough to bring all to the consistency of thick whitewash. 42 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 29 For inside work. Add 2 quarts of thin size to a pailful of wash just before using. The common practice of mixing salt with whitewash should not be permitted. For brick or sto7ie-work. Slake ^ bushel 3f lime, as before, in a barrel ; then fill the barrel Yi full of water and add a bushel of hydraulic cement ; add 3 lbs. sulphate of zinc dissolved in water. These washes may be colored by adding powdered ochre, umber, etc. Stone-Work. A perch of stone work is i rod long, ij^ feet thick and i foot high, and con- tains 24^ cubic feet. A cord of stone, like a cord of wood, contains 128 cubic feet, a-d will make a 100 cubic feet of wall. Three bushels of lime and a cubic yard of sand are usually estimated for a cord of stone . Stone walls are measured by the percai (24^ cubic feet). Openings less than 3 feet wide are counted solid ; over 3 feet deduc- ted, but 18 inches are added to the running measure for each jamb built. Arches are counted solid from their spring. Corners of buildings are measured twice. Pillars less than 3 feet are counted on 3 sides as lineal, multiplied by fourth side and depth. It is customary to measure all founda- tion and dimension stone by the cubic foot. Water tables and base courses by lineal feet. All sills and lintels or ashlar, by superficial feet, and no wall less than 18 inches thick. The greatest safe load per super. f^ bushels 13 lbs. 4 days 3 " Plastering laths are usually of white or yellow pine, i^ inches wide, % inch thick, and 3 or 4 feet long. They are nailed up horizontally, about Yz inch apart. The upright stud of partitions are spaced at such distances apart, (usually about 15 inches centre to centre), that the ends of the laths may be nailed to them. Laths are sold in bundles of 1,000 each. A square foot of surface re- quires ^Yz four-feet laths, or 1,000 such laths will cover 666 square feet. A carpenter can nail up the laths for from 40 to 60 square yards of plastering in a day of ten hours, depending on the number of angles in the room, etc. Plastering is always measured by the square yard for plain work, by the superficial foot for cornices of plain members, and by lineal foot for enriched or carved mouldings in cornices. Brick-Work. Brick-work is generally measured by 1,000 bricks laid in the wall. In conse- quence of variations in size of bricks, no rule for volume of laid brick can be exact. The following scale is given as a fair aver- age for general use. Bricks to a super, foot 7 14 21 28 35 \'' Wall= 40 lbs. 9^/ " = 94 " jy/ «< _j2i «' 18^' " =168 " 22^/ «» ^210 " Corners are not measured twice as in stone- work. Openings over 2 feet square are deducted. Arches are counted from the spring. Fancy work counted i>^ bricks for i. Pillars are measured on their face only. A cubic yard of mortar requires i cubic yard of sand and 9 bushels of lime, and will fill 50 hods. One thousand bricks, closely stacked, occupy about 56 cubic feet. One thousand old bricks, cleaned and loosely stacked, occupy about 72 cubic feet. One superficial foot of gauged arches requires 10 bricks. 43 30 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC Stock bricks commonly measure 824^ inches by 4^ inches by 2)^ inches, and weigh from 5 to 6 lbs. each. Paving-bricks should measure 9 inches by 4j^ inches by i^^f inches, and weigh about 4^ lbs. each. One yard of paving requires 36 stock bricks, of above dimensions, laid flat, or 52 on edge ; and 35 paving bricks laid flat, or 82 on edge. Slating. A square of slate or slating is 100 super- ficial feet. In measuring, the width of the eaves is allowed at the widest part. Hips, valleys, and cutting are to be measured lineal, and 6 inches width extra is allowed. The thickness of slates ranges from 3-16 to 5-16 of a inch, and their weight varies from 2.6 to 4.5 lbs. per square foot. The lap of slates varies from 2 to 4 inches. The standard is assumed to be 3 inches. To compute the nutnber of slates of a given size required per squares. Subtract 3 inches from the length of the slate, multiply the remainder by the width and divide by 2. Divide 14.400 by the number so found, and the result will be the number of slates required. The pitch of a slate roof should not be less than i in. height to 4 in. length. Dimensions of slates. and numbers re- quired to a square. 12x6 requires 533 to the square ; 14x9 requires 291 ; 18x9 re- quires 213; 24x13 requires 105. Rules for Obtaining Approximate Weight of Iron. For Round Bars. Rule : Multiply the square of the diameter in inches by the length in feet, and that product by 2.6. The product will be the weight in pounds, nearly. For Square and Flat Bars. Rule : Multiply the area of the end of the bar in inches by the length in feet, and that by 3. 32. The product will be the weight in pounds, nearly. Wrought Iron, usually assumed : A cubic foot =r48o lbs. A square foot, i inch thick =40 " A bar i in. square, i foot long = 3>^" A " " " I yard long = 10 " To fiiid the weight of Cast- Iron Balls when the diameter is given. Rule: Multiply the cube of the diameter by •1377- To find the diameter of Cast- Iron Balls ivhen the weight is given. Rule : Multiply the cube root of the weight by 1.936. To find the weight of a Spherical Shell. From the weight of a ball of the outer di- ameter subtract the weight of the inner diameters. To Test Quality of Iron. If fracture gives long silky fibres of leaden-gray hue, fibres cohering and twist- ing together before breaking, may be con- sidered a tough, soft iron. A medium even grain mixed with fibres, a good sign. A short, blackish fibre indicates badly-refined iron. A very fine grain denotes a hard, steely ij'on, apt to be cold, short, hard to work with the file. Coarse grain with brilliant crystallized fracture, yellow or brown spots, denotes a brittle iro7i, cold, short, working easily when heated ; welds easily. Cracks on the edge of bars, sign of hot, short iron. Good iron is readily heated, soft under the hammer, and throws out but few sparks. All iron contains more or less carbon — the hardest the most. The breaking strain on various metals is shown in the following table, the size of the rod tested being in each case one inch square, and the number of pounds the actual breaking strain : Pounds. Hard steel, 150,000 Soft steel, 120,000 Best Swedish iron, 84,000 Ordinary bar iron, 70,000 Silver, 41,000 Copper, 35.000 Gold, 22,000 Tin, 5.500 Zinc, 2,600 Lead, 860 Average Weight of Animals. Cart-horse, 14 cwt. Riding-horse, 11 cwt. Ox, 7 to 8 " Pig, I to i>^ " Cow, 6>^ to 8 " Sheep, i Average weight of a man, 140 lbs. A dense crowd of people, 85 lbs. pel square foot. 44 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 31 Average Number of Cubic Feet Per Ton of Various Substances for Estimating Work or Stowage. Iron 4.7 Ivcad 3.2 Brick 22 Clay 22 Sand 24 Earth, loose 28 Granite 16 Oak 39.5 Ash 45 Cedai 72 Mahogany, sp 45 Deal 50 Pine, red 55 " yellow 77 Water, fresh 36 salt '. . . . 35 Coke 90 Coal (stowed) 48 Wood (equivalent) requires 288 WORKSHOP RECIPES A Home=Made Lubricator. — Tallow and plumbago thoroughly mixed make the best lubri- cator for surfaces when one is wood or when both are wood. Oil is not so good as tallow to mix with plumbago for the lubrication of wooden surfaces, because oil penetrates and saturates the wood to a greater degree than tallow, causing it to swell more. To Protect Metal Surfaces From Rusting. — Melt I oz. of resin in a gill of linseed oil, and while hot mix with it two quarts of kerosene oil. This can be kept ready to apply at any time with a brush or rag to any tools or implements required to lay by for a time, preventing any rust, and sav- ing much vexation when the tool is to be used again. Qlue to Resist Moisture. — i lb. cf glue melted in 2 quarts skim-milk. Marine Qlue. — i part of India-rubber, 12 parts of mineral naphtha or coal-tar. Heat gently, mix, and add 20 parts of powdered shellac. Pour out on a slab to cool. When used, to be heated to about 250°. Glue Cement to Resist Moisture. — i part glue, I part black rosin, ^ part red ochre. Mixed with least possible quantity of water. Or 4 parts of glue, or I part oxide of iron, i part of boiled oil (by weight). To Remove Rust From Steel. — Steel which has been rusted can be cleaned by brushing with a paste compound of ^ oz. cyanide potassium, y^ oz. castile soap, i oz. whiting, and water sufficient to form a paste. The steel should be washed with a solution of Yz oz. cyanide potassium in 2 oz. water. To Preserve Steel From Rust. — i part caoutchouc, 16 parts turpentine. Dissolve with a gentle heat, then add 8 parts boiled oil. Mix by bringing them to the heat of boiling water ; apply to the steel with a brush, in the way of varnish. It may be removed with turpentine. To Clean Brass. — i part Roche alum and 16 parts water. Mix. The articles to be cleaned must be made warm, then rubbed with the above mix- ture, and finished with fine tripoli. Blue Print Solution for Photographer.— i pint citrate of iron ammonia, 2 pints red prussiate of potash, I pint gum arable, 3 pints water. Do.— i^ oz. red prussiate of potash in 11 oz. water, i^ oz. citrate of ammonia in 5 oz. water. Mix together and keep in dark place. Corrections can be made with a pen dipped in a solution of I caustic soda. Also by bi-carbonate of soda. Also by a solution of lime. Tinning Acid for Zinc or Brass.— Zinc, 3 oz.; muriatic acid, i pt. Dissolve, and add i pt. water and i oz. sal-ammoniac. To Solder Brass Easily. — Cut out a piece of tinfoil the size of the surface to be soldered. Then apply to the surface a solution of sal-ammoniac for a flux. Place the tinfoil between the pieces, and apply a hot soldering-iron uutil the tinfoil is melted. To Solder Without Heat.— Steel filings, 2 oz.; brass filings, 2 oz. ; fluoric acid, iX oz. Dis- solve the fillings in the acid, and apply to the parts to be soldered, having first thoroughly cleaned the parts to be connected. Keep the fluoric acid in earthen or lead vessels only. To Tin Brass and Copper. — Make a mixture of 3 lbs. cream of tartar, 4 lbs. tin shavings, and 2 gallons water, and boil. After the mixture has boiled sufficiently, ptit in the articles to be tinned, and continue the boiling. The tin will be precipi- tated on the articles. To Use in Case of Burns. — A free application of soft soap to a fresh burn almost instantly removes the fire from the flesh. If the injury is very severe, as soon as the pain ceases apply linseed oil, and then dust over with fine flour. When this covering dries hard, repeat the oil and flour dressing until a good coating is obtained. When the latter dries, allow it to stand until it cracks and falls off, as it will in a day or two, and a new skin will be found to have formed where the skin was burned. How to Mix Inks or Paints for Tints. — A larger quantity of the first-named color must always be used. Dark green and purple make bottle green. White and medium yellow make buff tint. Red, black, and blue make dark brown. - Bronze blue, lemon yellow, and black make dark green. White, medium yellow, and black make drab tint. Whive, lake, and lemon yellow make flesh tint. Lemon yellow and bronze blue make grass green. White and black make gray tint. White and purple make lavender tint. Red, black, and medium yellow make maroon. L'lke and purple make magenta. Medium yellow and purple make olive green. Medium yellow and red make orange. White, ultramarine blue, and black make pearl tint. White and lake make pink. Ultra- marine blue and lake make purple. Orange, lake, and purple make russet. Medium yellow, red. and 45 i^ THE PRACnCAL MECHANIC white make sienua. White and ultramarine blue make sky blue. Ultramarine blue, black, and white make slate. Vermillion and black make Turkey red. White, yellow, red, ^ud black make umber. Time=Savers. — We give the following figures as worth remembering. They will save calculation and give approximately accurate results with least amount of labor: Four loads, (cubic yds.) of stone, three bushels of lime and a cubic yard of sand, will lay one hundred cubic feet of wall. Five courses of brick will lay a foot in height on a chimney. Nine bricks in a course will make a flue eight inches wide and twenty inches long, and eight bricks in a course will make a flue eight inches wide and sixteen inches long. Eight bushels of good lime, sixteen bushels of sand and one bushel of hair, will make enough mortar to plaster oue hundred square yards. One-fifth more siding and flooring is needed than the number of square feet of surface to be covered, because j^f the lap in the siding and match- ing of the floor. One thousand laths will cover seventy yards of surface, and eleven pounds of lath nails will nail them on. One thousand shingles laid four inches to the weather, will cover one hundred square feet of sur- face, and five pounds of shingle nails will fasten them on. A Polish for Wocd. — The wooden parts of tools, such as the stocks of planes and handles of chisels, are often made to have a nice appearance by French polishing ; but this adds nothing to their durability. A much better plan is to let them soak in linseed oil for a week, and rub with a new cloth for a few minutes every day for a week or two. This produces a beautiful surface, and has a solidifying effect on the wood. To Calculate the Number of Shingles for a Roof. — To calculate number of shingles for a roof, ascertain number of square feet, and multiply by four, if two inches to weather, 8 for 4>< inches ; and 7 1-5 if 5 inches are exposed. The length of a rafter of one-third pitch is equal to three-fifths of width of building adding projection. A Chimney that Will Draw.— To build a chimney that will draw forever, and not fill up with soot, you must build it large enough, sixteen inches square ; use good brick, and clay instead of lime up to the comb ; plaster it inside with clay mixed with salt ; for chimney tops use the very best of brick, wet them and lay them in cement mortar. The chimney should not be built tight to beams and rafters ; there is where the cracks in your chimney comes, and where most of the fires origi- nate, as the chimney sometimes get red hot. A chimney built from the cellar up is better and less dangerous than one hung on the wall. Keeping Tools. — Keep your tools handy and in good condition. This applies everywhere and in every place, from the smallest shop to the great- 146 est mechanical establishment in the world. Every tool should have its exact place, and should always be kept there when not in use. Keeping tools in good order, and ready to use, is as necessary as keeping them in the proper place. To take up a dull saw, or a dull chisel, and try to do any kind of work with it, is worse than pulling a boat with a broom, and it all comes from just the same source as throwing down tools care- lessly — habit, nothing more or less. To say you have no time to sharpen is worse than outright lying, for, if you have time to use a dull tool, you have time to put it in good order. Three Thermometer Scales. — There are three standard thermometers in use, each a recog- nized standard iu oue or another part of the world. The scale of Reaumur (R.) prevails in Germany. As is well known, he divides the space between the freezing and boiling points into 80°. France uses that of Celsius (C), who graduated his scale on the decimal system. The most peculiar scale of all however, is that of Fahrenheit (F.), a renowned German physicist, who in 1714 or 17 15 composed his scale, having ascertained that water can oe cooled under the freezing point without congealing. He did not take the congealing point of water, which is uncertain, but composed a mixture of equal parts of snow and Sal Ammoniac^ about — 14° R. This scale is preferable to both those of Reau- mur and Celsius, or, as it is called, Centigrade, be cause: i. The regular temperatures of the moderate zone move within its two zeros, and can therefore be written without + or — • 2. The scale is divided so finely that it is not necessary to use fractions, when careful observations are to be made. These advantages, although drawn into question by some, have been considered so weighty, that both Great Britain and America have retained the scales, while the nations of the Continent use the other two. The conversion of any one of these scales into another is very simple, i. To change a temperature given by Fahrenheit's scale into the same given by the Centigrade scale, subtract 32° from Fahrenheit's degrees and multiply the remainder by 5-9. The product will be the temperature in Centigrade degrees. To change from Fahrenheit's to Reaumur's scale, subtract 32° from Fahrenheit's degrees, and multiply the remainder by 4-9. The product will be the temperature in Reaumur's degrees. 3. To change a temperature given by the Centigrade scale into the same given by Fahrenheit, multiply the Centigrade degrees by 9-5, and add 32° to the product. The sum will be the temperature by Fahrenheit's scale. 4. To change from Reaumur's to Fahrenheit's scale, multiply the degrees on Reaumur's scale b}' 9-4, and add 32° to the product. The sum will be the temperature by Fahrenheit's scale. Weighing Liquids.— One gallon of pure water weighs nearly 8>^ lbs. avoirdupois. "A pint is a pound " is an old saying, and very nearly true. The gallon containing 231 cubic inches, is the standard unit of wine measure. The British gallon, called the Imperial gallon, contains 277.274 cubic inches. THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 33 ENGINES AND BOILERS steam Boilers. — For all boilers three differ- ent parts, viz., fire-surface, water-space ar.d steam- room, must be considered. Kach part or division has a distinct and separate duty to perform. The fire-surface includes "the furnace and combustion chamber, flues and tubes ; the water-space is that part occupied by the water ; and the steam-room is the reservoir which holds and supplies the steam necessary to run the engine. For convenience, we may state that all steam- boilers are either internally or externally fired. When the fuel is burned in an iron furnace sur- rounded with a water-jacket or water-log, as in the case of the locomotive, marine and portable boilers, they are internally fired. Cylinder- flue, double- deck, tubulous and sectional boilers are said to be externally fired, because the fuel is burned in a brick furnace lined with fire-brick. A perfect steam-boiler should be made of the best material sanctioned by use, and should be simple in construction. It should have a constant and thorough circulation of water throughout the boiler, so as to maintain all parts at one tempera- ture. There should be a combustion chamber so ar- ranged that the combustion of the gases com- menced in the furnace may be completed before the escape to the chimney. Have all parts readily accessible for cleaning and repairs. In every boiler there should be ample water- surface for the disengagement of the steam from the water in order to prevent foaming. There should also be a large excess of strength over any legitimate strain, and proportioned for the work to be done. Only the very best gauges, safety-valves, fusible plugs, and other fixtures should be used. Jn a water-tube boiler there should be from lo to 12 square feet of heating surface for one horse-power ; in a tubular boiler 14 to 18 square feet of heating surface for one horse- power ; in a flue boiler 8 to 12 square feet of heating surface for one horse-power ; a plain cylinder boiler should have from 6 to 10 square feet of heating surface for one horse-power ; a. locomotive ^£>z7^r should have 12 to 16 square feet of heating surface for one horse- power ; a vertical boiler should have from 15 to 20 square feet of heating surface for one horse-power. When considering the heating surface of a boiler, a vertical or upright surface has only one- half the evaporative value of a horizontal surface above the flamet ; that is, the sides of a locomotive fire-box are only half as effective per square foot as the flat top of the box. In flues and tubes, the effct- ive surface, measured on the circumference, is i^( dmes the diameter. Useful Rules for Calculations. To find the fire-grate surface of flue boilers. ^-Square the nominal horse-power, and divide it by the heating surface in square yards ; the quo- tient will be the fire-grate surface in square fefet — 147 or, one square foot of fire-grate surface per nominal horse-power. 7o find the heating surface of a flue boiler. — Square the nominal horse- power as indicated by the manufacturer's receipt or bill of sale, and divide that by the fire grate surface in square feet ; the quotient will be the heating surface in square yards. Capacity of boiler flue. — One cubic yard of boiler capacity for each nominal horse-power. Steain-rootn should be about eight times the con- tents of the cylinder of the engine supplied with steam bv the boiler. Tubular or marine boilers. — Each nominal horse power requires the evaporation of one cubic foot of water per hour ; 12 square feet of heating surface, only three-fourths of the whole tube sur- face being taken as effective ; and 30 square inches of fire-grate per nominal horse-power. The sec- tional area of the tubes to be about one-sixth of the fire grate. General rule for all classes of boilers. — Twelve square feet of heating surface and three- fourths square foot of fire-grate per nominal horse- power, are very good proportions. temp:erature indicated by the coi.or of THE EIRE. To determine the temperature of a furnace fire from the color of the flame : Faint red 960° F. Bright red 1,300° F. Cherry red 1,600° F. Dull orange 2,000° F. Bright orange 2,100° F. White heat 2,400° F. Brilliant white heat 2,700° F. How to Care for Boilers. Every one who owns a steam-boiler, as well as the engineer who is responsible for the same, should at all times exercise the greatest care. A fifteen-story building may be fire-proof and ever so strong, yet a defective boiler in the basement or carelessness in its management, may cause an explosion which will wreck the whole structure. The following suggestions are important : I. Great care should be exercised to see that safety-valves are ample in size and in working order. Overloading or neglect frequently leads to the most disastrous results. Safety-valves should be tried at least once a day to see if they will act properly. 2.' The first duty of an engineer before start- ing is to see that the water is at the proper height. Do not rely on glass gauges, floats or water alarms, but try the gauge-cocks. 3. The steam-gauge should stand at zero when the pressure is off, and it should show same pressure as the safety-valve when the latter is blow- mg off. If not, then one is wrong, and the gauge should be tested by one known to be correct. 34 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 4. Both gauge-cocks and water-gauges must be kept clean. Water-gauges should be blown out frequently, and the glasses and passages to gauge kept clean. 5. Feed-pumps or injectors should be kept in perfect order, and of ample size. No make of pump can be expected to be continuously reliable without regular and careful attention. It is always safe to have two means of feedmg the boiler. Check- valves and self acting feed-valves should be fre- quently examined and cleaned. Satisfy yourself that the valve is actmg when the feed-pump is at work. 6. Cold water should never be fed into a boiler if it can be avoided, but, when necessary, it should be caused to mix with the heated water before coming in contact with any portion of the boiler. 7. In case of low water immediately cover the fire with ashes (wet if possible) or any earth that may be at hand. If nothing else is handy use fresh coal. Draw fires as soon as it can be done without incre.ising the heat'. Neither turn on the feed, start or slof^ engine, or lift safety-valve until fires are out a 11 J (i. e boiler cooled doivn. 8. Fusible plugs, when used, niu'^t be exam- ined when the boiler is cleaned, and carefully scraped clean on both water and fire sides, or they are liable not to act. ' 9. Moderately thick fires are most economical, but thin firing must be used when draught is poor. Take care to keep the grates evenly covered, and allow no air-holes in the fire. Be especially careful to lay the coal along the sides and in the corners. All lumps should bebrokcu into the size of aman's fist. With bituminous coal, firing in front, and then shoving the coal back, when it is coked, gives the best result. Do not " clean " fires oftener than necessary. The cleaning of the fire is best done, in ordinary working, by a "rake," or other tool, working on the under side of the grate, and not by a "slice-bar," driven into the mass of fuel above the grates. 10. Clean all heating surfaces outside and in, or there will be serious waste of fuel. As a rule, never allow over one-sixteenth scales or soot to colljct on surfaces between cleanings. Hand-holes should be frequently removed, and surfaces exam- ined, particularly in case of a new boiler, until proper intervals between cleanings have been estab- lished by experience. Examine mud-drums and remove sediment therefrom. 11. When foaming occurs in a boiler, check- ing the outflow of the steam will usually stop it. If caused by dirty water, blowing down and pump- ing up will generally cure it. In cases of violent foaming, check the draught and cover the fires. 12. Never empty the boiler while the brick- work is hot. 13. Don't indulge in rapid firing. Steam should be raised slowly from a cold boiler. 14. If a boiler is not required for some time, empty and dry it thoroughly. If this is imprac- tical, fill it quite full of water, and put in a quan- tity of common washing soda. 15. All things about the boiler-room should be kept clean and in good order. Negligence tends to waste and decay. For the Engineer and Firemen Always start your engine slowly, so that the air and water condensation can be expelled from your cold cylinder ; then you will gradually bring it to its regular speed. Keep open the drip cock, both in the front and back ends of the cylinder, when the engine is standing still, and never close them until all the water has dripped out. Never let in any oil or tallow to your cylinder until it is made hot by the steam. Be careful not to put in too much oil at any time, knowing, as you do, that it will be sent to the feed-water causing your boiler to prime and foam. Always oil up before starting your engine. Generally, when you pack the piston packing, both cylinder and packing are cold, and if they are screwed or wedged in very tight while in this con- dition that the expansion, when exposed to the heat of the steam, will induce great rigidity. Then the oil or lubricating substance cannot enter between the surfaces in contact, and that great friction, heating and cutting will be the result. When packing loses its elasticity it is no good, and should be removed. Piston or valve-rod packing, should never be screwed up more than sufficient to prevent it from leaking, and that the softer the packing the longer it will last and the better your engine will run. For Steam = Heating of Houses. — To esti- mate for the steam-heating of dwellings it is safe to allow one square foot of boiler surface for each ten square feet of radiating surface. Small boilers should be larger proportionately than large boilers. Each horse-power of boiler will supply from 250 to 350 feet of i-inch conducting pipes, which equals about 80 to 120 square feet of radiating sur- face. It is safe to estimate that under ordinary cir- cumstances, one horse-power of boiler capacity will heat about as follows : 15,000 to 20,000 cubic feet in brick buildings in blocks. 10,000 to 15,000 cubic feet in brick stores in blocks. 10,000 to 15,000 cubic feet in brick dwellings, exposed all sides. 7,000 to 10,000 cubic feet in brick mills, shops, etc. 7,000 to 10,000 cubic feet in wooden buildings exposed. 6,000 to 10,000 cubic feet in foundries and wooden shops. All the joints should be made steam and water tight, as the slightest leak in a steam-heating sys- tem is apt to damage furniture, curtains, carpets, etc., if the steam is intended to heat a dwelling. Red or white lead is all right as material to make up joints, but graphite is much better. For gas- kets there is nothing better than asbestos. THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 35 How to Thaw Out a Frozen Steani=Pipe. — A good way to thaw out a frozea-up steam-pipe, is lo take some old cloth, discarded clothes, waste, old carpet, or anything of that kind, and lay on the pipe to be thawed ; then get some boiling hot water and pour it on. The cloth will hold the heat on the pipe, and thaw it out in five minutes. This holds good in any kind of a freeze, water-wheel, or anything else. Steam as a Cleansing Agent. — For cleaning greasy machinery nothing can be found that is more useful than steam. A steam hose attached to the boiler can be made to d :> better work in a few minutes than any one is able to do in hours of close application. The principal advantages of steam are, that it will penetrate where an instru- ment will not enter, and where anything else would be ineffectual to accomplish the desired result. Journal boxes with oil cellars will get filthy in lime, and are difl&cult to clean in the ordinary way ; but, if they can be removed, or are in a favorable place, so that steam can be used, it is a veritable play-work to rid them of any adhering substance. What is especially satisfactory in the use of steam, is that it does not add to the filth. Water and oil spread the foul matter, and thus make an additional amount of work. Suggestion for Hot=Water Heating Sys- tems. — Let your " risers" not be less than T-%" , for smaller pipes goon become coated, if the water used contains lime or other matters in solution or suspension. Galvanized pipe is best; it does not become rusty and discolor the water. In ordinary pipe be sure to get ' ' galvanized steam," and not " galvanized gas." Let your draw-off services be for bath i" , to lavatories \'' , for hot water y^'' . Do not make the "draw-offs" too small; it takes too long to drain a pipe of cold water. The larger the pipes the freer the circulation, and, if you have hard water, they will remain in good order longer. Be sure that all joints are secure and free from leaks, and always look through a pipe before fit- ting it in place, to see that there is no dirt or im- pediment to the flow of the water through it. Avoid the use of elbows in circulating pipes, use only bends ; if you cannotavoid using an elbow, see that it is a round one. A Cheap Filter. — A cheap filter which any tinner can make is 12 x 6 inches in size, and 8 inches high. The water flows in near the top, and on the top is a door through which to get into it to clean it. The outlet pipe at the bottom projects 2 inches up on the inside to hold the dirt back. A large sponge is placed inside, which forms the filtering medium, which, of course, can be cleaned as often as desired. The place of the sponge may be taken by powdered charcoal placed in a cotton bag. TABLES OF MEASURE AND WEIGHT Linjar Measure. 12 inches = i foot 3 feet = "} = 5}i yards leyi feet 320 rods 5,280 feet 4 rods I yard. I rod. 100 links J = I mile. = I chain. = I square yard. : square rod. Square Measure. 144 square inches = i square foot 9 square feet = i 2,0% square yards \ 272X square feet J 160 square rods \ _ ^^^ 10 square chains J Cubic Measure. 1,728 cubic inches = i cubic foot. 27 cubic feet = i cubic yard. 128 cubic feet = i cord. 24^ cubic feet = i perch of stone. Dry Measure. 2 pints = I quart. 8 quarts = i peck. 4 pecks 1^1 bushel. 2150.4 cubic inches J Liquid Measure. 4 gills = I pint. 2 pints = I quart. 23 149 4 quarts ") „ I cubic inches | = ^ ^^^on. Avoirdupois Weight. 16 ounces 1 , 7,ooQ.grains | = ^ P^"*^*!- 2,000 pounds rr: I ton. 2,240 pounds = I long ton. Troy Weight 24 grains = i pennyweight. 21 pennyweights = I ounce, 12 ounces ") , 5,760 grains | = ^ POund. Apothecaries' Weight. 20 grains = i scruple. 3 scruples = i fluid dram. 8 fluid drams = i ounce. 12 fluid ounces = i pound. Apothecaries ' Measure. 60 minims = i fluid dram. 8 fluid drams = i ounce. 10 fluid ounces = i pint. Time Measure. 60 seconds = i minute. 60 minutes = i hour. 24 hours = I day. 7 days = I week. 365 days = I year. 366 days =r I leap year. i^ THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC Circular Measure. 60 seconds = i minute. 60 minutes ^= i degree. 360 degrees =^ i circle English Money. 4 farthings ^= i penny. 12 pennies = i shilling. 20 shillings = i pound. 21 shillings = i guinea. Surveyors^ Linear Measure. 7.92 inches = i link. 25 links = I rod. 100 links or four rods = i chaiL. 80 chains = i mile. Paper Measure. 24 sheets = i quire. 20 quires = i ream. 2 reams = i bundle. 5 bundles = i bale. Notes. — The chain {ch.), used by surveyors is called Gunter's chain, and consists of 100 links (/.). Its length is 792 inches, equal to 66 feet, or 4 rode. Its divisions are decimal, so that chains and links may be written as one number in the same manner as dollars and cents, Thus, since 35 links equal .35 of a chain, 35 links is written 25 .J5 chains. Any year the number of which is exactly divisible by 4, but not by 100, is a leap year. When the number is divisible exactly by 400 it is also a ieap year. The solar or tropical year has a length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 49.7 seconds. The Metric System. 1. The Metric System of weights and meas- ures has been legalized in the United States. Its fundamental unit is the meter, from which all the other units of the system are derived. The meter is equal to 30.37 + inches. 2. The meter is defined as the ten-millionth part of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole, measured on the meridian passing through Paris. Later measurements have shown that the meter does not exactly correspond with the length required by the definition. 3. The principal point of superiority of the metric measures is in their decimal scale. As in the case of United States money, several denomi- nations may be written together as one number. Thus, 9 Mm. 7 Km. 5 Hm. 3 Dm. 8 m. 4 dm. 6 cm. 5 mm. may be written as one denomination : 97538465 mm., or 9753846.5 cm., or 97538.465 m., or 9 7538465 Mm., etc. Reduction ascending and reduction descending thus become a mere matter of moving the decimal point. Metric Heasures. 10 millimeters {mm.) = 1 centimeter, . . . rm. 10 centimeters = i decimeter, . . . d/n. 10 decimeters = i meter, m. 10 meters 10 dekameters 10 hektometers 10 kilometers = I dekametei, . = 1 hektometer, = I kilometer, . I myriameter, Dm Hm. K^n. Mm. Metric Square Measure 100 sq. millemeters ^-^ — ^. — .»^.„wv— „ 100 sq. centimeters 100 sq. decimeters 100 sq. meters 100 sq. dekameters 100 sq. hektometers I sq. centimeter, I sq. decimeter, I sq. meter, I sq. dekameter, I sq. hektometer, = I sq. kilometer. 100 sq. hektometers = i sq. kilometer. Note. — The principal unit is the square meter, equal to 1. 196 sq. yds. Metric Land Measure. 100 centares (ca.) = i are, a. 100 ares = i hectare, Ha. Note. — The are, equal to a square dekameter, or 100 square meters, is 119.6 square yards, very nearly. The hektare is equal to 2.471 acres. Metric Cubic Measure. 1000 cubic millimeters = i cubic centimeter, 1000 cubic centimeters =; i cubic decimeter, 1000 cubic decimeters =; i cubic meter. Note. — The cubic vieler is equal to 35.3166 cubic feet. When used to measure wood or stone, it is called a stere (pronounced stair). Ten steres, called a dekastere, are equal to 2.759 cords. rietric Capacity Measure. I centiliter, {cl.) I deciliter, {dl.) I liter, (/.) I dekaliter, {Dl.) I hektoliter, {HI.) I kiloliter, (A7.) 10 milliliters {ml.) = 10 centiliters = 10 deciliters = 10 liters = 10 dekaliters ^= 10 hektoliters = The liter, {I.), equal to a cubic decimeter, is 61.028 cubic inches, 2.1135 pints, or 33.816 fluid ounces. The unit of measure for small quantities of liquids, as in mixing medicines and in philo- sophical experiments, is the milliliter, equal to 16.23 niinims. A gallon is equal to 5.785 /., and 2.8375 bush, make a HI. rietric Weight. I centigram, {eg.) I decigram, {dg.) I gram, {g.) I dekagram, {Dg.) I hektogram, {Hg.) I kilogram or kilo. Kg I tonne, (7".) 10 milligrams {mg.) = 10 centigrams = 10 decigrams = 10 grams .= 10 dekagrams = 10 hektograms = -000 kilos = Note i. — The gram is equal to 15.4323 grainSs the ktlo to 2.2046 lb. avoirdupois, and the tonne to 2204.6 lb. avoirdupois. Tonne is rarely used, the number of kilos being preferable. The weight of one cubic cetititneter of pure water at its greatest density (39.2° Fahrenheit) is a gram ; the weight of a cubic decimeter, or a liter, o{ water at the same temperature is a kilogram, or a kilo, and the weight of a cubic meter of water is a tonne. 150 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC 37 The origioal 5-cent nickel weighs 5 grams, and rs 2 centimeters in diameter. Equivalents. Metre = 39-37 inches (3X ft. nearly). Kilometre = .62138 mile (j^ nearly). Square metre =■ 1.196 square yards (i 1-5 nearly). Cubic metre = 1.308 cubic yards (i 1-3 nearly). I,itre = I cu. dm. = 1.0567 liquid quarts (i nearly). = .908 dry quart (.9 nearly). Kilogram = The weight of i cu. dm. of water at 29. 2 Fah. = 2.2046 pounds av. (2 1-5 nearly). Hektare = 10,000 sq. m. = 2.471 acres (2^ nearly). Stere = i cu. m. = .2759 cord (3- 1 1 nearly). Miscellaneous Tables. Linear Measures. 3 barley-corns, or sizes = i inch. Used by shoe- makers. r Used to measure '■ the height of horses at the l_ shoulder. 21.888 inches = i sacred cubit. {Used to meas- ure depths at sea. 3 feet = I pace. 4 inches = I hand. \ 1.152% common miles = i geog. mi. 3 geographic miles = i league. Book Measure. The book is Used to m easure distances at sea. A sheet folded into 2 leaves 4 " 8 " 12 " 16 " 18 " a folio, a quarto or 4to, an octavo or 8vo, 16 a duodecimo or i2mo, 24 a i6mo, 32 an i8mo, 36 A sheet of paper makes 4 PP- (pages) The weight of a bushel of certain articles is as follows : Barley, . . . Beans, . . . Buckwheat, Bran, . . . Com, . . . Com meal, . Corn in ear, Clover seed, Flax seed, . , 48 lb. , 60 " ,42 " , 20 " 56 " 50 •' 68 " 60 " 56 " Hemp seed, ... 44 lb. Oats, 32 " Onions, 60 " Peas 60 " Potatoes 60 " Rye, 56 " Salt, 56 " Timothy seed, . 45 " Wheat, 60 " Miscellaneous Weights and Measures. 100 lb. of grain or flour r:^ i cental. 100 " dry fish — I quintal. 100 lb. of nails 196 " flour 200 " beef or pork 240 " lime 280 " saltatN. Y. Keg powder. Stone of lead or iron Pig = I keg. = I barrel. = I barrel. = I cask. Salt Works = i barrel. = 25 pounds. = 14 pounds. = '2.1% stone. Anthracite coal, broken, cubic foot averages 54 lbs. A ton, loose, occupies 40 to 43 cubic feet. Bituminous coal, broken, cub. ft. averages 49 lbs. A ton, loose, occupies 40 to 43 ft. Cement (Hy.) Rosendale, Bush. ^= 70 lbs. " " lyouisville, " =-62 " " " Portland, " =96" Gypsum, ground, " =70 '« Ivime, loose, " =70 '« " well shaken, " =80 " Sand at 98 lbs. per cu. ft. " =-I22>^ «' 18.29 bush. = ton I.] 81 ton = cu. yd A cable's length = 240 yards. 20 articles = I score. 12 dozen = I gross. 12 gross =■ I great gross. A cord of wood = 128 cubic feet. I hand =^ 4 inches. I span = 9 inches. Shoemaker's Measure. No. I, of small size is 4^ inches long. No. I, of large size is 8 11-24 inches long. Each succeeding number of either size is Yj, of an inch additional length. 60 pairs of shoes = i case. An American Car Load Of 20,000 lbs. would contain the following articles : 70 bbl. salt. 70 of lime. 90 of flour. 70 of whiskey. 200 sacks of flour. 6 cords of soft wood. 15 to 20 head of cattle. 50 to 60 head of hogs. 80 to 100 head of sheep. 6000 feet of solid boards. 340 bush, of wheat. 400 of corn. 680 of oats. 400 of barley. 360 of flaxseed. 360 of apples. 430 of Irish potatoes. 300 of sweet potatoes. 100 of bran. 130 to 190 barrels of eggs. 15,000 to 26,000 lbs. of butter. 200 kegs of nails. On roads, with track in best condition, a car load is from 24,000 to 60,000 lbs. 151 231 268 277. 2150. 2216. 2747. 1000 8i- 5760 7000 24. 36 niscellaneous Equivalents. cu. in. = I gal. liquid measure. 4-5 " =1 gal. dry measure. 274 " =1 imperial gal. of Great Britain. 42 " r= I bushel of U. S. 192 " =1 " " Great Britain. 7 " =1 heaped bushel. oz. or diYz lb. = I cu. ft. of pure water. -3 lb. pure water = i gallon. grains = i lb. Troy or apothecaries'. " = I " avoirdupois. 75 cu. ft. = I perch of masonry, to 45 cu. ft. ■= I ton anthracite coal. 38 THE PRACTICAL MECHANIC Bible Weights and fleasures. A day's journey =r 11 1-5 U. S. miles. A Sabbath-day's jouruey r=- I " mile Ezekiel's reed = II feet nearly. Cubit — Hebrew = 22 inches, nearly. Greek = i8 " about. A finger's breadth =r I inch, " A shekel of silver = 62^ cents. A " gold = $8.09. A talent of silver = 11,518.32. gold = $23,309. A piece of silver == 13 cents. A farthing -= 3 " A gerah — ■xYz " A mite = \)A mills. A homer (as dry measure = II 1-9 bushels. A " ( " liquid " ) — 70 gallons and 5 pints An ephah or bath = 7 " " 4 " A bin r^ I gallon " 2 " A firkin = 7 " An omer = 6 " A cab = 3 " A log = % " Capacity of Cylindrical Cisterns. The following table shows the capacity in gal- lons for one foot in depth of cylindrical cisterns of any dimensions. Find the diameter of any given cistern and multiply the number of gallons for one foot by the depth of the cistern, and you will have its volume in gallons : Diameter. Gallons. Diameter. Gallons. 2 feet 19 6>^ feet 206 2^ feet 30 7 feet 239 3 feet 44 8 feet 313 4 feet 78 9 feet 396 4>^ feet 99 10 feet 489 5 feet 122 1 1 feet 592 6 feet 176 12 feet 705 Mensuration ; or, Useful Rules for Computing Measurements. Area of a triangle = base X K altitude. Area of a parallelogram, multiply base by altitude. Area of a trape- j altitude X K the sum of par- zoid \ allel sides. Area of a trape- f divide into two triangles and zium \ find area of the triangles. Circumference | •,- , . . of circle = I diameter X 3-1416. Diameter of cir- f . ^ s., ^ cle = \ cicumference X •3183- Area of circle = { Area of circular ring Side of square that shall equal area of circle Diameter of cir- cle that shall contain area = of a given square square of the diameter mul- tiplied by .7854. diameters of the two circles X difference of diameter and that product by .7854. diameter X 8812 or circum- ference X .2821. side of square X 1.1284. Surface of cylin- f der or prism \ Coutents of cyl- i inder or ^= \ prism Surface of sphere Contents of sphere Contents of py- r ramid or cone^' \ Surface of frus- tum of cone =^ or pyramid Contents of frus- | trum of cone= -j or pyramid I Contents of a f wedge ~ \ area of both ends -|- length X circumference. \ area of end X length. \ diameter X circumference. =^ diameter.3 X -5236. area of base X Yi altitude. sum of circumference at both ends X slant height -}- area of both ends. multiply areas of two ends together and extract square root. Add to this root the two areas and X Yi altitude. area of base X X altitude. 152 Lumber and its Measurement. A board foot is i foot long, i foot wide, and i inch thick, and is used as the unit of measurement. What is called scantling lumber is 3 or 4 inches wide, and from 2 to 4 inches thick. Joist is usually narrow and deep. When lumber is heavier than joist or scantling it is called timber. Thick boards are called planks. The usual out- side covering of wooden houses is siding. If lumber is less than i inch in thickness it is considered as inch in computing the measure- ment. But a fraction greater than a half-inch is called an inch, and if less than a half it is rejected. A board 45-6 inches wide would be considered as 5 inches. A board 16 feet long, 12 inches wide, and i inch thick would contain (16 X 12 X ^)-'- ^2, or 16 feet. A board 12 feet long, 14 inches wide, and 3 inches thick, would contain (12 X I4 X 3) -:- 12, or 42 feet, board measure. To find the number of board feet in any pile of lumber : Multiply the length in feet by breadth in feet and by thickness in inches, and the result by number of boards. To Compute Volume of Square Timber. When all the dimensions are in feet : Rule. Multiply the breadth by the depth and that pioduct by the length, and the product will give the volume in cubic feet. When either of the dimensiotts are in inches : Rule. Multiply the length, breadth and depth and divide by 12. When any two of the diinensions are in inches: Rule. Multiply the length, breadth and depth and divide by 144. To Measure Round Timber take the girth in inches at both the large and small ends, add them, divide by two, which gives the mean girth ; then multiply the length in feet by the square of one- fourth of the mean girth, and the quotient will be the contents in cubic feet. This rule is commonly adopted, and gives four-fifths of the true contents, one-fifth being allowed to the purchaser for waste in sawing. ^ ^-4. ^3:: o o ^ •^b- s ^i■ § s^ t/> j^- ^ o 2 ^ s- ^ ^ ^ e o > S. "^ W v" ^ir f 0^5 a S- Kj ^ Q <^ w e § > s s- O Cl, W o- rl ^ % V o »A. i § •;s-, o H ^ r< y^ c^ •^ o ca ve ^ Pi- BOOK IV. BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Every one has a smile and a helping hand for the courteous man or woman, while the rude person, even if mistaken through ignorance, offends everybody. Ordinary politeness is so much governed by custom that it is easy for anyone to learn and use in every-day life ; and all these rules are given in this book sensibly as practised by the best society. The etiquette of conversation, parties of all kinds, visiting, receiving guests, weddings, funerals, and all private and public occasions, is made clear and easy to follow with confidence. There are also valuable instructions in the art of letter-writing, and what to wear on all occasions. Book of Etiquette WHAT TO DO— WHAT TO WEAR— WHAT TO SAY— WHAT TO WRITE- THE CORRECT THING AT HOME— AT PARTIES— AT WEDDINGS —AT ALL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FUNCTIONS GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GOOD MANNERS Good manners stand next to a good heart in adapting men and women to the community in which they live. Indeed, so far as the opinion of ordinary society rules, they go further, for however gifted by nature or education one may be, or however well-intentioned and virtuous in conduct, if he is ignorant of the customs and require- ments of good society, is awkward or un- graceful in manner, careless in speech, and heedless of social demands, and even of the arbitrary dictates of fashion, he risks expos- ing himself to ridicule, and may be neglected Dr contemned, while men far below him in character and ability, but with superior '^.nowledge of correct social deportment, flay become the admired favorites of the vorld. In short, it may be said that success n life often depends far more oi\ appearance and deportment than on innate character. According to Swift, good manners are the art of making those people v/ith whom we converse feel at ease. This is doubtless true so far as conversation is concerned. Persons of generous impulses naturally seek to render themselves agreeable to those into whose company they come, and are no more eager to gain enjoyment for themselves than to bestow pleasure upon others. The art ot pleasing is, in truth, a simple one, but fre- quently its cultivation is too much neglected. Many persons become so solicitous for the promotion of their own pleasure as to forget that their neighbors have claims upon them. Yet every man who enters society should bear in mind that, in a sense, he ceases to be an individual, and becomes part of an association, a social organism, as it has been called ; met together, not for any one's per- sonal gratification, but for the pleasure of the whole company. The first requisite in our intercourse with the world, and the chief in giving pleasure to our associates, is sincerity of heart, a quality which lends the same ornament to character which modesty does to manners. A second important element of social be- havior is lack of self-assertion, a modesty of manner, native or acquired, which is in no sense inconsistent with firmness and dig- nity of character. The well-bred man feels at ease in all companies, is modest without appearing bashful, and self-possessed with- out an undue forwardness of manner. The Art of Conversation. To one who would make his way in the society of intelligent people, a well selected fund of information and anecdote is a highly important prerequisite. An enlightened understanding and a store of interesting knowledge are essential to him who would shine in conversation. None can hope to make small talk go far with people of cul- ture, and all who wish to win credit in social circles will need something deeper and more enduring than chat on passing trifles and local events. 155 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE The faculty of communicating thought is, in a great measure, peculiar to man, and the pleasure which he derives from the in- terchange of ideas is one of his leading ele- ments of enjoyment. There is nothing more agreeable to most persons than pleasant, sprightly, fluent conversation, spiced with anecdote, and seasoned with the results of good reading, and we are all happily consti- tuted to take delight in the mutual inter- change of thoughts. The best rule of conversation undoubt- edly is, to "adapt yourself to your com- pany." Thus commercial men enjoy con- versation on subjects having some relation to affairs of business ; men of pleasure, whose thoughts are given only to entertain- ment, prefer light talk on pastimes or social events ; and professional men love to dwell on new books, the discoveries of scientists, the latest doings in the arts, and similar learned subjects. Attention to these suggestions will be of use in helping men of learning and men of pleasure alike to derive mutual advantage from their different qualifications, and we need but say further that those who wish to please should be well informed on subjects of most general interest, whether this interest be of temporary or permanent character. An accurate and extensive knowledge on learned subjects is far from being sufficient for conversational needs, and may lead to prosy and wearisome talk in the opinion of less erudite people ; one must also have a ready knowledge of the common occurrences of life, and of important events which are arising day after day, must know something of the fine art of chatting, and how to spice heavy subjects with anecdote and illustra- tion. The art of conversation is a difficult one to acquire, and fine conversers must be born wnth a native faculty in that direction. Avoid Heated Argument. Speech is so vital an element of social intercourse that too much attention cannot be given to its requisites, or too much study to its cultivation. In conversation it is of high importance to avoid heated argument. Difference of opinion is likely to arise very frequently, but one should always express his views calmly and gently, and avoid all eager or loud assertion. It is not so important that you should force your auditors to accept your special views. If your antagonist begins to grow warm, you should at once put an end to the argument by a quiet turn- ing of the conversation. Disputes severely try the temper of many men, and are likely to end in the mortification of one disputant, generally with no advantage to the victor. They should, therefore, be avoided. Yet no one is called upon, for the sake of avoiding argument, to give a general assent to all that is said in company. As- sent without conviction indicates a mean and subservient spirit, and may tend to con- firm others in wrong opinions. Yet it is wise to oppose calmly and correct with gentleness, and, while showing that you have a mind of your own, to show that you respect the opinions of your companions. Consider the Feelings of Others. Do not speak in a loud voice or assume a dictatorial tone, and if a statement is made which you know to be incorrect, be careful of the manner in which you correct the speaker. Suggest a correction, rather than make it ; and if the matter is unim- portant it is far better to let it pass un- noticed. There is nothing more unwise than to insist on trifles. Those who go abroad to correct the world's mistakes are apt to find themselves very frequently in hot water. If addressed in an offensive tone, it is the part of wisdom not to notice it ; an intention even to insult or annoy can safely be passed over for the time being. One should consider the feelings of the other persons p resent, and not annoy them with personal affairs of a disagreeable character, nor permit others to force him into a quarrel in company. There is. of course, a limit of insult which a self-respect- ing man can not let pass ; but to bear and forbear is the part of good manners. Quar- rels can be left to bide their time, and there is no better way of repelling an inuendo than by ignoring it or treating it as un- worthy of notice. Such a thing as a "scene " in society is, above all things, to be avoided. It is the insulter who loses social caste, not the insulted. 56 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Care in the Use of Witticisms. If you have wit, or fancy you have, which is oftener the case, it is well to use it with caution and judgment, and particularly to avoid seeking butts for 5'our wit among your associates. Wit is a quality which all admire, yet which most fear, and which no one enjoys being made the victim of. If used in a satirical manner it is often malig- nant in character, and any man possessed of this cutting weapon may find much better occasioi s for its use than against the self- love or the foibles of his acquaintances. A wise man, indeed, will live as much within his wit as within his income, and it is far better to be content with good sense and reason, which can never hurt, than with this shining but cutting plaything of wit. However you may be admired for your sharpness of repartee, it is still true that respect and affection can be won only by good sense and amiable consideration of the feelings of others. There is a species of minor wit, that known as raillery, which is much used, and much abused. It is a dangerous and mis- chievous weapon in unskilful hands, and had better be left entirely alone. In truth, the injustice of a bad man is often more quickly forgiven than the insults of a witty one. The former injures us in property ; the latter hurts us in soul, mortifying that secret pride which we all possess. Raillery, indeed, is not always offensive ; it may even be used to flatter, as when we accuse one of faults which they are notoriously free from. But this sort of raillery needs a skilled hand to manage, and had better be left quite alone if it cannot be handled judiciously. AH can be Agreeable. It is not given to every man to be a brilliant talker, or to express himself in writing with elegance or force. Both of these are gifts of the few, not possessions of the many. There is, however, no reason why any person who goes into society should be ignorant of the rules of polite in- tercourse, Oi fail to master all the customary forms of address. It is almost useless to repeat that your conversation should be adapted to your company, for that is a golden rule which one should know almost by intuition. In mixed groups one should sedulously avoid all such mooted points as politics and reli- gion, and every topic likely to excite argu- ment or lead to heated discussion. You cannot be too careful in avoiding, in mixed assemblages, subjects which may prove to point directly to some persons present. For instance, do not speak of the laxity of the divorce laws when Mr. M. or Mrs. N. may, unknown to you, have passed through the divorce court. And do not express yourself strongly against second marriages, when there may, perhaps, be one or two examples among your listeners If a sudden silence, with perhaps a conscious look, follows your words, you had better change the subject as quickly as possible, and be glad that you have escaped from a hornets' nest without a sting. Avoid Referring to Your Own Exploits. Talk of yourself and your own affairs as little as possible, and bear in mind that to drag into a general conversation the names of distinguished persons to whom you may be related, or who may be numbered among your friends, is more apt to excite contempt than to yield admiration. To speak of j'our own exploits, or give examples of your special prowess and sagacity, without re- quest of the company, is always in bad taste, and is more likely to gain you credit for self-conceit than for the qualities boasted of. Leave matters of this kind for people to find out and you v/ill gain more credit. Above all, avoid any effort to monopo- lize the conversation. It is presumptuous and offensive in any person to imagine that his or her words alone are of interest, and impolite to rob others of the opportunity to speak. This is a common fault in fluent talkers, who are, besides, often so interested in what they wish to say as to be plainly inattentive to what others are saying. Personal allusions or flattering remarks are often in very bad taste. Words spoken in jest may be taken in earnest, and should be guarded against unless you are with intimate friends, who will not be likely to put a false construction on your words. If you intend a jest, you are wasting j^our effort if your point cannot be seen. 157 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Puns and slang terms should, as a rule, be avoided. They at times fit in neatly, but a habit of indulging in them is a bad one. It must be remembered that there is a slang of the mansion as well as of the hovel, of the drawing-room as of the street. The technical terms of professions or trades have occasionally the effect of slang in general society, and simple, plain language should always be used in preference. It is not al- ways advisable to bring the phrases of the office or the factory into social circles. Express yourself simply and clearly. Avoid all attempts at elegance or pompos- ity. Use the easiest and plainest language you can, and stop speaking when you have said what you desired. " Brevity is the soul of wit," therefore "speak little, but speak well, if you would be thought a per- son of good sense." Other Rules Worth Observing. Should a person enter the room in which you are conversing, and the conversation be continued after his arrival, it is only courte- ous to acquaint him with the nature of the subject to which it relates, and to give him an idea of what has passed. Be cautious in relating anecdotes. Un- less you can tell a story with ease and effect, it is better not to attempt it, and, above all, do not mimic the peculiarities, infirmities, or short-comings of others in general society. You may give offense to some one present who is a friend of the per- son caricatured, and in any case such a pro- ceeding is not commendable. Do not speak of what passes in a house that you are visiting. To do so may often give great offence. You need not tell all the truth unless to those who have a right to know it all. But let all you tell be the truth. Do not offer advice unless you know it will be followed, and carefully beware how you advise an angry or an opinionated person. As a rule, advice not asked is not welcomed. Be cautious as to asking questions. The reply may be very embarrassing to the per- son of whom the question is asked. Do not volunteer information, especially in public ; but be very sure you are correct in what you state as facts. i 15 Do not sit dumb in company, but bear your share in the general conversation. Do this with modesty and self-possession, neither thrusting yourself forward, nor hesitating where you should speak. It is better to be a good listener than a good talker, yet it is a duty to take your part in entertaining. It is not necessary to express j^our opin- ions upon all subjects ; but if you give utterance to them, do so fearlessly, frankly, and with courteous regard for the opinions of others. The greater your learning, the more modest should be your manner of expressing it. A Winning Manner. Another important element of social de- portment is a graceful and easy bearing, and that softness and amiability of manner which is so engaging in our intercourse with the world. Such a manner is more easily felt than described . It is a compound of several elements of character and conduct ; not a servility of demeanor, but an affability and courtesy in speech and expression ; and this, whether or not you agree with the person or persons with whom you are conversing. This should be particularly considered when we are obliged to refuse a favor asked of us, or to say what cannot be very agree- able to the person to whom we say it. If we have a bitter pill to administer, we should at least seek to sweeten it with courtesy and kindness. Yet this softness of manner will sink into a mean and timid complaisance, or insincere affectation, if not supported by firmness and dignity of character; and one should, while cultivating courtesy, be careful to avoid insincerity or fear of truth- ful expression. To be winning at the expense of truth and honesty is to convert a virtue into a fault. Genuine easy manners result from a con- stant attention to the relation of persons and things, times and places. When we con- verse with one much superior to us in station or in the world's appreciation , we should seek to be as easy and unembarressed as with our equals, avoiding sedulously any show of servility or flattery, yet indicating in word, look and action, the greatest respect. In the society of our equals greater ease and liberty are allowable ; but they, too, BOOK OF ETIQUETTE have their proper limitations. There is a social respect in everj'^ case necessary, and though our language may have a greater degree of latitude among friends and equals, its freedom should never be unbounded. It is always safer to say too little than too much . An engaging ease of carriage and behavior widely differs from negligence and inatten- tion, and by no means implies that one is justified in consulting only his own pleasure in society ; it only means that he should not be formal or embarrassed, disconcerted or diflSdent. It need only be said that the thing it is correct to do should be done with ease and ability ; the improper thing should not be done at all. In mixed companies difierent ages and sexes should be differently addressed. Al- though it is our duty to be respectful to all ; old age particularly requires to be treated with a degree of deference and regard. It is a good general rule to accustom ourselves to have a kindly feeling towards every thing connected with our fellows, and when this is the case, we shall seldom err in the appli- cation. The inward feeling will appear in the outward conduct. Principles of Politeness. Another important point in decorum is, not to force upon others our own present humor or passing sentiment, but to observe and adopt theirs. If for the moment we are impressed with some strong feeling or in a humor out of tone with that of the com- pany, we should either restrain ourselves, keep silent, or confine our conversation to those who are most likely to be in sympathy with our frame of mind. Peremptoriness and conceit, especially in young people, is contrary to good breeding : they should seldom seem to dissent, and always use some softening mitigating expression. There is a decorum also with regard to people of the lowest degree ; a gentleman observes it with his coachman, and even indeed with the beggar in the street. He considers them as objects of compassion, not of insult ; he speaks to neither in a harsh tone, but corrects the one gently, and re- fuses the other with humanity. Politeness is one of those social virtues which we never estimate rightly but from the inconvenience of its loss. Though per- haps not distinctly perceived when present, its absence is strongly indicated. The dif- ference between a polite person and one who is impolite is very marked, yet those who do not possess good breeding rarely understand its importance and worth. But as sickness shows us the value of health, so a little familiarity with those who do not trouble themselves to contribute to the gratification of others, but regulate their behavior merely by their own will, will soon make evident the necessity of established modes and formali- ties to the happiness and quiet of common life. Wisdom and virtue are by no means suf- ficient, without the supplemental laws of good breeding, to secure freedom of manners from degenerating into rudeness, or prevent self-esteem from developing into insolence. Incivility and neglect of proper social ob- servances do not necessarily yield remorse of conscience or reproach from reason in those who have not been taught to consider the feelings of others as well as their own. Yet genuine politeness always gives ease and pleasure, while its opposite is likely to impart pain or disgust. The power of pleasing must in great part be conferred by nature, though in a considerable measure it may be cultivated. But though it be the privilege of the few to charm and shine in society, yet all may hope, by the cultivation of good breeding and polite manners, to make themselves agreeable to their asso- ciates, though they should have no claim to higher distinction. The axiom from which flows all the for- malities of cultivated society is : " Let no man give preference to himself." This is a comprehensive rule, and it is difficult to imagine an incivility unless it is in some measure broken. Good Breeding. Yet there are everywhere particular cere- monial requisites of good breeding, often of local application, which, being arbitrary or accidental, can be learned only by residence and observation. Among these are forms of salutation, gradations of reverence, and various rules of place and precedence. Yef these may be violated without giving offence 159 8 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE by one who is evidently a stranger to them, and when it is apparent that neither malice nor pi ide had a share in their non-observ- ance. And however rigidly these and othtr rules of behavior be observed, they can never condone insolence or selfishness. True courtesy is that which flows from the heart, not that which is worn only on the surface. Real good breeding is not always to be found among those who spend their time in visiting, in frequenting public entertain- ments, in studying ceremonial rules, and in keeping in pace with the changes of fash- ionable regulations. Such people may know what fashion demands in acts of deportment and ceremony, but they too often confine themselves to the exterior and unessential elements of civility, and are much too apt to consider their own gratification as of more value than the pleasure of others. The most certain way to give any man pleasure is to persuade him that you receive pleasure from him, to encourage him to freedom and confidence, and to avoid any such appearance of superiority as may over- bear and depress him. We see many who, by this art alone, spend their days in the midst of caresses, invitations, and civilities ; and, without any extraordinary qualities or attainments, are the universal favorites of both sexes. In assemblies and places of public resort it is frequently observed that at the entrance of some particular person every face bright- ens with gladness, and every hand is ex- tended in salutation. Yet, often, if you follow this favorite beyond the first exchange of civilities, you will find him of only ordinary abilities, and welcome to the com- pany simply as one by whom all conceive themselves to be admired, and with whom any one is at liberty to amuse himself when he can find no other auditor or companion. He can place all at ease if he will hear a jest without criticism, and a narrative with- out contradiction, laugh at every wit, and yield to every disputer. All are at some hour or another fond of companions whom they can entertain upon easy terms, and who will relieve them from solitude, without requiring them to guard their speech with vigilance and caution. 1 60 We are most inclined to love when we have nothing to fear, and he that encourages us to please ourselves, will not be long without preference in our affection to those whose learning holds us at a distance, or whose wit calls all attention from us, and leaves us without importance and without regard. All men dislike to be placed in such unpleasant contrast, even though they cannot bui admire the abilities which they are incapable of rivalling or even unable to imitate. The Demeanor of a Lady. An agreeable, modest, and dignified bearing is not only one of the most desir- able requisites of a young woman, but her best warrant to claim the title of lady. Whatever may be the transient demand of fashion , whatever the passing rule of custom , that which is amiable, graceful and true in taste will always please the majority of man- kind. A young lady, if she have any true claim to the title, should not require to have allowances made for her. If properly trained, and blessed with a just conception of social requisites, her address will be gentle and polite, her manner courteous, and she will need but an opportunity for observ- ation to gain tho.'^e minor graces and habits which the local customs of society may demand. The general rules of social ob- servance are world-wide in their application, and familiarity with them flows almost inevitably from good sense and a good dis- position . On being introduced to a stranger, there is no insincerity in the display of a degree of pleasure. The well -trained girl will acknowledge the introduction to an elder person with a respectful bow and a deferen- tial manner. To one of her own age she will strive to make herself agreeable even if not particularly attracted towards the per- son introduced . It is the excess of impolite- ness to let it be seen that she does not care for her new acquaintance, to look over her dress at once, as if taking an inventor}^ of it, to wear a supercilious manner, or to appear hurried, as if anxious to get away at the first break in the conversation. Politeness demands that she should show a degree of pleasure in the introduction, and courtesy, BOOK OF ETIQUETTE that she should avoid any action likely to give pain or offence. Incivilities to be Avoided. Such suggesti9ns are hardly necessary. The instinct of a true lady will teach her to observe these basic rules of courtesy. Yet there is a heedlessness in many of the young, and an unacknowledged selfishness, which often lead to incivilities of which they are themselves unaware. In conversation volubility is to be avoided. The words should be gently spoken, and the voice loud enough to be heard easily, but still with a degree of repression, an undertone below the full powers of the voice. Affectation especially should be avoided. It was once in fashion, but was always strained and unnatural, and, fortunately, has long ceased to be the mode. Like many peculiarities of bygone times, one meets with it now only in vulgar society. The well-bred sedulously avoid affected tricks of speech. The manner of using the eyes also calls for regulation. The open stare and the shy withdrawal of the eyes are alike to be avoided. They should be raised quietly and with interest to those of the speaker, and only withdrawn when his remarks are concluded. This, of course, is not neces- sary if he is speaking to a number, but even then the eyes should not indicate inatten- tion, and should be more or less steadily fixed on the speaker's face. There is, in addition, a certain dignity of demeanor necessary to make even the most superior persons respected. This dig- nity cannot readily be taught ; it can hardly be assumed ; it must flow in great measure from intrinsic qualities, though even the finest natural powers may lose their in- fluence through carelessness, and may be enhanced by attention and training. This dignity is distinct from pretension, which yields disgust rather than respect. A true lady will be equal to every occasion, and at home in all grades of society. Her polite- ness, her equanimity, her presence of mind, should be in evidence alike in the court and in the cottage. Private vexations should never be al- lowed to affect a lady's manners, either at i6 home or elsewhere. If not in condition fo'i" society, she should refrain from entering it; remembering that every one is expected and should hold herself bound to add something to the general sum of enjoyment. The self- control required in good society is often beneficial alike to the temper and the spirits. Many a plain woman has won and kept the affection of others merely by being al- ways gentle and womanly in manner. To gain an empire over the affections there must be somewhat of sentiment or sym- pathy in the nature of a woman. The loud, boastful, positive young lady will never be remembered with a soft interest, unless there be, perchance, some gentle strain in her that redeems her from her assumed hardness. Flirtation. With regard to flirtation, it is difficult to draw a limit where the predilection of the moment softens into a more tender and serious feeling, and flirtation sobers into an earnest form of devoted attention. We all dread for our daughters hasty and questionable attachments ; but it must not be supposed that long-practiced flirta- tions are without their evil effects on the character and manners. They excite and amuse, but they also exhaust the spirit. They expose women to censure and mis- construction, and tend to destroy the charm of manners and the simplicity of the heart. The coquette should remember that, with every successive flirtation, one charm after another disappears, like the petals from a fading rose, until all the delicioi^teness of a fresh and pure character is lost. On all these points a woman should take a high tone in the beginning of her life. She will learn, as time goes on, how far she may consistently lower it into an easier and more familiar tone of social intercourse. The bearing of married women should so far differ from that of the unmarried thai there should be greater quietness and dig- nity ; a more close adherence to forms ; and an abandonment of the admiration which has been received before marriage. All flirtation, however it may be counte- nanced by the existing custom of society, should be decisively put aside. There is, lO book: of etiquette however, no reason that conversation should be less lively, or society less agreeable. If a young married woman wishes to be respected, and therefore happy in life, there should be a quiet propriety of manner, a dignity towards the male sex, which cannot be mistaken in her for prudery, since it is consistent with her position and her ties. She should change her tone, if that has been unrefined ; she should not put herself on a level with young unmarried women of her own age, but should influence and even lead her youthful acquaintance into that style of behavior which is much esteemed by men of good taste. Demeanor of a Qentleman. One must be a gentleman before he can act the gentleman . To put on a semblance of what we do not possess is simply to ex- pose ourselves to the world, which will not be slow in discovering the false show, and ridiculing or despising the hypocrisy. May good breeding be acquired as an art ? Yes, in a measure, so far as dress, ceremonial de- portment, and outward display of gentility go. One may ape the gentleman, even while not being the gentleman. Yet there is a something beyond this, visible in every word and tone, which makes the true gen- tleman, and to gain which one must train his heart as well as his manners. In the well-chosen words of Ruskin : "A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of structure in the body which ren- ders it capable of the most delicate sensa- tion, and of that structure in the mind which renders it capable of the most delicate sym- pathies — one may say, simply, ' fineness of nature.' This is, of course, compatible with heroic bodily strength and mental firmness ; in fact, heroic strength is not conceivable without such delicacy. Ele- phantine strength may drive its way through a forest, and feel no touch of the boughs ; but the white skin of Homer's Atrides would have felt a bent rose-leaf, yet subdue its feelings in glow of battle, and behave itself like iron. I do not mean to call an elephant a vulgar animal ; but if you think about him carefully, you will find that his non-vulgarity consists in such gentleness as is possible to elephantine nature ; not in his insensitive hide, nor in his clumsy foot, but in the way he will lift his foot if a child lies in his path ; and in his sensitive trunk, and still more sensitive mind, and capability of pique on points of honor. Hence it will follow, that one of the probable signs of high breeding in men generally will be their kindness and mercifulness ; these always indicating more or less firmness of make in the mind." What Constitutes Gentlemanly Manners. The manners of a gentleman are the index of his soul. His speech is innocent, because it springs from a pure spirit. His thoughts are direct, because they are the ex- ponents of upright actions. His bearing is gentle because it arises from gentle impulses and kindliness of heart. Pretentious man- ners^ are alien to the nature of the true gen- tleman. He avoids instead of exacting homage. Ceremonies do not attract him. He is as ready to do kindly acts as to say civil things. He regulates his hospitality by his means, but graces it with heartiness and sincerity of welcome. He chooses his friends for qualities akin to his own, his servants for truthfulness and honesty, his occupations for their elevating tendency or their power of giving aid or enjoyment to others. In a word, a good heart is at the bottom of all his acts, and a kindly spirit is the fountain from which all his thoughts arise. In this consideration it will not be amiss to quote from Ward McAllister the following apposite passage : * ' The value of a pleasant manner it is impossible to estimate. It is like sunshine, it gladdens ; you feel it, and are at once attracted to the person without knowing why. When you entertain, do it in an easy, natural way, as M" it was an every- day occurrence, not the event of your life ; but do it well. Learn how to do it ; never be ashamed to learn. The American people have a greater power of ' catching hold ' and adapting themselves to new surroundings than any other people in the world. . " If women should cultivate pleasant manners, should not men do the same? Are not manners as important to men as to women ? The word ' gentleman ' may have its derivation from gentle descent, but my 162 noOK OF ETIQUETTE ii understanding of a gentleman has always been that he is a person free from arrogance and anything like self-assertion ; consider- ate of the feelings of others ; so satisfied and secure in his own position that he is always unpretentious, feeling he could not do an ungentlemanly act ; as courteous and kind in manner to his inferiors as to his equals. The best-bred men I have ever met have always been the least pretentious. Natural and simple in manner, modest in apparel, never wearing anything voyant or conspicuous ; but always so well dressed that you could never discover what made them so, — the good, quiet taste of the whole producing the result. ' ' Here all men are more or less in busi- ness. We hardly have a class who are not. They are, of necessity, daily brought into contact with all sorts and conditions of men, and in self-defense oftentimes have to acquire an abrupt, a brusque manner of address, which, as a rule, they generally leave in their offices when they quit them. If they do not, they certainly should. When such rough manners become by practice a second nature, they unfit one to go into society. It pays well for young and old to cultivate politeness and courtesy. Nothing is gained by trying roughly to elbow yourself into society, and push your way through into the inner circle ; for when such a one has reached it, he will find the atmosphere un- congenial, and be only too glad to escape from it." The Demands of Etiquette. Etiquette makes many demands upon a man, demands which cannot safely be set aside, if he wishes to preserve the high title of gentleman . It is his duty to answer let- ters, notes, and invitations without delay. He must dress neatly ; there is no need that he should dress lavishly. To dress well is to dress appropriately. He must be defer- ential to the old and courteous to the young, and yield place and precedence to women — the older in preference. If he be afflicted with physical or mental ailments, let him bear them as philosophi- cally as possible, and, at all events, avoid speaking of them in company. If he be placed under obligation, he should not let it remain any longer than he can help — if it be of a kind that can be returned. It is not the large, but the little, things that often test and try a man's character and disposition. These make up the bulk of existence. We are rarely called upon to act the hero ; we are daily required > to act the gentleman. " Among these trifles light as air," says a recent writer on etiquette, " is the ever - recurrent and not a little vexing question of the payment of fares in a car or omnibus by an acquaintance, and the adjustment of such matters." In the opinion of this writer, there is only one rule about paying a lady's fare under such circumstances, and that is, " Don't offer to do it," unless called upon to do so through trouble on her part in making change or other exigency. Women do not altogether like to be put under an obligation of this kind ; some do not like it at all, feeling that it is not easy to repay. If she seeks to return the sum, it should be accepted without hesitation. There is no honor gained by attempting to appear magnanimous about a trifle. Etiquette of Travel. As regards offering a seat in a street car, that is a matter which should be governed by circumstances. There is no call for an oldish or tired man to give up his seat to a young woman, who is evidently better able to stand than himself. For a young man to give up his seat is a different matter, but in doing so preference should not be given to youth and beauty, as is too often the rule. True courtesy demands that the seat should be offered to the woman evidently least able to stand, no matter whether she be well or ill dressed, handsome or the op- posite, rich or poor. These instances are offered simply as examples of those small occasions for con- sideration and courteous demeanor which are of daily occurrence, and which are apt to be truer tests of character than many of the greater exigencies of life. There is a streak of selfishness, or, at the least, of self- indulgence, in us all to whose counsel it is dangerous to listen, if we desire to wear at least the outer aspect of a gentleman. The 63 12 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE tuan who is a gentleman by nature needs no suggestions on these small points ; instinct will tell him how to act. Yet in all cases some training in the customs and observ- ances of good society is of utility. The readiness to do the right thing is not all there is to consider. A knowledge of what is the right thing to do in the daily exigen- cies of life is of equal importance to all. II. THE ART OF DRESS The fashion of attire is a question of the passing day ; its aesthetics is a question of the ages. Persons of taste will avoid the ridiculous, whatever may be the demands of fashion, yet will not vary so far from the prevailing custom in dress as to expose themselves to ridicule from singularity. Dress has in it some of the essentials of the fine arts , and to be well dressed requires other requisites than the possession of wealth and a good figure. Good taste and refine- ment stand first ; all other essentials come second. To dress well, the qualities of color, harmony, and contrast need to be observed, and a trained and artistic eye is as essential as a sensible and well-balanced mind. Dress, to be in good taste, by no means needs to be costly. Fit, proportion, and harmony in shade and color are the ob- jects to be observed, and while there should be a reasonable consideration of the dictates of fashion, no person of sense will follow fashion blindly, to the neglect of the essen- tials of adaptation to figure, face, and occu- pation. A Well=Dressed Woman. Some one says that " as a work of art a veil-dressed woman is a study." The toil- ette of such a person is always well-chosen, with consideration of its purpose, and is always adapted to the situation, whether it be breakfast-room or ball-room, promenade or reception. If she loves bright colors, and they agree with her complexion, they will be as harmoniously arranged as the tints of an artist. If subdued colors are demanded, she will not let any desire for display lead her into the use of garish tints. If she is young, her dress will be youthful ; if she is old, it will avoid showiness. She will always rather follow than lead the prevailing fashion, and in no event will permit the costume of the day to lead her into violation of good taste and common sense The golden rule in dress is to avoid extremes. To afiect peculiarities of costume shows a lack of good taste, while it is not less unwise to follow fashions which are unbecoming to the special person. Ladies who«are neither very young nor very attrac- tive in appearance will do best to wear quiet colors and simple styles ; while those who are not rich can always appear taste- fully dressed, if they exercise care in the choice, and display skill and judgment in the arrangement of materials. A dress- maker of good taste is an essential to good dressing. The dressmaker is a woman's good or evil genius, and may do much to make or mar her position in social circles. Dress for Various Occasions. Morning dress should be faultless in its way. For young ladies, whether married or single, there is no prettier summer morn- ing wear than white or very light dresses of washing materials . Yet those must be always fresh and clean, and the collars and cuffs irre- proachable. For morning wear simplicity in attire is imperative. Silk should not be worn. Cotton and woolen are the proper materials . The walking-dress should be quiet. A rich or showy dress in the street is apt to attract more attention than is desirable or always agreeable. For the carriage, how- ever, a lady may dress as elegantly as she wishes. Elderly ladies should dress as richly as their means permit. A thin old lady may wear delicate colors, while one of stout person or florid complexion will look best in black or dark grey. But for young and old alike the complexion and figure have much to do with determining the suit- able colors. Rich colors harmonize well with brunette complexions, but for blondes and those of delicate tints of face the desir- able colors to be worn are those of more delicate hue. 64 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 13 At dinner parties, unless they be small and familiar in kind, only the fullest dress is appropriate. But at unceremonious din- ners demi-toilette can be worn, and high dresses if the material be sufficiently rich. Real flowers may be worn at dinner parties, but it is better to wear artificial ones at balls, since the heat and dancing are apt to cause real flowers to droop and shed their petals. Gloves, shoes, and boots must always be faultless. Gloves cannot be too light for the carriage, or too dark for the streets. A woman with ill-fitting gloves lacks one of the essentials of suitable dress. It may be remarked, by the way, that perfumes should be used only in the evening, and with the strictest moderation, and that perfumes to be tolerable must be of the most delicate kind. There has never been a more telling and sensible criticism than that made by Dr. Johnson on a lady's dress. " I am sure she was well dressed," he said, ."for I cannot remember what she had on." Suitability of Apparel. Suit your dresses to the occasions upon which they are to be used. In the morning, at home, a lady may wear i loose, flowing dress, made high in the neck, with a belt at the waist, and with loose sleeves fastened at the wrist. On the street a walking-costume should be worn, and the dress should clear the ground. There is nothing more disgust- ing than to see a rich dress sweeping up the dirt and filth of the street. Fashion seems to decree this at the present time, with the ungraceful result of seeing nine women out of ten awkwardly holding up their skirts. The tenth sensibly ignores fashion in favor of comfort. The shoes for the street should be high, warm, and easy to the feet, with a low, broad heel, and should be always neatly blackened. For ordinary street wear a lady may use either a hat or a bonnet. This is a matter of taste. In the dress of ladies great latitude is allowed ; but the aim of all who aspire to be well dressed should be sim- plicity and taste, the character of the occasion being always carefully considered . lyatitude or great variety in dress is no longer thought original, and startling innovations are dan- gerous experiments. With artistic taste they may prove a success, but are much more likely to be a failure. It is important that a lady should always dress neatly at home. She is then ready to receive a morning caller without having to change her dress. She should change her dress for the evening. Some neat and dainty costume should be worn, according to her taste, for it is in the even- ing that she is thrown most with the male members of her family, and is most likely to have visitors. In making evening calls upon her friends, a lady should wear a hood, or some light head-wrap easily laid aside. A bonnet should always be removed at the commencement of such a visit. Public Occasions. The fashion of the time must govern tht evening dress for public occasions. Full dress must always be worn, but it is impos- sible to give any fixed rule regarding it, ir view of the frequent changes in the demands of fashion. A competent dressmaker, or the fashion publications of the time, will give the necessary information. In Europe, the evening dress requires the exposure of the arms and neck ; but in this country the more sensible plan of covering these parts of the body is widely the fashion, and should be observed except on very special occasions. The dress for balls and soirees should be of the richest within the lady's means. Yet a certain degree of repression is important, if one would avoid seeming overdressed. White kid gloves and white satin or kid boots are most suitable to a ball dress. If the overdress is of black lace, black satin shoes are worn. Hints and directions, how- ever, are of little need to ladies for occasions of this kind. Example and experience, either of themselves or their friends, will prevent them from going far wrong. The richest full dress should be worn at the opera. The head should be bare, and dressed in the most becoming style. Jewelry may be worn, according to taste, as there is no place where it shows to better advantage. A light or brilliant colored opera cloak will add greatly to the lady's appearance and Comfort. Gloves of white, or delicately H BOOK OF ETIQUETTE tinted, kid only are to be worn. The ordi- nary walking-dress, however, is suitable for other places of amusement. A rich and elegant shawl may be worn, as it can be thrown off when uncomfortable. The sensi- ble fashion is now making its way to remove the hat at theatres and lectures, out of due regard for those whose view of the stage may be obstructed. This being the case, there is no need to spoil the hair by wearing hat or bonnet on the way thither. Plain and simple dress should be worn for church, with very little jewelr)^ The costume should be of quiet colors. It is a mark, of bad taste for ladies to attend church elaborately or conspicuously dressed. It shows a disregard for the solemnity of the sanctuary, and is calculated to draw off the attentions of others from the duties of the place. Jewelry. Much display of jewelry is out of place for young ladies, and the kind of jewelry to be worn demands as careful consideration IS that of the dress itself. Diamonds, pearls, and transparent precious stones generally belong to evening costume, and are always in taste at night ; but they should not be worn in the earlier parts of the day. In the morning, indeed, only a simple ring or two are admissible, with, perhaps, a gold brooch, and a watch and chain. As regards cost of jewelry, it is by no means the best criterion of taste. A simple and inexpensive jewel may occasionally have the effect of an exquisite work of art, while a large and showy brilliant may give the impression of vulgar display or showy overdress. To wear much jewelry in the streets is in very bad taste, while in large cities it may subject the wearer to danger from robbery. In traveling it is inadvisable to make a display of jewelry. It is particularly unde- sirable if a lady is traveling alone, for the reason just given. Traveling Dress. Traveling costume should be simple in style and quiet in color, materials that will not show dirt being preferable. A water- proof cloak is a very desirable addition, as it may be at any time suddenly needed. In summer travel a long linen duster, belted at the waist, should be worn over the dress. For the country or sea-side, simple and inexpensive dresses should be provided for ordinary wear. The bonnet should give place to a hat with a brim sufficiently wide to shield the face and neck from the sun. Bathing dresses should be made of blue or gray flannel. The skirt should come down to the ankles, and the sleeves should be long. An oil silk or India-rubber cap, fitting tightly around the head, will protect the hair from the salt water. It is impossible to prescribe an exact style or mode of dress for ladies in all places and on all occasions. Fashion will change, and, it must be confessed, in the matter of female costume, its changes have often been for the better. In regard to "overdressing," it is not easy to draw a line, customs in different localities varying so much that what is per- missible in one place might be utterly out of place in another. The usual thing for win- ter dress is a stuff dress — a " cloth suit," it is usually called — worn with a fancy bodice. For elderly women, with money enough to afford it, costumes of silk, with elaborate trimming, are often worn. With toilettes of this kind the custom of wearing lace is on the increase ; but these are matters which the dressmaker is most competent to decide upon at any fixed period. As a general rule, however, loud colors should be avoided, and it is best never to risk extremes of cos- tume, whether in or out of the line of fash- ion, if one wishes to escape the verdict of vulgarity. A WelUDressed Man. Buffon has remarked that a man's clothes are a part of himself, and enter into our conception of his character. And cer- tainly no man who is experienced in the ways of the world and has any regard for social opinion can consider the question of dress as unimportant. We may excuse a man who dresses very negligently, but we rarely hold him in any high regard. Our conception of the interior qualities of a per- son is influenced, more than we are ordi- narily aware, by his exterior appearance. 66 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 15 Walpole truly says : ' ' We must speak to the eyes, if we wish to affect the mind." In paying a visit, or in mingling in good society, it is complimentary to our hosts to be well dressed, and shows disregard of their wishes to be slovenly in attire. Even in a casual meeting, or in cases where the costume is likely to be of minor considera- tion, neat and careful dressing is very likely to be of advantage. A negligent attire in- dicates that a man is heedless of the opin- ions of others, and indifferent to their good will or respect. A. careful and neat attire, on the con- trary, indicates a man who has a regard for himself and for the sentiments of others, one who finds pleasure in social intercourse, and loves to mingle in the society of his fellows. It is a kind of general offer of acquaintance, and proves a willingness to be accosted. Dress is the livery of good society, and he who would advance in the profession of pleasing must pay due regard to his outward aspect. Dress is also significant of inner feeling, and expresses qualities of mind which are likely to affect the outward conduct. That courtier was not far astray who dated the beginning of the French Revolution from the day when a nobleman appeared at Ver- sailles without buckles on his shoes. Fashion is called a despot ; but if men are willing to be its slaves, we cannot, and ought not, to upbraid fashion. In truth, the man who rebels against fashion is often more open to the imputation of vanity than he who obeys it, because he makes himself conspicuous, and practically announces that he is wiser than his kind. Affectation is always the essence of vulgarity. Between the two it is left to the man of sense and modesty to follow fashion only so far as not to make himself peculiar by opposing it, and in whatever he does or whatever he wears to let good taste, common sense, and a proper regard for the opinion of his fellows be the guides of his conduct. A prime requisite in dress is its sim- plicity, with which may be coupled harmony of color. This simplicity is the only dis- tinction which a man of taste should aspire to in the matter of dress, for simplicity in appearance must proceed from a nicety in 167 reality. One should not be simply ill- dressed, but simply well-dressed. All extravagance, all over display, and all profusion must be avoided. The colors, in the first place, must harmonize both with our complexion and with one another ; per- haps most of all, with the color of our hair. All bright colors should be avoided, even in gloves and neck-ties. The deeper colors are, somehow or other, more manly, and are certainly less striking. The same sim- plicity should be studied in the avoidance of ornamentation. Appropriate Costume. You should dress according to your occupation and means. If you are a sales- man, you would not think it appropriate to appear in the regulation gc:rb of a bishop. Good sense and good taste form the first rule, and about the only one to be consid- ered. In the shifting climate of our country, gentlemen of late years have very sensibly adopted the mode of dressing especially for comfort. They have to brave all kinds of weather, sometimes wade through mud and slush, sometimes face a summer shower or cyclone, and they find it more essential to be protected against these climatic changes than to appear in elegant costume. Their dress does not undergo so many modifications as that of ladies, and it is comparatively easy for them to wear ap- parel that will be simple and serviceable, and at the same time in good taste. There is much less to be said about the dress of men than of ;A;^omen, as it is not subject to such extreme changes or suscep- tible of such great diversity in color, cut, and material. For the day the business suit is the usual costume, black or dark in color, with shoes of black or tan leather, and a derby or a soft hat. Those who de- sire a reputation for dressing well will scarcely appear in a high hat and tan shoes together. Sack coats or cutaways can be worn with tweed or any rough cloth trousers and waistcoat, the weight and color being varied to fit the season. As evening approaches the sack coat and business suit should be replaced by a cutaway or frock coat. In l6 BOOK OF ETIOUETTE the country rough tweed suits, fancy flan- nels and any kind of hat may be worn, unless the gentleman is going to some special social entertainment, when he should dress much as in the city. The Shirt Waist. In the summer of 1900 the shirt-waist, which was worn almost universally by women, was emulated by men, many of whom assumed, during business hours, un- starched colored shirts worn without vests, while a waist belt replaced the usual braces. Often the coat was discarded. The comfort of this attire during the heated term was so great that the " shirt-waist man" promises to become a recognized summer institution. As for evening dress, a considerable lati- tude of opinion concerning this prevails. During the warm season — from June to October — comfort demands much laxity in this respect. As evening dress is never seen in city streets without an overcoat, and as few care to swelter at the dictum of fashion, many men of sense content themselves with a neat ordinary dress. There is a variety of usage in this respect also at the theatre, and it is coming to be imperative to wear even- ing attire only at formal dinners or at cer- tain fashionable assemblages which make it a requisite. In general, except during the summer, it is a safe rule for the denizen of fashionable circles to change his dress every evening, so as to be prepared for dinner or any other formal occasion. But as the denizens of fashionable circles compose a limited section of the community, an island in the sea of the multitude who claim no such exclusive honor, evening dress, as a general rule, is kept for special occasions, and men at home consider comfort and con- venience far more than fashion. III. INTRODUCTIONS. The laws of society do not permit you to claim acquaintance with other persons unless you have been properly introduced, though in traveling this rule may often be reasonably omitted. Under ordinary circumstances care and discrimination should be exercised in making gentlemen acquainted with each other, and still greater heed is demanded in the introduction of ladies and gentlemen. It should always be understood in advance whether or not the lady is likely to desire the introduction. In no case should it be thrust upon her without regard to her objections. And it is not ad- visable to make the request within hearing of the party concerned, since this may put her in an awkward situation, if wishing to decline. Do not forget that, in introducing one person to another, you assume a social re- sponsibility for the person you introduce, and great care should be taken in giving this indorsement. It is possible for you to inflict a positive injury by introducing a man of objectionable character to a lady. If you are not well informed in respect to the reputation of the one for whom you are about to become responsible, pause and go no fur- [68 ther. You should not be a party to the for- mation of any relations which may possibly have an injurious efiect. The same conditions hold good in the business world. An introduction carries with it some indorsement which may lead to business transactions involving great finan- cial risks. Rules of Introduction. In England, visitors meeting in the same house are expected to enter into conversa- tion, though no formal presentation has been made, and no previous acquaintance has existed. In the United States, how- ever, the fashion of introducing people who meet as strangers still continues, though in certain highly fashionable circles the English fashion is affected. It, perhaps, has its ad- vantages, in enabling visitors to converse freely without waiting for the formality of an introduction, and leaving them free not to know one another afterwards. But it has its disadvantages as well, especially in the case of shy and easily embarrassed people. The American rule has long been to introduce generally, and in early society in BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 17 this country it was deemed necessary to make everybody in company acquainted, from a somewhat forced idea of the require- ments of hospitality. This wholesale cus- tom is no longer observed, and common sense prevails in this as in social customs generally. One should always show discretion in this observance, as in all the demands of society. It is not, for instance, advisable to interrupt a conversation for the purpose of making an introduction. The intention will wait, and even if it fails altogether >:o harm is usually done. Few persons will thank you for making them too conspicuous. Of the places where an introduction is not in order we may particularly instance a church. Here it would be quite improper, not only within the building, but even at its entrance. Nor is it necessary to intro- duce two persons at an entirely casual meet- ing — in a street car, for example, or if you happen to meet an acquaintance, whom your companion does not know, at some friend's door. Of course, if the chat should be ex- tended, or if you think it desirable that they should know one another, an introduction is perfectly admissible ; but it is in no sense incumbent upon you. One further remark in this connection may be made, in reference to the frequent failure to catch the name of the person intro- duced. This often causes a feeling of em- barrassment, and a somewhat awkward attempt to discover the missing name. ' ' I didn't quite catch the name,' is the most ordinary way out of the difficulty, but some- thing more original might well be attempted, as, "Pardon my inattention to Mr. C. I was so occupied with the honor offered me as to be deaf to the name" ; or, less effu- sively, "Will you kindly tell me again whom I have the favor of meeting ?' ' The trouble is worse when you imme- diately forget the name, and are lacking in this particular on your second meeting with the new acquaintance. It is a useful accom- plishment which all do not possess, that of re- membering names readily ; and to be obliged to make the worn-out admission, "Your face is perfectly familiar, but I have for- gotten your name," is an awkward way out of the difficulty. Better try and get through i8 K ■ 16 the interview in a way to escape the need of using the name, and endeavor to learn it before another meeting is likely to take place. By repeating the name in acknowl- edging the introduction and fastening your attention thereto, it will not be difficult to remember the name. The Introducer's Formula. In introductions the common formula is : " Mrs. Blank, may I," or " allow me to pre- sent," or " introduce, Mr. Smith." Never reverse this order, and so intro- duce the lady to the gentleman. When the sexes are the same, present the person of the lesser to the one of the greater age or importance. Always mention the name in introducing members of your family. Say, " My father, Mr. Simpson," " My daughter, Miss Simp- son," or "Miss Kllen Simpson." Your wife should be introduced simply as " Mrs. Simpson." In introducing persons with titles, the title should always be distinctly mentioned. Thus, you should say, in presenting a clergy- man to a senator of the United States, " Senator A., permit me to introduce you to my friend, the Reverend Dr. W. Dr. W. is the rector of St. M. Church, Boston." Then turning to Dr. W., say, "Senator A. represents the State of M. in the United States Senate." Upon meeting strangers it is well to add some pleasant remark or suggest some inter- est in common between them. This will serve to put them at their ease and aid them to start a conversation . The party presented may simply say, "How do you do?" or ' ' I am glad to know you, ' ' following it with such subject of talk as may occur to him. Introductions do not necessitate future mutual recognition, unless agreeable to the parties introduced. The ceremony is simply an opportunity offered for present acquain- tance, and can be ignored by one or both parties immediately after they leave the presence of the person who made the intro- duction. A gentleman should never bow to a lady when first meeting her after an introduction, until she gives him some sign of recognition, thus intimating her desire to continue the i8 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE acquaintance. A gentleman should always return the bow, even though he may not care for the acquaintance. Ladies and gentleman need not shake hands with each other when introduced. A bow is sufl&cient acknowledgement of the introduction. Persons of the same sex may or may not shake hands. In formal fashion- able circles the hostess alone shakes hands, but ordinarily it is quite in order to offer the hand when introduced. Persons meeting at the houses of friends when making morning calls need not be in- troduced to one another, and should not be unless there is good reason to believe that such introduction will be mutually agree- able. Nor is it proper for persons who have met in ihis manner, without introduction, to bow or express recognition otherwise should they again meet. A person making a visit to your house should be introduced to every caller. At an evening party it is the duty of the host or hostess to make their guests acquainted with one another. A gentleman should always promptly offer his services to a lady in any position of difficulty, whether he knows her or not. Her acceptance of his, services does not give him any claim upon her acquaintance, nor need she feel obliged to recognize him after- wards without a formal introduction. An introduction, however, gives one a claim upon the courtesy of another, whether the acquaintance be pleasant or the contrary. To ignore a person to whom you have been properly introduced is certainly an act of ill-breeding, and under certain circumstances becomes an act of insolence. Salutations. In meeting a friend upon the street, or in company, you should salute him cordially, but quietly and respectfully. A gentleman should always salute a lady by raising the hat and making a formal bow . In company , the bead being uncovered, the bow alone is your salutation ; but it should in either case, be a decided inclination of the head and body, not a mere nod. In this country, among ladies, kissing is a common mode of salutation, even on the Street. But indications are that this custom is less popular for hygienic reasons. Gen- tlemen generally shake hands, or in pass- ing each other bow, or make a courteous motion of the hand. Kven where you are not on good terms with a person it is cour- teous to bow to him. Should he fail to re- turn the bow the offence is his, and you have lost nothing by your politeness. The lady should bow first in meeting a gentleman on the street. It is her privilege to do so, as she thus shows whether she desires to continue his acquaintance or not. A failure on her part to bow first excuses the gentleman from saluting her. Among very intimate friends either party may salute first. In riding, a gentleman raises his hat with his right hand, as the left is occupied with the reins. When two or more gentlemen, walking on the street, meet a lady who is known to one only, all should raise their hats and bow. Those unacquainted with the lady thus show their respect for their friend's friend. A gentleman when smoking, if meeting a lady acquaintance, should remove the cigar from his mouth and hold it down by his side before raising his hat to her. Above all, never smoke while walking or riding with a lady. She may not object to it, but that does not pardon your rudeness. A young lady should treat an elderly person, either man or woman, with the same deference she expects at the hands of a gen- tleman. Calls, Formal and Informal. Residents of large cities should call in person upon all their acquaintances at least once a year, if circumstances permit, and should pay additional visits to all from whom invitations have been received. Calls should also be made when an engagement or marriage has taken place in the family of an acquaintance, or an acquaintance has returned home after a long absence. The receipt of any especial hospitality, such as a dinner, luncheon, dance, etc., obligates that the recipient should call as soon thereafter as possible. If living at a distance a brief note to the host or hostess acknowledging the pleasure received is pro- , per ; especially is this expected after an ex- 70 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 19 tended visit. This is imperative, but it is not necessary after a five o'clock tea or an at- home, no one being obliged to follow one call with another. Such obligation as exists is for the party who gave the tea to return your call ; and this is obviously impossible if her invitations have been very numerous. After being invited to visit a country house, a call should be made on those giving the invita- tion immediately after their return to their town residence. In case of a newcomer to the street, or the city if a small one, older residents should call, and this visit should invariably be returned in person within a week. Etiquette permits a gentleman — a stranger — ro call upon a lady under the following circum- stances : If she has invited him to call, if he brings a letter of introduction, or if an intimate friend of the lady or of the family presents him. Custom and courtesy require that a lady shall call on her lady friends at stated times, or at moderate intervals. These calls are generally short and formal in character, the conversation being devoted to society news and similar light subjects. Ten or fifteen minutes is the usual length of a formal call, half an hour the extreme limit. If while calling a second visitor arrives, the first visitor should take leave as soon as she can do so without seeming abrupt. Special friends of tne hostess may linger for an hour if they wish. In the large cities of the East such calls were formerly made between 11 a.m. and 4 P.M., but later hours in the afternoon are now the vogue, as from three to half-past five. Evening calls, unless in response to invita- tion or through mutual understanding, are out of order except in small communities. They may break into the dinner hour, or interfere with a theatre party or other outing. Of course, these rules do not refer to the intercourse of intimate friends, the informal '" running in," which may take place at any time in the day or evening, and need not in- terfere with any engagement. Gentlemen, as a rule, have only the evening to call in, but may call on Sunday afternoon after three. A lady, in making a formal call, should not remove her bonnet or wrap. A gentle- man, in a similar case, was formerly required, while leaving his umbrella and over;coat in the hall, to bring his hat and cane into the receiving room, either holding them or placing them on the floor by his chair. This rule, however, is no longer observed, and it is optional with the visitor to leave them in the hall if he prefers. Ladies should make morning calls in simple toilette, and not in very rich dresses- Gentlemen wear morning dress. Ending a Call. When a call is ended it is customary among the best bred people to ring for a ser- vant to open the front door for a visitor. Some persons prefer to attend visitors to the door themselves ; and this should be done if a servant is not called upon. It is not courteous to let a visitor find his or her way out of your house unattended. A lady should never attend a gentleman to the door ; nor a lady either, if in so doing she is obliged to leave other lady callers in the drawing room. It is optional with the hostess whether or not to rise from her seat and cross the room to greet a visitor, or to accompany to the door a lady who is taking her departure, in case of no other ladies being present. But in these, as in all other cases where the rules of etiquette are not imperative, it is well to remember that the course which sets the guest most at ease will always be the choice of a kindly nature. In making a call, if the lady called upon is not at home, leave your card ; and if there are several ladies staying there whom you desire to see, request the servant to present your compliments to them severally. Should you not have a card, leave your name. When a lady visitor takes her leave, a gentleman, if present, should rise, and oifer to conduct her to her carriage. The offer may not be accepted, but if it is, do not forget to return and pay your respects to your hostess before quitting the house. In case of other visitors entering during your call, your hostess is not obliged to in- troduce you to them, and you should take no offence at her failure to do so. Ir* taking leave after their entrance, do so in such a way as not to make it appear that your departure is on account of their coming'. 171 20 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE You' may make visits of congratulation upon the occurrence of any happy or agree- able event in the family of a friend — such as a marriage, a birth, or the inheritance of wealth. Such visits should be made in the morning. You should not defer a visit of condo- lence beyond the next week after a decth occurs in a family. Among friends such visits are regarded as an imperative duty, except where contagious diseases render them dangerous. In calling upon a person living or stay- ing temporarily at a hotel, wait in the parlor and send up your card. Even intimate friends should observe this rule. A gentle- man may wait in the office or hall of the hotel while the waiter takes up his card. IV. VISITING AND VISITORS Visits of friendship are governed by no set rules of etiquette, and need not be formal either as to length or manner. It is to be presumed that friends or relatives will con- form to each other's tastes and habits, and conduct themselves in a manner that will be mutually agreeable. With intimate friends strict ceremony is uncalled for, yet there are certain liberties which you enjoy at home which are not proper to take in the house of a friend. It is a sign of ill-breeding, in such a visit, to criticise the conduct of servants or children, or anything connected with the household or the members of the family. Remarks of any kind on the faults or foibles of persons belonging or closely related to the family are sadly misplaced ; and such remarks made after taking leave show a lack of good feeling which is not redeemed by being unheard by those interested. In such cases one should strictly apply the golden rule of friendship, to do nothing by act, word, or deed that may cause a dis- agreeable feeling on the part of an enter- tainer or any member of his family. Evening Calls. In many communities, where it is cus- tomary to make formal evening calls after dinner, the usual hour is from nine to ten o'clock. In making an informal evening call, a lady may bring a gentleman with her, presenting him to her hostess, who will present him to her other guests. The mistress of the house usually receives the visitors, being assisted by her husband or some other gentleman in the case of even- ing parties. The reception should be quiet, easy, and without over-ceremony. In some places it is customary to announce the names of guests as they enter the room. The host or hostess may then present them to other guests, if they are not already acquaintances. When any one enters the room, whether announced or not, courtesy requires that the host or hostess shall rise at once, advance toward the visitor with words of welcoming, and request him or her to be seated. The seat offered should be one that seems most suitable to the age or sex of the visitor. If the master of the house receives the visitors, he will take a chair and place himself at a little distance from them ; if, on the con- trary, it is the mistress, and if she is intimate with the lady who visits her, she will place herself near her. If several ladies come at once, we give the most honorable place to the one who, from age or other considerations, is most entitled to respect. If the visitor is a stranger, when the master or mistress of the house rises any person who may be already in the room should do the same, unless the company is a large one. When any of the company withdraw, the master or mistress of the house should conduct them as far as the door. But whoever the persons may be that depart, if we have other company we may dispense with conducting them farther than the door of the room. If, upon entering a house where you wish to pay an evening call, you should find a small party assembled , it is best to present yourself precisely as though you had been invited , Aftei a short while you may take your leave, explaining that you only in- tended to make a brief call. Do not unduly prolong an evening visit. It is apt to become tiresome even to your most intimate friends, and, though they 7^ BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 21 politely exert themselves to be agreeable, it does not argue that they are not wearied. Should you find a lady on the point of going out when you make your call, make it as brief as possible, in order to leave her at liberty to carry out her plans. When you have risen to go, do not delay your departure. When you are prevented from attending a dinner party, or social gathering, call upon the person giving it without delay, and express your regret for your absence. In visiting a city where a friend resides, it is best to go to a hotel, although he may have invited you to make his house joVlX home. You can afterwards call upon him, and should he then urge you to accept his hospitality, you can do so wi h propriety. When asking guests to visit you in your home, whether in the country or city, it is proper to fix the date of their arrival and of their leaving, whether the length of their visit is to be two days or a fortnight. If the desired duration of a visit should not be specified in the invitation, a considerate person will take care not to extend it over a week, and a shorter time would be still bet- ter. It is courteous, in every case, to state to your host how long you expect to stay. In case of a visit without invitation, you should always write to inform even a near relative or very intimate friend of your in- tended visit, and the time you expect to arrive. Among the leading duties of the host or hostess may be named the following : See that everything has been prepared for the comfort of the guests. Anticipate their bodily wants as much as possible. Direct that some servant shall go to their rooms twice a day and ascertain whether anything is desired, and whether any assistance can be rendered. Arrange so that they can be provided with cold or warm baths, as they may prefer, every morning. See that coarse towels or bath-sheets are within their reach. Have a can of hot water taken to each room at the hours of dressing. A pitcher of iced water and a glass on a tray should be placed in the bedrooms at night. Entertaining Quests. Do not bore visitors by constantly trying to amuse them. After means of amusement have been provided, let it be optional with them as to whether they avail themselves of these or not. Permit your visitors to enjoy the liberty of solitude and quiet if they prefer. Any apparent effort to entertain is always bad form. The every- day life of a family should not be interfered with by the arrival of guests. Visitors should conform as much as possible to the habits and customs of the household. They should be moderate in their demands for personal attendance. They should not carry their moods into the drawing-room or to the table, and, whether they are bored or not, should be ready to con- tribute as much as is in their power to make an atmosphere of pleasure. If the above involves too much self-sacrifice, then an invitation to visit should not be accepted. In case a lady guest is expected, some gentleman of the family should meet her at the train, or other place of expected arrival, look after her baggage, and make all ar- rangements requisite to enable her to reach your house without delay or discomfort. Bidding Quests Adieu. While it is not wise to disarrange the regular routine of a household on account of the arrival of a guest, a reasonable time should be devoted to the entertainment of the visitor. Receptions, excursions, etc., may be provided for, the places of note in the vicinity shown, and pleasant acquaint- ences visited or invited to call. The guest, on departure, should be accompanied to cars or boat, and cordially taken leave of on the departure of the conveyance. L,adies or gentlemen of true courtesy will treat with kindness or politeness the servants of the family visited, and may rea- sonably remember with some gratuity those by whom they have been served. Simple presents may also with propriety be made to the children of the family. Costly or lavish gifts, however, are not in order, and have the ill effect of placing your enter- tainers under an obligation for which they may not mentally thank you. Do not outdress the members of the family in which you are a guest, especially in attending an entertainment or place of I amusement with them. 73 22 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Enter heartily into the plans that are made for your entertainment or amusement. You should never permit your host or hostess to feel that he or she has disappointed you while seeking to add to your enjoyment. Upon returning home after a visit, write immediately to your host or hostess, an- nouncing 3^our safe arrival ; and be careful to send kind messages to each member of the family, mentioning all by name. Engraved or Printed Cards. The extent to which the use of visiting cards is sometimes extended furnishes oc- casion to some, unused to polite society, to ridicule what they call " pasteboard polite- ness," and yet these paper representatives of our personality are exceedingly useful things ; indespensible, indeed, to the full dis- charge of social obligations. In the selection of cards several things are to be considered ; style, size, color, and character of writing. As for color, it should always be pure white. The size and shape are regulated by the prevailing fashion, but any attempt at display, such as fancy de- signs, gilt borders, odd shapes, etc., are considered vulgar by well-bred people. The most tasteful card is an engraved one. The printed card comes next, then the written card. The fashion as to letters changes, but a plain script or old English text, well engraved, is alwaj'S neat and in good taste. In case the card is written, it should be done in pencil rather than in ink, thus suggesting that its use is a matter of accident. The proper size for a gentleman is smaller and more oblong in shape than that ordinarily used by ladies. If he have no title, " Mr." should precede the name. A lady's card should have the word " Mrs." or " Miss " prefixed to her name. The eldest daughter of a family needs "Miss" only before the family name. The younger daughters need the christain names also. The titles properly placed on cards are those of army and navy officers, physicians, judges, and ministers of the gospel, but neither militia nor any other complimentary titles are allowable. Ladies now usually have the entire name — with the prefix of "Miss" or " Mrs." engraved on their cards, as " Mrs. John Morris Eames," " Miss Edith Lloyd Richardson." Custom sanctions the engraving of the address on all visiting cards, and some ladies have the reception day engraved in the left-hand corner. In some cities there is one exception to this rule. A young lady, during her first winter in society, does not use a separate visiting card, but has her name engraved on the card of her mother or chaperon. A single gentleman, if he prefers, can have his club address engraved on his card, instead of the number of his residence. A widow can use on her cards either her own or her husband's name, as choice may dictate ; though she has legally no right to retain the latter, custom sanctions it. Husband and wife must have st?parate visiting cards. It is no longer the fashion to have the two names printed together, as formerly. Rules for Leaving Cards. In making the first call of the season, a lady leaves with her own, her husband's card, and also those of her sons and daughters. After a dinner party, or other special entertainment, a lady leaves her husband's card with her own. A married lady, in calling upon another married lady, should leave one of her own cards and two of her husband's — one of the latter being for the wife and one for the husband. If the lady called on has a daughter in society, the visitor should leave two of her own cards and three of her hus- band's. If there be another lady in the house besides the hostess two cards each of wife and husband should be left. When calling on a mother and daughters, a lady should leave two cards. When paying a first call to several ladies — not mother and daughters — a card should be left for each. When calling on the guest of a house, a card should be left for the hostess also, even if she is a stranger to the visitor. When calling at a hotel, it is allowable, and even desirable, to write the name of the person for whom the visit is intended upon the card, to avoid the chance of mistakes; 74 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 23 but this should never be done at a private residence. Cards should be left or sent on the day of a reception, if illness, a death in the family , or any other cause prevents the acceptance of the invitation. Cards should not be turned down at the corners, nor bent over at one end — the fash- ion is now out of date. In sending a first invitation to a person on whom the hostess has never called, cards should be enclosed with the invitation ; but, if possible, a call should precede a first invitation. After a proper interval of time, cards of condolence may be acknowledged (by send- ing mourning cards inclosed in an envelope) . No lady should use on her cards a sug- gestion of her husband's profession or titles of honor, such as " Mrs. General Brown," "Mrs. Dr. Smith," etc. Nor should she be addressed in this manner in conversation. In case a person is going away, and likely to be absent for a length of time, it is proper to write p. p. c. on his or her card, and mail the same to acquaintances. The letters thus used signify ' ' pour prendre congS, ' ' which translated from the French means " to take leave." Some write the English words out in full. Upon returning home your friends must first call upon you. If death -occurs in any household where one is in the habit of visiting, it is proper to leave cards upon the family within a month after. When a gentleman calls after receiving hospitality, he should leave cards for all the ladies of the family and one for the gentle^ man representing the head of the house, whether young or old. When a lady is paying merely forma] visits she need not necessarily ask whether the lady upon whom she is calling is at home, but can leave cards simply, unless she is under obligation for some courtesy, in which case she must ask whether the lady can receive her. It is better to leave cards in the hall when entering an afternoon reception or tea, as the hostess might otherwise not remember your presence, and a card left in person would afterwards remind her that she was your debtor for a visit — for if you attend an afternoon reception it is equivalent to a call. If you receive cards for a series of "at homes," and for some good reason cannot accept the invitation, send your card on the last day named. A card left for you during your illness should be answered by a call as soon as your recovery will permit. Should you send a card to a person who is ill, the bearer should always make a ver- bal inquiry as to your friend's condition of health. In making calls upon an intimate friend it is not necessary to send your card in. The simple announcement of your name is sufiicient. The use of a card always has an air of formality about it. Where persons are on cordial terms, and are visiting back and forth frequently, a card can very well be dispensed with. V. BALLS AND EVENING PARTIES It is in the evening party that society puts on its gayest aspect, and is on its best behavior. Here everything is regulated by a strict code of observance, any departure from which opens one to critical remark. It is necessary, therefore, that the etiquette of the ball-room should be fully understood by all who claim admission to society. These entertainments always include danc- ing and a supper. If large, they are called balls; if small, simply dances or parties. Balls are of two kinds, public and private, but there is no essential difference between the etiquette required on the two occasions. As regards the giving of private parties or balls, the rule is, that ball-goers should make one return during the season. In doing so, it is in good taste to restrict the number of invitations as far as social obli- gations will permit, that the guests may not be overcrowded, and the unpleasantness of the "crush" may be avoided. To gain this desirable end, however, it is always safe to make the invitations in excess of the number desired, as some are sure to fail to come. One third more than the room will comfortably hold may usually be safely asked. And experience shows that more 175 24 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE gentlemen than ladies should be invited, in order to secure an equal number of dancers of both sexes. Invitations may be sent out from two to three weeks before the time fixed for the party. Less than two weeks is usually con- sidered too short notice. The hour for balls has, unfortunately, been made very late by the absolute dictum of fashion. Unless specially indicated on the invitation, a hostess cannot hope to as- semble her guests before half-past ten, and in large cities the rooms are often not filled till an hour later. Subscription Dances. In most of the large cities several series of dances are arranged by certain leaders in the social world to which people are invited to subscribe. Each subscriber is usually entitled to a number of invitations for dis- tribution, though in some instances the price of the subscription is small, and only permits one person to take advantage of each. The subscription balls take place in some public ball-room, as a rule. In New York, for instance, at Delmonico's. Several ladies are selected to form the reception committee, and they stand in one of the outer rooms, bowing to the guests as they enter. On such occasions, no one shakes hands ; the ladies courtesy, and the gentlemen bow. No unmarried lady should go to one of these balls, or to any large party, without a chaperon, and invitations should be sent to an elder member of her family, in order that she need not look outside for proper attendance. In the West and South it is customary for gentlemen to take unmarried ladies to evening entertainments, but in the East, and in the best city society generally, such a thing would be considered the greatest breach of decorum. At a small dance in a private house a young lady may dispense with the services of a chaperon, if desired, but she should be escorted to and from the house by a servant or relative. A good floor is essential to the enjoy- ment of dancing ; when the carpet is taken up, care should be used that no roughness of surface is presented. Some ladies have their dancing-floors carefully polished with beeswax and a brush. A crumb-cloth or linen diaper, thoroughly well stretched over a carpet, is the next best thing to a polished floor. The question of music is important. If it is a large ball, four musicians is the least number that should be engaged — piano, cornet or flute, violin, and violoncello. In small assemblies the violin and piano are sufficient, or, on occasion, the piano alone. In such a case a chance pianist should not be depended upon, but a professional one be engaged . The orchestra should occupy what is considered the top of the room. In cases where it is not convenient to adhere to this rule, the end farthest from the door is usu- ally chosen. The position of the orchestra needs to be considered by the dancers, so that, in quadrilles, their movements may be regulated thereby. The Dressing Room. A cloak-room for ladies must be pro- vided, with maids to receive shawls and cloaks and to render such other assistance as may be required. It should contain sev- eral looking-glasses, and a supply of such articles as may be required in a lady's toilette. A hat room for gentlemen must not be forgotten, with valets to wait upon them. It is best to provide checks for articles be- longing to ladies and gentlemen left in charge of the attendants. Where checks cannot be had, tickets numbered in dupli- cate may be used — one being given to the lady or gentleman, and the other pinned to the coat or cloak. By this means the prop- erty of each guest is identified, and con- fusion at the time of departure is prevented. Small fees of twenty-five or fifty cents are often given to servants in the dressing- room at a public ball, but never in private houses in this country, though the custom is common in England. Waiters should be on hand at supper to serve the meal, as the fashion of the gentlemen waiting upon the ladies is rapidly becoming obsolete. In large cities, an awning should always be extended from the front door to the curb- 176 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 25 stone, on the occasion of a reception or other entertainment, as ladies do not like to step out of their carriages in light or elab- orate dresses without some protection from the weather, and from the gaze of a curious crowd. The Question of Toilette. lyadies may wear as handsome dresses as they wish, and make their fullest display of jewelry. As everything about a ball-room should be light and attractive, it is in order for elderly ladies, who do not dance, to wear dresses more youthful in style and color than would be suitable for dinner, concert, , or opera. For those who dance, silk dresses are, as a rule, objectionable. Flowers are the proper ornaments for the head and dress. French ladies select them with reference to the season ; but this is not insisted on in this country, and summer flowers may be worn at Christmas. Ladies in deep mourning should not dance, even if they permit themselves to at- tend a ball. Should they do so, black and scarlet or violet is the proper v/ear. Where the mourning is sufficiently slight for danc- ing to be seemly, white, with mauve, violet or black trimmings, flounces, etc., is proper. White gloves befit the ball-room ; in mourning they may be sewn with black. They should be faultless as to fit, and never be removed from the hands in the ball- room. The attire in which a gentleman can present himself in a ball-room is so rigor- ously defined, and admits of so little variety, that it can be described in a few words. He must wear a black dress coat, black trousers, and a black waistcoat ; a white necktie, white kid gloves, and patent leather boots. The waistcoat should be low, so as to disclose an ample shirt-front, fine and delicately plaited ; it is better not embroid- ered, but small gold studs may be used with effect. Excess of jewelry is to be avoided. The necktie should be of a wash- ing texture, not silk, and not set off with embroidery. In the Ball=Room. In a private ball or party, guests, on en- tering, should at once proceed to pay their respects to the lady of the house, who will remain near the door to greet them as they appear. Some of the gentlemen of the house should be near, to introduce to the lady any of their friends on their arrival. The daughters of the household are not required to assist in the ceremony of recep- tion. The fashion of carrying numerous bou- quets to a ball is rapidly going out of exist- ence, and many ladies refuse to take any flowers into a ball-room, the old custom having given rise to much vulgar rivalry and ostentatious display. At public balls cards giving the order of dances are provided, on which gentlemen can write their names opposite the numbers of the dances for which they have been ac- cepted by the lady holding the card. In England such cards are in general use, but they are rarely provided at private balls in this country. From eighteen to twenty dances is a convenient number to arrange for, with supper as a suitable break at about the middle of the entertainment. A ball should begin with a march, followed in succession by a quadrille and a waltz. Then waltzes and quadrilles follow as may be arranged. The cotillon or German, now so widely known, fills up the larger part of the even- ing, and begins, as a rule, immediately after supper. In a private house, the gentleman who has been invited to lead the German must ask the unmarried daughter of the family to dance with him, or the married daughter if so indicated as the family's choice. At the more general dances or large balls a young married lady is usually the one selected to dance with the leader. It is quite the custom for a gentleman to engage a partner for the cotillon before the evening of the dance, and" in this case, pro- vided he can afford it, he usually sends her a bouquet of flowers. But should the lady request him not to remember her in this way her wishes should be respected. Any gentleman, provided his acquaint- ance with the lady be sufficiently intimate to warrant him in doing so, has the privilege of sending her ofierings of flowers whenever he cares to do so. In such a case he should go to a florist, leave an order for the kind of 177 96 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE bouquet he wishes sent, and also his card in an envelope addressed to the lady, which envelope should accompany the flowers. Formerly, at public balls a master of ceremonies was considered always neces- sary, but this official is no longer provided, the management being now entrusted to a committee of arrangements, who are distin- guished by wearing ribbons in the button- hole, or rosettes. The members of the committee superintend the dances, provide partners for those who need them, and introduce gentlemen to ladies with whom they desire to dance. In private balls, the lady of the house or «ome member of the family attends to intro- ductions, and when she has grown daughters they may employ themselves in arranging sets, introducing partners, and the like, de- sisting from dancing themselves while any of the lady guests remain unprovided with partners. Requests to Dance. The former fashion of saying, "May I have the pleasure of dancing with you?" has now given place to a less formal method , and a young man may accost a young lady with, " I hope you have kept a dance for me," " Won't you spare me a dance?" or "Shall we take a turn?" A young lady does not answer, " I shall be very happy," a reply which has disappeared with ' ' May I have the pleasure?" but may say, " I am afraid I have none to spare except number ten, a quadrille," or " I am engaged for the next five dances; but I'll give you one, if you come for it a little later," or something similarly appropriate. Another form of invitation is, "Are you engaged for this dance?" An unsophisti- cated girl may answer by saying, " I do not think I am," while perfectly aware that she is not, and the young men are quick to see through the evasion by which the maiden seeks to conceal her lack of partners. A clever girl will escape from the dilemma by such an answer, as " I am glad to say I am not," thus inferring that she might have been engaged had she desired, but preferred waiting for the chance of dancing with him — a suggestion flattering to the gentle- man. i78 Ball-room small talk is not expected to rise above the common-place. The ma- terials supplied by the entertainment itself are very limited — the band, the flowers, the floor, the supper. Dull people usually ring the changes on these themes. For instance, " How well the band plays ! " " What a pleasant ball-room this is ! " " Don't you think the floor slippery ! " " How warm it is growing ! ", etc., etc. Such phrases, by incessant repetition, grow wearisome, and those who can master any more novel phrases should make an earnest effort to vary the monotony. Nothing very serious or profound is in place, but almost any one can escape from such trite subjects as these. In the Dance. When a lady has accepted an invitation to dance, the gentleman offers her his right arm, and leads her to her place on the floor. A slight knowledge of the figure is suffi- cient to enable a gentleman to move through a quadrille, if he is easy and unembarrassed, and his manners are courteous ; but to ask a lady to join you in a waltz, or other round dance, in which you are not proficient, is an offence not easily forgiven, as it may ex- pose the lady to awkward embrassment. It is inadvisable to dance in every set, as the exercise is unpleasantly heating and fatiguing. Never forget an engagement — it is an offence that does not admit of ex- cuse, except when a lady commits it ; and then a gentleman is bound to take her at her word without a murmur. It is quite probable, however, that he will remember it against her, and take care not to be again victimized by her. At the end of a quadrille the gentleman should offer his right arm to the lady, and walk half round the room with her. He should inquire if she will take refreshments, and, if she replies in the affirmative, conduct her to the room devoted to that purpose. It is good taste on the part of the lady not to detain her cavalier here so long as to prevent him from fulfilling his next engagement, since he cannot return to the ball-room un- til she is ready to be escorted thither, and resigned to her chaperon or friends, or to the partner who claims her promise for the next dance. BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 27 Taking Supper. The gentleman who dances with a lady in the last dance before supper, conducts her to the suppei-rooni, attends on her while there, and escorts her back to the ball- room. At a private ball, the lady of the house may ask a gentleman to take a lady down to supper, and he is bound to comply, and to treat her with the politest attention . In either case a gentleman will not sup with the ladies, but stand by and attend to them, permitting himself a glass of wine with them ; but taking a subsequent op- portunity to secure his own refreshment. Refreshments must be provided for the guests during the evening ; and, as nothing should be handed round in the ball-room, a refreshment-room is necessary. This should, if possible, be on the same floor as the ball- room, because it is not only inconvenient, but dangerous, for ladies heated by the dance to encounter the draught of the stair- cases. In the refreshment-room, lemonade, tea and coffee, ices, biscuits, wafers, cakes and cracker bonbons should be provided. Some persons add wine to the list. The supper table should be set in a separate room. It is usually opened to the guests about 12.30 o'clock, and may con- sist of hot and cold dishes, including oysters, bouillon, game, croquettes, filet of beef, salads, pates, ices, cakes, sweets, jellies, fruits, and champagne, punch, lemonade and mineral waters, or such combinations or variations of these viands as may be decided upon. Small tables are frequently used at balls, so that four or six people may sit at one table and eat their supper comfortably in courses. In private parties the character of the supper will, of course, depend upon the taste and resources of those who give the ball. To order it in from a good caterer is the simplest plan, but may often prove too expensive. If provided at home, let it be done on a liberal, but not too profuse a scale. After the Ball. ; Assemblies of this kind should be left quietly. If the party is small, it is permis- sible to bow to the hostess ; but at a large ball this is not necessary, unless you meet her on your way from the room. It is im- portant to avoid making your departure felt as a suggestion for breaking up the party, it being very impolite to indicate by your movements or manner that, in your opinion, the entertainment has been kept up long enough. Finally, let no gentleman presume on a ball-room introduction. It is given with r view to one dance only, and will certainly not warrant a gentleman in going further than asking a lady to dance a second time. Out of the ball-room such an introduction has no force whatever. If those who have danced together meet next day in the street, or the park, the gentleman must not venture to bow, unless the lady chooses to favor him with some mark of her recognition. If he does, he must not expect any acknowledgment of his salutation. After a private ball it is etiquette to call at the house during the following week. VI. BREAKFAST, LUNCHEON AND TEA The hour at which breakfast shall be served is governed entirely by the habits and tastes of the family. Where it is very late, it is often preceded by the sending of coffee or tea, rolls and eggs in some form, to the bed rooms, the family, in such a case, not coming down to a general meal till about noon. Breakfast, however, is served in the same manner whether the hour be early or late, and this meal should always be quite free fuom formality. A tea and coffee tray should be placed in front of the mistress of the house. It is quite within the rules of breakfast etiquette for people to wait on themselves and to help each other, and as the bread, small dishes, etc., are frequently on the side table, this is a very convenient fashion. One servant is enough in the dining-room in the morning, even though a larger number may be retained . Ordinary courses for breakfast consist of ' three or four, such as hominy or oatmeal 19 28 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE first, then eggs, meat, or ham, and the chief portion of the food, followed by grid- dle-cakes and finally fruit. Toast should be freshly made, and sent up from time to time while the breakfast goes on . It should be always hot, as cold toast is never palatable. Luncheon. In imitation of the French, the meal which in our country is usually called " lunch " or " luncheon," is sometimes de- signated as " breakfast." It may either be "ormal, resembling a dinner, or informal, like the breakfast just described. It is ser- ved between 12.30 and 1.30, and the hostess may make it as simple or as elegant as she chooses. A formal luncheon party, however, differs little, if at all, from a din- ner. If the occasion is a ceremonious one, the table is set in the same manner as for a dinner, and the dishes are handed by the servants ; but the guests enter separately, instead of arm in arm. At a large lunch-party either one long table, or several little ones, may be used. If the latter method is preferred, take care that the servants have ample room to pass I etween them. Kach plate should have be- side it two knives, two forks, one or two spoons, and a water-goblet. The first course should consist of fruit or of raw oysters, or of bouillon or chicken consomme, served in cups set on plates, and provided with teaspoons. This course is followed by an entree, chops with one or two vegetables, game or chicken, and salad, with sweets, candies, fruits, etc. Black coffee is usually served after luncheon. In an informal lunch, if the hostess pre- fers, the sweets may be placed on the table in advance ; but vegetables must be served from the side-board, and the chops, cold meats, etc., should be served by the hostess. Yet at such luncheons vegetables are fre- quently omitted, and in the selection of dishes the greatest latitude of choice is per- missible. Among those most frequently served may be named oysters, croquettes, French chops, cold meats, beefsteak, fish, omelettes and salads. At formal luncheons a bouquet for each lady is sometimes provided, they being grouped as an ornament in the centre of the table, and distributed after the meal. The custom is a pretty one, and worth encour- aging. Occasionally, also, some pretty trifle is given to each guest as a memento of the occasion, but there is no obligation for this to be done. «^ Guests should be punctual in attendance on such an occasion, or send word promptly if prevented, by some sudden occurrence, from coming. Either a w^hite or figured table-cloth may be used, but it must be one that will wash. These are rules which etiquette and good breeding demand shall be observed, not alone at luncheon, but at all meals. The table is the social centre, and it is essential that those who gather around it shall con- form themselves to the most approved rules of good society. A knowledge of table eti- quette is very desirable to possess, since many regard it as one of the surest tests of good breeding. It is at the dinner table, however, that strict rules of observance be- come indispensible. There is miich more freedom allowable at the earlier meals of the da}^ and a digest of table rules may be left till we come to speak of the principal meal. It may be said, however, in regard to conversation at the lunch table, that both etiquette and good breeding forbid indul- gence in gossip, particularly in any sense ill natured, and nothing can be more ill-bred than to make, after the meal, carping criti- cisms on the hostess and the entertainment she has provided. Teas and Afternoon Receptions. These are among the most informal en- tertainments given, and the difference be- tween a large afternoon tea and an afternoon reception is little more than the name, though the latter is perhaps a shade more formal. They frequently take place at the same hour, and the character of the invitations and entertainments differ very little. The day and hour of an afternoon tea may be written on a visiting card. For an afternoon reception, an " At Home " card is used. No answer need be sent to such an invitation, unless one is particularly re- quested, which is not ordinarily the rule. 180 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 29 It is necessary to speak to the host and hostess immediately upon entering the room, but owing to the constantly moving crowd it is not essential that guests should again address the host and hostess when they are about to leave. The length of stay can vary from five minutes to an hour at an afternoon recep- tion, but at an evening reception the time is usually more extended. Only simple refreshments should be served at an afternoon tea. Thin slices of bread and butter, sandwiches, fancy biscuit or cake, tea, coffee, or chocolate, ice cream ^ and bouillon are offered. Punch and lemon- ade — but no wine of any kind — may be added if desired ; and also salted almonds, cakes, candies, and other dainty trifles. English breakfast tea is now preferred, served with cream and white sugar, or slices of lemon for those who like tea made in the Russian style. At an afternoon reception the table may 1)6 supplied with oyster-salads, pates, boned Lurkey, ice cream, coffee, and bonbons. For a reception music is desirable, as it adds greater brilliancy to the entertainment. The hostess should shake hands with her guests and receive them cordially ; any formality is out of place on an informal occasion. If the number of guests is small, the hostess should walk about the room, talking with her visitors ; if large, she should re- main near the door, and have the aid of other ladies, who should entertain the guests, ask them to take refreshments, and make introductions when necessary. At a large and elegant afternoon recep- tion the windows may be darkened, the gas lighted, and musicians employed, if the hostess desires. What is known as a high tea is a meal taking the place of a dinner, at which hot meats, cakes, warm breads, preserves and other sweets are served. Such teas are more popular in the country than in town. At the informal tea, of which it is the custom to partake at about five o'clock in many households, a tray is brought in to the mistress of the house, and placed before her on a small table. This tray should con- tain a tea-service, cups, saucers, etc. The lady herself makes the tea, pours it out, and passes it to the members of the family or the visitors who may chance to be present. The servant brings in thin slices of bread and butter, cake, and, perhaps, English muffins, which are usually served with the cup of tea at this hour. Suppers. Supper, as a rule, is similar to dinner, and unless served at a ball or as a part of some other entertainment has very much the character of that meal . A fter the theatre or opera, people frequently indulge in some refreshment which may or may not be dig- nified by the name of supper. Picnics. If one person gives a picnic he must provide everything, the modes of convey- ance to the place selected, the refreshments, entertainment, etc., but if several join in this the labor and expense should be equally divided. The refreshments should consist chiefly of cold dishes, such as meats, boned turkey, sandwiches, salads, cakes, jellies, pies, etc., with lemonade, or such other drinks as may seem desirable. Hot dishes are sometimes served, prepared at a neighboring house. Picnics are often so arranged that each lady attending furnishes a dish of some kind. In this way all the refreshments can be provided without any difficulty. Sometimes a wooden platform is erected, and dancing is the chief amusement after eating. A picnic generally lasts from about noon until twilight, and the best season of the year for such an entertainment is when it is pleasant to be out of doors. Sufficient china, glass, etc., should al- ways be provided, though they should be of a plain and inexpensive kind, for fear of breakage. Theatre Parties. A dinner, either at home or at a restau- rant, is frequently followed by a visit to the theatre or the opera. In such a case it is proper for the one who gives the theatre party to invite an equal number of ladies and gentlemen, a proper chaperon, of course. 30 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE being provided. If the party are to dine together before going to the play, half-past six is usually the hour appointed, whether the dinner is to take place in a private house or in a restaurant. If there is to be no din- ner, some house is selected where the guests assemble at a proper hour to reach the theatre in time. It is customary, when you invite married people or gentlemen to the opera, to send them their tickets so that they may join you at the opera house, unless for some reason you wish to go with them . Unmarried ladies are usually asked to dine by their friends and go with them from their home. Sup- pers are rarely given after the opera, owing to the lateness of the hour. If the party did not dine together, however, it is custo- mary for the host or hostess to give the guests a supper somewhere after the play. It is the duty of the chaperon to see the unmarried ladies safely home. Chaperons. The word chaperon is French, and signi- fies a married lady, or one of sufficient age and dignity to accompany an unmarried one with propriety to any reputable enter- tainment. Her services may be called upon, not alone for theatres, operas, concerts, balls, or other evening entertainments, but are de- manded on many occasions during the day. No party of any kind which includes both sexes should be formed unless some married lady has charge of it. The greatest courtesy and deference to a chaperon should always be manifested by the young ladies and gentlemen- under her charge. Indifferent civility in this respect is the height of ill-breeding. When an older lady passes a younger one in a ball-room and bows, the younger one should never remain seated when re- turning such a mark of recognition. In leaving a room simultaneously, younger and unmarried ladies should always stand aside until the older or married ones have passed out. The chaperon should behave with dignity, while being as genial and agree- able to the younger members of her party as possible. She should see that the un- married ladies she has charge of reach home safely, and never leave them to a chance escort, no matter how tired she may be. One can never be too sure but that young girls may be exposed to unpleasant situations, if left without a companion of judgment and experience. VII. BANQUETS AND DINNERS The formal dinner is one of the most im- Dortant occasions in social life, the test to vhich the degree of acquaintance of anyone with the customs of good society is often put, the trial scene of good breeding and familiarity with polite observance. The "ules to be observed at table are so many and minute that they require careful study, and many who pass muster on less formal occasions, may sadly err in some of the in- dispensible detailsof the etiquette of the table. In^ ordinary, informal dinners, indeed, this strictness of observance is not de- manded, and much more freedom is per- missible, the home feeling here taking the place of ceremonious rules. Yet even here it is important to avoid falling into too great a latitude of action, since habits formed at home are very apt to accompany one abroad. Choosing Guests. In giving a dinner party, the first and often the most important question is, whom to invite. How many to invite folio v\'S as a problem of little less importance. For a pleasant dinner the number should be small rather than large, eight or ten being a fair average. An ^even number seems prefer- able, though this is not a matter of essential consideration. Of course, large dinners are often a necessity, when given for business, family, or other reasons ; and when display is the leading motive in giving the dinner, the number may be as great as the resources of the establishment will permit. But if com- fort and the pleasure of social intercourse are the objects proposed, the number will need to be limited. book: of etiquette 31 As to who should be invited, we have here a question that has sadly troubled many generations of hosts and hostesses. To bring together an incongruous mass of people is simply to invite failure. Guests should be selected with strict attention to a sense of fitness ; and equal attention should be given to placing those of similar tastes together at table. The ease of conversation and the enjoyment of the dinner depend largely on this. Clever conversationalists are always most desirable guests. These are not always to be had, but even a single fluent talker often acts as a leaven that will rouse to speech a whole company of ordi- narily quiet people. The invitation should be sent a week or two before the time fixed, or as much as three weeks if the affair is to be one of great formality. Duties of the Hostess. A dinner party is regarded by many per- sons as the most formal and, at the same time, the most elegant mode of entertaining guests — it is certainly the one which most severely taxes the resources of the hostess. Any woman not positively ill-bred can fill the position of hostess at a ball ; but it re- quires tact, readiness, and a thorough knowl- edge of society to make a dinner party, in the ordinary parlance, " go off well." No matter how exquisite the china, glass, floral decorations, silver, and linen may be, if the hostess is a dull or awkward woman, the banquet will not be a success, for a proper selection of guests and the power of drawing them into gay and brilliant conversation are quite as needful as any of the material accessories. The hostess should call into requisition all her tact and knowledge of society to set her guests at ease. No accident must dis- turb her. If her rarest china or most preci- ous bit of glass is broken, she must appear not to notice it. If any one has had the misfortune to arrive late, she must welcome him or her cordially, though her duties to - her other guests have not permitted her to wait in the drawing-room more than the fif- teen minutes permitted by etiquette to the tardy. She must think only of encouraging the timid, inducing the taciturn to talk, and enabling all to contribute their best conver- sational powers to the general fund of enter- tainment. The same rules, of course, apply to the host. Ihe arrangements for dinner should be much the same whether the party be large or small, though, of course, the larger num- ber will require a few extra servants, and may render advisable some extra courses. It should be remembered, however, by givers of dinners that too many courses are objectionable, and that in the best society of to-day fewer dishes are offered than was for- merly the custom. The hour for dinner should be fixed to suit the convenience of the guests and will vary in city and country. In the city it should be no earlier than seven nor later than eight o'clock, and the probability must be borne in mind that the guests will not all assemble till at least fifteen minutes after the hour named in the invitations. Tardiness of this kind was formerly considered rude, but has now become so common as to be expected and allowed for. Arranging the Table. In the centre of the table should be either a vase of flowers or a dish of fruit. Ferns make a very attractive effect. There should be small dishes of candies, figs, prunes, crystallized ginger, etc. Olives or radishes, salted almonds, etc., should beset in pretty little dishes on the table. These, with the silver, glass carafes of water, and wine de- canters, complete the decoration of the table. Everything else should be served from the side-table, and passed to each guest. This saves great confusion, and contributes more than anything else to the comfort of the meal. It is important also to have warm food served on hot plates. Cold plates will spoil the best dinner ever cooked. The table cloth should be of the finest quality ; and it is well for those whose means do not permit them to follow fash- ion's every caprice, to remember that fine white table linen is always in place. If colored materials are used, the latest edict of fashion forbids the employment of any stuffs that will not wash. Decorations should always be arranged so that they will not prevent the guests 83 32 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE from seeing one another. The preference is now for low dishes of flowers of delicate perfume. Those of strong fragrance should be avoided, as in a warm room their odor may become oppressive. An ostentatious display of flowers, plate, or ornaments of any kind is not in the best taste ; nothing being more vulgar than a seeming desire to impress your friends with a show of wealth. Placing the Table=Ware. On the right of the space left for the plate place two knives and a spoon. The present mode is to use silver knives as well as forks for fish, and in that case this knife is placed with the others. On the left three forks — that for sweets smaller than the others. At times other knives, forks, and spoons are provided, but it is better to bring these in as needed for the separate courses, The glasses are placed on the right. These should be at least four in number. As it is a great breach of decorum , as well as a sign of ignorance, to drink one sort of wine from a glass intended for another, we shall describe the glasses commonly in use. The tall glass, or that with the shallow, saucer-like top, is for champagne ; the green for hock, chablis and similar wines ; the large, ample glass for claret and burgundy ; the round, full-shaped glass for port, and the smaller glass for sherry. It must not be understood, however, that wines are essential to a high-toned dinner. Some of our very best families, the acknowledged leaders of fashion, never put champagne or any other kind of wine on their tables. Each guest must be provided with a table-napkin, which, in laying the table, should occupy the place reserved for the plate. There are many different and various ingenious ways of treating the dinner-nap- kin. The simplest is to leave it in the folds in which it comes from the laundress. Bread should be cut in thin slices, and laid on a napkin at the left of each plate. The room may be lighted with either white or colored candles or lamp. Many persons prefer to have the light fall in part from side brackets or sconces on the wall . Dress. As regards dress for a dinner party, it must be governed in great measure by the character of the dinner, whether friendly and informal, or an occasion of leading im- portance and marked formalitj^ For the latter, lady and gentleman alike should dress as elaborately as for a ball, though ball dress and dinner dress should by no means be the same. The occasions differ widely, and the fitness of things needs to be strictly observed. As to the character of the lady's dress, that must depend on her own taste. It will suffice to state here that full dress is re- quisite and that jewerly maybe freely worn. For an ordinary, small dinner, however, a much less elaborate toilette is sufficient, and may prove more comfortable. The gentleman will wear the ordinary evening dress already described. He may wear more jewelry than is in good taste earlier in the day. Entering the Dining Room. If the dinner is to be a large and formal one, a gentleman should receive an envelope before entering the drawing-room in which is a card bearing the name of the lady he is desired to take in to dinner. If he does not know the lady he should ask the hostess to present him to her. At small and informal dinners this is not necessary, the hostess simply mentioning to the gentleman the name of the lady he is wished to escort to the table. In fact, though still in use, the custom above named is going out of fashion, an assignment in the drawing-room being considered suflBcient. A card is generally laid at each place, giving the name of the guest who is to oc- cupy it. This custom is also unnecessary at a small dinner. Menus, or bills of fare, are often placed before the guests at large dinners, but rarely at small ones. When the guests have all arrived and the dinner is ready, the butler or waitress should enter the drawing-room and politely say to the lad)'- of the house, " Dinner is served ' ' ; then he or she should return to the dining-room and stand behind the hostess until she is seated. 184 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 33 The gentleman of the house must offer his right arm to the lady who has been selected as the important guest of the even- ing, and then proceed to the table, placing her on his right, he generally taking the lower end of the table. The other guests follow, each gentleman with the lady selected for him ; and finally the hostess enters with the gentleman whom she wishes to honor, he taking a seat at her right. The remaining guests, in case their seats are not indicated by cards, will take the seats assigned to them by the host or hostess. In case no assignment is made, it should be remembered that questions of precedence, formerly so much considered, are growing to be of minor importance, particularly in this country. Every place at a friend's table is equally a place of honor, and should be equally agreeable, so that, in the best circles, it is becoming the custom for the guests to sit in the order in which they enter the room. A little care should, however, be taken that a judicious distribution of the guests, accord- ing to their tastes, accomplishments, terms of intimacy, etc, is secured. Ladies sit on the right of gentlemen. As soon as seated all the guests remove their gloves, and, taking the napkins from the table, open them and spread th;im on their knees. The napkin is not to be tucked into the waistcoat or pinned on to the front of the dress. It will usually contain a roll ; that is placed on the left side of the plate. The Dinner- It is not easy to lay down any fixed rule for the character of the dinner. That must be governed by the season and the taste and resources of the host. However humble the pretensions of the dinner, it should never consist of less than three courses, namely , soup or fish , a j oint (which , in a small dinner, may be accompanied by poultry or game) and pastry. Cheese with salad fol- lows as a matter of course. Dessert succeeds. The number of servants necessary will depend, of course, on the number of guests. Three will be enough for a party of ten or twelve persons. On their training and efii- cient service the success of the dinner will largely depend. iq E I What is above said about courses applies, of course, to a very simple meal. In those of more pretension the courses may vary considerably in number and character, though custom lays down certain fixed rule* for the succession of viands. For an ordi- nary dinner the following will sufl&ce as an example. Dinner Courses. The dinner may begin with oysters on the half shell, five or six for each person. If not the season for oysters, small clams are frequently served in the same way. These should be very cold, and the clams are better if surrounded by cracked ice. A piece of lemon should be in the centre of each plate, and pepper and salt be passed with this course. Soup follows. Hither one or two may be served — a white and a clear, or a white and a brown soup ; but never serve two kinds one after the other. Follow the soup with fish. At the best tables you will find a silver fish-knife as well as fork ; if not, eat with a fork in the right hand and a small piece of bread in the left. When there are two kinds of fish, the larger one — say the turbot — is placed before the host ; the lady taking that which is less calculated to fatigue in the helping. When fish sauce is handed, put it on the side of your plate. There are certain sauces appro- priate to each kind of fish — as lobster sauce with turbot, shrimp or caper with salmon, oyster with cod, and so on. The entrees follow, being ordinarily served in covered silver side dishes. They consist of sweetbreads, pates, cutlets, and made-dishes generally. It is not customary to do more than taste one or two of these. Too much attention to them is apt to unfit one for enjoying the rest of the dinner. In eating of these dishes the fork alone, where possible, should be used. The raeats and vegetables follow. Some vegetables, such as asparagus, sweet corn, or maccaroni, can be offered by themselves ; but hostesses should beware of making the meal tiresome by a needless number of courses. It is not allowable, however, to serve more than two vegetables with one course, 34 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE nor to offer an^^thing except potatoes or potato salad with the fish. The roast meats are placed about the table in this way : The largest and most important, say haunch of venison, before the host ; one before the lady of the house, and such dishes as tongue or ham before particular guests, who occupy seats at points where carving-knives and forks are placed in readiness. Carving is an important accomplishment, and one that every gentleman should seek to acquire. A man should be able to carve a joint or a bird easily and dexterously, but facility can only be acquired by practice, which it is important to have. It is cus- tomary, however, to have the joint carved off the table, put back as before carving, and served. It is hardly necessary to say that knife and fork are used in the eating of meat, poultry, or game ; and it seems equally un- necessary to say that the purpose of the knife is simply to cut the food. Under no circumstances must it be used to convey it to the mouth. Vegetables are eaten with a fork. A spoon is rarely necessary, and a knife comes into use only in such cases as cutting off the heads of asparagus and the like. If considered desirable, a course of vege- tables may follow that of meat, — asparagus, cauliflower, artichokes, baked tomatoes, or some similar dish being served. Game follows. Salad may be served either with the game or as a separate course. In the latter c ase serve with it cheese and bread and butter. The bread can be cut very thin and carefully buttered, or the butter and bread can be served separately. If preferred, the cheese can be served as a separate course. Follow the cheese and salad with the sweet dishes and ices, then serve the fruit, and lastly the bonbons. Coffee may be ser\^ed in the drawing-room, when the courses have not occupied too much time, or at the table, according to the preference of the hostess. Black coffee, which should be made very strong and clear, must be served in very small cups, with tiny coffee-spoons. After the Courses. Everything except the lights and orna- ments should be removed from the table before the dessert is served, the crumbs being brushed off with a crumb-scraper or a nap- kin, a clean one of course. Finger bowls, set on handsome china or glass plates, with a fruit napkin or embroid- ered doily between, should be placed on the table for the fruit course. The dainty em- broidered doilies, however, must never bo used, and substantial fruit napkins should be supplied when any fruits that stain badly are served. Where there is more than one servant, a second waiter carrying the proper vegetables should follow the first, who passes the meat or fish. The lady next the host should first be helped, and the others in turn, after which the gentlemen should be served. But when there is only one servant, the guests may be helped in the order in which they sit, beginning with the lady at the host's right, then passing to the one at his left, leaving the host himself to be served last. When the servants have placed the des- sert on the table and have handed the fruit and sweets once round, they retire. Any further service which the ladies may require can be given by the gentlemen, who will, of course, exert themselves to see that their neighbors are properly attended to. Retiring from the Table. Then the hostess bows to the lady of most distinction present, and all the ladies rise and prepare to retire. The gentleman nearest the door opens it, and holds it open for them. The hostess is the last to go out. While they are going all the gentlemen rise, and remain standing until they are gone. It would not, however, be a violation of eti- quette for the gentlemen to accompany the ladies to the drawing-room at once, and what is here said applies principally to for- mal dinners, and to families in which the gentlemen are accustomed to conclude the meal with cigars and wine. Tea and coffee are dispensed by the lady of the house in the drawing-room. This is her special province. It should be accom- panied by a few wafers ; a plate of very thin 86 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 35 rolled bread-and-butter and a few biscuits of the lightest description may be added. One cup of tea or coffee only should be taken ; and certainly no one can need to be told that it inust not be poured into the saucer to cool. It will be handed round the room by the servants. In the drawing-room there should be a little music to give relief to the conversa- ■ tion. At a plain family dinner, at which one or two guests are present, more devolves on tbe host and hostess, and less on the servants. General Hints. You should sit at a convenient distance from the table, and sit upright. Do not lean back, or tilt your chair, or stoop for- ward towards the table. When grace is said at the table, observe the most respectful attention, reverently in- clining the head. Do not be impatient to be served. Should you need anything at the hands of the servants, do not order them to serve you, but request them politely, in a low, distinct tone, adding, "if you please." In declining a viand offered by them, say, " Not any, I thank you," etc. Do not hesitate to take the last piece of bread or cake in a dish handed to you. Your host has more for other guests. When a piate containing food is handed to you, set it down before you, and do not pass it to your neighbor. Wines. As regards the use of wines at dinner, the following rules will suffice. They should be served in the following succession . First. — Sherry, which must be very cold and decantered. This to be passed with the soup. If a white wine is to be served, it should be given with the oysters and also very cold. This must not be decantered. Second. — Champagne, which should be packed in ice several hours before it is to be used. Serve it in the bottle with a napkin held round it to absorb the moisture. Champagne is passed with the meat. Third. — Claret, which must be decant- ered and warm, and served with the game and salad. is; Fourth. — Madeira, also decantered but of its natural temperature and passed with the dessert. Mineral waters, such as apoUinaris, can be passed at dinner, as some prefer a min- eral to natural water. As has been already said, a glass suitable for each variety of wine is placed on the table. This is not the case with the Madeira glasses, which are kept on a side-table, and brought to the table after the glasses previously used have been removed and before sweets are served. After dinner, when the ladies have left the room and the gentlemen are preparing to smoke, coffee, without milk, is served and carried to the ladies in whichever room they may be. It may be said in conclusion that the custom of wine drinking during dinner, and of drinking and smoking afterwards, is no longer of so ordinary application as former- ly. While still generally retained in the case of large and formal dinners, it is fre- quently omitted in small, and commonly in family dinners, being considered by many a custom ' ' better kept in the breach than the observance." Dinners at Restaurants. When a dinner is given at a public restaurant, a table can be reserved in the public dining-room , or a private room can be engaged. It is usual to order the dinner beforehand, so that there will be no needless delay in serving it when the guests arrive. If a lady gives the dinner it is better for the guests to meet at her house, so that they may all go together to the restaurant, but if an unmarried gentleman is the host be must appoint an hour for the party to meet him in the vestibule of the restaurant, and the lady who has consented to chaperon his din- ner m.ust be there very punctually, in order to spare any unmarried lady the annoyance of arriving alone at a public place. The style of the dinner must rest with the taste of the host or hostess, but it should resemble as nearly as possible a dinner in a private house, both in table appointments, variety of dishes, service, etc. It is perfectly admissible for an unmar- ried lady to dine at a restaurant, provided that she is properly chaperoned. 36 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Lunches and breakfasts are, under the above circumstances, governed by the same rules as those given in regard to dinners. Ladies may lunch or breakfast without gentlemen in respectable public restaurants, but two ladies should if possible be together, rather than that one should lunch or break- fast alone. Of course, no one needs to imagine that in entertaining a few friends at dinner all this ceremony is indispensible. It belongs to occasions where formality and close at- tention to fixed social rules are considered neccessary, but there is an agreeable form of informal dinner which calls for no man- ual of observance, in which the friends are taken into the bosom of the family and the ease of unfettered home intercourse prevails, For such dinners there are no set rules ; every community, every family, make their own laws, and calmly ignore or simoly laugh at the dictates of fashion. Here soup maybe omitted, if not cared for ; you may pass up your plate to your host for a slice of beef ; you may do a dozen things that are quite out of order where formality prevails, and be as heedless and happy as you please. But all this is behind closed doors ; when you fall under fashion's eagle eye no such looseness is for a moment to be considered ; you must eat and drink to rule and measure or consider yourself a candidate for banish- ment. VIII. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE Preceding the marriage comes the court- ship, an event which, since the world began, has been one of vital interest to man and woman, but which is so varied in its inci- dents and characteristics that no set rules of etiquette can be made to apply to it. It may suflBce to say that when a gentleman feels such admiration for a lady as to induce him to make a proposal of marriage to her, it is the more manly and courageous way to do so verbally instead of in writing. During courtship anything that offends good taste, or is conspicuous in the conduct of a be- trothed pair, should be sedulously avoided, — such as making public each other's senti- ments. These concern the pair alone ; they lack interest for the public at large, and eti- quette demands that they should be kept secret. A sufficient public announcement of the engagement is made by the ring, which it is usual for the gentleman to give the lady, as a token of the new relation existing between them. This may be a diamond solitaire, if the means of the gentleman will permit. Otherwise, a plain gold band is in order. It must be worn on the third finger of the left hand. When the engagement is once formally made, it may be made known by the young lady or her mother to relatives and intimate friends. Good form, however, requires that the gentleman should gain the consent of the guardian or parents of the lady before making his proposal to herself. This is particularly important if he is in moderate circumstances and she wealthy. The length of the engagement must de- pend largely upon the wishes of the parties most particularly concerned. Of late years it has become the fashion to shorten the time, and unless the marriage is likely to take place within six months it is better to make no public announcement of the en- gagement. Hasty marriages, on short acquaintance, are in all cases to be avoided. The loving pair should grow to know each other well and intimately before courtship is allowed to pass its preliminary stage of attractive ac- quaintance ; and many an unhappy mar- riage has come from undue haste in this particular, ardent fancy being permitted to take the place of cool reflection and growing knowledge. There is a ddight in courtship, more- over, which is often unwisely abridged by too quick a marriage. In the words of one wise maiden, who was asked why she did not marry when she had so many lovers, ' ' Being courted is too great a luxury to be spoiled by marrying." But all this is mat- ter for which it is useless to attempt to lay down rules. Men and maidens have fol- lowed their own inclinations in regard to the length of the period of courtship since 3 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 37 civilization began, and will probably con- tinue to do so. It is only when the engagement has been made and formally announced that etiquette can have anything to do with the matter. A couple once betrothed, and the betrothal made public, have placed themselves, in a measure, in the hands of society, and must yield in some degree to social obligations, if they wish to avoid invidious comment. Wedding Preliminaries. After the wedding day is fixed the hap- py couple are especially obliged to con- form to the rules of etiquette, there being fixed laws laid down for every detail of the subsequent ceremonies. One thing should be borne in mind, that the wedding belongs to the family of the bride. It is their afiair to send the invitations, provide the music, the decorations, the wedding breakfast, etc.; the duties of the groom being restricted to providing the certificate, naming the clergy- man, and a few others. The announcement of the engagement is generally followed by a dinner given by the parents of the bride, to which some of the relatives of both fami- lies are invited . Subsequent dinners are apt to be given by relatives and intimate friends of the engaged couple. The gentleman's parents, relatives, or friends call as speedily as possible upon the young lady and her parents or guardians. The selection of the wedding day is usually left to the choice of the bride- elect and her mother, and to their taste are similarly left such details of the occasion as the arrange- ment for the wedding, the character of the trousseau, or bridal outfit, the breakfast or reception, the choice of bridesmaids, the style of the ceremony, etc. Any time of the year may be regarded as suitable for a wedding to take place, though certain periods, such as Easter week, are often preferred. In Europe there is a strange prejudice against the month of May. As regards the day of the week, Wednesday or Thursday are apt to be selected ; while Friday is looked upon as unlucky. In this country Friday holds the same doubtful position, but any other day of the week, and any month of the year, are quite in order. Marriage is regulated in this country by the laws of the State, a license being re- quired in some States, and not in others. This the intending husband should procure, he being accompanied by the father, guar- dian, or near relative of the lady, that the requisite information required by the law may be given. The bridal trousseau does not include plate, china, furniture, or any household ware, but is restricted to the bride's attire, of which sufficient is usually provided to last during the first few years of wedded life. Too great a quantity of wearing ap- parel is to be avoided, whatever the wealth of the bride or her family, since the rapid changes in fashion are likely to make some of it useless before it can be worn. The extent and character of the trousseau, of course, must be governed by the means and taste of the bride and her family. Bridal Gifts. The custom of presenting gifts to the bride has grown until it has become much of a burden and something of a farce, from the absolute uselessness of many of the arti- cles sent and the annoying duplication that is likely to take place . In every case the presents should be in accordance with the means and probable style of living of the recipients, and as far as possible in harmony with their tastes and surroundings. Nothing is more ill-advisedthantosend some gorgeous orna- ment for a plain, simply furnished house. Simple, tasteful selections, however, are rarely out of place, and there is a wide choice of articles which every family can use. The variety is endless, ranging from the costliest silver and jewels, clocks, lamps, fans, odd bits of furniture, camel's hair shawls, etc., down to a pretty vase, a bit of embroidery, a picture, or a piece of china painted by the hand of a friend. No one should hesitate to send a present whose money value is small, such gifts are often the most welcome, and a present which owes its existence to the donor's own labor is regarded as especially flattering. Gifts are usually packed where they are bought, and sent directly from the shop to the bride's house- They should be sent during the week preceding the wedding, and 38 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE not less than two days before the event. It is so customary to make an exhibition of the presents on the day of the wedding or the preceding day, that it is very necessary that they should arrive in good time. The display of the wedding presents is a point to be decided according to the bride's wishes. Some people think it ostentatious, others devote much time and care to their arrangement, and it is undoubtedly gratify- ing to many to be permitted to see them. Onerule, however, \sinvariable — thebride must acknowledge every gift by a personal note. It must be borne in mind that the gifts are hers, her own private property, which she can claim from the hands of the sheriff, if misfortune supervenes, and leave by will to whom she elects. Of course, gifts may be sent specially intended for the groom . If people do not know what to send, or what the young couple require, they should take some means to discover, for nothing is more annoying than to receive duplicate presents. It is not uncommon for soup- ladles, butter-knives, tea-urns, and other articles of table use or house ornament to be given so profusely that the young couple are almost as well fixed to set up a store as to begin housekeeping. It is customary for the gentleman to make his bride a present of jewelry to be worn at her wedding, where his means will permit him to do so. If a wealthy man, he often presents the bridesmaids with a sou- venir of the occasion, a fan, bracelet, ring, or bouquet. He buys the wedding ring and furnishes the bride's bouquet ; but there his privilege or duty ends. The bride's family supply the cards, carriages, and wedding entertainment. Flowers. The bride's bouquet should be composed exclusively of white flowers, such as gard- enias, white azaleas, or camellias, with a little orange blossom intertwined. It is the privilege of the groomsman to procure and present this to the bride. It is generally considered a delicate at- tention on the part of the bridegroom to present a bouquet to his future mother-in- law. This may be composed of choice vari- ously colored flowers, whilst those of the bridesmaids should be white, with an edging of pale blush roses. These also are pre- sented by the groom. To save trouble and anxiety with regard to bouquets, it is the best plan to order them from some practical florist. He will know exactly what to send, and will deliver them fresh on the day of the marriage. The Bridesmaids. The bridesmaids are usually selected from among the sisters of the bride, or her cousins or friends. The head -bridesmaid is ordinarily her most intimate friend. Oc- casionally the sisters of the bridegroom as- sist as bridesmaids, but the bride's own sisters should always be given the prefer- ence. The number of the bridesmaids, of course, must be governed by circumstances. Six is a usual number, though more are frequently selected. An even number must always be chosen. The dress of the bridemaids is usually of some light white material . They frequently wear wreaths and veils, but of a lighter and less costly character than those of the bride. Bonnets are often worn instead of veils. It is desirable for them all to be dressed as nearly alike as possible. In this country the bridesmaids either provide their own dresses or may accept them from the bride. The Groomsmen. The number of groomsmen must corres- pond to that of the bridesmaids. These gentlemen have little to do, with the ex- ception of the first or principal grooms- man, who is charged by the bridegroom with the management of the whole affair, and should be furnished by him with money to pay all the expenses. He is usually his brother or most intimate friend. Where a ring is used he should take charge of it, and present it to the bride- groom at the proper moment. He must hand the minister his fee, and pay the sex- ton and other persons entitled to payment their legitimate charges. It is his duty to undertake all the ar- rangements for his friend on- ^he eventful 90 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 39 day, and to see that they are properly car- ried out. The dress of the groomsmen should be similar to that of the bridegroom, the dress worn being that suitable to the hour of the day, in the same fashion as for any other entertainment. They should be dressed as nearly alike as possible. The Bride. After the wedding invitations are issued the bride does not ordinarily appear in pub- lic. On the morning of the wedding day she usually breakfasts in her own room, and remains there till the hour arrives to dress for the ceremon3^ It is the privilege of the bridesmaids to perform this service. The bride's costume is, as a rule, of white, either silk or satin, or of material in accordance with the means of the parties. A bridal veil of lace or of tulle is usually worn. The gloves, of course, should be white, and the shoes of w^hite kid or white satin. It is customary for the bride to make some slight presents to the bridemaids on the morning of the marriage. These should be simple, it be- ing borne in mind that the gift is merely to serve as a memento of the occasion, and that no article of much value is demanded. After dressing, the bride remains in her room until the carriage is announced, or the time has arrived to descend to the drawing room if it is to be a home wedding. The bride's carriage is the last to leave the house. It should contain but one occupant besides herself — her father, or the person selected to give her away at the altar. The Ceremony. The ushers are selected by the gentle- man, though the lady is generally consulted in the choice. Six is the number ordinarily chosen, and their duties are to show people to seats in the church, and to present the guests to the bride and groom at the wedding recep- tion. They, and the groomsmen as well, should all wear boittonnitres , or button-hole bouquets, made of some handsome white flowers. The bridal procession is formed by the ushers, who walk first two and two, fol- lowed by the bridesmaids, also two and two : then the child-bridesmaids, if this pretty custom is adopted, and then the bride, lean- ing on her father's right arm. Sometimes the children lead the others. At the altar the ushers separate, moving to the right and left, the bridesmaids do the same, thus leav- ing room for the bridal pair. Upon the entrance of the bridal party within the doors of the church, the organist will play a " Wedding March," and as they • take their places at the altar will change this to some low, subdued, but sweet and appropriate melody, which he should con- tinue with taste and feeling throughout the service . As the bridal party leave the church , the music should be loud and jubilant. The front pews in the church should be reserved for the families and especial friends of the happy pair. These are generally separated from the others by a white ribbon drawn across the aisle. The wedding party should stand accord- ing to the positions decided upon by the wishes of the bride and groom. Usually the bride takes her place upon the left of the groom, her father stands a little in ad- vance of the rest, behind the couple, and her mother just in the rear of her father. The bridesmaids group themselves on the left of the bride, the groomsmen on the right of the bridegroom, all in the rear of the prin- cipals. The clergyman, who should be already in his place, at once begins the marriage ceremony. When a ring is used, to avoid the long delay of drawing off the glove, brides now cut the finger of the one on the left hand, so that it can be slipped aside to allow the putting on of the ring ; this is the routine al- most in variably followed at church weddings. The responses of the bride and bride- groom to the clergyman should be given clearly and distinctly, but not in too loud a tone. On the conclusion of the ceremony the newly-married couple and their attend - ants withdraw in much the same manner as on advancing, the bride now taking her husband's left arm. The Wedding Breakfast. The English fashion of a wedding-break" fast is now often followed in this country, 191 40 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE the guests being specially invited a fortnight in advance. On such an occasion the gen- tlemen, on reaching the house, leave their hats in the hall ; but the ladies do not re- move their bonnets. In going to the table, the bride and groom precede, then the bride's father with the groom's mother, the groom's father with the bride's mother, the best man with the first bridesmaid, the other bridesmaids with gentlemen selected as their escorts, and finally the remaining guests. The dishes usually provided are bouillon, salad, birds, oysters, ices, jellies, etc. The health of the bride and groom is proposed, usually by the groom's father, and response is made by the father of the bride. The health of the bridesmaids may also be proposed ; but the occasion is ordi- narily more pleasurable if strict formality is dispensed with. After remaining for an hour or two with the guests, the bride retires to change her wedding dress for a traveling costume. She is met by the groom in the hall, the necessary good wishes and kisses are ex- changed, and the pair drive away, often fol- lowed by a shower of rice and slipperr?. As regards the desideratum of wedding cake, it is no longer the fashion to send it ; but small boxes of it, neatly tied with white ribbon, are prepared, of which each guest may take one upon leaving the house, if desired. What is above said relates to the mar- riage of a maiden. In the case of the mar- riage of a widow certain changes in dress and ceremony are requisite. A widow must never be attended by bridesmaids, nor must she wear a veil or orange blossoms ; the proper dress at church is a colored silk and bonnet, pearl gray or some other delicate shade being preferable, though she is privi- leged to wear white if she desires. She should be accompanied by her father, brother, or some near friend. A House Wedding. A fashionable wedding at home calls into requisition the services of both florist and caterer ; the former to decorate the rooms, the latter to furnish the marriage feast. A variety of floral devices may be employed, from the marriage bell and mono- gram to a bower of ferns large enougk to receive the bride and bridegroom. The par, of the room to be occupied by the bridal party should bt marked off by a white ribbon. After the clergyman has taken his place, the bride and groom enter together, followed by the mother, father, and other friends. Hassocks should be ready for the bridal pair to kneel upon, in case this is deemed necessary as a part of the ceremony. Where money is lacking to defray the charges of florist and caterer, or in country localities where their assistance cannot be had, the loving hands of friends may decor- ate the rooms with foliage and blossoms, and the table be supplied with simple dishes such as the household means can furnish. Wedding-cake, light cakes, ices, and coffee arranged on a table prettily ornamented with flowers is a sufficient entertainment at a quiet home- wedding, and, let it be added, is in far better taste than a more ostentatious display which is beyond the means of the family, and leaves a burden of debt behind. In fashionable circles, after the return of the bridal party the members of both fami- lies give a dinner in their honor, and the bridesmaids, if able to do so, give them some entertainment. Brides sometimes announce, when send- ing out their wedding-cards, two or more reception days ; but they do not wear their wedding-dresses, though their toilettes may be as handsome as they desire. When in- vited to balls or dinners, however, the wed- ding-dress is perfectly appropriate for a bride to wear — of course without the wreath and veil. Sending Cards. In some circles the young couple send out cards with their wedding invitations, stating the day and hour they will receive callers after their return from their wedding tour. No one who has not received such a card should call upon a newly married couple. Such cards should be as simple and unostentatious as possible. Where they are sent out, the wedding journey must be terminated in time to allow the new couple to be at home at the time indicated for the reception of their visitors. 92 BOOK OF ETIQUETl. ^- Visitors should call punctually at the time appointed. In some places it is cus- tomary to offer the guests wedding-cake and wine. The mother, sister, or some intimate friend of the bride must assist her in receiv- ing these calls. This rule is imperative. IX. FUNERAL ETIQUETTE. The great sorrow brought upon a family by the death of one of its members often renders the immediate relatives incapable of properly attending to the arrangements nec- essary for the funeral. The services of a near friend or a relative, therefore, are often availed of, he being informed of the wishes of the family, and relieving them of all fur- ther care, by himself taking charge of every- thing needing to be attended to. The ladies of the family, before the funeral, see none except intimate friends, and may with propriety deny themselves even to those. Immediately after a death the relatives and intimate friends of the deceased should receive some notification of it. An under- taker must also at once be summoned, and the arrangements and details of the funeral be left to him. Notices should be inserted in one or more of the daily papers of the time and place of the funeral services, etc. In some parts of the country it is custom- ary to send notes of invitation to the funeral to the friends of the deceased and of the family. These invitations should be printed, neatly and simply, on mourning paper, with envelopes to match, and should be delivered by a private messenger, where convenient. A v/ritten notification, however, is fre- quently sent where only a few are to be specially invited, the newspaper announce- ment being trusted to inform those less closely connected. The expense of a funeral should be in accordance with the means of the family. It is a foolish form of pride and ostentation that induces the members of a family to load themselves unnecessarily with debt in order to make a showy funeral display. All marks of respect should be shown to the dead, but undue expense is more indicative of a desire on the part of the living to im- press their friends and neighbors than a genuine desire to do honor to the one who has passed away. Where invitations are sent out, a list of persons invited must be given to the person in charge of the funeral, in order that he may provide a sufficient number of carria- ges. Those invited should not permit any- thing but an important duty to prevent their attendance. The House Services. When the funeral is at the house, some near relative or intimate friend should act as usher, and show the company to their seats. A decorous silence should be preserved in the chamber of death, no one speaking except in low, sabdued tones. The mem- bers of the family are not obliged to recog- nize their acquaintances. The latter show their sympathy b)^ their presence and con- siderate silence. The cofi&n, if in good taste, will never be unduly elaborate or over ornamented. A black cloth casket, with plain silver mountings, is preferable to any other. The clergyman usually stands in a posi- tion as nearly as possible midway between the family and assembled friends, so that his words may be heard by all. The family re- main seated together, usually in some room upstairs, and never appear until it becomes necessary to enter the carriages. If the funeral be in church, they occupy the front pews, the intimate friends sitting immediate- ly behind them. Six or eight of the most intimate male friends of the person who has died are in- vited by the family to act as pall-bearers. On the day of the funeral they assemble at the house, and the undertaker provides each of them with black gloves and a mourner's scarf. They walk with their heads uncov- ered beside the coffin, up the aisle, if the services be held in church, and also escort the body to the grave. They usually sit in one of the front pews, reserved for their use, while the funeral services are being con- ducted. 193 42 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Flowers. With regard to sending flowers, the wishes of the family should be considered. If you are uncertain upon this point, it is safe to send them. They should be simple and tasteful, also in keeping with the age of the person who has been removed by death. As the sending of elaborate floral designs has been much overdone of recent years, it is becoming frequently the custom not to send flowers to houses of mourning, and in many funeral notices a request is made to this effect. Whatever flowers are received are usually placed upon the cofiin during the services, and afterwards carried to the cemetery to be laid on or a few laid in the grave. In preparing the body for the grave, the usual custom is to dress it in the garments worn in life ; but young people are fre- quently laid out in white robes. It is optional with the ladies of the fam- ily to attend the remains to the last resting place or not, as they may prefer. And of recent years the invitation is generally to the house only, notification being given that the funeral will be private. This is a judicious innovation, in the direction of economy and the avoidance of ostentatious display, and it is one that is likely to grow among people of taste and judgment. After the funeral, only the members of the family return to the house, except in the case of friends or relatives from distant cities, and a widow or mother may properly refuse to see any others than her nearest relatives for several weeks. Mourning. The length of time for wearing mourning has greatly decreased during the past five years, as formerly there was such an exag- geration of this that sometimes the young people in a family were kept in constant black, owing to the death of successive relatives. For deep mourning, black stuff dresses, heavily trimmed with black crape, and long crape veils, are worn. During the second period the crape is left off, and plain black alone is used ; and for half-mourning light black, black silks, black and white, or cos- tames of mauve or grey, can be worn. 194 For gentlemen, at first plain black che- viot suits, with broad crape bands on their hats, and black gloves. For the second period they cease to wear black clothes, varying these by dark suits of black and grey, and the width of the crape hat-band is narrowed. For half-mourning the black hat-band is the one emblem of grief retained. A widow should wear deep mourning for twelve months, plain black for the second year, and half-mourning for six months. For parent, brother, or sister, the usual time of wearing mourning is one year ; for a young child, six months ; for an infant, three months. There is much difference of opinion in regard to the wearing of mourning dresses, many objecting to doing so for what they consider excellent reasons. In truth, the mourning attire aids to keep up the feeling of grief, and to depress where some means of enlivening the feelings is desirable. Yet it serves as a protection to those whose deep sense of loss induces them to avoid many social duties, and who Vv'ould escape from thoughtless and painful allusions. It is a matter, in short, that must be governed by the feelings and sentiments of those directly concerned. During the first period of mourning it is not considered becoming to visit places of amusement or to enter social life or indulge in gaiety of any kind. After a certain time elapses — six months or a year, according to the depth of the mourning — a person is at liberty to go out quietly to concerts, theatres, informal dinners, etc. It is customary to send a few words of sympathy to the family after a death has taken place. Such letters should be brief and written with real interest and afiection, otherwise they had better be omitted. During a period of mourning, note paper and visiting cards are usually edged with a black border, the width of this to be deter- mined by the depth and recency of the mourning. The very wide band is exagger- ated, ostentatious, and in bad form. No invitations of any kind should be left at a house of mourning, until after a lapse of a month or more, according to circum- stances. Then, cards to balls, weddings, BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 43 and general entertainments may properly be sent. When persons who have worn black are ready to resume their social life, they should leave cards with all their friends and acquaintances, either in person or by send- ing them through the mail. X. ANNIVERSARY AND OTHER OCCASIONS Among the festivities which society pro- vides for its enjoyment, that of the anniver- sary wedding has of late years come greatly into vogue. It is a pleasant custom, and has been gradually extenaed until numerous anniversaries of the wedding day, differ- ently named, are celebrated with appropri- ate ceremonies. Beginning with the silver and golden wedding, on respectively the twenty-fifth and the fiftieth anniversaries, there have been gradually added various others, such as the wooden wedding on the fifth, the tin wedding on the tenth, the crystal wedding on the fifteenth, the linen or china wedding on the twentieth, and, as an occasion of exceedingly rare occurance, the diamond wedding on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the marriage. This is not the whole list, much ingenuity having been exercised in adding to the fre- quency and diversity of these anniversaries, and to those named may be added the iron wedding, celebrated after one year of mar- ried life ; the paper wedding, on the second anniversary ; the leather, on the third ; the straw, on the fourth ; the wooden, on the seventh ; the ivory, on the thirtieth ; the coral, on the thirty-fifth ; the woolen, on the fortieth ; and the bronze, on the forty-fifth. It is now a common custom, however, to overlook all the anniversaries preceding the silver wedding. Gifts and Invitations. A leading feature on these occasions is the sending of gifts, which are expected to be made of the material which gives the name to the wedding, and much ingenuity is exercised in selecting or inventing suit- able presents, those of an amusing kind being often a leading feature. Invitations to any of these occasions should be appropriate in design. For in- stance, the straw wedding cards may be printed on straw-colored stationery , the ivory wedding cards on ivory, and the bronze wedding cards in a similar way. For the silver wedding the cards may be printed in letters of silver, and in golden letters for the golden anniversary. An appropriate form of invitation, say for a silver wedding, will be as follows : 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Brown 1895. Request the pleasure of your company. On Monday , June the Ninth, At eight o'clock P.M., SiivVKR Wedding. W1LI.1AM Brown. Susan CampbeIvI<. Many persons omit the names at the end, and in some cases an exact copy of the mar- riage notice, taken from the newspapers of the wedding period, is made to serve the purpose. A second form is here appended : 1850. 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wilson, At Home, May fourth, igoo, at eight o' clock P.M., Golden Wedding. The entertainment may be similar to that supplied at any reception, with the ad- dition of a large wedding-cake, containing a ring, which the bride cuts just as she did twenty-five years before. As to character of the gifts, there is abundant scope for selection, with the gen- eral remembrance that they should be in consonance with the name of the anniver- sary. In the case of a wooden wedding, for instance, there is an opportunity for the be- stowal of beautiful gifts in wood- carving, handsome pieces of furniture and picture frames, as well as the regulation wooden rollers, chopping trays, etc., for the kitchen. Bits of birch-bark are frequently used for the invitations. Tin weddings have become occasions of special liveliness, and much ingenuity is exercised in devising amusing gifts. One young wife received from her father-in-law a check, marked "tin," enclosed in an elaborate tin pocket-book. The tin utensils 195 44 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE used in the kitchen and household furnish an abundant variety for choice. Tin fun- nels holding bouquets of flowers and tied with ribbons are usually numerous, and the glittering metal, adorned with bows of rib- bon of every hue, is very effective when dis- played on a table. The invitation is usually printed on a bit of tin. On the fifteenth anniversary, or crystal wedding, the invitations are frequently crys- talized, while the gifts may embrace every variety of glassware. The linen wedding is more rarely celebrated, many persons con- sidering it unlucky. The Scotch have a superstition that if any allusion is made to this anniversary, one or other of the married couple will die within the year. The silver wedding is usually a joyous occasion. The bride and groom are still in the prime of life, their children are of the age for a full enjoyment of festivity, and their circle of friends is likely to be complete. Those who receive invitations usually send some present composed of silver, which may be as trivial or as costly as the donor chooses. They are generally marked " Sil- ver Wedding," or bear some appropriate motto with the initials of the couple en- closed in a true lover's knot. The variety of articles is almost endless, — silver clocks, photograph frames, belt-clasps, mirrors, brushes and combs, and other toilet articles set in solid silver, and the long array of table-ware. The golden wedding is a much less fre- quent occasion, and far less likely to be a joyous one. Age has crept upon the prin- cipals, and is creeping upon their children and friends, life has grown sober, and its pathway is apt to be strewn with many som- bre memories. As articles of gold are apt to be more expensive than many of those invited care to give, flowers are frequently made to do duty in their place — preferably yellow ones. As for the diamond wedding, the seventy- fifth anniversary, it is so rare an occasion that no description of it is necessary. Of course, it calls for presents of jewelry, though, as in the case of the golden wed- ding, guests may replace them with some- thing less expensive and more appropriate to the age of the married pair. 196 Christenings. Another occasion incident to married life, is the christening, which next demands consideration at our hands. When children are to be christened at home, it is rapidly becoming the custom to celebrate such events by giving some sort of a social entertainment, the size or arrange- ment of which depends upon the taste and circumstances of the parents. If many are to be present, the invitations should be sent out formally, as though for an afternoon re- ception. The usual hours selected are from 4 until 6 P.M. Upon a small table a silver or china bowl should be placed, which is used as a font. Flowers in abundance are never in bad taste at a christening. After the clergyman has performed the baptism, a beverage called "caudle" is served in cups to the guests. Recipe for viakmg Caudle. — This should be made of fine, smooth oatmeal gruel, fla- vored with wine or rum, lemon peel or nut- meg, and sugar added according to taste. Of course, in the case of a church christen- ing no house-entertainment is called for, and a family party is all that is likely to come together. Private Theatricals. The private theatrical provides an enter- tainment which is daily growing in popular- ity both in England and our own country. Sometimes a stage is erected in a private house, but more frequently small theatres are engaged, where the performance takes place. Instruction, or " coaching," is as a rule given to the amateur performers by some professional manager, actor, or actress en- gaged for the occasion, and is essential if any satisfactory entertainment is hoped for. Rehearsals are equally necessary and must be frequent to insure success. For tableaux it is better to have the advice and taste of some clever artist, as the beauty and interest of the human pictures depend so largely upon the posing and drapery of the figures, to say nothing of the effect of the lights and the choice of colors. Entertainments of these kinds may take a considerable variety of forms, and are very pleasant breaks in the monotony 0/ BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 45 party giving and the other set affairs of ordinary life. The time spent in prepara- tion, however, is likely to be considerable, and the result is often more farcical than the performers intend or understand. Etiquette for General Occasions. There are, or should be, rules of eti- quette applicable to every situation, the home circle, the street, the store, the travel- ing conveyance, and in short for all the occasions in which men and women are brought together. These consist mainly in observing the ordinary requisites of polite- ness, the avoidance of rude or selfish behav- ior, and of any actions likely to hurt the feelings or offend the tastes of those with whom chance or social relations bring us into contact. It is not sufl&cient for the demands of society that we are morally cor- rect ; correctness in deportment is no less important, and there are numbers of small observances required from any one who wishes to keep on the correct side of the line which divides good manners from ignorant or boorish behavior. Etiquette of the liousehold. First among these requisites comes the etiquette of the home circle, in which the principle of politeness and courtesy are often laid aside as a consequence of care- less habits and selfish egotism. Good man- ners are too often a cloak which is flung aside like a needless burden as soon as the home threshold is crossed, yet there is no place where kindness and thoughtfulness should be considered as more important, and in which neglect of the small courtesies of life are so likely to wound or distress . Certainly the true gentleman or lady will endeavor to be as courteous and considerate in the familv circle as among strangers, and equally avoid impatient and cutting remarks or lack of polite attention. Some few re- marks on the rules of propriety for the home will not come amiss. The house should be kept in as good order for the comfort of the family as when strangers are expected, and the members of the household should be careful to act in drawing-room or at table as if a guest were present. Formality, indeed, is not called for, but ease of manner does not imply rudeness, and politeness should never be laid aside. Only a few leading suggestions can be here given. These will suggest others to all who attend to them. First, it is import- ant to make special efforts to be punctual at meal time. Nothing interferes with the regu- lar movements of the household, or disturbs the equanimity of the hostess, more than carelessness or irregularity in this respect. To have to keep food warm for the late comer, or perhaps to cook it afresh, is a need- less waste of time and labor, and is apt to add to the household expenses. Do not fail to rise and offer a chair on the entrance of an older person, or at all events an infirm person, to the room in which you are seated, and never precede an older person in entering or leaving a room, or in ascending stairs. Do not permit children to occupy the pleasantest seats, to the depri- vation of their elders, or to be annoyingly intrusive when older persons are engaged in conversation. The "children's hour" should not be permitted to encroach upon that of their elders. Never enter any per- son's room without knocking. Be careful to give any one who desires to read full access to the light. Avoid mak- ing unnecessary noise on coming home late at night, and in this way disturbing the re- pose of the household. Gentlemen who are in the habit of smoking at home should confine their devotions of the cigar to a single room , and avoid careless distribution of ashes or matches on floors or tables. If callers are likely to drop in to meals, it is advisable to have a seat at the table re- served ; and a room should also be set aside, where possible, for chance visiting friends. In every case a welcome should be ready, and every indication of being discommoded be sedulously avoided. As regards the intercourse of the immedi- ate members of the household, it will suffice to say that, while formality can well be laid aside, politeness and courtesy should never be forgotten. Table Manners. In conclusion a few rules of importance in table manners, familiar to most, but too 197 46 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE often carelessly ignored, may be given. The napkin should be spread over tlie knees, not fastened at the neck or tucked into a button hole. It should be folded after using, if the hostess folds hers. The fork should be held in the palm of the left hand. If in the right, it should be used with the prongs upward, and held be- tween fingers and thumb. Avoid bending over the plate, drooping the head too low, thrusting the elbows out, or sitting with the back turned toward the person in the next chair. Be careful not to take large mouthfuls nor to eat too hastily or heartily. Never hesitate to take the last piece of bread that may be offered. A refusal to do so would be a reflection upon the hostess, suggesting that she had not provided fully for her guests. In regard to rarer dishes, however, it is wise to show no inclination for more, if the supply on the table seems small. Never play with napkin ring, fork, or other article, and keep the hands off the table when not employed. Never leave the table till the meal is over, and avoid reading newspapers, books, etc., at table unless alone. Never use a spoon to eat vegetables. A fork is the proper thing. Never take butter from the dish with your own knife, or use it except on your own plate. It is scarcely necessary again to give warning against putting the knife in the mouth. Yet this unpardonable breach of table etiquette is often committed by persons whose training should have taught them better. The table should be a centre of cheerful and enlivening conversation, and too close attention to the duty of eating should be avoided, alike from reasons having to do with healthy digestion, and the desirability of every one striving to bear a part in the en- tertainment of the family circle. The table is the one place where all the family meet at leisure, and where they should seek to make themselves agreeable. Etiquette of the Street. Courtesy requires the return of all civil greetings — those of servants included. Only the most serious causes can justify "a cut." In bowing, the head should be bent ; a mere lowering of the eye-lids, affected by some people, is rude. Etiquette does not per- mit a familiar nod, except between business men or very intimate friends. In passing and repassing on a public promenade or drive, bows need to be exchanged only at the first meeting. In carrying canes, umbrellas, and packages, care should be taken not to dis- commode passers with them. This is par- ticularly needed in the case of raised um- brellas, which are often carried with care- less disregard of the convenience of others. This is one annoying way in which selfish- ness is shown. At a street crossing it is the duty of gentlemen to make way for ladies, and younger for older persons. In walking or driving, the rule to keep to the right will enable all to avoid danger of collision. A gentleman should always offer his arm to a lady in the evening. In the day this is only in order in case of the pavement being slippery, there being a crov/d, or the lady being old or needing support. If there are two ladies, he should offer his arm to one, and let the other walk beside her. In the Electric Car. If a gentleman desires to offer his seat to a lady, he should not beckon to her, but rise and offer it to her courteously. It is the duty of the lady, in accepting the seat, to acknowledge his courteous attention by a bow and an audible expression of thanks. On the other hand it is an indication of ill- breeding to show signs of displeasure if, on entering a crowded car, no seat is offered. It should be borne in mind that the gentle- man has a right to his seat, and is under no obligation, except that of politeness, to give it up , and weariness or weakness may render it inadvisable for him to rise. No lady, if young or strong, will expect or permit an old gentleman to relinquish to her his seat. If, however, a lady is ill or greatly fatigued she should not hesitate to request a seat, giving her reasons for doing so. No gentle- man, and few who are not gentlemen, would refuse such a request. No gentlemen will take a vacant seat while ladies are standing, and none should stand on the car platform in such a manner BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 47 as to discommode alighting passengers . It is easy and courteous to move aside, and step down into the street if necessary . If baskets or bundles are brought into the car care should be taken not to let them annoy passengers. Etiquette of Business. Never forget that time is precious to some persons, though you may be ready to waste it ; also that money is necessary, and that it is every one's duty to settle all debts as promptly as possible. Never fail to have all the details of an agreement decided so far as they can be before the transaction is concluded, and bear in mind that a contract can be broken only by the consent of all the parties con- cerned. Never keep washer- women, seamstresses, nor any one dependent upon daily labor waiting for payment, and, on the other hand, when requesting payment of a debt, avoid liny unpleasantness of tone or manner. Never buy on credit, if cash can be bad. This is a rule of common sense and practi- cal economy. Never forget that a character for fair dealing is a capital that cannot be lost. Do not think it unnecessary to learn the min- utest details of any business, nor imagine mat success in any business can be attained without a thorough training for it. Never fail to be courteous in all busi- ness intercourse ; a pleasant manner will do much to insure success. Never insist on entering any business office, if told that its occupant is not at lei- sure. Courtesy requires that you should Quietly await his leisure, or offer to call again if time will not permit you to wait. Etiquette of the Club. Doubtless, while there are few members of ciubs who do not have a sufficient know- ledge of the rules of etiquette governing them, some may desire information on cer- tain points, and it is for the benefit of the latter that the following brief directions are given : All members should become familiar with the regulations, and rigidly obey them. You have a full right to vote against the admission to a small social club of any one whose society is not agreeable tc you. It would destroy the pleasure of such a club if all its members were not congenial. Yet you should not allow personal prejudice to influence you in voting upon the admission of a new member of a large club. Is the gentleman's record clear, and is he in ah respects a worthy associate for gentlemen ? This is the only question to be asked. Never persistently propose for member- ship of a small club a name that has been refused. Avoid any conduct likely to be disagreeable or disobliging to fellow-mem- bers. A gentleman should be as courteous in a club-house as he would be in his own. Do not talk loudly in reading-rooms or library, and never misuse books, news- papers, nor other club property. It is selfish and impolite to monopolize the best arm-chair, to make a practice of dining early to secure an extra share of a favorite dish, or to require special attention from waiters to the discomfort of other guests. Avoid showing anger in political or re- ligious discussions, or making a personal matter of an argument. Do not seek to force your opinions on others against their will. Never mention the names of ladies in the club, or show idle curiosity about other members. Never send an employee out of the club- house on any private errand without first requesting permission of the clerk or super- intendent. If the guest of a club, do not take the liberty of introducing any one else ; but the guest of a club is expected to avail him- self of all the privileges of its members. When a gentleman is admitted to the privileges of a club through the courtesy of a member, he is expected, when his tempo- rary membership ceases, to pay any debts he may have incurred, for if he omits to do this his club-host is obliged to settle his account for him. Etiquette of Traveling. Ladies should wear neat traveling dresses ofsuitable material and simple style, display as little jewelry as possible, and J99 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE carry the smallest amount of baggage by hand. It is important to have the initials or full name on all trunks. Never attract attention by loud talking or laughing, and, if under the escort of a gentleman, do not annoy him with needless requests. Always repay a gentleman any traveling expenses, no matter how trivial. A lady when traveling alone, should, if possible, arrange to be met at the station by some friend. In arriving at a station in a large city where she is a stranger, she should avoid taking a hack, choosing instead horse- cars, or the stages plying between stations. While always acknowledging with thanks any courtesy offered, young ladies should avoid entering into unnecessary conversation with or accepting favors from men who are strangers. Older ladies are privileged to offer ad- vice or assistance, should occasion require, to young ladies traveling alone. It is courteous for a gentleman to offer to buy tickets, and check the baggage of a lady who is traveling under his care ; but he should first take her to the ladies' wait- ing room, not leave her standing on a crowded platform. He may also offer to get her refreshments, newspapers, or books, and — if the journey is a long one — invite her to walk up and down the platform at the stations. If, by any accident, the friends expected fail to meet a lady at the station, the gentleman escorting her should, if possible, go with her to her destination. A gentleman may offer to help a lady, even if she is a stranger, whenever she seems really in need of aid. For instance, if she is laden with many parcels, or has several children with her who must be transferred from boat to car, or station to station. Two gentlemen, strangers to each other, may talk together if agreeable to both ; but it is wise to discuss only general topics. Gentlemen may offer to open or shut a window for ladies ; but should never pre- sume upon a chance civility thus extended, by attempting to use it as a means of enter- ing into conversation with them. While not regarded by all persons as obligatory, it is always courteous for a gentleman to offer his seat to a lady who is standing in any public conyeyance. No gentleman should smoke in cars (n other places when ladies are present, spit on the floors in cars or stations, be r'r.obliging in a smoking-car by refusing to change his seat to accommodate a party who may de- sire to play some game, or accept a light, or any trifling civility, from a fellow passen- ger, without any expression of thanks. Before entering boat, train, or car, give the passengers who are in the act of leaving time to get off. Before taking a seat just vacated wait a sufiicient time to see if its former occupant intends to return. It is ill-bred to complain about the tri- vial discomforts that fall to every traveler's lot, and make uncomplimentary compari- sons between one's own home and the place where one happens to be. Never occupy more than one seat in crowded conveyances, and if you have placed a parcel on a empty seat, cheerfully remove it whenever it is needed. Do not take the seat beside any person in a steam- car without asking if it is engaged. Never incommode fellow- travelers by opening a window which forces them to sit in a draught — it may be an affair of life and death to delicate persons. Table Etiquette for Children. It may not be out of place to add here a few good old rules for children's behavior at table which can safely be io.' lowed : Give the child a seat that snail be strictly its own. Teach it to take its seat auietly. To use its napkin properly. To wait patiently to be served. To answer promptly. To say " thank you." If asked to leave the table for a forgot- ten article, or for any purpose, to do so at once. Never to interrupt and never to contra- dict. Never to make remarks about the food. Teach the child to keen his plate \v order. Not to handle the bread nor to drop food on the cloth and floor. To always say " excuse me, please," to the mother when at home, and to the lady 200 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 4^5 or hostess when visiting, if leaving the table before the rest of the party. To fold its napkin and to put back its chair or push it close to the table before leaving. And after leaving the table not to return. Children who observe every one of these rules are well-behaved, delightful com- panions, and owe it to their mothers 's care ful training. XI. FORMS OF INVITATIONS XI. Forms of Invitations. In issuing invitations for any occasion , they should be sent out as nearly as possi- ble together, and in ample season. If they be for a large reception, dinner, or similar entertainment it is best to send them a week or two in advance; and for a ball, in the height of the season , two or three weeks . No one should be invited at the last moment, except it be an intimate friend, who can be trusted to excuse lack of ceremony. For large or formal occasions, such as dinners, balls and receptions, use plain cards, or note-paper, engraved in plain script. It the invitations be written, small white note-paper, of the best quality, should be used, and the writing done carefully, with proper attention to the arrangement of words. -Invitations to Parties. The following will serve as a correct form for a note of invitation to a private party : Mrs. William H. Johnson requests the pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. James Browns' company On Thursday eveni7ig, April eighth, from ni7ie to twelve o'clock. As an example of a suitable reply we give the following : Mr. and Mrs. fames Brown have much pleasure in accepting Mrs. William H. fohn- son's kind invitatio7i for Thursday eveni?ig, Ap?il eighth. Or, if circumstances render it necessary to decline, the cause of declination should be courteously stated, as follows : Mr. and Mrs. fames Brown regret that a previous engagement to dine zvith Mrs. Rowla?id deprives them of the pleasure of ac- cepting Mrs. William fohnson'' s kind invita- tion for Thursday evening, April eighth. The reasons for declining may be very varied, but should be distinctly stated. " A previous engagement ' ' has often to do duty in this case. A prompt reply must invariably be made by all who recognize the obligations of courtesy, and it may be well to give one or two examples of an uncivil manner of re- plying, into which well-meaning persons sometimes fall through ignorance or care- lessness : Mr. and Mrs. Brown regret that they can- not accept Mrs. William H . fohnson' s ijivita- lion for Friday evening. A still ruder form is : Mr. and Mrs. Brown decline Mrs. fohnso7t' s invitation for Friday eveni^ig. It needs little knowledge of the laws of etiquette, however, co teach people not to commit such glaring incivilities as the latter. A simple form of invitation t© an even- ing party is the following : Thzirsday, May seventh. Mrs. regit ests the pleasure of Mr. 's company at an Evening Party, Thurs- day. May twenty-eighth. A71 a7iswer tvill oblige. Da7icing. [Music, or any special attrac- tion] . The answer, which should be returned within a day or two, may be similarly brief; Mr. has 7nuch pleasiwe i/i accepting Mrs. 's polite i7ivitation for Thursday eve7ii7ig , the twe7ity-eighth. Saturday, May niiith. Short or verbal invitations should never be given, even among relations and intimate friends. These are discourteous, as imply- ing that the persons invited are of no im- portance. 20 E 201 3" BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Dinner Invitations. Dinner invitations are written or en- graved in the name of both husband and wife : Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wilson request the pleastire of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Clayton's company at dinner November eighth, at seven o'clock. An acceptance should be worded as follows : Mr. a?id Mfs. Samuel Clayton accept, with pleasure, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wilson' s kind invitation to dine with them, on Monday, November eighth, at seven o'clock. An invitation to dinner, once accepted, should be held as little less than a sacred obligation. Only disabling sickness or other extreme necessity should be permitted to stand in the way of its being kept ; and then, if time permits, immediate notice, with reason for same, should be given. A dinner party is carefully arranged for a set number, and one or more empty chairs are sure to disturb the completeness of the occasion, and cause heartburnings to host and hostess. A late invitation to fill the gap is usually sent, with proper explanation, to some friend who may be depended upon to overlook the informality. Invitations should be issued in the name of the hostess, except those to weddings and dinner parties. R. S. V. P., the initials of the French phrase " Respondez, s'il vous plait," or " Please reply," may be written in the light- hand lower corner of an invitation if an answer is particularly needed. Its use, however, is becoming less frequent, since it tacitly implies that the recipient needs a reminder. In a dinner invitation it is especially unnecessary, since nothing can be more discourteous than to fail in an immediate answer. The day and hour named should be repeated in the answer, to avoid possible misunderstanding. If guests are asked to meet a distinguished gentle- man, or lady, this should be mentioned in the card of invitation, directly after the hour of dinner ; for instance : At seven o'clock, to meet Mr. John P. Wallace, of London. Or an extra card may be inserted with the regular invitation, saying, " to meet Mr. — ,'• etc. Here is an example of an invitation to a reception specially designed for this pur- pose : Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Jacksoii request the honor of your presence on Tuesday evening, November fifteenth, from eight until eleven o'clock, to meet the Rev. Professor Patton of the University of Pennsylvania, R. S. V. P. lie/ Locust Avenue. Invitations to large entertainments, re- ceptions, etc., may be sent to persons in mourning if the bereavement has not oc- curred within a month ; but etiquette per- mits them to refuse without assigning a reason, sending, however, on the day of the entertainment, black -bordered visiting- cards, which announce the cause of their absence. Invitations to dinners and lunch- eons should never be given to persons in recent affliction. Always direct an answer to an invitation to the person or persons who issue it, even though they may be strangers to you. Always answer an invitation to dinner or luncheon at once, accepting or refusing positively. The reason is obvious ; the number of seats being limited, a prompt reply gives the entertainer an opportunity to supply your place. Should illness, a death in the family, or any other reason prevent the keeping of a dinner engage- ment, a letter or telegram should be imme- diately sent, stating the fact. All invita- tions, in fact, should be answered with as little delay as possible. When issuing invitations to a family, direct one to the husband and wife, one to the daughters, and one to the sons. The daughters' names may be placed after the parents on the same card, but not the sons. 202 BOOK OF ETIOUETTE 51 Notes of invitation to a gentleman should be addressed Mr. A. B. Cohen, never K. B. Cohen, Esq. Gentlemen must never be in- vited without their wives, nor ladies with- out their husbands, unless to entertainments given exclusively to gentlemen or to ladies. Small Entertainments. Visiting-cards must not be used either to accept invitations or to regret the neces- sity of declining them, though invitations to small entertainments may with propriety be written on a lady's visiting-card. A less formal mode of invitation to an evening reception may be the following : Mrs. Smith, At Home, Tuesday, May ninth, at nine 0'' clock, 8^p Greeri Street. If dancing, music, or other entertain- ment is provided, it can be mentioned in a word at the bottom of the invitation. We append below an invitation to a musical and card party, with acceptance of same : Hilton, January i, ipo2. Dear Mrs. NuttalIv : We purpose having a small party for imisic and cards 7iext Thursday , and hope that yoti, your husband, and the dear girls will join us. If you can favor us with your company , please ask the young ladies to bring their violins and music, ajid do 710 1 be later than eight o' clock. We unite in kindest love to you all. Believe me, most affectionately yours, Lois Markley. accepting. My Dear Mrs. Markley : We shall have mitch pleasure in accepting your kind iyivitation for Thursday next. Edith desires me to give you her love, and to say that she is delighted at the prospect of a musical evening ; she will bring all your favorite selectio7is, and do her best to play them. With our united regards, believe me, yours affectionately, SUSANA NUTTALL. ''The Willows,'' January twelfth, ipo2. 203 Where there are several sisters in a family, addressed on an invitation as " The Misses ," it is usually understood that not more than two of them will avail them- selves of the invitation. Invitations for any general entertainment sent to a country house where guests are stopping, are, as a rule, addressed to " Mr. and Mrs. , and party," this invitation being expected to include the sons and daughters of the family as well as the visit- ors. Form of English Invitations. The following is the style often used in England for invitations to garden parties, etc. : Mr. and Mrs. Jones request the pleasure of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson's company at a gardefi party on Tuesday, fune 7iinth, at four 0' clock. Collation at seve7i 0' clock. Da7icing 8 to 11 . 10 Corson Place. R. S. V. P. For afternoon teas, etc. , the visiting-card of the hostess, with simply "Tea at four o'clock," and the date in the left-hand cor- ner, is all that is necessary, or possibly " At home from four until seven." Wedding Invitations. Invitations to marriage ceremonies are issued in the name of the bride's parents, or, if both are dead, in the name of a near relative or guardian. Paper without crest or monogram is considered the best to use so far as good taste is concerned. The ac- cepted form is as follows : Mr. and Mrs. Robinson request the pleastire {prho7ior~) of your C077ipa7iy at the ma7'riage of their daughter Mary Burd to Mr. James Howard Wilson, at St. fa7nes' Church, on T7cesday , Ju7ie te7ith, a t tivelve 0' clock. Separate cards are sent if the wedding ceremony is to be followed by a reception at the parents' residence, the formula used be- ing " Mr. and Mrs. Smith at home, etc/' BOOK OF ETIQUETTE To avoid confusion at the church a small card is 'sometimes enclosed with the invita- tion, on which the name of the church and the hour for the ceremony are printed. Such cards must be presented at the door, in order that, to avoid a crowd, only such friends as have received invitations to the wedding may be comfortably seated. In case no reception is given, and the newly-married couple wish to announce to their friends their new abode, a card in the following form may accompany the invita- tion : At Home; Tuesdays in May. 48g Gree7i Street Philadelphia. In the case of house weddings, or when recent bereavements demand that the wed- ding shall be private, it is now customary to invite intimate friends by written invita- tions, and send simple announcements of the event to those not expected to be present. In such cases the stationery used should be of the same quality and style as for the invitations. The announcement may read as follows : Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Wellingtojt Announce the Marriage of their Daughter Catharine to Mr. Jatnes Howard, Saturday, September ninth. Philadelphia, ipo2. An invitation to an anniversary wedding may be couched in the following form. If no presents are desired, the invitation should explicitly say so, otherwise it will be taken for granted that they will be acceptable : iSjy I go 2 Mr. and Mrs. Ayidrew Lewis request yotir presence at the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of their Wedding Wed)icsday Evening, March eighth, ip4. Lombard Aveyiue, New York. No presents. General Invitations. In addition to the forms of invitation to more or less formal occasions above given, notes inviting to various informal meetings may take forms familiar or the reverse, in accordance with the degree of intimacy of the parties.' A few forms will suflQce as ex- amples : New York,fune8, ipo2. My dear Mr. Wilson : A few of us are arrangijig for a?i excursion to Bolton Springs on the i^th inst. We should be very glad to have you as one of the party. We shall be three days absent from town. If you can make it convenient to accompany us, we are sure you can count on an enjoyable time. Be kind eiiough to let me k7iow within a day or two, a7id believe me Sincerely yours, A.B. lo Brown Street, New York, December i8, igoi. Dear Mr. Wilsofi : Can you make it convenient to run over to New York on Christmas day, and drop in on our small fa^nily party f You can cou?it on a hearty welcome, and a fair allowance of the enjoy 7nents of the seaso7i. Yours very truly, Henry Smith. As examples of more familiar notes of invitation, between intimate friends, the following will suffice : Dear Harry : So77ie of us are expecti7ig to spend a few hours jovially , next Wednesday eve7iing with a glass of wine a7id a cigar as enlive7iers . I hope you will make 07ie of the party, a7id shall hold a chair for y 071. Yours as ever Will. Dear foh7i : Our old frie7id Harvey Wilso7i has J7ist got ho77ie f-om his Western trip. I have asked hi7n a7id his cousi7i fames to take a chop with vie to-mo7'7'ow at six p. in., a7id wa7it y 071 as a good fourth. Do7i' t fail me. You know what a good fellow Wilso7i is. Yours faithfully , H. P. fones. 204 LIUUK OF ETIQUETTE »» My Dear Mary : A few friends will be with us on Friday evenings the 8th inst. , to share a social cup of tea and have an hour'' s chat. Can we count ^n the pleasure of your company ? f. S. White. My Dear fennie : Your kind request is at hand. I shall be glad to accept it, and hope to eyijoy both the lea and the chat. Yours cordially, Mary Moore. My Dear Sir : We start next Tuesday for the Cats kills, by private conveyance . There is room for one more in our carriage, and we should be glad to have yoic fill the vacant space. I trust no inconvenie7it engagement will hinder your acceptance. Yours socially, William Black. Mr. S. D. Henderson. Invitation to a Carriage Ride. Hillsdale, Ohio, October j, ipoi . My dear Miss Barry : In these bracifig Autumn days, when the foliage is so beaiUiful, I am sure you will enjoy a ride for an hour or more. It will give me great pleasure to have your company for a ride on Saturday afternoon next, and I hope you will have 710 previous e^igagement at that ti?ne. Sijicerely yours , Francis Thome. Reply of Lady to Invitation. " The Cedars.'' Dear Mr. Thorne : It is, indeed, very kind of yott to think of my pleasure. The prospect of a ride for Sat- urday afternoon is very attractive. I shall be pleased to go with you, and shall await you at three o'clock Saturday. Sincerely, Bertha Barry . October fourth, ipoi. XII. ART OF LETTER-WRITING A correspondence between two persons is simply a conversation reduced to writing. We should write to an absent person as we would speak to the same party if present. To a superior, we ought to be respectful ; to a parent, dutiful and affectionate ; to a friend, frank and easy ; and clear and definite in our expressions to all. Conciseness is one of the charms of letter-writing. A letter should contain the desired facts, ideas, and feelings ; but they ought to be expressed as briefly as per- spicuity and elegance will permit. Lengthened periods are as much out of place in a letter as they would be in conver- sation, for they tire the reader even more than they would the hearer. When written , their faults are also perceived with much less difficulty than when spoken. When the party to whom a letter is ad- dressed is uninterested in the subject on which it is written, the writer of it should display a brevity which will attract atten- tion and insure a perusal. No unnecessary ornament should be used, nor, in fact, any- 205 thing introduced but what is important and bears strongly on the case stated, or the inquiry made. To an absent friend, on the contrary, a lengthy epistle, well filled with details of passing incidents, is likely to prove welcome and interesting, and one may venture even upon prolixity if sure that his correspondent has a strong interest in the subject, and is likely to desire minute details concerning it. Style in Correspondence. The style of the letter may rise with the subject, and with the character of the person written to. In a familiar epistle an effort at dignity of style is misplaced, but such is not the case where the person addressed is superior in position or character, or where the subject is one demanding seriousness and dignity. For instance, the death of a friend or relation, a calamity, or any cir- cumstance of grave importance, should not be communicated in the same manner as a trifling occurrence, or even a happy event : tf4 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE brevity, in the latter case, is beauty ; in the former, it would be deemed unfeeling and abrupt. Express your thoughts in simple English and in legible writing. The latter should be clear and bold. Never write carelessly or hurriedly ; read the letter over before sending ; and, if writing more than one let- ter at a time, be cautious that such are not put in the wrong envelopes. Great atten- tion should be paid to correct punctuation. As to writing material, the shape and size of paper and envelopes are not so im- portant as the quality. They should be plain white, with no colored border (except the black border when in mourning), and of substantial texture. The address of the writer, printed neatly at the head of the sheet, should take the place of any attempt at ornament. Fold all letters evenly, and put the stamp in the upper right-hand corner. Remember to enclose a stamp when writing to a stranger concerning your own affairs. Use postal cards only for ordinary business communi- cations ; never for friendly correspondence or in writing to any one who might be annoyed by having his or her occupation made public. Take the trouble to spell correctly. Be careful to write dates, numbers and proper names plainly. Date a note, at the conclu- sion, on the left-hand side of the page; a letter at the beginning, on the right hand. Sign a letter with a full name, or with the last name and initials. In business corre- spondence sign "yours respectfully," "your obedient servant," "yours truly," or "yours sincerely." Place the name and address of your correspondent at the upper left-hand corner of the page. Let your signature suit the style of the letter — a business communication should bear a formal, a friendly note, a cordial con- clusion. Between intimate friends and rel- atives no formal rule is laid down for the beginning and ending of letters. The etiquette of letter-writing should only be considered between strangers or slight ac- quaintances. In these cases it is well to preserve a mean between cold formality and familiarity. Forms of Address. The conventional forms are "Sir,' "Dear Sir," "My Dear Sir," or "Ma- dam," "Dear Madam," or "My Dear Madam." Either of these can be used, but to a total stranger ' ' My Dear Sir ' ' is rather too cordial, and to an acquaintance " Sir " is too formal, unless there is a pur- pose to convey coldness of feeling. When writing to persons of your own social class, though strangers, " Dear Sir" or " Dear Madam " are used in preference to " Sir " or " Madam." A married lady should not sign herself "Mrs.", nor an unmarried one "Miss," except in writing to a stranger who will need to reply. In this case the full name should be signed, as " Miss Susan Blake," or " Mrs. Mary Brown." Mrs. and Miss may be enclosed in parenthesis. Letters to married ladies are usually addressed with the initials or names of the husband, ' ' Mrs. John P. Smith," etc. Widows and unmar- ried ladies should only be addressed with their christian names, " Mrs. Mary Smith " or "Miss Fanny Jones." The eldest daughter or unmarried lady of the family should be addressed "Miss" simply, the christian name being omitted. " Mr." and ' ' Esq. ' ' cannot be used simultaneously. A letter must be addressed either like the fol- lowing examples, to " Mr. R. H. Smith" or to " R. H. Smith, Esq." When a letter is addressed to the Hon. James Blank, the ' ' Esq. ' ' must not follow. Never use the husband's title in direct- ing a letter to the wife, as "Mrs. Gen. James Bancroft," or "Mrs. Rev. John Pearl." Do not cross a letter, put the most im- portant part of it in a postscript, or sign it in the first person, if it has been written in the third. Never fail to answer promptly, in case the communication requires an answer. When a note is commenced ' ' Sir ' ' or "Dear Sir," it is usual to write the name of the person addressed at the end of the letter or note in the left-hand corner, or it may be put before the commencement ; foi instance, "To R. H. Smith, Esq.," but in this case it must not be repeated at the bottom. 206 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 55 A son of the same name as his father is addressed in this way : " R. H. Smith, Jr., Ksq." L,etters or notes to servants usually be- gin with the servant's name, and then the directions follow in the third person ; ex- ample : ' ' To Mary Smith : Mrs . Brown will return home on Saturday next, ^tc." Address a clergyman " Reverend Sir " or " Dear Sir," and direct the envelope to " Rev. John Blank; " or if the initial is not known, to " Rev. Blank." Address a doctor of divinity ' ' To the Rev. John Hall, D.D.," or the " Rev. Dr. Hall." Address a doctor of medicine "J. B. Blank, M.D.," or " Dr. J. B. Blank," or " Dr. Blank." Address a bishop "To the Right Rev. the Bishop of ," or "To the Right Rev. H. C. Potter, D.D., Bishop of and begin the letter " Right Rev. Sir," or " Right Rev. and Dear Sir." Address foreign ministers as ' ' His Ex- cellency and Honorable." lyCtters to the President should be ad- dressed "To His Excellency, the President of the United States," or " President of the United States." Cabinet officers should be addressed "To the Honorable J. C. Blank, Secretary of State," "To the Hon. , the Post- master-General," etc. In writing to Senators or members of the House, address " To the Hon. ." Officers of the army or navy are ad- dressed by their titles, as " General Wilson Earle," " Captain Paul Jones," Admiral William Harvey," etc. The members of a college faculty are addressed as ' ' Profes- sor," and their particular title may be ad- ded after the name, as "D.D. ", "I,Iv.D," etc. This addition of titular abbreviations applies as well to scientists, physicians, and all others whose special college title may be known to the writer. Letters of Recommendation. A letter of recommendation should be composed with careful attention to its state- ments. It is a guarantee for the party recommended, and truth should never be sacrificed to condescension, false kindness or politeness. To write a letter of recom- mendation contrary to one's own opinion and knowledge of the person recommended, is to be guilty of a great imprudence. To say all that is necessary, in a clear and distinct manner, and nothing more, is the grand merit of a letter on business of any kind. Pleasantry and pathos would be greatly misplaced in it, unless it embraced some other subject than the business one. Brilliant diction is a dress in which direc- tions on business should never be clothed. The style ought to be precise, sufficiently copious to leave no uncertainty, but not re- dundant. Every thing necessary should be stated, plainly and unequivocally ; so that the party addressed may be in full posses- sion of our desires and opinions on the sub- ject involved. Ambiguity is nowhere so unpardonable as in a letter on business. Letters of Introduction. ' Letters of introduction are one of the common methods of establishing social rela- tions. The person who is not known to your friend can become known through your kind offices. In this way, very often, important services can be rendered. Never give a letter of introduction un- less you thoroughly understand the charac- ter and manners of the person to whom you write the letter and also of the person whom the letter introduces. You have no right, to avoid giving of- fence, or through sheer inability to say no to a request, to foist upon your distant friend some one for whose acquaintance he will not thank you and who may prove a very undesirable visitor. If one or the other of the two parties concerned must be offended, let it be the applicant. You can usually give some sufficient reason for de- clining — but decline in any event, if the person is likely to prove objectionable. As such a letter cannot well enter into particulars, it is customary and desirable to notify your friend by mail of the fact that you have given a letter of introduction to such a person, and tell him what further it is well for him to know concerning the character and purpose of his probable visi- tor. If you have given such a letter to a party of whom you do not approve, all that 207 56 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE remains is to warn your friend privately, placing him on his guard against a possibly objectionable person. A letter of introduction (unless sent by mail) should be delivered, unsealed, by the writer of the letter to the bearer of the in- troduction, and should be closed by the latter before delivery to the party to whom it is addressed. If purely a business intro- duction and one which can be delivered personally, it may remain unsealed. The bearer of a letter of introduction should send it to the house of the person to whom it is addressed, together with a card on which should be written his address. It is not in order to deliver it in person, since this may force the party addressed into a position which he may prefer to decline. It does not follow, because a friend has chosen to introduce you to another, that this other may not have private reasons for declining your acquaintance, or may be prevented from seeing and entertaining you by stress of other engagements. If he lives in a large city, the letter may make him feel obliged to escort you to the various places of in- terest, or in any case to invite you to meals or other entertainments. We should not tax the time or the purse of a friend, except for a satisfactory reason. The letter delivered, there is nothing more to be done until the party receiving it calls upon you or sends you some card or note of invitation. Those who receive such letters should, within twenty- four hours, if possible, take some kindly notice of them by a call or an invitation. A letter of introduction must be care- fully worded, stating clearly the name of the person introduced, but with as few per- sonal remarks as possible. It suffices in most cases to say that the bearer is a friend of yours, whom you trust your other friend will receive with attention, or you may state his profession, object in traveling, etc. In traveling, one cannot have too many letters of introduction. It is the custom in foreign towns for the newcomer to call on the resi- dents first, a hint that may prove acceptable to persons contemplating a long or short residence abroad. A letter of introduction of a business nature may be delivered by the bearer in person, since it requires no social obliga- tions. In style it should resemble other business letters ; that is, it should be brief and to the point. If a stranger sends you a letter of intro- duction, and his or her card (for the law of etiquette here holds good for both sexes), good form requires that you should not only call next day, but follow up that attention by others. If you are in a position to do so, the next correct proceeding is to send an invitation to dinner. Should circumstances not render this available, you can probably escort the stranger to some exhibition, con- cert, public building, museum, or other place likely to prove interesting to a foreigner or provincial visitor. In short, etiquette de- mands that you shall exert yourself to show kindness in some desirable way to the stranger, out of compliment to the friend who introduced him to you. If you invite strangers to dinner or tea, it is a higher compliment to ask others to meet them than to dine with them alone. You thereby afford them an opportunity of making other acquaintances, and are assist- ing your friend in still further promoting the purpose for which he gave the introduc- tion to yourself. Be careful at the same time only to ask such persons as you are quite sure are the stranger's own social equals. Letters of Congratulation or Condolence. Epistles of this kind need to be very carefully written. Unless there is some actual sympathy in the mind of the writer, they had better, in many cases, be left un- written, since they may serve the opposite purpose to that designed. A verbal expres- sion of feeling, where there is no feeling, is apt to fail of its intention. If such a letter prove difficult to compose, it is likely to seem studied, cold, and formal. Simplicity and ease of expression are necessary ele- ments in a note of condolence or compli- ment. A letter of congratulation should avoid any indication of other than unselfish good feeling in the writer. The slightest show of envy or jealousy at the good fortune of those whom we felicitate is unpardonable. It should on no account contain a hint of any 20a BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 57 hope that the advancement, or change of situation, tipon which the compliment is made, may afiford the person addressed the means of conferring a benefit on the party writing. Such a letter should, in fact: be an un- mixed expression of pleasure and congratu- lation on the event that calls for its pro- duction. But care must be taken to keep within due bounds ; to exaggerate in our congratulations may be to seem satirical. In a letter of congratulation we should be cheerful ; from an epistle of condolence all pleasantry should be banished. When addressing a person who is laboring under any grievous calamity, it is bad taste to make light of it ; to treat that loss as a matter which might be endured calmly, by a little firmness on the part of the party who has su£fered it, has the effect to irritate rather than soothe. One should seek to enter into the feelings of the mourner, to eulogize the departed relation, to rebuke the ingratitude of the false friend, to confess, the inconstancy of fortune, or otherwise, according to the circumstances ; and, with- out magnifying, to lament the affliction. Language like this is balm to the wounded mind, which rejects consolation from those who do not seem sensible of the extent of the sorrow under which it labors. But such a subject must be treated with a delicate hand, for an exaggerated expression of sympathy may give the appearance of insincerity, and of a strained endeavor to condole. In such a case it may aggravate the depression which it seeks to remove. Replying to Letters. Every letter, that is not insulting, merits a reply, if it be required or necessary. If the letter contains a request, it should either be acceded to gracefully and without ostentation, or refused without harshness. An answer to a letter of condolence or of congratulation should be grateful. The subjects should succeed each other in proper order, and the questions put be consecu- tively answered. In familiar correspond- ence a greater latitude of arrangement is allowed ; but even in this no question should be left^ unanswered. In all replies it 209 is usual to acknowledge the receipt, and to mention the date, of the last letter received: if this be neglected, your correspondent may be left in doubt, and ma}^ through mis- understanding, hold you guilty of some offense. Punctuation. Punctuation is a matter of the utmost importance in every species of literary com- position ; without it there can be no clear- ness, strength, or accuracy. Its utility consists in separating the different portions of what is written in such a manner that the subjects may be properly classed and subdivided, so as to convey the precise meaning of the writer to the reader. It shows the relation which the various parts bear to each other, unites such as ought to be connected, and keeps apart such as have no mutual dependence. It is much to be lamented that so little attention is paid to this important subject. As there is no positive system of punctu- ation to direct the writer, the modern edi- tions of good authors should be carefully studied, in order to acquire the leading principles of the art. The construction of sentences may be examined, and the mode adopted of dividing them attended to with considerable advantage. One cannot expect, perhaps, in this manner to become an expert in punctua- tion, but may grow suflSciently familiar with its essential elements to make no serious errors. The mode of placing punctuation marks permits of considerable latitude, and it is advisable not to be too profuse in their employment. The use of the comma is fre- quently very faulty through carelessness in this particular, dividing parts of sen- tences which naturally cohere, and being dropped in the centre of a phrase in which it is absurdly out of place. The natural halting points for the reader, or slight breaks in the sense, should be duly consid- ered, and a mark placed in consonance with the degree of this break. The comma and the dash do duty with many as the only elements of punctuation, the latter being much over used, through a desire to escape the necessity of considering the proper mark required. 58 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Postscripts. Lady writers have been accused, and perhaps with some reason, of often reserv- ing the most important part of a letter for the postscript. It is an accusation which they should avoid giving cause for. Post- scripts are, for the most part, needless, and in bad taste. It is best to pause a few mo- ments before concluding a letter, and reflect whether we have anything more to say. Above all things, none should defer civili- ties or kind inquiries to this justly-despised part of a letter. To do so is a proof of thoughtlessness or disrespect. " My kind- est regards to my cousin lyucy," added as a postscript, looks like what it really is — an after-thought ; and is, therefore, not only without value, but, to persons of fine feel- ings, offensive. To all writers something will bccasion- ally occur, after finishing the letter, which it is important to state. If to have for- gotten it implies no disrespect it may properly be added as a postscript. But if it should indicate a forgetfulness which may possibly offend the recipient, the whole letter had better be rewritten, and the after-thought put in its proper place. XIII. FORMS OF CORRESPONDENCE. Having given in the preceding sections some hints as to letter-writing and examples of notes of invitation, acceptance, and de- clination, it seems important to append some more diversified examples of letter-writing and correspondence, as brief guides to a broad domain of social duty and obligation. Letters of this kind are endlessly diversified in form and purpose, and a few examples, chosen largely at random, mustsufl&ce. Ordering Goods. In ordering goods be careful to state ex- actly what you want, and whether you wish goods delivered by freight or express. It is customary in writing orders to use abbreviations for mercantile terms which are known among business men. Should you wish to ask any questions or to make suggestions, write these upon a separate sheet from the order itself Send your order some time before you need the goods, so that you may not suffer on account of any slight delay upon the sender's part. Da7iville, Va., Dec. 20, igoj. Strawbridge & Clothier^ Philadelphia, Pa. Dear Sirs : E7iclosed find draft for $y^ on First Na- tional Bank of Danville, for zvhich please for- ward by U. S. Express : 6 pairs White Kid Gloves, No. 6. J pairs Brown Kid Gloves, No. 6. I dozen Linen Handkerchiefs lady's size. I $ yards of Silk like sample enclosed. The amount overpaid in my remittance you may place to my credit subject to future orders. Respectftdly , {^Mrs^ fulia D. Brown. Application for a Situation as Teacher. Salina, Kansas , fuly ^ , igo2. Gentlemen : Understanding that a vacancy for the sitiiation of teacher in yoiir school has occurred, I beg to offer myself as a candidate, and to inclose my certificate and letters of rec- ommendation fro7n persons you no doubt hiow. While I feel that these can better speak for me than I can for myself, I venture to assure you that, shoiild you appoint me to the position, I shall strive to discharge my duties earnestly aiid steadily, ayid shall ever ?'emai7i, Your grateful and obcdie7it serva7it, fea7iette Wilson. To the Trustees or Pri7icipal of School. Introducing a Young Lady Seeking Employment. Brooklyn, May 2, 190J. Dear Mr. Martin : This will i7itroduce to you my friend Miss Mabel Beeche77i, who is desirous of obtaini?ig employ77ie7it i7i your city. I use our old acquai7ita7iceship to i7iterest you i7i her behalf. She has 7-eceived a very liberal education , a7id would prove of great value to a family whose BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 59 young children need careful a7id judicious teaching. She is gentle, amiable, and willing. I trust you will be able to serve her, and I shall greatly appreciate the attentio7i you may give her. Very truly, Barclay Jones. To Mr. Joseph Martin, 2173 Pine Street Philadelphia , Pa. Introducing a Friend. St. Louis, Mo., Jan. J, ipoi. Dear James B. : This letter will introduce to you my dear frieyid William White, who is to be in your city for a few days on business and pleasure. I desire him to meet you and trust it will be co?ive7iientfor you to give him, a few moments of your time. A7iy atte7ition you give hiTTt during his stay in Chicago will be greatly appreciated by Your friend, Charles F. Jenkins. Mr. Jam,es B. Smith, 14.1 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. Short Form of Introduction. Chicago, III., June 11, ipoo. My Dear Sir : I have the ho7ior of introducing to your acquainta7ice Mr. Frank Ward, whom I com- mend to your ki7id attention. Very truly yours, William S. French. Mr. Benj. F. Strong, Detroit, Mich. Cong^ratulating a Gentleman Upon His Marriage. Wil7ni7igton, Ohio, Sept. 12, ipoo. Dear Frank : I have just received the welcome m.essage informing m.e of your new happiness. I hasten to offer you my most sincere congratu- lations and hearty good wishes. May every year of your married life fiyid you happier than the last, and may Mrs. Cra7ist07i fi7id you as loyal a husband as you have bee7i a friend. From my inmost heart, dear Franks I say, God bless you a7id your bride with His choicest blessi7igs. Ever your friend, George Maris. Mr. Frank Cra7iston, Newport, Del. Congratulating a Lady Upon Her Marriage. 179 D St., n: w. Washington, D. C, Nov. 4., ipoj Dear Emma : Your cards have just reached me, and I write at 07ice to try to express my heartfelt pleasure at your happy prospects. It is a great pleasure to your loving friends to be able to feel so Tnuch esteem and affection for the gentleman to whom you have confided your life's happi7iess, and to hope, as I do, that every year will U7iite your hearts more closely. That Heaven may bless you both, dear Emm,a, is the earnest prayer of Your loving Laura Shipley. Mrs. J. Barrie Brown. A Letter Sent with a Gift (a Book). P77 President St. , Brooklyn N, Y., Dec. 20, 190-. My Dear Frie7id : — / hope the acco7npany- i7ig volume, of which I ask yozcr acceptance as a slight tokeii of rny regard, will suit your taste. Books are i7i themselves frie7ids, a7id are therefore, I thi7ik, the most appropri- ate soitvenirs of frie7idship. In fact the cur- rent phrase, '^ I k7iow you like a book,'''' al- though a vulgaris7n, seems to imply the sa7ne i7itiniate relati07i between reader and author that should exist betwee7i frie7id a7id frie7id. Please apprise m,e of the receipt of the package, a7id believe m.e, Ever yotirs si7icerely fohn Clark. To Miss Julia Thomas, Brandywine , Del. The Reply. Brandywi7ie, Del., Dec. 2j, igo—. My Dear Mr. Clark : — Accept my tha7iks for your handsome prese7it. You cotild not 6o BOOK OF ETIQUETTE have selected a book that would have pleased vie better. I think with you that books {of the right kitid) should be looked upo?i as agreea- ble and useful friends ; but nevertheless the frietid whom neither time nor distaiice can estrange^ is a treastire of 7no?'e vahie tha7i all the vqlumes that ever wei'e pritited. Permit me to regard you iii that lights a?id again tha7iki7ig yoti for yotir present, to remai?i, Sincerely yotirs, fulia Thomas. To Mr. John Clark, Brooklyn, N. Y. Soliciting a Loan from a Friend. 2'/go N. Broad St. , Philadelphia, Sept. p, ipoj. My Dear Sir : — Adisappoi7itme7it i7i the receipt of so77ie i7i07iey due has exposed me to a te7nporary e7nbarrass77ie7it. The sui/t which would ext?'icate 7i:ef7'-07n this pai7ifiil difficulty is not large, as $4.00 would be amply sufficie7it to release me fro7n my prese7it pressure. I have so great a7i aversio7i to borrowing vi07iey f7'077i professio7ial le7iders, that 1 prefer the course of soliciti7ig the aid of so7ne well-known frie7id. I have thought of several, but of?io7ie with a greater degree of co7ifdence tha7i your- self. Can you gra7it me, theft, the acco77i77io- datio7i of the above sum, without i7i a7iy way i7itre7ichi7ig 07i your ow7i co7ive7iiefice ? If yoit can, I believe 1 7nay rely 07i your readi7iess to do so ; and yotc may i7i ttcr7i depe7id bei7ig rei77ibursed with the strictest piuictuality by the ^th of April. A speedy 7'eply to this re- quest will extre7nely oblige. My dear sir. Yours viost si7icerely, Joseph Howard. To Mr. Frank Thomson. In Answer Declining, on Account of Incapability. lyS^ Mulbeyry Street, Philadelphia, Sept. 10, igoj. My Dear Sir : — / truly regret that my circu77ista7ices will 7iot permit vie to oblige a frie7id so dear to me as yourself ; but at Present I am 171 great need of mo7iey, a7id last Friday I was co77ipelled to borrow, to vieet a pressi7ig obligatio7i ; I therefore do not have it within i7iy power to comply with your request. Trusti7ig that you may be more successful 212 i7i so7ne other quarter, a7id with feelings of regret at i7iy ow7i i7iability to re7ider you a service which you 7nigbt otherwise readily com7na7td, Believe 'tne to 7^e7nai7i, Ever your si7tce7'e frie7id, Charles Hall. To Mr. foseph Howard, No. — Lexi7igto7t Ave., N. Y. A Letter to a Friend (on the Anni- versary of his Birthday. I pi J Gree?i Stree , Philadelphia, fuly J, igo-. My Dear Walter: — Birthdays 77iay be called the vtilesto7ies i7t life' s jour7iey, a/id as you reach a7iother of these a7i7iive7'sa}y land-marks to-day, per77iit 77ie to co7tgratulate you 07i hav- i7ig traveled the 771 thus far i/i safety, and to wish you, with all i7iy heart, 77ia7iy si77iilar opportu7iities of receivi7ig the good wishes of your f7'ie7ids. That your future years i7iay glide happily away, withoiit care or sorrow, is the si7icere prayer of. Yours most si7icerely, Tho7nas Meek. To Mr. Walter Dewey, Crestli7ie, Ohio. Reply to the Above. Crestline, Ohio,fuly 10, igo~. Dear To7n : — Co7igratulatio7is that co7ne from the heart, as I a77t sure yours do, are always welco7ne. I sca7'cely k7iow, however, whether we ought to be C07npii77ie7ited 07i grow- i7ig older, U7iless we grow wiser a7id better as well. Nevertheless, the custo77i of receivi7ig the felicitations of 07ie' s frie7ids a7id acquai7it- aiices, 071 havi7ig 77iade a7iother step towaf-d the goal, is decidedly a7i agreeable one, and I tha7ik you 77iost cordially for your ki7id 7iote. Your obliged f'iend , Walter Dewey. To Mr. Tho7nas Meek, Philadelphia, Pa. Requesting a Friend to execute a Commission. Santiago , C^iba, April /J, I go 2. My Dear Ernma : — Will you ki7idly exe- cute the followi7tg little co77i7/iissio7is for //le, as BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 6i soon as you can make it convenient? Pur- chase/or vie at Macy's the followbig articles ; — {Jiere state ribbons, miisli7is, &c. , as wanted?) Will you also call at Doubleday'' s and inquire when Bacheller' s new novel will be out, as I am all anxiety to knoiv. Please give them my address at Macy' s, and tell them to pack the parcel carefully and send it by express. The weather dozvn here is delightful ; but I wish I had the pleasure of your company to render it m,ore so. Pray write a line and let me knozv how soon you can make me a visit, and thus afford me an opportunity to tha7ik you personally for your kindness. Lois C. Pharnum . To Miss Mary White, No. — Washington Square. New York. Application for Subscription to a Charity. Duane Street, Louisville, Ky., fanuary ly, ipo-. Sir — / take the liberty of inclosing a pros- pectus of an institutio7i which is likely to have a most beneficial effect upon the condition of the poor in our neighbo7'hood. {^Here state particula7'S-^ On accou7it of your well-know7i libe7'ality , I trust you will excuse this appeal i7i furtherance of an act of benevolence , and remai7i , Sir, your 77iost obedient servant, Harry R.Jones. To Pliney Earlc, Esq., No. — West 1 8th Street, City. Letters of Application. BOY WANTED for Transportation Office; must be good penman ; $15 per month. Address, in own handwriting, H, 236 I^edger Office. Philadelphia , Pa ., fan. j, igoi . H, 2j6 Ledger Office. Sir^- — / would respectfully apply for the position advertised i7i to-day' s Ledger. I am fiftee7i years old, reside with my parents at yg fay7ie Street, Camden, a7id refer you to Mr. S. L. Thomas, 81^ Market Street, this city, from wha7n I received the enclosed testi- mo7iial. Very truly, Albert Jenkins, Application for Position of Salesman and Collector. 100 D St. N. W. Washiyigton, D. C, March 21, igoi. Messrs. S. H. Smith & Co., Wheeli7ig, W. Va. Gentleme7i : I a77i recommended by Mr. Frank Stuart to apply to you for the positi^7i of sales77ian and collector, rece7itly occupied by Jmn in your warehouse. I am twe7ity-eight years of age, a7id re- side with 77iy father i7i this city, who will give bo7ids for me if required. I have had soTue experie7ice 171 your li7ie of busi7iess , a7id should be pleased to have a trial with you, if prefer- able, previous to a perma7ient engagei7ie7it . I a77i at liberty to refer to Mess7-s. W. H. Fletcher & Co., Lace Curtai7is, ig8 Broad- way, New York, also to Messrs. Si77ipso7i & fones. Upholstery Goods, 166 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Very respectfully , Edward Murphy. Requesting the Settlement of an Account. Newark, N.J., Dec. 25, igoo. Mr. JaTnes Jones, Burlington, N.J. Dear Sir : I call your attentio7i to the fact that your accou7it, which I enclose, has 7iot bee7i settled. I a7n relucta7it to press yo7i, but as I have some heavy payments to make in the early part of 7iext 77ionth, I must request that you pay the a77iount before the close of the present mo7ith. Respectfully yours, John Adams. A Demand for Payment of Rent, 140P North Ninth St., Philadelphia, Pa. June ^, igo^. Mr. Tho77ias F. Smith. Dear Sir : I feel obliged to remind yoii of the fact that you owe me $120 for three 7nonths^ rent. You will reme7nber that, accordi7ig to the agree7ne7it, you were to make m.onthly 213 62 BOOK OF ETIOUETTE payments ; therefore, if the account is not settled ivhhin a week, I shall be obliged to place the matter in the hands of 7ny laivyer for collectio7i, as J ca7i7iot allow it to run any longer. Truly yours, Henry S. Holmes. Introducing a Young Man Seeking a Position. Akron, Ohio, June I, igoo. My Dear Sir : Recognizi7ig your well-merited and ex- tensive influence in the comincrcial circles in your city, I beg to introduce to you Charles F. Pogle, zvho is desirous of obtaining a position with a mercantile house. He is a goitlemayi of capacity and ability. His character sta?ids A I, and he is as industrious as he is e^ier- getic. He considers New York a better field than this place, and prefers to try his chances there to remainiiig here. He can refer to me. Trusting that you will lend him, a helping hand, I am, Yours, ve^y truly, Ja7nes B . Marvel. Mr. Edward Fetter, ip Park Row, Nezv York. Social Letters. Let these be original and not be like the epistles of some one else ; write as you would talk, but always exercise care in the use of pure, simple language and avoid a stilted or artificial stjde. Especially in the long let- ters of friendship and love — those missives that reveal the heart — the language should show that the \\f3sX. is pure. L,et your letter be the record of the fancies and mood of the hour ; the reflex of your aspirations, your joys, your disappointments. Write cheerfully. It is unkind to your friend to fill your letter with complainings and accounts of your troubles, though there are occasions when one may confide all his sorrows to the near friend, and receive in re- turn a letter of sympathy, containing all the comfort it is possible for a letter to convey. The length of social letters must depend upon circumstances and degree of intimacy. To members of your family real chatty letters telling of all the little incidents of your life, its pleasures and adventures are always proper. In fact, these need be limited only by your time and paper. To others you must not write such long letters. The following is a feeling" letter of con- dolence, written by Frances Ridley Haver- gal to a lady friend : Leamington, Dec. lo, i8yo. Dear, Dear Mrs. Smith : What can I do but just weep with you ! I can only guess xvhat this sorrow is. Only 1 know it viust be the greatest, except one, which could come to you. That dear little, beazitiful thiyig I He looked so sweet and happy when I saw him,; 7io baby face ever haunted me as, somehow, his did. If you could only see hi7n 710W, how beautiful he 77iustbe 7iow that he has see7i Jesus, and shines i7i the light of God. It is even 77iore wo7iderful to tlmik of that great transitio7i for a baby thayi for a grow7t per- son ; 07ie cannot iynagiyie the sudde7i expa7isio7i into stich k7iowledge a7id co7iscious Joy . I was looki7ig back this 77iorni7ig upon lo7ig memories of soul-trials, years of groping and stu7nbli7ig a7id longi7ig, si7i7iing ayid sorrow- ing, of heart weariness a7id fai7itness, te7np- iation and failure ; all these things which I suppose every Christian 77121st pass through, m.ore or less, at so77ie stage or other 07i the way ho77ie ; a7id the first distiiict thought which ca>7ie through the surprise a7id sor7VW at the sad 7ietvs was, " That dear little redee77ied 07ie is spared all this, take7i ho7ne without a7iy of these roughest roughnesses of the way ; he will never fear doubt or si7i, 7iever grieve his Saviour. " Is it 7iot the very best ajid kindest thing that te7ider Saviour could do for hi77i f 07ily it is 7iot tvhat you 7nea7it when you prayed that he 7night be his ow>i. But better he is with hi7n at once a7id for- ever, a7id waiti7ig for you to co77ie home. If am only writing all this because 7ny heart is full, and must pour out a little. I know we cannot co77ifort, — 07ily Jesus ca7i ; and I shall go a7id plead long a7id i7ite7isely Jor this as S0071 as I have closed 77iy letter. He must be specially " touched'' in such a sorrow, Jor he k7iows by actual experie7ice what hu7na7t love is. Three such great sorrows iti one year ! How specially he must be watchi7ig you in this Jurnace ! Yours with deepest sympathy, Fra7ices R. Havergal. This may fitly be followed by a letter of congratulation, of which we give a manu- factured example. Too often it is the case 214 BOOK OF ETIOUETTE 63 that friends forget to congratulate those they are interested in when good fortune of any kind comes upon them, or to commiserate with them in cases of disaster or misfortune. These letters not only are proper but very acceptable. The one receiving such letters should not fail to acknowledge them. They properly should not be very long or very effusive. New York, May 8, 190J. My Dear Mr. Williams : It is with deep satisfactio?i that I learn of your good fortiuie. I have long hoped that the clouds which lowered over you would be lifted., and sincerely hope that you have fairly entered upon a tide of prosperity. In one who, like y 071, have been true and honorable in all your actions, and have suffered in vieans through honesty iii dealing, the coining of a measure of success like this should be especially gratifying. May you continue to prosper, and if in any way I can advance your interests hi this quar- ter do not fail to make tise of me. Present my best wishes to Mrs. Williams, and believe me Sincerely yours , Jatnes Dobson. From Charles Dickens to James T. Fields. As an excellent example of a reply to a letter conveying pleasant wishes, we present the following from Dickens : Gad's Hilly fune 10, i86y. My Dear Fields : Your letter of May 2yth comes to me like a breath from your ow7i world beyond the sea. Believe m-e, I reciprocate all your good wishes, and take this occasion to renew those sentiments of respect and affection for yourself which it has been -my privilege to eiitertain for so long a time, hi the busy hours of exacting labors, I recall with pleasure the choice friends whom it has been my happy lot to meet. Time does not rust, but brightens, the links of the golden chain. With every good wish for your per- so7ial health and enjoyment, I am, as ever. Yours Tnost sincerely, Charles Dickens. Mr. fames T. Fields, Boston, Mass. From Charles Sumner on Leaving for Europe to his Ten=year Old Sister. As tor House, New York, Dec. 7, 18 j"^ My Dear fulia : I doiiH remember that I ever wrote you a letter. I feel confident, however, that your correspondence is not very extensive; and therefore I flatter myself that what I write you will be read with attention, arid I trust, also, deposited in your heart. Before trusting my- self to the sea, let me say a few words to you which shall be my good- by. I have often spoken to you of certain habits of personal care, which I will not here more particularly refer to thaii by asking you to remember all I have told you. I am very glad, 'my dear, to remember your cheerful cou7ite?iance . I shall keep it in my mi?id as I travel over sea arid land, and hope that when I return I may still find its pleasant smile ready to gr^eet me. Try riever to cry. But above all things never be obstinate or passionate . If you find your temper mas tering you, always stop till you count sixty before you say or do anything. Let it be said of you that you are always amiable. Love your father arid mother and brothers and sisters, and all your friends ; cultivate an affectionate disposition. If you find that you can do anything which will add to the pleasure of your parents , or anybody else, be sure to do it. Consider every opportunity of adding to the pleasur'e of others as of the highest impor'tance, and do not be unwilling to sacrifice some enjoyment of your own, even some dear plaything , if by doing so you can promote the happiness of others. If you follow this advice you will never be selfish or ungenerous, and everybody will love you. Study all the lessons you have at school, and when at home, in the time when you are tired of play, read some good books which will help to impr'bve your mind. . . . If you will let Hor^ace read this letter it will do the same, perhaps, as one addressed to him. Give my love to mother, and Mary, and the rest. Your affectionate brother, Charles. 64 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE ETIQUETTE OF BEAUTY During all civilized ages the art of beauty has been sedulously studied and practiced by the fair sex, women in all periods since the days of barbarism having sought to preserve and increase the charms bestowed by nature and carry the freshness of youth as far forward as possible into the domain of middle life and even of old age. Experience extended through many cen- turies has yielded numerous ' ' rules of con- duct " in relation to physical hygiene and the care of the body, while physicians have learned much in respect to the preservation of health and beauty. Hoav to keep a clean soul in a clean body is the first law of health. In the study of the fine arts there is nothing of more importance than the art of making a beautiful woman. It is this art with which yv^e are at present concerned. Though no one can be taught how to convert ugli- ness into beauty, or to stay the footsteps of age, yet what share of attractiveness nature has given can in great measure be retained and enhanced, while, if the advance of age cannot be checked, its ravages may be alle- viated and its harshness softened by the employment of physical hygiene and refined care of the body which God has given us. How to Grow Old Gracefully. A charming old lady revealed the secret of her fair and rosy complexion to a group of young women as follows : ' ' L,ate hours , ' ' said she, ',' and oversleeping ruin the com- plexion. Go to bed early, arise early, and you will grow old slowly, and retain your good looks to an advanced age. If, how- ever, your position forces you into society and you are obliged to be up late at night, sleep an hour every afternoon. Before going to bed take a hot bath and remain in the water only a few moments. Then drink a cup of bouillon, and a small glass of Malaga wine. Sleep will soon follow, and last until the natural time of awakening, which is about ten o'clock in the morning under these circumstances. Take a cold plunge or sponge bath, a light breakfast of cafe au lait, and bread without any butter. ' ' She continued : ' ' Out-of-door exf^rc."--:-^ is an absolute necessity, but must not be carried to excess. A daily walk is excellent, and it is scarcely necessary to say that whole days of lawn tennis, croquet, etc., are not favorable to the complexion." Care of the Body. Wear warm, light garments, to secure an even temperature. In winter it is even more important to protect the spine than the chest. Wear a silk sleeveless jacket next the skin, if you do not wish to wear a flannel one. At any rate, if you are deli- cate, young or old, cover the spine with a strip of flannel tied by a ribbon, and extend- ing to the hips. There will be no need to fear colds, bronchitis, or phthisis, if this pre- caution is taken, and it does not prevent wearing a decollette gown. Never wear tight clothing. It is in- jurious to health and beauty. The face be- comes congested when the organs are com- pressed, the hands swell, and get red, and the carriage awkward. Wear easy corsets, gloves, and shoes. To keep the pores of the skin open, one should bathe daily in cold or warm water ; ill health and age are thus retarded. The result of uncleanliness is a flabby and un- wholesome condition. The well cleansed skin is soft, smooth, fresh ; a skin on which perspiration and dust have accumulated in layers becomes dry and feverish. But it may be said that it is not possible for the greater number of people to take a daily bath, as they lack the facilities and the time. The sponge bath — which is all suffi- cient for the purposes of cleanliness — re- quires only a few minutes each day. Once or twice a week at least, one should take the time necessary for a full bath. This is the very least attention our bodies require. Immersions and baths, with the aid of soap, lotions, etc., will render the body strong and flexible, and give it a power of resistance. . Water haa the virtue of dispell- ing fatigue and destroying the germs of dis- ease. While cleansing the body it purifies our souls and gives us " a sound mind in a -©und body." 216 BGOK OF ETIQUETTE 65 The Bath=Room. The furnishing of the bath-room depends largely upon the means and. taste of its ov/ner. It is no difficult matter to furnish a simple bath-room, in which comfort may be preserved while the unattainable elegancies of the rich are banished. The walls of this room may be painted in oils — in imitation of marble, if desired. Over the floor of wood or tiles a carpet of linoleum should be spread. In front of the bath-tub should be laid an India-rubber mat, on which to step on leaving the bath. On the walls may be placed shelves fo* soap, sponges, etc., within easy reach of th^ hand while in the v/ater. On racks or in a wardrobe should be hung the bathing linen, towels, dressing sacks, and other necessaries of the bath. The human skin is a complicated net, whose meshes must be kept open and un- clogged, in order that through them the body may throw off its impure secretions. The healthy action of the skin is stimulated by the opening of the pores in the bath, es- pecially if it is followed by friction with a brush or rough towel. Instead of the bath-tub and its acces- )Ories, the needs of cleanliness may be met \vith a large zinc tub, a pail, and a small basin of water, with a suitable sponge. In this method of bathing first use warm water; then, if in good health, lower the tempera- ture of the water until, finally, the bath can be taken cold. In all cases the temperature of the room must be moderatelj^ warm. Peo- ple whose lungs are weak should always bathe in warm wate^ . Partial baths, of any kind, are almost always taken warm. It is unwise to bathe immediately after eating, as it seriously in- terferes with digestion. There should be at least three or four hours between a full repast and a bath. In the springtime, when one is more susceptible to cold than at any. other season of the year, it is best to bathe at night, just before going to bed, in order that the skin may profit by the warm moisture which it retains for several hours after leaving the bath. The practice of massage, by the hands of an experienced operator, is of great value in 21 E 2 certain states of the health. But, fortu nately, ordinary friction can replace this practice without assistance, thanks to the various appliances for the purpose of rub- bing one's self over the shoulders and back, which the hands cannot reach easily. The friction is produced either with the bare hand, or by means of gloves or bands of horsehair, or of rough woolen or linen cloth. When no liquid is employed, such friction is called dry-. The Dressing=Roorn. A woman's dressing-room should be as tasteful and comfortable as her social posi- tion and fortune permit : simply comfort- able if she cannot afford luxury, but sup- plied at least with all things necessary and useful to a careful toilet. Where convenient, two dressing-tables should be provided, facing each other, dif- ferent in dimensions, but identical in form. The larger serves for the minor ablu- tions. It is provided with a water pitcher and bowl of porcelain, crystal, or silver, selected with the taste which distinguishes us in these days. Above it fasten a little shelf on which to place perfumes, smelling salts, dentrifices, elixirs, etc. Beside the bowl place a soap-dish, a box for brushes, etc. The smaller dressing-table should be surmounted by an adjustable mirror, framed in silk and muslin. The hair is dressed be- fore this table. It must be supplied with all needful accessories — brushes and combs, perfumes, creams and lotions, powder-boxes, powder puffs, manicure set, etc. Projecting brackets for lights should be on each side of this table. The dressing-room may be far more simple than here described. If it lack all luxury, a woman of taste may give it an attractive appearance. Select a tasteful wall- paper. Cover the floor with a pretty rug. Tables of pine ma}^ be draped with cretonne bordered with a ruffle. Over your dressing- table spread a linen scarf trimmed with inexpensive lace. Above it hang small brackets covered like the table, on which place the boxes, bottles, jewel vases, etc., which may be gra':eful and elegant despite their small cost. If the mirror is ordinrr)', 17 66 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE conceal the frame by a drapery to correspond with the table. This is easily arranged by means of hidden tacks. Secure a very sim- ple wardrobe, which you can greatly im- prove b}^ painting and varnishing. Conceal the water jugs and pails under the valance of the table. Some shelves at the end of the room, with hooks beneath them to hold articles of clothing, the whole concealed behind cur- tains in harmony with the drapery of the cable, will answer the purpose of a ward- robe. The curtain should hang freely from the ceiling, so as not to expose the outlines of the objects behind it. Beneath it the zinc bathing tub may be hidden. The Complexion. It is generally thought that the color and texture of the skin may be improved by ex- ternal means. This is partially the truth, but is largely an error, since the complexion depends to a great degree on the health and temperament. We must look to hygiene rather than to cosmetics to supply the de- fects of color. A complexion which is too highly col- ored, especially if the color is deep and ex- tends over nearly the whole surface, is neither desirable fron i an aesthetic nor from a hygienic standpoint. It indicates plethora. It will be noticed that those persons who are afflicted with high color, whose eyes even are veined in red, are usually large eaters, lovers of ease, and averse to fatiguing exer- cises. In order to tone down their color, they should restrain the appetite, select less succulent food, and take less ease. Their health will be improved by the directions here given ; headaches, confusion of thought, dizziness, will disappear ; from violent, the color will become merely brilliant, which is a very different thing, for a bright color is not objectionable if confined to the cheek, as it makes the rest of the face fairer by contrast. When the complexion is muddy, wan, pasty, too white, greenish, yellow, or pur- ple, it is always a sign of bad health. A muddy skin is sometimes natural, but fre- quently indicates dyspepsia, feeble circula- tion, etc. A pale skin is usually due to a life spent within doors, lack of exercise, the habit or necessity of avoiding sunlight and daylight. A pasty skin is the result of a lymphatic temperament. An olive skin does not always indicate disease ; it may have been inherited from some creole ancestor. A too white skin, without proper admixture of color, shows a person in serious ill health, although sometimes there are no other indi- cations. A purplish complexion may come from some affection of the heart. A yellow skin requires especial attention. It is plain that care and precaution should be taken when the complexion is defective. Hygiene is in many cases sufficient, and we shall try to trace the prominent outlints of this preventive treatment, at least so far as women are concerned. Facial Ablutions. It is well known that the pores of the skin should be kept open in order to perform thoroughly their functions, and that wash- ing is an excellent means to relieve them of the secretions or accumulations which ob- struct and close them. There are, however, precautions to be taken when washing the face. If there is any eruption on the face, warm water should be used. By this means the blood is driven away and the congestion relieved. When the weather is very warm, or wheh the face is heated, do not wash in cold water. Bathe in warm water with pure soap. Take care to rinse thoroughly, so as to remove every particle of soap. Powder lightly, allowing the powder to dry on the face. The face should be then carefully wiped on a piece of soft linen. Rough friction, with a coarse towel, has the effect of thick- ening some skins. It is well to remember that the skin requires the same delicate care that we bestow on fine porcelain or other rare treasures. It is said that one of our society beauties every night on going to bed saturates a toilet towel in very hot water, wrings it, and ap- plies it to her face, keeping it there for half an hour. This woman has no wrinkles. A woman, fifty years old, whose skin is as smooth as that of a young girl, has never used anything on her face but hot water, which she believes prevents the skin from 218 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 67 becoming flaccid and wrinkled. One of her friends does the same, but immediately after washes her face in cold water, and her sister uses hot water at night and cold in the morning. All these apparent contradictions depend doubtless on different conditions of the skin. A well-knovv^n physician advises washing the face in cold water in the winter, and in warm or hot water in summer, thus establish- ing harmony with the existing temperature. Hard water, which does not dissolve the soap, should not be used for washing or bathing. If no other is to be had, the water for face-washing may be softened with a little borax or a few drops of ammonia. Lemon juice cleanses the skin very well, and sometimes serves the purpose better than soap. Strawberry juice has the same effect, besides being very improving to the skisi. Dr. Kingsford believes that, in many cases, the skin of the face may be kept smooth to an advanced age by the follow- ing mechanical process : The fingers being slightly oiled, the skin of the face should be rubbed, gently but firmly, in a direction opposite to that in which wrinkles threaten to form. This should be done at least once daily, and for five minutes at a time. The pressure must be even, firm, and gentle, and the oil on the fingers occasionally re- newed. In this process the effect may be much augmented by the use of wool fat, a substance which is extracted from sheep's wool. Its value consists in the fact that it is readily absorbed by the skin, and thus serves to replace the subcutaneous fatty tissue, where deficient, and give a full, smooth, and rounded outline to the skin. Cold- cream prepared from this wool fat and cucumber juice is a very valuable cosmetic, from the readiness of its absorption by the skin, ordinary oils and fats lying on the surface, without absorption, and forming a greasy film. To Remove Sunburn. Bathe your face at night with a cold in- fusion of fresh cucumbers sliced in milk. A decoction of tansy in buttermilk is still more eflScacious. Buttermilk alone is ex- cellent. Another means of overcoming the effects of sea or wind is to wash the face with the juice of green grapes prepared in the follow- ing manner : Wet the grapes and powder lightly with alum ; wrap in a white paper and cook under hot ashes . When the grapes become tender they are sufficiently cooked. Remove them from their covering and squeeze into a cup. Wash your face in the liquid three times within twenty-four hours. This remedy is said to be infallible. Another treatment, practiced in Italy, is to bathe the face with the white of an &%%■, well beaten. Let it dry on the skin, and rinse it off in soft water after fifteen minutes. This treatment is repeated three or four times, always at night, just before retiring. Lastly, good results may be had from the use of a mixture of equal parts of gly- cerine and lemon juice. If glycerine does not agree with the skin, use rose-water. Freckles. Freckles are the despair of blondes, and even of brunettes with fair skins. Some physicians attribute them to too much iron in the blood, and think that they may arise from the abuse of iron tonics. Others say that they indicate a delicate constitut'on and feeble circulation. They may sometimes be prevented by a few very simple precautions. The follow- ing mixture has been used with success : One part of tincture of iodine to three parts of glycerine, applied to the freckles before going to bed. Another remedy is the following : Take one-half pint of oil of turpentine ; dissolve in it seven grammes of pulverized camphor ; add two grammes of oil of sweet almonds. The following is another excellent rem- edy : Twenty-eight grammes of crushed cam- phor and 1 1 2 grammes of pure olive oil. Let the camphor dissolve slowly in the oil. Applications of buttermilk are also ex- cellent here, as in the case of sunburn. The following remedies are also recom- mended : In twenty centigrammes of rose water dissolve sixteen centigrammes of borax : Fresh beans, boiled in water, crushed and applied as a poultice on the freckles, will produce excellent effects. 219 6S BOOK OF ETIQUETTE Make a mixture of vinegar, lemon juice, alcohol, oil of lavender, oil of rose, oil of cedar, and distilled water. Apply to the freckles on retiring, and wash the face in soft water next morning. Two parts of sugar of watercress to one of honey is highly recommended for remov- ing both large and small freckles. Strain through a cloth and apply morning and night. Depilatories. The growth of hair which so often ap- pears on the chin at middle age, and the down which imparts a masculine appear- ance to the rosy lips of some young girls of twenty, form causes of annoyance from which some suffer distress of mind. There are, fortunately, remedies for this affliction. Removing these hairs with a small tweezer of steel is one of the common meth- ods. But the hair must be carefully pulled and not broken ; it should be removed by a sudden jerk. Recently an operation by elec- tricity, to which the name of electrolysis is given, has been highly recommended. It is, however, often unsuccessful, and always painful. Make a wash of the leaves and roots of celandine distilled. Make a compress, apply to the hair}'- spot, allowing it to remain en all night. Continue until the hairs disap- pear. Use pol5^pode of oak ; slit and cut into pieces, place in a cucurbite (vessel resem- bling a gourd used in distillation) and pour over it some white wine, which should cover the polypode a finger's width. Let it stand for twenty-four hours. Then distil in boil- ing water until no more evaporates. Apply in compresses on the afflicted parts, keeping it on all night. Renew until the desired effect is produced. Face Washes and Cosmetics. Never use any kind of paint on the face. All rouges injure the skin. Blanc de perle is dangerous. Greasy skins are benefited by washing in the juice of fresh cucumbers. Equally good is the water in which spinach flowers have been boi led . The j nice of strawberries is still better. During the sixteenth century the water in which beans had been boiled was in vogue for the complexion. This farinaceous water is entitled to the fame which it possessed. Belladonna (beautiful lady) derives its name from the use which the Italians of the Re- naissance made of its juice to improve theii cornplexions. The following lotion is excellent : A wineglassful of lemon juice, a pint of rain water, five drops of essence of rose, well corked. Wash the face occasionally with this mixture, which often prevents the dis- coloration of the skin. Soft and rela.xed skins will be improved by the use of the following cosmetic (at in- tervals of eight days) : One part milk, one part whisky. Moisten a soft towel with the mixture, after having first washed the face. The results do not follow immediately, but within a year the skin will frequently con- tract, become firm, fine, and soft. An excellent cleansing wash, used by our grandmothers, and known as " virginal milk," is prepared as follows: Take one quart of rose, orange, or elder-flower water, and add to it, drop by drop, stirring con- stantly, an ounce of simple tincture of ben- zoin. (Be careful not to use compound tincture). A few drops of glycerine and twelve or fifteen minims of tincture of myrrh may be added. For greasiness of the skin the v\se of stimulating and astringent washes is neces- sary. The following is an excellent recipe : One ounce of dried rose leaves, one-half pint of white-wine vinegar, one half-pint of rose water. Pour the vinegar on the rose- leaves and let it stand for a week; then strain and add the rose-water. Bathe the face morning and evening b}^ wetting the corner of a soft towel with the lotion. Where the oiliness is considerable, use the following lotion, applying it two or three times a day : Sulphate of zinc, two grains ; compound tincture of lavender, eight minims ; dis- tilled water, one ounce. Mix thoroughly. Toilet vinegars are frequently made with diluted acetic acid, into which are infused rose-leaves, lavender, verbena, or some other perfume. All toilet vinegars should be much diluted. The best time to use BOOK OF ETIQUETTE 6q them is in the morning after bathing, in or- der to cool the skin, remove any appear- ance of greasiness, and give tone to the epidermis. But they must on no account be used soon after soap has been applied, because the acid of the vinegar will de- compose the soap and seriously injure the skin. The Use of Rice Powder. It is sometimes necessary to powder the face, but powder should be applied lightly and artistically in order to impart to the skin the velvety softness of the peach. Powder on the face should be impercepti- ble, and, if used with discretion, is not to be condemned. Take up but a small quantity of powder on the puff, and pass lightly over the face. Care should be taken not to powder the eye- brows, and the lips must be carefully wiped to remove an}^ powder which may have fallen. The whole face, except the eyes, the eyebrows, and lips, should receive a touch of powder. Acne or Blackheads. Acne is the commonest form of facial eruption, it appearing as small black points on the nose, cheeks, and chin. Each speck marks an obstructed outlet of the sebaceous glands, and if pressure be made on either side, the oily secretion may be pressed out in the form of a small white worm. With care in softening the skin before pressing, blackheads may be removed without leaving a scar, and through proper treatment, their return may be prevented. For three weeks, or until the skin is thoroughly softened, apply Recamier cream every night before retiring. Let the cream remain on the face during the night. In the morning wash it off with water, as hot as can pleasantly be borne, and a little pure soap. Rinse the face thoroughly with cooler water. At the end of three weeks the blackheads will, in most cases, have been expelled by the treatment. In obsti- nate cases proceed as follows : Before attempting the removal of these blemishes, apply a little Recamier cream. Press on either side of the clogged pore un- til the so-called "worm" is forced out. Be care:f?il not to be rough and injure the skin by sharp finger nails or any steel in strument ; if the sebaceous matter will not come out, it is because the skin is not prop- erly softened, and you must patiently con^ tinue the first part of the treatment. Oper- ate on the blackheads at night, if possible, before retiring, and do not attempt to get rid of all at one time. After the matter is forced out, bathe the face in warm water, in which put a little pulverized borax, and also use a little pure soap, that the now emptied folicle maybe thoroughly cleansed. Continue this treatment until the black- heads are all gone. Do not imagine, however, that these troublesome imperfections will not return if the skin is neglected. Nothing but care and great cleanliness will effectually banish these obnoxious visitors. Redness of the Nose. If this afiQiction is due to the dryness of the nasal passage or the delicacy of the capillary vessels, the inflamed condition may easily be removed. The following wash can be recommended : Powdered borax, ten grammes ; one teaspoonful co- logne ; soft water, 150 grammes. Melt the borax in the water, then add the cologne. It is sufficient to moisten the nose with the wash and let it dry without wiping. When it begins to burn again, the treat- ment should be renewed . Here is another ai d similar wash : Dis- solve two grammes of borax in fifteen grammes of rose-water, and as much orange-flower water. Moisten the nose three times each day with this refreshing wash. Cleansing of the Hair. The frequent use of a fine comb is fatal to hair, especially when it is falling out. However, it is necessary to cleanse the hair and the downy scalp. The Chinese, who have abundant, but coarse, hair, use a mixture of honey and flour. The following is an English recipe : Add a teacupful of salt to a quart of rain-water. After twelve hours this brine is ready for use. To one cupful of the mixture add one cup- ful of hot rain water. Wash the hair and scalp, rub well, rinse, and dry with a towel. 21 70 BOOK OF ETIQUETTE The Creoles of Cuba make a decoction of the leaves of rosemary. This water, they maintain, cleanses, strengthens, and softens the hair. This also is excellent : Take fifty grammes of the roots of soap -wood boiled in a pint and a half of water. Wash with the hot preparation, then dry the hair and scalp with warm cloths. The yolk of an &^ 1 ^ o ° ■^ t Li o m O >. ^ >: 200 e? « w o o . Mortality by races. (Brandt). only the things which he ought to eat can resist tuberculosis. When, however, through dissipation, through overwork, through improper housing or through any offense against the laws of good health he puts his tissue below par, his cells become a ready prey to the tubercle bacillus. In time by evolution this bacillus has acquired the power of attacking living cells and this no doubt is how tuberculosis came into the world. Is Tuberculosis Inherited? — The old idea was that tuberculosis was inherited. People got this idea because they saw the disease occur so frequently in families, and saw it run through two or three genera- tions. We now know why this happens. It is not because tuberculosis is inherited but because it is communicable in a pecu- liar way. For communication of the dis- ease a long intimate association is necessary, such as most frequently exists in the family, and therefore the disease is conveyed oftenest adong the family tree. The in- timacy which is necessary for the spread of tuberculosis may also exist outside of the family in places of employment, and the disease is sometimes conveyed in this way. Tuberculosis is never transmitted from the parent to the offspring in the true sense of heredity. Sometimes a child is born with the disease, but this is because the mother has the disease so far advanced and so widely distributed in her body that the child gets it by direct contact. The child is then born with the disease and usually dies shortly after birth. Even this occurs very rarely, and so free is offspring of tuberculous parents from the disease that in some parts of the world tuberculous cattle are used for breeding purposes, the young being separated from the parents immediately after birth and thus brought up in perfect health. Predisposition to Tuberculosis. — Whilst the disease cannot be inherited a predisposition to it may be inherited. Some families undoubtedly are more prone to tuberculosis than others. This is not only true of families but of races. The negro race and the Indian race are very much more susceptible to consumption than the white races. Some white races are more susceptible than others. More- over, in some people the disease runs a much more violent course than in others and is much more likely to prove fatal. Some races get the disease readily but have it in an exceedingly mild form so that it rarely proves fatal. Predisposition is usu- ally divided into three kinds, individual, family and racial. The individual predis- position is often brought about by improper living and by excess in eating and drinking. Family predisposition may be due to inher- ited tendencies or to environment under which the family lives. Racial predispo- TUBERCULOSIS sition appears to hinge largely upon the length of time to which the race has been exposed to the disease and the resistance which the race has built up against the disease. We do not know yet exactly what constitutes predisposition and why it exists but there is probably the same funda- mental law underlying it which governs the usefulness of soil for certain crops. We all know that some crops do bettei on some soils than others and that if we con- tinue to plant the same crops on the same soil, year in and year out, it is only a ques- tion of time until the soil will no longer produce the crop. Future observations and study will no doubt give us more light upon this subject. Diseases as Predisposing Causes of Con- sumption. — There are some diseases which predispose to consumption. They do this in two ways, by changing the contour of the body and by modifying the tissues of the body. To the former belong rickets, post nasal adenoid growths, rheumatism and gonorrhea. To the latter small pox, measles, whooping cough, typhoid fever, syphilis and pneumonia. Rickets may, for instance, produce chicken breast and thereby interfere with healthy breathing. Enlargement of the adenoid tissue also interferes with breathing. Rheumatism may do damage to the heart or to the pleura or the lining membranes of the joints and thereby pave the way for the tubercle bacillus. Much of the blame which is put upon small pox, measles and such acute diseases as a predisposing cause of tuberculosis is probably unwarranted, but it is possible that the damage which these diseases may do to the tissues may make soil for tuberculosis. A person who has gone through an acute disease while still weak offers good soil for implantation of the tubercle bacillus if he is exposed to contagion at that time, and in this sense, at least, all of the acute diseases predispose to tuberculosis. ^ Dissipation as a Predisposing Cause. — Dissipation is a predisposing cause of con- sumption. In this way consumption is the wages of sin. Dissipation is a scatter- ing of vital forces by excessive indulgence of any kind. It always strikes at the most vulnerable point, and this is true when the indulgence even seems to feed the body. Whatever makes for lowered vitality makes for consumption, and dissipation of every kind makes for lowered vitality. • Dissipation which directly or indirectly grows out of the affinities of the sexes, self-abuse, sowing of wild oats, beau catch- ing and all the arts and devices which go with it in these times, may make soil for tuberculosis by exhausting the nervous system. Loss of sleep, excessive eating and drinking, excessive use of tea, coffee and tobacco all are predisposing causes. Want and Overwork as Predisposing Causes. — Two of the most potent predis- posing causes of consumption are want and overwork. This is why tuberculosis is so largely a disease of the poor. Want means not only bad nutrition of the body but bad housing. When the body does not get enough nutrition it becomes good soil for the tubercle bacillus. Bad nutrition may be due to insufficient food or insufficient fresh air. The poor are apt to lack both food and fresh air, partly because they cannot afford to buy them and partly on account of ignorance. Much of the food which poor people buy contains little nutrition and they, more- over, do not know how to prepare it so as to make it digestible. Poor people should learn to buy milk and eggs rather than pastry and sweets. They can really get more nutrition for their money in milk and eggs than they can get in any other food. Fresh air is at the command of everyone and there can scarcely be any excuse for anyone not having enough of it. In a sense, however, we are compelled to buy fresh air indoors because we need houses into which fresh air can be admitted. Houses are not built in a way which makes it easy to get fresh air into them, but with better understanding of these matters all houses will be built so that the inhabitants of them can sleep in the open air. How- ever humble the dwelling the inhabitant of it should insist upon having the sleeping room so ventilated that he is practically in the open air. As to overwork this is not 235 8 TUBERCULOSIS always within the control of the individual. Working people, however, should realize that excessive fatigue greatly predisposes to consumption, and when they have to work hard should take rest on every possi- ble occasion. When people have tuber- culosis they should reduce their work to within the limits of fatigue, as otherwise they are bound to go under. Of all pre- disposing causes to the disease, overwork is probably the most potent. Alcohol in Tuberculosis. — In olden times and among a great many people Mortality from tuberculosis of the lungs in European states per million living (Koehler-Hillier.) even now alcohol is looked upon as a pro- tection and a cure of consumption. It is neither, but on the contrary is a predis- posing cause, and when a person has tuber- culosis helps to develop the disease. It may be that a very limited amount of al- cohol taken at mealtime is of use in build- ing up the body, but even this is uncertain. But whether a small amount of alcohol is beneficial or not it is quite certain that the quant ;ty which can safely be taken daily is exceedingly small, and that when this amount is exceeded the alcohol becomes poisonous and injurious. The only safe 236 practice to follow is to abstain from the use of alcohol altogether. Alcohol in the parent, moreover, leads to degeneration in the offspring and may create a predis- position to tuberculosis in the offspring. For the person who has tuberculosis there is only one safe practice and that is to abstain entirely from alcohol. Climate and Tuberculosis. — It used to be taught that the only cure for tuberculosis was climate, and lots of people still have an idea that climate is a very important factor in both the development and treatment of tuberculosis. As a matter of fact cli- mate has no influ- ence either upon the development or the treatment of tuberculosis. Every part of the world has had tu- berculosis, and nearly every part of the world has the disease now. The disease is more virulent in warm climates than in cold. There are many parts of the world which have been at one time free from tubercu- losis but which when the disease was introduced had it as abundantly as any other place and sometimes more abun- dantly than places in which the disease had existed for a long time. At present the beau- tiful climates of California, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and some of the south- ern states have the highest mortality from tuberculosis in the United States. In a general way cold climates give better protection against consumption and are of more use in the treatment of the disease than warm climates. For some people high altitudes are better than low altitudes, but for some consumptives low altitudes are better than high altitudes. It is per- TUBERCULOSIS fectly safe to disregard the question of climate entirely in dealing with tubercu- losis. Immunity in Tuberculosis. — There is a resistance to tuberculosis in human beings which is called immunity. Most people possess it in some degree, but some to a much greater degree than others. Some races possess it in a greater degree than others and some families possess it in a greater degree than others. The proba- bilities are that immunity is gradually developed by resistance to the disease, and that for this reason families and races which have been fighting the disease in some of their members for long periods have great resistance. Children born of tuberculous parents are apt to have more immunity than the parents had, and when the disease has been in a family for three or four gen- erations those who have withstood it usu- ally have a very great immunity. Of the various races the Jews have the greatest immunity. There is no permanence in immunity against tuberculosis in the indi- vidual, the family or in the race. It may be lost after many generations in the family and it may be lost in the individual through depression in health. Racial immunity is probably the most durable of all. Contagiousness of Tuberculosis. — Tuberculosis being due to a living thing is communicable from one person to another and cannot be gotten except by communi- cation from a previous case. The mode of communication 'of tuberculosis is by con- tact and the disease is therefore contagious. This contact need not be direct but may be indirect through a place or thing. A room which has been occupied by a con- sumptive or a thing which has been used by a consumptive may accumulate enough of the contagion to convey the disease to another person who subsequently occupies such a room or uses such a thing. Now- adays the words contagious and infectious are used synonymously although formerly they had different meanings. The old meaning of infection was conveyance of a disease through a force generated outside of the person giving the disease to the per- son receiving it. Yellow fever, for instance is an infectious disease according to the old meaning of the word because it is carried from one person to another by a mosquito. The contagion of tuberculosis differs, how- ever, from the contagion of such diseases as small pox, measles and scarlet fever, in that .it is very much slower and requires longer and more intimate exposure. You cannot get tuberculosis by a single contact with a person who has the disease; you have to be in intimate relationship with such a person for a considerable time. You can get small pox, measles and scarlet fever by a single momentary contact with persons who have these diseases. The slowness and mildness of the contagion of tuberculosis makes the prevention of the disease very easy when properly under- stood. • Mode of Contagion of Tuberculosis. — The contagion of tuberculosis is always contained in broken down tissue given off by the person who has the disease. Usu- ally this tissue is thrown off in the form of spit but sometimes it is given off in the form of matter. When a consumptive coughs he may spray out some of this matter in his cough and he may do the same when he sneezes. The contagion is not in the breath, however. A tubercu- lous subject is not contagious until he be- gins to give off broken down matter, because there is no contagion except in this broken down matter. A tuberculous subject who gives off broken down matter can make himself non-contagious by properly dis- posing of that matter immediately when it is given off. The dangerousness of the consumptive, therefore, depends upon his habits. If he spits around promiscuously or if he spits into handkerchiefs or rags and smears himself all over with the spu- tum he is a dangerous person to have around, but if he spits into a sputum cup which he holds close to his mouth, and if he always holds a paper napkin to his mouth when he coughs and sneezes and puts that paper napkin into a bag where he cannot smear anything, he is entirely safe. How Contagion can be Prevented. — A tuberculous subject should always put every particle of broken down tissue into 237 lO TUBERCULOSIS. a receptacle immediately when it is given off. If he expectorates he should hold a paper sputum cup close to his mouth so that he does not distribute any of the mat- ter over his clothing; after expectorating he should carefully wipe his mouth with a paper napkin, fold up the paper napkin and put it in a paper bag. When he has an accumulation of these things he should burn them. He should always keep his hands and lips clean and be careful to wash his hands and cleanse his lips before eating. If by any chance he spills any broken down tissue on his bed clothes or on the floor he should immediately clean the matter up. If the clothes are of a charac- ter that they can be boiled they should be boiled at once. Absolute cleanliness is the safest protection against the spread of tuberculosis. Consumption a House Disease. — Con- sumption has been called a house disease because it is in the house or rather in an enclosure of some kind that the disease is usually conveyed from one person to an- other. It is questionable whether tuber- culosis can be contracted out of doors. The enclosure in which the disease is most frequently contracted is the home, because it is in the home where the greatest inti- macy exists and where a consumptive spends most of his time. A house will harbor the contagion of tuberculosis a varying length of time accordingly as it is sanitary or unsanitary, light or dark, dry or damp. The tubercle bacillus does not live long in the bright light and fresh air but may live a very long time in a dark and dingy room. Damp, badly drained houses are particularly conducive to the development of tuberculosis. Next to the house the workshop undoubtedly is the place in which the disease is most fre- quently conveyed from the sick to the well. Working side by side, day in and day out, with a consumptive who expectorates carelessly in the shop is exceedingly dan- gerous. If the consumptive can be in- duced to properly care for his sputum there is no danger whatever. Stores and offices also are the means of spreading the disease. In such places the danger is greatest to 238 those who are next to the consumptive and seldom extends much beyond this immediate environment. All this danger can be done away with by proper disposal of the broken down tissue. Hotels and Boarding Houses as Means of Spreading Tuberculosis. — Hotels and boarding houses sometim_es become the media of spreading tuberculosis, although perhaps not as often as people think. The occupancy of a room by a consumptive for a single night or for two or three nights would ordinarily not contaminate the room sufficiently to make it possible for a subsequent occupant to get the disease. Neither would the occupancy of a badly infected room for a single night by a healthy person likely convey the disease. It really takes some time to implant tuber- culosis, and one would have to occupy a room of this kind for a good many days before he could get an implantation. Something depends upon the condition of one's health. If one is much depressed he will get an implantation much easier than when he is in perfect condition. Servants and Employees as Spreaders of Tuberculosis. — Servants and employees sometimes give tuberculosis to their em- ployers or to their fellow employees. A consumptive cook, for instance, could very easily infect a whole family. A consump- tive chamber-maid or dining-room girl might likewise give the disease to those upon whom she waits. There is all the more danger from sources of this kind because the person who has the disease is apt to hide it. Employers should insist that servants and employees of every kind shall use the proper receptacles for expec- torated matter when they cough and expec- torate. Contracting Tuberculosis in the School Room. — Much fear has been expressed by some of the danger of contracting tuber- culosis in the schoolroom. A consump- tive teacher may give the disease to his pupils, and a consumptive pupil may give it to his fellow pupils, but the danger from this sotirce is not great and can easily be obviated by proper cleanliness and proper disposal of the sputum. There is no neces- TUBERCULOSIS II sity for excluding consumptive teachers from the schoolroom provided they dispose of their sputum according to approved methods. The same is true of children. Besides children rarely have tuberculosis in a contagious form. Contracting Tuberculosis in Churches and Public Places. — Churches and public places may become infected with the con- tagion of tuberculosis, but contagion in such places rarely becomes intense enough to give the disease to anyone. Most people are in places of this kind for too short a time to get an implantation. Neverthe- less all public meeting places should be kept clean and free from dust. Carpets should not be used in these places, and the floors should be kept in such condition that they can easily be cleansed. The people who are most exposed to tuberculosis in churches and halls are the janitors and cleaners. By scrubbing the floors instead of sweeping them there would be much less danger of these contracting the disease. Contracting Tuberculosis in Public Con- veyances. — There is really very little dan- ger of contracting tuberculosis in public conveyances although some people have a great fear of getting the disease in this way. Here again, as in the hotel, the time during which both the consumptive and the well person occupy the conveyance is too short to implant the disease. The sleeping berths on railroads over which a great many consumptives travel may become dangerous to people who are greatly predisposed to the disease but even here the danger is not great. Getting Tuberculosis on the Street. — As has already been intimated there is practically no danger of getting tubercu- losis on the street. Rain, sunshine and fresh air very quickly devitalize the tuber- culous matter which is thrown on the street. Besides one could scarcel}^ take in enough of this matter whilst passing over a spot on which someone has expectorated, to get an implantation. Street cleaners and policemen who are on the street all the time very rarely have tuberculosis. Relationship between Human and Bovine Tuberculosis. — There has been a great deal of discussion of late on the rela- tionship between human and animal tuber- culosis. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the danger of human beings contracting the disease from animals. That animal and human tuberculosis are one and the same disease no one denies. It is probable, however, that the tubercle bacillus which has been accustomed to grow on animal tissue will not readily grow on human tissue, and that the bacillus which has been accustomed to grow on human tissue will not readily grow on ani- mal tissue. The preponderating evidence seems to be in favor of the view that hu- man beings practically never get tubercu- losis from animals. Until the subject is cleared up, however, one should not drink the milk of tuberculous cows in which the disease is far advanced and particularly in which the udder is involved. Whatever little danger there may be of getting tuber- culosis from the meat of tuberculous ani- mals is obviated by cooking. The danger which may exist of taking the disease through milk can also be obviated by pas- teurizing the milk. How the Tubercle Bacillus gets into the System. — In this connection it may be worth while considering how the tubercle bacillus gets into the system. It may get in by the skin, by the stomach and by the lungs. It rarely gets in by the skin, probably most frequently by the lungs and some times by the stomach. Whatever way it gets in, it first goes into the lymphat- ic glands or is carried into the circulation to be distributed throughout the body. By reason of its getting into the lymphatic system, it may lie dormant in the body for a long time before it develops into a dis- ease. Duration of Tuberculosis. — Tubercu- losis is a long-drawn-out, tedious disease under ordinary circumstances. It is a long time before it shows itself after implan- tation and frequently it develops even to the stage of breaking down without mani- festing many symptoms. Sometimes people have it for a lifetim.e without recognizing it. Some of the first symptoms are a sense of fatigue, indigestion, loss of 239 12 TUBERCULOSIS appetite, loss of weight, slight feverish- ness and occasionally a little cough. At intervals the cough becomes severe and perhaps there is expectoration but this is usually ascribed to a cold. Between these attacks the health is pretty good and the individual is deceived. As each little process matures and some of the broken down matter is thrown off there is a rein- fection and each subsequent attack is a little more severe than the preceding one. Finally the individual discovers that his health is undermined and that he is in a bad way. The average dura- tion of tuberculosis from the time of implantation to the fatal termination, when it terminates fatally, is about ten years. The severe symp- toms often last from six months to two years. The dying period is usu- ally about two months. Tuberculosis a Cur- able Disease. — Tubercu- losis is a curable disease. This has been proved beyond doubt. Up until recently the disease was looked upon as incurable and many people still liave this false impres- sion. This erroneous idea came about because in the past the disease was not recognized until it reached its terminal stage. At all times many cases got well spontaneously, and now that we fully understand the disease we find that we can cure practically all cases if we get them early enough. The tendency to recover is really very much greater than the ten- dency to a fatal termination, and all that is necessary is to place the individual who has received an implantation under proper conditions, give him rest and feed him properly and he will recover. Under modern methods even fairly advanced cases get well and occasionally very ad- 240 Gas Disinfector vanced cases. It is only after the individ- ual becomes extremely emaciated and the disease has invaded almost every organ of the body that the case becomes abso- lutely hopeless. Remedies for Tuberculosis. — There is no specific remedy for tuberculosis but there are a great many remedies which when skilfully used at the proper time help nature win the victory. The essential elements in the treatment of the disease are rest, food, air and proper exercise. Drugs are to be used only to help restore organs of the body to their physiological action when they are not doing their full duty. Drug-taking may really be an impediment to recovery. Food is the most important element of all. As the disease wastes the body so the treatment must not only restore what has been lost but lay up a supply of nutrition over and above what is needed. Food in the Treatment of Tuberculosis. — As the digestive organs and all those parts of the body which have to do with nutrition have been weakened by the disease it is important to select food which is easily digested and assimilated and to avoid food which produces indigestion or clogs up the system. The best food for the treatment of tuberculosis is milk and the next best eggs. A good plan is to take three quarts of milk and six raw eggs a day and one meal of solid food. The mistake is often made of trying to take a large amount of milk and eggs and three meals a day. This should not be done because the digestive system gets overburdened and the change of food into tissue is incomplete by reason of the fatigue of the organs. For the solid meal beef steak, roast beef, roast mutton or mutton chops, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit should be taken. This meal should be eaten carefully and at least an hour should be devoted to it. The solid meal may be taken in the middle of the day or in the evening. Pastry and starchy food which has been fried in grease should under no circumstances be used by a tuberculous subject. Fresh Air in the Treatment of Tubercu- losis. — The taking of food means very little TUBERCULOSIt 13 unless the patient remains in the open air or at least gets enough fresh air to properly oxidize the food. Air is as important for nutrition as food and should really be looked upon as part of the food. So far as possible air should never be rebreathed. Air which has once been breathed is deprived of some of its oxygen and what is still more objectionable is loaded with some of the poisons given off by the body. A tuberculous subject should sit in the open air all day while under treatment and should sleep in a room with the windows open on two sides unless he can do what is better still, sleep out of doors. Even well people should keep their bedroom windows open because what will cure will also help to keep well. There should be no shades or blinds on the windows and houses are bet- ter without shutters. Sun and air should be allowed free access to every sleeping room. There need be no fear of draughts. One can sit or sleep in a draught provided he is properly clad or covered. Rest and Exercise in the Treatment of Tuberculosis. — Rest and properly graded exercise are important factors in the treat- ment of tuberculosis. So long as a tuber- culous patient is below normal weight and is running some temperature he is much safer at rest, even complete rest in bed, than taking exercise. During the fever stage of his disease absolute rest in bed is really necessary. After he gets better and no longer runs a temperature, exercise if taken within proper limits is of value, and under proper direction can be made ser- viceable to recovery. When a patient gets up to full weight he should have graded exercise and should gradually harden himself to considerable endurance. Deep breathing exercise should never be taken while the disease is active and after it is considerably advanced. There is danger of tearing loose adhesions by such exercise and again setting up the disease. Slowness of Recovery from Tuberculo- sis. — With the very best treatment recov- ery from tuberculosis is a very slow process. Restoration of physical health comes much quicker than complete recovery from the disease. This often leads to mistakes because people who look well and feel well cannot convince themselves that they are not well, and sometimes being thus misled do things which lead to fatal relapses. The time which it takes for recovery depends upon the advancement of the disease, the amount of tissue involved and the amount of tissue destroyed. When a patient comes under treatment very early he may recover in six months and when he comes under treatment very, late if he recovers at all it may take him from six to ten years. No time can really be fixed for recovery and every case in this matter must be a law to itself. After a great deal of tissue ha"s been destroyed recovery never again becomes complete in the sense that the person is as well as he was before he took sick. Such persons, no matter how well they get, should always be con- tent with a half loaf. Even those who have not had the disease very far advanced will always have to live pretty much the same life which led to their recovery in order to stay well. Preventability of Tuberculosis. — The most consoling feature of the modern teachings about tuberculosis is that the disease is preventable and can be wiped out. What has life and depends upon reproduction can be exterminated. The chief difficulty in the way of exterminating tuberculosis is its universal prevalence. Prevention, however, is easy and when every one comes to know just what to do to prevent the disease, the extermination of it will be easily accomplished. The Consumptive Protects Himself by Protecting Others. — Every consumptive can avoid giving the disease to others. If he knows what to do and is willing to do it he can make himself absolutely non- contagious and can prevent any of his bacilli getting into another person. Now- adays with the crusade against tubercu- losis so active it is easy to find out just what to do, and even when one cannot get the things that are necessary for accom- plishing the prevention of the disease with his own means, he can usually get them for nothing from some institution which is devoting itself tO the crusade against 241 14 TUBERCULOSIS tuberculosis. Sometimes people are ashamed to do what is necessary to prevent the spread of the disease for fear of criti- cism and because of the prejudice against consumptives. There is this to be said, however, that no consumptive can get well who does not do all that is necessary for the protection of others. The practices which will prevent the disease from being given to others will also prevent the indi- vidual from re-infecting himself, and unless precautions are taken against re-infec- tion recovery cannot take place. The Ulrich Sanatory Tent The Government in the Prevention of Tuberculosis. — The government is alive to the importance of stamping out tubercu- losis and is everywhere cooperating. Boards of Health are ready to disinfect houses without cost to the individual and distribute literature telling people what to do. Whenever a house has been occupied by a consumptive, even though he has been cleanly and has practiced measures for the prevention of the disease, it is worth while disinfecting it when it is vacated by removal or death. In fact it would not be 242 bad practice for consumptives to have the rooms which they occupy disinfected from time to time, both for their own protection against re-infection and for the protection of those who are near and dear to them. Humane Isolation of Advanced Con- sumptives. — So far as possible advanced consumptives should be humanely isolated in hospitals which are properly equipped for taking care of them. It is exceedingly difficult and very expensive to so guard and manage a consumptive in the home during the last few months of life as to prevent him from in- fecting those around him and contaminating the room in which he lives. In a hospital this can be done because there are nurses on guard all the time and linens can be changed as often as soiled. Humane iso- lation of the dying cases and of other cases dur- ing the acute process of the disease is really the most valuable means at our command for stamp- ing out the disease. It should be practiced everywhere and by everyone as far as possible. Groundless Fear of Consumption. — The ner- vous and timid nowa- days are so much afraid of getting consumption that they treat the poor consumptive inhumanely. There is no ground for such fear and timidity. All that is necessary to avoid getting consumption is to use common sense, to be cleanly oneself and to insist upon cleanliness in all those around and about one. We can safely be in contact with a consumptive provided he takes the proper precautions, and we ourselves should insist upon every consumptive with whom we come in contact doing those things which are necessary to protect us against contracting the disease. A SIMPLE SANATORY TENT - DR. H. ULRICH. MINNEAPOLIS. TUBERCULOSIS 15 Should Consumptives Marry? — Should consumptives marry? This is a question which is often asked and the enactment of a law prohibiting marriage has even been agitated. Consumption is not hereditary; on the contrary immunity may be inherited from a consumptive parent. There can therefore be no reason for prohibiting marriage for the protection of the offspring. Consumptives who still have the disease in an active form or who have been very seriously damaged by it should not marry for their own good. The burdens and responsibilities which come with married life are prejudicial to them and may influ- ence the disease towards a fatal termination. People who have recovered, however, and in whom the disease is entirely dormant can safely marry. Should the Consumptive Mother Suckle her Child? — Another matter which bears somewhat on this question is whether a consumptive mother should suckle her child. As a rule she may do so for some months at least. But if she is in the active stage of the disease she ought not to do so. It is much safer to remove the child from the parent than to have it in contact with her and this should always be done when it is possible to do so. Where the mother has to feed the infant it is safer to suckle it than to feed it artificially. During the time of suckling the mother should take a very large quantity of milk, even more than she takes ordinarily. After the child is strong enough to thrive on cow's milk it should be taken from the breast, but its food should not be prepared by the mother. 243 By special permission of Owen Zimmerman, Photographer THE MOTHER AND HER FIRST-BORN. What is so attractive as a young and beautiful mother with her babe ? "A mother is a mother still, the holiest thing alive." BOOK v.— PART II. THE FAMILY DOCTOR The reputation of Dr. Hartshorne, the author of this department, ranks high among those of our general physicians, and these pages from his pen will be endorsed by every good doctor as safe and practical to follow. This book tells how to detect disease and apply the best remedy for it. It gives practical directions for taking the principal medicines, how to nurse and care for the sick, what to do in case of accidents or poisoning, and gives valuable advice on the laws of health, the prevention of disease, food for the sick, and various kinds of medical treatment. This book will be of use frequently and there will come times when it may mean the saving of a life. It should be close at hand where it can be referred to at a moment's notice. The Family Doctor ,AUSES, NATURE AND SIGNS OF DISEASE— CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES —THE BEST REMEDIES— RELIEVING PAIN— PRINCIPAL MEDICINES —NURSING AND CARE OF THE SICK —by- Henry Hartshorne, M.D. WHAT IS DISEASE It was a rather strange idea of a recent distinguished writer upon Hygiene, that per- haps, if we understood perfectly all the laws of health, and obeyed them all, life might be indefinitely prolonged. Nature around us pronounces otherwise. Every tree, though it live a thousand years, withers, root and branch, at last. All the animals, from the long-lived elephant and tortoise down to the ephemeral insect floating on the breeze, have set terms of life. On this globe of ours, whatever organism is born, dies. Man's body furnishes no exception; his spirit, only, is immortal. The marvel is, that so delicate a mechan- ism as the human body can survive for a single year, amongst the various perils that surround it. Yet we live on, some of us, accidents apart, for a good while. Most persons fail to reach advanced age, because of disease. What is disease ? It is something either being or acting wrong i7i the body. There may be as many (cinds of disorder, or disease, at least, as there are organs of the body. More than that there really are, however; because com- plications of diseases occur, and each organ, or the general system , may be out of sorts in a large number of diflferent ways. First, it will be well for us to consider what makes the body, or parts of it, get out of order. Causes of Disease. These may be stated together, thus : as causes which are Hereditary : examples (though not always inherited), consumption, gout, epilepsy, cancer. Functional : that is, depending upon the action, either too great or too little, of one or more of the organs, or of the body gener- ally. Examples : over-exertion, over-ex- citement, loss of sleep ; or, on the other hand, want of exercise. Mechanical : as wounds or injuries of various kinds, tight-lacing, etc. Conditional : as extremes of heat or cold , sudden changes of temperature, dampness of dwellings. Digestive : as poisoning, unwholesome food, intemperance, abuse of medicine ; and, on the other hand, starvation. Obstructive: as neglect of the bowels, uncleanliness of the skin, ill ventilation. Contagious : as small-pox, itch, hydro- phobia. Atmospheric : as autumnal fevers, yeUow fever, cholera. 247 THE FAMILY DOCTOR Hereditary Disease. We often see consumption affecting sev- eral members of the same family through several generations. The same is true of insanity. Gout is many times transmitted from father to son, but seldom to a third generation. Epilepsy, also, does not often extend to grandchildren, nor does cancer. Each of these diseases may come without in- heritance. Then, we can sometimes, though not always, find at least a partial explanation of their origin otherwise. Not all (if there be several) children in a family are- likely to have the inheritable disease. Perhaps all may escape it ; now and then it comes again in //^^-/r children , having skipped a whole generation. Children are not born with transmitted diseases ; except syphilis, among those of real constitutional inheritance, and a few of the contagiojis affections. They are com- monly affected with them about the time of life when their parents were so. Thus scrofulous disorders of the eyes, ears, skin, glands, and bones, are apt to show them- selves in childhood ; co7isumption of the mngs, in youth or early maturity ; gout near middle age ; apoplexy, 2ind disease of the heart, from fifty to seventy years ; early deafness, or blindness, at various periods in different families. Sometimes the inherited taint is modified in transmission. Thus the children of a gouty person may have, not regular gout, but neuralgia ; and the offspring of one who is insane may have inflammation of the brain , or convulsions, etc. Children of intemper- ate parents are very likely to have some im- pairment of their nervous system , and often die in infancy. Besides these special transmissions of tendencies to disease, there is a gradually degenerating influence in families, and even whole populations, from unhealthy living. It is most observed in large cities. Functional Causation. Over-exertion may produce exhaustion, which, in a person before feeble, may end in death. Or, short of this, there may be brought on a state of weakness slow to be recovered from. In such a state, moreover. the body is less capable of resisting all causes of disease than when in full vigor. Excessive ejforts may, at the time, strain muscles, or even burst the heart, or the great main artery, the aorta. Over-excitement of the brain is, in many cases, when it lasts but for a short time, followed simply by exhaustion and gradual return, through repose, to ordin?,ry health. But long-continued excessive mental excite- ment may produce either infla^nmation of the brain, insanity, or prolonged brain-exhaus- tion . Loss of sleep, however induced, endan- gers such effects. Hardly any one can sur- vive deprivation of sleep for so long as two weeks at a time ; a single week would finish most peoples' lives. Mechanical Injuries. Broken limbs, displaced joints, and wounds, are often causes of disease. Tight- lacing is also a mechanical cause of inter- ruption to the right action of the lungs and heart, crowding these and other organs into too small a space. Position of the body acts mechanically, sometimes, in promoting cer- tain maladies. Whoever is predisposed to apoplexy, is especially liable to have an attack while stooping, or lying with the head low. Conditional Causes. By these we mean high heat, great cold, dampness, sudden changes and partial ex- posures of the body to either extreme, or electrical influences ; these last being very little understood. Sunstroke is a familiar accident in warm climates. Cold- stroke is less common, but 1 have known it to be almost as sudden as the opposite. Continued heat predisposes to dis- orders of the liver, stomach and bowels. Cold, with dampness, promotes affections of the lungs and other organs within the chest. Catchi7tg cold : what is it ? For example; one comes in warm from exercise on a spring or autumn day, takes off his coat, and sits down near a window to ' ' cool off. ' ' His skin is relaxed and moist with perspiration, whose evaporation , under the window-breeze , goes on rapidly. Suppose the breeze to blow on his back, between his shoulders. That part is cooled more than the rest of his ^8 THE FAMILY DOCTOR body. Its blood-vessels and skin-pores con- tract under the cooling process, detaining the perspiration and driving the blood in- ward from the surface. Some of the waste matter which the skin would have thrown off by sweating, but for this chilling, is now kept in the blood. The result may be made more serious than a mere cold. If there be a weak or susceptible part within the chest (bronchial tubes, lungs, pleura, or heart) it suffers from overloading with blood and waste material ; and we have a bronchitis, a pneu- vionia, a pleurisy, or an ijifJammaiion of the heart. Among these, the first is the most frequent, and the last the least so ; but even it does sometimes happen, especially in a rheumatic person. Digestive Morbid Causes. Excess of food may cause indigestion at the time; and, if often repeated, habitual indigestion — called dyspepsia. A less amount of excess or superfluity may bring on an overfulness of rich blood in the system — plethora. Deficiency of food weakens, and so promotes attacks of many disorders ; varying according to constitution and exposure. Indigestible articles may produce com- mon indigestio7i, with windy pain in the stomach, nausea, etc. ; or cholera morbiis, which is much more severe ; occasionally dangerous. Obstructive Causes. Everything that interferes with the clear- ing out from the body of all waste and dead material, by the excretions, tends to injure health. Breathing foul air, makes the blood impure, and promotes diseases of various kinds. Uncleanliness of the skin acts in the same way to a less certain and serious degree. Neglect of the bowels leads to cos- tiveness, headache, and dyspepsia ; now and then it brings on hernia (rupture) which may endanger life, or an obstruction of the bowels within the abdomen, from which not many who suffer it recover. Contagion. This is, strictly defined, conveyance of disease by touch or contact. But some (not all) disorders, which may be trans- mitted by actual touch, pass also to a short distance through the air. This is true of typhus, sraall-pox, chicken-pox, measles, scarlet fever, mumps, and whooping-cough, certainly ; perhaps, in rare instances, of diphtheria. Hydrophobia, syphilis, and gonorrhoea are conveyed only by contact and inoculation ; that is, introduction of the virus of the disease into the blood, or, at least, under the skin. These diseases, are, in fact, the common diseases that are cer- tainly contagious. Infection : Atmospheric Causation. Certain places, at particular times, are infected with maladies which attack a greater or less number of those living or visiting there. Some of these diseases are said to be endemic ; that is, they are limited to quite clearly defined places. Thus, ague or ma- larial fever and autumnal bilious or remit- tent fever are found to prevail in some neighborhoods every fall and spring ; while other places, perhaps not more than a mile distant, are clear of them. Yellow fever is an endemic disease of the vicinity of the sea- coast of Cuba, while the higher regions of the same island are free from it. Cholera is endemic only in Hindustan, near the banks of the Ganges River. When these, or any other diseases, over- pass limited places, and appear in many localities, they, are said to be epidemic. Yellow fever is often epidemic. Cholera, once in several years, starts out from India, and travels mostly westward. Plague was once universally, and is now generally, believed to be extremely con- tagious. Erysipelas and puerperal fever cannot be positively said never to be extended from one person to another. Diphtheria, like- wise, is sometimes given by one person to an- other; Usually, however, diphtheria is either a local endemic or a slowly migrat- ing epidemic disorder. Influenza is always an epidemic ; nobody imagines it to be contagious from person to person. The same rule is also of dengue, the ' ' breakbone fever ' ' of the Southern States, and of a form oi dysentery prevalent during the summer and autumn in some localities. 26 249 NATURE OF DISEASES Children sometimes die of old age. That is, their original endowment of life energy was so small as to be exhausted during in- fancy. Others die very soon because of sotLe defective development of a vital organ or organs. At any period of life the disorders to which we are all subject consist in one or both of the following changes : 1. Disturbance of the actio7t of some oigan or organs by a morbid cause. 2. Alteration of the striidiire or substance of one or more organs ; inducing, of course, change also in its action. To the first of these the term ' ' functional disorders ' ' is applied ; those of the second sort are " organic diseases." Temporary changes in the substance or structure of an organ often occur, as when it is iyifiamed, from which there may or may not follow permanent organic alterations. Only slight affections of even small parts of the body can take place and last for any time, without involving the general system more or less in disturbance. Also, a disorder beginning in the blood, and thus being a ^e7ieral malady, nearly if not quite always puts some of the functions of the organs out of order. Still some cases do begin in, and chiefly affect, particular organs ; these we call local disorders ; others begin in the blood, and involve the body in many of its functions ; those are well described as gen- eral diseases. We will give attention here, first, to the nature of the disturbances com- ing under the former of these heads. Local Disorders. Medical books speak of irritation, con- gestion (^hypercemia) , inflammation, mortifi- cation, and degeneration, as affections of organs of the body, Atrophy, hypertrophy, and morbid growths are such also ; and less purely local, but often more or less restricted, are dropsical effusions. Irritation. An eye is irritated when a spark from a locomotive, or a bit of sand, or an inverted eyelash, get into it. A mustard-plaster first stimulates the circulation of the skin where 250 it is applied ; this may be quite within the bounds of healthy action, if the mustard be soon withdrawn. If it remain longer, irri- tation is shown by pain and soreness ; next, if still allowed to act, it will produce m/la?n mation. Irritation of Ihe stomach may be caused by indigestible food, or, more serious in degree, by certain poisonous substances ; as strong acids, alkalies, arsenic, or corro- sive sublimate. Congestion (or Hyperaemia). This ma}' be an active flowing of more blood than common through a part, or a passive collection of blood in the part. Stim- ulation produces the former ; when it passes beyond the line of health into irritation, passive congestion occurs at the centre of the irritation, active congestion in the parts around it. Determination of blood towards any portion of the body may be, when very decided, coWtd local hypera'inia. A bloodless condition of an organ is called a local a-ncemia. This first simply means excess of blood ; the second, deficiency of blood. Inflammation. All the world knows when a hand, a foot, or an eye is inflamed. Proverbially, the signs of this are 7'ed7iess, heat, pai7i, and swel!i7ig. The redness is owing to the ex- cess of blood; the heat to the same cause, with also probably some increase of chemical change in the part. Pain is not quite so clearly to be accounted for. Pressure on a nerve is known to cause pain ; and the excess of blood beating on a part at whose ce7itre is stag7iatio7i , must induce considerable pres- sure. Nerve-pain (neuralgia), however, often occurs without inflammation and with- out pressure. Some one has wisely said that pain is always a sign of a tendency in the part towards death. It is, at least, in- dicative oiloivcred vitality, local or general ; and that is present at the cc7it7-e of an inflamed organ, while around it there may be the heightened activity of stimulation. In a boil, and yet more fully in a carbiaicle, we see the dead centre (core) of the violent inflammation, when its force is nearly spent. THE FAMILY DOCTOR The swelling of an inflamed part is due in considerable degree to the accumulation of blood in it. But, under the pressure of the heightened circulation, some of the lymph (watery portion) of the blood escapes from the blood-vessels into the substance of the part. This undergoes changes , which are important. An active or acute inflammation may end in several ways : 1 . Resolution is the early passing oflf of all the inflammatory symptoms, leaving almost no sensible change in the part. 2. Effusion of lymph, not at once ab- sorbed, shows itself in bands which glue together tissues naturally movable, or in a collection of fluid (serum), constituting a form of local dropsy. In an attack of pleurisy, both of these results may follow instead of resolution. 3 . Suppuration is the formation of pus ; that is, yellow matter, which is very seldom absorbed, and whose best destiny is to be got out of the body by an opening, natural or artificial, at or near the external surface. Every ' ' gathering ' ' or abscess is an ex- ample of this. PycBtnia is a general disorder of the system, with a disposition towards the formation of collections of pus in differ- ent organs, with fever and much weakness, endangering life. 4. Mortification, also csiW&dL gangrene , or sloughing, is the actual death of the part. Frozen feet mortify, not from inflammation, but from the directly killing effect of cold. Inflammation does not often end in mortifi- cation ; if it does so, it is either from the extreme intensity of the inflammatory pro- cess, or from a very low vital condition of the patient affected. Inflammation is modified considerably by specific causes of disease. A gouty toe is one example of this ; a wrist or elbow in- flamed with rheumatic fever is another. The sore throat of quinsy, that of scarlet fever, and that of diphtheria, are all hiflam- Tnations, yet each somewhat different from the others. The pustule of vaccination and that of genuine small-pox are not precisely alike ; and still different is that of chicken- pox ; and so on with other specific diseases. Chronic inflammation is not a desirable term, though it is used in all medical books. In it, redness, pain, or at least soreness, and more or less swelling, are present, in vary- ing degrees ; but there is no effusion of lymph, which really is the characteristic of a true inflammation. Irritability is a usual part of what is called chronic inflam- mation ; we might often with advantage speak of this in describing the disorder: thus, irritable eyes, irritable stomach, irrit- able bladder, irritable womb, irritable brain, etc. Hypertrophy or Overgrowth. Overgrowth is the meaning of this word ; increase in size without essential change in the nature of a part. An organ may enlarge very much, with a great change in its char- acter ; for example, a tumor of the breast, or a dropsy of the head. Again, an organ may be stretched or dilated without even an increase of its substance. The heart exemplifies two of these changes in different instances. If one of its valves through which the blood passes be- comes obstructed from disease, the heart has to labor more than usually to compel the blood to pass by the obstruction. Like other muscles (the heart being really a hollow muscle), this extra labor may have either of two results, according to the con- ditions present. If the person's constitu- tion be strong, and his blood well nourished, the much- worked heart will grow thicker and more powerful with the exercise. This is hypertrophy. But, if the contrary be the case, with a feeble system and poor blood, the heart is weakened by its excess of labor, and it stretches or becomes thin (attenuated) and dilated. The thickening of the skin of a working- man's hands shows an increased growth from habitual rough usage. A corn is a hypertrophy, and so is a wart ; both involv- ing almost entirely the outer skin or cuticle. Wens and pimples show a greater change of substance with enlargement. Atrophy and Degeneration. Atrophy is the opposite to hypertrophy. Want of blood or of the supply of nervous energy will cause an organ to shriuk away. So a palsied hand often, in time, withers to half its original size. Atrophy occurs 251 8 THE FAMILY DOCTOR naturally, all over the body, with old age. First the fat is absorbed, then the muscles, and afterward other parts. Degeneration. — Instead of lessening in size, however, from loss of life-force, an organ may grow larger, with change of sub- stance. ^\iSs>'\% organic degeneration. The substance taking the place of the natural tissue of the part is always inferior in char- acter to that tissue. Thus /a/ may take the place of muscle, as in " fatty degeneration of the heart." Or bone-like material may form in place of the proper substance of the arteries ; making ' ' ossification ' ' of those vessels. Or the liver or kidney may be en- larged, the normal cells of either organ being replaced by a material like the areolar ("cellular") tissue of the surface of the body under the skin. Tubercle, of the lungs or other parts, is essentially a kind of degeneration ; although it often follows at- tacks of inflammation. Acute and chronic inflammation of various organs is frequently followed by hardening or softening ; both of these being modes of degenerative alter- ation. Dropsy. Seldom does an accumulation of water occur in one part of the body without some previous general disorder of the system , or at least an affection of some of the great organs : the heart, liver, or kidneys. We do sometimes meet with " white swelling " of the knee ; but nearly always there are also signs of a " scrofulous ' ' constitution to predispose to it. Inflammation may, however, cause an effusion of serum, which remains after the acuteness of the attack has passed. The simplest illustration of this is seen in a blister. Suppose mustard to be applied to the skin. First, we see stimulation shown by redness and heat, with very little if any swelling, and no pain. Next, irritation, with soreness and pain, perhaps quite severe ; then inflammation, followed by efl'usion, which raises the skin into what we call a "blister." So, also, when the pleura, which lines the ribs and wraps the lungs, is inflamed, it throws out in a few days more or less lymph, 2 as an effusion. If this is copious in amount, it presses the lung away, and interferes with its expansion in breathing. This is some- times so serious a trouble as to induce phy- sicians to tap the chest and draw off the water to relieve the oppressed lung. Like- wise, inflammation of the covering of the heart (^pericarditis^ may result in a serious effusion within the pericardial sac, clogging the heart so as not infrequently to cause death. Hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, may originate in a similar way. Dropsy of the chest, however, dropsy of the head, dropsy of the abdomen {ascites), and general dropsy, are much more often brought on by obstruction of the circulation, with thinning of the blood, from disease of the liver, kidneys, or heart, or two or more of those organs at the same time. Ovarian dropsy attends a disease of one or both of the ovaries. CEdema is a watery swelling of a part of the surface of the body or limbs. Emphysema is a puffiness of the skin, or lungs, from accumulation of air in the cellular substance of the part affected. Mortification. When a part, as a coe, a whole foot, leg, or arm dies, while the rest of the body lives, it is said to mortify, slough, or suffer gan- grene. Once in a while the feet of an old person may undergo slow and dry gangrene. When an artery, as that of an arm, is plugged up by a clot, the arm is apt to mortify in consequence. Frozen feet or toes often die and slough off. Sometimes, es- pecially in ill-ventilated hospitals, stumps of amputated limbs, and wounds of various kinds, slough instead of healing (hospital gangrene). Quite rarely, sore mouth in children may become gangrenous ; and even a lung, or a portion of it, may become the seat of gangrene. In the last case, the patient is almost sure to die. Mortification of a part is always more or less dangerous to the life of the whole body in two ways. First, the sloughing process may extend gradually from the part affected towards the centre of the body ; and thus, involviyig vital parts, it may become fatal. Or dead matter from the gangrenous portion may be absorbed by the vessels y, and so poison 52 THE FAMILY DOCTOR the blood {septicoemia) in a manner seldom recovered from. When mortification is confined to a small part of the body, as a frozen toe or finger, the rest of the system being in a healthy state, a line of demarcation naturally forms, separating the dead from the living tissues. In some cases, a surgeon will then consider it best to hasten and complete the process ; rempving the sloughing part, by an oper- ation. In other instances, the dead parts will drop oflf, leaving a surface which will gradually heal. florbid Growths. Warts, corns, bunions, wens, moles, bony enlargevients , fibrous mid fatty tumors, are all unsightly, and the last named may be considerably inconvenient. But they do not of themselves tend to undergo such increase or morbid changes as to be dangerous to life. They may therefore, by comparison, be called innocent growths. Malignant tumors are generally in- cluded under the name cancer. They tenc to grow indefinitely, at the expense of the neighboring parts and of the general system. They often change their character, becoming open, discharging, offensive sores ; the seat, moreover, generally of severe pain. At last, the whole body of a cancerous patient be- comes unhealthy ; and the end, after vari ous periods, is death. Cancers may be either schirrus, colloid, or encephaloid. Schirrus is hard cajicer. Col- loid is jelly-like. Encephaloid is soft, al- most like brain substance. The parts of the body most liable to be attacked by cancer (especially after middle life) are the womb, the female breast, the stomach, and the lower bowel {rectum) ; but various other organs are sometimes invaded by it. Schirrus is most apt to be met in the breast, stomach or bowel ; colloid, in the stomach, bowel, or covering of the bowels {mese7itery, peritoneum). Ericephaloid may occur in any organ ; it is the only kind evei seen in the eye, liver, kidney, lung, etc. GENERAL DISORDERS We may name these as debility, anosmia, plethora, cochexio, neuratoxia, toxozmia, and fever. Debility. One is apt to feel weak, when anything whatever is the matter. This may arise from loss of blood, from excessive fatigue, from continued illness, or from a severe shock to the system from any cause. Either of these may cause depression or prostration, of which the extremest degree is called collapse. In the beginning of all such affections, the weakness is that of oppression. The organs of the body are clogged, so to speak ; skin, kidneys, bowels, etc., are, for the time, hindered in their action, and the loaded blood fails to stimulate aright the various functions, It is important, in treating debility, to distinguish of what kind it is. Exhaustion, as after long illness, is ^9 be recovered from, with time, under nourishing food, rest, pure air, etc. Depression, or prostration, as from a severe shock, by warmth, rest, and stimu- lation, according to the nature and degree of the case. Oppression of the organs, at the onset of a disease, is best relieved by unload- ing the system with purgative medicines, and those which promote the action of the skin and kidneys ; sometimes, in an early stage, by the withdrawal of blood from the arm, or by leeches or cups from a central part. Ansemia and Plethora. Poverty of blood may result from various diseases, or from loss of blood, too long nursing, etc. Weakness accompanies it, of the kind above called exhaustion. An anaemic person is usually pale (though per- haps easily flushed by excitement), rather thin, and "nervous." There is a form of this disorder called progressive pernicious anaemia, which cannot be accounted for by ordinary causes, and which it is almost or quite impossible to cure by any treatment. Plethora is the opposite of anaemia. In it, the red corpuscles of the blood are too numerous, and the blood itself is redundant in amount. A plethoric person is round and plump (not necessarily/^/), with full blood- vessels and a high color. Such an one is 253 lO THE FAMILY DOCTOR more liable than others, in early life, to acute inflammations and active hemorrhages ; after middle age to apoplexy. Cachexia or Diathesis. By this is meant some abnormal con- dition of the constitution. LetikcBmia (or leucocythgemia) is a dis- ease in which there is an excess of white or colorless corpuscles in the blood. Another cachexia is scurvy (scorbutus) ; brought on by deficiency of fresh food ; es- pecially of vegetable food. Another is goitre or bronchocele, whose main feature is a swelling in the neck, in- volving the thyroid gland. Chlorosis, or "green sickness," is a ca- chexia sometimes met with in girls or young women ; the name is given because of a pe- culiar sallowness of complexion belonging to it. Rickets occur tolerably often among the ill-fed poor in the cities of Europe ; much more seldom in this country. Those having it are feeble from childhood, with defective development especially of the bones ; which are easily broken and subject to decay. Tuberculosis is the constitutional affection of which consumption of the lungs is the most familiar manifestation ; but it often also affects the bowels, brain and other or- gans. Tubercles are the small, irregular, roundish deposits found after death in the place of healthy tissues ; which, however, frequently soften, leaving cavities. Tuber- ailar me^iingitis is the name given to an almost always fatal form of inflammation of the membranes of the brain, in children. Scrofula is an old designation for a con- stitutional tendency showing itself early in life, by swelling of the glands of the neck and elsewhere, sore eyes, sore nose, running at the ears, and sometimes inflammation and decay of the bones of the limbs, or " white swelling " of the knee. Toxaemia : Blood-Poisoning. Blood-poisoning can never be a trifling thing. We should be in deadly danger of it every day, but that so much is arranged in our bodies not only to prevent it, but to re- lieve it promptly when it begins to take place. Indeed, each particle of used-up matter, which has served its purpose in any organ, becomes poisonous the moment it gets into the blood. But then, at once, the lungs, skin, kidneys, and bowels, with help also from the liver, take from the blood these dead particles, and carry them out, in the exhaled breath, perspiration, urine, and ex- crement. There are several forms of blood-poison- ing, due to suppression of the action of the kidneys, nonsecretion of bile by the liver, or to retention of putrefiable matter not car- ried off by the bowels. Next to these may be named septiccemia, produced by the absorption of foul material from a surface of the body, or near it ; as from a gangrenous wound or an unhealthy abscess. Outside poisons reach the blood through the mouth and stomach, by the lungs, or by the skin, as by bad drinking' water, and the microbes of malaria, small- pox, scarlet fever, yellow fever, cholera, etc. Fever. When one has a hot, dry skin, a glowing red cheek, thirst, a rapid pulse, and weak- ness of body, with more or less dulness or disturbance of the mental faculties, we say he has fever. Constipation of the bowels, and scanty secretion from the kidneys, also commonly belong to the same condition. But of all this group of symptoms, the most constant is heat. In health, a thermometer in the armpit will mark 98.5° Fahr. Fever often runs it up to 103°, 104°, 105°, or even higher still. Fever is met with in connection with many diseases. Inflammation of any of the great organs, brain, lungs, heart, pleura, bronchial tubes, stomach, bowels, etc., will, when active, be attended by it. And, with- out any inflammation, we meet with it in typhus ; also with inflammatory affections secondary to the general disease, in scarlet fever, small-pox, measles, diphtheria ; and with or without local inflammations, in yel- low fever, in relapsing, intermittent, and re- mittent fevers ; perhaps also sometimes without any true acute inflammation, in ty- phoid fever. • 254 II CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES Various plans of arrangement have been proposed, and are in use, I prefer to name all diseases as either iNFLAivfTATiONS and Toxemic disorders, Cacheci_c affections. Nervous disorders, or Unclassifiable diseases . Under the first head we place inflamma- tory attacks affecting Brain (meningitis*), lyUNGS (pneumonia). Pleura (pleurisy), Air-Passagej?. (laryngitis, tracheitis, bron- chitis). Heart (endocarditis, pericarditis), Tonsils (quinsy), Throat (pharyngitis), Stomach (gastritis), Bowels (enteritis, colitis, dysentery), Peritoneum (periton- itis), Liver (hepatitis), Kidney (nephritis). Bladder (cystitis), etc. As Toxemic disorders may be men- tioned: 1. Those caused only by contact or inoculation: Primary Syphilis, Gon- ORRHCEA, Hydrophobia, Vaccinia. f 2. EruptiveX diseases, which are contagious : Small-Pox, Chicken-Pox, Scarlet Fe- ver, Measles. 3. Allied affections to the above, hxXnot ei^uptive , although contagious: Mumps and Whopping-Cough. 4. Diseases generally epidemic or endemic: Typhoid Fever, Typhus, Spotted (cerebro-spinal) Fever, Erysipelas, Puerperal Fever, Influenza, Diphtheria, Plague, and Cholera. 5. Endemic and occasionally epidemic ; Yellow Fever, Relapsing Fever, and Dengue. 6. Endemic and ^ ^ malarious' ' : INTERMITTENT, Remittent, and Pernicious (congestive) Fever. Of Cachectic affections, a part of the long list will answer our purpose here, i . Those which are always chronic (prolonged indefinitely, tedious, not tending to re- cover of themselves) : Anemia, Chlorosis, LeuK/Emia, General Dropsy, Tubercul- osis, Diabetes, Constitutional Syphilis. 2. Acute or subacute (active, and of limited duration): Scurvy, Gout, Inflammatory Rheumatism, Pyemia, Septic Fever, (septicaemia), etc. 3. Local cachexise (de- generations): as Cancer, Goitre, Brights' Disease (of the kidneys). Fatty Heart, Gin Liver, etc. 4. Skin-Diseases. *Nearly always this term applies; meaning inflamma- tion of the membranes ofthe b-ain as well as of its substance. t Glanders, sometimes taken from the horse, is another of this g^oup. t Physicians often call these exanthemnta- Nervous Disorders may also be only in part named here : Apoplexy, Paralysis (palsy). Epilepsy, Catalepsy, Hysteria, Chorea (St. Vitus 's dance). Tetanus (lock-jaw). Asthma, Angina Pectoris, Locomotor Ataxy (one form of spine- disease). Convulsions, Neuralgia, De- lirium Tremens, (mania-a-potu) Insanity. Of Unclassifiable diseases, not easily fitting in either of the above groups, there are Dyspepsia, Cholera Morbus, Diar- rhcea. Colic, Jaundice, Hemorrhages, Local Dropsies, Worms, etc. Signs and Symptoms of Diseases. On approaching a sick person, our first question , whether put into words or not, is naturally. Is there much the m,atter f Other inquiries follow, such as these : Has he fever ? Is he very weak f Is his head clear ? Does he suffer pain anywhere ? What organ or function of his body is not as it ought to be ? So we proceed from one thing to another in forming what doctors call a diagnosis of a case. Experience makes such an exami- nation more and more easy, rapid and effi- cient. A besetting temptation, even with physicians, is, when enough has been found out to give a probable name for the malady of the patient, to conclude at once that this is the whole matter, and that we know all about his case. This cannot be true, how- ever, unless we have carefully scrutinized a// his organs, or at least have satisfied our- selves on good evidence as to the presence or absence of disorder in them all. Our plan here makes suitable only a short account of the principal symptoms found in connection with different parts of the body, and their meaning ; or, at least, the conditions with which they are most likely to be associated. Symptoms Affecting the Skin. The skin is hot and dry in fever. Moisture is nearly always a favorable sign. Exceptions are, the cold and clammy perspiration of great prostration, and the copious sweating of advanced consumption. 255 12 THE FAMILY DOCTOR Emaciation (wasting) is seen generally in those long sick. Sometimes it occurs rapidly, as in severe diarrhoea, or in the summer complaint of children. The color of the skin may be changed considerably in disease. The fav_e is — Pale, during fainting, with sick stomach, and in anaemic persons. Flushed, in fever, early stage of apo- plexy, or intoxication. Cheeks brightly flushed, in hectic fever of consumptives. Purple or livid, in typhoid or typhus fever. Yellow, in jaundice, bilious fever, and yellow fever. Sallow, in chlorosis, dyspepsia, and cancer. Blue, in the collapse of cholera, and cyanosis. Black, almost, in suffocation from any cause. Eruptions upon the skin belong to cer- tain other diseases. Symptoms Presented by the Mouth, etc. The TONGUE is pale, in anaemic persons ; red in scarlet fever, inflamed mouth, and sometimes when the stomach is inflamed {gastrins) ; furred, in indigestion, and very often in fever; brown, or black, cracked and fissured, in low fevers, as typhoid or typhus. It is pushed out with difficulty in low fevers, and after an apoplectic attack ; going to one side, in paralysis affecting one side only. The teeth are covered with thick brown stuff called " sordes " in low febrile states. They are loosened, sometimes, by severe salivation, from large doses of mercury — (not now given by regular physicians). The GUMS are swollen, soft, and spongy, and disposed to bleed easily in scurvy. A blue line along the gums is observed in lead- poisoning ; a red line, occasionally, in ad- vancing consumption. Swelling and sore- ness of the gums, with tenderness of the teeth and a " coppery " taste in the mouth, are signs of mercurial salivation. Increase of saliva gives the name to this affection, once not uncommon in medical practice. Iodide of potassium, taken medi- cinally, will sometimes salivate. Large doses of jaborandi, or its active principle, pilocarpin, generally does so. The TASTE is morbid bitter in disorder of the liver ; sour, often, in dyspepsia , salt- ish, with .spitting of blood ; putrid in gan- grene of the lungs. The Throat. Difficulty of swallowing may result from inflanimation of the tonsils or gullet {pharynx) ; spasmodic closure of the throat ; permanent narrowing or stricture of the pharynx or lower gullet {oesophagus) ; ob- struction., as from a bone, etc. ; paralysis, as after diphtheria, or extreme weakness, in the dying state. Thirst is excessive in two opposite con- ditions : high fever and low collapse. The Stomach. Appetite is almost always deficient in both acute and chronic disease ; most so, however, in the former, as a rule. Per- verted appetite occurs in case of chlorosis, and in some hysterical %^^!o']^Q^s,. Nausea (sick stomach), with or without vomiting, is met with in indigestion, colic, seasickness, pregnancy (morning sickness) , gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), hysteria (occasionally), cholera-morbus , epi- demic cholera, bilious remittent fever, yellow fever, ulcer of stomach, cancer of stomach, strangidated hernia (rupture), obstruction of the bowels, irrita?it poisoning. Symptoms Belonging to the Circulation. Palpitation, or disturbed action of the heart, may depend upon inflam^nation of its membranes {pericarditis, endocarditis), en- largeme?it {hypertrophy or dilatation), valvu- lar disease, anaemia, with weakness, nervous irritability (nervousness), as from strong coffee, tobacco, etc., dyspepsia, brain dis- order. A FEVER pulse is moderately rapid, and in the early stages of an attack, strong ; later, soft and compressible. When violent acute inflammation of any organ is present, it is quickened, hard, and rather full, as a rule. A nervously-disturbed pulse is quick (jerking rather than rapid), and variable, under excitement or repose, S6 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR 13 In extreme; weakness, most of all in the dying state, the pulse is nearly always rapid and small, or "thready." A pulse of 150 or 160 in a minute, is almost always a sign of death. Very rarely is the pulse slow in the dying state. Slowness of the pulse is most marked in compression of the brain (as in apoplexy, fracture of the skull, or hydrocephalus, i.e., water on the brain), and in opium poiso7iing . Occasionally the pulse is very slow in cases of heart disorder. Irregularity of the pulse is natural to a small number of persons, at least in child- hood or in old age, without other signs of FEELING THE PULSK disease. It may be, otherwise, a transient symptom, particularly during convalescence from a fever. It is distinctly related to dis- ease present, in certain cases oi heart disease (when it is serious) and in the third stage of acute meniiigitis (inflammation of the brain). Excessive smoking of tobacco sometimes pro- duces irregularity of the pulse. A double pulse is met with iii many in- stances of continued fever , typhus or typhoid. Slowness of the capillary circulation is occasionally shown, in morbid states, by the tardy return of the blood when displaced by pressure, as on the back of the hand or the cheek. In the veins, likewise, this is notably seen in the collapse of cholera. Hemorrhage. While bleeding from any part of the body is often an important symptom, it needs to be interpreted with care. Its con- 257 sequence depends greatly on its quantity and the source from which the blood comes. Thus, in bleeding at the nose, the flow of blood may possibly result from either of the following causes : a severe blow ; cojigestion (fullness of blood) simply in the membranes of the nose ; congestion of the brain (to which the bleeding may give advantageous relief) ; early stage of typhoid fever ; suppressed men-, struation (monthly discharge) of which it is an alternative . Spitting of blood may come from hem- orrhage of the gums, the back of the nostrils, throat, windpipe (bronchial tubes), lungs, or stomach. If from the stomach, it is preceded by nausea, and is vo7nited. When from the lungs or bronchial tubes, it is coughed up instead. Hemorrhage from the lungs {licemop- tysis) may depend upon congestion (over- fulness of blood) of the lungs ; heart disease, tubercular cons2imptio7i, suppressed menstrua- tio?i, of which it may, occasionally, be an alternative or substitute ; an injury, as a broken rib, wound of the lung, etc. ; rupture of an aneurism of the aorta. Vomiting op Blood may be one of the symptoms occurring in hysterical women ; or it may result from ulcer, or cancer of the stomach ; or it may be (as above) substitutive or vicarious of absent menstruation. Uterine hemorrhage (other than the natural monthly flow) may come from con- gestion of the womb, or its tilceration, or cancer. During pregnancy it threatens mis- carriage, or results from misplacement of the placenta (after-birth). Hemorrhage from the bowels may be con- nected ^i'Ca. piles (hemorrhoids), dyse^itery, ulceration of the bowels, cancer, ruptiLre of an abdoi7tinal a7ieurism, typhoid, 77ialarial, or yellow fever , or vicairous menstrziatio7i. HiEMATURiA (bloody urine) may follow a mechanical injury, i7ifla77i77iatio7i of the kidneys, sto7ie in the bladder, or a bad state of things in cases oi scar let fever . Symptoms Connected with the Breathing Organs. Sixteen to eighteen times in a minute is the ordinary rate of breathing while at rest, in health, for a grown person. \Vi fever it is 14 THE FAMILY DOCTOR almost always a good deal faster than this ; often thirty, forty, or more respirations in a minute. When a person is poisoned with opitun, the breathing becomes s7ioring, and very slow, even only six times or less in a minute in heavy narcotism. Apoplexy, and pressure upon the brain from a piece of a broken skull, are also attended by slow, snoring respiration. Difficulty of Breathing may be caus- ed by irrespirable gases (as chlorine, etc.) in the air ; obstruction in the air- tubes, as from croup, asthma, or bronchitis ; disease of the lungs or pleura, as in pneumonia, consump- tion, or pleurisy ; disease of the heart or aorta ; abdominal drops5^ pressing upwards. Coughing, also, may have a variety of causes, of the nature of which we may often judge by its character. Thus it is, com- monly, dry and tight, in early bronchitis ; soft, deep, and loose, in advanced bronchitis ; hacking, in the beginning of consumption ; deep and distressing, in advanced consump- tion ; short and sharp, in pneumonia ; hoarse and barking, in an early stage of croup ; whistling, in advanced membranous croup ; paroxysmal (in spells) and whooping, in whooping-cough ; dry and hollow, when sympathetic or nervous. Expectoration is white, thin, and mu- cous, in catarrh and early bronchitis ; yellow and thick {p7irulent) in severe and protracted bronchitis ; rusty, in the middle stage of pneumonia ; bloody, thick, and yellow, in de- veloping consumption (phthisis) ; in heavy, round, 'small yellowish, lumps, in advaticed consumption ; putrid (rotten) , in gangrene of the lung. The Breath is hot, during fever ; cold, in the collapse of cholera. The odor of the breath is seldom perfectly agreeable except in a healthy child. Bad teeth and imperfect digestion are common causes of unpleasant- ness in it. It is very heavy at the com- mencement of 2i fever ; sour, during an attack of indigestio7i ; rotten, in gangrene of the lung. Hiccough is produced by a spasm of the diaphragm, at the floor of the chest. It may depend upon indigestioyi, 7iervous disorder, or great exhaustio7i. In the last of these, it is generally a decidedly bad symptom. Snoring (stertorus), respiration results from oppression oj the brain ; the cause of which may be either apoplexy , fracture of the skull, dead drunkemiess, or 7iarcotis7?t by opiu77i. (Of course we do not forget that some persons snore tremendously during their natural and healthy sleep.) Symptoms Affecting the fluscles. Position is often significant in disease. Inability to rise may be owing to ge7ieral weak7iess, palsy, i7ifla77imatio)i of the joints, etc.) as from rheiwiatism or gout), or an in- jury, such as a broken thigh or leg. Inability to lie down is generally the result of difficulty of breathi7ig (dyspncEa), which doctors then call orthopnoea, or straight-tip breathing. In Colic, the patient usually prefers to lie upon the breast. In Peritonitis, the chosen position is on the back, with the knees drawn up. In the early stage of Pleurisy, the patient lies of choice on the side not affected ; after water collects (effusion) this is reversed. When the liver is c7ilarged from disease, the right side is mostly preferred. When the heart is much disturbed in its action, the sufferer generally cannot lie on the left side. Exceptions occur in heart disease, especially of long duration. In Aneurism of the Aorta, a favorite position is sitting up and leaning over the back of a chair, or the edge of a bed. Muscular weakness may result from acute disease, as fever, or from exhaustion. Entire want of exercise weakens the muscles. When an arm or a leg has been long fastened up in splints on account of a fracture, its muscles are almost powerless upon first be- ing taken out of their confinement. Spasm may be of either of three kinds ; fixed, or to7iics^asxn., as in lock-jaw (tetanus) ; 7-egularly jerking, or clo7iic, as in fits or con- vulsio7is; an irregularly jerking, as in St. Vitus' dance or chorea. Cra7np is a short- timed to7iic spasm. Tremor (trembling) is of two kinds ; co7ista7it trembling, as in shaki7ig palsy {par- alysis agitans), and tremor only when doing something, as in one form of disease of the brain and spinal marrow: Rigidity of muscles is different from mere spasmodic contraction. It occurs in 258 THE FAMILY DOCTOR 15 certain severe and continued cases of palsy (paralysis) . Jerking of the tendons, especially at the wrists, is met with in low states of continued fever, typhoid or typhus. Symptoms Connected with our Senses. Pain is variously interpreted, according to its place and character. It may be Acute, sharp, cutting, as in pleurisy ; shooting, darting, as in neuralgia ; piercing (lancinating), in cancer; gnawing, tearing, in rheumatism ; dull, heavy, aching, as in pneumonia ; griping, twisting, in dysentery ; bearing down , in second stage of labor ; pul- sating, in the formation of an abscess ; burn- ing, smarting, in erysipelas ; stinging, nett- ling, in urticaria (nettle-rash) ; constant, or intermittent ; fixed or wandering. Tenderness on pressure is generally a sign of inflammation, although some neu- ralgic cases have it ; possibly from inflam- mation of the sheaths of the nerves. Tired muscles also are often sore to the touch as well as on motion. Sometimes pain is relieved by pressure ; this is often the case with colic. In such in- stances we conclude that there is no inflam- mation. Pain is not always at the place of disease. In disease of the hipfoint, the principal pain is at the knee ;,in dyspepsia, often, over the middle of the breast ; when the liver is dis- ordered-, under the right shoulder-blade ; in irritation of the womb at the top of the head. lyOSS OF sensation (ancesthesia) , occur- ring from disease, constitutes one kind of paralysis. The other form is loss of power to move the limbs or parts affected. When paralysis involves one side of the body only, as the right arm and leg, or the left arm and leg, we call it hemiplegia. Paraplegia is palsy of both legs at the same time. The Eye in Disease. Blood-shot eyes show either inflamma- tion of them or fulness of blood in the head, which is often present in fevers. If one eye only is very red, of course the trouble must be in itself. Yellowness of the "whites " of the eyes occurs in bilious disorder. The eyelids are notably prominent in that curious and rather uncommon disorder called " exophthalmic goitre." Prominence or bulging of one eye only shows a prob- ability of disease, as a tumor, behind that eye. Sinking of the eyeballs in their sockets is seen to some extent in consumption and other wasting diseases. Sinking of one eye must result from wasting of its own sub- stance or of the socket behind it, the former^ being often observed in the blind. Rolling of the eyes from side to side is common in great nervous restlessness of in- fants or young children. Squinting, which is natural with some, and an acquired habit with others, becomes a serious symptom when it occurs as the re- sult of disease of the brain . The lustre of the eyes grows dull often a short time, perhaps a few hours, before death. Bright eyes are commonly noticed in advancing consumption. They may glare in ma7iia (insanity), or, for a time, in acute inflammation of the brain. Very small pupils of the eyes are seen when either they are, or the brain is, the seat of inflammation. In opium- poisoning the pupils are contracted, at least until very near death. They are large (dilated), com- monly, in apoplexy, water on the brain (hy- drocephalus), and poisoning by prussic acid or by Jamestown weed {stram,oniuin) or belladonna . Great shrinking from light {photophobia^ exists in severe inflammation of the eyes, and also in acute inflammation of the brain . Spots, rings, etc., floating before the sight {musccz volitantes) show the presence of opaque particles in the interior of the eyeball (vitreous humor'), which are not of much importance. Fixed dark spots are of more consequence ; they often show a be- ginning of blindness. The Ears. Pain in one of the ears, earache, may be either i7iflammatorv or ne7iralgic. Other signs must be considered along with it to show which it is. Ringing in the ears occurs from either of at least two or three causes, to distinguish between which is not always easy. L». r-i ^ w ^ ©. O ■^ Si. o 0^ ^~' b ^ 6 ^• :^ h) -^+1 s- O U: o a, H ^^ O Cl > ^ !^ i^ O a ^ Sr H ^. H » ?^ ^ ?i. rs- W t^. <^ ^ ^■v ■~i; . s » >/Q § O t^ r ^ _-4 THE FAMILY DOCTOR 25 Castile soap in warm (almost hot) water, and stirring into this a tablespoonful of molasses, a tablespoonful of table salt, and a tablespoonful of olive or lard oil, or a des- sertspoonful of castor oil. There are differ- ent kinds of injecting arrangements. With the most convenient, a person can (unless ill) wait upon himself. If too sick for this, or if only the old-fashioned straight syringe can be had, its point should be greased with lard, and then, the patient lying (best on one side) on a bed, it can be very gently intro- duced into the opening to the bowel to the distance of an inch or so, and gradually the liquid may be forced through the syringe. Suppositories are sometimes yet more convenient, and are least disturbing of all ; but they are not so sure to take effect, and their action does not extend far upward. A suppository is a small soft mass, preprared for the purpose ; rounded, about as large as the last joint of a woman's little finger. Common brow7i soap, cut into such a size and shape, and dipped in castor oil, or lard, may be so used. All that is to be done is to push it well into the anus (outlet of the bowel), and let it stay there. After either a suppository or an enema has been introduced, the patient ought to try to retain it for some minutes, for effective operation. To Check Diarrhoea. Not every looseness of the bowels ought to be stopped at once by medicine. Some- times it is a relief to a condition of the sys- tem which would involve a worse illness if it did not come. Infants, especially, need to have the bowels moved two or three times daily ; most of all while they are teething. We do not call it diarrhoea in them unless there are at least four or five large liquid passages in twenty-four hours. Of course when it is jexcessive it must be attended to, or weak- 'ness and exhaustion will follow. Correctives, generally, should be the first things given in babies' diarrhoea. Sour- ness of stomach is commonly present with it ; therefore liifie-water being antacid, is particularly suitable. Another good cor- rective is spiced syrup of ?'kubarb. On ac- count of the spices in it, this article does odt R Pros 269 purge like simple syrup of rhubarb ; it only promotes an even, regular action of the mus- cular coat of the bowels, and so tends to gel things right again. Soda {sodizmi bicarbonate) is an antacid corrective, stronger in this effect than lime- water ; but less astringent or binding. Ci?inamon water is a gentle astringent ; so is camphor water. These do well to come next after lime-water or soda and spiced rhubarb, if the complaint is not corrected by them. Should it still be obstinate, more potent checking medicines will be needful. Of these, ^arof iron with one grain of qui- nine, three times a- day, taken for a month, after "breaking' ' the chills, will cure ninety- nine cases in a hundred of that troublesome affection . Other " chalybeates," as preparations of iron used to be called (iron springs are still called chalybeate waters), are: citrate of iron, a pretty red salt, not unpleasant to the taste, dose, five to ten grains ; phosphate, a \s R ' 293 green solid, dose, five to ten grains ; solution (liquor) of the nitrate of iron, the most astringent of these preparations, and bene- ficial in chronic diarrhcea ; dose, ten drops in water, thrice daily ; solutio-n (liquor) oi sicb- sulphate of iron, generally called MoJiseVs solution ; a good strong astringent for out- ward application, to aid in stopping bleeding from any part. Jalap. — This is ? very active purgative ; too much so for common use, but sometimes valuable in particular cases. In dropsy it is occasionally prescribed, along with cream of tartar, or with squills. I remember its excellent effect in a ver}'- bad case of scarlet fever, with stupor and constipation. Dose, ten to twenty grains. Juniper. — The berries of the juniper tree or shrub ; used in medicine is as a diuretic in dropsy. A tea may be made by pouring a pint of boiling water upon half an ounce of bruised juniper berries, stirring and then leaving it to stand for half an hour before pouring it off or straining it. A tablespoonful of cream of tartar may be added ; and at least half a pint of this tea may be drunk (a little at a time) in twenty- four hours, for dropsy. Compoujid spirit of juniper is what phar- macists call an " elegant " preparation. It has the advantage of being given in small dose, a teaspoonful or two, in water; and is also, from its stimulant property, best suited to feeble patients, or those with delicate stornachs. Lactucarium. — An extract from the common garden lettuce (lactuca). It is mildly narcotic and anodyne ; promoting sleep like opium, but with much less power. The syrup of lactucarium (named Auber- giers syrup), is the most convenient pre- paration. Dose, one or two teaspoonfuls. Lady Webster's Pills. — The important thing in these is aloes. They are purgative, and, like other aloetic preparations, have some efiect in promoting a tendenc}^ of blood towards the pelvic region of the body. They have much reputation as aiding to bring on delayed or suppressed menstru- ation. Dose, one pill, at night. Some per- sons find half a pill enough to operate on the bowels quite as much as is best. A few will need to take a second pill for such an 50 THE FAMILY DOCTOR effect. It will succeed in a considerable number, but not in all cases. Laudanum. — Tincture of opium. One of the strongest ot the opiate medicines. It is therefore a powerful anodyne and hypnotic {sleep-p?'oducef-) . Dosey for a grown person, from fifteen to thirty drops. In diarrhoea, however, as small a dose as ten drops will often answer. Children are more affected by opiates, in proportion to their age, than by any other kind of medicine. One drop will be more than enough for an infant less than a year old ; at least to begin with. Laudanum is often applied externally to relieve pain. On a sound part of the skin, in a grown person, half a teaspoonful may be so applied with safety ; but only a few drops at a time, even externally, in the case of a young child. A7iody?ie injections into the bowels are most frequently made of laudanum and starch. (See injections.) For hypodermic injection (under the skin) solution of mor- phia is preferred. In keeping laudanum, it should be re- membered that it strengthens with age, by evaporation of some of its alcohol. (All tinctures are made with alcohol.) What is left at the bottv^m of an old bottle of laud- anum may be two or three times as strong as a fresh article would be. Lavender. — Aromatic flowers, well known for their pleasing perfume. The only preparation used as a medicine is the com- pound spirit of lavender. It is an agreeable warming, gently stimulating article ; good in colic, sometimes for nausea (sickness of stomach), and for dysvienorrhoea (painful menstruation). Dose, a teaspoonful, in water ; often given in hot water. Lead, Sugar of. — A cooling application, often used for inflammatio7is . Lead-water may be made by dissolving it in water ; but with greater convenience by adding to water the solution of subacctate of lead (Goulard's extract) , which is a very strong liquid prepa- tion. Of this last one drop to four table- spoonfuls of water will be generally strong enough for lead-water. It may be applied to a much- inflamed _;Vm/, or (outside) of the eyeball or eyelids. For the eyes, the best way to use it is with a camel' s-hair pencil. paintitig the outside of the closed lids fre- quently with it. It should not be taken internally except under direction of a physi- cian . All preparatio?is of lead are poisonous. Care must be taken with them accordingly, that none be swallowed unawares. Lime-water. — Simply a solution of lime in water. Anybody can make it, by putting pure, clean, unslaked lime in pure water. Take a large bottle, and press into it enough lime to fill about one-fourth of its depth. Pour in water enough to fill it full, then cork and shake it awhile. On standing, the clear lime-water will be ready for use. If all the lime is dissolved, add a little more, so as to be sure that the water is saturated ; that is, contains as much as it will dissolve. Lime-water is the main stand-by as a domestic remedy for vomiting, or for nausea threatening it. Dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful. When nourishment is needed, a tablespoonful of milk may be added to one of lime water. Otherwise, it may be diluted with an equal amount of water, or cinnamon-water. Lime-water is often added with great advantage to milk for babies, when they have soiir stomach or diarrlnea, as it is ant- acid and somewhat astringent. A table- spoonful may be put in every half pint of the child's food, so long as such an occasion exists for it. No harm will be done if it should be taken in that way for days, or even weeks, together. Liquorice, also spelled licorice.^The root of an herb growing on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Extract is chiefly used. It is black, hard, and sweet. There is also 2i fluid extract. Neither has any im- portant property except some soothing in- fluence over the lining membrane of the throat. By ' ' sympathy of contiguity ' ' this influence extends from the gullet into the windpipe, and thus liquorice helps to soften and loosen cough. Lobelia. — The leaves and tops of this plant are employed best in the form of tincture. It is a powerful sedative medicine ; capable, like tobacco, in large doses, of pro- ducing fatal prostration. Its most impor- tant use is for asthma. It is often very re- lieving in attacks of that affection. It may be safely given (watching its effects, and 94 THE FAMILY BOCTOR 51 stopping it at once if vomiting or great faintness result) in half-teaspoonful doses, every half hour or hour, until three or four doses, if necessary, have been given. An- other way is to give twenty drops of tincture of lobelia, with twenty drops of syrup of ipecac, every twenty minutes, for three or four doses. Logwood. — The reddish heartwood of a Central American tree. It was once more used than now, as a mild astringent for diarrh(za. A tea may be made of it by boil- ing an ounce of it, with a drachm of cinna- mon, in a pint of water, for ten minutes. Dose, a wineglassful or less. Magnesia. — A valuable home medicine, as an antacid laxative . It is particularly good when there is constipation, with sick stomach and headache. Even at the beginning of diarrhcea and cholera morbus, it is many times the best corrective medicine. Calcined magnesia is the preferred form. Water does not dissolve it ; so it must be stirred well in a little water when taken. Dose, a full tea- spoonfull for a grown person, if designed to operate on the bowels. Much less will do to relieve acidity and nausea. Magnesia is not a good medicine to take when one has piles; as it sometimes produdes a burning in oper- ating freely. It is not, however, a powerful cathartic. Citrate of magnesium has been spoken of on a previous page. Malt Extract. — Especially in Germany, large use is made of preparations under this name. As sold in this country, some of them are too sweet to agree with the stomach. The best is JohannHoff's " Malz- Extract ;" made in Berlin, and imported in short thick bottles. The use of this extract is as a tonic, particularly when digestion is weak. It may be taken at meals, a quarter of a tumblerful at once. When taken at bed-time, it is promotive of sleep. Manna. — A sweet substance obtained from the trunk of the flowerish ash tree, in the countries bordering on the Mediterra- nean. Its only important use is to open the bowels of children and delicate people, in- cluding women during pregnancy. It may be eaten like sugar. The dose is not very definite ; a little experience will show how much is required for the desired effect 295 Mineral Waters. — These may be classi- fied simply as : I. Alkaline. 2. Saline. 3. Sulphurous. 4. Chalybeate, containing Iron. 5. Purgative. 6. Limestone or Calcareous. 7. Thermal, /. ^ Grain. Nux Vomica, Tincture 10 to 20 Drops. Opium I Grain. Paregoric i Teaspoonful. Peppermint, Essence i to 10 Drops. Permanganate of Potassium, internally . . i or 2 Grains. Pink Root, Fluid Extract ....... i Teaspoonful. Pink Root and Senna, Extract i Teaspoonful. Podophyllin % Grain. Piillna Water i Tablespoonful. Quinine i or 2 Grains. Rochelle Salt Teaspoonful to Tablespoonful. Rhubarb, in Pill 3 to 5 Grains. Rhubarb, Simple Syrup Teaspoonful to Tablespoonful. Rhubarb, Spiced Syrup Teaspoonful to Tablespoonful. Santonin i to 3 Grains. Senna, Fluid Extract Teaspoonful to Tablespoonful. Soda, Bicarbonate 2 to 20 Grains. Squills, Syrup Half Teaspoonful to Teaspoonful. Tannic Acid 3 Grains. Taraxacum, Extract 10 to 20 Grains. Tarrant's Powders Teaspoonful to Tablespoonful. Veratrum Viride, Tincture 3 to 6 Drops. Warner's Cordial i or 2 Teaspoonfuls. Wild Cherry Bark. Syrup i Teaspoonful. Wild Cherry Bark, Fluid Extract .... i Teaspoonful, 306 THE FAMILY DOCTOR 63 The doses here given are intended, as a rule for adults. A.S a guide for the giving of medicines to patients in general we append the following : Table of Proportionate Doses. Age, years 80 65 50 25-40 20 16 12 85 2 Doses . . .yk H Yi -^ y% % ji 'A Vi % Age, months 12 6 2 i Doses 1-5 1-8 1-15 1-24 Largest Safe Doses of Poisonous Drugs. Every person should know the largest doses, which is safe to take, of active medicines. The following table shows the largest doses admissible, in grammes, and also the equivalent i a grains for solids, and in minims for liquids. The doses are expressed in fractions, thus: 1-13, 1-64, meaning one-thirteenth, one-sixty-fourth. In non- profes- sional hands it is the safest plan to strictly observe the rule of never giving the maximum dose of any medicine : Medicines. Grammes. Grains. Arsenious Acid 005 1-13 Acid, Carbolic 05 % " Hydrocyanic 06 i Aconita 0041 1-16 Aconite Root 15 2% Arsenic, Iodide 025 y% Atropia 001 1-64 Atropia Sulph oox 1-64 Barium, Chlor 12 1-64 Belladonna, Herb .2 3 " Root I ly^ Codia 05 ^ Conia 001 1-64 Digitalis 3 4>^ Ext Aconite I,eaves i 1% " " Root 025 y^ " Belladonna .1 1% " Cannabis In dica i i}i " Conium 18 2X " Digitalis .2 3 " Nux Vomica, Ale 05 ^ Ext. Opium I 1)4 " Stramon, Seed 05 ^ Fowler's Solution 4 6 min. Lead, Sugar of 06 9-10 Mercury, Corrosive Chlor ... .03 9-20 " Red Iodide 03 9-20 Morphia and its Salts 03 9-20 Nitrate Silver 03 9-20 Oil, Croton 06 9 10 Opium 15 2X Phosphorus 015 2-9 Potassa, Arsenite 005 1-13 " Cyanide 03 9-20 Santonine i l>^ Soda, Arsenite 005 1-13 Strychnia and Salts ....... .01 1-6 Tartar Emetic 2 3 Veratria 005 1.13 Veratrum Viride 3 4)4 Zinc, Chloride 015 2-9 " Valeriante 06 9-10 MEDICINE CHEST. For the fledicine Chest. The following household remedies are suggested for the family medicine chest : Castor-Oil, Essence of Ginger, Spiced Syrup of Rhubarb, Simple Syrup of Rhubarb, Camphor- water, Lime-water, Cinnamon-water, Paregoric, Spirits of Camphor, Spirits of Hartshorn, Lai"^- num, Syrup of Ipecacuanha, Syrup of Squills, Sweet Spirits of Nitre, Hoffmann's Anodyne, Chalk Mixture Powder, Compound Spirits of Lavender, Anodyne Carminative (Cholera Mixture,) Tincture of Arnica, Soap Liniment, Essence of Peppermint, Spirits of Turpentine, Collodion, Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia, Tincture of Capsicum, Aromatic Sulphuric Acid^ Y/iue of Colchicum, Glycerine. 307 64 NURSING AND CARE OF THE SICK In many kinds of illness, especially con- tinued fevers, and other attacks attended by great debility, good nursing is well known to be as important as good doctoring. A careful physician will direct not only the medicines of the patient, but also his food, and all other matters concerning him — as his covering, changes of clothing, air in his room, etc. But the carrying out of such directions must be left to those immediately in charge of the sick person from hour to hour ; and questions will occur in the doc- tor's absence, sometimes of much import- ance, which those who nurse the patient must answer and act upon at the moment, from their own knowledge. Moreover, the viajiner of doing things in the care of a sick person makes an immense difference in his comfort. In critical cases it may even de- cide between recovery and death. Qualities of a Good Nurse. What are the qualities that make a good nurse? They are kindness, good common sense, carefulness, quietness, neatness, han- diness, cheerfulness. Kind a nurse must be, or mere profes- sional skill and obligation will fail to effect all that is needed for the best welfare of a patient. Sympathy is worth much to a sufferer. Paticjice is often called for in at- tendance upon the sick, and selfish people do not have a large stock of this, which can not be bought with money ; it must come from love, or, at least, from genuine kindness of heart. Common setise, that is, intelligence such as most people, not particularly deficient, possess, will enable any one to lear)i what is necessary in nursing, and to do it respect- ably, at least. Carefulness is indispensable. One who will give a dose of medicine without look- ing at the label on the bottle ; or will spill out twenty drops when ten were ordered ; or will upset a breakfast tray on the bed ; or leave a vessel under the bed for hours uncovered : or oversleep when the pat- ient should have food or medicine, or let the fire go out ; such an one is entirely unfit to have charge of a sick person. Exactness in carrying out the orders o) the physician is the first duty of a nurse. The doctor is responsible for the treatment of the case, and the patient and family are responsible for the choice of the doctor. The nurse, whether man or woman, whc thinks he or she "knows better than the doctor," is a very dangerous and unsuitable person to have about the house. Sleeping heavily is a weakness from which some suffer when in care of ill pat- ients at night. It is a good thing to learn to wake with a sound or a touch. By fixing it strongl}'- on the mind, most people can do this. A break-down may come, just at a critical moment, then the family is left under a calamity which might have been prevented by proper consideration from the start. Watchfulness in everything is the duty of a nurse. Without it, a patient may get out of bed in a delirium, and perhaps fall down stairs or out of the window. Or, the clothing may be thrown off, and a deadlj^ chill will follow. In a thousand things the life of the sufferer may be in the hands of the nurse, as the safety of the passengers and cargo of a ship is in that of the pilot at the helm . When many doses of medicine or por- tions of food have to be given through the day and night, it is best that the times and quantities shall be written down, instead of trusting to memory. And then, a mark of record of some kind being made when each thing is given makes ready a report of the treatment forthe doctor to see when he comes. Qtdetness is very necessary in the sick- room. Stamping around in heavy or creak- ing shoes, talking loud, swinging in a rock- ing-chair, slamming doors or windows, or even much rustling of garments ; all noises are utterly inadmissible and injurious. Yet whispering , and creeping on tiptoe in sight of the patient, are about as bad, because they attract his attention unpleasantly, and that is always to be avoided. Never ask a patient whether he would "like to eat or drink" such-and-such a thing. Prepare and bring, under the di- rections of the doctor, what will be best and most likely to be taken, and offer it quietly. 308 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR If not taken in a little while, remove it out of sight. Keep no food or medicine in sight of a sick person. Neatness is a very similar quality to quietness. Nothing should be allowed to be slovenly, much less dirty around a sick person . Yet ' ' fuss ' ' and much movement in clearing up are to be avoided. A wet cloth will be better than a brush or broom in cleaning furniture and carpet. Handiness is an excellent quality in doing all sorts of things, in the sick-room, as well as everywhere else. While it is not absolutely indispensable, its opposite, clum- siness or awkwardness, may cause much discomfort. I have known one or two men who, in a surgical ward of a hospital, could hardly go near to a patient without some- how hurting him. Cheerfulness is an excellent attribute in the sick-room. It is as pleasant as sunshine, and wholesome like it, without any of its glare. A long face or a whining voice should never enter where there is suffering enough already. Let every one endeavor to make the best of all things, and the most of hope. When there is doubt, leaning toward the brighter side is well ; as the proverb says, " while there is life there is hope," Speaking of a patient's symptoms in his presence (unless when needful questions have to be asked) is to be avoided. Also, there must be no discussion or mention there of other people's illnesses or deaths. Much talking of any kind is out of place in the sick- chamber ; it interferes with that rest of brain which, in all kinds of illness, is im- portant. The Sick=Room. When it is possible to choose, the patient's room should be on the sunny side of the house, and on the second floor. It should be one of the largest in the house. If a room is necessarily small, more contrivance will be required to meet all the conditions wanted in the care of an ill person. Plenty of large windows are desirable in a sick-room. Should there unfortunately be only one window, it will be almost im- possible to air the room properly, unless there be an open transom over the door, or the door be left open most of the time. 34 309 When two rooms communicate, one of them may with advantage be given up to the patient, and the other to the nurse and to various appliances, which may thus be kept out of the sick one's sight. There should be little furniture in the sick-room. A few chairs and tables will suffice, one being a bedside table for frequent use. A bed-chair (night-chair) or portable earth-closet will be very serviceable for a person who is strong enough to get or be helped out of bed. No carpet should be on the floor, except movable pieces or rugs, placed where they are needed for warmth to the feet and to prevent noise in moving about. No bed-curtains should be allowed ; nor heavy window-curtains. Good blinds or shades are needful to regulate the admission or exclusion of light. Warmth. A sick-room should, generally, be kept at a temperature betwen 68° and 70° Fahr. In a few exceptional cases, physicians may wish to have a room much warmer, at par- ticular times. When fuel is scarce, and the room is small, it will be best to secure good air to breathe, even at the loss of some de- grees of temperature in the room, this being made up by sufficient covering for the patient. But, in most instances, air may be, with care, kept pure and sufficiently warm at the same time. The best kind of fire for a sick-room is an open wood fire in the chimney-place. Next to that is an open coal-grate, with a good di^aught to secure it from escape of gas. If only a stove can be had, a wood-burning stove should be preferred. With a stove which burns coal, the greatest care will be necessary to prevent coal gas from getting out into the room, and also to keep the air moist enough by having water in a pan always upon the stove. Furnace -heated air is objectionable as a dependence in a sick-room, although very well to have within reach to supplement an open fire. The warmth of most furnaces is variable and uncertain ; some of them allow gas to get into their air-chambers, and so to pass through the house ; and, at the best, they require special pains to provide 66 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR ventilation, which the heater itself does not furnish . For the body of a sick patient to be kept warm enough to be comfortable, is one of the quite indispensable things. It should be ascertained from time to time, especially about the feet. Blankets and quilts will not always insure warmth ; they only pro- tect it when the body has it of itself. When- ever a sick person'' s feet aj-e cold, something warm should be at 07ice put to them. A heated fire stone, or a common brick, or a bottle, or pan of hot water, or a bag of hot salt, will do. Only never let your patient be chilled, for a single minute, when it can be helped. Light. While the sunny side of the house is the best, and sunlight should be admitted (with few exceptions only) every day into the room, the sick person's eyes should not be exposed to a direct glare. The bed may be so turned that the window is out of the pa- tient's sight ; or, if this cannot be, a screen of some kind should be so placed as to shield his eyes from it. At times, when sleep is desirable, the light should be almost all shut out. At night, no flame of a lamp, candle, or gas-burner should be exposed to the pa- tient's view. Either should be shaded, or otherwise concealed. A gas-burner may, of course, be turned down ; and, besides, a movable tin burner-shade attached to it is a great convenience. Some persons, even when well, cannot sleep with the. flame of ever so low- turned a gas-burner in their sight. It is not safe, moreover, to turn a gas-burner very low. A change of pressure at the source of supply may put out the light, and allow a leakage of gas, dangerous to any one sleeping in the room. Air. In the sick-room the things to be done are, to have the air changed constantly, and at the same time to prevent direct draughts upon the patient's bed. If there are several windows, all but the one nearest the bed may be open a little at top and a little at bottom ; more or less according to the weather. In warm weather, of course, everything may be opened wide all the time. no With only one window in a room, sis already said, there ought to be another out- let for air, such as a transom over a door ; or, in the absence of this, the door itself may be left open. This will require attention to the air of the room, or passage, communi- cating by that door with the room. If the air of the house is foul, that will hurt the condition of the sick-room, when the door of the latter is left open. Yet, somehow, both an inlet and an outlet are needed, to change the air of the room. In very cold weather, when it is impos- sible safely to have (as is always best) a constant and considerable movement of air through the room, the next best thing will be to have chosen times of airing it thor- oughly. Cover the patient with extra blankets or coverlids, protecting even the head and face for the time ; and then open the window or windows and doors widey^r a few miyiutes. Upon closing them, see that the patient keeps his extra cover until the room is warm enough again. The Sick=Bed. Select a wide and rather low bedstead, for ease in getting in and out ; a wire bed- bottom ; next best to it, one on good springs, with a thick but soft mattress. No curtains should be placed around the bed, since they check the free and abundant supply of air to the patient. Pillows should be of full size, and as soft as possible. Extra little pillows are often useful, to put in spaces, in propping a patient up, to relieve some particular pressure. A sheet, as a rule, not a blanket, should be next to the body. The blanket first is only proper when the patient is very hard to keep warm, or when one quite ill is lifted into and out of a bath. A down quilt is the nicest top-piece ; its lightness is a great advantage. Some patients can hardly beat the pressure of the bedclothes. Over an inflamed or injured limb, it is often neces- sary to put a support to keep them off. This may be made by breaking a barrel - hoop in two, and placing the pieces across each other (fastened at the middle for steadi- ness) under the clothes. Cha7iging the bedclothes requires care, but it ought to be done often. When there THE FAMILY DOCTOR 67' is likely to be anything to soil the bed, a large piece of rubber-cloth or oil-cloth should be put upon the mattress, beneath the under sheet. In cases of labor, a second rubber-cloth or oil-cloth had'better be placed upon the lower sheet, and another sheet over it, so that the latter and the upper rubber-cloth may be removed, leaving the bed still protected. Sheets, especially, ought to be changed often. When practi- cable, once in twenty- four hours will be desirable i n a severe illness. To make the change, warm a sheet thoroughly (being sure first that it is e7itirely dry ; a d a m p sheet may be deadly) , and fold i t lengthwise. Then fold, also lengthwise, one side of the under- sheet on the bed, up against the patient's side. Push the fresh- warmed sheet along near him, and have some one to lift, first his head and shoulders, and afterwards his legs and feet. Then, while he is lifted, press the soiled sheet from under and beyond him, and roll out the fresh one (half of it) to take its place. It will then be easy to draw it smooth. To change the upper sheet, the fresh one, being first warmed, may be rolled either in its width or in its length, and passed under the sheet already over the patient's body, into its place, without disturbing him at all. It requires two persons, one on each side of the bed, to do this well. BedsorkS are very troublesome occa- sional results of continued pressure, while one is lying long in bed ; they are especi- ally apt to occur in very thin and weak persons. Most of all they are liable to hap- pen when, from an injury or serious disease of some part, the patient cannot change his 31 AIR- OR WATER CUSHIONS. position from time to time. This is the case. with fractures of the thigh or leg. In such instances the utmost care must be taken to preserve the soundness of the skin where it is most pressed upon. It must be examinea every day, and bathed gently with whiskey or soap liniment. When redness and tenderness of the skin begin to appear, a protection to it must be supplied , by covering the part with a piece of soft, thick buckskin, upon which soap-plaster has been smoothly spread ; or, if that is not at hand, two layers of adhesive plaster, very smoothly adjusted to the surface, will do for the purpose. Small pillows, or air- or water-cushions, in rings or other shapes, are often employed to take the pres- sure off of tender parts. They may some- times do good ; but, in surgical practice, I have been repeatedly disappointed with them, especially with air- and water-cush- ions or pillows. When bedsores actually occur, is is necessary to relieve the sores from pressure ; and, besides, they must be treated like open wounds or ulcers. Sick=Qarinents. These should be as simple as possible. One sufficiently warm and long night-shirt or night-gown will, as a rule, be enough ; the less worn, the easier it './ill be to make changes. If the limbs incline to be cold, light drawers may be added ; with the old and feeble, stockings also. Changes of gar- ments worn constantly in bed should be fre- quent. One "robe" for the day and an- other for the night would be well, but for the fatigue of so many movements. There should be no exposure to cold dur- ing such changes. There need be none, if the room is moderately warm at the time (70° Fahr.) and the fresh garment is well warmed near the bed. One arm should be taken out of the sleeve it is in, and put in the new one ; then the old shirt should be lifted off over the head, and the new one put in its place ; lastly, the other arm should be changed and the shirt drawn down. When a long gown is ready to put down over the head and shoulders, the old one can be drawn off at the feet. If any garment becomes soiled, it must be removed as soon as possible. There are. THE FAMILY DOCTOR oi course, some states of extreme debility in wnich it is not safe to move the patient so often as above said. But, by having gar- m.ents made loose, and cut or ripped if neces- sary to facilitate removal, the refreshment 01 such changes may be obtained in more cases of illness than many j)eople suppose. When the disease from which a patient suflfers is contagiozts , as small pox, scarlet fever, measles or typhus fever, every article of clothing worn, as well as the sheets, blankets and bedding, must be (for safety to others) either boiled or burned. In malig- nant cases, or those attended by much soil- ing of the clothes, they had better be burned. In other instances they may be thoroughly boiled, and Ihen spread out in the sun to dry. Washing and Bathing. Kvery morning, at least, a sick person's face should be freshened up by washing, in whatever manner his strength best allows. One really ill must have it done by another person. A soft " wash -rag " may be used. The water may be cold, if there is fever, or if there is not prostration with a tendency to chilliness. In the latter case, warm water is better, even for the face. Warm should be used also to wash the arms and legs and other parts of the body. In weak conditions, whis- key may be added to warm water for bath- ing the limbs, and pure whis- key or soap lini- ment should be used to bathe any parts of the skin which are subject to pres- sure. This is often important to prevent bed- sores. If the skin is quite or almost broken, a piece of buckskin spread smoothly with soap-plaster, or a piece of elastic adhesive plaster, or even common adhesive plaster (two thicknesses) may be. HIP-BATH. A SIMPLE SHOWER-BATH. as already said, put on to make an artificial protective cuticle. When fever is hot and high, cool wash- ing of the body is of great value. Some physicians now advise even cold baths for^ typhoid fever. I do not think well of this practice ; u n - less, at alt events , the patient is put in water which is at first warm or tepid, and cooled down gradually; also, without expo- sure to a low temperature for many minutes at a time. 'Exxicool spongi7ig , in scarlet fever as well as in typhoid, is, without doubt, not only relieving but useful . It may be repeated two or three times daily. In cases of lozv fever, and other cases in which restlessness at night is a symptom, bathing the arms and legs (one at a time, so as not to chill by exposure) with whiskey and hot water (equal parts) often gives much comfort and promotes sleep. lVar»i balks are frequently beneficial in states of nervous excitement ; as in the con- vulsions of children. Prolonged warm baths are also advised sometimes for tetamts (lock- jaw), and to promote the reduction of her- nia (rupture). In spasmodic crotcp in chil- dren, a warm bath is often helpful. Hot baths do good in cold or depressed condi- tions of the system ; as in chronic rheuma- tism or neu7'algia ; and when the eruption does not come out or stay out well in scar- let fever, measles, or small-pox . Hot-air baths, sometimes called Russian baths, must be always taken with dry air, so as to allow of free perspiration and evapora- tion from the body. This so mitigates the effect of heat that many people can bear an air bath above 200° without inconvenience. Water baths affect the body chiefly ac- cording to their temperature. They may be divided as follows : Cold, 32° to 70° F. ; cool, 70° to 85° F. ; tepid, 85° to 90° F. ; warm, 90° to 96° F.; hot, 96° to 100° F. ; ' vapor, 1 00° to 120° F.; hot air, i30°to250°F. 12 6q FOOD FOR THE SICK BED-TABLB (wiTH RACK) Appetite almost disappears in severe ill- ness, especially when there is fever; and Mie capacity to digest food is then nearly lost. It is best not to give large quantities, but beep up the nourishment of the body by giving strong, concen- trated food, in the liquid form, in small quantities, at short in- tervals. A young and ro- bust person may, at the beginning of an illness, be better for a day or two with almost no food. Feeble pa- tients need, as a rule, to be so fed from the start. The main staple article of diet for the sick is the same as for infants ; namely, milk. And for the same reasons ; that it contains all that is essential for the system, in a form easy of digestion and appropria- tion. In typhoid fever, for example, almost from the beginning, a patient may be fed with two tablespoonfuls of milk every two or three hours, day and night. Another concentrated article is beef- tea ; and stronger yet, beef-essence. The mistake has been very often made oi straining or filtering beef- tea, after it has been subjected to a boiling heat. Its most nourishing part is thus left behind. It ought to be brown with finely divided particles (not solid pieces, of course) of the meat. The same is true also of essence of beef, made without the addition of water. Nixt to these articles of food come broths or teas of other meats ; as tnution and chicken soups. They should, for the sick, be made strong, not watery ; but s^iould be thoroughly rid of their fat, by skimming. This can be most effectually done when they have stood and become cool ; but, except in the warmest weather, they should be heated again to be taken. Prepared extracts of beef are much in use, to save trouble in getting the fresh article ; but try to get those that have not been filtered, as filtering takes out most of ■xo 3 the nourishing part of the meat, and leaves rather a nutritive stimulant than a food. Any standard beef -juice ^hich. is prepared withozitboilifig^has the substance of the beef in a very concentrated state. Most people can take this very well. Two teaspoonfuls of it may be added to about a quarter of a tum- blerful of water (hot or cold, as preferred), this being given two tablespoonfuls, more or less, at a time. Johnson ^s fluid beef is agreeable to some persons, and, when so, answers a very good purpose. To my taste, it is unpleasant. Many physicians recommend it, and use it largely. Beef pepto7ioids are much used. fellies are weak food ; good only for variety, or to hold something stronger, as a matter of taste. Fruits are commonly pleasant during fever, but they are most of them rather too hard to digest. Malaga grapes will almost always agree well. Orange juice (without swallowing the pulp) does so also, and is often very refreshing to the sick. Lemonade is pleasant and cooling, but requires consid- eration of the condition of the stomach and bowels at the time. One of the best things to cleari 2ifoul tongue during fever is half a le7non, passed slowly over it now and then. Stimulants are often added to the diet of the sick , when patients are much prostrated or exhausted . Their use requires great cau- tion and judgment. As a rule, they should not be employed with- «at the advice of a ph^'-sician. Wine-whey and whisky-punch are most frequently ad- vised. They are most apt to be appropriate in typhus fever ^ in the weakest cases of ty- phoid fever, and in the date stages of severe acute diseases. Also, they may be called for in cholera, and in certain conditions which are met with in advanced or advancing con- sumption of the lungs. Convalescence is generally attended by the return of a good appetite and digestive 13 BED-REST 70 THE FAMILY DOCTOR power. The system has to make up for what it has lost during illness. Care is necessarj' that the patient does not venture too soon upon a varied diet, or the use of things hard of digestion. After typhoid fever, this is particularly necessary. From the special condition of the intestinal canal in that disease, life may be endangered at that time by a single imprudence in diet. Gradu- ally, however, after most diseases, recovery is marked by ability to eat all ordinary wholesome food, and a variety of digestible dishes may be indulged in, always, of course, avoiding excess. We shall now give directions for prepar- ing a number of articles especially suited for the food of the sick ; those, that is, who cannot properly take ordinary solid meals.* Different things are required for different cases. Of this the physician must judge, when one is in attendance. In his absence, those in charge must be guided by the symptoms and conditions present. Beef-Tea — Chop a pound of good lean round of beaf into very small pieces. Pour over it a pint, or less (never more) of cold water. Cover it, and let it stand for two hours near the fire, or on a part of the range or stove where it will not become very hot. Then put it right on the fire, and bring it to the boil. As soon as it is fairly boiling, re- move it, and take off all the scum from the top. Pour it off from the pieces of meat at the bottom, but do not filter or strain it, unless through a coarse sieve. Straining robs it of much of its nourishment. The fat must be carefully removed, which can be done best with a clean piece of blotting- paper, or a small (salt) spoon. Salt may be added according to taste ; when the stomach is weak, also black or red pepper. In the extreme weakness of delirium tremeyis, red pepper may h^ freely added ; a little of it is suitable in nearly every case where beef- tea is needed. Beef-tea should be stir-red just before using it , so as to get a rich brown color. Beef-Tea Cold-made. — Chop finely a pound of good beef. Add to it a pint of * To show that fluid food may suffice even for a length of time, I have just reaci an account of a man who died at the age i)f eighty-five years, who, when seven years old, swallowed by mistake some strong lye, the efFe'~t of which was to contract his oesophagus (lower gullet) so much, that he never afterwards tpuld swallow solid food 314 cold water, in which have been put fifteen drops of chlorohydric (muriatic) acid, and a pinch of salt. L,et it stand an hour, and then drain off the liquid. Pour another half-pint of cold water over the beef that is left, and add it to the first quantity. All may be then strained through a coarse sieve, and used cold. Frozen Beef-Tea. — Put a suitable por- tion of beef-tea, made as above first di- rected, in a convenient vessel, within an ice-cream freezer. Let it then be frozen as if it were cream. This is particularly suit- able in the summer complairit (cholera in- fantum) of children ; also in some other cases in hot weather. Beef Essence. — Cut up a pound of good lean beaf into small pieces, and put it into a pint bottle (or other handy recepta- cle), without any water. Cork the bottle loosely and place it up to its neck in water in a stewpan. Then boil the water in the pan for three or four hours. This will bring out the juice (essence) of the meat, which should h& poured off, not strained. The fat must be removed as with beef- tea. This is the most concentrated of all articles of food. It is often of the greatest value in conditions of prostration ; as a little of it goes a great way, while requiring almost no effort of di- gestion. Red pepper may usually be added to it in moderation, and salt according to taste. Broiled Beef Juice. — Broil a pound of lean beef. Cut it into strips, and press out the juice with a lemon-squeezer or meat- press. A pound of meat will give about three tablespoonfuls of "gravy" or juice. When salted according to taste, it may be taken either hot or cold, as preferred. Raw-Beef Extract. — Cut up good lean beef very fijie, and put a pound of it with half a pint of cold water in a bottle. Let it soak for about twelve hours, shaking it well half a dozen times or more during that time. Then pour it off through a coarse sieve, and salt according to taste. Raw-Beef Scrapings. — Take a piece of good tender beef, and, with a rather dull knife, scrape off all of it that will come, leaving the tough, gristly portions behind. The pasty meat thus obtained may be salted THE FAMILY DOCTOR 71 a little and used at once as it is, or it may be rubbed up with half its quantity of gran- ulated white sugar. The latter plan will be likely to suit children best. Good well-boiled ham (as well as dried beef) rnay be treated in the same manner. Infants recovering from summer complaint are sometimes very fond of such food. Chicken Broth — Clean half a chicken and remove the skin. Pour on it a quart of cold water, and salt to taste. Add a table- spoonful of Carolina rice, and boil slowly for two or three hours. Then skim it well to get off all the fat, and add a little parsley. This is one of the most agreeable of dishes for many sick people. Oatmeai, Gruel. — Boil a pint of water, and while boiling, mix with it two table- spoonfuls of (Canada, Bethlehem, or Ohio) oatmeal, which has been first rubbed smooth in a little cold water ; also, add half a pint of milk, and a little salt. Let all simmer together for half an hour, then strain it through a hair-sieve, sweeten, and add a little nutmeg. A few raisins may be added before the boiling. Indian- Meal Gruel. — Stir a table- spoonful of Indian meal till it becomes smooth, in half a teacupful of cold water. Then mix it well with a teacupful of boiling water, and add half as much milk : then boil it until it is moderately thickened. Salt or sweeten according to taste. Raisins maybe put in before boiling, if desired. Barley Water. — Wash well two ounces of pearl barley with cold water, throwing that water away. Put the barley into a pint and a half of fresh cold water, bring it to the boiling point, and boil for twenty min- utes in a covered vessel. Strain, sweeten to taste, and flavor with lemon-juice and a little lemon-peel. In certain cases, as in using it to feed infants, the lemon had best be omitted. Rice Water. — Boil an ounce of Caro- lina rice in a quart of water for an hour and a half. Pour off or strain, and add either salt or sugar and nutmeg, according to taste. Salt will generally be best. Toast Water. — Cut a slice of stale bread half an inch thick , and toast it brown all over, without scorching. Pour over it a pint of boiling water ; cgver closely, and 31 let it cool ; then pour or strain it off for use as a drink. Some patients like it better when a slice from an apple, and a very little lemon-peel, are laid on the toast before the water is added. Bread- and-Butter Soup. — Spread a slice of well-baked bread with good fresh butter, and sprinkle it moderately with salt and black pepper. Pour a pint of boiling water over it, and let it stand a few minutes before use. This will do for patients who are not very sick, as a soft article of low diet. Panada. — Cut two slices of stale bread, without crust. Toast them brown, cut them up into squares about two inches across, lay them in a bowl, and sprinkle with salt and a little nutmeg. Pour on a pint of boil- ing water, and let it stand to cool. Vegetable Soup. — This may be made, of course, in many different ways. The following is about the simplest ; put two potatoes, a handful of peas, one ripe tomato, and a piece of bread, into a quart of water, and boil it down to a pint. Then throw in a little chopped celery or parsley, and salt. Cover, and remove from the fire. A delicate stomach may require it to be strained for use. Boiled Flour. — Tie up a quart of wheat flour in a pudding-bag, tightly. Put it into a pot of boiling water, and keep this boiling for several hours (all day or all night will not be too long). Then take out the flour and dry it near the fire. Peel off and throw away the thin outer portion, and grate down the mass, with a nutmeg-grater, into a powder, for use as wanted. One or two teaspoonfuls of this may be rubbed into a paste with a little milk, and then stirred into a pint of milk, which is to be scalded; that is, just brought to the boiling-point, without being boiled. This is often beneficial in the diarrhoeas of infants or older persons. Arrow-Root. — Mix a tablespoonful or rather more with a little cold water, till it becomes smooth and pasty. Boil a pint of water, stir in the arrow-root, and boil it for a few minutes, until it thickens sufficiently. Sweeten to taste with white sugar, unless salt be preferred. A little lemon-peel or orange- peel added before boiling will improve the flavor. 72 THE FAMILY DOCTOR Tapioca."- -Cover two tablespoonfuls of tapioca with a fiiU teacupful of cold water, and let it soak for several hours. Put it then into a pint of boiling water, and boil it Uxitil it is clear and as thick as is wanted. Sugar, nutmeg, lemon, etc. , may be used to season it. Sago Jelly. — Mix well together four tablespoonfuls of sago, the juice and rind of one lemon, and a quart of water. Sweeten to taste, let it stand half an hour, and then boil it, stirring constantly until clear. Farina Gruel. — Mix two tablespoon- fuls of farina with a quart of water, and let it boil long enough to become thick. Add a pint of milk and a little salt, and then boil again for a quarter of an hour, Sweeten according to taste. Rice Milk. — Boil a tablespoonful of rice for an hour and a half in a pint of fresh milk, then rub it through a fine sieve. Add a tablespoonful of fine (granulated) white sugar, and boil again for two or three minutes. Oatmeal with Beef-Tea. — Mix a tablespoonful of oatmeal quite smoothly with two tablespoonfuls of cold water. Add this to a pint of strong beef- tea, and heat to the boiling-point, stirring all the time. Boil for five minutes. Then remove from the fire, skim off all the fat, and serve for use. Other occasional additions to beef-tea, which will agree with all except the most delicate stomachs, are (though not both at once) raw egg and cream. Gelatine Food. — Soak for a short tiitie in cold water a piece of prepared gelatine two inches square. Boil it, then, in half a pint of water until it dissolves, which will take ten or fifteen minutes. Rub a tea- spoonful of arrow-root into a paste with a little cold water, and stir it into the gelatine water at the end of its boiling. Add also from six to twelve tablespoonfuls (accord- ing to the child's age) of milk, from one to four tablespoonfuls of cream, and a mod- erate amount of loaf-sugar. Imitation op Mother's Milk. — Ob- tain from a druggist packages of pure vtilk- sugar containing, eich, seventeen and three- quarter d. cchms. Dissolve one package in a pint of hot water. Mix together two tablespoonfuls of cream, one of milk, two of lime-water, and three of the milk-sugar 3 water. Warm this mixture, and add it to the pint of solution of milk-sugar in hot water. It is then ready for use. The packages of milk-sugar, while dry, will keep for a long time. The solution of it should not, in hot weather, be kept on hand for more than a day or two, at most. Egg Broth. — Mix two ounces of pearl sago in half a pint of cold water, and let it stand half an hour. Then boil it until it becomes smooth and sufficiently thick. Beat the yolks of four fresh eggs with half a pint of cream ; then mix with the sago, and stir the whole well with a quart of beef- tea, or chicken-broth, just made and at boiling heat. Egg with Wine. — Beat up a raw fresh Q^g^, and stir with it one or two tablespoon- fuls of sherry wine. This, as well as the preparations that next follow, is only suit- able where stimulatio7i is required, under the advice of a physician. Caudle. — Beat up a raw fresh ^•gg with a wineglassful of sherry wine, and add it to a half pint of hot oatmeal, Indian meal, or farina gruel. Flavor with lemon-peel, nut- meg, and sugar. Wine Whey. — Boil half a pint of milk, and while boiling add half a glass or a glass of sherry or Madeira wine. Strain off the curd through muslin or a sieve. Sweeten the whey to taste, and grate upon it a little nutmeg. Milk Punch. — Into a tumblerful of milk put one or two tablespoonfuls of whiskey, brandy, or rum. Sweeten, and grate nutmeg upon it. In some ve7'y low states of the system, punch may be directed by physicians made still stronger than this, even as much as a tablespoonful of whiskey to one of milk ; but the use of such a pow- erful means of alcoholic stimulation needs great skill and judgment. Koumiss. — This mildly stimulant and somewhat nourishing Tartar and Russian drink is made by fermenting mare s milk. It may be quite well imitated, however, by adding to a quart of coiv' s milk a teaspoon- ful of granulated white sugar, and a tea- spoonful of brewer's yeast, and leaving the mixture to ferment in a covered vessel or corked bottle. When this change has shown itself by the bubbles of eflfervesceace. i6 THE FAMILY DOCTOR 73 it is ready for use. If kept for any time, it should be in strong bottles tightly corked (the corks tied down) and in a cool place. Roast Oysters. — Convalescents can sometimes relish and digest these sooner than any other solid food. Place a dozen fresh oysteis in the shell upon a moderately strong fire, and allow them to remain there until their shells open a little. Then take them from the fire, open them at once, re- taining the juice if possible, and serve them hot, with perhaps a little black pepper, and salt if needed. If the ' ' hard part " is at all tough, it had better not be eaten. To Keep Ice for the Sick. — Cut a piece of clean flannel about eight inches square. Put this (after making a small hole in the centre) over the top of a glass tumbler, pressing the flannel down to half or more of the depth of the tumbler. Then bind the flannel fast to the tumbler with a tape or cord. When ice is put into this flannel cup, lay over it another piece of clean flannel, three or four inches square. So covered, it will keep for hours, even in warm weather. FivOUR Food for Infants. — I^et from five to ten pounds of selected wheat flour be packed in a bag so as to form a ball, tied with a strong cord, and boiled with the water constantly covering it from four to seven days. The starch appears to be so changed that it is more soluble and more quickl)^ and easily digested. It is not neces- sary that the water be constantly boiled, provided that it remain hot or warm— the fire may go out at night. The same change may be effected by dry heat, the flour being placed in pans in the oven or on the stove, but it is very liable to be scorched by an ex- cess of heat. The flour removed from the bag and de- prived of its external portion, which is wet, resembles a piece of chalk, but it has a yellowish tinge. The flour should be grated from it as it is required for use, and sifted to separate the small lumps which are likely to be broken off by the sieve. The infant will be better nourished if instead of dilut- ing the milk with which it is fed with plain water, a thin gruel prepared by boiling a few minutes this flour in water, be employed. 317 Two heaped teaspoonfuls of the flour to a pint of water suffice for infants under the age of three months, three teaspoonfuls for infants between the ages of three and six months, and four teaspoonfuls to the pint of water after the age of six months. The pro- portion of the gruel to the milk should be the same as stated above when pure water is employed. Giving Medicines. No one who cannot read should pour out a dose of medicine. Bottles containing poisonous drugs should be labeled poison, and such should, when practicable, be kept apart by themselves ; and should, especially, never be left within the reach of children. Before pouring out or otherwise preparing a dose of medicine, look carefully at the label. No medicine should ever be kept in a bottle or other receptacle without a label. If a bottle which has contained one medicine is wanted for another, let it be thoroughly washed with hot water ; and, on putting something new into it, change the label at once. If there is any doubt about the medicine in a bottle, throw it away, do not venture to use it with- out being sure of its nature. After looking well at the label, before beginning to pour from th^ bottle, turn the labeled side away, so as not to pour over it ; as some drops are apt to run down on the bottle, and might thus stain and obscure the label so that it could not be read. Dropping medicine requires care and skill. To do it, moisten one edge of the top of the bottle with the contents of the bottle, and then, holding and tilting the latter in the right hand, with the left very slowly and cautiously withdraw the cork or stopper, until a drop rolls out. As this comes out, at once push the cork in, and then repeat the same process again and again , until the right number of drops has been obtained. To give medicine (or liquid food) to a patient too ill to be lifted up in the bed, a bent glass tube is very convenient ; and so are the half-covered spoons and cups sold by apothecaries. Glass vessels with the quantities marked on them are conveniept 74 ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES In all cases of accidents coolness and presence of mind are of the utmost conse- quence. Danger is increased by alarm and confusion. One who has his senses about ROrXING A BANDAGE. BANDAGED LIMB. him may, by simple and prompt action, in some instances, avert serious harm. Bandagijig. The purpose of bandaging is to retain certain parts of the body, or "dressings" upon it, in position, without 318 too much pressure ; or, sometimes, to maiu pressure for a time or even continuously. Material for bandages may be unbleached muslin, about as thick as that which is used for sheets ; or soft un- glazed linen. It must vary i n width and length according es- pecially t o the part upon which it is to be applied. For the chest, as for a fractured rib it should be about foui inches wide ; for the thigh or leg of a man, two and a half to three inches ; for the arm, two to two and a half inches ; if used for a finger.an inch in width will answer. The length may vary from a yard or two to five 01 six yards in a roll. How to roll up a bandage is a matter of simple management. After doubling an end for a beginning, take it in one hand, between the ends of the thumb and fingers, with the rolled part downwards; holding the bandage then between the side of the forefinger and the thumb of the other hand, so that it may slide between the fin- ger and the thumb of that hand, as it is drawn and rolled up by the fingers of the other. In hos- pitals they some- times have a small instrument with which to roll bandages rapidly. Two rules are very important in bandag- ing. First, never make any bandage so tight as entirely to check the movement .'i (A' a ^~H ^ o •^ r Wi ^. s s °2. s^ c^ <\) O s H ;^ O 1- a O o u. iti <-^ St- ^ C!3 CO ■^ s> *x) i^. -iii. O '^ » a H THE FAMILY DOCTOR 8i or forwards. This can easily be observed on watching the change of position of marks made and left by the injury, as the nail is gradually restored. Needle penetration. — A needle gives almost no pain in entering the flesh any- where ; and it may slip about and be pushed by the muscles in various directions, so as to come near or through the surface far from where it entered. If a needle should happen, in such wanderings, to reach the heart, it would no doubt so affect its move- ments as to cause death ; but that is ex- tremely unlikely to happen. Still, nobody wishes to have even so small and smooth a thing slipping about in his body. If a needle, or part of a broken one, is known to enter the skin, a doctor had better be asked to try to get at it, if it has not already passed beyond being reached by a small in- cision. The same may be said of bits of broken glass. If not seen and removed when first getting in, they may remain a long time without much irritation or dis- turbance. Nose, Foreign Bodies in. — Children now and then push peas, small marbles, etc., into their own or one another's noses. il the intruding thing be not very large, blowing the nose very hard, while the other nostril is closed by pressure, may force it out. If not, a piece of wire (a hairpin will do) may be bent so as to form a small round loop at its end, and this (first being oiled) may be gently pushed up around and behind the offending object, to draw it down. Should this not succeed, the aid of a sur- geon must be obtained, who will use slender- bladed but strong forceps, made for such emergencies. Swallowing indigestible things gives alarm in many cases where there is little danger of real injury. Pins are apt to be swallowed when held in the mouth, v^hich is a very imprudent thing to do ; but they will more often stick across the upper part of the throat than go down. (See Choking.) When a pin is actually swal- lowed, there is reason to believe that it is almost sure to find its way at last through the bowels and out with the discharges. If a horn button, or a piece of india-rubber, or a marble, is swallowed, it will be pretty sure 35 R 325 to take the same course in time. None of those things are poisonous. A metal but- ton, however, as one of brass, or a copper coin, as a penny, is much worse. Such a thing may pass safely through ; but if it stays in the stomach or bowels, gradually corroding, it will poison the system, per- haps, fatally. From such a result, no medi- cal skill can provide escape ; unless, when such a thing is known at the time to have been swallowed, prompt dosing with an emetic will bring it up with vomiting. A teaspoonful of powder of ipecacuanha, or a teaspoonful of syrup of ipecac, repeated in ten minutes if necessary, and followed by a large drink of warm (not hot) water, will answer for this purpose. If no ipecac, is at hand, a tablespoonful of salt, or a teaspoon- ful of mustard, in a teacupful of warm water, will do. It is not worth while to give an emetic on account of the swallowing oi non-poison- ous indigestible solids. Nor is it best to give, on their account, an immediate dose of purgative medicine. Let the person eat rather heartily of soft food, as mush, pud- ding, tapioca, etc. ; and the next day, if the bowels are not fre^, he may take a moderate dose of castor-oil. While, however, sucb things, in a majority of cases, do no con- siderable harm, exceptions to this do occur. On the whole, it is well to use our senses of touch, taste, and sight carefully, knowing what is in the mouth always before we swal- low it. Among other things, when eating canned vegetables, fruit, etc., take care not to swallow bits of soldering metal, such as now and then become ijosened in the can. As these contain lead, they may produce lead poisoning. This has been known tc happen. Wounds. — These may be either Bruised, Crushed, Cut, Lacerated (torn) , Penetrating. or Poisoned wounds. Bruises are familiar to everybody. If the blow or fall has been of such moderate violence as to injure only the surface of the head, body, or limbs, it is not a serious matter. Some blood will be forced out of the small vessels ; swelling and discolor- ation will follow. It will be first red, then almost black and blue, and at last dull yel- low or yellowish-brown This is the history 82 THE FAMILY DOCTOR of a "black eye," or of a bruise of any- other part. Early use of a soothing appli- ration will do the most good. There is nothing better for this than cocoa butter, or " camphor ice." Arnica has a reputation for bruises far beyond its desert. When a bruised part becomes painful, a cloth wet with lead-water and laudanum will be suit- able. Later, bathing with soap-liniment will hasten the absorption and disappear- ance of the blood-deposit which causes the discoloration . Crushed wounds are much more serious, often endangering life. Such, affecting the KSESSURE ON ARTERY OP AKM. SPANISH WINDLASS. head, will cause fracture of the skull. Fall- ing on the chest, ribs may be broken ; or, worse, the heart or lungs may be so pressed as to kill at once or shortly. When a limb is crushed in a railroad accident, it may be wholly or partly severed from the body. We might expect great bleeding in such cases ; but it does not occur ; the arteries are paralyzed, and bleed little or none, even when torn across. The immediate danger then is from shock, going down into fatal collapse. When this is recovered from, the injured limb must be dealt with according to the methods of surgery. Amputation is R Pros - often called for ; the damage being too great for the limb to be possibly saved. Shock constitutes the greatest immediate danger in all crushing injuries. Afterwards, there may be inflammation (or perhaps mortification) of internal organs involved ; lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys, peritoneum, etc. Such cases will require perfect rest in bed, with treatment which can only be judged of by an experienced practitioner of medicine or surgery. Tetamis (lockjaw) occasionally follows a crushing injury. Cut wounds are dangerous at first through bleeding. Bruised, crushed, and torn wounds bleed, as a rule, very lit- tle. Much differ- ence exists as to what is cut in an incised wound. If only small vessels, the capillaries, are divided, the blood flows steadily, of a moderately red color, being a mix- ture of arterial and venous blood. If a vein is cut, the flow is steady, and the color of t h e blood is dark-r^di, almost blue-black or dark purple. When an artery has been cut, bright red blood comes out in jets, timing with the pulsation of the heart in pumping blood through the arteries. Whatever the source of a flow of blood from a cut wound, we should endeavor (after cleaning out, best with a stream of cold water, any foreign bodies in it) to stop the hemorrhage by putting and holding the edges of the wound together. Pressure may then be added, so far as needful and avail- able. Over a solid bone, as the skull, this will always be practicable. Bleeding even from a divided artery of the scalp can al- ways be checked, by firm pressure on the vessel against the bone. A compress may be made by folding up a fragment of 26 PRESSURE ON ARTERY OF THIGH TtlE FAMILY DOCTOR H handkerchief, or rag of muslin or linen, into a thick piece an inch square. Laying this right over the source of the bleeding, it may be kept in place by the firm application of a bandage around the head. To stop bleeding from a vein, large enough to be seen, when pressure at the wound will not do it, the rule is to press iust below the wound ; -that is, on the side farthest from the heart; as the blood flows in the veins front the extremeties towards the neart. When an artery bleeds, and pressure at the wound fails or cannot be applied, press- ure must be applied above the wound ; that is, on the sid tc have died in consequence of swallowing ( 33 the ends of eight friction-matches ; and two of these have killed an infant two months old. Treatmeni of phosphorus poisoning must be conducted without any known antidote, unless old spirit of turpenti7ie , in teaspoonful doses, be such, as some have asserted. First give an emetic with plenty of warm water ; then charcoal azid magiiesia-zvater , abundantly. No oil (unless oil of turpen- tine, as above said) is to be given after phosphorus poisoning ; oil dissolves and difi"uses it more rapidly. Rice-water, milk, or flaxseed-tea will be suitable to allay irri- tation, in a case which escapes death. Infancy and Childhood. Nourishment. — Every mother should, if she can, nourish her own child, from her own breast. This is nature's law, as well as the law of love. Some mothers, unfortunately, cannot furnish nourishment for their ofispring. Either they have no milk, or very little, so little that a child cannot live on it ; or they are in such feeble health that it will risk their lives to afford it ; or indisposition may make their milk unfit, unsafe for nourish- ment. What then ? The usual resort is to the bottle. First, however, ascertain whether the mother has not some good milk, even though not enough. If she has half enough (as is the case with quite a number) let her give the babe the benefit of this, if it lasts, until the child hai passed through the most of its teething, or at least has weathered its first summer. Let her nurse it two or three times in the day and evening, and give it (or have given to it) the bottle for the rest of the time. Indeed, it is a good plan, under all cir- cum»*^;^nces, for a child six months old to learn to use bottle-food, so as to make the change more easy later, especially if illness or some other cause should oblige the mother to wean it suddenly. Weaning. — This never should be sudden, if it can be helped. If a mother can nurse her infant a full year, it will be well ; if eighteen months, still better. When she has, up to two years, half enough for it, let it get what it can from her, and eke out the THE FAMILY DOCTOR 85 rest with outside nourishment. Never let a child be weaned in summer if it can be helped. Bottle-feeding, — ^The bottle is vastly- better than the spoon. It imitates nature better ; it allows the food to go more slowly into the stomach ; and it gives the infant desirable exercise in taking it. Get a glass bottle, holding about half a pint, with a rubber nipple, but without a tube. Two bottles, or at least two nipples, will be well to have, for alternate use and thorough cleansing of both. For a babe less than a month old, half a bottle at once will do for a meal. In a few months, it will readily take nearly or quite a whole one, several times a day. A child six months old can, and ought to, appropriate three pints of milk or more in twenty-four hours. Remember a child has to grow as well as to live. When too much has been swallowed, it will often (and had better) be thrown up. If it be milk, this is then usually curdled. Untaught per- sons are frightened at this ; but the fact is that milk is always curdled at the begin- ning of digestion. The natural acid of the stomach acts upon it. After each time of use, the bottle ought to be scalded (that is, washed out with hot water) ; in summer time, or where the child is delicate, an added precaution is to add soda to the water with which it is cleansed. flilk. — Cow's milk is almost the only kind used in this country for infants ; here and there, goat's milk may be had. Cow's milk is stronger in ' ' solid ' ' contents than woman's milk, but the latter is sweeter. Commonly, then, during the first months, a little pure water is added (half, or less, of the amount of milk), and a little white sugar. As the child grows older, less water is needed, and within the year often, none at all. A great mistake was formerly made, in mixing two pints of water with every pint of milk ; the poor things sometimes, no doubt, starved under such a regimen. But, sometimes, the thicker and harder curds made in the stomach with cow's milk may be difficult for the babe to digest. It becomes colicky and fretful, or it refuses the bottle. Then we must add rather more water, and something else to help to diffuse the clots, thus keeping them from forming solid masses. 333 Starchy materials will do this pretty well. Such alone will not nourish a child fully ; arrowroot, farina, and other starches contain no nitroge7i, and some of this ele- ment is indispensable for the growth of muscles, bones, and brains. Moreover, during the first three or four months very little saliva or pancreatic juice is formed, and, without these, starch is not digested. But the mechanical qualities of starch fit it for mixing up the casein and albumen of milk in the fluids of the stomach, and so promoting its digestion. What May be Used with Milk. — Simple articles, especially barley, rice, and oatmeal, are commonly available for this purpose. Either of them does best when ground (or beaten in a mortar) to a fine powder for use. Barley-v7aX.er answers well when the bowels are about right (that is, from two to four -moderate, natural pass ages daily) ; rice, when there is diarrhoea ; oatmeal, when the child is ' ' bound, ' ' or not free enough in the bowels. For barley-water, a teaspoonful of barley- meal for a two or a three months' old infant, two teaspoonfuls for one over six months, may be mixed with a tablespoonful or two of cold water, and then put into a pint of water. Bring this to the boiling-point, and boil it down to half a pint. Strain it through a fine sieve or a clean linen cloth, and stir it in with a pint of milk, adding a little salt, and an even teaspoonful of granulated white sugar. Put what is not used at once, in a cold place (on ice, if it be summer time, or in the spring-house in the country) to keep for the next feeding-time. Never give milk twenty-four hours old to a young child, under any circumstances. Rice and oatmeal may be prepared in the same way, and used according to the state of the child's bowels, when milk alone does not appear to digest well. Should neither of these simple additions meet the difiiculty, you may safely try some of the " infants' foods." Mellin's, Horlick's, Nestle's, and Imperial Granum are, among the best These "foods" are not, like arrow-root, sago, and tapioca, merely starches. They contain some also of the nitrogenous ma,-= terials. 90 THE FAMILY DOCTOR It is not necessary, indeed it is hardly desirable, to ask a dairyman to furnish only the milk from one cow. You must know the cow very well to be sure that its milk is the best. A good dairyvian is the best de- pendence of all ; and there is no harm in mixing the milk of several cows, all equally fresh. What ought not to be done is to mix tivo days' milks together. Thorough scour- ing of the pans, and keeping milk in a pure atmosphere (as well as a cool one), are of extreme importance. When milk is served only once a day in hot weather, it had better be brought at once to the boiling point — to make it keep better, — and then set in the coolest and clean- est part of the house ; best of all, put on ice. A young infant, under a year old, had better take all its food war})i ; unless in the torrid heat of our midsummer. With the thermometer from 95° to 98°, one does not, young or old, want anything warm, inside or out. If there be a sour smell on the breath, or sourness of the curds thrown up, or colicky pain after feeding, or beginning looseness of the bowels, lime-water should be added to the bottle-food. A tablespoonful to the bottle will not be too much. It is always harmless, if the bowels are not constipated ; and it often does a great deal of good. When very tough curds are formed after taking cow's milk, a pinch of soda (bicar- bonate) will help to dissolve them still more effectually than lime-water or the starch foods. But soda must be used in small doses, and occasionally only. Lime-water may be, if called for, an every day remedy for sourness of stomach, especially with a disposition towards diarrnoea. For thirst, between feeding-times, in summer weather, the best plan is to give cold water moderately, and supply from time to time a soft clean rag containing pounded ice for the child to suck. When a sick child has fever, however, it may often need to drink a good deal of water. Clothing for Infants. I,et the clothing of infants, from birth, be warm enough and loose enough for com- fort. No tight bands shofld ever be put on them. Some parents, in over-anxiety abont cold, put on three times as much as is needed, and then shut all their chamber and nursery windows and doors, with big, hot fires ; wondering, then, that their babies are fretful, get skin diseases all over, and often seem to catch cold almost every time they are taken out. Babies resist actual cold less safely than older persons ; but j ust enough clothing is always better than too much for them. And they do not need to have the rooms they live in any warmer than we do — say 68° to 70° Fahr. usually. They are also more hurt by close, foul air than grown people are. When they are old enough to wear short clothes, a common mistake has been of an opposite kind : to leave their arms and legs bare ; they are so pretty thus ! But many an attack of croup and of inflammation of the lungs, sometimes fatal, has followed such exposure in a chilly atmosphere. Children should have no less protection of their limbs from cold than men and women. Even though, when healthy and active, they do not seem to feel it ; it is not safe. Very important is the chayiging of clothes with infants. When their thighs are wet, and all next to them is soiled, they should be changed at once, always. Neglect of this may cause chafing of the skin, very disturb- ing to the child, and sometimes as bad as a burn. A soft sponge is, when the skin is tender, better than a rag or towel ; but a sponge must be well cleansed every time, with soap and hot water, to be used again. Dusting with a little ' ' pat ' ' filled with fina starch or arrow-root powder is very soc'ih- ing and protective. When the skin has become sore about the thighs, the child will show it by a sharp cry on wetting itself. Redness also, as well as tenderness to the touch, will be found on examining it. Then tallow, cold cream (of the apothecary), or oxide of zinc ointme-nt, should be applied gently every night and morning (or oftener if need be) after changing it. The worst cases, such as come only from considerable neglect, may need to be treated like burns, with soft rags, wet with lime-water and sweet oil (equal parts, mixed), and covered with oiled silk. 334 777^ FAMILY DOCTOR 91 Babie?, as well as adults, should have the head kept cool, and the feet warm. Out of doors, a cap is all right — thick or light according to the season ; but there is no need of any cap being worn in the house. They are better without it. A frequent trouble is with the bed-covers at night. First, never forget that covering makes no warmth of itself. It only keeps (by non-conduction) what warmth the body has of its own. So, if a baby is put cold into a cold bed, especially if it be sick, it may scarcely get warm all night. In that case the bed- clothing should be warmed first; bypassing a hot flat iron under and over it ; or, for an ill baby, keeping a warm brick or bottle or tin of hot water in the bed while needed. Restless children will often fling and kick the bed- covers all off at night ; and this exposes them to taking cold. Watch- ing them all night is hard service. Much better will be the canton-flannel night-gown, sewn up tight (like mittens) at the ends of the hands and feet. If they do throw every- thing else off, this will keep them still pretty warm. Must infants always wear flannels in the daytime? Delicate ones certainly should, in our climate ; thick (though soft) flannel in winter, and light flannel in summer time. When an infant shows itself, at two or three years of age, to be hardy, its summer flannel may be left off safely. Silk, or merino, will do for all but weakly children. Bathing. — A new-born child should be bathed only in warm water, in a warm room. From 95° to 90° should be the temperature of its bath ; the thermometer had better be used, as the touch is so uncertain. As it gets older, at least if it seems " hearty," the water may be allowed gradually to go down to 85° ; or, in warm weather, even 80°. The best test of its not being too cool, is, the infant being rosy and merry after the bath. A child should like its bath, if it is rightly managed ; never startling it with a sudden plunge, but accustoming it to it by degrees. A mother had better bathe her own baby, if she is well and strong enough to do so. One error especially to be avoided is, letting a child, once wet all over, sit half in 335 and half out of the water ; being thus chilled by evaporation from the uncovered part of the body. During our hottest weather, when the thermometer ranges between 94° and 100°, even a young infant may profit by a cool bath, say at 75° or 70° ; but then it must be a short- time bath also. The cooler, the shorter the time of immersion. Much soap does not need to be used in bathing infants. If the child be bathed daily, it needs (after its first thorough cleansing) only an occasional employment, unless about the thighs, of a little of the best castile soap. Salt may be added to the bath if the child is weakly, for its tonic effect. In sickness, warm or hot baths may be of great service. Exercise. — After the first few months, a babe should be allowed and encouraged to sprawl; first on a wide bed, being watched that it does not fall ofi" ; afterwards on a car- peted floor, or a rug. This will spread its chest, and bring most of its muscles into play. Thus it will gain strength, and get ready, in due time {don't hurry it) to stand up and walk. Crawling comes first, accord- ing to the true nature of bodily develop- ment, Airing. — Very soon every baby ought to begin to be taken out in fine weather. In summer, no matter how soon ; in winter, it requires care about keeping it warm, of course. But quite young infants may be, with proper out-of-door clothing, accus- tomed to being taken out into the sunshine and air every fine day. A nusery ought to be always a sunny and well-aired room. As already said, infants suffer more harm from bad air than grown people do. Scarlet fever, measles, whoop- ing-cough, diphtheria, and all other diseases are commonly worst, killing the most child- ren, in tenement-houses ; and, elsewhere, in crowded alleys, where people live too close together and do not have fresh, pure air to breathe. 51eep for Children. For the first month or two, an infant naturally sleeps more than half its time. All through the first year, many babies sleep from twelve to sixteen hours in the 92 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR twenty-four. It is a grand thing for all concerned when the little one can be trained early to sleep most of the night. Habit may be formed, in such matters, very soon. Lay the child dozun to sleep, from the start ; do not get it used to being carried about to go to sleep in somebody's arms. Put it to sleep in its crib, alone as a rule. Hard to believe as it seems, some weary slumbrous mothers have ^i7(?r/(a;2>z their babies; that is, rolled upon them while asleep and suffocated them. Moreover, the vapors from another human body make the bed less wholesome for the child. Yet, with a wide bed, convenience may sometimes afford rea- son for a child being laid beside, but not too near, its mother or nurse. Never rock a child in a cradle. This has, happily, quite gone out of fashion. If it has any effect, it is by causing a kind of a dizziness (like seasickness) which cannot be good for the child. Let the baby soon get used to going to sleep in the dark. Otherwise, when it gets older, it will be afraid to do so, with a fear often very hard to overcome. Put no cur- tains about a bed, for a child or grown person. Most babies, when they do sleep well early in the night, wake very early in the morning, and then want food. Before noon they are apt to be ready to take a nap of two or three hours. Some will also want an afternoon nap of an hour or two. Let them sleep all they will ; sleep and grow fat. Never wake a young child (or in- deed an older one) suddenly ; it jars, their brains. When their sleep is out they will wake up of themselves. Teething. Mothers and nurses ought to know what to look for in their babies' mouths, as the months follow each othc" in their first two years. Only twenty teeth, be it remem- bered, come in the first set, or, ''milk teeth." Thirty-two follow these, and take their place, in the second set. About the end of the sixth month (from the fifth to the eighth) , it is common for the two loivcr middle front to appear through the gum ; and not long after, even some- times before these, the two upper middle front ones. These are called cutting or incisor teeth. So are the next to come out — alonside of the first — the lateral incisors (side cutting teeth), below and above; which appear between the eighth and the tenth months. Before the infant is a year old, then, it usually has at least eight front teeth out ; four below and four above. Next, we might expect those nearest these to appear; but they do not. Instead come WvQ. first jazv or molar teeth — two below and two above — between the twelfth and the fourteenth months. Then follow, between the fourteenth and twentieth months, the stomach and eye teeth, as people call them ; the four canine teeth, two below and two above ; pointed teeth. After these, and last of the first set, come the second faiv or molar teeth; two below and two above ; between the eighteenth and the thirty-sixth months. In each jaw, in all, there are then four incisors, two canines, and four molar teeth ; doubling these, we get the twenty of the whole set. The fol- lowing diagram shows this, with the order of their succession : 5 3421 M M C I I I I 243 I C M 5 M M M C I I I I C M M 53421 I 243 5 I stands for incisor; molar. C for cayiine ; M 336 for This order is the general mode of suc- cession ; but variations from it are far from rare. Often the upper teeth, front and all, come before the lower ones. The time for each group of teeth is frequently later, and sometimes earlier, than that above men- tioned. As the time conies near (^ about the sixth or seventh year) for the second dentition the new set, whose germs were in the jaws at birth, grow steadily larger in the gums. The milk teeth are not forced out ; but, under the wonderful natural adaptation of parts, their fangs are gradually absorbed, and thus they loosen and drop out, or are easily taken out, and make way for the second set of permanent teeth. These are THE FAMILY DOCTOR 91 thirty- two in numbef. The first to come through the gums are the first molar or jaw teeth. Next, at about seven years of age, the middle incisors ; then the lateral incis- ors, at or near the end of the eighth year. A-fter these, the first pre-molars (bicuspids) or lesser jaw teeth ; and in the ninth year, the second pre-molars. Between eleven and twelve years, the permanent canines, two above and two below. From twelve to thir- teen or fourteen years, the second molars ; and from seventeen to twenty- one years, the last molars, or wisdom teeth. These last are often imperfect from the start. Dentition is a process oi growth. A great deal of blood is needed in the tissues of the jaws for this purpose. Moreover, for the teeth to "come out," the gums must give way, by absorption. Should this be slow, a tension of the gum may occur; and, through the nerves, the whole system may be brought into sympathetic excitement. As the nervous apparatus is much more irrita- ble, more easily disturbed, in babyhood than in adult life — we often have, from this cause, worrying ; fretfulness ; sometimes fits, or convulsions. A child which was " always good" before, now may cry a great deal, losing its reputation for goodness altogether. Why Babies Cry. A word here about babies' crying. A healthy child, not teething, if well take7i care off will very seldom cry. If it becomes very hungry, and is not nourished, or is cold, or too warm, or is left with garments soiled and wet, of cozirse it cries. And, the habit once formed, cry it will, though the whole household and neighborhood regard it as a " crying evil." Several sorts of crying may be observed, which it is desirable to understand. First there is the cry of surprise, on the child being first ushered into the world. That is all right and natural. Next, comes the calling cry, of hunger, thirst, or other want. Sharper and shriller, sometimes a violent scream, is the cry of pain ; as of colic or earache ; or of fright, as when a babe rolls out of its bed or crib upon the floor. Much like the cry of simple want, but habitually harsher in manner, is that of demand or comm.and, of a child 337 already spoiled ; finding that whatever it cries for it will get. An aggravation only of this, is the (sometimes fairly impish) roar and succession of screams, of temper Q.n& passion Disease has various cries ; according to its character. Sometimes it is only a faint moan, attending nearly every breath. Other times it is hoarse, as in croup ; along with a short, barking cough. Or it may be the wild scream of inflammation of the brain. What Teething Is. Teething is not a disease, a morbid pro- cess, at all. But it is an important change, which for the time renders the child more than before or after liable to disorders, under any disturbing causes ; and the pro- cess of penetration of the gums by the young teeth may sometimes itself be imperfectly accomplished. The most common and least alarming effect of the ' ' sympathetic irrita- tion " of teething is diarrhoea. This seems often to give a safe vent and relief to the disturbance of the system. Three or four, or even flve passages from the bowels daily, at such times, are not objectionable ; are much better than constipation. Convulsions are frightful to behold, and attended by danger. Here, however, it may be suitable to refer briefly to lancing the gums. Healthy babies may often pass through their teething without needing to have their gums lanced. But some may be, by this simple and harm- less means, kept from having convulsions, which, if brought on, may threaten their lives. Use a clean, sharp lancet, and divide the gum with a straight, firm cut ; in the direction of the edge if it be an incisor, and across the crown if a molar tooth ; and then there will never be any ' ' scars ' ' or other trouble. It is well to lance the gums whenever they are much swollen, red, painful, and worrying, to the child, making it nervous and hard to get to sleep ; or when, even though not swollen, the tooth is evidently not far within the gum, which seems tense, and a source of irritation, calling for relief. Many a child, once helped by this measure, will ask for it, with looks if it has no words, to have it repeated. 94 THE FAMILY DOCTOR A lesser, but not tiilimportant means of relief for worriment of the mouth during teething, is the use of rubber rings, bits of ivory, etc., smooth and firm, but too large to swallow, for the child to bite upon. When there is much heat of the mouth, a soft rag filled with pounded ice will, in sum- mer time, do the most good. At no time is it more needful than dur- ing dentition, to be very careful about the food which the child takes. Indigestion is a very common exciting c?use of convul- sions. Summer Dangers. In our American cities, hot weather kills more young children than any other cause. Look at the weekly record of deaths in New York or Philadelphia, and you will find that every degree of noon temperature above 95° costs scores if not hundreds of little lives . In those cities, about one-half of the deaths of children in the first year of life, and nearly one-third of those in the second year, take place in June, July, and August. High heat, crowding, filth, and unsuitable food, conspire against children in the sum- mer homes of the city poor. But the rich may suffer also, from excessive heat, town ai?', and itnpi-oper diet, for their children ; and these causes produce many cases of stimmer coTuplaint, or " cholera infantum." Whoever, of our city families, can take their infants out into the country, during their first, second and third summers, for the months of June, July, August, and Sep- tember, ought to do it. With those who cannot, the next best thing is to take or send them out on frequent excursions, on land or water, and to have them often in the open parks or squares ; for as much pure, cool air as they can get. It is the best pre- ventive, and often the best curative, of sum- mer complaint. For those who are obliged to live in the crowded parts of towns or villages, the rules given by the Obstetrical Society of Philadel- phia " for the management of infants during the hot season " have proved serviceable. I will quote them here, in addition to what has been already said on our previous pages on the same subjects. 338 Rules for Management of Infants. Rule I . — Bathe the child once a day in tepid water. If it is feeble, sponge it all over once a day with tepid water, or with tepid water and vinegar. The health of a child depends much upon its cleanliness. Ride 2. — Avoid all tight bandaging. Make the clothing light and cool, and so loose that the child may have free play for its limbs. At night, undress it, sponge it, and put on a slip. In the morning remove the slip and dress the child in clean clothes. If this cannot be afforded, thoroughly air the day clothing by hanging it up during the night. Use clean diapers, and change them often. Never dry a soiled one in the nursery or in the sitting-room, and never use one for a second time without first wash- ing it. Rule J . — The child should sleep by itself in a cot or cradle. It should be put to bed at regular hours, and be early taught to go to sleep without being nursed in the arms. Without the advice of a physician, never give it any spi?'its, cordials, carnmiatives , soothing- syrups, or sleeping-drops . Thousatids of children die every year from the use of these poisons. If the child frets and does not sleep, it is either hungry or ill. If ill, it needs a physician. Never quiet it by candy or cake ; they are the common causes ot diarrhoea and other troubles. Rule 4. — Give the child plenty of fresh air. In the cool of the morning and even- ing send it out to the shady sides of broad streets, to the public squares, or to the park. Make frequent excursions on the rivers. Whenever it seems to suffer from the heat, let it drink freely of ice-water. Keep it out of the room in which washing or cooking is going on. It is excessive heat that destroys the lives of young infants. Rule 5. — Keep your house sweet and clean, cool and well aired. In very hot weather let the windows be open day and night. Do your cooking in the yard, in a shed, in the garret, or in an upper room. Whitewash the walls every spring, and see that the cellar is clear of all rubbish. lyCt no slops collect to poison the air. Correct all fou. smells by pouring carbolic acid or THE FAMILY DOCTOR 95 qtiicklime into the sinks and privies. The former articles can be got from the nearest druggist, who will give the needful direc- tions for its use. Make every effort your- self, and urge your neighbors, to keep the gutters of your street or court clean. Rules for Diet of Infants. Rule 6. — Breast milk is the only proper food for infants. If the supply is ample, and the child thrives on it, no other kind of food should be given while the hot weather lasts. If the mother has not enough, she must not wean the child, but give it, besides the breast, goat's or cow's milk, as prepared under Rule 8. Nurse the child once in two or three hours during the day, and as seldom as possible during the night. Always remove the child from the breast as soon as it has fallen asleep . Avoid giving the breast when you are over- fatigued or overheated. Rule 7. — If, tmfortunately, the child must be brought tip by hand, it should be fed on a milk-diet alone, and that, warm milk out of a nursing- bottle, as directed under Rule 8. Goat's milk is the best, and next to it, cow's milk. If the child thrives on this diet, no other kind of food whatever should be given while the hot weather lasts. At all seasons of the year, but especially in summer, there is no safe substitute for milk to an infant that has not cut its front teeth. Sago, arrow-root, potatoes , corn-flour, crackers, bread, every patented food, a7id every article of diet containing starch, cannot and must not be depended on as food for very young infants. Creeping or walking chil- dren must not be allowed to pick up un- wholesome food. Rule 8. — Kach bottleful of milk should be sweetened by a small lump of loaf-sugar, or by half a teaspoonful of crushed sugar. If the milk is known to be pure, it may have one-fourth part of hot water added to it ; but, if it is not known to be pure, no water need be added. When the heat of the weather is great, the milk may be given quite cold. Be sure that the milk is un- skimmed ; have it as fresh as possible, and brought very early in the morning; Before using the pans into which it is to be poured, always scald them with boiling suds. In very hot weather, boil the milk as soon as it comes, and at once put away the vessels holding it in the coolest place in the house — upon ice if it can be afforded, or down a well. Milk carelessly allowed to stand in a warm room soon spoils, and becomes unfit for food. Rule 9. — If the milk should disagree, a tablespoonful of lime-water may be added to each bottleful. Whenever pure milk cannot be got, try the condensed milk, which often answers admirably. It is sold by all the- leading druggists and grocers, and may be prepared by adding, without sugar, one tea- spoonful, or more, according to the age of the child, to six tablespo5nfuls of boiling water. Should this disagree, a teaspoonful of arrow-root, of sago, or of corn-starch to the pint of milk may be cautiously tried. If milk in any shape cannot be digested, try, for a few days, pure cream diluted with three-fourths or three-fifths of water — re- turning to the miik as soon as possible. Weaning the Infant. Rule 10. — The nursing-bottle must be kept perfectly clean ; otherwise the milk will turn sour, and the child will be made ill. After each meal it should be emptied, rinsed out, taken apart, and the tube, cork, nipple, and bottle be placed in clean water, or in water to which a little soda has been added. It is a good plan to have two nurs- ing-bottles, and to use them by turns. Rule II. — Do not wean the child just before or during the hot weather, nor, as a rule, until after its second summer. If suckling disagrees with the mother, she must not wean the child, but feed it in part out of a nursing-bottle, on such food as has been directed. However small the supply of breast-milk, provided it agrees with the child, the mother should carefully keep it up against sickness : it alone will often save the life of a child when everything else fails. When the child is over six months old, the mother may save her strength by giving it one or two meals a day of stale bread and milk, which should be pressed through a sieve and put into a nursing-bottle. When from eight months to a year old, it may have also one meal a day of the yolk of a fresh and rare-boiled ^%z-> or one of beef- or mut- ' ton-broth into which stale bread has been 339 96 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR crumbled. When older than this, it can have a little meat finely minced ; but even then milk should be its principal food, and not such food as grown people eat. When an infant's bowels do not act, at least once or twice, freely, every day, sweet (olive) oil may be given, a teaspoonful at once ; or manna, a quarter of a teaspooful at a time (it 'S sweet and easily taken) ; or simple syrup.' of rhubarb, a teaspoonful at once; ot glycerine, a teaspoonful at a time.. If the stomach is sick at the same time, magnesia may do more good, a quarter or half a teaspoonful, according to the age of the child, stirred well up in a little water. If colic is present, castor oil, a teaspoonful mixed with two teaspoonfuls of spiced syrup of rhubarb wil be the best thing to open the bowels. THE LAWS OF HYGIENE How to Keep Well. In the pages over which we have passed, our effort has been, as the reader will per- ceive, to describe the various ailments with which man is afflicted and the accidents or injuries to which he is liable; also, the remedies to be applied or the methods to be adopted in the treatment of the sick or the injured. This, while a great part of the story, is not the whole story. There is a further very important phase of the subject. It is one thing to know how to get well ; it is another to know how to keep well. There is a science of health as well as a science of sickness. The former we call hygiene. This deals with the rules to be observed to enable us to avoid ill-health. These are of the highest importance, and it is incumbent upon us here to give the leading laws and principles of hygiene science. The world we dwell in is full of the seeds of disease. They come to us in the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. We cannot stir abroad or confine ourselves at home without exposing our- selves to some unwholesome condition. The germs of disease lurk everywhere. We may escape them in part, but cannot altogether. But what effect they will have upon us de- pends largely upon ourselves. A sound, vigorous constitution and healthy normal condition of the organs of the body, enable us to expose ourselves, with impunity to conditions which might prove fatal to those of feeble powers of resistance or weakness in some of the vital organs. Therefore, in addition to care in avoiding exposure to in- jurious influences, it is very important to 340 strengthen our powers of resistance by a reasonable amount of exercise, the breath- ing of fresh air, attention to suitable cloth- ing, heedfulness of any organic weakness, and everything adapted to give us strength and powers of endurance. Impure Air. The air which v/e breathe is rarely quite pure, and is often very impure. This is especially the case in city life and within our houses. Pure air is only to be found in the open country, the mountains, or at the sea-side. In addition to its normal oxygen and nitrogen, many other gases make their way into it, some of them, being very un- heal thful. There are also solid particles of ' ' dust, " of a great variety of materials, animal, vegetable, or mineral, many of them more or less harmful. The worst of them are the floating bacteria, living germs of disease, which inhabit air and water alike ; the great majority of these are harm- less, some of them are deadly in their effects. Of the impure gases in the air, some of the worst are of our own production. We are constantly breathing out matter which is poisonous to the system if breathed in again. This is largely carbon dioxide (or carbonic acid gas), with small quantities of organic poisons, the waste of the system. We can easily understand how it is thai pure air becomes poisoned by respiration, the specially dangerous products being the carbon dioxide and the organic matters. The total amount of carbon dioxide breathed, out in an hour is about 6 cubic feet. While this is an injurious gas, it is probable that EXERCISES FOR DEVELOPING GRACEFUL POSES. I. Forward drop in a narrow doorway. 2. Breathing exercises com- bined with arm movements. 3. Arm exercises. 4. Bending to the side. 5. Bending backward. 6. Bending forward. THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR 97 the bad effects of breathing respired air are more due to the poisonous organic matter, as it is found that while an artificial atmos- phere containing i part of carbon dioxide MISPLACED PIPE. in ICO of air causes but little discom- fort when breathed, yet if an already respired air containing only i part of carbon dioxide in i,ooo of air is breathed much discomfort is experienced . This organic poi- son is probably composed partly of an or- ganic vapor from the lungs, and partly of solid matter from the lining of the mouth aud air passages. It is difficult to find out the exact quantity of organic matter present, but it varies exactly in proportion to the quantity of carbon dioxide, and the amount of this in respired air is therefore taken as the standard of impurity. The Air from Sewage and Sewers. — This is found to contain a great diminution of the oxygen, a large increase of the carbon dioxide, and many other gases, such as sul- phureted hydrogen, sulphide of ammonium, marsh-gas, etc. A more harmful constitu- ent is found In the numerous germs present, which are probably thrown into the air of the sewer by the bursting of bubbles on the surface of the putrefying sewage. The air from churchyards contains car- bon dioxide in excessive amount, various vapors of ammonia, offensive and putrid gases, and many germs. Air polluted by Trades. — These impuri- ties depend, of course, on the nature of the trade. We may have hydrochloric acid, sulphur dioxide, sulphurous acid, ammonia, and sulphureted hydrogen from chemical . 3*^ K 34 works ; carbon dioxide and monoxide and sulphureted hydrogen from brickfields ; nauseous organic vapors from glue refin- ing, bone burning, fat boiling, candle making, and slaughter houses ; and various vegetable and mineral impurities from near works where cotton, linen, flint, or iron particles are thrown into the atmosphere. Nor must we forget the air of workrooms polluted by various products of manufac- ture, such as lead, phosphorous, flax, etc. The air of towns must necessarily be very impure, owing to the presence of the injurious products given off by combustion, respiration, sewers, and trades ; we find a lessened amount of oxygen, an increased amount of carbon dioxide, and a fairly large amount of solid matter, both inorganic and organic. It is also found that it is especi- ally in the narrow streets of crowded parts of the town that the atmosphare is particu- larly foul. In the open spaces and wide streets the impurities are not nearly so great. In close rooms the air is made impure by products of combustion (as from the burning of gas) and by respiration ; the im- purities thus caused may be very great, even to the extent of 3 parts of carbon diox- ide in 1 ,000 of air. In a room in Leicester, containing six persons, with only 51 cubic feet of air space each, and with three gas- lights burning, the amount of carbon dioxide was found to be over 5 parts per i ,000 of air. Diseases Due to Impure Air. Respiration. — The effect upon most peo' pie of breathing over-iespired air is to cause heaviness, sleepiness, headache, giddiness, fainting, and sometimes vomiting. When the air is still more impure death may re- sult, as in the case of the 146 prisoners kept in the Black Hole of Calcutta, for a single night, of whom 123 died; and also when 150 passengers were shut up on a very stormy night in a small cabin of the steamer Londonderry, of whom seventy died before morning. The breathing of impure air day after day causes people to become pale, lose their spirits, strength and appetite, and, as a result, they easily contract any infectious disease which is in the district: and this 98 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR A GOOD VENTILATOR FOR A ROOM. remark especially applies to consumption, which is particularly common in communi- ties, who live in bad impure air, and the fre- quency of which tends to diminish in proportion as the air habi- tually breath- e d is i m - proved. Com bus = t i o n . — The solid particles of carbon from the smoke of fires, and the fumes of burning sulphur, are harmful to the respiratory ap- paratus. The gaseous products, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, may cause death if present in large quantities, and even in small quantities cause pallor, headache, heaviness, and oppression. Sewer Gas. — If an atmosphere is very largely contaminated with sewer gas, death may occasionally result. In smaller quan- tities this form of impurity will cause sleep- iness, headache, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, colic, and prostration. Diarrhoea, typhoid fever, and almost certainly diph- theria are not uncommonly set up by sewer gas getting into houses, but at present there is no certain proof that scarlatina can be caused in this way. The air coming from rivers polluted with sewage, or from land on which sewage has been thrown, has been known to cause dyspepsia, and even dysentery. Other Causes. — The air from marshy or newly-broken ground is apt to produce ague. Workmen exposed to the dust arising from various occupations are liable to lung dis- ease. Lead poisoning not unfrequently oc- curs from lead dust from dyed goods ; wool sorters occasionally get a fatal disease called anthrax from germs coming from the wool of animals which have been similarly af- fected, and various other diseases arise from the unhealthy air of work-rooms. Diseases Due to Impure Water. Water is another fertile source of dis- ease, many organic and inorganic impuri- ties making their way into it. It is to the 34 former that its unhealthfulness is generally due. Nearly all water from the earth con- tains some mineral ingredients, few of which are harmful, some of which are healthful. The waters of many mineral springs serve as remedies for serious dis- orders of the system. The chief source of water pollution lies in organic impurities, which are carried through the soil from cess- pools, manure heaps, and similar sources into wells, or are emptied by sewers into the rivers from which many cities now de- rive their drinking water. The lack of sufiicient water may also be a cause of disease. The person and clothes are not properly washed, houses and streets are dirty, and the sewers become clogged with filth. As a result there is a general lower state of health of the community, and typhoid fever and diarrhoea may be preval- ent. Vegetable Impurities. — Peaty water, in the absence of a better supply, may be used without much harm, but if the amount of solid matter is great it may even produce diarrhoea. Under this head we must include water containing germs, for although they generally get into the water from the excre- tions of animals, yet, as we know, they are vegetable in nature. Here we shall meet with the most dangerous kinds of water, causing many fatal epidemics. Cholera. — Chief among these is cholera, whose germs are now thought to be con- veyed only by water. The great epidemic at Hamburg in 1892, was traced to sewage water from cholera patients getting into the river Elbe, which supplies the city with water. The constant outbreaks of cholera which occur amongst the Mecca pilgrims every year are due to the fact that they wash in and drink out of the same wells, thus leading to an enormous mortality. This frequently, perhaps almost wholly, comes from a like distribution of the bacterial germs of the disease by water. Typhoid fever has been traced to this cause in numer- ous instances. This was the case at Over Darwen in 1874, when a drain containing the excreta of a typhoid patient was blocked , and its contents got in the main pipe of the water supply. As a result, out of a popu- lation of 22,000 there were 2,035 cases of THE FAMILY DOCTOR typhoid fever and 104 deaths. In Bangor, in 1882, there occurred an epidemic of typhoid fever, affecting 540 'persons out of a population of 10,000, of whom 42 died. This was found to be caused by the excreta HOW PEOPLE DRINK SEWAGE. of a single typhoid patient getting into a small stream which discharged into the river supplying the town with water. Diphtheria is probably conveyed and caused by impure water, but this is not yet absolutely proved. Dysentery is well known in tropical countries to be caused by impure water, as was proved b)'' an outbreak at Cape Coast Castle, where it was caused by the passage of sewage into one of the drinking tanks. Diarrhoea has been caused in epi- demic form by impure water, as was shown in the old Salford jail, where the un trapped overflow pipe from a cistern of drinking water communicated with a sewer, and the water had thus absorbed sewer gas, and probably germs. Mineral Impurities. — A moderate de- gree of hardness is not harmful, but if the hardness is great dyspepsia and constipation may result. Goitre seems to be due to the presence of magnesium limestone in the drinking water, but this is disputed by some. Iron salts cause dyspepsia, constipation, and headache. L,ead salts are especially dan- gerous, causing colic, paralysis, kidney dis- ease, and sometimes death. These symp- toms may occur when the amount of lead does not exceed one-tenth grain per gallon, the Purification of Water. Fortunately, it is comparatively easy to destroy the injurious organic impurities of water and render it wholesome for drinking purposes. This, it is true, demands a degree of care and precaution which many will not take* and as a result of ignorance and heedlessness, water is almost everywhere a common carrier of disease. The peril of injury from it can be overcome in a measure by the use of domestic filters, composed of charcoal or other substances. These, however, are much more effective in removing the mineral ingredients than the more dangerous organic particles. They also are rarely kept pure and clean, and may become simply breed- ing places for bacteria. Boiling. — The only safe way of purifying questionable water in house- holds is by boiling. The disease germs, whicn can endure unharmed low temperature of liquid air, are destroyed by boiling water. To make sure, the boiling should be kept up at least ten minutes. An unpleasant effect of this is that it gives the water a flat taste from its loss of air. Some means should be adopted to restore to it the lost air. This may be done in a measure by subsequent filtering, the water slowly trickling down through and absorb- ing the air. City Filters. — Of late years many cities have introduced filters on an extensive scale, to purify the total supply and thus cut ofl" this prolific cause of disease at its source. The principal means employed for this are large filter-beds of sand and gravel, though in some cities spongy iron is used with good effect. The result has been highly encoura- ging in the prevention of epidemic diseases, and filter-beds are likely to be introduced before many years into the water-supply of all our larger cities. Diseases Due to Food, Food may in various ways give rise to disease. Over-eating is one source of injury to the system. Part of the food is not ab- sorbed, and may become putrid in the intes- ,343 roo THE FAMILY DOCTOR tines, causing dyspepsia, constipation, or diarrhoea. If the excess consumed is prin- cipally in the nitrogenous materials, it leads to an increase of the chemical changes in the body, and the person tends to become thin rather than the contrary. It may cause gouty conditions and disease of the kidneys and blood-vessels. Excess of starchy and sugary foods often causes acidity and flatu- lence and great fattiness of the body, as is also the case with excess of fatty food. Deficiency of Food produces gradual loss of flesh and weakness of all the bodily or- gans, particularly of the heart. The body is, moreover, little able to resist cold and various diseases, and thus half-starved peo- ple are easily attacked by fevers and con- sumption. Bad Proportion of Food Stuffs. — If food is not given in about the right propor- tions, various dyspeptic troubles may arise, and the body will not h^ properly nourished. Similarly, eating foot", in a hurry, bad cook- ing of food, and a bad arrangement of meals, the food being taken too often or too sel- dom, or too much taken at one time and too little at another, will lead to stomach troubles. Scurvy. — One of the best-known diseases caused by the absence of some essential of a diet is called scurvy. This used to be very common on board ships on long voyages, and was caused either by the great use of salt beef, or (much more probably) by the absence of fresh vegetables containing the necessary vegetable acids. Nowadays fresh meat can be more easily taken on long voy- ages, and potatoes and lime-juice are freely given, so that sea scurvy is practically un- known. In large towns, however, we very frequently see the same disease, as shown by the sore and bleeding gums and the appear- ance of blood under the skin like small bruises, and the condition is only found in badly-fed people, who will tell you that they live almost entirely on bread and butter and tea, with meat occasionally, and fresh vege- tables sometimes on Sunday. This land scurvy soon disappears when proper food is given . Rickets is a disease found in young chil- dren, and is very largely due to feeding with improper food (such as starchy mate- rials,), and to an absence of fresh air. The child perspires chiefly about the head at night, and the whole body seems to be ten- der and sore, the ends of the bones becoming soft and enlarged, especially near the ankles and wrists, and deformities of the limbs, such as bow legs or knock knees, may result. If there is any sign of this disease beginning, the child must not on any account be allowed to walk for many months, and he should be given plenty of fresh air, sunlight, and good nourishing food. Diseases Due tl) Food Eaten when it has Become Putrid. — It is a curious fact which we cannot explain that some food, such as ripe cheese, game, and "high" mutton is only eaten in a state of decompo- sition, and yet no evil results follow. Apart from these examples, we know that putrid food ought to be absolutely avoided, as it may cause intense poisoning, with vomiting, diarrhoea, great collapse, and even death. Such cases are, unfortunately, not uncom- mon from the eating of putrid meat pies, hams, and sausages. Food Diseased in Itself. — Diseased ani- mals not unfrequently communicate their diseases to man . Thus so called ' ' measly ' ' cattle and pigs contain in the flesh or mus- cles innumerable small bladders, which are living animals of a low type. When these are taken into the intestines of man without being killed by thorough cooking they begin to grow, and form tape- worms. Another disease, found often in Germany, Russia, and Sweden, is trichinosis, which is caused by eating pork either raw or not properly cooked. Minute worms live in the muscles of the pig, and these, on getting into the intestines of man, begin to breed in enormous numbers ; the young worms then pierce the intestines, get into the blood-ves- sels and into the muscles, so causing diar- rhoea, fever, pains in the muscles, and even death . Certain diseases in cattle ought certainly to prevent them being used as food ; these are infectious inflammation of the lungs of cattle, cattle plague, and consumption in the cow, smallpox in the sheep, and trichi- nosis and swine fever in the pig. The milk also of cows affected with foot and 344 THE FAMILY DOCTOR lOl BxOUth disease sometimes causes severe symptoms with very sore mouth and lips, and, rarely, sore hands in children, and it is almost certain that the milk of tubercular (consumptive) cattle will cause consump- tion in the human being. Vegetable foods, if putrid and decayed, may cause severe illness, just as may hap- pen with putrid animal food. Good Food conveying Germs. — This is most frequent in the case of milk, where it has been found that whole districts supplied by one milk farm have been affected with some disease, such as typhoid fever, diph- theria, or scarlet fever, and inquiries have shown that either at the farm or in the milk shop germs of these diseases have got into the milk, either from the air, from sewer gas, or more often from water taken from an impure source, and either added to the milk as an adulteration, or used for washing out the milk cans. These diseases carried by milk, as well as tuberculosis from the milk of tuberculous cows, can be entirely prevented by boiling the milk for at least five minutes before it is used. Alcohol and Tobacco. — Alcohol is not required by the body, and, as a rule, to which there are few exceptions, people are much better and healthier without it ; for instance, it has been repeatedly proved that soldiers can bear the hard labor of war very much better when no alcohol is given to them. In large and repeated quantities it causes many diseases, such as gout, diseases of the liver, heart, brain, and nerves. When taken, it should never be between meals, but only with food ; it should never be given to children except when ordered by a doctor, and should never be taken by those who have insanity or drunkenness in their fami- lies. In the treatment of disease it is a most useful drug, but here again only to be used by a doctor's order. Tobacco = smoking is a habit which should never be indulged in by any one under twenty-one years of age. Even after that age it is merely a luxury, and not a necessity, and if practiced in excess it may cause pain and irregularity of the heart, sole throat, dyspepsia, and partial blind- ness. 3 2 34 Infectious Diseases. Diseases which may be communicated from one person to another, or from an ani- mal to a man, are known as infectious dis- eases. Some of these, such as itch, lice, ringworm, hydrophobia, and a few others, require actual contact with a diseased per- son or animal, and so are called contagious diseases. Some of the other infectious dis- eases, though actually transmitted in a dif- ferent way, may also be conveyed by touch. Animal Parasites. — The commonest at- tacking the external parts, such as fleas, bugs, lice, and mosquitoes, are generally well known. They cause much irritation, with small lumps on the skin, and scratch- ing leaves many marks on the body. The itch insect is very minute and microscopic, but as the female burrows under the skin and lays her eggs, small papules and pus- tules form, with very great irritation, and the body may be almost covered with an unsightly eruption. This disease can be communicated by touch to others. The head louse attacks the hair, and may be seen crawling about, or its eggs or " nits" can be seen fixed on to the hairs themselves. It causes much irritation, eruptions on the head, and lumps at the back of the neck. Some insects are also of injury as con- veyers of germ diseases. For instance, it is now known that the germs of malaria and yellow-fever are largely, if not solely, car- ried by mosquitoes. Flies also carry some diseases from one person to another, especi- ally ophthalmia. The animal parasites attacking the in- ternal parts of the body are numerous. The commonest are tape-worms which get into the body with diseased meat of the cow or pig, and cause much irritation from their presence in the small intestine ; the common round worm, about twelve inches long, which also lives in the small intestine ; and thread or seat v^^orms in the lower part of the large intestine, causing great discomfort. Very rarely in this country the trichina gets into the intestines and muscles of man from diseased pork. It is not easily killed or ex- pelled if it has once got into the body. The other worms mentioned may be easily expel- led by simple medicines, and any discomfort I02 THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR which they may have caused is thus re- moved. Another internal animal parasite, which is fortunately not very common, is the "bladder" form of the tape-worm of the dog. This bladder may begin to grow in some organ (generally the liver) of the human body, and cause great suffering, and even death, from its large size. It can only be removed effectually by a surgical oper- ation. Vegetable Parasites. — These are all very minute, and only visible by the micro- scope, and their presence on or in the body is only judged from the diseases which they set up. They attack either the external or internal parts of the body. They may be all included under the one head of germs or micro-organisms. These are small, gener- ally microscopic organisms of the lowest forms of vegetable life. How Germs are Conveyed and Re= ceived. — Germs may be carried from one person to another, and received by that per- son in different ways. They may be con- veyed by actual contact, as in the case of ringworm, erysipelas, ophthalmia (infectious inflammation of the eyes), hydrophobia, small-pox, etc. The germs may possibly be taken in through the unbroken skin, but much more frequently through a small crack or sore in the skin. Secondly, they may be conveyed by the air, and taken in by the breath. This is by far the commonest method, as seen in whooping-cough, scarla- tina, small-pox, diphtheria, measles, con- sumption, etc. Thirdly, they may be" car- ried by water, and so taken into the stomach and intestines, as with cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, etc. Fourthly, by the food, and taken to the stomach and intes- tines as before, as with typhoid fever, con- sumption, and foot-and-mouth disease (con- veyed by milk). Fifthly, they may be car- ried by clothes, and so get into the air, as with scarlatina. They may also be carried by insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, as above stated. In some instances the method of conveyance is mysterious, as in the widely -prevalent influenza, whose history has so far baffled res'^arch . Why Children Should not be Purposely Exposed to Infectious Fevers. — It is the custom with some ignorant mothers to pur- 346 posely expose their children to mild cases of fever, especially measles, chicken-pox, and scarlatina, because they say the children are certain to get them at some time or an- other, and in this way they think their chi' • dren will have mild attacks which will pro- tect them in the future. Such a practice is almost criminal, and should be absolutely condemned, and for the following reasons It is not certain that a child will have fever at some time or another ; if proper precau- tions were taken it would not have an in- fectious disease. A mild attack in one per- son is not always followed by a mild attack in another, but may give rise to a very serious one. One attack of fever does not necessarily prevent a second attack of the same fever at some future time. The death- rate in children suffering from most fevers (such as measles or scarlatina) is always greater than in adults. Finally, as a rule, the older a child grows the less likely is it to be attacked by a particular fever. Disinfectants. — ^This word should only be used to indicate some process or chemical agent which will absolutely kill germs and spores. It is, however, unfortunately ap- plied to other classes, the antiseptics, which will only stop the growth of the germs, but will not kill them ; and the deodorants, which merely remove disagreeable smells, and often have no action whatever on the germs themselves. It is obvious that we must use a true disinfectant if we wish to prevent the spread of disease. Deodorants are such substances as the vapors of turpentine, burning peat, or boil- ing tar ; such liquids as Condy's fluid, or various odorous fluids such as eucalyptus ; and such solids as charcoal or camphor. Most of these take away unpleasant smells, but are otherwise useless. Antiseptics include such bodies as borax, boracic acid, chloride of lime, thy- mol, Condy's fluid, and various patent dis- infectants (so-called). These will arrest the growth of germs, and so prevent putrefac- faction, but few of them will absolutely kill germs. Condy's fluid will, of course, do so, but only when used in such a strong solution that it would discolor and destroy any clothes put into it. THE FAMILY DOCTOR 103 True disinfectants are of three kinds : fumigation, heat, and chemical. Fumtgation by chlorine and sulphu^'ous acid gas. It is probable that many spores will resist this method, and germs hidden, say in the pocket of a coat, will escc^pe de- struction. Heat. — This is the best method of disin- fection as, if the temperature is sufficiently high, all germs and their spores will be de- stroyed. Unfortunately, it cannot be ap- plied in the case of all infected articles. A ready method of heat-disinfection which can be used in eveiy household is, where possi- ble, to boil any infected article, as it has been shown that by boiling for ten minutes all germs and spores are destroyed. Chemical Disinfectants. — Although there are many so-called disinfectants offered for sale, yet only a few are true disinfectants if used in a strength which will not destroy the articles to be disinfected. Of these we shall only mention two, namely, carbolic acid and corrosive sublimate. Both of these are dangerous poisons, and must be handled with the utmost care. Carbolic acid needs to be diluted in the proportion of i part acid to 20 parts water. Corrosive sub- limate is sold in the form of tablets, colored blue to avoid accidents. These must be dissolved in water in the proportion of i part to 1,000. Contagious Diseases. The following points will help to deter- mine the nature of a suspicious illness : Disease Rash or Eruption Appearance Duration IN Days Remarks Chicken-pox . . . ErYSIPEIvAS .... MEASr,ES Scari,ex Fever . . Smai,i,-pox Typhoid Fever . . Small rose pimples changing to vesicles Diffuse redness and swelling Small red dots like flea bites Bright scarlet, difiiised Small red pimples changing to vesicles, then pustules . . . Rose-colored spots scattered 2d day of fever or after 24 hours illness . . 2d or 3d day of illness. 4th d a y of fever or after 72 hours' ill- ness 2d day of fever or after 24 hours' illness . . 3d day of fever or after 48 hours' illness . . nth to 14th day . . . 6-7 6-10 8-10 14-21 22-30 Scabs from about fourth day of fever. Rash fades on 7th day. Rash fedes on 5th day. Scabs form 9th or loth day, fell oflf about- 14th. Accompanied by diar- rhoea. It will often relieve a mother's anxiety to know how long there is danger of infec- tion after a child has been exposed to a con- tagious disease. The following table gives the information concerning the more im- portant diseases : Disease Symptoms Appear Period Ranges from Patient is Infectious Chicken-pox Diphtheria Measles* Mumps Rothei^n ScARi,ET Fever Smai,i,-pox On 14th day " 2d day '* 14th day " 19th day " 14th day " 4fh day " 1 2th day " 2ist day " 14th day 10 to 18 days 2 to 5 days 10 to 14 days 16 to 24 days 12 to 20 days I to 7 days I to 14 days I to 28 days 7 to 14 days Until all scabs have fallen off. 14 d's after disappearance of membrane. Until scaling and cough have ceased. 14 days from commencement. 10 to 14 days from commencement. Until all scaling has ceased. Typhoid Fever Whooping Cough! Until diarrhoea ceases. Six weeks from beginning to whoop. * In measles the patient is infectious three days before the eruption appears. t In whooping-cough the patient is infectious during the primary cough, which may be three weeks before the whoopi&g begins. I04 THE FAMILY DOCrOR How to Avoid Disease. There are various ways in which disease may be avoided. One is not to expose our- selves to contagion or injurious influences. We need to be careful of the food we eat, the water we drink, even the air we breathe, for all of these, as above shown, are prolific sources of the germs of disease. We must also keep away from these aflBicted with con- tagious diseases, or, if obliged to enter their presence, take precautions to avoid in- fection. This danger is now taken in hand by the health authorities of cities, patients of this character being removed to special hos- pitals, or, if kept at home, the yellow placard of warning is conspicuously dis- played. Only physicians and nurses — who are supposed to know how to take care of themselves — are permitted to enter the sick- room, or even the house in cases of this kind. A second and highly important method of avoiding disease, whether infectious or from organic weakness, is to strengthen the system by dint of suitable exercises ; seek to breathe only fresh and pure air, adapting the clothing to the climate and the bodily needs, and in other ways endeavoring to harden the body and to enable it to defy the insidi- ous assaults of disease. Muscular Exercise. Exercise of all parts of the body is an absolute necessity for the maintenance of perfect health. If a steam-engine is allowed to stand idle it will soon rust and get out of order. Similarly, if the body has no work to do, it will become too fat, and the mus- cles will waste and get flabby, the heart will become weak, the circulation slow and fee- .ble, the blood will not be properly aerated, poisonous products will accumulate in the body, the complexion will be pale, and the intellect dull, and if the brain is not regu- larly exercised the person will merely de- velop into a muscular animal, no better than a savage ; he will be stupid, ignorant, and uninteresting both to himself and to others. The effect of regular muscular exercise is to expand the lungs, to increase the amount of oxygen taken in ajd the carbon dioxide breathed out ; the sweat is increased , and so exercise helps to get rid of waste matters from the body. The heart is strengthened, the blood is more aerated, the muscles grow larger, harder, and more ac- tive, the appetite and digestive powers in- crease, the body is kept warm, and the brain is more active and bright as a result of the general health being so good. During exer- cise more food is required and much pure air. The brain worker should take regular gymnastic exercise in a well-ventilated gym- nasium, or, better still, regular outdoor exercise, such as walking, climbing, swim- ming, cricket, or lawn tennis. It is very necessary that such exercise should be regu- lar, as if done irregularly or in " spurts ' ' it will do more harm than good, because the muscles, not being in training, will soon get tired, and the body will suffer. The person whose occupation is an entirely mus- cular one, such as the common laborer or the blacksmith, should spend his spare time in reading, music, and other mental studies. In other words, every man should have a ' ' hobby ' ' which should exercise faculties as different as possible from the usual occu- pation. There is but little danger in hard and continuous work, provided it is varied and not monotonous ; it is not work but worry which kills. The tendency to worry when there is no need, and which is such a prominent feature with some people, should be constantly kept down. The above rem.arks as regards exercise apply, of course, not only to men but to women, and to them almost with greater force, as women neglect it to such an extent. There are plenty of forms of perfectly wo- manly exercise which may be taken, such as walking, rowing, swimming, skating, and lawn tennis, and if these were indulged in regularly we should hear less of hysteria and weak backs. The conditions necessary for keeping the muscles in good order are those required for the healthy nutrition of every organ of the body ; namely : Good, rich blood ; distribution of blood, and of nerve-force, without obstruction, to each part ; exercise of the organs, according 48 THE FAMILY DOCTOR los to their ability ; sufficient intervals of repose. Everybody tnows that we must have sleep for several hours in each twenty-four, or we wear out. Besides sleep, however, which affects the brain only, there must be rest from action in all the muscles. The heart must, first of all, be protected from disturbance. It naturally beats faster when any of the large muscles are working actively, as when we run or walk fast ; especially up stairs. Our breathing is then hurried also ; and thus, commonly, a check is put upon our doing too much : we " get out of breath," and have to stop or slacken our movement. When the heart is overworked, one of two things happens. If the body is at the time well nourished, and its general vitality is good, the heart grows stronger, just as other muscles do, with exercise. In time it grows thicker also ; and this is the ' ' hyper- trophy " of medical books. But, if the overwork is incessant, the blood is thin and poor, and the sum of energy in the body is low, the heart b'ecomes weak instead ; its muscular fibres become pale and thin. In this condition they are easily stretched by the blood within the heart's cavities, and we have what doctors call ' ' dilatation of the heart." Tight lacing does mischief and impairs health, sometimes causing sudden death, by cramping the motion of the heart, as well as the expansion of the lungs in breathing. It is an enormous mistake ; all the more in- tolerable because the wasp-like shape which it gives to the female figure is unlovely as well as unnatural. No sculptor of classic Greece, no painter of Italy, in the 4ays of Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Titian, ever gave to a goddess or a Madonna such a form as modern fashion has sometimes tortured its victims to obtain. Happily, there is, of late years, some gain in fashion in regard to this matter ; the direction both of good taste and of hygiene. Modes of Exercise. Walking is excellent ; unsurpassed in benefit to the system if one can afford time "o get enough of it ; a pleasant country. moderate weather, and good company being almost essential to its advantages. Begin- ners must not walk too fast or too far. Stop at the end of the first hour, and sit down for five minutes. Rest ten minutes at the end of the second, and every successive hour, if you go on long ; and never, while unaccustomed to pedestrianism, go more than three miles in one hour. Riding on horseback is an admirable exercise ; but it leaves neglected a number of useful muscles, which are brought into action in walking. Farmers in some places ride on horseback almost always, if they have to go a mile or more ; and, in conse- quence, they become poor walkers. They often almost wear out in an hour's stroll over hard pavements in town. Bicycling much resembles riding in effect. Rowing is a capital exercise. More muscles are used in it than in walking or riding on horseback ; hands, arms, back, legs, and feet are all strenghened by it. Skating is as wholesome in itself as any exercise can be. Always in a cold, brac- ing atmosphere (except roller skating, of course, which may be anywhere), even in a " rink," with freedom and variety of move- ment of the body and limbs, yet without violence, it is excellent for both sexes. Swimming, as an exercise, apart from the good obtained from bathing, is less favorable. The pressure of the water, and its temperature if cool or cold, force the blood more or less from the surface of the body to the head. Swimming rapidly is, also, a violent exercise. But every boy and girl should learn to swim as early in life as possible, so as to lessen the danger when " overboard " unexpectedly anywhere. Out=of door games, as lawn tennis, cro- quet, cricket, base-ball, are all, in modera- tion, not only enjoyable, but wholesome in their effect upon the bodily condition. Ex- hilaration of mind makes all exercise more beneficial. It is astonishing what an amount of work people will do under the name of play. A Chinese mandarin, on seeing a number of English gentlemen engaged act- ively in a game of base- ball or cricket said, " In my country we always pay people foi taking so much trouble to amuse us." No 349 io6 THE FAMILY DOCTOR treadmill, however, would ever build up muscle like the cricket ground. Healthy Breathing. — Little thought is needed, for every one to see that for good breathing there must be sound lungs and air- tubes, and strength in the muscles of the chest, as well as pure air. Our breathing muscles can be strengthened by exercise. All active muscular movements of any part of the body, but especially brisk walking or running, quicken the action of the heart ; and, as the blood then goes more rapidly through the lungs, it needs to be, and is, aired by quicker breathing. Using the voice a great deal (as in speak- ing or singing) in early life, promotes the growth of the lungs and the strength of the breathing muscles. Those who belong to consumptive families should, while young, be accustomed to active out-of-door habits ; and for them, reading or speaking aloud or singing (vocal gymnastics) will be whole- some exercise ; that is, so long as they are well . When the lungs are actually diseased , active efforts of all kinds should be avoided. Pure air, and plenty of it, is a constant necessity for health. The application of this truth belongs in many ways to our every-day life, especially, of course, within doors. Out of doors we can usually trust to nature to supply us a fair share of whole- some air, if, of course, we keep away from localities in which the air is vitiated by bad sanitation or other unwholesome surround- ings. Personal Cleanliness. — The importance of cleanliness in all the actions of life is al- most too apparent to need mention, were it not that it is so much neglected by many. Not only cleanliness of the skin, the hair, the teeth, the nails, and the clothing is necessary, but also cleanliness in all our habits. By this means we shall avoid many diseases which are entirely due to dirt of vari- ous kinds. The old and excellent defini- tion that dirt is matter in the wrong place suggests that it should be removed ; and when we remember that this dirt may con- sist of irritating particles of minerals in the form of dust, or of poisonous chemicals, and, more fatally, of disease germs, we shall be greatly impressed with the necessity of being clean. 350 Clothing. Clothing, to promote health, should be : sufficient for comfortable warmth ; not ex- cessive in quantity or pressure; properly distributed over the body ; suited to permit transpiration and moisture ; changed often enough for cleanliness. Some persons, with the idea of hardening themselves, wear as little clothing in winter as possible. This is perhaps well enough if they are very robust ; but if not strong, they become chilled through and may be severely reduced in health. Yet it is equally a mistake to keep one's self too warm, burdening the body with un- necessary clothing. The same is true of bed-covering, in respect to which people have very different needs. On the same night one may be satisfied with a single blanket, while another needs two or three. Every one ought to be warm enough to sleep comfortably. Kind of Clothing. — We should adapt the amount and quality of our clothing to the weather. Not by the almanac, however, as the seasons do not follow it exactly. Chi- nese people, it is said, having cool nights and very hot noons, begin the day with several light garments on. As the hours of morning bring warmth, off goes one thing after another, till by noon-day they have only one or two covers left. With the cool- ing of the afternoon they again begin to put them on ; and so, hour by hour, they get back to the morning's raiment. This is reasonable enough. Many persons among us make the mistake of wearing too little clothing (as well as keeping their houses too cool) in the changeable and uncertain weather of spring and autumn ; and a large number of " colds " are caught in that way. Of the materials in use for clothing, the warmest (besides furs) is wool. An open, porous fabric, containing air, conducts heat more slowly than a smooth, dense one ; be- cause air itself is a slow heat-conductor. So a tight-fitting kid glove scarcely keeps the hand warm, while a loose mitten is very comfortable in cold weather. Silk is a slow conductor also, and it is warm for garments in proportion to its thick- ness. It conducts electricity very slowly, THE FAMILY DOCTOR 107 wliicli makes it particularly suitable for undergarments with those who are liable to pains and aches on damp days, or when the wind is " easterly." Next to wool and silk comes cotton ( muslin) ; and the coolest of all are linen garments. These are most fit for midsum- mer wear, when our American climate is, by fits and starts at least, tropical. Kvery one should be prepared, however, at all seasons with extras to put on in case of change of weather from warm to cool. In our variable climate, delicate persons, especially those liable to rheumatism or neuralgia, generally find advantage in wear- ing either light flannel or silk next to the body even through the summer, with a heavier kind, of course, for winter. In the distribution of clothing over the body, the main part to keep warm is the chest. As it contains the heart and lungs, all the blood in the body passes through it constantly, and conveys its temperature everywhere. Moreover, chilling the heart or lungs endangers injury to those central organs themselves. Next, the abdomen must be sufl5ciently protected. Great organs, the stomach, bowels, liver, spleen, kidneys, etc,, are con- tained in it, and are all (most of all the bowels) liable to attacks of disorder from cold. Sudden changes of temperature often bring on diarrhoea ; sometimes, cholera- morbus or dysentery. Then, the extremities. Of these, the feet must be best cared for. They are farthest from the heart, and nearest to the ground. Hence, at the same general tem- perature, they suffer most from cold. Chil- dren, in mild climates, may grow up accus- tomed to running about barefoot, if they have freedom and space to acquire active habits. Night Attire — At bedtime all the clothes should be changed, the day clothes being hung up to be dried and ventilated. The night clothes should be made of cotton, which is not irritating to the skin as woolen is. Sufficient warmth will be given by the bedclothes, which should consist in part of blankets or feathers, and should be light and warm. A woollen night-dress, besides being irritating, promotes too much perspira- 35 tion, and makes the body hot ; but for young children; old people, rheumatic sub- jects, or in very cold climates, a woolen night-dress is necessary. How to Live Long. As a brief summary statement of the most essential conditions of health and longevity, we may conclude our study of Hygiene with the following precepts : 1 . Never breathe three breaths of foul air when you can get out from it into that which is fresh, or can get fresh air into the place where you are. 2. Eat when you are hungry, and only wholesome food. Eat slowly, and stop as soon as hunger is satisfied. 3. Drink pure water when you are thirsty ; take milk as part of your daily food ; a cup of tea, not too strong, if you like it, or cocoa; but coffee only when you are very tired ; and alcoholic beverages, while in good health and strength, never. Also, make no use of tobacco. 4. Dress always with a view to comfort and convenience ; not compressing the chest, nor impeding the movement of any of the limbs. 5 . Be careful to maintain a regular habit of daily movement of the bowels. 6. Rest, if you can, when tired, and sleep when sleepy. Take eight hours of sleep every night ; more, if you feel the need of it, and can get it. 7. Work regularly at something every day, and do the best you can throughout ; but avoid over-work. The sign of it is, that you wake up tired, not refreshed, in the morning. 8. Never do any regular week-day labor (simple unavoidable small chores excepted) on the first day of the week. Make it a day of repose and renovation for mind and body. 9. However rich you may be, do not make pleasure the aim and object of life ; it will wear you out faster than work, or even worry. L,astly, let every day be cheered by sun- shine from above, and brightened by the hope of a better life to come. iOS VALUE OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FOOD No subject is of more vital importance to the care of health than that of food. Hence a knowledge of the value of various food products is indispensable to housekeep- ers and to those who value their own health. Are vegetarians right, who insist that we should eat no meat at all ? Their argu- ment is, that vegetables contain all the ele- ments required for our nourishment, made up into organic stuff, ready to be digested and built up into our tissues and used as fuel. Hence, they say, it is useless, cruel, and expensive to slay our subject animals to gratify our carnivorous taste. True, plants, roots, seeds, and fruits do contain everything absolutely necessary for food. Men often live for years, many per- haps (after infancy) for lifetimes, without animal food. But that is not the whole question. Is a solely vegetable diet the best for health with all people? On this we must inquire further ; are the elements in exactly the same state of combi- 7iatlon in vegetables as in meat ? Our answer is, no. They are more concentrated in animal flesh, are worked up already into animal substances, and therefore aii more readily assimilated than vegetable food. Can we judge by anything in our strnc- iure which we are best fitted for ? Flesh- eating beasts, as lions, cats, dogs, have only sharp, cutting, and tearing teeth. Grass- eaters have nippers in front, and all the back teeth broad-crowned, nearly flat. We resem- ble the bear, hog, and rat, in having teeth for cutting in front, tearing at the sides, and broad, grinders back in our jaws. The length of the human alimentary canal (that is, stomach and intestines) is about six times that of our bodies ; interme- diate between that of the purely carnivorous and of the entirely herbivoyus animals. It would seem then that, like the bear, hog, and rat, we are made fit for either animal or vegetable food. We are om?iivoroiis. On the whole, this is the conclusion to which physicians and sanitarians have gen- erally come — that, with healthy people, living in the open country, not working very hard, and having an abundance of good j o5 vegetable food, meat is not necessary. They can live long lives without it. But, in close- built cities, where the air is not pure, where work is hard, and "vexation of spirit" abounds, a mixed diet is best. Bread. Time out of mind ' ' the staflFof life," was made of brayed grain by our ancient fore- fathers before they left Western Asia. Bread contains nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous food principles ; gluten and starch, as well as salts. It is adapted both for tissue-build- ing and for energy-producing use in the body. Wheat bread is as strong in nitrogen as any, and is richer than other kinds in phos- phates, which are supposed to be in part nerve-feeders. The whitest of flour does not make the most nourishing bread. The rich- est part of the grain is just beneath the chafi", making slightly yellowish flour. Improved ways of grinding wheat now retain nearly all of this strength of the flour, some of which was formerly wasted. Rye meal makes, by itself, a nourishing but less spongy bread than wheat. It is very largely eaten by people in Northern Europe. The best way to use it in making bread is to mix it with an equal or less quantity of wheat flour. Bread must be properly raised to be good. This is done by a fermentation , which takes place in the starch (it first becoming changed to sugar) of the dough, under the action of yeast. Sugar, when it ferments, is converted into alcohol and carbonic-acid gas. The alcohol is very small in amount. The carbonic acid gas is kept in by the sticky, ■pa.sty gluten, of which good flour has about twelve per cent. Thus the dough is stretched or expanded into a spongy mass. Baking dries it somewhat, and makes it more or less crisp, or at least takes away the adhesiveness of the dough. Faults of bread, which make it less wholesome, as well as less agreeable, are heaviness, sourness, bitterness, monldines^, and an excess of saline material- Heavy, iil- raised, and under-baked bread is very THE FAMILY DOCTOR 109 tinwliolesoine. Sotii" bread is so also. It is made by ^z'^r-raising, or by using spoiled flour. Bitterness comes either from bad yeast or too much of the yeast being used ; mouldiness, from the flour or bread being kept too long. Other ways of raising bread are : using salceratus, bicarbonate of potassium, from which the carbonic acid is set free by warmth, or by adding sour milk, containing lactic acid ; or putting in the dough sour milk and bicarbonate of sodium ; or carbon- ate of ammonium (smelling salt) ; or phos- phoric acid and bicarbonate of sodium (Horsford's process). Still another plan is to make the carbonic acid as it is made for * ' mineral water, ' ' and then by pressure to force it into the dough. This constitutes " unfermented aerated bread." When care- fully made, it is very good, keeps well, and can safely take the place of ordinary bread. Hot fresh bread has a somewhat more adhesive or pasty quality than stale bread. The gastric juice, therefore, does not so readily penetrate and digest it. Persons with entirely sound digestion have no trou- ble in disposing of it ; but dyspeptics should always prefer stale bread. Adulterations of flour are most often alum, chalk, lime, and potato meal. A little alum is frequently put in by bakers to whiten the bread, as well as to make it weigh more when sold by the pound. Much alum makes it unwholesome, irritating the stomach and binding the bowels. Potato meal is harm- less, but a fraud when mixed with wheat flour, as it costs much less, and is not so nourishing. The microscope will detect it. Bran bread (as before remarked) is rougher than that of white flour, and so, by stimulating the muscular coat of the bow- els, it helps to keep them open. Rye bread is about as nourishing as wheat. Oatmeal does not rise so well as wheat flour, but in cakes, porridge, gruel, and grits, it makes an admirable food. Buckwheat is nourishing, but proves to be rather better suited, in buckwheat cakes, for an occasional luxury than for a stand-by diet. Barley is not a strong meal, though "John Barleycorn" makes a very strong drink when fermented and distilled. Barley water is often a good addition to milk when it disagrees with young infants. Rice contains but a moderate amount of nitrogen, but plenty of starch, and (like other grains) some salts ; and it is very easily digested. Chinamen and Hindus, many millions ofthem, live chiefly on it. It is soothing to tne bowels, and particularly suitable in cases of diarrhoea. Corn (maize), so much used in this country and in Southern Europe, is fairly nitrogenous, and is comparatively rich in fat. It affords good and serviceable food, whether eaten from the ear (sugar corn, boil- ing ears) or made into bread, mush or gruel. It is not, however, quite so easily digested as wheat, oatmeal, or rice. Vegetables. Peas and Beans are highly nitrogenous, besides containing a great deal of starch. But that their share of salts, especially phos- phates, is less, and that they are more uncertain of digestion, they would rank along with wheat bread in value. What we call the Irish potato is really of American origin. Abounding in starch, potatoes contain but little nitrogen. Their great merit is, that they produce largely for their cost ; they can be made palatable by cooking, and go a great ways in bulk as food. The Sweet Potato is an Old World plant, known long before the discovery of America. It is harder to keep than the round or white potato, easily undergoing a sort of sugary decay. At the best, it is not quite so easily digested as the round potato. The yavi of the Kast and West Indies, is a root some- what analagous to the sweet potato, and another similar root is a good deal eaten in the Sandwich Islands. The Tomato is really 2, fruit. It is more nearly always wholesome for everybody than any other of what we call vegetables. Tur- nips, carrots, parsnips, the onion, cabbage, squash, and salsify, all rank below potatoes and tomatoes in digestibility. Cauliflowers and Cabbages, are plants of the same species, differently developed. But the cauliflower is, under cultivation, much the most tender and digestible. 353 no THE FAMILY DOCTOR Beets, when young, are very easily digested ; quite otherwise after they grow old and tough. Asparagus, of the best quality, is entirely wholesome. Spinach, in good condition, is not at all indigestible. Mushrooms are strong and meat-like food, wholesome for most, but not for all people. The point of importance is, to be sure ///(fya/r mushrooms. A number of other fioigi are safe and nourishing, but some are very poisonous. Never gather or eat what are called mushrooms unless they have, un- derneath, pink gills, so called, and above, as well as on the stem, a skin which can be easily peeled off ; also, they have no unpleas- ant taste or smell, and grow not in dark woods, but in rather open fields. Celery, when white and tender, is, in moderation, very wholesome, either raw or stewed. It represents, when eaten raw, a class of food articles (the radish and lettuce are others) of more importance than is gener- ally appreciated. We need, every few days, to take something in its natural state, which has " never seen the fire." Fruits. As a rule, fresh fruits are wholesome. They promote the natural action of the bowels, and are refreshing and antiscorbutic. When the bowels are disordered, as in diar- rhoea or dysentery (except when these result from scurvy ),they are not suitable. All fruits are not equally digestible or desirable for persons of uncertain health. Peaches, apples, and oranges come the nearest to being good for everybody while in health ; and oranges, as well as the finer and more delicate kinds of grapes, are often with advantage allowed to the sick. Many grapes have a tough pulp, which ought not to be swallowed ; and the seeds never should be. They, and apple cores, and even cherry- stones, are often taken into the stomach, with no harm following. But they are not digestible, and now and then they collect together and cause obstruction. There is a queer little offset to the large intestine into which, in a few instances, an apple-seed or some such thing has found its way, produc- ing an inflammation ending in death. The least wholesome of our domestic kinds maybe said to be the cherry^ and, doubtful for all dyspeptics, also, pears; of foreign fruits, figs and pineapples. Prunes (partly dried plums), y?^^, and dates are especially laxative to the bowels. Stewed fruits are far less uniformly diges- tible than the same eaten fresh, in season. Prese7-ves ought to be ruled out of the diet of dyspeptics, and taken, as a rare indulgence, in small quantities only, by all. Lanona'le, made with the juice of lemons (not citric acid of the drug-shop), is not only refresh- ing but beneficial to most persons in hot weather, and when sick with fever. But, in the last case, irritability of the stomach or bowels may sometimes prevent its use. Canned fruits, put up with skill and care, may approach very nearly to fresh fruits in wholesomeness ; but the skill and care actu- ally used are often far from perfect. More- over, of the different materials employed for keeping fruit or other food for a long time, the safest and best, undoubtedly, \s glass. Eggs. There is excellent nourishment, mostly albuminoid, but with a small amount of fat (in the yolk) in eggs. There is, of course, no truth in the popular saying, that "an ^g